Derek Mears Interview - Friday the 13th and the Sequel
Why is it the nicest guys are always cast as the most dangerous killers in horror films? Derek Mears, definitely a sweet man, plays Jason Voorhees in 'Friday the 13th' and at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards he talked about getting into character.
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Transcript: Derek Mears Interview - Friday the 13th and the Sequel
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards.
Derek Mears - 'Jason Voorhees' in Friday the 13th
Can you believe how well Friday the 13th did? It kicked ass at the box office.
Derek Mears: "I heard that it was the highest opening weekend for a horror film of all time. It's so wonderful to be a part of it."
What do you think people like so much about that that they're just bringing back that franchise?
Derek Mears: "I think what people like about Jason is that Jason is ultimately the ultimate victim, that he was an outcast from society and he was rejected from society. And his mother's his only tie to society and then at 9 or 10 years old, he saw his mother get murdered in front of him. So people kind of understand where Jason's coming from, though what he does is wrong. People kind of empathize with him."
That makes sense. Are you going to do him again?
Derek Mears: "Hopefully. We'll see. I don't know."
You have to.
Derek Mears: "I want to. The writers are writing the sequel right now. It's not officially greenlit so they can't offer any parts, but hopefully so. I love the character so I would love to return."
Well you obviously did a lot of research on him before you did the first film. What exactly did you learn from that research that really helped you get into him?
Derek Mears: "I did a lot of research on child psychology. Being that his mom was murdered when he was like 9 or 10 years old, what happens in the development stage that he missed. I found out like that's when you learn that you're not the only person in the world. Your parents will put you in group sports or group activities, so he missed out on that. I studied the psychology of being alone and loneliness and wilderness survival. So a lot of that, kind of little benchmarks or little bulletins for the character. You create your whole new character so it's easier when you slip the character on. You'll know exactly every aspect about the character. You won't necessarily see a lot of that in the film, but it helps you get into that moment. Example, for the intense scenes when Jason's after somebody, people comment a lot on the aggressiveness that Jason has. My sense was that it was almost like a Vietnam flashback, like he just saw his mother get murdered - it's that flashback where these kids were the ones who just killed his mother. So all that emotional anger and torment and being upset...[he's] just releasing that energy onto his victims. And so I'm happy that that came through and people enjoyed that. I can't believe I said that. 'I hope people really enjoyed the anger and aggression.'"
But it really makes sense for the character so it's okay to say that.