Thanksgiving's Cast Had Their Brains 'Broken' Before Filming Even Began
Eli Roth's 2023 slasher film "Thanksgiving" famously started its life back in 2007 in the form of a fake trailer sandwiched in between Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" and Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof," two movies released as a single mega-feature called "Grindhouse." The goal of "Grindhouse" was to recreate the experience of seeing a cheap exploitation double-feature in a run-down New York theater in the early 1980s, complete with film scratches, missing reels, and several previews for upcoming ultra-salacious genre movies. The trailers were all fake at the time, but since 2007, the trailers for "Machete," "Hobo with a Shotgun," and "Thanksgiving" have been made into real movies.
Roth, as the director's fans know, is a voracious cineaste, and has likely spent more time watching movies than most people. He also wears his influences on his sleeve; in the credits for Roth's 2013 cannibal film "The Green Inferno," he includes a list of notable Italian cannibal movies in the credits, recommending that audiences do extra research into the genre. Like many directors, Roth also assigns homework to his actors and crew, asking them to watch movies — many movies — that he aims to emulate. He, like Tarantino, doesn't make movies so much as he does movie remixes, constructed out of hundreds and hundreds of films that have burned into Roth's brain.
On a recent episode of the Reel Blend Podcast, Roth admitted to giving movie homework to his cast and cinematographer, but also that they were taken aback by his assignments. It seems everyone expected Roth to hand out a list of slasher flicks and horror movies so they could get in the mood. Instead, Roth offered a litany of international action films and dramatic deep cuts that no one could have predicted, especially for a holiday slasher like "Thanksgiving."
The horror of John Hughes
The podcast interviewer noted that "Thanksgiving" has the same kinds of self-aware, intelligent teens that one might have seen in the 1996 slasher "Scream," a film written by Kevin Williamson. Roth admitted that he and Williamson were likely watching a lot of the same movies, so the comparison is apt. Moreso, though, Roth admitted to taking a lot of his teen language from the master of 1980s teen angst. He also drew from a horror master also known for his comedies. Roth said:
"Well, Kevin and I obviously are drinking from the same well. You know, we're close in age and we grew up with the same sources and Kevin was obviously very influenced by [...] John Hughes films. And I was very influenced by Bob Clark. You know, I love 'Porky's' and I do love 'Christmas Story' and I think 'Black Christmas' is a masterpiece and 'Death Dream,' I think Bob Clark is one of the most underrated directors of all time."
While one might expect the celebrated 1974 slasher "Black Christmas" to be an influence on "Thanksgiving," what did Roth take Clark's 1981 sex farce "Porky's?" It seems that the horny, depraved teen characters are, by Roth's estimation, authentic. He said:
"[T]he way 'Porky's' is shot, the high school scenes are so beautiful that, you know, when Jeff and I were making this we were like, 'Wow, this is like we're making a high school movie and a slasher movie and also a kind of Giallo film with police investigation too, so we kinda gotta pick our lane here.'"
Jeff is Jeff Rendell who served as the producer of "Thanksgiving."
The cinema of Jean-Jacques Beineix
Roth also directed his cinematographer, Milan Chadima, to a notably bitter Bob Rafelson film. But this was the part that broke the cast's brain: Eli Roth assigned everyone several films by the celebrated French director Jean-Jacques Beineix, one of the pioneers of modern action photography.
"But you know, the influences that got in there, I had my DP, Milan ... I showed him the diner scene in 'Five Easy Pieces.' I said, 'This is what the diner looks like.' And the actors were like, 'What should we watch, what horror movies?' I said, 'Don't watch horror movies. Watch 'Sorcerer' by William Friedkin, look at the performances.' And the girls were like, 'What should we watch?' I said, 'Watch 'Betty Blue' because Béatrice Dalle was 21, what are you gonna do? That's what she was doing at 21, you're 22. That's the level I expect from you.'"
"Betty Blue" was an intense 1986 erotic romance released as "37°2 le Matin" overseas, and Béatrice Dalle is still working to this day. It seems that Roth didn't want a mere teen sex farce, but an intense, adult drama. With one Jean-Jacques Beineix film down, Roth decided to assign another, but this time to give the cast a good idea as to how he wanted the ensemble dynamic to form. He continued:
"And then I said [...] 'Watch 'Diva.' Because there's no minor characters in that movie. Every single character in that movie is cool and is interesting the way Tarantino did it in 'True Romance.' So, like, I wanted to break their brains a little bit and I said, 'Watch "Toby Dammit" by Fellini."
Even if you're not working on "Thanksgiving," those are some good recommendations.
The syllabus
"Toby Dammit," for those who don't know, is a 45-minute film that Federico Fellini made with Terence Stamp in 1968. Based loosely on an Edgar Allan Poe short story, the film is psychedelic and strange. "Diva," meanwhile, was released in 1981 and was one of the earlier French films to drop the realist trappings of the 1970s in favor of ultra-stylized, artificial aesthetics. It's still thrilling to this day.
Lastly, Roth wanted his cast and crew to watch a well-regarded but not widely discussed 1995 thriller from writer/director Anthony Waller starring Alec Guinness and Marina Zudina. He said:
"I had my DP watch that and then we saw 'Mute Witness' before shooting and [to] my lead actress, Nell Verlaque I said, 'Look at "Mute Witness." Look at the way the whole movie hangs on [Zudina's] face in close-ups and the whole story is told through her eyes. She doesn't say a word the whole film and you understand everything she's going through. That's the performance we're going for here. And that's when you can achieve greatness. When you take it seriously and I take the kills seriously.'"
Roth clearly wanted his slasher movie to take dramatic moments from intense thrillers, rather than depending, as one might expect, on the usual tropes and trappings born in an endless string of "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" sequels. That, it seems, would have been the easy way out. Roth wanted real performances and real scenarios. Or, at the very least, really cinematic ones.