Kevin Bacon interview
With the tag “From the director of Saw” above the title of the film on the posters, most people might mistake Death Sentence for a horror film. With subject matter that’s scarier and more realistic than most horror films, this film deals with a vicious circle of revenge when a man (Kevin Bacon) loses a family member in a gang-related crime and goes after the gang, which is a family itself. In a situation where both sides are right and wrong in their own justifications for their actions, it raises interesting questions about justice, morality and revenge. If the subject matter seems slightly familiar, it may be because the writer of the novel upon which the film is based, also wrote Death Wish, and Death Sentence was intended to be the direct sequel.
Bacon, 49, was up for the challenging role and, as a family man himself, brought a little of himself to the screen.
Here’s more from Bacon, as interviewed by the Pit's own Paul Salfen:
Although this film has a scary subject, it’s not a horror film per se, is it?
No. I’m a big fan of horror movies and I felt like with the first Saw, James [Wan, director] kind of redefined the genre so I wanted to work with him, but Death Sentence is more of a revenge thriller and it’s a very emotional movie. It’s a movie that has a side to it that’s fast and heightened with gunplay and everything but it also has an emotional core and shows this cycle of violence when this man makes the mistake of taking the law into his own hands.
Did being a father make it easier to portray the character but harder to think about the character’s situation?
Sure. I mean, I use my family and my relationship to my family in every role I do and the reason is because when you’re asked to act, you draw upon an emotional well that’s inside your soul and nothing fills up that well faster than becoming a father, so I use that but especially here. When you have kids, that’s the moment you’re willing to throw yourself in front of a bus to protect that thing that you love so deeply and certainly it was helpful to be a father and play this part, but it made it emotionally draining.
So what would you do in a life-threatening situation like that?
Well, you never know how you will react until it happens to you, do you?
What are some of your favorite scary movies?
I’m a big fan of zombie movies: Dawn Of The Dead and Night Of The Living Dead. I love Halloween. I was actually in the first Friday The 13th, believe it or not, and it wasn’t that great of a movie but it tapped into something. Recently I loved 28 Weeks Later and 28 Days Later. I loved The Descent – it was fantastic. I would love to remake [the Japanese cult classic] Audition For America – that movie was just scary as hell.
What was it like working with James Wan?
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen James, but he looks like he’s 15 years old, so it’s funny to see him on the set. He’s got this confidence – and I know that’s an over-used word, but he has this vision and an exact idea about how he wants to tell the story and frame the shots and I felt very comfortable in his hands. He did a beautiful job with this film. He’s expanding himself as a director and made a conscious decision not to do Saw II, III and IV, which says a lot because that series has had a lot of hang time.
What about your band, The Bacon Brothers?
The band is going well, we’re always writing, so I’m hoping to get back into the studio soon. I’ve just had all these acting gigs, so it’s been hard, but I’m a pretty prolific writer, so I think when my brother and I get back together, it will be good. We’ve both got a lot of songs to offer.
DEATH SENTENCE REVIEW
JAMES WAN INTERVIEW
DISCUSS ON GUTS AND GORY
