Interviews
Interview: Alexandre Aja Explains the Fate of the Dog in ‘Crawl’ [Spoilers]
Alexandre Aja’s Crawl is a film about a young woman trapped in a crawlspace with an alligator in the middle of a hurricane. But it’s also the story of a dog named Sugar, played by a dog named Cso-Cso, who’s probably even more frightened than his owners.
The life and ultimate fate of Sugar surprised us here at Bloody-Disgusting, so in our interview with Alexandre Aja we asked about it, and found out why the dog’s role turned out the way it did.
Be warned… SPOILERS LIE AHEAD.
Given how absolutely deadly the alligators are in Crawl, and how utterly hopeless the situation turns out to be for Sugar’s owners, we found it surprising that Sugar escaped the entire movie unscathed. But it almost didn’t work out that way.
“We were back and forth with, should the dog sacrifice itself? Should the dog be fed to the alligators to save someone? Should the dog lose a part of his body?” Aja recalled.
Barry Pepper and Kaya Scodelario star in CRAWL from Paramount Pictures. Photo Credit: Courtesy Paramount Pictures.
That’s a bunch of horrifying ideas. At least if the dog sacrificed itself it would have been a noble end, but the idea of throwing Sugar to the alligators to save another person probably would have made audiences turn on the protagonists.
“But I think at the end we chose to not do it because the interesting part was to make people feel that the dog was not going to make it, for the whole movie,” Aja said, alluding to the fact that so much goes wrong in Crawl that it’s shocking that the dog makes it out at all. Which is, in all fairness, the reason we asked in the first place.
And yet, there’s one more reason Sugar survives in Crawl.
“And also to keep him alive for the sequel,” Aja probably jokes, “where we see the whole movie through his eyes and all the alligators he was fighting on the surface while they were in the crawlspace.”
It’s likely that Alexandre Aja was joking, but let’s be honest: that’s one hell of an idea for a sequel! The pitch of “Benji vs. Man-Eating Alligators” is genius on its own, and the gag of telling the exact same story from another character’s perspective is novel for the horror genre. If done right it could make for one of the greatest double-features ever.
Crawl is now playing in theaters.
Kaya Scodelario stars in CRAWL from Paramount Pictures. Photo Credit: Sergej Radović.
As the inaugural season of Apple TV+’s stellar new series “Widow’s Bay” barrels toward its finale in two weeks, the latest episode gives Kate O’Flynn the spotlight as her character revisits her trauma with the Boogeyman.
“Your Baggage“, directed by Andrew DeYoung (Friendship), sees O’Flynn’s scene-stealing Patricia once again renew her fight with the Michael Myers-like stalker that slaughtered her peers during her adolescence. Thrillingly, it makes for one extended chase sequence that sees Patricia trying to warn others, while evading the undead killer.
In short, this episode’s incredible riff on Halloween and the slasher subgenre transformed Patricia into a fierce Final Girl.
“Well, that felt like a bucket list that I didn’t know was on my bucket list until I did it, but when I did it, I just lapped up every minute,” O’Flynn tells Bloody Disgusting of her triumphant turn this episode. “It felt fantastic for her to get that moment where she is becoming a badass. That was amazing.”
The actress turned to a few notable references for her performance. “Horror-wise, I go back to my youth, which was referenced in some of the episodes: Wicker Man, Carrie, and Rosemary’s Baby, that sort of thing is my kind of vibe.”
O’Flynn also notes how the series’ unique tone allows for so much creative freedom to make bold swings. “There’s something very freeing about it. Every moment is up for grabs, so it’s like we don’t have to totally land in one direction or another. It keeps it alive.“
Patricia is the eccentric assistant to Matthew Rhys‘ Mayor Tom Loftis, who’s at the forefront of trying to solve the island’s pesky curse predicament. Rhys felt the same about “Widow’s Bay” and its rare ability to make you laugh and scream in equal measure, stemming from series creator Katie Dippold.
“The mandate was, ‘It’s a real world with real people. You play for real.’ There’s no playing for comedy or horror,” Rhys echoes O’Flynn’s sentiments on how freeing the series’ tone has been.
New episodes will release every Wednesday through June 17 only on Apple TV+.
Kate O’Flynn in “Widow’s Bay,” now streaming on Apple TV.
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