I had the pleasure of talking with Adam Green. He is the one responsible for Hatchet, Spiral, all the hilarious video shorts released every year. The upcoming Frozen with Shawn Ashmore. And many more upcoming projects that I’m sure ooze with awesomeness. I admit I was very nervous talking with Adam. But, he was laid back and made it very easy to have a conversation with.
Adam thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me. I know you’re a busy guy lately and I’m beside myself that you’re helping me out.
Yeah, I’ve been swamped, sleeping one or maybe two hours a night. Its killing me. I keep thinking I’m going to have a break but I’ve been going like this since ’06 now. With only one week off in eleven years, I’m about ready to take a shotgun to myself. At least I’m doing what I love doing, so I can’t complain.
Again, with all you’re doing.
I really appreciate you giving me a call. This is my first interview for Horror-Asylum and for me, chatting with you is right there at the top of the list.
Its funny, I got all the notoriety for Hatchet from horror sites that were just getting started. So, I try to bend over backwards for other people that are just getting started. I think its great, and I think its what keeps the genre alive. If you look at what Hollywood is doing with its remakes, this past decade is the lowest point of the genre that we’ve ever hit. But, the fact that there are so many real fans writing for sites and reporting about movies that a lot of people don’t know about. That is what is keeping the blood pumping. Anything I can ever do to help, I always do.
That’s awesome. It leads me into a few questions that I wrote down for you so I wouldn’t keep babbling like an idiot. You pretty much got shot to the top of the horror icons. You’re up there with those that might have been making movies longer. But you’re right up there with them with even one movie. How does that feel for you?
You know, its all perspective. In my eyes I’m still getting started and showing what I can do. I love that fans and the horror community have embraced me like that. I got a call to be invited to the Masters Dinner with Tobe Hooper, John Landis, John Carpenter. When I got that nod that I’m invited. I felt like a kid at a Fango convention. I was like, “Can I get your autograph?” So for me, I still have A LOT TO PROVE. I’ve been doing stuff outside what Hatchet defined me as. Spiral was completely different, and then Frozen, which I think is my biggest movie, is nothing like Hatchet. But, its cool and its great.
Unlike big studios with big marketing campaigns, the fans did this for me.
Hatchet didn’t have a commercial to be seen or billboards. The fans did that. That’s why when I go to conventions, I sign for hours for everybody and have a great relationship with my fans. And I really think that’s why I’m even mentioned in the same breath as some of the other guys. In my opinion, I think we should wait twenty years until we decide if I was a really good contribution or not. *laugh* Because, I think that still remains to be seen.
How about Frozen? I’m really pumped to see that Shawn Ashmore is in Frozen. He is a really a cool guy and love watching him.
He is amazing. I’m really grateful, that I’ve gotten to work with actors that really like acting. Most of them don’t. Most of them want to be famous. And, there is a big difference. When you’re an indie writer or director and you’re biting and clawing to get your chance to get something made. You don’t want someone on your set that’s not just as excited to be there as you are. Every now and then you run across someone that is just like, “Tell me what to do, tell me where to stand.” On day two of filming Hatchet, Robert Englund shows up. He has a very small part and its very straight forward. He had fifty different ideas about how he is going to wear his jacket and how he is going to do all this stuff. I didn’t know how to handle it. It was like his first time ever being in a movie. It was great, he couldn’t control himself. The PA’s where all saying, “Robert Englund is so cool, he is so nice.” That is why the guy has been in over a hundred movies, and that’s why he keeps working, because he cares about it. Shawn Ashmore is another one of those guys. He would not settle until he cried himself into the ground or he knew he really had given everything. Physically what all three of the actors went through in Frozen, there is not many people that would be able or willing to go through that. I can’t believe I was lucky enough to find three good actors willing to go through it. When you see the movie, you got to remember there is no sound stage, no green screen, and no special effects.
Everything is real in the movie. They’re really fifty feet in the air with blizzards, hailstorms, and snow. *laughs* The crew had it even worse. Its a better movie because of it, you’re watching it and its realistic. You’re thinking, “This could happen to me, and what would I do?” The actors lived through it, and they did their own stunts. But, Ashmore surely steals the movie. There is one pivotal scene at about 52 mins into the movie where you just know that this guy owns the movie. Everyone who has seen early screens of it, so far, walked out saying that. They just tested the movie and it was great. People were scared and clutching their chairs. A couple people walked out because they couldn’t take it anymore, which I think is great.
But, yeah, Ashmore is the shit and I’m franticly working to find another way to use him again as soon as possible.
Well, you got to find a way to work him into one of your horror shorts next year for Halloween.
