Gratuitous Violence,
The Establishing Shot Exclusive! Never before read Interview with Rutger Hauer about Hobo With A Shotgun
In an effort to get back to the high standard of content on The Establishing Shot I took some time off and I am now refocusing to ensure that you get just the triple filtered good stuff. But every time I try to get out they pull me back in, so instead here are some exclusive bits from the grindhouse trashtastic HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN.Why are you reading this I hear you ask? Well for one thing HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN's humble beginning is the stuff of Hollywood dreams, my favourite Dutch lunatic actor Mr. Rutger Hauer is in it and the general buzz is that HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is a lot of fun. Also HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is being released in the UK this Friday, 15 July, 2011.
You would be forgiven for thinking that HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is a sequel or at least a response to 2009s Trash Humpers. I know the majority of those that saw Trash Humpers was wishing that either Rutger Hauer or a HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN would storm into film and end it early.
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN started off as a spoof grindhouse trailer for a competition held by Robert Rodriguez in 2007. The winning trailer was to be featured in the Quentin Tarantino / Robert Rodriguez Grindhouse Death Proof / Planet Terror Double Bill along with spoof trailers from Eli Roth, Edgar Wright, Rob Zombie and Robert Rodriguez (whose spoof trailer MACHETE was the first film to be turned into a full length feature). Pretty soon HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN became an internet meme which lead to its inception as full length film. Congratulations to Director Jason Eisener and more power to the independents. HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN had it's UK premiere in London last Friday (my invites must have been lost in the post) and is on general release in the UK from this Friday.
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN
When an ageing Hobo (Rutger Hauer) jumps from a freight car in a new city hoping for a fresh start in life, he soon realizes he has well and truly reached the end of the line. He finds himself trapped in an urban hell, an anarchic world overrun by murderers, rapists, paedophiles, petty crooks, prostitutes and corrupt cops. Reigning supreme over them all is the city’s crime boss, Drake (Brian Downey), and his two insanely sadistic sons, Slick (Gregory Smith) and Ivan (Nick Bateman).
All the Hobo wants is to be able to afford to buy a second-hand lawn mower from the local pawnshop, start his own small business and make the city a more beautiful place. But a run-in with Slick and Ivan while trying to rescue pretty hooker-in-distress Abby (Molly Dunsworth) changes all that. Pushed beyond his limits, he decides to arm himself and go about changing things in an entirely different way to mowing lawns.
Below is a HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN video interview with Rutger Hauer and Jason Eisener.
And here is the never before read interview with Rutger Hauer.
The reaction to Hobo With A Shotgun has been nothing short of phenomenal – and rightly so.
Rutger Hauer: I’m pleasantly shocked at how well the film’s been received, because I really didn’t see that coming. I knew that there was quite a following, but the fact that part of the [movie] establishment also came on board and were so friendly, rather than being upset and pissed off, is great. I guess the film is very clear about what it promises to tell you.
You know, not since the first test screening of The Hitcher in 1985 have I seen [one of my movies] get such a great audience reaction as Hobo’ has. It’s the only time that I’ve experienced watching a film with an audience where they know exactly what it is, and what you’re doing, and they know how to appreciate it – it was lovely.
Q: Hobo With A Shotgun doesn't seem like a project that many established actors would voluntarily sign on to. How did you get involved with it, and what attracted you to the project?
Rutger Hauer: I’d say that about one third of my work involves projects I think I should gamble with, and the more I do them, the more pleasure I get out of them, because you discover things. The script [for Hobo With A Shotgun] was a bit loud and flat, so I wasn't sure if there was more to tell, or if maybe I hadn’t read it correctly. But once I connected with the director [Jason Eisener] on Skype for an hour – I was shooting a film in Cape Town [South Africa] and he was in Halifax [USA] – I knew I had to work with him because it would be fun. Going into it, I felt like I was making a dirty, naughty film, with no holding back: I understood what the game was and I enjoyed it.
The first thing in our discussion was that we needed to try and layer the characters so we could add more depth to them.
Q. So you did have input into the Hobo character and the script?
Rutger Hauer: Yeah. Jason [Eisener] had very specific ideas about the character, because the whole story was based on Dave Brunt, who is a real person walking around in Halifax with his own story – he was the inspiration. Jason wanted me to hang on to that, so my task was to see if I could bring the real character into my movie character. So I studied Dave. He was there [on set] most of the time, and he was very supportive of me playing him. He was very proud that I was pretending to be him.
Q: What is Dave Brunt’s story?
Rutger Hauer: He’s a damaged person basically, because he was disabled when a truck drove into him. He settled for a couple of thousand dollars or something, but a big part of his life was ruined. So he became somewhat of an outcast I would think; but he’s also a very pure character who loves nature and knows all about any wild animal you can think of.
Q: The movie is extremely violent, but also totally over-the-top ridiculous. Did you have trouble playing it ‘straight’?
Rutger Hauer: Jason felt that I shouldn’t play it for jokes; that I should be deadly serious and try and deal with the simplicity of his [the Hobo’s] own mind, his sense of pride and honour and purpose. My task was to be deadly serious, because Dave [Brunt] is also very serious about this stuff: you can’t fool around with honour and pride, and sensibility.
Q: Because things get so crazy, did you find it hard keeping a straight face during the really insane scenes?
Rutger Hauer: Every scene became such an over-the-top soap opera that it was a pure joy to see how everything developed into such ridiculous, crazy stuff – but of course it was my job to stay in character. Naturally though, after Jason said ‘cut’ you would piss yourself, because of all that had happened during the scene. It’s hard, sure, but I had a lot of fun shooting this movie because it was so wild, so creative, and everyone involved has a love for making movies.
Q: You’ve played some very extreme characters during your career. But were there ever moments while filming particularly insane scenes in Hobo’ when you actually questioned if it was too crazy even for you?
Rutger Hauer: Not really. I just thought that I had to pick my own moments of craziness, so it doesn’t repeat itself, so that it becomes part of the acceleration of shit, so to speak. In a story, you can only burn and kill so many people before it gets boring – you have to be creative. I think that’s what the audience was expecting also. We had to make a movie out of the original trailer and top it, because the expectations were so very high.
Head over to http://www.cult-labs.com/hobo/ for all the latest Hobo With A Shotgun news and screening information as well as information about a rather cool Hobo With A Shotgun competition they are holding.
Director: Jason Eisener
Stars: Rutger Hauer, Pasha Ebrahimi and Robb Wells
Exclusive! Never before read Interview with Rutger Hauer about Hobo With A Shotgun
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