Q&A with director: 'Witch' inspired by 'Oz' and 'Shining'
Writer/director Robert Eggers won a Best Director prize at last year's Sundance Film Festival for his first feature film, a period horror tale titled "The Witch."
I talked to him by cellphone as he walked through Chicago's Four Seasons Hotel, which, he noted, resembles the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining."
Q. You show the witch doing horrific things early in the movie. Why not wait for a while and let the suspense build before revealing her?
A. A contemporary audience today doesn't know what a witch is. They don't know what being a witch meant in the 17th century. English settlers had a very clear idea of what a witch was, and how brutal and primitive and dangerous and terrifying she was.
I needed to show the audience what she was capable of so they right away would understand how high the stakes are at the very beginning.
Q. Yes, but the movie could have suggested she might not be real to set up a horror twist.
A. I don't like twists. I don't get much out of them. If you know two cars are about to run into each other, you don't walk away and say, "Oh, I know what's going to happen." You watch.
Q. Are you surprised by the attention the film has gotten?
A. I am in shock over how people respond to it in general. It took so long to get the film financed. No one wanted to make a pilgrim horror movie written in early modern English. I'm just gratified that there's something about the zeitgeist that people are now into witches.
Q. You cite Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" as a major inspiration for "The Witch." Why?
A. "The Shining" is one of the few horror movies that I actually like and it actually scared me. I actually like "The Shining" more than I like Kubrick, I think. The tension he sustains through the whole film is so great.
Q. Outside of "The Shining," what's the scariest movie you've ever seen, including those you saw as a child?
A. In that case, "The Wizard of Oz." The Wicked Witch of the West really scared me as a child. I don't think this movie ("The Witch") would exist today had I not seen "The Wizard of Oz."
Q. How did you decide to use the frightening blend of choral music, strings and noise for the score?
A. I listened to a ton of 17th-century music and a ton of atonal 20th-century stuff. I thought it would be great to combine the two things. (Composer) Mark Korven knew the most about music history. He had the best ear for this crazy dissonant stuff and could actually play some of the early musical instruments. He was a perfect choice.
Q. I once asked "Exorcist" director William Friedkin to name the scariest thing in the world. He told me "a closed door." What's the scariest thing in the world for you?
A. Humanity.