Feature Category: Interviews

Best known for the likes of 2010, Timecop, The Relic, and End of Days, writer/director Peter Hyams latest effort sees him reteaming with Jean-Claude Van Damme on Enemies Closer; an actioner in which Van Damme hams it up as a vicious vegan heading up a drug cartel. We were lucky enough to grab some time with the director to discuss the movie, JCVD’s fantastic villainous turn, and much, much more.

Starburst: Enemies Closer is almost like a hark back to the actioners of yesteryear. How did the movie come about?

Peter Hyams: I’d worked with the producer before and I’d worked with Jean-Claude before, so they sent me the script and, to be honest with you, the script had Jean-Claude playing the good guy. I said I’d be interested in doing the film if he played the bad guy. So we fashioned the part so he was crazy, lethal and funny. He played this kind of mad character. I said to him, “I promise you, this is the part that will gain the attention; you can be this absolutely crazy presence on screen.” And he bought into it and was terrific.

We take it that he was up for the role of Henry initially then?

Yeah, Henry – the role that Tom Scott played.

You’d already worked with Van Damme on Timecop, Sudden Death and you were involved with Universal Soldier: Regeneration. How was it working with him once more?

Oh, he’s a lovely guy. He’s a very sweet, good guy.

Having worked with him back in the day, and obviously there has since been his turn in The Expendables 2, but back then did you think he had it in him to play such a good bad guy?

Well I haven’t actually seen The Expendables or any of those things. The one that interested me, that made me say that this is what he should do, was JCVD. And then I was, like, he can do stuff, he really can. I just wanted to stretch him, that’s all. Since JCVD, I saw how funny he can be. I didn’t want him to play this malevolent, soft-spoken kind of villain. I had wanted him to deliver something we hadn’t seen before. So we made him a vegan, we made him an environmentalist, and a murderer, which I think was kinda funny.

Did everybody else immediately take to this idea, too?

They loved the idea!

The core trio of characters in the film, played by Van Damme, Tom Scott and Orlando Jones, are quite the impressive group. Now having first seen Tom Scott in Dead Man on Campus and An American Werewolf in Paris, he doesn’t come across as a natural ‘action’ kind of guy. What prompted his inclusion?

Firstly, he’s a really good actor and he’s a wonderful presence. He’s actually a great, big, athletic guy; he’s 6’1”, 6’2” – a big fella. And he can really handle himself. So I thought he’d be great for it, I always wanted to work with him and I was a fan. And I had worked with Orlando before – I made a film with Michael Douglas called Beyond a Reasonable Doubt – and I adored him. When it came time to do the other part , the producers asked what I thought about Orlando. I said that I’d be thrilled.

There’s a great dynamic between the characters of Henry and Clay, with a lot of attitude, angst, bickering and brawling going on…

Well they’re good actors, and good actors will be interesting on screen.

Having a background that involves music, art, even time as a news anchor, what is it about movies that grabs your attention?

Well when I was quite young I was a reporter, an anchor, very, very young, when I was 21… actually, I started when I was 20. I’ve always gone to art schools, then I became getting very interested in documentary film. But then I became more interested about writing something that was interesting rather than writing something that was factual. I became interested in taking photographs that were good looking rather than photographs that were accurate. I’m more interested in writing for effect than photographing for effect, so I left and decided that I wanted to make film. Film seemed to be the synthesis between music and art and all of the things that interested me.

In terms of directing, you seem to have been less prolific over the last few years than you once were…

I don’t just take a movie and shoot it; it takes a while for me. I’m somebody who really wants the screenplay to be a certain way. I’m used to writing my own, then if it’s somebody else’s then I’ll work with them because I don’t just jump at anything or take anything. I’m fortunate enough that I don’t have to and I don’t want to.

And there was a rumour a few years ago that you were being considered to direct Hellboy before Guillermo del Toro got the gig. Is there any truth in that?

Never heard of it.

At the moment you’re currently writing a new project. Are you able to give us any details on that or on what else you have on your plate?

I am, but I’m unable to say what it is. I think it’s a pretty good idea and I don’t, quite frankly, I don’t want to broadcast it.

Is there a particular timescale that you’re hoping to have the script finished by?

I think I’ll finish the script within about a month, then we’ll see.

Having been involved in the film business for over 40 years, is there any opportunities that you feel you missed or projects that you wished you’d have done?

