Fangoria Radio broadcast an interview with Nathan Fillion in Jan 08.
They talk about Nathan playing a gynocologist on Desperate Housewives & in the movie Waitress and of course White Noise 2 and working on a haunted set.
Debbie (of Fangoria) says she loved White Noise 2 and Nathan says that he’s been reading reviews online and says they’re pretty positive.
Freelance writer Mur Lafferty interviews White Noise 2 director Patrick Lussier & writer Matt Venne on the podcast I Should Be Writing: The podcast for wanna-be fiction writers, by a wanna-be fiction writer. Freelance writer Mur Lafferty discusses rejection, cover letters and getting the oomph to keep going.
Join [Word Sushi] for breakfast with PATRICK LUSSIER and MATT VENNE, the director and screenwriter of the new Universal release WHITE NOISE 2: THE LIGHT as we talk about storytelling, moviemaking, what went into bringing this movie to life from the original script and why White Noise 2 is a stand alone, original story and not really a sequel.
Great podcast interview with Director Patrick Lussier & Writer Matt Venne
“In the interview, Patrick and Matt tell J.C. how they came to the film industry, the collaborative nature of movie-making, working with Fillion and Sackhoff, and much more. These guys embody J.C.’s “UltraCreatives” concept to the core, and it was an honor to have them on the podcast”
Definatley worth a listen though it’s important to be aware that there are various spoilers throughout this interview so if you haven’t seen the movie yet you mgiht want to hold off on listening, on the other hand if you’re still needing some convincing to watch this movie - listen to the interview, spoilers and all.
It’s a gray, chilly day in April when FANGORIA visits the Vancouver set of WHITE NOISE 2, and drizzling rain-not very inviting. The location is a large home in an upscale neighborhood-not particularly scary. But the scene being shot involves the lead character, Abraham Dale (SLITHER’s Nathan Fillion), researching the spooky paranormal phenomenon of EVP, which he has been experiencing in a very unique and personal way, and which drove the action the previous WHITE NOISE, a surprise box-office hit in January 2005. Three years later, the in-name-only sequel is debuting this week on DVD from Universal, putting a different spin on the idea of one man’s close encounters with the deceased.
“I’ve always had a list of things I wanted to do on TV,” Fillion says, taking a break from filming close-ups of the material he’s reading and writing. “I kind of came up with it with another friend of mine when we were doing a soap opera. I wanted to shoot a gun, get shot and ride a horse. In the FIREFLY pilot I got to shoot a gun, get shot, ride a horse-and then shoot a horse. That one show kind of took care of everything, and I had to come up with a new list. So when I’m watching TV and movies I always try to say, ‘Oh, that’s something I want to do on film.’ And today was one of them, where the camera is over my shoulder and I’m writing, on screen… I’m showing everyone my penmanship, be it good or crappy. They let me pick the pen and everything. I picked a Pilot Fineliner. No stunt hand.”
The always witty Fillion is especially sharp today-perhaps because he has been forced to bottle up a lot of his usual humor during the actual takes, as the role of Abe is a very serious one. But WHITE NOISE 2 director Patrick Lussier, who first worked with Fillion on DRACULA 2000, insists the actor is having no trouble at all staying in character and selling the drama. “Nathan is amazing,” Lussier says. “He has every single beat of the character down. The events that happen to his character in the film are devastating. His life is basically destroyed repeatedly. And never once does he have to be adjusted to be more appropriate. He is always spot-on at what he needs to be.”
…
“My character is Sherry Clarke,” actress Katee (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) Sackhoff explains. “She’s a little, eccentric nurse who ends up being in the emergency room when Nathan’s character is brought in at the beginning of the film. They become friends in a sense, because they’re both going through the same grieving process in their lives. She kind of latches onto him through the process, because it’s something she experienced a couple of years ago. She believes she can inevitably help him through the process a little better than he can help himself. She’s always there. There’s that fine line, and she walks it. Occasionally she might go [over it] a little bit, but she pulls herself back.
