HE CAME, HE ‘SAW’
CHRIS ROCK PRODUCED AND STARS IN ‘SPIRAL,’ THE LATEST IN THE HORROR SERIES. THE SURPRISE TWIST BEHIND A TIMELY COLLABORATION.
out now is an odd coincidence. It’s sad that these circumstances exist, but I think this is a great time for the movie to come out. It’ll definitely spark a conversation.”
At the same time, Minghella says, “[‘Spiral’] is very much designed as escapism and entertainment. I think that the movie absolutely touches on things that are prescient ... but I also don’t think it’s attempting to serve anyone their civic vegetables.”
As part of his pitch, Rock submitted a treatment outlining his vision for the spinoff. “We kind of had an agreement more or less where I was in charge of the comedy and Oren and Mark were in charge of the drama and the gore,” he says. “Basically I could say almost anything I wanted to but I couldn’t undermine the scariness of the movie; I couldn’t say anything that would make something not work as far as the horror was concerned. There’s no moment where I’m making fun of the movie [and] I think that’s important for it to work.”
HE A L S O handpicked Minghella to play his partner, something the “Handmaid’s Tale” actor still finds hard to wrap his head around. “I met Chris at a party and he kept saying to me ‘We’re going to work together,’ ” Minghella remembers. “So by the time I got the script I was pretty hyped. I didn’t know what kind of narrative it was going to be but I was thrilled that I was going to get to be a part of it in a meaningful way.”
“I had a good time with Max,” Rock says. “I like him in everything I’ve seen him in. I always respect a guy that’s in hits. I wanted somebody that when people saw him they thought ‘Oh this is gonna be good,’ and Max is one of those people.”
“I’m still not convinced he chose the right person,” Minghella jokes. “I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m Alden Ehrenreich or somebody else and he’ll realize [his error] at some point.”
An early version of the script had Rock’s character related to Danny Glover’s detective David Tapp from the first film. But “it just didn’t pass the smell test,” Stolberg says on “The Production Meeting” podcast. So Burg reached out to Jackson to play retired police chief Marcus Banks. “We were surprised that [he and Rock] had never worked together,” the producer says. “It turns out that Sam’s a ‘Saw’ fan and knew of the franchise. He was like, ‘Playing Chris Rock’s dad? Sure, why not, I’m in.’ ”
“It’s so funny people keep going ‘It’s so odd he’s playing your father,’ ” says Rock. “Sam is 20 years older than me. Sam absolutely can play my father. I loved working with [him]. Honestly, probably the first day or two I was just so in awe of him that I didn’t relax.
“I know we’re technically peers but I look at him like this all-time great actor next to Sidney Poitier,” he adds. “And it’s weird, we started in movies around the same time. He brought this up to me, [that] I was doing ‘New Jack City’ around the time that they were doing ‘Jungle Fever.’ Literally, Wesley Snipes was going from one set to the other. But my God, that guy’s done 1,000 more movies than me in that same amount of time.”
Rock got his start as a stand-up comedian before breaking out as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” in the early ’90s alongside Chris Farley, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider and David Spade. He amassed four Emmys and three Grammys over the course of his nearly four-decade comedy career, but now the 56-year-old comic is ready to turn his attention toward more dramatic work.
“You’ve got to make adjustments as you get older,” he says. “You can’t do the exact same things you always did. I think it would be silly to be in my 50s and have on Air Force Ones and a football jersey chasing bad guys. So as I got older I was like, ‘OK, I’ve got to pivot. I’ve got to branch into more drama.’ Even when I do comedy it needs to have dramatic undertones so I won’t even read silly things anymore.”
“Top Five” was an early step in that direction. He also starred in the 2011 Broadway production of “The Motherf— With the Hat” alongside Bobby Cannavale and Annabella Sciorra and made a rare dramatic turn in the fourth season of the FX series “Fargo,” released last year. “So I’ve been trying to do work outside of my stand-up with more substance for a few years now,” he says.
He hopes to continue exploring genres, including more horror, but “a lot depends on how this one does,” he says. “If this one’s a hit, then hey. [Let’s do] ‘Nightmare on Chris Rock Street.’ ”
Initially, Rock had planned to direct “Spiral” but he was unable to make it work with his “Fargo” schedule. But if there’s a “Spiral” sequel, he’d “absolutely” be interested in directing. “I think Darren did a great job so I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes but especially if I can think of an even more original take than we just did, I’m definitely open for it,” he says.
“You just don’t want to be the guy that kills it,” he adds. “Like ‘Ugh, this was fine until Chris Rock showed up.’ I didn’t want to be that guy. I wanted to be like Michael B. Jordan with ‘Creed.’ Like ‘Oh, we’ve got a whole new thing here. This has got a new life.’ So I hope I ‘Creed’-ed it.”