Video:Last House on the Left - Garret Dillahunt, Dennis Iliadis
with Rebecca MurrayThe cast and director of Rogue Pictures' 'The Last House on the Left' - a new take on the classic Wes Craven horror film - hit the red carpet for the film's world premiere where Garret Dillahunt and director Dennis Iliadis talked up their new movie.
Transcript:Last House on the Left - Garret Dillahunt, Dennis Iliadis
Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the World Premiere of The Last House on the Left.
Garret Dillahunt - 'Krug' in The Last House on the Left
You don't look like your character in this.Garret Dillahunt: "Did you see it?"
Yes.
Garret Dillahunt: "Yes, we dyed my hair."
The dark hair…why'd they go dark with you?
Garret Dillahunt: "I don't know, but I kind of liked it. My wife also liked it. She's like, 'I kind of like that…' It's like a mask."
He's such an evil guy. How tough was it to leave him behind at the end of the day?
Garret Dillahunt: "It was a relief to leave him behind at the end of the day. I don't feel like it was hard at all. We did our job, we did it hard, and then we went out and had some fun."
When you read the script was there anything you were leery about doing?
Garret Dillahunt: "No, not at all. I love a rape in a movie [said totally sarcastically - for those who are reading the transcript without watching the video]. No, of course I was leery about it. It's almost like you're battling your instincts. You want to do a good job as an actor, but you wonder about the value of putting something like that onscreen. But you know I don't think it's gratuitous and I think it really sets us up for the second half of the movie where the audience has to start asking themselves questions about themselves."
Were you familiar with the original film?
Garret Dillahunt: "I wasn't. I had never heard of it. I certainly watched it after the fact. It was certainly influential in its day so I have a lot of respect for it."
Why do you keep playing these bad guys – this and Terminator?
Garret Dillahunt: "Well, there's also Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is worth five or six bad guys I think, maybe seven. He's pretty good."
Do you think this is more horror or thriller, or what do you think it is?
Garret Dillahunt: "I'm fine with whatever you want to call it. It seems like you get a different definition of what a horror movie is from any fan you talk to. The original had no supernatural elements either, and yet they call it a horror movie, you know? I don't know. It doesn't matter to me."
Are you a bad guy in The Road?
Garret Dillahunt: "Yes."
What is it with bad guys?
Garret Dillahunt: "There has to be a bad guy in the story, man."
Dennis Iliadis – Director of The Last House on the Left
How much extra weight do you feel when you're bringing to life a Wes Craven remake?Dennis Iliadis: "There is extra weight but you know the story has a huge weight, too. So once you're dealing with this story, you're hands are so full you can't consider the other extra weight. And it's great – doing that is a weight but also having Wes there helps that and relieves that weight."
How much could you feel like it was your own rather than Wes' movie?
Dennis Iliadis: "I think it's very much my own. And it's what I'm telling you, that the story is so primal and so deep, that once you decide to tackle it, you can't look back. You can't be reverential. You have to be your own."
This was a very difficult movie – you put these women through horrors…
Dennis Iliadis: "They still like each other, see? Did you see them hugging? It's good."
How tough was it to direct those scenes?
Dennis Iliadis: "To me it's all about rehearsal and about spending the time with the actors to get into character, to understand why these things are happening so when they happen, they can be the character rather than still thinking about the scene from outside."
Why did you want to bring The Last House on the Left back to life?
Dennis Iliadis: "Because these are themes that fascinate me. I'm fascinated by human nature. I think the good and evil inside of us is something that interests me a lot. I think human species are very interesting. It's a film that's really close to what interests me and the darkness that I'm attracted to."