Exclusive: Fran Kranz on BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS & THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

In the horror comedy Bloodsucking Bastards—now out in select theaters and VOD from Scream Factory—Fran Kranz plays Evan, a guy who desires a promotion, wants to mend the relationship with his girlfriend, and is faced with destroying a growing vampire infection in the office. Daily Dead recently caught up with the actor to talk about getting doused with buckets of blood, the legacy of The Cabin in the Woods (in which he played the beloved stoner, Marty), and much more.

When you first read the script for Bloodsucking Bastards, what appealed to you the most?

Fran Kranz: When I got the script, I didn’t know where Bloodsucking Bastards was going. I actually sort of missed the title. I’m always a little reluctant to do horror comedies after Cabin in the Woods. I want to be an actor that’s seen in all different genres and mediums and is thought of as being versatile, so I’d be wary of playing the funny stoner in another horror comedy.

For some reason, the title Bloodsucking Bastards went through one ear and out the other. When I was reading a good portion of the script, I was just laughing at the office humor. In my mind, playing a beleaguered, everyman in the office who hates his job and lost his girlfriend—that was actually something I hadn’t really done. So when the horror came out—the stuff that might make me a little hesitant—I was already sold on the humor.

I tapped into the office element, that dynamic and those relationships and especially given the low budget, that’s what propels the movie and supports it so well. There’s a really good office comedy in there. The horror and all of the blood is a bonus. If there was a way to measure it, I’m guessing that the office comedy outweighs the horror comedy. And in that sense, it hopefully has a broader appeal.

You get absolutely drenched in fake blood in this film. What was your experience working with the red sticky stuff on a budget?

Fran Kranz: When you work on a movie with limited resources, small budget, really short shooting schedule—as much fun as you’re having, you wonder how it’s all going to look. And we did have pressurized arterial spray, we had those machines, we had a lot of good blood splatter, but there were some moments that really just came down to buckets of blood [laughs]. If you have to drench someone in blood, though, there’s no quicker way than using a bucket.

With our schedule and our budget, we couldn’t go back and forth with blood. We shot it as chronologically as possible. When [name removed to avoid spoiler] blows up in the office, they basically just placed us there. We were already bloody, but that was stuff that was painted on every morning, and we had pre-set bloody clothes for that final look. Emma [Fitzpatrick] and I sat down in position before the kiss and two buckets were brought out, filled with cold, gooey blood. It was really intense.

Someone asked me about Cabin in the Woods, which had more blood, and certainly Cabin in the Woods’ whole underground space covered in blood, that whole atrium with the elevators, that was really something. But in terms of being covered in blood yourself, I might as well have jumped in a pool of it [for Bloodsucking Bastards]. It was thick and all over us. It was pretty amazing. We had a lot of shaving cream to get it off, because shaving cream gets off fake blood. A lot of times you just get some Barbasol and rub it in. We were in those tiny little showers in a trailer rubbing ourselves with cans of Barbasol.

I understand Bloodsucking Bastards was filmed in an actual office building that was shared by a company's operational staff. What was it like filming an office-set movie in that actual environment?

Fran Kranz: It was literally what we were trying to portray, because we were in the same office. We were downstairs in an empty area of the building, and they were upstairs. They had occupied the second floor basically and I think they sold insurance. Joey [Kern] and I had our dressing rooms up there. After takes we’d walk upstairs covered in blood and no one would care. No one would give us a second glance. It was sort of concerning [laughs]. It was a perfect position early in the movie. If there was any question of what it was like to work in a tough, miserable, boring office job with no outside light, it was like, “Well, just walk up those stairs.”

What are your thoughts on how vampires are portrayed in the film?

Fran Kranz: When the people are turned, they don’t necessarily lose their personality they had. Justin Ware’s character [Andrew], he and Joey's character [Tim] have this wonderful dynamic that doesn’t end when he becomes a vampire. I really loved that part of the movie. And some of the other characters, when they turn into vampires it’s just certain aspects of their personality heightened. For the most part, the characters remain, so if you like a dynamic or relationship from the first half of the movie, it continues, which is really important and smart on the screenwriter’s part.

You play Evan, the straight-laced, "let's get back to work" guy in an office filled with jokesters. Was it difficult to not crack up at the constant comedy happening around you?

Fran Kranz: I tell people—especially in plays that I’ve done—I warn them that I’m 50% audience, that I will break so easily. I think I’ve ruined movies, or at least set movies back because of my laughter. I’ve forced directors and editors in post-production into a movie they may not want because of my laughter [laughs]. It’s that bad, I’m not even kidding. I shouldn’t advertise it or make it so public, but it is pretty funny. I’m definitely always the worst on a set.

The audience for The Cabin in the Woods has continued to grow over the years since its initial release. Did you ever think it would receive such a groundbreaking, genre-bending status?

Fran Kranz: I did think so. I knew Joss [Whedon] because I was working on Dollhouse, so I had an advantage. He liked me for the part. I knew it was a strong possibility. And so I got the script and I had a final audition where we put together the best take we could for the studio. When I got the script, because it was so secretive at first, I remember thinking, “If I don’t get this part, it’s going to bother me for the rest of my life.” It was such a great script, I was so blown away. It’s still one of the best screenplays I’ve ever read. And luckily, I got it.

The whole process, I really believed we had this incredible movie that was just going to blow people away. Unfortunately, it took awhile to hit theaters and it got held up in post with it being sold to Lionsgate. So there were all of these things out of our control that held it up. You never know if that would have affected its audience. But luckily it did come out and has found an audience and become a cult hit.

But every moment of that production felt like we were doing our job. Someone like Chris Hemsworth—when people called home to talk to friends or family or your agent and they asked how it was going, I remember saying, “This guy, Chris Hemsworth, is a movie star, like a Russell Crowe, big action star." And that’s what he is now. So you really felt like things were working out for us.

I wish more people would see Cabin, but the fact that it has such strong roots in the cult audience, it’s great, because it’ll be around forever. It will be something that people will always refer to or hold standards to.

I was having a bachelor party in Iceland and we were walking down the street around midnight. These young guys were coming down the street and they see me, and they’re like, “Oh my god.” Their love for Marty or me got so intense to the point that they had picked me up, like literally carrying a player or coach off the field. They picked me up in the air and they were taking photos with me. One of them said something like, “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.” It was such over-the-top love for that movie and that role. It was really funny. It was definitely the weirdest sighting I’ve ever been a part of. It just goes to show that that movie reached people.