Ship of Ghouls - Part Two

By: Marc Shapiro
Date: Tuesday, October 29, 2002

As the first non-William Castle remake from Dark Castle Productions, director Steve Beck's GHOST SHIP looks to fill the ghastlyand successfulshoes of previous Dark Castle pics THIRTEEN GHOSTS and HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. Today, Beck continues his talk with CINESCAPE about the new Julianna Margulies starrer which, not surprisingly, takes place onboard a haunted ocean liner.

The director's memories of the shoot are a patchwork of dim and hazy moments, but he does acknowledge a couple of scenes that do stand out.

"We had a real fun time shooting the ballroom sequence which is the opening title sequence in the film," he says. "We had about 400 extras dressed in 1962 period costumes and a full orchestra playing above the stage. It was just beautiful to see that era brought back to life. There was also this scene when Epps goes to the stateroom of one particular ghost. It was a very endearing, very chilling sequence to witness. Julianna just had the ability to convey so many different emotions and so that scene came across as very honest and thought-provoking."

Beck has painted some pretty pictures that would seem to indicate GHOST SHIP as something other than a full-blown horror film.

"Don't worry, people die," he says. "But frankly, I never saw any of this as being very gory. There's a sequence or two that are very graphic, but they come and go very quickly. I didn't feel it was necessary to the story to have a lot off blood and guts flying around."




Nor is this going to be a big "yuk" fest complete with "in" references and sly winks.

"I don't want to say that any humor in this film is accidental because then it would sound like I wasn't doing my job," says Beck. "But we found that, at certain points in the story, we could put some levity in it and that it would work. And the humor did work with a couple of the characters because when the shit hits the fan, we have characters just going about their business and in their own zone. You've got to watch out for those moments because I think they're going to be real funny."

Beck says that his second voyage into directing seas was, much like THIRTEEN GHOSTS, a pleasant and, happily, uneventful one.

"The scary part about making this movie had nothing to do with the film itself; living through the process is the scary part," notes the director. "You're constantly battling to get everything you want. Your great adversary is time. There's no mercy with time. I wanted more time to be everywhere and to do everything. I would have loved more time with the actors, if for no other reason, just to enjoy their craft."

Born and raised in Southern California, Beck attended the famed Art Center College Of Design with an eye toward becoming an illustrator. He entered into commercial production and directed a number of national commercials before becoming a visual effects art director for Industrial Light & Magic in 1988. In that capacity, Beck worked on the films INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER and THE ABYSS before turning his attention to feature film directing with THIRTEEN GHOSTS.

"Going from doing effects to directing is largely going from being a support person to being the person directly responsible," says Beck. "You're suddenly forced to realize that you're responsible for everything. You have to be much more focused and firmly believe that what you want to see is what you want to deliver. A director is paid for his opinion and, as far as I'm concerned, you'd better believe strongly in your opinions if you want to direct."

With only two feature films to his credit, it is, perhaps, too early to determine what kind of director Steve Beck is. But he has already managed to form some early impressions.

"I'm a director in training and, hopefully, I will be until I die. I hope people see me as a very collaborative director," he says. "I'm very fixed in the visual aspects of filmmaking because I come from that design background. But I do know my place in the food chain. There are a lot of directors who have a 'f**k the actors' attitude. I'm not one of those. I appreciate the actors."



Then, Beck returns to the topic of GHOST SHIP and a question he's been asked quite a bit in recent weeks. Is his film similar, in tone and otherwise, to the late and not-too-lamented VIRUS?

"I think the only thing my film and VIRUS have in common is that people go out on a boat and discover this other ship," he says. "That's where any similarity between the two films ends. I've heard some stories about how the script supposedly had to be drastically rewritten because, at one point, it was too much like VIRUS and that was definitely not the case. I think a big difference is that the characters in GHOST SHIP are fully fleshed out with legitimate stories and characterization. It's not like they're just walking around waiting for the monster to come and kill them. These are people you learn to care about and, for my money, that's a big difference."

The director admits he is "always reading things" for future projects. And at the end of the day, he does not see himself returning to the fold to direct a GHOST SHIP II.

"With the ending we've got, that would be kind of hard," he says. "But I don't know. I guess anything is possible."

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at feedback@cinescape.com.