‘Green Room’ Director Jeremy Saulnier Says His Netflix Thriller Has the ‘Highest Body Count’ of Any of His Films

Jeremy Saulnier won’t be directing all of “True Detective” as originally planned, but he is still helming “Hold the Dark.” Set in Alaska, the Neflix-bound thriller concerns a hunter (Jeffrey Wright) attempting to un-kidnap a little boy who’s been taken by wolves (who presumably intend to raise him as one of their own). Anyone who’s seen “Blue Ruin” or “Green Room” knows that Saulnier doesn’t exactly shy away from graphic violence, but a new Entertainment Weekly interview with the director suggests he’s outdone himself this time.

“Not only did it have the most intense dialogue, and also the highest body count, it had a first war scene, it had an aerial sequence, and by far the most animals I’ve worked with,” Saulnier says.

“We’ve had a couple of test screenings, even in the editorial process, because there was so much material and so many ways to go. There [were] audible gasps in the theater. It’s fun because, of course, once you dig into the novel, and then script, and then the production phase, you know every inch of the movie, and the familiarity becomes sort of blinding,” he added.

“But to be in a theater with people, and then turn your head to watch them watch the movie, see it reflected in their eyes, you kind of get to experience that very first spark when I was reading the novel. You see it in their eyes and it’s pretty fun.”

Alexander Skarsgård and Riley Keough co-star in “Hold the Dark,” which is available on Netflix beginning September 28.