There were a lot of movies I wish I had done – because they’re wonderful movies – except I wasn’t asked to do them. Frankly the world’s a better place for me not having done them because they’re wonderful.

And if you could give your younger self any advice?

I’m not somebody who walks around the world thinking they’re good; I’m somebody who walks around the world in mortal fear of being caught. I think it took me a long time, because any time anybody said anything bad about my work then I believed them. If somebody said something good about my work then I wouldn’t believe them. Then I began to realise a lot of things they were saying about me, even flattering me, were things I had no idea of – I wasn’t thinking of those things. I had to learn that I’m not as good as they say I was and I’m maybe not as bad, that’s all. You just try. I’ve had on my wall for 30 years a quote from Sir Carol Reed, one of the great directors. He said that making a film was all work and all worry, all fear and all heartache, but not making a film is worse.

So have you relaxed your stance over the years in terms of not worrying what other people were saying?

No, I’m harder on myself now because it gets more difficult because I expect to be better. And the more I do, the better I see, and the better I can see then the better I can see the gulf between my abilities and the people who I think are wonderful. The gulf seems to widen not narrow. It’s just me, I’m fairly dark about some things.

The majority of your work tends to have elements of action, sci-fi and sometimes horror. Are there any other genres that you’d like to branch out into? Maybe a musical?

Well I always wanted to do a musical; I grew up in the musical theatre. If I could’ve made any film in the world, I would’ve wanted to make Les Mis. From the moment I saw it, I just was not somebody they thought of. I would’ve killed to do that.

Enemies Closer is available on Blu-ray and DVD now, with our review found here.

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Following her big break as Arya Stark on HBO’s GAME OF THRONES, Maisie Williams is quickly earning her place among the most successful young actresses working in showbiz. Williams recently sat down with STARBURST to discuss her new film, HEATSTROKE, a thriller about a hyena specialist who embarks on an expedition with his daughter and his girlfriend that goes terribly wrong. During this short but revealing interview, Williams spoke openly about her role, what it was like working with hyenas on set, and how GAME OF THRONES made her life a bit different…

STARBURST: What challenges did filming Heatstroke present for you that you didn’t experience while filming some of your other projects?

Maisie Williams: A lot of things! Being in South Africa, working with the hyenas, working on a movie after working on a series, were all a different experiences.

The hyenas are a big part of the film, what was it like working with these animals?

Yeah, working with hyenas was a completely different experience, and not something you come across every day. Working with the wolves on Game of Thrones was similar, but they were more domestic, tame almost. But you can’t really tame a hyena, so yeah, it was something that was really different.

What similarities, if any, have you noticed between Arya in Game of Thrones, and Josie, your character in Heatstroke?

They both make a huge change from the start to the end. They don’t realise what they’ve got until it’s gone. There’s the whole thing about losing family as well, and not realising how happy they were until they’ve lost all that and they’re completely on their own. That’s probably the biggest similarity between the two.

So what would you say sets Heatstroke apart from other films of its kind or its genre?

The good guy doesn’t win. The main character is lost within the first 30 minutes or so. And I like that. It’s unpredictable.

What do you want viewers to take away from watching this film? Any lessons or themes you want them to catch?

I think if you’re ever in a situation where you hate the person you’re thrown in with, you learn to put that behind you to save yourself and the other person. Also, how you react to being in a desperate situation and realise how childish you were being.

What would you say was the highlight of filming this movie for you? Any on set happenings that jumped out at you as really fun or memorable?

The hyenas. You don’t even see hyenas in a zoo. They’re completely foreign to us. The last time I saw a hyena in a movie was in The Lion King and that was animated! They’re completely different animals that we don’t encounter every day. You don’t see that on a film set.

So, let’s talk about your character, Josie. She’s a rebellious, somewhat detached teenager who is having a tough time with her dad. Do you relate to that rebellious, detached, kind of distant teenage phase?

Not really. I’m the youngest of four, so I kind of got that. But for most of my adolescence I’ve been in Game of Thrones, so I’ve experienced a very different world than normal teenagers. It’s kind of hard to know how I’d react in normal teenager-y situations. But I can relate to how she was feeling. I could get that, but it doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve been put in those situations.

HEATSTROKE is out now on DVD/Blu-ray in the US, and will be released later this year in the UK.

