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Trick 'r Treat: Writer/Director Michael Dougherty
On Set in Vancouver, BC Canada
January 11th, 2007
By: Slice
It is said that Halloween is the night when the dead rise to walk among us and other unspeakable things roam free. The rituals of All Hallows Eve were devised to protect us from their evil mischief, and one small town is about to be taught a terrifying lesson that some traditions are best not forgotten. Nothing is what it seems when a suburban couple learns the dangers of blowing out a Jack-o-Lantern before midnight; four women cross paths with a costumed stalker at a local festival; a group of pranksters goes too far and discovers the horrifying truth buried in a local legend; and a cantankerous old hermit is visited by a strange trick-or-treater with a few bones to pick. Costumes and candy, ghouls and goblins, monsters and mayhem…the tricks and treats of Halloween turn deadly as strange creatures of every variety—human and otherwise—try to survive the scariest night of the year.
 BD: So you’ve had this in your mind for many years now…
MD: It’s strange because it started out as an animated film back in ’96 in a weird way. Not the storylines necessarily but the character of Sam, the little burlap sack headed guy. He started as an animated character for a short film I did in ’96 and he just wouldn’t go away. He kept showing up in drawings that I was doing and it just kept growing from there. I had these ideas for various short films and short stories and I realized that the one thing they all had in common was Halloween. So I started thinking, well how neat would it be to put them all together into one movie and I guess it was kind of my way of cheating and saying here’s look, here’s my feature film screenplay, it’s an anthology movie. But then they also started interweaving and it became one movie, just with a lot of characters whose lives start intersecting. I realized I could take this character and make him the next door neighbor of that character and make these trick-or-treaters show up at the door of this guy and so it all ended up coming together. And Sam became a character that wandered though all of their stories.
BD: Did Halloween play a big part in your life growing up?
MD: Huge. My birthday is just a couple days before it so the month of October became something to look forward to; especially the last week. A lot of times I’d have my birthday parties on Halloween. Or you know there were times when Halloween was during the middle of the week, they would make trick-or-treating on the Saturday or something before, and a lot of times that was my birthday. So my birthday parties and trick-or-treating ended up becoming the same event.
BD: Alex Garcia, one of the Producers, mentioned that in your mind, the stories represent different ages and how you experience Halloween…
MD: It’s one of those things that wasn’t intentional but I realized it as it was coming together. The first story is really just about a father and a son and introducing the son to the holiday and its traditions. The next one, it’s a group of kids who are between ages 12 and 15 and it’s when you break away from your parents and you’re walking around the town by yourself trick-or-treating. And then the next one, you’re in your twenties and the holiday becomes about nothing but partying and having sex and trying to find the hottest costume possible. The fourth one is the twilight years, when you’re old and alone and celebrating the holiday by yourself, which hopefully none of us end up like, but it’s kind of these weird four seasons of Halloween in a sense.
BD: In terms of the graphicness of this film, are you more of the type that likes to leave things to imagination or is this going to be an all out bloody, gory movie?
MD: Both, because I think it is key for any horror movie to have some graphic quality to it. Even the classic horror films that people like to point out as not being graphic or being very restrained, I think at the time they came out, did have elements that were considered graphic. Even Psycho, at the time, even though you never see the knife plunge into Janet Leigh’s body, just the fact that you’re showing blood dripping down a drain was seen as something different; something we haven’t seen before. Halloween doesn’t have a lot of blood but it’s still violent. It feels violent. So this film is not going to be as bloody and gory or torturous as a lot of the more recent horror films but still gorier than some of the restrained films that people point to. I think there’s a mix of restraint and gore and mix of horror and comedy. I like taking things that you don’t think should go together and mix them all together.
 BD: You mentioned Halloween, how much of an inspiration did it play for this film?
MD: I don’t think you can make a horror film these days and not be influenced by Halloween. Even on a subconscious level and that was one of those movies that you see as a kid and it sticks in your brain whether you realize it or not and things will pop out. And I’m a huge fan of it. When I moved to L.A., one of the first things I did was track down the houses on Orange Grove, where they’re across from each other. And then I found the Nightmare on Elm Street house which is across Sunset. And then I drove out to Pasadena where they have the Myers house. It’s got this religious following and I’m one of those followers I guess but one thing it didn’t do that I really wanted to do, was delve into the more supernatural aspects of the holiday and delve into the legends and history and lore of the holiday itself. It’s a great film; it’s a classic horror film but it just happens to take place on Halloween. I really wanted to go into why do we carve jack-o-lanterns? Why do we wear costumes? Why do we go door to door trick-or-treating? These are all things that we do, but we don’t understand how or why. So I really wanted to get into that. When you find out the reasons why, it’s kind of disturbing and cool at the same time.
