Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on January 13, 2012, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
Xavier Gens’ new film The Divide isn’t for all tastes, and the director and his cast know it. Even we here at FANGORIA have been, well, divided in our opinions. Read on for exclusive words with Gens and co-star Michael Eklund on The Divide’s origins, audience reactions, why Melissa George didn’t star in the movie and more.
In The Divide, eight survivors of a nuclear attack in Manhattan take shelter in an underground bunker set up by their apartment building’s super, Mickey (Michael Biehn). As their confinement in the shelter stretches into days, then weeks and beyond, tensions fester and explode and some of the people devolve into little more than animals. The cast also includes Lauren German, Milo Ventimiglia, Iván González, Ashton Holmes, Rosanna Arquette, Courtney B. Vance and Abbey Thickson; Fango spoke to Gens and Eklund following the movie’s Canadian premiere screening at the Fantasia film festival in Montreal.
Xavier, how did you come up with the storyline for The Divide, and were you politically motivated when you developed it?
XAVIER GENS: No, the context for me was much more about human beings. When I received the first script by Karl Mueller, which was then called Shelter, I was like, “OK, it’s kind of a generic slasher movie,” and I was not really into it. But I loved the concept of eight characters stuck together, so I said to the producer, “Can I rewrite it in a direction where I can say something more personal?” And he said, “OK, let’s do it. That could be interesting.” So I got together to rewrite it with Eron Sheean, and after we cast the film, there was a process of revising stuff with the actors. I really involved them in the creative process on this movie. When you see Michael Eklund, for example, that character Bobby is a total creation of his.
Michael, can you talk about creating your role on set as the shoot progressed?
MICHAEL EKLUND: This is a kind of film that’s very rare, where you get the freedom and opportunity to do that as an actor. It’s something we always want to do: have complete freedom to use your imagination to create a character. For example, in the script, there was never any reference to a connection between Bobby and Rosanna Arquette’s character, Marilyn, except for the fact that there’s some abuse going on. But when I got on set and started working with her, when we connected in real life, a relationship started to develop between our characters. Xavier saw that happening, and saw that Bobby and Marilyn actually fall in love in the film, or at least found a connection that was happening on set and off set, as professionals, and he embraced it.
Every day we shot, new things would happen, and we’d incorporate those ideas into the storylines the next day. The relationships that developed on screen happened because those relationships were developing off screen. I’ve always said that there are friendships made on this film that will exist forever. There was a brotherhood that developed. I know it’s been talked about a lot that there was a lot of improvising on this movie, and I don’t see it as improvising. It was being completely in the moment, and letting the story and the character guide you. So what was happening was real.
How would you describe the Bobby who ultimately emerged?
I think he’s a misunderstood person. The best thing I can say about Bobby is, he’s the guy you want around at the end of the world, and he’s also the guy you don’t want around at the end of the world. He’s your best friend, but he’s also your worst enemy at the same time. He’ll give you hug one day and then stab you in the back the next. That’s Bobby.
Xavier, this is probably the most character and actor-driven film you’ve done; your previous movies, Frontier(s) and Hitman, were more story- and action-driven. Did you want to do a film that was more performance-oriented?
GENS: Yeah. I wanted my first movie to be a character-driven film, but that one was too expensive, so I did the genre movie, because it was more commercial and easy to do as a first feature. After that, I had those problems with Fox [on Hitman], and finally with The Divide it was like, “OK, stop. I want to do this.” For me it’s coming back to my first intentions of making movies—doing a character-driven story. Creating emotion through character and not only people with guns. There are some guns, but we avoid them for the most part.
Obviously, it’s a tough film to watch, and very downbeat. Were you ever concerned about possibly losing the audience, because the material becomes so dark and disturbing?
EKLUND: Anyone who goes to the movie and is depressed by the bleakness of it, that’s a reaction that’s important to have. Anyone who does reject the film, it’s because it creates an emotion in them that they’re not comfortable with. That’s the point of the film, as well. You’re supposed to be entertained, and if it makes you feel anything—good or bad—we achieved what we wanted to do. It’s up to you as a person what you’re willing to accept and take on. So as long as you feel something, we’ve accomplished our goal. If you don’t like the film because it’s too depressing, well, that’s life.
I understand that Melissa George (Triangle, A Lonely Place to Die) was originally going to star in the film as Eva, the part that wound up being played by Lauren German. What happened to her involvement?
GENS: Melissa was cast, and was amazing in prep. I met her in November 2009, when we were supposed to shoot the film in 2010. She had a very long process of preparation; I gave her a lot of books to read about the Holocaust, nuclear bombings. She had a sister who was working in a drug-addiction hospital, so as Eva is supposed to have a backstory of being an addict, she worked a lot on that side of the role. She was so involved; she spent something like two months preparing, but finally we were obliged to push the shooting forward by one month, and she was scheduled to do A Lonely Place to Die right after The Divide, so she could not do our movie because she was engaged on the other one. I’m really sorry about that, because she was amazing. She’s a great actress.
How did you wind up casting Lauren German in that part?
GENS: Lauren was cast something like 10-15 days before the shoot. I met her in LA, and I was not sure if the film would be restarting, because we were searching for money. I was very impressed by her energy, and she is so amazingly beautiful. She has something so pure, when you see her face. She’s awesome. And just after that, we found the financing, so we called her back and said, “OK, Lauren, we’re making the film.”
What happened to the original financing, and how was that problem resolved?
GENS: The bond company believed we couldn’t make the film as it was; the schedule was too tight, the film was too bleak and dark and finally they decided, “OK, we can’t finance it.” The thing is, the set was already built in Winnipeg, and it was very expensive, so if we stopped the production, that would have been a big problem for everybody. We got really lucky, because there was an intern on the production called Nathaniel Rollo, and his parents said, “OK, we will finance the film.” He was just a guy from Winnipeg, and his parents put up the money, just because they loved the crew; there was a very strong bond between us. They saw Frontier(s) and decided to help, and they gave us around $2.5 million, and we were free to make the film we have today.
Do you have any other films, especially horror projects, that you’re planning to do next?
GENS: I have one that’s more of a psychological thriller, about demonic possession. It’s very special; it’s adapted from a French novel called House of Limbo. It’s in the writing stages, by one of the actors of The Divide, actually, Iván González. We hope to shoot it soon, but that depends on the budget and all that kind of stuff, so we’ll see.
What’s the storyline of House of Limbo?
GENS: It’s about cops who are investigating a serial murderer, and they discover that the killer is actually different people who were possessed by the same demon. It’s like Year of the Dragon meets The Exorcist.
