The last time you saw Ben Feldman, he was Michael Ginsberg, handing Peggy Olsen his severed nipple after losing his mind over a newly installed computer on AMCâs Mad Men. If you thought that gruesome nip-slip was freaky, Feldmanâs got something even creepier for you.
In the new found-footage horror movie As Above/So Below (in theaters this Friday, August 29), Feldman heads deep into the bone-filled miles-long underground cemetery known as the Catacombs of Paris; instead of possibly malevolent word-processors, though, he and his co-stars run into all kinds of supernatural badness. Theyâre explorers searching for the storied Philosopherâs Stone, once obsessed over by alchemist Nicolas Flamel, and, little do they know, theyâre en route straight into the bowels of Luciferâs playground.
Feldman plays George, a brainy guy living in Paris whose ability to translate ancient languages (e.g., Aramaic) and hieroglyphics makes him a valuable asset for tough-gal heroine Scarlet Marloweâs (Perdita Weeks) subterranean investigation. George, the smart man that he is, wants nothing to do with the Catacombs, though, of course, he ends up there within them and fighting for his life. Feldman, however, couldnât wait to enter the Catacombs and shoot As Above/So Below on location. In this chat, the actor explains why director John Erick Dowdleâs film isnât like Hollywoodâs recent string of âdumbâ horror flicks, namely because of its authentic Parisian disposition.
Guilty admission: Before hearing about As Above/So Below, I wasnât even aware of the Paris Catacombs. Were you aware of their long, crazy history prior to working on this movie?
I knew they existed but thatâs pretty much the extent of it. When I found out I was going to do the movie, I Googled âParis Catacombsâ and the images I got back were just insane. I thought, oh my god, this is going to be so much. While doing it, I learned all about the history of alchemy, and Nicolas Flamel, and 18th century France, in general, and where the catacombsâ quarries go and why theyâre there. I didnât even realize the limestone used to make the Notre Dame Cathedral came from those quarries. All of that information came to me as we were shooting.
Was that part of the projectâs appeal?
It was 100% the appeal. It was why I wanted to do it. Thatâs what I liked so much about this movieâit wasnât just me running around and screaming and being scared of, like, ghosts. Everything thatâs referenced in this movie, you can look up online, and there are books about it. Itâs all based in either historical facts or folklore. I love that this movie can exist outside of this movieâthatâs what so cool to me. You see a horror movie and itâs like, âYeah, that was scary for those two hours I was sitting in the theater,â but it doesnât remain scary much longer after that. Here, you can continue to be scared. You can go home, look all of this stuff up, and say, âHoly shit!â One could argue that the Philosopherâs Stone actually is burned somewhere underneath Paris. Itâs really cool.
Thereâs so much history within this movie, and thatâs not often the case with horror movies. I think horror movies are getting dumber and dumber, so itâs nice to see something thatâs a little smarter.
1.
And because of that, it often asks a lot of the viewer to keep up with what the characters are talking about, all of this jargon about Flamel, Copernicus, and celestial bodies. There seems to be a certain amount of trust from you and the filmmakers that the audience will keep up and play along with all of that.
From the horror movie demographic, yeah, definitely. A lot of times those movies just phone it in. Often, American audiences are underestimated by producers and movie studios. They often think weâre dumber than we are. Itâs nice that the Dowdle brothers came along and said, âThatâs not true, people are going to dig this. Theyâre going to dig the nerdy aspect of this movie.â
One thing I really appreciate about As Above/So Below is that its characters arenât just a bunch of idiots whoâve gotten themselves into a really bad situation, which is pretty much always the case in found-footage horror movies. The characters here are well-educated, very qualified people who arenât out of their elements in the catacombs, at least not until the scary stuff starts happening.
Yeah, itâs usually a bunch of dumbass kids making the wrong moves and constantly fucking up. The characters in our movie are in the Catacombs for a reason. Someone else was saying to me earlier, âItâs not a movie where the characters keep making stupid decisionsâfor the most part, theyâre making the smartest decisions they could make in their particular situation.â Thereâs no one whoâs like, âDid I just see a ghost in that window? Letâs all go in this house and find out!â [Laughs.] Theyâre there for a real purpose and searching for a real thing, and I think thatâs whatâs really cool about it.
