[SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t watchedTHE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE!]
One of the great surprises of 2018 has been Netflix’sThe Haunting of Hill House.
Where did you start with this project?
Steve Dietl/Netflix
I thought of it as fanfic for a little while, to be honest.
I think you’d have to do something pretty drastic."
I think his adaptation is perfect.
Steve Dietl/Netflix
But it certainly isn’t a straight adaptation, for sure.
It’s such a realistic dissection of grief.
Were you interested in exploring how grief haunts people?
Netflix
Casting is always pivotal for a show but one of your main characters is an actual house.
Is Hill House a real home?
Yeah, we scouted for months in Georgia, and we found that house as it is.
Steve Dietl/Netflix
We didn’t even touch it.
We weren’t actually allowed to go inside.
We only used the outside of it.
Netflix
It was this beautiful but weird, schizophrenic house.
It’s so weird.
The interior of the house is so odd and off.
What did you want to accomplish with the sets?
When you read about the house in Jackson’s book, it’s so disorienting.
So much of this show is camera choreography and placement.
Did you storyboard or pre-visualize the series?
We had a lot less sleep on this one.
We were always trying to catch up to the production.
We wanted it to be cinematic.
Speaking of that, tell me about episode 6 which is an incredible achievement in camera technique.
We wrote all of the camera choreography into the script for the episode, back before we started production.
We had shot it with the second team.
We kind of looked at it like live TV.
Ultimately, it’s five long shots and we did one a day for five days.
It almost killed us.
It almost killed everybody.
We built an elevator and suspended it from the ceiling.
It lowered into the floor.
You should be very proud.
It’s really an achievement.
So the pressure it put on our dolly grips and the entire crew was extraordinary.
Then, the camera circles around him and he sees them as children.
Are actors just running in and out of rooms when the camera moves?
Yep, that’s exactly what it is.
To watch this episode, it was hysterical.
So we were doing all these off-camera switches.
There’s a big gag when Olivia’s going through the halls and the statues are tracking her.
But it was helpless.
It was just like, “Well, anything could happen.”
Can you fix that?
Can you fix that?
Because if you could fix that, we’ll keep going."
Yeah, it was just panic, but it really worked out.
Were you able to shoot the past first and then the present-day elements?
Or was it done episode by episode?
It wasn’t episode by episode.
It was actually really confusing.
It felt like a 10-hour independent film, the way we scheduled it.
It wasn’t quite a numeric system but it was close, as to just where she was.
She’s so prepared.
And your wife, Kate Siegel, plays Theo, right?
She’s so great.
If we survived that, we’ll be fine."
Are there other clues like that throughout?
Are there other clues that you’ve got the option to tease?
Well, obviously with the Bent-Neck Lady.
There’s quite a bit of echoes to ideas.
And there’s little jokes, too.
He comes in with the “fothermucker” and he learns it from his dad in episode seven.
It’s always fun just to look for the ghosts, too.
What’s the significance of 3:03 a.m.the time when they all wake up?
Depending on which urban legend you go with, it’s the witching hour.
Is Poppy Hill, the crazy flapper ghost, kind of like the patient zero of Hill House?
Did she start all of this evil?
Well, she definitely brought insanity into the house in a really palpable way.
We had actually written and planned to shoot a complete history of Hill House.
We had built a really complex history of the Hill family that we ultimately didn’t shoot.
Is that totally off base?
No, no, no, you’re absolutely correct.
For the house, Olivia certainly is the big meal.
Why make that choice?
We played it in a couple of ways.
The Bent-Neck Lady isn’t a ghost for so long.
And then she is.
There is a jump scare in episode 8 that is INSANE.
It’s the scene with Shirley and Theo in the car.
How did you guys prepare that?
In general, I don’t love jump scares.
It also scared the s*** out of all of us at the monitor.
This has a very clear ending.
But could there be a season two?
I love the idea of an anthology as well.
So, there’s any number of things we could do, in or out of Hill House.
What’s that song you use in the final moments?
It’s about a house, right?
It’s “If I Go, I’m Goin'” by Gregory Alan Isakov.
It’s one of my favorite songs of all time.
That was a polarizing song.
You’ve directed an adaptation of Stephen King’sGerald’s Gameand now you’re doingDoctor Sleep.
King tweeted he loves the showthat must feel pretty cool.
It always blows my mind, and I’ve never spoken to Steve.
it started because he tweeted aboutHush, and that’s what gotGerald’s Gamegoing.
I had no idea he was watching the show.
We’ve never discussed the show.
I saw it come up on Twitter, and I make the same noise every time.