“Sherry is really fun,” Sackhoff continues. “She’s very different from [GALACTICA’s] Starbuck. I get to be something of a damsel in distress, which is nice. I called my agent after one scene and said, ‘I just screamed and cried and actually got beat up, and it was great. And I didn’t fight back.’ ”
…
The movie’s tone also takes quite a shift from its predecessor, as WHITE NOISE 2 offers more pure horror elements than the previous film. In fact, the screenplay was conceived by Venne as a completely original project before it was reconfigured into a follow-up. “My initial spec was a horror-thriller,” Venne explains, “so it fit what they were looking for. But the rewrite process also involved pushing it as far as we could in terms of horrific moments; it was important to everyone involved not to let any potential for scares slip by.
“Patrick Lussier is an incredible filmmaker, and working with him was an amazing experience,” Venne continues. “He brought a lot of terrific ideas to the screenplay, and did what great directors do: He studied the material diligently, then worked to unearth the themes of the film as thoroughly as possible. At a certain point, it became apparent that he knew the material better than anybody, and it was such a relief to know that the film was in his hands. Nobody has the horror-thriller genre in his DNA like Patrick does. He’s such a talented filmmaker, I wish he would direct all of my screenplays.”
WHITE NOISE 2 producer Shawn (SLITHER) Williamson agrees: “He’s amazing to watch. I’ve worked with a lot of directors over the years, and Patrick comes in with the film pre-cut in his head. Toward the end of the day you always end up, on every film, cutting shots and compromising things, and you watch him as we get into the last few hours going, ‘OK, I need this, this and this…’ and he’s cutting the film as he looks at the setups we need. We were doing a split-screen shot yesterday that was incredibly complicated, where there was going to be this amazing transition between Caine, one of our characters whom you believe is evil at the beginning, and Abe. Working with the digital guys on set to create that transition, to work the scene out, he was really coming from his editor’s head. He’s been doing it throughout the film; he’s designing shots with the cut already in his head. It’s amazing to watch. He’s an amazing editor, but the transition from that skill to directing isn’t always as seamless as it is in his case.”
How did you decide on Nathan Fillion and Katee Sackhoff?
When I first read the script I wasn’t at all sure what to expect. Frankly I thought it would be a direct continuiation of the first film. But it wasn’t. Matt wrote something so clever and unique with such a strong main character who had to have such range, from unbelievable sadness, hope, strength and dread. Nathan Fillion was who I began seeing as I read it. I knew that I wanted him to be Abe. I knew he would take the character beyond what was beautifully written on the page. I’ve wanted to work with Nathan again since working with him on Dracula 2000. This part felt perfect for him. Thankfully Paul Brooks and Shawn Williamson agreed having both just finished SLITHER with Nathan. We all knew there was no one else we wanted.
For the role of Sherry, Brad Kessell one of the Gold Circle executives and myself kept discussing Katee as a prototype for the role (my son and I are huge Battlestar fans and we had the goal to convert as many others as possible). We weren’t sure what her schedule for Galactica was but we assumed, as we would be shooting before the regular TV seasons ended that we wouldn’t get her. When I talked to Matt about her, he too was on board with how perfect she would be. The guys at Rogue loved the idea. And so we did some homework, discovered that BSG shot off season and had actually finished in December. I met with Katee on a Saturday and I knew instantly that she would be perfect. On Monday we offered her the role and thankfully she said yes. Katee brough so much heart to the role of Sherry. Her relationship with Nathan’s character in the film grounds it with such sincerity. Our only problem was we wouldn’t be finished shooting before Galactic started up again. With the overlap of the two shows, and Galactica getting Katee first there were a couple of days where she bascially worked around the clock, shooting Galactica all day then shooting with us at night. She was amazing through all that, continually giving such a powerful performance. You’d never know she hadn’t slept in days.
How involved were you in the development process? Did you do any research? Help on the script? Summon up any ghosts?
Matt did the bulk of the research. He had the story so well mapped befor I began working on the project with him and the producers. The script was already so strong and smart. However, in the original draft there was a school shooting. We all knew that we couldn’t shoot that - the subject matter didn’t sit well with us and was too risky for this kind of film. So we spent a lot of time creating new versions of what that could be. It went through several permutations and we still hadn’t nailed it.
The first most significant one was to make the character early twenties, and rather than a student, we decided he played piano in shopping mall (where the patrons ignored him and he played crap muzak which he hated). While scouting we discovered we couldn’t get clearance for any of the malls that would be appropriate so Brian Pearson our director of photography suggested a hotel lobby. That worked and then he suggested that the lobby of The Orpheum theatre might be good double for a hotel. It was friendly to shoot in, very supportive for filmmakers and visually stunning. We got in there and realized it was three stories high… and presented an opportunity for a unique massacre none of had seen done before. Everything else fell into place after that and we suddenly had the biggest set piece in the movie.
Beyond that, most of the script stuff we worked on had to do with budget. Matt wrote so many spectacular set pieces, some of which were too big for our modest stack of cash. He’s a great colloborator and always would come up with variations on a theme that would be closer to our grasp. We also did some augmentation to certain scenes after Nathan was locked down. With him we knew we had an opportunity to stretch the main character in the direction of Nathan’s obvious strengths.
Clint shot a review to me of the film from DVD Talk that described you as the Brian DePalma of the direct-to-video world. What do you think of that?
Yeah I read that DVD Talk review… loved it. The ‘DTV DePalma’ is an amazing compliment. When we were tweaking the script in the last week before production, Matt and I would talk about DePalma a lot, especially BLOW OUT which we were both huge fans of. That film, UNTOUCHABLES, DRESSED TO KILL, CARRIE OBSESSION, are all incredible DePalma films. There are several sequences where we discussed DePalma’s style, not to mimic it, but there was, especially in his early films, such a great sense of dread and impending doom that just consumed each frame. We took inspiration from that beyond a doubt. Condition Dead is a great script by Dave Davis, a very cool action zombie film. We’re looking for a home for it. Other than that, I spent a lot of last year working on THE EYE for Lionsgate and Paramount Vantage, working on it primarily as the film editor amongst other things. The film has turned out far better than any of us expected. Jessica Alba does a pitch-perfect job in it. I’m looking forward to it’s release on February 1st. I also have a couple other things on the burner. We’re still courting studio interest for HEADHUNTER, the adaptation of Michael Slade’s brilliant novel.
Who WOULD win in a fight : Starbuck or Malcolm Reynolds?
Doesn’t matter who would win, it’s just a fight you’d want to see. I can pretty much gaurantee you that it would end with both of them lying on the floor laughing in a state of bruises and mutual respect.
Given the subject matter, has this role been very demanding on you?
(Jokingly) Absolutely! No, no, no. I say it everyday, of all the jobs I’ve had, this is the least demanding. I have next to no dialogue. There’s a lot of brooding, there’s a lot of moping, there’s a lot of confusion, frustration dawning, lots of dawning. This is actually something I’ve learned in the soap operas, we used to do this all the time. In a soap opera you’ll have a scene, with two characters, at the end of the scene there’s a slow close up on one of the characters, right? What are they gonna say next? And it’s always kind of a long, drawn out close and seems to never end and you’re left there, kind of (smiles) acting. So what we used to do, was we called it “the three phases of a soap take”, it works for any scene, any show, whatever your doing. And these are the phases - first phase is “Did I leave the stove on?” (he gives a questioning look), next phase, “I did leave the stove on!” (the look changes to a subtle acknowledgement), third phase, “No, I turned the stove off!” (then a look of both combined).
I read that you had a near death experience yourself. How much did that affect you during the making of this film?
