STACK NZ Dec #69

DVD & BD

Q & A

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than the last one. It’s not about being in a claustrophobic space with the mystery and intrigue of finding your way out. This one’s about the journey through this giant world that doesn’t’ quite fit into the frame, you know what I mean? We get to explore that further in the next movie and that’s what’s fun about it. It’s so different than the first one. Given the bleak and terrifying nature of ‘The Scorch’, do you think, as one of the characters believes, hope is a dangerous thing? No, it’s not. Hope is a good thing to have within reason. What’s dangerous about it is that hope can kill people. It can do terrible things, but ultimately we find out that hope perseveres and hope will win out. What do you think these sort of films say to today’s youth? I do think there’s something about the younger generation feeling like they’re being given a world that is kind of broken. That they’re going to have to be the ones that put us back on the right path. So I think that’s why there’s an engagement with these stories about young people taking the reins and taking responsibility for themselves. We’re riding the wave, you know? We’ll see what happens in the next couple of years, but it seems like it’s here to stay. I find it very interesting. It’s a dark idea, but it’s kind of a romantic one, hitting the reset button. I have no idea [laughs]. I’ll have to look back on it in a few years and say, “Oh, look, I didn't know what I was doing!” [laughs] I kind of like that, too. Being naïve. I’m probably the worst judge of that stuff because I can’t look at myself and analyze this just yet. I have to let someone else tell me. As a director, I like being more spontaneous. I think a lot with my gut. If it feels right, it’s right. And so maybe that shows on screen. I don't know. I do love having the audience on the edge of their seat. There’s just something fun about just playing with that. That relationship you have with an audience, to me, is everything. I want to make sure they’re entertained and having a good time. As a filmmaker, what do projects like the Maze Runner films reveal about you?

Armed with a bigger budget and an expansive new setting, directorWes Ball turns up the heat in the second installment of the Maze Runner saga,The ScorchTrials. BALL OF FIRE

the course of their journey, bumping up against all these obstacles. It’s also about what it means to have the guilt and the burden on some of our leaders’ shoulders making these decisions.

How does The ScorchTrials differ from the first Maze Runner movie? It was interesting. They’re out of the maze but they’re still lost and that’s how we approached it.

There is a whole wide world out there and they have no idea how they fit in it or what they’re going to be doing. The movie’s about them finding their place in this world and deciding what they’re going to do. That’s how the movie ends, essentially. The first movie is really about that time in your life when you’re kind of trapped behind these walls and having to escape and set out into this wide world that you could go anywhere in. It’s very thematic that way. That’s what we tried to show through

What made The ScorchTrials a challenge for you? It was a challenge, but fun. That feeling of scope was something I wanted to do on the last one, too. I just didn't have the resources for it. For this one, we had about twice the budget and we got to really use

those extra dollars to make it feel bigger, make it feel more epic. This one’s a little bit different

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is out on Dec 16

DECEMBER 2015

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