Everly, Anchor Bay Entertainment and RADiUS’s high-octane thriller starring Academy Award nominee Salma Hayek as a femme fatale unleashing the ultimate vengeance, is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray.
The action begins when Everly (Hayek), trapped in her apartment, is forced to fend off waves of assassins sent by her former lover – a dangerous Yakuza mob boss who wants her dead after he learns she is no longer loyal to him. Desperate to be re-united with her mother and young daughter, Everly must fight to kill her attackers before they destroy her and her family.
We caught up with director Joe Lynch (Wrong Turn 2, The Knights of Badassdom) who talked about the genesis of the film, how Die Hard inspired the film, and how his love for 80’s action cinema challenged him into trying something brand new.
BLOODY: What was the genesis of EVERLY?
JOE LYNCH: “EVERLY was the by product of my love for Siege movies like NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 where a character is stuck, cornered and we are forced to watch them fight their way out. I also love that whole “Dogma 95” movement where these filmmakers in the 90’s, including Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, gave themselves a set of rules and restrictions, like no score or limitations with the camera, which just created new, fresh ways to shoot a scene. I loved the idea of “rules” for an action movie, especially one where we were stuck in a shitty situation with our lead character so why not use the limitations as a way to ensconce the audience into being stuck WITH that character, to feel trapped like they do. This combined with a more Eastern/EuroTrash sensibility to the story, characters and execution were the ingredients I wanted to use to do something a little different with familiar tropes in an action thriller. So my manager Luke (who ended up producing the movie) challenged me to write something along those lines, so I did a 17 page treatment and then we had my college buddy Yale Hannon help with the script and the rest is infamy.”
There’s a lot of DIE HARD in the movie, can you speak to that as inspiration?
Lynch: “DIE HARD to me is the perfect action movie. It has everything; nail biting suspense, a lead who bleeds so the stakes are higher, 80’s lens flares, Christmas music, albino henchmen (well, not really). DIE HARD to me has everything and is so effectively executed by John McTiernan, and just so happens to be my ultimate holiday flick too. And holy hell is it bloody! The movie still holds up because of this insane blend of action, suspense, humor and character that might be stuck in the 80s but and it always stuck with me how fresh it still feels. Plus, its essentially the 80’s version of a siege movie, but on a “BIGGER! FASTER!!! HARDER!!!” scale that we came to love from Joel Silver and 80’s action movies. That movie is timeless even with the terrible hairdos and outfits. So when we were pitching the film I joked once in the room, as an homage to the 90’s when EVERYTHING had to be “Die Hard on a ______” I thought, what’s left? What variation of the formula could we try? What about one room? DONE!”
Salma Hayek is your Bruce Willis. Again, anything to reference die hard here. What was your own vision for the character?
Lynch: “Originally, the character was kinda different in certain ways. She was more of a junkie who was holed up in the room to tend to the money that Taiko was laundering, so that place was kind of a laundering “bank” and she was kept at bay with a steady stream of smack. She still rats on Taiko and he still sends ALL of his guys after her and she still had her family she was protecting, but she was more frail. The idea was the “girl next door” who is on a downward spiral. So when we cast Kate Hudson, she fit that persona of the role really well (no offense, Kate). When Kate bailed and Salma came in, there was NO WAY anyone would believe she was a junkie! So we tailored the part more to her sensibilities and of course her type, and she brought a strength we would have never anticipated. So while the genesis of the character and what it ended up being evolved, it only made her stronger a figure to fight the night.”
There’s also a lot of Yakuza inspiration, are you a big fan of Japanese cinema?
Lynch: “Absolutely. I grew up on a steady diet of Kurosawa and LONE WOLF & CUB but when I started working at 112 Video in Long Island, which is arguably the best video store on the east coast, my mind was blown when I began devouring Kinji Fukasaku films and Beat Takeshi crime films and of course the madness that is Takashi Miike. The Eastern influence comes from my love of the culture and how the Yakuza is still mysterious to many, it still has a dangerous, exotic mystique. I think its still one of the last formidable foes that’s not supernatural, and it felt like a cool culture clash to bring those sensibilities to a western location and culture.”
The best thing about EVERLY is that there’s no wasted exposition: the audience never has to wait for more action. Can you speak to the difficulty in making such an action heavy movie? Shooting in one location must have helped?
Lynch: “The one location idea was a blessing for the budget…no company moves or location fees! But being in that room the entire time drove us all a little crazy too. But we treated it like a challenge; We (the cast and crew making the movie) NEEDED to shoot our way out of that fucking room to escape and survive ourselves! The last day felt like we could all breath again when we finally left that ravaged, decimated room.
“It was difficult to keep the action going in that we needed to chart it out since the action comes fast and furious at times and then we take a few breaths too. The idea was to treat this like one chapter in this person’s life and to bog it down with the history of Taiko’s Yakuza gang or how EVERLY got there felt like it was going to slow down the roller coaster. We needed to throw the audience into the fire with her and just GO GO GO. But we still needed to balance the drama with the action or it would get boring really quick I felt.
“Every day was difficult since pretty much every day had a “gag” which is a stunt or an effect, etc. These things take time, between the prep and the careful execution so no one gets hurt. The opening gunfight for example; we had to prep that for weeks and then spent a whole day just to get it since it was a dance between the camera, the special effects team, the actors, everyone working in tandem. We got to do that shot 4 times, with the 2nd one the best take and the one in the film. But those kinds of things can really suck up the time in your day and time is money and there’s NEVER enough time. So while it was nice to not have to worry about moving locations that also takes up time, with SO much going on in that room every day, it was a controlled race against time. Im still shocked we got what we did with the time we had!”
What’s next? Exploring outside of the genre or have more gore in store?
Lynch: “I will always have one toe in the wet stuff no matter what genre Im working in. Hell, i’ll strive to make the bloodiest Nicholas Sparks movie ever if given the opportunity! Clearly from EVERLY and even KoB Im not one to hold back on the splatter. Right now we’re prepping and casting a Sci-Fi Erotic Thriller (“Sci-rotica”?) called SWITCH CULTURE which is like if Cronenberg and Verhoeven fucked, if that give you any idea of where we’re going. Its NUTS. There’s also another project that is completely 180 from my past work that might go soon if we’re lucky. And Im writing a horror film now, with my goal being to revitalize a long dormant genre that I’ve always wanted to do. I really want to try to make something stark and scary, its been a while since Ive been creeped out and scared myself. I’d say that is a noble goal, to effectively evacuate my bowels through the power of cinema.”