Exclusives
[Interview] Max Burkholder On Surviving ‘The Purge’
The Purge, which comes from director James DeMonaco, looks to be a fairly intense piece of work. While I have yet to see the film (something I’m fixing soon), I took the opportunity last week to hop on the phone with Max Burkholder (“Parenthood”), who plays young Charlie Sandin in the film.
In theaters June 7th, the film also stars Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Adelaide Kane, Edwin Hodge, Tony Oller, and Rhys Wakefield.
“In an America wracked by crime, the government has sanctioned an annual 12-hour period in which any and all criminal activity—including murder—is legal. The police can’t be called. Hospitals suspend help. It is one night when the citizenry regulates itself without thought of punishment. On this night plagued by violence and an epidemic of crime, one family wrestles with the decision of who they will become when a stranger comes knocking.”
Check out the interview below!
This appears to take place mostly in one place. “The bulk of the movie takes place inside the family house. It was a house that we found and shot inside. We were there for about four weeks and it was really fun, it was a big house we got to explore and put blood all over the walls.”
You play Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey’s son. Did you guys have time to rehearse to cement that family dynamic? “Yeah, we did. We had a few days before actual shooting to rehearse and we rehearsed the more involved scenes throughout the film. There’s a few scenes in the last week that took a couple days to finish.”
What were some of the more intense things to shoot? “Basically from 15 minutes in until the end it’s just really intense. Non-stop. There were a few really emotional scenes towards the end that were hard to shoot and also a lot of intensely physical scenes with a lot of kicking and screaming, so those were all the harder ones.”
When you’re doing something like this, what’s the role of your parents in the decision making process? “They’re pretty good about that kind of stuff. I think they’d be fine with me doing almost anything on camera because they were actors themselves and they know what would be fine and what wouldn’t. They had no qualms about this at all.”
Exclusives
‘The Haunting of Pennhurst’ Exclusive Clip Trains Scare Actors For Historic Haunt in Tribeca Doc
The past and present collide in haunting, poignant ways in the genre documentary The Haunting of Pennhurst, which sees a Halloween haunt serve as a reclamation of true historic horrors.
Ahead of its world premiere at the 25th Tribeca Film Festival, we have an exclusive clip that sees scare actors in training for the Halloween season. The catch? This haunt is opening at the historic Pennhurst State School & Hospital site, a facility that caused immense harm to its disabled patients over decades of its operation.
In the documentary, “For over seventy years, Pennhurst State School & Hospital was called a place of care. What happened inside killed over half its population. It closed in 1987, leaving behind unmarked graves and an unresolved history. Today, on those same grounds, disabled performers – many living with the same conditions that once sent people to Pennhurst – put on their makeup, pull on their costumes, and prepare to scare people for a living.
“Through grit, compassion, and buckets of blood, the eclectic performers of the Pennhurst Asylum haunted attraction are wrestling with a space that is at once a lucrative business and a gravesite.”
The upcoming documentary hails from directing trio Nathan Stenberg, Mike Attie, and Katarina Poljak, who explore their socially-relevant subject through archival footage, first-hand accounts, and an immersive verité.
“Pennhurst has haunted us since we first passed through its dragon-tooth gates; the horrors of the institution echo through the site today. We are so grateful to bring this film to the Tribeca Festival, particularly the Escape from Tribeca section, which feels right for a story where past and present bleed together. We hope audiences leave unnerved and asking the same uncomfortable questions we did,” Attie, Stenberg, and Poljak said in a statement.
Watch the clip below that sees disabled and neurodivergent scare actors learning the ropes of a Halloween haunt, reclaiming the site’s grim history in the process.
Tribeca Screenings:
- Public 1 (Premiere) Screening – Friday, June 5 at 9:15PM at Village East by Angelika
- Public 2 Screening – Sunday, June 7 at 3:15PM at Village East by Angelika
- Public 3 Screening – Tuesday, June 9 at 6:15PM at Village East by Angelika
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