Zachary Knighton is a big fan of the 1986 The Hitcher and of old school horror films in general. That said, Knighton doesn’t view the 2007 The Hitcher as a horror film. The young actor who makes his home in Venice, CA, says this new take on The Hitcher would more appropriately be classified as a thriller.
The Original The Hitcher is One of Knighton’s Favorite Films: “When I got the audition I was really happy,” said Knighton. “And then when I got the job I was nervous because I was nervous about doing it justice. You never know when you’re getting into a job, what the directors are going to be like, what the producers are going to be like. I’m one of those guys that when they were doing Texas Chainsaw, I was mad about it until I saw it.”
But Knighton’s not going to be playing the role the same way that C Thomas Howell did in the original film. “No, I tried to bring a completely different take to it. This Jim is pretty different from C. Thomas. He’s a local kid, kind of a guy’s guy, and he’s not transporting a vehicle across country. It really is more the spirit of the first film that we try to capture a little bit of in this one.”
On the Audition Process: The producer said that over the course of the auditions he saw Knighton transform from Zach to ‘Jim’. “Well, I kept growing my hair. I lost about 20 pounds for it,” explained Knighton. “The facial… Usually I’m a pretty clean cut guy. I just started to feel, just get this idea about this guy being from a small town in Texas maybe, kind of being a normal guy. I was just training my body and my mind for it. I was really just trying to make the material more and more mine. It was a pretty tough process but ended up working out for me.”
Knighton continued. “I’ve been doing it for a couple years now and I feel like I’m always having these types of things where I’m getting real close and going in and in and in, and it just never seemed to work out. I mean, it’s worked out obviously for some jobs but yeah, I was kind of keeping the cautious optimism. I was very happy about my auditions but I wasn’t trying to set myself up for a big disappointment.”
Auditioning with Sophia Bush: “Every time I went in, I was auditioning with Soph. They were just pairing us up and seeing if it worked, if the chemistry worked, if we worked well together. We were improv’ing, bouncing stuff off each other. I think that’s kind of what got me the role maybe because we were so easy with each other and immediately had a great chemistry. It was so much fun to work with her.”
On the Hot Shower Scene: “Well, I’ve got to say it was the most difficult day of the shoot. Who wants to do a shower scene with Sophia Bush? No, it was great. It’s not a hot and heavy sort of thing. I think it’s more about the love that’s between Jim and Grace in this movie, so it’s a good scene. I’m proud of it. I’m proud of everything in this movie.”
The Process of Getting Dirtied Up Every Day: “…They actually have bags of dirt that they hit me with, like socks full of dirt. They just rub it all over me. Sometimes I’ll just, when we were doing rain scenes, instead of them wetting me down, we would just actually go out and stand in the rain for a few minutes and then come in. That kind of stuff.”
Knighton had to have his blood makeup touched up several times a day. “I’m a bit of a sweater. I sweat this stuff off like there’s no tomorrow. I mean, you’re drinking so much water out here, you’re going through so much of it that it’s hard to keep the makeup on.”
Just Who is Jim? Knighton explained his view of his character in The Hitcher. “He wants to stay in Texas. I think he’s a Texas boy. I don't think he has too much. I think he’s sort of nervous about a future. There’s a little bit of conversation between Jim and Grace about marriage and kids. I think he’s a little tentative about that, but he really loves the girl. I don't think he really knows what he wants to do. He’s going to school and who knows? I don't think he really puts too much thought into it.”
Shooting in Texas and New Mexico: “Austin is a pretty crazy town, fun town. Great locations, weird sort of Podunk places on the outskirts. Santa Fe is pretty sleepy. There’s not much to do if you’re not in the market for turquoise and moccasins. It’s been interesting, but it’s fit the tone of the movie. The more isolated I feel, the more isolated the movie’s been getting. So it’s been pretty cool. It’s nice to do a movie in a bunch of different locations.”
The Hitcher’s Night Shoots: “It was like four or five weeks, 6pm to 6am every day. It’s crazy because you begin to feel like you might not be a human being anymore. You just start feeling like a vampire. You start to feel different and strange, and your body starts working differently. Then when you go back to days, it’s a really difficult transition. I remember we shot at night and I think had an eight hour turnover, back at like seven or eight in the morning, so it’s been difficult. But I’ll tell you what; it’s nice to beat the heat so I don’t have to deal with the sun.”
