Amy Acker And Joss Whedon Video Interview On ‘The Cabin In The Woods’
by Actress Amy Acker and director Joss Whedon are far from strangers — the two have collaborated on a range of projects from television shows like Angel and Dollhouse, to movies such as Much Ado About Nothing and The Cabin in the Woods.
On The Cabin in the Woods, Whedon, 48, hit a wall when MGM went bankrupt, forcing the film to be shelved. However, the director, who is also the mastermind behind such cult classics as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and Serenity, firmly believed that he could eventually push The Cabin in the Woods to a theatrical release. “Watching it with audiences at South by Southwest, and various places, and seeing them respond to it — I knew that somebody would look at the movie and go, ‘This is gonna happen,’” Whedon told Uinterview exclusively. “Lions Gate knew instantly, as soon as they saw it, that they had to get it out of that mire it was stuck in. I never lost faith.”
For Acker, 35, The Cabin in the Woods represented the return to a subject matter from which she’s forged her career. “When it comes to the atmosphere on set — it’s really a fun horror movie, and we all had a lot of fun creating the world and the monsters and everything that happened, so it was easy,” she told Uinterview. “Even between shots there was a lot of laughter. There was a lot of everyone having a good time, and celebrating the horror film.”
Q: As someone who has worked in the horror genre for so many years, where do you see the future of it going?
A: Joss: Well, the state of horror films is always shifting. We made this movie 3 years ago. Right now there are a lot of found footage Paranormal Activity-type movies, which I actually think are great, because they’re based on scares in an old-fashioned kind of way.Cabin in the Woods was meant to be an old-fashioned movie, sort of a response to the way movies of that time were really veering into torture-fests, which neither Drew nor I liked as much as we liked the old school, classical horror movies. So we wanted to take something very old-fashioned, and then really tear that to shreds. So the audience would leave with the kind of great scares you would get from an old fashioned horror movie, but at the same time, a really new perspective on where those scares are coming from.
Q: What did you do to make sure this film made it to a theatrical release following the bankruptcy of MGM?
A: Joss: When the studio that made the movie went bankrupt, the movie had to be shelved for a while. I knew that it was gonna come around – not to be that guy – but I knew how good it was. I believe in this movie. Watching it with audiences at South by Southwest, and various places, and seeing them respond to it, I knew that somebody would look at the movie and go, ‘This is gonna happen.’ Lions Gate knew instantly, as soon as they saw it, that they had to get it out of that mire it was stuck in. I never lost faith.
Q: Horror movies are intense to shoot. Was it hard to separate yourself mentally from the set at the end of every day?
Amy: Well, for me, most of my career has been acting with monsters and vampires, that’s the part I have to escape from. When it comes to the atmosphere on set-it’s really a fun horror movie, and we all had a lot of fun creating the world and the monsters and everything that happened, so it was easy. Even between shots there was a lot of laughter. There was a lot of everyone having a good time and celebrating the horror film.
For more Joss Whedon and Amy Acker news:
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