Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (Enhanced Edition)
Page 21
SEAN CUNNINGHAM:
Knowing now what I didn't know then, sure, it would have been much better business sense doing the sequels myself. But with Friday the 13th, they were making the same movie over and over again. Why would I want to do that? So much of that was my own naïveté. Suddenly, I had a successful film, and my attitude toward Hollywood was: "I know you guys have all these great scripts and great actors—what have you got for me?" I had no idea that they didn't have a file cabinet full of great material waiting for me, that all they wanted me to do was make them more money by doing the same thing over and over again.
I spent the better part of a year after Friday the 13th trying to find something else to do that was soft and warm and lovely. And I couldn't find it. Out of self-defense, I wound up doing what was supposed to be an upscale thriller in the form of A Stranger is Watching. But all that did was reinforce to the world that the only thing I could do was horror movies.
VICTOR MILLER:
A Stranger Is Watching was supposed to be the biggie, but the movie did not do very well at all. Then with Spring Break, lightning was supposed to strike twice. Sean called and told me to go see Porky's in just the same way he told me to go see Halloween. So I wrote two or three drafts. Then I got a phone call one morning. "Victor, I'm not going to go ahead with you on Spring Break." Either my screenplay, in his opinion, sucked, or the money people had some other writer they wanted to use. Or maybe it was just creative differences. But whichever it was, I was stunned. Not so much at my being fired, but to be fired over the phone by a guy who I had been working with for five years. I just could not believe that this was happening.
Sean did send me a letter at one point, but it did not really deal with what had happened and I never talked to him again. I don't think he treated me all that kindly.
SEAN CUNNINGHAM:
When I got to do A Stranger is Watching, I had the opportunity to use some really high-level people. They were available to me, yet I didn't want to use them. I was afraid of them—I thought they might fuck me over because they're not really working for me, they're working for "the man." I don't know if my films, whether it was A Stranger is Watching or Spring Break, would have been any better, but I could have learned a lot more if I had surrounded myself with different people. If I made mistakes after Friday the 13th, that maybe was the biggest.
With Spring Break, I was at the point where I wasn't learning anymore from these people. What happens is, after you have success, you try to be loyal. When everybody starts off working for nothing and you're chasing this dream, and all of a sudden your ship comes in, it would seem wrong to just leave these people behind. But, of course, that's what everybody does.
NOEL CUNNINGHAM, "Young Camper," Part 1:
My father definitely created a filmmaking family, sometimes to his detriment. He once said to me after Friday the 13th, "I could have gone out to Hollywood and gotten a career going with much better people. Instead, I decided to make another movie with my friends."
BILL FREDA, Editor, Part 1:
I'm not too keen on what happened with Sean after A Stranger is Watching. Movies like Spring Break—they were pretty bad. But A Stranger is Watching, that showed his ability. I think he's a talented guy, and that was a good movie.
VICTOR MILLER:
I ended up suing Sean over Friday the 13th. My union was trying to get what was owed me, so I had to. And this was not for residuals, but the sequels, the cable showings and everything else. So I sued Sean, and Sean had to sue Georgetown. Getting money out of Phil Scuderi was always troublesome. I'm not a lawyer. Whatever my guild did, it did in the right way and I eventually got my money in 1988; it was a long time coming.
I would still probably hold Sean up for a point or two. I did bring up that subject to him way back when, and he said, "I can't afford it, I haven't got any points." That seems to be an ongoing problem that I hear about Sean. But anything I signed, I signed. I am not saying anybody pulled the wool over my eyes. But the stories I hated to hear later on were, "Well, George Lucas gave a point to the costume woman on Star Wars." And here I am, the screenwriter, and I don't have any points at all on Friday the 13th. So then I had to work, whereas Sean did not need to after that.
But I think Sean is going to be very surprised by this interview because I have nothing but good things to say about him. I mourn the loss of our friendship. I think we were the best for each other, and maybe history is bearing that out, I don't know. He gave me strength where I was weakest and I did the same for him. There was a wonderful shorthand that we had—we could use words or phrases that nobody else in the room understood. It was a symbiotic relationship that I never had before and have never had again.
