Interview: David J. Stieve, Screenwriter on Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

Leslie Vernon is a psycho-in-the-making working hard to follow in the footsteps of slasher legends like Jason, Freddy and Michael. He has granted documentarian Taylor Gentry full access to his life and methods. Her probing cameras follow Leslie as he prepares for the wholesale slaughter of loose teenagers. In spite of his gory work, Leslie is a regular guy with human weaknesses. Taylor finds herself rising above her horror and bonding with her subject in a way neither expected. BEHIND THE MASK stars Nathan Baesel as Leslie Vernon and Angela Goethals (24, SPANGLISH) as Taylor Gentry. Along for the slaying are such horror luminaries as Robert Englund (the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET films), Zelda Rubinstein (POLTERGEIST), and Scott Wilson (EXORCIST III, MONSTER). The feature recently entered post production. It seemed like a good time to sit down with David J. Stieve and discover the origins of this "mocu-horror-dramedy".

M&C:DS: The root of the story came in the context of me having a moment of reflection... what am I doing with my life? Am I getting anywhere in my screenwriting career? Then coincidentally thinking (about) somebody like Freddy Kreuger, Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees... what do they do on a Tuesday afternoon? What do these guys do when it's not a full moon? I had this notion... of a killer like Jason Voorhees mowing his lawn. It blurred into this whole assessment of my career. If I were becoming a slasher killer like that, what would I do?The script itself I wrote it in May of 2001. I went through the whole rewrite process a couple of times and entered it into a couple of contests. It was one of the 10 finalists in the 2002 Slamdance Screenplay Competition. It's amazing (how) something like that really opens the doors.Off the strength of that, the script found its way to Scott Glosserman (BEHIND THE MASK's producer / director). He connected with it right away. He got the vision I was going for. I've been very fortunate that the first producer I've worked with was (also) someone that I was able to collaborate with so closely. He pushed me to get (the script) as tight and smart as it is. He knew more about the conventions of horror than I did at that point.M&C: Obviously you had to watch a whole slew of slasher films before writing this.DS: You know, HALLOWEEN is one of my Top 10 favorite horror movies. THE SHINING is my eternal number one. I sort of had an intuitive understanding of the genre and then I started actively learning more about it. I did watch a couple of horror films, realized how campy some of them really are, and then just sat down and went with it. I feel like we did our homework. And Scott, like I said, knows a lot more about the horror genre than I did. So he was the one crafting these homages to other films.One of our design goals for this film is we want it to be something that a casual observer, someone who's not a horror fan, can watch it and get a kick out of. We're also very careful to craft it in a way that horror fans will be able to watch it again and again. Maybe get that internet chat going.M&C: Would you consider yourself a horror writer or was this your first stab at the genre?DS: You know, I don't consider myself a horror writer at all. I saw a good story there and it just happened to be in the horror format. The script I just finished is a Christmas movie. The one after that is a drama. I don't try to focus on one genre.The story has to be there. It has to be good characters that are compelling to me and whole. I hate to use terms like "arc" and all that, but that's what it is to me. I have to see the story and the characters and there has to be a compelling motion (through it all). There has to be a resolution to it. I'm a very conventional story writer.M&C: This is a film that is done ostensibly as an interview with Leslie Vernon, the next great slasher killer. Was it hard to impose a traditional structure on something that was freeform in its style?DS: There is a story there definitely and there is a resolution to the film that I believe is very satisfying, but it's viewed through the perspective of being behind the scenes... seeing how the killer gets away with what he does. It's very deconstructionist at the same time, but it's not a rip. We're not trying to ridicule the horror genre at all.M&C: You described the film as a "mocu-horror dramedy". DS: (laughs) We struggled with that. Parts of it are very funny... (an) absurd concept. Then there's these really heavy drama moments in between the characters as they're wrestling with what Leslie really does for a living. Then you have straight horror moments where there's blood and guts. We have all the traditional imagery and archetypes of horror. Almost like a study of the genre. We have the inevitable people marching to their dooms, the first kill that goes largely unnoticed, cars that won't start... there's even a couple "Don't open that door!" moments.M&C: But never done with a sense of spoof.DS: This is not SCREAM or SCARY MOVIE. The characters in this film are really trapped in that moment. It's very real, very scary to them. How that plays to the audience watching it is part of the camp (in) the horror film. That genre sends itself up just fine on its own. It does all the work for us.M&C: Because of the interview with the killer, there has been some initial comparisons to MAN BITES DOG and HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER. Is that something you were conscious to avoid in the writing stage?DS: I don't think I was consciously avoiding it in the writing or even when crafting the story. The comparisons have come later when we tell people about (the plot).M&C: The film is firmly planted in the fantasy world of Jason & Freddy.DS: I hope we established that world almost immediately. Because, in the world of a horror film, what happens is the killer gets killed at the end... drowned in a lake, thrown off a balcony. All the town people then say, "Whew, it's over." and everything goes back to normal. Taylor Gentry is the one who comes in at the beginning and says this is freaky shit. Her thrust is... why is everyone turning a blind eye to these occurrences? Why is no one investigating this? In so doing, I think we set it pretty squarely in that world.M&C: To help you have appearances by Robert Englund, Zelda Rubinstein, and Scott Wilson - all representatives of the horror or serial killer genre.

