After screening Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance at Butt Numb-a-thon, co-director Brian Taylor spoke in a brief Q&A with host and birthday boy Harry Knowles. Here’s the news we got from their panel, including a bit on Crank 3.
The studio hates Ghost Rider 1.
Taylor said he and Mark Neveldine were given freedom to do their crazy sequel because Sony, even though they made a lot of money on Ghost Rider, nobody there liked it.
Nicolas Cage turns it up past 11.
Taylor said Cage actually had a knob for how big his acting would get. Taylor could ask for a 12 or 14 and Cage would modulate accordingly.
They know it makes no sense.
Neveldine and Taylor did a pass on the script and added a scene to acknowledge that the plot is ridiculous. A kid asks Johnny Blaze why the devil bothers to take human form and Blaze can’t explain it. That’s the filmmakers’ way of telling us to just go with it. They also edited in a shot of Jerry Springer in post as a comment on how ridiculous the idea is.
Spirit of Vengeance is low budget.
Taylor said the film itself was surprisingly low budget after above the line pay, meaning that even some folks involved with the first Ghost Rider got a fee. (Mark Steven Johnson and Avi Arad have producer credits.) But actual money spent on film? They shot in Eastern Europe for very little.
Behind the scenes with Cage was crazier than any stunt.
Neveldine and Taylor like to hang from wires and roller blade to get their shots, but Taylor said partying with Cage after shooting brought him “closer to death” than any shot or stunt in the film.
Making Ghost Rider cool.
Taylor had some issues with Ghost Rider’s wardrobe in the first one, so he changed it. “Why would Zarathos have any fashion sense,” Taylor said.
Neveldine and Taylor slow down.
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance doesn’t have as much wild Crankness because the use of CGI meant they had to plan more shots, rather than freeball it on the set like they were playing in a sandbox.
The Blu-ray will have a no CG cut of the whole film.
To get in character, Cage would wear Santeria makeup and black contact lenses in his Ghost Rider scenes. Taylor said he wants to include a full cut of the movie edited with Cage in makeup and no Ghost Rider CGI.
Jason Statham WILL Be in Crank 3.
Taylor didn’t know where the rumor of a Statham-less Crank sequel came from, but he said, “If there is a Crank 3 it will be Jason Statham.”
