Adam Minarovich is making a name for himself on many levels.  He is currently co-starring in the new AMC series “The Walking Dead”. Minarovich has also written, directed and starred in his own projects, including “Ankle Biters,” “Wiseguys vs Zombies” and “Exhibit A-7.”  He also wrote and co-stars in the upcoming film “Chop.”  Movie Mikes had a chance to talk with Adam about working on “The Walking Dead” and what’s coming in the future.

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Mike Gencarelli: Tell us about your role of Ed on “The Walking Dead”?
Adam Minarovich: It’s awesome.  As an actor living in the southwest it was right in my backyard.  It’s something I would have killed to be on.  I read for a lot of the parts that were in the graphic novel and I didn’t really fit any of them for various reasons.  But they wrote the character of Ed into the show and I was lucky enough to get to play him.  Ed is not a nice guy (laughs).  He’s married to a member of the survivor camp, Carol, who is in the graphic novel.  He’s not the nicest guy and he just hangs out at the camp.  I mean it’s an honor to play any character in anything Frank Darabont has anything to do with.

MG: Were you a fan of the comic series before working on show?
AM: A friend of mine has been telling me about “The Walking Dead” for some time but I never had the chance to check it out.  But when I heard this was coming up I started reading it and I’ve never read so long in my life!  I sat in a chair and just read one story after another.  I couldn’t put it down.  It actually gave me a new hobby.  Now I’m obsessed with graphic novels.

MG: What was one of the scariest things that happened on set?
AM: The experience itself was really awesome but I’m trying to think it anything really weird happened.  To sit in the makeup chair with Greg Nicotero was awesome.  He’s really a funny guy.  I’m so used to working on low budget stuff where everything messes up and it’s funny to talk about later but on this set nothings has screwed up so I don’t have any funny stories.  I mean usually somebody catches on fire or someone breaks a leg or the director freaks out but none of that happened so I really don’t have any cool stuff to say.

MG: I am just guessing but you are a big horror fan, right?
AM: I love all genres of movies.  I mean I’m not a real big “date movie” fan (laughs) but I love them all.  And I love horror.  That’s why it was so kick ass to meet Nicotero.  Meeting Michael Rooker on set was awesome too.

MG: You just wrote, directed and starred in a film called “Exhibit A-7.”  What can you tell us about it?
AM: It’s kind of a POV (point of view) film.  I describe it as “Blair Witch meets The Strangers.”  It’s about two couples going to New Orleans.  One of the ladies is pregnant.  The decide to take a road trip and they video tape the trip.  The movie is the “found” tape of their trip.  Half way through they end up in Georgia and come across the wrong group of people.  My character is Adam.  We all just used our real names.  It made it easier to stay in character by not having to remember different names.  My character wants to, for various reasons, document what’s happening to us.  He wants to show the police what these people are doing to us.  But halfway through the film the bad guys take over the camera.  And then they…document the rest.

MG: You also have another film coming up called “Chop.”  Tell us about how that came about?
AM: Trent Haaga at Troma liked the script, got some cash and optioned it.  I went out to Los Angeles and played a detective in the movie. He did a great job, I just saw a cut of it a while ago and it looks fantastic.

MG:  Anything else you have planned upcoming?
AM:  I wrote a script called “The Pawnshop Chronicles”.  It has been optioned by a great director, can’t say much more though.  My last few projects I have really been able to work with people I admire and look up to and I’m so pumped about that.

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Jeryl Prescott is what people in Hollywood call a triple threat.  She not only acts but writes and directs as well.  She added a fourth hat, that of producer, with her short film “Multiple Choice” in 2006.  She has appeared in such films as “Skeleton Key” and “Vacancy 2” and on such television shows as “One Tree Hill,” “Brothers and Sisters” and “Hawthorne.”  2011 will find her co-starring in the film “Bolden!,” a fictional look at the life of jazz musician Buddy Bolden.  The film co-stars Jackie Earle Haley, Anthonie Mackie and Michael Rooker. Jeryl can now be seen in the new television series “The Walking Dead.”  Movie Mikes had a chance to talk with Jeryl about her role in the show and what to come in the future.

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Mike Gencarelli: Tell us about your character, Jacqui, in “The Walking Dead”?
Jeryl Prescott: The character was created by Frank Darabont.  She is not in the comic book series, so you have to watch the show to see how she fits into this world.  She’s the kind of woman who can surprise you. Jacqui is a southern woman.  I’m from the south, and the southern women I know and love are often nurturing, but fierce and bold when necessary, and really unpredictable

MG: What has been the best part about working on the show?
JP: The Walking Dead team is such an amazing collection of human beings!  No BS.  From the producers to the cast and crew, everybody connected with it.  It’s like the coming together of some perfect force.  For me especially, doing my first recurring role on a series, it is such a divine experience.  As for my favorite thing, probably watching the zombie magic up close, having lunch with zombies, talking with them between takes–surreal.

MG: Were you familiar with the comic series?
JP: No, but I am now.  I have the Compendium.  It requires a bit of weight lifting to carry it around.  And it’s only 48 of the stories!  There are like 76 of them.  I like to think of it as a giant graphic novel, and it’s fascinating.

MG: How does working on a TV series, like “The Walking Dead”, differ from doing movies like “The Skeleton Key” or “Vacancy 2”?
JP: It’s such a different experience.  With “The Walking Dead” it’s like we’re making a new movie every week.  We’re basically making a new, complete movie every week.  The benefit is that you get to stick with the same character week after week, which is nice.  But the challenge is that you’re processing, mentally and emotionally, a chunk of experience in the course of the week.  But in a film, you have months.  And you’d have those months to read through it.  But on “The Walking Dead” the scripts may change overnight.  I mean we might not even have a script “locked” until the night before we shoot.  So the challenge there is enormous.

MG: Are you a fan of the horror genre in particular?
JP: It must speak to my aura. It must read “she’s perfect for scary stuff.”  It’s an amazing little trend as my career develops.

MG: What else do you have planned in the coming months?
JP: Pajama parties at my place for The Walking Dead on Sunday nights!  And I’m in an upcoming film called “Bolden!”, which is actually being introduced to the world right now by a companion film called “Louis,” which is a silent film.  It is being presented in six or seven major cities with live musical accompaniment by Wynton Marsalis (who is also one of the films’ producers) and his orchestra.  And it is a fascinating and unique film experience.  It focuses on the early childhood experiences of Louis Armstrong.  And it’s a way of introducing to audiences the time period when Buddy Bolden lived.  (Note:  Buddy Bolden was one of the greatest musicians in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th Century and was instrumental in the creation of both ragtime and jazz.  The film is scheduled to open in 2011.)  It really will be a great experience.
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Andrew Rothenberg is currently appears in AMC’s new TV series “The Walking Dead”. He is a not a stranger to the horror genre, though. He had a recurring role in Season 1 of HBO’s “True Blood”. Movie Mikes had a chance to talk with Andrew and discuss his role in “The Walking Dead”.

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Mike Gencarelli: Tell us about your character Jim in “The Walking Dead”?
Andrew Rothenberg: Jim is a man of few words. I don’t want to give away any of his secrets, let’s just say he is dealing with the shock of where he finds himself, how he got there and what will be next.

