WGTC: Who do you find scarier – your upscale, classy murderers from The Purge, or the more brutal, animalistic killers in The Purge: Anarchy?
James DeMonaco: Well, Diego thinks it’s his right to do this, it’s his right to purge – but I’m scared of Rhys Wakefield’s gang in The Purge. There’s something crazy, like they’re gone. I feel bad for Diego in a way, because he’s been twisted by the government. It’s more out of despair, he believes in purging. It’s his natural right. [Laughs] I shouldn’t say that. People are going to yell at me for being more scared by The Purge villains.
But the old woman at the end of The Purge: Anarchy scares me to death, too. She’s more like Rhys [Wakefield] from The Purge. I guess I’m scared of the rich! [Laughs] The rich getting off on blood…
WGTC: I do admire what you did with Frank Grillo’s character though, because he has so many chances to become that brutal guy, yet he keeps a sense of humanity.
James DeMonaco: That was very important, to hold that moral line. The movie is so dark, I wanted to there to be this humanistic choice. There was a moral arc to him. I was worried about doing a genre movie with emotional scenes, which you don’t really see, and we were worried whether or not the audience would go along for the ride. We were afraid of going too dramatic, but I think the audience likes Frank’s character enough to go for the ride.
WGTC: There’s a scene with the rich old woman where Frank Grillo has a chance to do some damage, yet he himself turns his back when we might be expecting a brutal murder. I respected that, because it really drove his character’s mission home.
James DeMonaco: Thank you, that’s the only thing I really had to fight certain people on. They wanted Frank to do something, or at least – I shot a scene which will be on the Blu-Ray – where she gets her comeuppance. But to me it was too easy, there was too much bloodlust. I like that you appreciate the moral choice, but that was a big moment in editing, do we show that?
**SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW UNTIL NOTED**
WGTC: My other question is we see Zach Gilford’s wife join Michael K. Williams and his clan – but we never hear from her again. Did she have a final moment that got cut out where she gets revenge herself?
James DeMonaco: Ah, I know. Three people brought that up today, and it’s weird, we brought it up in the focus group. I even went back for two days of pick-up shots and additional photography, but I feel like we missed an opportunity. It’s funny, I never thought about it until we showed the movie to the first audience and they all started asking the same thing. What happens?
WGTC: It’s not even what happens, it’s more I would have loved to see her get even somehow…
James DeMonaco: That’s what we missed, and I wanted to shoot it, but we simply ran out of time.
**SPOILERS OVER**
WGTC: So what are you working on now? We’ve been talking a lot about another Purge movie, but I’m assuming something different is coming next?
James DeMonaco: There’s another project I wrote called Feral, that’s what I really want to do next – not that I don’t want to do The Purge 3 – but I wrote Feral already. I literally finished Feral the day before The Purge came out, and Universal was about to buy it, they read it the day before, we were about to start discussing moving forward, then The Purge opens, it does well, and Universal decided to shelve it for The Purge: Anarchy. [Laughs] We re-opened negotiations on [Feral], so I’m hoping that can come next.
WGTC: What is Feral about?
James DeMonaco: I’m not allowed to say because they’re about to buy it, but I need more money. It’s a big genre movie with some socio-political things, it’s more action/horror. There are other stories I want to tell, I just hope I get to do ’em!
That concludes our interview, but I’d like to thank James DeMonaco for his time. Be sure to catch The Purge: Anarchy when it opens on July 18th!