I got all these celebrity friends now, and they all ask to be in them. We didn’t have time to do a Halloween short this year. There was just no way we where going to be able to do it. I got so much fan mail asking where is it, when are we going to do it? I said, alright we’re just going to make the stupidest thing we can do. So we shot this thing in a couple of hours, and we threw it together the next day. I thought, people are going to hate this. Its only funny to four of us. We even had legal problems with Jack Chop. We thought the phone number we used for Jack Chop was in the clear, because there was too many letters for it to be a real number. Then these f**king idiots where calling, and they shut down this business that had literally 10’s of 1000’s of phone calls and they couldn’t operate anymore. They tracked us down through the FCC and gave us a cease and desist. Then we had to remove it from the internet. We just re-launched it with a new number. But, why would you want to buy that thing anyhow? First of all the jack-o-lantern carving set is $1.99 at the store. Why would you spend $19.99 on it? Especially when you just watched the guy maim himself and its CLEARLY a joke. But, I guess I’m the idiot because I should have been selling them, and I’d be rich right now.
I think it was the free glow stick!
*LAUGHS* Yeah, now we have requests to do the Christmas Tree Chop and the Thanksgiving Chop.
With Frozen almost ready to come out. I’ve looked and looked and haven’t seen any trailers so far for the movie. Is that coming soon?
We just finished the movie about two weeks ago. There probably won’t be a trailer till around Christmas. In fact I’ll be seeing the first cut of the trailer next week. These things take a long time because of marketing and all these people have to see it. But, the movie isn’t expected to come out till Feb or March in theaters.
Now, how about Hatchet 2. I was seeing that so far, anyway, you’re only credited as the Exec Producer. Is that something that’s still in the works.
Hatchet 2 has sort of been in the air since the opening weekend of the first one. The movie was on only 80 screens when it opened, but, t did remarkably well. For instance in LA, the only movie to do better than Hatchet, was Pan’s Labyrinth. It sold out on every show in Baltimore, NY, and other cities. Then that Monday morning everyone was like, “Ok, where is the sequel?” I was doing Spiral and I said, I can’t do it. So if you want a sequel someone else will have to do it. They said, no we want you to do it and we’ll wait. Then we had Grace, and then Frozen. I just wanted to do other stuff. I didn’t want to jump right back into it. Which, a lot of people do not want to hear this.
By the time Hatchet came out. I hated it. I was so sick of it. That had been twenty years of my life. From when that thing was in my head, to writing it, to everyone telling me no. Every step of the way I got f**ked. The MPAA was destroying it for the theaters, for no good reason at all. Its such a fun harmless movie. They just came after me like I was the anti-christ. All the time I got kicked in the nuts, and told no. I was so sick of the movie and sick of fighting for it. Then it was kind of like, good riddance, good bye. Then everyone is like, SEQUEL. And, I’m like, f**k you.
*LAUGH* Now, its been two years and I’ve gone on and done some other things. Now I feel like I’ve earned it. Hatchet 2 would be my celebration of what I’ve done. I’m really down to do it. Its just a matter of if there is a way that I can be there, and Kane (Hodder) can be there. All the key people that we need. Because, everyone is doing all these other things. I know for a fact that Anchor Bay wants a sequel out by next year around this time, maybe earlier like Sept or Oct. No matter what Hatchet 2 is getting made before the summer. I just can’t say for sure what my position would be. If I’m not writing or directing it I’ll defiantly be the producer, hiring the director, and overseeing everything. I’ll be making sure they’re doing it right. Its just a tricky type of movie. With these 80’s slashers there was always the idea of lets just bring in more people and have Michael Meyers kill them, and have Jason (Vorhees) kill them. With Hatchet, there is a sense of humor about it. So nailing that tone is going to be tough. What I do really respect Anchor Bay for is they understand the people that like the first one. The fan base is extremely passionate about it, and loyal. What I love about dealing with them is that they said if you do a sequel, make a movie you want and make a movie for the fans. You don’t have to make a movie that’s really broad and tries to win over more people that didn’t like the first one. You have to respect that, because no other studio would say that. I like it, I like that they are going to let me make a sequel that is for the fans.
A lot of the movie and what you do with your shorts stick with the horror / thriller theme. Did you enjoy that growing up? What was it that made you said, “This is what I want to do?”
Yeah, its just always been what I liked. ET is my favorite movie of all time. I’m standing in my office now. Besides some ET stuff, its all morbid scary action figures and collectibles that people have given me over the years. I just always thought it was cool. It never scared me. My older brother showed me Friday the 13th Part 2. That was the first one I saw. I was never frightened, I was just blown away.
The craft behind horror films is amazing. If you watch a Judd Apatow movie you’ll have lines to quote with your friends for a few weeks. I love his movies. He is a genius. But, when you’re a horror fan, and you go to conventions. Its a whole culture and a lifestyle.
