One of my favorite movies of 2012 is director/co-writer Drew Goddard and producer/co-writer Joss Whedon‘s The Cabin in the Woods.  In fact, it's also one of the best “horror” movies I’ve ever seen.  Without spoiling anything, let’s just say the film turns “horror” on its head, and I loved every second of it.  Make every effort to see this film!Shortly after winning the Filmmakers Showcase Award at this year's Saturn Awards, I was able to speak with Goddard backstage.  We talked about the success of Cabin in the Woods, whether it has led to a lot more meetings, his love of Daredevil (specifically Frank Miller's run), if he's interested in writing a superhero property, and he reveals that he's currently writing his next screenplay.  In addition, with Goddard supposedly re-writing the end of the Brad Pitt-fronted zombie pic World War Z, I asked how he got involved in the project and what exactly he's been working on for the production.  Hit the jump for more.drew-goddard-world-war-zWhile we reported a few weeks ago that Goddard was re-writing the ending of World War Z based on an idea by Damon Lindelof, Goddard clarified things a bit:

“I think a lot of that got blown out of proportion.  It really was like, they asked me to come look at the movie and give ideas on how to help, and that’s what happened.  That happens all the time, I don’t know why this got blown up with World War Z and it suddenly became a big thing.  It’s the sort of thing that happens with screenwriters all the time where you give your ideas on what could help, you write some scenes for people… I feel bad for the sort of magnifying glass that that movie’s under because this is just a normal part of the process, this is just what happens… My involvement was just watch the movie, give some ideas, write some scenes that might help, ADR, just sort of fill in stuff, which is what I did.”

But before getting to the interview, if anyone at 20th Century Fox is reading this, you should really take a meeting with Goddard about Daredevil!  He clearly loves the material and he's proven himself behind the camera.  Let him take a crack at the character.

drew-goddard-joss-whedon-the-cabin-in-the-woods-image
Image via Lionsgate

Here's the full interview broken down by time index.

Drew Goddard Time Index:

  • Talks about the award that he won and how ambitious his directorial debut was.
  • :56 Has the success of Cabin in the Woods opened a lot more doors for him?
  • 1:19 The decision to release Cabin before The Avengers instead of capitalizing on Joss Whedon’s success with the latter.
  • 1:53 What’s he doing next?  Says he’s writing his next movie now.
  • 2:13 Talks about World War Z:
  • 3:19 Talks briefly about his reaction to World War Z.
  • 3:45 Steve mentions talking to Goddard before the release of The Avengers and Goddard saying that it was really good.
  • 4:13 Is he interested in writing a superhero property?  Says he had quotes from Daredevil on his walls growing up.
  • 4:52 Says he definitely put it out there that he loves these comics characters.  Talks about his favorite Daredevil storylines and Frank Miller.
  • 5:52 He can’t reveal the genre of what he’s writing because he doesn’t really know it.  Says he still doesn’t know the genre of Cabin in the Woods.
  • 6:16 He doesn’t stockpile scripts, he writes one thing and then moves on.

cabin-in-the-woods-poster