MG: Where you familiar with the comic series?
AR: I had not read the comics before this project came around. When I mentioned it to friends it became very clear that this was a well known comic series among the comic book/graphic novel folks. I quickly ran out and got my hands on the first few in the series. It truly jumped off the page, and with the exception of his hair line, the character of Jim greatly resembled me.

MG: How closely does your character’s storyline follow with the comic series?
AR: You won’t see many differences. I tried at times to recreate images that I remembered from the comic while shooting scenes that were similar to what was in the comic. The only difference may be that I do talk a little more once I open up to the group.

MG: Having done a lot of television, how does this show compare to the others?
AR: This was by far one of the best experiences yet. The sense of camaraderie on set was remarkable, from the actors, to the crew, producers, directors, and all the way to Frank Darabont’s ever present hand. The integrity this project has will show. The show is a serious one for the most part and as is usually the case in such situations, there is a lot of comic relief behind the scenes. These were all some of the most fun and funniest people I have had the pleasure of working with.

MG: What has been the hardest aspect of working on the show?
AR: Ironically the toughest aspect of the show turned out to be its greatest attribute. The intense heat in Atlanta at times was absurd. We were outside everyday, all day, and often covered in alcohol based dirt and blood, in clothes that we had been wearing for a month. I have never sweat so much in my life. However it created quite a “we’re all in this together” feel on the set that helps make the characters and their plight, that much more real.

MG: How was it working on “True Blood” series?
AR: “True Blood” was another great one. I was there right at the beginning and nobody knew it was going to be a hit. Its funny but the first time we had a vampire fight on “True Blood” and had to do the whole fang thing I remember looking around and thinking, “Boy here I am acting like a vampire, I hope I don’t just look like an idiot” But we went for it, and it worked.

MG: Tell us about working on one of my favorite show on TV, “Castle?”
AR: “Castle” was fun, even without any zombies or vampires. Everyone on the show seamed to be having a great time and they were all very welcoming to me. I was doing an interrogation scene, as I have a hundred times before, but this time two things were different, one: the character, even though he was a scumbag, knew this time he had not done anything wrong and had a secret to tell his interrogators, and two: he had a finger cut off. Both fun.

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Juan Gabriel Pareja is currently starring in AMC’s new TV series “The Walking Dead”. Juan is no stranger to acting, he has already worked with director Frank Darabont in “Stephen King’s The Mist”, Oliver Stone in “W.” and with Robert Rodriguez on “Machete” . Juan took some time to chat with Movie Mikes about his films and his role in “The Walking Dead”.

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Mike Gencarelli: Tell us about your character Morales in “The Walking Dead”
Interestingly enough, I play a character who was not in the original Kirkman series, but who was created as a write-in by Frank Darabont (to whom I feel incredibly indebted to, btw). Being a write-in, I think, is a bit of a blessing in disguise. Die-hard fans may wonder who the heck I am and take a moment to connect with my character, but at the same time, my character’s storyline, and demise, is not already programmed in the world of the comic-book, as is the case with a few of the other main characters in the series. So I like that it is kind of an open-ended character with limitless possibilities. Also, the character I play, Morales, is one of the few survivors of the camp who is fortunate enough to be surviving the zombie-apocalypse with his nuclear family intact. I think this certainly adds a slightly different dynamic than the other lone survivors, as I’m fighting not only for my own survival, but for that of my family… a struggle and perspective shared with our protagonist, Rick, and his family. Overall, I think Morales sees himself as a moral compass (perhaps we all see ourselves that way). Heck, it’s right there in his name! Seriously though, I think he does his best to keep people calm, centered, and rational when tensions rise high, when the defecation hits the ventilation, as I heard someone say recently. I think it might have been on the latest video game I’ve been playing, “Bad Company II”.

MG: Is it connected at all with the character you played in Frank Darabont’s “The Mist” also named Morales?
Funny you should ask….. When I arrived in Atlanta this summer for the table read of what was to be my first episode, Guts, Frank made a quick joke regarding that coincidence, and that I might always end up playing a ‘Morales’ in any of his future projects. But no, there is no correlation between the two characters in either project, just me, and of course the apocalypse of your choice. A little side note for aspiring actors out there, you never know where your next project is going to come from. I actually just arrived in LA (I had been working in the Texas and Louisiana markets for a while) earlier this year, trying to figure out how I was going to make ends meet and get an agent. I was actually out knocking on doors for the U.S. Census when I got the call from my Houston agent, telling me that Frank was doing this new show out in Atlanta, that he remembered me from “The Mist” years earlier (in Louisiana), and wanted me to submit for this new role. I couldn’t believe it. I was floored, reeling with joy, and overwhelmed with gratitude. You never know which seeds that you plant along your journey are going to take root and sprout into something amazing.

MG: What has been the best part for you working on this show?
It is impossible to say really. It has all been a dream come true. Sometimes I’m not even sure if I realize how unbelievably huge this opportunity has been…. I think it is still setting in. It is incredibly validating to be working with such an amazing ensemble of actors on such an awesome piece of television history. I guess if I had to boil it down to one thing, it is the people I was working with, day in and day out, often times in uncomfortable and challenging environments. Not only are they all wonderful, talented actors, but also just terrific and impressive human beings! Incredibly supportive and always generous, there was a synergy on this show which I’ve been told is uncommon. And not just between the actors, but with absolutely everyone involved. They are all at the top of their game and are giving it all they’ve got. I mean come on, Frank Darabont, Gale Ann Hurd, Greg Nicotero, the folks at AMC, and countless others. You can’t go wrong there. I feel incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to work with such amazing talents and industry heavy-weights. I also have high hopes that this new-found level of exposure will help me find representation out in LA and allow me to pursue my career more aggressively.

MG: Even though you character is not in series, did you read the comics to research the story?
Oh absolutely. I didn’t know anything at all about the series when I got the call. As soon as I did though, I marched down to the local comic book store in Burbank… I think it may have been the very same one where Frank first discovered the graphic novel years ago. I bought the first compendium collection of issues 1-48, and consumed it in a couple of days. I mean, it’s no wonder Kirkman has gained such a worldwide audience. Once you start, it is incredibly difficult to put down. With such rich material, it is easy to imagine keeping the audience riveted and the series going for years to come.

MG: What was it like working on a film like “Machete”?
Oh that was a lot of fun. It was a short stint of a few days’ work spread over a couple of weeks time. I’ve known that Robert Rodriguez was someone who I aspired to work with since he first did “El Mariachi” and then “Desperado” many years ago, so it was a real pleasure to finally get to meet and work with him. It was particularly gratifying to work with Robert because he is a fellow Latino and Texan who has brought some of his Hollywood success back to his home state with his Austin-based production studio. And Danny Trejo is just great. Talk about not judging a book by its cover. After years of seeing such an iconic, rugged, and downright mean-looking face on this guy, I couldn’t have been more impressed by his sheer kindness and generous spirit on set. He really couldn’t have been a nicer guy.

