Robert Kurtzman and Marcy King on Marshmallow

Dive into this episode of the Fisch Bowl with Robert Kurtzman and Marcy King, where we discuss their upcoming film, Marshmallow, as well as their use of practical effects, movie adaptations, and experiences on the sets of other projects.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introductions

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Attention, all you fish.

SPEAKER_04 0:03

Welcome to the fishbowl.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

What's up, all my fish in the sea? You heard it from the witchmaster himself. I'm your host, Sam Fish. Thanks for tuning in to the Fish Bowl. Today's guests are special Make Effects Legends Robert Kurtzman and Marcy King, aka the creators of The Wishmaster himself. On today's episode, we talk about their latest film, Marshmallow, now available on Paramount Plus with Showtime, as well as some other streaming platforms. You are not going to want to miss this interview. We talk about a lot of other cool stuff over the course of their careers. Check it out. Robert Kurtzman and Marcy King on the fishbowl. Robert, once again, Marcy, it's a pleasure to. I know we met at Horror Realm with Robert way back, what was that, like 2017, 2018? It's been a while. Yeah, it's a pleasure to to have you guys, you know, back on the show. And obviously, you can see in my background, I'm representing K the former KB and Rob Robert's work with uh Dust Holdon and Army of Darkness.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Yeah. Which Army of Darkness poster is that?

SPEAKER_06 1:19

Let me see if I can oh seen that one. Never seen that one.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah, and that's uh a little uh cooler version of uh the Dust Hodon.

SPEAKER_06 1:32

I love the collage, yeah. That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

I had the pleasure of uh meeting Julia Lewis last year for the first time, and she was dreamed to meet in person, truly nice down-to-earth human being, and of course, you know, working on Dust Hold on and the National Born Killers and you know everything else she's done. I'm a big fan of hers and also her late father, Jeffrey Lewis.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Marshmallow’s Signature Water Effect

SPEAKER_00 2:02

But enough about that. Let's get into Marshmallow. I just rewatched the film this morning to refresh myself with it again, and I really, really enjoyed it a lot. I have in my notes here the first thing I wanted to bring up on the topic of special effects was the opening. The the part where the water, like Morgan, the the main character, lifts up his shirt and the water's like you know coming out of his chest.

SPEAKER_06 2:39

The great part about that one is that we were able to use my grandson, James, to come in and do a body cast. Now, these guys are 12, 13 years old, and my grandson is nine at the time and the size of a 14-year-old. So we were able to use his body cast. So we cast him from the neck down, his whole torso, so that we could make that prosthetic because it was a full-on wraparound. We've got some BTS photos of uh Bob and I putting it on and had to stand in water. Uh, they actually had the bed and everything in a big like water tank pool that they made with a black lining. It was it was amazing. And that was such a great time to shoot. Q, our actor, was so excited to be able to interact with a prosthetic like that. And so yeah, it was it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

So yeah, we had it hooked up to a water rig, you know, a pump rig, and would just pump it out and it would recirculate the water from the tank and then pump it out his stomach. And of course, when he put his hands over it or did anything like that, it would deflect and then shoot him in the face, and he would be like, you know.

SPEAKER_05 3:56

So a lot of that's real.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:58

Because he's like, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

That was fun. So the the movie that I wanted to say it reminded me the most when this is this shows uh a big horror sci-fi film nerd. I am video drome. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:18

Oh, absolutely, yeah. I didn't think of that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

The the the that the the moment I saw the effect, and this especially being like how it was in the stomach, you know, like in the water coming out, the you know, video drome is is probably my favorite David Cronenberg. And especially, you know, for effects artists and that movie of like the time, you know, the the effects were you know, some of it might look a little a little campy today, but some uh most of it is like you know, it's like Blade Runner, you know, like it still holds up like the thing in every in in the Carpenter film. But the scene where like you know, James Woods is like messing around with his hand with the gun and scratching at his chest, and then you know, sticks his hand in his in his chest and everything. I was like almost like, is he gonna stick his hand in his chest? Is he gonna stick it in his chest?

SPEAKER_06 5:22

You know, but then I saw the water come out, and I was like, this that was like the effect that it reminded me of as like a homage to right like what are some scenes shot of that, I believe, because I Bob would be pumping the water, and I was in resetting every single time. And there were a couple of scenes when Danny Del Purgatorio, our director, asked Q, like before it was really bubbling, is to kind of dig his fingers in a little bit, you know, and and so we tested a lot of different shots on that. And I mean, no matter what, it's just you know, the lighting and everything, just it was fun. Yeah, it's disturbing.

