Horror Master Mike Flanagan's Tired of Jump Scares

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The Haunting of Hill House creator was in London for the SXSW premiere The Life of Chuck, with Tom Hiddleston. Report by Nelsonj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

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00:00Congratulations on the film. Thank you very much. Where do we start? This movie reminds me of how

00:06insanely prolific Stephen King was as a writer. So it makes me wonder, you've got the world at

00:12your feet, huge successes on Netflix. Why was this the story for you to tell? This story moved me more

00:18than anything I'd read in recent years when I read it. I read it in April 2020, so right after

00:24the COVID shutdown, when I felt like the world outside was ending and I had no idea what was

00:28going to happen. The anxiety was overwhelming and I got to the end of the story and I was crying with

00:35joy and with hope and it made me look back on the moments of my life in a very profound way and so

00:42I felt like I wanted this movie to exist in the world for my kids for when they feel that way.

00:48It was an imperative. I think possibly more than anyone else I can mention, you've given me the most

00:52jump scares of anyone alive and I wonder is it more or less stressful thinking about

00:59when's the next one of those coming along doing a story like this which is far more introspective

01:04and far more kind of like slow build and is saying something else that must come with its own kind of

01:11stresses as well. I think jump scares for me are probably the least interesting thing that I get to

01:16do because it really is just sneaking up behind someone and banging things together like right behind

01:20their ear. You're just startling them. It's all it's very difficult to do and you have to kind of

01:26craft them properly but I'm always way more interested in the emotional impact of the story

01:33and the journey of the characters so this actually felt more like home to me than than a jump scare for

01:39sure. This film did a very good job almost convincing me that maths isn't as boring as I almost got there.

01:45It always felt like it was at school. So I wonder what what what things out there whether it's maths or

01:50something else that you you wish you excelled at more or which meant you meant more to you?

01:55Wish I meant more to me? Yeah. I don't know if this will really answer your question exactly.

02:00If I wasn't making movies I'd want to be an astronomer and I really wish that I fantasize sometimes

02:07about the version of my life where that had been my course of study. You know I'm endlessly

02:12fascinated by it. I wish I knew much more about it. But Carl Sagan in particular really shaped my

02:21sense of purpose identity and our place in the world spiritually you know through the science and

02:26so I wish I had that. But also honestly I wish I could play any sport. Any at all. Anything I wish I

02:35had the coordination to play the most basic of sports because then I would feel cooler than I do most times.

02:42You don't need sports to be cool with a film like this coming out. Finally speaking of fantasies

02:46working with the likes of Tom Middleston and Tuata Legio 4 must be top of a lot of people's fantasy

02:49lists. Absolutely. What's the experience been like for you? How collaborative how joyful how's it been?

02:55I don't know that I've ever been as fortunate as I was on this movie to have such an incredible cast

03:00an incredible ensemble cast. It was profoundly collaborative. This was a story nobody was in it for

03:07the money. Not on this one. It was a it was a it sounds silly to say it looking at the fact that

03:12it's Stephen King and it's Tom Hiddleston. This was a tiny little independent movie and everyone was

03:18there because they loved it. And this incredible group of actors were coming in for scale to work

03:24half a day for the bare minimum like Matthew Lillard who showed up and wrapped by lunch.

03:30He's great in this. He's wonderful in it. He's wonderful yeah. So yeah it was a dream come true

03:35and this is the second time I've worked with Mark Hamill which is a dream come true not only as a

03:42filmmaker but as someone who grew up with what I assume we all grew up with right. And yeah I have

03:49to pinch myself. I'm one of the luckiest people in the world. Well Mike it comes through on screen.

03:54I think when people make things with love you can really see it and you can feel it. And that's

03:59certainly what I got from this one. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Looking forward to see what

04:02you do next. Thank you kindly.

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