Hokum Ending + Hidden Details You Missed | Adam Scott & Damian McCarthy Interview

Añadido: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]How do we just tease her but never give it away? And all of that is in just to make it so much more frightening for the audience is they got to use their imagination.

[00:00:06]>> Damien, I wanted to start with you cuz I always love hearing about how these ideas evolved. So, what would you say is the biggest difference between draft one of the screenplay and the finished film?

[00:00:16]Um It's a lot It's a lot simpler, I guess.

[00:00:19]You know, you you start off with these things and you throw everything in the kitchen sink into it and you have so many ideas and then just over the process of of writing the film it just becomes about just trying to um simplify it. Um and I guess if anything it ended up being a The goal was to tell a very simple story but with a complicated character.

[00:00:37]That was kind of the It's kind of the thing where I ended up.

[00:00:39]>> Did you have a break story moment of sorts with that? Like something you came up with or maybe something you took out talking about simplifying it that made you think like we really got this now?

[00:00:49]Yeah, it's funny.

[00:00:51]I was writing this It was definitely the hardest script I've wrote. It seemed to take, you know, 2 plus years and went through so many drafts.

[00:00:57]Um and I knew I wanted it to be about this character and just trying to punish him over the course of this night. And it's There's still just something missing and it wasn't working. Um but it it felt like when when the character of Jerry, David Wilmot's character, came into it, it was like, "Okay, he actually needs a little bit of help to to survive this night." And it injects a little bit of of hope or maybe somebody could come to rescue him because if it's just him there really is no way out without some kind of a deus ex machina something coming in at the end to solve it. So, yeah, I think introducing that extra character seemed to seemed to crack it. I love that. I can't imagine a story without Jerry, so I'm very glad you included that.

[00:01:33]Yeah, yeah, it's great. So, Adam, I'm going to get into all of the stuff this narrative put you through in a moment, but this this first question I have for you it might be too hyper specific, but when I hear a movie's title said in the film, I tend to hyper fixate on that.

[00:01:48]So, did you do that? Did you do what I'm doing right now and really think through how you said Hokum in that particular scene? Yeah, for sure because you don't want it to be a corny moment, right? You don't want to lean in too hard to to something like that. So, I thought it was important and and you know, Damien had written it as sort of a just offhanded, you know, slap down of you know, just dis- a dismissive comment. So, that really helped that I didn't have to you know, make some grand pronouncement with it. It worked well. Now, to open it up to the entire movie, can you tell me going into filming which particular scene did you think was going to be the toughest for you and ultimately was it or did a different one catch you by surprise? Um you know, I think that You know what I thought was going to be um the toughest and the one I had the least sort of visual sense of was the end where I'm on the bed and I've drawn a circle around it and the witch is sort of um taunting me and you know, clearly can't cross the line. I didn't have a a real sense of how we were going to do that.

[00:03:04]Um and how I was going to uh pull that off emotional- It just I had not formed it in my mind. Um So, on the day it was it was really uh fun to get in there with Damien Damien and and see him sort of map it out for me and sort of clarify everything and it ended up being you know, one of the clearest uh moments and such an important moment in the movie is kind of everything sort of um sort of leads up to this moment where Ohm is finally sort of taking a stand against this and acknowledging the reality uh of his situation and it's sort of a a a a a breaking moment for the character.

[00:03:55]I don't know how much you remember this with clarity, but you just said that you had a conversation with Damien about it that kind of helped it helped you crack that scene and be able to visualize it.

[00:04:06]Do you remember anything he told you that kind of put that all into focus the way you need it?

[00:04:10]>> Yeah, you know, it was less a conversation. It was actually us on the set that day like physically working it out and I was like, "Oh, right. Of course. Okay." Um and but I'm also also the stuff in the basement and at the end was really um I I love it in the movie. It's so terrifying. That was also a an end um and Peter being Peter Coonan being dragged in there while I'm on the ground. That was all um beautifully written, but I wasn't sure how it was going to be pulled off and how and so kind of seeing Damien get in there and and figure it all out and sort of walk me through it. That's really when it solidified for me and and got really really exciting. I'll stick with the topic of designing things and come back to you, Damien, to talk about your witch because when I hear there's going to be a witch in in a movie, you can go down so many different routes in terms of designing the look of a character like that. So, can you tell me how this particular look came to be? Was there any trial and error or evolution of that idea? It was a little bit. I just really wanted because a mushroom trip features quite heavily in in the film, a lot of her design layers it was always coming back to to mushrooms even with Laura, the costume designer, and Jenny who did the hair, and Eva did the makeup. Um Lots and lots of different types of different species of mushroom and looking at that and seeing is there a way to to weave this into her collar, into the texture of her skin, into her hair. It was like and I thought it would maybe hint a little bit then like, "Is she really there? Is this actually happening? Is this being something that that whatever's in his system is is creating?" Um and again, it was it was with that it was also to lean into just your your very uh typical fairy tale look of a classic witch.

