After directing blockbusters like Fast X and Now You See Me, director Louis Leterrier has delivered his first sci-fi horror film: The Last House. Starring Oscar nominee Wagner Moura and Golden Globe nominee Greta Lee, the movie follows the Delgado family as a mysterious rain seals them inside their house, forcing them to use what little resources they have to survive.
In an interview with Digital Trends, Leterrier discussed what inspired him to make The Last House, the challenges of filming on its practical set, and how audiences can connect to the Delgados’ extraordinary journey.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Digital Trends: You had an extensive filmography. You’ve directed a lot of blockbuster films, though The Last House is actually [the] first horror movie that you worked on as a director. Tell me, why exactly did you decide to direct this movie?
Leterrier: Because it spoke to me. And it’s funny, I don’t think it’s a horror movie. I mean, it’s a little scary at times, but there’s a lot of stuff happening in this movie and the stuff that I related with was when I read the script by Matthew Robinson. I was like, “Oh, this movie.”
As you said, I’ve done a lot of guys jumping off planes and cars, and monsters and all that stuff…But I hadn’t done something where I turned the page, and I was like, “Yeah, that’s me. Oh, I’ve so experienced this before and everything.” And obviously, I evolved [the] script into something that is just a little more, but I think it started with something that I can truly relate with.
Digital Trends: Yeah, the core of the story, it’s the family trying to come together to survive. I read that you tried to do something more “Spielbergian” with that kind of story. What specific cinematic inspirations did you draw from for this film?
Leterrier: I mean, Steven Spielberg, I’m not hiding. He’s my favorite director of all time…”Amblin dark,” like the movies from the ’80s, where maybe his life was just more in shambles, it feels like. Where he was talking about he had more of an intense, emotional crisis. [They were] all interesting to me. Whether it’s Poltergeist, Close Encounters, and obviously E.T., which is my inspiration.
I watch E.T. once a week. I watched it last night. I watch [it] to see truth captured on film…These are the inspirations for my movie, and also Richard Matheson, who’s an author I really love. He sees the two sides of the uncanny and just exposes it pretty well. I actually found the lenses that they shot E.T. and Raiders [of the Lost Ark] with. And then we shot with the same lenses.
Digital Trends: That’s all really incredible. And going back to what you said about trying to capture that truth on screen. Watching the film, with the Delgados…they’re all like trapped in this house, and they’re really trying to survive. It really gave me [flashbacks] of what a lot of people were going through during the pandemic, and everyone was locked down. Was that a deliberate storytelling choice?
Leterrier: Yes, but I didn’t want to make a COVID movie…So I try to inspire myself on my personal experience and other people’s experiences of COVID, and then use that as this jumping-off point. So, it’s not a COVID movie, but because you’ve experienced it, you know the feeling.
You know when you’re stuck inside, then you know what it’s gonna feel like. So, there’s less exposition, and you can go straight into the emotion and the psychology of the characters, and you want to do 20 minutes of exposition. You go, minute five, you’re in, you’re like…off you go. And that’s that.
Digital Trends: What was the most challenging thing about making The Last House?
Leterrier: Everything. It’s the most difficult movie I’ve ever made. It was so hard. You have no idea. We trapped ourselves [in the house]. It’s my fault, ’cause I wanted everything to be real. It was a real house made of concrete and wood that had to be planned backward.
We shot chronologically because they opened the layers and layers and layers of it. Real animals. Where to grow the plants. The grass. It was real. The rain was real. And also, I wanted everything to be eco-sensitive, so we recycled the water overnight. We did all that stuff. We really made it hard on ourselves, but for the right reasons. Just to, again, capture the truth.
We were trapped in this house for months, but it worked. You have to point your camera at something real, because you can’t tweak everything in post-production. If you capture something real, the movies feel different. I think instinctively, as a human race, we know when there’s real stuff. That’s why movies like The Odyssey are working these days.
Digital Trends: [Wagner Moura] and Greta Lee are the two big stars of this film, and they’re really some of the biggest names in Hollywood right now. Why did you choose to cast them as the heads of the Delgado family?
Leterrier: Well, I’m very lucky. Greta believed in this movie for years. Right after Past Lives, or during Past Lives, we met, and I sent her a version of the script. Very different. And she was like, “Oh, that’s very interesting.” And then Wagner, a bit later but way before his last [Oscar] nomination. He was a great actor…so we decided to go on this journey together.
I guess the answer is just they’re right. They were the right people…and we helped each other so much. It was like, I needed Greta, and I needed Wagner to survive this adventure, and they needed me, I guess.
Digital Trends: Yeah, absolutely. And so overall, what do you hope audiences will get out of this film? What do you want them to walk away learning or just feeling with the experience that the Delgados have in this house together?
Leterrier: I think you look at your life differently. You’ll experience life [a] different way after this movie. You learn a little bit about yourself while watching this movie. I think the beauty of those movies we talked about, the Steven Spielberg movies, all those books, they are like mirrors, black mirrors, you’re reflecting your own image in a different way. I think that’s what I tried to capture and emulate a little bit for this one. Just to bring you back to a moment where cinema was talking about us.
Stream The Last House on Netflix.