Kevin Keppy Part 1: The Role of an Actor

Today's episode of the Fisch Bowl is with creature actor Kevin Keppy, dive in to the deep end of our conversation as we discuss what got him interested in acting, what he learned in his career, his roles in Smile, Evil, and Cabinet of Curiosities,  and of course it wouldn't be an episode of the Fisch Bowl without discussing favorite movies and TV shows!

Transcript

Welcome To The Fish Bowl

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Attention on the fishes in the sea.

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the fish bowl.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Kevin Keppy on the fish bowl. Welcome. Hi, thanks for having me. Good to be here. Absolutely. Thank you for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me. Yes, I'll swim right away. Keep swimming, right? You know, let's just hope the temperature is just right. I agree. Awesome. Awesome. First of all, I'm a big fan. Thank you. Like you actually have gotten into the line of work that somehow if if the the the gods of film allow it, I would love to pursue something along the same lines because we're about the same height. Um I'm a little more wide, or you know, like a little more like like thin. Um but I have always admired character actors and creature actors as one of my I mean I grew up in I was born in '88, so I grew up in the 90s. And of course, you know, Kevin Peter Hall, probably like one of the most, you know, notorious and infamous, you know, character actors. Predator, uh Bigfoot and Harry and the Henderson. Yes. You know, and unfortunately, he was taken too soon. But, you know, the the characters that he created, you know, alone, like just I used to like reenact Predator as as a kid. And I and I used to reenact like the shootout from from from the first Terminator and like the police station. Nice, yeah. That's fun. Like, I I I always kind of like I was like, if I could be a killer or like a monster, you know, or something. So my first question for you, actually, two, are what got you interested in film? And then what like

Early Filmmaking Sparks The Bug

SPEAKER_00 2:05

what got you interested in character acting and how did that all like come about?

