On September 21st Eli Roth took the time to sit down and do a Reddit AMA with fans and it turned out to reveal a lot of juicy details about his newest film, The Green Inferno. The film is only now gaining it’s theatrical release even though it was released originally back in 2013 at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film has received mix reviews, but the faithful fans flocked to Reddit to ask various questions of Roth about the film, and other films he’s worked on. Some of the most interesting questions of filming The Green Inferno were the stories Roth could share about what occurred on set.

r_antrobus: Hey Eli, do you have any crazy stories you can tell us from the set of The Green Inferno?

EliRoth: I tried to answer this but it didn’t post so I will try again. The first day of shooting in the village was the big arrival scene. All the kids were tied up in canoes and we had hundreds of villagers painted and ready to kill. And we have heads on sticks and dead bodies all over. And as I yell action two boats full of Missionaries showed up. They were certain that Satan had come to the village and freaked out. Then the villagers said, “It’s not Satan, Eli Roth is here making a horror film.” They were so angry I had beaten them they started disrupting the filming by playing music. The village told them to come back when we were done. It was surreal. I of course tried to film it all but the villagers told me I had to back down, that it was a serious situation so we barely have footage of it.

(His response after many questions of stories from set.)

simplefilmreviews: Is this true/confirmed?!

EliRoth: Yes, it’s true. I’m the only one who didn’t get sick. Too many crazy stories for one AMA. The village had never seen a movie before. We showed them one with a TV and generator and DVD player. The producers showed them Cannibal Holocaust, they thought it was a comedy. After that everyone agreed to be in the film. Also our production designer Marichi lived in the village for 3 weeks getting it ready for the shoot. At the end she had to go back to Chile to finish prepping the rest of the film. The village gathered around to give her a gift – they handed her a 2 year old. She was like WTF and they said, “This is our gift to you.” She had to politely decline the baby.

(Answering rumors of illness and vaccines that the cast needed to be on set.)

From angry missionaries to babies offered as gifts, Roth made it clear that they entered the epitome of third world to film The Green Inferno. The villagers that they asked to be in the film, had never seen a film before, as Roth explained in one of his answers, and only after they showed them a movie, did they agree to be in the film. Roth and his crew showed them Cannibal Holocaust, which they believed was a comedy not the horror classic that it actually is. The differences in cultures was apparent, but filming went well as far as we can tell, and from what Mr. Roth shared in the AMA.

One pressing question that fans and critics alike have wondered is if the version of the film being released in theaters is the same one as was seen at TIFF two years ago. Mr. Roth confirmed that it was indeed the same version and fans would be pleased that he didn’t go back and change anything. Which means it’s just as gory as it was the first time you saw it, if you were lucky enough to see it at TIFF.
But it wasn’t all about The Green Inferno during this AMA, for some users decided to ask Mr. Roth about past films and personal questions. The conversations went quick and it was a bit difficult to keep up, but the answers that fans received were both informational and entertaining. Some of the fun answers are below:

zaraki93: What is a way people might not know to make gory scenes more realistic?

EliRoth: Fruit. A grape makes an amazing eyeball when photographed at the right angle.

(Who would have thought? A grape?)

moonlight_ricotta: Do you currently have a favorite horror movie?

EliRoth:It Follows and Babadook.

(We agree of his movie selection.)

The AMA was a success in truth, and definitely full of fun tidbits from Eli Roth. Make sure to check out The Green Inferno in theaters September 25th.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Blumhouse Productions/The Green Inferno