Horror Influences And Corbin Bernsen

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yeah, that that that by far was probably my favorite effect in the film. Another thing I really loved about it was horror OG actor Corbin Bursen. I love dentist himself. The dentist himself, exactly. You took the words literally right out of my mouth.

SPEAKER_06 6:22

Very good. Corbin, we worked with Corbin on the curse Showtime, uh, Nathan Felder, Emily Stone, and he's incredible to work with. We've seen him at conventions and chatted with him, and and then to show up on set and Corbin's there again. It was it was so great. He's so fun. His grandpa in the dream sequence. I have BTS video because I was entranced at his transformation of just you know getting in there.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Right.

SPEAKER_06 6:56

Oh my gosh, yeah, he gave it. Boy, he really, he really did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

And I know that you guys worked on Tales from the Hood too, but Corbin's uh performance in part one was my my favorite. I totally forgot about that.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Yeah, he well, that wasn't a segment that we worked on, it's with the puppet people, right? The right he's the racist guy that which one was all the little the little you didn't hear the title.

SPEAKER_06 7:23

Tales from the oh oh right, but it was two.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

No, part one, part one, yeah. I I I initially said I know you guys worked on part two, but I we've uh K and B did part one as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

We right we had a bunch of stuff in that. I did the guy who melts in to the uh the guy gets hit with the needles, he melts into the wall, yes, yes, and that zombie look and stuff, right?

SPEAKER_06 7:48

Yeah, we did two where it was whipping and we shredded a guy's chest entirely and his guts fall out.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Right, right, right. Yeah, I'm a big, big fan of uh that that franchise.

SPEAKER_06 8:03

Yeah, yeah. That was we were on haunting of a hill house at that time, and actually Bob was so busy we got it in and we got a call from Rusty, right? And so I talked to him, and we we figured it out how to you know part off one of our crew members to go on set and do it, and sent them the videotape for the test, and they went crazy, and yeah, so we knew we were on the right track with that one.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

That was a lot of fun, and and Rusty, another uh Pittsburgh E.

SPEAKER_05 8:33

Right, yes well, that's cool, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

I I I've been a big fan of those films, uh, and Corbyn's performance in part one, which Rob or me were were I think got a little confused with the segue, but him as like the the former clan member, oh right, uh that like you know was like running for some type of like governor or something like that. Yeah, and he moves to the the house that's like formerly a slave plantation. Uh oh right, you know, now I remember, yeah. All the dolls came in, like, you know, got got him at at the end and everything. Like that that was my favorite uh segment and the original Tales from the Hood. And the second my second favorite was actually like I guess it would be in in which is in part two, which is like the essentially the sequel, in a sense, to that that story.

SPEAKER_03 9:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

You know, because the the the main doll is like featured again, like in in the segment. I forget what the segment's called, but that that was my favorite segment in that one the part two as well. Let's see it. The other the other actor who I was actually really surprised to see in the role that he was in was Paul Soder.

SPEAKER_06 9:59

Paul Soder, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

I I am a big fan of Broken Lizard and everything that they've done. But then the thing that I wanted to follow it up with, you know, if you remember correctly about Paul, he ended up being the killer in Club Dread. Okay, okay, you know, so I was like, well, now it's kind of coming back to me, and I can see uh where he can kind of channel this, like, you know, little little darker presence, right? The more comedic, uh, you know, meow see here, you know.

SPEAKER_06 10:36

Yeah, yeah. He was a lot of fun to work with. He was so great. I mean, honestly, I'm not I'm not kidding. It is definitely one of those productions that we both can say we got along with everyone. We had a really great family unit. They filmed it on in a camp that was turned into a public park, but also I think they're gonna start doing some day camp stuff after we were there and they could repair some buildings and things. And it just was a great, like I said, family unit.

SPEAKER_04 11:07

Yeah, there was no no there was no actors and no big eggs.

SPEAKER_06 11:10

We all got along. Yeah, it was it was pretty incredible. And then we had our our older counselors and our younger peeps, which was cool because at the time they were they were 12, 13, 14. There might have been a 15-year-old in there, but they were all about the same age, and to see them, you know, interact was really cool. I mean, the boys, right? They were boys, believe me. I got a few BTS photos of them, you know, acting like boys, so it was it was pretty fun. Q though, our lead, just one of those amazing young actors that has amazing parents that support him and encourage him, and he's just a lovely human being. So awesome. And say enough about him. Well, uh he's also my height now, whereas he was down to here in two years. Yeah, yeah. We have we have pictures together, and he signed our poster for marshmallow, was the first signing that he did.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Awesome.

