Warning! Major spoilers below for The Hunt.
In order to entertain audiences self-quarantining at home during the Coronavirus outbreak, The Hunt director Craig Zobel jumped on Twitter to discuss his movie with fans — he ended up getting drunk and spilling secrets from the film.
Since the Coronavirus outbreak temporarily shuttered theaters across the globe, a handful of movies were given The Invisible Man, took the opportunity to turn his watch party into a Q&A with fans. Zobel, on the other hand, decided to take another approach.
As many fans likely did in their self-quarantine, Zobel decided to have a few drinks and live tweet The Hunt, itting he was tipsy by the end of his watch. But he still managed to divulge some behind-the-scenes information during his live tweeting session.
Craig Zobel Explained The Hunt's Surprising Early Deaths
The Hunt is about a group of wealthy elite who decide to hunt 12 strangers for sport. Trailers showed a pretty impressive cast — a bit of an ensemble film.
It was quite the shock when Hartley, Roberts and Barinholtz were all killed off so early on in the film. Horror movies are no stranger to pulling the rug out from under fans by killing off a lead early on. This move was probably first made famous by Janet Leigh's early death in Scream decided to kill off Drew Barrymore in its opening scene.
But taking out three big names rapidly is a little unprecedented. Especially as the film briefly took the perspective of each of these actors before their character's untimely death. The Hunt producer Jason Blum simply explained that they cast fairly big names in those roles so that their deaths would pack a wallop and signify that no one is safe in this movie.
In his #TheHuntMovieAtHome live tweeting, Zobel revealed that one of those deaths happened a little differently than he imagined — Barinholtz was never supposed to die. In the beginning of the film, the twelve of the hunted wake up in a remote field with a small stash of weapons. Gunshots come out of nowhere and begin to take down the hunted. Roberts and Hartley meet their end here.
Barinholtz is able to hold on a little longer. He leads a small faction of the hunted to a convenience store, where two of the elite are posing as shop owners. Barinholtz and his companions are shot to death by the shop owners. Zobel revealed that although Barinholtz was supposed to survive the film, he proposed that his character is killed in the shop as well. Zobel didn't elaborate on why Barinholtz decided to sacrifice his own character, but it can be assumed that he wanted to pile on to the film's shocking deaths.
Every Easter Egg In The Hunt
Zobel revealed a handful of Easter eggs specific to writers Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof, conceived and wrote The Hunt in a way that would reflect the production studio's style. They hoped that would mean that Jason Blum would have no choice but to say yes to taking on the film.
Their gamble paid off as Blum came on board as a producer on The Hunt. Zobel revealed the the movie includes a subtle nod to the film's producer — his office. The film opens with a text chain between Athena and her friends in which they discuss the hunt. The final act of The Hunt reveals that moment actually took place a year prior to the events of the movie. The contents of that text chain were leaked online. Because of that, Athena and her friends were all fired from their high-power corporate jobs. Athena gets fired in a large luxurious office, which happens to be Blum's office in real life.
The Hunt also included some Easter eggs specific to certain actors in the cast. Ethan Suplee plays Gary, a member of the hunted. At one point, Gary manages to stop the train that he and Betty Gilpin's Crystal May are on. During #TheHuntMovieAtHome chat, a fan pointed out to Zobel that Suplee previously played a train conductor who could not get a train to stop in the film Unstoppable. In response to a fan's tweet, Zobel recognizes that Suplee stopping a train redeems his character from Unstoppable.
Crystal May & Athena's Kitchen Scene Showdown Explained
When the elite planned on having the hunt, they didn't plan for one of their targets to start fighting back. Just as the hunters easily pick off the hunted, Crystal May begins to take out the hunters one-by-one. By the film's packed ending, Crystal May and Hilary Swank's Athena are the only ones left standing from either side of the fight. So, Athena invites Crystal May to meet face-to-face in her kitchen. Once Crystal May arrives, Athena lays out her whole diabolical plan. As the hunters' mastermind, she explains why they organized the hunt and why each individual target was selected. Following her villainous monologuing, the two women violently duke it out.
The kitchen scene is, without a doubt, the most talked about scene from The Hunt. Zobel discussed the scene at length in his live tweeting session with fans. Zobel gushed about Gilpin during the chat, whether it was a shared love of the actress or iration of her audition tape, which was the twisted version of "The Tortoise and The Hare" Crystal May recites in the film. Once he reached the kitchen scene in his watch, it's no surprise that Zobel had a lot to say on the matter. The kitchen scene was planned out meticulously. For starters, even Gilpin's and Swank's outfits hold significance. Athena, a liberal, is dressed in a dark red top. Crystal, who is presumed to be a conservative, wears a powder blue top. They are meant to represent a viral photo of First Lady Melania Trump and former First Lady Michelle Obama posing together at Donald Trump's 2016 presidential inauguration.
The kitchen itself was designed in a very specific way. Zobel revealed on Twitter that he worked with the film's production designer Matt Munn and stunt coordinators Hank Amos and Heidi Moneymaker to ensure that the kitchen would get destroyed and look great on camera while doing so. Athena and Crystal May essentially throw each other around, so the kitchen had to reflect that. It was previously stated in the film that both Athena and Crystal May had extensive training. Athena trained specifically for the hunt, and Crystal May has a military background. So, the key to pulling off this scene was to make sure the fighting itself looked legitimate. The Hunt absolutely pulled off that feat. Zobel shared that Sarah Irwin was Swank's stunt double and Caitlin Dechelle performed stunts for Gilpin. With each one of these elements coming together, the kitchen fight absolutely earned its title as the most talked about scene in the entire movie.
The Hunt got mixed reviews and a very short time in theaters before Coronavirus caused mass closures around the world, it was a perfect candidate to be an early adopter for the at home experience. What's the harm if the film already wasn't making a lot of money? But Zobel's #TheHuntMovieAtHome live tweeting session, being equal parts goofy and informative, was the perfect way to give audiences more bang for their buck.
