here's just something about New Orleans. From the bayous to Bourbon Street, the city has an unrestrained rhythm unlike any other city in the world. But beneath it all, there's a hint of darkness, a shadowy undercurrent that creeps in just at the edges. It's that inherent spookiness that director Iain Softley (K-Pax) saw in the script for The Skeleton Key, which takes place in and around the city of New Orleans, and why he insisted that it be filmed on location at an actual plantation.
The film stars Kate Hudson as Caroline, a hospice caregiver, who is hired by an elderly Southern woman (Gena Rowlands) to take care of her ailing husband after he suffers what appears to be a stroke. Sarsgaard plays the couple's estate lawyer, who becomes a confidant for Caroline when she suspects that the old man's illness may not be due to natural causes. What she uncovers is a truth far more sinister than she ever imagined.
While promoting the film in—where else?—New Orleans, Softley, Hudson and Sarsgaard recently talked with Science Fiction Weekly about creating a different kind of horror film, set in a world where magic is real, but only if you believe.
Iain Softley, what was the attraction for you to this film?
Softley: I thought it was very interesting to deal with the way the normal world comes into contact with the unknown, with the occult, or things outside of what one would call rational, normal experience. And so films like Don't Look Now, Rosemary's Baby, Kubrick's The Shining, even, in a way, 2001 [are] about the scientific world coming into contact with something that is outside, that has some kind of dimension. And I think the thing that distinguishes those films, because they are about where the real world meets incidents of beliefs that challenge rational, skeptical people, part of the architecture of those films is that you start with very naturalistic environments, and real people. That's why we ground the character of Caroline in the hospital in the beginning. She's a real person, and it's about character. I think these kinds of films, like The Shining and Rosemary's Baby, require great actors. And great actors are attracted to these films maybe more than, say, a horror genre film. There are in that quest [to play] real people in extreme situations.
Why was it important to you to film in New Orleans?
Softley: It was a significant thing to enable me to get my idea for the way I wanted to make the film. I always wanted to make it as a location film. Part of what appealed to me about this is that it's location-specific. It's about a real place that has a particular belief system that you don't get anywhere else in the world. ... I had this feeling that I wanted this film to feel very authentic and have an almost documentary feel to it, not to be gothic-y in any way. I spent a lot of time down here, and I wanted to reflect that. We couldn't initially find a house down here that was suitable. It was Kate's pregnancy that actually gave me the extra time to find the place. And when I found it, it was like, "I have to shoot in this house."
What are you own beliefs when it comes to the supernatural?
Softley: I think I'm somebody who isn't aware of the degree to which I do believe. I would always say that I'm a rationalist and a skeptic, but one of the reasons I realized I'm so interested in this music is that it's kind of the appeal of the occult, in a broad sense, of what's hidden ... and sort of the spirituality. The idea of some kind of magical, shamanistic thing. I mean, you know, that's how music has always worked.
Kate Hudson has done mostly lighthearted roles or romantic comedy up to this point. What made you think of her?
Softley: I saw [something] in the character of Kate Hudson, as opposed to the roles that she's played. When I met her, I was struck by how similar she was to the character of Caroline. In fact, she's said herself that she thinks that this part was the closest to who she thinks she really is. Caroline is an empowered female leading role. She's being forced by external events to shed off some of the frivolity of a 25-year-old. There's a kind of sense of reality, you know, of her family, her father, a sense of the real world. I think particularly after Kate had the baby, she was able to bring even more of that maturity. But when I first met her, she was talking like a 35-year-old rather than a 25-year-old. She's very direct, very confident about what she thinks, she's very mature in the sense that she listens to other people. She engages with other people, is a strong character, and has a very serious side. I was just struck by how like the character she was, and I think the fact that she was more recognizable, perhaps, because of her romantic comedies. There's that empathetic side, [which] was a nice counterpoint to the character that, in other hands, might have been too expected. And maybe too solemn.
Kate Hudson, why do you think this character is more like you than other roles you've played?
Hudson: I guess I approach all work, no matter what type of movie or character, the same way. Then there are just some times you have to reach into places that are a little less familiar on a day-to-day basis in certain characters and others. For this character, it was actually quite accessible to play her. My fears were very accessible to tap into, very accessible to understand why somebody would move to a city because of music or because of a passion. And she's strong-minded and a little tough, and I feel like she's the kind of girl who's okay being alone even though it might be a little lonely. She's okay with that, and I'm like that. So there's a lot of things that I really could relate to.
Were you trying to break away from the good-girl roles?
