Kevin Keppy Part 2: Original Storytelling and the Acting World

The Fisch Bowl is back at it again with part two of our conversation with creature actor Kevin Keppy! On today's episode, we discuss original storytelling in cinema, breaking into the industry, his love for the art of being an actor, and as always, more favorite and recommended movies and TV shows!

Transcript

Why AI Cannot Replace Imagination

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Attention on the issues in the scene. Welcome to the fish. Stop with you know adapting comic books and you know you know IP and even though some IP is good and worth adapting, like the real stuff comes from you know writers like me and all everybody else that you know has grown up watching movies, just movies in general. You know, I don't think AI could ever replace the the human mind aspect of you know what what where the imagination can create, especially and the the whole point to that is if the if you look back on the entire history of cinema, you know, up until the the kind of like down point essentially that we're we're like in now where uh you know the major studios are you know trying to put you know AI in stuff, and it's because you have a lot of producers who unfortunately are like you know, and and I and I found this out from watching interviews with Francis For Coppola with his self-finance the film that came out earlier this year. Right, I have not had a chance to see it yet. Um I really so if you saw no spoilers, yeah, right. But uh but like he was even saying uh when it was like premiering and they were doing press for it that like the studios have essentially gotten themselves in a situation where they're in like so much debt where they'd rather like just instead of you know making something that you know is gonna last the test of time, they're into just like remaking and rebooting and you know, comic book and IP and you know, video game, and you know, instead of like you know, so many writers that I know that I went to school with, you know, have so many great ideas, you know, and like you know, the if if you look at like you know, just the the original filmmakers like Fellini and you know cure uh Kira Kirasaka, uh Sergio Leone, you know, like just those people to name as like the the old school dogs, you know, and and look at what they made, and computers didn't even exist back then, you know, that's all from the mind, you know. And then you have people like Lucas and Spielberg and Brian De Palma, Scorsese, and and I mean, one of my favorite filmmakers that's current that reminds me a lot of Scorsese is Guy Ritchie, you know, especially him and his writing style and everything. I mean, he's such a master filmmaker that if you look at what was it, the gentleman, exactly how that movie is written is from a person who is like a veteran filmmaker at that point with with how the script is written, because he's actually using script screenplay and film terminology to to move the film along. And even the end, you know, where where Hugh Grant is literally pitching, you know, the movie to Merrimax Films and London. You know, so so it's it's like it's like that that you know, you can't AI can't write that, you know. Uh no doubt. Plus, like not to mention just film, if you want to look at IP, let's look at IP. You know, how many writers and authors that specifically write novelization or short stories type type you know literature. I mean the guy who wrote Fight Club, you know, uh, you know. Right. You can you cannot write a book like Fight Club with AI. I don't care how advanced the AI is. You know, so like there's that. But uh you know, I I I just I'm like, you know, I I I get that AI can help in certain areas and definitely with like editing, writing, and and stuff for maybe not like people who are you know trained in writing or professional writers, and it can even help in other areas that like like you know, I just built a website for my podcast. Mainly AI did like all the you know generation for this stuff. But you know, I couldn't have done that on my own because I'm not like you know super tech suavey. I'm struggling enough with understanding social media, uh you know uh you know, but uh but like you know, it's like the the human mind is is one of the greatest you know mysteries and wonders because there's still so much that we don't know and understand about it. And I'm also like one of those big, I mean, as much as I'm into horror and everything, I'm a big like alien, you know, you know, conspiracy theorist nut, you know, with all this stuff with like the pyramids and and and you know ancient history and like you know, are we are are we living in like a version of the matrix? Do we you know think it's like you know, this time, but it's really like you know, you know, you know, how many hundreds of years in the future? Um you know, do we like you know not remember who we are kind kind of thing? You know, I'm like I I could go on and on about that, and that's probably a whole nother podcast episode we should relate to.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

I hear you. But all that stuff is like you know, Ray Bradbury or the nice science fiction, all that stuff. I mean, I'm personally a huge fan, so you're singing my tune with all this stuff, and one of my favorite shows is The X-Files and all those different possibilities, you know. And big I'm a big science fiction fan, and I just read

