Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad, Role Models) stars as Ed, a geeky high school student who suspects a vampire has moved into his neighborhood, in the 2011 remake of Fright Night set to hit theaters on August 19th. This Fright Night is bloodier and has a darker tone than the original 1985 film horror comedy, and that shift in tone is one of the reasons Mintz-Plasse signed up for the project. Plus, it allowed the 22 year old actor a chance to get away from straight-up comedy roles and sink his teeth into something a little edgier.
In our exclusive interview in support of DreamWorks Pictures' Fright Night, Mintz-Plasse talked about tackling a remake, the continued popularity of vampires, the make-up process, bonding with Anton Yelchin who plays Charley Brewster in the film, 3D, and strange encounters with fans.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse Exclusive Interview
Why do we need another vampire movie?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "Very good question. There are a lot of vampires. I'm a fan of the fact that Colin Farrell's character is one vampire, it's one predator. You're not scared of the group - you're not scared of three vampires. It's just one. It makes it more intimate. I feel like we haven't seen that type of vampire movie for a while. Twilight's like a group. But, I just really enjoyed the fact that it's one beast, one villain.
Did you have any doubts when you looked at the script, knowing it's a remake and it's a vampire film?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "I did. Those both crossed my mind. Whenever I see a trailer for a remake, I'm like, 'Why can't they think of something original?' And then I read the script and I was like, 'I love Craig Gillespie. I love Colin Farrell. I love Anton.' It was very violent and bloody in the script, and I'm a fan of that in a horror movie so I said, 'Why the hell not be a part of unoriginal Hollywood?'" [laughing]
This version doesn't get into the friendship between your character and Anton Yelchin as Charley because the film kind of gets right down to business. But did you get to do anything prior to filming to get a friendship bond going?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "I think the fact that we both live in LA - we both live in the Valley, actually, 5 minutes away from each other and we didn't even know it - but the fact that we had to fly to Albuquerque and we didn't know anybody in Albuquerque so we were almost forced to hang out with each other. And the first weekend we were there we both went out and had drinks and chatted, and hit it off very quickly."
No drunken bar brawls or anything like that?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "No. Some guy came up to me and he's like, 'I love your movies. I want to punch you in the face.' That was weird."
Is that the strangest reaction you've ever had from a fan?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "That's the most violent one. I've had some very strange, strange incidences with McLovin and stuff like that. Like the other day people were screaming it in 7-11. 'You owe me 5 bucks because we bet that it was him!' They're acting like I'm not even there. I turn around and I'm like, 'Guys, I can hear you.' But the punch in the face was very bizarre."
Did you admit it was you?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "Yeah. They were so loud! I'm like, 'Dude, it's me. Relax. I can hear you.' And that actually shut them up." [laughing]
You said working with Craig Gillespie was one of the draws in doing Fright Night. What was he like on the set?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "He's super funny and super down-to-earth, and very smart. The reason I loved his work is he did Lars and the Real Girl, and the performances and the music in it, I thought he did great choices. The performances he got out of everybody...Ryan Gosling was incredible. Obviously, that's mainly Ryan Gosling but the director is important. I knew he was going to get a good performance out of me because I like to challenge myself and this is more of a depressing role than I've done before. And he really, I feel, I got he good performance out me."
This is the first film you've really had to endure hours in the make-up chair to get into character. What was that process like?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "In Role Models I had to put the KISS make-up on. This was very nasty. Glue and goop on your face and layers of fake skin. At first I was really excited because I got to be a vampire, I could take pictures and send them to my friends. But you have to get to the set three hours before everybody else and you have to stay an hour and a half everybody to get it off. You just want out and you have all this stuff. But it looks amazing in the movie. It's like half of the acting for me when I'm a vampire because it looks so good. So the performance is almost there with that."
What did you do in the make-up chair for all those hours to distract yourself while all that was going on?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "They let me put my music on the iPod so we would play really good music. There were like three people working on me, sometimes two, but they're all really funny so we would just joke around. Just sit in the chair and try and dose off."
What do you think tone-wise sets this one apart from the original because fans of the original could be thinking that if it's a shot-by-shot remake they don't want to see it, and others could be of the mind that if it's too different they don't want to see it?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "It's hard to please the fans, the diehard fans."
