Taking some time-out at NYCC '11 directors of Crank, Gamer and Jonah Hex Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor chatted with io9 about some of the concepts for their upcoming feature Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, their depiction of Blackout and filming in Turkey.
What was the dynamic on-set between Nicolas Cage (Johnny Blaze) and Idris Elba (Moreau the drunken monk)?
Brian Taylor: That's two awesome individuals going head-to-head. I think there was a little bit of one-upsmanship between these two really powerful personalities. They definitely brought the best out in each other, and you could definitely feel they both had to be on their A-plus game when the other guy was working.
Spirit of Vengeance filmed in Cappadocia, a very visually striking region of Turkey. What sequences did you film there?
Mark Neveldine: It's this mystical place where he goes to get the demon exorcised from his body and soul.
Brian Taylor: It's where the church behind the church lies.
Mark Neveldine: It looks like it's in the real world, but it's nothing you've ever seen before. We've never seen Cappadocia in film before, even though it's possibly the most spectacular place you've ever seen. Nobody shoots there. This will be the first time I can think of.
Could you give us a little background on your depiction of the villain Blackout?
Brian Taylor: You can see him a little bit in the teaser. He's loosely based on Blackout from the comics, but we've expanded on him a little bit. We gave him some new powers and abilities he didn't have in the comic, but really at the heart of it is a really weird, [frick]ed-up performance by Johnny Whitworth.
Mark Neveldine: No CG for the character. We worked with [make-up artist] Christien Tinsley who worked on Crank 2 and Passion of the Christ. He went all prosthetics with Blackout, and he created this awesome-looking demon.
Finally, were there any designs or concepts that were deemed too outlandish for Ghost Rider?
Mark Neveldine: The three-headed monk, I guess.
Brian Taylor: I'm probably going to talk about the, uh, flaming hookers.
No, please, tell us! We'd love to hear about that.
Brian Taylor: Well, anything he rides he turns into a hell-vehicle, so we figured that might work with a...
Mark Neveldine: A working woman. That might work with a hooker, hellified.
Wow. Did this make it to the concept art stages?
Mark Neveldine: It was part of a really elaborate pitch to the studio that didn't quite happen.
Brian Taylor: We lost horribly.
What was the reaction to that particular idea?
Mark Neveldine: It was like, "Interesting. Very creative, boys."
Be sure to check out the artcile over at
io9 where they go on to discuss the possibilty of seeing
Cranks Chev Chelios again in a movie.
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