Friday The 13th Blog

In pre-production I interviewed Tim Whitfield about that portion of the Friday the 13th: The Obsession webseries, and now the first day of filming has been locked so like the proverbial kick in the nuts I’ve kept Tim from resting so he can answer some new questions. Also, the first pics have been released via the Timberwolf blog that show Hannah Townsend as Amy Marcus in a scene that calls to mind my guilt-free favorite chapter in the film series, A New Beginning. Catch the Crystal Lake Memories cameo!

Were these shot at Crystal Lake Camp?

No. This is Amy’s house. We started with Episode 4, simply because location cast wise 3 and 4 are the easiest. Episode 4 opens with a bizarre dream, which Amy wakes up from, then goes into the bathroom and have a ‘part 5 homage’ more or less.

Does the story have a different dynamic switching up the Jason fan from male to female?

Oddly, not much of a change from male to felmae besides the obvious (nicer bum ) Seriously though, the bigger change was the characters around her, specifically the love interest. In the original “Stephanie” was just a girl trying to escape her EX “Kane” , falls for Sean and more or less becomes the ‘prize’ of the picture, with Kane and Sean having it out for her. However, now that ‘Sean” is now Amy, a woman, Stephanie’s struggle becomes more complex because she is still a ‘straight’ woman, leaving Kane. So she has to discover herself and fall for a woman. I think Stephanie has become the most complex in the change.

I think Amy and Sean share a lot. Amy is strong, and brave and has a pretty secur elife. She just has the same issue Sean has, her bad temper taking the form of Jason. However, the actress playing Amy, Hannah Townsend, did still want to keep Amy a ‘pretty woman’. She could have easily become ‘mainly’ or a ‘dyke’ stereotype. Hannah’s strong input was, even though she is gay and a horror fan, she still needed to be a woman, and have skirts and wear thongs, pink T-shirts and be confident about her beautiful female body.

This early on, can you make any comparisons between the modern shoot and the older ‘Obsession’ filming?

Besides the technical stuff like full HD, professional actors, better make up and the like, I would say the new shoot is more like “Friday the 13th”. It makes a stronger effort to mirror and pay homage to Friday the 13th.

The original was really my first movie ever besides one other short film ,and it showed. I tried to shove every idea I could possibly fit into it, and while a good movie, huge sections had nothing to do with Friday the 13th. A guy falling in love, crazy comedy, even a drunk guy dancing before he got some ass…it had it all. While this new one has some of those very same elements, it still strongly pays tribute to that world. Amy’s life BECOMES Friday the 13th. I think in the old one i was trying to do every idea I had, and show off what i could do. This time, while being creative and doing something different. I am really taking the time to make sure the Friday the 13th element is in the series with both my new F13 ideas and neat tributes and homages to the series. I think hardcore fans will smile and many scenes that mirror what they have seen, with a new twist.

As far as ‘on the set’ i think its a bit to early to tell. but right from the gate I am using actors, and actors that know me well and can deliver what I want. On the original it was my friends, with only 2 or 3 high school/college actors. I love them to death and we had a great time… and honestly they were VERY brave following me as they did, but it wasn’t their profession (or mine for that matter at the time).