chiller blog

Posted Jan 25, 10 03:01 PM

The Passenger on Flight 180

Growing up, my brothers Charlie and Andy and sister Theresa and I would frequently play "town." Charlie was the mayor and banker, forever sitting in his room like Ebenezer at the mint, counting counterfeits that he used his allowance to buy from the local Ben Franklin. Andy? Government service. When he wasn't the police, he'd be the fire department, pounding on your door and arguing that YES, your room was on fire, YES, you needed rescuing and YES, it was going to cost you plenty. Thank goodness for Theresa. She - in a dark and funny way none of us realized was dark and funny - ran both a restaurant and a hospital.

Me? I was always the movie theater, staring up at a blank screen. Except I didn't even have a blank screen.

Who needs one? Growing up to live in - and make - movies is, as the Coen Bros. once said, "Like playing in the biggest sandbox in the world." And how cool is it to marvel over the elaborate sandcastles and human up-to-the-neck burials of one's fellow playmates.

Jeffrey (Final Destination) Reddick must have been a fun friend on the playground. But the story goes that, around the time he was fourteen and in junior high, slides and jungle gyms were long since retired in favor of...pitching a studio chief for a horror series?

Never mind the pianist and violin prodigies; I'll take adolescent-empowered imaginations with gumption, guts, and go-for-it gall like Jeffrey Reddick's any day. Remember, Sam Raimi was 19 when he made The Evil Dead. And at that age, Reddick was already ascending studio ranks, honing filmmaking know-how as a can-do executive. His leap: A diabolical TV spec-turned-film-spec Flight 180, a.k.a. Final Destination.

Reddick sat down with CHILLER to answer the history of the rest...

CHILLER: Hey Jeffrey, a pleasure. Kudos on creating a franchise that's taken its place in the horror lexicon. Being both fan and filmmaker, how do you describe that feeling?

Jeffrey: It's a mixture of pride and disbelief. When you write a script, your endgame is to sell it and pray it gets made. Having one movie produced is such a monumental task, that you're thrilled when that happens. I always believed in the viability of the concept, so deep down, I felt it could turn into a franchise. But the fact that each film has made more money than the previous installment is surprising. Most sequels start dwindling at the box office, but not Final Destination. I credit that to the concept, but also a major part of the franchise's life and success is Craig Perry, the amazing producer who's been in the trenches, fighting for each movie. But as important are James Wong, Glen Morgan, David Ellis, Eric Bress and J Mackye Gruber, who wrote and directed the films.

CHILLER: What was the spark that kicked off the whole concept of Final Destination?

Jeffrey: The idea stemmed from a strange real-life incident. I was on a plane, flying home to Kentucky. I read an article about a woman who was on vacation and the morning of her flight, the woman got a call from her frightened mother. Her mother told her not to take the flight she was booked on because she had a bad feeling about it. The woman changed her flight and the plane she was supposed to be on crashed. Reading this on a plane was scary enough. But it got me thinking...what if she was meant to die in that crash? What if she cheated Death? And what if Death came after her?

At the time, I was a young writer living in New York and trying to get an agent. I was told to write a spec script for something "hot" on TV. The X-Files was my favorite show and I came up with an episode where Scully's brother had the premonition. The script got me an agent. And Mark Kaufman, a friend and colleague at New Line Cinema, really loved the script and convinced me the concept would be great for a feature.

CHILLER: Word is you were so inspired by a viewing of A Nightmare on Elm Street that you submitted an unsolicited outline for a sequel to New Line Cinema? True?

Jeffrey: That story is true. I was 14 at the time and I didn't know much about the film industry. So, I typed up a prequel outline and mailed it to (New Line head) Robert Shaye. At first, he rejected it because it was unsolicited. But fueled by the righteous indignation that only a 14 year-old hillbilly could possess, I wrote Bob a surly letter. I pointed out that I had seen three New Line movies and spent a whopping $5 on his product...so the least he could do is read my outline. Well, the letter worked and Bob read the outline. Looking back, my writing wasn't very good, but Bob was very encouraging. Over the years, I became pen pals with him and his assistant, Joy Mann. This led to an internship at New Line when I was 19, and a full-time job later. I don't have a copy of the letter I sent to Bob. But I do have a copy of his letter back to me.

CHILLER: You interned at New Line and worked your way up. What horror titles were you involved with during your tenure? Were there any projects that didn't see the light of day that you'd still like to see made? 


Jeffrey: I worked in various departments over the years, including development, marketing, accounting, home video and television. I was based out of New York, which was more of the corporate headquarters. I was around for some cool films, including Nightmare on Elm Street (5 through Freddy vs. Jason) Leatherface: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 3, Blade and Jason X. There were a few horror projects that I thought were great that but never saw the light of day. One was Son Of The Endless Night based on the book by John Farris. And there was another one called Book of Magic. There were also some great drafts from top genre writers for Freddy vs. Jason that never got made.

CHILLER: Did they have you on set during the production of Final Destination? If so, what was going through your mind after shooting the very first take of your script when you heard "cut?"

Jeffrey: I went onset for a few days to shoot a cameo that never made it in to the final cut. But you do feel a sense of awe knowing that all of these people are working because of something you started. Hollywood is funny...in the feature world, the writer is seen as the lowest rung on the totem pole. But obviously, if the first writer had never put their pen to paper, then there would be no film. It often gets to be about egos...of directors, or other writers, or actors. But it brings me joy to know that the franchise I started is living on.