SPEAKER_06 12:15

So yeah, that was great.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

I was gonna say I got a very like uh Goonies Monster Squad, like uh mixed with like a little bit of Friday the 13th, with like the the camp and everything, you know, feel and then the ending, the twist. I I I wrote a note to comment about this. There were two that there's like the I guess it would be like the climax and then like the the the new normal, the reveal, the reveal, right? The whole analogy the character Franklin was giving to Q and Mor Morgan his character and the other his love interest character, I forget her name, right? Right, with the cocoa, yeah, that's her real name with the cocoa and how he was like kind of presenting it, and then like even the ending uh really like emphasized on where I'm going with this, but it was like the matrix with the red pill and the blue pill.

SPEAKER_06 13:19

That's it, yeah. That's absolutely that's cool. I think I love how it goes in one way, and you get your scary story, and you really think it's gonna be about the monster and you know something coming after the kids, which you think it is, but then it's not, so it's like that halfway through twist, not similar to Dustal Dawn, but you know what I'm saying? It's right, right, right, right. You're questioning everything, which is funny because they put that on the poster. Question everything because in the end, you're like, wait, what?

SPEAKER_00 13:54

You know, right, and then the the ending on another sci-fi film note, you you probably even well, it's big now because of HBO, but Westworld.

SPEAKER_05 14:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

I I got a very like the ending was like totally it, you know, it reminded me more of like the original the what I guess going back to the 70s. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 14:20

Stepford Wise, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Yulbrenner too, yeah. It was it was very much like uh no no Westworld is Yulbrenner.

SPEAKER_06 14:30

That's what I'm saying. That's that's that's our era of right, right, right for sure. Yeah, right, right. That and that's shock of that when you're watching that for the first time, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:41

And you know, I'm a huge fan of the HBO series, don't get me wrong. I think the writing was excellent. I really wish we got like the the final season before they canceled it, but the original Westworld film from you know your your era, my my dad's era, second gen, you know, uh was way better. It it was way scarier, and it was just the the effects, the look of Yo uh uh Brenner when they finally like reveal like the the the face like turns like you know and how like the robotic wiring was kind of you know everything. Yeah, yeah, uh the like essentially the first Terminator, you know. Before there was the Terminator, there was there was Joel Brenner.

SPEAKER_06 15:37

There was Joel Brenner, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Yeah, it was more like but that that effect because of the error came from was more like the six million dollar man episode with the Saxton, yeah. Isn't it Saxton whose face comes off and he's a robot? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Anyway, yeah, yeah. Oh I I I watched the reruns, and then the other thing to throw towards uh Romero is the suit that they all wore. Reminded me of the crazies.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. The the white uh suits. The original, the original crazies, yes, yes. Uh not so much the remake, which I love the remake suit.

SPEAKER_06 16:18

Which we love the remake. We just watched it in public.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

But yeah, yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_06 16:26

Yeah, yeah.

Secret Headquarters And Kid Adventure Movies

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Yeah, yeah. That that was that was uh the biggest things that I I took away and really liked about the film. I do have like a good list of some other stuff you've worked on in the past uh decade that I definitely would like to talk about and get into on the topic of children's themed films and child children secret headquarters. Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 16:56

That's that's oh my gosh, more recent, yeah. Uh Spy Kids Meets Goonies kind of feel to it.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 17:04

Yeah, and again, the kids were kids and they were so great. Michael Pena, Owen Wilson. Uh, we worked with Jesse Williams every almost every single day for months um with his scars. And yeah, it was it was great to work on that. Everybody came together. The sets were just built in a food court of a mall.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

So that whole it's the same mall from Stranger Things, which is actually, I believe, the same mall from Electric State, yes as well.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

Because they shot it, yeah, shot that in Georgia.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

And it's just in a it's a it's a mall that's just there for shooting.

SPEAKER_05 17:42

Literally.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

So the whole headquarters, the whole that whole headquarters was built in there.

SPEAKER_06 17:48

Two stories, but it's not really, it's like two stories of a mall.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Okay, so it's it's built in the atrium of a mall.

SPEAKER_06 17:54

Yeah, it's giant. You could walk all of this stuff all the way around, the lights and the walls. Yeah, I was they they did the caves and the with the suit, just holy smokes, everything.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

If I had a place to put it, and this is always that way on a movie set like of that nature. If I had a place to put it, like I would have begged for any of the the cool computer console set pieces or any of that, like just to bring back and have it, you know, lit up the monitors, and it looks all cool.

SPEAKER_06 18:25

We got some stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Nothing like that, though.

