The horror flick, The Descent, was quite the revelation when it came out in America. I had already seen the UK version a couple of times before it was released into US theatres with a shitty ending. Luckily Lionsgate has included the original good ending on its new unrated DVD. Besides The Descent confirming the talent of writer/director Neil Marshall it also introduced American audiences to the abilities of Shauna Macdonald. Macdonald played the grieving mother who decides to go on a caving trip with five of her girlfriends. After getting lost in an uncharted cave they encounter an entire race of killer underground dwellers.
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Daniel Robert Epstein: I read that you were at first wary of doing a film about six females.
Shauna Macdonald: I was wary because I hadnt met Neil [Marshall] when I read the script. I had seen [Marshalls debut film] Dog Soldiers so I was wary only in the sense that I didnt know how he was going to handle females. He makes men look really tough and hard. I just hoped we were not going to be in white t-shirts that get wet and we wont be wearing a bra while we run and are scared. All that nonsense. Even horror films that have a lot of kickass females in it still have stereotypical stuff in them. I think it is boring to portray girls like that especially a group of six girls. I thought, Well Ill meet Neil. Ive seen Dog Soldiers so I know hes a really good filmmaker. Lets just see what ideas he has for the film. After meeting Neil my fears were dashed fairly quickly.
DRE: I interviewed Neil for the US theatrical release and he said that even when you guys teamed up on him he still won all the arguments. I suppose thats because hes the director.
SM: Thats only because hes the director. He only won the arguments on the set. He didnt win all the arguments from when we would all go out together. Neil is a lovely guy and were still very much in contact. He obviously handles a gaggle of girls very well and were not girlie girls. We would tease the boys and give them a hard time if there was an opportunity for laughs because were quite cruel like that. But Neil holds his own well.
DRE: He also told me that all the womens periods were in sync.
SM: I dont know how he would know that, thats all Im saying.
DRE: [laughs] I read that the appearance of the creatures was kept secret from the cast members until you encountered them in the film, is that true?
SM: Yeah, thats true. It was great because we had no idea what they were capable of. All these fight sequences were written so we knew it was going to be somewhat improvised on the day so we didnt really know what we were in for when it came to fighting these men. That was great because when we did see they were really frightening. They didnt look like human beings at all. So points to Neil on that one, it was a very wise decision.
DRE: So what you did on camera the first time you saw the monsters is your real reaction.
SM: Yeah and my character sees the monsters before the other characters. It was brilliant because when you see something so far in the distance that it intrigues you. Youre trying to figure out what it is and why its white and slimy. But when the other girls got to see it for the first time, the camera was on them, the crawler appears behind Beths shoulder and it affects the other girls reactions. They screamed and ran off set so we couldnt use that particular shot but I think Neil knew that it wouldnt work to try to capture the reaction of five girls in one shot. I think the whole idea was to create suspense and fear amongst the group. Also since we got to film it chronologically we didnt actually see the crawlers until about week three or four of filming.
DRE: This was obviously a very emotional role for you because you have to constantly think of what happened to your son, was that very trying?
SM: Yeah it was but we filmed it chronologically which was helpful. I didnt have to go through the technicality of figuring out what you had done before. Since it was chronological I got to track my emotional spiral. Theres things that set you off and make you go deeper into yourself and make you more upset or make you angrier or whatever the emotion is that youre portraying. So Neil and I worked on those times. The whole point for this film was to have realistic people in an unrealistic situation and I think we achieved that. The reason it has done well is because the audience believes were real and they want us to survive and are deeply distressed when we die.
DRE: I found your resume online and I read that the sports you are good at are swimming, karate and fencing. Did those things help out when you were training?
SM: I really have got to change that. I run marathons and triathlons so Im pretty physically fit but in terms of the martial arts, that doesnt really exist anymore. At the point when I was doing that I was quite young. But I think being super fit helped and we had a bit of climbing training and Ive kept on climbing since then. I love doing anything that really pushes me physically so it was great to take that hobby of being really physical into my work as well. There are not a lot of parts where you get to push yourself physically and mentally. If a part is like that then it is usually for a male.
DRE: The fact that theres pretty much an all female cast in The Descent gives the movie a bit of a feminist bent. Do you feel that is true?
