Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Its all earned Roth a reputation for being crassly provocative and punishment obsessed.
Cabin Fever.Hostel.The Green Inferno.The House With a Clock in Its Walls.
One of these things is not like the others.In my mind, its a natural progression.
But this project was brought to me last June, right after I finishedDeath Wish.
They were looking for a director.
I read it, and within five pages, I was like, I have to do this!
And they said, Were gonna move fast.
We need to be shooting by October.
We were racing the entire time to get it done.
We finished in December.
A lot of people are going to have a hard time accepting an Eli Roth kids film.
Im sure youre aware of that.Ive always wanted to do my version of a kids movie.
And by that I mean a film likeTime BanditsorBeetlejuiceorGremlinsorGoonies.
Nobody does it better than those early Spielberg movies.
There was a danger.
The first 20 minutes ofE.T.were very scary when you were a kid.
You believe that E.T.s dead!
The movie goes dark and thats what makes the best childrens movies.
Thats what makes them resonate with children.
It gives them their first experience of being scared, but in a really fun, fantastic way.
Across your filmography, your tendency has been to shock and provoke.
So if youre making a shocking horror movie, the task is to provoke and push peoples buttons.
If youre making a scary, fun kids fantasy-adventure, its to thrill people.
So thats the fun of it mixing all the different tones.
Cate had the best quote.
And then it goes into Virginia Woolf at some point.
Why should people trust their children to you with this?Look, Im certainly aware of my reputation.
But I would say this: I think everybody grows up.
And you grow out of certain things.
At a certain point, saying stuff like that feels very 2012.
I wouldnt say something like that now.
That was the fun ofHemlock Grove; people legitimately got screwed up by it.
As far as Im concerned, mission accomplished.
Plenty of people come up to me and go, Yeah, your movies really screwed me up.
And I think thats great!
I look back now and go,Wow, thats who I was then.
Man, have I grown, have I changed.
Im not disowning that.
But at a certain point that gets old.
Its like, Okay, well, how can I surprise people now?
Whats the new shocking?
The new shocking is doing a PG movie.
A scary PG movie.
Look, this is the seventh movie Ive directed.
I was ready for a bigger canvas, something more visually spectacular.
The movie sort of plays into my reputation.
And I certainly want that going in.
Thats part of the fun of it.
The fun is surprising people.
I think this is the best film Ive ever done.
Its my favorite movie.
Amblin is rebooting itself as a company with this movie.
Steven [Spielberg] couldnt have been more supportive of me.
And when he saw the movie, he said, Eli, you really did it.
You really made a true Amblin movie.
Youre really carrying the torch.
It was pretty magical.
He said, Kids want to be scared.
You gotta make it scary.
Sebastians lab inBlade Runnerwas a huge influence on this.
The clown dream inPee-wees Big Adventure there are shades of that.
Tim Burton, it’s possible for you to feel that influence.
Its not horror because horror implies that youre really trying to horrify people.
When you make a horror movie, youre really trying to disturb someone.
It actually gets kids really excited.
I love their early horror films.
Those are the directors that I aspire to be like.
So people that love my horror films are going to see this and definitely see my sensibility.
Anything we can single out?I dont want to give it away.
But youll see it.
For sure, people will go, Oh, my gosh, its a reference tothat.
I cant believe he didthat!
