io9
The Descent was one of our favorite horror movies of recent years, so we were automatically excited about director Neil Marshall's new movie, Doomsday. And that was before we found out Doomsday was going to be Mad to the Max. In Doomsday, the government walls off Scotland to contain a deadly plague... only to send a team into the shattered country 30 years later. We talked to Marshall about strong women, genre confusion, and why Doomsday has no monsters.
The Descent and Doomsday both focus on women venturing into perilous situations. Do you think it's important that the heroes in your films are women? Do you write women characters differently, or are they just heroes who happen to be women?
The Descent and Doomsday both focus on women venturing into perilous situations. Do you think it's important that the heroes in your films are women? Do you write women characters differently, or are they just heroes who happen to be women?It's certainly not some kind of career plan to have my heroes be women, it's just turned out that way. I actually wrote the story for Doomsday several years before I made The Descent. It was one of 3 scripts I tried to get made in the wake of The Descent and it was the one that Rogue Pictures chose to back, so it's really just a coincidence that my new hero is also a woman and I saw no reason to change the character into a man just because of what I'd done previously.
I try to write women as authentically as possible. Above all things, no matter how tough and rugged I make the characters, they should never lose their femininity.
The thing that seems most intriguing to me about Doomsday is that it seems to straddle genre lines, including horror, scifi, medical thriller, etc. Do you think this is true? Are you consciously trying to blend genres?
I love to blend genres. Taking the best elements from different inspirations and throwing them all into the mix is what makes it fun. Besides, I think the lines between genres have often been blurred at best, and that's no bad thing.
Most post-apocalyptic movies nowadays feature monsters (28 days, I Am Legend, etc. ) Are you consciously trying to reclaim post-apocalyptic movies from the monster-movie genre?
Absolutely! It's like there's an unspoken rule in movies now that virus = zombies! Well that's not what post-apocalyptic movies are about for me. It should be about human survival, because the day the next big global pandemic arrives, there won't be any zombies running around, I can promise you that. This is real, terrifying stuff, just as real as nuclear war was when the last great post apocalyptic movies (like The Road Warrior) came out. And that's the kind of gritty, savage world I'm trying to revisit with this movie.
Comments
doomsday is about what happens in scotland after you shut it off from the rest of the world? why didn't anyone tell me that? now i have to see it.
While I'm totally down for seeing this just to see a hot babe with an accent kick ass, I never cease to be amused by men who make statements like "no matter how rough and rugged they should never lose their femininity" because their definition of "femininity" usually winds up being particularly sexist or stupid. In this case it seems to be skintight black pants, a tank top and no muscles to speak of.
"It should be about human survival, because the day the next big global pandemic arrives, there might not be any zombies running around, I can promise you that."
Fixed!
sweet
Also, his first film, Dog Soldiers, did not have a female heroine, hell it had one female character, and she was pretty flat.
But Kevin McKidd rocked. And so did the line "There is no spoon."
@Macloserboy: See, I thought 'femininity' meant she'll break down at some point because there's something she can't deal with, and she'll take care of her teenage sidekicks as if they were her own children.
But yeah, whatever happened to the buffed out Sarah Connor and Private Vasquez. James Cameron ushered in the butch tough woman heroine, only to sweep it under the rug again with Alba in Dark Angel.
@aspiringexpatriate: Feminity doesn't mean that the plot will, at some point, hinge on her changing her tampon?
She's definitely skinny, but she also has some broad shoulders.
I might be able to suspend my disbelief.
"...the day the next big global pandemic arrives, there won't be any zombies running around, I can promise you that..."
Wow...thanks for taking the fun out the apocalypse...
Looks like the Yul Brynner ULTIMATE WARRIOR (or Van Damme's CYBORG) crossed with ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK.
@aspiringexpatriate: Oh, you know that's coming too. But Cameron also did that. Sarah Connor breaking down crying, unable to waste Miles Dyson. Aliens was better because it just seemed like she was protecting the kid, which is what any hero would do, not just a female one (yes, I know she was supposed to have had a daughter who died while she was in suspended animation).
Marshall likes his apocalypses with no monsters.
And with no original ideas either, it seems.
@Macloserboy: Er, I was referring to Vasquez, not Ripley. And I wonder which is better, a butch heroine woman who looks like a size 0 with big boobs but cries a little or a butch heroine character who might cry at the thought of cold bloodedly killing someone, but who looks like she could take on the guvernator in a fight.
Wait... the Sci-Fi Channel remade Beyond Thunderdome in 1995? Why am I only just now hearing about this?
@IntoAshes: Because they didn't. What are you blathering about?
It should be about human survival, because the day the next big global pandemic arrives, there won't be any zombies running around
So you wouldn't be planning any zombie movies of your own would ya Neil?
[zack-is-coming.blogspot.com]
No, didn't think so....
@onscreen: Yes, but that's not this movie. This movie is post-apocalyptic about survival. That movie is about zombie-like infestation of an oil rig. And couldn't tarantino in planet terror be a zombie sex scene?
The fun thing about marshall, is that he couldn't give two shits about convention, he just likes making fun movies. Let's just hope they're good or at least funny.
I've got nothing against a good post-epoc movie, but there's something about this movie that is bugging me.
The people of Scotland get the "kthxbye" when they get sick. Then later when the rest of the world gets sick. The rest of the world then gives them the "Oh Hai" and tries to shove in and take the cure. How can I possible root for the jerks?
@mechno: Cause she's hot.
I haven't seen 'Skinwalkers' yet, but I liked Rhona in both The Practice and Boston Legal, so I will give her a shot as an action star.
No monsters though?...meh. Maybe I will go watch 'The Day After' or 'Threads' again.
I wish some one would come along and make a decent post-apoc. movie along the lines of a Gamma World setting. Talking cats and mutants with eyebeams and all that radioactive fantasy goodness... ;)
Where's Kurt Russell?
"Snake Pliskin? I heard you were dead!"
"Yeah, I get that alot."
@aspiringexpatriate: They didn't? Looking at those clips you could have fooled me.
Start a discussion:
Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?