Director Adam Wingard Discusses His Segment Of ‘The ABC’s Of Death;’ Plus ‘You’re Next,’ ‘Dead Spy Running’ And More
Twenty-six letters, twenty-six directors, twenty-six ways to die. That’s the simple premise behindThe ABC’s of Death, the crazy anthology horror film that is available on demand today, and will be in theaters on March 8.
Being as today is the first day the public can see this film (which we reviewed here) twenty-six different websites are simultaneously posting interviews with all the directors. We spoke toAdam Wingard, the director of “Q,” seen above. Wingard (left) is also the director behindA Horrible Way to Die, this summer’s (awesome) releaseYou’re Next, and segments inVHSandS-VHS.
He and creative partnerSimon Barrett(right, who contributed to all those projects as well) had an unenviable task adapting the letter Q. We discussed that along with the release ofYou’re Next, the success of S-VHSand his upcoming Warner Bros. filmDead Spy Running. Plus, if you’ve ever wanted to know how a genre director first comprehended death, this interview has the answer, along with a list of Wingard’s favorite on-screen deaths ever.
/Film: How did you first hear aboutThe ABCs of Death? And what made you want to do it?
So you were involved from the very beginning? You knew about it almost from day one?
Now I obviously don’t want to spoil too much, but what letter are you responsible for, and what can you tell us about your specific piece?
Probably the last one to go.
Yeah, they probably don’t want to… So the “Q” stands for something, but it’s a spoiler to say what it is?
How long did it take you guys to shoot? Where did you shoot it?
And this is going to be your third, anthology contribution released in two years, which is kind of interesting.
Pretty much everything you’ve done is maybe not straight horror, but has a lot of horror in it. Is that something you want to break out of or are you just having a lot of fun doing that kind of stuff now?
I get it. You’re not going to be making aFailure to Launchany time soon, but anything else is kind of on the table…
And it seems like you’re getting the chance to do that withDead Spy Runningat Warner Bros. What can you say about that at this point?
I sawYou’re Nextat Fantastic Fest 2011 and thought it was so fucking awesome. After a long while, Lionsgatefinally announcedan August 23 release date. How did you find out?
Having seen the movie, it does leave itself open to a sequel, so I’ve got to ask the pointless geek question before the movie is even out, have you thought about what would happen in a sequel toYou’re Next?
Okay, right on, which was how I saw the movie the first time. I was like “I totally thought I saw where it was going….” It was a lot tighter than I thought it was going to be, without spoiling anything for people who haven’t seen it, which is most people.
Speaking of sequels, Sundance just ended andS-VHSwas a huge hit there. It wassurprising thoughcause you hadV/H/Sthere last year. How did that work out?
Magnolia picked up the film, any idea when we might see it?
As a film geek and a student of movies as you’ve been watching them as a kid. What are some of your daily habits that feed that? Do you visit websites, or watch movies every day? In your day-to-day life, how do you define yourself as a film geek?
That’s cool. I do the same thing with The New Beverly. The last two questions are the questions every director is getting asked that’s doing this, first up is what is your favorite movie death?
Oh god, yeah.
I totally understand and it’s interesting that both of your choices are. They are both great kills, but they both have something in the filmmaking that makes them special.
Last question: when/how did you first comprehend death?
It sounds like the scene out ofKill Bill, with the goldfish.
The ABC’s of Deathis on demand today, and in theaters March 8.
