Director Carter Smith for The Ruins
By Erin Broadley
Feb 20, 2008
When Carter Smith set out to direct upcoming horror adaptation The Ruins, the fashion-photographer turned filmmaker had no doubt about his ability to tackle such intense subject matter. "The fashion photography was a great training ground, if you will, just for image making," Smith told SuicideGirls. "A lot of my photography looks like movie stills... So I’m coming from a place where I’m used to putting all that attention and energy into every single moment... It was very clear to me and very obvious that I could tell this story."
Based on Scott Smith's 2006 best-selling novel of the same name, The Ruins approaches the horror genre through an existential lens, allowing for a truly macabre exploration of what happens to a person's psyche when forced to survive against fantastical odds. Starring Jena Malone, Jonathan Tucker, Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey and Joe Anderson, the film follows six friends who fall victim to an ancient Mayan evil while on vacation in Mexico. But don't be misled; This is not your little brother's teen slasher flick. Instead of relying on topical shock value, The Ruins delves into the mind and the way one's perception of reality changes when faced with life or death decisions.
SuicideGirls caught up with Carter Smith on Valentine's Day to chat sacrifice and the human condition...
Erin Broadley: Happy Valentine’s Day, man. Or crappy Valentine's Day, as it is for some people, you never know. [Laughs]
Carter Smith: I know, right? You too. I’m sort of in the middle on this one this year. [Laughs]
EB:
I figure talking about a nice, bloody horror movie is a good way to kick off the celebration.
CS:
Yes. Blood is always good for Valentine’s Day.
EB:
So how’s everything going preparing for the film’s release?
CS:
Good. We’re now nearing the final stretch. We finally have a movie that everyone wants to see. The cool thing is that a lot of people are really familiar with the book are really excited about the film.
EB:
So The Ruins book came out in 2006 and was best seller. Scott Smith who wrote it also did the screenplay for this film, right?
CS:
Yes, which was amazing.
EB:
Do you think it helps bring a book to the screen when it’s penned by the same writer?
CS:
I think it definitely helped on this because he created these characters and knows them better than anybody else. He’s familiar enough with the whole screenplay format and the structuring of films that he was able to adapt the story to fit the structure of a movie. But he was really, really great about keeping the tone and the feeling of the book squarely intact. He didn’t change that at all.
EB:
One of the things that’s been said about the plot of the book (that I’m assuming translates to the film) is that it’s this bizarre, inescapable situation that, as the characters come to accept it, has been described as very “Kafkaesque”. Would you agree?
CS:
Yeah. It’s your worst nightmare… this sense that they really are helpless. And as much as they try to fight against it, they sort of come up against the fact that there’s not a lot that they can do. So it’s interesting to watch them and see what happens to these kids when they revert into survival mode. It’s this weird transition of who you turn into when, really, the most important thing is just staying alive.
EB:
It’s also interesting the way the characters, especially since they’re young, become more complex and more dimensional as they go through this crisis, even facing inevitable doom.
CS:
Yeah, totally. Stuff comes up that you never want to have to deal with. There’s a scene in the film where they have to perform a double amputation with a rusty knife and a rock.
EB:
Just what everyone wants to do on their vacation, right?
CS:
[Laughs] Yeah… with a rock and a rusty knife. But they’re doing it to try and save somebody’s life.
EB:
That’s when you get to know who you truly are as a person.
CS:
Yeah, exactly… in how you respond to a situation like that.
EB:
It’s one of those things, you never know how you are going to respond or what kind of person you are until…
CS:
Until you have to cut someone’s legs off!
EB:
[Laughs] Welcome to manhood!
CS:
Yeah.
EB:
Well you did work with some great young talent on this film: Jena Malone, Jonathan Tucker, Shawn Ashmore, Joe Anderson. How were they?
CS:
They were all amazing. All of them brought such a really genuine reality to the parts. In a film like this it can be really tricky when you have elements that are entirely fantastical or unreal. It’s important to ground the film in a world and in the performances and characters that everyone can latch onto as being very true. Otherwise, it could have turned into a completely different film. Part of what’s scary and what’s unsettling about it, is all this stuff happens in a world that is very realistic. It’s not some made up movie; it’s the real world.
EB:
It’s not zombies, it’s not monsters or man-made nightmares. One thing very specific to this is that it’s about the fear of nature fighting back. What interested you about, not the supernatural horror, but the natural horror and fear?
CS:
Yeah. I think the natural fear is built pretty squarely into the set up of the story but one of the great things about this film, that’s sort of an underlying theme and what makes up most of the film, is the actual more immediate concerns and the immediate drama of what the side effects of that battle are. We really tap into this very primal fear of your body being invaded by something; something getting into you from the outside and then thriving inside of you.
EB:
Like a host-parasite relationship?
CS:
Yeah, and I think everyone is pretty fucking creeped-out by, whether you’ve seen YouTube videos or whatever, of these parasites that…
EB:
Like Bot Flies! They burrow and hatch in your skin.
CS:
Oh, I know. Everyone seems to know what Bot Flies are.
