Marcus Nispel had pretty much written off ever directing a feature film. "I figured the hell with that. I don’t need the abuse," Nispel laughingly told SHOOT. According to the director, who is represented for spotwork by bicoastal/international Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ), he had been offered several movies over the last decade, but—content to direct commercials and music videos—he turned them all down. Then he was presented with an opportunity to direct a remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
At first, Nispel was simply amused by the offer because, ironically, his best friend happens to be Daniel C. Pearl, who DPed the original film, which was directed by Tobe Hooper and released in 1974. Pearl’s reaction when Nispel phoned him with the news? "He goes, ‘We’ve got to do this! I would be the first DP in history doing the same movie twice!’ " Nispel recalled, noting, "It started like a big prank because I never thought I would want to make a movie of this sort."
Funnily enough, Pearl had actually given Nispel a copy of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on DVD as a gift months before. "I bring it home, and my wife goes, ‘We’re not going to watch this,’ " Nispel shared. "My wife completely controls any TV at the house. When I go home, it’s Oprah and The View."
Given that exchange, Nispel was later surprised when he told his wife he had a chance to direct a remake of the film she had refused to watch, and she told him that he had to do it. Nispel was skeptical of her reasoning. "If it was up to my wife, I would make movies for all the wrong reasons because all she really wants is at least one red carpet experience in her life," he explained. "So I said, ‘Look, here’s the deal. If you want me to do the movie, you have to watch the original.’ We sat through it, and we were both amazed because it wasn’t a splatterfest like I thought it would be. I don’t like splatter movies."
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is anything but a splatter movie. In fact, the bone-chilling original is considered by many film aficionados to be the greatest horror film of all time. For those of you who haven’t seen it, the film, said to be drawn from a series of true events, centers on the murderous exploits of Leatherface, a chainsaw-wielding maniac, and his freaky family.
The film shocked and frightened audiences not through the use of excessive gore but rather on a psychological level, according to Nispel, who said he aimed to do the same with his version of the classic. "If you take the blood that was spilled in the first one, and the blood that we spilled in ours, and you poured it in one bucket, most likely it’s going to be less [blood] than you get in any episode of CSI," the director maintained.
Written by Scott Kosar, Nispel’s version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre isn’t a scene-by-scene remake of the original, but the basic premise is similar. Essentially, a group of people has the misfortune of meeting up with Leatherface and his clan in rural Texas.
This time around, it is a van full of young people—played by Jessica Biel (7th Heaven), Eric Balfour (Six Feet Under), Jonathan Tucker, Mike Vogel and Erica Leershen—who are driving through Texas on their way to a Lynard Skynard concert. After they encounter a girl who is wandering aimlessly down a deserted road, they seek help from some creepy locals, including a sadistic sheriff (R. Lee Ermey). As you might have already guessed, these kids never make it to the Lynard Skynard concert.
While the original film was shot for about $150,000, Nispel reported that his production budget was $5 million, but he had to "provide a fifty or sixty million dollar look." Luckily, the director was able to hire a crew that he felt comfortable with, choosing to work with the same grip, gaffer, art and costume people that he collaborates with on spot jobs.
"Most studios don’t want you to bring anybody along from your own crew because they feel it makes you way too powerful," Nispel said. Luckily, he had a supportive ally in the film’s co-producer, Michael Bay, another commercial veteran whose feature credits include Pearl Harbor, Armageddon and Bad Boys. (Bay maintains his own spot production shop, The Institute for Development of Advanced Perceptual Awareness, Santa Monica.) According to Nispel, Bay told him, "I want you to be surrounded by the people you need."
Having a familiar team allowed Nispel and Pearl to achieve the dark, low-lit look they wanted for the movie’s evening scenes. "It requires a crew that understands it because you art direct [a scene], you block it, and you light it in a way that only works from a certain angle," Nispel explained. "It allows you to work very fast, but you have to be very disciplined. You have to know that things have to be dark and shiny in order to bounce the light. The average movie crew would not even know what you are talking about. My guys have been doing this for a decade. So why should I not bring them along?"
Nispel even named one of the film’s locations—the Blair Meat Packing Company—after one crewmember, Greg Blair, a production designer. Nispel pointed that out because "everybody thinks it is my nod to The Blair Witch Project, and that annoys me to no end."
A FEARLESS CAST
In addition to appreciating the efforts of his crew, Nispel also gave his cast, including Biel, who is the film’s heroine, high marks. "She’s no ditz. She’s not a scream queen," he said of Biel. "She’s smart and accessible."
Biel and her fellow performers didn’t exactly enjoy the most comfortable working conditions. The film was shot over a month on location in Texas, and daytime scenes shot inside a van were particularly torturous—temperatures inside the vehicle sometimes soared to 130 degrees.
Additionally, the actors found themselves in other uncomfortable situations. Case in point: Vogel spends much of the movie hanging from a meat hook. "Even through he was hanging from a rubber hook, the harness was cutting into his legs and his armpits, and he was hanging there for two days," Nispel said. "His pain and his tears were real."
While Nispel credited the cast for being real troupers, he reported that the guy originally cast as Leatherface didn’t work out. "When Michael and I were talking, we both agreed Leatherface should be the biggest, tallest guy there was," he shared. "Those were the qualifications we were looking for."
Following that line of thought, they hired the biggest, tallest guy they could find. "He does his thing, and after the first day he’s whining nonstop: ‘It’s hot. My back hurts. I’ve got to go back in the trailer,’ " Nispel recalled. "We were just inching along. I thought [his part would be easy] because he had a mask on for crying out loud. So the next day, he doesn’t show up because his back was hurting him too much. Turns out he had a bad back and didn’t tell us about it."
Thankfully, Nispel quickly found another actor, Andrew Bryniarski, to play the role. "He was fantastic, completely committed, never complained, and he was even a few inches taller than the first guy," the director said.
And Bryniarski had a great time running around with the chainsaw. "It’s a miracle we all still have our ears," Nispel cracked. The film’s characters, however, aren’t as lucky.
A REAL SCREAM
This reporter saw an advance screening of the movie in New York with a packed audience—including the press, as well as lots of teens and twentysomethings—who loved it. Meanwhile, the film earned a 95 percent approval rating at a test screening in Ontario, Calif., "which is the highest New Line ever got on any movie they’ve ever done," according to Nispel.
The director acknowledged that it was amusing to hear himself quoting a figure from a test screening. "When I’m doing a commercial for a client, and they track [the response], I’m like, ‘What’s the big deal? What does a test audience know? Why are you doing a focus group?’ " Nispel related. "Then I shoot a film and have my own end product, and I’m like, ‘How is it tracking? What is the feedback? Show me the first week’s results!’ You suddenly talk and act like a brand manager. This has completely changed my outlook [and opinion on] brand managers and clients, because I completely empathize with them now."
So how did Nispel’s first film effort fare at the box office? The Texas Chainsaw Massacre opened on Friday, Oct. 17, and slaughtered the competition—debuting as the top weekend movie with a box office take of $29.1 million.
Oh, and by the way, given the great experience he had working on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Nispel is indeed open to directing another movie. "In fact, I just had the opportunity to do a movie with Robert DeNiro," the director divulged, "[but] I had to turn it down because I had a Zales campaign booked."
