Friday the 13th Set Visit

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SuicideGirls Visits Set of Friday the 13th, Part 1

by Ryan Stewart


"Hey Jason, over here!" I yell across the outdoor cafeteria tent to a hulking, 6'5 man in gruesome deformity makeup who has just finished filling his plate at the fixins table. That's when he, Jason Voorhees, turns toward me and slowly starts walking my way. Normally, this is the part where you would run for your life, but luckily Jason doesn't do his killin' until after lunch. When I say lunch, by the way, I mean 2:30 in the morning -- Friday the 13th is on night call for nearly the entire duration of its shoot and I've been lucky enough to visit the Austin, Texas set on one of the final nights of production before everything wraps. There will be no wrap party after everything closes down, a policy on all Platinum Dunes films instituted after they realized that most of the cast members in their films wrap (read: die) long before the actual end of the shooting schedule. Instead, they do something like a "halfway done" party.

Derek Mears, the giant, imposing actor who is donning the Red Wings mask and hard plastic machete this time around -- I got to hold both! -- is surprisingly the nicest, most outgoing person I'll end up meeting the entire trip. Before sitting down with him for lunch in the cool Austin air along with a few other journalists, we've already had a chance to visit with him in his trailer and discuss the ins and outs of this film, which is set for release in February 2009 and can best be described as a tonal remake that chooses many of its plot elements and inspiration from the first three films in the Friday the 13th series. To say any more than that at this point is absolutely forbidden, as is to quote from any of the half-dozen or so extensive interviews I conducted during my trip. All of that will be coming in time, but for now I can only tease you by saying that I learned way more than I bargained for on this particular set visit and from talking to others who came on previous visits, and there's probably very little about the film that isn't known to me at this point. So, at the risk of provoking angry comments, let's get this out of the way:

• What's the plot of the film? Surprisingly, I probably know all of it except the ending, but I think all I can say is that it does take place at Camp Crystal Lake.

• Which of the actresses in the film get naked, if any? I could provide guidance on that, but I won't. But nudity is an imperative. No PG-13 nonsense here.

• What does Jason look like in the film, and does his look evolve at all? Good question -- I'm not telling.

• Do recurring characters from the previous films show up here? Pamela Voorhees? Tommy Jarvis? Past survivor girls? The ghost of Crazy Ralph? Again, all good questions.

• Could I describe any of the kills in this film? I could describe at least one in detail, yes, but I won't.

• When will we see a teaser trailer for this film? I think I'm allowed to say they are rushing to get something ready for ComicCon.

• Will there be Jason-POV shots and "ki, ki, ki, ma, ma, ma"? Hmmm ... what do you think?

• This remake draws its inspiration from the first three of the original series, you say? What does that mean? Stop asking me questions!

Here's one thing I can say now -- I've rarely been on a more collaborative, intense movie set than this one, with the cast and crew huddled around the monitors before and after each take and making creative decisions on the fly, seemingly to the betterment of the film. Director Marcus Nispel was rarely within my line of sight during my visit -- he's notoriously press shy and didn't want to be bothered -- but while he was putting his actors through the ringer I got to watch scenes unfold from a few feet away via the monitors and the cast members on hand seemed more like athletes than actors, charged up and intensely focused and ready to be called back onto the field at a moment's notice. That is, of course, when they weren't dodging darts from a Nerf-style dart gun being wielded by Derek Mears. (I eventually took one in the chest that was intended for producer Brad Fuller.)

Lead cast members on hand who I got to sit down with during the night aside from Derek Mears included Jared Padalecki, a dude who looks exactly like a Calvin Klein underwear model but who seems like a down to Earth, reasonable fellow. Then there was Danielle Panabaker, a very cute young lady who comes across as really young -- I doubt that she pre-dates Jason Takes Manhattan -- but also very much on her game and seemingly bemused about being in a Friday the 13th film. Then there was Amanda Righetti, who is a touch older and was the most generous with her time, considering that she was working the entire night. With dirt on her arms and clothes and her hair somewhat slicked back, she would continually go from the little interior set where she was filming multiple set-ups of a high-energy scene back to the little crew area in front of the monitors, where our small group of journalists had set up camp. Despite clearly being exhausted, she rallied in order to talk to us before we left for the night and was more coherent and charming than one could hope for.

Friday the 13th already wrapped its location filming around Austin, including at a local lake that's standing in for Crystal Lake, but while I was on the set I was taken around to various interior set-ups all within a few yards of each other. A set tour is always amusing because you can literally walk five feet and go from a character's living room to something completely different -- they even stack these structures on top of one another for easy access. At one point I climbed the stairs of a makeshift, Jenga-like structure that contained a couple of different sets for the film and got to hear the lowdown on each one. It's movie magic! My tour guide for the most part was producer Brad Fuller, who strikes me as one of the most genuine, passionate guys you'd ever want to meet in this business. If I had been taping everything he told us that night, I'd probably have three hours of tape and it would all be fascinating -- he never runs out of interesting stuff to say. A lot of what he had to say about Friday the 13th in particular will probably remain off-the-record until release day, but some of it I will be able to reveal in Part 2 of this set report.

As I said before, I did get to actually hold the mask at one point during the night, which was certainly a highlight for someone who grew up on the Friday the 13th films. When we sat down with the film's special effects make-up guru, he went into great detail about how he designed the mask this time around. Turns out he got hold of one of the old fiberglass masks from Friday the 13th, Part 3D and used that as his template to create a high-strength resin copy that's designed to take punishment and not be dented or cracked. Other elements of Jason's look and filming the actual kills were also discussed -- the amount of blood, the technique of coordinating a kill for maximum effect, the things he learned from maestro Tom Savini, the subtle mixture of practical and non-practical effects, and much more. Later on we also sat down with the director of photography and talked about how he approached Friday the 13th in terms of lighting and coloring, creating a mixture that works for the tone of the film and so forth. It's only when you sit down with these craftsmen that you really get an appreciation for how much time and energy they put into their work.

There's not much more I can say at this point without having the crew actually dispatch Jason to my apartment with a weed-whacker, so I will close for now by thanking everyone at Warner Bros. and Platinum Dunes for inviting me down for a really fun night in Austin. If the vibe I got on set was accurate, these people have put an enormous amount of time and energy into re-launching the Friday the 13th series with panache and style and have taken special care to cherry-pick all the best elements from the previous films and re-imagine them here. Whenever I heard people make obscure references to the earlier films in the producers' presence throughout the night, they were never thrown off their game -- they seemed to know those movies by heart and that's obviously who you want shepherding this thing. When I can say more, I shall return!

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