Exclusive Interview with Renny Harlin: Director of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 4’, ‘Deep Blue Sea’ and his latest, ‘Devil’s Pass’!

Renny Harlin is an A-List director who’s been working in the industry for over three decades.   He was born in Finland and came to the U.S. in the early 80’s to work in the film business.   Halloween producer Irwin Yablans offered Harlin the directing job on his film Prison (1988).  In the same year, he was offered a job at New Line Cinema to direct A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), which went on to be the highest grossing film in the series.  From the success of Nightmare 4, he went on to direct such films as The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and Die Hard 2 (1990).   He then made Cliffhanger (1993) with Sylvester Stallone which was a commercial success as well.

He continued on with action films such as the pirate adventure Cutthroat Island (1995) and then The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996).  Although he was well known for his big action films, he was no stranger to the horror genre, also making such horror films as Deep Blue Sea (1999), Mindhunters (2004), Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), The Covenant (2006) and his latest, Devil’s Pass (2013).

For those unfamiliar with the story, Devil’s Pass is based on the real life Dylatov Pass Incident which occurred in the Ural Mountains of Russia in 1959 where nine ski hikers went into the mountains and were all found dead two weeks later of mysterious circumstances.  Over the years, there has been much speculation and wild theories as to what really happened to the nine hikers.  Russian investigators simply determined that a “compelling natural force” had caused their deaths.   Due to the lack of witnesses, the truth may never be known.

Investigators at the time determined that the hikers tore open their tent from within, departing barefoot into heavy snow and a temperature of −30 °C (−22 °F). Although the corpses showed no signs of struggle, two victims had fractured skulls, two had broken ribs, and one was missing her tongue.   Speculation ranged from aliens, yetis, government conspiracies, and local tribesman as to what might have killed the hikers.  Harlin decided the mystery surrounding the incident would make a great found footage horror film that’s rooted in fact.

I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Mr. Harlin about Devil’s Pass and what went into making the film.  So sit down and read on as I chat with Renny about the making of Devil’s Pass!

Devil’s Pass opens in select theaters and will be available on cable VOD, as well as digital platforms (including iTunes and SundanceNow) on August 23rd.

Directed by Renny Harlin, the film stars Holly Gross, Matt Stokoe, Luke Albright, Ryan Hawley, Gemma Atkinson and Richard Reid.

Horror Society:  It’s a pleasure to speak with you today Mr. Harlin; I’ve enjoyed your films immensely over the years.

Renny Harlin: Thank you very much, just call me Renny.

HS:  OK, I will do that.  Renny, Devil’s Pass is your current film that you’ve directed.  What was it about Devil’s Pass that interested you enough to want to direct the film?

RH:  There are two things.  First of all, the mystery of the Dyatlov’s Pass Incident in Russia that took place in 1959.  I had done some research on it, I’ve seen documentaries on it, and I was just intrigued and tried to figure out how to make it into a movie that would be believable to today’s audience.  Then with a screenwriter we came up with the idea of making it into a found footage movie and that became sort of a second challenge for me.  I said “OK, how do I make a found footage movie?” There have been some good ones and bad ones, what’s different about that form of storytelling?  It sort of became an exercise in filmmaking to me as an opportunity to do something very different.

HS:  I just watched Devil’s Pass last night and I thoroughly enjoyed the film and I thought it was a well-made movie, very captivating.

RH:  Oh good, thank you.

HS:  Is directing a found footage film more difficult to direct than a more traditional type of film?

RH:  Yes and No.  It is more difficult because you don’t have the normal tools of the trade that you would use.  Normally you would rehearse a scene maybe for fifteen minutes in the morning then spend five hours shooting the scene; you do your coverage, find your dramatic points, the close-ups of the certain characters and the high angle shot that is creating atmosphere and whatever else you might be doing.

In a found footage movie, it’s the opposite where you might spend five hours rehearsing the scene and fifteen minutes actually shooting because you’re having to shoot it from one point of view, so you’re trying to place it so that the camera will organically move around because the characters will move within their set so we’re not saying it’s one wide shot and that’s it.  You can create the drama between the characters or within the environment and pointing out the important props and things the audience should pay attention to but it’s all done in one shot without editing.  It’s easier because the actual shooting is very fast but it’s harder because you have to figure out so meticulously how to shoot it in order to tell the story and at the same time to make it look real and organic so that the actors acting is realistic and the camera work is invisible.

HS:  For you as the director, what was the biggest challenge of directing Devil’s Pass?  Was it utilizing found footage or maybe the locations?

RH:  Yeah, it was figuring out how to do it with the tools that a found footage move can have.  You have to know how to cast the movie so that you have actors that seem naturalistic and real and are unknown to the audience beforehand and how to make them act believable on set and how to shoot it so that it appears like its being shot by one of the characters.  How to make the crew seem invisible and of course with this particular film, it was the conditions.  We were up in Northern Russia in very cold conditions, 20 feet of snow, locations that were accessible only by snowmobiles or snowcat’s and snow tractors.  Just the physicality was challenging.  I love that challenge but it definitely makes it more complicated than sitting comfortably in a studio.

