411 Movies Interview: Producer Rob Tapert
Posted by Tony Farinella on 10.16.2008
411's Tony Farinella sits down with Hollywood producer Rob Tapert for an exclusive interview! Topics discussed: Sam Raimi, Evil Dead, the Saw franchise, remakes, sequels, and more!
Rob Tapert has produced some of the biggest horror films in Hollywood over the past 20 years. He has produced Evil Dead, The Grudge, 30 Days of Night, Army of Darkness, and a whole lot more. He has also produced a number of television shows, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. In my interview with Rob Tapert, we talked about his company Ghost House Pictures, which he runs with Sam Raimi, and their latest DVD box set that includes eight horror films. I hope you enjoy my interview with Rob Tapert.
TONY: What's it like discovering new talent within the horror genre? It seems very rewarding, because you never know what to expect or where you're going to find the next big name in horror.
Rob Tapert: The impetus for this came out of new voices. We have our Ghost House Pictures horror business that we do one or two movies and maybe a direct-to-DVD sequel a year, and we got so many submissions from young filmmakers wanting a chance to direct, and then, over time, we'd say, 'I wonder whatever happened to that guy's movie?' And we found out, 'Oh, it didn't come out.' Or we would get in touch with the producer and they'd go, 'Oh, we went through so and so, and it was a disaster,' and they never got their money back. Out of that, we saw an opportunity to work with young filmmakers, which we love, and find new talent and set up an apparatus that hopefully in a very cruel business at least gives the filmmakers the benefit of our brand and the knowledge that we're not out to rip 'em off. If we make a deal, we'll honor that deal in the same way that people have ...some have been fair, some have been not fair, and we remember those guys who have been fair to us in our past. So it was kind of out of that this business came about. In making an eight-pack package, we felt we needed to have a little bit of something for everyone.
TONY: When you're looking at film submissions, what needs to stand out? What are you and Sam looking for?
Rob Tapert: Well, I can point very directly to a couple of movies in the package that we watched at Sam's house on one Sunday afternoon, and he went, 'Oh my god, this is exactly what we should be doing. We need to be in business with this guy.' So it's the excitement that you see something new and you see a story being told that feels bold and fresh and told in an interesting fashion. So there is that aspect to it and then there's the secondary aspect of some of the movies in the package, you go, 'Well, this is a movie that, as a horror fan, I think it's cool for this reason.' There are different movies in here for different reasons, but the ultimate what makes you stand up and cheer are the guys you wanna get in business with on their next movie right away.
TONY: How do you handle a direct-to-DVD movie compared to a theatrical release?
Rob Tapert: The great thing about DVD business is that you can take a lot more chances and the product that comes out hasn't been through the watered-down studio development business, so it often tends to be a purer vision. Or, in some cases, it's just a different vision. There's a movie in there, The Substitute, which we've set up at Columbia, which was different and new.
TONY: What has it been like working with Lionsgate on these DVD releases? It seems like they really know how to market their horror films.
Rob Tapert: Lionsgate has been fantastic. We've had a long relationship with Sony, we've had a bunch of movies come out through Sony and Screen Gems, and we had a movie in The Ghost House Underground come out this summer called The Tattooist that they did a very good job on. But Lionsgate was very aggressive in this space. They don't have the same volume of product coming through, so they take time to really get out there and promote each individual movie that they have. And we know a couple of guys in the DVD business over there, and they go out and work really hard on everything they have, so it felt like the right place to come with this particular project.
TONY: Speaking of Lionsgate, as a producer in Hollywood, are you impressed with how they have handled the Saw franchise? I know you have done a lot of horror sequels in the past, so that's why I had to ask you.
Rob Tapert: Yeah. (laughs) Because I don't entirely get it. I got the first one and the second one, but they've managed to take a franchise and continued to make it survive and breathe and live. And they don't spend a ton of money on it, and they have all this great art that I just go, 'Oh my god.' Yeah, they're really good at that.
TONY: On your IMDB profile, there is a producer credit on there for a film called The Evil Dead. What can you tell us about that project?
