Interview – Robert Harmon and Eric Red
[This interview took place in 1986.]
The hitcher
Directed by Robert Harmon
Screenplay by Eric Red
Breaking into Hollywood is rarely easy. It takes talent, perseverance, determination and a lot of luck. Director Robert Harmon and screenwriter Eric Red have brought all of the above together to create The hitcher, a new thriller starring C. Thomas Howell, Rutger Hauer and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
The project began with an eventful cross-country trip from New York City to Los Angeles. As young filmmaker and former taxi driver Eric Red drove alone through a dark Texas night, he began to fall asleep at the wheel. “I picked up a hitchhiker,” Red explains, “just to pass the time. To help me stay awake. But the guy just sat there, smelling dirty and staring at me. I started to feel uncomfortable about the whole situation. And I thought maybe not. It was a good idea to pick him up. He had a head start. I finally stopped the car a few miles ahead and asked him to get out. He left willingly, and that was it. “
From such experiences nightmares are born. Continuing through Texas, Red kept turning the story over in his mind, wondering what would have happened if the attacker hadn’t left voluntarily. When he got to Austin, he was almost broke. “I stayed in Austin for a month to write the script,” recalls Red, “and sent a short, ten-line letter to all the production companies in Los Angeles. It was an unsolicited consultation to pique interest in the story, telling them that the script was available. “
It received responses from about 40 percent of the companies. A letter, from David Bombyk (producer of Witness) asked to see the script. That script was later sent to director Robert Harmon, whose previous credits include the short film. China lake, a period of one year like Playboy photographer and camera work for numerous UCLA student films. “I responded immediately to Eric’s script,” says Harmon. “At the time I was in a rather uncomfortable position, as I really wanted to make a feature film, but had already said ‘no’ to several possible projects. The story had fascinating characters and, more importantly, few characters. That was definitely an advantage, as I was a first-time director and I wanted a project that wasn’t too big to handle. “
Harmon attended film school at Boston University, but left after several conflicts with his professors. Harmon says, “I didn’t really do much research on the school before I attended. It wasn’t the right thing for me; it wasn’t what I wanted to do; it wasn’t where I wanted to go in the movie. They were too preoccupied with film theory in Instead of practice. Everyone was talking about movies, but I wanted to make movies. In Hollywood. “
And now both Robert Harmon and Eric Red have made that dream come true, with a nightmare called The hitcher.
