Justin Long Interview, Drag Me To Hell

With a knack for witty antics and comedic performances, Justin Long has established himself as a natural talent in film and television.  This year, he appeared in New Line Cinema’s adaptation of the popular book “He’s Just Not That Into You” as part of the ensemble cast made up of Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Ginnifer Goodwin and Scarlett Johansson.  Coming up this year, Long will star in The Weinstein Company’s “Youth in Revolt,” alongside Michael Cera and Steve Buscemi. His other projects due for release in 2009 include the comedy “Patriotville” with Emmanuelle Chriqui, and he will lend his voice to New Line Cinema’s animated family film “Planet 51” playing Lem.

In 2007, Long starred in two blockbuster hits, including “Live Free or Die Hard,” opposite Bruce Willis, and as the voice of Alvin in “Alvin and the Chipmunks.”  He also starred in the Adam Sandler-produced “Strange Wilderness” along with Steve Zahn and had a cameo in Vince Vaughn’s “Wild West Comedy Show.”   

As a member of Vassar College’s comedy troupe Laughing Stock, Long got his start in the comedy world, which led him to his first starring roles in such films as “Galaxy Quest” and “Jeepers Creepers.”  He then shifted to the small screen for a role in the quirky NBC series “Ed” and ventured into the world of offbeat comedies with his first box-office success, “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.”  He went on to play roles in comedies such as Universal Pictures’ “Accepted,” produced by Tom Shadyac, and “The Break-Up” in which he starred opposite Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston. In addition to his film career, Long has also established himself as a household name playing the Mac Guy in the Apple “Mac vs. PC” commercials.

We sat down with Justin Long to talk about his new horror movie, “Drag Me To Hell,” a supernatural thriller directed by Sam Raimi about a young woman’s desperate quest to break an evil curse. Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is an ambitious L.A. loan officer with a charming boyfriend, professor Clay Dalton (Long). Life is good until the mysterious Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) arrives at the bank to beg for an extension on her home loan. Should Christine follow her instincts and give the old woman a break? Or should she deny the extension to impress her boss, Mr. Jacks (David Paymer), and get a leg-up on a promotion? 
Christine fatefully chooses the latter. In retaliation, the old woman places a powerful curse on Christine, transforming her life into a living hell. 

Justin Long gave us a great interview and we really appreciated his time. Not only did he tell us about his new movie, but he also entertained us with a true ghost story involving a bone chilling experience he had as a tourist in Key West:

Q: How’s the food downstairs (referring to the restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel)?

JL: It’s good, I ate and I got really full and had a nice little mint and then I went down to this on-camera interview where they were eating. It was one of those like luncheon-like. We’re going to just casually pretend like we’re not on camera, and we’re just having lunch, and two friends talking. And then he kept making cracks about how I wasn’t eating, insinuating like I’m anorexic or something, this is going to end up on TV. So I felt the need to start eating French fries and now I’m just sick of eating French fries, because I don’t want to appear anorexic on E!

Q: Were you a fan of Sam Raimi and Spider-Man before this movie?

JL: I was a fan of all of them, I was a fan of Spider-man, this is going to sound controversial, I loved “Spider-Man 3”. You heard it. I really did, I thought it was awesome. I grew up watching Sam’s movies, I grew up with “Evil Dead” and “Army of Darkness,” and so I was an enormous fan. I was to the point where I cut my vacation short just to have a meeting with him. This is before I knew how serious he was about casting me. I was excited just to meet him.

Q: Having liked his earlier work, were you looking forward to doing some physical stuff? Were you disappointed you didn’t have any horror scenes to do?

JL: I know, I kind of got the short end of the stick. Although, at the time, I have to say I had moments where I was excited to be going home early and I was getting my rest, and I got to shoot another movie in between. While I was shooting “Drag Me to Hell,” I was going back and forth to Michigan, so at the time I wasn’t as jealous as I am now. She worked her ass off, and she more than rose to the occasion I have to say. I’ve never seen an actress work so hard, but I did have moments, of course, where I was like, “God I want to get…” I had the same moments on “Die Hard” where I was like, “I want to shoot the gun. I’m running around and throwing myself all around, but I just want to shoot a gun and kill a bad guy.” Of course you regress back to being a kid and having the maggots thrown up on you and having blood all over. When I shoot these movies, I become like a 12-year-old. I’m like, (says in a plaintive voice) “I want to do it.”

