Wes Craven, director and writer of
The Hills Have Eyes (1977), considered a remake after he saw the success of other horror remakes such as
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and
The Amityville Horror (2005). The search then began for filmmakers to helm the project. Marianne Maddalena, Craven's long-time producing partner, came across
Alexandre Aja and his art director/collaborator Grégory Levasseur, who had previously made the French slasher film
High Tension (2003). After showing the film to Craven and the rest of the production crew, they were impressed with the pair. Craven commented that they "demonstrated a multifaceted understanding of what is profoundly terrifying" and "after viewing the film and then meeting the film makers, I knew I wanted to work with them." Aja and Levasseur then began to rewrite the story in what was the pair's first American production. Initially, the remake was set up at
Dimension Films as part of Craven's overall deal with
Miramax, Dimension then put the film into turnaround, where it was acquired by Fox Searchlight. Director Aja and art director Grégory Levasseur chose not to film in the original's filming location of
Victorville, California, and instead scouted many locations for filming, including
Namibia,
South Africa,
New Mexico, and
Mexico. The two settled on
Ouarzazate in
Morocco, which was known as "the gateway to the
Sahara". The film is set in New Mexico, and strongly implies that a large number of atmospheric nuclear weapon tests were performed in that state. In fact, the only atmospheric nuclear detonation in New Mexico was the
Trinity test, the first test of a nuclear device conducted on July 16, 1945. The United States carried out most of its atmospheric nuclear weapons tests at the
Nevada Test Site and in the
Marshall Islands at the lagoons of
Bikini and
Eniwetok, between 1946 and 1962. The theatrical poster shows Vinessa Shaw's character prone, with a mutant hand on her face. During the opening sequence, flashes of deformed children are shown. These children are victims of
Agent Orange, infamous for its use during the
Vietnam War.
Effects Prior to filming, Aja and Levasseur had already conceived an idea for the mutants' appearance. "We based all our descriptions and directions on real documents, pictures, and footage that we found on the effects of nuclear fallout in
Chernobyl and
Hiroshima", explains Aja.
The Hills Have Eyes used the K.N.B. EFX Group Inc., which spent over six months designing the mutants, first using three-dimensional designer tools, such as
ZBrush, allowing them to use a computer to generate their sculptures. After prosthetics were made, they could be fitted to the actors before filming. Robert Joy, who plays the mutant Lizard, explained, "Every day, these amazing artists took more than three hours to transform me into something that could only be found in a nightmare." K.N.B. artist
Gregory Nicotero made a cameo as Cyst, the mutant with the halo headgear. Jamison Goei and his team had done over 130 visual effects for the film. A large part of that was digitally constructing the testing village, which in actuality was only one built street with others digitally added. The team also warped the mutant's faces slightly, which is shown mostly in the character of Ruby. Papa Jupiter displays no deformities. However, as shown in "The Making Of", Papa Jupiter appears to have a large
parasitic twin attached to his upper left torso. The young children of the film had their deformities added by CGI, with the exception of Ruby, who had a combination of CGI and makeup.
Casting The casting process began with the selection of
Ted Levine as the character Big Bob. Levine was also a fan of the film
High Tension. Afterward,
Kathleen Quinlan was cast as Ethel in her first lead role in a horror film, although she appeared in the horror films
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and
Event Horizon (1997). Next,
Aaron Stanford was cast as Doug Bukowski, who "undergoes the most radical transformation of anyone in the Carter family". Stanford even asked not to see any of the mutants in make-up before his character's battle in the testing village, so he would be truly frightened. When casting Lynn, Doug's wife, Aja wanted to cast
Vinessa Shaw, with whom he had wanted to work since seeing her in
Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Shaw was hesitant to play the role, but after watching
High Tension, she agreed, explaining: "There was such an odd combination of beauty and terror, it felt almost like an art film. So, after meeting with Alex and Greg, I decided to do it." For the role of Brenda, the filmmakers sought a young actress who had relatively little exposure, and found her in
Emilie de Ravin, who was beginning her rise in the television series
Lost. After de Ravin,
Dan Byrd was cast as Bobby. Aja then had the six actors arrive in the filming location of
Morocco early to bond together. When casting for the mutants, associate producer Cody Zwieg explained: "We needed to find actors who could not only perform the stunt work, handle the extensive makeup and perform in that makeup, but [also] who truly could embody the fierce, primal nature of the mutants' way of life." To play the role of Pluto, Aja looked to
Michael Bailey Smith. For Lizard, the filmmakers cast
Robert Joy. Ezra Buzzington, impressed with the filmmakers, agreed to play the role of Goggle, and even watched a documentary about human cultures engaging in
cannibalism. To play the mutant leader, Billy Drago was cast. The most difficult mutant to cast was Ruby, who was a "touch of sweetness to the madness of the mutants." Laura Ortiz was ultimately cast, making her film debut. ==Soundtrack==