Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Exclusive Interviews

  • EXCLUSIVE: Georgina Campbell Discusses Feminist Themes of ‘Barbarian’

    EXCLUSIVE: Georgina Campbell Discusses Feminist Themes of ‘Barbarian’

    Georgina Campbell is the star of this year’s most surprising horror film, Barbarian. The movie centers around a woman who is shocked to find the Airbnb she booked is already occupied, and the increasingly dangerous events that transpire once she ultimately steps inside. As the premise suggests, much of the plot is based on the female perspective – examining dangerous scenarios through a lens that men might not always have to worry about. Speaking exclusively with Murphy’s Multiverse, Campbell explained how this theme impacted her appreciation for the film and how director Zach Cregger helped her understand how it all comes together:

    To be honest, I didn’t necessarily get it all the first time I read it, because so much is happening. And then I spoke to Zach and he really kind of broke everything down to me, and y’know, there’s all these different things going on that all kind of connect. He gave me a book that was about fear, and it was about women’s instincts and all these stories of women that have been through kind of traumatic situations and then look back on it and go, ‘there was actually this moment or there was this moment and I just kind of forgot about it or didn’t worry about it because it didn’t seem like a big deal at the time’. So that was really interesting, and he just, y’know, wrote that so beautifully. It was great.

    Georgina Campbell

    Once everything clicked for Campbell, she couldn’t get enough. The actress, known for her work on Black Mirror, also commented on how much she enjoyed the story at large. After being nudged to discuss what she really thought of the script, Campbell replied:

    It was so interesting, right? The first time I read the script I just, was like, amazed at the story itself. I just thought it was fantastic, and all those twists and turns. I was entertained reading it. It was like a breath of fresh air. You get sent so many scripts and it’s very rare you get these scripts that you just can’t stop thinking about.

    Georgina Campbell

    Barbarian arrives in theaters on September 9th.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’ Director on Paying Homage to Ray Harryhausen

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’ Director on Paying Homage to Ray Harryhausen

    With the Cars on the Road series hitting Disney+, we finally get a chance to discuss some of the fun additions. Earlier concept art even dating back to last year’s Disney+ hinted at an episode including the duo of Lightning Mcqueen and Mater in prehistoric times. As it turned out, the episode also was a way for the animation team to pay tribute to Ray Harryhausen‘s claymation era.

    In an exclusive interview with the creative team behind Cars on the Road, Steve Purcell shared the initial inspiration for tackling this episode and why they decided to include a tribute to Harryhausen. Plus, he praises his animation team for managing a way to bring that unique animation type to live in a new medium.

    I think in that case it was really specifically wanting to see that and I think it worked because it’s in a dream environment. It helps to separate that world from the regular world but I had this itch I wanted to scratch. I wanted to see this world animated in that style and I thought our animator’s swung for the fence and they hit it.

    Steve Purcell

    Furthermore, he also highlighted that they used the opportunity to pay homage to Harryhausen with the way they animated the prehistoric T-rex-inspired car.

    There’s a little homage in there where the dino kind of let’s go and waits for a minute and then snaps him up again. It goes back to any kind of dinosaur movie from the 30s or 60s.

    Steve Purcell

    It’s great to always see how these stories come together and use the opportunity to pay tribute to the animations that paved the way to the modern era. It also sounds like a unique challenge for the animators that wanted to add a special flair to what the Disney+ series has to offer.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Barbarian’ Director Teases Next Project

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Barbarian’ Director Teases Next Project

    Barbarian has yet to hit theaters, but critics are already raving about the directorial effort from Zach Cregger. The creative came to prominence in the world of comedy, as part of The Whitest Kids U’Know sketch troupe, before transitioning to horror with his latest film and earning high praise as both writer and director. These types of occupational change-overs don’t always go well, but if early online reactions are any indication, Cregger might just have a new career path laid out in front of him.