Q: You got that in “Jeepers Creepers” though. You were the victim in that one.

JL: Yeah, and that was the thing, that was part of my conflict because I knew how exhausting that was, and I was like, “I don’t know if I want to go through that much of a…  I don’t know if I want to be dragged to hell.” I want to be slowly led to purgatory. That sounds more appealing.

Q: You must be the most understanding boyfriend in the world – but you did find shading for the character?

JL: Oh, that’s good to hear. Thanks.

Q: He’s just so nice.

JL: (laughs) Well, I hate to say that I drew from my real life, and my personal experience, but I did. At the time I was in a great [relationship]. That was my role in the movie and I hope I didn’t misunderstand. My function was to just service her character and the audiences’ willingness to want her to not be dragged to hell. Had I been super-obnoxious or whatever, the audience would be like, “She might be better off in hell. We hope she gets dragged there a little bit quicker.” At the time I just – as I often try to do, I just pulled from my own experiences.

Q: So you are the world’s nicest boyfriend?

JL: Not that, I was in a very loving relationship, so I was like I know what this is like to care about somebody and love somebody, so – but yes, to answer your question. Yes, I am.

Q: Are there any scenes between you and Alison that didn’t make this cut?

JL: Most of them, there were quite a few. They were not so much with Alison, because it is her movie and it’s her journey, but I had peripheral stuff, like stuff in the classroom. There was a lot more about me being like ‘who gives a shit’ scenes where I’m lecturing to the students, and stuff that I felt the need to – I try to prepare as much as possible for these movies and, though the character’s very similar to who I am, I wanted to get at least a basic understanding of psychology. I audited a bunch of classes, I spent time with the psychology professor, and I saw the movie and I was like, “Well, that was kind of a waste of time, but I’m glad I did it and I hope it informed maybe in some subtle ways.” But it was the first time that I’ve been cut like that, by that much, where I completely got it and was thankful in a weird way, just as a fan of the movie and as an audience member. I watched it and I never once thought, “Oh, I’m disappointed that scene I did isn’t in there.” It was like, “Thank God they’re moving away from me and they’re just sticking with Alison and the fun horror stuff.” I don’t want to see me lecture in front of 20 students while all this cool stuff is going on. It’s just super-boring. So it was a real exercise in letting go of vanity, and I did because it’s just so easy to get into the movie.

Q: Have you ever had an experience like you did in the movie with your girlfriend meeting your parents? Have your parent disliked the girls you’ve brought home?

JL: Yeah, but my parents are far more understanding and, even though my dad is an academic and my parents put a lot of stock in somebody’s intellect and somebody’s character, they aren’t as judgmental. They’re not like waspy and like, “Oh, she’s not from a good class.” They’re not like class-ists, they’re just like weird academics who get a vibe from them, and they’re very understanding of girls for the most part, but yeah, there’s always that – I definitely related to my mother’s judgment of – I know right away when she likes somebody. But she doesn’t make it clear to the girl, it’s always like I’m very in tune to it. And the funny thing is, it’s always true after I’d break up with somebody, then she always likes them. “You know, I always liked that girl. What was her name?” And I’m like, “You did? Because you said she was the worst when we were together.” But she’s been like, I feel like in the last couple of years certainly, she’s been a lot happier with choices that I’ve made. So I haven’t faced that in a couple of years and knock on wood (looks around and actually gets up from the table to knock on wood), and I hope I don’t have to any time soon.

Q: Did you base your character on your dad?

JL: A lot of it. My dad is like the archetypal academic. He’s very cerebral and stoic and had a beard ever since I’ve known him, and smokes a pipe, he’s just – he has an ascot – he doesn’t have a ascot – he has a lot of chest hairs so it looks like an ascot. And he helped me out. He actually helped me write some of the stuff that you won’t see. You probably won’t even see it on the DVD. It’s that boring. But I called him up and he gave me some stuff to work with, because there was a lecture I had in the movie that was about the nature of evil and that pertains a lot to philosophy and so he – and just his mannerisms, my dad is very – like if he was here now he would be moving these (recorders) just in little ways, he’s very into like – it’s the strangest thing, it’s got to be set up and ordered and he’s got these little habits that I think subconsciously I just started incorporating. And he’s very into like – I can’t do it because I don’t have any facial hair, but he strokes, I’ll do it with my chin, where he plays with his chin, he strokes it. It was just little things, the way he take his glasses off, and on its own it looks pretentious, I think just because we associate that level of erudition with a pretension, that person has got to be arrogant, but he’s not. He’s a very humble person. He’s just when it comes to knowing things he’s – we call him the roving pedant, when he get uncomfortable my mother’s like, “Honey, they don’t want to hear about Aquinas right now,” he gets uncomfortable, and he just starts spouting knowledge and information, he’s starts lecturing. The teaching is just in his marrow. 

