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A conversation with author Ted Dekker
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House, the upcoming supernatural thriller based on the collaborative novel by New York Times Bestselling Authors Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti, has received an R rating by the MPAA for terror and some violence. The fact that a horror flick gets an R is not news. But the fact that the film is based on a popular Christian-themed novel is raising a few eyebrows. Entertainment Examiner, Mike Parker, recently had a chance to chat with Dekker about the film.
Mike Parker – The film version of your novel, House, is quite different from the book. But then, few novels translate unscathed to film.
Ted Dekker - The movie is different from the book in many ways, but as an author, unless you want to make the movie yourself, you have to be willing to let go and let the movie makers do what they do best. Some times the results are good; sometimes they are not so good. But I think overall the movie captured the story, even if it didn’t capture all of the events.
Parker – You acted as Executive Producer. What input did you have into the film?
Dekker – My job as Executive Producer was to put the deal together. You are dealing with a whole crew of people: the director, the director of photography, other producers, the actors. Everybody has their own interpretation of the script, which is really just a bare bones starting point. Everyone acts out what is on the page a little differently. Things get cut; things get changed. My primary involvement was just getting the story put onto film. I had a little input into the script, but not a whole lot.
Parker – Ever think about doing a Hitchcock/Shyamalan thing and doing a cameo?
Dekker – (laughs) They tried to talk me into it, but I’m not an actor. I didn’t want to look like an idiot on film, which is what you look like when you are not an actor.
Parker – The big controversy is the R rating. I didn’t find House to be any more terrifying than say, “The Grudge” or “The Ring,” both of which received PG-13 ratings.
Dekker – I was surprised. I was surprised going through the appeals process, because we when back numerous times and it was a long process. They couldn’t put their finger on any one scene or event. It was simply the intensity of the story. And it is true, it is an intense story. We’re all a bit baffled by it. It doesn’t make sense to me. Maybe it has something to do with the perception that this is a “Christian” film. When you think about it, this is a very redemptive story. It is a retelling of the journey that each of us takes, but told in a very graphic way in a genre that is broadly accepted by youth in particular. I don’t think they knew what to do with it, so they slapped an R rating on it.
Parker – I’m going to play devil’s advocated (no pun intended) for a moment. It is obvious that the bad guys in the film are satanic. There is the goat’s head, the pentagram – duh, these guys are bad guys. The Susan character is also obviously the agent of good, but there are no big references to Christianity, or Jesus, or ‘you gotta get saved’ that would brand it as a “Christian” film.
Dekker – The movie was made by Namesake Entertainment which was the production company that made the Left Behind movies and Hangman’s Curse. The are a, quote-unquote Christian production company. I’m not a Christian writer. One of the labels that gets stuck on me is, ‘Ted Dekker – Christian fiction writer.’ I’m not even sure what Christian fiction is. It’s like saying Democratic fiction or Republican fiction. It is a label which makes no sense to me. This movie, and all of the stories that I write, simply examine the realities of life and a big part of life is the issue of redemption; the spiritual journey that each of us takes. I am a Christian, and that does influence my world view. There is a redemptive message in all of my books, but I rarely use the kind of jargon that is associated with Christianity or the Church.
Parker – Once you knew there was nothing you could do to influence the rating, did you ever consider going back in and re-cutting the film to become even more graphic?
Dekker – Good question, but the fact is we didn’t have that kind of material available. House was filmed to be a PG-13 movie. There was nothing in the film that we felt would put it into an R rating. We made very specific choices to keep it PG-13. They trailer is very spooky. You might think it was going to be like “Saw.” It looks like it is going to be very intense. Quite frankly, the book is much more violent than the movie.
Our budget for Special Effects was only $50,000. Nobody cares about that; the audience expects Lord of the Rings effects regardless of your budget. But what we were able to do with what we had to work with was pretty amazing.
Parker – One of the characters in the film, and I won’t give the story away, but she was abused as a child and something of a victim. She didn’t end well. That just seemed kind of harsh.
Dekker – It was important that we stayed away from pat answers. She was a victim, and we want her to find redemption. She had a hard life, but she had a choice. She became the abuser rather than seeking redemption. That is a common story. The world is full of people like that. There is more truth to that story than the alternative.
Parker – Last words?
Dekker – I hope people go see the movie and judge it for themselves.
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