The Evil Dead director offers a harrowing new take on the home invasion thriller with Dont Breathe.
Fede Alvarez:No, no, no.
This came right afterEvil Dead.
and started thinking about the movie.
Did you have other things you wanted to do beforehand?
I thought you had been working on something else as your first movie.
We were developing some other things like you always do in Hollywood.
You never know which one is going to go, right?
I thought you had done a few shorts and were working on something based on those.
It was never based on the short.
I thought that idea was just for short-form, not for feature.
What got you going on this one?
Was there something that happened or that you read about?
Its a simple idea, but you do a lot with it.
Its one of the things that you discover.
We knew that we wanted to make something that wasnt a home invasion.
Its such a strange thing.
Its such a no-mans land almost inside someones house.
Its not like that obviously.
There are laws and rules about that, but most of them say that you might shoot them.
I was going to say thats a very American idea.
I dont know if you had that in Uruguay.
In this case, theyre not professional thieves.
Theyve been doing it for a few days probably, and theyre going to try and stop doing it.
We knew who they were, but the mystery and the challenge was to find a worthy opponent.
Who was going to be the owner of the house that really could give you a cinematic experience?
Weve all been very inspired by classic Hitchcock horror.
You might think that its about this girl trying to get away with this money.
That makes it very interesting as an experience, the classic great movie.
Of course its harder to be surprised by it these days, because everyone knowsPsychoinvolves Norman Bates… For me, at least, as a filmmaker, thats what you want.
You dont really specify where the movie takes place…
Its Detroit.
We dont say it.
Actually, they say it.
They say bye bye, Detroit at the beginning.
But you didnt shoot it in Detroit, did you?
I thought you shot this in Eastern Europe somewhere.
We shot in Detroit, yeah, and we shot in Europe.
How did that work?
I was curious about the outdoors scenes and the aerial shots of the area around his house.
Yeah, thats Detroit.
We spent a lot of time in Detroit.
We started in Detroit to scout for the house.
We did find that house and thats the house you see in the movie.
A family still lives in it and everybody else is gone.
Theres nobody else left on the block.
You worked with Jane before and you kind of put her through hell inEvil Deadquite literally.
This one, she gets put through a lot as well.
But I think she did an amazing job.
Every time we finish a movie she hates me and thats where were at right now.
I think she always delivers really beautiful emotion, and she doesnt fake anything.
She really lives the character in a way that not a lot of people do.
Hopefully, it works on the screen, but for me, it works amazingly when I see it.
I think its because she doesnt like this kind of work.
I think thats her cup of tea.
Im happy to hear that shes doing something on the newTwin Peaksshow.
Casting Stephen Lang was also kind of an inspiration to get him.
I was curious about casting him.
That was kind of the key.
There were many aspects to that character that were important to get from an actor.
He put us all to shame, hes so in shape.
What was it like shooting in the interiors of the house you built?
How much planning did you have to do in advance to be able to pull this off?
Much of the film relies on how things are shot so that you might cut it together later.
We actually laid out a chessboard blueprint on the table of my house with the heads of department.
We said, The blind man makes his move.
Time for the kids to make their own.
We really wanted them to behave as you might in real-life in that space.
We covered them in the drawing, and if there was a door, you erase it.
You really adjust the house until its a perfect machine of consequences and traps and narrow hallways.
Also, a house doesnt complain about, Why would I do that?
The actors do that a lot.
Im going to run for that door over there, thats what I would do.
But we did here, right?
My parents house back in Uruguay, while its not a terrible neighborhood, theres bars in every window.
As it is, its very hard to get in.
It makes for simple logic, but it works that way in the movie.
I also wanted to ask about working with the dog.
So how did you work with that dog in those types of situations?
They were very different dogs and their attitudes were very different.
Some of them were very violent, some were more docile.
Its all of this.
They do say, Never work with kids and animals, and thats for a reason.
Like onEvil Dead, it was the practical effects.
Everybody was telling me, Dont go practical.
Its so easy to make it in a computer these days.
The blood is easy to make in a computer.
Why would you do that?
Not just for me, but for the audience honestly, and I think this was one of those.
Im happy to hear that it worked for you.
Im happy that its completely different from what is the standard.
