From The Conjuring Universe to Malignant, BJ McDonnell operated the camera for some of Hollywood's biggest horror films. Also a successful director, he's now teamed up with Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters to deliver a horror-comedy that pits the beloved rock band against supernatural forces. Studio 666 sees the Foo Fighters struggling to record their tenth album. After they move into an Encino mansion to dive deeper into their work, things take a turn for the worse when demonic forces corrupt Dave Grohl. Along with the band, the film also features Whitney Cummings, Leslie Grossman, and Will Forte.
With Studio 666 hitting theaters on February 25, BJ McDonnell sat down with CBR for an exclusive interview. He, of course, discussed working with the Foo Fighters, as well as his horror inspiration for the film and his punk-rock past.
CBR: First thing's first, what attracted you to Studio 666 and how did you link up with the Foo Fighters?
BJ McDonnell: Basically, the two producer buddies of mine that I was going to do a project with before that never got made, they talked to me and said, "Hey, Dave [Grohl] has this project that he wants to do. We want to show you his idea." So they sent me a page-long description of what they wanted to do. I took that and made a lookbook of things that I thought would elevate it and make it a little bit more interesting, in my opinion, to see what he would say. I had a meeting with him and passed out my lookbook. We talked about horror films and things we wanted to do, and then we just hit it off really well. He's like, "Let's do this!" The writers... We talked to them, and that's how we went about doing it. I just jumped in there with them. I think it was a lot of Slayer video stuff that helped out, too, that I did.
I know that you were in a punk rock band back in the day. So did that real-life experience also help you with Studio 666?
I toured with a punk band back in the '90s. We played for a couple of years, and it was a great experience. So I got to know more of the rock-n-roll side of things: how things work, how recordings work, what you would do with that touring scene and with the guitars and the amps, and what you had to deal with. I think that helped me -- also just going to shows and being a punk rock metalhead. That helps me out with this whole genre. I'm a horror fan, a huge fan of horror films. If you mix them all in a big, huge bowl, you're good to go.
I got a huge '80s vibe from Studio 666. It was sort of like Evil Dead meets rock-n-roll. So, I'd love to hear about some of your influences for the film.
That was definitely a big one. Evil Dead II is a huge movie that I love. The [Sam] Raimi stuff back in the day was so great. The Nightmare on Elm Street films, the original Dream Warriors -- I love those. Halloween, The Thing, John Carpenter movies, I'm a huge fan of those films. I grew up on all that stuff. With this movie, knowing what we were going to do and what they wanted to do, mixing the Foo Fighters' music video style with a feature film style, I knew that we wanted to keep it fun and campy and just have a really good time. When people go see it, they can just laugh and jump around and have a good time. It's just a good time movie.
The practical effects were so much fun. Which one was your favorite to work on?
I love the practical effects. That was my whole thing. I wanted to try to keep it like that. I'm more into that world of trying to make it more of something that you can actually accomplish real, on-set instead of just doing CGI stuff because, to me, I'm always like, "Eeh," when it becomes all about that.
Favorite kill in the movie? Jeez. I'm always worried about talking about that stuff because I don't want to talk about kills before people see the movie. So, I love them all.
Dave Grohl's done some acting in the past, but I imagine there were challenges when shooting rock stars as opposed to experienced actors. Were there any advantages that took you by surprise?
Dave, he's done acting before, and I know all the guys have done acting in their videos. They're comfortable in front of a camera. I was a bit concerned when we first started getting into it, like, "Alright, you know, what's it going to be like performance-wise? I want to make sure we've got a good performance out of everybody." I think mixing in our day one with Leslie Grossman was great because the guys came in and we had a real actress there. When they felt like they could do it with her -- she was kind of going back and forth with them -- they started to get comfortable.
I also told them, "Hey, look -- we have the scripts right here in front of us, but you guys got to realize it's gonna come off better if you play you because you are playing you. You're not playing a character. So feel free to improv something you would say as long as we don't go way off the script, [as long as] we keep the subject matter the same. Just be you." I think, when that happened, everybody kind of loosened up and started really having a good time. The jokes started flying around because then they were just kind of busting on each other a lot of times on set. So, it was a wonderful experience watching all that go down.
I heard there was a lot of improv involved, which I can imagine is always a lot of fun to do.
Yeah, I love that. I think sometimes you get better stuff just letting the guys do it.
To bounce off that, the scenes where the Foo Fighters were working on their music felt really authentic. I'd love to hear about your process for capturing those moments. Were they heavily directed, or did you just let the guys jam?
Dave made the song that we already had, because we had to make sure we stuck to a certain song, and the guys would have to learn that one little part in each scene. When we would stop the thing, we would let them kind of just riff on each other -- again, going back to the whole thing of letting them be them.
Other than the fact of saying, "Hey, guys. You know, you guys are tired of the song." You have to give the direction of what's going on because we're not shooting the scripts in order. So you have to remind them, "Hey, this just happened to you guys. You just saw a body, and it's freaking you out. Just make sure that's the tone we are going with, and you've got to feel scared." That's kind of what we had to deal with.
The authentic stuff -- it's the songs that they play. They've made that song; they learned the song, and that's them. I think they were comfortable, too, because the house that we shot in is the house they recorded Medicine at Midnight. We almost kind of emulated the same areas in the house. Whenever I was meeting Dave and the guys, that's kind of the same setup as to how they were actually recording the album. So they were very familiar with the setting alone.
In a film that focused so heavily on the Foo Fighters, what sort of BJ McDonnell signature did you want to bring to Studio 666?
I wanted to make sure that when we made this movie, it was very cinematic. I wanted to make sure that when people see it, it doesn't have a cheap look to it. We lit it the right way, and we planned everything as much as we could, down to the stunts and kills and lighting -- everything. I wanted to make sure that it's funny. It's silly, but I wanted to have an actual film, a good film look to it. With my experience of what I also do -- I'm also a camera operator on movies -- I wanted to make sure that I brought that presence to it by using the right tools for the right shots, be it Steadicam for certain things, be it a crane shot for another or handheld. I wanted to make sure that it also told a story -- the camera movements or the vibe of the camera told what was going on.
As a camera operator, you've worked on all sorts of big horror movies. What is it about the genre that keeps you coming back?
It's funny because I grew up on horror films. My parents... Me and my sister were almost latchkey kids, and they kind of just let us watch whatever we wanted to. I grew up with the John Carpenter movies, Wes Craven -- all those kinds of films. For me, that was my upbringing, and that's just coming into [Studio 666]. I just wanted to emulate that, the whole feel of it.
I know you don't want to give too many spoilers. Is there a scene you can maybe tease that you're most excited for the audiences to see in Studio 666?
I love when they get down into the standoff pool stuff. That's one of my favorite parts of the film. What we did there, I'm super pumped about that. I love when that pops up. I won't spoil anything. Once Whitney Cummings starts talking about what needs to be done, that's when everything goes completely bonkers, and I'm proud of that.
Watch the Foo Fighters take on the supernatural in Studio 666, debuting in theaters Feb. 25.
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