Casting The Crazies

The Crazies hits cinema screen this week and is a remake of the 1973 movie of the same name. Directed by Breck Eisner the film brings together Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell andJoe Anderson.

The four central characters in The Crazies form a tight-knit alliance in order to survive. The filmmakers knew that during the often grueling shoot, the performers playing them would need to develop a similar kind of camaraderie, and kept that in mind as they assembled the cast.

"The first character we cast was David Dutton," Eisner recalls. "Throughout the whole process the one guy I always wanted was Tim Olyphant. We had lists upon lists and Tim was always at the top. So we sent the script to him and he responded. It’s pretty rare and lucky that the guy you want, who is at the top of your list, is the guy who wants to do the movie."

"Tim has a sort of Gary Cooper-Everyman quality about him that is perfect for this character," says producer Rob Cowan. "He’s just a simple guy who’s trying to raise a family and live up to his father’s expectations, a small town sheriff who gets thrown into this extraordinary circumstance."

Eisner agrees: "Tim is a movie star and he has that aura about him. But he also feels like a regular human being; he has a realness about him, an honesty and intelligence that was perfect for the role."

For Olyphant, the quality of the screenplay was paramount. "The script was fantastic," he says.

"It was entertaining from the first minute. First I thought, ‘Oh, this is fun,’ and then it stayed with me for days. And I loved the title. If you watch the trailer for the original, they keep repeating it: ‘The Crazies! The Crazies!’ I just love that title."

Olyphant admits that he loves a good fright fest. "I remember as a kid wanting to see them and being told I was too young. That right there makes them fantastic. I remember my brother describing movies to me shot by shot, scene by scene, frame by frame and he’d have never seen the film!"

Working with Eisner was an extremely collaborative experience, recalls Olyphant. He says their ongoing discussions revealed as much about the character as the original source material did.

"We had this great back and forth that started even before the shoot," Olyphant says. "We had phone and email conversations. I would meet him in his office and we’d go over the script.

"We talked endlessly. The more we talked, the more interesting the character became, and the more interested I became."

The exchange of ideas continued during shooting. "For Breck, the script was a guide," says Olyphant. "Everything was still open. He allowed me to participate, and that meant a great deal to me."

One of the concerns Olyphant expressed to Eisner was about the relationship between David and his wife, Judy. "I remember saying to Breck, ‘I don’t know about you, but that’s not my marriage.’ Marriage is tricky. Marriage is complicated. I wanted to see the fragility of it. If you start with a relationship that seems unsure and then you throw all these other things at them, it either does them in or ends up bringing them together."

The characters and their relationships are central to the film, says Olyphant. "We have found great characters that are very real and I’m hoping that it elevates beyond what you often see in this genre. It starts with an interesting and very real relationship between a man and his wife and it extends to all of the other relationships in the film.

"There’s a real back and forth there between the sheriff and his deputy, Russell, and between Judy and Becca, the young woman who works for her."

Radha Mitchell plays Dr. Judy Dutton, the sheriff’s wife. "We were looking for somebody for the role of Judy who had a down-to-earth quality but still had the special spark that Radha has," says Cowan. "Radha liked that Judy was not just the girlfriend, and not just the wife. She’s a doctor, as well, with her own story arc."

"I’m a big fan of Radha," says Eisner. "She’s done some amazing work and it was such a pleasure to have her in this movie. She brings an intensity to the role as her character is forced to fight for her life, desperately trying to survive. She brings a raw and visceral emotion to her work which is fascinating to watch."

As a small town physician, Judy has an intimate relationship with many of the townspeople. "She’s delivered their babies," says Mitchell. "She’s seen them in extremely personal situations. It shocks and mortifies her to see what they turn into. But by the time my husband and I figure out that there’s something in the water supply, the military drags us off to a camp where David and I are separated."

That Judy is pregnant with her first child only raises the stakes, says Mitchell. "She’s got another life inside of her and that’s a strong motivation to get through this."

The role called for a very physical performance from Mitchell, partly because of what she refers to as the 'minimalism' of the script. "You feel and react to most of what’s going on, but there are really no words for it," she says.

"The physical aspect of that was especially interesting and fun. I’m in some really bizarre scenes, scenes unlike anything I’ve seen before and that’s always exciting to be a part of."

Mitchell, who has appeared in her share of thrillers, says she finds the intensity of the experience cathartic. "You get to express a lot of things you wouldn’t in your real life," she says. "I don’t get to scream in my real life, but I do in these movies. I’ve done a lot of screaming in this one!"

And she can scream, according to others on the set. "Radha screams like nobody’s business," says Olyphant. "They got lucky with how well that woman can scream. On movie sets, when there’s going to be gunfire, everybody gets little earplugs. They also do it when Radha screams. It’s awesome."

Cowan concurs with Olyphant’s observation. "Radha is great in a scary scene. She really knows how to fight and scream, and it’s helped send the fear level soaring."

The first horror movie Mitchell remembers seeing is The Hunger. "David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve are vampires," she says. "It’s just a scary, scary movie and I was way too young to see it, so it stayed in my mind. Some movies are so intense that they leave this imprint. You really feel like you’re in the movies."

For the role of Russell, the Sheriff’s deputy, the filmmakers needed an 'everyday guy,' says Cowan someone who was charming and fun, but who could handle the weight of the role. "He goes from a regular guy to someone with huge moral decisions to make. I’ve always thought Russell is the best role in the movie."

"I was not extremely familiar with Joe Anderson’s work prior to his audition," says Eisner. "But when he came in and auditioned, we immediately realized that this was our guy. I think we auditioned somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 actors for this role, but every time we saw somebody, no matter how good, we always came back to Joe."

Russell Clank is an ambitious young man who would like to succeed David as sheriff someday. His courage and tenacity are tested during the story. "I think his arc is probably one of the biggest in the movie," says Anderson. "It’s an adult role with an element of danger. The story is a rite of passage for him and he has a chance to become a man by the end of it.

"Playing a character who goes through the kind of transformations Russell has to during the course of the movie is great to play," he continues. "It gives you a lot to work with. There was so much on the page for Russell that it all started flooding into my brain. I suddenly saw the complete picture that I wanted to draw, so to speak."

Anderson found the variety of work methods Eisner employed inspiring. "Breck is very strong-minded," says the actor. "He knows exactly what he wants and how he wants to get there. Some days we used storyboards and had shot lists. Other days, it would be looser.

"It was interesting to work with someone who could be being absolutely rigid on some things, and improvisational on other things."

Anderson’s introduction to the horror genre was A Nightmare on Elm Street. "I must have been eight or nine," he says. "My dad was freaking me out and flicking his fingers out and saying he was Freddy Krueger. I remember endless nightmares, but it was fun.

"There is plenty of spectacle on our film," Anderson says. "We have helicopters and guns going off. I have to say, I kind of got angry when they brought in the stuntmen. I’m a big kid, so I’ve been waiting years to play a cop in a movie and to have something as juicy as this to play with. I jumped at any action I could get."

But the real fun was working with his fellow actors to develop the solidarity the characters need to survive together. "We had to find nuances that tell the audience how well we know each other, how the town is set up and what these relationships are," he says. "I really appreciated how careful Breck and the team were to keep those nuances in play."

Anderson and Olyphant recently starred together in the film High Life. "Joe’s fantastic," says Olyphant. "He’s fully committed. Because we worked together before, we already had a nice shorthand when we got here."

Danielle Panabaker plays Becca, Judy Dutton’s 17-year-old office assistant. "Becca was originally a very small role," says Cowan. "Danielle Panabaker is charming and beautiful and talented. She’s very young, but still has a maturity about her. When her name came up, we decided to flesh out the role because of how good she is.

"Danielle is a young, talented, passionate actress," says Eisner. "She had to go through some pretty intense scenes in the film reacting to her family being killed and her boyfriend being shot right in front of her, to name just a few of the more terrifying moments.

"It is a really demanding role for an actor but Danielle never once hesitated. She was just excited to be there. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of Danielle in the future."

Panabaker describes her character as a typical high school student who works part-time in a doctor’s office until she gets caught up in a terrifying ordeal. "What I love about the script is that it goes to people’s darkest places," she says. "Part of the disease is that your fears and deepest resentments come out, and you start killing other people. There’s no way to know what the disease is going to cause people to do.

"Everybody’s inner demons emerge," she continues. "The high school principal goes after the kids because, deep down, he really hates them. After I read the script, I wondered what would be my darkest place and I think the audience will, too. It’s really dark and exciting."