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Acclaimed author MARK LAWRENCE talks PRINCE OF FOOLS, his BROKEN EMPIRE trilogy, his writing methods and more…

STARBURST: Prince of Fools is lighter in tone than the Broken Empire trilogy. Did you deliberately set out to create a character less controversial than Jorg, and if so was this decision made to make the book more accessible?

Mark Lawrence: I deliberately set out to make a character very different from Jorg. It certainly wasn’t an attempt to be less or more controversial. That’s really not something I consider. I try to write an interesting character, I really don’t care who that offends.

How difficult was it to break into the market with a character as dark as Jorg?

Not very. I wrote to four agents, one a month until I got bored and stopped. The fourth one wrote back a few months after I had got bored and stopped. He told me not to expect to hear from him any time soon – publishing is a very slow business. Six weeks later all the major fantasy publishers had bid on Prince on Thorns and a deal had been struck. This is not normal. Lightning struck.

The Broken Empire trilogy felt like an ‘overnight success’, with the three books coming out within a year of each other. How much preparation had been done before the first book was released?

If you mean preparation learning to write… well that’s hard to define. I’d been ‘writing’ in some form or other for nearly 30 years – D&D campaigns from age 11 to 21, play-by-mail turns (as a games master) from 21 to 34, short stories from age 30 to present, and the two ‘less good’ books I wrote before Prince of Thorns between 1997 and 2003, books I never sent anywhere.

If you mean for the trilogy – I wrote Prince of Thorns over the course of 3 years. After I got the three-book deal I wrote King and Emperor of Thorns, taking 6 months on each. I make my stories up as I type, so there’s no preparation in a planning sense.

Has the success of the first trilogy put you under any pressure with this one? Any feelings that it was going to be a tough act to follow?

The typical career trajectory for any author is to open with a bang (of varying degrees) and then to fade away (I shall diminish and go into the west). I expected nothing different – I’m not special – I still don’t. I didn’t feel any great pressure in following the Broken Empire trilogy. I thought: I’ll do what I can and it will be ‘good enough’ or it won’t.

I was certainly aware that I could turn the handle and do more of the same, another dark and troubled youth agonizing about the business of living. I thought I’d try something different.

Prince of Fools is your fourth book to feature a narrator, yet you don’t seem to be constrained by the restrictions of the first-person point of view; in fact, you make it seem effortless, as if you manipulate it to serve your purpose. Is it as simple as it seems?

I narrate my own life to myself – that’s existence to me. Perhaps it’s different inside other skulls but I only have a sample of one. So yes, once I have a character I can feel then it’s as effortless as breathing. None of my writing is planned or the product of decisions – I don’t weigh up pros and cons or try to appeal to demographics… it’s more like dreaming with my eyes open. I just type, the words roll out.

Sometimes a story needs to bounce around the world and times it’s unrolling for the reader. With multiple character points of view that’s easy. With a first person book you need to be a bit more creative, but it’s not hard, it’s good fun.

The quote on the cover draws comparison with George RR Martin, but I’ve always found your work to be more along the lines of David Gemmell. I have to ask – did you have Druss in mind when you created Snorri ver Snagason? If so, he’s unique enough that he never feels like an imitation, more of a warm tribute. Were you conscious that this was, potentially, a fine line to cross?

I’m a big Gemmell fan and certainly the ‘Snagason’ was a hat-tip to Druss (or to his axe at least), but no, Snorri wasn’t inspired by Druss and I was never worried that he wasn’t his own man.

I don’t think my cover quote is intended to imply my work is like GRRM’s, just that the person who made it (Conn Iggulden) enjoyed it as much as he enjoyed GRRM’s.

As a teenager in the 1980’s, I grew up watching buddy movies (usually cops) and, while the relationship between Jalan and Snorri is entertaining , it’s also deeply moving at times, putting the reader through a real range of emotions. Again, it all feels so natural; is any of it planned, or does it simply flow?

Nope, no planning – I just start typing and see what happens. I think the strength of portrayal of a friendship is in the little things, the off the cuff incidents, remarks, and reactions. Those, by their nature, probably wouldn’t benefit from planning. If they were engineered rather than natural they would probably come off as stilted or forced.

Do you have a set routine for writing (for example, so many hours or words per day)?

Not at all. I can only write when I have time free from my day job and caring for my very disabled youngest child, and that tends to be a haphazard occurrence. And even when I do have free time I only write if I feel like writing. Days, weeks and even whole months can pass without me writing anything. On other days I might write several thousand words.

