| Troubeled Teens & Spirits, Dylan McDermott talks about THE MESSENGERS |
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| Friday, 02 February 2007 | |
 Reported by Samuel Osborn{Click on Images for a larger view.} THE MESSENGERS is a new supernatural-thriller starring Kristen Stewart as JESS SOLOMON. The Solomon family has left the fast paced life of Chicago for the secluded world of a North Dakota farm. Amidst the tranquil sway of the farms field of sunflowers, Jess, 16, soon realizes how terrifying seclusion can be when she and her brother Ben, 3, begin seeing ominous apparitions invisible to everyone else. Her parents, Roy (DYLAN MCDERMOTT) and Denise (PENELOPE ANN MILLER) Solomon question Jessísanity, while the farm hand John Burwell (John Corbett) seems to have a sympathetic earn for her. Itís a double jeopardy for the tormented teen especially as when her troublesome past comes face to face with the past of those who once lived in the house. It spirals into a perilous confrontation as she urgently tries to warn before it is too late. THE MESSENGERS is directed by Danny Pang and Oxide Pang (THE EYE), from a screenplay by Mark Wheaton and story by Todd Farmer. Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, William Sherak and Jason Shuman produce. Dylan McDermott captured audiences with his career making performance as idealistic defense attorney Bobby Donnell on David E. Kelleys Emmy Award-winning series "The Practice." McDermott received a Golden Globe Award and nominations for two Golden Globes, an Emmy, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Satellite Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series Drama. He recently appeared in ìUnbeatable Harold,î ìThe Tenants,î ìMistress of Spices,î and ìEdisonî as corrupt cop Frank Lazerov opposite Kevin Spacey, Justin Timberlake, and LL Cool J. He can be seen in director Brad Isaacs upcoming ìA West Texas Childrens Taleî as Cassies uncle. 
FEARS: Had you seen any Pang Brothers films before going into THE MESSENGERS?Dylan McDermott: Yeah, I had seen ìThe Eye.î They sent that when I got the offer and I was really impressed by it. I love psychological horror. I thought they would do an interesting job with this movie. Certainly with Sam Raimi involved I thought it would be a great combination. FEARS: What surprised you the most about the differences between the Pangs work and work by American directors? Dylan McDermott: Well I think the horror market is so saturated that I think the Asian directors somehow bring something else to horror that the American audiences havent seen. So theyre embraced. But, you know, next year it might be Danish directors. FEARS: I understand that the Pang Brothers are very visual directors. How does that work in crafting your character? Dylan McDermott: I think that although they have their "Pang Vision," most of that is at their end. They dont get in your way in terms of acting. Most of the time they let you look at the picture, you see what that picture is, and they kind of leave it up to you to come forward with your performance. FEARS: Are both of them on set at the same time? Dylan McDermott: No. One of them is on set and the otherÖI dont know. I guess he takes a day off, which seems like a pretty good schedule. FEARS: Did you work with one better than the other? Dylan McDermott: Yeah, I think I worked with Oxide a little differently than with Danny. I think they each offer something completely different. Danny might be a little darker and Oxide maybe lighter in terms of his approach to directing. But theyre great together. Together is an interesting mix.  FEARS: Did you know how to tell the brothers apart? I understand theyre identical twins. Dylan McDermott: Theyre identical twins but they arent "identical." One wears glasses and the other doesnt. Sometimes they trade glasses, you know, to trick you. But they have a good sense of humor about it all. We had fun. Ultimately, I think where they placed the camera and what they call "Pang Vision" really works for this movie. FEARS: How pleased were you that it wasnt just a remake of another film? Dylan McDermott: Thats a great question because so much of entertainment in general is derivative and nobody has an original idea anymore. I mean, you know, it still has to do with a haunted house so everythings derivative to a point. But it was nice that it wasnt a remake. FEARS: I understand the script went through a few incarnations. What kind of changes were involved? Dylan McDermott: I dont know how many drafts of this thing they had. They brought in writer after writer to try to polish this up and make it better because, you know, you have the story and most horror films dont have a story. They rely on scares. Because this does have a story that will hopefully separate it from other horror films. I think everyone was pressing for the same thing. How do we make this story better? Is there a way to put the family in more jeopardy and to make us more invested in this family to make the scares scarier? Hollywood movies are made this wayÖ they bring in writer after writer to try and make it better. They bring in teams of writersÖits just, how do we make it better? FEARS: Did you get to contribute to any of the rewrites to work on your character? Dylan McDermott: Oh yeah. I wanted to establish with my daughter, Kristin in the movie, the relationship between her and I because it wasnt there initially. I think that she and I came off with the relationship in the movie, to make it deeper and more interesting and more real. FEARS: Have you seen the finished film yet? Whats your take?  