Editorials
Set Report: ‘Drive Angry’ Part 2: Fasten Your Seatbelt!
In the second part of our visit to the set of Patrick Lussier’s Drive Angry 3D in Shreveport, Louisiana, B-D reporter Chris Eggertsen talks with “living Barbie doll” Amber Heard, a Satanic Billy Burke (180 degrees out from his character in Twilight), director Patrick Lussier (dishing on the film’s gore quotient), and lead actor Nicolas Cage, who gives a little more insight on the supernatural origins of his vengeful character. Read on for all the sacrilegious fun.
“Yeah, well I read the script and they said that…when I read it my eye was going to be shot out and I remember on a movie called ‘Season of the Witch’ I wanted them to shoot my eye out with an arrow. And the producers didn’t go for that, so when it was handed to me in this movie that they were going to shoot my eye out with a gun I thought, ‘yeah I’m going to make that movie.” — Actor Nicolas Cage
Truth be told, I felt like I’d just wandered onto the set of a Whitesnake video as we were chatting it up with the actress, who played up her considerable sex appeal in fully transparent, over-the-top fashion as she batted her eyes at the assembled (all-male) group of journalists and tossed her hair around like she was at a photo shoot for Maxim magazine. All that was missing, really, was a giant wind machine and some sexy lingerie and she’d be all set. Her charms were lost on me for obvious reasons, but by the end of the short interview I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t seen at least one of my fellow reporters drooling slightly at the sight of her flowing blonde locks, flawless features, and coy, Crest-white smile.
“I play Piper. She’s this bad-mouthed, chain-smoking kind of vigilante of the movie“, said the actress, dressed in a black jacket, boots and tight-fitting jeans. “She’s a diner waitress. She’s got a lot of spirit and a lot of spunk. A lot of balls, I guess you could say. Milton sees her – the guy who’s played by Nic Cage – and they become fast friends and form a bond and partake on this kind of supernatural evil-fighting journey together and kind of become teammates.“
Needless to say, the ass-kicking Piper – who Cage’s character first encounters as she’s teaching her chauvinist boss at the diner a very painful lesson – isn’t your typical passive female action-movie character, meaning Heard got to engage in all manner of physical mayhem during the shoot.
“I have a lot of fight scenes“, she said. “I have a lot of stunts in this movie. They’ve been letting me do a lot of them. Surprisingly, they’ve let me do quite a bit of stuff on this. I fall from the trailer onto the hood of the Charger. We have a lot of gunfights and things fall on me. I’m doing a lot of physicality.”
Like Cage and Fichtner’s characters, there’s a seemingly mysterious element to Piper in that we aren’t exactly sure what her true agenda is until later in the film. “I think the motivation becomes clear in the movie, but I don’t want to give it away“, teased Heard. “Because, after a few minutes of getting to know these characters in the film and them getting to know one another and knowing Milton’s back-story – which, you know, is the most important element of the film – after all that comes into play, then you know why Piper does what she does.”
Slinking up next was Billy Burke, dressed in a burgundy open-collared shirt, the aforementioned black leather pants, and long manicured nails the actor grew out specifically to play his evil character. For those of you who only know him as the square dad from Twilight, Burke’s oily, clean-shaven, glammed up appearance here was, shall we say, 180 degrees out from the role that has made him famous with an army of screaming tween girls.
“That’s what we were mildly going for“, said the too-cool-for-school Burke, intermittently drawing on a cigarette held between his long fingers and speaking in an oily voice that gave one the impression he’d gone all Method for the cult-leader character. “A little cross between Jim Jones, Jim Morrison, and maybe a little bit of Tony Robbins…He’s got a vision. He’s got a vision and he feels right. And there’s nothing – as one of the lines in the movie says – there’s nothing more dangerous than a righteous man with an idea.”
