COOTIES

LOGLINE When a chicken nugget virus transforms grade school kids into blood-thirsty savages, oddball teachers trapped inside the building band together to flee the playground carnage.

SYNOPSIS Struggling writer Clint Hadson (ELIJAH WOOD) turns up for his first day on the job as a substitute teacher at Ft. Chicken Elementary expecting to find a stress-free gig that allows plenty of time to finish his haunted boat thriller Keel Them All. It gets even better when Clint discovers his adorable former classmate Lucy McCormick (ALISON PILL) teaches at the school, as does her snarky jock boyfriend Wade Johnson (RAINN WILSON). The bad news: unbeknownst to Clint, one of his students ate a contaminated chicken nugget at the local fast food franchise. Her face covered in sores, “Patient Zero” scratches classroom bullies and within minutes, the entire playground has turned into a bloodbath as zombie-like child killers rip every adult they can find from limb to limb. Once the kids turn off the power and dismember Vice-Principal Simms (IAN BRENNAN), Clint, Lucy and Wade band together with goofy art instructor Tracy Simmons (JACK MCBRAYER), mildly schizophrenic science nerd Doug (LEIGH WHANNELL) and right wing disciplinarian Rebekkah Halverson (NASIM PEDRAD) to figure out a survival plan. Unable to call for help because of the school's no-cellphones policy, the embattled faculty members fight their way through a herd of vicious child tormenters and make their getaway with a little help from a pharmaceutically-altered crossing guard (JORGÉ GARCIA). By nightfall, they learn the rest of their small Illinois town has also been terrorized by infected children. Lesson learned: When it comes to kids infected with homicide-inducing cooties, you can run but you can't hide. Presented by SpectreVision and Glacier Films, Cooties is directed by JONATHAN MILOTT and CARY MURNION (collectively known as HONEST) from a screenplay by LEIGH WHANNELL and IAN BRENNAN. Produced by DANIEL NOAH, JOSH C. WALLER and ELIJAH WOOD, along with TOVE CHRISTENSEN, GEORGY MALKOV and STEVEN SCHNEIDER. Executive Producers are IAN BRENNAN, LEIGH WHANNELL, GEVOND ANDREASYAN, SARIK ANDREASYAN, HAYDEN CHRISTENSEN, SETH WILLIAM MEIER and VLADMIR POLIAKOV.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION One day SpectreVision producer Josh Waller found himself chatting with his niece when the subject of cooties came up. The conversation immediately inspired Waller to picture a horror scenario in which an industrial-strength "cooties" epidemic turns pre-pubescent children into feral predators. Waller shared his concept with producing partners Daniel Noah and Elijah Wood. “Josh came to us saying ‘I can’t believe no one’s ever done a horror film called Cooties about monstrous children,’” recalls Noah. Wood sparked to the possibilities. “It was sort of shocking that there had never been some cheesy, poorly produced exploitation movie called ‘Cooties,’ but we looked up the title and it was never made,” he says.

“Saw” Meets “Glee” To develop their premise into a full-blown screenplay, Waller, Noah and Wood recruited horror auteur Leigh Whannell. Responsible for writing the first three Saw movies and the blockbuster Insidious franchise, Whannell loved the Cooties title but insisted on bringing humor into the mix. “It had to be a horror comedy,” he says. “Originally we wanted Cooties to be a straight up hardcore horror film,” Noah explains. “In terms of the overall tone of the film, we had in mind a movie that took itself seriously and would be quite frightening and genuinely scary,” adds Wood. The producers expressed their thoughts to Whannel. “My response to them was ‘Guys…it’s called Cooties!!’" laughs Whannell. In its final form, Cooties draws inspiration from 1980's-era horror entertainments. “In many ways Cooties is a throwback to horror films like Gremlins and An American Werewolf in London, where the laughs were at 11 and so were the scares,” says Noah. “These days, horror comedies tend to favor the comedy and they’re not particularly scary. With Cooties we want the audience to be jumping out of their skin with fright one second, and doubling over with laughter in the next.” To crank up the story's joke quotient, Whannell brought on his friend Ian Brennan to co- write the screenplay. Brennan had no experience in the horror genre but plenty of practice writing about teachers and students as co-creator of the hit high school musical TV series “Glee.” “Obviously I write a lot in a school setting, and also my mom and sister are teachers,” Brennan notes. “I really liked the idea of channeling the desire of a teacher, particularly a substitute, who wants to punch a kid in the face. The cooties outbreak gave us the perfect excuse to show that.” “I was amazed at Ian because he'd go away for ten minutes and come back with seven pages of razor-sharp ‘His Girl Friday’-worthy dialogue, whereas for me, in an hour, I would have written ‘The moon breaks free of the clouds,’” Whannell says. “But because of my experience in the horror genre, I have a subconscious knowledge of structure and that came out when we were doing the outline.” Together, the writers struck a balance between verbal gags and gory action sequences. “I’m much more experienced in the intricacies of the dialogue and tone, where Leigh has a much stronger instinct for the story,” observes Brennan. Whannell took responsibility for doing “scare passes” on the script to make sure the story had enough horror to balance the comedy. “We wanted to write something that was genuinely funny and genuinely scary when it needs to be,” Whannell explains. “Tonally, it’s very straight and deadpan.”

