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Olivia Wilde has gone from 19-year-old bride to “O.C.” bombshell to “House” doctor, and she’s just hit her thirties. Now the young actress adds something new to the list: returning from the dead. In her new horror movie, “The Lazarus Effect,” she plays a medical researcher brought back to life.
From her rockstar encounter as a toddler to her big-name ancestor, here are 10 things you probably don’t know about Olivia Wilde.
Quite frankly, it’s shocking that Togetherness”), while appearing in or co-directing or producing one out of every three movies that debuts at Sundance or South by Southwest (things like “Safety Not Guaranteed,” “The One I Love,” “Creep,” etc.) and filming bits in high profile studio movies (everything from “Zero Dark Thirty” to “Tammy”). Homeboy is busy.
In “The Lazarus Effect,” though, he plays a character who might have even more on his mind than Duplass himself, as a grad school scientist working on a new serum that can bring people back from the dead. When his wife and fellow scientist (played by Olivia Wilde) is killed during an experiment, he makes the decision to use the serum on her… and things go horribly, horribly wrong.
We got to chat with Duplass on the phone about why he likes horror movies so much, where his acoustic version of the old HBO theme song came from, how he decides what projects to tackle, and why he won’t admit that he had to turn down “Jurassic World” even though we all know that he totally did (it was directed by his “Safety Not Guaranteed” collaborator Colin Trevorrow).
Moviefone: You certainly have an affinity for these types of movies. Where does that come from and do you want to do direct one of these movies?
Mark Duplass: Well, you know, we’ve flirted with the horror genre a little bit. There’s a movie called “Baghead” that I directed in 2008 that’s kind of touching on that genre a little bit. I grew up watching cheesy horror movies in the late ’80s after going to the mall with my friends. So there was always a deep love and appreciation for it. As a director, I’ve gravitated to more emotionally sensitive dramedies but there’s always been this interest in me to explore all types of genres, not just horror movies. I’m lucky to be at a point in my career where I’m asked to be in a movie like “Lazarus Effect.” Part of the reason I haven’t done a lot of this stuff before isn’t me not wanting to be in them but not having the profile to get those cool jobs.
What was the appeal of “Lazarus Effect” specifically? It seems indebted to some of those ’80s horror movies you mention, particularly “Flatliners.”
Oh for sure. I saw “Flatliners” in the theater. But mostly it was a desire to be a lead in a movie for Jason Blum and to work with David Gelb. When I met with him I was a huge fan of “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” but what’s to say — a guy who directs a really slow-paced food documentary can make a slick horror movie. But then I realized that he’s one of our country’s premiere trailer cutters and directs a bunch of commercials so I thought, This is good – this guy can do slick and he can do heart. And if I’m going to take a chance on a horror movie, Blumhouse + David Gelb is the train I want to hitch myself to.
The movie is currently PG-13. Was there ever a version of the movie that was harsher?
All of these movies are built to go one way or the other. But when we were making this movie, we all felt that because of the DNA of the film, because the script really obeys the horror genre really well and has all the elements that would allow for it to be a 3,000-screen movie, it would be smart of us to make a PG-13 movie. I’m a big fan of reverse engineering your art to something that can be successful. To me that’s less selling out and more buying in and being intelligent about what is going to get the most eyeballs on your stuff. I do the same thing with my independent films. I think it’s smart to have a little business sense about you. That’s part of what I love about Blumhouse. But we all had our eyes on this thing be a bigger play and PG-13 was a big part of that.
And I’m sure there’ll be a slightly scarier version on Blu-ray.
I bet there will! I can’t be sure but there could be something!
Can you talk about working with this ensemble?
Yeah, the goal was really simple: when you’re normally dealing with a high concept, like, say, bringing people back from the dead, it’s usually set in the future where people are wearing all shiny black leather and they talk strange and they don’t feel human. So we were like, if we have any take on this at all, it’s that these people should feel normal and kind of dorky, like a group of researchers and in an ideal world it will connect people more closely to what they’re going through.
Not to give too much away but the ending of the movie certainly leaves the possibility open for a sequel. Would you come back?
That’s a really great question. To be honest with you, I haven’t even thought about it. But anytime there’d be a team like David and these actors and Jason doing anything together, I’d definitely have to think about it.
You did another Blumhouse horror movie before this called “Mercy.” It’s finally on Netflix but was very much shelved. What was that experience like and did that experience color your interaction with Blumhouse?
