Interview: Franck Khalfoun

I found it thrilling and exciting and I'd do it all over again.

From your history with Alexandre Aja I was expecting something more like a slasher, what made you go all psychological?

That's what I like, you know? I think the monster within is a lot scarier than ghosts and a lot scarier than slasher movies. I think we've been desensitized to a lot of these horrors, I mean it's gruesome to look at but we really know it's fake. There's something mysterious about a psychologically twisted person because it could be the neighbour next door who seems really nice but actually he's a crazy killer, and I think that's really scary. One of the big arguments I had with my producers was whether we made the lead character sort of a monster so it's beauty and the beast, but I thought it'd be more interesting if he was a normal guy, the kind of guy a girl might find attractive to begin with so the situation is a bit more complicated.

Did you do a lot of work with Wes Bentley to get that?

No. You know the way the character was written there was a lot of range, he's funny sometimes, scary sometimes and sympathetic sometimes. So we needed character actor who could hit those high points and low notes, and Wes Bentley is an incredible actor with an incredible range so he fit perfectly.

Some scenes seemed a big extreme, did you have to do many takes of Wes Bentley going nuts?

Well it was a low budget feature so we had very little time for multiple scenes, and the way Wes worked fitted that perfectly. He rehearses very little and likes to do few takes and he likes to get it fresh. I mean, he's a character so he doesn't drop the character, when he was off for lunch he was actually stalking Angela off the set: very strange and very bizarre. He really is a very involved and intense person who immerses himself in it. It was 2, 3, 4 takes maximum.

You've Alexandre a long time and worked with him before, how did it go this time, with you both in such different roles?

The writing was a lot easier because it's less stressful and you're just having fun. Once you're on set and he's the producer and I'm the director it certainly gets a little tense! Especially when we're dealing with intense actors and a very short shooting schedule and a dingy, grimy location nobody wants to be in. But our relationship is stronger because of it, nothing can get in the way of that.

As long as you can still go for a beer together it's all fine.

We always can! There's nothing we can't get over and solve.

P2 is set at Christmas, did you have bad childhood experiences at that time?

Well as a Jew I had a terrible time at Christmas(!) No, I'm kidding.

I thought you might've been inspired by GREMLINS and decided the best movies were set at Christmas time...

(Laughs) Yeah, it's very cute... No, I have a Western coming up, a comedy coming up, I have different genres. Kubrick to me is the ultimate film director because he took on such different stories and really brought them out and made wonderful movies that were all so different and I'd like to, without being pretentious, model my career after his. So I really don't want to get stuck in one kind of... I mean I want to keep moving. Especially in this town where you make one type of film and they think that's all you can do. It's really hard not to be typecast as a director and a writer.

Kubrick's a good choice there then. But that was a very sudden jump from GREMLINS, you don't have anything against it do you?

No, no absolutely not. I though GREMLINS was very... uh... I love all genres as long as you're entertained and as long as they carry a story and the characters are believable then I'm sold! As an audience member I cry very easily I jump like crazy, I love to go for the experience - that's why I got involved in the first place. So absolutely not, I think that every movie has its own merit and I respect all of them. I certainly know how difficult they are to make so I wouldn't criticise!

As I think Kubrick himself said "Every film has something to teach us". You're even living up to his legacy in your interviews!

(Laughs) Uhh, yeah. I'm always afraid to mention his name for fear of looking pretentious. It's just he's such a legendary filmmaker I hope maybe one day I could make one film that could equal anything he's done. He's a master filmmaker.

What's the scariest place you've ever been trapped?

Wow, you know I can't say I've had a... there must be something... I've never been locked up. The scariest place I've been trapped is probably my own body!

P2 is out in the UK now. The next interview to go live will be Morgan Spurlock. Will I get the GREMLINS reference in? Will I switch to TRON? Check back to find out...