Friday the 13th (2009 film)

Friday the 13th
Directed by	Marcus Nispel
Written by	Screenplay: Damian Shannon Mark Swift Characters by: Victor Miller Ron Kurz
Produced by	Michael Bay Andrew Form Brad Fuller
Starring	Derek Mears Jared Padalecki Danielle Panabaker Amanda Righetti Travis Van Winkle Aaron Yoo
Cinematography	Daniel Pearl
Music by	Steve Jablonsky
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures New Line Cinema
Release date	February 13, 2009
Country	United States
Language	English

Friday the 13th is an upcoming 2009 American horror film directed by Marcus Nispel, and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. It is a reboot of the Friday the 13th film series, whose last film was the 2003 crossover film Freddy vs. Jason. Nispel also helmed the 2003 remake of Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, while Shannon and Swift wrote the screenplay for Freddy vs. Jason. The film stars Derek Mears as Jason Voorhees, with Jared Padalecki and Amanda Righetti portraying the male and female leads. Set for a Friday, February 13, 2009 release, the film will take elements from the first four films.

Plot

"Searching for his missing sister, Clay heads up to the eerie woods of legendary Crystal Lake where he stumbles on the creaky remains of rotting old cabins that lie in wait behind moss-covered trees. And that's not the only thing hiding under the brush. Against the advice of police and cautions from the locals, Clay pursues what few leads he has with the help of a young woman he meets among a group of college kids up for an all—thrills weekend. But they are about to find much more than they bargained for. Little do they know, they've entered the domain of one of the most terrifying specters in American film history - the infamous killer who haunts Crystal Lake armed with a razor-sharp machete…Jason Voorhees."

Production

Development

New Line Cinema's Toby Emmerich approached Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form of Platinum Dunes about restarting Friday the 13th in the same fashion that they had done with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. The trio agreed but first had to spend over a year securing the film rights from all respective parties, namely, Paramount Pictures, New Line and Sean Cunningham's Crystal Lake Entertainment. Since Paramount still owned certain copyrights, the film initially could not use anything from the original series. Paramount, which wanted to be included, approached the producers and gave them license to use anything from the original films, including the title. With Paramount on board, Fuller and Form decided they wanted to use pieces from each of the first three films. Fuller stated, "I think there are moments we want to address, like how does the hockey mask happen. It’ll happen differently in our movie than in the third one. Where is Jason from, why do these killings happen, and what is Crystal Lake?" The producers even expressed an interest in using the character of Tommy Jarvis and stated that they wanted to work out an original story for Jason that would make sense.

Ultimately, it was decided that Friday the 13th would not be an origin story, but that the audience would get a sense of the history as the film progressed. The audience will see Jason transition from wearing a bag over his head—similar to Friday the 13th Part 2—to finding and actually placing the hockey mask over his face, whereas in Friday the 13th Part III he obtains the mask off-screen and comes out of the barn already wearing it. Form and Fuller went on to explain that the audience will get to see how Jason attains his hockey mask, and be given a reason for why he puts it on. The idea of using Tommy Jarvis as a main character was scrapped when they abandoned their initial efforts of doing an origin story. According to Fuller and Form, they did not want to create Friday the 13th Part 11 or 12, but put their own spin on the mythology. They acknowledge that there were elements from the first four films that they liked and were going to utilize in the 2009 film, like how a particular character is killed or story points that they appreciated and wanted to use.

Unlike The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake of 2003, and the 2005 remake of The Amityville Horror, both of which were produced by Michael Bay, Andrew Form, and Brad Fuller, it was decided that Friday the 13th would not be a period piece like the other remakes. As Form and Fuller explained it, because the film was taking bits and pieces of the original three films, and to a lesser degree the fourth film, and was not an actual remake in the strictest sense, they felt that there was no reason why they could not tell the story in modern times. In addition, Form and Fuller recognize the iconic status of the Friday the 13th music, originally composed and performed by Harry Manfredini; so, the pair immediately had the studio attain the licensing rights to the music for their 2009 film. Even though they secured the license for Manfredini's score, they do not plan on using it completely. Instead, they brought on Steve Jablonsky, the same composer who worked on their previous films, to compose a score that is reminiscent of Manfredini's, but also follows the feel that Fuller and Form want for the film.

Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, writers of Freddy vs. Jason, were announced in October 2007 to have been hired to pen a script for the remake. It was reported that director Jonathan Liebesman was in negotiations to direct Friday the 13th in February 2006, but because of scheduling conflicts Fuller and Form went with their second choice, Marcus Nispel. Nispel was apprehensive to take the job, primarily on the idea of taking over another film franchise, but Fuller eventually convinced him.

Casting

"They were like, You're really nice...are you going to be able to switch over, right? I was like, I cage fight and I've got a lot of dad issues. So yeah."

— Derek Mears discussing his response when Brad Fuller and Andrew Form questioned his ability to portray Jason.

Stuntman Derek Mears was hired to portray Jason Voorhees at the recommendation of makeup special effects supervisor Scott Stoddard. Mears's pleasant demeanor had the studio worried about his ability to portray such a menacing character on screen, but Mears assured them that he was up to the role. Jared Padalecki signed on as the lead male who investigates what happened at Crystal Lake, with Amanda Righetti taking the female lead. Amanda Righetti had not read the script when she was initially offered the role. Wanting to be a part of the Friday the 13th franchise from the start, Righetti admitted that she was sold on the idea of acting in the film after she did read the script. Danielle Panabaker, Jonathan Sadowski, Travis Van Winkle, Aaron Yoo, Julianna Guill round out the rest of the cast. Nana Visitor has been cast as Pamela Voorhees, with a young Jason to be played by Caleb Guss.