Q: You got up to knock wood, are you superstitious? Would you be the one going to the psychic?

JL: I have little ticks. That was probably more OCD at this point, because there was a thing like an ex-girlfriend of mine did that I thought was charming and we started doing it together, like I’d knock on her head and she would – so now I say a little thing – but I am. I believe in karma, I believe in a higher power in the universe, and so I think people may consider that superstitious. I don’t know, it depends on how you define it.  I believe in ghosts, I certainly do, and I think I’m probably in the minority there.

Q: Have you seen a ghost?

JL: I have, I’ve had experiences.

Q: Oh, tell us.

JL: Oh it’s a long story. One of my favorite things to do – I’m like, “Oh it’s a long story, here we go.” (laughs) One of my favorite things is to go to – I love going on ghost tours in antebellum cities in the South and it’s just a good way to see the city and it’s a good way to learn about history, which I love. And, like I said, I’m fascinated by ghost stories. And I was on one in, it wasn’t New Orleans, it was Key West. There’s a great one in New Orleans, but Key West has the best one. Key West before it became what it is was almost like a penal colony. It was where they would send all the degenerates, and it really was a place that was un-policed. It was chaotic and there was anarchy down there, and so that’s why all these artists and people who considered themselves outside of society just found their way down there, and they would just flock there. So, there were all these great ghost stories and things that happened with characters, real characters that lived there. But one in particular, there was an awning, this great marquee, this big awning right off of Duvall Street, which is the main artery, and it’s where all the cheesy awful bars are and stuff, and this is prime real estate, and it had been abandoned for ten years. It was the one stop on this ghost tour that we went to that was across the street, and this tour guide refused to go there, and she told us the story about how it used to be a – it was a church, and back in the 1840s or the 1830s, this is documented, the preacher found out that his wife was cheating on him, having an affair, and so he boarded [it] up. He waited until she was in the church, boarded it up and set it on fire, and he didn’t realize that she was teaching Sunday School at the time and, this is true, this is an all true story, and killed 14 or 15 kids, just burned alive, horrible story. And they lynched the preacher. He couldn’t get off the island. It was that kind of marshal law. They just strung him up, and throughout the years it went through all these incarnations, and it never settled on anything because it kept changing hands, because people were having these experiences that were too frightening. And the latest incarnation, it was a theater for a long time and the actors would complain about hearing children screaming or playing or burning sensations. There are a lot of homeless people in Key West and there are a lot of rainy nights and she said you’ll never see any homeless people sleeping under this awning and it’s by far the biggest awning. I’ve been there several times since then and she’s right. They’ll bundle up under these small little shelters and you’ll never see this. She said several people on the tour have gone there and been freaked out. They’ve heard it, they’ve smelled it, they have visceral reactions, they smelled burning. She said one woman on the tour, they were underneath the awning -- she’s like I refuse to go there now, the energy is so dark and bad that I can’t -- she felt a burning sensation and at the end of the tour there was a palm mark, like literally she had a picture of it and her husband was a dermatologist and he said, “That is a burn mark.” She was like, “How did I…?” She thought something had bit her. So, we’re taking pictures, my girlfriend at the time, we’re just taking random pictures of the things and we looked at one. She zoomed in on one and the windows on the second floor were all boarded up and you couldn’t see much, but there were some exposed where the curtains were pulled back. We zoomed in so it was sort of pixilated and not clear but I swear to God it was a kid’s face. It was a kid’s face, like clearly eyes and nose. And on the other pictures we took, identical pictures, it wasn’t there, and so we were freaking out. My skin is crawling just telling this story and I can see the face and we were freaking out and the tour guide was like, “Well, wait until….” “You’ve got to look!” “Just tell me afterwards. Let’s save it for the end.” We’re going, “Okay, can’t wait.” We were sitting on this bombshell and at the end of the tour there was this one woman who was part of the tour, who was on it with us, who had long, gray, stringy hair. She was just strange, sort of in touch with another…she reminded me of a friend’s mother and she kept asking weird questions on each stop, like sort of simple questions, like “How many times a day do people stand here?” Or “Have they ever sold hot dogs nearby?” Like weird. She was just creepy and we were like…my girlfriend at the time and I were just kind of making fun of her because she was like *that* kind of lady. We were leaving and she was in line. We were like peeing our pants wanting to show this tour guide our picture. She was in front of us and hadn’t heard anything. We hadn’t said a word about it. And we were overhearing the stringy haired lady, the gray haired lady talking to the tour guide and she was like clearly some sort of medium or psychic because the tour guide was like, “Did you get anything? Did you experience anything?” And the woman very casually was like “No, I didn’t, except when we were at the old church.” She said it like she said I’m thinking about I have to go buy milk at the grocery store. She was like, “I saw some kids playing on the second floor and they were looking at us. There were some kids looking at us.” I’ve never been more terrified and excited and my skin was like… our spines were like… I’m just standing on edge. We were like, “Excuse me. What the fuck did you just say?” Again, she was just like, “I enjoy eating Oreos.” She was like, “I saw these kids looking at us.” I’m like, “Whatever!” And she just left. We asked, “Who is that woman?” And the tour guide knew her through a friend. We showed her the picture and the tour guide was like, “Yeah. That’s awesome. Send me a copy. Send it to me because it looks like a kid.” It’s a kid’s face. I’m sorry that story is so long but…

Q: Have you kept the picture?

JL: Yeah. She has it and I pray to God… We had sort of… I mean like she also has my dog who I also haven’t seen? So I don’t know which I’d rather get back more. It does exist. I should get it back. I do want it. It’s frightening. It’s crazy.

Q: Did you have any experiences like that on set?

JL: No. In fact, I remember people have asked that about “Jeepers Creepers” all the time and that could have been the most frightening because we shot in the middle of Florida in farm country and the middle of night, all night shoots, and there were frightening… Some of the locals were not happy about shooting. It was like that kind of …. I feel like if that was ever going to happen… You know, Alison and I got along so well, like there were no weird [experiences] and again, that’s probably a better question for Sam (Raimi) because I wasn’t around for a lot of it. But I do remember some stories of certain things going awry that normally wouldn’t and I don’t know if that’s a way to invite that kind of energy but if it was, Sam has established such a good tone and such a kind, positive energy that I don’t think that would come into play.

Q: The film ends with your character, perhaps it’s too obvious for a sequel…

JL: No, not necessarily. It’s not so obvious. [Laughter]

Q: One could imagine a scenario where you try to get her out of hell.

JL: One could easily imagine that and I would imagine several people might imagine that who work at the studio and who know Sam Raimi.

Q: It sounds like you might be up for something like that?

JL: I would. Absolutely. I’d love it.

Q: Have you signed up for anything yet?

JL: No, no, no.

Q: Have you talked to Sam at all about it?

JL: Just sort of passive aggressively joking about it, like just trying to plant the seed. I know he’s doing Spider-Man. I’m sure “Drag Me To Hell” is not high on his priority list.

Q: You could be the next Bruce (Campbell)?

JL: Yeah. It’s funny because we’re always up for the same parts. We have oddly similar profiles... [laughs] … like a monkey. I could be his monkey who bangs the cymbals. That’s what I would do with Bruce. Evil Dead 4.

Q: When you go out and meet fans, do you get different kinds of fans from filmmaking and then Mac?

JL: Well yeah, there are three different kinds. There are people who are like, “Mac commercials are awesome” or “Mac commercials, I hate them” or they’re somewhere in the middle, or “Mac commercials, I’m indifferent to them. They’re on all the time. I can’t avoid them.” But people who mention them right away and then as an after thought are like, “Oh, and by the way, I kind of like that movie you did” or “By the way, I also hate that movie…whatever it is.” But often times they mention the Mac commercials just because I think they’re so ubiquitous. For better or for worse, my face is just like [everywhere]. And it’s just me, it’s not much of a character. It’s the easiest job to do, again for better or for worse, because I’m just standing there. The big choice I have to make in doing those is like when do I put my hands in my pockets. Honest to God, I’m not kidding, like that’s the big choice I make. Do I start with the hands in the pockets because I’m Italian and I gesticulate a lot so I don’t like to and it’s just a white background so if I’m throwing my arms around, it’s going to look a lot …so I try to keep them in the pockets. [Laughs]

Q: What’s next for you? What do you have coming up?

