The Hitcher - Fangoria Set Report

Source: Fangoria
November 1, 2006

On the heels of their second installment in the new TEXAS CHAINSAW

MASSACRE series, the Platinum Dunes team returned to their rural Texas

shooting location earlier this year to lens one of 2007’s more surprising

horror remakes, THE HITCHER. The 1986 desert slasher-thriller is a

cult favorite among Fango fans, but perhaps not an obvious choice for

a Michael Bay-produced big-budget retelling. Still, the cast and crew are

eager to discuss the new shape THE HITCHER has taken for this

interpretation, opening February 9 from Rogue Pictures.

Filling the shoes of Rutger Hauer in the role of the maniacal John Ryder

is respected British actor Sean (SILENT HILL) Bean. Admittedly not a

full-tilt gorehound, the actor is nonetheless very impressed by the project.

“I’d seen THE HITCHER before,” he tells Fango. “At first, I was a little

concerned that we wouldn’t want to just recreate that film, and that this

needed to be a fresh start, a new approach. When I read the script [by

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS’ Jake Wade Wall and VIRTUOSITY’s Eric Bernt],

I could see that was the case. I found it very exciting…page-turning.”

The most notable shift in this version is the fact that young motorist

Jim Halsey, played in the original by C. Thomas Howell, has been

supplanted as the key protagonist by a female character. Sophia Bush

may be familiar to horror fans via STAY ALIVE, but the bulk of her work

has been much more family-friendly. “I don’t worry about that,” says the

actress, who plays Grace in THE HITCHER. “I’m do things because I enjoy

them, not because I’m going to worry about what other people think.” In

fact, she was so excited to work on THE HITCHER, she demanded to

perform her own dangerous automotive stunt, doing a 400-foot spinning

skid on a rainy highway for one of the film’s climactic chase scenes.

Though things have definitely changed, the Jim Halsey character is still here,

now played by confessed longtime splatter fan (and Fango reader) Zachary

Knighton. “I’m so geeked out about it,” he raves. “My agent gave me a

call and said I was going to audition for THE HITCHER. I said, ‘Don’t

explain; I know what THE HITCHER is.’ ”

Fango was lucky enough to visit the set during one of the film’s most

gut-wrenching moments. Fans of the original will recall a memorable John

Ryder trick involving two semi trucks, heavy chains and a helpless victim.

First-time horror director Dave Meyers chats with us as he watches over the

set preparation, which includes some genuinely shocking, visceral FX work

by the unmatchable KNB EFX Group. “The whole film has been going great,”

Meyers says. “Everyone involved is amazing. We’ve all been really lucky…

except, you know, for this person.”

By all accounts, THE HITCHER looks like it stands to deliver plenty of the

grisly intensity that made the original so memorable. Relaxing after a

particularly intense segment, Bean reflects on the sheer viciousness of

his character. “The other day, there was a set with bodies, throats slit…

and I was like, ‘Oh shit. Did I do that?’ ” Look for more on-set HITCHER

coverage in Fango beginning with issue #259, on sale in December.

—Zack Carlson