An “Honest” Directing Duo Once Whannell and Brennan delivered their Cooties script, SpectreVision invited directors to pitch their takes on the material. Though they'd never made a feature film before, directing team Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion, known collectively as HONEST, won over the producers by spending two months creating a “lookbook” complete with storyboards, a video and a chart showing how the virus would affect kids at various stages. “Because the premise is somewhat unbelievable, we wanted to instill a sense of realism to the story right from the start,” says Murnion. “We didn't want it to be overblown or cartoony,” adds Milott. “In our initial treatment we were really interested in getting our vision across about everything we would do visually we would approach from a realistic standpoint.” Impressed with HONEST’s presentation, SpectreVision embraced the idea of a two-person directing team. “I’ve worked with a directing pair before,” says Wood. “The fear would be that there would be conflicting information, or even too much information, but that wasn’t the case at all with Jon and Cary. One would give notes to the actors while the other stood back. They were always in synch and more importantly, they have a warmth and friendliness that extends to everyone on the cast and crew.”

The Ft. Chicken Faculty With the script and directors in place, SpectreVision began casting actors to portray the oddball faculty held captive by their cooties-infested pupils. “It was important to get actors with real comedy chops who could bring a brightness of energy to the material.” says Noah. One of the first actors to respond to the Cooties challenge was Rainn Wilson. Famed for his depiction of Dwight in long running NBC comedy series “The Office,” Wilson portrays bitter gym teacher Wade Johnson.“ The idea was intriguing,” he says. “When I read the script it had a real story, real characters, real heart, great transformations and a really interesting emotional journey. I got very excited about doing this movie.” Jack McBrayer, a fixture on Emmy-winning “30 Rock,” savored his role as art teacher Tracy Simmons. “It sounded like super fun, plus I’ve never done a horror film before,” says McBrayer, who popularized his goofball persona on “Late Night with Conan O'Brien.” “I usually just smile a lot and talk Southern,” he says. “On Cooties, I got to talk Southern and scream real big.” For Allison Pill, Cooties represented a drastic departure from her breakthrough role as a serious-minded TV producer in Aaron Sorkin's HBO drama “Newsroom.” “Cooties was one of the few scripts I read alone in my living room that made me laugh out loud,” says Pill. “I actually guffawed,” "Saturday Night Live" veteran Nasim Pedrad welcomed the opportunity to channel ultra- conservative grade school teacher Rebekkah Halverson. “What I like about Rebekkah is that she has a very specific worldview and mannerisms. On the page, Leigh and Ian wrote her brilliantly and hilariously. That's a lot more fun to take on than a character whom you’re trying to figure out because you're not clear about who she is.” Whannell wrote himself the role of oddball science teacher Doug. “Ian and I started out as actors and ended up as writers because acting is such a thankless task,” he laughs. “The only way I can get good acting roles is to write scripts.” Brennan did double duty by portraying hapless Vice- Principal Simms. “The one good thing about writing for yourself is that you never have to question about how the line is supposed to be read. We know exactly how it’s intended to go,” he says. Wood, famed for his earnest portrayal of Frodo in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, had no intention of starring as the unlikely hero of Cooties, but his producing partners had other ideas. “Every time we made a cast list, we came to the conclusion that Elijah was the only one actor who could play Clint,” says Waller. “Elijah is charming and endearing and he fought right up until the last minute about joining the cast.” Ultimately, Wood enjoyed wearing two hats as both actor and producer. “I loved what Leigh and Ian had written,” says Wood. “It was a lot of fun to work on a movie about zombie-like children and to have it come to life so beautifully with this incredible cast.”