MG: You have worked with such great directors, Frank Darabont, Oliver Stone, and Robert Rodriguez, how was it working with such great talent?
Each time I nearly had to pinch myself to see if it was really going on. I mentioned Robert to you already. And Oliver Stone?!? I was beside myself. Giddy really. One of the greatest directors in the history of the medium. And super kind, very accessible, and generous with his compliments. And Frank–hands down amazing. My all-time favorite film has been “The Shawshank Redemption” from back to my earliest days in high school. To work with him on The Mist was special enough, but to then have him remember me and bring me back for such an epic undertaking, is simply extraordinary. It is surreal to have worked with these three greats, and I don’t know if I’ve always done the best job at processing that fact. I mean, I grew up hoping only in my wildest dreams to maybe one day work with one of these men. And it ended up happening all before ever setting a foot in Hollywood. It can also be a little unnerving at times because often you get very little actual direction, and it’s easy to end up wondering if any of the choices you are making on camera are any good at all. But you have to just trust that no news is good news, and that they know what they are doing when they cast you. I heard someone once say, 90% of directing is in the casting.

MG: Besides acting, what are some of your other hobbies?
Dancing. I absolutely love to move and groove to great music, specifically to live Latin salsa beats. It is a great way to have fun and burn calories at the same time. I’m staying active these days also, doing a bit of hiking here and there, and trying to muster up the courage to maybe start training for a half-marathon. I also like to sing, make people laugh, and can easily spend hours just sketching away.

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Gil Gerard is most know for his  role Capt. William “Buck” Rogers in “Buck Rogers in the 25h Century”.  The show is still loved by fans everywhere even after 30 years.  Movie Mikes had a chance to chat with Gil about his role in the show and his upcoming projects.

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Mike Gencarelli: How did you get the role of Capt. William Rogers in “Buck Rogers in the 25h Century”?
Gil Gerard: I received the opportunity and turned it down three times.  Finally my agent told me to read the script.  I read it and it was pretty great.  So, I decided to do it.  I turned it down because I didn’t want to do a cartoon character.  I have seen the old Batman series and didn’t want to that type of show.  “Buck Rogers” was based on a cartoon.  I thought that Buck had a great sense of humanity and a great sense of humor.  That is what attracted me to the role.

MG: Have you ever seen any of the original television show or movie back in the 30’s?
GG: Yeah, I saw it when I was a kid.  I preferred the westerns to the serials.  I watched “Buck Rogers” and I also saw “Flash Gordon”.  I got to tell you it was pleasure to meet Buster (Crabbe) when he guest starred on the show.  We became great friends and remained friend until he died.

MG: Do you have a favorite episode from the series?
GG: Yes, it from my least favorite year…which is the second.  I liked ‘The Satyr’.  It gave me a chance to do some character acting.  It also reminded me of what I would have like the show to do for season two.  Which was basically stay on Earth and have adventures on Earth.

MG: 30 years ago, did you have any idea that this show will still be holding on with fans?
GG: No, If I did I would have saved all the props and wardrobes.  I could have had all that stuff.  It was just a job for me.  I did it, the show ended and I did other things.  It is amazing that after 30 years people still remember and love the show.  It is incredible.

MG: Did you get to keep any of the props?
GG: I did.  I have the star fighter from all of the fight scenes.  It was the Buck Rogers’ star fighter.  I have it here in my house.

MG: You have you blog and you frequent the convention scene, do you enjoy keeping in touch with fans at conventions?
GG: Yes very much.  It is very gratifying that people still remember it and it is a really nice things.  I enjoy meeting the fans and talking about the show.  It is nice thing to be remember for something like that.

MG: Tell us about your two upcoming projects “Blood Fare” and “Lost Valentine”?
GG: In “Blood Fare” I play a professor.  It is like a civil war horror film. It relates to the old legends.  It was a great experience and I really enjoyed it.  It was very low-budget independent film.  I love to deal with people that are creative, young and trying to get things started.  I just love the energy.  “Lost Valentine” is with Betty White and Jennifer Love Hewitt.   I play Betty’s son.  She is a woman who is widowed in World War II, her husband was MIA.  Jennifer plays a TV reporter who is doing a story on her.  The whole thing revolved around the fact that he said goodbye to her on Valentine’s day back in the 40’s.  Jennifer ends up finding what happened to her husband and the lost valentine becomes the found valentine. It is a really a nice story.  It will be on the Hallmark Channel probably around Valentine’s day.

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David Chackler has worked on so many great films over the years.  Some of his most notable are “Child’s Play” and “Fright Night”.  Due to working on those films David had become longtime friend with writer/director Tom Holland.  They recently created a production company, Dead Rabbit Films together.  Movie Mikes had a chance to chat with David about the films he has worked on and his process for working on the music.

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Mike Gencarelli: You’ve worked on so many great films i.e. “Child’s Play” and “Fright Night”, Tell us about your process for working on the music?
David Chackler: Whenever I was brought in to do the music, I first thing I  start with is the script.  My inspiration starts with the content.  We work with the director and go through the music cues.  We work with them and Where they would like it to be and where I feel that they should be.  This helps tones the overall tone.  It also helps us pick a composer and helps us pick the source music as well.  Everything starts with a piece of content from a scene.

MG: How much freedom did you have to work on the music on each project?
DC: Every project is totally different.  Most of the young directors working on their first or second picture, they have been dreaming of this picture their whole life.  They have a very specific idea of what music they would like and where they would like it.  The first question and main issue for me is, what is the studio’s budget?  There is always the little dance that goes on between what they want and what they can afford.  At point I have to bridge the gap by giving them something that they would like and that also fits in the budget.  If it is veteran director, they would usually let us come in with two or three cues for each area.  They will sit with the composer and give you much more freedom.

MG: How did you get involved with the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series?
DC: In the early days, I was a musical consultant for New Line Cinema. I did a lot of their earlier pictures.  I was lucky enough to work on on the “Nightmare” films.  It definitely introduce me into the horror world.  When we did these films we tried to do everything fresh, come up a new sound and not look back at the other music from the series.

MG: What is your favorite type of music in general?
DC: I came out of the music business.  I can be listening to Bob Dylan anytime of the day or night.  I love rock, Queen is one of my favorite band.  Now I listen more to classic rock.

MG: Of all the films you’ve worked on, what has been your favorite to date?
DC: I gotta go with “Fright Night”.  It was a classic film and the music is as well.  The soundtrack really stands out.  It just one of those things, it is timeless. People still to today always ask me about the music.

MG: Tell us about reuniting with Tom Holland to create Dead Rabbit Films?
DC: We have been friends for many years.  We decided about a year ago to start this. It was a great opporunity in the independent industry.  Tom is one of the best writers I have ever known and due to that we have no shortage of content.  We decided to create a series called “Twisted Tales” which will be kind of like “Twilight Zone” meets “Amazing Stories”.  It will appeal to a more older demog not the usual 12-24 years old.  It is a little more like “MST3k”.  We thought it would be a great thing for us to do and so far it has been fantastic.  We have finished three tales already and are planning on closing our distribution deal any day now.

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Linda Larkin is the voice of Jasmine from Disney’s timeless classic “Aladdin”.  Linda has reprised the role of Jasmine numerous times over the years.  Movie Mikes had the chance to chat with Linda about the role and how it has been playing this role over the years.

