Paul Walker and Wayne Kramer Aren't Running
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Press: Did you feel paternal to your young co-stars?

Paul Walker: Oh yeah, especially to the parents. I mean, they signed on to it knowing what they’re getting themselves into but still, you know, that’s got to be tough. I wanted to make it very clear that I understand what’s going on here and I understand that you’ve accepted the environment that basically your kids are going to be in for the next while, but just know that I’m sensitive to it and I’m great with kids.

I come from a huge family. I’ve got nieces, nephews. I’m Peter Pan. Shit, I feel like I’m 12, 13 years-old anyway (laughing) so I’m going to get along just fine with these kids and so my whole point was, and I thought it was really important, was let’s stay focused. We have a job at hand here but I’m sensitive to the fact that these kids are out of school, they’re away from friends. I’ve got a football. I’ve got a soccer ball. I got everything.

And you know what? It’s good, too, because I establish, I build a rapport with these kids; I want them to feel comfortable around me. And who’s to say Joey Gazelle wouldn’t go toss the football with Oleg anyways so it all plays in.

Press: Last night when you introduced the film, you said this guy is a director you’d work with again and again and again. What’s so special about him?

Paul Walker: He’s such a great guy. First and foremost, that’s the most important thing to me. I’ll work with a great guy that maybe even hasn’t proven himself before I’ll work with the asshole that’s sold it time and time again. You know, you live once. I want to enjoy things. But to find balance that he’s got, it doesn’t happen. He’s Fincher – he’s any of those guys.

I think Wayne’s going to blow up. He’s going to make a lot of great movies in the course of who knows how many years. I just hope to be involved in a lot of them.

You know, I’m a pretty mellow guy. I’m pretty easy-going. I see everyone’s perspective. I see everyone’s side so I’m a pretty good mediator on set when tensions are flying. That guy is tenacious and he fights. I think we complement each other in that respect. I’m pretty good at soothing him and mellowing him out, but at the same time I want to give him just enough so when it’s crunch time, when we’ve got five minutes left to get a shot he’s going, “Fuck you! I’m getting this damn shot!” I’m going, “Yeah!,” in the back. I’m rooting but at the same time when I see it getting out of control I can step up and say, “Hey look…”

I think we work well together. Nobody messes with this guy’s movie. Nobody messes with his movie.

Press: The balance that you’re speaking of in regards to children...the themes are very dark. You’re dealing with pedophilia and violence. It’s an interesting contrast that you also have another film out – Eight Below. How did you deal with balancing those two different roles? One’s a family film and this is a very different project.

Paul Walker: Well I did Running Scared, what, close to two years ago now. Wayne cut together the trailer for AFM, trying to sell the damn thing. I was so excited, hot off the presses, I run home, I show my mother. She just about started crying. She says to me, “You know what would be great? If you could make a movie that you can take your nieces and nephews – not to mention your daughter – to.”

Tomorrow I get to take my daughter, all my nieces and nephews, the whole family to the premiere. It’s one premiere I’m actually looking forward to going to. This is the first time, to be honest with you.

Press: What was it like working with all those dogs?

Paul Walker: It was great. It was cool. I love dogs. If you like dogs, you get it. If you don’t, you don’t get it.

(Paul was briefly called away while we focused on Wayne Kramer.)

Press: Paul said you’re really tenacious and that he balanced you out. Do you think you’re a good combination?

Wayne Kramer: Yeah. You know, I loved working with him because as a director he’s completely supportive of my vision of what the film is. And even better, he’s completely game for it. There’s certain actors I might have started down the path with had I done the movie with them, and as the movie gets more and more intense I think they might have backed down and said, “Wayne, I think this is a little extreme.”

What I love about him is he just goes for it. And every time I thought he’d come to me behind the camera after the scene and go, “You know, I think we’re crossing the line here” or something, he’d be like… He’d come over to me and go, “This is so fucked up!” and he’d be like laughing. We’d be conspiring together.

I mean, I don’t think anyone should take this movie seriously. There are subtexts to it about violence and children getting exposed to violence and parenting issues and the evils of this world, but at the end of the day you know it’s gritty entertainment. It’s not making too much of a political commentary on the world and it’s visceral. It’s entertaining but I don’t think this violence translates into real life where somebody goes and sees Running Scared and walks into a post office and shoots down people.

Press: I want to commend you about the natural kid talk in this movie and just kind of ask you to speak to working with those child actors for one thing, and also that theme that you were referring to of playing off of fairy tales and using that style element.

Wayne Kramer: I knew it was going to be challenging to find the right kids to be believable because if the kids did not work, I mean if it turned into Project Greenlight or something, the movie would fall apart. And initially the challenge is is any parent out there going to let their kid do this movie? And it turned out there were a lot of them.

The parents also understood that we were not going for something exploitive in a sense that the kid was going to be uncomfortable. Even the most controversial scene in the film you never see anyone touch a kid. You don’t see a kid without their clothes on. It’s really implied but the tone is there. It’s gritty and it’s dark and these kids are thrown into a violent, Grimm's fairy tale nightmare. And I thought that played really well.

The subtext became more apparent to me as I was heading towards production. I said to myself one day, “You know what I’ve got here? It’s a Grimm's fairy tale canvas.” Like the pimp is the Mad Hatter and the hooker is the Blue Fairy. The Dez and Edele house is the gingerbread house and they’re the witches.

I like tried to evoke that with like the silhouettes in the window in the bathroom. The music... All of it is very hallucinogenic. And using hand crank camera to accentuate moments of tension and violence and just the color palettes.

My cinematographer James Whitaker who worked with me on The Cooler, too, I just think he does an amazing job in creating like this bruised look to the film. Like these damaged characters that populate this universe.

But if you did not get any of that subtext I think you still enjoy it as a straight mob thriller if you’re a fan of the genre. We do try to tie it together with the animated title sequence at the end where it takes you back through moments of the film but this time in a very overtly Grimm's painted way.

Wayne Kramer: Well that’s the thing. As a writer/director, once I put on the director’s hat then I’m the director and I’m going to do what’s best for the scene so I do give my actors a lot of leeway. When I want them to stick to a very particular line, I will emphasize that.

But you don’t get a really from the gut kind of performance if you try to restrain them. And one of the things about this film is that it’s a crazy primal scream and if you set actors loose with no brakes, you’re going to get the level of profanity. You know, I mean it was a pretty profane script to start with but I think it doubled on screen and that’s because I’m not stepping in there in moments of extreme tension or anger and saying, “You’ve got to dial it down.” I just want them to go with what comes out. The film is exhausting and intense and Paul goes to such lengths but that’s because I was never putting the brakes on him.

It was funny. There was an actress in a scene who came to me and said – she was wearing a night dress or a gown or something and she said, “You know, is it a problem if my nipples are showing from beneath here?” And I said, “No. Why would that be a problem?” And they’re so used to doing PG-13 movies where that’s such a consideration, you know?

Derek McCaw