Back In Black: An Interview With Pitch Black And The Chronicles Of Riddick Writer/Director David Twohy

Judge Patrick Naugle

November 16th, 2004

Most movies that are released theatrically and don't do blockbuster business are forgotten in the blink of an eye. Yet there is that rarest of occasions when a film is released, does mediocre business, then finds thriving new life when it's unleashed on the home video marketplace. Such is the case with writer/director David Twohy's sci-fi alien action movie Pitch Black. A minor hit in 2000, Universal Studio's Pitch Black was rediscovered by audiences on DVD and has amassed a large cult following. Because of its unexpected success, star Vin Diesel returned as anti-hero Richard B. Riddick with Twohy back in the director's chair for a 2004 follow-up, The Chronicles Of Riddick.

David Twohy sat down with Patrick Naugle to discuss the rigors of filming a big budget action movie, as well as what it was like working with one of Hollywood's hottest rising stars.

Patrick Naugle: It had been a few years since the original film, Pitch Black, was released. What prompted a sequel after all this time?

David Twohy: What prompted the sequel was the DVD release of the original film. It found a new audience and home with viewers -- a wider audience, you might say -- than the movie did upon its theatrical release. Meaning, it did really, really well on DVD. Only after a number of years did the studio start to take notice of those sales numbers.

Most films do well when the DVD is released, than the sales begin to fall off. Pitch Black wasn't falling off -- it was consistently a good seller for Universal. That, combined with Vin Diesel's rising star after The Fast And The Furious and xXx, made the studio come to us and ask, "What would you do if you did a sequel?" After that they couldn't stop us! (laughs) They couldn't shut us up!

Patrick Naugle: Aside from starring in the film, Vin Diesel is also a co-producer on the sequel. What kind of input did he give on his character, the story, and the production?

David Twohy: He was a lot more involved in The Chronicles Of Riddick than he was in Pitch Black. I remember in Pitch Black we just cast Vin as a guy in the film, just an actor doing is job. Just step into the role and get it done. Vin was always a guy who wanted to talk about his character and all the possibilities that lay within. He is just a guy that loves to be involved in the aspect or story and filmmaking. So, when Vin asked to be a producer as well, that was his way of reassuring himself that he'd be listened to and we'd be able to talk about the same possibilities that we talked about on Pitch Black. Clearly I was the writer on the film, but he assumed a sort of co-author role for the character of Riddick. That's the way we approach it now -- we're sort of co-authors in that way.

Patrick Naugle: How difficult was it to make such a large, effects-laden action film?

David Twohy: You know, it's fucking hard work! (laughs) 850 shots, and when you take a look at the time it takes to storyboard those shots, design the shots, award them to a house, then gather the filming elements for each shot, put them together, go to the visual effects house, and take meetings on every shot, and be the guy responsible for the quality on every visual effects shot...when you add that time up, that's one whole movie right there! Then, to make matters even more complex, I've got this whole other movie called live action and story -- that you would be doing anyway -- which is also a huge time commitment even in respect to the visual effects. So, it's kind of like doing two movies, time-wise. Because as a writer/director, if you take on an effects movie like this...well, there's two years of your life just on this one film!

Patrick Naugle: It seems like most action films these days are more effects driven than character driven.

David Twohy: Yeah. They're also becoming more complicated and harder to achieve.

Patrick Naugle: When you made the original Pitch Black, did you have any ideas for a sequel back then?

David Twohy: You know, if you ask me you'll get a different version than if you asked Vin Diesel! I'd say the answer would be a definite "no" for me -- I wasn't thinking about sequels, I was thinking about surviving the Australian outback. It was a very difficult shoot for very little money. As we were starting to screen the movie around town and getting some pretty good feedback, it was then that I started thinking about a sequel. Vin has a different angle on it. He says that he knew it all along about there being a sequel!

Patrick Naugle: On DVD the film is being released in an "unrated director's cut." Does this mean you were unhappy with the original theatrical version of The Chornicles Of Riddick?

David Twohy: When you hit a certain budget level, the studio usually says that, economically, it only makes more sense to us if you make it a PG-13 film. They tell us that if we want to go out and make an R-rated film like Vin and I were pushing for, we can do it, but we have to whack $30 million dollars off the budget. Then we started to hem and haw, and I said to Vin that we'll do the theatrical cut as a PG-13 rating and always have an unrated version to fall back on. And that could be the tougher, longer version. So, knowing you have that to back you up allows you to get the budget you want so you can execute the script, all the while staying true to the script that you originally wrote.

Patrick Naugle: Finally, is there talk of yet another Chronicles Of Riddick sequel in the works?

David Twohy: We've been talking about it all along, in terms of this: not that we're shooting back to back films like some people thought we were doing, but in terms of where the characters go next, we know that. The actors also knew this on the set. If we were fortunate enough to do another film, and since it wasn't determined by the theatrical box office, it may be determined by the DVD release. (laughs) Just like it was with Pitch Black. We're watching this release very eagerly not only when it's released next week, but also in the forthcoming few months.

Patrick Naugle: David, thanks for taking the time to talk with and good luck with the release of The Chronicles Of Riddick!

David Twohy: Thanks, Patrick!