Filmmaker Breck Eisner, director of The Crazies (Anchor Bay, DVD
DD: All one needs to do is look at your credits to see that you’re a horror and sci-fi guy.
Eisner: As a kid, I loved horror and sci-fi stuff and, yeah, I’m a genre filmmaker. There are times that genre films get a bad rap, and I don’t like that. You can get as much potential through a character’s emotional journey in a horror film as you can anywhere else.
DD: What were some of your favorite movies growing up, ones that you would remake if you had an opportunity, as you did with The Crazies?
Eisner: Oh, let’s see: John Carpenter’s The Thing, The Omen, The Exorcist, The Shining… all great. And as for sci-fi, Star Wars, of course.
DD: And would you dare attempt to remake any of them?
Eisner: With The Crazies, it was more of a gut decision to try a remake. You think about it, you watch it, and then you decide. For me, there has to be a reason to remake a classic film. Does it have relevance today? Is there some kind of limitation in the original that opens it up for remake?
DD: Well, there’s certainly lots of talk about you on the Internet — about The Crazies and the upcoming projects you’re developing, like Flash Gordon. What’s your feeling about being a director in the Internet age, where the fans often get the word out on stories before the filmmakers and their films?
Eisner: I’m not afraid of the Internet, and I don’t have the ego to think that I’m important enough to be written about. Of course, I appreciate that people like to talk about movies and my movies, also. But my interest in making movies is about making movies, not me.
DD: And speaking of you and the Internet, the word is that you’re moving ahead with a remake of Carpenter’s Escape From New York.
Eisner: That’s what it looks like! I hope I can do Snake Plissken justice….
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