Good Film Guide: What first attracted you to Burning Bright?

Garret: They just approached me, and I thought it was a cool concept. It’s very bizarre, and I thought I’d like to see if I could help make it work.

Good Film Guide: And getting to work with Meat Loaf must have been a bonus?

Garret: That was really cool, but it was actually a reshoot done later in L.A., something that we added to help clarify the story. It was only a one day shoot, one very long day. He’s very down to earth though, and it was great hearing all his stories about musical theatre, because he started there first and then went on to rock music, I always thought he’d done it the other way round.

Good Film Guide: So how long was the shoot altogether?

Garret: Five weeks in total I think, but for me it was only three or four days… I was working on another project at the same time and this fit in nicely, it was five days at most for me.

Good Film Guide: And what was it like working with a real tiger?

Garret: I wish we did more more of that; and I liked the fact that they used real ones; there’s real old school special effects on this movie; they’d have the tiger in the house and have it chase around a green chicken which they could edit out later, then we’d go in on an empty set, film our pieces, and they would meld the two together, seamlessly I think. [Good Film Guide]

Looking at your two outings in the horror genre – Krug in the remake of The Last House on the Left, and your character in Burning Bright – you seem to be getting a reputation for playing bastards, really evil characters…

Oh yeah, absolutely! They’re bad guys that’s for sure.

Is that something you look for in a script? Or is it just how things have happened?

I like change and I’m looking to play lots of different characters and different types of characters, both good and bad. In the case of Last House [on the Left], I really wanted to do a horror film, to try a different genre than I usually do. It’s a lot different from say, the character I played in No Country for Old Men or Jesse James, or more sympathetic characters. I wanted to see if I could pull off a new interpretation of Krug, which was difficult – there’s some things I’d like to differently in that, but there’s some things I’m really proud of and I think we made a good film for the most part.

As for Burning Bright, I like the complexity of the guy, I think if he had won the lottery or something, we wouldn’t have a movie because he wouldn’t have considered killing his children for the insurance.

Just to go back to Last House… Now the furore around remaking such a classic has died down, the film seemed to have been hailed as one of the better remakes in recent years. Is that something you’ve heard from fans etc.?

I like to think [it is]. But it’s certaintly a polarising film. There’s people who will never see the film, they love the original and think it should not have been remade – they have a case. To my shame, I guess, I was not even aware of the original and didn’t even know about it until I was offered a part in the remake and started doing research. I even spoke with David Hess a bit to make sure it was alright – turns out he’s a really cool guy and liked him a lot.

But we knew that the Vietnam-related scenes in the original wouldn’t quite translate into today, but I think it’s interesting, and the audience reaction is kind of telling, in the original there’s a very thin line between the good guys and the bad guys and that had to lead you into this feeling of horror. But in the new version there’s a real glee in the vengeance – a righteous American sense of justice, the “eye for an eye” [concept] is very much alive and well in the US. It’s almost like a sense of self-realisation, as you catch yourself cheering at these people’s demise, wanting it to be even worse.

It’s a polarising fim, but all horror films are. As it stands our film seems to be one of the better reviewed horror films in a while. I could have done without the last scene personally, but it had to be put in.

What about your future projects? I know Winter’s Bone is getting good reviews out festival screenings. But what else have you got lined up?

I have a couple of films at Toronto [International Film Festival] next month which I’m excited to go see. John Sayles’ new movie, Amigo, about the Philippine-American war; and another indie film called Oliver Sherman, about soldiers returning home from Afghanistan, that I think is really good. And I’m on a series that starts shooting Monday called Raising Hope, it’s a comedy by the people behind My Name Is Earl – I play a young grandfather, basically a not-very-skilled parent.

Talking of TV, you’ve guest starred on one of my favourite shows, Burn Notice. What was it like working with that crew?

I just did my second [episode] which aired here in the States last night. Florida’s really hot, that’s the worst thing about it, but it’s a tight run ship. I just kinda ship in, do a few scenes and ship out, it’s a great job to have. I really like Matt Nix, the creator of the show, a lot, and I like that they decided to keep [my character] Simon alive so he can come back every once in a while because he’s a fun character. [Blogomatic 3000]

FS: That was one of the things that I mentioned in my review. That it would have been really easy for that character to have been a by-the-numbers wicked step-father. But I thought what you did was clever, in that you side stepped that and did something quite interesting. I even found myself empathising with your character a little bit, even though he’s doing something so terrible.

