Dir. Craig, Kevin Durand on 80s Slasher Homage

Posted in: Horror, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Clown in a Cornfield

Clown in a Cornfield writer-director Eli Craig and star Kevin Durand spoke to Bleeding Cool about the throwback ’80s slasher horror film.

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There are so few directors who have the self-awareness of horror to hit as many notes on target as writer-director Eli Craig, who’s been behind the 2010 horror comedy Tucker and Dale vs Evil, Netflix’s supernatural dark comedy Little Evil with Adam Scott (Severance), and now, RLJE Films and Shudder’s Clown in a Cornfield. Based on the Adam Cesare YA novel of the same name, the R-rated action horror comedy follows Quinn (Katie Douglas) and her doctor father (Aaron Abrams), who have settled into the small town of Kettle Springs. As times have fallen hard since the local corn syrup factory shut down, a mysterious serial killer is on the loose to terrorize the town’s local inhabitants, including Quinn and her friends. Craig and star Kevin Durand, who plays Arthur Hill, spoke to Bleeding Cool about adapting Cesare’s novel to film, if Craig considered a PG-13 version, a Locke & Key reunion, and how Clown in a Cornfield became a love letter to 1980s slasher flicks.

‘Clown in a Cornfield’ Director Eli Craig and Star Kevin Durand on Recreating “Popcorn Pop Culture” Horror with Frendo the Clown

Bleeding Cool: Eli, how did you and co-writer Carter [Blanchard] stumble upon Adam’s novel of ‘Clown in a Cornfield’, and what made it ideal for film?

Craig: Well, it goes back, Carter and I had different passes on the script, so we didn’t work directly together, but the initial thing was from Temple Hill, which had optioned the book, and they hired Carter to write a first draft of it, and then it came to me later. I read Carter’s draft and thought, “Oh, there’s something here; this could be fun.” I went back to Adam Cesare’s book to make sure that everything was in line and I had a take on it. I thought I could make this thing into an awesome action horror comedy, and I pitched my version to the Temple Hill producers, who hadn’t come out with ‘Smile’ (2022) yet, but that was about to come out and do as well as it did. Once I talked to them about what I wanted to do, they were on board, and then I took a pass on the script and added flavor to it. I also went back to the book and tried to make sure I was staying true to Adam’s themes, the character arcs, and everything. That’s how it got to me.

Kevin, what drew you to the film?

Durand: I’m a fan of Eli’s, so that drew me, and then the script was such a great read. I thought it seemed like a no-brainer. It would just be so much fun, and it ended up being a great amount of fun as well. To see it in the theater, fully executed, and how it came out, was incredibly satisfying.

I imagine the climactic twist at the end didn’t hurt either, right?

Craig: [laughs]

Durand: Well, that’s exactly it. You get like a full meal there [laughs].

Eli, when doing the passes with Carter and formulating the script, was it always planned to be R-rated, or were you guys tinkering with a potential PG-13, like the YA demographic of Adam’s book?

Craig: There was a point early on, before I even started to write, we took the idea out to a few studios and saw if Lionsgate wanted to make it or something. There was some internal talk with them about whether it should be PG-13 or R, but I always wanted to do this as an R-rated, gory fun movie. Once we raised the money independently to make the film, it was on my shoulders to decide what kind of film I wanted to make.

The producers fully supported me going hard R with it, but to me, also in an entry-level way. The first horror film I saw as a child was ‘Friday the 13th’ (1980), the original, of course, because I’m that old. It stayed with me, but I was 10 years old, and I don’t think you should talk down to a younger audience. I know people want to have as many butts in seats as possible. To have it something that younger kids are reaching for, and if this is the first horror movie they see, I hope that someday other filmmakers can get inspired like I did and say, “Twenty years ago, I saw this film ‘Clown in a Cornfield’ for the first time” and I knew I had to make a horror movie. That’s my goal.

Kevin, can you break down what it was like to work with some of your co-stars like Katie, Aaron, Carson [MacCormac], and Will [Sasso], and what they brought to the film in the scenes you shared?

Durand: Everybody was, first and foremost, incredibly kind and grounded, so that makes things enjoyable. There was a great alchemy Eli put together there; casting good humans is always a great plus. Everybody liked each other, so that was good. When you have that, then people feel like there’s a wonderful element of play. You got that from everyone. Sasso, it was so great to see him play a character that looked so effortless. He was so good.

Katie brought so many layers to Quinn that I’m assuming she realizes how many layers she brought to it, but she’s a multi-layered human and quite an onion. It was nice to see her get to play within that world as that character. Everybody was wonderful. Aaron was so wonderfully subtle, dry, and you’re with him. I had worked with Carson on ‘Locke & Key’, he was great in that, and I thought he was such a great young actor as well. It was such a nice ensemble.

Eli, you said that ‘Friday the 13th’ influenced you as you try to stay as close to Adam’s vision as possible. Were there other horror franchises that also played a part in influencing you to develop, Frendo?

Craig: There are so many influences I took from. Some of them are more in the popcorn, pop culture version of horror. You’d be surprised to know some of them included action movies, I’m looking at. I watched ‘T2’ (1991) again to get into the mindset of this and to see the relentless driving force of an antagonist who never lets up. Some of those big action movies, I mean ‘Jaws’ (1975) to me…I had a noticeable homage at the beginning of the film.

‘Clown in a Cornfield’ felt like a shark would be in the ocean, but the films I wanted to grab the ethos of the character and modernize are, like I mentioned before, the ‘Friday the 13th’, ‘Halloween’ (1978), ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ (1984), and those films in the 80s I grew up on and not supposed to watch, but I watched anyway. Like I said, I want ‘Clown in a Cornfield’ to be a film people aren’t supposed to watch but watch anyway. It’s not because it’s not gory for the sake of gore, like the gore isn’t there just for fans, who want to see people get chewed up or whatever. It is always there for a purpose, and then I don’t hang on it forever, but it can be shocking and fun. Ultimately, I’m trying to make a fun ride, ‘Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride’ [at Disneyland]. I’m trying to make this wild, unexpected turning ride.

Clown in a Cornfield is in theaters.

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