Interview: Director Ti West, Actress Sara Paxton of ‘The Innkeepers’

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CHICAGO – Director Ti West has formulated a career re-imagining some of the scare tactics used in the classic horror films of the late 1970s and early ‘80s. His deliberately paced style created a frightening “House of the Devil” in 2009, and now he’s back with up-and-coming Sara Paxton for “The Innkeepers.”

“The Innkeepers” is vintage bump-in-the-night style horror, with an old hotel, a murder legend and mysterious happenings-a-go-go. Actress Sara Paxton plays one of the title characters, a directionless college dropout who works the front desk and frets about every little 19th century noise. Joining her in the mayhem is Kelly McGillis, a goddess of the 1980s (”Top Gun,” “Witness”), and indie queen Lena Durham (”Tiny Furniture”).

Pat Healy (Luke) and Sara Paxton (Claire) are ‘The Innkeepers’’
Pat Healy (Luke) and Sara Paxton (Claire) are ‘The Innkeepers’
Photo credit: Magnet Releasing

Ti West is ascending up the directorial ladder by creating a distinct auteur style. His films are wonderfully measured, creating atmosphere in which anything can happen, and often does. Besides “The Innkeepers,” West has a couple more titles listed for impending release, “V/H/S” and “The ABC’s of Death.”

Sara Paxton has become somewhat of an “it” girl for the horror genre, having taken on “The Last House on the Left” in 2009, and the infamous “Shark Night 3D” last year. Her career began as child actress in the mid-1990s, with regular TV series stops in “Summerland” and “Darcy’s Wild Life.” She turns in a terrific performance as Claire the Innkeeper, with the right combination of fear and cluelessness, and will no doubt continue her buzz as a leading actress.

HollywoodChicago.com talked to Ti West and Sara Paxton via a phone interview from the West Coast. They both talked about their contributions to “The Innkeepers” and the nuances of filmmaking decisions and career.

HollywoodChicago.com: What was the source type of ghost stories that led you to the Legend of Madeline O’Malley for “The Innkeepers”?

Ti West: I wanted to play with the very traditional 1800s type ghost story, but drop in these really modern, nerdy characters that don’t belong, and how they would deal with that scenario.

HollywoodChicago.com: Sara, you’ve done a bunch of horror genre films in the past couple of years. What is it about your type of acting style that lends itself to the genre?

Sarah Paxton: I’m not sure. I’ve been doing a lot of horror work in the last couple of years because I did ‘The Last House on the Left.’ Since I did that, people want me in their scary movies, I guess? [laughs] I’m fine with that, because I have fun doing it.

HollywoodChicago.com: Ti, in many religions, the afterlife for good people is benevolent or paradise. In horror films, it tends to be menacing or evil. Why, in your opinion, if so many people believe in the good paradise, do they want to be scared by the menacing afterlife?

West: I don’t know if the afterlife is always necessarily evil, as much as it’s ‘stuck.’ Everyone has a personal connection to death, because we all have to deal with it and I think you want to believe all the positive stuff, but there is something in you that scares you into thinking what if it’s not that. The scary ghost angle that people have adopted is that anxiety, as in what if there isn’t this amazing afterlife, what if it’s something bad? It might be as life goes on, more bummers make people pessimistic, but I’m not sure where it originally came from, but that would be my guess.

HollywoodChicago.com: Sara, what was the process of getting the script for The Innkeepers, and your involvement with it? Had you known of Ti West before getting involved?

Paxton: I did know of Ti. I was working on another film, and I received the script, but I hadn’t read it yet, but I had it. Randomly I was in a book store with another actress in the movie I was doing, and she was checking her phone and she asked me if I knew Ti West. I told her I have his script in my bag. She told me he was a friend of hers, and I should speak to him. So we spoke on the phone, I really liked what he had to say, we met in Los Angeles and we got along. [aside to West, ‘did we get along?’]

HollywoodChicago.com: Ti, you like working with the ‘women of the 1980s’ with Mary Woronov, Dee Wallace and now Kelly McGillis. Was McGillis your first choice for Lee, and how did you handle the audition and casting process with her?

Ti West in Chicago, October of 2009
Ti West in Chicago, October 2009
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

West: She wasn’t really my first choice, and I’m not saying that in the sense I ‘settled’ for her or anything. The reason why I didn’t think of her originally is that she’d just done this movie called ‘Stake Land,’ with the same producers. The thought of jumping in on that, I thought I was bogarting her, so I didn’t feel comfortable repeating what had already been done.

I thought older actresses would really want to do this one, because it was about them and they moved to something spiritual, so what a great acting opportunity. What I didn’t realize is that older actresses don’t have a sense of humor about being older actresses. [laughs] A lot of them were even offended that I would think of them for the role. It was such a weird backlash, and I was caught off guard because of it.

Kelly came up again, and the producer thought she’d be cool with it. She was in London doing a play, and we Skyped, we were talking and she was smoking a cigarette. I delicately explained to her that the role wasn’t a has been, she just moved onto something else. She took a drag of her cigarette, and said ‘I don’t care about that sh*t.” [laughs] She was self-deprecating, and even though I thought it was too close to ‘Stake Land,’ it was the right thing to do.

HollywoodChicago.com: Sara, your character of Claire seems to be searching for something in her life, since she is both scared about the situation at the Inn and brave enough to explore dark corners. How did you approach that aspect as an actress, in partnership with your director Ti?