    Speaking exclusively with Murphy’s Multiverse, Cregger was asked directly if working on Barbarian had sparked any interest in crafting more scares down the line. Surprisingly, the filmmaker revealed he was already coming up with his next story. He explained that his idea was not an easy one to nail down, and while it may never actually come to fruition, it is something he’s actively trying to get right:

    I have another one that I’m writing right now but it’s very weird and I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to pull it off. I’m still writing it, and it’s hard. I think it could be better than ‘Barbarian’ but I have to figure out how to land this plane and I haven’t cracked it yet. But I’m working on it.

    Zach Cregger

    Before getting into his future, Cregger dove a bit into his past. The conversation began with a question on how a comedic performer ends up helming a horror feature, to which Cregger replied – “Nothing about the creation of this movie was calculated.” He elaborated:

    It wasn’t something I always wanted to do, but I just have to follow the inspiration when it comes to me. Y’know, I was in my garage late at night and I wanted to write something spooky and I kinda cranked it out. Nothing about the creation of this movie was calculated. It was all just sort of a fun exercise. It was really a joyful experience. Just trying to entertain myself, and this is what came out of it.

    Zach Cregger

    Hopefully, his next film turns out to be a joyful experience as well. Barbarian hits theaters on September 9th.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’s Steve Purcell Talks Exploring New Sides of Familiar Characters

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’s Steve Purcell Talks Exploring New Sides of Familiar Characters

    Cars on the Road will take the unlikely duo of Mater and Lightning McQueen out of Radiator Springs out into the world. The new Disney+ series offers a new perspective on these characters and the world they live in. It’s a simple concept that also uses the opportunity to pay tribute to many films and franchises that have come before.

    In an exclusive interview with Steve Purcell and the creative team behind the project, he reveals that the main idea of a road trip was the first concept that came together. He also highlighted the excitement of taking these well-known characters and introducing them into new scenarios.

    I think the road trip idea came first and then we started adding the sort of baggage of what kind of place it would be fun to see them in, because what we love about the characters: We know what they’re going to be like so what would they be like here or be like here, and so I think that’s what was cool about working on this.

    Steve Purcell

    Purcell went on to highlight that the idea of blending these stories with different genres or even paying tribute to iconic films came naturally afterward. They started adding them to the different locations once they had the high concept together. He also highlighted that the initial pitch also included many more episodes that could’ve potentially explored similar ideas.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Georgina Campbell Teases What’s Under the House in ‘Barbarian’

    EXCLUSIVE: Georgina Campbell Teases What’s Under the House in ‘Barbarian’

    Barbarian is set to hit theaters fairly soon, and somehow, the film’s marketing has managed to keep most of its plot a secret from audiences. Trailers have shown the basic premise of the movie, which revolves around a woman arriving at her AirBnB to discover it’s already housing a total stranger, but only hints have been made towards the true evil waiting inside. Is Bill Skarsgard‘s mysterious inhabitant the biggest threat 476 Barbary has to offer, or is there something far more terrifying lurking in the basement?

    In an exclusive interview with Murphy’s Multiverse, star Georgina Campbell teased what viewers can expect to see when they sit down for this year’s most unpredictable horror project. When asked what it was like to be on set for the crazier parts of the film, Campbell worked her way around the question, but still revealed a little bit of information on what’s under the house:

    Yeah, it’s so hard to talk about without spoilers, but everything that goes on down there was incredible. Like, y’know, the design – I guess I’ll say there’s a creature, an entity – and it was very beautifully designed and very scary.

    Georgina Campbell

    The former Krypton actress continued, joking about what it was like between takes when her and the “entity” were not in character:

    It’s funny, because when you’re on set and you’re acting, y’know, everything’s going. But then there’s so much time in-between where we’re all sat around and having a chat and talking about the weekend. So those moments were very surreal. [laughs] Yeah, it was very strange. It took some getting used to.

    Georgina Campbell

    Campbell then laughed about the imagery of the “creature” casually sipping coffee beside her, a concept that could be compared to the popular picture of Jamie Campbell Bower‘s Vecna on the set of Stranger Things. Hopefully, once the film is in cinemas, a few shots like this can be released by the cast and crew. Until then, audiences will have to wait until September 9th to see it for themselves on the big screen.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Larry the Cable Guy Teases New Aspects of Mater in ‘Cars on the Road’

    EXCLUSIVE: Larry the Cable Guy Teases New Aspects of Mater in ‘Cars on the Road’

    The Disney+ shows from iconic franchises have become the best jumping-off point for us to explore characters we’ve spent years with from a new perspective. While Marvel explored many iconic characters, Pixar is using this opportunity as well with the upcoming Cars on the Road adaptation. Lightning McQueen and Mater are off on a road trip to visit his sister; a new addition to the franchise.

