Take “Superbad” and “Friday the 13th,” and you’ve got the basis for “Hell of a Summer.”
The new film, written and directed by Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk, follows a bunch of camp counselors as a masked maniac picks them off one by one. That might sound like a carbon copy of “Friday the 13th,” but when it comes down to it, “Hell of a Summer” is more comedy than horror – a teenage romp masquerading as a slasher flick.
Wolfhard and Bryk also star in the film as Chris and Bobby, two of the witless teenage boys who will somehow be entrusted with the lives of children for the entire summer. Fred Hechinger stars as Jason, the teens’ only slightly older boss who – no matter how estranged he feels from his teenage coworkers – can’t seem to leave camp life behind.
Hechinger (who also produced the film), Bryk, and Wolfhard stopped by the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta last weekend for a screening of the film, and sat down with Rough Draft Atlanta for an interview prior to the film’s release on April 4. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I’ve read a lot of interviews with you guys, where you talk about your references for the movie. In almost every interview, you, Billy and Finn, have mentioned “Shaun of the Dead” as a bit of a touch point. I was curious, what about that movie really influenced you, and what do you think about that movie stands the test of time?
Finn Wolfhard: Well, I think that movie is masquerading as a different genre, and that genre really informs what the movie, at its heart, actually is. Obviously, it’s a zombie movie, but at its core, it’s really a character-driven comedy about a guy who’s trying to get his girlfriend back, and that when stuff starts going wrong in the world, he doesn’t step up in a sort of action movie, or trophy way. I mean, it’s in his interest to get his girlfriend back, but he also does want the best for all of his friends at the same time. He’s a hero in his own way, and that was the idea behind our film, that when stuff starts going wrong, people don’t just miraculously become heroes. All their insecurities end up actually being amplified, and they all are heroes in their own way.
Billy Bryk: You know that trend, explain a movie plot badly? You could do that with that movie, and our movie, and it would be the same. You’d be like, a sort of down-on-his-luck, stagnant loser – [to Fred Hechinger] no offense – is forced to … grow up because of a violent, bloody situation that’s out of his control, and he is thrust into this ensemble group of self-obsessed, self-involved characters. And it ends in a slightly touching fire sequence. There are so many similarities, and I think that’s what makes that movie so beautiful. It really moved us so much as children when we saw it, and as we continue to watch it now as filmmakers and as adults. It’s such a touching story, and it’s such a brilliant comedy, and it’s such a brilliant zombie film. That inspired us so much, because we really wanted our film to be all of those things as well. Minus the zombie aspect – a slasher film, the same way that’s a zombie film.
I know how you two sort of linked up, but Fred, how did you come on board as an actor and producer?
Fred Hechinger: Finn and I had not met –
Wolfhard: But we’d known about each other for years.
Hechinger: Yeah, and had a lot of mutual friends. But the three of us met for what was supposed to be, like, a 45-minute meeting about the script. And then suddenly it was four hours later, and we realized that we shared so many of the same influences and interests in terms of comedy and storytelling in movies. I try and really follow the projects that I feel like I have to be a part of – like, there’s a sort of personal and necessary need to express yourself in this specific story. You know the movies that really knock at your door and kick around in ways where you can’t stop thinking about them. I felt like when we met, it was just an immediate feeling of, we have to make this, and that feeling organically extended to producing, in this case. I’ve done it now since, but this was my first time [producing]. I’ve found that I love shepherding a story in that way, and also I just really care about these guys. I think immediately, there was that click thing of, we want to make movies together. That takes whatever form is necessary to tell the story in the best way possible.
Bryk: Something that we kind of haven’t talked about when we tell the story, and it’s something that I don’t often think about, but it wasn’t gonna time out. You [Fred] weren’t available during our window, and we wanted you, but we were like, “Oh man, Fred is doing this other movie. We don’t know if we can make it work, it looks like he can’t.” And then, Finn and I were both in New York, and we were like, “Should we just meet with Fred?” You texted us, “I really like the script, I’d like to talk to you guys about it,” kind of as a, let’s just get to know each other.
As soon as we walked out – again, four hours passed – we walked out of that meeting, and Finn and I were both like, oh, well we have to shift the dates. We have to push the movie to work with Fred, because it just became so apparent to us that there was no other option. But it’s funny, I forget that there was a time when we were like, oh, we really like Fred! Ah, it doesn’t look like it’s gonna time out. We were gonna let that, for a couple of weeks, be the thing that dictated it. Thankfully, we were all like, oh no – definitely not!
Wolfhard: There were definitely times too, even in the lunch where Fred got up to pee, or whatever, and it was just me being like – we gotta figure this out! [Laughs]
Fred, you said something earlier about having that feeling of, this is something I want to be a part of. I wonder, and any of you can answer this question, is that just a gut feeling? Do you tend to see a trend among the kinds of projects that you’re drawn to, or have that feeling about?
Hechinger: For me, it’s, at its core, a gut feeling. I think it changes a lot based on where you’re at in your life, and what new or different things you feel you need to explore in that moment. I’ve always felt that you don’t want to repeat yourself, and once you’ve expressed one thing – every truth sort of opens up a new truth. Every door opens up another one. So you want to follow that and take creative risks. But I don’t know – we’ve been talking a lot the past few days about how life, even at its most horrifying and sometimes tragic, is still always at least a little bit funny. So I think we gravitate towards the inevitable warmth of humor, even in the darkest of times. That’s probably something that’s maybe some kind of throughline. I want to tell big and entertaining stories that are about people – that are ultimately humanist.
This is the directorial debut for both of you, Billy and Finn, and your first time producing, Fred. All of you guys have been working in this industry for quite some time – what is some advice that you’ve received, or something you’ve learned throughout the process or your career that has really helped you? Or will help you move forward in your directing or producing careers?
Bryk: Something that our friend Matt Johnson told us – he’s a filmmaker who seemingly pulls off miracles. He makes movies feel so much bigger than they ought to. They’re punching so far above their own weight in terms of budget. What he was really stressing for us the entire time was, you have to just push past the initial, like, five [moments of], “Oh, this is impossible.” Because it’s not. Ultimately, impossible just means a lot more work. It’s uncomfortable at times, and it’s an uncomfortable conversation to be having, but when you truly believe in the vision for something, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen, and find creative ways to work around things. Because there are creative ways to do anything. There is hardly anything that is truly impossible to accomplish, and then that also has to come from you. So you have to lead by example and be willing to do everything that you possibly can in order to make it happen. And then, hopefully, people will follow suit and be willing to buy in in the same way. To that point, finding people who really share the same passion as you and believe in the film in the same way as you do, and are in it for the same reasons as you, will make it so much easier to have those conversations, because everybody just wants to serve the film in the best way.
It’s a job, for most people. It’s our film, and it’s everyone else’s job – not everyone, but you have to be aware of that too, and really be like, how can we keep everybody excited and make sure everybody feels like they’re part of the team, and really value everything that all these people bring to the table? Because it truly does take a village, and making them feel like a team is so important.
Wolfhard: As a director, you do have to make everyone feel like they’re part of something, that they’re a part of something cool, and that their voice is heard. But also, at the end of the day, the thing you sort of realize, or at least that I realized, is no one’s gonna care as much as you do. Even if it’s someone that really cares, even as a crew member – that’s just something that is a fact. No one’s gonna care as much as a director. It’s good to know going into something, because you don’t get disappointed.
