Ronny Yu claimed to have gone through 300 gallons of blood on Freddy vs. Jason. "I think that is the official, 300 gallons," he said at the film's press junket. Yet, the film had no problem securing an R rating with the MPAA ratings board."We were really very lucky with it," Yu said. "I think basically because we all know this is not real. These two monsters is not really real. They always come back from the dead. So, they were very good with our movie."
Yu said he considered the film battle to be like T-rex versus Godzilla, but admitted he was more of a Freddy fan himself. "Freddy is more scary because he gets into your dreams. How many people don't dream? Everybody dreams. When you're tired, you sleep and then you dream, and then he'll come. The most vulnerable side of you. And Jason, you've got to stay away from him. Stay away from his path. But Freddy, you can't. He's so powerful, you can't find a way to stop that. That's why I thought he's more sneaky."
Yet when either Freddy or Jason kills a helpless teen, Yu wanted to make sure that they were not stupid characters the audience would look down upon. "I think it's very important that none of the audience will think that they're dumb or they're silly and they're stupid, they're here just for the kill. But yet, on the other hand, we can't afford to spend so much time on that and then lose sight with what is the story all about. That is one thing I found that is interesting in the script, because they find a balance."
Yu's favorite kill in the movie comes early on when Jason crushes a boy in bed by folding the two ends of the bed together.
"When the idea came up, I really didn't know how to do it because I did not want to CGI it. Because CGI is easy. You just put green screen and boom! But I said, 'I don't want to CGI it. I want it to be real. So how are we going to actually just crush a guy?' Then physically, we used props. We made a mechanical bed and we made a prosthetic leg and the actor- - it was very dangerous, because the actor has to be real. The upper body had to be on one side and then the prosthetic feet on another side. And then the mechanical thing is governed by the wheels and the gears and all that. It's not like human like that. So one touch, the thing goes wump. I said, 'Listen, are you game for that?' and then we tried with a dummy and a couple times. It's great and that's the reason I like- - if I can do it physical, I do it physical rather than CGI because there are so many CGI. It's so easy for directors to say, 'All right, leave it to CGI at the end' because it doesn't look real, it doesn't have that emotion that you want to come across as a real physical."
When it came time for the climactic fight, Yu wanted to go all out. "Godzilla always had a monster to fight with. That's why I chose at the end of the movie, the fight, I kept telling everybody on the crew, I said, 'Just imagine T-Rex and Godzilla, or Godzilla fighting those beasts. Would they hold back? No. They would tear their eyes out. They'd tear their ears out. They'd tear their limbs out, right? And blood's going to be everywhere. So, just apply that to Freddy versus Jason when they face off with each other. That's what they go after.'"
Always a metaphysical thinker, Yu said the rebirth of Jason in the film is a metaphor. Though his rising from the ground fits the continuity of Jason Goes to Hell, Yu imagined it more broad. "Absolutely it's a metaphor because I look at this really as a brand new thing. Once we obey the rules and not disrespect those two icons, then my treatment of this is just a story to tell. It's just a traditional storytelling way, the monster coming out from the ground. That is what I intended to do, so this is a brand new thing."
Yu directs Jason Ritter in Freddy vs. Jason. After directing John Ritter in Bride of Chucky, Yu compared the two. "Man, they look just alike. I worked with John and he's such a nice guy, and then his son's also such a nice guy. There was a moment, when I look back at all those 'Three's Company', the young John Ritter, they look so similar. They all have a good sense of humor."
Yu would be ready for a sequel if the film is successful. "I think the key is if the audience embraces this, I'm sure the studio are going to think about [a sequel]."
And he is not afraid to be typecast in the horror genre. "I'm happy to do any movie that has entertainment value in it. But so far, it seems that I've been offered a lot of horror genre, so somehow, this time of my life, blood, I can't get away from blood."
His family doesn't mind either. "They just know it's not real. As long as I can buy the car that I want to buy, they don't care. No, it's entertainment. It's not real. As long as it's entertaining."
Freddy vs. Jason opens Friday.
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