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Absolutely. I mean, it's I can discuss this for quite a bit a time, but mostly what got me into film, I remember doing I've always been interested in the medium. I've always been an art kid. I went to art art college and stuff like that. And so I love the arts, just period. And and I love people. And so I remember doing gosh, when was it? I was in my early 20s or something, shooting a small little thing at hanging out with my friend Rob, and they were shooting this uh medieval thing at their friend's house, you know, a bunch of them or whatever. And they're gonna have a sword combat thing. And they brought me in because my brother made chain mail at the time, and so I had this full thing of chain mail on available. So they're like, Kevin, come come be this character. We have chain mail, right? So I was instant shoe in for that. And so, yeah, so I remember that experience, and then like granted, this is just like early, this is like childish kind of like filmmaking in a sense, um rudimentary, all that. But I just really loved like you know, having me being this character and being a silly cardboard fort, you know, but it's like a comic, comical kind of thing, of course. And I just had a such a good time with uh the camaraderie, camaraderie and being something else, having fun, getting some laughs, and also figuring out like whenever where the camera was at, finding where that's at, how to work with it, how to you know what to anticipate. I just found it very fascinating, and so it was a new world for me in that regard. And so that's what first started, and I don't think I've ever shared that with anybody or anything, but I did that, and then I started doing in my 20s, I started realizing I wanted to I just wanted to get out there more. I've always been an introverted person, a big time gamer. I went to college to to do uh video game animation or movie animation, so but I didn't want to move to Los Angeles for that, so and so I ended up just going back to Missouri where I was from. And yeah, so but I just very much want to get outside, away from the the screen and get around people and to kind of grow. And I think I just need to shake things up a little bit. And so I just uh saw my first play in Springfield, Missouri, where I spent most of my adult life. They have an amazing theater community there. There was one show called Macbeth, a lot of people are familiar with. I just saw it on a flyer. I'm like, I'm gonna go to this and saw that show, and it was awesome. It was awesome to see it. It was awesome to see what they were doing on stage, and it really just kind of lit a fire under me. And so shortly after that, I started taking classes at Springfield Little Theater and with a couple other people at two teachers, Kristen Farr and Chris Knox. And it was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life was that class. Being critiqued, being analyzed for how I was looking, how I was speaking, how I was moving, the choices I was making. And granted, they're very nice to those guys, but I was like on the spot, you know, and being this introverted person that just wants to hide away in this dark corner, you know, whenever somebody is looking at you, like, get away, you know. So I was on the spot. But boy, it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. And but I was able to embrace it, stick with it, and that was the biggest thing. I'm so glad I was able to do that because I thought boy, what you when you want to quit something, that's something, you know, when you're scared, when you're really challenged, right? You know, when but I'm like, might as well just do it. And I just embraced it, and thankfully so, because I enjoyed it more and more and it kept getting better and better, I feel, and started connecting with more people and did my first play of of Dracula, a version of Rom Stoker's Dracula, and I just loved it. Met uh some of my best friends in that show, still today, where we've done excuse me, where we've done many different projects together and had a great time. I played multiple vampires and the Dead Sea Captain, and boy, I just that's when like there's a scene when I was a Dead Sea Captain. So like Dracula and Harker are on stage, it's all foggy and everything. I have my eyes open for two minutes. I'm like, Kevin, don't blink your eyes, don't blink your eyes, and all the dry, all the all the fog is just like completely like stinging my eyes. Like, don't you're dead, you don't do your dead. And so right right at the end, they they exit the stage, and then there's like a lightning bolt, and then then like the lights uh shut a shutter, and then and then I move like like this, and people thought I was a prop on stage, and they didn't realize I was alive uh because I was so still and they streaked and they it was very moving. And so that's when I realized, like, oh my gosh, this is very powerful, not only just for myself, but what I can bring to for other people, what I can bring for my castmates and other and other people I'm sharing this creative art form with. And it's just I just love the collaboration, and so that's what set me on my way, and doing all that stuff, and then doing, of course, creature acting, and that's my first starting vampires and everything. And granted, I've always been for you know, creature from the black lagoon I saw when I was like two or three and black and white, you know, and so but and then learning more about you know character acting and then and then using my history for who I am and what I am, and being able to find myself in other characters, you know, uh whether it's doing Shakespeare or or uh Christmas Carol, I play Bob Cratchit, and you know, just finding different things. And it's just my my my teacher and coach, uh George Cron, he said it not the paraphrase, but the the role of an actor is a very noble profession. It's a very respected, important place in our world. And I see it because we're able to allow characters on the printed page to come through us, you know, with the help of like the director and all that stuff. And to like bring those parts, you know, whether it's like Death of the Salesman or anything like that, or Bob Cratchit, like to show the world, like the these characters on the page and just transform it and make it you know flesh and bone. And you know, it's really fun. It's such, you know, and the sky's the limit. You know, you can be like how I was in that, you know, that cardboard castle, or you could be like, you know, Gary Oldman is Dracula, you know, like that top tier. And there's just so there's so many different, you know, it's young and old, you know, from you know, Christopher Lee was doing his acting until his very end, and he was amazing the whole way, you know. And so that's what I love about theater and film is that there is all there's a place for everybody, every ethnicity, every body type, every gender, every age, and it's just every culture, uh, every language, and it's just so awesome.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

I just really love it. I I totally agree.