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Mike Gencarelli: How did you originally get the role of Princess Jasmine in “Aladdin?”
Linda Larkin: The role of Jasmine was really one of many auditions I had that week. I really didn’t know that much about it before my first audition. “The Little Mermaid” was just coming out…this was before “Beauty and the Beast” had come out…these things take years from beginning to end…and I wasn’t really aware of this new chapter of Disney animated features. So I really didn’t know what I was auditioning for, I didn’t know it was going to be this big movie. I thought it was going to be something like “Duck Tales” (laughs). I had no idea. When I went in I only got a few pages of the script. But those few scenes they had me read…I really connected to them. I thought they were beautiful. One was with Abu and the other was a scene that made it in the movie that leads up to the magic carpet ride. I really felt the magic of that movie just from that little audition. I didn’t hear anything for a couple of months and then I got a call saying I had a call back. And this went on for a few months. I’d go in and then I’d get called back. I was living in L.A. at the time and when I’d get my call back, I’d go to the studio and as the process went on the field would keep getting smaller and smaller. The first time I auditioned every girl I knew my age was also auditioning for it. Which wasn’t unusual. We all auditioned for everything. The second time it was a much smaller list and by the end it was just me and a guy they were considering for Aladdin and I ended up getting the part and they didn’t use the guy (Scott Weinger got the part). For my last audition I basically read the whole script, it was like a four hour audition. They animated to our voices and when it was finished they presented it and the studio signed off on me and they began looking for a guy. That’s the long version!

MG: Because of your many years doing the character, have you become attached to her?
LL: Like I said, I connected to the character the very first time I read the script. And I’ve stayed connected to her through out. It feels like she’s a part of me and I’m a part of her. To me it feels like it was meant to be. If I had to choose from all of the Disney princess who I’d want to be, Jasmine is the one I would choose. I think it was kismet…a connection that was meant to be. I think that’s why I got the job because I “got” her right away. And there was some resistance to me because originally the character was like a dumb Lauren Bacall. They were looking for a different kind of voice then what I brought into the room. But I changed their minds. And some people at the studio were still attached to the original idea but eventually everybody came on board.

MG: Do you feel that the character has changed at all over the years?
LL: That’s an interesting question. I don’t think the character has changed. She was a very strong, well defined character from the very beginning. And while we all grow up, Jasmine is still sixteen. We’ve done 100 episodes of a cartoon series. We’ve done toys and games and dolls and other interactive media and she is still sixteen year old Jasmine. And, who I am today is the person I saw inside me as a sixteen year old. My character was pretty much what it has been throughout my life. Everyone matures…they grow up and learn to make better decisions. And I really think that, by the time you’re sixteen, your character has already been pretty defined. Jasmine doesn’t need to change. You can identify with her and you know how she would be were she be allowed to “grow up.” To me she’s already a fleshed out character. She’s very real. She’s been that way from the beginning and she hasn’t lost that. Sometimes change isn’t always the best thing. Sometimes it’s better that things stay the same because they really hit it right the first time with this girl.

MG: Was there a reason why Lea Salonga has the singing role in the film?
LL: I’m not a singer! And this is something that a lot of people don’t know. This was the first time in a Disney movie that they separated the acting voice and the singing voice. Prior to that they had only auditioned singers. They only auditioned people who could do both. They could act and sing. And this movie…it was developed around Robin Williams…and when I was auditioning I already knew Robin Williams was playing the Genie. By my second call back I had the whole script and you could see that it was literally written in his voice. He was singing HIS songs but they felt that Robin was first a great actor and they wanted everyone around him to keep up with him. And when they put out the
notice they made it clear that, above all, they wanted strong actors. Being able to sing was o.k. but it wasn’t necessary. They wanted to see actors. In the original script, Princess Jasmine doesn’t have a song. In the movie she only has one song, the duet with Aladdin. But when I read the original script she didn’t have any songs at all…”A Whole New World” hadn’t been written yet. So all I had to do was focus on the acting. And when they added the song they came to me and asked, “Do you sing?” And I said, “I do…but not like a princess!” And they said, “No problem, we’ll find a singer to match your voice.” And they did. And to me it’s such an amazing match to my voice that it’s almost seamless when they go from dialogue to the song and back to dialogue. And you see what happened…from that point forward that opened up the world of Disney animation to everybody. They no longer needed actors who sang. Robin Williams was the first big celebrity to do an animated film. So from that point up to “Pocahontas.” Irene (Bedard, the speaking voice of Pocahontas) and I are the only ones who were non-singers, non-celebrities in a lead role in a Disney animated movie. I squeezed into that tiny window of opportunity where you didn’t have to be a star and you didn’t have to be a singer.

MG: If you had the chance to voice any other Disney Princess who would it be?
LL: As a little girl I identified the most with Snow White. She was my favorite. And I don’t really think she’s like Jasmine at all, but as a little girl that’s who I would have chosen. But Jasmine is my favorite. I really couldn’t pick any other character that I would want to be more than her. She’s just so fun. It’s really fun for me to do.

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Scoot McNairy stars in this fall’s sci-fi film “Monsters”.  He also has his own production company called The Group Films and starred its first film called “In Search of a Midnight Kiss” and received critical praise.  Movie Mikes had a chance to talk about working on “Monsters”, how it was preparing for the role and working with his wife on the film.

Click here to watch “Monsters” right now on Video on Demand

Mike Gencarelli: What drew you to working on the film “Monsters”?
Scoot McNairy: First off, Gareth (Edwards) showed me the concept or the treatment and based on that I was really excited about it.  The role was really wasn’t developed at the time.  Gareth came and met with us, we sat down and talked about some ideas.  I told him that ever since I was a kid, I always thought I would be a National Geographic photographer.  I would love to be a war journalist or something.  So based on that we incorporated that into the role.  I think at the time is when I really got excited and thought that this was a dream come true.  It was like reliving that childhood fantasy.

MG: What did you find the most difficult about working on “Monsters”?
SM: As far as the budget goes, I am pretty good at rolling with that.  Whitney and I are both very low maintenance actors.  The hardest thing about it was the improving.  The whole film was unscripted, it was all improv.  We made up stuff every day on the fly.  I think that was also the most stress baring thing about it.  We were constant trying to come up with new material on a sci-fi film where there is nothing grounded.  You cannot see anything, you are living in a world that doesn’t exist.  It is created after when we are done with the project.  We felt a bit lost at times.  We just kind of stuck with it and at the end of the day the editor did a fantastic job cutting together a great story out of it.

MG: What was it like worked with your wife, Whitney Able, on the film?
SM: It could have been a make or break ordeal.  I didn’t know how she was going to react to the stressful conditions.  Being in Guatemala in the middle of nowhere of the Jungle.  I think about three weeks into it, I was so impressed with her talent as well as her gung-ho indie film attitude.  I think halfway through the film, I decided I am going to marry this person.

MG: How do you prepare for a role that was mostly improv?
SM: All you do is back-story research.  Don’t get me wrong I usually do a lot of back-story research for my characters but for this one, it was different.  I had to write out this guys life from day one.  This way anything Whitney threw at me or I threw at her, we could come back with a legitimate idea.  We did about two to three months of writing out these characters lives.  A lot of it didn’t get used but it was all there in the back of our heads.

