Interview: Whispers in the Dark

Crimson Arts was recently flown to New York to speak with the David Twohy, the director of Pitch Black, and the stars of his films, Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, and Cole Hauser.

The Harvard Crimson: Mr. Twohy, what kinds of changes did you make to the script and the production after you signed on to the project?

David Twohy: Interscope told me they had a script with an interesting concept-a ship crash lands on a planet, there doesn't appear to be any life at first, but then we find that the life is nocturnal. Actually, in the early drafts, we had a female convict. I was tired of movies like Lost in Space and Starship Troopers; they're basically just white guys in space. I like the Muslim contingent in the movie. They're devout Muslims, and they're not terrorists.

I take my hat off to the studio. Usually studios feel the need for a big name in each role. Also, just because you have that sci-fi premise doesn't mean that you have to have stock characters. We have the archetypal characters, but the characters change and evolve. Sci-fi is such a familiar arena and yet you don't know what's going on. You think you know how it's going to happen, but the hero of the movie changes. We're juggling with your notions of what is a hero, and what is not a hero. We were going in here and mixing it all up-not your typical sci-fi.

Vin Diesel: I think one object of the film that makes it different than other sci-fi films is that we wanted the story to stand independent of the sci-fi elements, like the creatures. That's what made the movie so attractive to me: it exposes people's humanity. It's exploration in order to expose.

THC: Was it a fun experience, making this film?

VD: I had a lot of fun, yeah. We shot in the outback of Australia, which is the antithesis of New York, where I grew up. It's a beautiful, celestial place, an aboriginal sacred ground. We had to work collectively to make it all work, though.

Cole Hauser: We definitely had to train before making the film. We got there a month early to do things like rugby running. It was very crucial to be in great shape-for all the stunts and fights, we all needed to be in tip-top shape. As hard as it was, we needed strength mentally and physically.

THC: There's a scene in the movie where you have to shoot yourself up in the eye. How close was that needle?

Hauser: The first take, I actually hit my eyeball with the needle. It was a retractable needle, but it was in interesting experience. David [Twohy] was directing me with the camera directly in my face, saying, left, right, wait, a little to the left-things like that. A couple times he told me, Cole, you don't really have to do this, but I wanted to do it. I wanted to make the audience see that it was my eye-I wanted to do it for the effect it would have on the audience. It's part of Johns character; he's kind of out there.

THC: How did you approach the two layers of Fry's character, the need for her to be both vulnerable and strong?

Radha Mitchell: The part was definitely a challenge. The gender aspect was difficult-the question was how to make her vulnerable enough for the audience to be sympathetic, but at the same time strong enough to be the leader of the group, the captain of the ship. It was difficult to keep that balance.

THC: Vin Diesel, one of the features that really sets your character, Riddick, apart from the rest of the group is that because he can see in the dark, his eyes are often covered. How hard was it to not be able to use your eyes?

VD: Clearly, one of an actor's greatest resources are his eyes. So in a situation like this, you manipulate your other facial features. The idea was to communicate without expression. That's as simple as believing it, and hoping that it comes across to the audience.

DT: The situation with his eyes also helps to humanize his character. It's interesting, because he has no lines for the first half-hour of the movie. But Vin Diesel understood how powerful his presence could be.

VD: I think it actually works to the character's advantage.

THC: Vin Diesel, as an actor and a director, did you learn a lot from working on Pitch Black?

VD: Absolutely. You learn so much from different actors, from other directors. I just completed a film with the venerable John Malkovitch, and I worked with good actors in Pitch Black. Each movie is a different experience. When I worked on Saving Private Ryan, I talked with Steven Spielberg about 35 mm lenses. This movie, I learned about fiber optics, lots of technical things. Pitch Black was an amazing experience for me, especially to be exposed to a non-character driven plot. If I were ever to direct a sci-fi film, Pitch Black was the perfect training ground.

THC: Were you ever worried about being upstaged by the creatures, as is often the case in sci-fi movies? Why don't we get a clear explanation of what they are or what they do?

VD: We were on a limited budget-we were kind of underdogs. Most big sci-fi movies four times as much money to work with. So we weren't really ever worried about it. Because of the budget, we were worried about the special effects and the creatures. But they explained to us that it would be more horrific if we saw less of the creatures.

RM: The less you know about them, the more intimidating they are. If you deconstruct them, then you understand them.

DT: The creatures were not the focus of the movie. For me, the great fun of the movie was the danger within the group. It's what kept me going on the project-we keep mixing up the character dynamics.

THC: Did you approach this project as a human story first, or as a genre film?

DT: I gravitate towards the kind of film that emphasizes the human dimension of the story. The studio originally just wanted big names, but I said, give me serious actors from independent films who haven't been bastardized by glossy films. We could then move the money to the visuals. We just wanted to make it entertaining, so we said, let's have some fun. We could take more chances with this type of budget. The bigger the budget, the less risks the studio is willing to take. More money usually means more people telling you how to spend it, making it into something they recognize. Too much money means you just throw money at all the problems in the movie-you end up trying to find the story in the editing room. But here we had the freedom to take chances and make the most of it. We could take more risks so I said, let's go for it.

THC: Has there been talk of a sequel?

VD: Shit. I am done. Game over!

RM: In the sequel, Fry has alien children.

DT: Yeah, we cut that scene with Fry having sex with an alien...but really, we are just at the joking stage in terms of talking about a sequel.