HS:  Right, definitely.  Did another location stand in for the Ural Mountains or did you actually film there?

RH:  We shot more North.  Our concern was that there was no guarantee late in the winter, early in the spring, that there would be snow in the Ural Mountains, having learned that from my past experiences doing snow movies. So we went very, very high up North in Russia almost by the North Sea so that we knew we would have the snow and the mountains look very similar to the Ural Mountains, so it looked very authentic.

HS:  Very cool.  The locations in the film really added immensely to the look of the film. 

RH:  Thank you.  We really did a lot of research in order to find this place.  It was a small town which was a mining town.  There’s a prison gulag also there, one of the Northern most prisons in Russia made for people who need to go really really far away.  It was a small and dark town surrounded by these mountains.

HS:  Renny, you had a good cast for the film, the five main leads specifically.  Was there anyone you specifically sought out for their role or did you just use the standard casting process for the film?

RH:  It’s a very expensive process because the challenge was to find actors that are good but are unknown so it’s kind of a chicken or the egg problem where if they’ve been seen in a TV show or a movie then the reality goes out the window.  We spent a lot of time casting so sometimes the hardest thing even for good actors is to appear as if you’re not acting and are just a real person.  It was an extensive process and I felt I was able to find real people for all the parts with different looks.  The thing is also that you’re making a movie so there has to be a certain element of attractiveness to the people and so you’re always trying to find people who are real but also nice to look at.

HS:  People know you probably more for your action films, your bigger films, Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger and others but you’re also no stranger to the horror genre.  You’ve previously directed early in your career films like Prison, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Exorcist: The Beginning, Deep Blue Sea and so on.  How does it feel to come back the horror genre again?

RH:  It was like coming home.  I started with a little action in the beginning of my career and then the next one was a horror film.  For me it’s all about being able to make films that have an impact on the audience.  We start with the story and the characters and then the next step is visual and I love trying to make an impact on the audience.  Obviously you can do that with action and horror and I enjoy both.  Maybe the fact that I was introduced to horror and thrillers at a very young age when my Mother would take me to the movies when I was 5,6,7,8 years old and I saw Hitchcock, Polanski and that type of film and I think it had a lasting impact on me.  I like telling stories that can scare the audience.  I enjoy seeing them react to it and I think that’s why people like to go to movies, they want to have strong emotions whether it’s action or screaming because you’re scared.  It’s a safe environment where you can explore those emotions.

HS:  Are you a fan yourself of horror cinema, do you still enjoy watching those films?

RH:  I am though there are people who are fanatics of the slasher movies and one of my friends is like that.  I can’t say that I am somebody who will watch three splatter movies in a row and eat a giant bucket of popcorn.  I enjoy them but I enjoy when they are good, when they are intellectual, when they introduce something new or surprising and interesting.  So, definitely, I’m a fan of the genre but I’m selective in the movies that I like.

HS:  That’s awesome.  As you have mentioned earlier, there have been many found footage films made within the last couple decades or so, some good, some bad.  What makes Devil’s Pass different from some of the other found footage films out there?

RH:  I think the main difference is that we didn’t just make up a story and say like “Oh we are going into this old house and scary stuff will happen”.  I think the big difference is that it is rooted in reality and everything that we talk about down to the minor details did happen for real and we are exploring those details now to motivate characters and recreating those events.  I think that is a big advantage for the audience because they can Google Dyatlov Pass and find all these websites and read about this stuff and get much more deeply involved in it.

HS:  What’s your take on what might have really happened at the real Dyatlov Pass incident?

RH:  Obviously there are so many theories and guesses and a lot of scientists have worked very hard to try to figure it out whether it’s aliens, yeti’s or local tribes or whatever, I guess if I really have to give a theory, I would say some kind of military experiment gone wrong maybe involving nuclear weapons and these people were at the wrong place at the wrong time.  That to me would be the most logical but even that definitely doesn’t explain everything that happened to those people.

HS:  That’s a pretty logical theory; I’d like to think something more ominous might have happened to them but who knows. 

Renny, what’s coming up for you?  What’s ahead?

RH:  Well, I just returned from Bulgaria from shooting Hercules and I am now editing it so that it’s ready for a winter or early spring release.  I couldn’t be more excited and this couldn’t be more different from Devil’s Pass because it’s a big historical, incredible action adventure and incredible love story.  In a way, it’s my childhood dream movie because it takes an epic setting and fantasy setting.  I’ve had free reign in designing this period and is the father of every comic book hero, Hercules.  I’ve been able to tell this story from a unique perspective…a young man’s journey into becoming a grownup and fulfilling your destiny, realizing your place and your purpose in life.  It’s a very exciting project for me and I think it will be a very big movie.

HS:  Very cool, I’ll be looking forward to seeing that movie.  I know we’re out of time Renny, I just wanted to say thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak with me.  I enjoyed watching Devil’s Pass, it’s a very good film and I’ve enjoyed your career over the years and I hope to see many more great films from you.

RH:  You will, thank you Michael, it was very nice to talk to you.

Watch the trailer for Devil’s Pass here: