“I think there’s a general stigma against horror videos,” Franco said of his first film, The Rental. “Many people consider them mediocre and cheap, but the fact remains that the most productive horror videos have the same merit as the serious dramas that are regularly identified in awards season. “
“I think the explanation for why Ari Aster’s films work, for example, is because he approaches them as art films, it’s about the characters and the relationships within that film. It also happens to be a horror movie; Turns out, that’s scary.
It also helps that Aster’s films have been commercially and critically successful. The filmmaker’s best-known works are Hereditary, which grossed $80. 2 million on a $10 million budget, and Midsommar, which grossed $47. 9 million on a $9 million budget.
The Rental is about two couples who rent a vacation home for a getaway, but things take a nightmarish turn when they think they’re being spied on.
“I think most people know me from the comedies I’ve been in, so everyone is surprised to learn that my first movie is a horror movie. As a viewer, I like nothing more than an intelligent genre film,” Franco explained. I love this new organization’s paintings of genre filmmakers like Aster, Jordan Peele, Amy Seimetz, and Sean Durkin. These filmmakers technique their paintings in a more nuanced atmospheric way, where they take their time with the story and let it pass. About you. When they take their hits, they land hard, unlike other genre films that rely too heavily on reasonable scares and end up feeling disposable.
That’s not the only explanation why the actor-turned-director sought to make The Rental come to fruition the way it did.
“There are also logistical reasons why I wanted my first film to be in this genre. I can do it with a small and reasonable cast, as long as the film is normally set in one place,” the filmmaker admitted. In those scenarios, I felt like I could laugh at the overall flavor of the movie. The horror genre has a tendency to deal with excessive scenarios and emotions, which gave me the freedom to make ambitious choices and push barriers anywhere I wanted. maybe only. “
Something that allowed him to make this location in which he shot The Rental, opting for Oregon instead of the sound stages and the exteriors of the locations.
“We shot in the south of Orepass, on the coast, in this little town called Bandon. They welcomed us with open arms,” Francia recalls. The main reason other people pass through there is because they own two of the most famous passing fields. “in the country. Other than that, I don’t think they attract many tourists. Although our team was relatively small, in a way, we felt like we were taking advantage of the city. We were very respectful and were looking to have seamless compatibility and didn’t need to disappoint everything that was going on.
And he added: “I enjoyed the experience. My wife with me, but we also brought our cat. It was the first time our cat had ever traveled on an airplane and it was the first time our cat had noticed the ocean. It’s a special moment in our lives where I surrounded myself with other people I love making my first movie in the middle of nowhere. I felt like I could focus on the things that were most vital to me and not be distracted by other things that came up. if I had filmed in Los Angeles.
Non-conformism is everything that has a theme for Franco and The Rental. The film, due to the closure of theaters due to the coronavirus pandemic, was released in a drive-in theater a few kilometers from Los Angeles.
“We live in a new world where everyone is looking to find other tactics to release their films. I feel very fortunate to have wonderful partners like IFC, who think outside the box. For example, we had an unofficial premiere in a -in,” he said. “It’s not exactly what I envisioned for the first public screening of my film, but it’s more wonderful in some tactics. The most popular trailers give me a little red carpet anxiety, having an organization of photographers in front of me, and it all feels a little stuffy. It is quite the opposite. I feel fortunate that our film is well suited to the drive-in experience, because not all films do. Horror videos especially tend to work well in those environments.
This is the only chance given to the film due to the pandemic.
Franco revealed, “On top of that, in a weird and retrospective way, we’re probably going to bet on more theaters than planned because of the drive-in component. “
That is the advertising component of the display business, and it is everything that Franco, as a director for the first time, was aware of and reflected in his process.
“Because The Rental was my first film as a director, I sought to be overly prepared and sought to surround myself with the most productive people to make my task as simple as possible. The smartest thing I did was a very thorough team,” he explained. “Obviously, I was looking for other talented people, but it was equally vital to me that they were kind, that they wanted to be there and that they did their best. I needed other people whose number one priority was the quality of this film, as opposed to other people who have been around the world for quite some time, who treat those reports as a chore and look at their clocks waiting for time to pass at home. “
“Yes, I had a lot of freedom. I give my team a lot of credit for instilling confidence in financiers and letting them know that we have a team and we know what we’re doing.
The Rental debuted on VOD and in drive-in theaters to rave reviews. If the horror drama works financially according to that, can it be considered simply a sequel?
“From the beginning, the goal is to leave the ending ambiguous enough that we can continue the story if we have the opportunity,” Franco confirmed. “I have a very transparent concept of what I would like to do with a sequel. It’s almost hard to talk about because I don’t want to give away too much of the first movie, but I will say that the sequel would address the mythology of our villain a little bit and potentially be set somewhere outside of the United States.
What if a major studio came calling and wanted to offer you a big-budget horror sequel or remake? This idea does not excite him.
“No one has approached me yet because the film has not been released. If he proposes a remake or a sequel to a vintage horror film, my gut tells me that that’s not the path I have to take,” Franco confessed. to do projects that at least try to do something new and never noticed before. “
“For example, even with The Rental, the principle feels familiar. Couples go on vacation for what deserves to be a festive getaway, and then, inevitably, things go wrong. As part of this premise, we try to make it exclusive in its execution. and try to help the genre as much as possible to keep the audience on their toes.
The Rental opens in drive-in and digital/VOD on Friday, July 24, 2020.