Video:Edward Burns Interview - One Missed Call Movie

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Transcript:Edward Burns Interview - One Missed Call Movie

Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the 2007 San Diego Comic Con.

Edward Burns – 'Jack' in One Missed Call

Tell me about this movie One Missed Call.

Edward Burns: "One Missed Call I think is more of a psychological thriller/slash horror, then sort of a blood and guts horror film – hence the PG-13 rating. And also the reason I got excited about doing it was the director, Eric Valette. I sat down with him and he was referencing Rosemary's Baby and The Shining and trying to make that kind of film."

So there's no blood, guts and gore in this one?

Edward Burns: "We shot a lot of it but they cut it out. I think they wanted the PG-13. You know, it was like it was in there but I think it was just a little too much."

Who do you play?

Edward Burns: "I play the cop with the heart of gold in the university town who's the only guy in town who believes Shannyn's story that these mysterious deaths might be linked through her cell phone or her friend's cell phones."

Why do you believe that story?

Edward Burns: "Because we discover that my sister who died maybe a month earlier was somehow linked to the first murder or mysterious death. We discover that her phone number was in this woman's address book."

You don't usually do thrillers or anything like a genre movie, so it's just a genre leap for you that you were ready to do?

Edward Burns: "You know, it was one of those things. I'd just directed two of my little movies back-to-back and I was just kind of antsy to work. This was brought up to me and I was like, 'You know what? Why not? Let me check it out, have some fun with it.' The director was a great guy; Shannyn was great. So it's like we're in Atlanta for three months laughing our asses off, getting stabbed in the eye and doing all sorts of good stuff so…"

You couldn't pass that up. Does the filmmaker inside of you want to step in and correct things ever?

Edward Burns: "Not really. You know it's the first film I ever acted in that wasn't mine was Private Ryan so there's no way I was going to tell Spielberg what to do. Then I kind of just embraced the lack of responsibility that an actor has on set by comparison to the filmmaker. Filmmaker, there's no time off. If you're doing a 16 hour day, you're on for 16 hours. An actor gets to go to the trailer, read his book, take a nap."

And not have the whole weight resting on their shoulders. What's next for you?

Edward Burns: "I've got a project that we just announced today, funny enough that we're here. It's a graphic novel that we're doing with Virgin Comics. It's called the Dock Walloper. It's 1920s New York Irish-American gangster story only the twist is that the gangsters have slightly sort of hyper human strengths and abilities. So the graphic novel comes out in November. I'm writing the script now. We'll take it to the studios in January and hopefully…"

I was just going to ask if it's going to be a feature film?

Edward Burns: "Yeah, we set it up strictly to… It was an idea for a film and we thought why not sort of embrace sort of the graphic novel idea and kind of have sort of a great storyboard to work off of."

Have you always been a comic book fan?

Edward Burns: "I was never a big fan. My brother was a little bit more of a fan so just growing up in the same room comic books were laying around. I read them but I certainly wasn't as passionate as some of the people downstairs."

Have you been downstairs [on the convention center floor]?

Edward Burns: "Not yet. Not yet."

Are you going to try?

Edward Burns: "Oh, as soon as I'm done here I'm going to go down."

You're going to get mobbed.

Edward Burns: "It should be fun."

You're really brave.

More Coverage of One Missed Call:

Edward Burns Films and Photos

Shannyn Sossamon Resources

One Missed Call Photos and Credits