[00:06:05]You know, without trying to invent anything brand new. It's like, "No, let's actually go with the with that classic design on top of all of the the mushroom angle." Looks fantastic. I have a follow-up question, but I don't want to skip this particular one. I don't know if you want to spell all this out for me, but I was curious if you could share any of the witch translation with me. Maybe specifically, this is the one that I've grown a little obsessed with. Maybe specifically what she tells Ohm at the end when she walks past him in the basement.

[00:06:33]>> it's he's he's waiting for you as in the devil, you know, the the devil is going to take you. Um and I think she says to Peter that you're you're the father as if she knows also like, "Oh, you're the father." As if she's already been been talking to Fiona.

[00:06:49]Um You know, it's a lot of She's kind of a little bit of a running commentary with her saying like, you know, even like when he she reaches him at the bed um and he's after drawing the circle around the bed. It's like, "What are you What are you after drawing here?" You know, she's kind of saying all this stuff out loud. Um my Irish is absolutely terrible. You know, I you know, if you'd spoke to me as a child it'd be much better, but I won't I won't attempt it. The other question that I had thought of before in terms of the look of your movie, but specifically the way you were describing the witch was making me think of this. Can you tell us a little bit about working with your cinematographer and probably also editor in order to figure out how much to show of of the witch and maybe other entities and scares, but without showing too much? Yeah, I mean, we shot a lot more with her. You know, even like I think that first scare with Alby um you know, she's she's right at the edge of exposure in the darkness where she steps back. We shot a whole other segment to that where she appears in like this jump scare like right next to him and it's a full close-up.

[00:07:47]That's right. It's nice to have those in your back pocket when you're editing.

[00:07:51]It's like, "Yeah, let's get it and have it." And then it's all about just trying to hold back as as much as possible.

[00:07:57]Um and that's very much with with Colm's lighting in terms of trying to you know, >> [snorts] >> trying to keep her you know, trying to trying to keep her ever so slightly underexposed, trying to hide her. And then with Brian, once we get into the edit then it's very much how do we you know, how do we just tease her but never give it away? And all of that is in just to make it so much more frightening for the audience is they got to use their imagination. You all walk that line to great effect. I love that part of the movie. I also I also love with all of your movies scouring every single frame for for cool objects and potentially haunted objects. So, I'll give you both two questions about that. Damien, can you tell me a little bit about working with your production designer to fill in the spaces with eye-catching and meaningful props? And then for both of you, did each of you have a favorite little detail? Well, I worked with Till Till Frohlich and his team, the production designer. And again, Paul McDonald who did He built my wooden man in Audition. So, he created a between those two guys it was very much just about trying to find uh uh you know, stuff that it was either building stuff or finding things at you know, second hand shops or markets or whatever. Just things that look like they had a lot of history and they just they just been up there for years getting covered in dust.

[00:09:10]Um yeah, everything in it just needed to feel like that there's a little bit of a story behind this. Very much does. So, a a favorite now. I don't know if you took anything from from set, but if each of you could snatch up one little prop and bring it home, if you dare, what would it be?

[00:09:25]Uh I took everything. I have mold and old shoes and [laughter] everything. I should have expected that from you.

[00:09:30]Uh I loved the clock. I love that haunted clock with the little the little cherub on top that seems like he's kind of messing with Adam's character at times. You know, he seems like he's going to be an ally and then he starts kind of not really cooperating. I thought that thing was pretty cool.

[00:09:44]Adam, did you take anything? I love I didn't take anything, but I should have.

[00:09:48]And I love the the cherubs and I love the close-ups that Damien really gets uh on the cherubs because their facial expressions uh it Am I wrong that they change?

[00:10:01]They do. Yeah, we have Yeah, we would have >> So, they're I they're kind of really uh uh you know, they're they're they're sort of you think they're like Damien says, you think they're on our side, but they end up being sort of a uh neutral party and messing with with both sides and not really rooting for anyone, but they're frightening to look at, particularly if you hold on them.

[00:10:26]And Damien, is it is it true that you you made a larger version of them so you could get good close-ups and >> We did because the little guy on top of the clock, that's that that that that hits the button.

[00:10:38]Um you know, they're so small even trying to get in there and shoot that macro, you're not really getting that detail. So, um it was just decided with Paul, let's build a couple of of of bigger ones with kind of fist-sized heads and a and a few bigger just so when you take that close-up, you really get that kind of cheeky little smile that he's he's he's giving to the audience. I love it. I love I think you should start selling those melted face candle holders, too. I want one of those.

[00:11:03]I got to go. I'm going to say huge congratulations on Hogum. I can't wait to watch it again and again and find even more details to obsess over.

[00:11:10]Cheers. Thanks very much.

[00:11:11]>> Thanks so much.

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