3. A New Dimension in Terror
Bolstered by the success of its first sequel, Friday the 13th had managed to survive its sophomore slump. Even if the filmmakers' decision to resurrect Jason Voorhees from the depths of Crystal Lake was a contrivance that critics, and even many stalwart horror fans, found hard to swallow, the profits generated by Part 2 were more than enough to convince Paramount Pictures that a third picture was a no-risk investment. The silhouetted image of a masked figure, brandishing a knife, with the words "Friday the 13th" splashed across a movie poster were a guarantee to sell tickets and bring in at least a strong opening weekend at the box office. But a key set of challenges faced any continuing exploits for Jason Voorhees. Although Paramount remained committed to distributing and marketing future installments of the series, it was required that the films remain negative pick-ups to secure and maintain their non-union status. There was also a vacancy in the leadership role of piloting the creative direction of future Fridays after the departure of Sean Cunningham from the series, necessitating a changing of the guard if a second sequel was to begin pre-production as planned at the end of 1981. But the biggest creative hurdle facing a Part 3 was how to make it fresh and invigorating given the series' formulaic constraints. One charge that has plagued the Friday the 13th series since its inception is that it is not a movie series at all, but rather a parade of creatively staged murder sequences caught on film—cynical exploitations successful only because of a grotesque gimmick. But Friday the 13th had been conceived from the start to excite the senses of its audience as much as involve them with its story and characters. And one good gimmick always deserves another. Enter 3-D.
The concepts of three-dimensional photography had been around since the turn of the 20th century, but the widespread exhibition of full-length, theatrical 3-D motion pictures would not gain commercial acceptance until the early 1950s. But like most of the fads Hollywood had concocted during the decade to seduce Americans away from their television sets, the 3-D craze was short-lived, and by the beginning of the '60s the process was all but extinct. Fewer than a dozen full-length 3-D features were produced over the next two decades, all of them flops. Then, like a phoenix from the ashes, 3-D returned in June 1981, with the success of a low-budget quickie from Spain called Comin' At Ya! An unexceptional comedy western enlivened only by the novelty of its three-dimensional effects, the film still managed to gross more than $12 million (back when tickets still cost three bucks a pop) and became one of the surprise hits of the season. Within a few weeks, independents and major studios alike announced more than two dozen 3-D motion pictures. Three dimensions was back, and drawing in audiences of all ages, from nostalgia-starved adults longing to recapture the cinematic thrills of their youth, to a new generation running out to see what their parents' fuss was all about. The makers of Friday the 13th had finally found the fresh hook they needed for Part 3.
GEORGE MANSOUR, Distributor, Esquire Theaters:
It wasn't until after the second Friday that Paramount showed a vested interest in the series. I think the last one any of the guys from Boston got any producing credit on was Part 3. After that, Paramount just sent them a check. "Here's some money for the title and we'll make the movie. Now go away!" But Phil Scuderi and Bob Barsamian were close with Fran
k Mancuso, Sr., and there were deals made for other pictures aside from Friday the 13th as well. There was a very incestuous thing going on. Frank Mancuso, Sr. was an executive at a big company, and while Friday the 13th was not shady, but it wasn't exactly super-legitimate. It wasn't the kind of thing that Gulf & Western, who owned Paramount, wanted to be associated with, necessarily. But the studio made tons of money off of the series.
FRANK MANCUSO, SR., VP Distribution, Paramount Pictures:
Friday the 13th was not generally a product that a studio like Paramount would be interested in producing. The creative executives just wouldn't have been attracted to that material, and the studio wouldn't know how to produce it anyway. They would spend way too much money. Independent filmmakers like Georgetown Productions, who are in the business of selling their films, they are very cost conscious. Because they're putting up the risk money and hoping that someone will acquire their product, and their return on their investment is dependent upon that. And for the studio making the acquisition, that's exactly where you wanted it. Because then you usually got a break on the price you were paying for it.
