Boxoffice-September.1999

34 BOXOFFICE
So she tracked down the rights, which
Warner Bros, owned. It just so happened
that producers Joel Silver and Robert
Zemeckis were also interested in her
father's work, and they agreed to make
the pic, which was greenlit on
Halloween, through their brand-new
company, Dark Castle Entertainment, a
production entity that is dedicated to
remaking old horror flicks like "House
on Haunted Hill" as well as originals in
the same vein.
"[Warner Bros.] put me together
BODY OF WORK: Gallagher and
Rush
discover the house's sordid past
with Joel [Silver] and [Robert]
Zemeckis. [Zemeckis] had written articles
about this particular movie and
how it had affected him and how much
he loved my dad, which has always
been so wonderful that this fabulous
filmmaker thought so highly of my
father," Castle says. "That's an unbelievable
tribute.
"Dark Castle became a relationship
between Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis and
my father, the spirit of the late William
Castle. [My dad is] really living on."
So
what makes William Castle so
special that the Academy-
Award winning director of
"Forrest Gump" (Zemeckis) and the
$2.8 billion-earning producer of the
"Lethal Weapon" franchise and "The
Matrix" (Silver) would found a company
in his honor and name it
"[My dad] just loved to make movies.
And then he loved to sell them," his
daughter says.
Castle was the self-dubbed RT.
Bamum of filmmaking. He liked to
draw attention to his films by insuring
audiences with Lloyds of London in
case any of them died of fright during
"Macabre" and rigging up theatre seats
to emit mild electric shocks during "The
after him?
Tingler."
"My dad just loved to give people a
thrill ride. And growing up with a dad
who loved to give people a thrill ride was
always entertaining," Castle laughs. "My
friends were always amused when they
came to our house and got their butts
buzzed on the practice round at the dinner
table to see if 'The Tingler' would
work. After every movie, he would give
me a different charm from the film, so
I've got a charm bracelet that would be
filled with axes, ice picks and things like
this [dagger stickpin]."
Castle was very close to her father,
who passed away in 1977, so the first day
of shooting on "The House on Haunted
Hill" was an emotional one.
"The director said, 'Cut! I'd like to
thank everybody for the very first shot
of 'House on Haunted Hill," and I lost
it," she says. "Went into tears. It just
triggered my father. It was
unbelievable that I was
doing what so much was
Of
his passion and [that I
was] on these sound
stages and seeing these
fabulous sets that my
father would have just
adored being able to play
with. And he didn't have
the special effects opportunities
that are around
today. He would've just
loved to play. So I think
he would have been
incredibly envious and
been incredibly excited at
the same time."
course, it's been 40 years
since the original "House on
Haunted Hill" premiered, so
there's bound to be some changes. "We
start off in a very similar vein, and the
way we set up the film is the same,"
director Malone says of his version during
a break on an
action-sequence
rehearsal. "And
then it starts
diverging drastically
from that point.
I'm not sure what I
can get into, really,
without giving
away too much.
"I think there
[are] a lot of people
who've seen the
original movie. 1
want this to really
be a surprise for
them because there
are certain things
in the film that
they'll recognize-'Oh,
yeah, I
remember that from the first movie.'
And then I think we tried to put in a lot
of twists and turns. It's all fun. I don't
want to give that away to them, you
know?"
"It's more sophisticated," Castle concurs,
"because I think we have a more
sophisticated audience. It's more sophisticated
in every way It's more sophisticated
technically; it's more sophisticated
in story. I think the original was very
sophisticated, but it's 40 years later.
We
needed to update it. It's definitely not
shot-by-shot replay of the original. Tl
original was great, and it needs to su
the original. This is a really fun versic
:
of it."
Part of the fun of the updated vei
sion-and what William Castle wou
have been jealous of had he bee
around today-is the access to moden
day special effects. "We have Bob ar
Dennie Skotak, who are the guys wl
did all the stuff for 'Aliens' and who d
'Terminator 2' and 'Titanic' and a who
lot of films. They've won thn
Academy Awards [between them], ai
they're doing the visual effects," sa
Malone of his sfx crew. "What I lii
about them is that they're well-school(
in digital effects, but they're also we
schooled in 1923 technology. So we'
doing a lot of in-camera stuff and a 1
of effects that you haven't seen for
long, long time. I've seen silent filn
and I go, 'How did they do that?' Tb
didn't have the technology [we havi
and there are some amazing effects
there."
T:
NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS: Larter,
Kattan and Diggs break the rule
and become fast friends.
erry Castle believes her fath
would be surprised at ti
excitement and care goii
into a remake of one of his belovi
films. The master of horror work'
hard to make his films memorable f
his contemporaries, but his daught
insists that he didn't understand t
legacy he was leaving for generatio
to come.
"I don't think he would have a cl
that people wou
be so enjoymg
films today,"
says. "He ma
['The House
Haunted Hill'
two weeks, [ar
probably [for] 1(
than $100,000.
made low-bud{
films. I just doj^
know if he woi
have ever, ever h
presumpti
any
that people [woi
still be enjoyi
\
them today]. Peoj i
come up to me a
say, 'Oh, your dac
love his films.' A
I just kind of gig
inside. Giggle for him, you know." I
"The House on Haunted Hi>
Starring Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janss
Taye Diggs, Alt Larter, Peter GallagI
Bridgette Wilson and Chris Katt>
Directed by William Malone. Written
Dick Beebe. Produced by Rob
Zemeckis, Joel Silver and Gil Adler.
Warner Bros, release. Horror Op
October 29.