CHILLER: Your characters, reverentially, took their names from early horror icons (Browning, Lewton, Shreck).

Jeffrey: Naming the characters after iconic horror directors was something James Wong and Glen Morgan came up with. I thought it was clever, as was the Rube Goldberg device they created.

CHILLER: Is there one particular moment or death scene of which you're the most proud?

Jeffrey: In my initial draft, Death took the form of each of the character's greatest fears and drove them to suicide. So, the Rube Goldberg angle changed the death scenes. For instance, in my draft, Alex's best friend hung himself in the garage, but in the film, he's hung in the bathroom. I had the asshole jock jump in front of a subway car...and in the final film, the asshole jock's girlfriend gets hit by a bus. So there were differences. But I think the bus scene is the best scene in the film. It's so shocking and out of nowhere...I've never seen an audience jump so high.

CHILLER: On the third and fourth entries in the series, you're credited solely with "characters". Is it flattering to have other creative teams expand upon and revisit the blueprint you've set?

Jeffrey: It's exciting. The cool thing is that they've kept the same creative teams on Part 1 and 3...and Part 2 and 4. I think the concept still has a lot of life in it. The only downside is that from a business standpoint, the studio is afraid to stray from the formula with sequels. It's safer, in their minds, to give people more of the same. I just hope that as the franchise continues, they work to come up with new stories and angles... instead of just retelling the same story.

CHILLER: You penned the killer director sequel, Return to Cabin By the Lake, and the ugly duckling witchcraft revenge piece, Tamara. Good experiences?

Jeffrey: It's always a good experience to have a film produced. So, before I discuss any drama, I always acknowledge how blessed I've been. But it's never a cakewalk. Return To Cabin By The Lake was my first TV film. It started off great. I was contracted to write a draft and two rewrites. But the network, the director and Judd Nelson were so happy with the first draft that after a few minor tweaks, they went right in to preproduction.

But then, the network head read the script again and decided it was "too clever for their audience." So, he brought in a writer to basically dumb the script down. All of the scenes are the same, but a lot of the layers and unexpected twists were cut to make a more by-the-numbers film. The end result works, if you watch the film as a tongue in cheek comedy....but I wrote a horror film.
Tamara was a passion project. I'm a huge fan of Carrie and I wanted to create a movie where the victim of fatal bullying comes back in the first act and spends the rest of the movie getting revenge. I've always identified with the outsiders and the geeks. And I love strong, sexy female characters. So, with Tamara, I wanted to throw in all of these elements and write a fun, scary film. But the producers got nervous about the more intense horrific/sexual stuff and watered it down. Then our budget got slashed by more than half. And we ended up losing a lot of the subtext and secondary characters. I've been through the development process enough not to get too jaded. So, when I watch the film on its own merits, I think it's entertaining. But I would have loved to see my darker version realized.

CHILLER: You came onboard as supervising producer for a few episodes of Dante's Cove, a gay otherworldly series for the Here! Network. What attracted you to the show? 


Jeffrey: I've always been fascinated by sexuality in film and in particular in horror films. When I was approached about Dante's Cove, the show was really trying to find its footing. It had some good things going for it, but they really didn't have a strong story to carry viewers through a season. I was brought on to oversee the writers and come up with a big picture story arc. I came up with a concept that played off my other favorite thing: Comic books. I love the Dark Phoenix storyline from The X-Men where a formerly good character is driven mad with power. So, I proposed a similar story arc for Dante's Cove. It was a fun time, but budget limitations really hampered the network from doing the show as it was written. But it was nice to work on a show where gay and lesbian characters weren't stereotypes...or thrown in a story simply for jokes or to be killed.

CHILLER: You next wrote Day of the Dead, a revisiting of the George Romero shocker. Did you get a chance to weigh in with him on your vision? Also, Steve Miner helmed. The conversations you guys must've had!

Jeffrey: Steve Miner's involvement was the main reason I signed on. He has directed some seminal genre films, including Friday The 13th, Part 2, House, Warlock, Lake Placid and Halloween H20. I was hired based off a pitch that was really close to the original, but just updated to current times. I really wanted to explore the themes George Romero had established. The idea that once the shit hits the fan, humans can be more dangerous to each other than any monster. Basically, he was saying that we are the monsters, and the monsters are us. I also loved the idea that the zombies retained part of who they were when they were alive and could reason and learn. So, I was excited about using these themes in a modern story. But because of the rights, we could only use the basic story and characters from (the original) Day of the Dead. We couldn't reference any of the other movies, so it had to be a stand-alone story.

But Steve and I did discuss the project. I came at it as a fan who wanted to make a film that was reverent to the original and pleased the fans. But at the end of the day, I had to defer to Steve and the producers. So, the finished film isn't what I set out to write. But during the whole process, I learned a lot from Steve. He's a great guy and very approachable. And seeing such a seasoned pro in action was amazing.

CHILLER: So, what's next?

Jeffrey: Well, I'm getting the financing together to direct my first film, which is very exciting. I've also got a supernatural TV series set up with Gale Anne Hurd. I wrote an urban slasher film for Regent Entertainment and a supernatural horror film for Gold Circle. I'm also working on my latest script, which is...surprise...a supernatural horror film.

CHILLER: What scares you?

Jeffrey: Growing up watching horror films, movie spookiness doesn't really disturb me. But when I look around at all of the strife and hatred in the world, it terrifies me. I think Romero was on to something when he said, "We are the monsters." The world is so divided by real and imagined differences...so, bigotry of any kinds scares the hell out of me.