Hilarie Burton is expanding her producorial roster inBloody Axe Wound. Having first started as a host on MTV’sTotal Request Live, Burton would find her big break in the acting world with her role asPeyton inOne Tree Hill, starring in the first six seasons of the hit teen drama. She has since found success both on the big and small screens, including the well-received dramaThe Secret Life of Bees, USA Network’sWhite Collarand recurring roles onGrey’s Anatomyand theLethal Weaponshow, among others.
Burton has teamed with her husband and producing partner,The Walking Dead’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan, to produceBloody Axe Wound, a horror comedy set in the small town of Clover Falls, in which serial slashers are not only the norm, but are also stars releasing edited versions of their kills in the vein of horror movies. The story largely focuses on Abbie Bladecut, the daughter of fading killer Roger Bladecut, who wants to take up the family mantle, only to get pushback from her dad and others in the industry.
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A.P. Bioalum Sari Arambulo leads the ensembleBloody Axe Woundcast as Abbie alongsideFire Countrystar Billy Burkeas Roger,Dexter: Original Sin’s Molly Brown, fellowA.P. Bioalum Eddie Leavy, Sage Spielman, Margot Anderson-Song, Matt Hopkins, David Littleton andThe Walking Dead’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan as another star serial slasher, Butch Slater. With a delightfully meta twist on the slasher genre and well-rounded characters, the movie proves to be a fun mix of horror, comedy and coming-of-age drama.
In anticipation of the movie’s release,ScreenRantinterviewed Hilarie Burton to discussBloody Axe Wound, what drew her and Morgan to want to produce the film, how the latter’s relationship with theWalking Deadfranchise actually benefited the production, why Morgan elected for a cameo role in the film and gave the bigger role of Roger to his childhood friend Billy Burke, casting the young leads, and the in-developmentOne Tree Hillsequel show.
Burke & Morgan Immediately Reached Out To Lawrence After Watching Another Of His Movies
“It was the weirdest slasher film ever…”
ScreenRant: Hilarie, I am very excited to chat with you. Obviously, a long-time admirer of your work, but also lovedBloody Axe Wound, it’s such a funny and wild take on the horror genre. I’d actually love to hear first, how did you come across the script for this? And what about it really spoke to you and to Jeffrey Dean Morgan to want to help produce it?
Hilarie Burton: It was the pandemic, and we’d watched everything there was to watch. So, Jeff and I were scrolling through, and we saw this movie, Uncle Peckerhead, and we’re like, “[In a whisper] The f–k is this?” It was that, like, banned culture, which is something that I have always kind of been involved in and interested in. It was the weirdest slasher film ever, it’s got such a good sense of humor. It was so dark, and the use of practical effects was incredible. So, we reached out to the filmmaker, Matthew John Lawrence, and were like, “Hey, dude, we really like your movie. Do you have anything else?”
And he sent us a stack of scripts that he had, and this one really spoke to us, because I worked in the teen drama industry for a very long time, so I’ve got opinions about it, and Jeffrey has been killing zombies and doing blood and gut s–t forever. So, to be able to combine those backgrounds in this movie felt timely, and really fun for the two of us, so we brought it to Shudder, which is a part of our parent company, AMC. He works, obviously, for AMC, I work for Sundance, which is a branch of AMC. And Shudder was like, “Yeah, let’s ride. This is gonna be weird.”
It’s the perfect movie for Shudder! So, you mentioned the melding of genres, and you having that teen drama background. When you read through Matthew’s script, did you have, maybe not necessarily notes, but sort of guidance or ideas that you gave him to help with that side of the story?
Hilarie Burton: Yeah, and he was great about them. I think anytime you have a man writing about a teenage girl’s perspective, there’s the potential to wander into some murky territory. So, early on, we had great notes sessions, he came here to scout, so I drove around with him and his wife all day showing them locations in the Hudson Valley.
And then, we sat down in our local tavern and just went through the script and talked about, “How would a teenage girl react to this? How does someone react to their dad when they’re being disciplined?” We were able to really find a happy middle ground where his story could still be gross and funny and dark, but we also were paying tribute to these coming-of-age stories about teenage girls who have violence coming at them from every direction, and the idea that the violence can come from within a teenage girl as well. It was important.
It’s a really unique way to explore that genre, and it also leads to a lot of heartfelt moments that I love.
Hilarie Burton: Those girls together, they’re incredible. Sari and Molly Brown. Sari Arambulo and Molly Brown are just magic.
Morgan’s Cameo Came About For A Few Key Reasons
“…there’s no one on the planet who could have played it better than Billy.”
They really are. So, speaking of that, were you involved in the casting search at all, or did you sort of leave all of that to Matthew and the casting director when it came to that?
Hilarie Burton: No, we had Zooms from my garage. I would go down there, it was just like, “Drop the kids off! Okay, I gotta go sit and read with people.” But we knew early on that Molly was someone that Matthew really, really wanted, and we knew that he was a big fan of AP Bio, which is where we got Sari and Eddie, so he brought them to the table. And we were like, “Great, we love those choices, let’s go for them. But in the meantime, we also have to read people.” So, we ended up reading some really wonderful actors, and we were able, with our casting director, to flesh out this cast in a way that feels real.
It feels like a real pack of the weirdos at school. Billy Burke, who is my husband’s very best friend since they were 17 years old, feels like a dad that would impose some strict boundaries for his daughter. He’s a girl dad in real life, and so he just brought all that energy to this, and it was great. We know that my husband’s like a dangerous person, so having him as Butch Slater was a no-brainer.
