If you’re a fan of sharksploitation films, there’s a good chance you’re obsessed with Renny Harlin’s Deep Blue Sea. Set on a scientific research vessel located in the remote Pacific Ocean, the 1999 action horror hybrid sees a trio of genetically modified sharks wage war on their human captors in a hellish attempt to escape their tanks and rule the high seas as super-intelligent apex predators. Merging the glitzy fun of ’90s slashers with tried-and-true aquatic horror tropes, the 1999 crowd-pleaser boasts a delightful cast of rising stars and one of the most shocking deaths in genre history.
Now 27 years later, the veteran director is jumping back into the surf with Deep Water, the harrowing story of a commercial jet forced to crash land in shark-infested waters. Aaron Eckhart and Sir Ben Kingsley lead a sprawling multi-lingual cast as airline pilots determined to save a handful of frightened survivors from the feeding frenzy that follows an unthinkable midair catastrophe. This action-packed adventure sees Harlin remix the best of his iconic filmography, from the man vs. nature nightmare of Cliffhanger to the airline horror sequences of Die Hard 2 and the intimate terror of his The Strangers reboot trilogy.
Adding a bit of rock ’n’ roll flair is the film’s surprising executive producer. Kiss frontman and producer Gene Simmons has partnered with Gary Hamilton of Arclight Films to develop a slate of action, thriller, and genre films beginning with Harlin’s Deep Water.
Bloody Disgusting sat down with Harlin and Simmons to chat about the challenges of filming inside a fully submerged aircraft, the emotional core of a disaster story, and Harlin’s relationship with horror itself.
Bloody Disgusting: Deep Blue Sea is one of my favorite movies. I remember seeing it in theaters and absolutely falling in love with shark horror. What made you want to jump back into the water?
Renny Harlin: I felt like I had a few tricks left that I didn’t get to show in that movie. I just love the ocean. I love working in the water, and I love all the creatures of the ocean. I’m actually very pro shark and do conservation work. The idea of this movie is not to say that sharks are bad. It’s more about people being bad because they go into the shark’s environment, and then they pay the price.
BD: Well, the sharks in Deep Water certainly are terrifying, but you’re right. They aren’t villainous. Aside from one troublesome passenger, who is just so much fun to hate, there really are no villains in this story. What is Deep Water saying about people and humanity?
RH: My favorite genre when I was growing up in the 1970s was the disaster genre and all those great movies like Airport, The Towering Inferno, and The Poseidon Adventure, where you take a collection of characters from different walks of life, and you put them in a situation that is extreme but not impossible. I wanted to make [Deep Water] very realistic. In terms of our plane crash, it was created based on factual details. This crashed plane ends up on a coral reef with the tides. Sharks really do stay around reefs because that’s where the fish are. That’s where their food is. We all remember that story told in Jaws about the [sinking of] the USS Indianapolis, where more than a thousand men went into the water, and only a few hundred survived.
So it’s all very realistic, and I wanted to show something about humanity. What happens to people when they are stripped of all the things they rely on, when they’re put in a life and death situation, where they can choose to just care about themselves or care about other people? It’s about people pulling together. Of course, not everyone pulls together. In this kind of situation, you really see what people become. Sometimes the people you didn’t expect to be brave become the heroes, and sometimes the ones you think would stand up for others really become bastards.
BD: I think that reflection of humanity is what’s always drawn me to horror in general, but specifically disaster horror. I love watching a group of disparate people all forced to contend with each other in the worst scenario imaginable.
Gene Simmons: We’ve also got an international cast of actors on the screen. Aaron Eckhart, a great actor, and Academy Award-winning Sir Ben Kingsley, who’s been knighted by English royalty. Every one of the extras was vetted by Johanna [Harlin], Renny’s wife, who wanted to make sure every single person who appears on screen isn’t just somebody walking by. You really care about them. You know, the movie is really exciting. There are jokes. There are thrills and chills, but you’ve got to care about the people, or it doesn’t work.
BD: There’s also a really strong emotional core to the story. I found myself tearing up during the plane crash sequence. It’s definitely terrifying, but you linger on these quiet moments with the pilots and the passengers as they’re literally bracing for impact. Why was it important to make room for those emotional beats?
RH: I really wanted to make the audience feel like they are on that plane. In the face of a disaster like this, it’s kind of morbid to say, but in this unique situation, they would know maybe minutes before this horrendous thing happens. They know they’re going to crash, and they know that most likely, by the laws of physics, they will die no matter what they do. They can brace themselves and prepare for it, but when that impact happens, it’s probably going to tear everybody apart. So to have those characters there and have them exchange those looks … there are no more words. They just look at each other, and they all know, this is destiny. Nothing can stop this.