Paxton: I don’t think Claire really knows where she’s going. Ti would say to me, she’s at this job and she doesn’t love it, and Claire is also questioning whether she should go back to school. I could relate to that feeling. I always wondered if I should give up the acting thing, go back to school and get a real job. [laughs] It was relatable, a feeling we didn’t have to talk about much, I just got it. As far as going down the basement, I think it’s an idea of being really scared but she had to know, that’s how a lot of people feel about ghosts. That’s why they go to scary movies, they’ve got to know.

West: We also talked about when you suddenly stumble upon a weird existential crisis, where you might be the apathetic person that you didn’t realize you were. And so she’s a little lost about what to do, so the ghost thing is something she can latch onto.

HollywoodChicago.com: Ti, composition is so crucial in a genre like horror, and your composition and setting was similar in effect to ‘The Shining.’ What element of that film, if any, did you use as a template for your ghost inn story?

West: I tried to avoid anything ‘Shining-esque,’ but when you put a Steady-cam in a hallway of a hotel it’s over. [laughs] I was really nervous about people relating this film to ‘The Shining,’ because that may be the best horror film ever made. I didn’t want to step on that territory. I’m very cautious about replicating things from other movies, because it makes me insecure.

HollywoodChicago.com: I viewed it as an homage rather than a replication.

West: As I said, it was unavoidable, there is nothing you can do. It’s like if you make a hotel movie about serial killers, someone will bring up ‘Psycho.’

Sara Paxton ‘Drives the Speedboat’ in ‘Shark Night 3D’
Sara Paxton ‘Drives the Speedboat’ in ‘Shark Night 3D’
Photo credit: Steve Dietl for © Incentive Film Productions

HollywoodChicago.com: Sara, in ‘Shark Night 3D,’ you did most of the film in a bathing suit. What kind of challenge is that for an actor, do you feel more exposed, especially as a woman?

West: I tried to get her to wear a bathing suit for this film, but she wouldn’t do it. [laughs]

Paxton: To be honest with you, when I agreed to do ‘Shark Night,’ I wasn’t thinking about it at all. I was like, whatever, I drive a speedboat. [laughs] And then when I got to the set, I just thought, ‘f**k, I’m wearing a bathing suit this whole movie!’ And then I thought, get over it. I don’t want to sound like a d*uche, like I do yoga or have these great ‘guns,’ but as a group the guys were more vain than the women, they were in the gym every morning. I just said, ‘f**k that, I need a breakfast burrito.’

HollywoodChicago.com: Ti, this is your eighth feature as a director. Do you learn something new in each film as you progress, and if so what did you learn on this film that you hadn’t applied before?

West: I hope I’m learning. I don’t know what specifically I learned on this, it was a really smooth shoot, despite only having eight days of prep and 17 days to shoot. I’m not even sure it’s possible to make a movie in that time frame, but every day we managed to get done early. It was effortless. I don’t know what I did right to make that happen, it’s usually much more of a struggle.

I came off a bad experience with ‘Cabin Fever 2’ a couple years ago, and when I was doing ‘House of the Devil’ I was no fun to be around, because I was so scarred from the ‘Cabin’ experience. I was thinking ‘no one going to tell me anything, it’s my way or else.’ When ‘House of the Devil’ was finished, and warmly accepted, I was able to take a breath and prove that the ‘Cabin’ shoot wasn’t my shortcomings, and in my own brain I got that chip off my shoulder.

HollywoodChicago.com: Well, I wanted to get your reaction to this. Often and historically, the horror genre is the first feature for many famous directors. How does horror create the best canvas for a director to apply his style?

West: The reason it’s my favorite genre because it is borderline experimental, you can pretty much do anything within it. There is a lot of diversity in the genre to try out things, whether it’s technically or thematically. It’s very exciting. But the problem is, it becomes successful when it’s the most derivative. We run into the lowest common denominator, and the same movie over and over again.

Which is a shame, because you can’t get too crazy in a romantic comedy, but in a horror film you can do anything. That’s what attracts auteurish filmmakers, the ability to be more expressionistic, which you can’t do in many types of films. I wish there was more of that, because in all the horror films that everyone agrees are great, they are also a bit odd and bold from a filmmaker’s standpoint. I think that’s what makes them exciting, and makes it a great genre. I wish it would go back to that, instead of being derivative.

HollywoodChicago.com: For both of you, of all your upcoming films, which one excites you the most and why?

West: I have a science fiction film that’s very close to happening, because I wrote it a year ago and it’s been very slow in development, because we need more money. But I’m very excited about it, the script I think is good, it deals with some great issues and it’s very scary. It’s called ‘The Side Effect.’

Paxton: I’m excited about this independent film I did last year called ‘Liars All.’ I was happy because I auditioned, and there were several female roles in the film, but I got cast as the really intelligent nerd girl. I never get cast as the really intelligent nerd girl! I could have been cast as the ‘slutty girl who takes her top off,’ but luckily they didn’t buy that one. [laughs]

“The Innkeepers” opens everywhere February 3rd. Featuring Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis, Allison Barlett and Lena Dunham. Written and directed by Ti West. Rated “R.” Click here for the HollywoodChicago interview with Ti West in 2009.

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2012 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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