You might not recognize the name, but Stephen Susco has written one of the most successful horror movies of all time -- the American adaptation of The Grudge -- plus its sequel, which combined have earned over $250 million worldwide. With a slew of writing, directing and producing projects ready to burst onto the scene in the next few years -- starting with the acclaimed 2008 Sundance entry Red -- he's poised to become a household name with horror fans the world over.
For the movie Red, you adapted a popular Jack Ketchum novel. Did you feel any pressure to live up to the book? What are the challenges involved with staying true to the novel but allowing for your own creative input?
I've adapted over a dozen books, and each one presented a unique set of challenges. Red was certainly one of the smoothest novels I've taken on, primarily due to two factors: first, that it is a relatively short piece of work; and second, that it's an economical tale extremely well-told. There were only a few major plot points that the directors and I ultimately shifted -- and even then there was a tremendous debate over changing anything at all. We were all very determined to do the book justice, so I suppose yes, we did put a great deal of pressure upon ourselves through the process.
Previously, for The Grudge, you adapted a movie. Are there any differences in adapting a movie versus a book that makes one easier than the other?
They certainly both have their own sets of pitfalls. I usually find adapting novels more challenging -- it's more akin to traveling down an unpaved road. For this reason, of course, I find [book] adaptations more rewarding as well.
What drew you to Red?
Quite simply, the story. I've always been attracted to stories involving justice and revenge, stories that aren't tied up in neat little bows at the end.
There's a Grudge 3 coming out next year. Did you have any ties to it?
I was involved in very early discussions about where the third movie could take the story, but ultimately the only connection I have to the new film is that it features some of the characters I created for Grudge 2. I haven't seen the script, and I'm curious to see how it turns out.
You plan on adapting another story, a novella called White by Tim Lebbon, for your directorial debut. Can you tell me more about the story? (Lebbon's website calls it "a cross between The Thing and Assault on Precinct 13".) When we can expect to see the film? Can we expect a movie called Blue at some point in your future?
The adaptation is finished, and we're looking for a new home for the project. Tim's description is spot-on -- I'd venture to add it also has some elements of The Shining and Alien. As a horror film, the tone is something of a dark Twilight Zone episode -- intense without reveling in gore, with a solid layer of the philosophical underlying it all.
The story, in short: it takes place at an old manor house in the mountains of New Hampshire -- the kind that popped up at the turn of the 20th century, that are now rented out for romantic weekend escapes. Only July 4th, everyone at the house wakes to find three feet of snow on the ground and an outdoor temperature rapidly dropping towards zero degrees...in the height of summer. The phone line is down, and there's no cell reception, no radio, no TV (satellite, cable, or over-air) -- and the town below is completely dark at night, even though all the residents have generators. Then someone goes missing. The body is found later, torn apart. And they begin to get a glimpse of something moving against the snow, something that doesn't leave tracks in the snow -- something so white it can't be seen against the snow.
Tim is an absolute genius -- one of the best working genre writers in the world, in my humble opinion -- and I'm hoping to make a movie that can stand up to the power of his words. And yes, I'm working on Blue -- then I'll move on to The Ten Commandments.
Have you always enjoyed horror movies, or is this just the direction you've headed in since The Grudge was such a big hit?
It's undoubtedly the genre that's nearest and dearest to my heart -- between a third and a half of the scripts I've written in the last 12 years are horror (or horror-ish). It's what I grew up on, and it's what I'm always hoping to see more of.
You recently began a production company called Zero Hour Films, and one of your first projects will be a remake of Bob Clark's cult classic Deathdream, entitled Zero.Dark.Thirty. How do you plan on updating this film (Perhaps involving an Iraqi War soldier instead of a Vietnam soldier?), and what does the new title mean?
"Zero Dark Thirty" is military slang for "in the dead of night" -- which was one of the half-dozen other titles Deathdream had in its release cycle. The original film, for all its "pulpy-ness," had some incredibly profound (and provocative) things to say about the nature of war, notions that are as relevant today as they were in 1974. We're producing the film independently in order to dig deeper into these notions without the creative constraints of the standard development process. Michael Douglas has come onboard as executive producer, and we've recently cast our lead –- and if the wind keeps blowing, we'll be ramping up pre-production later this year.
