As movie lovers across the country check out the films they want to catch this summer,a Watertown native is hoping they'll check out his newest thriller. 'The Vatican Tapes' is directed by Watertown Immaculate Heart Central School grad Mark Neveldine. He sat down with Brian Dwyer Wednesday to chat about the movie and how, in a small way, the North Country helped shape it.
WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- It hits theater's next Friday, July 24 -- it's called 'The Vatican Tapes.'
The Lionsgate movie is the newest from Watertown Native, director Mark Neveldine. In it, a woman's soul is overtaken by evil and the Vatican uses its secret archives to track her and eventually attempt an exorcism.
"I was compelled to do it because I grew up Catholic. I went to St. Anthony's School and St. Patrick's and then Immaculate Heart Central. Catholicism is in me," Neveldine said. "Of course this is a possession movie involving exorcisms, and I wanted to challenge myself and do something different."
Neveldine says his North Country upbringing also helped the film as he studied those archives. It's thousands of years of information in everything from notes to videotapes. There's even details about exorcisms.
"I've heard about it being Catholic and reading the Catechism, studying the Catechism with Sister James. I wanted to know more about it so I sort of dove into that and talked with some people who were involved in exorcisms," Neveldine said. "That was really freaky."
Freaky lessons that can be seen during the explosive exorcism scene. One that not only looks real, but felt so real that mixed with a belief that it could actually happen, lead the lead actress, Olivia Taylor Dudley, to break down, several times.
"I remember Dougray Scott getting down on the floor, kneeling down with her, holding her while she was crying," Neveldine said of the eight days it took to shoot that scene. "I went down and said, 'Do you want to keep going? I feel like we should stop.' She said, 'No, I want to stand and I want to keep going.' I'm relentless as a director at times too. It was a good partnership."
Also as director, he had some pull to give a special nod to his hometown. There are a couple spots in the movie where Neveldine has the actors make direct references to the North Country and in particular, the men and women of Fort Drum.
"My dad has taught on the base," Neveldine said of Drum. "My mom has had a lot to do with Fort Drum, so it was really nice to bring that into the movie. Any references from town that I can put into my films is always fun to do."
Neveldine has also gotten a pretty solid reputation in Hollywood for his unique camera style. They're uptempo shots, some on roller blads or dangling over cliffs. They can be flat out crazy.
For 'The Vatican Tapes' he ran one of the main cameras, telling us that no one else was getting to have that fun and perhaps no one else wanted to.
'The Vatican Tapes' is rated PG-13.
Now early next year, Neveldine can be seen in front of the camera. He and another Watertown native, actor Richard Grieco are guest starring in an episode of FX's hit 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.' He's also producing and acting in a adaptation of the graphic novel 'Officer Downe.'