Thanksgiving's Origin Is Weirder Than A Fake Grindhouse Movie Trailer Says Eli Roth - Exclusive Interview

In 2007, prolific horror filmmaker Eli Roth's created one of his most memorable works for moviegoers that wasn't a movie at all. This week, Roth's "Thanksgiving"  — a movie idea that was begging to be made — is arriving just in time for audiences to consume before Turkey Day, giving fans who've wanted to see the movie happen something to be thankful for.

Enlisted by fellow directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, Roth and his childhood friend, screenwriter Jeff Rendell, created a fake trailer for the faux slasher movie "Thanksgiving," which ran alongside other fake trailers for the old school double feature "Grindhouse." Consisting of Rodriguez's "Planet Terror" and Tarantino's "Death Proof," the "coming attractions" featured in the double bill included "Thanksgiving" as well as "Machete," a pair of ideas so well-received by fans that they demanded full-length features of the faux films.

Inspired by the slasher movies from the 1980s, "Thanksgiving" marks the latest directorial effort by Roth, who kicked off his career with the independent movie sensation "Cabin Fever" in 2002. Since then, Roth has rattled moviegoers' nerves with his "Hostel" franchise and "The Green Inferno," and branched out to the crime thriller genre with the Keanu Reeves film "Knock Knock" and a remake of "Death Wish" starring Bruce Willis.

Set in Plymouth, Massachusetts, "Thanksgiving" begins with a shocking tragedy that unfolds during a Black Friday shopping stampede. The incident is so horrific that it sets off a murder spree by an axe-wielding killer. Donning the mask of historical pilgrim John Carver, he dispatches each of his victims in a twisted and cruel manner.

"Thanksgiving" stars Patrick Dempsey as Sheriff Newlon, a local lawman trying to catch the killer, as well as Gina Gershon, Addison Rae, Rick Hoffman, Milo Manheim, and Nell Verlaque as some of the townsfolk and teens caught up in the terror. Roth detailed the making of "Thanksgiving" with Looper in an exclusive interview.

After the fake trailer in "Grindhouse" was released, at what point did you believe "Thanksgiving" could be a movie? Did the release of the fake "Grindhouse" trailer-turned-movie "Machete" in 2010 build confidence and make you think it could happen?

The idea was always to make a straight slasher movie set at Thanksgiving. That was an idea that Jeff Rendell and I had when we were 12 years old, growing up in Massachusetts, where Thanksgiving is obviously a huge deal. Growing up in the golden age of slasher films, Jeff and I always believed that this could be a real movie. This was our obsession to make it, and "Grindhouse" was a fantastic opportunity to try out the idea. 

After we did [the trailer, we realized] there was no plot yet. We just had our kills. Since we felt like we had already done the best parts, [we thought], "Why even make the movie? We did it and the response was so great. We loved it. All right, it's perfect. We'd never have to make the movie now."

Over the years, the fans kept nagging me, but we had no story. Once we saw the Black Friday trampling videos that were going viral, [we thought about it]. Every year, there were videos of these superstores and their midnight Black Friday sales of people who, a few hours earlier, were so thankful but now wanted to crush each other to death for a waffle iron. That was when we said, "There's something really here. This is fertile ground." It gave the movie a theme and a reason to exist, and that's when it started in earnest.

Was it a high priority to include some of the original shots in the "Grindhouse" trailer? The turkey mascot decapitation had to have been at the top of the list.

Yeah, there are certain things that we knew we wanted to keep because they fit into the story, but for a long time, we found ourselves writing to the fake trailer, which is not a good way to go about writing a film. We went back to our original idea and some of the things we liked with our Thanksgiving themed kills, because we wanted the kills to be fun.

This is a fun rollercoaster of a movie, and it's a little bit ridiculous, as it should be. There were a couple ones that we knew we definitely wanted to keep, but you can't keep everything, because then you're just recreating the trailer. That was something I always wanted — a human turkey at a parade being decapitated — running around like a turkey with their head cut off.

As you and Jeff were writing the story and screenplay, did some of the ideas come from different times when you were sitting at Thanksgiving tables over the years, where you may have had dark creative thoughts and might have thought, "You know what? This would really work good in the movie!"

No, we've been through enough Thanksgivings. We grew up in Massachusetts, so Thanksgiving is a huge deal there ... There are two separate pilgrim recreation villages. There are school plays. There's the parade. Trust me, by the time we were in middle school, we had all the material we'd ever need for a horror movie.

Being that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez were there at the inception of the "Thanksgiving" fake trailer for "Grindhouse," were they helpful at all in the production of this film? Did you ever call up Quentin or Robert and say, "I got this idea, what do you think?"

No, they're amazing and I love them to death, but they were not involved in the production.

You have assembled some terrific actors for "Thanksgiving," especially Patrick Dempsey — and talk about the timing with Patrick [aka "Grey's Anatomy's" McDreamy] being named this year's "The Sexiest Man Alive" by People.

I know, right?

Did you call him up and congratulate him on his new title?

Yes, we all did. We've been roasting him in the group text nonstop.

In all seriousness, Patrick really does have it, doesn't he? He has a definite leading man quality, and I would imagine that's part of the reason you cast him in the film.