Reboots, Debt, And Studio Fear

SPEAKER_00 6:20

War of the Worlds, HG Wells, and it was very interesting to see his point of view of things in the late 1800s, right? And uh it's all it's all fascinating. But as you're saying that, you know, AI is a tool for sure. You know, I think especially the the studio system is working itself out post-COVID and then post, you know, with streaming and then with AI. So, you know, and they're all people, unless they're robots, but you know, that they're people trying to figure things out and you know, and trying to balance their books and all that stuff. And so there I can see, you know, why, just as you're saying, why they're we're rebooting certain things and reusing IPs, and but you know, but that's a thing that is really cool that when something comes through, like with Smile and Parker did that, that's something he he wrote, just like with your screenplays of what the things that you write and your friends, you know, and Paramount at the time took a took a chance on that, bought the script, and then turned into a successful movie. And then they get now they smile too, I believe, is a successful follow-up, you know. So what a wonderful token to show that original story making and storytelling is available alive and thriving, as long as people, studios are willing to take a chance on it, you know, and you know, and I think I think people and and artists are definitely we they should be we should have chances taken out for us because we have a lot to offer, you know. AI, as I said, has has stuff to offer as well, but but people, you and I, you know, we're fans of like these different movies and talking about Mad Max or even Army of Darkness when you're you're back home there. Oh, yeah, yeah. Um you know, we're fans of these things, and you know, AI can't write a character like for of Ash very well, you know, but like but we we love Ash. We see Bruce Campbell's performance of it, and we have that connection that that you know, he had he has a that kind of humor, and with Sam Raimi, they have that humor that you know I don't think AI would be able to like you know generate that and you know spit that out, you know. So it's all about their connection.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Where did they get it from? Three Stooges, you know, you know, the Marx brothers, you know, all all the famous slapstick comedy, you know, of like the silent films into like the dawn of cinema, essentially, you know, and and you know, one of the things I love about I mean it was you could say a IP adaptation of Dracula, but Renfield. Yes, uh you know, I happen to love Renfield. And and you know, I remember reading where like Nicolas Cage, you know, and the makeup artist got the inspiration for his you know take on Dracula and back to you know you know Smile and you know Dawn of Cinema, since Cage is a Cinephile himself and obviously a distant, not so distant relative of the Coppola family. You know, so filmmaking obviously and and acting runs in his his genes. He's a fan of like the cabin of Dr. Caligari and you know the German Expressionism films of the 30s and everything. And there was, I forget what the movie was, uh the actual title, but it was essentially like you know, an evil smiling, you know, character, you know, that had like big, not big smile with the the the teeth, you know.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Are you thinking of the man that smile the smile smiles that one? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Yeah, that's it. And yeah, you look at smile, and especially your smile and cage's smile. Exactly. Cage's, you know, sm you know, massive, you know, teeth smile with with his version of of uh of of Dracula. Yeah, it's it's like you know, you can see how, you know, even though we're literally a little over a century later in the film, you know, as as a medium, you know, to see that where people get ideas and influences to create something new is going back to something old, you know, and taking inspirations and you know, little something from this and a little something of that, you know, and a little dash of this, a little dash to that. Right. And you know, you basically put it in a a bowl, which is your your mind, you know, and you mix it around, and you know, so many years later, so many drafts of scripts later, you know, one idea could be something for totally different, and you end up saying, Well, this would be better if it was mixed with this, you know, and sooner or later, you know, you come up with this totally, you know, new idea or concept that has roots in you know, old whether it's literature, film, whatever. Yes, you know, it allows to create something new.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

And indeed, well, well, look at look at the at Wicked. You know, Wicked's an amazing play, musical, and it's doing really well, the box office, and is based on you know Wizard of Oz, and and it has its own voice, you know, it's not just like replicating or stealing stuff from Wizard of Oz, but it has its own look style songs, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Right, right. And and then, you know, to talk about, you know, just smile again, the fact that you know, like like you said, that's an original idea script, and to show the testament of how successful, just to show how successful something new, you know, that that's not you know based on anything that's not you know a remake or a reboot or a comic book or a graphic novel or an IP of some sort, you know, to show that the testament of saying to Hollywood, literally saying, here is someone's original idea, original script, they've been working on it for how long, and you know, they they you know took like you said, they took a chance like they used to do back in the day when we were growing up, which is why you had like this plethora of like you know, you had like the the the mainstream movies, the B-grade movies, and even the C grade movies, you know. And yeah, I mean I I remember, you know, watching like one of my favorite cult films that's had a huge inspiration on me, Highway to Hell. Okay. I I I have a script that is basically like like if if the original idea was like at the end of Highway to Hell, they have like the epilogue which which tells you what happened like after the movie ended, and it says the the main character wrote like two famous video games that were you know inspired by you know the events, and one of them was called Hell on Wheels. Uh huh. I you know the original idea was like I want this to be like the unofficial sequel to to Highway to Hell. And it's

Inspiration, Sci-Fi, And The Human Mind

SPEAKER_01 13:40

since it's turned into something totally different. But I'll I'll just say that that's like the main basis, probably mixed with like true romance and like the concept of like Dust O'Donn doing like a 180 in the background right there. Right?

