Who Are Yu?

Interviewed by Staci Layne Wilson for Horror.com

Up until a few years ago, I didn't know who Ronnie Yu was. I didn't go to UCLA film school and I never saw The Bride With White Hair -- so sue me. My first intro to the Hong Kong maestro was with his direction of The Bride of Chucky. Although I do generally enjoy slasher flicks, the Chucky franchise has never been a fave so I was doubly impressed by what a kick I got out of that movie. The next project I saw of Yu's was Formula 51 and despite bad reviews from U.S. audiences and critics alike, I thought it was fun. So, although I was planning on getting around to talking about his latest project, the Freddy Vs. Jason DVD to be released on January 13, the subject of Formula 51 was what I started our interview off with.

Staci Layne Wilson: I loved Formula 51, and when I first heard of it, I was glad to learn that you were doing Freddy Vs. Jason.

Ronny Yu: Staci, you've made my day! I like Formula 51 a lot, I don't understand why there was no audience for it.

SLW: I don't get it, either.

RY: Sam [Jackson], Robert [Carlyle] and I tried our best to do a very entertaining movie.

SLW: Well, you entertained me.

RY: In the UK it's a classic, but not in America. You know, some guy who interviewed me said, "Ronny, why are you making all these weird movies?" And I said, What do you mean by "Weird movies"? And he goes, "Well, you know that movie called Formula 51? Weird." And I said, What's so weird about it? It's just a fun action movie. "No," he said, "I couldn't understand it half the time." I said, But that's Liverpool. You understand 'Snatch'? He said, "I didn't see Snatch."

SLW: Yeah, well, in my original review of Formula 51, I sort of made the Guy Ritchie comparison, but I think you added your own flavor to it.

RY: I didn't know about Guy Ritchie [when I made the movie]. It's only after -- the writer you know, was Liverpudlian. He wrote it, and later during production he showed me 'Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.' I said, Man, you wrote the same movie! Sam was laughing and saying, "No, no. This is going to be your movie." But the tone is very much like it.

SLW: Now, about Freddy Vs. Jason. I'm wondering if you were concerned at all, taking this project on initially -- I mean, it was in development forever before you came along.

RY: Oh, yeah. Big time. There are a couple of reasons -- first of all, I wasn't that familiar with the original movies. I think I saw the original Nightmare on Elm Street and the original Friday the 13th. That's it. And secondly, because after Formula 51 I said to myself, I have to make sure that my movies sell tickets in America, if I want to keep on making American movies. So that is the most important reason -- otherwise, what is the point of making a movie in Hollywood if no one comes to see it? And so my agent and my lawyer said, "Hey, this is it: Freddy Vs. Jason. There are a lot of built-in fans and if you if you deliver a very entertaining and very fun movie for them, they're going to love it." So, I didn't have to sweat the nightmare of Formula 51. So, I said, OK, but I'm not that familiar with this. And so I went back and watched all 17 movies [from both franchises]. I watched them with Robert Englund, and he is really a joy and blessing because he knows everything about Freddy. I don't think anybody in this world could play Freddy like him. And also Sean Cunningham [the original Friday the 13th producer and director] gave me the other side -- Jason. So I did my homework, and I realized that when I got online what a fan base there was out there. I realized how many fans were waiting for this one.

SLW: How did you feel about trying to meet all those expectations?

RY: I went and thought about it for awhile, to find my direction. I said, OK. The fans are here, they've been waiting for this and I'm going to give them a ride of movie so they can have a lot of fun. So that when they leave the theatre, they're going to feel entertained. And so that's why I included a lot of elements -- not just horror. There's comedy, there's some really in-your-face action, you know, blood-letting everywhere. Really, we were pushing the envelope with the blood because I thought, This is two monsters fighting each other. They're tearing each other apart and they're not going to hold back anything. Just think of King Kong and Godzilla fighting; they're going to tear their limbs off and they're going to tear their eyes out. So this is how I looked at it. But then I said, I don't want the audience to feel disturbed as they leave the theatre. So I said, OK. I'm going to push the envelope on the blood thing, but so that the audience will laugh at it. The blood is not real, because they're monsters. They're not human. So I just decided, OK. I can push the envelope here.

