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Interview By Gavin Schmitt
As near as I can tell, your
first job in the world of horror was on the set of “From
Beyond”. There are a lot of horror icons associated with
this film: director Stuart Gordon, producer Charles Band
(who seems to be how everyone I interview got their start in
horror), writer-producer Brian Yuzna, and the actors Jeffrey
Combs, Barbara Crampton and Ken Foree (who is just about the
nicest man I’ve ever met). How did you get this job, and do
you have any recollections of what it was like to be on this
set? (I would have crapped my pants.)
From Beyond was truly an amazing
experience for a twenty year old. In other words – I did
crap my pants. It was my first time in Italy and Charles
Band spared no expense when it came to feeding and housing
us. It was like one big party. In fact, most of the five
years that I was in Italy for CB were such a great
experience. I am forever thankful to him for giving me my
start and would do anything he asked to return the favor.
I met so many old and future stars
and friends that I still keep in touch with to this day
after first working with them in Italy. I am still very good
friends with Stuart Gordon and consider him to be one of the
most talented and funny guys I have every met. His wife,
Carolyn, does the catering for the commercial shoots I
direct. I also had a great experience in working with Mike
Deak, a really great FX artist coordinator, who is now at
KNB Effects. I remember that we prepped the show for about
three months at MMI, John Buechler’s shop. The movie was a
huge undertaking for the size of budget we had to work with
(one million), but we happily took the challenge.
After everything was built, we flew
to Italy and set up shop in Charlie’s studio. When the
actors arrived, it was winter so it was very, very cold in
the stages. Everyone would stay bundled up until it was time
to shoot and then drop their coats when the camera rolled.
One of my jobs was to mix the 50
gallon barrels of slime that we used. We mixed the slime
with drills and sealed up the cans a week before shooting.
Unfortunately, the one thing we didn’t take into
consideration was that the stuff would go bad. So every time
we got a bucket out to use the stuff, the entire stage
smelled like rotten crotch. The worst part is that most of
the time that we used the stuff it was all over puppets that
Mike and I puppeteered… so it would be pouring down onto us.
We also had the crate with the giant flying preying mantis
thing fall out of the airplane at the airport and open up –
horrifying everyone on the plane above. There were packing
peanuts blowing everywhere, turning Summer into an instant
snowstorm.
Otherwise, we had such a great
time. The Italians are famous for drinking frozen vodka
limone during the day, and being twenty year old guys we
happily joined in the fun. I think most of the crew was
hammered throughout the production. Barbara Crampton became
a friend of mine and we hung out for a few years after the
shoot. We were both raised in the carnival circuit, so we
had plenty of stories to share. Jeff Combs and I are still
in touch… in fact, he met with me for Furnace, a film that
is scheduled to be out by October in the US and is now
available abroad – but ended up doing another at the last
minute. Last, but not least, Ken Foree, who is a total rock
star, and I stayed in touch and of course I eventually
co-starred with him in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3. A
dream come true for a fan boy geek like me!
I’m curious about John Carl
Buechler’s hiring techniques. His best talent might be
casting after he found both you and the now-legendary Kane
Hodder for “Friday the 13th, Part VII”. What’s Buechler
like?
Buechler is like a father to me… or
older brother, I guess he’d prefer me to say! I came here to
Los Angeles with very little money and ran out quickly. I
was literally sleeping in my car, trying desperately to
figure out a way into the system when I connected with him.
I offered to sweep the floors in his shop for free… and the
next thing I knew the staff was teaching me how to paint and
make molds. Eventually he learned of my love of acting and
he took me directly to a casting director. I am so fortunate
to know someone as giving and kind as he is — anyone who
meets John likes him. He is funny and fearless and a big fan
of thinking positive. A lot of the way I run my own
production company comes directly from the methods of
business that I learned from John. He believes that things
will come to be – therefore they do.
I haven’t watched the “Garbage
Pail Kids” since I was a kid. You did some painting and such
on the dolls, I believe. Here’s my question: I have fond
memories of this film, but it’s been consistently considered
one of the worst films ever made in the history of cinema.
If I go back and watch it now, will I find it just as
revolting as the critics do?
LOL! Well, isn’t that the case with
most films and television shows from your childhood? I know
almost every time I Tivo one of my faves, I often times
scratch my head and say, “What was I thinking?” I was
recently excited to hear that I Dream of Jeannie was back on
TV and watched an old episode… and I gotta tell you, it
drove me to drinking it was so bad. I guess we are easily
entertained as kids. So, I’m sure the Garbage Pail Kids
movie sucks. It was a stupid idea that was shot in a
warehouse in the center of porn-town, North Hollywood. I was
just happy to have a gig at that age. It was made for
children, so I wouldn’t put much hope in you liking it as an
adult. Then again if you smoke weed you MAY LOVE IT!
