Film South Florida spoke to Craven about his less-bumpy experiences filming Red-Eye, shooting in Miami, casting a white-hot Rachel McAdams as Red-Eye's heroine, and his decision to remake his 1977 horror classic, The Hills Have Eyes.

Film South Florida: How much more enjoyable was making Red-Eye compared with the appropriately named Cursed?

Wes Craven: About 1,000 percent. It was great to have a script that not only was intact, but was brilliant. It was nice to have studio (DreamWorks) totally behind it. This one had all the right elements: a great script, wonderful actors, and a studio excited it. I kept knocking on wood, and everything’s gone right. And the timing’s right as both (McAdams and Murphy) are emerging as major new talents. Assuming an asteroid doesn’t hit, I’m looking forward to a nice (opening) weekend.

Film South Florida: How was shooting in Miami?

Craven: It was great. The weather was a factor. We shot two very special days of second unit. The first day we had brilliant blue skies. The second day we woke up to the most interesting dark skies. At 1 p.m. we cleared scene, and then the most ferocious storm blew down tents, knocking out our commissary. But I loved Miami. I had not been here in years. It’s vibrant and beautiful.

Film South Florida: Rachel McAdams is hot following Mean Girls, The Notebook and Wedding Crashers. What qualities does she possess that could make her a major star?

Craven: She’s developing in a very special way. She’s a beautiful girl ... with beautiful blue eyes. Her eyes have a lot of expression. She’s also very intelligent and understands her characters. She looks at what is needed to immediately get under the skin of her characters. For someone to come as far as she’s come in such a short time, it’s quite stunning.

Film South Florida: She also can handle herself in a fight, by the looks of things.  

Craven: I knew the third act (of the film) would difficult. But when I learned she was a champion figure skater, I knew she had the physical discipline required (for the role), that she could take a bang or two. When she picks up a hockey stick (during a fight with Murphy), you can tell she knows how to use it.

Film South Florida: Stealth has come and gone. FlightPlan, with Jodie Foster, comes out next month. And Samuel L. Jackson is tussling with Snakes on a Plane. Four years after 9/11, why is the time right for a return to the terror-in-the-skies thriller?

Craven: I felt right away that (Red-Eye) felt relevant to the times, that what I was doing was relevant. If I had to confront a person like (Murphy), how would I deal with it? How do troops deal with people like this without crossing the boundaries of their own morality? How do we take on terrorists on our own turf? This is what our lives are now like. So in no way is this exploitation. We’re talking about why things are the way they now are.

Film South Florida: You’re producing a new version of The Hills Have Eyes. Why devote your time and energy to a remake of one of your early offerings?

Craven: When the director of The Hills Have Eyes (High Tension’s Alexandre Aja) was asked a question about it, he said that no one thought twice about Mel Tormé doing a Frank Sinatra song, so why is it so unusual for a film to be done again? I think that’s the way to look at it. I don’t want to do a cheap imitation. And (Aja) is a very talent man. The Hills Have Eyes made him want to be a filmmaker, so he wants the remake to be very special. He wants it to be something of a tribute (to the original).

Film South Florida: You’re also an executive producer of Feast, the latest Project Greenlight effort. How tough was it to make Feast with all those TV cameras following the crew—especially winning director John Gulager—from start to finish?

Craven: My heart went out to John. It was almost impossible for him. The man had been making movies with and for his friends and family. It was all quite insular. I pointed out that he was not a guy who would fit into the studio situation. I had no idea how he would be with the actors. He was used to having his friends and family around, and that was taken away from him. He was used to complete control. And he had a casting director with her own agenda. It was hard. But the end product is really good. And (Dimension co-president) Andrew Rona said, “This guy is very good.” Now, people ask where it is. It’s not been put of the shelf. It got caught up in the problems between (Dimension parent company) Miramax and Disney, and now it’s coming out in January. It’s a fun movie. It’s not The Grapes of Wrath. It is what it is given the script that was chosen.

Film South Florida: What’s next? You were attached to the remake of the Japanese chiller Pulse, but that’s being directed by newcomer Jim Sonzero. Can we expect a return to the horror genre? Or do you have an itch to do another drama like Music of the Heart?

Craven: The plug got pulled on Pulse 10 days before we were about to shoot. It’s now being done in Romania. That was a trying experience, and I’ll leave it at that. The one thing I’m doing that’s in the genre is a Vegas show called Magic Macabre. It’s being done by the man who did Riverdance. It’s something that’s being developed for the theater, which I’ve never done before. If I can get a movie, I’m looking at three scripts. One’s a road picture, one’s a romance and one’s based on a novel, Drowning Ruth, that was an Oprah Winfrey choice. It’s very humanistic.

Red-Eye is now in theaters. Click here for more information.

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