Actually, I’m still not over the fact Hayden’s initial refusal to “I’ll be your baby,” wasn’t “god wtf is wrong with you why would you ever think that was appropriate?!” but “no, I kill babies.”
It’s like for just those few seconds, if Jack hadn’t gone in for the kiss and attempted assault, she was broken down enough to consider it.
Because that initial refusal wasn’t disgust, despite the fact she’d been given ample reason to feel it and definitely did. It was “I can’t handle that responsibility, I’m afraid I’ll hurt you.”
Also…there’s something so *chef’s kiss* about the fact her daughter died from a mangled arm and she defends herself by stabbing her unwanted ‘new baby’ through the hand.
Death Machine article with director Stephen Norrington, Brad Dourif & Ely Pouget
Cinefantastique #26 - 1995
Brad Dourif creates the mother of all rampaging robots.
The mother of all psycho robots roamed the corridors of Pinewood Studios, England from September 2, 1993, for 12 weeks. But the 20-foot tall, cable-controlled star of DEATH MACHINE mav look vaguely familiar. Like a giant metallic version of the Alien from Rid¬ ley Scott’s 1979 science-fiction classic? "Well sort of,” replied director Stephen Norrington adding, "It’s like ROBOCOP, TERMINATOR and HARDWARE too! That’s why it got financed in the first place. But while DEATH MACHINE is in the same area as all of those genre movies, it has emerged from that place with a unique style and humor to become its own separate entity.” Trimark Pictures has picked up the film’s U.S. video and technical rights for release later this year.
Norrington makes his directorial debut with this selfpenned chiller after years of gaining a formidable reputation as one of Britain's best special effects masters. He began as Rick Baker’s runner on GREYSTOKE and has since worked on numerous blockbusters including ALIENS, RETURN TO OZ and YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES. "After GREMLINS 2 I began losing interest in effects,” explained Norrington. "I started writing scripts with effects twists and the third one I came up with was DEATH MACHINE.” By 1990 however, Norrington hadn't got very far in attracting any financial interest in his new ambition so he joined the ALIEN special effects crew “just to keep my hand in” and then accepted an offer to supervise SPLIT SECOND. While working on that futuristic actioncr, producer Laura Gregory showed interest in one of Norringlon’s other scripts. SPEEDER, as a possible sequel for Rutger Hauer. (The script: Norrington’s TERMINATOR meets A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, is now planned as a follow-up to DEATH MACHINE.) The interest led Norrington to meet future DEATH MACHINE producer Vic Bateman (Japan's Victor Company head), who handled the world sales for SPLIT SECOND.
Noted Dominic Anciano, who produced DEATH MACHINE with Bateman and had a massive European success with Peter Medak’s THE KRAYS, "Vic thought Norrington ’s writing and ideas were very commercial and urged me to take him seriously. Because SPEEDER was apparently all tied up with Laura Gregory, I asked Stephen what else he had written and was given DEATH MACHINE. I thought it was so unusual for a British writer to be that succinct in his writing, that passionate about directing, 1 felt I had to give him the chance and let him make it his way. DEATH MACHINE is the sort of movie audiences worldwide want to see and we seem to have a commercial knack for making them in Britain.”
Co-financed by Japan’s Victor Company and Britain’s Entertainment Film Distributors (the latter produced SLIP STREAM), the $3 million DEATH MACHINE is set in the 21st century and focuses on nightmare events taking place behind the closed doors of the Chaank Weapons Corporation. The company has appointed a new female Chief Executive, Hayden Cale (Ely Pouget), to ensure they remain the leader of the techno-armament pack. But she wants to fire their number one asset Jack Dante, a neo-hippie whose dark genius for weaponry design is the envy of the industry. However, Dante is a childlike psychopath incapable of making the distinction between right and wrong after years of watching hardcore cartoon violence on television and decides he isn’t going without a fight. The result is the invention of his most destructive instrument ever…the unstoppable DEATH MACHINE.