SLW: When you watched all the movies before staring on Freddy Vs. Jason, what struck you the most about each one? What elements did you decide you wanted to keep, and what new did you want to introduce?

RY: After watching all 17 of them, I said to myself and everyone at the studio: I think we should go back to the roots. I think the best ones are the first ones, of both franchises. Keep Freddy just as sinister and slimy and keep all his one-liners, and Jason should be like this killing machine. I don't think Jason should speak a line of dialog. He shouldn't even make a sound. I think that is what makes Jason more scary. Even when he's taking so much punishment from Freddy, he doesn't make a sound. But when the movement comes, he will fight like lightning, you know, swing his machete around like lightning. And the audience is like… I went back to my memory of watching all those samurai movies when I was little, you know. That's how I treated Jason and Freddy in the fight, and mostly how Jason fights with his machete -- it's almost like a samurai with his sword.

SLW: What's you're favorite scene in the movie?

RY: There's a couple of them, but I think the most satisfying for me is the cornfield scene. Because I was there and I know how difficult it was to shoot in that cornfield, especially with the fire. You could easily burn down the whole cornfield, with one little accident. So every day I was worrying about that. Also, with the logistic elements, shooting in Vancouver and everything. In that sequence, we incorporate everything: sense of humor, blood, and horror. And the environment is something else, visually.

SLW: I'm really looking forward to getting the DVD -- and I'm wondering, on the audio commentary, were you in the room with Robert [Englund] and Ken [Kirzinger], or do you have separate tracks spliced together?

RY: We were all there together.

SLW: Oh, good. I like that so much better.

RY: It was a lot of fun. I've done so many commentaries by myself in a dark room and there is just no interaction.

SLW: Was it fun to go back and revisit the whole thing with your two main monsters?

RY: Yeah -- we could reminisce on Oh, what a good time, or What a terrible time! It was a lot of fun and I think we spent almost four hours.

SLW: And there's, what, 18 deleted scenes and an alternate ending on the DVD?

RY: Basically the scenes were deleted to maintain the pacing of it. It's all for the good of the pacing. With this movie, you cannot have it drag on for a long time. I cut out some scenes just to move up the encounter between Freddy and Jason. Also, there are a couple of scenes I feel disappointed about cutting out, because we cannot put it in for CGI reasons. We just didn't have the resources, the money, and the time to get it right. So rather than show something half-assed I'd rather not have it in the movie at all.

SLW: I won't give anything away, but in the alternate ending on DVD, is there a different victor?

RY: In this case, the movie ends not on Freddy and Jason, but on the guys and the girls. And I always sort of thought in the back of my mind that that ending would not be satisfying for the fans, or what they really want. Because everyone knows that Freddy and Jason, and they're not really going to die. You know that, deep inside. It's just like watching those Godzilla movies -- they never die. An atomic bomb through the brain and they come back! That's the nature of the franchise, you know. So, back in my mind I was thinking the [now alternate ] ending is not going to sell. So after the test screening, the audience saw and they didn't know what but they said, "Something is not right." So that's how I came up with this new ending. And I thought it would satisfy fans of both Freddy and Jason, and keep the franchises alive.

SLW: Here are a couple of silly 'for fun' questions for you: If you had to take one of your monsters out for dinner, who would it be and why?

RY: I'll go with Freddy.

SLW: Good choice. You wouldn't need a steak knife for your filet.

RY: True. I am more scared of Freddy, but I think there's more entertainment.

SLW: Yeah, I guess Jason isn't much of a dinner conversationalist.

RY: Exactly! No interaction. At least with Freddy you'll have fun before he kills you. And you die laughing.

SLW: Have you ever felt superstitious about Friday the 13th?

RY: Not Friday the 13th, but I am superstitious in the Asian way. In Hong Kong and China, we have a lot of things we have to be suspicious about. Especially in the film industry. Every time we start a movie and we go to a new location, we'll burn some incense. The idea is, we believe there are lots of, not ghosts, but elements around, that are not human. Entities. We believe that there are all sorts of energies around us. And by burning the incense, it's like showing your respect. If we go to shoot a film in someone's home, or in some else's territory, we'll burn some incense to let them know we are here and please excuse us. It's a way to show some respect.

