Video:Red Riding Hood Catherine Hardwicke, David Johnson Interview

Transcript:Red Riding Hood Catherine Hardwicke, David Johnson Interview

Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the LA Premiere of Warner Bros Pictures' Red Riding Hood.

Red Riding Hood Director Catherine Hardwicke

How is it that you tap into the teenage psyche, because you always get them?

Catherine Hardwicke: "I think that, for me, I listen to all the kids that are around me - my nieces and my nephews, my adopted kids. And then I also think that's the most exciting time of your life because anything can happen. Suddenly you get boobs and you could kiss a boy. You could drive a car. You could grab a drink. You could disobey your parents for the first time. And all that stuff makes high drama. Like, you're trying to discover, 'Who am I? Am I this kind of person? Am I going to be a musician? An artist?' So it's exciting, and we're all kind of like that. Like, even our inner teenager. Every day does have that possibility that we could take that risk. So it's kind of like, 'Yeah!'"

How tough a choice was it to follow up Twilight with another fantasy-type film?

Catherine Hardwicke: "Well this one got to be a lot more fantasy because Twilight you have be in the real world. We're in a real high school, real hospital, a real police station. We're very grounded. Even the vampires have to look like they shop at The Gap, you know? And so this chance was amazing for me because I'm an artist. I started out as an artist and an architect. And now I got to just create my own world, my own fantasy world, which was much more fun."

Red Riding Hood Writer David Leslie Johnson

You did a lot of research back into the fairy tale. What did you find out that was most intriguing?

David Leslie Johnson: "Probably that I'd known that there were dark origins to this story and actually what I found is that the origins are way darker than I thought they were. So our PG-13 version is actually still a sanitized version of some of these old versions."

Was there anything you really wanted to get in but that PG-13 rating wouldn't allow you?

David Leslie Johnson: "Not really. We were able to do everything we wanted to do, you know? A lot of the stuff is implied. There's a lot of suggestion, but those darker themes are all there."

Why do you think it is that there haven't been more Red Riding Hood movies because you'd think that tale would lend itself to film?

David Leslie Johnson: "It's funny. A couple things, one, most people think of it as a children's story and not necessarily looking at the deeper history of it. We take it for granted. Nobody remembers the first time they heard Red Riding Hood because we heard it when we were so young. And so you don't think about it, but there's a reason this story's been told for 700 years. When you look at it that way, you realize there must be something here. There's got to be something here that we're all responding to."

Why do you think Catherine was the right director to handle a project like this?

David Leslie Johnson: "She has brought a terrific sense of fantasy to the whole thing. It's a dark story and the way she lightened it and brought this fantasy element is what I'm really grateful for. She really captured that feeling."

And she'll bring in the Twilight audience.

David Leslie Johnson: "Well, that doesn't hurt."

How is Wrath of the Titans going?

David Leslie Johnson: "Great. I think they're starting on shooting on Friday. Jonathan Liebesman's directing who we're in competition with this weekend. [Liebesman helms Battle: Los Angeles] But next year we'll be on the carpet together, so we'll be friends next year."

Is it a sequel or does it involve much of what we already saw?

David Leslie Johnson: "It's absolutely a sequel. And we sort of took what was good about the last one and took it to another level and did a grittier version is what Jonathan is hoping to bring. And, you know, given that there was no - in mythology - no sequel to Perseus' story...Perseus got old and had a lot of kids...we had a blank slate. We had a blank slate because there are presumably stories we didn't hear about."

Was there anything that Sam Worthington wanted in this one because I know that when we were talking about the first one, he was already looking forward to a sequel?

David Leslie Johnson: "Yeah. We didn't wind up talking but we heard from Sam through the producers that he was interested in doing it. It's a little bit lighter, in terms of his character. I think he'll have an opportunity to have different facets to the character, to bring a little bit of humor to him, to Perseus' character. And Dan and I were really looking - my partner Dan Mazeau - were really looking to sort of be faithful to the original but also take it someplace new and hopefully a little bit more fun."

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