Summary
When you just needmoreafter the credits roll, always look to the writers.
When the writing duo behindFreaky(Landon and Kennedy) got involved, they wanted to try something unusual.
Because I don’t think in my mind I knew that I had a rom-com.
Image by Jefferson Chacon
I thought I had a great horror premise, but it just continued to evolve.
Then, when they came on, again, it evolved even more.
With Josh [Ruben], it evolved even more.
Image via Sony Pictures
It wasn’t even Valentine’s Day before?
MURPHY: No, it wasn’t.
It was just a first date.
Image via Sony Pictures
Did the killer have the same motive?
MURPHY: No, he was just killing couples, and it evolved into this thing.
When I saw the finished film, I was like, That’s what I had in my head.
Image via Sony Pictures
MURPHY: When I was pitched that, I was like, Oh, of course!
CHRISTOPHER LANDON: Im trying to remember.
Was the killer revealed at the end of your first draft?
Image via Warner Bros.
MURPHY: No, it was just this really mysterious person.
LANDON: It was more like a Michael Myers kind of thing.
Because for me, that was the hook.
We wanted it to be scary.
But that was what felt really fresh and unique to me about the concept.
The balance of rom-com and horror is very impressive here.
MURPHY: I dont think finding a balance was difficult.
It was just knowing when the baton had to get handed off.
kind of a moment.
Olivia plays that so perfectly.
MICHAEL KENNEDY: She’s so good.
MURPHY: She’s amazing.
It’s like that gear change happens suddenly, but it just works.
So I don’t know if much changed other than Olivia really fucking owned Ally.
Thank God shes in the movie.
You always get, This character’s unlikable.
a rom-com trope and B.)
it is part of her character’s arc.
So, the fact that she plays that balance so well…
MURPHY: Because you still like her.
That note drives me nuts.
If someone isn’t unlikable to a degree, then they’re not complex.
If they’re not complex, they’re boring, and why do I care?
KENNEDY: Yeah, exactly.
They’re just flat.
LANDON: You’re not talking about a specific project, are you?
KENNEDY: No, Im not talking about a very specific movie.
How do we use that to our advantage?
She probably changed quite a bit because you did have the best friend character mostly off-screen, right?
MURPHY: She was in two scenes.
I’ll lean into the gorier aspects of the movie now.
That’s always just bothered me.
And you get to use it twice!
LANDON: It was the first thing that I thought of.
I don’t know, it gives me the ick, I guess I’m going to call it.
So, no, that one was smooth.
I had it in me.
It was ready to come out.
What about the most challenging one?
KENNEDY: The most challenging scene forusto write, I thought, was the police station.
I thought that was a hard scene because you’re doing so much.
It’s like, how do you have a fight scene with someone chained to a table?
There were a lot of moving pieces with that scene.
LANDON: I kill people.
KENNEDY: The set pieces.
MURPHY: When there’s really a lot going on, they are tough to write.
Then, when it got to the drive-in, I’m sure it didn’t get any easier.
Same with the police station scene.
When there are so many moving parts and so many characters, its a killer.
LANDON: And we had more kills that didnt even make it.
KENNEDY: Yeah, we did.
We had kills that didn’t even make the final cut of the movie or didnt even get shot.
LANDON: I’ll give you the setting.
We have one that welovedthat was in a spa.
KENNEDY: They actually mention the spa.
LANDON: It was a couples massage, and it was great.
It’s the news report one, right?
You’re so boring.
KENNEDY: Hes like, What’s going on over there?
LANDON: And it sounds like she’s just getting a massage, so he’s like, Wow.
MURPHY: It was just super gross.
Then theres a really fun chase sequence that happens there.
LANDON: That took you through a sauna and a steam room.
Would you love me?
KENNEDY: It’s amazing.
MURPHY: I was like, Oh man, that was good.
But the kills are great.
Don’t get too attached.
Do you remember the very first time that you realized, Im really good at crafting horror movie kills?
Like snapping a tennis racket in half and then jamming it back together inside someone’s head.
For me, it’s stupid.
KENNEDY: The opening ofFreakywas so fun to write.
Remember when we had a treehouse?
I love how happy this makes all of you!
These Horror Movies are Like a “Cup of Hot Cocoa”
What’syourcomfort scary movie?
When you need an escape, what horror movie do you turn to that actually makes you feel better?
KENNEDY: Comfort horror.
Comfort horror is very important!
MURPHY: I mean,Halloweenis so relaxing because its so quiet.
KENNEDY:Black Christmas.
MURPHY: And even though its set in Illinois, its filmed in Pasadena.
Yeah,Black Christmas, too.
you’re free to feel how chilly it is outside in that movie.
KENNEDY: Those movies are like…
LANDON: It’s like a cup of hot cocoa.
KENNEDY: It really is.
Those are the types of movies that are so well done you almost forget you’re watching a movie.
Because they’re so well lived in, and I love a movie that feels lived in.
But also, I have to bring upScream 2because I do in everything.
That is my fucking movie.
What drafts were fake?
What scenes changed the most?
Youre speaking to my heart right now.
I had it on the other day.
MURPHY: Pretty much anything, for me, [John] Carpenter, likeThe Fog.
It feels so good.
I just feel so relaxed.
LANDON: Its like hot cocoa.
Just like the opening of that movie.
Thats the Halloween movie I put on that I could, like, nap to it.
The music inThe Fogis so relaxing.
Heart Eyesis in theaters now.
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