    In an exclusive interview with Murphy’s Multiverse, Larry the Cable Guy shared what it was like getting to explore new aspects of this iconic character. Though, while he’s excited to get a new look at Mater’s family history, he’s, even more, excited for people to see new dynamics between him and Owen Wilson‘s McQueen.

    There’s so many things that people will learn from it I think. Another cool aspect, Mater and McQueen: you see them in the movies, there’s a scene with them there, then McQueen’s out with Sally. But Mater and McQueen are together the whole time, it’s Mater and McQueen. And so, just like any best friends, you’ll see some stuff like generally Mater and McQueen don’t get mad at each other, [but] they have a couple of tiffs. But the cool thing about it is, in the end, they’re best buddies and there’s no way, nothing, that’ll separate that friendship.

    Larry the Cable Guy

    He also praised how the great thing about this show is that it gives them more time together, and lets us get a better look at their dynamic beyond just the brief sequences we have in the films. The road trip concept also forces these two friends to hang out together quite a bit and even explore their dynamic from new perspectives, such as seeing them end up in some fights.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’s Larry the Cable Guy Shares How He Voiced Mater Throughout the Years

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Cars on the Road’s Larry the Cable Guy Shares How He Voiced Mater Throughout the Years

    Mater has become a staple of the Cars franchise and even many children’s toy boxes. Even with the many different toys, video games, shorts, and anything Disney could get out of the character, Larry the Cable Guy continued providing his voice for the many iterations of the character.

    Now, he’s venturing out into the first TV series based on Cars with Cars on the Road, and in an exclusive interview, Larry the Cable Guy shared how he recorded most of his projects in the past and compares his latest experience to working on the various Mater-centric shorts throughout the years.

    I have a studio at my house and that’s where I did all the toys, and games, and that kind of stuff. The movies, I’d go out to Emeryville. […] For the shorts, I think I’ve done it so long that the producers and directors trust me enough to know what I’m doing. We all get along and they write such great stuff, they trust me, I am very happy about that.

    Larry the Cable Guy

    He highlights how many different venues they have nowadays to release the series and he could’ve imagined Cars on the Road as shared just how much fun they had recording for this project.

    We laughed so hard, each one of these episodes we’d get to laughing so hard. I’d throw something out, they’d throw something out. We would go: “Let’s take a few seconds!” because we were laughing. I mean there is really funny stuff in there.

    Larry the Cable Guy

    It definitely sounds like they had a lot of fun and he teased in the interview that he also had the chance to improvise; giving the scenes their own dynamic as well. He’s voiced the character for so many years and through many different mediums, but he still shares his joy of voicing this character to this day.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Barbarian’ Director on Film’s Surprises

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Barbarian’ Director on Film’s Surprises

    Barbarian is the next major horror film to hit theaters, and it already has social media buzzing. Early online reactions to the movie claim it as a must-see for fans of the genre, and there has been almost unanimous praise for its many supposed twists and turns. Luckily, whatever those surprises are actually are remains a secret for viewers who wish to enjoy the plot unspoiled. All that is publicly known is what can be found in the trailer – a woman knocks on the door of her AirBnB to discover it’s already occupied, and after going inside, learns that something terrible is waiting for her under the house.

    In an exclusive interview with Murphy’s Multiverse, writer and director Zach Cregger was asked how he hoped audiences would react to what he has in store for them. Upon hearing the word “surprise”, Cregger fessed up to being as taken aback by his own script as anyone else. He explained his writing process, and how he weaponized it to make a genuinely shocking picture:

    I was surprised. [laughs] I didn’t beat this movie out. I didn’t outline it, I just started writing it. I was discovering it as I was going. So, I didn’t know what was down under the house until it happened. I didn’t know. So, I was just as surprised as anyone. [laughs] That was my rule for writing. If I don’t know what’s gonna happen, there’s no way the audience could. And so, I just kept to that spirit throughout the whole process.

