Is The Forever Purge Really The End Of The Road For The Multimillion-Dollar Franchise?
'The Forever Purge' is the fifth film in the lucrative Blumhouse franchise. Universal Pictures  The Purge franchise has grossed over $456.9 million at the worldwide box office. The series, which kicked off with The Purge in 2013, has become a pop culture phenomenon. The fifth film in the franchise, a direct sequel to 2016s The Purge: Election Year, sees society collapsing when the lawless ignore the end of purging at daybreak and decide that it should go on forever. The Forever Purge focuses on a Mexican couple, one of whom finds themselves stranded on a Texas ranch, fighting for survival as deadly anarchy unfolds around them. Director Everardo Gout has the job of delivering the reportedly final installment in the popular and lucrative dystopian action-horror franchise. I caught up with him to ask, among other things, if this really is the end of Blumhouses longest-running film series. Simon Thompson: Lets talk about your personal history with The Purge franchise. Everardo Gout: I was a fan from the beginning. I was impressed by The Purge. I was in London at the time. I went to see it in a movie theater there and was like, Damn, this is clever. They managed to make a horror movie with a lot of bite, with many things you take with you, and I thought that was brilliant. I loved the DNA of it. why? Is that a mistake? I wondered if they had wanted to send it to another director, but somehow it ended up in my lap. Once I started to read it, and it was a treatment at the time, I was like, Wow, this is great. The Forever Purge was also an excellent opportunity to place a Mexican lead cast on a topical, complicated situation and make a thriller and a horror movie out of it. I could see that the writer, James DeMonaco, broke all of his rules, and the pitch was that this would be the final Purge movie. I was really into doing not only a Purge movie but the last one, with the liberty of really going out there. We changed so many things but stayed true to the nature of the franchise. Breaking all the rules here makes it feel like a revamp for the series. Gout: It would have to be a very specific reason for me to come back because I dont like to repeat myself. I try to grow and move in different directions. However, it was such a pleasurable experience to work with James that I would definitely consider it. Whats important to me is that I approached it with the bite and strength that made it something new, if really this is the last one. Its completely different. Thompson: As a director, youve dipped your toe into other IPs and other worlds. Gout: Im always trying to learn. I believe that the day I arrive on set and dont learn something, I should retire. You become fat and jaded. There are easier jobs. Im always open to new experiences and new adventures. I did a movie that went to Cannes called Days of Grace that was a dystopian and violent world, and then I did Mars, which is utopian and all about coming together. I love that, so probably my next move wouldnt be directly into horror because Hollywood loves to put a label on you and say, Oh, hes a horror director. Ive tried to keep my career as broad as possible so that they cannot do that to me. That would organically be my process of moving forward. If they offer me Star Wars, I cant say no. Im from the 70s. Thompson: The previous Purge movies have felt a little more contained within homes, districts, or cities. The Forever Purge goes way beyond that. Its a thin line. Gout: Its very thin. The biggest challenge was the budget because it looks huge in scope, but we didnt have much money to do it. It was all about those choices. Oh, okay. So you have to go back to Spielberg, not the Spielberg now but the Jaws period Spielberg. He made an amazing movie because the shark didnt work. You have to get into that frame of mind of saying, Okay, well see, and well not see. Well choose our battles. The critical thing is the tensions, the characters, and their amazing performances. Those are what keeps it moving. If you have a solid script and have actors bringing the right tone, they can carry you through all of it. Obviously, all the s**t that we navigated, the thriller and horror stuff, then you have these waves of racial context and political elements that are at the core of it, but it never loses its course. Its an entertaining piece of work, but its designed so that later on, youll take it home with you, and youll think about it. Thompson: The Purge movies have had an element of prophecy to them. I dont know whether thats luck, James is a genius, or maybe he can see the future. If its the latter, Id like him to pick my lottery numbers. Gout: I would definitely have him pick the numbers. Hes kooky that way. The way that we talked about the Purge for this movie, we kept using a particular word. The word was virus. We used it probably a million times; this was a virus, which was way before COVID. The Purge was a virus and was spreading; its a contagion. Its even in the script at a certain point because we used it so much. Now, look at the world. So, yeah, if youre having James pick your numbers, get him to pick some for me too. Gout: It was very pleasurable for me because of the freedom that I got from James and Jason and from our other producer, Sbastien K. Lemercier, which was no joke. We were under pressure, and we had to shoot it quickly. It wasnt a lush production, even though it looks like it. That was a struggle and not a pleasant one at times, but the freedom of creation was great. I arrived really strong with my casting ideas. I said I wanted Tenoch Huerta because he was the best actor for the role. I told them, Until you prove me that hes not, Im not going to see the tape of anybody else. I didnt see the tape of anybody else, and Tenoch did a fantastic job as Juan. I talked to James about the fact that he has an accent and that we should make a scene out of that hes going to be more empathetic to people; lets stop trying to hide away from that. They all went for that. Even my choices when it came to my DOP, of changing the landscape of the whole thing, they listened. It was a wonderful collaborative experience in that sense. It gave me the freedom to create my world inside this pre-existing world. The Forever Purge lands in theaters on Friday, July 2, 2021.