American indie horror director Ti West is making a name for himself; he turned a lot of heads last year with the ’80s throwback horror, “The House of the Devil” starring Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan and Greta Gerwig. In a way he appears to be the heir apparent to indie horror maven Larry Fessenden who’s actually producing his next picture, “The Innkeepers.”
On a set visit to this new horror picture, Interview Magazine, revealed a few new set photos (a little “The Shining”-esque) and some info about some other upcoming projects.
West is considering a studio project, but is wary since “Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever” was such a poor experience for him (he attempted to take his name off the picture and use the Alan Smithee pseudonym instead, but since he’s not a DGA member, he wasn’t allowed to do so; West almost directed the Hollywood horror project “The Haunting in Georgia”).
But Hollywood might have to wait as he has a bevy of projects the works, including one that that he likens to Duncan Jones’ “Moon,” but he’s worried that an upcoming sci-fi picture could compete too much and kill it. He also has a road trip film in the cards as well.
“I hope to make a creepy space sci-fi movie soon. I guess ‘Moon’ could be a recent reference point, but Alfonso Cuaron is making a film called ‘Gravity’ [with Robert Downey, Jr.] that might pwn me. And I think [my project] might evaporate because of ‘Gravity.’
I have another movie about hookers that I’ve been trying to make for a while. It’s a road trip, these hookers on the run, sort of a ‘Thelma & Louise’ vibe, and I have another film that’s a weird romantic comedy. But those are harder to get made, because you need more money for them. With horror movies, there’s always an audience.”
Dear Ti, we’ve read “Gravity” and unless the script has been drastically changed, it’s a action-adventure sci-fi film and couldn’t be more different from “Moon” or anything you’re likely to come up with by the sounds of it.
Lastly, there’s talk that West will work with Rough House Pictures, the production company formed by Danny McBride, David Gordon Green and Jody Hill (“Observe and Report”) with Mandate pictures (they already have several projects in the works). And Interview states that in a separate set visit with the Rough House guys, they basically confirmed as much (though while talks are friendly, note, there’s no done deal yet).
Either way, whatever West does next it sounds like he’ll have several options by the time “The Innkeepers” hits theaters, probably sometime in early 2011.