SPEAKER_06 18:29

But yeah, but it's no actually mostly what we have here is I don't know if you can see it all the way in the back hanging on the wall. That wood piece is from the Haunting of Hill House.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 18:41

Yeah, that's from the living room, and then and Bob wanted that, so I contacted people right away because they were we rapped and they were gonna start tearing it down the next day. And there was a statuary room where Nell is dancing by herself around, you know, she's doing that as like a whole dream sequence kind of thing, and it's a statuary room, and on the wall of the statuary room was a saying, and I asked Flanagan about it. I was like, What dreams may come? And he said, Yeah, no one said that, no one even recognized it. I said, Well, it's William Shakespeare, and and what dreams may come use it, you know. He was blown away, so I asked for that section. Um so we have that section on the wall, um, which is great.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

That's another kid, well, kind of a kid's show. I mean, we had the ensemble cast of kids and the haunting as well.

SPEAKER_06 19:39

So in fact, there's basically the adults, and then there's the teens, and then the kids. We had a lot more kids actually than we did adults, which was great. They were so professional, so great. It just yeah, that was that was a really good experience as well.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Awesome, awesome. The thing I wanted to say about um secret headquarters is it it reminded me of like the 90s. What's that 90s shows, yeah. Oh yeah, like the 90s, like, like you know, that that's the era I really grew up in. And I remember, you know, like in really up until like the early 2000s, like you said, spy kids meet scoonies had a real spy kids feel too.

SPEAKER_06 20:30

But like Spy Kids 1, 2, and 30, right here.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Coincidentally, and it it just it uh you know, there's there's something about like the the children's films from the 90s and like early 2000s that aren't the same about like children's films of today, right? For the most part, like there's a lot of subcontext, there's adult themes, you know. I mean, even the 80s, I mean, are you know the never-ending story, you know.

SPEAKER_04 21:02

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Um, but uh also back in the 80s, the kids were smoking and swearing more in the movies. Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. Like stand by me, even and whatever. Right.

SPEAKER_06 21:14

The difference is because I grew up in the 80s. Well, we didn't have phones, we didn't have when we had TV, of course. We didn't have computers and phones, and we made our own adventures. Right, right. We had a small copse of woods that somebody built some kind of rickety shed thing. There were guys that would go in it because I found nudity magazines a couple of times. And then me and my girlfriends and a couple of guys, we would like it was like our club. And we didn't have a club, but we just stopped there every once in a while and hang out and chat, and and it was where we could actually talk about stuff. It was almost a neutral place. Right. Um You know, you always assume that guys want to kiss you as girls, and guys always think that girls want to be. And it was so funny because in that in that little area, we didn't have that angst. We didn't have any of that. We literally were talking like humans to human and just that really cool bonding interaction. I don't know that kids have that right now.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

Well, I know they're stuck on their phones, but but I mean back in those in those films that you're talking about, even Secret Headquarters had some of that that kind of stuff without going too much into kids being glued to their their cell phones and stuff. But you know, those movies had a sense of the kids would get out of the house and create things. It's almost like the R gang field. They'd go out and build go-karts or you know, do things in the neighborhood and build things to as an offshoot of their imagination. Like like for us, like when we were kids, we played we had a tree house that my dad built, whatever. That became our kind of spaceship or submarine or whatever. There's always a hatched door in the bottom, and that was we'd we'd play Fantastic Voyage, you know. Um we'd make these like helmets with, you know, it would be a Quaker Oats a container on your back for the scuba gear, you know, is that kind of right, right? Yeah, I I I'm with you. I I really uh gravitate toward those kind of movies and those kind of kids.

SPEAKER_06 23:21

We love I mean the innocence, you know, you you've got that in marshmallow. You have that right sense. I mean, you don't know you don't know the backstories in the beginning, but you do see that innocence of different ages interacting and trying to find their place at the camp. And obviously we have Morgan who's shy, scared, and all of that. And yeah it just it definitely captured the dynamic of different personalities at a camp. And I think that was that was really on Andy, our writer on his part. I think that was a great description of of those characters and bringing them together. How would they interact? I think perfectly how he wrote it. They they would interact just like that, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Definitely, definitely, and I actually have a funny story about uh Andy Palmer.

SPEAKER_05 24:19

Oh, Andy Palmer, that was our editor, yeah.