Theater Training That Builds Courage

SPEAKER_00 9:40

I actually have my my minor was in tech theater, so I actually worked on quite a few Shakespeare productions and I actually worked on uh McBath at Pittsburgh's uh CCAC South way back you know over a decade ago. Um but uh but I I really enjoyed theater, I did, but like my first passion has always been film. And it was one of my really close instructors. I was in a class of his, I can't remember which class it was, but I remember I, you know, commented on something on the lecture and it had to do with a movie idea. And he said to me, you know, that you have like like some very good ideas for for movies. Have you ever you know thought about you know doing screenwriting? And I said, I I you know maybe thought about it, but I never kind of figured myself a writer. And shout out to uh the teacher's name, it was George Jaber. Uh he's since retired, one of the best theater teachers that was at CCAC during my time there. And because of him that summer, it was like I think spring semester when I was in that class. That summer I took like a summer, you know, intro to screenwriting class. It was a night class. I was like, I not to toot my own horn, but you know, definitely one of the more people who had some like I, you know, that could maybe go somewhere with this. And got like a A- in the class at the end of the summer, and I said, you know, this is what I want to do. So I went to Point Park University here in Pittsburgh. A lot of people from talk subjects of horror, uh the George Ramiro alumni are all uh all teaching, we're all teachers there. Awesome, and you know, I I got to interview a few, you know, people who worked with Ramiro and Tom Atkins, who was obviously in Halloween 3 and from New York, Lethal Weapon. He's a Pittsburgh, you know, local celebrity and actually still does a lot of stuff with theater. I think he actually played Scrooge and Christmas Carol here and you know, Flash Forward. That's where I also started my podcast. And I've like won like over 45 different screenwriting awards, and uh have like two scripts published on Amazon and on the subject of Ramiro, all of that has been written since I inherited, in a sense, George Romero's desk. Oh wow, wow, that's awesome. Yes, yes. So I'm like big big into movies, big into movies are kind of my first theater is my my second, but uh yeah, I they definitely go hand in hand, and so many people you know transition from theater to acting to film, you know, and actually once they're established in film, go back to theater and do bravi. Look at look at Hugh Jackman, you know. Big time. Um you know, he he's one of the biggest versatile actors that uh can go back back and forth from doing be being you know Wolverine to doing like the greatest shows men and yeah, and you know, Late Mizerah and you know, yeah, you know, like like all this, you know, awesome stuff, plus like that's actually him singing, you know. You know, like like that's a big deal, you know. Exactly, exactly. You know, to be able to to go back and forth, not you know, not just like you know, acting in plays, but to actually do Broadway and and sing and everything, you know, it's a very you know, you it's it's it it's it you can tell where people's roots started and how they love to, you know, go back and you know do both at the same time. Take a break from acting, do a little bit of Broadway, you know, theater or whatever, and then go back. And I also know from talking to a lot of other people I've interviewed that you know a lot of their starts, you know, were all because there was like you know, casting agents or you know, agents or casting directors that just went to see the play and and said, you know, you know, would you be really good in this? One of the most famous stories is Ed O'Neill, who you know married with children. And I actually saw in a podcast, in another podcast he was on, he basically told this story about how he was playing uh the mentally challenged character in uh a mice and men play. And this this producer basically was at the play, and it was like in New York or something, and the the producer was from LA, and he said, you know, let's keep in touch, you know. I think you were really good, you know, for for this this project. And fast forward it's like a year later, and they're trying to cast the character of Al Bundy. Well, yeah. And what I heard was everybody was they were, you know, all the people that they were auditioning were either doing it as like Archie Bunker or George Jefferson, and you know, they knew that like you know, they they couldn't like repeat that the type of character, and they wanted like a new take on it. And the producer apparently said, I have an idea for someone he's like an unknown, but you know, let him on let him, you know, audition. And you know, they sent Ed O'Neill the script, and the way he viewed it in his head was you know, reminded him of like I think it was like his uncle or his dad or something. He was the type of person that but he was a judge or something, he was the type of person that would come home. And if the if his wife said the dog got run over earlier today, what are we gonna tell the kids? And he's like, I don't care what's for dinner. You know, and that that's that's how he like played the character and obviously the rest of history. And I remember also Ed O'Neill said that there was an the other major producer on the show was basically said to him, like, you know, if you've essentially fucked this up, you know, you're never gonna work in uh in Hollywood again. And for like two years, as the show was like you know, before it got renewed for a second and then third, and then it was like official that this was like a a new big big sitcom. Yeah, he finally said years later, like, you know, I was wrong about you, you saved my ass.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

Yeah, and that was the early days of Fox, too. That was very early, so that was a gamble on them.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Exactly, exactly. That's what he was saying, and you know, talk about you know one of the the funniest, funniest sitcoms from from I guess our childhood.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Yeah, absolutely. I'm a big fan. I've I've loved it. Yeah, it's it's bringing me a lot of joy over the years, that's for sure. Yeah, especially during oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

I uh big fan of his and I mean, you know, I I'm in Pittsburgh, you know, so I I had like no clue. I I don't really follow sports that much, and I had no clue that Ed O'Neill was like an ex uh Stealers or he was no kidding, yeah. He apparently like got cut from uh you know making it to the the whatever like the main picks or whatever, and but but he uh that's a whole nother story. I'll I'll you know save for another time that I heard. But uh you know, apparently there he was uh ex-stealer and Pittsburgh, you know, whether you're apparently you're cut from the team for not making it all the way, or you're an actual stealer, we love you regardless. Yeah, big big sports town. Yeah.

