The idea for HOSTEL sat in limbo for about two years, until one afternoon when Roth had an epiphany: why couldn’t HOSTEL be a film about the murder-for-profit business in Thailand? Roth imagined re-setting the story in Slovakia, a location that was close enough to the usual Eurotrip routes of Paris, Amsterdam, and Spain, but also on the fringe of most travel itineraries. He envisioned two innocent American backpackers falling into a nefarious world of organized torture and murder. And suddenly, he knew he had a story to tell.
At the time of this breakthrough, Roth was in the midst of deciding between several projects to direct as his follow-up to CABIN FEVER. Unsure of which project to pursue, he approached his friend Quentin Tarantino for career advice and ended up pitching his new take on HOSTEL. Tarantino reportedly “went crazy.” Says Roth, “Quentin’s an animated guy, and I’d never seen him this excited about anything. He was like, ‘Oh my fucking God! You have to write this! That’s the scariest fucking idea I’ve heard for a horror movie in years! Forget everything else you have in development at studios – go write this movie NOW.’”
Inspired by Tarantino’s enthusiasm, Roth unplugged his phone, shut down his e-mail, locked himself in his office and begun furiously scribbling away. “I’d call Quentin every few days if I was stuck on a story point, and he’d help reassure me that I was on the right path, or help me out of a story jam,” recalls Roth. “It was pretty incredible to have someone like him as a sounding board. I found myself writing nearly 20 pages a day. I couldn’t stop.”
Three weeks after his conversation with Tarantino, Roth showed a completed draft to Boaz Yakin and Scott Spiegel, Roth’s partners in their horror production company, Raw Nerve. “Boaz and Scott were incredibly enthusiastic about the project, and they contributed great ideas to the story,” Roth says. “After months of looking for our next project together, we knew we had finally found it.”
Roth then showed a revised script to Tarantino. Tarantino was such a fan of Roth’s draft he decided to make HOSTEL his next “Quentin Tarantino Presents” project and immediately joined the production as an Executive Producer. Says Tarantino, “Eli’s really found a way to push the envelope. No one’s ever seen anything like this.”
Producers Mike Fleiss and Chris Briggs subsequently contributed their own ideas to Roth’s script, resulting in a production-ready draft that was even more frightening than before. Galvanized by the script’s dynamic development, the producers raced right into production. A month later, production offices were set up in Prague.
For the lead roles of college buddies Paxton and Josh, Roth cast American actors Jay Hernandez, known for his work in FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, LADDER 49 and TORQUE, and Derek Richardson (DUMB AND DUMBERER). Having written a script that allowed for foreign actors to speak imperfect English, Roth was able to cast the remaining roles within the Czech Republic (with the exception of Eythor Gudjonsson, an Icelandic actor Roth met while promoting CABIN FEVER). Among the noted Czech cast is Jan Vlasák, one of the top Shakespearean actors in the country, and Barbara Nedeljáková, who won the starring role of Natalya, the stunning femme fatale.
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