Finally, you have a knack of ending your books with a simple turn of phrase, yet those few words are packed with implications for both characters and plot. Do you rub your hands together with glee and laugh like a James Bond villain after you’ve done this?

Not really, though it is a nice image. Actually it’s more the case that poor prose offends my eye, so when I write a nice line that does its job in an economical and elegant way I’m satisfied rather than triumphant. I expect the words to behave that way, it’s a failure if they don’t rather than a triumph if they do. Sentences that don’t have the ‘right stuff’ are like looking at a pattern where part of it has gone wrong – it grates on me and I want to set it right.

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In The 100, The CW Network’s hit new science-fiction adventure series, Thomas McDonell plays Finn Collins, one of a group of delinquent teenagers sent down to the surface of planet Earth a century after the world has been devastated in a nuclear holocaust. Finn is a reckless, fun-loving pacifist whose burgeoning relationship with fellow explorer Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor) is threatened by Finn’s own secret past. We chat to Thomas about life as one of The 100…

STARBURST: What appealed to you most about The 100, was it the script generally or the potential of your character Finn?

Thomas McDonell: It wasn’t so much the script as it was the character and talking it over with the creator and the producer, Jason Rothenberg. So when we figured out what the character might be it started to seem like an attractive role to play. In the pilot he’s a very unpredictable kind of wildcard character about whom you were meant to know hardly anything relative to the other characters, whose story and history you get to know and understand more about. Also I’d never worked on anything sci-fi before. I seek sci-fi out more now. I used to like movies which were sci-fi but not just because they were sci-fi but because they were good movies and stories in themselves.

We believe you weren’t necessarily looking to work in TV when The 100 came along.

That’s true. I was having a pretty good time doing what I’d been doing, trying to work on movies and doing different roles because I like the timeframe of making films. I worked a little bit on TV as a guest on friends’ shows but it seemed to me specifically that TV would be less fun because of the time commitment but at the end of the day when The 100 was offered to me I thought ‘why not try it out?’

As an actor do you find it easy to get inside the headspace of a character in a futuristic or outlandish situation?

That was one of the things I had the best time doing. It’s not like playing a cyborg or a Klingon, it’s about playing an ordinary person in some pretty extraordinary circumstances which is not unlike a lot of roles in film and TV even with more realistic genres where you’re just a normal person in extraordinary circumstances. So it was really fun to imagine these particular circumstances with all the stuff about being on Earth for the first time, breathing proper air for the first time, all that stuff. That was all really fun to play with and a bit like real life where I try to seek out new experiences.

So what do you most enjoy about playing Finn?

What’s cool about him is that you’re not given altogether that much information so he remains pretty mysterious. You don’t know about his family or where he came from, what it was like for him growing up. You only really know why it is he’s in jail which is for an illegal spacewalk where he used up all this oxygen that was meant to be for everybody on The Ark, so that was a pretty big crime. But in a way that, I’m sure you can imagine, it was a crime that was kind of heroic to the other characters, especially the other juvenile delinquents so he’s a kind of hero to them because he’s brave and wild. It turns out later on that we find out that it’s not all exactly the way it seems. There’s the love triangle aspect of it too – he has a girlfriend, Raven, back up on the spaceship, but he vies for the affection of Clarke and that develops later on as the show progresses. They don’t hit it off immediately but they’re eventually drawn to one another and it turns out that Finn’s actually involved with this other girl up in space, a girl he grew up with and that creates all kinds of problems for everybody – not just for the three of them but for everybody else too.

Is there much opportunity for you to feed things into the character yourself?

Sometimes explicitly but more often that happens in a kind of implicit way and sometimes I don’t even realise that the choices you make as an actor can lead to the writers thinking about the character in a new way. They’re writing the show as we go along so when we’re filming episodes 2, 3, 4 they’re writing 5,6,7,8 and so on so I think that in that less explicit way it definitely happens. But in reality it’s hard to go up to the producers and say ‘hey, can we do this with my character’ and take him off in different directions.

Do you have a general idea where the show and Finn are heading?

We have a very specific idea and it’s pretty exciting! I always have a really hard time not saying exactly what happens because I know and because it’s fun to talk about. The second season sort of continues on in a trajectory which you could say is downhill; things just get a bit like entropy but that’s the only constant and that can change as the characters change and Finn in particular has a big switch.

