An Interview With Robert Kurtzman

AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT KURTZMAN

28.01.2008

Robert Kurtzman is undoubtedly one of the most enduring icons in horror cinema. From his beginnings as an effects artist for Fred Dekker's 1986 schlock picture Night of the Creeps, Kurtzman has made a name for himself in his genre, particularly with his involvement with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's vampire classic From Dusk Till Dawn, and his own directorial feature Wishmaster. Kurtzman has now shifted his focus to directing, having recently led Tobin Bell (who played Jigsaw in the Saw films) in Buried Alive. MJ Reviews speaks to Robert about his work in the film business, as well as some exciting future projects.

First of all, congratulations on a successful 2007 – Buried Alive and The Rage were released to rave reviews from genre fans. Do you still appreciate this kind of response?

Very much so… it’s great when your films find an audience, I very much appreciate the fans.

Tell us a little about your new film, To Live and Die. It’s a departure from some of your horror-related output of late, correct?

I'd worked with producer David Greathouse on Buried Alive, which was a great collaboration as we were able to bring it in on budget and schedule on a 20-day shoot. Several months later I was in LA posting The Rage when he started talking to me about a project then called 'Angelmaker'. He’d seen The Rage while I was mixing and really dug it and what I was able to do on such a small budget. Even though The Rage is an exploitation horror film, it’s also a balls out action movie. Dave asked if I’d be interested in doing a straight action/thriller. It needed to be shot in 24 days in NM and it was starting right away. It would be the first film he was producing for MGM and it was very important that the film come in on time and budget. I was up for the challenge and of course said yes. I had one of the best times I’ve ever had working with David, MGM, and the crew in NM. The film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Joe Pantoliano.

You named your film and effects company ‘Precinct 13 Entertainment’. Are you a John Carpenter fan?

I’m a huge JC fan. Assault on Precinct 13 is one of my favourite films. It’s a great independent film that was made on a shoestring budget and had a great cast. John’s early films were made in the same spirit of independence that has inspired me over the years. He was a risk-taker who bucked the system and that’s what my company is all about. Taking risks whether you succeed or fail… it’s always about the battle and that’s what I respect about John. He’s had great success and failures but it’s all about the work.

You’re revered among the filmmaking world, particularly in the horror genre, for being a visual effects and makeup artist, and you’ve made your specialty in the field of gore. What inspires you?

Film in general. I’ve been a film buff since I was a young and I always had an artistic side. I was inspired watching monster films on late night horror host shows while growing up and ended up spending a lot of time in front of the TV as well as the drive-in watching monster films and drawing creatures. I grew up watching all the late night horror hosts and Saturday afternoon movies like Big Chuck and Little John and The Ghoul, Superhost etc. This is where I got to see all the classic B-movies as well as the Universal films and the Hammer films. I was also a big drive-in movie fan and my parents took us all the time. Once I had drivers licence you couldn’t stop me from going to the cinema on the weekends. Later when video came out I started seeking out films.

John Carpenter, Sam Raimi, George Romero, Wes Craven, Sam Peckinpah, Walter Hill, John Woo, Dario Argento - a little bit of everything.

1986 marked the release of the first film you worked on, Night of the Creeps. How did you get into the business?

I left Ohio when I was 19 after dropping out of art school and moved to LA to go to Joe Blascos’ make-up school. Then I started working at John Beuchler’s MMI doing make-up FX on a ton of Charlie Band movies like Troll, Re-Animator, TerrorVision etc. After a few years at MMI I started freelancing around town working on films like Night of the Creeps, Predator, The Color Purple, Aliens, Invaders From Mars, From Beyond, Deepstar Six, Evil Dead 2 and Phantasm 2 before starting KNB.

The year later, you were part of the creature effects crew for John McTiernan’s Predator. Was it a daunting project, being your second? It was very effects-heavy.

It actually wasn’t my second project. I’d worked on a lot of other films while working for John Beuchler and Charlie Band’s Empire pictures before working at Stan Winston’s. It wasn’t daunting as I had many friends working with me.

It was a great learning ground as there were dozens of up-and-coming artists working at Stan’s at the time.

In 1988, you co-founded the KNB EFX Group with Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger. Why did you leave, after fourteen years doing effects with KNB?

I actually was with KNB for 15 years. I left in 2003. I decided after 20 years in LA that it was time to move my family back east, away form the big city life and start my own company so I could concentrate on more than just effects. I wanted to do my own productions and get more involved in the overall filmmaking process as director and producer. I wanted to do my own film from start to finish and learn every bit of the process on my own terms.

You worked with Quentin Tarantino in 1992 and 1994 with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction respectively. Both were controversially violent; which of the effects were yours? Did you infamously slice off Marvin’s ear?

All the effects on both films were handled at KNB. I’d designed a similar effect with the ear slice for Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm 2 and so when Reservoir Dogs came about I utilized the same technique.

You continued your collaboration with Quentin for the 1996 film From Dusk Till Dawn. You conceived the story for Dusk, as well as producing the picture and supervising its make-up effects. Tarantino authored the screenplay – what was your influence upon the film, from conception to execution?