One question that continues to be asked about the Friday the 13th series is whether Paramount produced these movies. I would never have allowed Paramount to do that. That is simply a false assumption, one probably more due to the fact that my son produced so many of them. But it is not true. It would have cost us twice as much to make the films had they been studio productions, just the overhead alone—Friday the 13th movies were and should be like rebel films, where you take a camera and you go into the woods and you just shoot. It was simply a whole different culture.
Jason and crew (clockwise from left): Richard Brooker (in makeup), director Steve Miner, camera operator Eric Van Haren Noman, associate producer Peter Schindler, script supervisor Kathleen Newport, camera operator Steve Slocombe and directory of photography Gerald Feil.
DENNIS MURPHY, Co-Producer, Part 2:
At the end of filming Part 2, Frank Mancuso, Jr. came to me and said, "I have two job possibilities after this show. One of them is that I could be Robert Evans' assistant on his next movie. Or, I can produce my first film. Could you give me some advice?" I said, "Produce your first film." I had no idea it was going to be Friday the 13th Part 3.
FRANK MANCUSO, JR., Producer:
The creative impetus of the early Friday the 13th movies, certainly Part 2, was Phil Scuderi. He was the most vocal about having input. The one guy I really don't have any experience with is Sean Cunningham. I might have met him, but I'm sure I wouldn't recognize him if I stepped on his foot. I'd say that certainly from the end of the second movie through the third movie, I dealt primarily with Phil. And Phil couldn't really pay me on Part 2 because of the budget of the movie—nobody got paid much. But he gave me some points as a thank you for my participation. It ended up working out great.
When I was finishing Part 2, there was another movie Phil wanted to make called Off the Wall, which was his younger version of Stir Crazy—he was always inspired by what was current, and then he'd just say, 'We'll do the young version of it for 1/50th of the price." I said to Phil, "Do you really want to make a Stir Crazy rip-off?" He replied, "Listen, kid, I want you to go out and make this movie. Just manufacture it." But it was my chance to go to California and do something, so I did. But it was a mess. The company that picked it up ended up going bankrupt. Then Part 2 comes out and it's a big hit and Paramount says they want another Friday the 13th movie. Phil said, "It's yours—go do with it what you want."
It all started moving away from Phil and he started giving me larger parameters to operate in. I also happened to be in a unique situation, because as I continued to make these films my father continued to move up the ladder at Paramount. I would say that each side's familiarity with me made them comfortable with the fact that it was okay that Paramount wasn't really involved. The studio knew I wouldn't act in a way that hurt them. I would never participate in something that would con them or steal money from them. The nature of who I was helped everyone get over the hump because, at that time, with negative pick-ups, there were so many scams where people were ripping off studios left and right.
FRANK MANCUSO, SR.:
The sameness of Friday the 13th, if you will, cried out for a hook to hang the advertising on. You'll even notice that, after Part 2, we started to add more to the title than just a number, whether it would be "in 3-D," or "The Final Chapter." It was almost like a wink to the audience—and it was definitely intentional.
The idea for the 3-D was born out of the fact that the process is so visceral, and horror movies are so visceral. I thought of my first memories of seeing House of Wax in 3-D. The interesting thing about the Friday the 13th films is that, for me, they often play as much as a comedy as horror. Not camp—at least back then—but in terms of the dynamic of the experience. The screaming in the theater, the people jumping out of their seats, and then the laughter from the audience—not at the movie, but at the reactions of each other towards the movie. It was as an incredible piece of entertainment for that audience. So I thought with the 3-D, if we could pull this project off, Part 3 could again have that same kind of incredible impact that the first Friday the 13th had.
STEVE MINER, Director:
With the Friday films, we had always made a conscious decision to make the same movie over again, only each one would be slightly different. And I had always been intrigued with the concept of 3-D. As a kid, one of my earliest memories is of my father taking me to see Fort Ti, a three-dimensional film. So it occurred to me that a Friday the 13th Part 3 and 3-D would be a perfect combination. I also had a feeling that this might be the last one. To be honest, that is what I was hoping. And I was simply anxious to direct another film. So that is what brought me back for Part 3.
