‘Thanksgiving’ Blu-ray and DVD Interview: Director Eli Roth

Premiering on digital platforms January 19th and available on Blu-ray and DVD beginning January 30th is the box office hit ‘Thanksgiving,’ which was directed by Eli Roth (‘Cabin Fever,’ ‘Death Wish’) and stars Patrick Dempsey (‘Ferrari’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Eli Roth about ‘Thanksgiving,’ developing the feature film after making the trailer for ‘Grindhouse,’ shooting the Black Friday sequence, working with Patrick Dempsey, and the status of the recently announced sequel.

Director/Producer Eli Roth speaks at the Los Angeles Fan Screening for Tristar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Thanksgiving’ at Vista Theatre on November 14, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Stewart Cook/Getty Images for Sony Pictures.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about developing the ‘Thanksgiving’ trailer from ‘Grindhouse’ into a feature film and when did you know that you had the right story and screenplay for the feature length version?

Eli Roth: It’s interesting. The development process started when I was 11 or 12 years old with my best friend, Jeff Rendell, growing up in Massachusetts, waiting for a Thanksgiving slasher film every November. We’d be like, “When are they doing Thanksgiving?” So, we had all these kills like, “Oh, you could cut off a turkey’s head at the parade and they’d run around like a turkey with their head cut off.” That kind of stuff. So, by the time Quentin (Tarantino) and Robert Rodriguez asked me if I wanted to do a trailer for ‘Grindhouse,’ I was like, “I’ve already got it. It’s ‘Thanksgiving.’” Then after that, we thought, “This is great. I don’t have to make movies anymore. I can just make fake trailers because you’re just shooting the best parts.” That’s the stuff you want to do anyways. Then, fans were kind of badgering me over the years and I thought, “Man, they’re right. I really want to do this.” But we didn’t have it. We didn’t know what it was about other than those kills. So, we went through a few different kind of story permutations, and then it was seeing those riots on YouTube, the Black Friday riots where you just saw people saying, “Oh, we’re so thankful,” and two hours later killing each other for electronics and waffle irons. We thought there was something there that was interesting. It’s the mix of being thankful, “I’m just happy for just having my health and my family,” and then killing someone for stuff at a store. But then there’s something darker underneath which is that the reason everyone must do these gladiator games is because a few people at the top are making all the money and everyone else is getting minimum wage. So, I was like it isn’t just blaming greed. It’s like why are people forced into this, and it’s because no one’s getting paid anything, and a few people are hoarding it all. So, I thought that’s where you have interesting material there to do a good slasher film.

(L to R) Gabriel Davenport, Jenna Warren, Tomaso Sanelli, and Addison Rae star in ‘Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

MF: Can you talk about creating the Black Friday opening sequence? What were the biggest challenges in shooting that scene and how many days did it take?

ER: We shot it in four days, and this is a low budget movie that we shot in 30 days. So, shooting that sequence, I wrote myself into a corner. But I’m like, “Well, I’m the producer.” So I go, “I can do it in four nights, two nights outside, two nights inside.” Then you’re talking with your stunt team and the special effects guys and makeup effects going, “How the hell are we going to pull this off?” I had a terrific second unit director named Justin Harding, who uses this program called Frame Forge, where we can kind of build the environments virtually and figure it out with my DP, Milan (Chadima). We shot list it, we storyboard, we go to the locations, and we walk through. It’s just the prep, and I’ve been directing for 20 years now. So, there’s a certain level of mastery that comes with that that you can only get from that 10,000 hour on set. So, I know exactly what I want. I mean, for me, where I think that those scenes go awry is when you try to do too much. I wanted to keep it intimate in a way where you’re following the characters and following what they’re all going through as this tsunami is happening. We had a great stunt team, and the extras were fantastic. We’d make sure that we did everything live. So, it is a faith-based system that you just hope to God it works out. We had a couple of cameras for some of the shots and for two nights all night the people were rioting and you’d say like, “Look, everyone, look to your left. Look to your right. These are your scene partners. Is everyone okay before, after? What are you comfortable with? Is it okay if I bump you?” Everyone was good at working together and working with Dan Skene, our stunt coordinator. As soon as you yelled cut, everyone was smiling, picking each other up. Because we had to do it again and again. It was a weird bonding experience. Everyone had smiles on their face the whole time. It was quite fun.

Related Article: Movie Review: ‘Thanksgiving’

Patrick Dempsey stars in TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group’s ‘Thanksgiving.’ Copyright: ©2023 CTMG. All Rights Reserved. Photo: Courtesy of Tristar Pictures.

MF: Patrick Dempsey gives a performance in ‘Thanksgiving’ that is unlike anything we’ve seen from him before. Can you talk about working with him on this specific character and helping him create this performance?

ER: I think that Patrick, look, he’s very sexy and good-looking. I mean, he’s like Paul Newman or Clint Eastwood. He’s going to have this kind of almost third act his career, because I grew up with him in high school from the teen movies. Then everyone else, my wife loves him from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and rom-coms. But now you see his performance in ‘Ferrari.’ You see him in ‘Thanksgiving.’ You realize he’s a seasoned actor, a great actor and such a fine actor. I think now that the restraints are off and he can do R-rated stuff, he’s got this whole other range to him. He’s fantastic. So, we talked about his accent. He grew up in Maine and he had never used his natural accent before. He had to lose it when he went to New York City to become an actor. So, in the movie, he’s talking with the accent he grew up with. Once you start talking in that accent, you kind of revert to being from that small town in Maine. I think giving him the permission to do that and to talk with his natural accent, it was great. He’s an amazing actor.

A mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts in ‘Thanksgiving’ from TriStar Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, LLC Thanksgiving.

MF: Finally, can you talk about where you are in the development process on the upcoming sequel, and will it feature returning characters or a completely new story?

ER: Well, it’s early on. Jeff Rendell and I are going through the process of we’ve kind of just got off the rides. We’re clearing our heads a little bit. I’m watching, I’m catching up on ‘Beef’ and ‘Saltburn.’ I’m watching non-horror stuff, like rom-coms. I watched ‘Bend It Like Beckham.’ That’s my new favorite film. So, I’ve just been kind of decompressing a little bit. It sort of clears my head. But I think that with the sequel, you want to go back for what made the first one work and what people enjoyed. I just sort of go where I think the horror is going to be. I go, “Oh, that’s an interesting idea.” I present myself in the shoes of the fan and think, “I just paid money and went to a theater and saw this. You better impress me.” Then you go, “Whoa, I didn’t expect that.” I have an opening sequence that I think is going to be the right opening sequence for it, that people go, “Oh, okay. This is going to be good.” That’s what I had to do with the Black Friday scene. I had to set the table, so to speak, saying, “We’re not playing around. This is going to be an insane movie. It’s not what you expect.” I need to have a similar opening and I’ve got one. I have the opening and I have the finale, and I’m looking for ways to kind of connect it, so you just sit and you watch the movie. Every day you press play and it’s like choose your own adventure book until it’s like, “Oh, you died. Go back. Go this way, go that way.” So, we’re at that point in the process of just kind of finding the best story, but I got a few kills, so I’m trying to connect the dots.

What is the plot of ‘Thanksgiving’?

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan.

Who is in the cast of ‘Thanksgiving’?

Director Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ opens in theaters on November 17, 2023. Photo: Sony Pictures.

Other Movies Similar to ‘Thanksgiving’:

Buy Eli Roth Movies On Amazon