MG: Having worked on many films, how was it working with first time director, Gareth Edwards?
SM: It was good.  As much as he was a first time director, this was kind of find time thing for me as well.  I think we were all really patient with each other.  Being it was a small crew, we had the ability to stop production and sit down and talk about things.  It was very organic.  Everyone was involved in the creative process from the line producer, to Gareth, to Whitney and I.  We all just got together and made this story ourselves.  Due to our patience with each other, I think it led to a good project coming out in the end.

MG: Do you ever have plans to direct?
SM: It is funny you mention that right now, I am just sitting down writing a script right now that I have been developing for four years.  Yes, it is something that I am going to want to direct. Then I have a production company as well, I produced a movie called “In Search of a Midnight Kiss”.  The company is called The Group Films.  We currently have two films in development right now.  Directing is definitely the next step for me.

MG: What can you tell us about the films you are producing?
SM: One of them, “Frank and Cindy”, I can only say that Rene Russo is attached.   At the present time also we have Danny Devito directing.  I have another film I can’t say cause the cast is all over the place.  I am producing with Holly Wiersma who did “Factory Girl”, “Bobby”, “Wonderland” and “Stone” which just came out.

MG: What projects are acting in that are coming out?
SM: I have a movie coming out called “Angry White Man” with Matthew Perry and Mary Birdsong from “Reno 911”. It is a redneck comedy takes place in North Carolina.  I got the “The Off Hours”, I did with Lynn Shelton who directed “Humpday”.  I’ve also got a couple of other projects and TV shows in the works as well.

Click here to watch “Monsters” right now on Video on Demand

Whitney Able is starring in this fall’s sci-fi drama “Monsters”. She is co-starring in the film with her husband Scoot McNairy. Whitney really shines in this film and she is going to have a fantastic career in this business.  Movie Mikes had a chance to chat with Whitney about working on the film and her adventures in Mexico during the shoot.

Click here to watch “Monsters” right now on Video on Demand

Mike Gencarelli: Tell us about how you got involved with the film “Monsters”?
Whitney Able: Scoot told me about it, he got an email from Vertigo. They said that they have a script and they want a real couple to go down to Mexico and shoot this film. We were looking at the treatment and they told us that they wanted us for the film. It was really exciting.

MG: What was the most difficult part of working on the film?
WA: Initially the hardest part was how we were going to film it. We basically had a treatment and everyday we will show up and try and figure everything out. We didn’t know how to approach it. Neither of us have ever done anything like this. We have done improv before but with this we just had free range. We just developed a back-story for our characters and worked on that for two months before we left. We did some exercises together. Pretty much we just had to be exactly who we were and understand our story arc, try and hit those points in order to keep the story moving. With the exception of Emelie Jeffries everyone in the movie was locals. So they were just people we sort of found and approached in the film. Emelie played the homeless woman at the end. Emelie flew down to help us work on our back-stories for the characters. She is my mentor. I grew up watching her in the theater in Houston, TX. I was so excited to be working with her.

MG: How was it working with your husband Scoot McNairy?
WA: Even though we were a couple, we had a fear of what kind of strain this would put on our relationship. We were just newly dating at the time, about five months or so. We wanted to be sure this wasn’t going to be the kiss of death by working with each other in this strenuous environment. Scoot said if we can do this and get through it and still love each other, we should get married. So we did. It was great working with Scoot. He has a wonderful charisma about him. I am not sure if I would have been able to do it anybody else. I think so much had to do with me knowing Scoot and knowing his abilities. He is just a great improv actor. He is very outward and I am very inward, it really helped create these dynamic characters.

MG: What was it like shooting in Mexico?
WA: I have been to Mexico many times before the shoot but I loved seeing it during the shoot. We weren’t going to touristy places. We were going to small towns that nobody goes to. It was really inspiring.

MG: You worked in a few other genre films “Unearthed” & “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane”, are you a fan of the genre?

WA: I am new fan of the genre. I was movie-goer as kid. My dad loved the classics like “Jaws”. I remember watching “Nightmare on Elm Street”. I didn’t really know how to identify a genre when I was younger. Later I realized I like intense dark films. I am not really a comedy person. I realized after working on this I am a big sci-fi fan. I started watching more sci-fi films. I am actually even writing a sci-fi script right now which won’t be done for like five years probably [laughs]. I am not a blood and guns girls. I like also like action films with guns and fast cars.

MG: Tell us about some of your recent TV projects?
WA: I just wrapped an episode of “Criminal Minds”. That is pretty dark stuff. I worked on an episode of “Nikita” that just aired recently. That was really cool. I got to shoot guns and be a bad guy. I even had a Ukrainian accent. I really love accents and doing deep character studies. The problem with TV is that it is so fast. I like to build a library. I take a tape recorder wherever I go in different countries. I am slowly building library of accents and dialects.

MG: I guess that came in handy for you shooting in Mexico for “Monsters”?
WA: Yeah, I lived in Spain for a year, when I was younger. I learned to speak Spanish there. When I came back to Texas which is where I am from, nearly half the population speaks Spanish. I got to speak Spanish throughout my teens and into my twenties, especially living in LA.

Click here to watch “Monsters” right now on Video on Demand

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• Interview with Cindy Morgan
• Interview with Sarah Clarke

Gareth Edwards is the director of the new sci-fi film “Monsters”. Gareth has worked as an visual effects artist before directing. He took advantage of that crafty and was able to take a micro-budget with “Monsters” and create an amazing film that everyone needs to see. “Monsters” follows what happens after alien life forms appeared on the U.S.-Mexico border region. Movie Mikes had a chance to talk with Gareth and discuss his new film “Monsters” and how he made this film on such a small budget.

Click here to watch “Monsters” right now on Video on Demand

Mike Gencarelli: How did you originally come up with the idea for the film “Monsters”?
Gareth Edwards: Basically, I really wanted to do a monster movie. It is one of the film genres that I love. It felt like it would be a good start for a first film. I thought that some sort of horror was a good entry to make on a low budget. Basically, I tried to come up with a different spin for a monster movie. The fact is I did visual effects for a living, so that is my background. I only had access to crappy cheap camcorders. I thought if I was going to make a monster movie, I knew it would be really cheap YouTube style footage. I thought that good be interesting if we did an invasion film all shot on a camcorder. I was trying to set that up, write it up and do some tests. Right in the middle of this, one day my friend sent me a link to a trailer for a film called “Cloverfield” and I just said “Oh Shit!”. I then had to bring it to a new level. I wanted to think what would be a post “Cloverfield” movie. I was on holiday and I was watching these fisherman and they were just pulling this big net from the ocean. In my mind I was picturing this CG monster on the end of the net. It was interesting because for the fisherman it is just an everyday activity for them. Because they were behaving so normal, I thought it would be quite a surreal site to see some so fantastic as a giant creature and they are like acting like it happens everyday. I thought we could do something cheap and easy by going to another country and filming it there. The fact that the people in the background aren’t running around and screaming, they are just carrying on normally actually adds to the realism of the world. For me, the crude way to explain it would be if Godzilla or King Kong is kind of like September 11th. Our film is kind of like the war in Afghanistan years later. People have gotten used to the idea that this crazy stuff goes on.