But your character does have an element of âI donât want to be here.â
Yeah, he gets stuck there and gets roped into the situation accidentally, but itâs fun. Itâs fun being the skeptic, because itâs certainly what I wouldâve been if this really were happening.
So the character is a lot like you, then?
For sure. In fact, the entire time we were shooting, I wanted to go as far as I could with that attitude. It probably got annoying to the Dowdles when we were shooting it, because I would constantly say things like, âCanât he say, âScrew you, thatâs bullshitâ?â I loved being the realist about the entire thing.
Did they have any resistance towards that?
They didnât have that much pullback. A lot of times they were just like, âWe donât have time to sit here and listen to you ramble. Stop being a narcissistic actor. The scene isnât about you.â [Laughs.] And then I would just say, âOK, fine.â
Thereâs a great sense of exploration and adventure to As Above/So Below that works even if youâre not a fan of horror movies. Itâs a nice mix of genres.
Yeah, itâs a treasure hunt. Itâs one of those Dan Brown, Indiana Jones kind of vibes, and, also, the scares and shocks arenât gratuitous, which I think happens a lot in modern horror movies. Thereâs a lot of âBoo!â and âThis is an awful thing!â and âHereâs another awful thing!â In this movie, thereâs a lot more drawn-out tension, a lot more, âHoly crap, whatâs about to happen?â Youâre sitting there tense, going, âOh, god, somethingâs about to happen in any minute,â and thatâs what I really liked about this.
2.
Do you read a lot of scripts in the horror genre?
This is No. 3 for me, and Iâm not a giant horror fan at all. So, no, I donât at all. In fact, the last time I was in a horror movie, the Friday the 13th remake, I was like, âOK, Iâm done with these. I donât need to be in another one.â And then this came along and it was different. I love treasure hunt movies, so it tapped into that nerdy aspect of my interests. Itâs not a horror movieâitâs more of an adventure rather than just a haunted goose hunt.
And even when it becomes a horror movie, itâs unique in that itâs all shot in the actual Catacombs themselves. That lends a strong authenticity to everything.
Yeah, we spent a lot of time in caves underground in Paris, and it was really fun. It was uncomfortable. It was the total opposite of the luxuries that actors and film crews usually have grown accustomed to, but that made it interesting and different. At no point were we bored.
I was only in the Catacombs for about 30-40 minutes earlier today, and at a certain point I said to myself, âHow the hell would I ever get out of here if not for the tour guide?â
[Laughs.] Seriously, itâs this insane, endless labyrinth. Everyoneâs like, âWhat was the scariest thing about shooting this movie?â And there was nothing really other than the fear that you might get lost. If Iâd ever stopped following someone and went in a different direction, I couldâve kept walking for miles in this underground labyrinth and never get out.
Without giving anything away, As Above/So Below ends very atypically for a horror movie. I wonât say who, but more people ultimately make it out of the Catacombs than one might expect. Usually horror movies, especially found-footage ones, end with that one last shock or kill, and send viewers out on a bleak note, but not this one. Did that resonate with you when you first read it?
Definitely, because this movie isnât about watching death and blood. You actually start to care about the characters. Also, itâs kind of this love letter to Paris in this sort of weird, Goth-y way. So itâs really cool to see that last shot, where the remaining characters climb out and the camera is upside down and then turns right-side up and youâve got Notre Dame in the background. Itâs this big, towering, amazing, and ancient presence that was from this limestone that was blasted out of the Catacombsâ quarries in the first place. I really like that moment a lot.
I think anybodyâs whoâs ever traveled to Paris or any sort of older European city will get caught up in the romance of the history and the ghosts you;âre surrounded by everyday. I live in Los Angeles, which is the youngest placeâthereâs no history to Los Angeles. Everythingâs fake. So itâs really exciting to be in a place like Paris where thereâs so much history, and itâs awesome to have a horror movie that takes full advantage of that. Very few cities are as surrounded by ghosts as Paris is.
Matt Barone is a Complex senior staff writer who challenges you to name Ben Feldman's previous found-footage genre movie role. Tweet your answers at him here.