‘Thanksgiving’ Director Eli Roth on Making a Black Friday-Inspired Slasher and Lessons He Took From ‘The Idol’

Alex Cramer
·3 min read
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The Vista Theatre hosted two premieres on Tuesday night — the first was for Thanksgiving, Eli Roth’s latest horror offering based on the fake trailer he created for the 2007 film Grindhouse. The second was for the movie house itself, which held its first premiere since Quentin Tarantino purchased the single-screen theater in 2021 and reopened it this past weekend.

Roth shared what it meant that his film was the first premiere at his close friend’s theater, noting, “It’s a really meaningful moment. Quentin’s been telling me about the Vista for years, and he bought it and he’s been refurbishing it. It’s going to be 35 [mm] only, and then when the timing worked out that the first movie was going to be Thanksgiving, I just thought, this is poetic. This is so beautiful. Only Quentin could do this; he’s more than a friend, he’s a brother and I love him to death.”

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Thanksgiving is a holiday-themed slasher that follows an ax-wielding maniac on a mission for revenge after a tragedy occurs at a Black Friday sale. Roth said that the over-commercialization of the holiday was his inspiration for creating the film with writing partner Jeff Rendell.

“We didn’t really know what the story was until we started seeing these Black Friday trampling videos, and we said, ‘That’s our theme. That’s what it’s about,'” the director recalled. “It’s about the commercialization of Christmas that has bled over and taken over this holiday, where you’re supposed to be sitting around being thankful for everything you have. ‘Oh, I’m so happy. I have my health, I’m happy. I have my friends.’ Cut to two hours later, you’re trampling someone to death for a waffle iron.”

Roth, who co-starred in HBO’s The Idol, also explained that he took lessons from that project to Thanksgiving, noting, “the vibe on set was the opposite of what people seem to think.”

“We had the best time making it and that was something I tried to bring onto the set of Thanksgiving was, everyone got along, everyone was supportive. You were with Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Hank Azaria and Jane Adams, Lily-Rose Depp, and Abel [Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd]. Everyone was laughing and enjoying each other,” Roth added, and said of the public reaction to the show, “I think it’s one of those things you can’t control what people think, but I think time is the only critic that matters.”

Thanksgiving’s star is newcomer Nell Verlaque, and she told The Hollywood Reporter she would decompress after filming blood-filled horror scenes by watching “a lot of Housewives, but most of the time, I tried to stay in it as much as I could. It is a very heavy headspace, but Eli is great about creating a set where you feel safe to do that, so in between Housewives and crying, I figured it out.”

Addison Rae has a supporting role in the film, and she weighed in on if she planned to pursue a career as a scream queen like horror legend Jamie Lee Curtis.

“That would be amazing — she’s obviously an icon,” Rae said. “I think just challenging myself at different things is always really fun, and this was a totally different challenge, totally different experience. I’m just really, really lucky that I got so blessed to be with such an amazing cast and to work with Eli.”

Thanksgiving also stars Patrick Dempsey, Rick Hoffman and Gina Gershon and is being co-released by TriStar and Spyglass Media Group. The film will serve up slashings and stuffing in theaters on Friday.

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