I went through all the considerations of the possible pitfalls of remakes and then developed my own formula to this project that, at least in my mind, diffuses the danger of remakes. The first thing is not to throw away the baby with the bathwater and destroy what was really good in the original either in spirit or actuality. So, my approach was quite simply an enhancement of what I already loved about the classic original, such as being set inside an isolated community. To me, that was much more valid than setting it in the heart of San Francisco like the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers did.
Fang:So, why even bother remaking Invaders from Mars? Why not leave well enough alone?
Hooper:The relentless nature of that finale in the original excited me. That's the kind of thing that really turns me on. So, I began to think of how to sustain that atmosphere through the whole picture. I just felt Invaders from Mars could be remade even though it was a classic and I felt so strongly about the project's potential. It was certainly worth doing mostly because I would want to see it. That's a pure enough reason.
Fang:What changes have you made?
Hooper:The original had great moments and then there were moments where there was a lof of exposition explaining how and why and the astronomy, which isn't necessary in a contemporary version. We now have a heritage of this kind of film that we carry in our blood, so we go into the theater with a great deal of information already. I didn't want to waste anyone's time with exposition that I felt was unnecessary.
Fang:Did you have a hard time convincing Cannon to do the remake?
Hooper:They insisted I make the project. They were really for it. The idea was exciting to them on an international level because of its pre-sell.
Fang:What's happening with Cannon's Texas Chainsaw Massacre II?
Hooper:I'm gearing up to produce it, I may direct it. That all depends on how post-production goes with Invaders from Mars, because Cannon would like to have Chainsaw II out by the end of this summer. As it is, I should be shooting and mixing music and sound FX. I just got started writing the script with Kit (Paris, Texas) Carson [father of actor Hunter Carson].
Fang:Are you having a problem getting a director to do Chainsaw II if you don't do it?
Hooper:I've been talking to directors and quite a few are leery to do it, being what it is.
Fang:Is it too bloody or something?
Hooper:It gets hardcore scary, but it's not necessarily gory.
Fang:With all the legal problems surrounding the original, you probably never saw much money from it.
Hooper:No, no. I definitely took a loss on Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The original distributors no longer exist and even the individuals aren't in the country. As far as I know, the film continues to be shown and now the accounting with New Line is fair and pretty good.
Fang:It couldn't have been easy getting the rights for a sequel.
Hooper:It was extremely difficult. It took well over a year to coordinate all of that. All of the owners had sequel rights. When we did that film, we never thought about the sequel potential. We were far too pure for that and it proved a problem later. The executive producer, Henry Holmes, worked very, very hard getting it structured so that everyone would be happy (as far as sequel compensation is concerned) and that was quite an accomplishment.
Fang:Were you offered Poltergeist II?
Hooper:There was talk of me doing it, but I had too many commitments, there was no way I could do it. I do know a little bit about it, and I did read the script and it's something that, well, the sequel that Steven Spielberg and I were working on at the end of the first Poltergeist was much different.
Fang:How would you have done it?
Hooper:My Poltergeist II would have the national guard surround and quarantine the neighborhood. There is a vacant lot without a house and a spinning ball of light 15 feet off the ground -- the same ball of light that was there at the end of Poltergeist -- materializes. And finally, a scientific team would go into the ball of light and into that dimension I called the dead zone, a filter where forces that are released as negative energy get filtered out and caught. The family would have gotten involved, too.
Fang:If you could do Lifeforce over, what would you do differently?
Hooper:I would have done some character changes. I would probably do lots of juggling. Lifeforce had a troublesome lack of Americans. But a film starts with the script. A filmmaker can't salvage a script that is bad or isn't there or one that doesn't gel. It's impossible.
Fang:Screenwriters Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby have made no secret of their opinions. They think Lifeforce isn't very good.
Hooper:I don't know what I've done to them. I read some interviews where they said bad things about Lifeforce and, after all, it was their script. But I would rather not talk about this. Because of friendship. I hate to say anything that's potentially harmful or negative.
Fang:How do you feel about the negative reaction to the film?
Hooper:I didn't want to read anymore of it. If 27 minutes had not been cut and had it remained Space Vampires, you would have seen the movie in a whole different light. When the distributors called it Lifeforce, they made the film sound pretentious and something that it wasn't. The pretense comes back and it hits you in the face every time. It hit me in the face, too.
Fang:What made those 27 minutes so important?
Hooper:Those 27 minutes were the Space Vampires part of the movie. It was a plot point that, when missing, totally restructured the piece. It was an unnecessary trimming.
Fang:Why was the title changed?
Hooper:The distributors were fearful about it. I had an allergic reaction to the title at first, but the replaced it with a title and an ad campaign that made you think you would see 2001. What you saw was a lot of humor that, without the 27 minutes of footage that gave you proper reference to let you know what kind of ride you were in for, was devastating. I consider it an incomplete picture. There is one video floating around somewhere of a two hour and seven minute version of Lifeforce that is the movie I made.
Fang:People were laughing at it. Was it meant to be a comedy?
Hooper:It was meant to be funny, for sure, but the sequences removed made the difference between humor and camp, it laid it wide open. It wasn't meant to be a serious film and not meant to be a comedy. It was meant to have humor akin to the humor in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It was supposed to be a kind of ludicrous humor, but with those pieces removed, without the story points, it was ruined.
Fang:Did that sour your relationship with Cannon Films?
Hooper:It didn't sour my relationship with anyone. This was business. It wasn't Cannon anyway, it was Tri-Star. They had an investment and felt they were doing the right thing. It was an average day's experience in the motion picture business. No one did anything maliciously for me to have bad feelings about. Unfortunately, it's just one of those things. When people put their money into a production, they have certain rights. They can throw it out the window.
Fang:It must not have been easy finding a woman to parade around nude throughout the entire movie.
Hooper:It was extremely difficult finding the actress. I tested about 50 girls around Europe. It was quite problematic finding someone, especially in London. British actresses looked askance at the idea of being naked the whole time. So, I had to test in France, Germany, and other places where they had a different attitude toward nudity.
Fang:Must have been hard for a woman to walk in for an audition knowing she would have to strip.
Hooper:Well, it was one way of determining whether or not her nudity would be problematic during the shoot. The nudity was absolutely necessary for the film. They knew in advance before they ever came in that nudity was a requirement, that they had to take their clothes off. Nudity was an aesthetic need for the piece, it was not gratuitous. It carried over from the Colin Wilson book.
Fang:Your wife must have been thrilled about this casting session.
Hooper:I had her with me a lot of the time. In fact, that made it a little easier for the actresses.
Fang:What were you looking for?
Hooper:Just something that was as close to perfection as possible and that was very hard to find -- but we did [in actress Mathilda May].
Fang:How do you think your Invaders From Mars has turned out?
Hooper:The script is tight and the picture flies along with a great deal of style and a very good story. We had a lot of fun making it and that comes through.