How have you taken to filming largely on location in Vancouver?

I think some of the time it’s really fun and some of the best times are had when the terrible storm happens and we’re there late at night and it’s all fucked-up but also it’s sort of unpleasant sometimes. The days are long and the weather’s gnarly cold and people are trying to concentrate so it’s not always like a total riot but I like it. Sometimes it can make you cranky but it does help to make you feel a bit like the character would feel in that survivalist situation. It’s a little bit ridiculous to think ‘wow, this is so uncomfortable it helps me to feel as uncomfortable as they might feel’ but it’s true that it does help if you’re actually out of breath when your character is supposed to be out of breath. Some of my favourite stuff is getting to do all the stunts and action scenes. You could almost describe the show as people running around in the forest because that’s what we were doing some of the time, just running around! All the fighting stuff was cool too. We did zero gravity stunt stuff in the pilot and that’s all really wild.

Have you had a good response to the show from the fans?

Yeah, it’s been mostly good. You do get an instant response from social media but how reliable is that stuff in terms of what it means? I think maybe it means that people are either paying attention or they’re not, whether they’re watching or not and that’s often all that matters; if they’re watching it’s good, if they’re not it’s bad!

The 100 seems to be a show where, potentially, anything can happen and no-one’s safe. Do you worry for the future of your character?

In the beginning you kind of just have to get with the tone of the show and what it’s doing otherwise you’ll spend a lot of time and energy worrying if your character is going to go away or not which isn’t as much fun as just giving yourself over to the bigger picture of the project which is, like you say, that things can just happen. You have to just go with the flow and see what happens.

Speaking to both Eliza and Bobby Morley (who plays Blake Bellamy), we discussed how The 100 is a much grittier and darker show than audiences might have been expecting from The CW Network.

The producers were actually a bit shocked that they were able to get away with some of the show’s content! But I think episode four was where the floodgate was opened and after that things just became more and more brutal the whole time because I think that the creators, producers and directors proved in a way that, as weird and fucked-up as it might seem, it’s effective and it helps really establish the show and what it‘s trying to do.

You have a number of other interests including music and art. Do you find it easy to balance those interests with the show’s gruelling schedule?

I try to make it so that it’s all of a ‘piece’ which is tricky but you make it so that working on the TV provides material for making a piece of artwork or for making music so they all sort of feed into one another. Sometimes it’s hard to make that happen but that’s the goal, so that one doesn’t stand in the way of the other.

And what do you say to those who compare the show to The Hunger Games?

I actually think the comparisons are totally fair. They share so much: they’re broadly Young Adult – you can make a fair comparison from that alone – and then further down the line into more specific things like kids being dropped into the wilderness, extreme violence. All that stuff makes it pretty similar and I don’t think it’s unfair to say that the people who are behind this show used Hunger Games as a template for the commerciality of the show. I’m sure it was in the pitch for the show: “Look at Hunger Games, people love it!” So I think that while it might make actors like me or Bob uncomfortable because when you work on a thing you want it to be unique, I don’t think it’s unfair to compare things because we’re all in the same business and there‘s no harm in feeding off other projects occasionally.

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THE 100 begins its UK run July 7th on E4.

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Tim Seeley has repeatedly proved himself to be an incredibly competent comic creator, showcasing his brilliant artwork and his gift for writing on projects such as Revival, The Occultist, and more. We caught up with Seeley during a recent press interview, coaxing all kinds of wonderful answers out of him. Seeley remained unapologetically candid throughout the entire interview, and at one point even gave us some great new details about his upcoming horror-superhero project, Sundowners…

STARBURST: What comics did you read as a kid and which ones do you read now?

Tim Seeley: I started out when I was five years old on Marvel Comics. At some point or another, I’ve been a huge fan of every Marvel character from the ’80s to the ’90s. I started on Spider-Man, then I was a Hulk kid, then a Thor kid, I did all those. And then I moved into DC when I saw the Batman movie when I was thirteen. When I went to college I told myself that superheroes sucked and only read indie. But now I read all the Bat-books because I’m working on a Batman book, I read Savage Dragon (always a favourite), and I always read Hellboy. Lately, what I’ve been doing is going back and finding things I need a refresher on, like the Invisibles and old Vertigo stuff. I’ve always got a pile of comics staring me in the face, waiting to be read.

When did you decide you wanted to write and draw comics for a living? When did it hit you as something you wanted to do professionally?