Patrick expressed interest in being in the movie and one, it's being in a horror film. I was thrilled, because I've been a fan of his going back to when I was in high school. He's an amazing actor, and he'd never done a role like this before, and he's at a very interesting point in his career. He can have that Paul Newman kind of career, [like] Clint Eastwood. He can go on to have a whole second life doing different types of movies, and you see him with "Thanksgiving" and "Ferrari."

The next phase of whatever Patrick wants to do as an actor is going to be so interesting. He's such a good actor, and he is an incredibly charismatic leading man, so it's nice to see him moving beyond whatever the next phase is out of the romantic comedy phase and into the next phase of his career.

We have to get to the villain department, and there's something so menacing about masked killers and the John Carver mask is really one unnerving mask. It's important to the foundation of this movie and you guys nailed it. I can't help but think the design of that mask had to have been high priority.

Yeah, thank you. We worked very hard on it. I worked with Peter Mihaichuk, our production designer, and we tried a bunch [of different looks], but in the context of the story, it had to make sense that this is a mask that would be given out to everyone in town to celebrate the 400-year anniversary of Plymouth. It couldn't be purposefully creepy, but it had to be creepy in terms of context. If you see someone wearing that mask, it's a little weird. It's not that strange. It's not that odd, but when they're standing in your kitchen with an axe, that's when it's really creepy.

I am so excited that the collectibles company, NECA, is producing a John Carver action figure and other items. How thrilling is it to get an action figure from "Thanksgiving"? I know Quentin Tarantino is a fan, since NECA has produced stuff of his from "The Hateful Eight" and "Grindhouse." It has to be pretty cool for being that young guy who, I would imagine, collected action figures when you were growing up.

Oh, yeah. I'm thrilled about it. NECA is the top of the line. They make such incredible action figures, such beautiful models, and stuff that I didn't expect. The plushies are so adorable and so fun. To think that this movie has its own John Carver plushies is pretty cool. They can be your emotional support plushies!

Right from the first footage released from "Thanksgiving" in the red band trailer, it became pretty apparent how creative you are going to get with people getting dead in "Thanksgiving," and getting dead in particularly graphic ways. As a veteran of making horror films, you must be used to getting pushback from the MPAA. I'm wondering if that was the case, again, with "Thanksgiving," since you were going for an R rating.

People have a real misconception of what it's like to work with the MPAA. They're the only organization that has a real conversation with you and treats you like an artist and wants to help you protect your work. It's actually the opposite experience. They're very respectful. They're very nice. They understand what I do. They understand what my audience wants, and they have to be the referee and say, "We know what you want, we know what the fans want, but we think this is going a little too far and maybe pull back in this area," and I would pull back on this.

It's never a fight. It's never a battle. It's always an incredibly respectful, pleasant conversation, and they're the only organization that treats you this way. When you're in England, there's a couple of government people [who determine the ratings] and you never have a conversation with them. When you're in New Zealand, it's one government person. They cut out the entire bloodbath sequence in "Hostel II" — no discussions, no nothing, — even for an 18 rating. 

They cut it because they want to appear virtuous, and they want to get re-elected. Dealing with bureaucrats and politicians with a horror movie is a nightmare. There are no conversations with them, but with the MPAA, you're talking to people that love movies and love talking to filmmakers. I don't know where people get this idea that it's a battle with the MPAA. I've had the diametric opposite experience, and that's the reason that you get to see the gore in my movies. They go out of their way to protect it.

That's great to hear, and it's great to clear up that sort of misconception. Even with that, do you anticipate releasing an unrated cut of "Thanksgiving" at some point, or do you think you got everything you need right now?

More gore doesn't make the movie better. Too much of one ingredient doesn't make the movie better. It means it's too much of an ingredient. I make pizza, and if you put too much cheese in, as much as I love mozzarella cheese, if you throw in too much cheese, it gets too watery and the dough collapses and it sticks to the bottom of your pizza oven, and all of a sudden, you're left with a ring of crust or a calzone. You put too much of your favorite ingredient on. You need the balance of all the ingredients to make that perfect pizza.

As a horror filmmaker, and I've posed this question to different directors over the years, if you were given your choice of remaking one of the classic universal monster movies, what would that be? Would it be a Hammer horror monster movie or both?

Not really. I'm interested in writing my own original horror at this point.

Oh, that's great. Are you a fan of that kind of stuff, though?

Yeah, of course I am.

With that, the timing for the release of "Thanksgiving" is perfect. Are you hoping that it's going to be a hot topic this coming Thanksgiving?

This will be the thing. Hopefully, this is the only thing people are talking about at their Thanksgiving. If that's happened, then I've done my job.

You call out the madness of Black Friday. Even though your goal is to first and foremost entertain moviegoers with "Thanksgiving," it's great that you call people out to get their priorities in order.

There's an even darker truth underneath it, which is that the reason people need Black Friday sales is because they're not being paid enough money and because the minimum wage and the rates they're being paid are not matching the rate of inflation. People are forced into these horrible gladiator games for electronics, because it's the only chance they can get all the Christmas gifts that their kids want. It's easy to say it's based on greed, but there's a reason people need those sales, and it's the greed at the top that's the real problem.

"Thanksgiving" opens in theaters Friday, November 17.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.