INTERVIEW: Amazon explores disturbing tales of ‘Lore’
Photo: Lore’s second season is now available on Amazon Prime. Photo courtesy of Julie Vrabelova / Provided by Amazon with permission.
Lore, the hit podcast from creator and narrator Aaron Mahnke, has been scaring (and informing) audiences for a few years. The successful audio series, which details stories both horrific and supernatural, has branched off to the world of books and an original series on Amazon Prime. Season two of that TV series is now available, and Sean Crouch, the new showrunner, has a few interesting previews for those looking to take a dive into this world of disturbing mystery.
On the new season, which consists of six episodes, there are four stories from the podcast and two new ones. Doug Bradley, of Hellraiser fame, stars along with Emmet Byrne and Emmett J. Scanlan in “Burke and Hare: In the Name of Science.” The episode follows two grave robbers in Scotland who turn into a mass-murdering duo that forever affect the local area.
Another episode, titled “Jack Parsons: The Devil and the Divine,” details the title character’s quest to send a rocket into space and conjure a demon. Other installments deal with a curse in Prague, a countess of blood, ghosts in the attic and a witch near Salem, Massachusetts — i.e. perfect storytelling for the month of October.
Recently, Crouch talked with Hollywood Soapbox about the second season of horror. Here’s what he had to say …
On the new approach for season two of Lore …
“So moving into season two, I came in and wanted to tell more of a Twilight Zone, more of a Black Mirror type storytelling, and we had Aaron with us for the first week in the room, which was very, very helpful. So we tried to find the stories that would still be the Lore podcast, but that we could tell in a more simplified way, like just a one character story, just simple stories. Amazon spent a lot more money on this, so we have this cool, epic feeling, but much more simple storytelling.
“So, for instance, we picked Elizabeth Bathory because we figured we could tell the tale of her last victim and the last 24 hours in this young girl’s life. To me, that’s horror. So we didn’t want to do many diversionary paths, talk about the king in Transylvania at the time. We really wanted to just tell this one claustrophobic story in a castle that ends with the — [spoilers] — bathtub of blood.
“That’s how we determine which of these six stories we want to tell. Of course, saying that, there’s always exceptions where we tell the Jack Parsons story, which even though I wrote it, I wrote it as the last second of his life. He ends up going through his entire life.”
On the two episodes that are not featured on the podcast …
“We have two ones: Jack Parsons and then the Curse of the Prague Clock, which we picked because we were shooting in Prague. We thought it would be a fun Prague filming experience, and it was. And Jack Parsons is a brand-new one as well, so we kind of like that 60 percent podcast and 40 percent new ideas.”
On how each episode feels like a mini movie …
“We really needed to have six mini movies. Six different episodes of Twilight Zone is basically how I wanted to do it, which is wonderful from a fan’s point of view, and now that I’m done with it, from my point of view.
“From a production point of view, I never want to do an anthology again. It’s really difficult to do six mini movies on a TV series budget and schedule — really fun, but boy was it hard.”
On working with Doug Bradley …
“I’m the hugest fan of Hellraiser and Doug Bradley, and so that he agreed to do it was amazing. And he was brilliant. … I would rather a Doug Bradley then a Tom Cruise. Obviously Tom Cruise is great, but I would rather have a Doug Bradley than a Tom Cruise for this type of show. I’m the fan of Doug Bradley, and I’m the fan of Hellraiser. That’s what I want to see as a horror person.”
On working with Aaron Mahnke …
“The very first week back in January, he flew out. … He flew out and really helped us set the tone for the entire season two, which six episodes we were going to do and how we were going to do it. He’ll send notes in on scripts and cuts. He’ll work from afar, but he’s very busy. … He’s extremely busy right now. … He flew out to Prague. He was out in Prague for a week while we were shooting. He’s actually in one of the episodes, ‘Mary Webster.’ He’s in the episode, and I’ve come to like him quite a bit. So we talk constantly. Usually it’s personal now, now that we’re done, but we talk all the time. He’s a really good guy.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Season two of Lore is now available on Amazon Prime. Click here for more information