Rob Tapert: Well, let me tell you about The Evil Dead. There was a whole space of movies being remade. For example, Texas Chainsaw. And we were approached, and Bruce went, 'No way.' And I said, 'Why would we do that?' And Sam went, 'Hmm, you know, I directed that movie to be a big theatrical event, and most of the people alive now only saw it on video in some college room with a bunch of drunken louts. So that theatrical experience of seeing that movie in a giant theater, most people haven't done it, and it's such a great experience to see it like that. And I'd love some young filmmaker to come up to me and go, 'I wanna take your Evil Dead, because I can make it much better than you, and it's the only way I'm ever gonna get a chance.' So the door was open, and it kind of got announced and we went a couple of different ways in looking at trying to get it made. It was announced for a second that Quentin Tarantino was gonna do a Freddy movie. And Sam said, 'If he's gonna do a Freddy movie, he should come and do The Evil Dead.' Well, it would make sense in its own really weird way, that notion got taken by the Weinsteins and turned into Grindhouse. So it's something we're always open to. There's a guy who did The Evil Dead musical which ran off Broadway that bugs us on a weekly basis that the right move for us would be to make the 3-D musical, or that he should have the rights to go make the 3-D musical, because he has all the money to get it financed. So I have no idea.
TONY: What has it been like to watch your friends, Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi, have so much success in Hollywood? All three of you really started together as a team and still keep in touch, which is rare in Hollywood.
Rob Tapert: Well, Bruce doesn't live in Hollywood anymore. He lives in Oregon, which is probably a smart move. And now he lives in Florida doing Burn Notice, which I love. It's been interesting. It's probably like being in a band and really how bands survive is they have to constantly reinvent themselves, and the members of the band, who were once there, kind of go and go play with somebody else and then they come back and they kind of reinvent their tools or what they're doing. So the survival of it is growth, and it's constantly changing, so I think that's what we've seen each other do. Bruce has gone off and done something and now has his hit TV show. And I kind of went off and did television and then came back and did Ghost House Pictures. So I guess it's evolution. And yes, it's nice to know that eventually, when you all get together in a room, you can count on the friendship that has lasted throughout the years.
TONY: If a young director is reading our interview, what's the best advice you can give them?
Rob Tapert: Perseverance, that's the only advice. There's so many talented people, it's not necessarily the most talented guys who are gonna get the opportunity. It's the guys who stick with it and keep going and going and overcome all obstacles and won't take no for an answer. And I've seen that over and over again. And I don't know if you can teach that. We've all seen enough movies that probably shouldn't have been made that do get made, and it's only due to somebody's perseverance that they got made.
TONY: Finally, what are some of the better remakes that you've seen in Hollywood?
Rob Tapert: Well, somebody came and once asked Sam and I, 'What would you think about remaking The Mummy?' And Sam and I looked at each other and we stuck out our arms and shuffled around and went, 'That's the dumbest idea we've ever heard. There's nothing there to remake.' Well, somebody found a very interesting and populist way to remake The Mummy into something entirely new. So that was a remake done totally different that probably deserved to be made. Foreign films, we remade The Grudge, and we had a conversation, and it was really Sam Raimi who said, 'This is a great horror film. These guys deserve to see their movie get made and seen by the most amount of people. And a foreign-language horror film would play in one theater in one town for one week, and nobody would see it, and all the horror fans around the world who are really searching for what's new, what's cool, and what's the new jolt, they would love this experience.' So there is a time to remake some things, maybe all things. Somebody once asked me, and I guess there's nothing sacred that can't be remade. There are things that you may hope don't get remade, and Bruce Campbell went, 'I think it's wrong to remake Evil Dead.' Then Sam, who directed it, went, 'Well, I meant it to be a theatrical movie to be seen by as many people in the theater to have that theatrical experience.' So, as an entertainer, you want people to see your stuff in the perfect environment. I wish there was a clear answer. I guess if you're gonna remake something, you better damn well do it better than the original.
TONY: Thank you so much for your time, Rob. It was great talking to you.