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

You know, but there's something that's always fascinated me about what Quentin Tarantino did with Dust O'Donn and just like his original like beginnings of with his with his screenplays like True Romance and Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, even Jackie Brown. You know, it wasn't until he got the Kill Bill and post-kill that he actually shifted as like a you know a genre filmmaker. But his his crime stuff, you know, there's something about like the characters that he created that has that's a big you know impression on me. And I'm like, especially Dustodon. It's like how you know it's so cool to like the concept of mixing like you know criminal elements with like you know horror and and and stuff. It's just that's just like my my personal writing style. I'll just I'll just say that's that's

Writing Roots From Tarantino To Cult Films

SPEAKER_01 14:53

cool. That's a big impression.

Favorite Makeup Effects Teams In LA

SPEAKER_01 14:55

But uh I got uh let's see here we were talking about uh working with uh Alec Gillis and Tom Woodrow Jr. And yeah uh one of the questions that I wanted to ask, and also a little bit of promotion here in Pittsburgh. Obviously, we have Savini and uh the Savini School, the Douglas Education Center, which also has a George Ramiro filmmaking program. I mean has essentially, you know, the the the last element of like you know, George's tribute to film and everything is in this school where Savini he doesn't teach there, but he you know will he run it's it's like his school and he'll stop in and like you know give you know advice and stuff on for the students and everything. And I've actually to help that school have interviewed a lot of the like senior semester students. I actually add Pittsburgh's big Comic Con called the Seal City Con, you know, to you know basically talk to upcoming, you know, make of effects artists, what are their inspirations, what are their dreams. And I've also had Howard Berger on the show from obviously the original KB, Robert Kurtzman, and obviously Greg Nikotero uh is from Pittsburgh and was Savini's apprentice. So uh my question is yeah, yeah, um obviously you've had a lot of working with a lot of different makeup teams, uh especially in uh LA and in you know the films you worked on, TV shows and stuff, and I was very happy you know to hear that about Woodsrift Jr. and Alecillus, because they were one of my like heroes, obviously, too. Um my question is for you, who were some of your favorite makeup effects artists, companies and teams to work with? And then what would you say? I mean, I I know you you already said that you know Woodros Junior Tom Woodros Jr. and Alkaz with a big you know honor and everything, but um if you if if that's the top the top at top it is that's fine, but if you if you could you know say who is your like favorite to work with so far, who was your like dream team to work with so far, and then who would you like to work with in the future as like the ultimate you know dream collaboration of like makeup effects artists? Yeah, indeed.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

