By Samuel Elliott
Over a decade ago, Melbourne filmmaker James Wan catapulted to the forefront of horror cinema with his debut feature, Saw. The gore-soaked film that harkened back to the video-nasty era was considered so shocking, and graphic, it helped shape the suitably ominous term “torture porn” and was such a box office smash that it spawned seven sequels, charted by Wan’s lessening involvement and the diminishing quality of each instalment.
Wan’s herculean feat of making such a uniformly-successful film definitively proved that Australians had both the vision and the talent to make superlative horror films. Despite this, few Aussie directors thereafter have been afforded the same opportunity to prove they have what it takes to make a damn fine one. Zak Hilditch is one of the few that is steadfastly rising to similar heights within the U.S. biz, gaining the notice and respect of the powers that be through his break-out feature These Final Hours, an apocalyptic film centred on the titular dwindling time remaining before Earth, albeit our Aussie corner of the world, is engulfed in an exorable conflagration. Hilditch followed that up with 1922, an adaption of a Stephen King novella (same title) from his Full Dark, No Stars collection.
Hilditch first explains how he came by the project.
“Well, I have always been a huge fan of Steve King,” he says. “And during the trying time of me and my producer seeking funding for These Final Hours, I got my hands on a copy of Full Dark, No Stars. The very first story of the collection is 1922. I remember thinking ‘Wow, Frank Darabont is going to do such a good job of that’.”
Darabont would indeed seem the likely candidate for the directorial role, given he has adapted several King classics before, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist.
The tough period of acquiring funding passed, culminating in These Final Hours being made, wrapped up and sent off into the world, including being one of those chosen for the Director’s Selection at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The response was resoundingly glowing and lastingly so, even Stephen King gave love to the movie through Twitter to his millions of followers.
With the promotional duties for These Final Hours complete, Hilditch focused his energies on the King story that had left such an indelible impression. He asked around through the proper channels and was shocked to discover that neither Frank Darabont, nor anyone else for that matter, had yet purchased the film adaption rights for 1922. So, he put in a bid, spun the spokes, consulted the cinematic oracles, and that was that.
Hilditch expands on what originally made him take the leap and adapt a story by one of the best-selling authors of all time. He found that it was in his resonating with King’s ability to create characters that can be wholly unlikable with very few redeemable qualities, yet you understand them, and occasionally even empathise with their wretched [self-made] plight. “That was the character of Wilford “Wilf” James in 1922, where you go from loving, and hating him in each and every page. But you can always understand from their head space and it’s always an interesting ride, taking you into a character’s mind where you wouldn’t necessarily go.”
Having a great love for King’s work would seem both necessary and conducive to making a faithful adaption of any of the iconic horror-master’s colossal list of works. But even a self-confessed King fanatic would occasionally be struck with moments of severe self-doubt, due in no small part to the author having one of the largest readerships of any of his ilk, living or dead, an immense and immensely vocal following that can be particularly fickle or irksome when it comes to appreciating the adaptions made – just look at the demolition job they did on (admittedly pedestrian) The Dark Tower, supposedly the first of a franchise, now banished to the barren plains of production hell, likely never to return.
Hilditch reveals how he quashed any such jitters whenever they arose.
“I totally got those feelings from time to time. This was my first adaption, I’ve never done one before, so to do a King adaption was a huge enterprise. You are constantly reminded throughout making it – this is a Steve King story, you don’t want to fuck it up. I just kept faith in what I was doing, and I had an awesome, like-minded team working with me.”
Having become an authority on storytelling over the decades, Stephen King’s name is rightfully synonymous with modern horror, which means his presence is widely-felt and potentially intimidating, probably even still to long-time collaborator, Frank Darabont.
So far, Hilditch has stuck by the simple (yet underrated) adage – never meet your idols.
“Yeah, I’ve never met Steve King, I’ve never had a conversation with him, but every step of the way in social media, he has been championing this movie. He’s been so supportive of it, but very much in the background.”
In a delightful coincidence, released almost at the exact same time as 1922 was another King adaption, Mike Flanagan’s Gerald’s Game, which was also a Netflix exclusive. Fortunately, it was a sense of comradery, not competitiveness, felt between the two camps and they even got the opportunity to extend their praise to one another when they met at Fantastic Fest, the genre film festival held annually in Austin, TX.
“That was a bit strange, to be honest,” Hilditch confides with a chuckle. “It was sort of like we did an unofficial grindhouse with two King films coming out at the same time. I was a huge fan of Gerald’s Game and I thought that they did an absolutely awesome job of that, especially the skin glove scene. Man, I loved that.”
Despite being in the director’s chair for a potentially daunting adaption, Hilditch found that he was allowed virtually free reign over his vision. “Netflix was incredibly hands off during the entire process. Every step of the way they were supportive, they just green-lit it and let us go. Thank god they exist, because they are giving voices and grants to odd, obscure films like this to get made.”
Even provided with such artistic liberty, it must’ve been an adjustment from directing a doomsday movie set within Australia, to telling such a patently American gothic tale. Hilditch reveals that, aside from the superficial differences, such as the shift in setting and era, many of the themes explored in These Final Hours carried across right into 1922.
“In many ways, the movie is about isolation, so you get that sense over here too. With some of my favourite Australian films, it’s about the isolation in the landscape. When I first read 1922, it was so cinematic, and so vivid, that I just really connected with the idea of this man, and his land, and the horrible decision he makes to keep his piece of the American dream.”
This idea was the catalyst for Hilditch to make the movie, but one that was not actually shot in the U.S. due to budgetary limitations; instead, the idyllic and versatile Canada stood in for the boundless cornfields of desolated Nebraska. Hilditch devoured any and all pieces of American history he could find in order to ensure the production reached that authenticity of the era. “I just immersed myself in as many photographs, and books, from back then as I could, so that I could use that to launch my take on King’s story.
“We had two extra hours per day to shoot thanks to the amount of daylight Canada gets,” Hilditch continues about the benefits of the Canuck shoot. “But it’s a 25-day shoot, for 5 weeks, so you never have enough time and money. Still, we had an amazing production team that really, really transported 2016 Vancouver into 1920 Nebraska.”
1922 is an audacious project that wouldn’t have been made without Netflix due to its dark subject matter and (arguably) niche story. It seems that streaming sites truly are the way of the future in both financing emerging filmmakers and providing them a platform through which their unique projects can be seen and appreciated by the masses.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Hilditch says. “It’s giving opportunities and a voice to films that just aren’t getting made and aren’t getting shown in cinemas anymore, and I think that you will see a lot more like this.”
While These Final Hours and 1922 are both classifiable as horror, Hilditch does not identify as solely a horror filmmaker. He rejects such a clear-cut label, preferring to not be pigeonholed as a genre director, but as one who makes movies because they explore themes and concepts that interest him.
“I just like telling stories that really get inside the mind of a character. I like ordinary people getting caught in extraordinary, gritty situations, ones that force people into making hard, hard choices. Those are the films I enjoy watching, and those are the films that I enjoy making.”
He gives a brief list of some of his influences, many found during his film school days and even before that. “Stanley Kubrick and Michael Haneke and Paul Thomas Anderson, but really anyone who makes great cinema, I am a big fan of.”
Touching on his antipodean origins, Hilditch considers the state of affairs of our film industry, and if it is faring better now than it has previously, particularly in terms of looking after its own. “Yeah, well, I mean it took care of me, in the These Final Hours, they’ve only nurtured me all the way through the process. In 1922 we did the VFX here in Perth, so every step of the way they’ve been very, very kind to me. The Australian film industry, and Screen Australia, are very much the reason I’ve got a fighting chance in this crazy, crazy industry. So, in my experience, the industry here is great at helping budding talent.”
Hilditch lastly reveals that he is currently in pre-production on his next film, and that it is both set in, and filming in, Australia and is currently going by the working-title Celestial Blue. “It’s like the spiritual successor of These Final Hours, so this will explore a pandemic and examine the human condition. I’m just developing the script at the moment and we’ve got the same producer on board for that. So that’s coming along nicely. Hopefully shooting next year if all the planets align.”
Stay tuned for more news on that. In the interim, 1922 is available on Netflix, so get watching!
Samuel Elliott is a Sydney-based reviewer and writer. For more of his upcoming work, including excerpts of his upcoming novel, like the page.