Little to none. I try to leave that in my past. If I try to take anything from that experience, it’s the desire to extract revenge on all my friends, who (jokingly) were watching me die! I’m waving to them with both hands in the air, as I’m getting pulled into the undertow in Costa Rica and they’re on the beach and they look back at me and give a good bye wave and turn their back on me. (Jokingly) Since when is this (waving both arms in the air) hello, from the water, from churning water? (Laughs) Oh my god, it’s absolutely true! And then my friend, he mailed me a letter that said “Hey I just read an article said you’re still sore about that!”
So what are you preparing to shoot today?
Actually, I had a list, I’ve always had a list of things I wanted to do on TV. I kind of came up with it with another friend of mine when we were doing the soap opera and I wanted to shoot a gun, get shot and ride a horse. In the Firefly pilot I got to shoot a gun, get shot, ride a horse and then shoot a horse. So that one picture kind of took care of everything, so I had to kind of come up with a new list. So when I’m watching TV, I’m watching films, I always trying to say “Oh, that’s something I want to do on film” and today was one of them. (Jokingly) Where the camera’s over my shoulder and I’m writing, you know, I’m showing everyone my penmanship.
With the film itself being so somber, was there any outlet for your sense of humor?
There’s a really funny bit, really quick, tiny little thing. They made a little homage to Captain Reynolds actually and if you blink you’ll miss it.
Are you more famous in Canada then America?
Yes. Yes and Canadians have a really particular way about showing they’re excited. In the states I get a lot of “Hey, that’s that dude on TV!” right behind me in the bank. I mean, you didn’t just say it, I know you want my attention, but it’s certainly not designed to make me comfortable. I can hear you, I can hear you, I know you know I can hear you. But there’s nothing you can say or do, you can’t make anybody smarter or smarten up. In Canada, I’ll walk down the street and you’ll see that dawning as you walk past them and they might come up and say “Excuse me sir, I just want to say, I know who you are and I don’t want to get crazy about it or anything, but we really enjoyed Firefly, my wife and I watch it every night and we also thank you for SERENITY.” And they’re so extremely pleasant and sincere. They keep a respectable distance, they don’t want to come too close, whereas I remember in New York, “Hey, kiss my sister, kiss my sister!” That’s not for me. “What are you, an asshole?” Yes, I’m an asshole. So it’s different, yeah, I’m definitely more famous in Vancouver.
Both you and your co-star Katee Sackhoff come from a television background, you guys sharing a lot of war stories?
We can share because we both have the experience of the sci-fi conventions. Her experience is a little different, I think it’s always gonna be different for girls. And as wonderful as fans can be, sometimes, you know, one in a hundred is gonna be creepy. And it’s always gonna be creepier for the girls, I think.
In a sci-fi hypothetical, if Malcolm Reynolds were to fight Starbuck, who would win?
Well, I would think Starbuck would try to do the right thing and fight honorably and I think Malcolm Reynolds would fight dirty and cheat, he’d probably hit her when she wasn’t looking. Cause Malcolm Reynolds isn’t above hitting a woman, he’s not above that, that’s something I like about him. What I truly appreciate and I try to remind Katee of all the time, is that I outrank her. Captain, Captain Reynolds.
There’s been rumors that NBC, Universal and Sci-Fi Channel were planning to do a sequel of sorts to SERENITY, it would basically broadcast premiere on the Sci-Fi Channel, have you heard anything like that?
This is the first I’ve heard of that. I remember the Sci-Fi Channel said no. I believe their reaction was, when we got canceled by Fox we approached them to pick up the show and if I’m not mistaken, their response was “It’s too sci-fi.” But as far as SERENITY goes, all I wanted with Firefly was another crack at it. When it was taken away, it really hurt, I really felt it. I wanted another crack and I wanted SERENITY to be really good. I got those things; I got everything I wanted out of SERENITY. Would I want to do sequels? Yes. Do I feel like a shit for asking for more, after I’ve gotten everything I’ve ever wanted? Yeah, I feel kind of crappy asking for more. But I’m quite happy with the way things have turned out. Would I do a sequel? Yes. Do I demand it? No.