Walking around you see someone in an Evil Dead shirt and you’re just friends. It just works that way. You either get it or you don’t. For the most part, nobody tries to be a poser horror fan. Because its not cool to be a horror fan necessarily. Its cool to be a sports fan.
Its cool to go buy a Yankees’ hat. Its not cool to go wear a Killer Klowns From Outer Space shirt. But, the movie that really made me want to be a writer, was The Goonies. It was the first movie I saw where the kids actually spoke like kids. Now, Chris Columbus is attached to produce my next romantic comedy, God Only Knows. Its like seeing it all come full circle, because he is the guy that made me want to be a writer anyway. I love all of it. I ‘m very happy doing romantic comedy. If I could jump right in and do it I would. I love the stuff. A lot of horror fans don’t want to hear that. They want to hear that you’re only doing horror. What I ask people to have patience with me about, is at least the horror movies I’m doing are original. I’m keeping it alive and keeping it going. But, sometimes I need to go off and do some other things for myself.
So how is Coffee and Donuts going? Are we going to be seeing some more on that soon?
I am attached to star in the series. But, until the network announces it we are not suppose to say who its for. They seem to be going through some changes in these past few weeks. We originally thought we were going to be shooting this coming month. Now, its looking like it might start shooting next month. Which is another thing that is butting up against the Hatchet 2 thing. As of right now its still on. Its still moving forward, we’re just waiting to actually shoot the pilot. This is a sitcom that is made for guys like us. So its a really risky show. Its got exploding heads and gremlins. *laughs* Its really out there. I don’t know what people are going to think. Its cool that a network is willing to take a gamble on it and do it. The traditional sitcom is dead and I think everyone realizes that. Wouldn’t it be cool to be watching Friends with six people living together, and their lives are perfect even though they don’t really work or do anything? Wouldn’t it be cool to see what life is like after college when it doesn’t work out, and you’re stealing toilet paper from restaurants. That’s how I lived, and how I got started, and what the show is all about. Its got a lot of heart and a lot of balls, and a lot of blood. *laugh*
Are you going to be directing, writing, and acting in it?
*laughs* Yeah, I’m writing, directing, producing, and acting in it. It is a lot of hats to wear. The cool thing about this is, the network we’re doing this for has not done a union show before. Because of that, and because I’m a union writer I can’t technically write a show. I’m union, and the network that we are doing this for is not. Which means there can’t actually be a script. That’s our way around it. Its very unique. That’s why I am saying until we know that its being picked up. Nobody should really hold their breath. Because there are a million different things that could happen to this. So its written by me, but, its not written by me. If that makes sense. *laugh*
Yeah, you got a lot going on.
With your schedule so busy, and so much on your plate. If you get an hour to yourself what would you be doing for fun?
My biggest flaw, which has been a problem my whole life. When your hobby is also your work. Its just so easy to keep working. When you have a day job to pay the bills and when 5 o’clock hits and you’re done. I like doing this. If its 2 am and I’m still writing, I’m still editing, I’m going to keep going. So its kind of hard. But, I do play video games, I go to the movies and I’ll go watch anything if the place has good popcorn. I go to concerts. Metallica came through here last year and I went to that three nights in a row. I try to spend time with my fiancé as much as possible. She is very understanding, because, she is in the business as well. So she gets its. A lot of people wouldn’t understand why you come home at midnight and you go right back to work. But, I do keep hoping, and there is always the promise, that after this one there is going to be a break. We are getting married next summer and we are already saying that we are going to take the summer off. And, we’r e going to go out and travel. *laughs* But, that’s never going to happen. *laughs* I’ll be lucky if I get the day of the wedding off. Which there already is something conflicting with the date. I need to work on that.
*laughs* Thankfully she gets it. It is hard to keep up friends though. A lot of people think that cause you can’t hang out, its that you don’t want to. Its just you’re so busy. In this business you’re lucky if you can be busy. I have a lot of extremely talented friends and because of the economic state they haven’t gotten a movie shot in a couple years. I keep going, I keep overlapping and I can’t complain. Any day I could be told, this is your last one. And I don’t even know what I would do with myself. I’d be a roadie or something.
That was pretty much it for
the interview. We did talk for about another few mins about some random
things going on. Which was cool. Because, Adam is a very easy guy to talk
to. And he is really funny also. He is very grateful for his fans. All the
great things I’ve read and heard about him seem to hold very true. I
didn’t have any luck getting him to set me up with Danielle Harris though.
jk. Adam Green is an awesome guy, really. We’re all lucky as hell to have
someone like him that really cares about his fans like this. I look
forward to hopefully talking to him again some day. If you want to
check out Adam’s news, bio, upcoming and current movies, and video shorts.
Go to http://www.ariescope.com/ and you can follow him on Twitter: Adam_Fn_Green
“Thank you ever so much for taking part in this interview Adam
And we wish you the very best of luck in the future.”
