'Devil Inside' Writer And Director Talk Success, Controversy

'More than anything, we're just excited that people are talking about the movie,' writer Matthew Peterman tells MTV News.
By Kevin P. Sullivan


Bonnie Morgan in "The Devil Inside"
Photo: Paramount

Director William Brent Bell and writer Matthew Peterman defied all expectations when their new film, "The Devil Inside," broke January box-office records. The horror movie grossed $35 million domestically in its opening weekend for Paramount.

Since the film's surprise success and subsequent controversy, Bell and Peterman have found themselves at the center of a lot of talk around Hollywood. The writer/director duo took time to speak with MTV News about the film, the audience reaction and the controversial ending.

MTV: What has your week been like since the release?

Matthew Peterman: It's really exciting. It's just exciting for the movie business that it reinvigorated the marketplace a little bit, so it's nice to be a part of that to some degree.

MTV: What were your expectations going into the release?

Bell: When we made the film, we made it completely independently and outside the studio system. It was me, Matt [and] our producing partner Morris Paulson, who independently financed the film. We went off to Europe and shot the movie, came back here with it and just worked on it for about a year. We brought on Steven Schneider and Lorenzo di Bonaventura. We worked on it with them for a while and then presented it to Paramount. We had been working on the film since its first inception, over five years at that point, but a year and a half of actually shooting and editing and all the good stuff.

Peterman: I think our expectations were to make the best film we could. Hopefully, everything else would just take care of itself. We didn't have an idea that it would do anything like this. There were no expectations for that.

MTV: What do you think of the audience reaction?

Peterman: I think, more than anything, we're just excited that people are talking about the movie. We know it's a polarized audience. That's kind of the cool thing that movies do, because we took a lot of chances. We kind of see it in the way people are talking about it.

Bell: We're just excited people are talking about it. We're excited there are a lot of people who do like the movie. It is very interesting and cool to have a polarizing movie out there that people can get into the heat of discussion about. That's actually interesting. The more people are interested, the better it is for the film.

Peterman: It's a lot better, man, than just putting a movie out there that's just forgotten. We have our fair share of fans. We have our fair share of naysayers. It's cool to see people getting into healthy discussion about a film.

MTV: How different was your experience this time compared to your first film, the video game-themed horror movie "Stay Alive"?

Bell: It was 180 degrees different. It kind of started off the same, but it very quickly changed. The budget was 10 times this, depending on how you look at it. We did it kind of independently but not really, because it had such a big budget. We shot in America with a huge union crew. It was a much more standard Hollywood kind of experience and one I didn't enjoy very much.

Peterman: There were huge companies involved in that film. "The Devil Inside" was a completely independent project in every sense of the word. We enjoyed "Devil Inside" much better.

Bell: It was released by a studio that really didn't understand those types of films. You know the typical story where you destroy the movie in editing and you turn it from an R-rated film to a PG-13 film, and the result is something really unsatisfying. This time, we got to do what we wanted to do, pretty much.

MTV: What are you going to take away from "The Devil Inside"?

Bell: We really love this. You can call it "found footage." You can call it "mock-doc" or "faux-doc" or whatever, depending on how you tell the story. We love this whole space, because you can work with really talented people and aren't beholden to a great deal of money and take more chances. There are only so many stories you can tell, so to be able to tell a story in a unique way, this kind of documentary style allows us to do that. We certainly want to continue down that path. It gives audiences something different.

Peterman: It allows you to do unconventional things. We did those on "The Devil Inside" for sure.

MTV: Is horror a genre you want to stay in?

Bell: I think it will be for a while. We've written a lot of projects that we've set up at different studios that kind of span different genres. We have a project now that's more of a straightforward thriller. It's in the pipeline. Certainly the next project and maybe the next two projects will stay in that space. We have a really exciting horror project that we hope to be shooting really soon. It's a real departure from this one, but then again, there are also some similarities, the techniques we're using.

[Spoiler ahead!]

MTV: The film's ending frustrated many moviegoers. What were your thoughts on the URL at the end of the film?

Bell: That was something different. When that idea came up, we thought that could fit. It's a very interactive concept.

Check out everything we've got on "The Devil Inside."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677115/devil-inside.jhtml

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Baby Williams Promises Big Boy A Ferrari Evelyn Lozada, Tyrese, & Toya Support Big's Book Release

Celebs turned up for Power 106 radio host Big Boy's "An XL Life" book release party at the Sayers Club in Hollywood.  Pics of Toya Wright, Evelyn Lozada, Tyrese, Baby, and more inside. 

Big Boy celebrated his new "An XL Life: Staying Big At Half Your Size" book release last night and his celeb friends came out to support.  The book is being released through the Cash Money Content literary division, and apparently, head honchos Brian "Baby" Williams and Slim, read more than we think they do.  Check out YBF's LA Correspondent Kalia Silva catch the party footage:

And check out how Baby promised a Ferrari to Big once his book hits the NY Times Best Seller list.  Must be nice!  The book is in stores and Amazon.com now.

 

Tyrese was on hand to congratulate his good friend.  About time we saw him smile.  He's quickly getting labeled the angry black man these days.  He's looking sexy as usual though, and we spotted him leaving with a mystery lady.  Maybe that's the reason...

The Big Boy's Neighborhood crew was there to party.

And Evelyn Lozada, who's also releasing her own memoir on the Cash Money Content label soon, posed it up alongside singer JoiStarr.  Are we feeling her croc jacket?