How Marshmallow Got Made

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Yeah, I guess it must have been shortly after we we did it our first interview, but I had two short HP Lovecraft scripts that I adapted that one was made it to a quarterfinalist, the other made it to the finalist, which is what got me into the the festival. But I went to Shriekfest in 2018. I didn't win, but I was I made it as a finalist for my adaptation of um cool The Terrible Man and Andy's uh film Camp Coldbrook won at the festival. Okay, so I I actually met him there and we're friends on Facebook, and that's just a funny, you know, it's a small world, yeah. Small, yeah, small world. Totally.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

Yeah, six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Yeah, exactly. Six degrees of fish.

SPEAKER_06 25:22

Um we actually did a film, The Funhouse Massacre. Hey, right Robert England has a cameo in it and horror comedy at its finest. Andy directed that so well. It was so great to work. That's the first time I worked with Andy. I think you were did you work with Andy before that?

SPEAKER_01 25:39

No, uh uh that was the first time too.

SPEAKER_06 25:41

Yeah, yeah, he directed that. That was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

Segwaying into that was uh with Danny, El Purgatorio. We had done Danny's short films and some commercial campaigns for him over the years prior to this movie getting off the ground. So that was like very exciting to be able to, you know. We've done short scheduled short films, which were always very high in production value and and very entertaining as shorts. Yeah, and so we knew that you know, if he was gonna do a feature, it was gonna be something we were doing.

SPEAKER_06 26:16

Yeah, we'd wanted to get involved with it. So um, yeah, we actually were on another show that shut down, and we were only supposed to do three days on Marshall. And when that other show shut down, I called the producer, Warner. And Warner's great. We've worked with him since Funhouse Massacre as well and on several things. And I called and I said, Hey, lost our show. We can do more than three days. Do you have people yet? And they said, No, we don't have people. And I said, Well, we're available, and they said, We can't afford you. So I said, No, no, no, no, no, you don't understand. This is our opportunity to work with Danny, and we would love to be involved with his first feature, and we would have loved to do it from the beginning, the whole thing, but our schedule, their schedule, so it worked out. And not only do we do makeup and makeup effects, we also did hair department, which was incredibly challenging for stunt wigs, but luckily it was so great. Just the two of us working on it.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

It was just like I said, we had a great time. I mean, it was a great atmosphere because Indie Stone everybody worked together. Yeah, and we were on one location, which was great. We weren't moving around in trailers, different locations every day trying to set up. We kind of we set up our makeup room in one of the cabins, one of the office cabins, and and then that became our hub for the entire show. So, and basically you're you're working around a summer camp, so you're you're basically pulling wagons around to differ the different cabins and set areas, you know, which was great because we weren't loading cars and moving around.

Stephen King Adaptations And Remakes

SPEAKER_00 27:53

It was very cool. Awesome, awesome. I have a uh well, a couple questions about two really one of my one is one of my top actually new favorite Stephen King films, Dr. Sleep, and the other Stephen King film, Gerald's game. I have a personal story about that. I had a neighbor growing up who was handicapped, and the guy was a martial artist, somebody that pretty much did everything with like their body and their hands, and he got unfortunately struck by a car and was bound to a wheelchair up until you know his death in the late 90s, and he was really big in the movies, and I remember seeing a lot of films with him and my dad, and he had this this the novel of Gerald's game that he gave to me, and I still have like the original hardback copy of it. I was always like just by the cover of it, too like freaked out, you know, especially you know, back in the 90s when you're like a little kid, and I had just come off seeing the the first uh Pet Cemetery on TV that messed me up. I was like really intimidated to like read the book, and I finally did, and I'm really happy that there was a film adaptation, especially with that film and also with uh Dr. Sleep. You know, I love Stephen King. And you know, I can't confirm this for sure, but I would when I was at his funeral, I could have sworn Stephen King was there.

SPEAKER_05 29:54

No kidding.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

You know, he was one of those people that was big when like you know, the internet first came out, and you know, being bound to a wheelchair and you know, having access to the internet, you know, it's it's amazing who you can meet in chat rooms and stuff.

SPEAKER_06 30:12

I have a personal connection with Gerald's game as well, because I started out I think the first one was King.

SPEAKER_04 30:18

Excuse me.

SPEAKER_06 30:19

And I believe I was only like 13 or 14. And my mom didn't have restrictions on what I read because once I started reading at like 11 and read my full first whole book, which was Charlotte's Webb, I moved on to Agatha Christie and Stephen King. And Carrie was my first book I read. And I remember giggling and saying to mom, dirty pillows, you know, and and then she read the book, and then we had conversations. So it opened up that conversation with my mom about mature things and and all of that. So we were always very close reading, but Gerald's game. I started reading the first couple of chapters, and I said, I I love Stephen King, I can't do it, I can't do it. So I never read it. Then I started working for Bob and he said, Hey, we got a new script, and he throws a copy on my desk, and I went, Oh, hell no. And then I read it, and Mike's adaptation was just holy smokes, so smart, so yeah, just right.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

It was very smart, you know, ditching some of the other elements that were in the book, consolidating characters to make it really about the two of them, the three of them with the moonlight man, but right, and then eliminating all the other weird stuff that is going on in her mind.

