| FEARSmag chats with cinema horror scribe Jeffrey Reddick! |
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| Friday, 03 February 2006 | |
 BY Joseph B. Mauceri{FEARSmag} - Take one die-hard horror fan, a dash of high school anxiety, and a different kind of twists of a few teenagers untimely, but not unjust demise, and you have TAMARA. Written by Jeffery Reddick, a friend of FEARS we first met on ìFinal Destination,î when he was still employed by New Lin Cinema in their New York Offices. I saw Jeff at this yearís New York City Horror Film festival, where TAMARA was screened. When we learned that Lions Gate was helping to distribute the film we got in touch with Jeff to help bring to you, the fans, a behind-the-scenes look at one of the first ambitious and frightfully entertaining films of 2006. FEARS: Itís been sometime between when we first spoke on ìFinal Destinationî and now TAMARA. Was this film your intended next feature? Jeffrey Reddick: Itís interesting because it was kind of the next project after ìFinal Destination.î I sold the story to New Line for the second one as well, and than I decided to quit the office life and peruse writing fulltime. After ìFinal Destinationî everybody kept coming up to me going, ìHey, why donít you come up with another really original, supernatural, high-concept movie?î SureÖ I got a whole basket full of them; so let me go grab one for you. (Laughs) There was a lot of pressure to try and repeat the success of ìFinal Destination.î It was daunting. Then 9/11 happened, and I lived very close to the World Trade Center. So I moved out to L.A., and there was a lot of personal stuff going on as well. Finally, I just felt that I wanted to write a fun movie, a balls-to-the-wall, pushing the envelope horror movie that just had everything in it. One that you would never believe could end up on the screen. Thatís when I wrote TAMARA. Itís obviously starts off as a homage to ìCarrie,î which is one of my favorite movies. I think the universal theme of that movie -- being in high school and not having found your place in the world -- is something that people can relate to, and will always be able to relate to. It was something that I related to. I thought, wouldnít it be cool if this girl got killed in the first act of the movie and then came back and spent the rest of the film getting revenge and going after what she wanted. Tamara starts out as this mousy girl, and sheís not unattractive. Itís just that she feels ugly on the inside. That expresses itself in how she dresses and carries herself. She gets on the wrong side of the popular kids at school, and they find out about this crush she has on her English teacher. They set her up for this prank, that goes amiss, and they accidentally kill her. They burry her over the weekend and Monday morning she walks into class stunning and very much alive. She starts going after these kids by exploiting their secret insecurities and sins, using that against them. FEARS: You crew up in Jackson, KY, and it seems that Tamara would be someone you knew in high school or college? Jeffrey Reddick: Tamara is kind of me, minus the girly parts. (Laughs) I moved here with my mom. Iím bi-racial, my mom is white, and I grew up in a white area of Eastern Kentucky. It wasnít easy. I defiantly have always related to that theme of feeling like you donít fit in. Still, I actually knew a girl named Tamara in school. She was really cool, but when you first met her you thought she was bitch. She was standoffish, very pretty, and people didnít talk to her. Once you got to know her she was cool. I wanted to have a one name title for the movie; I think thereís something powerful about that and I immediately though of her. Originally, it was called ìHelena,î which was named after one of the witches in ìSuspiria,î one of my favorite horror movies of all time. However, that just didnít sound scary.  FEARS: Unless you live in an Eastern European country! Jeffrey Reddick: Exactly! (Laughs) There is just something about the name Tamara thatís really strong, edgy, and cool. We took the script out to the studios, and they passed on it at first. A partner of mine, David Sporn, who was working to start a brand of supernatural horror films, took the script to City Lights, a production company in New York. Danny Fisher over there read it, his people sparked to it, and they optioned the script. They brought Armada Pictures on. Based on the script, Lions Gate picked it up for theatrical. It was very much a dream come true in that the pieces all fell into place on its own. It was this homegrown project, not a studio project. They left us alone, for the most part, to shoot the film that we wanted to make. That was really exciting, and it spoiled me. I know when I shoot my next studio picture itís going to be tough. FEARS: How much were you involved beyond just the writing? Jeffrey Reddick: Again, I was blessed on this particular project. Jeremy Haft, the director, and Martin Wiley, the onset producer, kept me involved the whole time. Basically, at the last minute, as always happens with movies, our budget got slashed, our shooting schedule got trimmed, and all of a sudden I get a call that we had to lose 20 pages. No writer wants to hear that, but that was followed by, ìWe want you to do the rewrite.