When Eli Roth is not busy producing, directing, writing or acting, he answers fan questions. In anticipation of the U.S. release of Jon Watt’s “Clown,” produced by Roth, the horror mogul took to Reddit for an AMA to talk about his past, present and future work.
During the AMA, Roth discussed how piracy of films like “Clown,” first released in Italy in November of 2014, made it difficult to get films approved for production in the first place, including a sequel to the film in question. He also touched on working with Watts, director of “Clown” and the upcoming “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and a few of his goals and inspirations for telling a gory story.
“Clown” stars stars Peter Stormare, Laura Allen, Andy Powers and Elizabeth Whitmere. It hits select theaters and on demand platforms on June 17. Take a look at some of the highlights from Roth’s latest AMA below.
“Clown”? Is this a remake of the one that came out not too long ago? I believe Jon Watts directed.
Wow. A remake of itself. Man, has it been that long?
Hasn’t “Clown” been out for a while? Because I have definitely seen it.
It came out internationally in some territories, but U.S. release is the 17th. It’s a super dark disturbing movie and distribs were honestly a little scared of it. It goes there. [sic] Weinsteins have been awesome, though. Excited they’re putting it out.
What’s one thing you love about the film industry and one thing you wish you could change about it?
I wish people would stop pirating. It’s honestly killed it for us. We used to be able to guarantee budgets with DVD sales and then VOD but it’s over. Its not gonna go back to the way it was. And now they look at your movie and say “well will it be able to make money against this superhero movie.” The good old days are over. Now getting a film released is so hard because you just get outspent. And I understand it, that’s what audiences are paying to see. But we used to offset it with home video sales that have evaporated with torrent sites. So how do you make money for the investors and distributors? It’s hard.
What are your thoughts on the fact that they’re already remaking “Cabin Fever”? Aren’t there other avenues they could go with continuing the franchise than simply remaking the original?
I’m really curious what is your favorite horror movie most people have never heard of?
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