Posted in: Horror, Movies, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros | Tagged: final destination, Final Destination: Bloodlines

Final Destination: Bloodlines Directors on Bridging Old, New Audiences

Final Destination: Bloodlines directors Zac Lipovsky and Adam Stein spoke to Bleeding Cool about opening sequence, Tony Todd, legacy & more.

When directors Zac Lipovsky and Adam Stein were tasked to revive the Final Destination franchise after 14 years, they had a tall order to bring back the fans of the franchise that had seen releases every two to three years from the 2000 original to the fifth film in 2011. To keep consistent with the Jeffrey Riddick franchise, not only have they retained the blood, gore, and chaos of the originals, but also brought in the late Tony Todd, who reprised his role as the mysterious William Bludworth in one of his final roles. The film's flashback-driven opening reintroduces Bludworth, who made his debut in the James Wan original 2000 film, and reveals his ties with Iris Campbell (Brec Bassinger) at a dance. As per the previous films, Bloodlines follows a cursed family, and at the center, Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), trying to stop Death from claiming them. Lipovsky and Stein spoke to Bleeding Cool about honoring Final Destination's past while bridging an entryway for new fans, how one scene almost took place at an arcade, crafting the intricate opening, giving Todd a final bow, and saying goodbye as Bludworth. The following contains minor spoilers.

Final Destination: Bloodlines Directors on Crafting a New Story While Honoring the Past

Bleeding Cool: When you guys decided to take this project, was it important to balance the legacy of the 'Final Destination' franchise to blend into 'Bloodlines', or did you concentrate on distinguishing your own voice and vision?

Stein: It was a lot to do at the same time. We were huge fans of 'Final Destination' and wanted to make the movie for the fans that was chock full of Easter eggs, and references they would love, but also, since it's been 14 years since the last one, make it for a new generation. Even if you haven't seen a 'Final Destination' movie, because you were four when the last came out, and now you're 18, you could still enjoy and appreciate it just as much as the hardcore fans. It was tricky to make the movie for both audiences, but we were excited to do that.

Were there any of the death sequences you guys worked with the writing staff that ended up on the cutting room floor, or did you use everything pitched to you?

Lipovsky: Yeah, over many years, we worked with the writers, producers, and everybody and all the different crew positions to iterate on these set pieces, so a lot of them evolved over time. One of the ones that evolved quite a bit, that's quite different from what it ended up being, was we have this incredible sequence in a backyard barbecue with the whole family. That originated as more of a children's play place, like a Chuck E. Cheese-type space where you had bowling, arcade machines, bumper cars, and all that stuff, which was fun and delightful to ruin a place like that for people. As we worked on the movie more, we realized we wanted to ground it in something more relatable, with how everyone you know goes over to your family's backyard, and there are so many great things we could do there, and that's how it evolved over time.

I found that the opening dance flashback at the beginning of the film and the MRI sequence are some of the more memorable scenes in the film. Was there any scene that was more difficult to pull off than the rest?

Stein: Yeah, the opening sequence was incredibly difficult and complex to pull off. We started with storyboards, and then we animated the whole sequence so that we could see how it was working with sound, music, and timing. We ended up shooting that for over a third of the shooting time of the production was dedicated to those first 18 minutes. Since there were so many people, we had to light on fire and throw through the glass, and there were five or six different sets we made up the sky view. There was the main restaurant. There was another set for the tilted floor, and another one for when everyone's falling through the dance floor, a separate one for the lobby, and the last one when she's hanging. All these different pieces were combined to make that opening sequence as epic as it is.

I hear you guys may have made the Guinness Book of World Records of the oldest woman to ever be seen on set on fire [on film]?

Stein: We're still waiting on Guinness's approval [Lipovsky laughs], but we are pretty excited for Yvette [Ferguson]. She's incredible.

You had Tony Todd film his scene in there, and I was wondering, was there anything more that you guys had originally planned with him, or was this the only scene?

Lipovsky: Yeah, we worked closely with Tony to figure out what his role would be in the movie, and he was so excited to be there. What's in the film is exactly what we had hoped, which was giving him the opportunity to give more of an origin story to Bludworth, and get a sense of why he's been the way he has been in all these movies. He's a mysterious, interesting character, and also gives him a chance to say goodbye to the character and give Bludworth an ending, which he was grateful for, and we were precious about protecting to make sure that that moment came off as touching and beautiful.

Final Destination: Bloodlines, which also stars Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Rya Kihlstedt, and Anna Lore, is exclusively in theaters.

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