Comparing The Crazies with more conventional horror films, Panabaker observes, "With Jason in Friday the 13th, you know what you’re running from a big guy who’s out to kill you. With a disease like this, you don’t really know what’s coming.

"There’s this huge fear of the unknown. Who’s coming after you and what are they going to do if they catch you? There are definitely some gruesome, gory deaths, but there are also some really scary, intense moments and some awesome action sequences."

Panabaker admits that she is afraid of most horror movies. "I’m actually a big scaredy-cat," she says. "Bambi gave me nightmares as a child. But in doing my research, I saw Disturbia and the original Friday the 13th. I’m really coming to appreciate the genre and all the work that goes into creating a really scary movie.

"Audiences really respond to this sort of suspended reality. And as an actor, there are great places to go in this genre. You get to experience so many different emotions."

During filming, fear of the swine flu pandemic originating in Mexico swept through the United States. "It really showed how relevant and scary this concept is," says Panabaker. "It’s important to me to make films that have some resonance and stay with the audience.

"This stayed with me and left me thinking. I think audiences will go to this movie and really enjoy it and have a great time, but they’ll also still be thinking about it and about what would happen if this were their town."

The Crazies is released 26the February.

The Crazies hits cinema screen this week and is a remake of the 1973 movie of the same name. Directed by Breck Eisner the film brings together Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell andJoe Anderson.

The four central characters in The Crazies form a tight-knit alliance in order to survive. The filmmakers knew that during the often grueling shoot, the performers playing them would need to develop a similar kind of camaraderie, and kept that in mind as they assembled the cast.

"The first character we cast was David Dutton," Eisner recalls. "Throughout the whole process the one guy I always wanted was Tim Olyphant. We had lists upon lists and Tim was always at the top. So we sent the script to him and he responded. It’s pretty rare and lucky that the guy you want, who is at the top of your list, is the guy who wants to do the movie."

"Tim has a sort of Gary Cooper-Everyman quality about him that is perfect for this character," says producer Rob Cowan. "He’s just a simple guy who’s trying to raise a family and live up to his father’s expectations, a small town sheriff who gets thrown into this extraordinary circumstance."

Eisner agrees: "Tim is a movie star and he has that aura about him. But he also feels like a regular human being; he has a realness about him, an honesty and intelligence that was perfect for the role."

For Olyphant, the quality of the screenplay was paramount. "The script was fantastic," he says.

"It was entertaining from the first minute. First I thought, ‘Oh, this is fun,’ and then it stayed with me for days. And I loved the title. If you watch the trailer for the original, they keep repeating it: ‘The Crazies! The Crazies!’ I just love that title."

Olyphant admits that he loves a good fright fest. "I remember as a kid wanting to see them and being told I was too young. That right there makes them fantastic. I remember my brother describing movies to me shot by shot, scene by scene, frame by frame and he’d have never seen the film!"

Working with Eisner was an extremely collaborative experience, recalls Olyphant. He says their ongoing discussions revealed as much about the character as the original source material did.

"We had this great back and forth that started even before the shoot," Olyphant says. "We had phone and email conversations. I would meet him in his office and we’d go over the script.

"We talked endlessly. The more we talked, the more interesting the character became, and the more interested I became."

The exchange of ideas continued during shooting. "For Breck, the script was a guide," says Olyphant. "Everything was still open. He allowed me to participate, and that meant a great deal to me."

One of the concerns Olyphant expressed to Eisner was about the relationship between David and his wife, Judy. "I remember saying to Breck, ‘I don’t know about you, but that’s not my marriage.’ Marriage is tricky. Marriage is complicated. I wanted to see the fragility of it. If you start with a relationship that seems unsure and then you throw all these other things at them, it either does them in or ends up bringing them together."

The characters and their relationships are central to the film, says Olyphant. "We have found great characters that are very real and I’m hoping that it elevates beyond what you often see in this genre. It starts with an interesting and very real relationship between a man and his wife and it extends to all of the other relationships in the film.

"There’s a real back and forth there between the sheriff and his deputy, Russell, and between Judy and Becca, the young woman who works for her."

Radha Mitchell plays Dr. Judy Dutton, the sheriff’s wife. "We were looking for somebody for the role of Judy who had a down-to-earth quality but still had the special spark that Radha has," says Cowan. "Radha liked that Judy was not just the girlfriend, and not just the wife. She’s a doctor, as well, with her own story arc."

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