When producer John Carpenter and his partner, the late Debra Hill, were first approached by David Foster about remaking Carpenter’s 1980 classic The Fog — at the suggestion of Foster’s colleague and associate producer Shane Riches —Carpenter was intrigued but certain he didn’t want to be at the helm again. It made more sense, according to Carpenter, to let “some young genius take over and make it better.” He and Hill agreed to let Foster, who produced Carpenter’s The Thing, move forward with the project. Foster was game not only because he loved the original but because of his prior experience working with Carpenter. “He’s the most comfortable guy to work with,” says Foster. “He doesn’t indulge himself. To me that’s important.”
Foster was also attracted to the original’s lack of violence and gore despite its subject matter. “One of the things about the original The Fog that I loved was that most of the violence is suggested. When you look at it today, it still holds up. It’s scary as hell.”
Foster continues: “I have five grandchildren and I want to make movies they can see. I don’t think I could do a bloodletting movie. I think this is a fabulous ghost story about these people trapped in the bottom of the ocean for 100-some odd years who arise to seek revenge on the descendents of the men who killed them.”
Foster met with Hill at the hospital where she was valiantly battling cancer. Despite her condition, Foster fondly recalls, “She was the same old Debra, filled with great energy and passion for the movie-making process.”
Foster then approached Revolution Studios and within 48 hours, a deal was struck. “I’ve known (Revolution Studios’ founder) Joe Roth for many years,” says Foster. “He’s an honorable guy. Revolution Studios is one of the few places in Hollywood where a working producer, a guy who knows how to produce films and knows what it entails, is running the show.”
Foster, Carpenter and Hill then began looking for a screenwriter to update the original. Cooper Layne, who had written The Core, another film produced by Foster, met with everyone’s approval. “He’s a really talented, fresh, new writer,” explains Foster. “Everybody was excited with his take on the material.”
Carpenter concurs with Foster’s assessment. “Cooper came up with several pages of ideas about The Fog that were really terrific. He did a fabulous job of keeping the essential story but making some significant changes.”
While Layne toiled away at his first draft, Foster suggested they bring a director on board early in the process. Carpenter and Hill agreed. “We hadn’t finished the script,” says Foster, “but inevitably a director will come in and bring his vision to it, so I thought it would be best to have the director with us from the beginning. We were all impressed with Stigmata directed by Rupert Wainwright. When we met him he had already visualized the movie.”
The recent spate of successful horror films begs the question, “Why is the genre so resilient?”
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