In the first part of the crash sequence, it’s very noisy, and you hear seats ripped off, the engines on fire, and every part of the plane being torn apart. But right before the impact, I wanted to strip all the sound out and just play music. Not action music, but something very different that actually goes against the imagery. Sometimes in a movie, when you fill it with sound and bombastic music, it becomes entertainment. But when you strip it down to the very basics, it forces the audience to actually be there in the scene. They have to fill in all those emotions for themselves, and that’s when it becomes really relatable.
BD: I can’t imagine that this was an easy film to make. You’ve got this jaw-dropping plane crash sequence and then a variety of different set pieces in the sky and on the water. What was the biggest challenge?
RH: I love technically challenging movies, and I love going to a complicated location. I’m not a person who gets his kicks out of going on a soundstage and doing everything neatly and quietly. I like to do it extreme. In this case, we built several parts of the plane. Everything was physically real, and some parts of the plane were sunk 30 feet down to the bottom of a water tank.
GS: Upside down!
RH: And they were upside down! Every day, everybody had to get wet and work in the water. Of course, you’re not supposed to think about it when you’re watching the movie, but the actors have to get from their trailer to the plane. You have to get the crew there and be able to work in that space, which is an airplane. [Laughs] If anybody’s been on an airplane, it’s tough enough when there’s a big guy in your next seat, and you’re trying to get out to go to the bathroom or get your bag from the overhead compartment. It’s already impossible to get anything done in a plane, let alone when there are sharks attacking you. People are panicking, running around, and there’s a full film crew trying to capture it all. So it’s just done slowly and in small pieces, and then if it all comes together correctly, then you have a physical and emotional roller coaster.
BD: I think you can definitely feel that roller coaster. And that’s before the sharks even enter the scene! These animals look so real, and we get to see them in and out of the water. What was it like to film these sequences?
RH: That was maybe the toughest part, not just for me and the crew, but for the actors. These are digitally created creatures, so we had to use all kinds of toys on the set. Sharks made out of styrofoam, sharks made out of different materials and different colors that supposedly attack people and do things to make the water splash. To be able to always get the actors into the right frame of mind, mostly it is about telling them, do more. They see a styrofoam puppet come toward them, and they think, “That’s scary!” No! This is the most ferocious, biggest shark in the world with a mouth full of teeth! You’ve got to freak out. It’s about the actors trusting me in the process. I had basically 12 emotional levels in the movie, and I told the actors, “I’m going to always tell you where we are because I don’t want you to be at 12 all the time. But when I say I want you to be 11, I want to see 11.” And that’s how I sort of mapped out the movie.
GS: A film always begins with those first words on a page, and then the magic begins. The lights go down, and it’s the actor’s job to make those words come alive, but only in the hands of a director. A strong director will pull that performance out of the actor.
BD: I completely agree. Renny, I’m a huge fan of your genre work. I’m particularly obsessed with Devil’s Pass and Mindhunters. What excites you about creating horror?
RH: In my life, horror goes back to when I was six years old. My mom loved movies, and my dad was always busy working. He was a doctor. So my mom decided to take me as her date to the movies. So that’s how I learned about Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski. I was six years old when I saw Rosemary’s Baby in a movie theater. So I was traumatized for life from a very young age, but in a good way. [Laughs] I just learned to love horror films.
As a filmmaker, I love the idea of manipulating the audience, making them feel certain feelings because that’s why people go to the movies, for that collective experience. Whether you go there to laugh or cry, fall in love or get scared, you want to feel something. I love that about horror. You can literally lead the audience down the path. It’s not about throwing something in their face and creating a cheap jump scare. It’s kind of like flipping a coin, where telling a joke is on one side and scaring you is on the other. You have to have a setup, you have to develop it, and then you get to have a payoff. I just love doing that.
Since I was a kid, I’ve loved horror novels, horror comics, and horror movies. Before I even had a camera, when I was just a little kid, I would record these horror plays with a tape recorder at home. I would do all the sound effects myself. Hitting the window, for example, creates a great sound of thunder. I would make these very scary horror plays with just audio, and then I would play them out the window of our house. The whole front lawn would be full of neighborhood kids. There was no picture, but they would pay me five cents a piece and come listen to my horror movie. I remember seeing the neighborhood kids grab each other and listen with their eyes wide. It was just such a thrill, and now I get to do it for millions of people across the world!
BD: I definitely would have paid to listen! [Laughs] Deep Water signals the beginning of a producing partnership focusing on thrillers and genre films. Gene, can you tease anything else that might be coming up?
GS: Well, Renny’s going to be busy for the rest of his life. He’s got so many projects lined up. I’m just glad to be around. [Laughs] This is a special motion picture. There are thrills and chills, but every time we get to the end, you get that lump in the throat. It’s a classic motion picture, and I fully recommend you go see it in your local movie theater on May 1st. Go see it with your friends, your enemies, but don’t go see it alone!
