Feature Category: Features

This week sees the release of Upgrade Writer/Director Leigh Whannell‘s highly anticipated The Invisible Man remake.

The story sees British actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen play wealthy tech engineer Adrian Griffin. Griffin develops the hardware to make himself invisible but suffers from several psychotic disorders which, when combined with that power, turn him into a terrifying megalomaniac/villain. Adrian then sets out to stalk and torment ex-girlfriend Cecilia (Elizabeth Moss) to the point where she thinks she is losing her mind.

In the run-up to the film’s release, STARBURST sat down with Jackson-Cohen at the London junket to chat about the production, how his Invisible Man differs from others, the challenges of the role and what to expect next from Jason Blum’s Universal Monster franchise.

STARBURST: What is it you feel that you have brought to The Invisible Man character that we haven’t seen in previous versions?

OLIVER JACKSON-COHEN: It’s such a classic role that has been in our consciousness since the 1930s. 90s years later and it’s still with us, but this a very big departure from any version that has been done before. Most of the updates came from Leigh’s incredible script which he wrote for a modern audience and focused a lot of domestic abuse. So it was fascinating being able to delve into that and, as a result, play a version of the character that’s much more terrifying, because he has been made into more of a human being. These kinds of men terrify me, so it was an interesting experience.

The “kind of person” meaning control freaks with money and power that has gone to their heads or mad, cackling scientists trying to play God?

You are right when you talk about control but the old version followed a journey into madness which isn’t really what we have done here. Ours is more about narcissism, sociopathy and personality disorders which I think people would better connect to nowadays. We see this kind of behaviour and these kinds of relationships and they are horrific, which is the reason Leigh decided to incorporate that into his story.

You’re not seen on screen too much but were you actually involved in any of the scenes where your character is invisible or was it all just visual effects in your absence?

I did quite a lot. Sometimes I was there and sometimes I wasn’t. Early on we had a discussion and felt it’s best to not talk about how we did what we did or when I’m on screen or not because we want the audience to keep guessing. The character is so terrifying and has such an extreme presence throughout that we wanted people to feel, even in his apparent absence. Lizzie, Leigh and I thought that the story needed that and had to be told in an as honest and truthful way as possible, so we spent a lot of time building the characters to achieve that level of terror and realism.

What were the main challenges of performing in the scenes that you might, or might not have, been in?

It’s never nice inflicting pain on someone. I don’t get any joy out of that. Those scenes were hard. It didn’t help that Lizzie was so brilliant in the role. I found it quite heart-breaking trying to hurt her. But again, it’s important that we make it as realistic as possible because there are people like this out there and we have a duty to represent them as honestly as we can.

You brought a brilliant Norman Bates-like likeability and confliction to the role.

I wasn’t interested in playing him as the villain. I think that is part of why he is so scary because he knows how to be charming and how to faux self-deprecate. It’s all about manipulation and control for Adrian. About finding a way into Cecilia’s head and hooking her back into his life. We toyed with so many different versions of how we could go with that.

At the times we do see Adrian he seems broken, almost like his mechanism had gone. What is it about the character and concept that has such longevity? There have been so many adaptations over the years, why still the appeal?

It’s primal. I think there is something quite scary for all of us about having someone in the room watching, but not totally knowing if they’re there or not. It’s an inherent fear that’s similar to our one of ghosts: being helpless. The Invisible Man is iconic for the very important reason that he taps into that.

There is also the intriguing flip-side in that; everyone wants to know what it’s like to be invisible and would like to see what someone would get up to with that power. We are also living in an age where it is so much more difficult to be invisible what with social media on our phones and app tracking which connects this version to these contemporary times. Are you as tech-savvy and up to speed as your character is?

I can barely switch on a computer mate (laughs).  Honestly, it’s not good. I used to be the kid at school the teacher asked to operate the VHS machine but I’ve lost it. I was really reluctant to even get a phone. I don’t like the idea of people being able to track me or be in constant contact with me. It’s terrifying what’s happening with technology. It’s incredible but I can’t help but think there’s a cost to it all. This is something else that our film taps into; how technology can get out of control.

This is the first film in Jason Blum’s Universal Monster movie franchise. How do you think it would be best to adapt those old classic horror films for modern audiences?