FRANK MANCUSO, JR.:
Going with the 3-D was more of a nod to the overall experience, and our belief that this probably would be the last Friday. Remember, at that point this wasn't a "franchise" in today's sense of the word. It really was about a carnival atmosphere of, "Let's just go out, have fun, and be done with it."
Left: Producer Frank Mancuso, Jr. and director of photography Gerald Feil (right) discuss the upcoming day's work. Center top: Associate producer Peter Schindler (left) and Steve Miner. Center bottom: 3-D Supervisor Martin Jay Sadoff (seated) and crew prepare for the day's work as Steve Miner (far right) looks on. Notice the title on the slate reads "Crystal Japan"—the code name under which Part 3 was filmed. Right: Director Steve Miner (left) takes a break between setups.
The first 3-D feature film to receive a wide theatrical release by a major studio, Friday the 13th Part 3 would prove to be an enormous undertaking for Paramount and the film's producers, a massive logistical effort encompassing all aspects of motion picture production, distribution and exhibition. And the "3-D film school" would begin even before the start of principal photography. Neither Steve Miner nor Frank Mancuso, Jr. was completely satisfied with the initial script for Part 3. Phil Scuderi hired Martin Kitrosser, who served as script supervisor on the first two Fridays, and his wife, Carol Watson, to craft a screenplay that, despite some tentative initial flirtations with altering the established Friday formula, ultimately deviated little from the series' previous M.O.—Jason was back and still stalking the community of Crystal Lake, this time setting his sights on a group of carefree vacationers who have set up camp nearby, blissfully unaware of the horrors to come. But Miner and Mancuso, in their hope to streamline the script to highlight the three-dimensional effects, drafted a young Romanian-born writer named Petru Popescu to perform an uncredited rewrite. Popescu's newly retooled script fully integrated the 3-D trickery into the film's newly-expanded fictional locations, which would ultimately require the construction of an elaborate two-floor camp lodge, a large outdoor pond and even a fully-equipped barn where much of the film's climactic mayhem would take place.
Faced with the considerable task of producing a polished three-dimensional featu
re that could compete with the spate of 3-D films then currently in production at rival studios—but without a major studio budget to back it—Frank Mancuso, Jr., would make the cost-conscious decision to bring the production to the West Coast, therefore allowing the film's sets to be built from the ground up on practical locations as well as facilitating access to a more experienced cast and crew. The move would mark a major aesthetic change for the series.
FRANK MANCUSO, SR.:
Part 3 was quite a project to pull off, because at that time 3-D in the theaters was non-existent. We literally would have to create the projectors, install the screens and school the operators on how to project it. And it would be a massive release on over a thousand screens. It wasn't just in two hundred theaters—we could not open a Friday the 13th on just a handful of screens. It was always about that huge opening weekend.
FRANK MANCUSO, JR.:
Part 3 was the first Friday to be shot on the West Coast, and I'd like to be able to say it was some sort of big aesthetic decision. But it really was because the whole 3-D thing required, in my view, being in Los Angeles. I wanted to have more control, and we needed experts in the field right there in case we got into real trouble. I just felt more comfortable there. And Phil Scuderi, who was off working on the script, was cool with that, so that became the location for the next one.
STEVE MINER:
When we were developing Part 3, there was quite a bit of discussion of alternative storylines that would be a breakaway from the other films. One I pursued for a long time, with Martin Kitrosser, was taking the character of Ginny from Part 2. Suppose she was in a mental institution, trying to recover, and we explored a psychological approach to Part 3? Well, at that point, we're suddenly on new ground; we don't know if we're going to appeal to the fans that we had before, and we don't even know that we're going to create new fans. Finally, we all decided that it would have been a mistake, and we should stay reasonably within the format of the first two films. We had a certain audience that enjoyed Friday the 13th and we owed them the best possible film that they would enjoy within the formula we had already established.