Torture Scenes
Principal photography for Hostel: Part II began in Prague on 11 September 2006 at the state-of-the-art film facilities at Barrandov Studios, where key sets for the film’s underground dungeon were constructed. As with the original movie, many scenes were shot in locations in and around Prague. One rather notorious real-life establishment – known as Big Sister – was used for several scenes involving Todd and Stuart and helped established the seedy underworld of the story. Both a “voyeuristic pay site” and a brothel, Big Sister offers a wide variety of “services” to customers at no charge – as long as they agree to live Internet streaming of their activities, which are viewed by paying subscribers.
By all counts, Hostel: Part II is a substantially bigger production than its predecessor. Filming took place in vastly different locations – including the South of France and the North Atlantic island nation of Iceland – and Roth was given the freedom to create the bricks-and-mortar factory in which the story plays out. He explains, “When people go see Hostel: Part II, they’re going to want to go back to the same hostel and also see the same factory. But I didn’t want to go back to the same rooms in the factory. So we constructed a whole new underground level.”
In order to build the most authentic sets, Roth and production designer Robert Wilson King toured many factories and underground sites and replicated their favourite locations, adding their own flourishes to each one. King’s design work included a variety of settings: the interiors of the train carrying the girls toward unforeseen perils; the medieval fair; and, finally, the factory – the dark endpoint where the Elite Hunting organization conducts its grisly business. Roth describes King’s factory set as something of a character in and of itself – one that reminds moviegoers of where they’ve been, but simultaneously points them in a new direction.
Throughout his work on Hostel: Part II, King focused on conjuring emotionally loaded images, such as the creepy medieval festival or the heavy steel gates of the factory, which look like a teeth-baring monster. “I’m a method production designer,” he explains. “It’s beyond pretty pictures or just servicing the script. It’s getting inside it and figuring out the elements that really stir you, that can command some emotional response.”
Last but not least, Roth and his team had to make sure they delivered plenty of what fans have to come to expect from the Hostel franchise: blood and gore. The Oscar-winning make-up effects team of Gregory Nicotero and Howard Berger (Chronicles of Narnia) worked for four weeks before the start of production, fine-tuning the prosthetic body parts and cinematic illusions, each designed to make even the most diehard horror fans wince.
In almost every case, the results that appear on screen are the result of painstaking trial and error. In situations where the prosthetics required computerized assistance in creating a seamless effect, Nicotero and Berger turned to the CGI talents of visual effects supervisor Gary Beach. The result is a gritty, frighteningly realistic picture of human brutality that underscores the dark psychological heart of the film.
About the Cast
Lauren German (Beth)
Lauren German co-starred in the remake of the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Additional film credits include A Walk to Remember, starring Mandy Moore, Down to You, Standing Still, as well as the independent films RX, Piggy Banks, A Midsummer Night’s Rave, Everything Is Fine, Director’s Cut and Larceny.
Television audiences remember German as Rose Miller, the celebrity journalist girlfriend of Hank, who found herself in turmoil over her ex-boyfriend haunting her from the past, in Paramount Network Television’s UPN drama, “Sex, Love & Secrets.” Additional television credits include the CBS movie-of-the-week, “Surrender Dorothy,” the MTV original film “Shotgun Love Dolls,” as well as guest starring roles on Showtime’s “California” and the WB series “Seventh Heaven” and “The Lone Ranger.”
On stage, German has starred in the Glact productions “Peter Pan” and “Oliver.” She trained at the Theater School of Cinema at the Southern California, as well as The Actor’s Studio and the place Orange County High School of the Arts.
German will next be seen in You Are Here and What We Do Is Secret. She grew up in Orange County, Calif. and resides in Los Angeles.
Roger Bart (Stuart)
Television audiences have become quite familiar with Roger Bart’s breakout role as George Williams, the menacing pharmacist trying to seduce Bree Van De Kamp, on ABC’s hit drama “Desperate Housewives.”
Bart recently appeared in the film adaptation of Mel Brooks’ hit musical comedy The Producers in which he reprised his stage portrayal of “Carmen Ghia,” alongside Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. Bart received both Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his original performance in the role.
Bart recently wrapped production on Jeff Garlin’s independent comedy I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With and was most recently seen in a critically-acclaimed performance as a gay spouse in Paramount Pictures’ The Stepford Viwes. Additional film work includes The Insider, starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe, Disney’s Hercules (singing voice of Young Hercules), and The Lady and the Tramp II (singing voice of Scamp).
On Broadway, Bart received the 1999 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Featured Actor in a Musical as “Snoopy” in the revival of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” directed by Michael Mayer. Other Broadway and first national touring credits include “The Frogs,” starring Nathan Lane; “Triumph of Love,” “King David,” “How to Succeed in Business,” “The Secret Garden,” “Big River” and “The Who’s Tommy.”
His television credits include “Bram and Alice,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and “The George Carlin Show.”
A native of New Jersey, Bart divides his time between New York and Los Angeles.
Heather Matarazzo (Lorna)
Heather Matarazzo, a successful actress since her feature film debut in Welcome to the Dollhouse, which also earned her an Independent Spirit Award at the age of 12, has been captivating movie-going audiences for the past ten years. Most recently, she appeared on Showtime’s critically acclaimed “The L Word.”
