Blumhouse Productions has built a reputation for controversial and thought-provoking horror films, but perhaps none have reached the heights of controversy that The Hunt has. The movie revolves around a group of so-called liberals who round up several "deplorables" for their own take on the Most Dangerous Game.
After nearly being cancelled, it's finally being released this weekend despite many audience members not wanting to move past their first impressions. Coincidentally, The Hunt is in large part about first impressions. That's the very thing that made Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project) want to be part of the project, and it's an irony that producer Jason Blum is well aware of.
Blum and Barinholtz both shared their reactions to the film and its journey in a recent interview with Screen Rant, in anticipation of The Hunt's long-awaited release.
Well, congratulations on The Hunt finally coming out. When you first got the script, were you expecting this kind of response to it? Was it on target, or was it way overboard?
Jason Blum: No, no. We did not expect the response that we got the first time around. And I wish we'd gotten a different response, and I wish we'd already released the movie. But it happened, and so here we are.
Now you are a writer and director yourself, Ike. Did you take anything away from this experience that will help you in future projects?
Ike Barinholtz: Yes. The next time I want to direct a movie, just have Craig Zobel do it. Because he's better than me.
No, I really did [learn from] watching Craig, and also reading what Damon and Nick created. Every time you work on something good, you hopefully take a little piece of it. Yeah, I think I learned a lot from those guys.
How important was it for both of you to flip the expectations? There's the humanizing of the hunted, but it's also the fact that the rich elite are almost more ridiculous than the people we thought were being lampooned.
Jason Blum: I think it was important for us to make fun of both sides equally. The movie's cool and exciting and funny, and it's also about the extremes on both sides of the aisle and how those extremes aren't terribly productive.
Ike Barinholtz: And I think too, if we didn't do any flipping - if we didn't do any subversion, and it was just kind of this liberal elites are hunting super whatever people," it would be terrible.
Congratulations on the success of The Invisible Man, as well. Do you have any thoughts on that leading into more movies in an independent Dark Universe?
Jason Blum: No, I don't. But I would love to do more movies with the universe of monsters, for sure. We have no plans immediately, but I would love to do more.
Ike, what called you to Staten Island specifically?
Ike Barinholtz: You know, when I first read it, I think at first they were like, "Well, you could be one of the elites." I was like, "No, no. I want to be one of these guys." Because I wanted to jump in that mindset; I wanted to make the audience unsure of who I am, and keep having them kind of seesaw back and forth. Like, "Oh, I don't like this guy. Oh, I do like this guy."
The thought of being able to play that person just jumped out at me. I was like, "I haven't played that guy yet." And this is the perfect script for it. So yeah, I really wanted it.