I'll hit the last one first. I've been wanting to work with Howard, Howard Berger for a while, and you know, him and him. I met I met Robert Kurtzman at at a convention, was it Pennsylvania HorrorCon last year, then is outside uh Pennsylvania a little bit. So I got to meet him there. It was super cool to meet him. Haven't met Greg Nic Nicotero yet, but but Howard's awesome, an amazing, amazing person, amazing artist, amazing talent that's very important in the our this industry and the film film industry as a whole. And so it'd be great to work with him. And and so I've I've a lot of the shops and and people I've worked with, they're they're just so cool and everybody's a bit different. So when I first got to LA, I made connections, close connections with Spectrum Motion, who did original Hellboy, Hellboy One and Two, with Mike Elizalde and uh his team there, Mark Vignello and you know Kevin McTurk and all those guys. And I just love that shop and those guys. And that's who I worked with on the blob man character and Guardian del Toro's Counter Curiosities. And I also did two characters with them for a Disney Plus show called The Quest, where I played a witch and also the the Serpent King. So I just love, you know, it's an interesting thing here in LA. A lot of the guys, a lot of the the different shop guys, they'll move around to different shops. Like what's like they're like hired guns, which is really fun. They move from like, you know, some people are just like ADI all the time or spectrum motion all the time, but sometimes, you know, we need mold makers. Let's they'll they'll shift around and it's super cool. So I love spectral motion. I loved working with Mike Hill and Mike Hill Creations. Mike, he just got offset working on the Guillermo's new Frankenstein movie. So I'm so looking forward. He's Mike Hill, he's an amazing artist, and I suggest everybody listening to this to check out his Instagram, follow him because he makes such amazing lifelike like characters, you know, that Guillermo actually I think has in his house too. But his work is amazing, he's super cool guy. I've I've had a lot of fun with him, and you know, yeah, he's he's awesome. I'd love to work with him more. I just I like to work with good people and to connect with a lot of good people, and there's a lot of them in in town. And even so, whenever I worked on Smile, I've worked mostly with with Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec. Alec was busy, I think, most with Prey stuff going on. So I never got the opportunity to really work with him. I like to be able to work with with Alec on what he has going on for everything he for his new stuff. And but you know, I had a great time working with Tom, and Tom was there, he was like the makeup designer on set for smile for the look. So he approved the paint jobs, the look, all that kind of stuff. And he was there with me on set as well. And he was looking to monitor, monitor, and so I was able to kind of be chummy with him and and hang out. And boy, what so super cool! And you know, and his son David, he's he's he's an amazing guy and lives just a couple blocks away from me, and you know, and I just love I love I love makeup artists, I love artists, I love being in this industry, and so there's the acting side of me that I really enjoy, all that stuff, and working with directors and writers of script, all that stuff. And there's the other side that I get to really um enjoy and explore on the makeup, the creature side, and wearing it and working with it, and you know, so I just I just love that community. So not sure if that did I hit all your questions on that, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Then

Advice For Creature And Character Actors

SPEAKER_01 21:09

I actually forgive me, I had one more question, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is a personal question and for my audience as well. What would be your advice for someone like me or anyone listening to this in my audience that wants to get into character acting? Like what what would you say do do this, you know, do that, move here, move there? What type of agent should you get? Like what what you know A to Z, what what should be the process to to to start to if if you wanted to get cast as a character or creature actor?

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Yeah. The the answer is there is no answer. Okay, ultimately. And because it's very interesting, I read a book. Oh gosh, what's her name? Jenna, where is it at? Anyway, so read a book where she said that there is no straight path, one path that leads from the beginning of an actor's life to the end or the prospero prosperous aspect of it. There is no one avenue. Like there's tons of different ways to ascend the mountain, you know, and and no everybody's journey is unlike everybody else's journey in a way. Just as mine was. My journey is very