Makeup Hours And Monster Suit Reality

SPEAKER_00 18:14

But my next question for you what is the longest film or TV show you've had to be in makeup for, and what is the I guess least amount of time you've had to spend in the makeup show for a film or TV show?

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Well, let me hit the last one first. Probably smile actually was the least. Initially, the test we did that here in LA, and that was an eight or a nine-hour day or something. Well, nine plus lunch, but I think eight hours. As I try out the different paints, the colors, what works, and then they send that to set. And the first day for that on set was was I don't know, the lengthy, it was four or five hours hours, maybe. I don't know. But they got that down, you know. As you do, you there's two mega artists are working on on me and they're fantastic. And and they got it down pretty quickly. So I think it was only like a two-hour job, maybe three hours, multiple prosthetics, you know, and all these different things, but wasn't too bad. So the most there's a lot of the creature suits have been a lot. So probably probably on evil, uh, the last season of Evil, the the character I I played called the Demon of Words, that probably was the most, maybe. Uh definitely the longest I it took to get into makeup, because granted it is a suit, you know, like you strap in, you get in, they put the little hood on you and all that stuff. But then they have to seal the seams and then, you know, and then color it, paint it, you know, to make sure there's no seams there. And and then the gloves, too, the gloves would come down right here, whatever, or further. But then the gloves would slip on, and then you have to seam it there. So it's all about seaming, and then, you know, and around the eyes, the mouth, those are always very challenging areas to make sure it sticks and stays and it doesn't release when you're expressing, uh expressing. And I have a big lot of big expressions. So it was that, and a lot of just painting and coloring, the veining, you know, there's a lot of amazing, amazing makeup artists that were working on me on that one. And and that that look was uh created by Joel Harlow and Morphology Effects. So I was in that one, and those days would go about 12 hours sitting, you know, it could be like at I don't know, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. or or sometimes to midnight, you know. So so some of those suits like that would take some time. And that suit particularly had other things going on, had like some bladder effects where I was uh, you know, it would blow up and stuff like that. And I have one here at my neck, and like so there's a teeth, and it was it was a complex character monster, and it was really cool and it looked really good on screen. So hope I'm not spoiling too much of anything here, but uh, but yeah, but check out Evil Leslie and the Evil, you'll see it for sure. But but yeah, so some of those, some of those monster suits, and I've been in some other ones too, where you just slide in and sometimes it's the seals, the seams are pretty okay or things overlap, like when I did the blob man and and cabinet curiosities, you know, the has had a mask, they put up this mask on and zip it up in the back, and they had another another thing come on, that's like this jelly kind of thing, kind of come down, and that hid all the the seams. But then they gooped me up with a bunch of you know, like flimmy looking stuff, you know, and so that took some.

