Director Jeff Wadlow tells us why his Fantasy Island is a darker tropical getaway than the original series.
Who or what is behind it all?
Is Mr. Roarke on the level?
And what isMichael Rookerdoing there?
Jeff Wadlow:Well, Sony owns the rights.
And I had an idea for a different project that was loosely inspired byFantasy Island.
I had just finishedTruth or Dare, had a really great experience with Jason.
Jason wanted to keep working with me.
They gave it to him.
And I was like, All right, Im in.
How much of your idea did you end up incorporating into this?
Id say a lot of it.
It was before I even knew they were doingDoctor Sleep.
He was sort of my take on Mr. Roarke, and it was my take onFantasy Island.
I think it got kind of… tainted is the wrong word, maybe colored, byLove Boat.
BecauseLove Boatwas on before it.
So I think the cheese ofLove Boatkind of spilled intoFantasy Island.
So its hard to take them seriously.
They start to feel cheesy just because they didnt spend more money realizing the narrative.
But I think there is something very dark in the show.
And Im like, I think its already there, its in the DNA of the show.
Did you see that anecdote?
This is what I heard.
The president of ABC passed on all 10 of them.
A movie about an island where you’re able to go and screw whoever you want?
The president of ABC looks at him and goes, Thats a pretty good idea.
Spelling leaves, hires Gene Levitt, and he writes the TV movie.
Its a big hit.
They do a second one, its an even bigger hit.
And they order it to series.
We talked about our favorite episodes.
I worked onBates MotelandThe Strainwith him.
So we treat each script like its its own little streaming series.
And then we just started brainstorming unique ones as if we were going to relaunch the show.
The show, Im pretty sure, never did a single episode featuring two fantasies that crossed.
Someone, Im sure, might bust me on that.
Theyre never even in the same shot.
So we just started listing our own fantasies that we would do in a new version of the show.
Was it always four?
We talked about three.
It felt like three was not enough, and four at times felt like too many.
There was certainly a push at one point in the pre-production process to maybe drop one of the stories.
But ultimately I felt that we needed all four of them.
Ricardo Montalban has this sort of iconic presence in pop culture to certain generations.
Honestly, my touchstone isMarvel.
But then everything else is fair game, right?
And thats how I approachedFantasy Island.
I sat down and I listed what are the icons of this show?
A plane arrives, someone says, The plane.
They dont necessarily get what they want, but they do get what they need.
They learn a lesson.
Mr. Roarke says, Smiles, everyone, smiles, in every episode.
I knew I had to do those things.
I made my little checklist.
So how did Michael Pena fit into that?
When it came to Montalbans portrayal of Mr. Roarke, I mean they are so totally intertwined, right?
Even more so than hisportrayal of Khan, I would say.
I needed someone who would honor Montalbans legacy but also add something to it, do something different.
So to me, I feel like in the movie, Penas Mr. Roarke is both timeless and contemporary.
I feel its ominous and hilarious.
I feel that he is both caring and cold.
It just contributes to sort of the larger mystery of Mr. Roarke.
Fantasy Islandis out in theaters now.