GD: Yeah. He’s just stupid, you know? He’s sad and lonely and broke and stupid. He makes a really horrible decision about how he’s going to get some money and it’s a shame.

FS: Speaking of the horrible decision (where he buys a tiger from Meat Loaf) what was it like to work with Meat Loaf?

GD: He’s great, he’s a little teddy bear! He’s real sweet and we talked about… ‘cause I grew up listening to Bat Out Of Hell and thought this is cooool, you know, in my little farming community. So I was a little tongue-tied at first, but he’s a real warm person and no spring chicken anymore either! So we talked about the old days and it was fun.

FS: Oh cool. How close did you actually ever get to the tiger? Was it tame or…

GD: I’m so glad everyone’s asking this question! It must look really good! Because we were never on set at the same time! Never. I saw them in their truck outside, lounging in their cage, but that was the closest we ever got.

FS: Talking about remakes… You played Krug in the Last House remake and I was wondering… if you could play any part in a remake of anything, what would that be?

GD: Aw jeez… You know, and I think this’ll be greeted with even more derision than Last House was – I’d love to be Josey Wales. I love a good western.

FS: Wow, what a cool choice! I know lots of people are really against the idea of remakes, which you just touched on there, but what’s your opinion on them?

GD: Well, I guess it depends. It’s a tough call, I feel the same way about favourite novels being turned into movies and sometimes they don’t hold up. It’s like listening to a cover of a great song, why not just listen to the original? It’s much better. But in the case of Last House, it brought a lot of attention to the original. To people that weren’t even aware of it. So I don’t think it was an awful thing even for fans of the original. I thought, having a European director, we brought kind of an art house feel to it, for the most part. You know the last scene we shot was the microwave scene and we all fought against it the entire time. You know some people love it, some people hate it, but we thought we’d made a better movie than that. It was kind of a remnant from an earlier version of the script.

FS: My last question has to be a Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles question. I was a massive fan. What was it like getting to play one character, yet so many variations of him, within the same show?

GD: Well, I think I’ve been lucky since Deadwood, where I got to play two characters in the same show. Well in Terminator I was the Cromartie guy and the guy that Cromartie stole his body from – the asshole B actor. Then they showed some of that actor’s old films so I got to be in Beast Wizard, which was hilarious.

FS: Oh god, I’d forgotten about Beast Wizard – that was awesome!

GD: That cracked me up, and then John Henry. So I got to play four characters in that thing and I was just so… You know that just makes you feel good, when they trust you that much.

FS: Really quickly, I don’t suppose there’s the slightest chance of there ever being a one-off TV movie or something to finish the amazing ending of Series 2?

GD: I haven’t heard anything about that. I was excited too. You know John Henry would be loose, and in the future and a resistance fighter with everyone – which I thought would be a lot of fun. [FilmShaft]

Do you feel you’re doing good now?

I am happy. I’m certainly a bit of a reminiscer, if that’s a word. I have to work a lot but I’m really happy now. I love the movies I get to do. I’ve got two movies I’m very proud of at the Toronto film festival and I’m producing another, and we’re getting close with it I think. I like having those projects to work towards. I met John Sayles at Toronto and he’s a personal hero of mine in the way he lives his life and making the projects he wants to make. The film I’m trying to produce is just with a few folks. It’s a civil war tale about an Arkansas traveller and I’m just so proud of it, it’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had on a set. We’ve only set 10 minutes of it, but it’s achieved its purpose, and it’s some of the finest times I’ve had as a professional.

There seems to be a real vein of elemental Americana in many of the films you’ve appeared in. They seem to be quintessentially ‘about’ the notion of America. I’m thinking of No Country for Old Men, The Road, The Assassination of Jesse James and to an extent Burning Bright as well.

Most of those films are based on books that I was a huge fan of. I collect books. I don’t get caught up around other actors or showbiz people, but I do get real girly around authors that I’m a fan of. That’s probably because I’m a failed writer myself. I get real tongue tied and shuffly and stone-kicky. And most of those films you recited; Jesse James, No Country and The Road, they are some of my favourite authors. I planned to make Jesse James myself one day and I thought I’d be Jesse James. I thought no-one knew about this book, but of course everyone knew, and Brad Pitt owned the rights. [Little White Lies]

Here are a couple of pics from the episode (click to enlarge):

“Hard Time” airs next Thursday (Aug. 12) at 9 on USA.