Evil, Buffy, And Creature Legends

SPEAKER_02 22:00

time but you know ever every every character is different it just depends mostly how ready it is before you get to set so a lot most of those prosthetics the phone latex or silicone like they're pre-painted as far as it can go but definitely whenever whether the first day or or last day they still have to like you know do touches you know like more veining or whatever and you know and and these guys that are working on these shows are just uh immaculate they're amazing and they're very they put a lot of creativity and art into those looks and those suits and a lot of times it's not seen on the screen you know but you never know you know doing film that you want to make sure that you do your job as much as possible whether it's a makeup artist or an actor you do it as 100% all the way to the top even if like that whole scene is cut or like they're just gonna do a wide and they're not gonna see any of this paint paint work here you know but but you want to make sure to give the director and the cast everybody your full capacity your full go you know definitely definitely I'm also I'm a big fan of evil yeah cool that that that show like talking about you know our childhood reminds me of like the exfiles and Buffy and Angel you know like like how the like those shows used to have like like there is the mystery suspense you know storyline and then they'd always have like a creature you know or multiple creatures you know people like the character actors and makeup to bring up one person in particular that Matt used to represent who I did interview was Candle Candon Toy who was also from Pittsburgh the Murraysville area and also to bring up Kevin Peter Hall again he's he was also from Pittsburgh called Penn Hills. And uh so those are two two major you know character actors unfortunately no longer with us rest in peace but amazing big time amazing performances and one of the things I got to talk to Camden about was my favorite episode of Buffy which one the scariest episode which is Hush oh yes and on that another one of the most prolific character actors that's still doing stuff right now is obviously Doug Jones who I wanted just to say to you the two of you have like a very striking you know similar similar similarity you know you know the facial structures and also how you're both very tall and thin and everything and mannerisms also are like yeah like I I could I could see you essentially when Doug Jones retires like you being like the next you know Doug Jones esque type type character actor and just actor in general you know I appreciate that one I wanted to you know say that to you from me to you you know hopes for you know the future and you know so they seem to be you know rebooting Hellboy all the time you know hopefully you could play you know yeah another version of Abe Stapion or something you know I know but boy yeah Doug has left a mark on this whole industry you know hasn't he he's just he's just done so many different amazing roles and and actually hush whenever I was doing Dracula my friend Nathan Shelton who is the director is like saying watch Doug's performance in this buffy episode called Hush and I never saw Buffy before and I'm like okay I guess I will and I watched it and it blew my mind and in fact I ended up doing Buffy on stage for this stage parody show for we did all seven seasons and I got to play the gentleman you know that that jug Doug right right right um so and I get this little box I made you know of course like you and you know and and Doug is he's just amazing. Let me do another show and tell real quick. Yeah yeah another one of my favorite things so before I moved to to to LA uh I went to I think Planet Comic Con in Kansas City and Doug was there and I just had a great time so so I got a picture with him at that point in time two of us there and yeah so yeah so I this is one of my favorite photos is for sure and it's hanging on the wall of course so yeah so so he's an he's an awesome guy and you know he's not only he's I think he's just an amazing human person and but just an amazing talented actor and yeah so so you know we're very much gifted with you know personalities like like his and and other people like that especially when they're nice and kind and generous and you want to work with them and yeah so I just yeah he's a he's someone I've definitely looked up to ever since I watched that hush episode you know years ago.