Dylan McDermott: I think its scary. I think there are some great scary moments. I also love the music. In particular, how it pushed you into a special psyche of horror. Its Sam (Raimi). You know, hes all over this picture, all over it. He was showing it to distributors and was so excited. He made a whole video of some stuff. The guy is so incredible with his excitement. It wasnt just that he put his name on it. FEARS: Have you had any personal experiences with anything supernatural like in THE MESSENGERS? Dylan McDermott: I actually have. I dont really believe in this shit. But Ill tell you the truth, in 1999 when I was doing ìSteel Magnoliasî I was driving in the car, it was Louisiana, and a figure jumped in front of the car. Everybody saw itÖbut nobody talked about it. It was one of those. And then in my house theres a ghost cat, a white cat that I first saw when I moved in. I never told anyone about it. But then my daughter said, "Dad did you see a white cat in the house?" And Im a skeptical person and I dont really believe in this stuff but, you know, the fact that two times its happened to meÖ FEARS: Do you have a ghost litter box? Dylan McDermott: No, I have a ghost dog to take care of it all. FEARS: Are you interested in doing more horror? Dylan McDermott: I like it. You cant deny the horror market because it speaks and people go. Horror always wins, and I think youre going to see more and more actors going to horror because the audiences are there. It doesnt have the credibility of other genres. But there are some great horror films. ìRosemarys Babyî to me is the greatest horror movie ever made, one of the greatest movies ever made period. So I think theres a chance to make some really spectacular horror films. FEARS: Would you consider Richard Stanleyís 1990 ìHardwareî one of those great horror movies? Dylan McDermott: Ahm... No. Absolutely not. FEARS: What do you remember from that? Dylan McDermott: Pain. FEARS: In the making or the watching of it? Dylan McDermott: AhmÖ I dont really remember watching it but I remember making it and it was like, "Oh my God." That movie was so painful. FEARS: Physically orÖ Dylan McDermott: Everything. FEARS: How was it being way out in the middle of nowhere with the crew? You were in Regina, Saskatchewan. Did that ever get to you? Dylan McDermott: Look, making this movie was creepy, and its a creepy movie. Number one there are the crows. I think there were twenty Czech crows and ten of them died. That scene, I think that scene took six months to make overall. They used CG, hand-puppetry and real crows and mixed it all together. Six months for that one particular scene. And there were ghosts wandering around in outfits, youre in Saskatchewan in the middle of nowhere. The whole settings very creepy. You cant help getting affected by it. FEARS: How many scenes did you actually do with the crows? How did they control those? Are they even trainable? Dylan McDermott: These crows were completely trained. The trainer directed them, you know, at will. What he did was, the stuntman put a meat vest on, with meat stapled to him or something, and they just swarmed him. The meat went everywhere. FEARS: Wasnt there a concern that when they put that sequence together that audiences would feel they were ripping off (Alfred Hitchcocks) ìThe Birds?î Dylan McDermott: Unfortunately, theres a whole audience out there that doesnt remember ìThe Birds.î You know what I mean. Nobody cares! The trouble with making movies is that every ten years its a whole new generation. Thats why there are always remakes. Youll remember, Ill remember. But the target audience is thirteen to eighteen year olds. Its all about getting the teenagers in the theatre. The thirteen-year-old girl rules this world. FEARS: How was it working with Kristen Stewart?  Dylan McDermott: I think shes great. Shes a big star. I think this movies going to be helpful for her. Shes got a great presence and shes very soulful. FEARS: Did they film a more extreme version for the DVD release? Dylan McDermott: No, it was always catered for thirteen-year-old girls. They know what theyre doing. FEARS: Youre a couple years off "The Practice" now, what are you looking to do in the future? Dylan McDermott: Im totally content driven. If the content is great, Ill do what Im told. Ill do it in the movies, Ill do it in theatres, and Iíll do it in my bathroom. I dont care. Its all about content for me. FEARS: You also directed a couple episode of "The Practice." Are you interested in directing at all? Dylan McDermott: Id love to direct. I wrote a couple scripts and would love to one day make them. I think every actor has that because, you know, as an actor youre always being edited. So itd be nice to have and set your own vision.  FEARS: How much satisfaction do you take in your work, as opposed to seeing how the movies do? Dylan McDermott: I used to get caught up in all that stuffÖ whens it coming out, how many theatres, how well it did. None of that made me happy though. The only thing that makes me happy is when Im doing it. Im not even happy when Im watching it. Acting, its in the doing. Everything in life, in the doing is where you extract the happiness. LINK THIS ARTICLE             |
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