'Novocaine' Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen Got Matching Cherry Pie Tattoos On Set

Dread Central

'Novocaine' directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen talk about designing Nate's tattoos, getting tattoos themselves, and epic fight choreography.  Read our review - https://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/524844/novocaine-review-body-horror-action-hybrid-is-good-nasty-fun/  Dread Central https://www.dreadcentral.com/  Check Out Our Podcast Network- https://www.dreadcentral.com/dread-podcast-network/  Grab your Dread merchandise, movies, and more- https://store.dreadcentral.com/  Follow Dread Central on social media: Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/DreadCentral Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/dreadcentral/ Twitter- https://twitter.com/DreadCentral TikTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@dreadcentral

Transcript

00:00Hi, guys.

00:01Hi.

00:02Hey.

00:03I'm from Grad Central.

00:04Long time no talk.

00:05So nice to see you again.

00:06So nice to see you.

00:07And I finally get to see the movie.

00:08It's such a freaking blast.

00:10I had so much fun watching this.

00:13Yeah, we were eagerly awaiting what you'd say.

00:15Thank you for making an action movie that didn't make me bored.

00:17I'm one of those people.

00:18Sure.

00:19But I think something I was really into was how you framed Nate's condition as a disability

00:25first and foremost.

00:26And I was like, yes, it's an action movie, but I like how you started this world looking

00:30at him living with a disability.

00:32So I was curious what the research was like into the condition and making Nate's world

00:37and learning about having a set of timers so your bladder doesn't explode and the intricacies

00:42of having such a condition and living with that.

00:44Yeah, sure.

00:45I mean, that was something that we really, you know, I think we really wanted to set

00:51up that this condition is debilitating.

00:54It's not a fun thing to have.

00:56You know, I think that, you know, maybe if you see just the trailer for the movie or

01:00something, it kind of looks like he's just like, oh, he can't feel pain and that's just

01:04all fun and games.

01:06But it's not.

01:07You know, the condition in real life is quite debilitating.

01:09So it was really important for us to show his actual plight early on in the film because

01:15he feels so isolated.

01:18You know, I think that's part of it, is that part of this condition is him just not being

01:22able to go out and do all the same things because he has to be very careful.

01:25It's counterintuitive.

01:26You would think that if you didn't feel pain that you could just do whatever you wanted,

01:29but it's actually the opposite because you could hurt yourself and not know it and, you

01:33know, lose a pint of blood after stepping on some glass or something like that.

01:37So, you know, he I think him starting out in that place and establishing how lonely

01:43he was was was important to us because the other thing that that helps is it allows you

01:49to believe him when he goes and puts his life on the line to save this this this woman

01:55that he's really only spent one night with, you know, but that one night was enough to

02:00to shine a light into his into his life that he never thought he'd be able to experience.

02:05And so that is, you know, the contrast of seeing, you know, what his life is like before

02:10meeting Sherry and what it's like after was really important to us to just set up the

02:14stakes of the movie.

02:15Oh, yeah.

02:16Oh, yeah.

02:17Well, and I also I love the choice to have Nate covered in tattoos as someone who is

02:23covered in tattoos.

02:24I would love to not feel it when I get there.

02:26Yeah.

02:27What was the design process like to make the storyboard that covers Nate's body?

02:33Oh, yeah, that was that was an involved process.

02:36You know, Bobby and I had this sort of dream that probably didn't come through that much

02:41because you're only on it for like three seconds.

02:43But if you pause it, you might be able to tell.

02:44But we wanted there to be a story being told in his tattoos that sort of mirrored the story

02:49of the film.

02:50So it's like there's this little knight and he's patrolling and he looks the other way.

02:53And then this princess that he's protecting gets taken by this evil wizard.

02:56And the evil wizard is on dragon back.

02:58And it's it's this whole thing.

02:59And the knight is kind of, you know, trying to get the princess back.

03:03And so we went through a process of working with an illustrator who actually was our storyboard

03:08artist in designing the entire thing.

03:11And then the technical side of it is was crazy and completely not visible to us.

03:17But they basically took this, you know, really elaborate design that was like twenty five

03:21different parts all over his body and they had to print it.

03:25And it had to be applied very precisely to Jack every time that full tattoo played, which

03:30thankfully it only played three or four days, maybe 10 percent of our production days or

03:35a little less, because it took, you know, anywhere from two to eight hours to apply

03:41all those. And sometimes you'd apply them and there'd be a little fuck up where there's

03:45like a seam and you'd have to kind of restart.