Universal has predicted what it’s going to do with the new franchise but, to be honest, we still don’t know whether an audience will actually go and spend money on it at the moment. We hope they do. It will be a testament to small scale film-making if so. I guess they just need to try and take a very different approach to the material as we did. That is why Leigh is very clever: he’s made a small, character-driven story, shot in two months with a great lead actress then worked relatable, modern themes like domestic abuse and gas-lighting into it. With really intelligent people behind the production, great creators like Leigh writing and directing, you’re bound to end up with at least a very confronting and impactful film.

So what’s next in the pipeline for you?

I’ve just finished shooting the second season of The Haunting of Hill House called The Haunting of Bly Manor, with director Mike Flanagan. We wrapped on Sunday. I don’t know what’s next right at this moment, but I am going to take a break.

Have you considered putting yourself forward for James Bond?

I could never do that, I’d be way too emotional (laughs). He’d be crying all the time and too intense. I’m too sensitive for Bond. I would really like to play Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. You think about what that character is about and how it could be updated as we have done with this. It could be such a fascinating exploration into multiple personalities.

THE INVISIBLE MAN hits cinemas on Friday, February 28th

To celebrate the Blu-Ray release of the hilarious Sci-Fi Horror Comedy, Snatchers, we here at STARBURST had the pleasure of sitting down with directors Stephen Cedars & Benji Kleiman to talk about the film.

STARBURST: First of all, congratulations on the film. It’s super funny, quirky and gory – a bit like Mean Girls meets Alien.

STEPHEN & BENJI: Thank you so much! It definitely did not start off like that [laughs].

This film began its life as a short film back in 2015. Where did the original idea come from for the short film? And as Directors, how was it taking that idea and turning it into a full-length feature – it must feel amazing.

STEPHEN: It was actually very easy as Benji’s sister got pregnant with an Alien and [laughs], I joke of course. It’s funny, Benji and I along with Scott (the third writer), we had an idea that we wanted to do an alien pregnancy movie and had no idea how to. The original plan was for it to be about a forty-year-old woman on a military base – so it came a very long way. We wrote a different script for the short film which served as proof of concept, and we showed it to our manager who didn’t get it at all so we made a proof of concept for our original idea that was Snatchers and we made it and it worked! When we sold it to Warner Brothers, that’s when everything started to fall into place.

BENJI: It was interesting turning it into a full-length feature as we had all these drafts but we didn’t have a finished idea. We had so many great ideas but we had to find a way to get it all together and after the proof of concept the world was there for us and it made things easy. Getting the horror and comedy as a delicate balance was difficult but when it all clicked into place it was a fantastic feeling. It was super fun to incorporate the short into the finished product as that what we had always planned but we had to alter some of the dialogue to have it make sense [laughs]. It was so rewarding overall.

What was it about Mary and Gabrielle that made them stand out as your two leads when they were originally cast?

STEPHEN: I know that when we made the short we had a casting session and when we saw Gabrielle walk in we knew straight away that we wanted her to play Hayley but we hadn’t seen anyone at that moment that stood out as Sara. She had to find a balance between being crass whilst also carrying the emotional weight of the story and then when Mary sent in her audition tape, it was the last thing we saw and we immediately knew that she was the one. Mary had that ability to make the whole thing grounded – it was a very real performance. The two of them worked perfectly together. They felt like old best friends instantly, it was great.

BENJI: The tonal thing, the two of them just got. On top of their natural acting ability, they made things feel so real and helped the consistency of the tone throughout the film.

The film utilizes both practical effects and CGI – how was it working with animatronics and CGI to find that sweet balance?

STEPHEN: When we were first designing the alien, it looked too much like a Pokemon so we had to change it to look more menacing than cute. We shot the movie in two parts, in the first part we had the animatronic with the eyebrows but they didn’t move so when we shot the second part we wanted to add that extra level of character so we made him move his eyebrows – you can actually see in the movie when we finished shooting that first part. The animatronic itself was super annoying to fix to the actors head as they had to balance him on their head whilst also keeping their chin to their chest not being able to see where they’re going [laughs].

