Welcome to Commentary Commentary, the place we sit and take heed to filmmakers discuss their work, then share essentially the most attention-grabbing elements. In this version, Rob Hunter revisits Wes Craven’s airplane thriller, Red Eye.
We Craven handed away in 2015, however he left behind a filmography that confirmed him to be a dominant title in horror from the 70s by the 90s. Things slowed down some within the new millenium, however he nonetheless squeaked out a number of bangers. In addition to being a memorable filmmaker, Craven additionally gave incredible commentary tracks for the likes of Swamp Thing, Scream, and Scream 4.
He additionally recorded a observe for his very first thriller — his personal style designation, and one thing he was clearly very pleased with — and it’s as soon as once more a robust observe for followers of each the director and the film. Keep studying to see what we heard on Wes Craven’s commentary for Red Eye.
Red Eye (2005)
Commentators: Wes Craven (director), Marianne Maddalena (producer), Patrick Lussier (editor)
1. Craven mentions that they thought of having a aircraft fly by the Dreamworks emblem clouds, “however we thought that was already accomplished in Airplane!“
2. This was Carl Ellsworth‘s first script, and he followed it up with Disturbia (2007), The Last House on the Left (2009), Red Dawn (2012), and Unhinged (2020). He’s at present hooked up to write down Gremlins 3 as nicely.
3. The movie was shot in Miami, Los Angeles, and quite a few soundstages, they usually additionally filmed at LAX, Ontario International Airport outdoors LA, and Miami International Airport.
4. The bitchy buyer is performed by Terry Press, the then head of selling at Dreamworks.
5. They solid Brian Cox after seeing him in The Bourne Supremacy (2004) “where he was at least sixty pounds heavier and [with] white hair.” He arrived on set, although, having misplaced a whole lot of weight and with dyed pink hair for a play he was doing in Scotland.
6. The iced espresso that knocks into Rachel McAdams wasn’t supposed to really spill on her to that extent, however it labored, in order that they stored it.
7. Craven noticed this as his “first thriller,” and he mentions how preview audiences anticipating one thing extra horrific would ask for “more blood.” It’s a disgrace we misplaced him as he was clearly as at dwelling with these lean thriller rides as he was with horror, and I might have liked to have seen extra from him.
8. Ellsworth cameos at 14:22 because the husband/father with the sleeping household.
9. They shot for six weeks aboard the mock passenger jet, a 767, from an organization known as Aero Hollywood. That included as much as sixty extras who needed to preserve their identical outfits and couldn’t ever be absent.
10. Both McAdams and Cillian Murphy had been Craven’s first selections for these roles.
11. The headbutt was the scariest second on set for Craven. Both Murphy and McAdams had been educated by the stunt crew, however “if they miss you could have two actors with concussions.”
12. They constructed a whole lot of the Jackson (Murphy) character on the person’s attraction to Lisa (McAdams) and his realization that he’ll by no means have a lady like this in his life as a result of he’s principally offered his soul as a part of the profession he’s chosen.
13. They share some laughs remembering how sure members of the press criticized technical errors with the airplanes — home windows not matching from inside to exterior pictures, the 767 having a 747 door when seen from outdoors, and so forth.
14. They knew they had been in a race to beat Flightplan (2005) to theaters, so the time from inking the deal to delivering a director’s reduce was solely 5 and a half months. That is insane.
15. The Homeland Security honcho’s head bodyguard is performed by Colby Donaldson who discovered his fifteen minutes of fame on two seasons of Survivor. “We cast a wide net when we cast,” provides Craven.
16. The scene the place the Coast Guard boat searches the fisherman’s trawler was filmed in Miami, however it was apparently so known as they’d assistants trying to find mittens and scarves that simply didn’t exist down there, The scene can be “cameo city” because the folks on the boats are largely movie crew members.
17. The beat after touchdown the place Lisa tells Jackson how she obtained the scar was added to the script on the day of filming. The closeups of McAdams’ eyes had been lifted from footage shot between takes. “It’s a shot where she’s actually asking Wes if she should run through the dialogue from the top.” Lussier discovered it and thought it was good.
18. The movie aimed for a PG-13 from the beginning, and Craven was stunned that the MPAA didn’t give them any grief for the pen within the throat sequence.
19. The dangerous guys on the boat weren’t initially Russians, however “certain people weren’t comfortable with Americans killing Americans.”
20. When Craven pitched the studio on directing the movie he introduced a number of tweaks to the script. One of them concerned bringing Jackson to Lisa’s dwelling turf the place all of a sudden he’s the one out of his factor. The authentic script set the scene at her father’s new place that she didn’t know in any respect, so Craven modified it to the house the place she grew up.
21. They shot two additional days on their very own dime to assist make the top sequence at dad’s home extra elaborate. The studio ultimately stepped up and paid them again.
22. The ending was a part of three days of reshoots as they knew that they wanted a scene of Lisa and Cynthia (Jayma Mays) collectively after every thing.
23. The first reduce (with out finish credit) timed out round seventy-two minutes. They buffed it up some with the reshoots, however as they obtained no complaints from take a look at audiences about it being too quick they knew there was no must artificially lengthen it additional. “We just have a very long credits sequence at the end.”
Best in Context-Free Commentary
“You’re a brilliant director.”
“The guys go from ooh to oh, and the women go uh-uh.”
“It’s important that she never appears stupid.”
“This is where his eyes just go dead.”
“BMW should have given us all free cars.”
“She had a lot of bruises after this scene.”
“These are all just civilians who didn’t know they were being filmed.”
“I’m a director who sometimes does naughty things with continuity.”
“It was one of those pictures that was charmed.”
Final Thoughts
Red Eye stays a decent, splendidly environment friendly thriller, and it’s a style that Craven unsurprisingly excelled at. His happiness with the movie is obvious, and from the sound of it he was excited to make extra thrillers within the years that adopted. It’s unhappy that he by no means obtained that probability, however a minimum of we will revisit and have fun the movies he did reward us. His commentary is as informative, private, and complimentary as all the time, and it’s a very good hear for followers of the person and the movie.
Read extra Commentary Commentary from the archives.
Related Topics: Commentary Commentary, Wes Craven
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