The actor gave us a little more insight into the background between him and Nic Cage’s characters, which began when Cage’s daughter joined Jonah’s cult. “She was sort of my muse, my focus“, said Burke about the relationship. “And I took her in, and once I realized what I could get from her and what she could do for me, I started to use her for…basically started to focus on her for what I could really do, and that is produce a baby from her and use that baby to, well, in his mind, bring on a new world order.”
In case you were wondering, by using the baby he really means sacrificing, a disturbing notion which gave the actor – who listened to some of the old Jonestown tapes to prepare for the role – pause before taking on the part. Ultimately, it was the over-the-top nature of the project that sold him on playing the character. “I thought about it for a second“, he said. “ I’ve got a daughter who is almost two years old right now who is about the age of the baby in the movie that we’re about to do nefarious things to. I did think about it for a second, but then I thought, you know, it’s just a movie. And within this movie, you need to…with all the things that are going so over the top and the places that we go to in this movie, you need somebody who is going to go that extra mile in badness. And once I figured out what we were doing and how I could do that, I said, ‘Fuck it. Let’s do it.’”
Since it’s often hard to get directors during a set visit, particularly if it’s a hectic day of action-heavy shooting, we were lucky when Patrick Lussier – a longtime editor for Wes Craven who became a name horror director himself following the success of his My Bloody Valentine last year – stopped by our picnic bench for a quick chat. Unsurprisingly, the conversation quickly veered to the subject of 3-D filmmaking.
“You definitely use it as a tool to tell the story“, Lussier said of the format, which he has clearly put a lot of thought into in the scheme of this project (as opposed to a post-conversion film where 3-D is merely an afterthought to milk a few extra bucks). “You look for things when you set up your shots that are depth related…just shooting through the windshield of a car and there’s a point where Nic’s character has to kick out a windshield and everything like that so you see him whipping down the highway. You see the big long hood of the Charger. You see him inside [the car], the wind blowing him, the back and the depth behind him, all the cars spiraling out of control behind.“
Luckily for the director, shooting in 3-D – which he claims isn’t much slower than shooting with regular cameras – has become an easier process since Valentine, particularly due to sensors on the newer-model cameras that allow him to shoot in with a lot less light. “The thing that slowed us down on ‘Valentine’ all the time was the amount of lights we had to use. It wasn’t the 3-D, it was the fact that we had to use massive lights everywhere we went. And of course we were doing it underground in a real mine…we don’t have any of those issues here.“
Those who enjoyed My Bloody Valentine‘s penchant for heaps of gratuitous gore can expect more of the same here; although on the question of the MPAA Lussier didn’t seem all that concerned. Not surprising, considering the amount of the time he’s spent in the editing bay with Craven, who isn’t exactly known for shying away from showing bloody entrails and gaping wounds. Not to mention that the MPAA is notoriously more concerned with sex than it is with depictions of bloody mayhem.
“Having walked down the road with the MPAA many times…we have protected ourselves in certain ways“, said the director. “There are things [in ‘Drive Angry’] that are extreme. A lot of them are extreme in tone. A lot of it is, when dealing with the MPAA, is about presentation. Certainly with ‘Valentine’ that was a very tricky and intriguing process to land where we landed, and what their main objectives were in that film were quite intriguing which are all related to [the sexual content]. You know, I think we said that the only gore trim we made in that film was 9 frames with the pick ax coming through Kevin Tighe’s head. Other than that, we cut 2 minutes of the sexy. And we also showed them the version that was 2 minutes longer than we wanted“.
“[‘Drive Angry’ is] a very different kind of story so it’s not about ripping people’s jaws off and things like that. It’s not a horror movie. You know, it’s much more of an action thriller. So by virtue of that there are extreme violence things. A lot of them though [are] gun violence and things like that. There’s a lot more of that kind of thing than some of the mayhem we got up to in ‘Valentine’.”
