We Got This Covered: Looking outside of “Safe Haven,” what were your favorite moments in V/H/S/2?
Gareth Evans: I loved, like really, really loved, the humor in Jason Eisener’s “Alien Slumber Party.” That was great, all that opening stuff with the kid playing around with her sister and boyfriend, that was fucking brilliant. It felt real to me. Watching that to me was like the moment where it genuinely felt like found footage with all the jokes, ideas, and bonds between the kids, it all felt so real. Actually, when I saw that one for the first time, even though I knew there was going to be an alien invasion at one point, I was more afraid at that moment when the sister’s boyfriend put that kid in the dog’s cage. For me that’s where I thought it was going to start with the horror, I started to tense up, and then it went back into humor again. I got lulled back into a false sense of security and then the aliens came storming in.
Timo Tjahjanto: Also with the sense of the opening, it was so fun and natural you feel like, “Oh these kids are really having fun, they’re pretty much being themselves.” It’s that organic sense of finding this very documentary type look into the life of these kids, all the while intersecting it with the whole alien invasion.
We Got This Covered: Since this is my last question, what can you guys tell me about your upcoming projects? Gareth, you’ve got The Raid 2: Berandal coming up, and Timo, you have both Killers and The Night Comes For Us?
Gareth Evans: I’m finishing up The Raid 2: Berandal right now, we’ve got about month left of production. Once I’m done with that, I’ve got post-production which will take me through the end of the year, and we hope for a release in the first quarter of next year. After that, it’s going to be another collaborative effort with Timo again, and maybe you can tell him a little about The Night Comes For Us?
Timo Tjahjanto: Sure! Quickly though, regarding Killers, right now we’re done with it, so we’re just waiting to hear from some festivals we think we can get into. After that is The Night Comes For Us. While Gareth is still shooting The Raid 2: Berandal, I’ll be preparing to start my casting session and at least some pre-production work. That will be a collaboration effort where I’ll direct and write it, and Gareth will be the lead producer while also being in charge of some of the key coreography that goes on around the film. It’s basically an action noir about Joe Taslim (Fast & Furious 6 and The Raid), who plays a Triad enforcer who’s being trapped into a situation where the hunter becomes the hunted. It’s very much an action flick.
I’d like to thank both Gareth Evans and Timo Tjahjanto for taking the time to talk to me. Be sure to catch V/H/S/2, which is currently available on all Video On Demand platforms.