JL: Well there’s going to be some more pocket hand acting in the Mac commercials which everyone can look forward to. I’m going to continue to say the same two or three lines in those for a while. And then, I did a bunch of movies that are coming out in the Fall and one of which in particular I’m really excited about is this movie, “Afterlife,” that I did with Liam Neeson and Christina Ricci. It’s a very dark, intense [film]. I don’t have a single funny line. I mean, intentionally funny line. Who knows? It may be hilarious for four minutes.

Q: Is it a psychological thriller? What is it?

JL: It’s a very dark kind of horror love triangle. It’s about a girl who dies early in the movie. She gets in a car accident. She wakes up on the mortician’s table, Liam Neeson’s table, and she’s being held and he convinces her he’s a medium for the afterlife when in fact he may or may not be just pumping her full of these chemicals that are making it appear as though she’s dead and her body’s decomposing. It’s frightening and there’s sort of a love [triangle] and I’m spiraling out of control. I think she’s still alive. I start to see her. I confront Liam’s character about it and it’s this weird kind of like love triangle where I’m trying to get her back and he’s kind of maybe falling… It’s twisted and dark.

Q: What types of films do you feel more comfortable making? You’ve done both horror and comedy and you’re good at both.

JL: More comfortable? I don’t know. I surprised myself with how comfortable I was doing a movie like “Afterlife” which you can read on paper that you do this scene where you’re told your girlfriend is dead and she’s the love of your life and it says “and he breaks down crying.” It’s one thing to read that and it’s another…it’s terrifying to think like what if you show up on the day and it’s not there? What if you go to the well and it’s just like “I’ve got nothing coach!” With comedy I can always…I know I have a safety net. I know, even if it’s a bag of tricks, I know I can fall back on something. I have an awareness, but with something like this, I’m just not as used to doing and I was also fulfilled in a much different way. I’d come home just drained, like emotionally drained, I’ve used…conjuring the worst images…whatever sense memory I could and feeling more fulfilled than I had ever felt and it’s really exciting in a great way. With comedy, it’s something that I feel like I can always do. That being said, check me out in two years on “The Surreal Life” or something... [laughs] like me and Verne Troyer are going to be arguing over who gets the last cookie. I love doing them both and they’re fulfilling in much different ways, but I’m excited that I have the opportunity to do more kinds of dramatic stuff. In a weird way, I think the Mac commercials helped with that because I’m not funny on those. I’m just kind of very straight forward. They helped me get “Die Hard,” those commercials. They’ve led to a lot of good things not least of which is a very close friendship with John who plays the PC. I love doing them. I probably shouldn’t advertise that we’re buddies but he’s the greatest. I love him. So they’ve been a real blessing in my life, aside from all the acting compartmentalized and all the constant like “Hey, Mac dude, can you help me with my Mac?” That’s like a nuisance but it’s like a very small price to pay. That being said, I don’t know anything about Macs and, if you meet me on the street, this joke is not original: “Hey, do you have a PC or a Mac?” Just if you happen to see me like…

Q: I was just going to ask you that.

JL: Yeah, and for the record, I have a Mac so don’t…  Come talk to me. I’m a very friendly guy. People always say that like it’s the most…and you know they always say, they always preface it by saying “I’m sure you get this all the time but I have to say this. I have to ask.” And I go, “Well, let me…” I wish I had the balls and the nerve to be like, “Well let me stop you. You don’t have to say it. And I do get it all the time so you don’t have to. Why do you have to? How about this? How ‘bout like, ‘Hey, I’ve seen you in the Mac commercials and I enjoyed them.’ How about that?” Great! Fun! I’m in! I like it but like really? I don’t know how to respond to “Hey, are you a PC or a Mac?” Then I say, “I have a Mac” and they go “No, I’m just kidding.” “But what’s the joke? I don’t get it! I don’t get the joke. Oh, you were joking! Good one! I don’t get it.” Anyway, thanks guys. Thanks for letting me tell that long ghost story.

“Drag Me to Hell” opens in theaters on May 29th