Video correspondent: Kalia Silva

Source: http://theybf.com/2012/01/11/baby-williams-promises-big-boy-a-ferrarievelyn-lozada-tyrese-toya-support-bigs-book-relea

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The countdown to brand new episodes of Parks & Recreation and Up All Night has officially begun. Tonight is the night that these hysterical shows return and I have some fabulous preview videos that will no doubt put a smile on your face. So excited to get my laugh on with these fabulous NBC hit shows, especially Up All Night which just might be my favorite new comedy of the season, love it! Yes Christina and Will?s show has joined Thursday night comedy and night and I think it is a perfect addition. Enough chit chat from me lets get to the good stuff, preview videos. First up is a little clip from Parks & Recreation that involves April, who just doesn?t seem to do anything. She is for sure not someone you would not go to if you want something done but she is entertaining. Next up Ron and the police have very different thoughts on what constitutes a law and I will just leave it at that. I am going to let you in on a little secret I have watched this clip a few times because it is seriously hilarious. Moving onto to what fans can expect [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/fJMVjpqspIM/

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Alice Eve 'Proud' Of Upcoming 2012 Films

Roles in 'The Raven' and 'Men in Black 3' make her One to Watch in 2012.
By Kara Warner


Alice Eve in "The Raven"
Photo: Rogue Pictures

Alice Eve has been flirting with crossing over into the big time for a while now. The British actress has been stealing scenes and impressing co-stars left and right from her first big feature "Starter for 10," to "She's Out of My League," "Sex and the City 2" and last year's stint on "Entourage."

Soon, you can see Eve in two of the year's most highly anticipated films — "The Raven" and "Men in Black 3" — and as such, she is one of MTV Movies' Ones to Watch in 2012.

We recently caught up with Eve to talk about her plans for 2012 and what she loves about her upcoming roles:

MTV: What are you most looking forward to this year?

Alice Eve: Apart from the fact that I have two very cool movies coming out that I'm proud of? It's great, because that doesn't happen every year, but I'm always a little reluctant to embrace a new year too much, because I think it puts pressure on to have expectations. I'm just glad to see another year through hopefully. I think I am a realist. I hope for the health of my family and friends, and other than that, just keep doing what I do.

MTV: In this day and age, more people might be familiar with "Men in Black" than Edgar Allan Poe and "The Raven." How would you explain Poe and "The Raven" to those who aren't familiar with either?

Eve: Poe is kind of the godfather to the modern horror genre as championed by Tim Burton. It's very much in the tradition of dark, deep anxieties imagined and then writ large, like having a man buried underground alive and the "Tell-Tale Heart," which is incredibly readable, it's so short. That's a good entry into [Poe's] work. Our movie is called "The Raven," after his poem, which also deals with anxiety. In that period, there was Freud and this birth of cognitive consciousness and people realizing we have complicated minds. He was a father of darkness in a way, and my Emily Hamilton fell deeply in love with him, as we do. Women like dark. John Cusack played a dark and great Poe, and my character came from the light and got taken down to the dark.

MTV: How would you describe the universal appeal and intrigue of dark men?

Eve: It's just sort of honest. To pretend we don't have a deep, dark soul inside all of us — everyone pretends it's happy, but there's always another side to that story. A dark man gives license to that side of yourself. I'm not sure it's a great commitment for life — I don't think Edgar Allan Poe would have been the man I would have hoped my daughter would marry — but you can't help who you love. And he's brilliant. The character I play fell in love with a brilliant, talented man, who, as we've seen, will be remembered for centuries, so you can forgive her for that.

MTV: Is "The Raven" a standalone film, or is there potential for prequels or sequels?

Eve: I say in a very proud way that I think it is a one-off, but I don't know if there is hope for a sequel. I know that it is a standalone story with a really magnificent script that was cleverly engineered, so it is a complete thriller. I don't think it is a cliffhanger, but you never know, do you? It's nice to do a movie that is a standalone piece. Hopefully, it is a satisfying thriller.

MTV: With regard to "Men in Black," you play a young version of Emma Thompson's character. What was your reaction when you heard you were playing a young Emma Thompson?

Eve: I was so happy, because she's an icon, she's wonderful, and she's also that multitalented triple, quadruple threat. She's won an Oscar for screenplay and actress. She's magnificent. And so I was so happy that I actually got to spend time with her, which is what it meant when I got the role. I did spend time with her, and she was everything and more that you hoped she would be, with an incredibly quick mind. It was great. "Men in Black," for me, was a wonderful experience. They shot it in New York. Anything that takes you to New York and pays you to do it is ridiculous. Amazing. Then Will Smith is the most entertaining man; he doesn't stop. I don't know where his energy comes from, but he has a lot of it. For me, it was so positive. I just saw a tiny bit of it today, and it looks fantastic, because it goes back in time, which is a very clever ploy.

MTV: Did you have to do much CGI or green-screen work?

Eve: There wasn't for me. My character is very much based in a sexist '60s reality, so there's not much going on except an office chauvinistic environment that I work in, which also gives birth to comedy.

MTV: Watching things from that era always reminds me how grateful I am to have been born when I was.

Eve: Aren't we lucky? We are so lucky. It's crazy what women had to put up with.

MTV: So is this role a one-off for you as well, or is there potential for more Agent Oh in future films?

Eve: I think that if they make a fourth one, she could carry on, yeah.

What are you waiting for? Your must-see movie needs your support. It's time to show character, poise and heart. Vote for your picks now at MTV Movie Brawl 2012!

Check out everything we've got on "Men in Black 3."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1676994/alice-eve-men-in-black-3-the-raven.jhtml

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