I think when I was 5, because when I got my first Spider-Man book, I had my mom read it to me so many times it fell apart. I’d asked my mom how they make these and she said, “Well, I think they draw them.” So, I just started drawing then, but as a kid I didn’t know that it was a separate job to write it. I just kind of learned to make comics. I never really thought I’d become a writer, I just knew I wanted to draw. But I think now I’m more of a writer who draws than an artist who writes.

You mentioned earlier that you read a ton of comics growing up. Who was your favourite comic creator when you were a kid?

John Byrne, who was really hitting his stride when I was a kid, was my favourite. When I was a teenager I was a huge Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee fan, which was great because that was when all those guys were getting big. I saw James O’Barr’s stuff when I was a teenager and I was like, “What is this Goth stuff?” I didn’t even know that was a thing, I just knew that I liked it.

As a prominent member of the comic industry, you’ve undoubtedly worked with some truly talented creators. But which comic writers or artists have you not worked with yet but would like to?

I want to draw something for Grant Morrison, because that would be awesome. I’d really like to work with some of my friends too. We’ve known each other for years and have never worked together, so that’s something I’d enjoy. Someday I’d like to do something with Jon Hickman, who’s a good friend of mine. And I’d work with Kirkman, because it would sell a lot of copies.

When you first broke into comics, what about the industry, if anything, surprised you? Was there anything that struck you as odd or anything you didn’t expect?

Oh yeah. Probably the most surprising thing was how little time you get to do stuff. I was also surprised at how many people in these companies hate comics at this point. It’s just constant. You’re always making stuff, and I think a lot of people just end up hating making comics.

You touched on this briefly earlier, but what about comic creating do you find most challenging?

I find that as I get older, I like less art. The hardest part is how distracting the art can be. And the other big one is the more you write the more difficult it is to sit down and read for enjoyment. I don’t know how it is for everybody, but I find it harder to sit down and relax with a comic than I used to.

Well, what about it is most rewarding for you? There’s gotta be something that keeps you coming back to the office (besides the paycheck).

Lately, it’s just been seeing people I started in comics with becoming really great creators. Watching Chris Burnham, who started as a good penciller before becoming a great artist, has been amazing. If you work in comics long enough, you do know everyone, so getting to see them improve is rewarding.

It’s a pretty close-knit community, then?

Yeah! We do these shows all the time, so at one point or another we’ve sat across each other at a bar somewhere or at booth, table, or panel. Like I said, if you’re in comics long enough, you’re going to know pretty much everyone.

Out of all your current projects (there are a bunch!), do you have one you feel most strongly about? If so, why?

Revival is a really personal project, it’s set in my hometown, and it’s really quiet and character-based. The way people respond to Revival is the way I’ve always wanted people to respond to my work, so I feel proud of that.

Any upcoming projects you want to tease? Something to get readers excited?

Well, I’m doing this book for Dark Horse called Sundowners, which is probably the craziest comic book I’ve ever written. It’s a horror-superhero book about people who might be crazy and might be seeing things, thinking they’re fighting crime and evil when they might be just mentally ill. It’s a really strange horror book, but I’m really proud of it and I think it’s the most “me” out of anything I’ve ever done. I like superheroes, I like horror, I love alien movies, so I combine all of those types of things into one thing.

Do you have any sage advice for aspiring comic creators trying to break into the industry?

Make comics. A lot of times I hear people say, “Well, I don’t want people to steal my idea. How do I break in without showing stuff?” People steal stuff. That’s the way it is, and don’t worry about it. People want to see that you can do the job. If you want to be a penciller, you have to pencil a comic book. If you want to be a writer, you better have written 40 scripts. You have to show the companies that you are so good at this that you deserve to be hired by them.

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STARBURST Magazine caught up with Peter Anghelides whose first novel Kursaal was published in 1998; he has just had his twelfth audio adventure Mirror released by Big Finish in their Blake’s 7 series. Peter talked about the range of projects he has been involved in.

STARBURST: Starting back in the 1990s, your first novel was pitched when you heard that the BBC was re-launching the Doctor Who novels and was accepted. What had you done before that? Had you always written but never been published?