Also, since I won’t be around to post updates for a couple of weeks, don’t forget that Burning Bright is out on DVD on August 17. You can get it on Amazon:

Garret will appear in an episode of The Glades one of these weeks (not sure which one yet, so stay tuned) as Eddie Strickland, a suspect in one of their cases. The show airs Sundays at 10/9c on A&E.

And his next appearance on Burn Notice is in episode 4×10, “Hard Time,” which will air on August 12 at the earliest (if there aren’t any breaks in the schedule).

Will post definite dates for both shows when I have them.

Fox released the fall schedule last week and Raising Hope will premiere on September 21, with Sue Sylvester & the Glee kids as the lead-in.

Tuesday, Sept. 21
8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT GLEE (Season Premiere)
9:00-9:30 PM ET/PT RAISING HOPE (Series Premiere)
9:30-10:00 PM ET/PT RUNNING WILDE (Series Premiere)

And a few other updates, since I’ve been AWOL for the better part of the month:

Burning Bright will be released on DVD in region 2 on September 6. Before that, it will be shown at the 2010 FrightFest in London in August. In region 1, the film will be out on August 17.

Pretty Bird was released last month. I’d embed a clip, but the last WordPress upgrade ate my video plugin, so let’s do this the pedestrian way – to see the clip, right click here and save.

And a couple of articles I don’t think I’ve linked yet.

Examiner talked to Garret about Winter’s Bone the other week.

Josh Youngerman: Thanks so much for speaking with us at examiner.com. You play Sherrif Baskin in Winter’s Bone. What attracted you to the part and how did you get involved?

Garret Dillahunt: I love doing films based on books that I’ve read or authors that I really love. I had actually had Daniel Woodrell’s book in my little Kindle before the movie came out; it’s just my kind of thing. I had read the book before the movie came out. I am a big Cormac McCarthy fan obviously, and Ron Hansen, I thought I’d make that movie [The Assassination of Jesse James]. I thought I’d discovered that book. So it was right in keeping with that whole philosophy. I think I was doing [Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles] at the time and I didn’t have a lot of time. They called me about Sherriff Baskin and I was a little ambivalent about it because I wanted to play Teardrop but than I heard that John Hawkes was doing it and I wanted to work with him again. It was a good book, a good script, I wanted to work with John, and it fit into my schedule. Keep reading

And NWA Online had a report last month from the Little Rock Film Festival, where they screened the trailer for Arkansas Traveler. Snippet:

The script is what led Dillahunt and Bettis to work for free to make the teaser; Dillahunt says his only regret is that he’s not a big enough star to guarantee that the movie would be made.

“I would be very happy to play Wayland,” Dillahunt says, “but I don’t have to play Wayland. I could take another part, or it could work out that I might not be able to be in it at all.”

Similarly, while Bridgers plays Bones in the teaser footage, he says he might not appear in the finished film. He means to once again co-direct along with Hemschoot.

“What’s important is that the film gets made,” Dillahunt says.

And made the right way. Wide Awake producers Shane Seley and Ed Leydecker say no one involved in the film wants to take the idea to a Hollywood studio because of the inevitable compromises that would entail. The plan is to shoot the film as a guerrilla production, using a lot of authentic locations and employing serious Civil War reenactors as extras, in part, Seley says, because they can supply their own costumes and equipment.

And the footage shown at the LRFF looks great; shot on a lightweight Viper Filmstream ultra-high-def digital camera that allows shooting in low light situations (eliminating the need for expensive Hollywood-style lighting), it has a rich, detailed but somehow still antique feel.

From the DVD cover (pic right, click to enlarge), it looks like they’re definitely sticking with the title too.

From Bloody Disgusting:

Super exciting news as Lionsgate Home Entertainment has finally announced the long-delayed Burning Bright (review) for DVD and digital download release on August 17th. From one of the producers of cult-favorite thriller Hard Candy, Lionsgate delivers the intense DVD and digital download debut of Burning Bright.

A roaring and engaging ride, the film stars Briana Evigan (Mother’s Day, Sorority Row) and Garret Dillahunt (The Last House on the Left). A thriller not for the faint at heart, the Burning Bright DVD also includes two behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Sobini Films posted the first trailer for Burning Bright on their site and the film is now expected to come out this summer. From the looks of it, it got its original name back too. There’s no mention of “Ravenous” anywhere in the trailer or on the site.