SPEAKER_06 31:46

Yeah, but this was very oh my gosh. No, we loved actually that was another one. We loved working on that.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

So big family. The the reason both of those films are some of my newer, like more favorite horror films, but especially King films, is because you know, it just everything is like for the most part either a reboot or a remake. And I mean, in my opinion, and I may get a lot of hate for this, but every remake that they have done so far is not as good as the the original, you know. I mean, it it was part one and part two was okay, but I didn't like how they made Pennywise like basically Freddie Kruger, which he's not supposed to be.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Tim Curry was I mean, I I I have like a recurring like clown nightmare that's like a mixture of like Tim Curry's It and Killer Clowns from Outer Space. Um it varies like in you know that when the dream happens, like sometimes I'm in the the you know, circus spaceship, sometimes it's you know Tim Curry haunting my dreams as Pennywise, but you know both those films were like especially the the Tim Curry ed and everybody that was in that, and just even though it was like a mini-series, like it's still way scarier than you know the remake they did. Pet Cemetery, you know, I saw it in theaters, it was alright, but like, you know, I made it through to the end with like not being disturbed, you know, and to this day, I still can't like make it through the original Pet Cemetery. Pet Cemetery 2, fine, you know, no problem. One of my favorite, you know, 90s horror films, especially with Elward Furlong, it was big back then. Brain Scan, another one.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

I think there's a big deal, like most of those movies are still scarier to me than the new remakes, and it's because the age I was when I saw them in the era which I saw them.

SPEAKER_05 34:09

Right.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

And today I'm so like, there's nothing new or magical half the time because you know they can do almost anything with a movie anymore. So, like visually, so you're like, it's not surprising. Whereas when I was a kid, all those movies surprised me, you know. You know, spent like Pet Cemetery 2, because I had the little kid, Cage, who was, you know, right freaked everybody out, you know, because it's like first time I saw a little kid with a knife and yeah, he's dead and whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:44

I think it was also in that yeah, we did a night by the desensitized, but kind of. And and sometimes I have to explain, and and because we are, I mean, we've been around for a while, we've seen a lot of movies, but if you cut to getting kids' reactions, like 16, 17, even 14-year-olds, to some of the new newer stuff, they're like blown away. So it's you have to have that perspective. But unfortunately, that's a small percentage of people who are watching the movies and paying for them and going to the theater because they can drive. So I think filmmakers need to be aware of that, that you literally have to take in consideration the bulk of us.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Definitely a difference between watching it at home and watching it at theater. That too. I watch it because a lot of times I'll skip a movie in the theater. It's not like you know, something that might not be, you know, top my radar. But I was like, Right, you know, I want to see that, and then I'll wait to watch it on TV. But the fact that you can pause it, go to the bathroom, you get it, get it, whatever. You you can do these breaks, or even like we go, oh, we're sleeping now, we're gonna watch it next half tomorrow. Yeah, that break breaks the momentum and the buildup and everything. Yeah so it affects you totally differently. And everybody now is watching on their phone and iPads, yeah, yeah. Doing the same thing.

SPEAKER_06 36:11

So yeah, we we have not we have not, how do I want to say, compromised so much that we watch anything on anything smaller than a TV, we don't watch on a laptop either. We I I've watched a couple of things, and it's weird because it just episodic, we can do that with, it just doesn't have the same impact.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

I I completely agree.

The Theater Experience Versus Streaming

SPEAKER_06 36:35

I mean, I saw Independence Day at the theater, and two things about that. I didn't know what it was about. I'm not if I start watching a trailer and I like it in the first like two seconds, she makes me shut it off. Yeah, I do this, or I tell him, don't show me. So it went to Independence Day, not knowing, but Independence Day in the theater is a whole nother ball game.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 37:01

It is the impact of that is incredible. Everything is big, everything like explosions, this and that. But you really get immersed in a movie more when you're at a theater. I mean, we're big proponents in trying to keep theaters going because they are having a big problem. So resurgence, let's keep going to the theater.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

I mean, it's it's it's that means the communal thing, like communal at home, and yeah, you know, why is it two of us which we kind of agree on everything? I mean, we don't we don't jump and then laugh at everybody in the theaters, like yeah, laughing at themselves and jumping. Rarely do I jump watching it on television.

