The eagerly awaited sequel to 2006’s Silent Hill is set for release this week. Just in time for the Halloween season, it promises to be one of the more interesting horror films this year. We caught up with writer/director Michael J. Bassett to chat about it…
Starburst: The Silent Hill series is a big hit with gamers all over the world. Does one have to play the video games or see the last movie to understand your new film?
Michael J. Bassett: As a sequel I worked on the script to explain the back-story of Heather/Alessa so that the audience will understand the movie without having to have knowledge of the games or the first film. People who have played the games know the story, but there’s also new elements created in the movie that enhance it. I believe it’s a good balance of the two.
Did you have the actors play the game to get a feel for their characters?
Adelaide Clemmens’ brother played the video game a lot, so she got to get a good idea of the Silent Hill mythology from him. I didn’t want the actors to be locked into a certain mindset with their character by playing the games. I wanted to have them interpret their roles with more human emotion.
Judging from the trailer, Australian actress Adelaide Clemens seems like a great choice for the Heather/Alessa role.
Yes, she had the right look and was terrific to work with! Really a great actress!
A lot of films have jumped on the 3D bandwagon. Why did you make that particular choice for Silent Hill?
In pre production, we talked about how we were going to shoot the movie and 3D seemed to the best choice. If you look at Avatar, it’s mostly a computer-generated film. We wanted to utilize the 3D process to immerse the audience in a live action environment.
Did you use the Red Cam for filming?
Yes. It can be a difficult camera to use especially when you have two cameras strapped together on a steady cam. The weight is quite heavy for the operator and you always have to make sure that they’re in sync all the time. The same with editing and sound. It’s a different process of filmmaking. It was a difficult movie to make, but the movie benefits from it.
What can you tell us about your upcoming projects, Saint Mary’s and The 4th Reich?
I’m no longer involved with Saint Mary’s. The 4th Reich started out as a brilliant idea and we’ve turned it into a really cool World War II found footage story that’s quite different. Sean Bean is a terrific actor to work with and he’s in this as well as Silent Hill: Revelations. He says he always gets killed at the end of his films, so we have a unique way of him meeting his demise in this.
Silent Hill: Revelations will be released in US theaters October 26th, before opening in the UK on the 31st.