How do you walk that line with the tone?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "I love Craig because he knew he wanted it to be very scary but he also knew he wanted it to be very funny at points. So, he kind of hit that. You needed the humor and David Tennant is amazing in this movie. He's so funny. The one in the '80s was very campy, which is a part of its charm. That's why I love it with its screeching guitar solos, like the cheesy music, but it's amazing. We didn't want to touch that. We wanted to remake it but almost as a re-imagining. So we wanted to make it more modern for today and scarier. The original was scary but we focused more on the horror."
It wasn't bloody.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "We wanted blood. I was always like, 'We want more blood! More blood!'"
Did you really campaign for more blood?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "I did. I'm like, 'Craig...,' and he's like, 'No, that's enough.' I'm like, 'Just spray it all over. I want to look bloody.'"
Did you do have to do anything special because it's in 3D?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "No. Everything is same. They knew what they were doing. The cameras are just a little bigger and a little slower, but it really didn't affect me."
Are you a fan of 3D?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "Not really. I think it's kind of, I don't know, a headache sometimes. But Craig did it very nicely where the 3D is more like you feel like you can look around the person and be in the room with them. Not like things coming at you - there are some of that, but very minimal."
How much did you guys stick to the script?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "A lot, but there are quite a few lines... I feel like one of the reasons I got the role is because I improv'd in the audition. There was actually a line that I improv'd in the audition in the movie. That was very nice of Craig to let Anton and I do that. We would do the scene four times, or however many times were needed, and then he would be like, 'Go to town and do your thing.' A few of the lines that we improv'd made the movie."
Did you do anything extra while filming for the DVD bonus features?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "Colin Farrell, after his normal takes, he would do like a Dracula take. He would do his voice [like Dracula]. He did that after takes and I wanted them to cut together a whole movie of him doing that take, which would be awesome."
"I respected the hell out of him. Those [takes] aren't in the movie. He did everything and then he's like, 'Let me just get this one out,' because he felt it. He's like, 'I feel like a vampire.' That was really cool."
Tell me about working with Colin Farrell.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "You know Colin Farrell as a superstar, one of the biggest actors out there, and he's just so down-to-earth and so sweet. He makes it feel like you've known him for months. Very charming, very funny, and a very talented actor."
Is it hard playing a character who Fright Night fans really seem to love, even more so than other characters from the film?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "Yeah, it's very strange. It's exciting to play him an iconic character like that. It didn't bother me. I thought [Stephen Geoffreys] did such an amazing job in the original but, once again, it was very '80s. It was very wacky and his energy didn't feel natural for this movie so I didn't want to try and mimic him, or step on his amazing role. The way Marti [Noxon] wrote the script was that he's very depressing in this one and their friendship is dwindling away. That was then very easy for me not to have to deal with the '80s version that people like. He's completely different."
Did you have more fun playing Ed as a human or as a vampire?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "I don't know, they were both really fun because when I was a human, I got to work with Anton. We got to riff. And then when I was a vampire it was all kind of, 'Here's what you have to do,' and it's a bunch of fight scenes, which was exciting as well. But, I think...they both are awesome."
What's up next?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "I'm filming a little indie right now called The To Do List in LA with like Donald Glover, Andy Samberg, Aubrey Plaza, Bill Hader, Alia Shawkat, Johnny Simmons...it's a great comedic cast, very exciting. And then How to Train Your Dragon 2 and I'm playing a lot of music with my band as well."
Are you excited to go back and do the voice again?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "Yeah, I loved it. I've been doing cartoon episodes for Cartoon Network. They've been bridging the time between the first and second films with little episodes."
Are you finding now you're getting scripts that are outside of the 'McLovin' type of character?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "Yeah. It's very nice. I've played nerdy characters three times now in movies, but they are all different variations of that. I don't mind doing that because that's where I fit. I'm not Daniel Day-Lewis, I'm not going to do something I've never done before and I'm going to be in this character for four months. I want to work with good people and make a living. But I've been getting good stuff sent my way, so it's exciting."
Was it tough at the beginning to convince people you didn't want to just keep doing McLovin-ish characters?
Christopher Mintz-Plasse: "Oh yeah. I got insane nerdy virgin scripts where he gets laid at the end. I got those sent to me all the time. But me and my agent knew we weren't touching those."
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Fright Night hits theaters on August 19, 2011.
More Fright Night Interviews:
Colin Farrell and Director Craig Gillespie / Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots
