Robert Kurtzman talks with us at Karlhungus

In a career spanning a quarter of a century Robert Kurtzman has been at the forefront of visual effects before turning his hand to writing and directing. In the past few years he has set up his own production company Precinct 13 which recently released the fantastically outrageous The Rage and is currently in production with a number of films including and adaption of celebrated horror comic Bump.

Whedon: First up thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, it's not often I get to put questions to one of the defining figures of modern cinema.
Your production company is called Precinct 13. Is this in honor of John Carpenter and if so, is it because like Carpenter you don't want to play the studio game?
Robert Kurtzman: Yes it is to honor JC but also because I love the film Assault on Precinct 13 and the spirit it was made in as well as all the other independent films that are made from blood and sweat outside the studio system. But I actually do play the studio game. It’s a necessity if you want to work on Hollywood films, so as independent in spirit that I’d like to be I can never totally turn my back on the Hollywood system.

W: After Buried Alive and The Rage, your latest film To Live and Die appears to be quite a departure from the horror genre. Is this an attempt to escape being pigeonholed as that horror guy?
RK: It is something different for me. I was given an opportunity to do an action / thriller and I felt it would be a good project to show that I can handle more than just horror films. I wasn’t actively seeking something different, I was just trying to work as a director and it came to me because of my prior film Buried Alive. David Greathouse the producer of Buried and I had a great working relationship on the film and when he set up To Live and Die at MGM he thought of me to direct. I love horror but yes it’s very easy to get pigeon holed as only a horror guy.

W: After forming KNB effects with Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger, what prompted your exit after 15 years?
RK: After 20 years in LA, My wife and I had decided to raise our children back east in the same environment we’d grown up in we were burned out on the whole LA thing and our kids were very young and we didn’t want then growing up in the Hollywood hustle and bustle. I also wanted to start a company that did more than just effects. I wanted to concentrate on producing and directing as well as all aspects of filmmaking and so I built P13 from the ground up and began to develop various projects for the company. P13 is a full service production company as well as an FX company.

W: You were responsible for the initial idea for From Dusk Till Dawn. Did you originally intend it as you directional debut or were you hoping to produce?
RK: I created it to direct. It was to be a small million dollar picture but after 10 years of trying to raise funding for the picture I decided to produce when Robert Rodriquez became interested as it was a great chance for the film to be a bigger project and a great project for KNB to showcase our FX work.

W: The promo trailer you directed to raise finance for From Dusk Till Dawn featured Joseph Pilato. Was he cast as Seth Gecko when the film was still going to be shot for a few million?
RK: I had planned to do the film on a small budget with Joe playing Seth Gecko 10 years earlier when I shot the trailer but when RR took the helm the budget went from 1 million to 17 million and everything changed. It was now Roberts’s film and he cast the actors he wanted to work with.

W: How much of the finished film was yours and how happy were you with how it turned out?
RK: I had a big part in the making of this film. I wrote the original story and treatment, John Esposito and I found QT and hired him to write and developed the script with us, and we spent 10 years hustling it trying to get it off the ground. I created it and it’s my film as well as everyone’s who worked so hard on it. I love the film, but it’s always the director’s film and Robert really kicked ass with it. I really dig how it turned out and what he did with it.

W: You first main stream directing job was Wishmaster. Did you ever think that it would be so successful and create its own franchise?
RK: You always hope that your film will find an audience but you never know. I’d landed the job and wanted to do the best I could with it. It ended up becoming the most successful independent release that year and the film found its fan base which was great. After that the studio put the sequels into the works. They’ve made 4 films total which is cool.

W: When working on the rather enjoyable DNA did you ever consider just using the original Predator costume?
RK: No! It was a Predator type movie and the producers were looking for a knock-off of the predator look so that what we gave them…only we had 10 bucks to build the FX compared to the millions they had on Predator. So the challenge was the schedule and the budget we had to create it with. It also shot in the Philippines which was tough. I remember make-up artist Bill Hunt calling from set over there and telling us that while traveling up river to shoot the camera boat had sunk with all the cameras and sound equipment on them. That was a big insurance day for sure!

W: In your career you've been responsible for some pretty nasty FXs work, were there any times when you just said no to an effect that went too far?
RK: Yes…I’m not a fan of films that have sexual torture and murder so I’ve passed on a few of those projects. I like a bit more fun in my horror.

W: Where do you see traditional effects in a decades time? Will they be obsolete given the constant progression of CGI or will their functionality ensure them a place in the
future cinema?
RK: Things do change fast but I think Physical effects are great and CGI is just another tool to be used as needed the same as all the other tools in a filmmakers arsenal. Traditional effects will still be around unless we are just making cartoons in the future.

W: What next for Precinct 13?
RK: We are in post on Ed Douglas’s The Dead Matter which we produced with him through our P13 facility.
I just delivered “To Live and Die” to MGM last week and I’m getting ready to prep another film I’m directing called “Bump” which is based on a comic series by Mark Kidwell. It’s to star Tobin Bell, Sean Patrick Flanery, Ashley Laurence and more to come. We plan to start shooting later this summer. We should be starting the FX prep on that very soon. P13 is gearing up for several more FX productions on several films which will be announced shortly.
Thanks