The Austrian directing duo of Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz have a very interesting back story. They first met when Franz hired a teenage Fiala to babysit her son in the late '90s, and Fiala asked her to rent movies for him as payment. I've seen and heard them tell this story a couple times, and a movie that keeps getting mentioned as one of the rentals is FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN. When Fiala and Franz were guests on last week's episode of the Movie Crypt podcast, which is hosted by Adam Green and Joe Lynch, mention of JASON TAKES MANHATTAN inspired Lynch to ask, "If you were approached, would you guys ever do a FRIDAY THE 13TH movie?"
The directors responded,
FIALA: They approached us. They did.
FRANZ: Yeah.
When asked if this was while Paramount while trying to get a found footage version of FRIDAY THE 13TH together, they said,
FIALA: No, it was a different one, but actually… the good old Austrian way of pitching, and we're, like, the worst pitchers, we immediately told the producers, 'We know somebody else who might be much better for the job.' So, yeah… Which is true.
FRANZ: Which is true.
FIALA: I think, yeah. We're very honest and I think we honestly meant we believe we're not the best people for this job. If we feel that, we would always say that, and that's why we never have any jobs.
Paramount hired David Bruckner to direct a FRIDAY THE 13TH when their aim was to make it found footage. Bruckner then remained attached for a while after the found footage idea was tossed aside. The development process was taking so long, however (they kept rejecting scripts), that the studio and producers at Platinum Dunes decided to let Bruckner go so he could pursue other projects.
Based on what I know of the timeline, I'm assuming Franz and Fiala would have been brought in to pitch on FRIDAY THE 13TH after Bruckner left. The directing job went to THE CRAZIES remake director Breck Eisner, but then Paramount cancelled the project when it was just weeks away from filming. So it's good for them that they avoided getting involved.
Paramount had five years of the last decade to make as many FRIDAY THE 13TH movies as they could, and they managed to make zero. The franchise is now on hold due to the court battle between the original film's producer/director Sean S. Cunningham and screenwriter Victor Miller over the U.S. copyright to that movie.
Fiala and Franz's GOODNIGHT MOMMY is one of the most troubling films I've seen in recent years, but it didn't make me think they would be a good fit for FRIDAY THE 13TH. Which kind of makes me curious to see what their FRIDAY THE 13TH could have been like.
Their new film THE LODGE is currently in theatres.