Drew Goddard & Amy Acker Visit THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

The problem with doing an interview for THE CABIN IN THE WOODS is that it’s a film that should have its delicious assortment of surprises kept under wraps, not spoiled. Keeping those secrets while the film was in development and then production was one of the topics covered with director/co-writer (with Joss Whedon) Drew Goddard and co-star Amy Acker when I spoke with them on April 4, 2012. The rest of our time was taken up their take on the particular and irresistible appeal of the Whedon-verse, office parties both real and reel, and the existential angst of making a dream come true.

THE CABIN IN THE WOODS is a horror film that dares to reveal the ancient underpinnings of slasher films, the unexpected benefits of smoking weed, and true nature of unicorns. Acker plays Lin, part of a mysterious but oddly conventional office bureaucracy tasked with overseeing the doings at the eponymous remote cabin where a group of standard issue good-looking college students are planning to spend the weekend. The usual tropes of awkward pairings, rampant lust, and a family of pain-worshipping red-necked zombies make things more exciting than anyone planned. The film co-stars Kristen Connelly, Chris Hemsworth, Anne Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Bradley Whitford, and the divine Richard Jenkins. Goddard directed from a script he co-wrote with producer Joss Whedon, the man who brought us Buffy and Angel, the latter in which Acker made an indelible impression as both the nerdish physics genius Fred and as the diffident and dangerously mercurial primordial demon, Illyria. Goddard’s previous work also includes a stint in the Whedon-verse as well as ones on LOST and ALIAS. Also of note are his script for CLOVERFIELD and his scene-stealing work as the fake Thomas Jefferson in the ground-breaking Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog. This is his directorial debut.