Hudson: Not initially. I wasn't looking for a thriller. I was definitely looking to work with interesting people. That's always my hope and desire. But this came, and I read it, and I loved the script so much. I was shooting Raising Helen when I read the script. I kind of picked it up, it was sent to me saying, "You have to read this, and read it fast." I said okay, and I picked it up at a lunch break and skimmed the first page. Before I knew it, I was done. I'd finished the script in probably 45 minutes, and I was shocked at the idea that it's basically a four-hander picture. There's five people in the whole movie, and it's a character-driven thriller that ends unexpectedly and boldly, and a Hollywood studio is going to actually make it? And I thought it was just so refreshing to me. Then after the initial response to the script, I went, "I have never done a thriller, and it will just be really fun for me to heave and pant and run and climb and break windows and scream every once in a while." And also it lends itself to a lot of heavier work.
How has this film changed your view of the supernatural?
Hudson: It didn't, because I've always believed in spirits and supernatural and ghosts. I've always believed in that stuff. ... I go through phases. I used to have dreamcatchers, and I carried around crystals. I light candles, and I visualize things for protection.
Did anything weird happen while you were shooting?
Hudson: The only time I felt any kind of vibe was when we were doing the spell scene with John [Hurt]. I kind of felt a little bit, especially when we were doing the master shot, the whole scene, there was a moment when he finally said, "Cut," it was kind like, "Wow, that was weird." It felt like we were calling on some kind of weird energy.
You had some difficult working conditions with the mosquitoes and the rain. Was it worth it for you to be there on location?
Hudson: See, but I didn't look at those as difficult conditions. I looked at that as fun, and also the total atmosphere of where we were. That's New Orleans. The mosquitoes and the crocodiles, that's not difficult. That was funny and fun and added to everything we were doing. Everything we did in this movie was so enjoyable. The rain, the thunderstorms, the lightning. They had the craziest tropical storms, they would come in and we would use them. It was amazing.
When you were filming the ending, did you worry that it might get changed?
Hudson: Partly. ... The only thing is, the only saving grace of that and knowing and having a little bit of inkling that it could never happen is, that's the whole movie. The payoff for this movie is the ending. If it was any different, it wouldn't be nearly as fun. But it is bold, as I said, and, yeah, there was a little fear.
Peter Sarsgaard, when you were filming, did you think about what would end up in the final cut?
Sarsgaard: There was always an opportunity with this to have a ridiculous amount of fun with it, you know what I mean? But also that wouldn't have served the movie too well. I could have gone nuts. But that's not going to be in the interest of the movie, and everyone's going be sort of like, "What's going on?" I think in any movie like this where there's obviously several reveals in the movie, where it's a thriller, we're piecing things together, when they get in the editing room they decide what best serves the information and how and all of that. So yeah, it changed somewhat, the final picture. But I don't hold on to my work or anything like that in a precious way. I always feel like there's more where that came from, and it doesn't matter to me. I'm a bassist, you know.
How do you feel about the fact that critics and the marketing campaign are talking about the twist ending?
Sarsgaard: Yeah, I don't want it to be given away. I feel like that's y'all's responsibility. I imagine you guys want the same thing I want. I mean, does it really behoove your audience to know everything about the movie before they go see it? Are they going to want to read the review by people that just explain movies to them? Oh, this is what happens, here's the synopsis, here's the Cliffs Notes, don't go see it. I guess you could do that, but I don't want to read reviews like that. So I sort of leave that up to you guys. I try not to talk about the movie and explain it too much.
Is that one of the reasons why you wanted to do the movie?
Sarsgaard: I really wanted to do the movie because the character I'm playing is sort of an interesting reverse double somersault with a half-twist pike. I was interested to see how I would do it. I didn't know how I would do it, so I was just sort of like, "Oh, this will be interesting."
How did you prepare for it?
Sarsgaard: With this role, I started to think about who this guy's heroes might be, or who the heroes would be that I could get away with having. And I started thinking about Sun Studios, like Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley and stuff like that, people who sort of took blues music and made it popular. I've got a little Carl Perkins hairdo in the movie, and I got a drum kit in my apartment. I started thinking, "This guy's like a bassist." Keeping the band tight and together and not taking any credit, but he knows he's the true rock star in the band. I thought of him being like a session player from there or something like that. But obviously, he's an estate lawyer in New Orleans and all that stuff. I think he thinks of himself as a rock star.
Did you have any discussions with the director about the character?
Sarsgaard: It's a process of working together on that type of thing. We certainly had debates about different things. A lot of times you lock horns with a director, not in an argumentative way, but in a way that's like a Sophoclean dialectic, man. They got their point of view and you got yours, and the third idea is the one that's the good one. And that happens. It happened on Skeleton Key, it happens on a lot of movies.
Where do you stand on believing or not believing?
Sarsgaard: I believe that if you believe, it's real. I believe that if you think it does something, then it does something. If you think you're having a heart attack and you obsess about it, you might have a heart attack. Someone hands you this nut and says you're going to drop dead in two weeks, if you believe in it enough you might drop dead in two weeks. I feel immune from it, because I don't believe in it.
Are you a cynic?
Sarsgaard: No, I'm a Catholic.
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