"But it’s a horror film and I’d like to say that no hippies or Republicans were harmed in the making of this film."
We've seen David Arquette over the years take on a variety of comedic and eccentric roles over the years, but with his new film "The Tripper" now in limited release, we're seeing David wearing a very different kind of hat.
He writes, directs and stars in the horror comedy "The Tripper" which stars many of David's family including wife Courteney Cox, brother-in-law Thomas Jane, brother Richmond Arquette as well as friends Paul Reubens and Balthazar Getty. The veteran actors lead a cast of young and upcoming talent including Lukas Haas, Paz de la Huerta and Jamie King. "The Tripper" tells of a mad killer who wears a Ronald Reagan mask stalks a group of hippie kids in the woods.
We talked to David over the phone about his first film as a director as well as the political undertones with the film and working with friends and family in Hollywood.
Q: Hi David. Thanks for talking with us today. I remember in high school, I went to a concert and your band was playing there, it was real cool...
DAVID: Oh awesome! Thank you and I’m sorry. (laughs)
Q: Where did the inspiration for "The Tripper" come from?
DAVID: Yeah. I used to go to a lot of these festivals during the Bob Marley days. They were just these crazy music events and I went to this one that was called “Reggae Rising” in Northern California and went to this outdoor music festival when it had gotten dark and pitch black and all you can see are the stars and was surrounded by redwood trees and when you look out, you’re surrounded by redwood forest. I just thought, man that would be creepy if a madman came out of the woods and just started hacking all these hippies. That was part of the idea.
The other idea was that I grew up in L.A. when Ronald Reagan was president and I remembered when he did some cuts to mental health and I just started seeing homeless people everywhere. I was like, what the hell? I wanted to make not a statement, but use that as a story point. Then, I saw a mask of Reagan and it was really creepy and I just thought, you know what? That would be crazy and it all kind of came together and I started to plot the hippies where you have the extreme liberal left against the extreme conservative right.
Q: But you see the conservative Republican attack the liberal hippies and it's kind of hard to not draw a political message from that...
DAVID: A little bit. But you know, the hippies in the movie aren’t like the great hippies of the ‘60s that helped turn Vietnam around. They are drugged out, complete disasters. They’re just almost anarchists. They just want to obliterate their brains. So it’s making a statement about them that they’re not “love and peace and change” hippies that I love so much. My heroes are John Lennon and Martin Luther King Jr. So they’re no prize on the left and on the right, it’s Reagan but it’s not necessarily Reagan. What it’s supposed to stand for is showing that it’s an American or world leader, and whoever is the world leader that is responsible for signing pieces of paper that allow people to go out and blow each other’s brains out – to me, that is such a hypocrisy. To me, those people are the true psychopaths and mass murderers. That’s the true horror of the world.
But it’s a horror film and I’d like to say that no hippies or Republicans were harmed in the making of this film. It’s really just a campy, romp, slasher, psychedelic movie. There is a little political undertone but it’s dealt with in a way that is humorous. In indie films, the killer is sometimes the hero in a weird way. You love to see him and hear what he says so in that way, the Reagan is interesting and heroic in a weird way. But some people might be upset by that. (laughs) But Reagan really did hate hippies! So there is some fun in that.
Q: How long have you wanted to direct a feature?
DAVID: I’ve wanted to direct forever. I just love the art of it. I’ve always watched really closely when working on films and what’s going on around me and how certain directors deal with cameras, crews and actors. I’ve always really been interested in getting out from the front of the camera.
As far as horror films go, I’ve loved them ever since I saw “The Shining” and “Halloween.” They were just wild. I used to sneak into movies and wanted to be a part of it. Working with Wes Craven, I learned a ton just being with “Scream.” I saw Wes once watch “Scream” with an audience and they would be laughing and laughing and they’d jump out of their skin. It was really great to see the way he manipulated the camera and to see his reaction and the audience reaction – I just wanted to be a part of that.
Q: Was it hard to get your friends and family involved with working with the film given that it's a gory horror film?
DAVID: Not really. They all kind of know my sensibility and they’re all really supportive. They all liked the script and it was just great because they all got on board so I’m really thankful.
Q: What's it like working with friends and family? You've done a lot of projects with your siblings and you and Courteney now have a production company together...
DAVID: It’s great. I love being surrounded by the people I cherish. It’s weird because being in the same city, you don’t really get to see everyone as much as you like so working together actually gets you an opportunity to hang out a lot more than you would. Also, just seeing each other’s talents, appreciating them and just laughing together is a blast. Like with my wife, we really are a great team. We really accentuate each other’s strengths and help with each other’s weaknesses. We just work great together. Whenever I walk into meetings or working on projects, I always have such a respect for her. She’s got such a great sensibility and is such a great businesswoman. She’s also got a great creative mind so she’s amazing.
Q: In addition to your most famous horror films, the "Scream" trilogy, did you use any other horror films as inspiration for "The Tripper"?
DAVID: Yeah well I definitely had “Scream” in mind and “The Shining,” different things. I watched a ton of horror films before I did [the movie]. I tried to include things that people find creepy and make people uncomfortable, you know, things that would play the game. I wanted to push the envelopes in certain directions and the fact that you can get away with so much more violence and blood and sex and drugs, I really had fun with pushing those boundaries. That’s not to say that it’s that violent; most of the gore is campy and a little over the top, like ‘70s slasher movies.
Q: Speaking of "Scream," I talked to Wes Craven last month and he mentioned that there are talks - nothing more - just talks that the "Scream" franchise might be revisited. Would that be something you and Courteney be interested in doing again?
DAVID: Yeah. We weren’t crazy about the way “Scream 3” turned out, no offense to anybody involved. It just seemed like it jumped the shark a little bit so it’d be great to do something and let them work on it long enough to do another one. But we’d love to. We love Wes and the crew and everyone involved.
Q: What scares you the most?
DAVID: War and ignorance. Those two creepy things in the world and what people do for money.
"The Tripper" is now in limited release in theaters and will expand in coming weeks.
