Unless you’ve been living under a rock, chances are you’ve heard about a little movie called Bloodshot coming through the pipeline, based on the popular Valiant comic book of the same name. Bloodshot is a character that a lot of dedicated comic book readers have wanted to see come to the big screen for quite some time, and I was lucky enough to get a quick little interview with one of the co-creators of the character, writer and VFX supervisor Kevin VanHook. VanHook is someone who is well respected among comic book fans and film buffs alike, having worked on everything from I, Robot to Superman and Batman vs. Vampires and Werewolves. I tried to incorporate a diverse set of questions to ask such a seasoned veteran of both the comic book and special effects worlds, and I hope that I got a few answers that will appease the dedicated fans of VanHook’s work.
Q: What do you think of Vin Diesel playing Bloodshot, a character that you’re obviously very close to and spent a lot of time developing, and what would you like to see adapted into the upcoming Bloodshot movie?
KV: I think Vin is a great choice for Bloodshot. For years, I’d said that my preference would be Vin or Dwayne Johnson. Both could bring the larger than life aspect to it and I can see Vin having the undercurrent of the Bloodshot I wrote— Angelo Mortalli, the mafia guy, which kinda goes to your second half of the question. I’d like to see some of that backstory incorporated. I always liked the idea that this very bad man went through a tragic series of events— framed for murder, sentenced to prison, placed into witness protection, then sold into an experiment program where they replaced his blood with these nanoscopic machines and he had his memory wiped— and came out of that a hero. A completely changed man. Angelo Mortalli, the Angel of Death became Michael Lazarus. Q: ‘I, Robot’ is still one of the greatest and most beloved sci-fi films today, did you realise how big of a success the film would be while you were working on it? KV: Will Smith was very hot at the time, so I was pretty sure it would be a big film. I didn’t know what kind of legs it would have in terms of longevity. It was a great opportunity to work on it. Q: We’ve recently lost the great George A. Romero, who was someone that you interviewed in your documentary ‘Fantastic Flesh: The Art of Make-Up EFX.’ How would you say Romero influenced you in your career behind the camera? KV: I had the pleasure of working with George on the documentary and spending time with him just talking, but I’d also been chosen to direct a film he wrote called, “Chupacabra.” The plan was to shoot it in Puerto Rico, where George had already scouted locations at one point when he was planning on directing. I went to PR with my producing partner Karen Bailey and we sought out all of those locations and found many more. Unfortunately, the rights to that script got tied up and that killed the project. On the bright side, I was given the green light to direct my film Slayer and I utilized many of those locations. I always felt that George was good at building suspense. Q: What movie or TV show would you point to as an example of what special effects should ideally look like? KV: THAT’S A TOUGH ONE BECAUSE I DON’T REALLY LOOK AT THINGS THAT WAY. I LOVE THE SUBTLETY OF [TV] SHOWS LIKE WESTWORLD, BUT I ALSO LOVE THE IN-YOUR-FACE ASPECT OF THE STAR WARS FILMS. I WILL SAY THAT DESPITE MY CREATING DIGITAL VFX FOR 20 YEARS, I STILL LOVE PRACTICAL EFFECTS DONE [IN-CAMERA] AND TRADITIONAL MATTE PAINTINGS AND MINIATURES. Q: Which would you say you enjoyed more: working as a comic book writer or working on movies and TV shows?
KV: They both have their own plusses and minuses. Comics was my first love. Movies and TV take longer to get made and require a lot more money. Getting to work on my childhood favorite characters like The Thing, Superman and Batman was very cool, but creating new stories with wonderful actors like Casper Van Dien, Geoffrey Lewis, George Kennedy and Stacy Ketch is pretty amazing.
Kevin VanHook serves as the director for his upcoming film Alpha Wolf starring Casper Van Dien, which you can expect to come out later this year.
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