Now, I did want to ask about that, though, because Billy’s character also does feel like someone Jeffrey could play so well. I think back, obviously, toSupernaturaland John Winchester. But was there an idea to maybe have him be Billy’s character, or was it always he was going to be Butch?
Hilarie Burton: I think Jeff worried about a conflict of interest, a little bit, in producing this, but also having it be a vehicle for himself. And he was also filming Dead City and a couple of other projects at the time, so we were looking externally for Bladecut. And Billy spent Thanksgiving here with his family, and we’re all just sitting around the couch, shooting the s–t, and we’re like, “Do you want to see this movie, Uncle Peckerhead? It’s weird. You’re gonna like it.”
He watches the movie, and he’s like, “Send me that Bladecut script, send me that thing.” So, we sent it to him, and Billy was just like, “This is mine now. It’s mine.” And honestly, there’s no one on the planet who could have played it better than Billy. We would have asked him if it didn’t feel like such a huge favor to be like, “Well, will you move cross-country and also come stay here for three weeks and be in makeup for six hours every day?” It’s a big ask of your friend, and Billy just crushed it. He’s so good.
I’d actually love to hear about the makeup, becauseUncle Peckerhead, obviously, had a lot of practical effects, this movie, there are a lot of practical effects. From the producer side of things, what is that like really making sure that your filmmaker has all the resources they need to be as wild and inventive as they want to be with these things?
Hilarie Burton: Yeah, our makeup department came from Dead City, so they’re a part of The Walking Dead family. And that felt really good, because we knew, as producers, going into it that we had the best of the best working with us, and they were doing it because they believed in the script. They believed in Matthew John Lawrence, and they believed in this story, and so honestly, just from a production standpoint, we had to carve out the budget for that before anything else, like before actor salaries, before music, before post-production. Making sure that department got what it needed was the most important piece of this.
I’d love to hear what your first reaction was when you saw Billy fully done up as the character.
Hilarie Burton: It’s crazy to hear a voice that I’ve known as long as I’ve known my husband, and it’s coming out of a face that f—-d up, right? [Laughs] “Billy, what happened?!” Because Billy and Jeffrey are similar in a lot of ways. They’re both girl dads, they both have that really deep voice, they’re both very tall, unintentionally imposing men, so Billy doesn’t have to do any extra work to be intimidating, and he just let that makeup do the work so he could be a loving dad.
The way he plays this character is incredible, because then it makes you think, “Well, what’s the backstory for every other slasher I’ve ever watched? Jason Voorhees, who’s he in the privacy of his own home? Freddy Krueger, what’s his vibe?” It makes you really rethink all the big bad guys you’ve seen in the past.
TheOne Tree HillSequel Is In Very Good Hands With Becky Hartman Edwards
“…we’re in the very, very, very early stages.”
I see I’m coming up on time, so I did want to ask you really quickly, very excited that you and Sophia are coming back totheOne Tree Hilluniverse. So, this is kind of a two-part question. Obviously, you don’t want to spoil everything, but what can you say about how this will expand on the original stories? And then also, I know Chad is supposedly not coming back. What can you say about how much his absence might impact the story?
Hilarie Burton: Well, what I can tell you is that [Sophia Bush and I are] not in charge of that aspect of the show. We were very, very lucky that we got a showrunner, Becky Hartman Edwards, who is so experienced, and her ability to connect with her writers room, the people on set, all the actors, she is magical at that. So, we get to be hands-off in that capacity and really be more on the business side of things. You know, “How are we going to go back to Wilmington, North Carolina, and have it feel like the good old days, but also be new and fresh for a brand-new audience?” So, we’re in the very, very, very early stages. Nothing is greenlit at this point, but I know it’s being presented, and I believe in it, and I’m proud of it, and I love that family of people, so fingers crossed. If it goes, I think everyone will be in a really good place.
Burton Is Ready To Support Lawrence’s Ideas ForBloody Axe WoundSequels
“…I’m putting on my old cheerleading uniform…”
This seems like only the surface has been scratched of this world. And Sari and Molly were talking about how Matthew’s got pages upon pages of worldbuilding. Are there any thoughts about producing follow-ups?
Hilarie Burton: The entirety of my career has been about telling people, “If you love it, and you want more of it, you gotta be loud about it, baby.” So I’m putting on my old cheerleading uniform and being like, “Okay, you guys are gonna love this, so I need you to be super noisy, so Shudder knows you want more.”
AboutBloody Axe Wound
Abbie Bladecut is a teenager torn between the macabre traditions of her family’s bloody trade and the tender stirrings of her first crush. In the small town of Clover Falls, Abbie’s father, Roger Bladecut, has built an infamous legacy by capturing real-life killings on tape and selling them to eager customers, but as Abbie delves deeper into the grisly family business, she begins to wonder if it’s time to take the family tradition in a new direction.
Check out our otherBloody Axe Woundinterview with Sari Arambulo & Molly Brown!
Bloody Axe Woundis now in select theaters and will begin streaming on Shudder in March!
Bloody Axe Wound
Cast
Bloody Axe Wound follows the daughter of a notorious ex-serial killer as she attempts to emulate her father’s grim legacy. As she navigates her ambitions, her father questions her ability to uphold his infamous reputation in the world of crime.
