How much do you really know about the people in your life?  What you don't know could kill you in the terrifying new thriller THE STEPFATHER.
When troubled teen Michael (Penn Badgley) returns home after a year at military school, he finds his mother, Susan (Sela Ward), in love and his soon-to-be stepfather, David (Dylan Walsh), has moved into their home.  David says he wants them to become the perfect family.  But as they get to know each other, Michael quickly becomes convinced that David himself is far from perfect.
Trying to verify what he knows of David's past, Michael finds things that don't add up.  As strange events and David's bursts of malevolence become more frequent, Michael tells his mother and girlfriend of his suspicions, but they just think he's being paranoid.  Eventually, as Michael searches for proof that his suspicions are well-founded, cracks begin to show in David's perfect façade…and it becomes apparent he will stop at nothing to keep his secrets. 
For David has a history of trying to create the perfect family.  And each time, when it becomes apparent that perfection is impossible, David has a terrifying way of clearing the slate and starting over.  As the film's events rocket towards a shocking final confrontation, it's up to Michael to protect his family from the evil that's been awakened once more in David.
There's lots of evil out there in the world.  But in the end, nothing's more frightening than the monster under your own roof…
Screen Gems presents THE STEPFATHER starring Dylan Walsh (Nip/Tuck), Sela Ward (Once & Again), Penn Badgley (Gossip Girl), Amber Heard (Pineapple Express), and Jon Tenney (The Closer), inspired by the classic 1987 thriller of the same name.  Directed by Nelson McCormick (Prom Night) from a screenplay by J.S. Cardone, based on a screenplay by Donald E. Westlake and a story by Carolyn Starin & Brian Garfield and Donald E. Westlake, the film was produced by Mark Morgan and Greg Mooradian and executive produced by Meredith Zamsky, J.S. Cardone, Guy Oseary, Robert Green, and Julie Meldal-Johnsen. 

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
The Stepfather is an edge-of-your-seat popcorn thriller, a roller coaster ride the audience can enjoy in the comfort of a darkened theater.  But the story behind the new film (and its 1987 predecessor) is actually rooted in horrifying fact.
This reinvention of the film came about when producer Greg Mooradian was watching a Bravo television special on the 100 greatest horror movies ever made and saw that the original The Stepfather was included on the list.  It was actually one of the few films mentioned he had not seen, but upon viewing it and talking with producing partner Mark Morgan, they felt it was ripe for being remade.
"The Stepfather is a remake," says director Nelson McCormick, "but rather than invest ourselves in what the original did, we wanted to delve more into the characters.  The original "Stepfather" was the story of a man who lived in New Jersey and decided he had to murder his family.  He murdered his wife, his three teenage kids, and his mother, then moved to Colorado, assumed a new life, married, and changed his name.  It wasn't discovered until 18 years later that he was, in fact, the same man.
"We thought that was fascinating," McCormick continues.  "The character flaw, the tragic gene that pushed him to the edge - that's what we focused on in this version of The Stepfather."
With that in mind, the filmmakers began crafting their new stepfather: David Harris.
For The Stepfather, the words on the page are full of menace and the images they conjure are strong, but to actually bring the villain to life, the filmmakers turned to actor Dylan Walsh.  Walsh and director McCormick had previously worked together on the award-winning show Nip/Tuck, and throughout his many seasons on that show, Walsh had gotten to show many sides to his acting talent.  But McCormick knew there were untapped aspects of his talent he hadn't yet been able to showcase and thought he'd be perfect for the role. Read more

HOME SWEET HOME
Dylan Walsh says his character is attached to the idea of being "king of his castle."  To create the perfect "castle" for Walsh's diabolical stepfather, the filmmakers called upon production designer Steven Jordan
"In all of my work I treat the sets as characters," says Jordan.  To "cast" the house in The Stepfather, he had to find something with everything the script called for, something that would work for the stunts and specifications the story demanded.  "We decided on the Craftsman style because it lent itself most to good visuals - an expansive first floor and lots of depth and lighting possibilities," he says.  "We did an exhaustive search of Craftsman homes in Pasadena, but we needed a home with a swimming pool, certain sight lines from rooms in the home, and a third story with an attic."  Because of the film's Portland, Oregon, setting, they also had to find a home without palm trees - not so easy in palm-lined Pasadena.
They found several homes with two of their three requirements, and ultimately fell in love with beautiful house that was perfect…except it only had two stories.  To remedy the situation, "I actually had the design team design and build a third story attic that we sat on the roof of the home and painted to match.
"It was actually rather successful," he laughs.  "Neighbors would come by and felt it had always been there."
They shot in the house and also used its newly-three-story status for exteriors, including the climactic fight that bursts from the attic onto the backyard below.  For interior attic shots, they built a replica of the third story attic on a soundstage.
The challenges in designing a movie that takes place in a home include facilitating a variety of lighting requirements, accommodating dramatic camera movements, and enabling enough arresting angles from which to shoot.  Jordan focused on creating "a set that had enough depth, windows, and architectural interest to sustain that volume of work."
He and his team also worked hard to give the home a realistic, lived-in family feel.  "It's so important to create a place where the actors feel motivated and really feel at home," Jordan says.  "The decorators spend a lot of time helping develop the characters through their use of set dressing."  Stepping into the minds of the actors (and often working with them), the design team looked for answers to questions like, "Where do I pay bills?  Where's my computer?  Where's the garbage can, so I can use it when I'm working at the computer writing my bills?"
For instance, Jordan says, "For Sela's character, we turned her into a bit of a cook and a collector."  They stocked her home with Roseville pottery.  "Roseville was the natural thing, given the vintage of the home and the abundance of it in the Western United States."  Befitting a thriller, the decorators also carefully sprinkled the house with "weapons of mass destruction in every room," Jordan laughs.  "It's nuanced.  You try to foreshadow in very subtle ways.  Knives and tools everywhere, but to give the audience credit you're subtle in how you do it."
Overall, knives or not, Jordan repeats the same mantra oft-repeated by The Stepfather's director and cast.  "It's about everything being based in reality," he says.  In making a film, "all of us, no matter what your craft, are storytellers."

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

NELSON McCORMICK (Director) made his feature film directorial debut with Screen Gems' Prom Night, released in the spring of 2008.  No stranger to the helm, McCormick's work in television includes CSI, Prison Break, Alias, Nip/Tuck, ER, Cold Case, House, and The West Wing.
McCormick's filmmaking career began as a combat cameraman documenting breaking stories from air-to-air combat to humanitarian relief for which he was twice decorated with Air Force commendations.  McCormick then won critical acclaim for his work in commercials directing spots for Nike, Airwalk, Rock The Vote and Masterlock.   In 2005, McCormick served as co-executive producer/director on the critically acclaimed FX war drama Over There.

J.S. CARDONE (Screenwriter / Executive Producer) is a writer, director and producer with an impressive list of feature film credits that includes Prom Night, The Covenant, Wicked Little Things, 8MM2, The Marksman, Sniper 2&3, Mummy an' the Armadillo, Alien Hunter, True Blue, The Forsaken, Outside Ozona, Exit in Red, Black Day Blue Night, Shadowhunter, A Climate for Killing, Vampires: The Turning, The Slayer, Crash and Burn, Shadowzone and Thunder Alley.

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