Of course, that’s not to say there aren’t moments in the film that push the envelope; Lussier recounted for us a conversation he had with his wife regarding the script, and her rather horrified reaction to the scene [one involving Billy Burke’s character that takes place earlier in the film] he was describing. “[She was] just like, ‘oh my god, how did you shoot that?’…it was sort of mortifying to realize ‘oh my God, this is what we’re actually doing.’ But it gives justification for Nic’s character’s journey.“
As for Nicolas Cage, Lussier couldn’t have found a more enthusiastic actor to dramatize the journey of his tortured hero – maybe more bad than good, but the best the audience is likely to get in the fucked-up world the character inhabits. “He’s the only actor we talked to to play Milton. We went and met with him and within 23 minutes he was just like, ‘I have to play this part. I am this guy. I’ve never played anything like this…I’ve never played anything as hard as this, as edgy as this, as relentless as this and I want to play this part.’ And so we were all sold together and that’s what he brings. He brings an undeniable passion and enthusiasm for not just the film but for the era of the films it plays homage to. For the sort of the idea of a very hard guy doing a very noble thing even though he’s basically a bad guy, which he loved. He loved that sort of that duality. And that’s in a lot of the characters [in the film]. There’s a sort of dual nature to the characters.“
Speaking of Cage, he was, perhaps appropriately, our final interview of the night. After some waiting – including one false alarm in which he was called back to set just as his car pulled up to our roosting area at the picnic bench – he finally had the chance to sit down and talk, in his own esoteric way, about his role in the film. Dressed in the “redneck action hero” attire of his character and sporting long blonde hair (Cage originally wanted to shave his head and cover it in a wraparound tattoo before that idea was vetoed) that didn’t appear to have been washed for the past several days, Cage was friendly, thoughtful, and prone to speaking indirectly, almost poetically, about the process of making the movie. If you weren’t already aware of the actor’s rather unusual public persona, this quote, his answer to a query about jumping onto the project immediately after reading the script, should give you a better idea:
“Yeah, well I read the script and they said that…when I read it my eye was going to be shot out and I remember on a movie called ‘Season of the Witch’ I wanted them to shoot my eye out with an arrow. And the producers didn’t go for that, so when it was handed to me in this movie that they were going to shoot my eye out with a gun I thought, ‘yeah I’m going to make that movie.’”
By the way, he said that with a completely straight face.
Cage also more than hinted at Milton’s Hellish origins during our talk (which we weren’t supposed to know about at the time), during which I could just feel the on-set publicist breaking out into a cold sweat.
“He’s not really a…it’s more like a force from another dimension“, he told us as he sat at the head of the picnic table with the stillness of a yogi master. “It’s almost like karma on some level…almost more than human, like a ghost on a vengeance tear. Like karma. I see him as a protector of children. When something horrific is about to happen to children, he is awakened from the abyss and I like characters that have supernatural aspects to them because I feel like you can do more with them. There’s an infinite number of possibilities when you’re dealing with the infinite.“
And, later: “You know, Milton to me…I’ll talk very little about it because I want you to have your own relationship with it… but I think it’s almost like he doesn’t really fit into the physics of normal human emotion. I would think a little more like ‘High Plains Drifter’ [the Clint Eastwood movie from 1973] that way where you’re not exactly sure where he’s at. It’s not just straight-up anger so much. He’s coming from another dimension that’s not of this earth.”
I didn’t expect Cage – a “serious” actor, if you will – to be as enthusiastic as he was about 3-D, something I imagine many top-level thesps see as more of a nuisance than a creative opportunity. But he was. And while I’m not a fan of the format personally, it was still refreshing to hear him speak about 3-D so deferentially instead of turning up his nose at it.
“There’s so many different sides to this one because it is a car movie but it also has the action of an old Charles Bronson movie and then you add the supernatural component to it and on top of that you have 3-D, so it’s not like anything else that I’ve done before or really seen before“, he said. “I’m very excited about what can emerge from this. I’m trying to mess with the format – meaning like what can I do with 3-D as a film actor? How can I move differently, or I was talking about sticking my tongue out and seeing it go into the fourth row of the audience and if there’s anything I can do to play with the format.”
