Brown ambition
by Louis B. Hobson
Calgary Sun
October 24, 2004
HOLLYWOOD —
Sam Raimi had faith his new horror movie The Grudge was going to be a box-office hit this weekend.
He and his producing partner Rob Tapert are already working on the sequel.
“We haven’t approached Sarah Michelle Gellar about being in the sequel,” says Raimi.
“Firstly, the sequel involves a whole new set of characters, but there are always ways of bringing back a character.”
The ending of The Grudge is ambiguous enough that Gellar’s character might not have survived the haunting.
“Sarah Michelle’s survival in the first one is in direct proportion to the film’s box-office,” jokes Raimi, adding, “she told us she
had a great time making the first one, so I don’t think we’ll have that much trouble getting her back.”
Tapert is married to Lucy Lawless, who was the star of TV’s Xena: The Warrior Princess.
“I didn’t even approach Lucy because she was just finishing a pregnancy and we were also looking for a different age group
for the lead characters,” says Tapert.
Lawless is one of the stars of Tapert and Raimi’s horror thriller The Boogeyman, which features 7th Heaven’s Barry Watson,
who is forced to face the unseen monster that terrorized him as a child.
“We went after Sarah Michelle because she has a name in horror with her Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and the Scream
and I Know What You Did Last Summer movies.
“We knew that would work for us with her fan base.”
Raimi and Tapert produced The Grudge for $10 million US through their low-budget film company Ghost House Films.
“We’re working on several other horror projects,” says Raimi, who insists such films will be his primary focus once he
completes Spider-Man 3.
“We’re developing 30 Days of Night, which is a vampire tale set in Alaska based on a Steve Niles comic.
“We have another called Scarecrow — about a family who flee the city to live on a farm and encounter an evil force.
Oxide Pang Chum and his brother Danny Pang, who made the Hong Kong ghost movie The Eye, are directing for us.
“It will be their American film debut as directors.”
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