This Weekend, Universal Studios and the New Founders of America are hoping audiences everywhere will cleanse their souls by checking out their latest sequel, The Purge: Anarchy. Directed by James DeMonaco and starring Frank Grillo, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanchez, Michael K. Williams and Carmen Ejogo, the sequel hits the means streets of LA and follows a group of strangers must survive band together in order to survive the latest “Purging” of the nation.
During a recent press day, Daily Dead had the opportunity to chat with both Grillo and Gilford about their thoughts on The Purge: Anarchy, working with director James DeMonaco and whether or not any plans are in motion for a third installment of The Purge.
What were your thoughts about the story for The Purge: Anarchy and what do you think it says about where we’re at as a society?
Zach Gilford: I liked the first Purge movie, I thought the idea of a home invasion story was a good one and I liked the way it was shot and how everything was staged within the story. That being said, I think the first Purge was more a commentary on inherent human violence. The sequel still has that quality to it, but it also has this political slant which opened up everything up.
I also feel like even though this movie feels more violent than the first, in some ways this one is a better movie because it is a slightly more optimistic version of this world. You have these complete strangers who band together to try and survive the night. In the first movie, everyone’s really out for themselves. So while I think it shows there are really messed up people in the world, I also think it shows there are still good people out there too.
Frank Grillo: When I read the script, I hadn’t seen the first movie, but I’m a big fan of movies like Death Wish, Escape from New York and all those great late 70’s action movies and I thought this felt like that kind of vibe. So I thought if James allows me to create this guy in the vein of Snake Plissken from Escape from New York then it could be kind of cool. In fact, I ended up cutting a lot of my own dialogue in the script because it felt like all I did was talk. I don’t need to talk, I don’t want to talk and I should never even introduce myself to the others in my group because my objective has nothing to do with them at all and that’s all I care about. But it worked so much better and in fact, no one even knows my name in the movie. There’s a bit where someone calls me “Sergeant” because they just assume I’m a cop.
It would come out though during a scene that we ended up cutting that I’m not a cop. I’m not that kind of Sergeant at all. So I think it was cool and kind of smart for them to keep my character so mysterious. I’ve played a lot of supporting characters in my time, but to get to play a lead in this and a character that I can take a journey with was really cool. I always prefer doing action movies, but they have to have that emotional payout too.
How did James work with you to prepare you for this project?
Frank Grillo: I met with James the first time for The Purge: Anarchy and that’s when I realized that we both had all the same influences that we’d bring up during that conversation. We were THAT on the same page about this project. We immediately became collaborators on The Purge 2. We were always on the phone with each other, tossing ideas back and forth, and so I would go to the ends of the Earth for James.
If people do show up for this sequel, which is something that’s totally out of my hands, and they want us to do a third Purge movie, I wouldn’t do it without him and he wouldn’t do it without me. There are some ideas with the Carmelo character and this resistance to The Purge. And it has to be a great script and a great idea for us both to come back for another one- and if no one sees this one, then there’s no Purge 3 to even be talking about.
Zach Gilford: I sat down and read the script and then afterwards I talked to James about my character and how he progresses through the movie. I realized that there was this potential for my character to clash more with Frank’s had the script been written any other way because you’d normally a bunch of strangers coming together. But thankfully, they realized that wouldn’t be true to the nature of who this character was so I didn’t end up being that guy who tries to out-macho Frank- besides, who’d believe that (laughs)?
Do you feel like there’s a part of The Purge series that directly reflects society and the direction we’re heading in?
Frank Grillo: I think we all innately have that moment where just wish we could kill somebody- not always- but we’ve all felt that. And that’s how the idea behind these movies was born. As a theory, I think it’s an archaic idea, but I do think that as a civilized society we need to do something to balance out the socio-economics between the haves and the have-nots.
But the idea behind the movie came from James and his wife. They were driving one night and got cut off on the highway real badly, almost to the point where there could have been a bad accident. His wife said to him, “If there was a way where I could kill that guy and get away with it, I would” and from there, the idea was born.