When I read Paul Dini & Stephen Langford’s script for THE RIGHT SNUFF, immediately I thought it would be a lot of fun to play with the tropes of “Idealized Sci-Fi”, back when the genre’s tech and design was indicative of the times and not influenced by a grounded realism or NASA (yet). A time in genre cinema when directors, Production Designers, Special Effects teams, Costume Designers et al were tasked with creating worlds outside our own but still be somewhat believable. It was a blast going back to the films I loved as a kid that kinda came up with their own fantastical looks and designs that, at the time, likely felt real but now seem crude and unbelievable by…
When I read Paul Dini & Stephen Langford’s script for THE RIGHT SNUFF, immediately I thought it would be a lot of fun to play with the tropes of “Idealized Sci-Fi”, back when the genre’s tech and design was indicative of the times and not influenced by a grounded realism or NASA (yet). A time in genre cinema when directors, Production Designers, Special Effects teams, Costume Designers et al were tasked with creating worlds outside our own but still be somewhat believable. It was a blast going back to the films I loved as a kid that kinda came up with their own fantastical looks and designs that, at the time, likely felt real but now seem crude and unbelievable by today’s standards, especially after films like ALIEN and OUTLAND took a more grounded approach.
It was so exciting finding old button-and-lever based machines to retro-fit into the controls of the ship and we even employed the “Saul Bass Orange” into the overall look of the Space Station Nebula, which was a gas. Plus, both our main actors Ryan Kwantan (TRUE BLOOD, KNIGHTS OF BADASSDOM) and Breckin Meyer (CLUELESS, HAPPILY) discussed how to replicate the slightly more theatrical cadences of those actor’s performances from the 60’s and 70’s genre films into their own performances, which only added to the “retro” feel.
It’s not every day you get to mix your Romero tropes and your Kubrick homages together into one DARK story, right? As we would say every day on the set...
”Hey...that’s CREEPSHOW!”
CREEPSHOW season 2’s “The Right Snuff” episode premieres on Shudder April 15th! Hope you like it!
