Continuing our interview with HOLLISTON co-creator/co-star Adam Green (begun here), we chat to him about projects (including HATCHET 3) he has coming up past the FEARnet sitcom, which premieres Wednesday, April 4…

FANGORIA: Let’s talk HATCHET 3 for a bit. Did you personally choose BJ McDonnell as the franchise’s new director?

ADAM GREEN: Yeah, he was my first choice. I really wanted to keep it within the HATCHET family and make sure it was someone who’d been there since day one. BJ had literally shot every frame of both HATCHET movies [as camera operator], he’s always wanted to be a director, and one thing I love about BJ is that he never asked for anything. Whenever you start to get any kind of success, everyone from people you never met to family members start asking for stuff, as if you can wave a magic wand and make anything happen. But I always knew BJ wanted to direct, and it was really great once we had all the discussions internally and I got to bring it up to him, because he totally didn’t expect it and was so appreciative. And now it’s gonna feel like the first movie again for the crew, where you have a new director who’s so passionate and thrilled about making a movie. For him, this is the most important thing in the world, and while going over the script, I was able to kinda feed off of all his excitement.

I also know the films have a very loyal fan base, so I didn’t want someone to come in and change it or shit all over it, which is kind of what happened with a lot of the franchises of the ’80s. But BJ totally gets it. I probably wouldn’t have written it if the director wasn’t someone I believed in. HATCHET is my baby, and even though I’m not directing, I’ll be on set every step of the way.

FANG: What can fans of the series expect from the third installment?

GREEN: I don’t want to spoil too much, but Victor Crowley is really f**king pissed off and he’s going to kill a lot of people. But what I like is that we get to bring the mythology fully around with this one. With the first one, I purposely kept everything as basic and nebulous as possible. In the second, we really expounded on who Victor Crowley is and why he’s the way he is. The fact that he’s this repeating ghost sets him apart from any other slashers. No matter what you do to him, he keeps coming back every night in the same state he was in when he was killed. Now in the third, there are no more flashbacks, but we get a lot more information on exactly how Victor Crowley works and how to potentially get rid of him.

FANG: What stage are you at with KILLER PIZZA right now?

GREEN: MGM bought the rights to KILLER PIZZA about six months ago. So right now I’m working on rewrites based on the studio’s notes, and it has been a really great process. I’ve done a bunch of studio writing before, but never with a company like 1492 at the helm. You don’t get generic notes or things that don’t make sense, mainly because [producer] Chris [Columbus] is a writer too. I’ve learned so much, and everything he suggests is so smart and elevates the script to the next level. It’s a studio movie, so I don’t know or have control over when it will be made or how it will be made. And even if I did, it probably wouldn’t be my place to say.

FANG: Should fans of the book expect any changes?

GREEN: To anyone who’s read the book, it’s nothing really like that anymore. If they were to change the title of the film, it would be fine. Because aside from the fact that the kids work at a place called “Killer Pizza,” it’s all changed.

FANG: Were you familiar with the book before this project was offered to you?

GREEN: I had never even heard of the book before 1492 sent it to me. The book was written for like 8-to-10-year olds, but the idea behind it was so fun that I came in and pitched my own big summer-movie version of it, and they went for it right away. But these studio projects just take so long. Even when MGM had the deal all set, it still took like five months just to get the contractual thing done. It’s a long wait, but hopefully it’ll get made and come out soon. For the loyal fan base that’s seen everything I’ve done, there’s stuff in there for you.

FANG: Well, it appears you have more than enough on your plate. But are there any projects tucked away in the back of your mind for the future?

GREEN: I have way more than enough going on. I’m actually trying to figure out what things to kill, to be honest. Right now I’m focusing on HATCHET 3, then hopefully HOLLISTON season two. I also have this project that I’ve been working on for a while with Alex Pardee, which basically explores monster art and where monsters come from. But we’ll be shooting that over the next two years. It started as a documentary, but is slowly becoming something else, something we don’t even know yet. It’s been a very experimental experience, and we’re not trying to control it. But the whole research process and the people we’ve met have been so unreal and fun. And I’m not 100 percent convinced monsters aren’t real. These ideas had to all come from somewhere at one point, you know?

FANG: Do you remember a specific childhood moment with a specific film that first made you think, “I want to work in movies when I grow up?”

GREEN: Yes, it was in 1982, when E.T. held his finger up and said, “I’ll be right here.” From that moment on, I was completely infatuated with films and trying to figure out how they’re made. Even when I was 8 years old, I could tell that E.T. was fake, but there was something about the story, the acting, the music and the lighting that made me sob uncontrollably like a 2-year-old. And I was like, “I gotta figure this out!”

FANG: As a child of the VHS era, how do you feel about the cheap-and-easily-accessible age fans live in today? Because today, the video store is a dying breed, but at the same time, having CHILLERAMA, for example, on Netflix Instant has enabled access to it for tons of people who might not ordinarily have sought it out.

GREEN: The fact that movies have become so accessible on-line and through things like Netflix, even how quick films make it to cable and DVD now, I think that’s all a good thing. What’s bad about it is that the theatrical experience is getting lost, especially for the horror audience. Seeing a horror movie in a packed theater with other people is the best way. People don’t really care about going to the theater anymore when they could just sit home and download. And it’s all illegal downloading, which sometimes isn’t the entire film plus you’re watching it on a tiny iPhone, not to mention how crippling it is to the industry. It’s a blessing and a curse. I’ve been lucky enough to have every one of my films play in a theater, and I’m very grateful for that.

FANG: Have you received any reports of outrage from CHILLERAMA’s theatrical showings? Because it’s a pretty vile film—and I say that in the most loving way possible.

GREEN: We actually haven’t heard of a single person who was offended by anything in that movie. It kind of gives me a little faith in humanity, because there are people who are offended by anything. They just look to be offended. But CHILLERAMA is so obviously a joke that you’d feel stupid being offended by it. Now, with my segment specifically, I was assigned that title [THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANKENSTEIN] by Adam Rifkin, and I was scared. Because how do you do anything involving Anne Frank and the Holocaust and not offend anyone? Adam kept saying, “Yeah, but you’re Jewish, so it’s OK.” But the audience doesn’t know that! It was hard to come up with a story that didn’t really involve the Holocaust or Anne Frank. It essentially just turned into 20 minutes of making fun of Hitler. And no one was offended by it. Whether we showed it in London or Germany or the U.S., everyone was laughing or cheering. It’s nice to know horror fans have a very like-minded sense of humor.

FANG: Anything else you want to say to the Fango readers?

GREEN: Please, please, please watch HOLLISTON. If you don’t get FEARnet, call 877-FEAR-247 and keep asking your cable provider for it! Hopefully horror fans appreciate a sitcom for them, because shows like THE BIG BANG THEORY aren’t necessarily our cup of tea.

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