PHILADELPHIA — Like anybody involved in a horror film, “Cabin in the Woods” star Fran Kranz doesn”t want any of his movie”s secrets spoiled before it goes wide to theaters on Friday. In a way, though, it”d be impossible to fully spoil the twists and turns of Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard”s thriller, which is as much a love letter to past cinema as it is a fulfilling way to reinvent it.
At a HitFix-hosted early fan screening last night in Philly, Kranz was on hand to talk about his “Cabin” character Marty, the endless delays in release and how a film of such abundant in a post-internet, rumor-mongering era can still find success.
“I have a lot of faith that the movie can”t be completely ruined. There”s no one twist or one spoiler. Maybe it is important… to make a film like this so full and so dense. Even if I tried, it”d just end up sounding insane,” Kranz said. “We have a lot of layers of defense.”
But yeah, still,:don”t do it. It”s already difficult not getting carried away when it comes to Joss Whedon”s projects, particularly for his biggest fans. The “Buffy” creator combined powers with director Goddard in writing the script, and reunited with Kranz, one of his “Dollhouse” actors.
“I auditioned for this movie in 2008, during first season of ‘Dollhouse,”” Kranz said.
From there, getting the film out in theaters had as many plot twists as the movie itself. MGM shelved the project, filed for bankruptcy, re-slated it, spent time considering a 3D conversion and then finally sold it to Lionsgate.
“I just thought the movie was so great that I didn”t lose faith in it, but I know that a lot of other people did, and so I was the crazy guy that still was holding on to ‘Cabin in the Woods,”” Kranz said. “I couldn”t let go of it, to the point where my parents and friends were like, ‘Poor Fran, he”s still talking about “Cabin in the Woods.””
“I believed it was a really great role for me and it was a great movie. It was obviously a hard journey we went on… nowadays, seeing posters and previews and talking about it with you guys, it does start to feel like it was yesterday… it was a slow period of validation, sweet revenge for people who were like ‘It”s not gonna happen.””
As for the threat of 3D conversion, “I thought that was crazy. We were all pretty heartbroken about that, Drew especially,” Kranz continued. He said that Whedon was already up to his ears in “The Avengers” 3D process, and that he and others were relieved the film stayed as 2D. “None of us were 3D fans. ‘Cabin in the Woods” has no business being 3D, especially because it”s a nostalgic piece, an ode, an homage… it got to Lionsgate and they were like, ‘Yeah, 3D is insane.’ That”s how I know we”re in the right hands, with a studio that loves the film like it is.”
(Fran Kranz and your author)