Peter Anghelides: I was involved with fan publications in my teens, and put out a Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 fanzine called “Frontier Worlds.” Through that, I made a lot of friends, including people like Craig Hinton, Paul Cornell, Justin Richards, Gary Russell and Andy Lane. They all subsequently wrote novels for Virgin Publishing. Indeed, as far as Virgin was concerned, Paul pretty much established the credentials and credibility of writers who came from a background in fandom. I suppose Virgin was an appropriate name for such a group of talented but previously-unpublished authors.

As it happened, in the early ’90s, I also worked in the same office as Justin and Craig. I was very admiring of how they had got their Doctor Who novels published by Virgin. Probably quite jealous, too. When Andy and Justin edited a couple of the Decalog short story anthologies, they asked me to pitch ideas. I wrote “Moving On” for them, and then a non-Who story called “C9H13NO3 .”

Kursaal was pitched before you knew that the Eighth Doctor would have a companion called Sam Jones. How hard was it to adapt your pitch and were you happy with the end product?

My original proposal was written for the Eighth Doctor, and used the same approach as the TV Movie in that the Doctor arrived alone and left alone. I knew BBC Books planned to continue Virgin’s approach, which was to publish two novels per month – one Eighth Doctor and one Past Doctor. And I was pitching to them before any of the BBC novels had been announced.

I hoped to write for the Eighth Doctor, though I’d have been happy to have done one of their Past Doctor series instead. To maximise my chance of getting commissioned, I explained that my story would also suit any “Doctor-plus-single-companion” combination. Mind you, if they’d said “the Doctor’s going to be travelling with three companions and a talking cabbage,” I’d have replied instantly, “You know, I think that would also work brilliantly for my story, and here’s how…”

Anyway, I told them that I could place the story in periods of the TV series when the Doctor was not accompanied by two or more fellow travellers. I didn’t suggest any feeble excuse that one or more “missing” companion had been unfortunately locked in the TARDIS throughout. So I suggested:  First Doctor plus Dodo; Second Doctor plus Jamie; Third Doctor plus Jo or Sarah;  Fourth Doctor plus Sarah, Leela, Romana or Adric; Fifth Doctor plus Nyssa or Peri; Sixth Doctor plus Peri or Mel; Seventh Doctor plus Mel or Ace; Eighth Doctor plus any new BBC Books’ companion. As well as trying to offer lots of options, I suppose I was showing off a bit to people at BBC Books who I suspected may not have known a lot about Doctor Who. (Little did I know that one of them was Steve Cole. Whatever happened to him, eh?)

I’d therefore already considered how I could adapt my outline to accommodate a completely new companion, and it wasn’t too much of a chore to incorporate Sam Jones. I quite like writing things where I’m asked to incorporate specific things, anyway. It’s a writing challenge.

In your blog, The Red Lines Page …

Yes, there are others. Possibly not suitable to mention in a family magazine!

…you have your original query pitch and then various other items such as scene by scene breakdowns, all of which is of interest to any author. Do you put these posts up for posterity, as a monument to your own production process or to help others? Do they reflect the way you still write today?

“Web logs” started to become popular in the late ’90s, and I don’t recall there being a lot of them when I started writing. This was the decade before Facebook and Twitter. (Gasps of horror and disbelief from your younger readers. Some of whom probably think Facebook is already a bit old hat.)

Nevertheless, those days weren’t all writing by candlelight on a wax tablet. We had newsgroups in which people like Paul Cornell and Jon Blum and Kate Orman and Steven Moffat would discuss writing. Some people even had their own websites, lovingly hand crafted in HTML. Gary Russell had an interesting site that contained helpful advice and information.

I’d found all that free stuff useful for my writing. And I’m vain enough that I like talking about myself and what I do. So I thought, why not try “paying it forward” and publish stuff about my own experience of writing? If it’s helpful, that’s OK. And if it’s not, well, I enjoyed writing it anyway. Sometimes you write stuff just because it’s fun, and not because you get paid for it. (Who do I invoice for this by the way?)

Anyway, I set up a web site where I published all my original proposals for novels and audios and short stories, plus information about the writing process, and summaries of all the reviews I’d read of my stuff – good, bad, or indifferent, it didn’t matter.  One or two reviewers emailed to say they were a bit cross about having rude parts of their reviews quoted, which just made me laugh.

When my web host changed, I decided it was easier to start again on a new blog and move stuff across when I had time. I picked WordPress as the least painful popular free platform. I’ve started to republish some of the website stuff again at anghelides.org. Though I am a lazy blogger, and I don’t do it as much as I used to. Never mind, there are plenty of bright young things doing new and interesting stuff instead of me.

