NYCC Report: Eli Roth Talks Tarantino, Hostel II, The Cell, The 'Splat Pack' and Hostel III Possibility

"I'm making things that I'm afraid of." -- Eli Roth

Writer-director Eli Roth showed up to NYComicCon amped up and ready to get down to business. In person, he's a man on a mission; his mile-a-minute speech is filled with passion, energy and everything you'd expect from a young filmmaker who's worked his ass off to get to where he is now. Roth started shooting short films when he was a kid, attended film school at N.Y.U and worked almost every behind-the-scenes production job there is until, finally, he put together enough dough to make the low-budged horror flick Cabin Fever. Eventually picked up by Lionsgate (during a bidding war at the Toronto Film Fest), Cabin Fever went on to be their most successful film of 2003. And that's when Quentin Tarantino took notice.

Roth doesn't consider himself a straight horror director. After all, he began his career in animation (directing South Park-like stuff) before switching gears and helping to revive a genre by introducing a balls-to-the-wall style that's often hard to stomach. Unlike most filmmakers, Roth considers his film a failure if people don't walk out halfway through -- if they aren't outraged, if they don't write a bunch of nasty letters -- then he didn't do his job. Hostel: Part II is no exception; Roth fully expects moviegoers to have massive issues with this film; mainly because its three lead characters are all women. A bunch of us sat down with Eli prior to his panel discussion, where he talked everything from Hostel: Part III to auditioning for Quentin Tarantino's half of Grindhouse, Death Proof. Check it out ...


Eli Roth

On directing the trailerThanksgiving for Grindhouse: "'Quentin comes to me, and he's like (switches to Tarantino accent): "Okay man, we're gonna do this f**kin' thing, and it's gonna be really f**kin' cool, right. It's gonna be f**kin Grindhouse, and we're gonna have f**kin' fake trailers. And you gotta do one, right.' So there was this slasher movie that my friend Jeff and I had been dreaming about. Growing up in Massachusetts, Thanksgiving is the biggest f**king deal; it's all you hear about. There's two full-time working Pilgrim plantations that you go to. So, every year there's a new slasher movie for every different holiday -- My Bloody Valentine, April Fools Day, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Silent Night, Deadly Night -- I'm like, how could they not have done Thanksgiving yet? I mean, what are they gonna start doing Passover Massacre? So when Quentin asked what I was going to do, I told him Thanksgiving -- it was my 1981 slasher movie. I've been dying to do it for years. So I went from Hostel II -- we kind of recycled a bunch of stuff we had from that set (like a decapitated head -- and threw it all into this trailer. It was fun. I had a great time doing it."

Hostel: Part II picks up right after the last one left off? "Hostel II picks up literally the next cut where the first one left off. I love sequels -- I think Friday the 13th, Part 2 did that. I believe Porky's II: The Next Day did something similar -- although it paled in comparison. Porky's 2 was a bit of a comeback, Porky's Forever is a film I'd love to one day tackle ... although I don't think I'm quite there yet. But yeah, I wanted to literally pick up after the next cut, so that you could take out the credits from Hostel and watch one and two back-to-back."

How different is it in terms of structure from Hostel. It seems this one is going to be more of an adventure film in a way? "Well, I don't think there's much swashbuckling. I'll tell you -- the first movie, the fun of it was using the structure almost of a sex comedy -- taking the first half of the movie and completely pulling the rug out. It starts out safe and bright and colorful, and then once Josh gets killed, suddenly your main character is gone, the color is drained away, the lenses get tighter -- it's more handheld -- and you actually see how the first and second half kind of parallel, sort of mirror images of each other. The guys are making fun of the hookers, and then they become the hookers. So, the fun of Hostel was taking people on that ride, and then having that tonal switch. But you can't do that again. You can't re-set, and have Hostel II start off as a fun, safe comedy. What I decided was that, tonally, I wanted the movie to pick up exactly where the last one left off. And, I watched the movie with audiences from around the world -- I tried to watch to see what stuff worked and what didn't work; what I could've done better. Cabin Fever and Hostel, I thought were a bit tonally inconsistent. So, with Hostel: Part II, I really wanted to start off in that creepy place and just stay there. I wanted to have a sense of dread throughout the whole film."

How far are you going to go (with the torture, the nudity, etc ...)? "Here's the thing: I just want to create a story, and make it scary and interesting. I want everything to be about the next level. The movie is really about the next level of depravity -- that sex doesn't get you off, that violence is a substitute for that. But at a certain point, I don't want the whole movie to be about that -- I just want to tell a really good scary story. And if you just try to make it the most shocking, disturbing movie -- I mean, it's been done before and it's been done better -- I love Cannibal Holocaust, I love movies like that. And you're never going to do something more shocking and disturbing than those films -- so I just want to tell a good, scary story from start to finish.

I was looking at the sequels that I love, like Road Warrior, Aliens and Empire Strikes Back. Those were the models. Oh, and Devil's Rejects. You came out of those movies, and you were like, 'Oh my God, that was actually better than the first one.' So that's what I was really going for. Let's take the things that I think worked best on Hostel and really build on that for the story of the sequel. But it was really a challenge, because with the first one you don't know what's going to happen. So how do you make another scary film, and include surprises and twists when everyone kind of knows what's going to happen? And, if you don't have that happen, people will feel like they got ripped off. So you have to have that to a certain extent. But it was a really interesting challenge, and I feel great about it. I'm really excited about the film."

On finding a cast: "When the studio first read the script, they thought it was way too sick and I would never find any actresses willing to be in it. They were like, 'Good luck finding someone to be in this one, it's way too twisted.' So we sent the script out and the first one to reply was Heather Matarazzo ... and then Bijou Phillips wanted in. So, I was like, 'Wow, I guess it is all right.' But I love the cast I have."

