INT: Jeff Wadlow

Last Updated on July 28, 2021

Let’s welcome writer/director


JEFF WADLOW
to our little horror family! You see, prior to CRY WOLF (which opens today),
Jeff had never dabbled in the genre before, unless you count a children’s
animated film about Christmas (called Catching Kringle) as horror. I sure do! X-Mas…brrr. Jeff checked
in the AITH/JoBlo.com Mart to talk about his new slasher, his "killer lion"
script that’s being made and more! Oh, and
CLICK HERE
to find out how he got the movie made (crazy story).

Jeff
Wadlow

What’s
your favorite horror movie?

In no
particular order: JAWS, PSYCHO, HALLOWEEN, and SE7EN. 
I love all four of those movies for very different reasons. 
The one thing that they all have in common is that they get better each
time you watch them.

Your
prior writing/directing credits are far from the genre; what made you want to
tackle a horror film for your first theatrical feature?

Because I
love how a good horror movie can engage you on two levels: 
a visceral, voyeuristic level and an active, intellectual level. 
You’re scared out of your wits, but also wondering what’s going to
happen next – and why.  We always
tried to make our short films a multi-layered experience, and that’s exactly
what we set out to do with CRY WOLF.

What
was the initial creative spark that lit up in your mind to send you (and your
writing partner Beau Bauman) to write the Cry Wolf screenplay?

It really
started as a simple idea: a group of kids who lie for fun, or as Beau puts it
“a recreational liar’s club.”  The
next step was trying to figure out how their little pastime could get them into
trouble. Naturally this started us thinking about “the boy who cried wolf,”
and we realized we were basically concocting a modern-day re-telling of that
fable (I’m a sucker for revisionist storytelling).

If that
morality tale was going to be the template for our movie, we knew we needed a
“wolf.”  Something frightening,
evil, and anonymous… like a serial killer. So if the characters taunted a real
killer by creating a fake legend and m.o., and then the real killer got pissed
and decided to go after the liars by making the legend come true, no one would
necessarily believe them because the public at large would assume it was just
another lie… even though the lives of the main characters would be in real
danger.

Although
we wrote dozens of drafts, the final version still retains that original idea:
no one believes a liar, even when he’s telling the truth.

You
have a good cast on your hands: Gary Cole, Jon Bon Jovi, Linda Booth, Jared
Padalecki…how tricky was the casting process?

Very.
Thank God for our Casting Director, Fern Champion, who has experience
with horror movies (FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise) and discovering new talent (she
put Cameron Diaz in THE MASK).  Beau
told her we wanted a group of kids that no one would believe were in the same
movie thirty years from now… and I think she delivered. 
From Lindy, to Jared, to the virtually un-known Julian Morris, I think
people are going to be blown away by the authenticity of their performances in
an otherwise surreal situation (how often does a guy in a ski mask chase you
with a hunting knife?!?)

As far as
our “adult” cast goes, I think it’s just another example of how
established members of the entertainment industry were won over by the spirit of
the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival and what we were trying to accomplish
with such limited time and resources.  So
many professionals, with no financial incentive to help out a struggling
director and producer, did everything in their power to make our dreams come
true.  Without their help, we never
could have made the movie that we set out to make.

How
extensive of a role does Jon Bon Jovi have in the film and does he belt out a
tune at any point (hopefully “Like a Prayer”)?

Bon Jovi
should totally cover that Madonna song.  Totally.

LOL…darnit… I meant
"Living on a Prayer!"

All
kidding aside, Jon was a pleasure to work with. 
He’s a  really talented and
smart guy who understands that there is nothing easy about making a movie. 
While his part really isn’t that big, I will say that there are no
characters in the film that don’t play a crucial role. 
The story is kind of a jigsaw puzzle, and you need all the pieces to
complete the picture.

How
much money did you have in terms of budget and what would you say was the more
arduous obstacle you encountered throughout the shoot?

The
initial grant was for a million dollars, but if you add up all the resources
that were donated, I’m sure the budget would be well over ten million. 
Before we began shooting, one of our mentors at Universal told us that if
they budgeted the movie, it would have been closer to twenty million.

What is
the main difference between Cry Wolf and the latest batch of slashers (I Know
What You Did last Summer, Urban Legend…)?

Don’t
get me wrong – I really like those movies. 
I think the first URBAN LEGEND is amazing. 
But they were a part of a horror evolution that began with SCREAM and
ended with SCARY MOVIE.  I think
we’ve begun a new phase, that is more evocative of ‘70’s horror. 
The films that work today feel more immediate. 
They’re less about camp and more about tapping into our societal fears.
Pick up any newspaper and you’ll see a headline about some sort of internet
predator.  There are a lot of really
sick and evil people out there, and we’ve given them unlimited access to our
everyday lives.  It’s really pretty
frightening.

Would
you say that the kills in “Cry Wolf” are inventive or more straight forward?
We genre fans want to know!

I think
they’re fairly inventive, but never over the top. 
You’ve got to remember, the characters “kill” each other by writing
their own deaths in the viral email they send out to the world… the Wolf is
simply following their instructions.

I was
personally disappointed to hear that the film was snipped down from an R Rating
to a Pg 13. How severe are the cuts and in your opinion how much of a difference
do they make in terms of the film’s impact?

Yeah,
I’ve followed some of the debate online about our rating, and I’ve avoided
commenting on it up until this point, because the truth is, from a purely
thematic stand-point, the movie came out exactly as intended and I doubted the
naysayers would believe me (ironic, huh?).

As I
mentioned above, CRY WOLF is a modern day re-telling of “the boy who cried
wolf,” so we always intended to build paranoia and terror by playing on that
fine line between truth and fiction.  If
we showed you everything – put it all up on the screen – there would be no
doubt about if and when the killer was actually attacking (and trust me, the
killer does; it’s just a question of when and how). 

By leaving
a little ambiguity, I believe we’ve created a far more terrifying situation,
where our main character can’t tell the difference between when the Wolf has
actually struck and when his supposed “friends” are just telling another
lie.

Will
there be in R Rated or Unrated cut of the film available when it lands on DVD?

Honestly,
I’m not sure. You know how it goes these
days…unless we’re talking about Peter Jackson, an extended, un-rated version
usually means three seconds of new footage. I’m
going to do everything in my power to make the DVD as cool as possible (we’re
planning tons of bonus features), but at the end of the day, unless you make a
multi-billion dollar trilogy that wins a ton of academy awards, you only have so
much control over the process.

I did have
control over the movie in theaters, I can tell you that it represents what we
always intended – a movie that relies on more than just gore for scares.

Is the
door left open for a “Cry Wolf 2”? And if feasible would you be interested
in helming the sequel?

If you are
talking about the kind of sequel that just drops the villain in the middle of a
new cast or tries to string out a narrative based on an ambiguous ending (insert
“hand popping out of the grave” joke), the answer is “no.” 
We always intended to deliver a completely satisfying conclusion, and I
think we pulled it off… but you’ll have to be the judge.

If you
mean some kind of revisionist sequel that evolves and elevates the original
concept, like ALIENS or T2, then the answer is “sure, I’d totally be game
for directing a sequel.” But only if James Cameron Doesn’t want the job.

"What’s
your take on the AMAZING SUCCESS of "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" over
the past weekend”?

No one can
say that the horror craze is over.  If
anything, it validates why we made this movie – audiences want films that work
on both a visceral and intellectual level.

How
important do you think the Internet is in marketing a film like Cry Wolf these
days?"

Vital. 
We made our movie for movie fans, and that’s the best way to reach
them.  I can’t tell you how cool it
is that I get random IM’s from people who’ve put me on their buddy list
because they got my AIM ID from my blog.  And
then when I sign on to play the game (www.crywolfgame.com),
they recognize me and vote me off immediately. 
Okay, that last part kind of sucks… I would probably get to play longer
if I came up with something more creative than “wadlowwolf.”

Your
“killer lions” screenplay “PREY” (which you wrote with Beau Bauman and
Darrell Roodt) is presently in production; how much input do you have in the
film at this point if any?

As I
mentioned above, one of my favorite movies (and Beau’s) is JAWS, so when we
read Darrell Roodt’s first draft of PREY we got really excited. 
Darrell is an Academy Award nominated filmmaker, and his affection for
South Africa is not dissimilar from my feelings for Virginia (where we shot CRY
WOLF and I was born and raised), so we hit if off immediately.

He was
getting ready to shoot the film, and needed some fresh eyes for the script. 
Beau and I were more than happy to take off our “production hats,”
and be purely creative.  By batting
the screenplay back and forth with Darrell, I think we were able to hone a truly
terrifying screenplay.

Although I
love the final script, we wrote some really difficult and dangerous scenes that
involve real lions, so I am quite happy to say we’ve had absolutely nothing to
do with the production.  Come to
think of it, I haven’t heard from Darrell in weeks… we should probably make
sure he’s okay…

How is
it looking thus far? Anything you wish to share with us about the picture?

Just that
I am incredibly grateful for all the help we’ve received. 
Although I won the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival, CRY WOLF could
not have been made without the extreme generosity of our supporters. 
I will never forget how fortunate I’ve been, and hope I have the
opportunity to return the favor in spades.

In fact,
we’ve already begun that process.  If
anyone reading this lives in the South East, Beau and I will be hosting the
second annual Adrenaline Project, which is a 72 hour short film workshop where
participants are mentored through writing, shooting, and editing a short film
that is screened at the Virginia Film Festival for an audience of hundreds.
You can get all the info. at www.vafilm.com
at the end of the month.

What’s
next on your plate as a director?

I’d love
to keep making smart and fun movies.  We’ve
got a bunch of ideas brewing, but a lot will be determined by how well CRY WOLF
does.

What
was the first drink that you consumed at the “Cry Wolf” wrap party?

I was too
tired that night to remember. And by
“tired” I mean “drunk.”

What
are the three words or sentences you hope audience members will utter when
leaving Cry Wolf?

Very cool
ending.

I’d like to thank Jeff for
popping by the site and wish him the best with Cry Wolf. I’m going to check it
out this weekend. Let’s see if it’s something to cry about!

Check
out the OFFICIAL CRY_WOLF WEBSITE here