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.