Hey
Michael, ready to have a chat with racks and
razors?
Oh
yeah, I've done a lot of monster movies. It seems
to be an international seller.
Okay Michael for
the benefit of the racks and razors readers would
you tell me where you are answering these
questions?
I'm
sitting in the car. I just dropped my son off at
his karate class.
First off I
really want to hear about your work in David
Lynch's upcoming film 'Inland Empire'.
I was
only on it a couple of days. I did a movie with
one of his protegees who was directing the movie
''The Perfect Sleep' (Jeremy Alter). Anyway, he
introduced me to David who said, "Hey, I
know you -- I'm shooting a movie, you want to do
a couple days?" And I said, "Absolutely
man". Very unique movie.
Yeah, his movies
are always that way to watch, That makes me
curious about the mood on the set, what was that
like?
He's
surrounded by people who recognize his genius and
it's a very artsy environment, but a lot of fun.
In addition to 'Inland
Empire' you have several new films
coming out - the thriller 'Dark World',
'The Perfect Sleep', etc. as well as two
new horror flicks.
'Dark
World' I'm very excited about. It's a thriller
and not your typical cop movie. Theresa Russell
and I work very well together. James Russo is a
thrill to work with. It was a great script. It
was low budget which is great too because you
have to be prepared to shoot anything.
More like theatre
more than film?
Definitely.
It's what made me fall in love with acting. You
get to do everything you've been trained to do.
If you look at my resume you'll see I've done a
lot of action movies and that's pretty much about
being in shape and not getting hurt. They're fun
to make but not what you would call beautiful
crafty roles.
Tell me a little
something about your role as Detective Michael
Turner in William Butler's horror movie 'The
Furnace'.
Right,
with Billy Butler. That was a pleasure too. I
think we had 20 days to shoot. He's an actor as
well as a writer and director so he knows what
you need on a short schedule with a complex
script. The man was very prepared. His shot list
was set two days in advance so every department
could prepared. We shot in Nashville and everyone
there dreams of working on a movie and they
worked very hard. Knowing the scenes you'll be
shooting that far in advance really helps with
less experienced actors like that because they're
not that good at winging it...and you need that
preparation time, that's magic time. It was a
good experience. Also in that movie are Jenny
McShane was a prison psychiatrist and Danny
Trejo.
You've also
completed the role of Jace Randall in the horror
movie 'Saurian' with a cast that
includes Nick Mancuso and Tracy Scoggins. What
about the role or the film made you want to
commit to the project?
It was
supposed to be a series. Peter Davy (the
producer) has two or three movies in the can that
he's doing CGI graphics for.
What made you
commit to it?
I've read
about a reptilian race that may be manipulating
humanity since the beginning of time. I've read
other things about DNA experiments with primates
that created the human race. Anyway, it seemed
like a fun thing to do and since in the project I
was going to be a hybrid myself. It was a great
role because there was a lot of self-loathing. My
mother was killed by a Saurian who raped her and
I was born. It's kind of a mythic backstory that
seemed like a great idea. I'm looking forward to
seeing it when they get around to finishing.
Somewhat along
those lines what is usually trhe predominant
factor what it comes to choosing your film roles?
A lot of
it has to do with them choosing me. I've been
doing this a long time. For a long time I was
taking what my manager was sending me. He'd send
me the script and the ticket and I would go shoot
it. Not being in town kept me from meeting and
greeting and auditioning and all that other stuff
you have to do to stay in the mainstream. I've
been back in the states about three years now and
I've finally got my representation in line and I
hope to be in situations where I'm choosing
better roles instead of taking what I'm offered
and what I can get.
Earlier this year
you also had a role as Iancu in the vampire opus 'BloodRayne'.
Do you have a predominant memory from the set of
filming that feature?
That was
a very small role but I've worked with Uwe Boll
about four times before that in some of his first
movies. Lately his career has taken off - they
gave him 20 million to make 'House of the Dead',
30 million to make 'Alone in the Dark', and 50
million to make 'BloodRayne'. Anyway, he called
me up and said, "Hey Michael, want to come
do a cameo in Romania?" So I said
"Sure, I'll come over." So I went over
and shot for two days -- no big deal.
Do you have a
predominant memory of filming that?
Well, it
was in Romania on a back lot. Ironic that you go
to Romania to shoot on a back lot. Mostly I
remember the dogs there, always always barking.
It was ridiculous.
Another director
you've worked with is John Carpenter. You starred
with Christopher Reeve and Kirstie Alley in his
remake of 'Village of the Damned'
in 1995. What was that experience like for you?
That was
a lot of fun. We shot it in upstate California,
north of San Francisco. It was interesting. I got
to be friends with the sheriff and went fishing
with him a few times. I was playing a kind of
happy go lucky cowboy type. It wasn't a tough
role. John is another one of these guys like
David Lynch where nobody questioned or added or
had anything to say except "Yes John."
That's very comforting for an actor to be working
for a director who knows exactly what he wants.
It was fun -- we were all up in bed and
breakfasts in this little town and there was one
restaurant so we all ended up there. Also
Christopher Reeve was much larger than I
anticipated, he was a big fucking guy. Linda
Koslowski (Paul Hogan's wife) played my wife and
it's always weird to meet the husband of who you
are about to do a love scene with. I did that
with Casper Van Dien and Catherine Oxenberg in
the first movie I did with Uwe Boll called
'Sanctimony'.
You've had so
many great roles in addition to the ones I've
already mentioned -- Eddie in 'Eddie and
the Cruisers' and the sequel, 'The
Philadelphia Experiment', 'Hope
Floats', 'The Virgin Suicides',
'Into the Sun', 'Streets
of Fire', 'Moon 44', 'Heart
of America', Charlie Evans on the show 'South
Beach' and so many other film and TV
roles. What has been your favorite moment on
screen?
I always say it
was 'Eddie and the Cruisers' because the director
had come to me and said, "Listen, if you
fuck this up we're gonna fire you. We'll get Rick
Springfield, he's waiting to do the role."
So there was a tremendous amount of pressure. I
had never sang before, I didn't play guitar or do
any of that stuff. I had a secret weapon though
and that was Helen Schneider who played Joann
Carlino. Her boyfriend spent a lot of time with
me talking about what it meant to be a rock star
and it all came down to that first time they
started the playback and I did the first song and
the audience went fucking wild. That was it. I
was in. Also in 'Streets of Fire' when I was
dared to step in front of the bus. It was coming
at me at 40 mph. They didn't think I'd do it.
They called action and I stepped out and it
stopped at just the right moment and I gave it a
little push. I could have gotten run down or we
could have spent all day trying to get the
shot...but boom, we got it in one.
That's an awesome story.
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat and
all the best to you in the future Michael.
Thanks Owen. |