Someone recently posted a topic on the message boards for IMDB.com for WHITE NOISE 2, under the heading of “Who’s gonna see the film for Nathan Fillion?” I would say that 99.9% of the comments were all positive, including a guy who stated that he may not like the film itself, may even hate it, but he would even go see GIGLI 2 if you were in it. (Fillion laughs, hard) How does that make you feel coming up as an actor and now hitting your stride?
That makes me feel really good. Here’s the fortunate part - I’ve had you know, the experience to have a couple of cool projects in a row, where I can play, quite frankly, the coolest characters I’ve ever played in really extraordinary circumstances. So, I mean, I’ve had a great deal of fun, I enjoy it immensely. If people enjoy watching it half as much as I enjoy doing it, we’re on the right track. Make’s me feel good, make.
(Nathan Fillion talks about White Noise the Light)
After all the action heroes Fillion has played, White Noise 2 gave him a chance to be more vulnerable. [Quote: Nathan Fillion] “He’s not a strong strong guy. He’s not a prepared man. Malcolm Reynolds [Serenity 2005] experienced loss and it hardened him and he became a rock. Bill Pardy [Slither 2006] was unprepared but he did his best to take care of business. Abraham Dale, his first option was to opt out and clock out. He’s a different kind of guy. His dealing with loss is a little different.”
Despite that, the acting demands balanced out for Fillion. “I say it everyday. All of the jobs I’ve had, this is the least demanding. I have next to no dialogue. There’s a lot of brooding, a lot of moping. There’s a lot of confusion, frustration, dawning. Lots of dawning. This is something I learned in the soap opera. We use to do this all the time. In a soap opera you’ll have a scene going on between two characters and at the end of the scene is a slow close-up on one of the characters, right? What are they going to say next? It’s almost like a long drawn out close and the scene never seems to end and you’re left there kind of acting. So what we use to do was we called it three phases of a soap take and it works in any scene, any show, whatever you’re doing. And these are the three phases. The first phase is: did I leave the stove on? Next phase: I did leave the stove on. Third phase: no, I turned the stove off.”
Fillion experienced a near death experience in real life, nearly drowning. However, he does not call upon his experience for method preparation. “I try to leave that in my past. If I try to take anything from that experience, it’s a desire to extract revenge on all of my friends who were watching me die. I’m waving to them with both hands in the air like this. I’m being pulled into the undertow in Costa Rica and they’re on the beach and they look back at me and go a goodbye wave and turn their back on me. Since when is this a goodbye? From the water, churning water.”
Crave Online: How did this project come about for you?
Katee Sackhoff: My agent had called me and told me that this script had landed on his desk, and said that one was White Noise II and it was a leading character. I had been shooting The Last Sentinel though, so I was in Ojai in the middle of the desert, not thinking and shooting people with guns and really tired and he said, “Well, your can’t audition for it because there isn’t enough time. So, we are going to send the script to you and can you meet with the director tomorrow morning at 11 o’clock.” And I’m like, “We’re doing a night shoot until 9 o’clock tomorrow morning, so, um, O.K.” So, I’m reading the script in the car as I’m driving stick to go meet Patrick [Lussier] and I hadn’t slept, so I think I was so tired that I wasn’t nervous at all, because I was so tired. I just walked in and was like, “Yeah, O.K. cool. Alright. Totally understand the character” which I did and I don’t know why. And they offered it to me the next day. It was pretty awesome. I was very excited about it.
[snip]
Crave Online: How are you scheduling all this with BSG?
Katee Sackhoff: Battlestar started on Monday. I am really tired. I think I had a week off between when Battlestar ended and Last Sentinel. I had a week off and then dove right back in. That wasn’t the plan. I was sitting at my house talking to my agent and I’m like, “You know what? I need a job.” And he’s like, “You’ve been out of work for a week Katee.” And I’m like, “Yeah, but I’m a little bored. I’m just sitting around at home doing nothing which was great for the first three days, but now I’m really bored. I’m eating burgers and stuff. I need to get back to work or I’m going to gain 30 pounds.”
