WGTC: Are you overprotective of your comic books then, almost like a parent hovering over their child?
Kevin Grevioux: Whether or not it’s going to stay like that is another story because you’re not writing the checks. The movie costs a certain amount of money, in the millions, and I’m a couple of bucks short. [Laughs] Whoever pays for it gets to decide. What you hope for is their vision matches up with yours. We got close, but that’s just the nature of the beast. I wrote the first screenplay, the first two or three actually, and Stuart Beattie wrote the last one. He’s a director, it’s up to him to come up with the vision. That’s just the way it works, but we have a great film – and a fun film. My whole goal all along was to turn Frankenstein into an action hero, to have a character trying to figure out who he was – is he man, is he monster, or is he both at the same time? Someone is trying to exploit him for what he has inside of him to make more creatures like him – and that was my story. That’s there. They might have taken away a lot of my monsters, but they left two of them – the gargoyles and the demons, so I’m satisfied.
WGTC: Have you thought at all about any crossovers? Not even about movies, but about your comic books as well…
Kevin Grevioux: I came up with one for I, Frankenstein and Underworld, but it got shut down…
WGTC: Oh really? Is there any chance that might get brought up again?
Kevin Grevioux: Dude, I don’t know, but I remember there was a version of I, Frankenstein I had where I cast him as a private detective. He was still monstrous looking, but he was kind of tapered – kind of like where Aaron is, but a little bit more. It was in this cool Sin City like world…
WGTC: Are we talking like film noir?
Kevin Grevioux: We’re talking about very film noir. One of the tales was, at the end of a story, he’s in his office, and all of a sudden he looks out the window – he looks around and recognizes someone is there. This woman’s voice starts speaking, and she starts talking about this creature, this person who is running loose named William, and they need to find him before certain things happen. She tosses him a picture of William, the werewolf from the Underworld movies, he’s looking at it, and she then tosses a wad of bills on the table – he doesn’t see her by the way. He’s like, “You know, I want to know who I’m working for before I accept a job,” and then Selene steps from the shadows. When I first wrote that, I lost my mind. Oh my goodness, I thought, “This is going to be phenomenal.” Dude, they shut that down like a garage door. [Laughs] To have Adam alongside Selene, that’s a no brainer, but producers don’t get that.
WGTC: Wow, that’s a shame, sorry that didn’t happen! Getting back to the film, how important was it to get someone like Aaron Eckhart to play Adam?
Kevin Grevioux: One of the things that was surprising about Aaron was that I have this preconceived notion about American actors, and that notion is that they “dude” or “babe” it up, not every one, but a lot of them, whereas you have a lot of British actors, no matter what the project is, who take it seriously. They bring a gravitas to the material that it needs for the audiences to accept it. This is why when you see these Marvel movies, you see the lead actors are from another country, they take it seriously.
Now having said that, Robert Downey Jr. did an excellent job. Chris Evans did an excellent job. But Aaron Eckhart is like that. Here he is, an American actor, but he’s a prodigious actor. He brings the gravitas to the character I want. He’s also not very tall. Since I wrote a role in the film for myself, I wanted Frankenstein to be bigger than I was..
WGTC: Well that’s quite the feat!
Kevin Grevioux: [Laughs] Oh yea. If you’ve seen the film, his presence looms large, and that’s what is important. Look, I was fine with it. Someone like him? Great choice.
WGTC: How was the physicality of Aaron’s role? I was talking to him during the Olympus Has Fallen press day and he mentioned he’d hurt himself a few times on this film…
Kevin Grevioux: He was learning using those sticks, that Filipino fighting, and he was good. If you can see with that, if you make one slip – I’ve been hit before doing movies. It doesn’t tickle. Imagine being hit in the face with one of those sticks because you moved wrong? Aw man, right across the chops – but that just speaks to his level of commitment.
WGTC: So I have to ask this question, even though I already probably know the answer, but you’re working with the Underworld producers, and they like making sequels, so are there plans for an I, Frankenstein 2 yet?
Kevin Grevioux: Understand that I created this with the idea of making more, so lord willing there will be more. I have my idea, but we’ll see what happens. The sky is the limit.
WGTC: So when you take your demon form, how long did it take for you to fully demonize yourself? Was it heavy makeup? A mask?
Kevin Grevioux: Not long – about an hour. It was a combination of both. I’ve had extensive prosthetics before – this wasn’t that. This was more like a mask that they augmented with certain pieces. The makeup was meant to be done very quickly. Put the mask on, touch it up here and there – we’re good. It was about an hour in the chair.
WGTC: When you see your gargoyles and demons on screen, is there ever a minute of fanboyish love where you realize “Oh my gosh I created them and now they’re living, breathing beings!”
Kevin Grevioux: Definitely. [Laughs] You have that mostly when you’re on set. A lot of people might not understand this, but by the time you see it on film, or with audiences when it comes out – you shot it two years ago. You’re past that stage, it’s done, it’s out, and your giddiness came when you were on set realizing, “Wow, everyone is here because of me.” That part feels good. Regardless of what it is a lot of people think we do, it’s still work. You’re there trying to do work. You don’t take it in the same way. You might have a momentary chill, but after that it’s work. As long as the trailer looks good and you start seeing different pieces, it’s like, “Yeah, this is going to work.”
WGTC: So what are your future plans? Again, you do so much, so do you want to dive back into the comic book world? Work on more movies? What is it?
Kevin Grevioux: I’m doing all of the above. I think you can have all of that simultaneously. When I created I, Frankenstein, my thing was, “OK – I’ve got the screenplay covered, I’ve got the graphic novel covered, now it’s time to do a video game, and I’ve got an idea for an animated series and also a TV show.” You have to think more globally now as a creator. You don’t always create, you’re also a businessman. That’s what you have to do.
WGTC: So now you just mentioned a TV show and video game – are we still talking I, Frankenstein?
Kevin Grevioux: We’re talking I, Frankenstein, but the video game time has passed. With my next monster franchise, you’re going to see all of the stuff I just mentioned. All of it. That’s how you build that brand. There might be an announcement soon!
I’d like to thank Kevin Grevioux very much for his time, and you can catch I, Frankenstein in theaters right now!
