ShockTillYouDrop.com has spoken with the two on a number of occasions about the reboot of the Evil Dead franchise, so when we caught up to them it was like reconnecting with friends.
Inside, check out our latet interview with Alvarez and Levy in which they discuss the most difficult days on set, sequelizing Evil Dead and more. Levy also wonders why the hell she isn’t Mary Jane Watson in the new Spider-Man film.
This is an interview that’s best read after you’ve seen the movie.
Shock Till You Drop: Let’s talk about the most taxing day on set…
Jane Levy: It’s hard to rate them, but I remember I had a breakdown, but it wasn’t necessarily because of what we were doing. It was a combination of things.
Fede Alvarez: What we were doing was complicated. Everything surrounding the last scene was difficult. It wasn’t just outside in the woods, but we were on stage. When Mia’s behind the wall in the shed and the machete was coming through the wall, Jane was about to break.
Levy: What I would have to do is I would have to stand outside on the set and they would paint blood all over my body. They would pour blood all over my head before the shoot, then I’d have to run into this little space, no one could come and touch me up because it was so small. And then this machete, that wasn’t sharp but still metal, would come through…
Alvarez: There was one that was sharp. That’s one of my favorite moments of pain in the film, the machete going through her knee. That was a prosthetic on top of her knee, but the thing had to cut through it, so it was sharp. I remember you were nervous about it.
Levy: I had to take a break. That last sequence was tough for everyone. The d.p. was so tired! [laughs] Everyone was stained pink. Everyone’s…
Alvarez: …balls were pink.
Shock: How many days did that take to pull off?
Alvarez: It was about a week in the woods with the rain blood and then probably two or more three days on stage to do the work shed part of the scene. Everyone was covered in plastic, but it didn’t matter because you were going to get covered in blood.
Shock: Who played the being that comes out of the ground?
Alvarez: Randall, a Canadian dude. He’s great. That was a combination of Jane face put on another body. It’s not CGI, but a mock of Jane’s face glued on another guy. He’s a Canadian actor based in New Zealand. It was inspired by stuff like REC and some other stuff.
Shock: Jane, what kind of projects did you start fielding after the film was so successful?
Levy: Well, this means I don’t need to do another horror film. [laughs] What good can come out of it? I already did one that people saw, the end. I just mean it was really hard and I will, of course, come back for Evil Dead 2 if that happens. But I did two independent horror films recently…
Alvarez: I saw you on the list for Mary Jane [for Amazing Spider-Man 2].
Levy: I would love to be Mary Jane, what’s the deal? Who else can play her? Nobody!
Levy: There was a whole extended scene of me in the cellar which I liked. There’s me singing, which was in the trailer. After I get raped by a tree and we did this scene where I’m walking through the woods and it’s scary because…
Alvarez: …there’s a stream of blood going down her leg.
Levy: And her friends are calling for her but she’s so out of it, I don’t respond. It’s weird. My favorite thing is that Evil Dead is so weird. Through all of it, I love that it’s weird.
Shock: Did you get to meet the original ladies of the Evil Dead?
Levy: I never did, but I went to a restaurant the other day and the waitress said her mom was one of the women from the original Evil Dead.
Shock: And what about the sequel at this point?
Alvarez: The beauty of it is Sam has all of the control. He made the movie because he wanted fans to have a new Evil Dead and this was a good time to refresh the saga. In order to have a sequel, it has to be relevant for us. We need to let the audience know what happened with Mia. How is she going to explain to people what happened? There’s a mystery there that’s intriguing to me. Also, is the Book going to let her go? Those are the important questions, otherwise you’re just going to have a generic sequel. When there’s a story to be told, that’s when the sequel is good. So, we’re just trying to figure out what story we want to tell.
Related: Want to kill some Deadites? Head to THIS SPOT to play the Kill All Deadites tie-in game!
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