MG: Alright lets talk about the budget of “Monsters”, tell us about how you made this film on such a low budget?
GE: It wasn’t as low as some of the internet sites suggest though. $15,000 dollars has been used a lot and that was a misunderstanding. Best Buy did a great video piece on us, they totaled up the equipment we were using came to about $15,000. We also had flights, motels and things like that. It is more than that but still very very low budget. I think the trick is that when you write a script you sort of dictate in your script all of these details of things that has to be in the movie. It could cost a fortune trying to recreate all that stuff. For me I didn’t want all those details. I didn’t want it to be that specific. It was more like lets go places and what happens or whatever we see, we will incorporate that into the film. It is very open minded. Since I could do my own computer graphics, I got to add helicopters in the air, tanks in the street and change the street signs to warning signs. There is a lot of production value that you can bring to it with being open minded and a bit of computer graphics. That is how we pulled it off for the tiny money we had.

MG: The visual effects in the film are fantastic, tell us about of process of creating the monsters?
GE: [Spoiler Warning] The monsters themselves were done in a 3D software called 3DS Max. The thing I struggled most with was getting the tentacles to work because I didn’t know how to make it look real. I wanted it to sort of be enchanting and feel like it was moving underwater. There was one part of the software that you could use to simulate rope. It doesn’t look good though since it looks like rope but there is one setting called gravity. I put the gravity on it, set it to zero and I animated it again. Suddenly I had this really complex looking motion. That was a breakthrough for me in figuring out how to do it. I was suppose to do two shots a day. I got to my first creature shot and it took months before I could do one, since it took forever to figure out how I wanted to do it. They are based on deep sea creature like bio-luminescent. It was literally something you have to evolve, you can’t just stick pieces together it would look like Frankenstein. You literally have to do what nature does, take something that exists and just push, pull and stretch them. You kind of evolve it into a slightly new looking shape.

MG: Can you believe the buzz that the film has been getting recently?
GE: Yeah, I really hope so. I am sort of blind to it. If I see anything on the internet, it is because I type “Monsters” in on Google. It is hard for me to grasp how much I would know about this movie if I wasn’t exposed to it. I can’t resist it now and again to type “Monsters” into Google and to see what people are saying. Maybe people will send around the “Monsters” trailer like my friend who sent me the link to “Cloverfield”.

MG: How did you find the great cast for the film, since the film is really focuses on its characters?
GE: We basically didn’t cast the film. Scoot (McNairy) and Whitney (Able) were the first people we ever met and the only people we ever spoke to. I watched a film that Scoot had been in called “In Search of a Midnight Kiss” and I was watching it more because it was made for like $25K dollars. Scoot really stood out. He has that good balance of being charismatic and likable but not in a Hollywood perfect model type way. He feels like a regular guy that could be you. So I really liked him but I actually wanted to genuine couple because the chemistry is so important. With ad-libbing it all, I thought it was too big a risk not to have two people that have something between them. Scoot sent me a picture of his girlfriend who is an actress. She was gorgeous. Whitney will tell you this but it put me off, I actually didn’t want her in the film because she was too good looking. I wanted it to feel really real and not like a film that Hollywood would make. But then I met her and realized how ugly she was without her makeup on [laughs]…I am kidding. She is absolutely beautiful and realized how friendly and down to earth she was. I ended up staying at their house for like five days and sleeping on their sofa. It was more about do we all get along, then lets talk about the movie. Because if we did this, we were going to end up in a van for like six weeks going through the jungle and stuff. We had to make sure we didn’t have any personality clashes. Thankfully, I do not have a personality so they were good with mine.

MG: Tell us about your next film with Timur Bekmambetov producing?
GE: Yeah I am trying to work on it now. It is amazing how you never really appreciate how busy promoting a film can get. I sort of thought, I finished this film and if I was lucky I could do on a holiday and then so straight on to the next one. But it has been non-stop since we had our would premiere about six months ago now. Basically Timur Bekmambetov, the Russian filmmaker, who is currently working on “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” with Tim Burton. He was a big fan of the film and has been very supportive. Essentially what he has done is he is financing me to develop my next film so we can put it together on our own terms and get it going the way we want. It is always better to set it up yourself, that way it will be more likely to be the film you want to make and then try and offer it to a major studio. It will be science fiction and will be more ambitious than “Monsters”. I am pretty sure I will not get to do the effects myself next time. Our one liner that we have been giving out is: “An epic human story set in a futuristic world without humanity”. It is just of a contradiction but I kind of like that. We will keep it vague for now but their are only a few things we could mean.

Click here to watch “Monsters” right now on Video on Demand

Jon Hopkins is a musican/composer who is known for his melodic electronica and dance music. Jon has released numerous albums and has worked an a few film scores the most recent being Gareth Edwards’ “Monsters”. Movie Mikes was lucky to chat with Jon to discuss his fantastic score for Monsters” and his process for creating music.

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Mike Gencarelli: Where did you find your inspiration for the score to “Monsters”
Jon Hopkins: I think it is all in the visuals. There is such strong cinematography in the film. I am really inspired by brilliant photography. Gareth was known for his work in visual effects but I had no idea he was such an incredible camera man as well. I just saw some of the shots and they were like works of art. It just suggested to me the sound right away. The color scheme was a factor as well. The general feel of the film for me is captured by the way it looks and how the colors work, so that is where it comes from.

MG: Did you have any difficulty scoring the film?
JH: It was the first one I have done on my own. I have worked on a couple on with a team of composers. I was learning a lot. My studio wasn’t really equipped at that point to score a film. The computer I had was struggling a lot trying to have the picture playing same time while working. It was a great learning process. I learned a lot things not to do very quickly. I was able to work out the details of how to begin such a large project. We just got over all the barriers we faced. The biggest challenge was making something that sounded sort of orchestral without having an orchestra. I did that by recording one string player, Davide Ross and then just layered it up and built it to what sounds like an orchestra.

MG: Do you have a favorite scene that you enjoy scoring the most?
JH: There is a scene where Whitney (Able)’s character wakes up by the water just after the first encounter. It has the most beautiful dawn and she stands up and looks at the sky. For me that was such an amazing moment to score. I put my favorite piece of music into that point of the film.

MG: How did you original start working with Gareth Edwards?
JH: It was actually through Vertigo films, who is releasing “Monsters”. I worked with them on this film called “The Escapist”. I helped them with the end track for that film with was the track I worked with Coldplay.  They saw I worked with Brian Eno on the score for “The Lovely Bones” and knew I could do scoring. They gave me a chance and they introduced my work to Gareth. He was completely behind me working on it.

MG: Did he did you any direction or did you have creative control?
JH: Luckily, he was behind all of my ideas. There are twenty two or twenty three pieces of music in the film. I think maybe with two of them I got the tone wrong and he would come in and we would work on it. He would come in and direct a few points and guide based on high or low points in a scene. It was more moving around to fit his vision than any major changes. Generally, it was great and we really hit it off.

MG: “Monsters” wasn’t your first feature, you also worked on “The Lovely Bones”, tell us about that process?
JH: Yeah that was awesome. It was my first feature film working experience. I collaborated a few times with Brian Eno for probably the last seven or eight years now. He was talking about how he was approached by Peter Jackson to do it. He loved the book and Peter Jackon’s work but wasn’t sure if he wanted to take on such a big project. We worked with another composer Leo Abrahams, who was an old friend of mine. The process was the three of us in Brian’s studio and we really didn’t have much from the film to work with. We were working off our knowledge of the book and off some big stills that Peter would send us. It was a lot of improvisation at first.  We technically split it three ways. There was also a lot of involvement on the studios end since what we sent it to what finally come out, there was a lot of additional added. The score for me, you can hear that it sounds full of too many ideas for one score.

