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JOHN STOCKWELL on 'TURISTAS'
Interview by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor for Radio Free Entertainment
November 18, 2006
In Turistas, a tale of paradise gone awry, a group of young vacationers (Josh Duhamel, Melissa George, Olivia Wilde, and Beau Garrett) enjoying a stay in Brazil awaken after a night of partying to find themselves stripped of their money and passports. With no means to get around and no way of contacting home, they desperately follow a local guide who promises them shelter and assistance. But it eventually becomes apparent that a sinister plot is unfolding--one that places the friends in mortal and gruesome danger.
A hybrid blend of horror, action, and thriller, Turistas has similarities to Hostel with its theme of Americans being terrorized in a tourist locale they don't respect, and also bears a resemblance to Into the Blue in its many underwater chase sequences.
In this exclusive interview, director John Stockwell (who was also at the helm for Blue Crush and the aforementioned Into the Blue) talks about the making of Turistas, as well as his own travels beyond the borders of the U.S.
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The Interview
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RadioFree.com: Your recent films have had a lot of women in bikinis: Kate Bosworth in Blue Crush, Jessica Alba in Into the Blue, and now Melissa George in Turistas. I guess the question is, "How do I get your job?"
JOHN: [laughs] You know, you tend to get asked to do a version of what you've done before, and if you enjoyed what you are doing, you don't run away from that. In all the cases--Into the Blue, Blue Crush, Turistas--it wasn't some forced "let's put someone in a bikini at their sorority" thing. You're on the beach, you're diving, you're in the Bahamas, or you're in Brazil. And the bikinis in Brazil are a lot smaller than the ones in the rest of the world. So our actors were actually fairly covered up compared to what we were seeing around us on the beach.
Turistas is a being called a horror film, but there's nothing supernatural or paranormal about it...
I don't see it as a horror film. I see it more as a kind of thriller. When I read the script, I had just come from Peru, been robbed at gunpoint by a 13-year-old, shot at. So it resonated with me. And I thought of it as a really interesting cultural foray to kind of explore what it's like to travel abroad these days, what it's like for an American to be abroad, what their sort of "paranoid, worst fears" scenarios could be. But also just an experience to take these actors and put them in a different world. You know, Josh [Duhamel] hadn't really traveled that much prior to this film. My first lunch with him, he did order a Coke in Brazil [like his character does]. So his real life parallels the character's.
Unlike most male lead roles like this, Josh's character expresses a lot of reluctance and doubt about adventuring. Was his character always like that in the script, or was it based more on Josh's own personality?
I think it was originally in the script, in [screenwriter] Michael Ross' version. I think what we saw was that the value of a Josh is [that] he can be a little tentative, maybe even a little wussy initially, because he's such a solid guy, so male, so masculine, so undeniably competent that I liked sort of playing against that at the beginning. Josh is actually a pretty mellow guy, and not combative. But I've seen a couple of situations where if you push him, he'll fight back. And he can take care of himself.
What is your own personal experience as an "American abroad"? Are you fairly well-traveled?
I am. I'm going to India for this Christmas with my family. Last Christmas, we went to Nicaragua, and Vietnam the Christmas before that. I've been to most countries in Central and South America, largely as a surfer. I travel a lot. I just went to Bali. I've been to Fiji. I love to go. And I don't stay at the Four Seasons, I don't stay at the Ritz-Carlton. I try and find something a little funkier, a little more organic.
Any favorite destinations?
I loved Vietnam. I think Vietnam is an extraordinary place, and it's all changing very quickly. I went to Cuba 12 years ago and thought that was an amazing place. Any place you're not supposed to be, any place that hasn't been overly trampled or discovered or become touristy, that's always interesting to me.
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It sounds like your experience of being robbed at gunpoint hasn't soured you on traveling...
No. I don't know what I would have done differently. We were robbed in the middle of the day, on the Pan-American Highway, Mother's Day. If I was robbed in some dark alley trying to score drugs, I'd be like, "Okay, I learned a lesson." I don't know what there is to learn from this except in a country where there's that much poverty, and there's any kind of an opportunity to pull oneself out of that poverty, things like that can happen. The guns I didn't like. That's what I liked about Vietnam--there weren't a lot of guns in the street. I've been to El Salvador--a lot of guns in that country. I've been to Nicaragua--a lot of guns in that country. So I like Bali. Bad things can happen, but usually not at gunpoint. Usually at knifepoint. And I'm more comfortable with knives.
You started your film career as an actor. Was the transition to director something you always wanted to do?
I really would never have been an actor if I had gone straight into directing. But it seemed like the most logical route to getting onto a set, getting experience that's separate and apart from going to film school. And I would not consider myself to be an actor anymore since I haven't worked in front of the cameras in a long time.
Back in the day, as an actor, you worked on a few iconic horror movies, including Christine and Friday the 13th...
My only experience with horror is as an actor. I don't know what My Science Project was. I have no idea how to categorize that.
In terms of building suspense, were you able to take any tips from classic horror films and apply them to Turistas?
Well, John Carpenter is a master, and Halloween was one of my favorite all-time movies. I even moved to the street where Halloween was shot. I just think that you learn so much from what's not seen--from the unseen, from music, from sound. In the end of the day, Michael Myers wasn't really that scary. But the idea of something out there--that you don't know what it is, you're all alone, or you're in a place where help is not easily at hand--that's terrifying. To be in a foreign land where you can't call 911, where the embassy is not around, where you have to fend for yourself--that can be terrifying.
At one point in Turistas, Beau Garrett's character asks a bunch of dudes, "Do you guys mind if I go topless?" Is that the most unnecessary question ever?
[laughs] I don't know! I've experienced times where, literally in my movie screenings, sometimes there's a sort of chastity and a puritanical approach where some people really would mind.
Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
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