Heather quickly followed up Dollhouse with a breakout performance in the Al Pacino thriller The Devil’s Advocate. In the following years, Heather worked on such films as 54, Getting to Know You, Scream 3, Sorority Boys, and Freshman Orientation as well as the critically acclaimed television movie, “Our Guys: Outrage at Glen Ridge,” in which Heather plays a mentally challenged teen who is gang raped by a group of high school students.
In 1997, Heather joined the cast of “Roseanne” for the final season of the smash hit show and in 1999 she began production on “Now and Again,” the largely successful Sci-Fi television show.
In 2001, Heather starred in Disney’s box office hit, The Princess Diaries, directed by Garry Marshall. In 2004, Heather reprised her role of Lilly in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. 2004 also brought the sleeper hit, Saved! where Heather joined co-stars Jena Malone, Mandy Moore and Macaulay Culkin in this comedic look at Christian subculture. Heather currently resides in New York City.
Bijou Phillips (Whitney)
The multi-talented Bijou Phillips has led an unusual life. She spent her childhood in New York, California and South Africa. She excelled in Equestrienne sport. When she was 13, she became a model to escape boarding school and became one of the youngest people to grace the cover of Interview Magazine and Italian Vogue. Bijou also appeared in several ads for Calvin Klein. At 17, she acquired a record deal and began work on her album I’d Rather Eat Glass produced by Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison.
She was later cast in Black and White by director James Toback and garnered nothing but glowing praise from critics for her performance. Larry Clark cast her in Bully which led The Hollywood Reporter to name her one of 2002’s “Shooting Stars” of tomorrow. Bijou continues to make great films with her role opposite Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger in The Door in the Floor, a film adaptation of John Irving’s novel A Widow For One Year.
She most recently completed a leading role opposite Anne Hathaway in Oscar-winning writer Stephan Gaghan’s Havoc, directed by Oscar-winning documentarian, Barbara Kopple. Venom, produced by Scream’s Kevin Williamson, and the David Fincher film Zodiac with Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal and Gary Oldman. This is only the beginning for her, with several projects on the horizon, including her portrayal of `Lorna Doom’ opposite Shane West in a feature film about late 70’s seminal-punk band The Germs.
She just wrapped three other movies including Wizard of Gore, directed by Jeremy Kasten and starring Kip Pardue and Crispin Glover; Dark Streets and You Are Here, directed by Henry Pincus. Recently, she performed as Yitzak in a revival of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” at the Roxy Theater in Hollywood.
Richard Burgi (Todd)
Born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey, Richard Burgi is a talented and compelling actor with an extensive and varied filmography in both television and film.
Richard has been working steadily in television and film since the latter half of the 1980’s, when he landed his first full-time role on NBC’s “Another World”, playing Chad Rollo. Since then he has appeared on countless television shows including “Desperate Housewives,” “24,” “Point Pleasant,” “CSI,” “The District,” “Judging Amy,” “The Sentinel,” “Just Shoot Me” and “Seinfeld.”
His multiple film roles include Curtis Hanson’s In Her Shoesopposite Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette, Fun With Dick and Jane opposite Jim Carrey, Cellular opposite Kim Basinger, and Shanghai Red opposite Vivian Wu.
Vera Jordanova (Axelle)
Vera Jordanova was born in Helsinki, Finland to Bulgarian musicians. She traveled throughout Scandinavia with them during their tours and spent her childhood in Bulgaria attending elementary school and living with her grandmother.
Due to the political situation in Bulgaria, Jordanova’s parents decided to relocate the family to Finland when Jordanova was 14. Shortly thereafter she was discovered by the premiere Finnish modeling agency and began to appear in national campaigns, and on magazine covers. From there, Vera went on to shoot a campaign for cosmetic giant Clarins, with renowned photographer Gilles Bensimon.
For several years Vera pursued an international modeling career and lived in various locales such as France, South Africa and Spain and placecountry-regionSouth Africa. While living in Barcelona, Jordanova attended a contemporary art school, where she discovered her love for abstract painting, installations and most of all – photography.
Jordanova now resides in Los Angeles where she pursues dual careers in acting and photography while continuing to work as a successful model with Elite Modeling Agency.
Hostel: Part II marks Jordanova’s first major film role and she can soon be seen as well in acclaimed director Frank Borin’s video for the band Rocco De Luca and the Burden, whose current album appears on Keifer Sutherland’s Ironworks Music label.
Stanislav Ianevski (Miroslav)
Stanislav Ianevski is 19 and has just finished his AA levels. Stan now lives in his native country Bulgaria. In the past he has lived in Israel and Holland, where he appeared in numerous school productions.
Hostel: Part II marks his second professional role. His first role was as the Champion Quidditch player Viktor Krum in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, directed by Mike Newell.
Hostel: Part II (2007)
Directed by: Eli Roth
Starring: Jay Hernandez, Lauren German, Heather Matarazzo, Bijou Phillips, Vera Jordanova, Roger Bart, Richard Burgi, Monica Malacova, Edwige Fenech, Zuzana Geislerová, Monika Malácová
Screenplay by: Eli Roth
Production Design by: Robb Wilson King
Cinematography by: Milan Chadima
Film Editing by: George Folsey Jr.
Costume Design by: Susana Puisto
Set Decoration by: Karel Vanásek
Art Direction by: David Baxa
Music by: Nathan Barr
MPAA Rating: R for sadistic scenes of torture and bloody violence, terror, nudity, sexual content, language, drug content.
Distributed by: Lionsgate Films
Release Date: June 8, 2007
Visits: 278
