Oren Peli Interview

Paranormal Activity director Oren Peli talks about marketing, his influences and how he sleeps.

By Jordan Hoffman at 12:11 PM
October 26, 2009

http://www.ugo.com/movies/oren-peli-interview

I am in a corner boardroom in Paramount Pictures’ New York offices and I’m checking over my shoulder for stashed video cameras. I’m doing this not because I am paranoid, but because I am speaking with overnight filmmaking superstar Oren Peli.

While more seasoned directors like Brian De Palma and George Romero may have tried, with Redacted and Diary of the Dead respectively, it took the out-of-left-field Israeli-born Oren Peli and Paranormal Activity to make the first true film for the YouTube generation.

Peli’s uniquely marketed demon-in-a-house picture has been a trending topic on Twitter for weeks. I ask Peli if he keeps tabs on this.

“Yes – absolutely!” he said, holding up his blackberry. “I have it all bookmarked.” So, this means that when you tweeted your reaction to the movie – the director probably read it.

Peli is a gregarious man with a wide smile, but he seems a little bit dazed. He honestly doesn’t know what day it was.

“They keep showing your movie at midnight – you muse be exhausted!” I rib him.

“I have not been to every screening.”

“But you are coming tonight, right?” There is a fan appreciation screening scheduled this evening for the ten screenings that sold out the quickest.

“Yes, I am coming.”

“But it is at midnight!”

“It is? Oh.” For a flash, he seems broken. Then he bounces back. He’s proud of his movie.

“What will they have at fan appreciation? Hats? Posters?”

“You know, I am not sure . . .but, we, we wanted to have a thank you screening for the fans who have made this movie what it is.”

This speaks to a wider point. Paranormal Activity’s success is as much of a marketing victory as it is the mark of quality filmmaking. And Peli is upfront about letting Paramount take the charge on this front.

“These are the people working on Transformers and Star Trek,” he continues, “and they recognized that a movie that looks like it was shot on home video, it can not be forced on people – it would be rejected – so it needs to be discovered, in a way, by the fans. But they knew, from test screenings, that once people saw it they would enjoy it. So they gave the audience the tools they needed to take ownership – which is why they created the Demand It system. That was all Paramount.”

“Did you ever think, 'Who needs all this? Why not just release it like a regular movie?’”

“No,” he responds, “because to do it traditional – the trailers would look like YouTube video and would not work.”

Paranormal Activity isn’t a phenomenon solely for Demand It marketing, though. It resonates with audience because, let’s face it, it is creepy to think about stuff going on while we sleep.

“How do you sleep? Do you sleep differently now that this movie is done? I don’t mean this in any ethical sense, I mean, physically – how do you sleep?”

“Not because of fear, but I usually take a long time to get to sleep because my mind is always racing. Once I got over seeing The Exorcist as a kid, I haven’t had too much fear of sleeping.”

“Lots of blankets?”

“Just one.”

Folks who follow the movies scene sometimes like to whine and, naturally, there is a bit of a backlash following Peli’s sudden, enormous success. He never made any shorts. He never was a PA. He did not go to film school. Is he just a neophyte who stumbled into moviemaking?

“I am a film fanatic. I have a large library of DVDs. I have an external one terabyte hard drive hooked up to my DVR. I watch the commentary tracks and try to learn as much as I can.”

“So despite not going to film school, you have been studying for some time,” I offer.

“Not with the assumption that I will one day be a film maker, but I have always loved and have been fascinated by movies.”

“Who are your favorite directors?” I ask.

“Spielberg. M. Night Shyamalan. Rob Reiner.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride . . .and I also am fond of Soderbergh,” he continues. “Traffic is another example of a movie that is narrative, but done in a style that I like, almost documentary.”

“Most of these filmmakers are known for doing multiple genres. Does this mean that horror and thriller films may eventually lead to dramas or comedy for you?”

“Comedy scares me. That is the most difficult thing to get right. It would be scary to do something funny and it falls flat. I think it is easier to scare them than to make them laugh.”

“Micah is a bit of an alpha male,” I comment, getting back to Paranormal Activity. “Is this how you would react if a demon were in your house?”

“I think so. I would say, 'I am the man of the house, I will take care of the problem.’”

“Lots of audiences think he is being a jerk.”

“Some audiences think he is too macho, others think he is just trying to protect Katie, and she is the one who brings the demon into the house. I don’t think there is a right way to interpret.”

Oren Peli’s next project is something called Area 51 but the dude won’t say anything about it. He won’t even admit that I got the name right. Nor will he say anything about a possible Paranormal Activity 2. Nor will he say anything other than “I love my cast” when I ask him who he would have wanted for the roles had Paranormal Activity been remade with a larger budget, as was originally the plan.

Obviously, the sharp marketing skills have been rubbing off.