    Zach Cregger

    Prior to creating Barbarian, the filmmaker maintained a successful career in comedy as part of the iconic sketch troupe The Whitest Kids U’Know. It would seem his many years of comedic improvisation have paid off in a rather unexpected way, flexing the same creative muscle in a wildly different genre.

    Barbarian crawls its way into theaters on September 9th.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Larry the Cable Guy on Reuniting with Owen Wilson for ‘Cars on the Road’

    EXCLUSIVE: Larry the Cable Guy on Reuniting with Owen Wilson for ‘Cars on the Road’

    There are many iconic duos in the world of cinema but many might have a fond childhood memory of the unlikely duo of race car Lightning McQueen and Radiator Spring’s sweetheart Mater. While we last saw the two together in the third Cars film back in 2017. Luckily, the duo return with their original voice actors once again reuniting, McQueen’s Owen Wilson and Mater’s Larry the Cable Guy.

    Having had the chance to interview Larry the Cable Guy during the press for the upcoming Disney+ series, Cars on the Road, the actor shared some insight into what it was like working with Owen Wilson again even with the pandemic keeping them apart. It sounds like their work dating back to 2006 has made it easy for them to know how the other voices their character even without being in the same room.

    The cool thing about Owen and I: we’ve done it for so long, we’ve done so many projects. I know which direction he’s going, and he knows which direction I’m going. So, if Owen’s in the studio and he throws out a new line and they put that in the script when I go up to do mine; obviously if they are reading Owen’s line to me, I already know which inflection Owen already used, I know what he sounds like in my head before I do mine. So, when I do my line I know it’s going to match to what he said, because we know each other’s inflection and we know what each other person is thinking because we’ve done it for so long.

    Larry the Cable Guy

    It sounds like the pandemic couldn’t keep the duo from bringing their iconic characters to life. There’s something about realizing just how long Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy have been working together. It also shows what kind of bond they have developed over the years.

  • EXCLUSIVE: ‘Barbarian’ Director Explains Film’s Title

    EXCLUSIVE: ‘Barbarian’ Director Explains Film’s Title

    Barbarian, an inventive new horror film from the mind of Zach Cregger, continues the longstanding tradition of giving spooky movies a one-word title. From Us to It to Misery, there are countless mononymous thrillers with a whole lot of meaning packed into only a few syllables. Ever since Barbarian was announced, internet sleuths have done their best to crack the code and figure out just how the title relates to the plot. However, according to the director, they may never truly get an answer.

    In an exclusive interview with Murphy’s Multiverse, Cregger was asked if he could break down exactly how his latest directorial effort found its name. The creative, who also wrote the film, began by stating he enjoyed the mystique of not giving a direct answer. Luckily, Cregger did decide to explain the moment “Barbarian” was selected as the project’s label and how that impacted the movie going forward:

    I think it’s an intriguing title. I like the idea that when the movie is over it could inspire a debate as to what it’s referencing. There’s been a lot of theories online about how I probably landed on it. None of them are especially accurate. [laughs] Truth be told, I had to name the document something when I saved it the first time. I was writing the script and I had to write something to save it, or it was going to be called ‘Untitled Screenplay’, and so I wrote ‘Barbarian’ and then I got attached to it. Then the more I wrote… maybe the movie just sort of wrapped itself around that title. I’m really happy with it. I think it’s the right title, but it is mysterious.

    Zach Cregger

    After it was pointed out that most of the film takes place at 476 Barbary St., which feels like a potential play on the movie’s title (“Bar-bar-y-an”), Cregger conceded that might have been done on purpose. He elaborated, giving his most solid answer:

    I think that was probably what I was thinking. The first time I started writing, I named the street “Barbary Street”. So that probably was in my head. Like ‘Barbarian’, an inhabitant of this place.

    Zach Cregger

    Barbarian hits theaters on September 9th.