‘The Purge: Anarchy’ Producer Jason Blum

July 22, 2014 11:11 AM

<em(courtesy of Universal Pictures)

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The movie Saw came out just under ten years ago, and since then, horror fans have had a huge variety of small-budget, viscerally terrifying movies to force their girlfriends to watch with them. Jason Blum has produced many of them, including the Paranormal Activity movies, Insidious, Sinister, and The Purge. That last one’s sequel, The Purge: Anarchy, came out on July 18. We had a chance to sit down with Jason and pick his surprisingly un-terrifying brain.

Man Cave Daily: You’ve produced a huge number of horror movies. Have you always been a fan of that genre?

Jason Blum: No, not really. I’ve always loved movies. Not like Quentin [Tarantino] or Eli Roth, those guys have lived and breathed horror from the time they were born. I did movies while in college, I watched every Hitchcock movie and actually I took a seminar on Hitchcock. But I really loved all different kinds of movies and I made all different kinds of movies until I did Paranormal Activity and that’s when I really found out not just how much I liked and appreciated the genre, but how much I liked the people in this genre. I’ve had a lot of fun doing it and I hope to continue to do it for a long time.

MCD: What is it specifically about horror that grabbed you after Paranormal Activity?

Jason: A lot of things grabbed me. I really love making something where you actually see a physical reaction to it. I think that’s really fun. I think that the dramatic work in the movies that I loved has moved to television. So in order to keep the theatrical business alive and relevant, I think horror’s one of the few genres left that’s really doing that.

I love smuggling in different ideas and even actors. Most of our actors haven’t done much horror, which is kind of counterintuitive to Hollywood. Ethan [Hawke] hated horror movies and swore he’d never do one and he passed on Insidious, but I finally wore him down on Sinister, and then he did The Purge right afterwards. I like introducing people who aren’t necessarily associated with the genre.

MCD: You mentioned Alfred Hitchcock as one of your big influences. The movie-making landscape is so drastically different now than it was when he was making films. If Hitchcock was just getting started in his career today, what sort of films do you think he’d be making? Would he be making movies at all?

Mmmm, that’s some good purge.

Jason: I’ve got to say, I’ve done a lot of interviews and I’ve never been asked that question. What kind of movies would Hitchcock be making today? I love that question. God, do I have no idea. I mean, nobody has any idea, but if I were to guess — I’ll tell you one thing I’m pretty sure of. I’m pretty sure he’d be doing as much TV as movies. The pace and style of his movies, that kind of entertainment is much more found now on television than in the cinema.

MCD: Is there like a TV show in mind that you’re thinking of in that style?

Jason: I think Breaking Bad. I think that [Breaking Bad creator] Vince Gilligan is the Hitchcock of our time.

MCD: Interesting.

Jason: That’s true, actually. I’ll stick by that.

MCD: I like that. So in addition to being a horror master, you also do a lot of micro-budget, high-concept films. Is the small budget out of necessity, that it’s just easier to get a movie made if you don’t need that much money, or is there an appeal in the small budget itself?

Jason: Happily, I’m at a place in my career where I could produce movies for larger budgets. For me, the reason small budget is so important is because it allows you to take risks. It gives you creative freedom to try new and weird things. When you have big budgets, it’s not responsible to do. You can’t do it. And I wouldn’t want to do it, either. I would feel very constricted to have $50 or $100 million to make a movie. I would be so nervous about it, but you can be much more playful with a lower budget.

God? You’re purging too?!?

MCD: It’s been just over a year since the first Purge came out. What’s it been like working on such a tight timeline?

Jason: I’m a big fan of parameters. I think they make the creative better. I think that having different parameters, whether it be financial or time, helps the creative process. If every movie we did, we had to make in 12 months, that would not be fun, but I like doing it every so often. I think it throws a wrench into the works, which is always a good thing.

MCD: Last question: if you were in the world of Purge 2, what would you do during the purge itself?

Jason: I would fly to Rome. [laughs] I’d fly to Rome and go out for some pasta, but I would get the hell out of dodge. I would definitely leave the country. I think The Purge is a great idea for a movie, I do not think it’s a great idea to actually do.

MCD: You’re not promoting an annual purge as the next issue for our government to tackle?

Jason: No, no I really hope that’s not the route we go. It’s supposed to be a cautionary tale, folks.

Go see The Purge: Anarchy in theaters now!