I see what you’re saying. But no. Jason called me up and said, “I’ve lost an actor, want to come do this thing for three days and it starts shooting in 20 minutes.” And I was like, “F*ck yeah I’ll do it.” So I had no emotional attachment to that movie whatsoever. I have a long history with Jason Blum and we’re good friends and we see the industry in similar ways. We both believe that movies should be made cheaply and being aggressive and taking chances. I’m very much ideologically aligned with Blumhouse. As much as our content looks extremely different, from a philosophical standpoint we could be twins.
There was another horror movie you did last year called “Creep,” which I saw at South by Southwest and loved. When the Weinstein Company picked it up there was talk that it was going to be the beginning of a trilogy. Do you know what’s going on with that?
We’re figuring it all out right now. There’s still a desire from all of us to do this thing as a trilogy but since then my life has kind of exploded, and Patrick Brice, who directed that movie, has kind of exploded as well. So we’re all trying to figure out the timing of when we can get that thing done. The love is still there. The schedule is starting to be a bit of a problem. But we’re in the middle of it.
You’re always working. How do you decide what to do? And how do you delegate your time between projects?
It’s changing on a year-by-year basis. It used to be what can I get. Like, “What can I get? Yeah I’ll do it.” But now I’m getting to this point in my career, just to be candid, where I have to turn down things because I don’t have enough time for them. And that’s crazy. The things I’ve had to say no to in the past year have, quite honestly, been heartbreaking, just because I’m on “The League,” I have “Togetherness” to do, I have four Netflix movies that I’m producing, I have all my Sundance movies. I have a full slate. So it’s changing for me right now and I’m looking at carving out a little more time for those cool acting projects. Like spending a week doing “Zero Dark Thirty” was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I’m actively looking to do more things like that.
Can you talk about some of the things you turned down? Did you turn down “Jurassic World”?
I can’t really talk about it because I feel weird for the actors who ended up taking them because most directors say, “You’re my first choice.” And that would be really weird. But I will definitely say that there have been some huge movies that I’ve had to say no to that if I knew that five years ago I would think, What the f*ck are you doing? And that is a growing pain of where I’m at right now. That said, I get to do so much amazing stuff. Being able to make “Togetherness” with my brother and some of my best friends and to be on “The League” with some of the funniest people on the planet who are also some of my best friends and to get to produce movies for people like Patrick and foster their careers, like I am so lucky. And you don’t get to do everything.
Didn’t you shoot all of “Togetherness” before even turning it into HBO?
Yes we did. My brother and I write and direct all of the episodes of the show and we make it like an independent film where we shoot and edit it all ourselves. And they’re incredibly supportive. We’re ramping up Season 2 right now and we’re going to do it the same way.
One of the great joys of “Togetherness” coming out was that great HBO theme song you guys did. Where did that come from?
You’re talking about the dumbest thing we’ve ever done that was actually kind of fun. Well, Jay and I played in bands growing up, always, and one of our joke things we used to do when we were the Indigo Boys, basically two dudes playing acoustic guitars in coffee shops, in the middle of a set we would break out the HBO theme song and slowly people would realize it was happening and every time we did it we would blow the place up. So we were trying to think of something special to honor our 30 year love and commitment and marriage to HBO and it seemed like the right thing.
“The Lazarus Effect” is in theaters now.
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Evan Peters knows a thing or two about scaring you silly.
Peters has been a regular cast member of “American Horror Story” since it’s groundbreaking first season, playing (in short order) a high school psychopath, an insane asylum inmate (who had a close encounter with extraterrestrials, mutants, and a serial killer), a frat-boy Frankenstein monster, and, most recently, a freak-show performer with lobster claws for hands. Scary right?
Well in this week’s “The Lazarus Effect,” the latest production by “Paranormal Activity” and “Insidious” mastermind Jason Blum, Peters is back in the oogey-boogey business, this time playing a grad student who is working, along with Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass, and Donald Glover, on a top secret project that could bring people back from the dead. What could go wrong, right? Riiiiiight.
We recently spoke to Peters about what he finds so appealing about the horror genre, whether or not he’ll be back for the next season of “American Horror Story” (which, in between the time of our interview and its publication, was revealed to be about a haunted hotel), his scene-stealing role in “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” and why running really fast is now his forte.
Moviefone: Between this and “American Horror Story,” you have certainly made your mark in the horror genre. What is it that specifically appeals to you?
Evan Peters: I just think it’s fun to scare people. And I think that this was a particularly cool story because it dealt with the scientific aspect of horror, which I’m a big fan of — and that was bringing people back from the dead. I love “Frankenstein.” And I just love the idea of that actually happening and then sort of dealing with what happens and what the consequences are.
What was it like going from the over-the-top horror world of “American Horror Story” to the more grounded scientific realm of “The Lazarus Effect”?
