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Compiled by: Jack Foley
Q. What was it like shooting Boogeyman in New Zealand?
A. I was excited. I was excited to go because I’d
been there about three and a half years earlier doing a movie
called When Strangers Appear with Screen Gems again, a friend
of mine called Scott Reynolds directed, so I was excited to go
back to New Zealand. It’s kind of nice to get out of LA
and work somewhere different…
Q. Does it change your perspective on America when you
work abroad like that?
A. Well I always consider myself a pretty open-minded
person even living here, you know, I think I realised all the
things that happen in this country before I left. But it’s
just kind of funny just to hear other people talk about ‘God,
you Americans are crazy, why don’t you guys open your minds
for a second?’
It’s funny to hear that but it’s probably good, I
wish more people could travel.
Q. Are you a fan of the horror genre?
A. You know, I love horror films. The Omen was one of
my favourite films growing up, obviously The Exorcist was a classic..
Q. How old were you when you first watched them?
A. (laughs). I was too young! Especially The Exorcist,
I remember just watching it because my older brother was a big
fan and it scared the crap out of me. And John Carpenter’s
The Fog was another one, that was a favourite of mine.
Q. So what did you think when you were offered a role
in Boogeyman?
A. Well, for a start there’s some great people
involved – Sam (Raimi) is just great, Stephen (Kay) the
director has been a good friend of mine for a while. And it kind
of reminded me of what the Japanese are doing with their horror
films right now. Not that is what Boogeyman is, but I thought
there was just some of that in there.
Q. It’s an interesting premise because you are
never entirely sure if your character is suffering all of this
in his head…
A. Exactly, for me this is a really interesting movie
about a guy struggling with facing up to his childhood fears.
I really wanted for the audience to go ‘is this real or
is this all in this guy’s head?’
That’s how I looked at it and that reminded me more of the
psychological way that the Japanese go about their horror movies
instead of it just being like horror, big monster, slasher, gore,
you know it’s more in your head.
Q. What’s it like to work on? Are there moments
when it’s hard to keep a straight face?
A. What’s interesting is that I was by myself for
a lot of it.
Q. You and a cupboard..
A. (laughs) yeah but you know the funniest thing is that
it depends on how you show up for work that day. I mean, there
are days when I might be in a really, really dark head space,
I’m in a dark space and then there are some days where I’m
in the best mood and I can’t help but have a laugh at some
of this stuff
There is a scene in the movie – and I’m glad they
kept it in – where after I go into the closet I get out
and I remember sitting down on the day and thinking ‘this
is so ridiculous, if this actually happened to me, I’d start
laughing at myself..’ And I kind of added that in there
and that kind of went with what happened with that day. And then
there were days when maybe I was missing home or something and
there was a little more emotion going on and work was a little
more emotional.
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Q. Am I right in thinking
that this was your first film back to work after your illness?
A. Yes, it was.
Q. What was that like for you?
A. It’s interesting that you ask that question
because after being sick you kind of look at life in a totally
different way than you did before. And it’s hard to explain
but having this movie come up when it did was one of the best
things for me. I needed something to kind of go ‘yeah, OK,
I’m back, I’m alive again, I’m getting my instruments
flowing again..’
Q. How are you now?
A. I’m OK. I’m great. Actually I feel better
than I’ve ever felt before in my life to tell you the truth.
I’m feeling so much better. I have a beautiful fiancée
now and we’re having a baby in May..
Q. Congratulations..
A. Thank you. I have all these wonderful, wonderful things
going on in my life so yeah, it’s a big big change from
a couple of years ago.
Q. And you are back at work, obviously, what have you
been doing since Boogeyman?
A. Actually I’ve just finished directing an episode
of 7th Heaven, a show that I used to work on before. They asked
me if I would like to come and direct and it was like a family,
working with people for that long, you get to know them so well
and they get to know you. It was great
Q. Did you have any childhood monsters or boogeymen?
A. I always shared a room with my older brother and I
remember the first room I had when he had moved out and the closet
doors being open, almost like in the movie, you know what’s
underneath the bed?
Getting scared and not walking to the door to get out, but crawling,
in case something could see me walk. But the one thing I know
I was convinced of was Big Foot because I grew up in northern
Michigan where there was all these Big Foot sightings I think
at the time.
Maybe it was my imagination as a kid, but to this day I swear
I saw Big Foot! I saw a big furry man (laughs) so that kind of
freaked me out.
I must have been about three or four and m y parents were having
a party and I could easily have been a friend of my Dad’s
who was a little tipsy and was walking outside by the window and
probably had just had a beer. But yeah, I was convinced.
Darkness always scared me, my Mom never believed in night lights
or anything so I was always freaked out there might be things
under the bed right now and I’m going to sit as still as
I can because if I do that they will go away.
Q. What’s next for you?
A. Well my next big job is to be a Dad so that’s
kind of what I want to concentrate on, so when the baby is born
I’m going to take some time off and do that.
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