MG: Do you find it any different working on a film score than on a regular album?
JH: It is very different. Having written over twenty pieces of music for “Monsters”, I was done within three and half weeks. For an album it takes more like four months to do ten pieces. There is a lot of pressure when you are writing a score. It is not suppose to take 100% of your attention. When you make an album it has to hold your attention fully for an hour. In the film, you are helping drive the story. There is a moment in “Monsters”, where Gareth has no sound and it is just an incredible scenery shot. Those pieces need to be able to get the viewers attention.

MG: Tell us how you got to work on Coldplay’s album “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends”?
JH: Thanks to Brian Eno again, he was asked to produce the band and a few months into it he has the idea to invite other musician to work with them. They wanted to break things up and add some fresh ideas. Davide Rossi, the guy I used for the strings on “Monsters” was Coldplay’s string arranger, that is where I met him. I was in there just jamming for a few days. It just sort of evolved into co-writing and additional producing of a few of the tracks.

MG: Do you have a favorite film soundtrack?
My favorite soundtrack is “Lost in Translation”. The music is just my favorite collection of pieces. That film is not really one genre either, it is not a comedy, drama or love story. It is its own thing. Those are the kind of movies I am really interested in.

MG: Do you have plans to do any more film scores?
JH: My plans is I always just wait and see what appears. I never aimed specifically at doing scores. This film came a long, I saw it and I thought I really want to do this. My plan is wait for the right ones to come along. I do not have a huge range of styles that I want to write, so there will only be a few films that fit that. I love indie films. What I really love about “Monsters” is it doesn’t really fit into a genre, it is kind of a sci-fi road trip film and it is different in that way. I love that fact that it is not definable, it is not a horror film or action film.

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Click here to watch “Monsters” right now on Video on Demand

Check out a the theme for “Monsters” by Jon Hopkins here:

Jon Hopkins – Monsters Theme by Jon Hopkins

Tyne Stecklein, who made her memorable debut starring alongside one of her greatest mentors in Michael Jackson’s documentary film “This Is It”, has spent her life dedicating her mind, body, and soul to the art of dance. November 24th all of her hard work will pay off when she co-stars in the star-studded film “Burlesque” along with such greats as Cher, Kristen Bell, and Christina Aguilera. Movie Mikes had a chance to chat with Tyne about her love for dancing and her upcoming roles.

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Mike Gencarelli: Have you always wanted to be a dancer?
Tyne Stecklein: Yeah, I started dancing when I was three. My mom was a dance teacher. I have done it my whole life. I think by the time I was twelve that I knew it was what I wanted to do professionally.

MG: How did you end up mentoring with Michael Jackson?
TS: Well that was a dance audition I got through my dance agent. The audition was by request only. There was dancers from all over the world there. I think there was like 400 girls auditioning for it.

MG: How was it working on the film “This is It”?
TS: It was really amazing working with Michael (Jackson). While we were working with him, we knew that he was filming but it was originally just suppose to be for his own personal collection. We never thought it will be made into this giant feature film. He was great to everyone. He was really just such a nice guy, very professional and knew exactly what he wanted. He was very hands on with all of us working on the show. Just getting to work around him was just amazing.

MG: Tell us about your role of Jesse in this fall’s “Burlesque”?

TS: I play Jesse, she is one of the lead dancers at the “Burlesque” club. My character is pretty sweet and innocent but me and the other girls that work there are not a big fan of Christina Aguilera’s character when she arrives. We do not like her being a new person there. But the club is going downhill at this point so she ends up having this hidden talent that could help the save the club. One of my funny traits is my character wears big frame glasses throughout the movie, even when I am dancing so that was fun.

MG: What was it like working with Cher and Christina Aguilera?
TS: Yeah, it was amazing. I actually had worked with Cher before for a year in Vegas. I danced at her show in Caesar’s Palace. It was really cool for me to work with her again but in a different setting. That was her as an artist and this is her as an actress. She is incredible at both. It is really inspiring because I would also like to be an actress. It was really cool to be around such amazing talent like that. I had a little scene with her and Stanley Tucci, which was awesome to be apart of. Christina is talent is so many different areas as well and this is her first acting role. She is such a great job with it. That was really inspiring to be around as well.

MG: Tell us about your upcoming film “Friends with Benefits”?
TS: In that film, I play the role of Victoria. Aston Kutcher is one of the leads, he works on the production set of television show. The TV show is has a high school setting and my character is the head cheerleader. She is the brat of the group. I actually auditioned for that as a dancer and then the director Ivan Reitman asked me if I would read for a role as role. I got to do both things, which was really cool.

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Irene Bedard is known best for voicing one of Disney’s beloved characters, “Pocahontas”. Irene has reprised the character many times for Disney and even portrayed Pocahontas’ mother in “The New World”. Movie Mikes had a chance to chat with Irene about her work with Disney and what she is currently working on.

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Mike Gencarelli: How were you chosen to be the voice of “Pocahontas”?
Irene Bedard: My very first movie was a Disney movie called “Squanto.”  I had been working on it and had also done a television film called “Lakota Woman:  Siege at Wounded Knee.”  The casting director there told me that they were looking for someone to provide the voice for a movie about Pocahontas.  Having already worked for Disney she recommended me to them.  I was in Buffalo at the time so I got on a train, got there (NYC)…and when I had gotten on the train in Buffalo my hat had blown off and had gotten run over by the train.  So I walk in wearing a sun dress and my straw hat, which is all askew…I tell them “Hello, how are you…my hat got run over by a train” and they began to laugh.  We talked and had a great time from the very beginning.  They had me read and it was a lot of fun.  They gave me hugs at the end.  One of them said “We hope to see you again” and I thought to myself, “That went really well.”

I was on the set of “Lakota Woman” when I found out I got the role.  I went to my first recording session and it’s in this damp basement recording studio in somebody’s house.  We’re working and there’s a knock on the door and it’s a girl scout selling girl scout cookies.  I mean it was literally in somebody’s basement.

MG: The character is actually modeled after you, how much do you see of yourself in the movie?
IB: During some of the recording sessions they would film me.  And with the exception of one session, when I was recording “Pocahontas” I was the only person in the studio.  So they would film the session.  I was new to the process and found out that the animators look at that film frame by frame and use it to capture expressions.  One of my habits is pushing my hair behind my ear and I noticed that Pocahontas has the same habit.

MG: Was there a reason why you do not sing in the film?
IB: Judy Kuhn (the singing voice of Pocahontas) was on Broadway at the time.  She has this incredible singing voice.  And I believe they hired her to be the singing voice before they hired me.  I don’t know that for sure but that’s the way I understood it.  But that’s what they were looking for…a beautiful, expressive Broadway voice.

