Ryan Reynolds on remaking The Amityville Horror
Comedian Ryan Reynolds was left without many chances to adlib in the remake of The Amityville Horror. Playing George Lutz, the role played by James Brolin in the 1979 film, Reynolds barely had a moment of levity, let alone the chance to crack wise.
"The first three scenes are us, we take it back further in the first house before they moved into the Amityville house, because we just felt it was a more interesting turn to see this guy that you go, ‘There's no way that that guy is going to turn,'" Reynolds said. "Because you see him playing with his stepkids, I'm playing around with these kids and it really is the sort of light, humorous moments of the kid and you just say, ‘That guy can never turn,' just helped us go to the next place."
That said, Reynolds was quick to joke with reporters who asked if he was actually playing James Brolin.
"Well, it's not a biopic of James Brolin per se. I grew the big beard, so that was the only Brolin-esque thing. It was good because I finished Blade, I still had a beard so I just kept going with it."
With remake fever getting worse and worse, Reynolds defended his with self-deprecating wit.
"This, unlike a lot of remakes, is worthy of a remake. This is from a guy who remade The In-Laws so I know when you do one and when you don't. This, I think, is a movie that's truly worth it. We stuck to the book, the Jay Anson novel, which was far more in depth in a psychological sense. It really went into the psychology of George Lutz a little bit more and we really enjoyed that. But I think modern technology now, you can still tell the story which is such a great story, and the original I don't think holds up at all. I think it was great for its day, but it doesn't hold up. So we just remake it with all the abilities that we have now which we're blessed with and really create something truly scary."
Like many haunted house movies, The Amityville Horror set had its share of spooky moments.
"I think a lot of people make that stuff up to sell their movie, but there was some weird stuff that happened. A lot of the crew were waking up at 3:15 in the morning which was when all these atrocities in the house took place each time. I think it was a subconscious thing. You read the script and suddenly pop awake at 3:15 in the morning. The real Kathy Lutz died while we were making the movie. There were a few weird things."
Reynolds credited the Amityville house itself with the biggest creep factor.
"They found this house that they sort of retrofitted. It's terrifying. You walk up and it's just upsetting. There's something about the house that's upsetting. There's something about the colors around it, everything was just a little upsetting."
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