SM: No because we dont stand by each other. Feminists are supposed to stand by one another but we run away from each other. We just think about ourselves. So while I want people to say that its feminine because were kickass but a lot of people are kickass when theyre trying to survive. I think its an anti-female movie because Juno [played by Natalie Jackson Mendoza] leaves her friend for dead. So really it is only feminine in that were showing these women to be physically strong but emotionally theyre not.
DRE: Thats true, you guys are horrible to each other [laughs].
SM: Exactly, we hold grudges.
DRE: But who doesnt?
SM: [laughs] It is interesting because Dog Soldiers has a group of six men who were all very much united and fighting together against a common foe. Neil wanted to explore a similar experience similar with the opposite sex. Instead of uniting together, all the cracks appeared and we just tried to fight for our own way out. Its quite weird that people come back and say, Oh its a very feminine film because if you really watch it and follow the journeys of the characters, its not. I wouldnt want to go caving with those girls.
DRE: [laughs] No and they seem foolhardy as well.
SM: Oh yes. When I do all these activities it is with super fit, strong females so I think its normal for women to be able to really want to explore and experience dangerous situations like climbing up a mountain or pushing yourself at the extremes like doing a marathon. In sports and stuff people always check out the men because they are faster and stronger. But I think thats all rubbish.
DRE: Neil didnt seem to love the ending that was on the American version. Which ending do you prefer?
SM: I prefer the British ending. Thats the one that we fell in love with and we managed to shoot that on the very last day of filming. It rounded everything up very nicely. The artisticness of the last shot in the film makes you feel a bit distressed. I understand that they did a lot of screen tests and talked to a lot of people and they agonizingly came to the decision to put the other one on for the American release. I think we tend to patronize the Americans. I dont think we need to have a happier ending. I think it would be nice to see something a bit more distressing.
DRE: Would you be interested in a Descent sequel?
SM: If it was a good script and if I thought that the story was worth telling, then yeah. If it was a rubbish story, then no.
DRE: Since you had such a great part in The Descent and the film was so popular it seems like you might get other good, strong roles.
SM: Yeah, I just finished filming a drama for television that was written by Irvine Welsh, called Wedding Belles. I didnt see anything particularly strong in that role. She ended up basically turning to crack cocaine because she is stressed over the death of her fianc so she tries to kill herself. Its all very bleak. But I suppose professionally what The Descent did for me was that it took me, who looks fairly innocent and fragile, and it put me in a role that showed lots of different colors of my abilities so now Im getting a lot of characters that are deranged [laughs]. Im getting more of scripts that say She goes mental and shoots everybody in the head. But Im also getting scripts that have a huge emotional capacity and scripts that are horror related. So before The Descent I wouldnt have gotten those scripts so it has been great.
DRE: I read you also play a musical instrument.
SM: Does it say the French horn and the piano?
DRE: Yeah.
SM: I really have to change that. That was a long time ago [laughs].
DRE: Youve had some great success in the UK including The Descent. Some actors can work in the UK and have great, long and very well respected careers but are you looking to break into the American market?
SM: I think thats important to me because in America you give people opportunities to become stars. I dont want to be famous but I want to be able to have major roles in feature films. Youve got more scripts, youve got more people, your industry is bigger. So I would definitely want to but Im not so hungry to be famous. If I got lots and lots of work in Britain on great films then that is fantastic but usually you do really well in Britain then you see what they can do with you over in America. I dont think I would like to come to America without any hope of anything happening. Theres a horrible desperation out in LA and I dont think I want to do that to myself. Things are going well here.
DRE: Would you do another horror movie if it was a good script?
SM: I would do it if it was a completely different character. But if the characters are very similar then I wouldnt bother because its just blood and gore and then at the end Id be horror girl and thats not what I want to be.
DRE: Have you met the other Shauna MacDonald?
SM: I keep Googling her. I think weve got to meet and discuss this because the only difference is the spelling of MacDonald. Shes got a big D and Ive got a small D. But on the internet our jobs are mixed up so shes got some of my work and Ive got some of her work. I thought she would quietly disappear but she keeps going. When we meet Ill say, Listen, back off.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy the DVD of The Descent
Daniel Robert Epstein: I read that you were at first wary of doing a film about six females.
