Posted at 8:30 a.m. - Thursday, February 12
In a previous post I mentioned the release of a new film by the co-creator of ''The Blair Witch Project'', Daniel Myrick. The film is called ''The Objective'' and recently had a theatrical release in New York, with another yet to come in Los Angeles. The film is also being made available by IFC on Video On Demand.
I recently spoke with Daniel Myrick about his new film, what he brings to this sort of project and what an episode of The Office directed by him would be like:
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REDEYE: You came to prominence with a film called ''The Blair
Witch Project'' and now have a film out called ''The Objective.'' Why don’t you tell us what ''The Objective'' is
about?
Daniel Myrick: Basically it revolves around a group of
Special Forces guys that are led by a CIA operative on this secret mission to
the mountains of Afghanistan
REDEYE: Where did the inspiration for this story come from?
DM: Well, it’s a combination of things. I’d been wanting to do a psychological
thriller in the desert for quite a while; something that took place primarily
during the day in that landscape. I
thought it would be kind of a challenge.
But as the years went by, we went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan and I
started seeing all this footage uploaded by soldiers themselves; a lot of night
vision firefights and things like that taking place in the desert and I thought
it was pretty creepy stuff. So kind of a
scene formed in my head hat revolved around these guys shooting at something at
night that they couldn’t explain. And
that kind of naturally merged with the desire to do a whole story in the
desert. So those two ideas sort of came together and I wrote this narrative
around that backdrop and it just kind of grew from there.
REDEYE: Many people
know you for "The Blair Witch Project", but you’ve produced and directed other
films since. So in the time since you’ve
started, what do you think you bring to a project like this that is unique?
DM: Well, um, a lot of people that have seen this film go
into it thinking it’s going to be a particular type of genre picture, what have
you, and realize when they come out of it that it’s not what they expected. I
think my approach to genre films is not any single place or single angle. It tends to meld a bunch of genres
together. I think that’s, you know, my
kind of style and I don’t go into it thinking to do a thriller or a horror
movie or a sci-fi movie. It kind of ends
up being a blend of these things so in one respect, some people are
disappointed because they’re expecting a single kind of movie. But, in another respect a lot of people are
really refreshed because it isn’t a narrow scope. I don’t think that’s unique but that’s
definitely my kind of approach and my style, and I’ve learned that my films
kind of have that common denominator to them.
REDEYE: Is there a lot of improvisation in this film as
there was in some of your earlier projects?
DM: There’s a fair amount.
You know it’s pretty well scripted out (by) myself and Mark A. Patton one
of my co-writers early on, along with Wesley Clark Jr. who helped write the
script. It’s a normal script with a
normal narrative but I like to kind of give the actors a little bit of
flexibility when were on set. As long as they understand the point of a
scene and a few key words that are needed to propel the plot forward are said, I
don’t try to dictate too much how they say it or how the blocking is done. For this kind of movie I wanted it to feel
very organic, very authentic, so I didn’t want to control these guys too much
and their behavior too much because most of them were former Special
Operations guys themselves. So, I wanted them to maintain their own body
language and their own delivery that only their experience can bring. I didn’t want to stamp on that too much so I
gave them a lot of flexibility.
REDEYE: I just came to this realization recently that ''The
Blair Witch Project'' and the way it was put together, with your giving the
actors all this freedom to put their scenes together, is very similar to the
way they film ''The Office.'' Any calls from
NBC to direct an episode?
DM: (laughs) No, no luck so far. I would love to! I think it’s a great show and I was a huge
fan of the original UK
REDEYE: Ok, since you like the idea, pitch me an episode of
''The Office'' by Daniel Myrick. What would
the story concept be?
DM: (laughs) Well, uh, it could be the ‘'Office
Objective.'’ Some kind of thriller ''Office''
episode by the co-creator of ''The Blair Witch Project.''
REDEYE: (laughs)
DM: The one ''Office'' episode that’s kind of a horror
film. Maybe it’s a dream and one of the
guys is napping in the break room and it’s his really bad dream. There you go, that’s my pitch!
REDEYE: (laughs) Joss Whedon did an episode of ''The Office'', I
want to say last season, or maybe it was the season before, and he managed to
fold the whole vampire theme in there. It was
pretty hilarious.
DM: (laughs) That’s great!
REDEYE: Ok, where "The Blair Witch Project" was unique in the
way it was produced and marketed, "The Objective'' is now being marketed in a
unique way: by video-on-demand. Can you
tell me a little bit about that?
DM: Well, IFC picked the movie up and actually it’s got a
theatrical screening in New York
REDEYE: I had a conversation with Robert Kurtzman a while
back about zombies and horror films, and asked him what he thought resonated
with people in that genre. What is it about your films that resonate with people?
DM: Well, I think a
common assessment of my films seems to be (that there is) a high level of
‘creep factor.’ People that have seen the last couple of thriller films that
I’ve done have mentioned that they kind of get under their skin and it builds
on that. I like when films do that, when
you can’t quite point to why it’s making you uneasy or why you feel off-balance.
Because, you know each little beat, each little scare, in and of itself is not
that big, but collectively within context of the story they resonate more. So I like to think that "The Objective" does
that to people. I’ve heard a lot of
people say that there aren’t any big old scares but that it gets under their
skin and it’s creepy and I like when films do that, because to me, that’s just
my style. I like the old-fashioned
zombie movies, things that jump out at you and make you jump out of your
seat. I just get more satisfaction kind
of working out of people’s heads and seeing where that takes me.
REDEYE: You say you gravitate towards the ghost story, the
‘creepy entities.’ We’ve also had
Zombies, Werewolves and Frankenstein, and they’ve been done to death. What do you think is the next horror movie
archetype, the next new thing on the horizon that’s going to be creeping people
out in movie theaters?
DM: That’s a good question.
You know, if I knew I’d probably have a multimillion dollar script ready
to go. (laughs) But I do think it might have something to do with
technology. It might have something to
do with kind of a ‘ghost in the machine’ where we’re so now connected to each
other. We’re so now, um, interdependent
through technology, the internet and kind of living these virtual existences (with)
virtual friends that we never meet. I’m
thinking maybe something along those lines that transcends, literally, kind of
our physical space. Not necessarily
something supernatural but something along the lines that involves
technology. Artificial intelligence of
some sort, you know might be kind of cool or interesting here. It could be something as overt as a
wacked-out robot, who knows? That might be kind of interesting to explore.
REDEYE: I’ve got it!
Dwight is afraid that the Dunder-Mifflin sales computer is taking over
the office and he has to battle it! How
does that sound for an episode?
DM: (laughs) I love it man!
That’s it! (laughs) Now write it up and go ahead and pitch it.
REDEYE: (laughs) Tell you what, you use it but I just want a
story credit! (laughs)
DM: (laughs)It’s the fax machine! (laughs)
REDEYE: (laughs) Awesome.
Thanks for taking the time to talk to me. Just for the record, I am a fan and the Blair
Witch Project still creeps me out! I
have to watch it in the middle of the day, with the lights on. It creeps me out to this day.
DM: (laughs)
REDEYE: Only two films do that to me: Blair Witch and A
Nightmare on Elm Street
DM: Oh, that’s good company.
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You can learn more about The Objective by visiting the film's web site.