SPEAKER_06 37:42

I just want to say one thing. We worked on haunting a bellhouse. We know there's a big jump scare in there. We watched it happen, and he jumps every single time we watched that episode.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

Yeah, that's a little that is one show I watched on television, but that that show, yeah, all every element of that show was engaging and creepy, and it hit all the buttons perfectly. And I that was a rarity when I'm watching television.

SPEAKER_06 38:09

Yeah, yeah. But um, yeah, anyway.

Doctor Sleep Stories And Overlook Sets

SPEAKER_00 38:12

Well, the the thing I wanted to say that was actually that brought me to the theater, but at the same time, I only feel like I got the the best benefit out of it when I bought it on Blu-ray and and watched it in its entirety, which was Doctor's Sleep.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Yeah, what the the director's cut, yes, yeah. That's yeah, so much better because it yeah, it has that little bit more of character development with the little girl and stuff. Yeah, yes, makes it work.

SPEAKER_05 38:44

It's just yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

It's it's yeah, that's I could I could tell in the theatrical cut a lot must have been cut from from this movie because some of some of the stuff was just a little quick and how it happens. And then when first of all, when when I when I heard there was a director's cut, I was like, yes. Yes, like for the first time like in I don't know how many years have I been excited to see like an actual director's cut of a film, and and this is like a rare experience because this is like a brand new movie, like you know, when it was released on on Blu-ray, you know, how many, you know, a couple years ago now. But I you know, like the the shine, the original shining is another one of those movies that like mess with me as a kid. It's it's in here, yes. And if it wasn't for the score for that movie, it wouldn't it wouldn't be as scary as as it was. And I have to say something about the master late filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. Every one of his films had uh like just a masterful score: Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, you know.

SPEAKER_06 40:04

Yeah, and the Shining, it's another character, exactly is the equivalent of another character bringing you into that space and and really putting you in the mood and getting your head straight in it. Yeah, yeah. That's well, it's it's pretty epic too.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

Yes, yes, and and I like with the directors cut how they cut it into chapters, you know, like it like it's like a book, you know. Yeah, and and and the years where I'm also gonna get a lot of probably slack, but I I you know I get where Stephen King was coming from with wanting to do it from his miniseries, because you know, as much as I love Jack Nicholson, the late Shelly Duball, and you know, the the original Kubrick film, I do like the mini-series more. I think the Kubrick film is a masterpiece in terms of like a movie version, but I I thought the mini-series flushed out, you know, more like it like of it's the fact that it was you know four parts, they had a little more time to that the the McGarras series, right?

SPEAKER_01 41:20

Yes, yes, yeah, because that's the only one I think they did so far. Yeah, yeah. No, there was that. Did you did you read the book for Dr. Sleep? Uh I did. Okay. So you know that the overlook wasn't in the book. Right.

SPEAKER_00 41:36

Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

That Mike talked Steve. Right, exactly, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 41:40

That's actually why I I brought that up, because the the mini-series is, you know, of of the the original Shining is a little more closer to the book. And I know that the story apparently was that King wanted to like, you know, base it off the the mini-series or some something along those lines.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

And I know that Mike talked them into so he he pitched him one scene, and as far as I recollect. Yeah. Pinched him one scene, and it was a scene where the Jack Nicholson character is now bartending at the at the overlook.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

And and young McGregor Danny is talking to his own father, who's not doesn't quite realize he's that's right.

SPEAKER_01 42:32

That's yeah, right, right. And they have that conversation at the bar, and Steven was so hooked on that idea that he said, okay, put the overlook back in.

SPEAKER_06 42:40

So a really fun story is because again, we worked on Dr. Sleep together and got to know the characters and and the actors. Robert Longstreet had a birthday during the filming of Dr. Sleep. And so a bunch of the actors were getting together. And because Robert and Bob have kind of a bromance thing, they're adorable. Uh Robert's amazing. And they invited us to come to the birthday party. And it happens to be at a restaurant in Atlanta that we adore, and we also knew during the filming of Haunting of Hill House, Henry Thomas loved as well. Long story short, we're getting into the party, we're having fun, we have dinner and drinks, and just it was such a great time. And in walks this bald man as Henry Thomas, and we all lost it and started screaming.

SPEAKER_01 43:35

Because we didn't know what part he was playing.