On whether or not there will be a Hostel Part III: "Um, I don't know. I'm sure the answer is: 'It depends on how Hostel II does.' But I think for right now, I don't want to make a bad Hostel III and I don't want to force it. I feel the story ends at Hostel II and ... let's just leave it at that for now."

Any plans to sit down with Stephen King while you're here? (Roth is directing an adaptation of Stephen King's Cell for the big screen.) "No, not yet. We're going to try to. I'm trying to do as much press as I can, and I know he's pretty swamped. I know that there is a plan for us to meet in the future if we don't link up here."

When the films came out of Sundance, did you get a chance to catch The Signal? (The Signal shares a similar plotline with Cell.) "No, I had heard about The Signal ..." (At this point, actress Heather Matarazzo briefly stops by the table to say hello. Everyone smiles, then Roth turns to us and goes: 'People don't realize how sexy she is. They're like, 'You had Heather naked in your movie.' And, I was, like, 'Hell yeah!'")

Back to The Signal: "Yeah, so when it got into Sundance, someone told me that there was this movie and that it was a very similar thing. I haven't seen The Signal. I know that it's got a similar premise, but it's also like ... what are you gonna do? I think that where I'm going with Cell is so far different than what they've done in The Signal. I know it's similar territory -- I know some people said it was great, some said it was not so great. I know with Hostel and Saw, there were similar things, and it's just similar territory, there's nothing you can do about it. What can you do? You just go out there and make the best film you can, and as long as they're both good films then people will go see them."

Will you stay away from The Signal while making Cell? "Right now I'm only concerned with Hostel II, and not thinking about anything else. When I'm making Cell, yeah, at some point I'll probably watch The Signal. Ya know, it's like with the Saw guys -- we'll check in with one another. They'll call me, and they're like, 'Oh, we just filmed a scene and there's this guy with all these piercings ... and he's got to rip them out.' And I'm like, 'Okay, f*ck!' And I had to cross a scene like that out of the script -- was like, 'Goddammit, that was the perfect torture. No one wants to see girls get tortured, but a girl ripping out her belly button ring would've be great.' And then they did it. So, we actually check in with each other -- none of us want to repeat the same gags. I know there's the same plastic sheeting in Saw 2, as well as Hostel II. I mean, we didn't know. We thought maybe Jigsaw and my guys all go to the same torture chamber factory. But yeah, we all check in after every kill, what got through the MPAA -- there's a real good Splat Pack line of communication."

Whoa, you just said 'Splat Pack?' "Yeah, I think it's hilarious. It's good for now, it'll be over in about ten minutes."

On his future as a filmmaker: "What I've always thought I would do is make a bunch of movies and then stop to teach for awhile. And then just teach at film schools -- ya know, teach children. Believe it or not, but I was a camp councilor for three years. I love kids. And honestly, that was a better experience for directing than film school. I mean, all my babysitting skills have come into play so much more on set -- that is 98% of directing. I feel like I have a lot of crazy stories for young filmmakers, so I'm also probably going to write a book and really target young film students; kind of like 'Okay, here's how you go from fan to filmmaker.' Sort of in the way Robert Rodriguez wrote that book. There's a lot of knowledge that I have that they don't teach in school ... that young students should know."

You're in Death Proof? "Yes, I'm in Death Proof. During pre-production (on Hostel: Part II), Quentin's assistant called me and told me Quentin wanted me to audition for Death Proof. So, I was like 'What are you talking about?' She said Quentin really wanted me to come in and read for this role. So I go to audition, and the sign-in sheet -- the person ahead of me is Derek Richardson from Hostel, who played Josh. And Derek sees me, and is like 'What the hell are you doing here?' I was like (in a sad, pathetic accent): 'I'm auditioning for Quentin's movie.' I was actually casting Hostel: Part II at the time -- I had to leave my own casting session and drive through an hour of traffic to audition for Quentin's movie.

So his assistant called and said, 'Um, you have a call back.' So I got to Quentin's house, and it was weird because I've been to his house a million times before; I watch movies there. And so he's on a couch, and I had to read for Quentin. It was so weird. And here's what's even weirder -- he goes, 'Great, I have a 35mm print of Sergio Martino's sex comedy Sex with a Smile, you wanna come over and watch it later?' So I had to leave his house at 4:15, then go back there at 8 -- and it was just the two of us, sitting there watching a movie. But, I couldn't mention anything that happened that afternoon because it would have been too weird. So his assistant called and said he really wanted me to do it -- it was this bar scene -- and so I left pre-production on my own film for a week, went to Texas and shot the scene."

On advice Guillermo del Toro once gave him: "Right after I finished Hostel, I asked Guillermo del Toro if I should do a big budget or a low budget movie next. So he just goes (in his best del Toro accent): 'Whatever gives you the biggest boner man. You've got to wake up with a f**kin' rager, because if you don't have a boner you can't work.' And I thought, 'He's right.' You have to be that excited about the project you're doing ... and that was Hostel II. I was so excited to do it -- and I thought about that -- even with the Grindhouse trailer. I mean, I know people who are doing movies, and they are getting paid big paychecks to do them, and they are miserable. And no matter how much money they get paid, they're still unhappy people. On Hostel, I think my salary was $10,000, and I didn't care. I was just going to do it and have fun -- I did the Grindhouse trailer for free -- and it was still the most fun I've ever had shooting anything. The truth is, if you do what you love, then nothing else matters."

Hostel: Part II hits theaters on June 5.