'Barbarian' - Cast Interview
“Barbarian” stars Justin Long and Georgina Campbell along with Writer and Director Zach Cregger join CinemaBlend to discuss their buzz-worthy horror film. Learn why the cast trusted Cregger’s vision for the story, working with Bill Skarsgård, how audience feedback shaped the film, and much more!
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 You know, when I watch horror movies where the scares are CG,
00:04 it just takes me right out of it. It just doesn't feel real.
00:06 And I'm trying to create a visceral experience.
00:10 So it was very important to me to do everything practical in camera.
00:13 The trailer just did not prepare me at all.
00:28 Good. And I just appreciated it so much.
00:31 And I want to know how involved you were with making the trailer.
00:34 I was invited to participate in making the trailer.
00:36 I was very relieved that from the get-go,
00:40 Disney was on the same page as me.
00:41 That they did not want to put any spoilers in the trailer.
00:44 Now, they cut the trailer that is out there in the world,
00:49 and I think it is fantastic.
00:51 If I had been left to my own devices, I would not have made a trailer that good.
00:55 So thank God they're pros at what they do.
00:57 They know how to market this movie.
00:59 And my hat is off to them.
01:02 And I think they crushed it.
01:03 So yeah, it's pretty spoiler-free.
01:06 It's funny because a lot of people will leave comments on the trailer saying,
01:09 "Well, this, you know, I know what happens.
01:11 I promise you, you don't know what happens."
01:13 How much fun is it to look at internet theories before this comes out?
01:17 Because I had my own just like even re-watching the trailer today
01:21 and hearing how the audio was used.
01:23 I was like, I had a completely different idea of what the movie was.
01:26 So how much are you really engaging with the internet about this?
01:29 I read a lot of the comments, you know.
01:31 So far, they've been positive.
01:33 So I haven't really had my feelings hurt that much.
01:35 As soon as my feelings get hurt, I'm out.
01:37 But no, I do keep an eye on them.
01:40 And it's fun.
01:41 Some people have brought up some really amazing points that I've never even realized.
01:44 Like people pointed out that "Barbarian" is an anagram of Airbnb.
01:48 And I did not realize that until way too late.
01:51 Somebody pointed out that 476 Barbary, the address of the house,
01:54 that like 476 is the year that Rome fell to the barbarians.
01:58 I didn't know that.
01:59 You know, it's fun.
02:00 It's fun to like watch these sleuths kind of do their thing and pick it apart.
02:04 We're asking so many questions.
02:06 We're kind of yelling at the screen for you guys.
02:08 Are you kind of trying to answer questions for your own characters when you're on set?
02:12 Well, I think the script was so well written by Zach that it makes sense.
02:20 He really kind of fills in those kind of like loopholes
02:23 and makes sure that there's proper diversions.
02:26 It makes sense why, you know, Tess,
02:30 she tries to get out of these scenarios again and again and again.
02:34 And she keeps kind of getting pushed back.
02:37 And also, you know, Zach is a really fantastic director.
02:42 So he was always there to kind of talk things through
02:44 and make sense of anything that maybe was confusing at the time.
02:49 I trusted Zach as well.
02:50 I mean, he crafted, yeah, it was such a tight script.
02:54 It was such a thoughtful script that anything that I questioned
03:00 were usually just very minor word choices.
03:03 And Zach has such a great ear for dialogue.
03:08 You know, he's got such a ear for realism that he was so supportive
03:14 of any kind of like minor tweaks that maybe made it sound a little bit more realistic or natural.
03:20 But no, I never, I didn't question him at all.
03:25 He was such a thoughtful, creative leader.
03:30 They're kind of like two different sides of the same coin, you know?
03:34 Like Tess is a woman who goes into this deadly situation identifying threat.
03:40 And her brain is working overtime trying to determine if she's in danger or not.
03:44 AJ is a man going into the same situation.
03:48 He's in danger, he's caused wreckage and he's oblivious to it.
03:51 And he's just kind of blindly cruising through.
03:53 So it's a comment on the mental energy that women have to exert
03:58 to protect themselves that men don't.
04:01 And so that was just a way to kind of riff on the disparity of those two attitudes.
04:07 Tess's introduction is kind of really introducing the film and where we are.
04:14 We're at this Airbnb in this strange situation with Keith, Bill Skarsgård's character,
04:20 which then leads to going down into the basement.
04:24 I think the kind of, what's interesting about the film is the shifts in tone.
04:30 And at the beginning of the film, it kind of feels like there is more of a romantic vibe to it.
04:36 You know, they kind of start clicking.
04:38 It kind of feels very soft and nice.
04:41 And then suddenly, you know, we go down to the basement and suddenly there's another
04:45 complete tonal change as we find out that there's, you know,
04:49 there's something bad lurking down there.
04:51 What are we supposed to do?
04:52 I don't know.
04:54 I don't know.
04:55 Why don't you come inside and we'll call these idiots.
05:00 How intentional is Bill Skarsgård in that role?
05:06 Because there was a point where he said, like, I'm not a monster.
05:09 And just knowing it, I was like, uh-huh.
05:11 Yeah, he says, what do I look like, a monster?
05:13 And everyone's like, well, I actually didn't think of that as a joke until the first time
05:18 we screened it for an audience and everyone laughed.
05:20 I was like, oh, yeah, I guess that is pretty fun.
05:21 Yeah, I mean, Bill was perfect casting for this because he has such a history with the audience.
05:27 Horror audiences know him, you know, and they expect something from him.
05:32 So as soon as he opens that door, everyone's like, oh, you know, and that's just what you want.
05:37 Being with an audience watching this was so effective.
05:40 And I was wondering before, you know, being ready with your final cut, did you--
05:45 who did you show it to?
05:47 And did you have to show it to an audience before being like, OK, I'm ready.
05:50 I'm ready for this to be out.
05:51 Yeah, so there's a testing process that you go through when you make a movie with a studio.
05:56 So, you know, you go and you go to a big theater packed with, you know, regular folks and
06:01 who hopefully have some interest in horror.
06:05 And then they watch the movie and then they like grade you.
06:07 You know, they like fill out a thing and you get a number grade.
06:11 And it's really, really stressful.
06:13 And then you take that feedback and you make some changes that you hope are going to
06:18 bring your score up.
06:19 And we did another one and we brought our score up.
06:22 And, you know, then you learn more.
06:24 And it's a process that I think is actually really valuable.
06:28 I'm certainly not one of those filmmakers who's like, I don't care what anybody says.
06:31 Like, I care.
06:32 I want the audience to have fun.
06:33 This is a movie for like the general audience.
06:36 I'm not making whatever.
06:39 I'm not making an arty farty sort of a thing.
06:41 I'm trying to make a big crowd pleasing popcorn movie.
06:44 Like that's I want it to be a roller coaster.
06:46 So I really want to incorporate the feedback.
06:48 Well, this one's pretty memorable.
06:50 I think this might be my favorite.
06:52 I guess getting turned into a walrus is sort of tough to beat.
06:56 That's that old chestnut.
07:01 But yeah, I mean, it's fun to I like I love the horror movies growing up.
07:08 I didn't really get to watch them.
07:09 So they were always like, like forbidden fruit, you know, and so now so like the more gruesome
07:14 the cover of a movie was like the more I wanted to see it, you know, the more graphic and gory.
07:19 So now getting to do some of this stuff, it's kind of like I'm like living out some
07:23 childhood fantasies.
07:30 This process might seem overwhelming.
07:32 But with a little practice, it can soon become a pleasurable experience.
07:42 This is perfectly natural.