Crystal Lake creator Brad Caleb Kane knows many viewers are tuning into his Friday the 13th prequel series primarily to see Linda Cardellini play Pamela Voorhees. And he is perfectly comfortable with that.
Speaking with DECIDER ahead of the Peacock series’ release, Kane, who also serves as an executive producer, said he understands that Crystal Lake is counting on fans following Cardellini’s Pamela as she descends into madness. In fact, the creative team says that appeal helped make her the show’s protagonist in the first place.
“For me, after watching decades of her work and being a fan going all the way back to Freaks and Geeks, where everybody fell in love with her, she struck me as one of the very few people, one of very few actors, who are effortlessly likable,” Kane says of the series’ fearless — and fear-inducing — central character. “You will go along with her whatever she does because we attach an emotion to her. We like her no matter what.”
The series centers on Cardellini’s Pamela, a grieving mother who returns to the titular sleepaway camp after her son’s drowning the previous summer. Determined to uncover what truly happened when Jason went into the water, she launches an investigation that leads to shocking revelations and increasingly bloodthirsty acts. Because viewers must understand and empathize with Mrs. Voorhees, Kane believes Cardellini is the ideal performer to reveal both the humanity and the evil within a devastated mother.
“We’ll empathize with her no matter what. She has this great screen presence, and the things that we had Pam do, the things that we asked her to do, are questionable. They’re suspect, and she has a reason for all of them, but they can be hard to empathize with. But when Linda does them, you go, ‘I can see why she would have to do that,’ and you take the ride. We needed everybody to take the ride with Pam, and Linda was the perfect surrogate for me,” he says.
For more on the series, including whether a second season could happen and what inspired Kane to take on the project, read DECIDER’s full interview with him below.
Congratulations. I’m excited that you guys are going to Toronto.
BRAD CALEB KANE: Yeah, that was a surprise. It wasn’t on my radar at all. I mean, we’re just a horror show, but we’re a Friday the 13th prequel. You don’t expect a Friday the 13th project to get into a prestigious film festival. It really knocked me for a loop.
Are we crediting Linda for that?
I credit all of it to Linda. I feel like we gave her a fun narrative to play, but none of it would work without her performance. Her work is masterful. She elevates everything and makes every plot point better. She actually makes it all work and brings it together. So yes, she’s brilliant.
Can you talk a little bit about what you saw in her and in this story?
She also has this tremendous screen presence, and the things we asked Pam to do are questionable. They can be suspect, even though she has a reason for every one of them. Some of those choices may be difficult to empathize with. But when Linda plays them, you think, “I can see why she would have to do that,” and you take the ride. We needed everyone to take that journey with Pam, and Linda was the perfect surrogate for me.
Can you talk a little bit about taking her to those extreme points?
I wanted to recreate that feeling for people watching at home. To do that, you first need to establish a connection between the audience and the character that feels normal and familiar. The bond between Pam and Jason is one example.
There isn’t a lot of that relationship in the first episode, but there’s enough for viewers to understand her love and devotion. Then, when what happens happens, they’ll understand her grief. Once we put her in these extreme situations, you’re thinking, “I don’t want anything bad to happen to this woman.” When she gains the upper hand or finds herself in real danger, you’re on the roller-coaster ride with her. And when she gets the better of the bad guys, you’re leaping out of your seat and yelling, “Fuck yeah.”
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We’re living in an age when A24 is backing this, The Pitt is screening its finale at Alamo Drafthouse and more shows are heading to the big screen. Could we see this taken to theaters?
I will say that I designed the final 20 minutes of the pilot to be watched with an audience. That’s the point, because it goes to some extreme places. It feels like it ends and then begins again, and it contains a lot of blood and grisly material. I tried to top it. I tried to make it funny, thrilling and nerve-wracking. So yes, I’ve thought about it, and I would like that to happen.
You mentioned making it funny. Can you talk a little bit about finding that specific tone?
I like extreme humor and silly humor, and I like crazy characters. But I also want the audience to feel genuine empathy for them and follow them through the story. It was a difficult tone to manage, and hopefully we found the right balance. Horror shows and horror movies are built for that combination. Horror and comedy work very well together. It’s really about finding the right place for each element.
Why do you think horror and comedy pair so well together?
Etreme horror and comedy, they’re both release valves. Both horror and comedy are built for catharsis, you know, either extreme belly laughs or extreme [screams] aah, aahh. Your heart rate’s supposed to go up or down. Heart rate up and then release, you know, tension, release. You never feel as relaxed as you do after all of your muscles have been tensed up. That’s what horror does, and that’s what comedy does too.
I had never seen any of the Friday the 13th movies before this; what do you think about the fact that people are gonna discover the franchise for the first time through Crystal Lake?
I mean it was designed for them too. It was designed for die hard fans, people who were casual fans, and people who don’t know anything about Friday the 13th. You can enter this show not knowing anything about Friday the 13th and have a really wonderful time and a good ride.
How much contextually would you say you pulled from the original movies?
The canon itself is not consistent. They retconned [film] two after[film] one was a massive success. I didn’t feel totally shackled by what the movies did. I felt a responsibility to pay homage to the movies as best I could as you go forward into the season. We do give more fan service as we go forward, not to detract from the story we’re telling, or take people who don’t know anything about Friday the 13th out of it, but true Friday the 13th fans who would recognize scenes, and are waiting for a certain kind of thing and a certain kinda feeling are going to be satisfied by all that.
There are so many shows right now that are originally pitched or conceptualized as limited series that end up coming back for a second season. Is that something you’ve thought of?
It’s not only something I’ve thought of, I know what the second season will be. 100 percent through and through. So hopefully we do well enough, fans enjoy it enough to ask for a second season, and we get the opportunity to watch the further misadventures of Mrs. Cardellini and Mrs. Voorhees.
Crystal Lake is now streaming on Peacock.
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