BD: How has the transition into directing been for you?
MD: I think the transition was made easier by the fact that Bryan Singer always had me and my writing partner Dan Harris on set throughout X2 and throughout Superman Returns and it’s interesting to realize how much I picked up just from osmosis. In terms of preparing, interacting with the crew, knowing how to set up a shot, getting your coverage, etc. I think I’m blessed in that I’ve had Bryan to show me the ropes as well as my writing partner Dan who directed a feature film a few years ago called Imaginary Heroes. They’ve both been available to give me pointers and tips and help me out. As well as Alex Garcia; he’s been on the set of Bryan’s movies and produced his TV projects. It’s been good, but I definitely know that those two movies, Superman Returns and X2 were basically boot camp. I’d be twenty times more terrified doing this if I hadn’t been on set for 131 days on each of those two movies.
BD: Could you talk a little about the casting? Dylan Baker was saying he was your first choice for Wilkins…
MD: Yeah, I got my first choice I think in every role which was a miracle because I don’t think that ever happens. A lot of times you’ll just offer a role out to someone and you expect a pass for a lot of different reasons; either it’s their schedule or they didn’t connect with the material or they want the role but the deal falls apart. But knock on wood, I got my first choices. Anna Paquin, obviously I knew from X2. Same thing with Brian Cox. Dylan, I haven’t told him, but in essence, it was written for him. He was who I had in mind for his character as I was writing the screenplay. I wanted a mix of recognizable faces and new faces.
BD: Did the Dylan inspiration come from Happiness at all?
MD: Yeah, I’m glad you picked up on that. He’s really good at playing these characters that have a completely normal, suburban appearance. I just saw him in Fido, and it’s the same thing. He’s got this great all-American suburbanite dad quality that’s got this under-layer to him that’s kind of suspicious.
BD: In terms of the future, would you like to see this turn into a franchise?
MD: It would be nice. Something that we’re doing here is exploring how Halloween is celebrated in a very suburban setting; in a very contemporary setting. What fascinates me is how the holiday is celebrated in different locales and different time periods. It’s evolved so much over centuries that I think it would be interesting to explore other locations and time periods with Sam being the one thing that stays consistent.
 BD: I know you wouldn’t want to be typecast, but would you like to do more horror films?
MD: Horror is my first love. The superhero stuff and science fiction stuff I did with Bryan…it’s always great to have a career where you’re working on dream projects. With X-men and Superman, those were comic books and cartoons I had grown up with and it was fantastic to go play in those arenas but horror was always the first thing. Anyone who’s known me since I was a kid knows that whenever I was drawing with crayons and paper, it was always haunted houses and monsters and demons. So I was happy to have the opportunity to work in Sci-Fi and superheroes but horror is where the home is. Or home is where the horror is I guess?
BD: What other films have influenced you for this movie in terms of style and tone?
MD: American Werewolf in London, Poltergeist, The Omen, The Exorcist, it sounds weird but something like Fargo, which anything the Coen brothers do is a really great mix of drama and black comedy and that’s what I really love. With this film, it’s kind of fun every so often to step back and realize what your influences are. The Twilight Zone, both the TV series and the feature film. I grew up on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. And of course Tales from the Crypt and Creepshow.
BD: Tell me about your storyboarding process, I got to check out the concept art and it looks like its very important to your process…
MD: Vastly, hugely important. I come from animation and something you always did before doing an animated film would be drawing out your characters and backgrounds. You would do concept art and storyboards, and that process and visual development of the movie applies to live action just as much. So what I did was, I found two guys, one guy named Breehn Burns, who I worked with in New York in animation, and we’ve shared this love of not only horror films but the same kinds of horror films, the ones I mentioned. And we work really well together, so he became my right hand as far as the concept art goes. I could give him a sketch of a scene I had in mind, whether it was the scene inside of the school bus with all of the disturbed kids in the Halloween costumes or the bus sinking into the lake, or Sam without the mask and give him a rough sketch of what I wanted and he could execute it beautifully and we’re just in synch like that. He renders it all in Photoshop, but it looks like an actual painting, which I love. He referred me to a storyboard guy named Simeon Wilkins, who’s a young guy who has an amazing resume. He worked on The Ring, Monster House, he just finished Beowulf for Bob Zemeckis, and we click really well too. It’s like this weird telepathic connection where I would just give him the script, and I thought I would have to revise him a lot or give him a bunch of notes but he’ll just send in the boards a week later and they’re just perfect. Every now and then, you give some notes and stuff, but the three of us have this weird telepathic connection as far as the visual development of this movie and some other stuff that we’re talking about. But yeah, coming from animation and illustration, it’s hugely important. A lot of the scenes or moments or certain shots in the film, I can point back to some of the illustrations that I’ve done over the last ten years, or bits and pieces from the animated films I’ve done and I know that’s where the seed was planted.