I conceived the project and wrote a 24-page treatment that outlined the film and the characters. I wanted to do a film that could be done on a small budget with an isolated group of characters trapped in a setting like Assault on Precinct 13. Originally my partner on the film John Esposito was to write the it but he just got his script for Stephen King’s Graveyard Shift set up and he was off to Maine for shooting, so we both began looking for writers to do our first draft. Long time friend and producer David Goodman (Man with the Screaming Brain) had told me about a young writer who he thought would be perfect to write Dusk. He hooked us up and QT and I soon got together to discuss collaborating. QT had sent us several writing samples including Natural Born Killers and True Romance and after reading we felt he’d be perfect for Dusk. At the time QT had been working as a video clerk and was looking to branch out and although we didn’t have much money to pay him. It was enough for QT to leave his job as a video clerk to write our project. It was actually his first work for hire screenplay. We made a deal. QT would write our script and I would do the FX for Dogs. We spent the next ten years trying to set the film up. It was initially rejected everywhere, even after the success of Dogs and Pulp. No one wanted to do it. They thought it was too vulgar and violent and didn’t understand the turn from road picture to vampire film halfway through. At the time I had only directed second unit FX and no one would give me a shot as director as I hadn’t directed a feature before so when RR [Robert Rodriguez, the film’s director] became interested it was a no-brainer. After 10 years of hustling the project around there was a chance to get it produced. Once RR boarded the picture it went from what was conceived as a small 1.5 million dollar movie to a 17 million dollar film with top name talent. The rest is history.

What was Tarantino’s input on set? I recall an interview in which Rodriguez said that he had to rein Quentin in from taking over directorial duties.

QT reworked his character a bit, giving him a bit more to chew on as he was cast to play Richard Gecko. QT also being a filmmaker he had a lot of ideas but he never really overstepped his bounds. It was always RR’s movie and they both work well together as collaborators.

In 1997, you directed Wishmaster, your second film as director after the 1995 indie The Demolitioners. Why direct?

It was the next logical step for me. I’d been designing and storyboarding effects sequences for years and I got the directing bug. I’m always up for the challenge and after pushing Dusk for so long, and not helming it, I wanted to get my feet wet as director. The best way to do that is to jump into the fire and do it. Producer Don Borchers was looking for a small project that could be shot in 24-days for under a million dollars and he’d give me a shot at directing. That project was The Demolitionist. Later Sam Raimi would see the film and recommended me as an up-and-coming filmmaker to Wishmaster producer Pierre David, who brought me in for an interview and after four or five meetings with him and the executives at Image and Live Entertainment, I was hired.

Were you happy with the result of Wishmaster, both financially and critically? It made a lot of money, around $30 million worldwide, I believe. And certainly not every filmmaker can lay claim to having generated a franchise.

Yes, it did very well and went on to spawn three more sequels. It was produced on a modest budget and made its money back on its opening weekend. It went on to become the most successful independent release of the year. Even though it was made by an indie studio (Live Entertainment) it was really my first time dealing with a studio-style process of making a film. Critically what is said about a film doesn’t really matter to me. There are always people who dig it and those who don’t. You just hope that your film finds an audience and has a successful run. The fans dug it and that’s all that really matters to me.

Wes Craven also put his name on Wishmaster in a ‘…presents…’ capacity, a claim that is often dubious. What was his role in the creation of the film?

The script was developed and created by writer Peter Atkins and Image’s Clark Peterson. Wes came aboard after I became involved with the film. We’d worked together on various films over the years and Live Entertainment was looking for a way to market the film, as we couldn’t afford big name talent. Wes believed in the project and had faith in me as a director so he came on as executive producer.

IMDb has now listed you as attached to a 2008 project Bump. Can you confirm your involvement, and tell us a little bit about it?

Yes, I’m directing the film and producing with Tobin Bell and Scott Licina. It’s based on a comic series from Mark Kidwell who also wrote the script. I had worked with Tobin on Buried Alive and we had a great time working together. When Scott approached me with the script treatment I thought Tobin would be perfect to play the grizzled Sheriff Lundy, who must battle the supernatural demons from his past on the verge of his retiring from law enforcement.

Your résumé contains some fairly heavy-going stuff gore-wise – were there any effects you did or concepts you created that were thrown out for being too nasty or over-the-top?

There are so many...I wouldn’t know even were to start. Some have made it back into unrated cuts on video but I can’t even think of specifics at the moment.

What about effects that were originally scripted or conceived that you refused to go ahead with? I recall reading that Savini declined doing a number of graphic sexually violent effects for Lustig for Maniac.

Not specific effects as much as the overall projects. I have turned down films in the past and even recently (which I will not name) because of the content. I’m not a big fan of prolonged torture films that have sexual attacks. I’m not a big fan of mixing sex with violence.

And finally, what’s on the horizon for you and Precinct 13 Entertainment?

Bump is coming up. And I have several more projects with producer David Greathouse that will be announced very soon. We are also in post-production on Ed (Midnight Syndicate) Douglas’s new film The Dead Matter, which we shot in Ohio last summer. P13 handled the production chores on the film. I’m finishing post-production on To Live and Die and plan to do another film as director for David Greathouse and MGM this year, as well as handling the effects.