The actor, who we only got for about five minutes before he was rushed back to the set, was also able to perform most, if not all, of his own driving stunts in the film. “I worked with [second-unit director] Johnny Martin before on ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’, so he knew what I was capable of doing and he was very comfortable with me driving in the cars, so it was just a natural flow that happened and it didn’t take a lot of thought or a lot of rehearsing.”
Just as quickly as he came he was gone, and after a final trip to the auditorium to gather up our things we were on a shuttle headed back to the hotel. I’d like to say I went out to soak in some local color after a long evening on set, but not only was it already 2 or 3 in the morning by that point, I was also in Shreveport – great for a 45-year-old alcoholic with a gambling problem, not so much for me. Nitey nite.
College kids, strippers and vampires—those were Donald P. Borchers’ only requirements when he approached Richard Wenk about writing and directing a movie for New World Pictures. As requested, Wenk cooked up Vamp (1986), a tailor-made blend of the decade’s teen movie craze as well as its horror boom.
Grim and earnest stories were still very much a part of the ’80s horror landscape, yet Vamp is something of a comedy. One difference between it and, say, Saturday the 14th, though, is the former avoids using schtick. Wenk’s movie proves that horror comedies also don’t have to subtract thrills from their recipes. Of course, it takes a minute before reaching that point; college antics and culture shocks preface this one macabre misadventure.
Vamp‘s initial setup is apt for a typical college-set, sex-driven comedy; to bribe their way into a fraternity house, two pledges (Chris Makepeace, Robert Rusler) go looking for some adult entertainment. Without wasting time on any further exposition, the characters embark on an all-in-one-night trip that quickly detours into terror.
To procure their elusive MacGuffin—a stripper willing to gyrate for some frat boys—Keith (Makepeace) and AJ (Rusler), plus a third wheel named Duncan (Gedee Watanabe), trade the safety of their remote college campus for the seediness of some unnamed city. The setting is recognizably L.A. by day, but as soon as night falls, downtown, along with the characters, slips into a kind of surreal universe. Director of photography Elliot Davis gave this early entry on his prolific résumé an unusual yet distinctive look; that Mario Bava-esque, magenta-green lighting is omnipresent, so much so that it’s almost its own character.
Chris Makepeace and Robert Rusler in Vamp
The faint comparisons to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours are merited, although not just because of Vamp’s distinguishing nighttime aesthetic. Save for the primary characters, the supporting roles in Wenk’s movie are also quite colorful and transactional in their behavior. The difference here, though, is the additional urge to ruin Keith and his friends at every turn. Some of that harm is humorous and tolerable enough, whereas the moment Vamp dishes out its first fatality, it’s abundantly clear how this movie qualifies as horror.
Vamp falls into that category of horror movie that reveals its genre with a scream rather than a series of whispers. The opening scene can function as a hint of what lies ahead—things are not at all what they appear to be—but otherwise, Wenk is more than happy to hold off on the horror. When that time does come, though, it catches the viewer off guard. In addition to the pure shock value is that sudden decision to upend the movie’s foremost feature. Or so it would seem.
If afraid of major spoilage, those new to Vamp would be wise to stop reading here. There’s just no skirting around the fact that the central fellowship in this buddy movie hits a serious snag when AJ is killed. That development causes the story to become more of a “long, bad night” journey for Keith and his romantic interest. So while Wenk scores points for subverting expectations, there is also a touch of sadness in his decision. Because if Vamp does anything well, it’s making the characters likable.
Something that comes easily to Vamp—and other teen horror movies from this same era—is its ability to invent young characters worth caring about, or at the very least, are interesting and not so immediately off-putting. More impressive is how Wenk did all this without actually fleshing out those characters. Still and all, Keith and his kind are a grade above cookie-cutter, and in some cases, aren’t completely devoid of growth.
Grace Jones in Vamp
Vamp appeals with an assorted cast of characters. No two are the same, nor are they operating on the same wavelength. The cinematically extroverted AJ, whose actor conveyed charm and vulnerability in near equal amounts, comes alive when he’s at his most undead. Makepeace then makes the chronically cautious Keith a sympathetic fellow, even as he’s more and more affected by the night’s bizarre events. Meanwhile, Duncan is indeed the designated loser of the whole bunch, but Watanabe still manages to humanize him. As a bonus, the role didn’t require him to pull a Long Duk Dong.