SPEAKER_06 43:37

We knew he was coming, and we weren't sure that that's what it was, but he shaved his head so they could put a hair piece on. There's a part where he's dragging the axe, and I bloodied his head, and and we got the blood on the axe right and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, it was that was a shock, and that was such a great time. I have some selfies with him, and we've got pictures. Of the guys with them bald, which is which is crazy. I don't think I've ever shown any of those pictures. And of course, Henry being a professional, he's like, you know, you don't post those. And I'm like, just not even a thing, you know. Um, no, that was really great. But honestly, again, a Mike Flanagan production, that room, that bar room, we were in the overlook lobby. They built all of that. It was fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

It was pretty spectacular. Yeah, it was everything down to the detail, recreational.

SPEAKER_06 44:36

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 44:37

Even the bar room, the gold room. Yeah. Um, and as they were building, we go in every few weeks and onto the stage to take a peek. And every week it was like, oh my God, there's more stuff.

SPEAKER_04 44:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

Oh, there's paint now on it. Yeah. I I just looked through something the other day and I was standing in the fireplace.

SPEAKER_05 44:54

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

And I had a picture of me standing in the fireplace. And I was like, wow, it was 20 pounds lighter than it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 45:03

No, that's true. The one of a really cool moments was driving on the lot one day, and they had the carpet rolled out in a parking lot.

SPEAKER_03 45:12

Oh, full length.

SPEAKER_06 45:14

All of the carpet. And we were freaking out. Just there it is. There's the carpet. There's there's oh my gosh. It just, yeah, all of it. It just during the filming Alex Esso doing uh Shelly went or Shelly Duval. Shelly Duval's part with the door.

SPEAKER_00 45:35

Right.

SPEAKER_06 45:36

There were it wasn't a huge amount of us because I think it was kind of like a second team kind of thing that we're filming it, but all of us that were standing there holding on to each other's arms, holding hands, just gripping, going, she's nailing it. It just was he's knocking the hole through the he's not in the weeks, we were all like holy smokes. We're watching this happen, and she killed it. Like she just did such a good job.

SPEAKER_02 46:07

And then, of course, we all since the tape was done, we were all getting our pictures taken our own.

SPEAKER_06 46:15

So stunt coordinator is like, all right, you guys, get your heads out of the jagged door.

Favorites Projects And Final Plug

SPEAKER_01 46:23

Everybody out there, go check out Marshmallow. Uh, it's it's a great film, a lot of fun, and uh, I think uh the fans will enjoy it. So it was a pleasure to work on, and it was great. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_06 46:36

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 46:37

Thank you for taking this time to swim in the bowl with me.

SPEAKER_05 46:42

All right, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Last two questions. What are some of your favorite films in general? Doesn't have to be horror. Uh then I know we have marshmallow coming out and creature feature weekend this coming weekend. Any other projects to promote as well? Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, well, sure.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

Let's do the favorite films first for me. I mean, there's several. I'm gonna put them up there for experiences. I got four actually of like my favorite experiences in a movie, theater, and uh of course there's Jaws. The other one would be Aliens, the second Aliens film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and The Thing, John Carpenter's the Thing. Those are the like the four or five my favorite like movies.

SPEAKER_06 47:34

Raiders, yeah, The Thing, The Exorcist. Those those are my top three. And like those, those are what come to mind in like a heartbeat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:44

And uh was oh, stuff we have coming out. We have uh well, we have a movie called the Johnny Ryan movie that we don't say anything more about it yet.

SPEAKER_04 47:54

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

Uh we have a we did a film called Goons last year that should be coming out this year as well. So there we go. We got three movies coming out this year, probably. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:04

So awesome, awesome. Robert Marcy, thank you so much for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me. I hope the temperature was just right. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 48:17

Thank you so much. Good to talk to you.

SPEAKER_00 48:19

We'll see you around soon. Definitely take care. Bye. Hey there, all my fishes in the sea. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode and for being a subscriber. Your continued listenership and support means the most and helps keep the show growing to deeper and deeper depths. I want to let all my guppish in the sea know that Fishbowl has now officially partnered with FastCustomshirts.com, where they're now selling custom Fishbowl t-shirts under their podcast and website section. Every t-shirt that's purchased helps and goes a long way to keep the show growing to deeper and deeper in higher, higher depths. I also now have custom hats, beanies, handbags, pens, mouse pads, everything to make you look like the coolest looking fish in the sea, which you can DM me directly on Instagram at theFishbowl88 or on Facebook at just the fishbowl, or you can friend request me, Samfish, directly and get yours today. Your continued listenership and support again means the most. It's the most important fishes that flock together. We are a school of fish and we keep the unit going. Let's all keep swimming upstream.