Shauna Macdonald: I was wary because I hadnt met Neil [Marshall] when I read the script. I had seen [Marshalls debut film] Dog Soldiers so I was wary only in the sense that I didnt know how he was going to handle females. He makes men look really tough and hard. I just hoped we were not going to be in white t-shirts that get wet and we wont be wearing a bra while we run and are scared. All that nonsense. Even horror films that have a lot of kickass females in it still have stereotypical stuff in them. I think it is boring to portray girls like that especially a group of six girls. I thought, Well Ill meet Neil. Ive seen Dog Soldiers so I know hes a really good filmmaker. Lets just see what ideas he has for the film. After meeting Neil my fears were dashed fairly quickly.
DRE: I interviewed Neil for the US theatrical release and he said that even when you guys teamed up on him he still won all the arguments. I suppose thats because hes the director.
SM: Thats only because hes the director. He only won the arguments on the set. He didnt win all the arguments from when we would all go out together. Neil is a lovely guy and were still very much in contact. He obviously handles a gaggle of girls very well and were not girlie girls. We would tease the boys and give them a hard time if there was an opportunity for laughs because were quite cruel like that. But Neil holds his own well.
DRE: He also told me that all the womens periods were in sync.
SM: I dont know how he would know that, thats all Im saying.
DRE: [laughs] I read that the appearance of the creatures was kept secret from the cast members until you encountered them in the film, is that true?
SM: Yeah, thats true. It was great because we had no idea what they were capable of. All these fight sequences were written so we knew it was going to be somewhat improvised on the day so we didnt really know what we were in for when it came to fighting these men. That was great because when we did see they were really frightening. They didnt look like human beings at all. So points to Neil on that one, it was a very wise decision.
DRE: So what you did on camera the first time you saw the monsters is your real reaction.
SM: Yeah and my character sees the monsters before the other characters. It was brilliant because when you see something so far in the distance that it intrigues you. Youre trying to figure out what it is and why its white and slimy. But when the other girls got to see it for the first time, the camera was on them, the crawler appears behind Beths shoulder and it affects the other girls reactions. They screamed and ran off set so we couldnt use that particular shot but I think Neil knew that it wouldnt work to try to capture the reaction of five girls in one shot. I think the whole idea was to create suspense and fear amongst the group. Also since we got to film it chronologically we didnt actually see the crawlers until about week three or four of filming.
DRE: This was obviously a very emotional role for you because you have to constantly think of what happened to your son, was that very trying?
SM: Yeah it was but we filmed it chronologically which was helpful. I didnt have to go through the technicality of figuring out what you had done before. Since it was chronological I got to track my emotional spiral. Theres things that set you off and make you go deeper into yourself and make you more upset or make you angrier or whatever the emotion is that youre portraying. So Neil and I worked on those times. The whole point for this film was to have realistic people in an unrealistic situation and I think we achieved that. The reason it has done well is because the audience believes were real and they want us to survive and are deeply distressed when we die.
DRE: I found your resume online and I read that the sports you are good at are swimming, karate and fencing. Did those things help out when you were training?
SM: I really have got to change that. I run marathons and triathlons so Im pretty physically fit but in terms of the martial arts, that doesnt really exist anymore. At the point when I was doing that I was quite young. But I think being super fit helped and we had a bit of climbing training and Ive kept on climbing since then. I love doing anything that really pushes me physically so it was great to take that hobby of being really physical into my work as well. There are not a lot of parts where you get to push yourself physically and mentally. If a part is like that then it is usually for a male.
DRE: The fact that theres pretty much an all female cast in The Descent gives the movie a bit of a feminist bent. Do you feel that is true?
SM: No because we dont stand by each other. Feminists are supposed to stand by one another but we run away from each other. We just think about ourselves. So while I want people to say that its feminine because were kickass but a lot of people are kickass when theyre trying to survive. I think its an anti-female movie because Juno [played by Natalie Jackson Mendoza] leaves her friend for dead. So really it is only feminine in that were showing these women to be physically strong but emotionally theyre not.
DRE: Thats true, you guys are horrible to each other [laughs].
SM: Exactly, we hold grudges.
DRE: But who doesnt?
SM: [laughs] It is interesting because Dog Soldiers has a group of six men who were all very much united and fighting together against a common foe. Neil wanted to explore a similar experience similar with the opposite sex. Instead of uniting together, all the cracks appeared and we just tried to fight for our own way out. Its quite weird that people come back and say, Oh its a very feminine film because if you really watch it and follow the journeys of the characters, its not. I wouldnt want to go caving with those girls.
