Masters Of Horror series

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Exclusive Interview: MICK GARRIS MOVING BEYOND DESPERATION INTO MASTERS OF HORROR SEASON 2- PART 1
The director and writer talks about a future with Stephen King and the desperation behind DESPERATION.  

Mick Garris is a man who is always happy when you see him. He greets everyone with a genuine smile and a handshake, and is one of the truly nice people in Hollywood, of which there are damn few. Of course, Garris has a really big reason to smile these days with MASTERS OF HORROR getting ready to start it's second season on Showtime on Nov. 11. Garris is also not only the creator of the series, but a writer and director as well.

Of course, Mick Garris is also a name well known to Stephen King fans for his widely acclaimed adaptations of THE STAND and THE SHINING. Their latest project DESPERATION is currently on DVD from Lionsgate Entertainment, and because of that release, iF MAGAZINE got to take time out from the horror master's busy day to talk to him about DESPERATION and his future in the world of Stephen King.

iF MAGAZINE: This is another collaboration with Stephen King writing the actual screenplay, was he as hands on as he has been in the past when you've worked together?

MICK GARRIS: He wasn't on the set. He doesn't ravel as much as he used to. He had actually written the script as a feature, it was going to be feature at New Line in 1996. This is basically his draft almost unchanged, except to bring it up to date and a few minor tweaks for format and the line for television, which I did. Since his accident, and some health issues that he had had, he doesn't ravel nearly as much as he did. At the time we were shooting this he was not in the best of health, and certainly not traveling much. But his influence was definitely felt, I would talk to him regularly on the phone and email back and forth. His presence was less evident than in THE STAND or THE SHINING.

iF: Why DESPERATION and not THE REGULATORS?

GARRIS: DESPERATION makes a good movie, I don't know if THE REGULATORS would. Even though originally, THE REGULATORS came from a script that King and Sam Peckinpah had developed together. The book [REGULATORS] seems to me to have a lot less narrative through-line that works for cinema than DESPERATION does.

iF: In DESPERATION, I noticed that you used a lot of actors that you've worked with before, do you like doing that as a director?

GARRIS: In this case, I had never worked with as many actors that I had worked with before as I did on DESPERATION. I think there were five actors in the cast that I had worked with before, and it was a great experience because the film was really, really, really hard to make. So, having all of these actors who I had worked with before made for a shorthand and a very pleasant experience that the show really needed to get us through it. Everything that is hard about making movies was here in DESPERATION in spades.

iF: Was the tradeoff with Henry Thomas, getting gunned down in the first 10 minutes of DESPERATION, but being a lead in MASTERS OF HORROR?

GARRIS: [Laughs] Well, I didn't know about it then, but that was what happened. The way I pitched it to Henry, was we had worked together when he was 18 years old in 1990 for PSYCHO 4. I pitched it to him saying, "How would you like to be the Janet Leigh of DESPERATION?" so that worked. He liked that, and he only worked for four days, but it was a very powerful four days in Tucson.

iF: The next actor you need to bring back into your films is Glenn Shadix.

GARRIS: Glenn's great. I'd love to find the right role for Glenn. We had a really good time on SLEEPWALKERS except for when he fell out of a tree. [Laughs] That was not one of our shining moments.

iF: Was there any reason in particular that this was the next Stephen King project that ABC wanted to do?

GARRIS: This was something that was ready to go, the script had been done as a feature, and they actually turned it down at one point. Then when it was known that we were going to go to some other networks, they said, "Wait a minute". At the time we were going to make it originally, they had no money. It was pre-DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES and LOST, then after those two shows they were flush and decided they had better make the project. They had not had success with KINGDOM HOSPITAL before this, but we also discovered they weren't very supportive of the release of KINGDOM HOSPITAL and DESPERATION did not benefit anything at all from being involved with ABC. They really did not help it, they basically helped it crash and burn during the sweeps period. They put it up against the end of AMERICAN IDOL. They put it during May sweeps against the next to the last night of AMERICAN IDOL, and they told us it was because they wanted to put their best foot forward and compete against it. I certainly didn't see much in terms of advertising and promotion on it. In the days of THE STAND and THE SHINING, we were on bus stops and billboards months before and in magazines and promos. On this one I rarely saw any promotion, and it has led to us not really being eager to work with that network again, for now. Never say never. People change and attitudes change. I don't get the feeling, and I don't think King gets the feeling, once they had the finished film they professed to love it, but we didn't really see the support we had hoped for.

iF: Well now that you have MASTERS OF HORROR on Showtime, could that be a new home for more King collaborations?

GARRIS: Well there is the budgetary issue of Showtime being a very small network in comparison, and MASTERS OF HORROR is a big success, but the networks are like much of the mainstream world they don't have a lot of respect for the genre. MASTERS is not made by Showtime, they pay a license fee, so they don't feel that it's theirs and again don't put a lot of promotion into it. It's just the embracement of fans that have made it the second most watched series last year.

iF: Has there been any move to bring Stephen King onto MASTERS as a writer or in any capacity, I know TNT just did NIGHTMARES AND DREAMSCAPES ?

GARRIS: That made it contractually unavailable to us, but they may do more of them. I wrote the first one for them intending to direct it, but was unable to because we got a season two pick-up. An open door invitation has been extended many times to King, either to sell us a story or adapt something else or direct, anything than he wants to do, because there is no greater Master of Horror than Stephen King alive in America.

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Not exactly a promising start for a better season. A poorly paced episode by a weak script of a uninteresting story. 

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Masters Coming Back
Source: ShockTilYouDrop

It was a bit of an uphill climb to get the Showtime series "Masters of Horror" greenlit for a third season. Persistence has won out and with a recent Saturn Award win under his belt, Mick Garris - we've been told - found a future for his anthology horror series at familiar horror studio known for its edgy decision-making, keen marketing and a solid grasp on the genre. The pick-up may mean a few changes in where the show lenses, etc., however, Garris feels confident "Masters" has a good roof over its head now.

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NBC faces 'Fear' with 13-episode order

NBC has given the green light to "Fear Itself," a horror-anthology series from the producers of Showtime's "Masters of Horror."

NBC has ordered 13 episodes of "Fear" to air next summer.

Lionsgate has come on board to produce "Fear" along with Industry Entertainment, the company behind "Masters of Horror" and anthology series "Masters of Science Fiction," which aired on ABC this summer.

"This is a different deal model that allows us to broadcast an increasingly popular form of storytelling and provides NBC with genre entertainment that appeals to younger audiences," said Ben Silverman, co-chairman, NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. "Our goal is to produce more scripted programming in the summer for year-round programming -- and everyone knows how well horror movies perform in summer -- so we're taking bold new steps with these acclaimed filmmakers."

Production of "Fear" is slated to begin early next year for a summer 2008 premiere.

"We're thrilled that 'Fear Itself' has found a home on NBC, which is so strongly committed to bringing viewers high-quality programming," said Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate's President of Television Programming and Production. "We also couldn't have better creative partners than Industry Entertainment, whose success in this genre is well-known."

Like "Masters of Horror," "Fear" will feature 60-minute films by big-name horror writers and directors. It will be exec produced by Keith Addis, Andrew Deane and Mick Garris, with Adam Goldworm and Ben Browning producing.

"NBC's leadership thinks 'out of the box,' and I believe this is the first show of its type on network television," Deane said. "We're very excited about the network bringing these filmmakers' unique visions to every home in America, and we're looking forward to working with Lionsgate, the preeminent distributor of horror content."

After keeping it on the shelf for about a year, ABC ran the well-reviewed "Masters of Science Fiction" in August in the very little watched Saturday 10 p.m. slot.