Comedy, Horror, And Cinematic Influences

SPEAKER_00 22:30

different. And it's all about kind of stumbling in the dark a little bit, listening to your intuition. This is the advice that I have is to listen to yourself, listen to your intuition, be patient, be humble, be inspired by other people, connect with other people, grow with people, listen and create together, whether it's on a low budget, like zombie movies. My first movie I ever did was called Redna Carnage with my friend John O. It's on YouTube, by the way. It's it's really good, bad. But uh that but you know that helped to set me on my way. And I was able to do a lot of with him off this zombie movie. We did a show, he called it John O'Show. It was like a bunch of like you know, sketch comedy stuff. So I got to play different characters and comedic stuff there. And and so really the thing is you want to you want to do, you want to experience things, you want to you want to try things, you want to you want to take risks, you want to be around people that you're comfortable and trust to take risks with, you know, that want to support you and you want to support them. And so it's all about having fun, you know, fun. And you know, when you start thinking like, oh, I want to make $2 million or $200 million, I'm gonna be an A-list actor walking the red carpet as a star in Hollywood Boulevard. I mean, that's a lofty goal. That's definitely a goal. And anybody can do that, of course, whatever whatever they want. However, to get from, I don't know, like somewhere in the Ozarks, Missouri to like, you know, Hollywood Boulevard, that's a that's a big ri reach, stretch. And you know, it's it's just like it's just a the journey of life, in my opinion, that we we just need to move forward honestly with conviction and commitment and what we feel and want to do, and then see where see where it goes. And let we often can't allow, we can't force the universe, the world to bend for us. That it we need to be ready to to work with it. And everything has its timing, absolutely everything. And the biggest thing is just to trust yourself and trust the process, have fun, do the work, you know, stick with it. Like when I took that first acting class at the my community community theater program there, like I will have loved to quit. I would absolutely have loved to quit because it's very difficult, but I stuck with it, you know, and and feel, you know, don't be afraid to fail. I took some acting, some classes at the clown school here in in LA, and that's about clowning. And it's amazing, by the way. I highly recommend it. Clowning is all about learning to fail and then fail. Fail again, you know, because we're all vulnerable. That's another thing, vulnerability. You need to be vulnerable while also having a strength that is completely unshakable. And so, I mean, I could talk about this for a long time, and it's you know, it's a very, you know, so you that's all in theater, that's all in film, and mostly just pursue the work you love doing with the people you love doing it with, as my good best friend Nathan Shelton often says, is that so and that and you'll find you'll find you'll find your road, you know. And there's never if you think you're if you think it's too late to start, well, that's that's that's up to you to decide when it's too late. There is no there is no never too any too late. We know a lot of actors, big actors, that started their professional film careers late in life in their 50s or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Exactly. Morgan Morgan Freeman was I think 50 when when he when he did Schwarzrank Redemption. That was his first major major film. Uh Samuel Jackson was, I think, 42 when Pulp Fiction was like his big breakout role, and he had been in obviously, you know, other films and cameos, smaller parts and stuff, but his big break was not until 42 with Pulp Fiction. You know, uh the the screenwriter for uh Blade Runner w was in his forties as well. Wow before he he was discovered. And and obviously one of I'm sure one of yours and mine top favorite science fiction films of all. Big time, absolutely. You know, I I'm I also have to give a big shout out to 2049. That that that's one of like the only the only re like sequel, you know, essentially reboots right that that I can like justify uh that them doing. Yeah just because like I mean, you know, you go back and look at the first one, it still holds up, right? So with special effects and you know, just what they can do now with everything, you know, for a film like that, you know, and also how the director who also is doing the Dune movie reboots or remakes that I am a fan of. I still think it doesn't have like the same element as the Lynch one did. I like them, you

Dune Prophecy, The Penguin, And Details

SPEAKER_01 27:59

know. I I also just finished the Dune Prophecy on HBO, which I thought was really good. My only complaint is you know, I think HBO is at a point where if they don't have nudity and in their shows, it's not HBO. Uh-huh. Right.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

You know, and though except for like the penguin, there wasn't any nudity in penguin.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