BENJI: That was a crazy challenge and blending it with the CGI was another big challenge – but it all worked out better than we imagined. When you grow up you love watching these behind-the-scenes about practical effects and want to do it for yourself and when you’re making it, you have to tell yourself it’s going to look better on camera [laughs]. The hard work paid off and we are so happy with the results. It was fun to see the actors act against the real thing – it also helped it frame the shot easier.

What were some of the crazy ideas or scenarios that you had when writing the film that you, unfortunately, didn’t get to do during the production?

BENJI: I know that we had drafts full of cool crazy things including extra gags for the police station scene and the party scene. But due to time and budget and organisation, we didn’t get to do everything but we were so happy with the outcome. We wanted to destroy a grand piano but that was going to cost way too much [laughs].

STEPHEN: We also wanted to blow up the house at the end [laughs].

Which was your favourite scene to take from paper to screen?

BENJI: Absolutely the clinic scene as that is what started it all. It was so much fun to make this and see our characters come to life for the first time – such a profound moment in our careers.

STEPHEN: It was the first time we had a crew, too. Another amazing scene was the police station – we had the whole thing storyboarded out before we were like “how are we going to do this on a budget?” – we then went on a location scout and found this amazing building which, from the outside, looked like a police station and it turns out it was scheduled for demolition so we struck gold and were able to go mental inside and blow stuff up and make a huge mess. That made things a lot easier and it was a hell of a lot of fun too!

SNATCHERS is out now on DVD, Blu-Ray and On Demand.

To celebrate the Blu-Ray release of the hilarious Sci-Fi Horror Comedy, Snatchers, we here at STARBURST had the pleasure of sitting down with lead star Mary Nepi to talk about the film.

STARBURST: First of all, congratulations on the film. It’s super funny, quirky and gory – a bit like Mean Girls meets Alien.

MARY NEPI: Thank you so much! It’s funny you should say that we ourselves have used that very same comparison!

What was it about the concept or script that attracted you to the project?

It started as a short film in 2015 and it was a very interesting script – I got it from my manager and they said: “Hey, I’ve got this fun cooky project, do you want to take a look?” and I remember reading the audition they sent over and I had never read anything like this before! The scene involved aliens and Mean Girls humour – I was at home with my parents at the time so I filmed the audition with my dad reading across from me and if you’ve seen the film, some of the scenes were a bit awkward but it was a unique experience. It’s so fun.

A lot of similar “high school” movies fail to capture that innocent essence of growing up but that is definitely one of the main strong features of Snatchers with your character Sara’s relationship with Hayley. How much did your real-life relationship with Gabrielle help you in the film?

We definitely evolved a sister-like relationship very quickly. We had a lot of fun together and it helped our chemistry which developed after we got called back too. I remember even when we read together that this was easy as we had that instant connection. We spent a lot of time together throughout the shoot, it was very very fun – I felt like I had known her forever, which helped the character arc. Some of the most fun scenes were when it was just the two of us getting to be honest and real with each other.

The film utilizes both practical effects and CGI – how was it working with animatronics and having to react to them? Same question when it comes to CGI.

It was so fun! That was one of the most unique things about it – the creature effects by Chris Hanson did a sensational job on our alien friend. Everyone wanted to take pictures with him when we first saw him [laughs]. I loved the way you could manipulate his face for expression. The (other) alien was also practical which was terrifying and helped my performance when reacting to it. Such a great experience and I learned a lot as well. In terms of CGI, I’d like to say that that’s one of the first things you learn at acting boot camp – to react to something that isn’t there. So I was prepared for that but it was still a fun time.

Snatchers is very bloody and gory in places especially that first scene in the clinic – what was your favourite scene to shoot?

Well, that scene was initially the short film – so that was really extremely fun to shoot over four days. None of us really knew what we were doing so we all learned together. I loved the big action bloody scenes especially the one in the police station that was so chaotic with loads of people on set, flying over you – it was like a battle zone! I felt like an action hero [laughs]. Fake arms and blood were flying everywhere! It was insane. The whole ending sequence was another fun shoot with a lot of people which heightened the energy along with the stakes!

The way the film ended brought a conclusion to this particular story but, if there was a sequel, would you be up for reprising your action hero role?

Absolutely! 100% yes – you will have to ask Stephen and Benji (the Directors) if they have plans but for now, I would love to return for sure.

SNATCHERS is out now on DVD, Blu-Ray and On Demand.