One Missed Call – Shannyn Sossamon
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Staci Layne Wilson reporting
Way, way back in 2006, before the iPhone was even dreamt of, a film crew was shooting a cell-phone horror movie, One Missed Call, which is a remake of a popular Japanese film directed by Takashi Miike. (So, would this sub-genre be called iC-J-horror?)
Horror.com was invited to the location in Atlanta, GA., in September of '06, and I got to observe some of the filming between long stretches of waiting in the sweltering sun for the actors to be able to break for a few questions.
Today, Shannyn Sossamon is being dragged by a supernatural creature, across the floor of a burnt-out, abandoned hospital where, presumably, something really evil happened in the past. Only it's not a hospital — it's a converted elementary school, and the "otherworldly force" is probably a stunt coordinator.
Q: Hi, Shannyn - how did you first hear about One Missed Call?
Shannyn: I heard about it through my agent and he said I should be in it, that I'd really like it, I'd really like the role of Beth and that I should watch the director's first film, Malifique, because I would love that. And all those things were true.
Q: So are you a horror fan then? Is that why they thought you would like this role and Malifique?
Shannyn: I like good horror but I'm not like this crazy...he didn't say it because of that, it more that it was a really good part. It's a really well-written horror script. You know, the lead character has a lot of back story which never happens. I hadn't seen the original, neither has the director. I don't think he wanted me to. As a matter of fact, I know he didn't want me to, he told me no. So I was just treating it as like an original horror script, even though I know it's a remake. Have you guys seen the original? How is it?
Q: It's a Takashi Miike film.
Shannyn: It's a what?
Q: Takashi Miike...the director.
Shannyn: Oh! What else has he done?
Q: Audition.
Shannyn: And how was it...was it scary?
Q: Partly scary, yeah.
Shannyn: Was it like the original Ring? Because it's kinda got the same...
Q: Those cell phones are really a popular thing in these movies. How do they factor into One Missed Call? I mean, aside from the title, are they picture phones, or... ?
Shannyn: Yeah, the phones are the way that the evil force communicates. Just happens to be the way. And it's through voice mail and video mail. I don't have that on my phone so I don't know...but the kind where you can send a little video, right? I think maybe I do have that on my phone I just never tried to use it. I can send pictures but...yeah those are the two ways people receive their deaths is video and voice mail message.
Q: So you did Catacombs in France and you're working with a French director here and you're back in some dark place again. How did the experience compare to that one as far as being in this strange environment and stuff?
Shannyn: They're similar in certain ways but they're also very different because this just has more experience on it and more money to make a better film. The experience in
Q: You were in Romania?
Shannyn: We did a couple of exterior shots in
Q: Will we ever see it?
Shannyn: I don't think so. I think it's maybe going to come out in
Q: I heard about it a long time ago, about a year ago.
Shannyn: The intentions were good but it's just not. It would have been nice because it's a nice premise but it didn't really quite work out.
Q: So, obviously, you feel differently about One Missed Call.
Shannyn: This is a very classy horror film. I don't feel like I'm doing a lot of blood and guts reaction crazy chaos special effects, gooey, gushie. It's very like "Tension, tension, tension…"
Q: We watched you getting dragged around today.
Shannyn: Oh, yeah... Oh! That's true! Actually the director and I were both saying today how this is the first time I think I've even really screamed. So it's like that's been that like... everything's very held in and kind of... It's just really classy about it. He wants it to be sort of like an old... I think everybody says that about their horror films and they want it to be like that. Honestly I don't know what makes them... I don't know. Everybody wants that. I don't think anybody, unless you're making a slasher film, I don't think anybody wants it to be not classy and great. That's what he's shooting for. His first one was so good that I just know he's talented and it's going to work.
Q: Do you have a lot of scenes by yourself? Where you have to react and sort of do things that you're not seeing or are there a lot of practical effects?
Shannyn: Yeah, I have a lot of scenes by myself. I have a lot of scenes with people too. I'm like in every death scene of everybody.
Q: A lot of scary sequences?
Shannyn: Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't remind me!
Q: The original movie is like a back story where the character I guess you're playing is the main character. Have you met the little girl actresses that are playing you in the past?
Shannyn: Oh yeah. I met her. Yeah, she's great. There was a good connection there, yeah, sure. She's a great, intelligent little girl. I trust Eric so much, he did a ....the cast is amazing. He did a good cast. Everybody is really unique and maybe not the traditional choice for...we went and saw Pulse together and everything was so traditional and so just like, "ugh", you know.
Q: The new Pulse, you mean, the remake?
Shannyn: The remake.
Q: How's the chemistry on and off screen with Ed Burns?
Shannyn: It's so great. He's so funny. He just made...I mean you guys met him and probably noticed, he just makes me laugh.