That's right, there wasn't any nudity in the penguin. And that was an amazing show. That was amazing. But you know, this the second episode of Dune Prophecy has I'm sorry, it's it's one of the most over-sexualized, you know, scenes, just as like they threw it in there. And so I'm like, you know, Dune is one of my you know all-time favorite, not just film but literature sci-fi, you know, franchises, and there is no nudity. And you know, it's it's not one of those sci-fi novels and and film franchises that has nudity in it. That's the that's my only complaint with Dune Prophecy is the is uh unnecessary nudity just to throw it in there. But the rest of it I was very impressed with. I think people who you know are big Game of Thrones fans that need something new to watch, check out Dune Prophecy. It just got I heard it got renewed for season two. It's also I think only it's only six or eight episodes. So it's like a lot shorter than like any of their other you know big you know series that they have that usually are like 10 or 12 episodes. It's it's more like a mini move, like how they used to do mini series, it's almost like a mini movie. Cool. The budget is uh outstanding. It's like if you were for people who were like, you know, is it the same budget as you know the the movie dunes, the universe that it's in, or is it like a TV budget? HBO Warner Brothers went all out to make sure that if they were doing like a spin-off from the movies, it's gonna be movie quality. Good. Actually, the the two shows ironically that were back to back that I thought were the best series to come out from HBO in years was The Penguin and Doom Prophecy. Yeah, uh the writing of the penguin and uh Kristen, what's I can't pronounce her last name. The the scene, the episode where she gives a speech to the family right before murders them all with like the gas in the house from from someone who really admires character acting, and not in like the you know, the makeup sense or the creature sense, but yeah, from like a character actor perspective, you know, I I look for the little like nuances um that the people add to the scene. And if I I I I'm trying to get her on the show, and the question I want to ask her that I'll say to my audience right now, that I'm wondering from a viewer versus like, is this was this in the script or was this like you improving the character? Um is is when she's giving that speech and she's eating the meatball, you know, how she stops in between and like sticks her, you know, in her cheek and you know, those like you know that or uh you know, um like I I'm wondering, you know, is that her uh being a character actress or actor, or was that actually in the script? You know, because that that seems like something that you know I I don't think even us as writers, you know, could could write something that you know meticulous about the character or any any character, some stuff has to be just made up on the spot. And on the subject of you know, Army of Darkness, you know, Bruce Campbell came to Pittsburgh not this past year, but the year before, literally on like my birthday weekend. And he was showing Army of Darkness and touring with last fan standing. And uh he said, you know, to the audience when they were asking about Army of Darkness, since that was like the movie they were gonna show, uh, he said, you know, all the lines that are like the most iconic, you know, lines from from that that film were all made up on the spot. Um it was literally like you know, Sam said, you know, me were talking, he said, it would be great if you just said this like this, you know, and you know, obviously so many of the the the the gimme gimme some sugar baby line was smart, shop as smart. Right, right. That that was all like on the on the on the spot, you know, like Sam Raimi and Bruce were you know and uh Ivan Raimi were just like, you know, wouldn't it be funny if you just said that's awesome? You know, so you know it and and you know to the testament of like the whole AI thing when we were talking about, you know, yeah with screenwriting and everything. Sure, you know, the writer can really create some imaginative stuff, but that's it also takes you know the the element of you know all the other components that come in to make the script come alive, including the actor, the director, wardrobe, special effects, you know, stuff that you know, so because so many of things that happen in film that are so like iconic are all either mistakes or was improved by the actor or you know, the team essentially, you know, on on the spot. Another great example is uh classic film, The Friends Connection. You know, the the scene where there's the big you know car chase and Gene Hackman like you know speeding down whatever in New York City, and you know, he literally the door opens and he says, get out of the way, get you know, and he knocks off the door and and keeps you know driving. That was not supposed to happen. In fact, the person who opened that door could have been killed, uh or seriously injured. Um because that was not supposed to happen. It was some random some random person in New York City that didn't know they they were filming there and opened his door and you know breaking off the door and keep driving. Uh and think about how many movies have like copied stuff like that, and that was all that was all like by accident, you know. So the you know, some stuff, you know, is that like there's the writer, and the writer can create some really great, you know, groundwork essentially that the movie is based off of and you know made into, but some of the the the the movie magic can only be made literally, you know, on the spot or even by accident, you know, that makes it so iconic.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Absolutely. It's it's all a collaborative art form, you know. Exactly, it's in the moment, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Exactly, exactly. So

Favorite Horror Picks And Joker 2

SPEAKER_01 36:05

before we go any further, let's last last two questions. Uh I I just remembered I wanted to uh bring up those last two things uh on my mind and I I didn't want to forget it after the fact. But what are some of your favorite films? Horror, you know, in general, and any upcoming projects to promote?

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Absolutely, yeah. So I do like a bit of horror, of course. Uh, one of my favorites, Halloween's very big for me, so I always make sure I watch the the big ones that I really enjoy. And the big ones are Romero's Night Living Dead, the black and white. Love that one. Love the Exorcists, big fan of that. Big fan of The Crow, Brandon Lee. That's very special important to me. Same here. And you too. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I interviewed the director. Oh, no kidding. Oh, awesome.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

Yeah, that was that's a that's one of my fond, one of my fondest interviews. Oh, that's so cool. You know, the music was such a big part of that movie, and big time, you know, in all honesty. Not any disrespect to Bill Skarsgard, but fuck that movie.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Yeah, I won't see it myself. But uh that that ver that ver that first crow is uh is is special. It's a it's the lightning in the bottle, like literally, you know, like well not literally, but but I really enjoy that movie. I also was re-watching Hakini Phoenix and you know Joker. Uh it's one of my favorites. I love it. I love it. I love it. It has a special contemporary modern meaning and message to it, and just about a person. And I mean, it's not so much like what the care the Batman character is, but I just love it. It's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Have you seen uh the second one yet?