DS: Zelda Rubinstein... that was our casting director Matt Skrobalak's idea. There's a scene where Robert and Zelda are together. They're not actually acting against each other, but they're both present in the scene. I was up there for that and Scott just looked at me while they were setting up and we had this moment.... Zelda and Robert, two horror icons, standing there in this beautiful public library in Portland (where the film was shot). It was just one of the most surreal experiences of my life.We got a great (still) of Nathan Baesel, playing this up and coming killer, with Robert. Nathan's in partial costume and partial make up and Robert's doing the Freddy claw kind of thing in the background. This picture, to me, is so symbolic of Robert literally passing the glove to Nathan.M&C: Does Leslie Vernon have any trademark like a claw?DS: Here's what I can say... Leslie is not a film guy watching these horror movies and wanting to be them. Freddy, Michael and Jason are actual people in his world that he wants to emulate. He knows them. He can call them on the phone. His whole story is an allegory for trying to succeed in the entertainment industry or in professional sports or politics. If you want to be a master carpenter, you have to pay your dues.This is a guy who wants to be the best. He wants to be the Michael Jordan of slasher killers. He's dedicated his whole life to that single, solitary pursuit. Leslie is not a frustrated artist. He's not crazy. He's got the chops. I took the prototype of a Michael Jordan or an Albert Einstein... anybody who has aspired to be the best they could be and also has the skill and talent to back it up.So (Leslie) has crafted the entire make up of his character. He does have a distinctive look. He does have a weapon of choice. We wanted to have a mask that has the chance to become a Halloween costume. There's a business end to this film, too, in that we want to create a franchise killer. Whether that's going to happen or not, we don't know. The way you're introduced to (Leslie) is that you see the man first and the killer later. It's going to be interesting for us to see if the audience is going to buy the killer or are they just going to see the guy behind the mask. The same allegory that can be made about Leslie and his desire to be the best killer applies to Taylor being the best documentarian. She wants to be Diane Sawyer. So there's a parallel there in how much she's willing to look the other way on what Leslie is doing to get what she wants. What I was able to latch on to with this particular story was the strength of the characters. Leslie Vernon and Taylor Gentry became so layered. I always begin to laugh when I talk about this because it ends up sounding so pretentious. After all it's just a horror movie, but I can honestly say that these characters really came to life. You get to know these two people and it couldn't have come about without the performances from Nathan Baesel who plays Leslie and Angela Goethals who plays Taylor.We knew right away that if this didn't play on the ground... and what I mean by that is if we couldn't get a guy playing Leslie and a girl playing Taylor who could handle this improv style and just be in character... we were dead. We auditioned so many people and it was quickly down to just a handful...and Nathan and Angela together, even in the room, was like "Wow!".M&C: BEHIND THE MASK is your third script. How did you choose the path of a screenwriter?

DS: M&C: The first ones tend to be, don't they?DS: (nods) My best friend's dad used to say, "Life is a dance. You learn as you go." I've always stuck by that.There was a moment when I was up on the set with Scott and Betsy E. Goslin, who was our property master, comes running up to us in this panic. She says, "Guys, in one of these scenes Leslie's got a bucket." And Scott and I are like, "Yeah, he's putting apples in a bucket." Frustrated, she said, "What kind of bucket? Would it be a wooden bucket? Because he's sort of an organic guy." I looked at Scott and he looked at me. It was one of those moments where we were like "Can you believe this?" You know, it's such a shift in perspective going from sitting in my apartment in the dark typing "he's picking apples... putting them in a bucket" to somebody saying, "We weren't clear on what kind of bucket." So we said, "Yeah. Wooden bucket." Next day... wooden bucket. I want more moments like these.M&C: Does that experience change how you write now?DS: It really does bring home to me that I can't just casually say INT. NUCLEAR SUBMARINE and not have repercussions. It does clue me in to the translation to the real world. The dialogue, too. To realize that this is something people have to say and they have to react.M&C: As a writer, it is a sobering experience when you write this really elegant piece of dialogue and the actors come in and can't wrap their tongue around it.DS: And that has been sobering for me because I do overwrite my dialogue. I mean, obviously I talk to damn much. (laughter) And when I translate that to the page... my scripts are 110 pages long, but it's like a novel. Too much dialogue.The ultimate moment of writer/actor interaction you're talking about... there is a scene in the middle of the film where Angela has to pull off this very intense scene. It's a critical scene for Taylor's character arc as it relates to her interaction with Leslie. I was really nervous because I know if the audience isn't going to follow Taylor in that moment, we're really kind of lost. It's a moment where that delicate thread that keeps an audience believing could easily break. And Angela knew I was nervous about it. We did the first takes and it's this really emotional scene, she has to cry, all that. I was watching the monitor and Angela absolutely nailed it. I remember having this epiphany when watching her... and I literally just cried. She walked over and we had kind of this chest thumping moment... we hugged each other. In that moment I realized, it was the first time that I had written a character and had an actor take it further, fully bring it to life beyond anything I'd constructed or put on the page. Like a parent watching a child graduate from college or something. It was so validating. It's going to be hard to top (this) first instance of that.Stieve expects BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON to be in its final cutting stage by early April 2005. We here at Monsters & Critics look forward to seeing if Leslie Vernon realizes his dream. Then we'll be hiding in the hall closet.Latest word is that industry screenings are expected to start in a month with a new composer onboard working on the score.You can read a summary of the film and view some stills in our database.