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Spice,
can you start the www.racksandrazors.com readers
off with a visual and describe the room where you
are answering these questions?
I'm in my office,
which is out back behind my house. It was once a
garage and is now converted into an office. I
have a big sliding glass door that looks out over
my yard with a big pool and lots of plants, trees
& flowers. My office has a kitchen, full
service bathroom and a sky roof. Also, a little
fireplace and beautiful tiled floor. Along the
walls are knotty pine wood cabinets and desk tops
where my husband and I have our computers,
printers, scanners and work areas. We have a
little couch that pulls out to a bed, in case we
have any visitors. We have a mix of
African/Egyptian d'ecor with crystal figurines,
Buddha water fountains and my husband's favorite,
a lava lamp!!!
You
are an actress/stuntwoman or as you describe
yourself - an action actress. How did your career
as a stunt person develop and how did it
eventually blend with acting?
When I
left the road and my musical group, Sugar N'
Spice, in 1977, I studied acting from world
renown actor/teacher, Jeff Corey. I cut my acting
chops on a daytime soap, 'Days of our Lives.' I
didn't want to wait on tables to support myself,
so my girlfriend introduced me to Mildred Burke, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred_Burke . Mildred was one
of the most famous female wrestlers of all time.
She trained me to wrestle and that's how I
supported myself while I went out for acting
jobs.
One day I
got a job to act & wrestle on the TV show,
'Fall Guy'. That's where I met, Judo Gene LeBell
- http://www.genelebell.com/index.html He was
choreographing a wrestling match of the part I
play was one of Rico's Rockets! Gene asked me
after we finished the show, would I like to be a
stuntwoman? I replied, "I'm an
actress!" He replied, "Yeah, well,
while you're starving to death trying to get an
acting job, would you like to make some money
doing stunts?" I asked, "How?" He
replied, "Keep your mouth shut and do as I
say and I'll make sure you get some work!"
That sounded
pretty good to me because I realized I was
different. I could hit the ground and act at the
same time. My first job that Uncle Gene helped me
get was with Ernie Orsati who was stunt
coordinating a TV show called, 'The
Devlin Connection' with Rock
Hudson and Jack Scalia. I got to play a Judo
instructor, say some lines and spend time with a
legend, Rock Hudson. And that started me off into
working jobs where I was acting and doing the
action and thus coined the phrase, "Action
Actress." You have performed stunts and
action sequences in dozens of TV shows and films.
What's the most dangerous stunt you ever
attempted?
The one
job that to this day still scars me was on a film
called, 'Backstreet Justice,' where I doubled
Linda Kozlowski. The gag was I had to run up 3
stories on an outside fire escape, of course it
was 3am and pitch black, run across the roof top,
and blindly jump across the alley way, landing on
the 3 ft platform of the other outside fire
escape on the 2nd story to the building across
the alley way. I had to make sure I landed just
perfectly because there was a fire box blocking
my landing space, and no air bag, boxes or pads
to break my fall if I missed. Everyone broke for
a meal, while I just run up the fire escape and
marked off my path to the edge of the building,
repeatedly for one solid hour. These are the jobs
that make you want to urinate in your pants and
ask, "Why am I doing this?????" But, it
came off perfect and I'm here today to say so!!!
Have you had
any bad injuries?
I hurt my
back doing a 35 foot ratchet (a pneumatic stunt
equipment that pulls the performer through the
air) to cement on 'The Guyver,' broke my ankle on
a motorcycle rehearsal for a job, dislocated my
AC joint in my collarbone doing a stair fall with
an actor who claimed he could safely do the fall
with me on 'Backstreet Justice,' separated my
ulna/radius in my left wrist on 'Buffy the
Vampire Slayer,' and have managed to receive over
7 or 8 concussions along the way. I'm sure I've
had a lot of little injuries, but we stunt people
don't count the little ones!!! All & all, the
most injuries that have been the worst for me
have been just doing martial arts!!! Damn, going
through 4 black belt tests, it's a wonder I can
still walk. Kneeling is totally out of the
question!!!!!
Tell me about your role
as Gabrielle in the new scare film 'Dead
Undead' with Luke Goss, Josh
Alba, and Vernon Wells. It sounds like just the
sort of the thing to peak a horror fan. Can you
give us a teaser that is going to make it
irresistible?
Playing
Gabrielle in 'Dead UnDead,' was so much fun! http://dead-undead.com/
I got to
work with stunt actors whom I had shared many
jobs with and we all came together to make a
movie that we wanted to make! This film has
everything in it. Wow, outside of working with
Luke Goss & Vernon Wells, which is a thrill
and a half, I got to shoot all kinds of guns from
rifles to 50 calibers, pistols to flame guns
along with sword fighting with the amazing Luke
LaFontaine! As a martial artists, my sword and
stick fighting is nothing like Viking fighting.
