A horror script gets Westernized

Japanese auteur Takashi Miike has directed more than 70 films, but “One Missed Call” may be his most commercial. Largely free from the controversial sexual perversions and extreme gore that are the hallmarks of much of his work, the supernatural thriller follows a group of friends as they receive ominous telephone messages foretelling their deaths. French director Eric Valette (“Malefique”), who remade the film for Warner Bros., explains why he chose to answer the call.

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Why did you decide to remake the film?

I liked the script, quite simply. It had an old-fashioned ghost story quality that [screenwriter] Andrew Klavan got right. To some extent, I thought it was more mature, especially the second half, than a lot of Hollywood horror scripts that I was reading at the time.

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In what ways did you Westernize the original?

As long as you don’t shoot in Asia with the iconic references of Japanese horror, you naturally Westernize, without even trying. Also, J-horror tends to use random, weird imagery, whereas in a typical Hollywood script, everything has to make sense or pretends it does somehow. So I guess some kind of twisted poetry is lost in translation, as we all know. I tried my best to get it in here and there, though.

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Did you get a chance to consult with Miike?

Not really. I tried to stay innocent as much as I could and to base my work on a script rather than on a previous movie, which seems more natural to me. I love Miike’s work, though, especially “Dead or Alive 2,” “Audition” and “Zebraman.” I wish I could shoot as fast as he does, no matter if the budget is shoestring. Getting a movie off the ground seems like a huge enterprise either in Europe or the U.S.