People have asked you what it’s
like working with Lance Henriksen, Danny Trejo, Tony Todd
and others. But at Killer Reviews, we’re all about he
ladies. So, what’s it like directing Jordan Ladd? Or
Mary-Kate and Ashley?
Well, you will be happy to know
that Jordan Ladd is even foxier in person. She is a sexy,
funny, and talented chick who is a total professional. I
loved directing her as she would actually listen to the
direction… which is not always the case with some other
nameless performers I have worked with.
We had a great time in Romania and
she was a total team player. I have since tried to hire her
on other movies but both times she was off doing films with
Eli Roth. They are really good friends and of course he has
more fire-power than I at the moment, so that’s the way it
goes! I look forward to working with her again. I actually
auditioned tons of girls for the film… Laura Prepon,
Kimberly Williams, and others who I also can’t wait to have
a chance to work with, but Jordan was just a good fit with
the character. I wasn’t sure if I was gonna dig her
personally at first because she is kind of quiet when you
first meet her… so, of course it would figure that she would
be my favorite actress by the end of the shoot. I love her
and would write for her till my fingers bled.
I worked with Mary-Kate and Ashley
when they were children. I used to direct stuff they were in
when I was under contract with Fox Family Channel. They were
wonderfully well mannered and welcoming – which is saying a
lot with as guarded and powerful as they were. Even when the
uptight adults that handled them would meddle where they
didn’t belong, the girls would always grant me the time I
needed to do my job correctly. I always knew things would go
smoothly when I worked with them because they were such
professionals. It makes me sad now to read mean stuff about
them in the trades because they are really nice people and
don’t deserve the negative jabs. They’re strong and will
pull through it all.
Let’s ask about another fine
lady: Kate Hodge. You’ve considered her your favorite
co-star (from “Leatherface”) and she went on to be a
producer for your film “Black Velvet Pantsuit” (which seems
impossible to find). Most horror fans don’t know Kate, I
presume, because she’s primarily a non-horror television
actress. How did you go from meeting her to co-producing
with her?
Kate Hodge is probably the one that
I have remained close as family with. She has actually been
in a bunch of horror films as well as she was the star of
She-Wolf of London, which was a television series about a
woman who is bitten by a werewolf and has to live with the
curse.
She did produce my first short
film, Black Velvet Pantsuit, which unfortunately was never
finished due to the fact that the leading actress, Penny
Hamilton, died before the end of shooting. She was a funny
performer who sadly developed liver cancer while I was in
production. Ironically enough, the trailer for the film was
what got me my first Power Rangers directing job. As for
Kate, I speak to her monthly. She now lives in New York and
is busy with television shows and commercials. We have often
talk about how fun the shoot was out in Valencia and the
terror that Kane Hodder put us through with that damn
chainsaw. Kate will be appearing in a movie that I am
directing in the Spring.
But I do have to ask about one
guy: Tom Sizemore. Based on anecdotal evidence and the film
“Bottom Feeder”, he sounds like a nightmare to work with. Is
he?
Tom was obviously suffering through
his disease while I was working with him on my project. I
hired him because he really is a good guy down beneath all
that drives him to do what he does in his private time – but
I’d be lying if I said it was easy. I am very sorry to hear
that he was sentenced to prison for breaking his probation,
but he will get sober while he is in there and no doubt kick
ass when he gets out. The one thing you must admit about the
guy, no matter how abusive he is – is that he is truly a
remarkable actor. I mean, after all, he convinced me he was
well enough for me to hire him and I’ve partied A LOT in my
day.
Around the time of the “Night of
the Living Dead” remake (1990), you had lunch with George A.
Romero. What did you eat? Is it true he lives off a steady
diet of brains and infant blood?
What a weird question! What are you
smoking? What is going on!?? I actually think we both had an
Elby’s Combo, which is a burger and fries. Hmmm, sounds good
right about now. For dessert, we killed a second grader and
drank her spinal fluid. JUST KIDDING. Can you imagine eating
lunch with the George Romero? I still get flushed just
thinking about it.
What makes you unique in the
horror world is you’ve been killed by Leatherface, Jason
Voorhees, Romero’s zombies and Freddy Krueger. You’ve also
worked on “Army of Darkness” and the awesomely bad
“Gingerdead Man” (which you wrote). But stepping away from
horror for a second — I want to hear about your work on
possibly the greatest film ever made: doing special effects
for “Demolition Man”. What are the three shells for and will
Taco Bell be the only restaurant in the future?
First of all – I DID NOT WRITE
GINGERDEAD MAN. I wrote the original screenplay which was
later disregarded and rewritten by some weirdo named August
White. They loosely used my idea so I got a “story by”
credit and I think there is some footage in the documentary
DVD extras of one of the actors auditioning with the
original screenplay and I suspect that’s where that awful
bit of trivia arose from. They can’t all be gems, but I
can’t take credit for that one. I did, however, work on
Demolition Man. I coordinated the figures in the museum of
weaponry where Sly gets all the guns and stuff when he thaws
out. It was a huge undertaking. I must be hungry, because
now Taco Bell sounds good lol.