So, Luke LaFontaine had to train me in the art of
fighting back in the Viking days!
The film
will take you back and forth from the time all of
us warriors/skilled fighters were changed from
into Vampires. Luke La Fontaine, who plays Aires,
and I battle it out in a Viking war when we meet
up for our final hour. Little did we know as we
lay dying, a black cloaked figure (Luke Goss)
offers us eternal life if we will join forces to
fight for good. Each one of our lead Vampires,
from Doc, played by Eddie "Doogie"
Conna (also producer, writer & director) who
is changed in the 1800's to Viper, played by Matt
Anderson (also director) who was visited on the
battle field in Vietnam.
As we
Vampires all learn to live within society, we no
long feed on human blood. We feed on cow's blood
and live in a small town that operates at night.
However, some of our town's people wind up
getting mad cow's disease and that's when the
mass mayhem begins!!! All our nice, social
vampires turn into what we call, ZV's. Fast
moving Zombie/Vampires!!!
We were
all so honored to have Forrest J. Ackerman play a
very funny role as an old man ZV who I,
personally, shoot a flame thrower on, and we all
watch him get in gulfed in flames! Forry loved
working with us and we stayed up all night
laughing as we listened to many of his stories.
Forry was great and over the years was such a
dear friend at shows that I produced and
conventions that we signed autographs at. I will
miss him very much.
Another horror
film you have in pre-production is
'Room and Board'. Can you tell me
a little about your role as Noreen in the flick?
I was
asked to stunt coordinate this film and when I
read the script, I immediately wanted to read for
the part of Noreen. 'Room and Board' is based off
a true event that took place in the 1930's when
the Russians were part of the Ukrainian
Famine-Genocide. They knew they couldn't kill
millions of Ukrainians, so they decided to starve
them to death. They even offered them up recipe
books on how to cook their children. It was a
horrible, horrible event in history. People had
turned to cannibalism and to read the stories of
this man-made famine is like witnessing a horror
film. However, there was one woman who found a
way to survive by turning her house into a bed
& breakfast for traveling soldiers and
Russians. She had a very famous stew that people
from miles around would come to consume. Little
did anyone know, there were always a few soldiers
and visitors that never made it out of this
house. This went on for over 15 years, so I'm
told.
'Room and
Board,' is based off this story, only the story
evolves over the years and moves to a Louisiana
where a mother and her two daughters bring hearty
appetites to their renowned bed and breakfast
where boarders end up on the menu and residents
swear they get the stew in town. Noreen is
married to this loud-mouthed jerk and they have
these crazy sexual/bondage relationship that
winds up getting them both into trouble when they
vacation at this Bed & Breakfast!
This film
was put on hold because of the potential SAG
strike. But you can check its cast on IMDB.
So
what stunts did you do in 'From
Dusk Till Dawn' (1996)?
I played
2 Vampires. In the beginning, I'm wearing a red
outfit and trying to kill George Clooney along
with ripping the throats out of several men and
then finally, I'm wearing a white outfit when Sex
Machine, played by Tom Savini, stabs me with a
pool stick! I had more fun on that show working
with George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Salma
Hayek, Danny Trejo, Tom Savini, Fred Williamson
and of course, the director, Robert Rodriguez.
What was the
first film you saw that caused you to sleep with
the lights on?
Oh,
without a doubt, 'NIGHT OF THE LIVING
DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' I was all alone,
working in Las Vegas, with my musical group,
Sugar N Spice, and we had just pulled into town
to get ready to perform at the Sahara Hotel the
next couple of days. I got myself a little, cheap
motel with a black and white TV that still had
the clothes hanger sticking in it for reception.
It was during the 70's and I was just starting
out on the road. Broke, but happy! I settled in
for the night, got myself some snackers and
turned on the tube. As the TV began to go into
focus, I see this woman at a cemetery. I had NO
idea what was going to happen next. Holy BeJesus,
I could barely eat my snackers, turned on all the
lights and after it was over, I had to go
outside, in the middle of the night, and sit out
by the pool until I felt safe enough to go back
into my cheap, little motel room. I'll NEVER
forget that night!! What a great film. Years
later I was doing Chiller Con and my manager
handles George Romero. I got to have dinner with
him and tell him just how much that film scared
me and how much I still love it!!!
Okay, we're
pulling the car into the Spice Williams-Crosby
Drive In. What three movies are on the scary
triple bill for the night and what goodies are
they going to be serving up at the concession
stand?
Well, my
husband, Gregory Crosby, is not a gore/horror fan
like me. So, I had to turn my son, Luke, into
one. Otherwise, I'd be watching all these films
by myself. Gregory truly appreciates good scary
films like, 'The Exorcist', 'The Shining', '28
Days Later'....which I do too. However, I love
the real gore films like, 'Re-animator', 'Dead
Alive', 'Street Trash' and such fine films as
'Criminally Insane'!!! Sorry, but good pop-corn,
organic of course, and one of these gorefest
films and someone to laugh & get scared with
is all I need for a good evening at home. Well,
it's not all I need, but it's definitely a good
time for me!!!! And now Luke is my new
gore/horror movie fan partner.