Movie Talk From Kurt Russell To Mad Max

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Oh yeah oh yeah yeah I mean like that that episode like I I will I will I was a big Buffy fan but I mean I started out with Buffy and then of course when Angel came out I was like all in for that and looking back on like watching the reruns of of both I think I'm a little more partial actually to Angel just because like you know Buffy it was like you might get like you know some vampires or you know some other type of monster but it was like limited to like usually you know with the exception of like the hush episode and you know a few a few other episodes you know it's usually like you're limited to like you know either one variety of of yes of creature or essentially one actor playing the the the creature in the episode and with angel the fact that you know he was vampire investigator that was in the world of the monsters you know like you know all the characters were monsters you know and the center each episode storyline dealt with monsters and multiple monsters and then like all these demons and everything as like the the the the seasons you know arc villain or whatever you know and I know I I've seen David I'm gonna fuck up his last name but Baranes or whatever. Yeah yeah you know and and obviously other shows since Buffy and Angel has has ended my my my dad's girlfriend is a huge uh bones yeah cool fan and everything and you know I have to tell her that oh you like bones well you should watch you know Buffy and Angel to understand how that that guy got got his start yes big time you know and and then but I he'll always be you know Angel Angel to me you know me too just just like I guess Kurt Russell will always be snake pliskin yes in my head you know that's my that's my favorite role with him I'm I love him he's one of my all-time favorite actors the other the other the other one I guess I could probably equally always see him as is Wyatt Earp. McCready too of course you know yeah yeah of course of course the thing very very iconic characters Jack what's his last name from from Big Trouble in Little China oh god yeah Burton Jack Burton Jack Burton on the Porchop Express right right that's exactly exactly you know boy do I do I love me some Kurt Russell me too and and my my favorite film with his his significant other is Death Becomes Her talk another classic 90s all make of effect stuff yes and I'm very unhappy that they're apparently remaking that so even though even though apparently Kate Hudson is taking over Goldie Hahn's character and Ann Hathaway is supposed to be taking over Mel Street's character I have no idea who's supposed to be Bruce Willis please don't let it be Thor the Thor guy Chris Hampton you know they've they've already had him in two like several remakes that have been failures oh no yeah track record right you know obviously there was Ghostbusters uh the big one that's right yeah and then uh and then uh vacation the the National Lampoons attempted remake of uh vacation while I did think the movie was funny I just was like what are you doing in here man what are you doing yeah yeah you know the the one movie I will say that I was so happy to see him in uh especially as an Australian which we'll give it away yeah is is uh is is Furiosa oh yeah like like you know come to think of it's good you know I haven't actually seen Chris Hemsworth like act in a movie you know I mean you could you can say you know like you know what I mean like like Wayne Death you know like you're like Thor is a comic book character and all know what Thor is like you know anybody could essentially play Thor you know with the right body type and the lines and everything not no offense to Chris Hemsworth or anything but it's a it's it's a very like generic character the way like Marvel has you know developed totally you know but to to see like his acting range and depth as a Dementis and a furiosa was really really you know like excellent and then again on the topic of Shakespeare like I think Hamletworth even said this in an interview there's something like very Shakespearean about you know his character and the way he talks and just the way the the the dialogue is and everything yeah you're right you know in the whole film. I I do still think Fury Road is better. I love Fury Road I I think the mistake and I I understand why they had to do it this way because obviously you know if you put Mad Max on the title that's that's what people remember and that's what people are going to go back to the theater to see but I I wish somehow they're able to do it chronologically you know I think that would have like if if they released Furiosa before they did Fury Road and then like they they did Fury Road after that I think people's expectations like would have been like holy shit if we get this with Furiosa what do we get with with like the next one that's that's my only like viewpoint complaint with it I did however like my biggest complaint with Fury Road was that it was like just a big long chase movie. Like if you if people like us who you are familiar with the original Mad Max trilogy you know especially Road Warrior and Thunderdome you know the whole barter town and the uh the gas compound and everything in Road Warrior you know we we we we would have preferred to have seen a story focusing around the Cynodome you know and more of a Morton Joe versus like you know just the the chase you know which is what we got with you know Furiosa the only thing that was kind of unfortunate is that two of the main characters villains essentially from Fury Road from the time that passed for Furiosa passed away the actor who played obviously a Morton Joe yeah toe cutter right yeah the toe cutter exactly thank you somebody realized he's he's the original original I know loved it he's awesome isn't he yeah and and then uh the bullet farmer the actor who played the bullet farmer that's right yeah passed away so the bullet farmer and actor and Furiosa is a different actor and realize that wow okay yeah yeah they obviously put makeup and got someone who looked you know similar enough to like not make people you know lose the illusion I guess also he was more of like a a minor you know bad guy in in in Fury Road you know and even in if you look in uh Furiosa he doesn't have that much screen time um yeah you know which is probably you know why they they chose to do it that way but the one that I am still waiting and have been waiting since Fury Road came out is is the standalone Max. Like when are we gonna get an actual you know an actual Max you know I agree.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Yeah and then who will play and then who will play him you know at that point in time.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

You know Hardy is he's he's getting a little up there in age you know from from where Fury Road took you know came out I mean we're I think we're actually at yeah let last year was decade for uh for for Fury Road so we're literally at 11 years later now you know shout out happy new year and everything. Yeah happy new year indeed right but you know who you know that that that's that's the one that I I want to see personally is like I just want my Mad Max movie like you know and you know another thing that I I wish because I know Fury Road had been in development for like I think almost 20 years. I mean I remember reading about it when I was in high school so wow yeah that that's how long like the film had been in like development hell and I remember you know originally like they were actually trying to get Mel Gibson to come back and obviously around the time that you know if it would have you know happened there was the big you know rant thing I mean I I I'm still a fan of his I I think he is a brilliant filmmaker a brilliant actor you know and personally Hacksaw Ridge is one of the best world war two movies to to come out and I didn't see that I yeah good to yeah thanks for letting me know yeah I I've that's the title I that's this one I've missed so I will check it out. Oh it's it's a fantastic film fantastic film it's it's like it's it's like the subject of hope and and it's just also like it's a true story excellent film. Another one of his that he was acting in that was from the guy that did Bone Tomahawk speaking of Kurt Russell this movie is so good.