The casting process was difficult for producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form on this film, more so than it was on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as this film had more young actors to contend with and consistent casting/recasting all the way until filming began. Fuller and Form's first challenge was the size of their young cast. Fuller and Form have thirteen young actors in Friday the 13th, whereas in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre they only had five. The pair had to continually recast parts to find the group that worked best together. This recasting process would extend all the way to the start of film. Richard Burgi, who was cast as the sheriff, did not sign on until twelve hours before he had to start filming his scenes.

Filming

Principal photography began on April 21, 2008 in Austin, Texas and wrapped up on June 13, 2008. Filming was also performed at Lost Pines Scout Reservation in Bastrop, Texas.

Creating Jason

Derek Mears was required to wear full body make-up from the chest up while performing his duties as Jason Voorhees. As Mears describes it, he wore a chest plate with fake skin that would move to all muscle movement; he also wore a fake hump on his back, to give the impression Jason had scoliosis. A prosthetic eye was glued to Mears's face to allow for realistic movement. As a result of all the makeup Mears wears, Stoddard spends three and a half hours applying all of the makeup to Mears's head and torso. Stoddard describes his particular look for Jason as a combination of Carl Fullerton's design in Friday the 13th Part 2, and Tom Savini's work in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. Stoddard wanted to make sure that Jason still appeared human, and not some monster. The character will have hair loss, skin rashes, and the traditional deformities in his face, but it will be in a way that allows the audience to see a human side to him. For his wardrobe, Mears was given a pair of combat boots and a "high priced t-shirt" that allowed the special effects make-up to be seen through the holes in the shirt. The jacket Jason wears in the film was created by combining a hunting jacket and a military jacket – Mears wanted the hunting jacket, but the creative team liked the way the military jacket, which was longer, billowed as he was making his "kill movements". The top of the hunting jacket was removed and placed over the top of the military jacket. Mears characterizes it as a "giant Frankenstein jacket". After problems with the fake nails that he had to wear for the part, Mears grew out his own fingernails for filming. Mears describes Jason as being leaner in this film, because he does not eat as much. A "leaner" Jason was deemed more functional, with more emphasis on the hump on his back.

Makeup FX artist Scott Stoddard took inspiration from the third and fourth films when designing Jason's hockey mask. Stoddard even managed to get his hands on an original set piece that he studied and later sculpted. Although he had a sculpt of one of the original masks, Stoddard did not want to replicate the entire thing one hundred percent. As Stoddard explains, "Because I didn't want to take something that already existed, there were things I thought were great, but there were things I wanted to change a bit. Make it custom, but keep all the fundamental designs. Especially the markings on the forehead and cheeks. Age them down a bit, break them up." In the end, Stoddard crafted six versions of the mask, each with varying degrees of wear.

Mears always related to "Jason the victim" when he was growing up as a child, and that was how he wanted to portray Jason in the film. To the actor/stuntman, Jason represents all those individuals that were picked on in high school for being outcasts of society—specifically those with physical deformities—only Jason exacts his revenge on those that are trying to take over his territory (Crystal Lake). When Mears went in to audition for the role he was asked, "We really need an actor for this particular role. Why do we need an actor as opposed to just a guy in a mask? Explain that to us." To Mears, portraying Jason was similar to Greek Mask Work, where the mask and the actor are two separate entities, and, based on the scene, you will get variate combinations of mask and actor in the performance. According to Mears, it is all based on whether you realize that everything is made of energy, and if you are thinking something then it will transfer to what the camera picks up. Mears also relies on the people behind the camera, which he likens the experience to a NASCAR race. Mears is the driver and the effects team is his pit crew. As he is performing the role, the effects team will provide subtle suggestions as to ways that he can bring the character more to life on camera.

For this film, Jason's intelligence and thought processing is more defined. Mears likens the character to John Rambo, Tarzan and the Abominable Snowman from Looney Tunes. Jason is similar to Rambo because the audience will see him setting the other characters up to fall into his traps. Like Rambo, he is more calculated because he feels that he has been wronged and he is fighting back. He is meant to be more sympathetic in this film. That being said, Fuller and Form contend that they learned a lesson from their work on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, and that was not to make Jason too sympathetic to the audience. One of the reasons why they decided against an origin story is because they did not want to put so much focus on Jason being tormented as a child, as the producing pair felt that would "demystify" the character in an unhelpful manner. As Brad Fuller explains, "We do not want him to be sympathetic. Jason is not a comedic character, he is not sympathetic. He's a killing machine. Plain and simple." The pair strive to make it so that the audience does not feel empathy for the character, but they assert that Jason is "not a robot" in the film, and does get "psyched out" by his would-be victims, just like in the original films.

Release

The film will have its North American release on Friday, February 13, 2009.

Sequel

In an interview, producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form expressed an interest in doing a second Friday the 13th film, citing the enjoyment they had working on the 2009 reboot.

External links

• Official website
• Friday the 13th at AllMovie
• Friday the 13th at IMDb