Very Bad Things
is a deliciously nasty morality tale that simply warns viewers that what goes around comes around. The film begins with a group of guys just wanting to have a wild bachelor party in Las Vegas and then spirals out of control as bodies quickly pile up. Stewart Copeland (formerly of The Police) drives the film with his energetic and upbeat score. The pulsing soundtrack undercuts the horror of events and gives the film a snappy pace as paranoia sets in and destroys this pack of suburban males. And each time you think that writer-director Berg can't possibly make the story any more extreme, he does and that has prompted some people to walk out. But the extreme absurdity of the ending is wickedly appropriate and altogether satisfying.
Berg, who's probably best known for his role in TV's
Chicago Hope , has earned his indie stripes by starring in quirky, out of the mainstream films like Late for Dinner
and sexy noir thrillers like The Last Seduction. In his feature film debut as director, Berg displays assurance, innovation and no fear. He endows the film with ferocious energy and dark humor. He inspires his cast-- Jon Faveau, Christian Slater, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Stern, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Jeremy Piven-- to do great work and play their roles to the hilt. In the case of Faveau as the ill-fated groom, that means playing down the panic to freeze dried perfection so that there's someone providing a contrast to all the chaos. As the bride who's locked and loaded for her wedding day and won't let death or a lack of cushions stop her, Diaz gives a hilariously steely edge to the sweetness we've seen displayed in her earlier films. And Slater, who's always been an edgy performer, returns to the kind of intense performance that made him famous in Heathers and Pump Up the Volume.
In speaking with Berg, who was doing a day long junket for the film in L.A., I was surprised by how interested he was in the audience's response to his film. He had absolutely no qualms about making the audience uncomfortable yet he was obsessive about trying to find out what exactly provoked some viewers to walk out. And Berg, like a scientist collecting data, has even pursued some viewers as they exited the theater after an early screening to question them. But maybe this research will lead to new explorations in Bergs next film. I just hope he keeps making them. Here's what the first time director had to say about making Very Bad Things.
BETH ACCOMANDO: Your film doesn't pull any punches, did you have any trouble making it the way you wanted to?
PETER BERG: Considering that every studio passed on the movie like three times, and said they felt it was way too intense and brutal for a film audience. It was pretty frustrating because no one would make it. Fortunately some actors came to us and Christian Slater read it and the actors loved it and said not only would they make it but they would make it for no money. So we then raised the money independently and shot the film and came back to all those studios that originally passed on it and a couple of them bid on it and they saw that it was funny and that it had a much broader appeal than they thought it would.
BA: Now in an early scene where they kill a security guard. You chose to have him pleading from behind the door for help while the men do nothing. I thought that was interesting because it made it harder for the audience to dismiss the murder and distance themselves from the reality of what these men were doing. You could have made the audience more comfortable if the guard didnt plead like that, why did you decide to go that way?
PB: I was never thinking about making the audience more comfortable. It just seemed to me that if someone were dying in a room he might start pleading for help. The actor was in the room by himself. All I told him to do was try to get out. I thought it would be more chilling to not see what was going on inside the room but to play it all from outside with the guys holding the door. The actor improvised all that and started pleading for his life. It was pretty chilling but I decided to leave it in because it did feel pretty real to me. All through the film I was never concerned with pulling punches. I let it all out there. I wanted to make a film that hit pretty hard. Thats my sensibility and I felt that there could be comedy in this in some bizarre way if I stayed true to it and that I could create a morality tale that was pretty hard hitting if I didn't pull any punches and I didn't pull any punches.
BA: One thing that I thought was interesting was at the screening I was at, there were these women who were just outraged at the film and their big complaint was that there was no sense of morality in the film and I thought that was strange because that seemed to be the whole point.
PB: It kind of blows my mind. Well look, this is a film that's clearly not for everyone and it's put off people and people have pretty negative reactions to it. It's been a bizarre experience because I'll have a person come up to me and say it's the worst film he's ever seen in his life and then right next to him another person will say no, it's the best films he's ever seen in his life. The reactions have been that strong and people have used the words worst or best. And I find that to be pretty intense for me to deal with the intensity of the reaction but I mean it's clearly a morality tale. I mean these people mess up and they all pay the price for it. I don't know what more I could've done than have these people arrested and executed. Every one of them pays the price for their actions. And for people not to get that, I don't understand it. I mean certain people just won't get this.
BA: Right after I saw your film I saw Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan and I thought it was interesting that they both had a similar starting off point about average people confronted by a situation where they choose not to do the right thing and not to go to the cops, and the result is a rapid succession of deaths and an absurd spiraling out of control of events.
PB: I read A Simple Plan a long time ago and that definitely had an influence on me and I'm a huge fan of that kind of story.
BA: Do you think there is a reason for these films both being made now?
PB: It seems to me that if you look at films like Happiness, Friends and Neighbors, A Simple Plan, there's a slew of films made by filmmakers close to the same age and who probably grew up in a similar manner in terms of the sort of pop culture dynamics and I don't know, maybe there's a certain amount of anger and frustration in us as filmmakers and we want to push things a bit. We want to break a few plates.
BA: Could it be a reaction to the fact that people feel too comfortable about things right now?
PB: From my standpoint I think there's a certain amount of inherent suffering in life that affects all people at any time and any place and to ignore that, to try and pretend that doesn't happen is hypocritical and I think that maybe there's a certain desire on the part of a lot of filmmakers to just expose life for what it really is. That was part of my goal in Very Bad Things. I would go to Las Vegas and see packs of these normal guys-- veterinarians, stock brokers, insurance salesmen, guys who buy their khakis at the Gap and pay their credit cards on time who have 2.5 kids or whatever-- and they come to Vegas and it's like this key opens these gates and lets these monsters come out from within them. And it's not to say that these people are bad people but there are elements in their personalities that just wanna break stuff, that wanna get nuts, that wanna party hard and generally we keep these elements in check so much but they can misfire. So I think I wanted to explore that aspect of the culture. And I don't consider myself to be a dark or cynical person, I just thought in Very Bad Things it could be interesting to see what happens when bad things happen to supposedly good people. I'd see packs of white suburban males go absolutely nuts in Las Vegas, rolling around in the streets, fighting, drinking, chasing women and gambling all their money away. They just all looked like they were looking for trouble. And I wondered what might happen if a group of them found it and then tried to get out of it.
BA: Can you describe how you wanted the film to look.
PB: Im a big fan of the chaotic, I like pushing things pretty far. I like films that have different levels and I love movement in films where things start off kind of calm and easy and then gradually build to a frenzy of madness. I have a lot of scenes in Very Bad Things that start off like that, that start off down on an A note and end off on a Z note and I wanna have fun traumatizing an audience so a lot of the scenes start off very still and gentle and end up with five actors screaming at each other and the camera flying all over the place and that was kind of my visual goal, my tonal goal, I wanted it to play that way.
BA: What role did Stewart Copeland's music play?
PB: I knew if the movie were to work, it had to work as a comedy on some level, people had to laugh at this. So Stewart and I discussed creating a score that would generally undercut the horror, that was a bit laid back and funky and we decided to go with a Latin theme. There was a certain rhythm and peppiness to Latin music. I wanted people kind of tapping their feet as they watched these horrific events unfold. I used Stewart as a tool to help give the audience permission to laugh.
BA: Do you think that the fact that the audience does laugh ultimately makes the film more disturbing?
PB: Not really. I hope that the fact that they do laugh actually makes it less disturbing. They are able to see that the film is not meant to be taken literally, it is a bit farcical and it's okay to laugh because you don't believe it's really happening. You just can't believe it that you have to laugh at. I think if people weren't laugh it would really be disturbing like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, I remember seeing that movie and that was one of the more disturbing movies I have ever seen, and my fear was that I would make a movie that would hit like that. So I think on some level the laughter makes it much more accessible. It's like watching that cartoon where the dams leaking and the guys trying to fill every hole but it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse and eventually the dike gives. And that's kind of the metaphor of watching the film and it's kind of funny to watch these guys get deeper and deeper and deeper into the hole.
BA: So then what impact do you hope the film has on people?
PB: I think that I definitely want to entertain them. I want audiences to have a good time but I don't want to make a film that's easily dismissable. I want a film that maybe stays with them longer than it takes to get to the parking lot. I do think the film is a morality tale. I do think it's about karma it is about what happens if you think you can get away with stuff. That it's wrong to harm people and if you harm people and try to get away with it you're going to get it one way or the other. And that's why when people say there's no morality in this I don't understand it. I don't understand how people don't see that these people get what they deserve.
BA: Maybe they just need something more obvious. They need to see them arrested and punished in a more conventional manner.
PB: Yeah have them arrested and then have the film say, 'Oh what you did was bad. You are bad people.' I mean for god's sake look at the ending. What could be worse?
BA: It was a great ending. Did you always know that you would take it that far?
PB: No. I just remember that I kept having to one up myself while I was writing it. Where can we go from here? And the ending, I just knew that I wanted them all to pay a price for their sins.
BA: I read that you had pursued some people who walked out of the movie.
PB: Yeah I mean I don't like it when people freak out over the movie. I don't like when someone tells me they hate the film so when they tell me I try to figure out why. I wanna know what's causing people to not be able to handle it. It's not a movie for everyone. If you have trouble with dark stuff then maybe you should go see another film. If you can handle your bacon a little bit greasy than come and check it out.
BA: How did you work with the actors?
PB: Generally I encourage my actors to improvise whenever they wanted to. I wanted them to feel really confident and comfortable to do anything they wanted. As an actor that's something that Im aware of. When I'm restricted as an actor or bullied I generally dont do my best work. But when Im encouraged to really go for it and to make a role my own and to try anything, I do my best work. So I tried to create an atmosphere of freedom and experimentation on the set and then sort of guide them if I didnt think they were going down the right road.
BA: Did you have any surprises your first time out as a director?
PB: Everything was a surprise. The whole thing has been a wonderful growth experience for me. And a learning experience and I can't wait to do it again.