SPEAKER_02 38:05

It's it's like a cop slash like dirty cop kind of like um prime heist movie it's so well written and you know one to bring up film school you know especially with screenwriting I I was taught that there was like one movie in particular that the Cohen brothers did where it had introduced a new concept into filmmaking that had two protagonists that was Fargo and this movie with Mel Gibson and another there's a couple other actors in it Vince Bond Michael Jai White and a few other people it's called Dragged Across Concrete interesting

Creating Smile With Practical Effects Pros

SPEAKER_02 38:50

okay such a good movie I'm gonna look at that up too yeah it's it's intense like it's it's a long movie it's like about like two two and a half hours long but it'll it just like it it it it gets like once it gets going like it it really you know draws you in and the the ending is very like you know the the writer I forget his name but he he did Bone Tomahawk Straw and uh I forget the name of the title but another one with Vince Vaughn yeah really excellent excellent writing that's cool also directed well if you like cotton movies and and stuff it's really really well done but I mean I also wanted to say you talked we talked about a couple films you worked on Smile and Gliamel del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities obviously Smile 2 is is a big you know hit sequel I think you're already talking about doing a third I heard that too I mean what was what was it like you know working on the first one obviously being you know the first installment of like a new essentially like major horror franchise yeah it's a very rewarding experience and very grateful experience you know it was originally called there's something wrong or something's wrong with rose was the working title and then they changed it to smile thinking just a few months or whenever you know before marketing and stuff like that. And so it's very very good to work with it's Parker Finn who who wrote it and directed it. He did a short of Something's wrong with Rose or Laura hasn't slept. And so he had this thing this concept this story idea in his head for a long time and so he really knew what he wanted and I think this was his first directorial debut for a feature film. And so being on set with him like he knew exactly what he wanted and where it was going. So it was very very fun to see him work and work with him and everybody else and that level of seriousness. And then we shot that in New Jersey and it was very cold weekend right before Thanksgiving. And so it was it was during COVID too so that was that was something going on and I remember coming off when I would come off the offset like I they put like this uh cone thing in front of my face here because they I couldn't wear a mask because I got all this prosthetic stuff off or like a collar thing on so bizarre. And but it was a sign of the times then and but it was fun to work with it was also ADI's amalgamated dynamics I think incorporated their last feature film to do these guys did a lot I mean they did it like the aliens movies the writers movies all that stuff I think there are uh Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. I think that was an off from from Stan Winston's studio yes so that was I think you know Tom is living I I think he's in Pennsylvania and so he's there and then Alec is still here creating uh under his own name his own company so this was the last movie where that company itself was together they did pray the the predator there's new expeditor and then and then it did smile and then that those are the last two that they did so it was also a very nice treat for one I've been wanting to work with those guys for a long time and to be there for the last hurrah I guess and I of course I didn't know it necessarily at the time but very grateful a good experience those guys you know they know it they know what's going on they're super professional all those I'm a I have a lot of amazing like makeup artist friends and I think they're just all awesome there's sculptors, painters, I mean mask makers, mold makers that's just awesome. So just being around that's what's so awesome about being in this industry especially here in LA is that you get to work and be around the coolest most talented people they're down to earth they're from Iowa Missouri Pennsylvania Hawaii you know like Chicago they have all these different backgrounds they've all come here to to make monsters you know and it's just it's just so it's just so fun you know because we speak just like you and me you and I we speak the same language for certain things as shorthand and you know we get kind of excited about certain things. So it's real fun and you know to do that stuff and you're creating together. So it's a you know that's not only is it you I like performing and being monsters and finding the monster that the character is or a normal character human but I get to like you know work with an amazing community of just personalities and people and my hope is that Hollywood and LA and the industry as a whole you know gets ramping up and so we get to create more you know TV shows and you know movies and and fun things because you know let's do it. This is we got one life to live let's let's create right right right like the 80s and 90s again.

Merch Support And Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_00 44:15

I know right 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 guppies in the sea know the 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 thefishbull88 or on Facebook at just the fishbowl or you can friend request me Sam Fish 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