As for Dedee Pfeiffer, she is plain adorable as the mysterious After Dark server nicknamed “Amaretto”. She spends all night fixing her dress strap while at the same time trying to get Keith to remember how he knows her. As their offbeat romance grows, it becomes another highlight of this movie. Whether or not Pfeiffer’s character is really a vampire also creates some welcome tension in the story.
Like a lot of its contemporaries, Vamp went on to become a bit of a cult classic. That current status is determined by several factors, but without a doubt, the casting of Grace Jones is the most considerable. The image of her writhing on that unique-looking chair, a Keith Haring original, springs to mind whenever this movie is brought up.
Chris Makepeace, Billy Drago and Paunita Nichols in Vamp
Prior to that first display of unequivocal horror, local vampire queen Katrina (Jones) took to the stage and delivered a strip show like no other. One would expect nothing less from that renowned model and performance artist. By now reports of Jones’ tardiness on set are no secret, yet it’s also hard to deny her commitment to the part of Katrina. It was, in fact, Jones who took charge of her character’s appearance—on top of Haring painting her body and that now-iconic chair, she had Andy Warhol handle her costuming. And not too many actors could seize a room’s attention without saying a single line of dialogue.
In 2022, Vamp received a retrospective novelization from Encyclopocalypse. This literary union of preexisting source material—Wenk’s original screenplay—and new ideas from author Christian Francis amounts to a more comprehensive visit to the After Dark Club. The basic story there is no different than what’s shown on screen; however, Francis gets creative with the characters’ origins and designs, and he enhances a number of key scenes.
The novelization expands on the urban and social decay of the main setting, and supplies a background for the After Dark Club. Sandy Baron’s character, Katrina’s emcee and familiar, is given ample motivation for sticking around; up until the fiery end, he is loyal to his friend and former business partner “Squeak”, who looks like he was “fed through a combine harvester, and left as nothing more than a heap of mangled remains”. Then there is Billy Drago’s character Snow, the leader of a street gang called The Dragons. His reason for menacing Keith and AJ is more altruistic than in the movie; he and his peers act tough to scare off any potential food for the vampires.
Lisa Lyon in Vamp
If not for all the backstories, Francis’ Vamp would be a hell of a lot shorter. Instead, this tie-in read dives into how AJ met Keith—the orphaned Anthony Joseph hailed from a broken home back in Brooklyn—and how their friendship flourished over the years. Keith’s archership is no longer just an assumed part of his entire being; it’s a confidence-building extracurricular for a boy who got picked on before coming into the protection of the new kid in town. These supplemental, in-depth looks at the protagonists, plus their close connection, are maybe unnecessary. The movie already did a fair and concise job of addressing their platonic intimacy without the need for flashbacks and insights, specifically in that scene where AJ lays it all out as he sacrifices himself.
Where the novelization gets off course is its approach to the minor characters. Intermittently backstorying the likes of Katrina’s indentured servants, Seko (Leila Hee Olsen) and Vlad (Brad Logan), ends up disturbing the flow of the writing. Was it absolutely essential that readers know Vlad was the Grand Duke of the House of Romanov, or how Snow’s accomplice Maven (Paunita Nichols) became so dentally challenged? No, not really. However, one’s mileage with these random biographies may vary.
The novelization is a more substantial experience, but for a movie like Vamp, less is more. And as plentiful as they are, it never simply coasts on its campy charms, either. The character work sits comfortably in that realm between cursory and meticulous, the script is sharper than first realized, and Greg Cannom’s vampire makeup is straightforward yet effective. Most of all, the movie didn’t squander its out-of-the-box concept. Richard Wenk made his vision of a “comic nightmare in which just about anything that can go wrong does” come true, and it is very enjoyable.
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