î That made it better. They kept me involved in the shooting phase of the production. This was Jeremyís first straight up horror film. He deferred to me a lot at first, being Iím such a big genre fan, on some of the horrific elements. I was onset for two weeks and I have a little cameo in there. I read on the Internet that some people are complaining that in the showdown in the hospital there are one doctor and a nurse running around. Iím the doctor! (Laughs) We really couldnít afford a whole big staff at the hospital, but if we introduced all these characters in the third act we would have to kill them off, or something. We figured, small town hospital, middle of the night, itís not too hard to believe that thereís only one doctor and nurse on duty. FEARS: Especially in that neck of the woods. Itís not like St. Vincentís Hospital in the East Village on a Saturday night! Jeffrey Reddick: (Laughs) Packed! So Iíve been involved in the entire process and itís been exciting. Itís been a little frustrating with the cuts we had to make, but thatís part of the business. Overall, it was cool to be a writer that was kept involved. FEARS: I think that one of the things that sets writers apart is when they write dialogue they ìhear the musicî ñ the dialogue sounds natural for the characters. They sound like real people and it flows. From ìFinal Destinationî to TAMARA, itís obvious you have an ear for that. When youíre writing, how focused are you on the dialogue and what is your knack for creating these distinct voices for each character?  Jeffrey Reddick:
Oh, youíre just like Barbara Walters, arenít you! (Laughs) First of all
thank you, I really appreciate that.I donít know what the answer is to that question. Iíve always been somebody that likes to observe people. Growing up in the situation I did, you have to adapt to people. Iíve just always been good at reading people. I am very conscious of the dialogue, but itís weird. I know writers who think of actors when theyíre writing. I never do that. I actually think of the character. I think if you have a firm grasp on who that character is, their speaking comes naturally. I do think I have a knack for writing young dialogue, and I donít know if that means Iím immature? (Laughs) Iím like Peter Pan; I donít want to grow up. Being home now, Iíve noticed that the older people speak almost the same as the younger ones, except maybe with a different vernacular. I think people speak the same, itís just the way that they phrase things or the shading of what they put on what they say is what makes it distinct. Action and pacing are important, but dialogue is an expression of the character and I believe that is the most important thing in a screenplay. FEARS: I donít want to give anything away, but I think one of the filmís more terrifying scenes is when Tamara gets her revenge on the high school jocks. Jeffrey Reddick: Iíll comment on that, because there have been some reviews online ñ spoiler alert! What I wanted to do with Tamara is, again, she goes after these kids by using their insecurities, turning what theyíve done to other people back on them. For the jocks, their whole m.o. was they had this habit of getting freshman girls drunk at parties and taking them to this hotel to take advantage of them. When I wrote that scene I had Tamara seducing the guys and then killing them. As I thought about it I realized that it was a very Hollywood, straight male point of view. Why would she sleep with the guys that killed her? She would want to get back at them for the way they treated her and these other girls. She basically makes them fuck! The director and the producer had a lot of conversations about this. The one thing we wanted was for it to not come across as, ìOh her punishment for them is to have gay sex!î It wasnít that at all. It was about one person taking advantage of the other person, forcing himself on another person like they had done to the girls. That was a funny thing because nobody ever told me to change it. I couldnít believe that they were leaving it in. Then the day before shooting I start getting these nervous phone calls, ìWell, how much do you want to show?î I told them, ìIf it was a guy and a girl you wouldnít even call me to ask me that!î I told them to shoot what they needed to shoot. The end result isnít exactly how I wrote it, which is a little frustrating. In the script it was very clear that one of the guys was forcing himself on the other, like they did the girls. Now itís like, because everybody kind of wimped out at the last minute, theyíre making sweet love, or something. That kind of defeats the whole purpose of it. FEARS: Thereís a part of the scene where it feels like somebody said, Throw a blanket on that!î (Laughs) Jeffrey Reddick: Right! The funny part is where we see that blanket pulled back and the guys have their shirts on. Nobody would be under blankets with their shirts on! They said, ìOh, we didnít think about that.î I was like, ìYeah, but if it had been two girls they would have been totally naked and covered in baby oil!î (Laughs) Still, itís been great. It was great writing the script, again because I tried to push as many envelopes as I could. Not on purpose, but just trying to go places that a lot of horror movies wouldnít go. Mostly because of budget and time constraints we had to tone a lot of it down. Iím still happy with the movie, but itís not as edgy as Iíd originally written it. FEARS: The proverbial scene at the end leaves the film open for a sequel, was that something you originally wrote or something added later?  Jeffrey Reddick:
No, in the original there was this subtle thing where if you blinked
you could have missed it. Later they decided to punch the point home so
there could be a ìTamara 2: Electric Bugabloo,î if required. (Laughs) I
think it works, and it actually opens up a couple of avenues for a
sequel that I hadnít though of at the time. Iím not arrogant enough to
have been planning on a sequel from the beginning. Having worked at a
studio as long as I have, itís hard not to think franchise when youíre
