Interview With Michael J. Bassett
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We sat down with Michael J. Bassett the writer and director of Silent Hill Revelation 3D. We talk about how he approach the sequel and more.
OtakusandGeeks.com: What were some challenges to approaching this sequel? The last movie was 5 to 6 years ago.
Michael J. Bassett: You really have to go to Silent Hill 3 and say okay Sheryl in the game is Sharon in the movie so it's not totally confusing.What did she become? For me she became Heather. Why is she Heather? What is the continuation of her story and how can we conclude that? The writing was the hardest part. I have to make a sequel to the first movie so it g can make sense. Then tie in the ending from the first movie with the Christopher Da Saliva character, and explain how he gets back to Silent Hill. Then I take the story from Silent Hill 3 and adapt that so it makes sense for the sequel and still cater to an audience who never played the game. I hope that I made all those things work.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Did you ever play the games?
Michael J. Bassett: I like the games. I'm a huge fan of the games. It's one of the first games I played that made me said wow this is cinematic. It really made me get engaged in a emotional way. I'm following a character's story, playing the narrative and love having the shit scared out of me at the same time. Konami did an amazing job with the series.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Are there any characters, locations and scenes veterans of Silent Hill will recognized?
Michael J. Bassett: A pure hardcore gamer will beat me up for putting Pyramid Head in this one, because he comes from game 2 and not game 3. However he is in the first movie and it will be hard to pretend that he doesn't exist anymore. I use Pyramid in a way that I feel is appropriate for Heather's psychological situation. In the game world the mythology of Silent Hill is Pyramid is a corruption of the executioner. If you watch the movie that is used and he has a purpose. In terms of scenes and locations there are a handful things I took from the game that will have gamers say hey I played that.
OtakusandGeeks.com: How did you select the monsters you would use in the movie?
Michael J. Bassett: You try to select the monsters that will be appropriate for the story. At one point Heather goes to asylum because she is going to see Leonard. In the game you only see Leonard as the monster, but I wanted to see the human personification of Leonard. So I called Michael Mcdowell and if anyone who was going to get Leonard it would be him. Heather is in asylum and there was surgery being done on brains, so we created a brain monster. The brain monster is a creature that is absolutely brilliant. The guy whole brain is exposed, no face, broken mouth with teeth all over the place. It's a great scene.
OtakusandGeeks.com: You choose to limit the use of CGI why?
Michael J. Basset: I always go practical compare to CGI and that's kind of an ego thing, because I want to control it. The moment I have an actor even if it's a guy in a monster suit, I can stand there and show them what to do. In the digital world I would have to say this is a tennis ball and it will be scary eventually please act accordingly. I prefer to have things actually like there. See that guy standing at 10 feet he has a big sword in his hand and if you don't get away fast something bad is going to happen *laughs*. It gives a better performance for the actors. I' am a old school kind of guy.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Will you revisit Silent Hill again?
Michael J. Basset: I think we closed the Heather story. I would like to start telling my own stories of Silent Hill. The graphic novels have already started that, there is one that is set in the old west of Silent Hill. I would love to make a really low budget one, which has that kind of full sexual perversity that Silent Hill brings that you can't do in mainstream movies. Will I go back to Silent Hill you bet ya.
OtakusandGeeks.com: What were some challenges to approaching this sequel? The last movie was 5 to 6 years ago.
Michael J. Bassett: You really have to go to Silent Hill 3 and say okay Sheryl in the game is Sharon in the movie so it's not totally confusing.What did she become? For me she became Heather. Why is she Heather? What is the continuation of her story and how can we conclude that? The writing was the hardest part. I have to make a sequel to the first movie so it g can make sense. Then tie in the ending from the first movie with the Christopher Da Saliva character, and explain how he gets back to Silent Hill. Then I take the story from Silent Hill 3 and adapt that so it makes sense for the sequel and still cater to an audience who never played the game. I hope that I made all those things work.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Did you ever play the games?
Michael J. Bassett: I like the games. I'm a huge fan of the games. It's one of the first games I played that made me said wow this is cinematic. It really made me get engaged in a emotional way. I'm following a character's story, playing the narrative and love having the shit scared out of me at the same time. Konami did an amazing job with the series.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Are there any characters, locations and scenes veterans of Silent Hill will recognized?
Michael J. Bassett: A pure hardcore gamer will beat me up for putting Pyramid Head in this one, because he comes from game 2 and not game 3. However he is in the first movie and it will be hard to pretend that he doesn't exist anymore. I use Pyramid in a way that I feel is appropriate for Heather's psychological situation. In the game world the mythology of Silent Hill is Pyramid is a corruption of the executioner. If you watch the movie that is used and he has a purpose. In terms of scenes and locations there are a handful things I took from the game that will have gamers say hey I played that.
OtakusandGeeks.com: How did you select the monsters you would use in the movie?
Michael J. Bassett: You try to select the monsters that will be appropriate for the story. At one point Heather goes to asylum because she is going to see Leonard. In the game you only see Leonard as the monster, but I wanted to see the human personification of Leonard. So I called Michael Mcdowell and if anyone who was going to get Leonard it would be him. Heather is in asylum and there was surgery being done on brains, so we created a brain monster. The brain monster is a creature that is absolutely brilliant. The guy whole brain is exposed, no face, broken mouth with teeth all over the place. It's a great scene.
OtakusandGeeks.com: You choose to limit the use of CGI why?
Michael J. Basset: I always go practical compare to CGI and that's kind of an ego thing, because I want to control it. The moment I have an actor even if it's a guy in a monster suit, I can stand there and show them what to do. In the digital world I would have to say this is a tennis ball and it will be scary eventually please act accordingly. I prefer to have things actually like there. See that guy standing at 10 feet he has a big sword in his hand and if you don't get away fast something bad is going to happen *laughs*. It gives a better performance for the actors. I' am a old school kind of guy.
OtakusandGeeks.com: Will you revisit Silent Hill again?
Michael J. Basset: I think we closed the Heather story. I would like to start telling my own stories of Silent Hill. The graphic novels have already started that, there is one that is set in the old west of Silent Hill. I would love to make a really low budget one, which has that kind of full sexual perversity that Silent Hill brings that you can't do in mainstream movies. Will I go back to Silent Hill you bet ya.