SPEAKER_00 37:54

I haven't. I've been really looking forward to it, but then I heard it was a musical, and I'm like you know that that's that's what I heard too.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

And I I'm sorry to sidetrack real quick, but I I want to I I want to bring this up because yeah, yeah, the movie has gotten a lot of shit. And it it just like premiered what last week or the week before on HBO Max. I I I I watched it there and you know, I wanted to base base my own opinion. Usually, if a movie gets a lot of shit, that means I'll like it. Yeah, and in this case, not only did I like it, but I thought it was 10 times better than the first one. Interesting. Interesting, okay. And the reason I say that is in both cases, it was like we were talking about earlier with allow Hollywood allowing like an original script to be written and you know for the film. And obviously, like you just mentioned, how you know it was in the Batman universe, but like wasn't actually like Batman Batman. I I really liked the first one a lot, but my biggest issues with it is that it was essentially just like mishmashing Taxi Driver and the King of Comedy into like one movie with like a little darker, you know, tone, you know, and the fact that they even had Robert De Niro play essentially like the reverse version of his character in the King of Comedy, it was even more like two on the dot for for me. I liked it, but those are my issues with it. Yeah. The reason I like the second one really a lot more is is because yes, it's a musical, so some of it is. Like it's not it's not wicked. We're like the whole thing is is a musical. And in fact, the only musical elements are really showing you how disturbed Joaquin Phoenix's character is because it's all in his head. So like, yes, there's some musical elements to it, but some of the musical numbers they do are so like it's so like a homage to like Sonny and Cher and stuff, stuff from like the that era, yeah, where it's supposed to be taking place. And you know, I'm not a Lady Gaga music fan at all. Yeah, uh, but I respect her acting. Um same thing with Justin Timberlake. I I hate his music, but I think he's a great actor. Yeah. The only musician actors that I like are Debbie Harry, Henry Rollins, Ice T, and like all the all the rappers you could say from the 90s, 80s, 90s.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

And of course, Sting was pretty awesome in the original.

SPEAKER_01 41:00

Sting is another one, especially Lockstock, T Smoking Barrels. Yeah, um, Guy Ritchie again. Yeah. Among the other stuff he's done, but among Zoolander too. But yeah, you know, I I I I think rock stars have a better track record for acting in rock stars and rappers have a better track record for acting in movies than pop stars. You know, I mean, you know, yes, Beyonce has been in a bunch of movies, but you know, was she a great actress? Yeah. I mean, I mean, that's debatable. I haven't seen them, but yeah. You know, you know, there's that, but sidetracked there. I just wanted to give you my opinion on. I appreciate that. I'm good. Yeah, I'll check it out as soon as I can. It's it's it's really worth watching. It's a great excellent film.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

Awesome. I know there's a guy of a guy I modeled with at V Neil's makeup school, and he died, he worked, he was in a background actor on on The Joker 2, and he's always looking forward to it. Then he passed away, unfortunately, summer of last year. And yeah, so so yeah, so I do I want to see I want to definitely want to see that to see if I see him in there. But yeah, I'm glad to hear that it's it's a good movie, so I'll definitely be checking that out. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

Definitely, and for those of my listeners, check out my v Neil interview.

SPEAKER_00 42:31

Oh, cool, yeah. She's awesome, isn't she?

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Yeah, she's great, great, great again, one of the the godfathers, god godmothers of makeup make of effects.

SPEAKER_00 42:46

Absolutely. I love working with her, and so you let me let me segue

New Project And Pittsburgh Connections

SPEAKER_00 42:50

then. So to to do for your last question. So so one one thing I do can't plug for sure is I'd worked on a movie with V. It's called The Wolf Wolf and the Lamb. The Wolf and the Lamb. So it's currently in post-production right now. We shot that in Montana outside Yellowstone, this cool film ranch, and it's a western, supernatural western. And so I get to play a fun character in it, and I gotta work with V on it. And so I was in her chair every day for an hour, hour and a half, and I just had the greatest time with her because she's I love I did a I like doing applying makeup as well. I used to do it in the theater all the time. So and I love learning about it and and seeing how it goes and seeing how she handles makeup and how she applies it, and and it's just technically and artistically, it's just so awesome. So it's one of my most rewarding favorite things to do is sit in a chair with her and just like talk and then learn from her and hang out. You know, I just you know just love. So we have that movie coming up. It's going to be a good one, I feel. I really I think it's a great script. Directed by Michael Schilf is his name and produced by a company called the Lunar Lunar Door. So that's going to be coming up. I'm not sure the release, hopefully this year, but looking forward to it. And again, V Neal does she's retired, but she came out of retirement pretty much to do this movie. So it's the makeup is done by her. And uh yeah, it'll be fun.