In my
family, we are all organic vegans. I've been a
vegan for 30 years now. I have two masters in
fitness & nutrition and currently doing my
PhD in Holistic Nutrition. Outside of health, I
don't believe in torturing animals. It's funny,
because when I watch all these gore/horror films,
I know the SFX make-up and I know it's not real.
I cannot, nor will I watch a torture film like
'Hostel' or 'Saw'. I just can't wrap my head
around that kind of film. Also, I know that stuff
really happens in life and it's not fun for me to
be part of. But, taking a lawn mower to cut up a
bunch of zombies is ok for me!!!!
I do
really like the films about life after death,
demon films and stuff like the 6th Sense. But, I
died once on the operating table when I was 18
years old and went on the other side. So, I feel
those films need to be watched with respect to
the maintaining your belief in a higher source
and not get to cocky.
Back in the 50s they
had a series of films 'I Was a
Teenage Frankenstein' and
'I Was a Teenage Werewolf', etc.
If they were to make a film of your teenage years
what would it be called and why?
Oh, Wow,
hmmmmmmmmmmm, let's see... Well, 'I Was a Teenage
Nightmare!!!!' Oh my poor mother! Well, when I
was a teenager, it was in the 60's. The world had
been turned upside down and teenagers were doing
everything they could to make some sense of what
our world had become.
I was
always running away from home, getting drunk,
risking my life doing stupid things and pushing
the envelope on life itself. However, I always
had good grades!!! Can you believe that? I think
I always wanted people to at least approve of me
as someone who was smart, but just did dumb
things!!! God only knows, but I survived and now,
poetic justice, I have a 14 year old son!!! Trust
me, this kid can't pull anything over my eyes!
Thank God, Luke is a great kid, homeschooled,
awesome martial artist and has great taste in
horror films!!!!!!
I also am
wondering if someone would want to get into doing
stuntwork what would you advise them to do as
their first career move? Should they register for
classes or do something specific? I am just not
too familiar with the process involved.
I will
tell you the same thing I tell everyone who asks
me about getting into stuntwork or acting
"If there is ANYTHING else you would like to
do, DO IT!" If not, make sure you get at
least 2 years of therapy. I'm not kidding. This
business will take its toll on you and if you are
not ready for the rejection and heartache, then
don't even attempt it.
There are
now some great training schools for stunts. In my
day, there were on the school of hard knocks.
Uncle Gene LeBell mentored me and turned me over
to some great stunt coordinators and I just kept
learning and I'm still learning. However, you can
cut a lot of corners now by enrolling in some
good stunt schools. One I would highly recommend
is my dear friend, Mike Long's, LA Stunts
Training Center. http://www.lastuntstrainingcenter.com along with http://www.bobbyoresports.com/toc.htm and http://www.rickseamanstuntdrivingschool.com driving schools.
I'm sure there are other schools out there, but I
can only recommend the professionals that I have
personally worked with.
And
finally Spice, what scares you in real life?
Wow, I
have a lot of things that scare me. Just thinking
about answering this question makes me scared!!!!
The state
of the human race scares me. People walk around
vertically dead and unaware of all the lies and
deceit they live with everyday. Everything from
the foods they consume to the drugs they are told
to put their children on. Educated People Make
Educated Decisions! However, the human race today
would rather have someone tell them what to eat,
drink and to believe in rather than stepping up
to the plate and taking a stand.
Losing my
family would kill me. My family is everything to
me and one of my greatest joys is watching my son
grow up. I don't know how mothers and fathers
live with losing a child! I hate war for many
reasons, but this is one of the biggest reasons I
can think of to "not" condone a war!
Not being
able to walk would destroy me. When I go to work
doing stunts, it is very possible that I'll not
come back or do enough damage to lose my ability
to live as I am normally accustom to. I have a
female warrior spirit that lives within me and as
long as I can exercise that spirit, I hoping that
my stay on this earthly plain will be well worth
it. But, I never want to live inside this
envelope of flesh not being able to run or walk.
That's probably why I'm leaning towards more
acting now, which is truly my first love!
I know
one thing, the only thing constant is change. If
we can keep evolving, growing and learning ways
to stay out of corporate corruption, and become
human beings worthy of spiritual flight, then the
journey is all good. I keep in mind that we are
not human beings trying to have a spiritual
experience, but spirits trying to have a human
experience. We should try to make the experience
not only be worth it, but let's try to make this
human experience better for others while we are
here to play!!!!
Stay
strong & sweet! |
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