DRE: [laughs] No and they seem foolhardy as well.
SM: Oh yes. When I do all these activities it is with super fit, strong females so I think its normal for women to be able to really want to explore and experience dangerous situations like climbing up a mountain or pushing yourself at the extremes like doing a marathon. In sports and stuff people always check out the men because they are faster and stronger. But I think thats all rubbish.
DRE: Neil didnt seem to love the ending that was on the American version. Which ending do you prefer?
SM: I prefer the British ending. Thats the one that we fell in love with and we managed to shoot that on the very last day of filming. It rounded everything up very nicely. The artisticness of the last shot in the film makes you feel a bit distressed. I understand that they did a lot of screen tests and talked to a lot of people and they agonizingly came to the decision to put the other one on for the American release. I think we tend to patronize the Americans. I dont think we need to have a happier ending. I think it would be nice to see something a bit more distressing.
DRE: Would you be interested in a Descent sequel?
SM: If it was a good script and if I thought that the story was worth telling, then yeah. If it was a rubbish story, then no.
DRE: Since you had such a great part in The Descent and the film was so popular it seems like you might get other good, strong roles.
SM: Yeah, I just finished filming a drama for television that was written by Irvine Welsh, called Wedding Belles. I didnt see anything particularly strong in that role. She ended up basically turning to crack cocaine because she is stressed over the death of her fianc so she tries to kill herself. Its all very bleak. But I suppose professionally what The Descent did for me was that it took me, who looks fairly innocent and fragile, and it put me in a role that showed lots of different colors of my abilities so now Im getting a lot of characters that are deranged [laughs]. Im getting more of scripts that say She goes mental and shoots everybody in the head. But Im also getting scripts that have a huge emotional capacity and scripts that are horror related. So before The Descent I wouldnt have gotten those scripts so it has been great.
DRE: I read you also play a musical instrument.
SM: Does it say the French horn and the piano?
DRE: Yeah.
SM: I really have to change that. That was a long time ago [laughs].
DRE: Youve had some great success in the UK including The Descent. Some actors can work in the UK and have great, long and very well respected careers but are you looking to break into the American market?
SM: I think thats important to me because in America you give people opportunities to become stars. I dont want to be famous but I want to be able to have major roles in feature films. Youve got more scripts, youve got more people, your industry is bigger. So I would definitely want to but Im not so hungry to be famous. If I got lots and lots of work in Britain on great films then that is fantastic but usually you do really well in Britain then you see what they can do with you over in America. I dont think I would like to come to America without any hope of anything happening. Theres a horrible desperation out in LA and I dont think I want to do that to myself. Things are going well here.
DRE: Would you do another horror movie if it was a good script?
SM: I would do it if it was a completely different character. But if the characters are very similar then I wouldnt bother because its just blood and gore and then at the end Id be horror girl and thats not what I want to be.
DRE: Have you met the other Shauna MacDonald?
SM: I keep Googling her. I think weve got to meet and discuss this because the only difference is the spelling of MacDonald. Shes got a big D and Ive got a small D. But on the internet our jobs are mixed up so shes got some of my work and Ive got some of her work. I thought she would quietly disappear but she keeps going. When we meet Ill say, Listen, back off.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 11 of 11 COMMENTS
I saw the one where she thinks she gets out of the cave, but it was just a dream or something, and it ends with her alive but still deep underground. If that was the original ending, then how did the American one end?
Drake said:
Which ending did I see?
I saw the one where she thinks she gets out of the cave, but it was just a dream or something, and it ends with her alive but still deep underground. If that was the original ending, then how did the American one end?
You saw the original ending.
The American ending is almost identical but ends slightly before that, when she's in the car and sees Juno (or really just a vision of Juno because Juno is most certainly dead) next to her.
So in the UK ending she's mentally and physically hopeless. In the US version, she's just mentally hopeless.
Personally, I think the idea of her living with being absolutely insane is no more happy than her being crazy and having only a short while to live.
While I like the UK ending for bringing the birthday cake vision back at the end, I felt it was redundant, making not only the escape a delusion/dream but following that up immediately with the birthday cake delusion. Of course it's just a matter of preference and the rest of the movie is freakin' great. So as long as she's crazy at the end, I'm satisfied.