SPEAKER_01 44:25

So awesome, awesome. I I believe I may be incorrect about this, but I believe V teaches at CMU, which is here in in Pittsburgh, obviously. Okay. Carnegie Mellon University. Okay. I believe that is I I want to say that I believe that. I I know that Anthony what is his last name? C3PO teaches there. Anthony Daniels. Yes, Anthony Daniels. He teaches there periodically as well. But obviously that's a big arts school that a lot of actors have studied there and gone on to be obviously big uh big names in in Hollywood. But uh sorry to plug all right on all this pitch.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

That's all good. Um yeah, absolutely. No, there's a lot of stuff happening there, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_01 45:20

Yeah, yeah. There's another uh convention on the topic of Ramiro, like we were talking about. Have to plug these guys because uh I covered it earlier this summer and I'll be releasing the interview soon. Living Dead Weekend. Obviously, a convention for uh all you uh Ramiro fans out there and everything. Oh, my I like to call them my my family away from my family. All the Ramiro people. And if if you get a chance, I'm not sure if you ever have been out to Pittsburgh or have should I film her anything, but we do have a big horror scene, big film scene, and a lot of different comic-cons. So love it. If you ever get out this way for uh one of those cons, I'd love to interview you in person. Absolutely, let's do it. My my my cousin's deli in an area called Oakland, it's called Food for Thought, and uh he makes my personal favorite, it's called a Pittsburgh Rubin, and uh it's essentially tobasa instead of uh corned beef. So that sounds enticing. Hopefully we can get here sometime in the future. Absolutely on or a film or something. Love to stay in touch with chat more and everything. I I do have your email now. Yeah, I know, I'm so glad. Yeah, reach out to the video. I follow you on social media and all that, so we will I definitely keep in touch. Um any other upcoming projects or anything before we we we we we swim away from each other?

SPEAKER_00 47:02

Yeah, right. I'm currently in the middle of working on another indie horror in Montana with it with a good group of people, and that hasn't been released or announced yet, so I better not say anything about it. But it's a real fun script. It's a horror of it's a fun, it's a fun one. So and yeah, that's that's that's good. So that's a current thing, and hopefully everything has still been kind of quiet in the industries, but here things are kind of ramping up or starting up. So here's the looking to 2025, and just look for a lot of things happening this year. And I just hope that you know more movies are made and more people can be successful and enjoy and be creative. So I'm I'm here for it and I'm ready.

SPEAKER_01 47:45

Awesome, awesome, Kevin. It it has been a real pleasure talking with you. Really, uh obviously we have a lot in common and you know, could could obviously talk for hours and hours. Yeah. I hope to do in the future and definitely get you for another round of uh swimming in the bowl.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

Absolutely. Yeah, I'll let you know. I'll I'll I'll I'll do uh I'll ask my convention agents to see if there's anything happening in Pittsburgh they can get me to uh this coming year. So I've booked for two things so far this year, but nothing in Pitts Pittsburgh or Pennsylvania. So but if I do, I'll reach out.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

Well then I'll I'll I'll tell you uh right now the next uh big big convention. Okay. It's it's actually the the big Comic-Con. So you probably get like the most uh benefit and fan base um that would come. Yes in in Monroeville, the convention is called Steel City Comic-Con. Okay, and they're they're literally starting to book for it now. Great, okay, and it's also three times a year April, August, and December. So even if you can't get there for April, you know, there's August and December. Awesome. But it's it's the biggest Comic-Con they had like Bryce Dallas, how were there this past December, Katherine Newton, another big name and horror, upcoming horror, scream queen they had. They've had like Pam Greer, Josh, Josh Gadd was there. You know, they've had John Cleese, uh Tom Borley.

SPEAKER_00 49:20

Oh wow, awesome, awesome.

SPEAKER_01 49:21

Yeah, so so it's it's definitely one that's like a big one.

SPEAKER_00 49:26

Okay, appreciate that, Sam.

SPEAKER_01 49:27

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. But Kevin, it has been a pleasure talking with you. You too, Sam. Thank you. Yeah, thank you again for taking the time to swim in the bowl with me. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Sam. Absolutely. Let's let's swim again. Absolutely. When the temperature is just right. Yeah, I agree. Awesome. Thank you so much, Sam. Appreciate it.

Merch, Partners, And Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_01 49:53

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 the Fishbowl88 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.