The Buzz Is Back: An Interview with Director Marcus Nispel and Actor Andrew Bryniarski

Judge Patrick Naugle

March 30th, 2004

"After a decade of silence...the buzz is back" was a tag lined used to describe director Tobe Hooper's 1986 follow-up The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2. In 2003, the buzz returned in a whole new way when über-producer Michael Bay (Pearl Harbor, Armageddon) decided to bring a new generation a re-imagining of the infamous 1970s chiller, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

DVD Verdict's Patrick Naugle sat down with first time director Marcus Nispel and star Andrew Bryniarski (Leatherface) to discuss their decision to remake a classic horror staple into a modern day nightmare...

Patrick Naugle: How did you get on board directing the remake?

Marcus Nispel: At the time, my agent, who is also Michael Bay's agent, showed me the script. An interesting enough parallel to that, my cinematographer, Daniel Pearl, DP'd the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and would tell war stories from way back then and made it sound like a real blast. When it was offered to me, I mentioned it to him and he said, "We have to do this movie!" I asked why and he mentioned he'd be the first DP to make the same movie twice. At the time, we felt that was reason enough. It all started as a prank of sorts, but then you get into it and take it quite serious.

PN: Marcus, did you end up speaking with original director Tobe Hooper before or during the shoot?

MN: You know, I didn't. I didn't really talk to him until I met him at the premiere. I think largely we all had the strong sense that he wouldn't be all that enamored with us producing a remake. I remember I saw him on some talk show and he was asked about it and he was sort of evasive of the answer. So I didn't want that to spoil my fun—if that was the case, I didn't want to know about it. If that was not the case it would be a happy surprise, and he liked it later at the premiere.

PN: Andrew, did Gunner Hansen [the actor who portrayed Leatherface in the original film] or Tobe Hooper provide you with any input?

Andrew Bryniarski: Not to me personally. To the filmmakers, I don't know who talked to Tobe when we were filming or before. Obviously, they had to get the rights from Tobe and someone was working with him, but I didn't get to work with Tobe. I was lucky enough to meet him at the world premiere and he was amazing, gave us a thumbs up. We gave each other a big huge and almost had tears in our eyes and said nice things about each other's movies. Gunner Hansen never talked to me. I'm still waiting to meet him because I'm a big fan.

PN: What was it like working with Marcus, a first time feature film director?

AB: Marcus is amazing. He's a brilliant visualist and very intense. He knows exactly what he wants. He comes from working on commercials and music videos and has won a lot of awards, and for good reason. He watches the film very closely and the movie ends up very tight because of his background in thirty second and three minute pieces.

PN: Michael Bay seems to be an interesting choice for the producer of a low budget horror film remake.

MN: In a way, I've been toying with making a movie over the last decade. It's tough if you come from a certain environment and come to a new environment, from commercials and music videos to films. You want to make sure that you have the proper support. You start with your crew. Very often, you don't even get the privilege as a first time movie director to bring your own crew along. Certainly Daniel was somebody I wouldn't want to make it without, and Michael had to fight through the same when he started out. He understood what I was asking for because he went through a similar transgression. So it was like a home play, we were speaking the same language.

PN: What was the most difficult part of the shoot?

MN: The heat. (laughs) It was so fucking hot I can't even tell you. It was grueling. The first scene that we shot was the kids in the van. We shot the movie pretty much in sequence. Not only was it the hottest day of summer, you're in the van and you can't have the air conditioning on because of the sound, you can't open the window because they're flapping gels outside. You're in there with five kids and four crewmembers in this tiny little bus and we had to shoot the entire first twenty pages on the first day. So everything seemed bad and it was only the first day. It was grueling.

PN: Had you seen the original film?

MN: It was interesting. When this remake was offered to me, I hadn't seen it up to that point, which is why I so naïvely dabbled into such a daunting task. In a way, it was a cinematic gap in my education. I grew up in Germany where the film was actually—I didn't know this until later—outlawed and illegal. So I had a good excuse. Daniel then gave me a copy of the original on DVD. I brought it home and my wife controls the TV, so when I get home it's a menu with Oprah and The View. (laughs) I told her they offered me the remake and she said I have to do it. But I said I'd only do it if she watched the original and told me about it. So we both watched it together, she refused for the longest time, but after we watched it there was an interesting revelation; namely we both had the perception it was a "splatter" film, and when we watched it we realized it wasn't. It was actually very suspenseful and worked in a strong psychological basis. I was extremely attracted to it.

AB: Everyone on this movie loved the original, that's what brought us all together. We're huge fans of the original. We're honored to try and make a movie based on the original but for today's sensibilities. It was just another crack at what is a classic film that is well respected and held up really well, but yet with a new dynamic cast and a very exciting group of filmmakers. Everyone wanted to go and try to make that magic happen once again. And we were able to that thanks to the people who worked on the film.

PN: Was it nerve-wracking remaking such a seminal classic?