On certain occasions, you’ve
distanced yourself from parts four and five of “Return of
the Living Dead”, which you wrote. I know, for example, you
were upset they didn’t follow the rules with regards to how
zombies are supposed to die (like me at the bar, total
annihilation). I spoke with the writers of the original
ROTLD, John A. Russo and Russell Streiner, in February. John
refuses to even watch the new films (he makes zombie comic
books instead). On another occasion you said that “I can see
that the films ultimately turned out great” and “the fans
are going to love the films”. As someone who had to review
part four, I will give you another opportunity to distance
yourself from these films if you want to take it.
Here we go… I have spoken about
this subject till I am blue in the face – but, in a
nutshell, Aaron Strongoni and I wrote the original drafts
six years ago. As a reviewer who seems to have his finger on
the pulse of how production works, I am sure you know that a
screenplay goes through many hands before it is finally
shot. Sadly, after we sold the original screenplays (which
were written as twenty million dollar movies that were to be
done at Lakeshore Entertainment), Tom Fox, the original
producer/creator died and Aaron and I, as part of his team,
were cut out of the process.
The scripts were then taken over by
the production and they did with them what they did. Later,
the films were made for three million apiece, most of our
stuff had been cut out and the location had been changed to
Romania. I hate the movies and was furious at the outcome —
they are total garbage. The earlier quotes you are speaking
of were based on the trailers, which came out a year before
the film was locked. I saw them online and was really
hopeful and thought they may have come up with something
cool — it was the first time that someone had spent more
than three million dollars on a super low budget sequel in a
long time. Part three was made for five hundred thousand.
Aaron and I were kept out of all
screenings and edit bays and the first time we saw the films
we were sitting at home watching them on Sci-Fi Channel. For
more details on this exhaustive subject, I recommend that
your readers listen to the interview that I did for the Dead
Pit Radio. I was fortunate enough not to be asked to type my
own responses on that one.
In regards to your offering me a
chance to “distance” myself – I will just say to you that
for those of us lucky enough to continually work in the film
business, not every film is going to be perfect, especially
when it comes to horror franchises that are on their last
leg. We were offered an opportunity to work with a
remarkable man — one whom we both look up to as a father
figure — on a subject that we are very fond of, and we
proudly took it. If anyone else can’t bring yourself to
understand the film making process - Just keep telling
yourself, “Its Only A Movieeeeeeeee.”
I have heard one of your
favorite films and an inspiration for you was the 1961
classic “The Innocents” — directed by Jack Clayton, and
written by Truman Capote (based off the novel “The Turn of
the Screw” by Henry James). I just gave the credits, now you
tell us what it is and why this film has really hit home for
you.
I like the film because you don’t
know if Debra Kerr is insane, if the kids are evil, or if
the place is haunted. Tivo it — it will scare the shit out
of you and there isn’t a drop of blood.
I’ve been watching a lot of
Dario Argento lately (just finished “Phenomena” with
Jennifer Connelly yesterday). Rumor has it you have a soft
spot for Italian horror. Do you have a favorite director or
film?
I am hugely influenced by Italian
filmmaking because I lived in Italy for five years. I know
Dario Argento well and love to pay homage to him in
everything I do — unless it’s directing Disney Channel shows
in which case I am inspired by Satan himself.
Do you think America should
return to the gold standard, a modified gold-silver standard
or simply continue on with the current economic system?
STEP AWAY FROM THE BONG.
One upcoming project you’ve been
promoting is called “Ink”, which features — correct me if
I’m wrong — people who die in a similar circumstance to the
image they have tattooed on them. What more can you tell us
about this one? Writer? Director? Cast?
The film is a ten million dollar
film that is currently in pre-production. We are just trying
to figure out when my schedule will allow as I am directing
the script that both Aaron and I wrote. It is about a group
of young people that get tats on their last night together,
only to find that their art is a grim indication of how they
are gonna die. It’s Jeepers Creepers meets Final
Destination. I’m really excited because it is a good old
fashioned popcorn monster movie – VERY BLOODY AND MESSY just
the way daddy likes it!
I like to end my interviews with
a generic question simply asking if there’s upcoming
projects I missed or last words you have for the fans. I
guess this is that time…. so have at it.
Just to thank you all so much for
all of the support you have given me for nearly twenty
years! I love the fans and other film makers both small and
large, because I am first and foremost one myself and I
really appreciate all the nice things I have heard from you
all throughout time. Please feel free to drop me a note at
my myspace page at myspace.com/williamcbutler. Stay focused
on your goals and never let anyone’s negativity detract you
from where you want to go in life. “Furnace”, my next film,
will be available everywhere on DVD in Oct. Please spread
the word!
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