By: debbie lynn elias
It’s a rare and wondrous thing to be amongst kindred spirits talking “all things Whedon, Buffy and Angel“, let alone sitting down for a 1:1 interview with one of the gurus of the Whedon World. But that’s exactly what I did during the recent press tour for the Whedon-Goddard film, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS when I spoke at length with writer/director Drew Goddard (Joss Whedon co-wrote), who makes his directorial debut with CABIN. Goddard’s exuberance and effervescence is infectious and only served to pump up the energy of our interview even higher, particularly when he admitted that his entre into the World of Whedon stemmed from his being an uber fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
So in light of your fandom for Buffy, how much do you love Marti Noxon and Joss Whedon?
I love them. I owe my career to them. I was in college when Buffy first came on the air and it was like a bomb went off. It felt like, “OMG! Finally! Somebody is doing the thing that I didn’t know I wanted, but I wanted more than anything, which is this show.” I just love that show. It’s my favorite show of all time. I just loved that show. I loved it so much that I fought to get on it. I came out [to Los Angeles] and tried to get on Buffy and managed to pull it off. But that’s how much I love that show and how much I loved what Joss and Marti were doing. It felt like the sort of thing I wanted to devote my life to.
You came into Buffy during Season 6, helped create and write the ultimate storyline leading to the series finale in Season 7 and then moved into Angel helming the writing. Working so closely with Joss Whedon and Marti Noxon in those initial seasons and beyond, what would you say is the greatest thing that you learned from them?
I guess it would be, “be fearless” in your storytelling. Donft be afraid. Whatever that means because each story is different. But donft be afraid. It could be, donft be afraid to be different, don’t be afraid to do what no one wants you to do, donft be afraid to be hard on your characters. I’ve never seen Joss back away. He’s always pushing forward to try to do something different and tell bold and interesting stories. As you do this more and more, you realize how rare that is.
One of the things that I picked up on in watching CABIN is the character construction both individually and amongst core groups. It‘s very similar to what we saw in Buffy and Angel. Instead of starting out though as pure, innocent virgins of the world, we pick up the CABIN cast more in what would be Season 6 or 7 when you joined the Whedon ranks. We see the same sort of traits in the CABIN characters with, ultimately, the nerdier/geekier guys in the gang being the ones who have the most impact on the story. What is that aspect that you think appeals to people so much? Going back to Buffy, Willow Rosenberg was supposed to be a minuscule sidekick and ended up as one of the crux elements by the time Season 7 rolled around. It’s the least likely character who we see turn into a hero. What is it that you think people gravitate to in those elements of characters?
I think it’s inherent in the DNA of everything that we try to do. And we do a lot of these characters. And I love all of them, not just the lead. And when you love those characters, it makes you think of stories and it makes you treat them like theyfre three dimensional and it makes you bring it out more. For instance, Buffy is about the girl that everyone else overlooked, which is the girl that goes down the alley and gets killed in the first five minutes of every movie. It is about falling in love with the characters that no one else falls in love with and bringing them forward. I think thatf sort of the mission statement.
Along those terms, you also bring in very recognizable Whedon favorites, actors Tom Lenk and Amy Acker. Do you ever worry about over use of Lenk and Acker and other Whedon-familiar faces?
No. I probably should, but when you find actors that you love…I don’t really think about it. What I love in my career – be it actors or crew or producers or writers – I just love working with my friends. And I love working with the people that I love and I don’t really worry about if they’re over-used or they’re not fashionable. I don’t care. I just want to work with the people that I love.
This is the first time you’re stepping behind the camera with a feature film. How is that experience, coming from being a writer, here you are co-writing, but now the reins are in your hands. What kind of challenges did that present for you or did you think that you were totally primed and ready for this?
I think I was about as primed as you can be without doing it. There is an element of the job that you can’t learn until you do the job. Luckily, the shows I’ve worked on, and working for guys like Joss and J.J. [Abrams], were both very empowering to writers. And TV is just empowering to writers in general. So a lot of the stuff that directors need to do, I had done. I was comfortable in talking to actors, comfortable with budgets – this is what you do as a TV producer. So, it didn’t feel like a strange foreign world. But as I said, there’s just an element that you just can’t learn until you do it. And that’s where you just get thrown in the deep end and hope for the best. [laughing]
What part of the “deep end” had you begging for a life preserver at any moment during filming?