It was cool. In horror films, things go wrong. There’s always something that goes horribly wrong and bad. So there was that aspect that I was sort of used to doing but it was really cool to have it more contained and to have these five characters all together dealing with this situation in such a small space. I love that idea and it was fun to get to play around with this crazy idea.
Obviously, Jason Blum and his team at Blumhouse know how to do this kind of thing better than anybody.
Yeah.
What was it like working for that team?
It was cool. It’s amazing what they can do with such a little amount of money and they make it all work and seem very professional and put-together. They do it all. It’s quite an unbelievable thing to see.
And you get to work with a really great group of actors. What was that like?
Everybody was very nice and very funny. I believe Donald said it, he said, “Comedy and horror are intertwined — with a comedy movie, you’re looking to see if you’re getting laughs and with horror you’re looking to see if you’re getting screams.” They go hand-in-hand, I think, in some odd way. It was cool to work with people who work a lot in comedy but are also very good dramatic actors as well and to push it to the limit and see what we could to in this small area.
The movie definitely seems to owe a debt to both “Flatliners” and “Pet Sematary.” Were those movies that you were aware of and paid homage to?
Oh definitely. I love those movies.
The movie, not to give too much away, certainly leaves things open for sequels — and if anybody knows how to make a horror franchise it’s Blumhouse. Would you be game to come back?
Yeah, of course. It would have to be some different version of Clay. It could be fun, definitely.
This season of “American Horror Story” was terrific. I know that people are sort of scattered to the wind for different Ryan Murphy projects, between “Scream Queens” and the “American Crime Story” spinoff. Are you going to one of these spinoffs or are you sticking around?
I’m always down to come back to “American Horror Story.” I would love to come back. Yeah, I’m not on any of the other shows, I don’t think. I’m very happy for everybody who is — I think they’re great shows and I want to check them out. But yeah…
Do you know where it’s headed?
I have no idea. I wish I did. I’ll let you know when I know.
Has Emma started on “Scream Queens” yet?
No, I think she starts in March. It’s definitely going to be fun. I’m going to come and hang out and watch her film. I think it’ll be great.
Another thing that you did recently was the “X-Men” movie and you stole the show, totally.
Aw, thank you for that.
What was it like shooting your big slow-motion sequence?
It was awesome. It was a lot of technical work. But it was really fun to do and in the end I was really blown away by the end result. It was like, “Is that me?” It was so weird and very, very cool. I think the directing and the editing and the special effects guys are just mind-blowing in that movie, and I owe a lot of it to them. I did very little. They were the real orchestrators and I thought it was very cool. And I hope in the next one I get to do some cool stuff as well.
So you will be back?
Yeah, I hope so. Knock on wood.
What was more fun — shooting your big scene or shooting that Carl’s Jr. commercial?
[Laughs] The Carl’s Jr. commercial was great! I had fun doing that, too. It was a lot of similar stuff — people being frozen and me running around. It’s a fun thing to do.
They say nobody does it better!
[Laughs] Freeze people and have him run around — the Evan Peters Special!
Are you excited to see what Aaron Taylor-Johnson does with the character?
I am! I can’t wait to see that movie! I’m a big fan of those movies and a big fan of Aaron’s so I’m excited to see it!
Is there another hero you’d be excited to play?
I always wanted to play someone with a superpower, specifically an X-Man because I loved the movies so much as a kid. And I think it’s really cool to play one of the fastest people in the world. It’s a really cool superpower to have. So I’m pretty happy to have it.
You were in “Kick-Ass,” but you didn’t have a superpower.
Yeah, I was just drinking coffee and reading comic books. If that’s a superpower, I’m damn good at that, too.
What’s the next big mountain you want to climb, career-wise?
I want to do a movie like a Joaquin Phoenix movie or a Paul Thomas Anderson movie or a Clint Eastwood movie. Something that, on it’s own, is really much more serious and dramatic and slow-paced. I think that would be something cool to do.
A movie where you have to do very little running?
[Laughs] Yes. No running. My character is very slow in the next one.
“The Lazarus Effect” is in theaters February 27.
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Let sleeping dogs lie – and dead people remain dead.
That’s the takeaway from the super creepy trailer for “The Lazarus Effect.” Olivia Wilde and Mark Duplass play scientists who come up with a serum that can resurrect dead beings. They try it first on a dog, and it works — but the dog seems very different after coming back.
Then, after an accident in the lab that kills Wilde, they use the serum on her to very grave effects. She comes back to life, but she’s not the same woman she was before, as her horrified colleagues soon find out. The movie comes from the same production house as “The Purge” and “Insidious,” and looks just as spine-tingling as those films.
“The Lazarus Effect” also stars Donald Glover and Evan Peters, and opens in theaters February 27.
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