SLW: On the Freddy side, what's the last nightmare you remember having?

RY: The last nightmare was when I had this weird dream that the movie opened and all the fans came at me with choppers and machetes. They hated it so much and they were yelling, "What's this Chinaman doing to our film?" That was scary. It think I was trying to consciously suppress my fears about [taking the project on in the first place], knowing how many people were looking forward to it.

SLW: Well, I'll bet you were happy on opening weekend.

RY: Yeah! That was tremendous. I never expected the movie to make so much money. But it confirmed to me that it's the fans who make it all happen. If the fans didn't come out and embrace this movie,  this movie would not have made so much money.

SLW: What's the nicest thing you've heard from a fan?

RY: "You delivered." I remember, I got email from one of the hardcore fans. He said, "We were so worried that this guy from Hong Kong would ruin our franchise that we've loved and the movie we've been waiting for, for ten years. But after we got home from the theatre, we said: Thank God, this Chinaman knows what he's doing." I think the most happy moment for me was when we had a promotional screening with Aint it Cool News in Texas and there were something like 1,000 kids there. It was the first time we ever showed the movie to the public. Everybody was just so happy, clapping and cheering. That for me, was the biggest moment. It was very satisfying.

SLW: You've done a couple of these 80s-homage slasher flicks now. I loved The Bride of Chucky. So what it is about the horror genre that you personally enjoy?

RY: To be honest, I'm too scared to go to horror movies. I never really watch too many horror movies. I thinking the only ones I watched -- aside from the first Friday the 13th and Nightmare -- were The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby. After those scared the hell out of me, I don't even want to watch . It was the same thing with Chucky. I told the producers I'd never watched any of the Child's Play movies. But I told them I liked the script, that it was fun. Plus the fact it was a great challenge to handle two dolls in one movie. How do you make them seem alive? For me, it was a great challenge.

SLW: Well, I have those dolls, Chucky and Tiffany, right by my bedside. They watch over me every night.

RY: Aren't you scared of them?

SLW: No.

RY: I'll tell you, one time during the shooting of Chucky while a scene was being lit, I was waiting and suddenly Chucky just laughed. It was about 10 feet away from me, propped in the corner. I was waiting for the lights, just reading my script and something stopped me. I turned my head to look at the corner. And then I saw that Chucky was looking straight back at me. God, he's spooky!

SLW: Dolls can be scary. But I must say, I never really liked any of the Chucky movies until I saw yours.

RY: Thank you. I think with franchises like these, first of all, you can't take them too seriously. If you do, as a filmmaker, you've lost the fun of it. All these franchises, the reason they work, my own theory is because they're fun. They're so bizarre, it's fun. There's no logic.

SLW: What's coming up next for you?

RY: Well, I'm reading so many horror scripts now.

SLW: Really? Aren't you looking at other genres, too?

RY: Well, I look at projects that I think are fun. If I was an audience member, would I think this is fun to watch? And I don't really look at Freddy, Jason, or Chucky as real horror movies. They are just fun, entertaining movies. I did get some criticism, like, "Oh, Ronny. You ruined it. It's not scary enough!" I said, Wait a minute. Let's think about this. People are really only scared of the unknown. Like you know, in the water: a shark. Or in a dark house: something moving. You don't know what it is. That is scary. The unknown. Alien, from outer space: unknown. Scary. But Freddy and Jason? Chucky? You know exactly how they operate. You've known for 20 years. So how much more scary can you make them?

SLW: I was talking to Jennifer Tilly, awhile ago now, and she was saying there's a Bride of Chucky 2 in the works. Are you going to be involved in that?

RY: I think the writer is calling it The Seed of Chucky, and finally the writer convinced the studio to let him have a go at it. He will be directing it.

SLW: I understand you're in Australia now, enjoying the summer. Are you living there, or just working?

RY: I'm living here. Every time I finish a movie, I come back here.

SLW: Well, I'll let you get back to your script-reading -- thanks so much for your time.

 

RY: Thank you, Staci.