The trailer can’t be embedded so go to Sobini.com to see it.

In other news, One Night Only has been added to the Worldwide Short Film Festival lineup. The festival runs from June 1 to 6, 2010, in Toronto.

For details, keep an eye on the festival’s official site.

And this is what the Pretty Bird DVD will look like when it comes out in June (click to enlarge):

Hope everyone has a great time tonight and a fantastic year ahead.

See you in 2010!

_________________________________________________________________________________

The year started with Terminator promo and press tours. The show returned with the last nine episodes in the Friday slot in mid-February.

Later that month, Garret was spotted filming Winter’s Bone in Missouri. The film will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in late January. If anyone plans on going, the Sundance screening schedule is here.

The Last House on the Left opened on March 13. The reviews ranged from excellent to free branding campaign and the film made it to several lists of best horrors of the year. In October, it won a Reaper Award for Best Theatrical Release in 2009.

Toward the end of the month, Garret played his fifth character on T:SCC, the Skynet virus from the future. Previous four were George Laszlo, Cromartie, the Beastwizard and John Henry.

In late March, the first pictures from Burning Bright appeared online. Burning Bright was later renamed to Ravenous and it still awaits theatrical release. In November, it was screened at the AFM. The first reviews were pretty positive.

In early April, Water Pills had its U.S. premiere at the Florida Film Festival. Jasmine Jessica Anthony walked away with a grand jury award for best performance.

Also in April, two series finales aired two days apart. Garret snuffed the TV crew and gave Damian Lewis his final headache in Life on April 8. Life season two was released on DVD on August 25.

The Terminator finale aired on April 10. Despite cancellation, the show made it to #8 on the list of  the Top 10 Most Pirated Shows in 2009. Last year, it was the only new show among the top 10, at #4.

In the meantime, Garret joined Delroy Lindo and Roslyn Ruff in Things of Dry Hours, a play by Naomi Wallace about communists in 1930s Alabama. Rehearsals started on April 21.

The first trailer for The Road hit the web on May 15.

On May 18, Fox announced that they would not be picking up Terminator for a third season. Even though there has been talk of a possible TV/DVD movie, Terminator rights are currently up for grabs and in limbo until February 2010.

On May 20, Garret appeared in the season finale of Criminal Minds.

Two days later, Things of Dry Hours went into previews at the New York Theatre Workshop. The show premiered on June 8 and ran through June 28. Critics liked the cast, but were divided on the writing.

At some point over the spring/summer, Garret was cast in Madeleine Stowe’s Unbound Captives, an independent western epic with Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Robert Pattinson. If they get financing in time, the film will go into production in March (at the earliest).

In late July and early August, Garret filmed two TV guest appearances,  on CSI and Lie to Me, and a short film, One Night Only.

The Last House on the Left was released on DVD in mid-August.

Later that month, Garret was spotted filming the season three finale of Burn Notice. The episode will air in March 2010.

The trailer for One Night Only was released on September 2.

On September 3, The Road had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Ten days later, it was screened in Toronto.

Terminator: The Complete Season Two was released on DVD on September 22.

On September 24, the CSI season 10 premiere aired. “Family Affair” is one of the five hours of television nominated for an ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) Award this year.

Speaking of CSI, in a fine display of Terminator fanboyism, the last episode before the break, Better off Dead, had a bunch of people stealing Cromartie’s music and killing each other. Also, a killer described as a Terminator.

On October 13, Oliver Sherman, an independent drama with Molly Parker and Donal Logue, went into production in North Bay. The film will most likely premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2010, but Canadians might get an early screening in the spring.

On October 21st, Garret appeared on Lie to Me.

And two days later, on Law & Order: SVU.

The Road finally saw its U.S. premiere at AFI fest in early November. On Thanksgiving, it got a limited release. Even though the film has been vastly overlooked in the early awards season, the reviews were mostly positive and it scored a few acting nods (Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Kodi Smit-McPhee) from several critics’ societies (Broadcast Film Critics, Utah Film Critics, St. Louis Film Critics).

On November 13, Garret appeared on White Collar.

And the next day, One Night Only had its premiere in New York.

In November, Garret was cast in two new projects. The comedy pilot Keep Hope Alive, with Martha Plimpton, Cloris Leachman and Lucas Neff, was filmed earlier this month. If it gets picked up, it will be aired in the 2010/11 season.