EB:
I knew someone that got infested by them. It was the most horrific thing. Ever since then I won’t even let a regular fly near me.
CS:
[Laughs] Yeah. It’s crazy. And that’s a big part of the psychological “fucking with you” aspect of the film.
EB:
Right, there’s this external threat and then there’s the internal threat, which is your own paranoia, and complete panic, which makes the situation even worse.
CS:
Totally. And how overwhelming it can be.
EB:
You got your start as a fashion photographer so how was the transition from that to making a horror film? Any parallels between the two worlds? [Laughs]
CS:
The fashion photography was a great training ground, if you will, just for image making. A lot of my photography looks like movie stills. A lot of it is cinematic and tells stories so for years and years I’ve been telling stories in a single frame of film. Everything that goes into that frame from the composition to the color of the shirt to the direction of the light to the color of the dirt, all of that plays a part in telling the story. So I’m coming from a place where I’m used to putting all that attention and energy into every single moment.
EB:
I’m sure that also helps it stay true to the book, paying that much attention to detail in every moment.
CS:
Yeah. That was one of the things we were up against too -- so much of the book takes place in the characters’ heads. And because we’re not doing voice over, it was definitely a challenge to get across that level of intimacy with the characters. That’s why having such talented actors was such a blessing because all of them were able to tell entire stories without saying a word.
EB:
With the book having this existential, cerebral quality to its horror, do you feel the film accomplishes the same? An existential, psychological take on what could otherwise just be part of this genre we’ve seen so much of where kids get hacked apart on some exotic vacation?
CS:
Yeah, I hope so. That’s the biggest thing that we’re up against is trying to make people realize that this film is not Touristas. It’s so incredibly different. On paper, I guess, there are certain elements that look the same but, emotionally and psychologically, this is a story about survival mode and what the darkness that lives inside of these kids.
EB:
Well, those other films rarely explore what the characters are really thinking or feeling, what they’re willing to sacrifice, internally or externally, or amongst their friends.
CS:
Yeah. That’s a big part of it: what you’re willing to sacrifice and what you’re willing to do in order to save your friends or in order to save yourself. It’s a difficult question that, you know, I don’t know what I would do if I had to cut someone’s legs off.
EB:
No one knows what they might be capable of. I think that fear of our own power or weakness, in that sense, is the most horrifying thing ever. How was it working with Ben Stiller as a producer? I think some people might be surprised to see his name on the credits.
CS:
Well, you know, he actually had a relationship with Scott from years ago so his production company, Red Hour, which is Ben Stiller and Stewart Cornfeld, they had the project in development for a long time. I think from the beginning both Ben and Stewart were looking for someone who had a really definitive strong take on the story. They’ve been hands on in their vision but at the same time, from early on, they bought into my take and my vision of what the story should be and let me run with it, which has been great. And Scott was really free about changing things up. We have stuff that’s happening to different characters than it did in the book. People that read the book, they’re not going to be let down by the tone and by the tenor of the film, but they will be surprised. It’s definitely a new experience. It’s not exactly the same as the book by any means.
EB:
In an interview you did with TheReeler.com, you said about your previous film Bugcrush, “The moment I read the short story for the very first time, it was like being hit by a bus … It just sort of clobbered me over the head.” What was your initial reaction to reading The Ruins for the first time? More head clobbering?
CS:
You know, it was totally the same. I have to say, I had been a big fan of Simple Plan so I read the book The Ruins when it came out. The first week it came out, I had it. I was actually headed off on vacation and that was my one vacation book that I brought with me to read.
EB:
Oh, great choice. [Laughs]
CS:
[Laughs] Literally, on the way to the airport my agent called me and said, “I just got this script that I think that you might kind of be interested in. It’s this thing called The Ruins.” And I was like, “Based on the Scott Smith book?!” And he said, “Yeah, you know it?” And I said, “Yeah, I have it in my bag. I’m starting it on the plane in 10 minutes.” So I read it on vacation and then came back and read the first draft of the script. It was very much the same [feeling I had with Bugcrush]. I’ve been really lucky in that, it was very clear to me and very obvious that I could tell this story. This is a story that I really am passionate about and think that I can really tell well.
EB:
Did you have any hesitations when it came to being able to do the book justice?
CS:
No, I mean, I was lucky. I probably would have been smart to have some but I was gung-ho from the beginning. Part of connecting with a piece of material is when you can see it and you can hear it and smell it and all of those things you connect with. I think that if you don’t have that instinct…
EB:
If you’ve got one foot out the door then you probably shouldn’t even be touching the project.
CS:
Exactly. But it’s rare that you actually connect with a piece of material that quickly or that deeply.
EB:
Any mishaps happen on set?
CS:
Nothing too bad. We were shooting in Australia so the worse we had to worry about was pythons and poisonous spiders. But nothing…
EB:
Nothing close to the film?
CS:
No [laughs] nothing close to the film. We had high winds and unseasonable weather and all that stuff. But no real dramas, luckily.
The Ruins hits theaters April 4. Check out the official website here. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and read the book..
The Ruins hits theaters April 4. Check out the official website here. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and read the book..
