WGTC: Did any of the actors on either Devil’s Carnival surprise you through their auditions? Did you discover talent in places you might not have expected?
Darren Lynn Bousman: I think Briana Evigan. I love Briana and I’ve done a lot of work with her in the past. She’s not only sexy, but she’s a good actress, AND she can sing. Jessica Lowndes, as well. Jessica played Tamara in The Devil’s Carnival, and she actually played the lead in Abattoir, a movie I just shot. She’s fantastic. I mean, everyone is amazing. Dayton Callie – I’m a huge Sons Of Anarchy and Deadwood fan, so I went to Dayton, and now we’ve worked on four or five different projects. I’ve been very lucky with my actors. I call people I like, they respond, and 90% of the time we become friends, doing numerous movies together.
WGTC: How surreal was it to grab David Hasselhoff for Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival? His name jumped off the cast list when it was first announced, for me at least.
Darren Lynn Bousman: It’s such a weird experience because I grew up on Hasselhoff. I watched Baywatch religiously. I watched Knight Rider religiously. The guy is a legend. He’s fucking David Hasselhoff! You geek out the first time you meet him, then you realize he’s a ridiculously fun, crazy clown. In a good way. Just a really fun, boisterous personality.
When I’m old enough, I’m going to publish a book with all my text messages from celebrities. Literally just the text messages from random people. David and I were texting back and forth, and the guy is now my favorite person in the world. He’s a clown in every way possible, and he’s a great actor. Plus he’s a strong singer. Awesome, and hilarious.
WGTC: I know it’s still early, but have you and Terrance started spinning the wheels on the third entry in your Devil’s Carnival franchise? Or is that just another far-off passion project?
Darren Lynn Bousman: It’s a passion project for sure. To even begin to go through the Hell of getting a movie like this made – I mean, to the point of depression and alcoholism – to get this thing off the ground [laughs]. When you’re trying to make a movie like Saw, you’re like, “It’s a horror film, and it’s got x, y, and z in it.” It’s easy for people to wrap their head around. They get it. Then you say, “I want to create a really unique musical starring David Hasselhoff,” and people don’t necessary get that. It takes a lot to get people to believe in something that crazy, and more importantly, it’s a big risk. We’re not being released through Lionsgate or Paramount – we’re releasing the movie ourselves.
So if Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival is as successful as The Devil’s Carnival, the plan is to do a bunch more of these, and almost serialize them like a TV show. But I think Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival will be the deciding factor, if people will come out to see it. Then we’ll make another after it.
WGTC: So getting to your next film, Abattoir, so far we’ve only seen a sales trailer based on the concept. Do you have any plans to release a first trailer soon, or even have a timeframe in mind for release?
Darren Lynn Bousman: I don’t know – it’s crazy. It’s had three false starts. One time we actually got to New Orleans and almost started, then we get sent back home. Numerous, numerous, numerous times. If it can go wrong, it has gone wrong on this film. We finally got to a point where it HAD to get made, and it was fantastic. It was a cathartic experience because it actually worked. I felt vindicated in a way. We’re making it and the shots are beautiful, it’s scary, the acting is fantastic, and now we’re still in post.
I finished the movie about eight or nine months ago, we edited it, but there’s more visual effects in the movie than any of us expected. The day after the premiere of Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival, I have to fly back to Baton Rouge to do a final mix on Abattoir. Then, fingers crossed – well, we haven’t shown it to anybody. I’m very anal in this respect. I don’t like anyone seeing my work until it’s finished. For example, I didn’t let anyone see Alleluia! The Devil’s Carnival until a few days before the premiere, because the mix wasn’t done until then. It’s hard to ask people to look past what’s in front of them.
I’ll give you an example. The entire last thirty minutes of Abattoir takes place in a haunted house. There’s ghosts, the house is moving around characters, and there’s all this other stuff – but in the actual edit, you just see them and a green screen. Just standing there. Now, when people wanted to see it, I’d have to tell them not to worry because the last thirty minutes are going to be awesome. But they can’t do that. No one can use their imagination because they don’t know what it’s going to be. You have to suspend your disbelief. You have to buy what’s going on. There’s no way to suspend your disbelief when you’re staring at a green screen being asked to imagine what’s happening.
My hope is you’ll be seeing Abattoir in the second quarter of next year, but that all depends on how the screening goes when we show it to the first group of buyers.
WGTC: But you’ve already secured a deal for the prequel to Abattoir, what you’re calling The Dwelling, so someone has to have seen the film in order to make that decision – no?
Darren Lynn Bousman: Yeah, well, I did show it to ONE person actually [laughs]. I showed it to the foreign sales company.
WGTC: So you showed it to the RIGHT people.
Darren Lynn Bousman: Yeah! I guess it’s good enough that the foreign sales people are letting me do a prequel. That gives some hope to this thing.
WGTC: Looking back on your directorial catalog, what can people expect from Abattoir that’s different from your previous films?
Darren Lynn Bousman: It’s my attempt to do a ghost movie. The one thing I like about my career is I tried never to stay safe. The minute I start feeling comfortable, I change and do something completely different. Abattoir is really weird. Have you seen the movie Brick, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt?