Ed Gass-Donnelly
Ed Gass-Donnelly is back in the director’s chair this week as he helms The Last Exorcism Part II - taking over the helm from Daniel Stamm.
We caught up with the filmmaker to chat about the movie, the development of the central character of Nell and what lies ahead.
- The Last Exorcism Part II is set for release here in the UK this week so can you tell me a little bit about the movie?
It takes places several weeks after where the first film left off and, unlike the first; this is not a found footage film. At the end of the first film - I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it - the camera crew die and so there was no reason to justify it still being a found footage film.
Now it is a regular dramatic film that follows Nell as she is found feral in the woods. She is put into a half way house where she starts to get her bearings and find what is to be a young girl out in the middle of the world.
Slowly over the course of the film she is experimenting and finding… having had a religious upbringing now she is in New Orleans wearing what she wants and listening to what music she wants and meet boys. So there is this budding sexuality that gives way to the devil.
- You have taken over the director’s chair in this film and penned the screenplay so where did this movie start for you? And how did you get involved with this project?
The producers had seen my prior movie Small Town Murder Songs and were fans of it. Just before I had a meeting with them, quite by coincidence, I had seen the first film and was a fan of it.
I try and do different things and I try not to repeat myself, but I also like the idea of doing things that are scary for me personally. The idea of doing a horror movie was both scary and interesting to me because it is not the genre that I usually work in.
We just had a meeting and hit it off and just talked generically about how great it would be work together in the future.
Six months later I get a call from one of them out of the blue and she was like ‘who hypothetically feel about directing the sequel to The Last Exorcism?’ And I was like ‘hypothetically, maybe’. They had given my movie to Eli Roth and he had really liked it.
I was quite cautious because I thought ‘if I am going to do it then I want to do it this way’ and they were completely open to my ideas. To be honest it was one of those things where it just happened.
Normally you have really fight to land a job but they liked me, I liked them and I had an idea that I liked and it just happened from there.
- The film picks up where the first one left off so what was it about the central character of Nell that you wanted to explore further?
I think she is so fascinating. The challenge and exciting thing is in the first movie she is really a supporting character and so we don’t really know that much about her. She is a bit of an enigma.
Everything that you see in that film you are left asking ‘is that actually Nell? Or is that the demon tricking us?’ So there is a lot of her personality that is a mystery to us.
There is a sense of complete passion, excitement and openness and love but at the same time she is so completely sheltered and so it was exciting to take that person out of her comfort zone and put her in New Orleans and see how this person adapts.
For me it is almost like a coming of age story as it is about a girl finding her own voice and her own sexuality. The demon take over her is almost like a metaphor of this kid taking hold of who she is.
- Ashley Bell is back as Nell so how did you find working with her? And what sort of input did she have when developing this character further?
I feel like the producer perfectly planned this because after I had first met with them I had mentioned that I was a big fan of Ashley’s and she was ‘you should totally meet up and have lunch’. They gave Ashley my movie, this was months before there was any talk of a sequel, and she was a fan of the film.
We had hung out a few times and so there was already a strong sense of creative trust and respect. As I was writing I would send her stuff and she would respond and be really enthusiastic.
She just really wanted to go back into those shoes and nail it. She was completely invested and so committed to the role.
She is in practically in every scene of the movie and so there were just crazy long shooting days for her but she was committed to doing her best and really push her craft. I think she is really extraordinary as a performer.
- I as talking to Ashley yesterday and she was talking about doing all of her own stunts in the film so how much was that something you encouraged? And what are the benefits of seeing your lead actor throw themselves in in that way?
Her physicality was such an iconic element of the first film - her being bent over backwards was one of the most memorable moments.
I didn’t want to retread that and have more back-bending because it is her signature, so I tried to come up with a sequence in which you could nod back to that without replicating it. There is one particular floating sexualised dream she is having where she is bent into an incredible shape.
What people found so amazing in the first film is that that was actually her; the story is she went into audition for the role and towards the end she was like ‘there is one other thing that I can do’ and showed them this amazing backbend.
She was physically very capable of doing all of these stunts but it also adds a lot of authenticity when you can film the person from any angle you want.
Because of a complicated camera move we had to do this particular scene over and over again and we had to have a masseuse on set and she was still quit sore the next day.
So there is a little bit of danger because if your lead actress was to get hurt you can’t film anything else. We were very cautious but it worked out just fine for us.
- As I said earlier you penned the screenplay so how did the script evolve from the initial idea you had for the film and what we see on the big screen?
The initial idea was a bit gorier and straight ahead - that is not really my thing. I was much more interested in making a film about an introspective character journey about this girl discovering who she is. At the same time I had to balance that with genre scares.
For me it was always about trying to elevate it or create interesting and thematic ideas that I felt like… it is tricky with a genre like possession as there have been so many movies like that.
I am more interested in going on an internal and introspective journey and have a social commentary or a deeper character piece.
- Eli Roth is also serving as producer once again so how did you find working with him - horror is the genre that he has worked extensively over the years?
Initially there was a bit of nervousness on my part because I did wonder what it would be like to work with him.
But he was so nice and so completely supportive, respectful and helpful and would have great ideas. He let me make… he was never ever like ’I know best’ so it was a very positive experience.
I had never met him before hand - I didn’t meet him until I had agreed to do the movie - but it really did work out great.
He was really passionate guy with an extensive horror knowledge. I would come up with an idea and he would be like ’be careful because that was done in this 1984 film’ so it was good that something that might have seemed exciting and fresh to me might have already been done.
- Finally what is next for you?
I am not sure with of my projects is going to go next. There is a political/kidnapping thriller that I am doing; that could shoot in the fall.
The other one is a supernatural thriller with Michael De Luc called Lavender. They are both set to film in the Fall so we will see which one happens first.
The Last Exorcism Part II is released 7th June.