Norrington pointed out, "It’s a hybrid of a million things I love; maniacs, actor Brad Dourif [who plays Dante], psycho robots, corporate nightmares, DIE HARD action and huge hi-tech sets. And that’s only naming a few. It’s your average ‘Crazed cyborg on the rampage menacing great looking people' saga!” Added Norrington more seriously, "While DEATH MACHINE is grim with some blood and gore, it isn't a splatter movie. Underneath the surface it’s about losing one’s innocence and how you become dehumanized if you are involved in an industry dealing with destruction. Do such inventors ever think about what they’re doing in real terms? Does their judgment have a guilty edge? This is about that turning off point taken to the most horrifying extreme.”
It was this edge in Norrington’s script which stirred Brad Dourif’s stomach a little. "And when that happens, it’s a sign of good material,” noted the voice of Chucky from the CHILD’S PLAY movie series and star of BODY PARTS and GRAVEYARD SHIFT. "The main point of interest for me was the cartoon connection. Dante is so tuned into animation and the mass media, he mimics everything he sees. I m taking a lot of acting risks playing this part because his responses are all so unreal and based on recognizable things. Dante responds more to TV than people. He’s a villain but a hard one to hate."
Many of the crew have noted how Dourif’s on-screen identity resembles Norrington's own off-screen look. Dourif nodded sagely, "There arc numerous similarities between Dante and Stephen. It’s his personal story about the problems we will all face when the world becomes even more industrialized. 1 can honestly say that Stephen is the best director I’ve ever worked with. It’s the era of first-timers and I've had an incredible run of them. Stephen is better equipped than most to direct this sort of movie because of his visual eye, love of the genre and his special effects background."
For Ely Pougct, the attraction was the weird twisted logic of DEATH MACHINE. The actress who appeared in the recent DARK SHADOWS TV series noted, “In Hayden’s backstory, she was responsible for the death of a child. So hunting and trying to kill the ‘childlike’ Dante causes her major psychological traumas. However, I'm definitely the tough Sigourney Weaver figure in DEATH MACHINE. Despite the script's hard as nails exterior, Stephen has put in a softness, an underlying sadness allying it more to KING KONG and FRANKENSTEIN than the obvious hi-tech equivalents.”
“The fine acting from Brad and Ely has made DEATH MACHINE less derivative than I expected in truth,” admitted Norrington on the Pinewood soundstage where the glass Chaank offices have been created. He added, “Their unique characterizations have added some real potent surprises above those contained in the script. It's less reliant on hard-tech gimmicks than I anticipated and far more bizarre than I ever imagined. I see it as a more thoughtful cross between Sam Raimi horror slapstick and James Cameron energetic action."
Norrington loves those two directors.
It’s the reason he included them in a script peppered with familiar names for the leading characters; Scott Ridley, Carpenter and, of course, Dante are other examples. Plagiarism as an art form!” said Norrington. "I wrote the script when I was still a frothing fan boy. Then someone pointed out Fred Dekker had done exactly the same thing in NIGHT OF THE CREEPS. How uncool! 1 ditched a few references after finding that out.”
Responsible for the special effects in Norrington’s feature debut is Creature Effects (CFX for short) an all-British outfit consisting of Dave Elsey, Cliff Wallace, Alan Hedgecock and Brendan Lonergan who together and separately have worked on numerous high profile movies including NIGHTBREED, RETURN OF THE JEDI and WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. Norrington chose CFX mainly because he knew them, and their work, personally.
Constructing the Death Machine fell to Animated Extras, the prosthetic/ mechanics company owned by Daniel Parker and Nick Williams who worked on the Indiana Jones film scories, ENEMY MINE and MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN. They worked from Norrington’s design marquette for the killer robot. "The fullsize construction was so big and heavy it needed 12 people on the controls to make it move,” said Parker.
So was directing harder or easier than Norrington expected? He gave a wry smile and said, “I’d directed some award winning commercials and promos before DEATH MACHINE. Anyone could do it. I’m living proof that directing, in the words of the immortal, god-like James Cameron, is criminally easy. The only challenge I’ve faced had to do with time and money: staying at a consistently high quality on such a short schedule.”