writing something.With this new ending people are coming up to me and telling me what they think is happening, but Iím like, ìGee, I never thought about that!î FEARS: I like it because it leaves open the door for another film that isnít necessarily a sequel. You could go anywhere you wanted to with it. Jeffrey Reddick: Exactly, and that was definitely intentional. Just like with ìFinal Destination 2,î I sold them the story for the sequel to that film. One of the things Iím really proud about is that I think the movie really turned out great, but I really strived to expand the story of the first movie. It was just a retelling of the first film with different characters. The fact that the kids in the original ìFinal Destinationî survived and it affected the lives of these other people they didnít even know. I really wanted to come up with a sequel that broadened the story. If god willing everybody goes to see TAMARA and loves it, and it makes enough money to warrant a sequel, thatís what Iíd want to do with TAMARA. Iím not just interested in telling the same story again. I want to take it off in a new direction. FEARS: In this age of the PG-13 genre films, and given that the sex scene was toned down, why do you think TAMARA ended up with an R ratingî Jeffery Reddick: I wrote a hard R screenplay. In terms of script verses film, I created this character that has an eating disorder. I donít make light of it in anyway, but again I wanted to deal with real issues that teenagers deal with. Tamara, through her magic, in the script makes this character puke her guts up. Kind of like a homage to ìGates of Hell.î We couldnít really afford to do that. We still have that scene in there and itís extremely realistic. Thereís no guts coming out but itís still intense. We all went for an R rating on this film. I actually have no idea why, with toned down violence, that it still got an R. They said that it was for some of the language, some of the kids drinking, and some of the violence. I think there is a double standard in Hollywood when it comes to horror films. I just read that there is this documentary that just came out that unmasked the ratings board and clearly shows that there is a double standard. I think there are a couple of death scenes that are R rated, but overall Iíve seen a lot worse in PG-13 movies. FEARS: With TAMARA making the theatrical rounds, what are you focusing on now, maybe taking a break? Jeffrey Reddick: No break for me! (Laughs) Iím really excited because Iím currently writing the remake of ìDay of the Dead.î FEARS: Which I saw mention in your biography. Have you talked to George Romero at all? Is it intimidating? Jeffrey Reddick: I cannot tell a lieÖ Iíve been a horror fan my whole life. I too have been sick to death of remakes. When my representative brought this to me, at first I was like, ìI donít want to do a remake. Besides, the fans are going to kill me.î Then they told me the Steve Miner was directing. Heís done a lot of my favorite horror movies, like ìFriday the 13th Part II,î ìHouse,î ìWarlock,î and heís a really good director. I knew the film would be well directed. Than my concern was if I donít take this job what if they hire someone who isnít a fan of the genre? He could just crank out a piece of crap! So I talked with Steve Miner and we came up with a story. Weíre excited by it. It pays homage to ìDay of the Dead,î but itís a fresh. I feel itís a really solid story. I feel good about it, plus I like George Romeroís script a lot better. I know that because of budget and shooting schedule conflicts he actually had to trim back his script and set it all in this military bunker. He didnít get a chance to tell the story he wanted to tell. Of the Dead movies that George Romero did, this is the one that I feel less upset about remaking. If they had come to me and said, ìDo you want to rewrite ëNight of the Living Dead?íî I would have said, ìHell no!î I think itís very arrogant to simply try and remake a movie, to tell the same exact story with the same exact characters, and simply set it in 2006 instead of 1980. If you do that itís like saying we can tell Wes Craven or George Romeroís story better then they could. Again, I think thatís arrogant. We definitely set out to create a story that introduces the zombies to this new generation of people. I canít get too much into the script, but these are different type of zombie than weíve seen before and yet theyíre still true to George Romeroís vision in ìDay of the Dead.î FEARS: Universal Pictures is hovering over the Dead movies to the extent that they treat it like the horror equivalent to the Bond franchise. Are they giving you and Steve Minor that much latitude on the project? Jeffrey Reddick: I donít know all the legalities of all the rights, but I donít think Universal is putting this out. I think Millennium films owns the rights and Emmett/Furla Films came on board to help finance the remake. This isnít like a sequel to the ìDawn of the Deadî remake. This is this its own separate movie. There were parameters that we stayed within just out of respect for the original. Bub, Sarah, and Dr. Logan are going to be in it, and it will be set in a military facility. However, Steve and I worked hard to come up with a fresh take on it. Theyíve been very respectful of our vision. FEARS: So is that consuming your life at this moment or do you have a few other projects making the studio rounds as we speak? Jeffrey Reddick: There are a couple of projects that I have percolating. Thereís one Iím really excited about called ìThe Horror Show.î Itís a project that my good friend, and sometime writing partner, David Sporn are involved with. I started a production company with David called Short End Productions and weíre going to be focused on producing doing supernatural horror films, hard R rated horror films. TAMARA was actually our first venture. We set that up with City Lights Pictures ourselves. ìThe Horror Showî is the next project that we have on our slate, and Iím actually looking to make that my directorial debut. Itís an old project of mine that Iíve held very near and dear to my heart. I donít want anybody else touching that. Weíre hoping to get that off the ground this year. Click on the following links to view more of our coverage on the film: TAMARA Film Page: Featuring clips and stills TAMARA Review LINK THIS ARTICLE             |
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