BD: It seems that a lot of the memorable horror films take place in “Anytown, America”, just small Midwestern towns, what do you think is so important about that and what role does it play in Trick ‘R Treat with the “Anytown” in Ohio?
 MD: Yeah, like Nightmare on Elm Street. I think it’s something that we all have in common whether we’re living in Canada or America, every knows and is familiar with “Anytown, USA” or that suburban life. Because I think it’s something we can all relate to, stories that take place there, especially horror films, sort of hit home, literally. Those are the types of films I’ve always gravitated towards. You look at the early ‘80’s Spielberg films like E.T., Poltergeist, they’ve always had that suburban setting. I think because I grew up with movies like that, that’s what I’ve always gravitated to in terms of writing. It’s a very interesting setting because it’s something we all know but there’s something very sinister about it. It’s too perfect, the lawns are too well kept, the houses are too well painted. So you know there’s something underneath that surface and that’s something that we really explore in the movie.
BD: Why do you think comedy and horror seem to mix well together?
MD: I think it’s healthy to laugh at the things that you shouldn’t be laughing at. I think there’s a part of us that always wants to. They say comedy equals tragedy plus time, I think Mel Brooks said that or maybe he got that from someone else, but for me there’s not much time before tragedy becomes comedy. I think it helps, especially in a horror film, to have bits of comedy because it eases that tension. If it’s a constant level of fear and terror then I think you start to feel exhausted and numb and you have to lighten things up a bit before the movie grabs you again and shakes the crap out of you. I think most importantly, it’s important to go into a horror film and have a good time. Every one of my favorite movies, they have those lighter moments where you can breathe and relax before the tension starts to build again and that’s where I think black comedy is key and that’s why we have a decent mix of it. I don’t want to be labeled a black comedy, but it’s definitely got those elements in it.
BD: As you near the close of shooting, what’s been the most exciting shooting day for you?
MD: It’s hard to beat day one, only because…
BD: What did you guys shoot on day one?
MD: We shot Dylan and Bret Kelly who plays the local bully named Charlie, just having a conversation on the front porch and Charlie ends up puking until he’s dead. It was the most memorable because it was day one and I was nervous as hell, but it wasn’t necessarily a difficult scene to shoot because it’s two people sitting on a front porch talking. So it had that mix of comedy and horror because it’s this little fat kid puking all over the place. We got to play with some effects stuff, like the vomit rig which would shoot the vomit out his mouth, ten feet down the stairs. So, day one is probably going to stick out in my mind for some time to come.
 BD: Could you talk a little about the look you’re going for? In terms of color schemes, motifs, throughout the film…
MD: It’s funny because I think the film has a very cohesive feel but each story has its own unique look. Each story has its unique setting. In this one that you were watching us shoot tonight, it’s a very suburban backyard essentially. In the next one we have kids trick-or-treating door to door and they end up at this haunted abandoned rock quarry with tons and tons of fog and shadow. The next one takes place at a Halloween parade/festival so there’s a much brighter, warmer feel to it. The final story, with Brian Cox, takes place in this rickety, old, archetypal abandoned house. It’s hard for me to put a label on it but some people from outside of production or at the studio have said it feels like Norman Rockwell meets Stephen King. Again, it’s that all-American suburban setting that we all know and love, then you add a few drops of blood and it all starts to feel just a little bit odd. We’ve done so much visual development with Simeon and Breehn that the film, we’re hoping, has a very unique visual feel to it. Something that I’ve always been into is horror films that essentially look beautiful. You know, they’re not all dark, corroded, rusty, but there’s something pleasant to look at between all of the dismemberment and decapitation.
BD: Anything you want to add? What do you want the people to know about the world of Trick ‘R Treat?
MD: I’m just trying to create a horror film that I think hearkens back to the horror films that we all know and love and grew up with. I keep pointing to the early to mid ‘80’s when we had Nightmare on Elm Street and Poltergeist and Creepshow and things like that, that to me are terrifying horror films but also fun and funny. I miss those, a lot. So it hearkens back to those movies and hopefully just trying to bring those back. It’s not a slasher film, it’s not a torture-horror film. I love those kinds of movies as well, but I feel like we’ve been missing out on a sub-genre of horror in the past eight years that I’d like to see again.
OTHER FEATURES:
Full Set Report
Interview with Star Dylan Baker
Interview with Production Designer Mark Freeborn
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