Exclusives
[Video Interview] Gore Verbinski and Dane DeHaan Talk ‘A Cure For Wellness’
Getting studio support for an R-rated horror film can be a difficult task, especially when said horror film is a 146 minute-long homage to the slow burn horror films of the late 1960s and early 1970s. While many of those films (Rosemary’s Baby, Don’t Look Now) are classics, they’re not exactly big moneymakers when it comes to modern audiences. Director Gore Verbinski (The Ring, the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films) likes a challenge, and sought out to make that very film. That film is called A Cure for Wellness and will be released in theaters nationwide this weekend.
I managed to snag an interview with Verbinski and the film’s lead actor Dane DeHaan (Chronicle, The Amazing Spider-Man 2) during their brief press tour in Austin, Texas. In a surprising move, 20th Century Fox taped the interview and let me keep the footage. This isn’t something I am used to, so if I sound nervous it’s only because it’s not something I’m used to. I may also sound nervous because the first thing I said to DeHaan before the interview started was “you look tired” (What? He was yawning as I walked up to shake his hand!). It wasn’t the best first impression. I suppose I could have asked him if he was tired, as opposed to telling him that he looked tired, but I digress.
In the 10-minute interview, which you can watch below, we discuss the film’s runtime (which is something our own Benedict Seal has already written about), getting a film like A Cure for Wellness off the ground, CGI vs. practical effects, eels, the most difficult scenes to shoot and much more. Also, feel free to enjoy the particularly crass moment towards the end where I bring up the hilariously awful deer scene in Hideo Nakata’s The Ring Two. Verbinski wasn’t really having it. So that’s two bad first impressions! Ah well, c’est la vie.
A Cure for Wellness opens in theaters nationwide on February 17, 2017.
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