Out in theaters this Friday is Brad Peyton’s Incarnate, a supernatural thriller about demonic possession that stars Aaron Eckhart, Carice van Houten, and David Mazouz, and aims to do things a bit differently by taking a more psychological approach to its subject.
Daily Dead recently caught up with Peyton to talk about his latest project and how it differs from some of the bigger films on his résumé (San Andreas, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island). The filmmaker also discussed his experiences working with Eckhart on the film and briefly talked about what his approach will be on the upcoming Rampage project, which will adapt the popular Midway Arcade game into a big screen blockbuster.
Look for Incarnate in theaters this weekend courtesy of Blumhouse Tilt.
Great to speak to you today, Brad. I’d love to hear how you got involved with Incarnate, especially since this is a much different project, in terms of subject and scale, from your last few films.
Brad Peyton: First of all, I had a relationship with Jason Blum for a few years and we had been trying to figure out a way for us to work together. And when he sent me this script, which was written by Ronnie Christensen, who I’ve been working with on a few other things, too. But I just thought it was a well-written story about this really interesting fringe character, and I’ve always been drawn to stories about outsiders. And Ember [Aaron Eckhart], he’s kind of damaged, almost disenfranchised, and for him, it’s all about revenge on these forces for killing his family.
I had never really thought about doing a horror movie at this stage in my career, but I did enjoy it, especially because it gave me a new set of challenges to work through. It gave me the opportunity to see if I could do something that was more character-driven and that didn’t involve these huge set pieces. I also thought Ronnie gave this story a very unique spin on the world of exorcisms and demonic possession, especially because you usually see these stories through the viewpoint of Catholicism—this isn’t a faith-based approach at all. So, with all those elements at play, plus I knew I wanted to work with Jason, this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Just because I know how Blumhouse makes their films, which means it can be a much more intimate experience than perhaps you had on San Andreas or Journey 2, did you enjoy the process on Incarnate?
Brad Peyton: I did. I’ve had to do this twice now. I recently worked on a Netflix show called Frontier that stars Jason Momoa, and the challenges I faced on that were the same as on Incarnate. Because of the films I made before this, I remember asking myself afterwards, “Do I need VFX to be a good director?” I’m just being honest here, and kind of peeling back that director persona, but I had honestly become so accustomed to that filmmaking approach that I didn’t really know. Performances have always been important to me, and it’s something I always pay attention to, but working on Incarnate and Frontier were both intense directing exercises with absolutely no safety net. I learned on both of those how to just keep going and pushing forward, and that was inspiring to me.
Plus, when you’re working on this kind of a project, you have to be ready to move eight times faster. It was scary, but it was incredibly rewarding.
How was it collaborating with Aaron for this project? I’ve been a big fan of his work ever since Erin Brockovich.
Brad Peyton: He’s great in that. And yeah, Aaron is one of those rare and amazing actors who is extremely dedicated to his craft. I remember when we first began working together, he would send me these pictures of himself incognito in disguise in a wheelchair out in public, because he wanted to experience that life for himself first-hand. For this movie, Aaron had to inhabit a very dark place within himself, but there’s such an honesty to his performance—I really love what he does with this character. Everyone was great and our entire cast, from top to bottom, really brought it to the table for this project. I couldn’t be happier.
I know there’s been some talk already about Journey 3 and San Andreas 2, plus you have Rampage coming up, too. But do you see yourself returning to the world of horror in the future?
Brad Peyton: I’ve never really left the dark side, actually. My career started with a short film about a dead girl and I’ve always been fascinated by monsters and the macabre. That’s why I’m so excited about my next project, Rampage, because it’s going to be this crazy monster movie, but in a way, it’s like what I did on Incarnate, but on a bigger budget and made with a much broader spectrum. It’s going to be great, and what I love about horror is that it feels like this cool present you open, and after you open it, you realize this present has so many facets to it, so it feels like it just keeps giving you new gifts. So I definitely want to do more after Rampage in the realm of horror.
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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