Casting the Cootie Kids While the adult actors dispense the lion's share of Cooties' wise-cracking dialogue, it's the kids who drive the action scenes. “We got incredibly lucky,” says Waller, describing the quick audition process. “The kids came who came in on the first day of the casting process -- they were the ones we chose.” “In the heydays of the horror film, the monsters were portrayed by brilliant actors like Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney,” adds Noah. “In our film, the prosthetics are very limited, so we really had to rely on the talent of these child actors. They delivered amazing, ferocious, terrifying and heartfelt portrayals, which had very little to do with makeup. It was in the performance.”

On Location in L.A. Cooties began principal photography in July 2013 at Los Angeles' Dorris Place Elementary School. Filmed largely at this single location, cast and crew enjoyed the luxury of shooting most of the movie in sequence. “Cooties is front-loaded with introductory scenes and characters meeting each other,” explains Wood. “That was a great way for us to start production because the actors got a chance to embody these defining moments in a fresh way for the first time. By the end of the first week, we were off and running. Literally running, because the kids with the cooties started to invade the school.” Faced with limited time and budget, HONEST co-directors Milott and Murnion ran a tight ship. “We did a lot of planning beforehand,” says Murnion. “Before we got to set each day we had storyboards of all the major sequences as well as extensive shot lists; we knew exactly how we would be approaching each scene.” For all their efficiency, Milott and Murnion managed to create a relaxed atmosphere. “Within a few days, the cast really felt like a family and the school became our home,” says Waller. “Every single person on that crew wanted to be there and shared equally in our vision and excitement for the project,” adds Milott.

When Improv Meets Horror… Despite the constraints of a 25-day shooting schedule, Milott and Murnion encouraged their cast to go off script and adlib lines of dialogue when the occasion called for it. “Jon and Cary were adamant about getting what was in the script, and then letting the actors do their thing,” explains Waller. “When you have brilliant actors with backgrounds in improvisation, you want to let them have at it.” McGrayer, who honed his comedy chops at Chicago’s legendary Second City troupe, appreciated the directors’ flexibility. “They were totally open to us adding our own tweaks and input,” says McGrayer. “If you're a comedian especially, it’s very rewarding to be able to put your own spin on something.” Coming from a background that includes a Tony-nominated performance in Broadway drama “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” Pill savored the free-wheeling Cooties cast. “I’ve been such a fan of so many of these people,” she says. “It was amazing to see their comedic timing and watch them come up with insane, hilarious improv. You couldn’t ask for a better group to support you and laugh at your jokes.” Getting Physical Cast members like Wilson and McBrayer had plenty of experience in crafting wisecracks for maximum comedic effect, but Cooties also required the actors to run, scream and fight for weeks on end “For me,” says Wilson, “The most physically challenging scene was one where I had to run across the schoolyard to escape an advancing mob of rabid Cooties kids, clotheslining about half a dozen of them along the way. There were many takes. Unlike my character Wade, I am not a former football star. I just play one in the movies.”

Hardcore Popcorn Flick The filmmakers hoped to infect audiences with a roller coaster ride fueled by equal laughter and terror in equal measure. “Cooties is aimed directly at hardcore horror buffs,” says Waller, “It doesn’t pull any punches in terms of the horror elements, but at the same time, the warmth of the ensemble creates a story that feels quite friendly in many ways. ” “We hope Cooties also draws an audience that normally wouldn’t come to see a horror film, but because they love Elijah, Rainn, Alison, Jorgé and the rest of our beloved cast, they'll discover the joys of terror along with the joys of laughter,” adds Noah. “Maybe we can broaden their cinematic horizons a bit.” For all its outrageous comedy sequences, Cooties indirectly references somber concerns surrounding contemporary education. “This movie has some serious issues on its mind,” says Waller. “Poor nutrition is a big theme and also, Cooties deals with flaws in the education system. When you talk to teachers in the public school system, they sometimes admit to feeling at odds with their students because they don’t have the freedom to tailor their lessons to individual minds. That can lead to acrimony. While our film takes this problem and explodes it into a big horror scenario, we hope it spawns some interesting conversations.” Wood sees Cooties as a high-concept popcorn movie that comes fully loaded with thrills and chills. “I hope audiences laugh at the ridiculousness of our scenario and at the same time I want Cooties to make people feel afraid. At the end of the day, you should have a lot of fun. After all, our movie is called Cooties and it’s about killer children. I think that says it all.”