Crave Online: Is there any room for humor in the movie, or is it all serious?
Katee Sackhoff: Is it all death? And EPT ghosts? No, there are some moments. I think just working with Nathan is great, because you can have that. I think it’s one of those things even if it wasn’t written in it just seems to find itself a way into the script. Like, he’ll make me laugh so hard right before a scene and I’m like, “What’s my dialogue?” So, it’s been great. Really great.
Crave Online: You mentioned playing the damsel in distress finally, how did you go back and forth?
Katee Sackhoff: This character is actually close to I am in real life, more than Starbuck. So, this was pretty easy to walk into, unlike Starbuck. She rambles a little bit more than I do, so that hasn’t been difficult but it’s hard. I think the hardest thing is for me to go back to Starbuck, because she is so, strong and capable and crazy. Like, really, really crazy. So, that’s the hard one. But there are three overlap days coming up on the 19th, 20th and 21st where I’m doing days on Battlestar and nights on White Noise.
[snip]
Crave Online: Have you swapped convention war stories with Nathan at all?
Katee Sackhoff: Separated at birth!
Crave Online: Do you ever run into crazed Battlestar fans who are upset that Starbuck is played by a woman now?
Katee Sackhoff: Occasionally. There are definitely fans out there who are still purists and they don’t want anything to do with Starbuck being female, but you can’t win them all. So they are missing out. It’s a well-written show and if you want to sit here and compare the two characters, you can’t. They may have the same names, they may have some of the same habits, but for the most part, it’s not even the same character. So if they want to talk stuff about me that’s fine. I’m developing a very thick skin.
Crave Online: Hypothetical, who would win in a fight? Malcolm Reynolds or Starbuck?
Katee Sackhoff: Who is Malcolm Reynolds? You like that? Ah, I’m just kidding. Probably me. Yeah. Maybe. He’s bigger than I am.
[snip]
Crave Online: When you have time in Vancouver to have fun, what do you do?
Katee Sackhoff: I am a completely loser by the way. I hang out by myself a lot. I do run the seawall actually. I became friends with one of the sound guys on Battlestar and he’s become my workout partner and we hike and we run the seawall. I always hang out with my dog and I read so much. Or I get on a plane and go back to Los Angeles.
Crave Online: Are you dating that sound guy?
Katee Sackhoff: Am I with the sound guy? No, I am very single.
Crave Online: Do you believe in any of the paranormal stuff?
Katee Sackhoff: Yeah, of course I do. I think that’s what so scary about this film as opposed to something like a Halloween, and I bring that up only because I did one and I know how unrealistic the horror is to me. I think this is more of a psychological thriller. Those little things that you always ask, could there really be someone behind me, but you never know. I think that’s what is scary about White Noise is that it’s so terrifying. Everyone else has seen those little ants on the screen and you always wonder if you stared at it long enough if, because I’ve actually done this. If you stare at it, it can actually flip channels. Kind of like a radio station does. It will flip back and forth occasionally. You never know and I think that’s what’s so great about it. You never know.
“I think on Battlestar, we run into the problem where the directors come in and it’s such a well-oiled machine at this point that they just don’t have their hands on everything at this point that they could have or should for that matter,” said Sackhoff. “So I’m really not used to a director actually directing me. It’s been the most amazing experience in the world.”
Film editor Patrick Lussier continues to forge a directing career for himself, and Sackhoff thinks he has the chops. “I think some of the best moments that I personally have had as the character have come as a direct result of Patrick saying, ‘Do it this way’ or ‘Remember that she’s sweet,’ because I have developed habits as Starbuck. She speaks pretty monotone and that’s something I developed for her. It’s very easy to fall back into because it’s comfortable. And he reminds me a couple times, ‘Sweet, sweet, sweet.’ Things like that and it’s been the most amazing experience. So it helps. Thank God he’s been here.”