It’s all the boring stuff. It’s figuring out how long things should take. Managing your crew of 300 people. How to communicate your vision to people. You’ve just got to get used to it. But mostly, it’s about figuring out, “Okay. I’ve got three days to shoot this. How do I shoot this in three days?” That’s the hardest part because so much of this job requires experience. It requires experience to know, if you’re shooting in water for instance, you’re only gonna get six shots in because water is very hard. But I didn’t really know that. So you just have to do it. Luckily, my crew was wonderful so they were able to help me with things like that.
And speaking of your crew, Peter Deming is your DP. How did you get so fortuitous to get Peter who not only has such a varied background, but is also very well versed – thanks to some of the Sam Raimi films and movies like In Hell – in blood, in shadows, in hell and having these extreme contrasts?
You couldn’t have designed a more perfect resume for THE CABIN IN THE WOODS. That’s Peter’s resume. [laughing] Just between Austin Powers and Evil Dead 2 and Mulholland Drive and Scream, our movie is kind of all of those things. He gets it. He was #1 on my list and he said, “yes.” That was so much about this movie – I got the top of my list [above & below the line talent]. I think people just responded to the fact that we were trying to do something different.
Plus, your reputation, Drew. It speaks for you. People know that you’re no slouch coming in here for a lo budget/no budget, begging on Kickstarter or Indie-Go-Go to get five dollars for financing. You‘ve got a very creative track record so everyone knows what your imagination can do.
Which is nice. And I think people responded to the script, too. They also just know that this is a chance to do something different and interesting, which is all you can ask for after you’ve done this awhile, is to find new and interesting projects.
What were some of the greatest challenges you and Peter encountered from a visual standpoint in creating this world?
That’s a good question. I don’t even think of it as all that challenging. I just think of it as more fun. I very much knew what I wanted and what I wanted was what Peter does really well. So that made it pretty easy. I think the biggest challenge was actually showing restraint and not getting too crazy because the movie itself gets crazy. The movie goes insane. But it was important for me to not go so insane. I wanted the visuals to have a real elegance to them to counter balance.
You‘ve got a beautiful polish.
That’s right. And that required a little more restraint. You kinda see everyone else having fun and you think, “I want to do something crazy!” But, it was more important to me to counter balance the movie and be a little more “elegant”, for lack of a better word.
When you look at the film as a whole, the entire look is stunning.
Thank you. That was very important to me.
So often horror films, even the genre bender that this is, they have a grit to them.
That’s right. I didn’t want that.
With CABIN, you come away with this great sense of ancient meets present and future with the high polish to it. Very visually appealing and compelling.
Thank you. You’ve really made my day. [laughing]
I‘m glad I can make you so happy! What did you personally take away from the experience of making CABIN?
Hmmm. There’s so much. How do I distill it into one thought, I don’t know. I guess, I watch that movie and I watch it with the people that I love and who know me, and they go, “Oh. That’s you up there on screen.” I feel like that’s the secret to directing. Make sure it‘s personal. Make sure you’re putting yourself in the frame, not literally. But make sure it feels like this is what you’re doing and youfre expressing yourself. Ifm so thankful for it because then no matter what happens, you’ve made it personal and I think that’s crucial. When you’re working on a project for so long you better love it. You better love every frame of it. Because if you don’t, you’re gonna drive yourself insane. And I can say, I love every frame. I loved making the movie. I loved everything about it. And I feel lucky that that’s the case because that’s not always the case. You don’t always have that luxury in terms of your jobs, but I’ve been very fortunate that I have. I hope I can continue to make choices where I’m doing it because I love it.
Now that you have sequeyed into the director‘s chair, what is the greatest gift that directing now gives you?
I would say, understanding. An understanding of how the business works and how storytelling works and how communicating with artists works, that I didn’t have sitting on the other side. The job forces all those things. It forces you to deal with all of those things and for a person who started as a writer where writing is inherently introverted, directing forces you to be extroverted. There‘s something that‘s nice about forcing yourself to do that so it makes you better at all of your jobs. It makes you a better writer. It makes you a better producer. It makes you a better person. You have to deal with all these people and confront it all; sort of a pressure cooker of the soul, I suppose. [laughing] When you come out the other end I think you’re just better off.
Thank you so much for all the observations and nice things you had to say. It totally makes my day.
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