AB: Not for me. It was very exciting for me, especially once I got the job, I read the script by Scott Kosar and I saw that we were going to the slaughterhouse. (laughs) When I first read these scenes I thought, "That's not in the original." I thought that was amazing and it would be so cool, I'll get to do stuff for the audience that will blow them away. I knew that everyone was taking the project very, very seriously and everyone was playing to win out of reverence for the original film. Nobody wanted to try to make a movie as good as, we wanted to make a movie better than the original film. Here is a group of people that are fired up and have the opportunity to do it again knowing every inch of that film and knowing what they would do if they had the opportunity to go in and tweak it, try to make it a little bit different so that it's their own. Because people think they know it, but they don't know it. So people think it can't be any better, then you take it to the next level.

PN: There's little to no gore in the first one, in comparison to the remake. Audience tastes today are, "I want that gore, want that grizzle."

MN: There's not that much gore in the new one because it was actually a point with New Line to "make it scary, but don't make it squishy." The difference between scary and squishy is like $30 million at the box office. (laughs) We actually tried to stay away from it. If you really look at it there's actually very little in it. The same perceptions that the first one got the second one got where people actually think there's much more there than there really is.

PN: In all the other Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, they don't show Leatherface's actual face. What was the thought process behind revealing it this time around?

AB: I can't really speak for the thought process because that decision was made by the screenwriter, the director and the producer. They came to me and I thought this was very, very cool and great. They always knew exactly how they wanted to do it. They made me understand what I needed to do so they could later add CGI to remove my nose and they knew exactly how they wanted it to look.

The movie's art direction by Scott Gallagher was so amazing that when we got into the room with the sewing machine it was so creepy and I knew what I was doing, sewing Eric Balfour's face, and I knew I was going to have that moment when she sees his face later. So it was all very easy for me to say it was time for the other mask to come off. I knew it would be totally cool and a treat for the fans to see. People have made a big deal about that scene—some people love it, some people hate it. But it's really cool and a big surprise.

PN: How constrictive was the Leatherface costume?

AB: There were two different masks. There was the regular mask which was made of latex, that's the one that's on the poster, and then there's the Eric Balfour face mask where I kill the character of Kemper and use his face for a mask. That's made of silicone and it's actually very, very difficult because it doesn't breath. It's very thick and very heavy and has an internal support so it doesn't collapse and forms to my face yet keeps the characteristics of his face. That's a horrible thing to have to work in but looks totally cool. Then you had the 30-40 pounds of chainsaw, the costume, the fat suit...I'm in considerably better shape than Leatherface or I wouldn't be able to do some of the cool things in the movie. It's challenging but this is what I do and it's a joy for me. For some reason I love putting on the mask. I kind of get lost in the moment when I'm doing it. It's very cool, creative work. It's very hard but it's always very fun at the same time.

PN: Andrew, how did you get the job of Leatherface?

AB: Well, I saw Michael Bay at a Christmas party right after he announced he was doing this movie. Knowing he's a very ambitious and intense filmmaker I thought that it would be a great project right away and I said that I should play Leatherface. I was born to wear the mask! (laughs) He said, "Wow, really? Would you do it? It would be really hard." And I told him he wasn't going to scare me away. I said it would be something it would be an honor to do. I'm a huge fan of the original and to make it with you would be quite the honor. I take it very seriously and I'd love to do it. And he said cool.

PN: Did you actually have to carry around a 30-pound chainsaw for the shoot?

AB: Probably closer to 40 pounds. 35-40 pounds is what I'm guessing. And yeah, I had to do all kinds of things. But I'm a big strong guy and I like action. This was a worthy challenge for me. Aside of safety concerns, which are always the first things you want to do, I threw that thing around the way Leatherface needed to throw it around. It was often quite challenging but always rewarding.

PN: Marcus, what part did you play in the conception of the DVD?

MN: They set up and interviewed me and did a really good job in the documentary. I'm afraid how deceptive it can be 'cause it actually looks like we had fun! (laughs) I'm watching and realizing there was this alternate reality where I was knee deep in blood and mud. It's very funny to see how different an experience can be perceived!

PN: Do you have any interest in possibly doing a sequel or prequel?

MN: You know, I actually had difficulties with doing a remake, especially on your first movie when you want to do something authentic. But when I really stripped it down two things became apparent to me, one of which is that it was based on the Ed Gein story and I wanted to get back to the psychology of Gein and it became much more about that. Also there was an old core narrative. I keep saying we didn't make a remake of Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, we made a remake of Hansel and Gretel. There's this core story to it which is age old.

I also feel it's very timely to make this movie again. What happened in the '80s and '90s is true again, which is this big generation conflict like you had in the '70s. The movie is almost a parody of that, an exaggeration of that. You feel bogged down and held back by the old fogies in some one-horse town, what are you doing to do? All the symptoms from the second movie to be retold were there, so I was actually quite happy to do it again. But no, I wouldn't be interested in a sequel or another remake.

AB: I know Michael Bay has been quoted as saying he'd like to make a prequel. I'd love to be in a prequel, I think that's a good idea. I think there's a lot of story arcs you could do and great ways you could film the story. What happened to Thomas Hewitt [Leatherface] that made him so mad, and what about these other victims and the 33 other bodies found in the Hewitt house? It's probably better to go back in time than forward.

PN: Finally, who would win in a fight: Jason, Freddy, or Leatherface?

AB: Leatherface, obviously. That's a very easy question. (laughs) Easiest question of the interview!