Ever since I was a young boy I'd dreamed of working on low-budget, B-movie flicks. Instead, I somehow wound up participating in four number one box office releases ... but hey, you can't have everything you wish for in life.
Last week, our friend Jesse Merlin invited me to attend the midnight premiere of Helen Keller vs. Nightwolves, a new horror movie in which he has a starring role. Unfortunately I was unable to attend due to my neurotic and anxiety-riddled neurotic dog, but Jesse was still kind enough to answer a few questions and, in the process, further torture me with another of my unfulfilled childhood dreams: to meet Ms. Barbara Crampton, the lead actress of Re-Animator (1985) who redefined the meaning of getting head and most likely scrambled my developmental growth through puberty in the '80s. But if you know Jesse then you know he has a penchant for torture, especially the shocking sort (perhaps you remember a certain episode during the jackassworld days with JxPx Blackmon and some electric nipple clamps), and he never fails to take a dark delight in doing so...
Hello, Jesse. Okay, so, Helen Keller vs. Nightwolves. What the hell is this all about?
Helen Keller vs Nightwolves tells the shocking story of how a group of Nightwolves terrorized a tiny village, taking people's hearing and eye sight, and the one woman who fought back. It boasts a cast of Barry Bostwick, Lin Shaye, Richard Riehle, Jessie Wiseman, Jim O'Heir, Alanna Ubach and myself just for starters. I star as her bitchy gay brother William, and among many touching moments I sing a Mephistophelean French aria, a Gilbert and Sullivan verse, and even close the movie in a shredded loincloth playing a sweet saxophone solo. Truly, this movie is all things to all people, high concept situationist anarchy. How can you resist? Just watch the damn trailer.
What’s the rollout and release plan for this flick?
Wide release on Halloween. Tonight's free midnight world premiere at the Vista Theater in Silverlake will be total madness. Next week, Barry Bostwick and I host a screening in NYC at the New Yorker hotel grand ballroom Friday, September 25, at noon as part of the 40th Anniversary Rocky Horror Picture Show convention, mere blocks from where the Pope is saying mass. Ha!
What’s it like portraying a werewolf version of Hitler?
Furry. Hilarious, I hope. FDR: American Badass! is where my long romance with genius auteur Ross Patterson began. Just wait till you see his next project: Range 15, an actual-veterans-and-war-heroes-vs-zombie-apocalypse action comedy with stars like William Shatner, Keith David, Danny Trejo and more... Filming starts in October.
Any further plans for Re-Animator: The Musical?
Well, we did it in LA at the Steve Allen Theater last year and took it to the Smith Center in Las Vegas in January. Hopefully a soundtrack record is not too far in the future.
By the way, your adolescent crush, scream queen Barbara Crampton is coming to the Helen Keller premiere tonight with Kelli Maroney, Brian Yuzna and other horror legends. Barbara actually is producer on a legit horror movie called Beyond the Gates directed by Jackson Stewart that I have a cadaverous, salty role in. Brea Grant, Chase Williamson and Graham Skipper star. We just finished pickup shots and it looks awesome.
Do you still moonlight in a church choir?
No comment.
Have you ever thought about narrating children’s books on tape?
Hah! Oh, you. I can't announce anything specific yet, but I have a pretty high profile voice gig in the can and on its way. Super excited about this one.
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