The other project, John Sayles’ film Baryo, starts shooting in February in the Philippines. The crew is already there, building the set and preparing for the shoot. You can follow the updates on the new production blog, at johnsaylesbaryo.blogspot.com.

And that about wraps it up. If 2010 is even half as eventful, it will be another excellent year.

Snippets:

Tell us a little bit about the plot of Burning Bright…

Carlos Brooks: Burning Bright is about an incredibly HOT CHICK trapped in a house with a TIGER during a HURRICANE. We had another version that explored the latent Freudian implications of her existential dilemma in terms of various indigenous animal myths, but we were running long, and something had to go… Oh yeah, and she has to face off with her demented stepfather, played by the brilliant Garret Dillahunt [The Road, The Last House On The Left - Ed], and all the while protecting her tripped-out little brother, played by newcomer prodigy Charlie Tahan. (…)

What was your reaction when you first read the screenplay? Because ours was ‘this sounds absolutely mental’.

Carlos Brooks: My first reaction, after I got over the crazy-sounding pitch, was to the extremely well crafted screenplay – which takes you by the hand and walks you into rural Florida where you have these low-rent wild animal preserves in people’s back yards, and where houses routinely get boarded up to protect from epic hurricanes.

Throw in a homicidal circus tiger bought on the cheap and one demented stepfather, and you have a story unlike that which we’ve ever seen, all of it rooted in reality. I found myself caught up in the girl’s struggle, and in the movie she becomes much more than just “the hot chick” – she becomes a thinking hero who has to use her wits and her household surroundings to outwit a natural predator who just happens to be stalking her from kitchen to bedroom. (…)

Did you have any tiger related accidents on the set? Did it take your direction well?

Carlos Brooks: No, the tiger didn’t like my direction. You find out early on that the tiger will rewrite your script for you. You may want the tiger to peer over the kitchen island. Then when you say “Action!” you find out the tiger’s idea is to actually leap up onto the island and crash into the hanging pots. You go with the tiger’s version. There were three tigers, actually. Once or twice they got loose on the set, but the trainers were the best in the business — had to be, we were getting very aggressive behavior. Nobody got hurt. Traumatized, perhaps. No injuries. (…)

Any news on a worldwide release? Will Burning Bright be released in cinemas or on DVD/Blu-Ray?

Carlos Brooks: None yet. Theatrical is still in the offing – we’re holding out. Of course it will be available on DVD worldwide, but the movie is worth seeing in the cinema. It’s a tough market these days, but this movie was made for movie lovers who actually still go out to the cinemas. Fortunately, everybody behind it believes in it so stay tuned. [TheShiznit.co.uk]

BURNING BRIGHT

A surly stepfather (Garret Dillahunt) has had enough of his stepdaughter and autistic stepson so he does what anyone would do: Set loose a ravenous circus tiger in their home. Trapped inside during a terrible hurricane, the two step kids must find a way to survive the night before they become tiger chow.

Believe it or not, Burning Bright isn’t anywhere near as ridiculous as it sounds and actually manages to build several intense set pieces. It’s a pretty conventional entry in the survivalist/nature-run-amok subgenre but it’s well executed enough and gets major props by forgoing CGI to use a real-life tiger in the carnage scenes. [Dread Central]

The movie opens with a hilarious exchange between Howie (Meatloaf) and Johnny Gavineau (Garret Dillahunt, who you might remember from THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT), where Johnny is looking to purchase a retired tiger from Howie in order to start a local safari in a get-rich-quick scheme. After attempting to swindle Howie into cutting the price, Meatloaf delivers an epic monologue that transforms this cute circus tiger into a blood-craving monstrosity. Following a good thirty minutes of character development – Johnny steals Kelly’s (Briana Evigan from SORORITY ROW) money that was being used to send her autistic brother into care so she could go off to college – the plot thickens when Kelly awakes to discover that there’s a tiger loose in her house. To worsen the situation, Johnny has boarded up the entire house from the outside to protect it from the hurricane. (…)

Watching this movie by myself just wasn’t fair; I was having too much fun and had nobody to share it with. There were moments that had me laughing, sometimes I cheered, and then there were a few occasions where I jumped out of my seat. RAVENOUS is straight-up FUN. [Bloody Disgusting]

Word just in from the AFM is that Carlos Brooks’ Burning Bright is being sold under the new title of Ravenous. (Not to be confused with the 1999 film of the same name starring Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle and David Arquette) [ShockTillYouDrop.com]