Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on November 6, 2012, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
Continuing our conversation with Barry Levinson, director of the found-footage ecological horror film The Bay, which begins here…
Other found-footage films have cast and filmed in secret, with fake production names, etc. Is that what happened with The Bay?
Well, originally we were called Isopod, but we were pretty much down in Georgetown, South Carolina, and nobody bothered us. They left us alone, and we shot it in 18 days, including underwater and all that stuff. It’s a busy, busy little movie, that’s for sure.
What was the casting process like?
The only restriction was, we couldn’t go for known faces, because it would break the credibility. If we’d had Brad Pitt—not that we could have—but he if was, you know, living in Claridge, Maryland, all credibility would go out the window. We needed to find really good actors whose faces you just don’t know. And then we cast a lot of day players who we wound up using more, like the iPhone girl. We liked her and put her in other scenes, and picked up various people along the way and put them in the movie.
How much of the film was unscripted and created during production because you liked people such as the iPhone girl, and wanted to do more with them?
That’s a good question. The iPhone girl, originally all she said was, “Look at these blisters,” and I ultimately sent her into this room and just told her, “Here’s what’s going on, you’re talking to your friend” or whatever, and left her alone for about three minutes, and then cut that down. But I liked her so much that I put her in other scenes; I took her to the hospital, which I thought would be good, because I could get another point of view in there. She’s talking to her friend and saying, “You can’t imagine what’s going on here, look at this, there’s Mr. So-and-So,” that kind of stuff. I can’t say how much of the movie is that way; it just seemed like a good idea to try.
You had some pretty big setpieces to capture: the hospital, the 4th of July celebration, etc. How difficult were those to do on the budget and schedule you had?
We didn’t have a lot of room; it was literally run and shoot, run and shoot. With the people in the hospital, I have to say that the makeup department did an amazing job, the way they were able to get that many people done up and in place with such a small crew. It’s one of those things where no one will realize how amazing what they accomplished was with so few dollars and so little manpower.
How much of the movie involves digital FX? How many CGI shots would you say there are?
About a half-dozen, maybe. Very little. Obviously the isopod coming out of the fish’s mouth was a big deal, and there are a few others. And they had to be so credible, because if they weren’t, everything would go out the window. We don’t have a lot, but where we do have them, [the digital FX team] did a good job. Believe me, I was holding my breath that it would all look right.
The scenes toward the end, with the long driving takes through the deserted streets, are pretty impressive. Were those just done late at night, or did you have all those streets cleared?
Well, we kind of closed the town down, so we wouldn’t have anybody running around, and they were amazingly accommodating.
Other found-footage filmmakers have said that they shot so much footage, they could have assembled a couple of different movies from it. Was that the case here?
This is all we got; there wasn’t a whole lot more. Some of the scenes could be longer, but there’s nothing else. I don’t think I left any [complete scenes] on the floor; it was just tightening up. As I said, we shot in 18 days, and there’s a lot going on. If you were to put it up against another movie, you’d realize how fast it’s going.
What was the process of assembling and editing all the assorted footage like, and how much did you screen The Bay in advance?
It was not unlike what you would do with another movie. Sometimes we’d show it to 15, 20 people, just to get a sense of its rhythm. I wanted to get a sense of balance. With suspense, you need to draw things out, generally, but at the same time I wanted to have a movie that was constantly in motion. So there was a little bit of a tug of war between when I could stretch something and when I could push it faster.
Have you received feedback from any environmental groups about the film?
We’re just beginning to get that. If that element were to plug into this movie, it would be very interesting. Because on one side, we had a distributor that didn’t really care about the movie, because it’s not a 100 percent horror film; it doesn’t fit the Saw mold. But I keep saying that that doesn’t mean there can’t be an audience. I mean, I see a lot of movies, and I don’t have to define them so much. People have responded at every screening we’ve had. We went to Toronto, and we were in the Midnight Madness category with all these movies that were so hyped. The Bay came in without any hype at all—nobody knew about the movie in advance, zero—and we were the first runner-up audience favorite, out of the blue. So obviously, it worked. It worked at the New York Film Festival, it worked at the San Sebastian Film Festival. It’s got a little extra to it, and it does scare the audience.
You’ve done a number of very big pictures in the past; was it freeing to do something so small, and do you want to pursue more projects like this?
Well, nobody would know this, but I’ve done movies pretty inexpensively from time to time. I did this very small Irish film called An Everlasting Piece that I shot for $9 million in 2000. I’ve done several movies on fairly reasonable budgets, and I’ve done big movies. To me, it doesn’t matter; it’s whatever I’m interested in, you know?
Would you like to do more films in the horror and related genres?
You know, I’ve always liked it, but I don’t necessarily know that there’s another story of that type that would intrigue me. If it did, why not? But it’s not like, “I want to do this genre.” I’ve never thought of genres, I’ve only thought of stories that would interest me.
