With I Spit on Your Grave 4K UHD Blu-ray, we revisit our chat with iconic star Camille Keaton…
STARBURST: What was your initial thoughts when you got the script for Day of the Woman?
Camille Keaton: I really wanted the part. I knew that it was something I couldn’t call my parents up to ask them about it because they would be against it. I wanted to do an American movie because I have been working in Italy for a few years and this was my chance. It’s a character that gets to show many different aspects of her personality and so forth. So, I thought it was a good idea to do it.
What was Meir like as a director?
He was wonderful! A few months later we got married.
And then the name of the film was changed later on. What was your thoughts on that?
It was changed a bit later. When the distribution was taken over. At first I didn’t like it, but now I think it’s a good idea because it’s a title that you remember and it gets your attention.
Were you aware of the controversies that was happening in the UK with it on video?
No, not at the time. I knew it wasn’t an easy film to distribute.
We know there was trouble with Siskel and Ebert over there…
They sure hated the film! When Ebert said what he said about the movie, it just made more people want to go to see it. Meir said, ‘don’t be upset about it, this is good!’
It was similar in the UK, when there was such an outcry, it became a must-see film.
It’s funny how that works, right?
Was there any thought at the time that it would have such a legacy?
Oh, you just don’t know that you’re making a movie. That the film would still around today. I didn’t think it would still be popular. I just had no idea at all. And now they’re coming out with this six-disc set. They’re bringing all the films together, and that’s pretty cool.
What was your favourite kill in the first film?
Oh, I would say the hanging.
Over here, everybody remembers the bath scene.
That was a good scene too. The thing I remember most about the bath scene was we’d already shot a scene for after bathroom scene and my hair is up, when I’m rocking in the rocking chair. But Meir wanted my hair down. I said you can’t have me walking out of the bathroom with my hair down then all of a sudden it’s up! The other actor, Eron Tabor, wasn’t nervous at all about doing that scene, I think I would have been if I was in his shoes!
What were your thoughts about coming back to the sequel after so long?
I’d been asking Meir to make a sequel for many, many years and I gave up on it. Then finally, one day he called me and he said, ‘we’re going to make a sequel’. And I play the mother of Jamie Bernadette, who is the one who gets assaulted this time. She did a magnificent job. We got on great together. If I hadn’t done the part of Jennifer Hills again, I would have liked to have done the part that Maria Olsen did. She did such a great job.
She’s terrifying!
Yes she is, and yet she’s such a nice person!
I Spit on Your Grave is available on 4K UHD Blu-ray now.
