John Polson made his American feature film directing debut with the teen thriller, "Swimfan." Polson returns to the thriller genre with the spooky, "Hide and Seek," starring Robert De Niro, Dakota Fanning, Famke Janssen, and Elisabeth Shue.

"Hide and Seek" focuses on David (De Niro) and Emily (Dakota Fanning), a father and daughter (Dakota Fanning) who are trying to cope with the recent death of the girl's mother, Alison (played by Amy Irving).

Emily deals with the traumatic event by developing a close friendship with an imaginary pal named Charlie. Imaginary friends are nothing new, but this particular imaginary buddy starts to behave in terrifying ways. Charlie's control over Emily leads her concerned dad to wonder who - or what - is Charlie?

INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR JOHN POLSON:

How do you tackle directing a screen legend like Robert De Niro?
You let him experiment. You let him play around. At first I was a little nervous, but after a day or two I thought, ?I?m not doing him any favors staying away. I better give him some direction.? So I got in there.

The thing about him is that he likes to try things out and that?s what the best artists do, I think. They try a lot of different things and you go back to the cutting room and try and make the scene work. And that?s what I found really impressive about him. He?s a risk-taker and he tried a lot of things, and he didn?t mind if it failed. Hopefully we looked after him in the cutting room.

How different was the character on script to what he brought to the role in the film?
It was kind of the same. You know, it was like it was a really interesting role for him. We know him in a certain way. He?s played diverse characters but I don?t know if he?s played like a caring dad before. That was a really interesting team - teaming him up with Dakota [Fanning] and seeing them play off of each other around the dinner table and that sort of thing. I found it pretty fascinating to watch and I hope the audience loves it, too.

What sets ?Hide and Seek? apart from other thrillers?
Well, I think what sets it apart is that it?s got a human aspect to the story as well, you know? It?s really a story about a father who cares greatly about his daughter and is trying desperately not to lose her to the trauma that she?s suffered. So there?s definitely a human aspect. There?s this great opportunity for these actors to show us what they can do. It?s not all about special effects and action and all of that. There?s some nice, intimate moments as well as, hopefully, some scares in the picture.

With this and ?Swimfan,? you seem to really like thrillers. What is it about that particular genre?
(Laughing) Well, I?m not like ?the thriller guy?. I just read scripts and if I want to see the movie, then usually that means I want to direct it. I don?t look for thrillers or comedies or whatever else. Yeah, they happen to be back-to-back. My film before ?Swimfan? was a comedy and who knows what my next film is going to be. But it is just fun. It?s fun trying to figure out new ways to be scary.

Speaking of your next project, I heard something about ?Fear Itself.? Is that a project you?ll be working on?
Yeah. It?s something I was looking at. It?s a remake of ?Straw Dogs.? I?m not sure if we?re going to make that soon or later or if at all. But it was something?

?Straw Dogs??
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That?s brave.
(Laughing) Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Why would you take that on?
Well, it?s just something we talked about. Edward Norton and I and Stuart Blumberg, it was something we were interested in and we all love. But I?m not sure if it?s going to happen but it was just something we were developing for a little while.

Would it actually be a 'remake'?
It would be 'inspired by'.

How would it change?
(Laughing) I?m not sure.

ADDITIONAL ?HIDE AND SEEK? INTERVIEWS
Dakota Fanning / Elisabeth Shue / Famke Janssen