News

Interview: ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ director Jake Kasdan

Published

6 years ago

December 22, 2017

Jake Kasdan is sensitive to the strong emotional feelings that people hold towards the films they grew up watching. As the son of legendary filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan, Jake watched his father construct the original Star Wars trilogy alongside George Lucas. An accomplished filmmaker in his own right, Jake’s latest film is Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, a loose remake of 1995’s Jumanji, which starred the late Robin Williams. “I think I first saw Jumanji when it was released on home video, and I enjoyed it very much,” says Kasdan. “What I liked about that film, and still like, is how it mixed genres. It’s a children’s adventure film, which is funny and scary at different points, and that was the tone I wanted to bring to this film.”

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle tells the story of four teenagers who discover a vintage video game while cleaning out their high school’s basement. After playing the game, the quartet is sucked into the game’s wilderness setting, trapped in the body of the avatars they selected when they began playing the game. Headlining the avatars is The Rock, AKA Dwayne Johnson, who plays Dr. Smolder Bravestone. Jack Black plays Professor Shelly Oberon, and Kevin Hart plays Franklin “Moose” Finbar. Recently, I had the chance to speak to Kasdan about his approach to remaking a beloved classic.

DG: How would you describe the relationship between this film and the 1995 film?

JK: This film continues with the game from the first film but not the characters from the first film, so, in that sense, it’s more of a sequel than a remake. What would the game be like today? That was the approach we took in terms of updating the first film and expanding on the story from the first film. The game is more challenging in this film; it’s more difficult, and it’s evolved. This Jumanji seeks out kids, teenagers, and it has a reason for doing this, which is that it wants to show kids, show the players of the game, how to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles. This film continues with the game from the first film but not the characters. That being said, this film contains all of the elements that people loved, that I loved, in the first film, and I think it’s a fitting tribute to the original film and to Robin Williams.

DG: What did Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and The Rock bring to this film, to their characters, that maybe you weren’t expecting?

JK: They have such distinctive personalities, and we actually wrote the characters for them after I joined the project. We almost had to change this when it looked like The Rock wasn’t going to be able to do the film because of a scheduling conflict. Luckily, the other film that The Rock was committed to starring in was pushed back, so we were able to build the main character around Dwayne. We wanted Kevin and Jack to be alongside Dwayne very badly, and when we knew we had all three of them, we built the characters around them, and everything just fell into place after that.

DG: How did the three of them work together?

JK: They improvised dialogue at times, which was great because they all know themselves as actors, know their personas, so well, and they’re very comfortable in their own skin.

DG: As this is described as being an adventure-comedy film, how do you make an action-adventure film funny and vice-versa?

JK: You approach those elements entirely separately. When we were shooting the comedic scenes, I was making a comedy film, and it was the same with the action-adventure scenes. I wanted those scenes to be intense and frightening. When you’re working with The Rock, who’s probably the biggest action film star in the world right now, you have to create action sequences that are worthy of his physical presence, because that’s what people expect. When The Rock is fighting a creature in this film, there has to be a sense of danger.

DG: What was the biggest challenge you faced during the filming?

JK: We filmed primarily in Hawaii, in a rain forest, and being in an actual location, experiencing the raw physicality that’s inherent when you’re standing in an authentic location, established a strong sense of reality for the cast and crew. Because of that, it was much easier to work with the digital effects than it would have been if we’d created the entire world digitally. We spent several months making the film, and I think I knew on the first day, seeing the actors on location, seeing them in their costumes, that this was going to turn out well.

DG: Besides the film’s box office performance, how do you hope that people will respond to this film?

JK: I want people to react to this film the same way I did when I was a kid and saw so many films that made a big impression on me. I want this to be the kind of film that today’s kids will remember, years later, when they look back at the films they grew up with.

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News

Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

Published

20 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

Published

22 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Timothy Rawles

The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film

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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

^Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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