WGTC: Oh, I hear they’re dreadfully hard to cast – but you do use a lot of heavy CGI, especially with the action, so I’m wondering what kind of challenge that filmmaking presents?
Stuart Beattie: The first thing is winning everyone over to the idea of it. What do gargoyles look like, then getting designs done, then getting motion tests done, and then saying, “Can you believe that big winged thing can turn into a human?” It’s an endless series of problems, then it’s just coming up with solution, solution, solution, solution – until you convince people this will sound cool, it will look cool, and it will be cool. Then it’s communicating that to the people that literally have to do it, the visual effects artists and the design artists, all those people, and taking their input and pulling it into one single thing so everyone is working on the same thing – it’s thousands of challenges, but it was something everyone was excited about. No one has really seen gargoyles done before…
WGTC: Except in the cartoon show! [Yes, the show holds a special place in my heart]
Stuart Beattie: Exactly, except in the cartoon show! You’ve got that show, but no one has really seen them in live action. It’s both liberating in that you’ve got to make it up, but you’re not copying anything because no one has ever done it. It’s kind of cool, it creates a fertile playground that lets you do what you want to do.
WGTC: So I have a question. Adam (Aaron Eckhart) goes on the hunt for these evil demons in the movie, and we see an early scene where demons are hiding amongst people, so are there civilians in this city?
Stuart Beattie: Oh yeah! Yes.
WGTC: So where do they go. [Laughs] I feel like after a while we just see Adam fighting demons and gargoyles without a single passerby, and there’s no one pointing out the strange blue and red flames flying around, and that doesn’t even touch on the people who aren’t harmed by the massive architectural destruction…
Stuart Beattie: [Laughing] It’s part of the conceit of it. If I had $100 million, and if I had 20 weeks, they’d be all through it, but I had $36 million and 9 weeks – and that’s the first thing to go. I remember one of the producers was like, “Shouldn’t there be tourist stands around this cathedral? This is a fucking awesome cathedral. Shouldn’t there be like tourist trucks selling food and stuff?” You’re right! Yeah, but you kind of say, “This all happens late at night while people are asleep” – and that’s the best you can do. I simply didn’t have the money, time, people, size, scope, or budget to do that part justice. It’s one of those things where you just make the movie or you don’t. I totally agree with you, you’re absolutely right…
WGTC: Trust me, this is pure curiosity.
Stuart Beattie: It’s a thing where if someone gave me another $10 million and another two weeks, that’s what I would do. I’d go through the film, add people to it, have reactions, all that stuff. It just simply was limitations…
WGTC: Creative choices, absolutely. You’re the director, you have to make them unfortunately. Moving back to the action, were there any injuries on set? This is a pretty action packed movie…
Stuart Beattie: Oh yeah, I got clobbered!
WGTC: You did?!
Stuart Beattie: Oh yeah I did! [Laughs] I was showing Aaron something, he had the sticks [his weapons], he followed through and smacked me in the head. I’m sure Aaron got knocked around a lot, the stuntmen got knocked around a lot – I mean Aaron was really hitting those guys. We tried not hitting and it just didn’t look real. The stuntmen, to their credit, said to just hit them – and Aaron did. There were welts, bruises, all sorts of stuff because those sticks are freakin’ hard. They’re really hard. There were all sorts, but the biggest real injury was someone dislocating their finger closing their car door at the end of a shoot – nothing to do with us. We rehearsed those fights for six months just to make sure they were as safe as possible. No one really got that hurt, no ambulances or anything like that thankfully.
The only way to sell a fight scene like that is to really try and hit someone. It’s like doing a dialogue scene – you’ve got to really yell at them if you’re going to be convincing, so that was the mantra. You’ve got to really try to hit them, and they’ll really try to stop you, because they will get hit. If they slipped up, they would get hit.
WGTC: Alright, so this is a little far ahead, but you are working with the producers of Underworld, and we know how many Underworld movies there are, so I’m going to ask you – are there talks of a sequel yet? Are there plans for that?
Stuart Beattie: No plans yet. Look, it was always the intention from the beginning for I, Frankenstein to be the start of a franchise if people respond to it. Everyone would love that. There’s lots more I would love to explore with Adam. That being said, this is a standalone film in that, like I said, it’s a monster who becomes a man. It’s a story that stands on its own and is completed by the end. He takes up that mantle at the end – that story is complete. The next story I’d imagine tests that decision. Was it the right decision? Are human beings worth it?
I didn’t want to leave it cliffhanger-y, like is he going to live or is he going to die – it had to end, and I believe the story does end. There’s still more I’d like to do with the gargoyles and the demons, demon princesses and things, there’s so much more in that world that I’d love to play with, and should I be lucky enough, I’d have lots to do.
WGTC: Serious question, are you a gargoyle or a demon?
Stuart Beattie: I like to think I’m a gargoyle, but I’m probably a demon. [Laughs] No, look, the gargoyles represent everything that’s good and right – they’re like the Jedi knights of the world. They’re up there, sentinels looking out for us, and the demons represent the worst of mankind and all that stuff. I don’t want to be that guy.
Look, that’s really the journey Adam is on. What the whole film is about, hopefully in the end, is that idea that being a monster is a choice. It’s not how you’re made, it’s how you make yourself – and you can unmake yourself into anything else, it’s simply a choice in the world. Not a lot of people realize that. There’s a way to be and it’s always how you choose to be in the world.
WGTC: So what comes next for Stuart Beattie?
Stuart Beattie: There’s this one thing I’m praying works. We’re dotting “i’s” and crossing “t’s.” If it works, it’s something I’ve been working towards for twelve years, and would be an absolute dream. It’s running a show basically. It’d be awesome. No details, I’m not allowed, but you’ll hear about it if it happens, and hopefully it’ll happen within the next few weeks.
That concludes our interview but I’d like to thank Stuart Beattie for his time. Be sure to catch I, Frankenstein when it opens on January 24th!