Interview with “Final Destination Bloodlines” Directors Zach Lipovsky & Adam B. Stein

Full transcript of Interview with “Final Destination Bloodlines” Directors Zach Lipovsky & Adam B. Stein.

0:21KT: Adam and Zach, thank you so much for your time and welcome to the For Your Reference Podcast.

0:25Adam: Thank you. Thank you so much for having us.

0:28KT: Bloodlines has the same DNA, but it's a bit more somber, albeit with the delicious kills, but it's a bit more somber, it's a bit more reflective and it's a big question.

0:38KT: So I would like the both of you to share, um, how was it being able to honor the life and legacy of not just Bludworth, who is a through line in Bloodlines, but the rest-in-love iconic life and legacy of Tony Todd. Adam, would you like to start?

0:57Adam: Yeah, I mean, Tony, uh, was such a legend and we were honored and so grateful that he could, you know, make this movie with us.

1:06Adam: Um, he was, he was sick, you know, while we were. Uh, working on the, prepping the movie, and we weren't sure if he would be able to participate, but he kept telling us, do not write me out of this movie. I need to be in this movie. And when he got to set, he was incredibly joyful and excited to be there, even though he was physically, uh, weak.

1:27Adam: Um, he was so happy to be recreating Bludworth and working with the, the young actors who were there and, and, and bringing this character to life. Um. There were two things that were really important to him, um, in the movie, and the first was to give him more of a backstory to help us understand who Bludworth was as a person.

1:48Adam: You know, in the other movies, he's sort of this mysterious mentor figure, but you never really know. Why he cares so much about death, why he knows so much. And Bloodlines answers that question in a way that feels surprising, but also makes sense and, and humanizes the character in a way that Tony was really excited about.

2:08Adam: Um, and the other thing that was really important was to give him a proper goodbye because, um, you know, we, we didn't know that this would be his last film, but we were pretty sure it would be his last fight. I think he knew you. You think he knew? Yeah, I mean, I think we all knew it would be his last Final Destination film.

2:28Adam: Um, but yeah, it was, it was so sad that it ended up being his last film, but we wanted to, you know, the character in the, in the film is saying goodbye to the characters and he's facing his own mortality. And in that moment of goodbye, we asked Tony if he would be comfortable to kind of set the script aside and just speak from the heart.

2:52Adam: To the audience. We said, Tony, you know, what is all this about? You know, what is life about? Just what do you want the fans to know? And the take that's in the movie is Tony just speaking from the heart about life and about death. And I think that's why it's so powerful

3:09Zach: is Zach. Yeah. I think one of the things that I took away from it was, like Adam said, physically he was very weak, but.

3:18Zach: Uh, on set. He had this incredible joy and he loved to act. He loved to be with the other actors, and that message that he leaves us with is about joy. It's about cherishing every moment that you have because you never know when it's gonna come to an end. And I'm sure that was very present in his mind, but he didn't just talk the talk, he was walking the walk.

3:39Zach: He was very joyful in wanting to make sure that we were all having a great time as well. And that really left an impression with us as filmmakers and the cast I know of just even as we've gone on through the rest of the crazy journey of making this movie, we've been cherishing every moment like he said, um, because of that.

3:57KT: Yeah. And I think we all, it's a celebration of life and I just want to quickly wrap up with our final question. We finish off our reviews with a recommendation. So what would you pair with Bloodlines as a double feature? Big question. I know. Just literally first film that comes to mind.

4:13Zach: Great question.

4:14Zach: Well, I guess, uh, Candyman would probably be a good one.

4:19KT: Beautiful. Beautiful. Be my victim. Absolutely love it. Thank you so much, Adam and Zach. Thanks.

4:23Adam: Thank you.