MG: How do you feel the character changed in “Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World”?
IB: It was a difficult writing process for the writers because they had put themselves in a corner with John Smith.  Because in reality when John Smith and Pocahontas met she was 10 or 11.  When she threw herself upon him to stop a war from happening she was probably 12 or 13.  He was wounded and went back to England.  She then acted as an ambassador between her people and the English settlers.  It was almost like a political position.  She was the daughter of a chief and, in all respects, she really was a princess.  And when she was 16 or 17 she was taken as a political prisoner by the settlers.  She became Rebecca and married John Rolfe, though I think it was more a political marriage rather than a romance.  So in the second movie she goes to England and there’s this John Smith/John Rolfe thing going on.  I think they had trouble trying to work out the historical aspects of the story.  But I think they did a fine job.  The most important aspect of the story of Pocahontas is about her being a speaker for indigenous people.  A representation of people relating to the earth, relating to your elders.  Really everything that makes a tribe a tribe.  That was the most important aspect, I think, of both stories.  That was really what was important and that, I think, was portrayed very well.

MG: Was it surreal playing Pocahontas’ mother in “The New World”?
IB: Yes.  When I got to the set, O’orianka Kilcher, the girl who played Pocahontas, had grown up watching “Pocahontas” and it was beautiful to sort of pass on the torch to the next generation.  And she understood that that was what was happening.  We both felt honored to portray this life.

MG: Tell us about what you are working on currently?
IB: There’s “Tree of Life,” which is a Terrence Malick movie.  My character was experimental, even for his experimental nature and he shoots millions of feet of film.  I’ll be interested to see if my character is still even in the film.  There’s another movie I did called “Cosmic Radio” with Wes Studi and Michael Madsen that has yet to come out.  There was some talk about turning it into a television series but I don’t know what’s going on with that.  I also just did another recording session for “Pocahontas.”  In the Disney Stores there will be a magic mirror that, when a child passes carrying a “Pocahontas” item, it electronically reads the bar code and Pocahontas will appear and speak to the child.  It’s going to be a new, interactive store that will almost be an event in itself.

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*UPDATE* 10-14-10

We have a new entry to our “Hatchet II” interviews. Movie Mikes was able to chat with Tom Holland, who plays the role of Bob in the film. This actually marks Tom’s first acting role in a film since 1982 (despite cameos). Thanks to Robert Galluzzo, director of the amazing documentary “The Psycho Legacy” for making this happen!

Like always, Movie Mikes love their horror films. With October now started, this month is sure to be packed solid with horror flicks. This week Adam Green is releasing “Hatchet II” which is a follow-up to his already cult classic “Hatchet”. Being a fan of the first “Hatchet. I was really excited to have seen the follow-up. Thanks to Adam Green the film was actually in fact better than the first unlike most slasher sequels. Movie Mikes was lucky enough to be able to interview the director Adam Green and the star of “Hatchet”  Kane Hodder, who plays the new horror icon Victor Crowley.

Enjoy and please leave comments!

Click here to read Mike G.’s review of “Hatchet II”

HATCHET II INTERVIEWS:

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Tom Holland is well known in the horror industry for his work throughout this fantastic career. He wrote the script to for “Psycho II”, the sequel to one of horror’s beloved films. Tom has also written and directed such great films such as “Child’s Play” and “Fright Night”. Tom was recently featured in Robert Galluzzo’s must see documentary “The Psycho Legacy” which chronicles his work on “Psycho II” and celebrates one of horror’s greatest series. Movie Mikes was able to chat with Tom about his fantastic career and his return to acting in the recently released “Hatchet II”.

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Mike Gencarelli: You wrote the script for “Psycho II”, you must have been nervous creating a sequel to one of the most beloved horror films?
Tom Holland: I was a nervous wreak. I may have never been scared in all my life. I have also never worked so hard in all my life on a script. You knew walking in the reviewers were going to kill you no matter what. Everyone was saying at the time “How can you make a sequel to the greatest horror film ever made?”. I did everything I could to remain faithful to the original. I think that there is nothing in the sequel that doesn’t logical fit in with the original. We wanted to do something intelligent. It was based on creating a part for Tony Perkins that allowed Norman Bates to be sympathetic at the same time he was a serial murderer. We couldn’t have gotten it made without Tony. It started out as a cable movie for Oak Communication in San Diego.  Since we got Tony Perkins to say “Yes”, the worldwide publicity was so high it convinced Universal to make it into a feature film. This was done before they had all these sequels or remakes or anything like that. We were doing an original movie standing on the shoulders of the greatest film in the horror genre. It was an enormous success and spawned two sequels. It has grown and grown over the years on cable and DVD. It has really been an amazing experience.

MG: Tell us about revisiting “Psycho” in Robert Galluzzo’s “The Psycho Legacy” documentary?
TH: You have someone like Rob Galluzzo who comes along and has this amazing love for the “Psycho” series.  This is really a brilliant documentary. It is also an act of love on Rob’s part. I think he spent four or five years working on this film.  He really did such a beautiful job. The editing on the project is amazing, it was done by a guy named Jon Maus. It is a real labor of love.

MG: Most of the films you directed also came from your own scripts i.e. “Fright Night” and “Child’s Play”, did you find it easier to direct from your own scripts?
TH: Yes, if you write a strong script you have already taught yourself so much about what you will have to know to direct it.  You have already fought half the battle but it all depends on if the script is strong.  That is a key factor.

MG: How do you feel that “Fright Night” appeals to even non-horror fans?
TH: Fright Night is really an homage. It is a love letter to horror films. I think that people pick up the warmth, the good feeling and the humor from the film. I think it is a horror film about horror films.  I am glad that it is able to appeals to people outside the genre.

MG: How do you feel that your films “Fright Night” and “Child’s Play” are now being remade?
TH: OH, God bless them. What do I say at this point. I think it is terrific and I will take it as an homage. If not to be personally then to at least to my commercial instincts. On the other hand, I think it is bankrupt creatively. I would rather them do originals. This is where we are right now and this is how they lessen the risk. I feel that if you keep on doing these reboots or sequels, it doesn’t offer as much room for new guys coming up.

MG: You recently are in front of the camera in “Hatchet II”, how was it working on that film?
TH: Adam Green met and I became friends at the Mick Garris’ “Masters of Horror” dinners. Since the show went off the air, a bunch of us get together for an occasional dinner at Mick’s behalf. Adam asked me if I would want to act in “Hatchet II”. I was a fan of his work.  You could have knock me over with a feather. I started out as an actor, but I haven’t had a paying acting job since “The Winds of War” in 1982. I’ve done some cameos but this is the first time in 28 years that I had a real part. I had a ball doing it. I was terrified during the big dialogue scene but I had Danielle Harris to get me through it. I felt much more confident acting in the action scenes because as a director, I know what Adam needs to cut it together.

MG: Tell us about being honored at the 2010 Reaper Awards?
TH: I won a Grimmy for Lifetime Achievement. I want to thank Steve Barton, Dread Central and Home Media Magazine. They did a beautiful job at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. You go to a horror function and everyone is very supportive and wonderful, it is so different from normal Hollywood events. It was a really pleasant experience for me.

MG: Are you currently working on any projects now?
TH: Yes, I am currently working on “Tom Holland’s Twisted Tales”. I am actually working on it with Rob Galluzzo. In one story, we got William Forsythe and Danielle Harris. In another I have A.J Bowen, who is becoming a big genre star. I like casting within the genre. We are in production now and hope to have them distributed some time next year.
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