In an interview with CINESCAPE Magazine regarding his upcoming continuation of the FRIDAY THE 13TH series, JASON X, director James Isaac had a few things to say about the long and winding road to release.
His story offers an interesting glimpse into how Hollywood can, and cannot, work seeing how the film has been completed for over two years, and been pushed back several times.
"Originally it was [to be released] October 13th, this was a year and a half to two years ago," said Isaac. "That was a date that we just threw out there to New Line saying, 'If we really go fast and work hard we might be able to get it open by October 13th.' And everybody was like, 'That would be cool! Friday the 13th, October's a great time.' It wasn't a very realistic date. We have 350 visual effects and that's not even including floor effects, you know explosions and action and stuff. We just have an enormous postproduction on this film and it's lucky for us that New Line didn't hold us to that date."
Of the extensive postproduction period, Isaac notes that it was his own quest for perfection that slowed the production down.
"You know, when you're doing a movie like this you have to create everything from scratch there's no given," explained Isaac. "You can't just pick up an ambient sound of an office building and stick it in there you've got to create it. And I was very specific about what I wanted a certain kind of richness and a weight to the movie and a weight to the sound effects and a depth to it that it just took a long time. So it was unrealistic for us to be totally done and released and have an ad campaign, all those things by that date."
However, once the postproduction was completed the New Line Cinema "wall," as Isaac describes it, came tumbling down.
"They were hard up for cash that's the bottom line," said Isaac of the studio's troubles. "They were having a difficult time and they were kind of regrouping. At that point, I found myself in a situation where nobody at New Line who was originally involved with the movie was still there. So it was kind of a weird situation where we didn't have anybody at New Line to shepherd the project. It was [a situation where] we had this movie and everybody liked it, but didn't know what to do with it."
Ultimately, by focusing its efforts on RUSH HOUR 2 and LORD OF THE RINGS, regrouping and making some money, the studio finally managed to find a place for the low budget horror film it loved so much.
"I just came back from a meeting at New Line yesterday and they're just so behind it and so excited it was really great," said Isaac. "And for me it's better that even though it's been a frustrating year waiting to get to this moment, they're now so excited and happy with the project because it's going to be so much fun to market. So now we have their attention and it's so much better than if they just [said] 'OK, fine, we have to find a date and open it.' It would have been a problem. Now it's good. The trailer is really great; they've been great; all the screenings have been positive. The creative guys couldn't control what was happening up above. They had to just do what they were told."
So there you have it... all of it.
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