03:47So it was very uncomfortable for Jack and we owe him our lives for his patience and

03:52also our special effects makeup team for doing all that design work are so, so talented.

03:56But yeah, that was a that was a nut to crack.

03:58We had to figure out how to do that.

04:00It's not easy.

04:01I loved it. I mean, again, as a tattoo girly, I was like, OK, I love it.

04:06It's incredible. And again, it would be so nice.

04:09I know that it's a debilitating condition, but to not feel getting tattooed would truly

04:14be. Well, there was so much there was so much tattoo energy on this set.

04:18We had a great tattoo coordinator or a tattoo consultant rather that was on set all the

04:22time. I want to be a tattoo consultant.

04:23Yeah, you should. It's a job.

04:25But he also he owned a shop in Cape Town where we were shooting.

04:28And he he Bobby and I got cherry pie tattoos after the shoot.

04:34Is that the exact?

04:35Yeah, it's the drawing.

04:37Yeah. So we were like, and these are the first we much like you are covered in tattoos, as

04:42you can see. We're now we are now tattoo guys.

04:45Yeah. But no, that was fun.

04:47And it definitely it definitely hurt.

04:49But it was it was like a fun.

04:50Also, this is a very simple like line drawing.

04:53Yeah. Like if we had like, you know, Ben Affleck Phoenix on our back, I'm sure it'd be a

04:58little different. Oh, the Ben Affleck Phoenix on his back.

05:01He's rising from the ashes.

05:02That's right. He really does.

05:05For more Dunkin Donuts.

05:06Anyway, so I can I love how much body horror is in this.

05:11Like, I know it's action, but the body horror and the way that you don't ever cut away

05:16from my favorite, the glass knuckles.

05:18I want a shirt that says who needs brass knuckles when you have glass knuckles?

05:21Oh, yeah, that's a great idea. You should make that now and make some money off that.

05:25I know. I literally wrote it down on my notes.

05:28But I would love to know your favorite moment of self mutilation for Nate, because

05:35there's some great moments here.

05:37Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think that the the glass knuckles, I think, really are that just

05:43because there is so many the sound design element of it makes it so much better where,

05:50you know, as he's flexing his hands, you can hear the glass kind of crunching in his

05:55fists. And even worse, when he exits and uses a little bit of hand sanitizer, there's

06:00like this wet sound of the of the glass, like kind of rustling in between his palms.

06:06And it is every time I see it, I just go like, it's just it's so it's so intense.

06:11That one still grosses us out.

06:12And we know it's fake.

06:15God, it was such a good moment, though, when he hits the it has the blood on it.

06:18But all I could think about was just like the alcohol stain and get it to a paper cut.

06:22Exactly. Like times a million.

06:24But again, I know it's just like your hands on fire, but he doesn't feel it.

06:28Yeah. And Dan, do you have a favorite one?

06:33No, I'll go with that, too.

06:34You can get another question and I don't need to take up that time.

06:38Which one was the hardest, though, to pull off logistically?

06:42I think the hardest, just as far as like the sort of fight set pieces and damage to Jack

06:47and maybe this goes into spoiler territory.

06:49I don't know if everyone who will have seen the movie at this point, but this doesn't

06:52exist in the trailer. But the the the bone break, you know, at the at the end, the

06:57compound fracture. So Jack had to wear this is this movie had very little VFX in it.

07:02We did pretty much everything practically.

07:04But in order to do this, we had a practical arm, you know, broken arm that was flopped

07:08over like this. And he had to wear a green sock on his on his arm.

07:12And so he had to sort of puppet the fake arm with his like, you know, upper arm, which

07:17was when he's army crawling.

07:19Yeah. Yeah. So it's flopping around.

07:21That was tricky for him from a performance standpoint.

07:22It was also really extensive from a VFX standpoint, because painting that arm out, you

07:26know, you have to then recreate the body, the leather jacket and stuff behind it.

07:30And we had an amazing VFX team that that pulled it off like faster than we thought was

07:34possible. But that was probably the most elaborate planning.

07:38We were like, how are we going to do this arm?

07:40Because it has to look good.

07:41We have to be able to show it.

07:43And they they knocked it out.

07:45They really did. And again, that kill.

07:48And we won't say what, but the gasps, gasps, I love that.

07:54Thank you both. It's so nice to see both of you again.

07:56Congratulations on making one hell of an action.

07:58Thank you so, so much.

08:00We can't wait to come on the pot again.

08:01Yeah. Yeah.

08:04See you later. All right.

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