An interview with Jennifer Lynch on new horror film Chained

Ahead of the release of her new horror flick Chained, American director Jennifer Lynch talks to The Upcoming…

Tell us how the film first came about and when you became involved?

Well an offer of a job first came to my attention from two producers, Lee Nelson and David Buelow. I read the script and was instantly drawn to the realism of it. How it tells us a story, which could really happen to anyone, instantly drew me in.

Chained follows taxi cab driver Bob (Vincent D’Onofrio) on his spate of serial killings, focusing primarily on his relationship with recent captive Tim, who he keeps alive.

How did you envision the audience to see Bob?

He (Bob) is a very dark and violent person. He isn’t afraid of anything and I wanted the fear to be drawn from the viewer being completely unable to relate to him. It is more about what he’s done in the past, rather than the torture you’re witnessing on screen.

Vincent is well known in the industry for his incredible versatility as an actor. How did you find working with him?

Vincent is so great. As a person, he is generous and very trusting of me. He listens and does exactly what is asked of him. As an actor he is astoundingly brave and has this drive to get big, whatever role he’s in. Vincent is one of the most underrated actors working in the film industry and I simply don’t understand why he hasn’t been recognised for his talent by The Academy yet.

There were rumours circulating that you were forced to do a lot of editing in post-production. Can you tell us about some of the scenes that were cut and does this mean we will be seeing a Director’s Cut of the film?

Yeah you’re right. There are quite a few scenes in the film that either must be cut short or altered for the final edit. I often have the scene mapped out in my mind from the beginning and I’ll only do it once, so often a lot of work had to be done in the editing suite! I will hopefully be releasing a director’s cut soon.

Your history in film-making has obviously centred on the horror genre but have you had any desire to explore any other genres?

Apart from writing on a few American television shows, I am currently in talks to direct a new comedy called The Monster Next Door, which will be penned by Jim Robbins. Not much can be said about it at this moment in time but I call it Superbad meets American Werewolf in London!

Richard Taverner

Chained was released in selected cinemas across the UK on 27th August 2012