Q: Can you talk about working with Eric and what his energy is like on set?
Shannyn: He's very child-like. He's very energetic and child-like and in there. Very, very confident. He knows what he wants in a major way and when someone knows what they want and there's no question then they just...it's just a fierce little thing. You just feel safe when somebody has that kind of energy, especially when you're being directed. And I love my directors...I want to feel safe like that. I put so much into that relationship that if it's not working I just feel devastated. It's not always the best way to work.
Q: We see this environment you're working in today and know its something you have to go through, yet you seem OK. But what about that crawlspace? You haven't shot that yet, right?
Shannyn: No I kind of like seeing everything a little bit right before. Like I've been trying not to, I tried not to see every monster until close to the first rehearsal. Like monster Ellie, especially...all the dolls and weird things you see on the streets and what people's deaths look like.
Q: Looks like you're getting a lot of coverage here today.
Shannyn: Yeah and you know, it doesn't matter because you have to repeat it a hundred times anyways. But it's nice to have...at least you can have one magic take where it's like I really have no idea what's about to happen. But then you have to do it again so...
Q: When you were reading the script, what scene were you most looking forward to shooting that really caught your eye?
Shannyn: I thought the embrace with the dead corpse was going to be really powerful. I thought that that was pretty amazing. The mom...the monster corpse, because that scene represented so much of Beth's personal healing as well. I know she sort of reverts back to maybe her little girl self and kind of is in another dimension there you know. I thought that was a really, really intense, daring scene to put in there. Because it gets almost a little emotional for a horror film, maybe people will be put off, but I thought that was kind of daring.
Q: So that's what you're going to be doing later on?
Shannyn: Yeah, but I don't think today. I think maybe later this week.
Q: So you haven't seen the makeup, the burn makeup.
Shannyn: Yeah, I'm gonna wait. The special effects is right next to the makeup so I see like them working and stuff but I don't like to stare too long. There's no way to have it be completely a surprise, I mean I know what the actress looks like.
Q: What scares you?
Shannyn: What scares me? Like I think random accidents, like my brain will conjure up these really random things and that scares me...my own brain scares me. You know how these horror films are made and how they get those visuals because that happens to me too. I'm sure it happens to you guys too. But like I'll just randomly be laying in bed and all of a sudden I'll be like imagining myself walking down a street then all of a sudden someone takes a shovel and whacks my head off and it goes tumbling down on the ground and I'm all "That's strange, why did I just think of that". But it happens very quick and I scare me. My brain scares me! [laughter]
Q: Ed was in The Holiday and so were you. When you found out you were both working on this together, were you surprised?
Shannyn: I was really surprised. I was so excited when I found out that he was doing this movie because Jack needed to be a man...he needed to be an older guy. You know these studios get really caught up and put someone hot and young. And he is hot and young, it's not that he's not young...but you know what I mean. Like someone 28 or something and he's almost 40. He's hot and he's all the things he needs to be but it's just like a studio to want like off of a WB show or something, you know just to get the audience in. But that thought was devastating to me because it's a real story, it's a horror film but it's a thriller too and you want it to have like the meat of a real story with real human relationships. I think the only kind of person who could really hang with someone like her is someone older because she's got too many issues.
Q: As far as Eric, did you meet him first or did you see his movie first? Which was more convincing for you?
Shannyn: I met him first. But I also didn't have to be talked into this. [chatting about someone playing a guitar in the background and her being so tired] I was dying to do this movie after I read it and met him but I was really, really dying to do it after I saw Malifique. So yeah, when I met him I thought "I hope he does an OK job" because no one wants it to be just a you know loser-ish, laughable mess of a horror films are so bad.
Q: Did you have concerns about doing another genre film?
Shannyn: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Catacombs was a really hard experience for me in so many ways that I was kind of wary. But meeting him was amazing and seeing Malifique was really amazing and then I was begging to do it.
Q: For this movie, have you been allowed to see any footage? Is it shaping up the way you think it should be?
Shannyn: I saw a little bit of footage and I'm never going to do it again because I don't like to watch dailies so I can't even answer that question. I just know that Eric is going to make a great film. I just can't watch that stuff. I thought I could, there was a time when I could watch a movie that I was in, but I realized why people don't and I finally am starting to realize that it's quite difficult.
Q: Would you change your performance?
Shannyn: Yeah, you just start to tweak out a little. It was one thing to watch it at the end, I think I can watch it at the end. you have no choice...it's all done, it's all great. But in the middle, the dailies and during, is just torturous. You're just automatically judging your everything when you're right in the middle of it which isn't very smart.
Q: You get to see some effects stuff?
Shannyn: I haven't yet.