You’ve written a number of books and several short stories for Doctor Who and other ranges, amongst which is Torchwood. How did that come about?

It turns out that “paying it forward” wasn’t just a help to other people, it was a help to me, too! BBC Books needed to find me when they were launching the Torchwood novels to accompany the new TV series, and they found my contact details (like you did!) on my website. I think I have Gary Russell to thank, too, because he was working on the TV series and had suggested a number of plausible candidates to BBC Books for the new novels.

That whole experience was brilliant. I’ve had the great good fortune that people have asked me to do a number of “firsts” in my writing… the first Eighth Doctor audio book for BBC Audio, the first Tenth Doctor audio story read by David Tennant, the first full-cast Blake’s 7 audio…

It’s a privilege, and also very flattering, to be entrusted with such things. How fantastic was that, then – to be writing the first Torchwood novel, and working with Andy Lane and Dan Abnett before Torchwood had even aired on TV? We were writing them as they were making that first series. The novel has been released as an audio book, skilfully adapted by Joe Lidster and read by John Barrowman. And translated into German by Susanne Döpke. There’s even a Hungarian version.

You’ve also written several audio scripts, not just Doctor Who and Torchwood but also Sarah-Jane and Blake’s 7. How do you find writing for audio compared to novels and short stories?

Audio scripts are a lot shorter, for one thing, so it’s possible to draft them faster, then iterate more frequently and extensively if necessary. With a novel or short story you have an editor providing input, whereas audio continues to be a varied collaborative effort all the way through the process – producer, script editor, director, the performances in the studio, and finally the edit with the sound effects and score. Novel writing is painting pictures in words for your readers, whereas audio scripts are providing the guidance for a performance. And while characters do talk to each other at times in a novel, an audio script is principally dialogue.

Now those are wild generalisations, of course. You can incorporate interior dialogue and narration into an audio, and you can have conventional dialogue sequences in a novel – especially one that is inspired by a TV series. But the common element of both is having a compelling story, interesting characters, and staying true to the spirit of the franchise without slavishly copying it.

In 2013 Big Finish released Warship which was the first full cast adventure for the original Blake’s 7 cast. If that weren’t enough of a challenge it also plugged a massive gap in the show’s canon. Did you approach this differently from other stories and was this part of the show’s history you always wanted to tackle?

I’ve loved Blake’s 7 since it was first broadcast – round about the same time that I was also a huge, huge fan of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor. I watched Blake’s 7 from the opening episode, and celebrated it in that fanzine I mentioned earlier.

When Big Finish asked me to write Warship, I suppose I was a bit conflicted at first. On the one hand,  like any contemporary fan, I always wanted to know what happened at the end of the second series that meant Blake and Jenna were no longer in the third. On the other hand, some of the magic of any series lies within those gaps that fans like to fill for themselves with personal theories they don’t want contradicted. And on the third, Andromedan hand, how could I possibly resist the opportunity to write the first full-cast audio for the actors I’d loved in the original series?

Even so, despite my geekish continuity credentials as a longstanding fan, I researched the gap by re-watching the entire series. I did a load of research to remind myself and confirm my thoughts. Plus, it was a great excuse to watch those original stories again. I sheepishly confess that I watched several sequences where I could spout the dialogue in sync with the actors. In the end, I devised an exciting story in the style of the TV series that fits the continuity. Most listeners seemed to agree. Except for those whose pet theories I contradicted, obviously.

(Yes, I know we didn’t see any Blake’s 7 Andromedans with three hands. And they weren’t named as Andromedans, either.)

Of all the ranges you’ve written for so far do you have a favourite and how do you as a writer view their differences?

That’s like asking a parent which child they love best!  (If my sons are reading this, then obviously I love you best. Yes, you. Don’t tell your brother.)

I have honestly loved writing all of them – whether Doctor Who audios for Big Finish, or Torchwood novels for the BBC, or Sarah Jane Adventures for AudioGo, or original fiction for Virgin. I seize opportunities I’m offered by people who I enjoy working with, to write about characters I love, for people who enjoy those TV series as much as I do.

Without breaking any confidences can you let us know what you’re working on at the moment or at least give us some clues?

It’s bad luck to discuss stuff that hasn’t actually been commissioned, and it’s bad manners to mention anything that has been commissioned but not announced.

I once made the mistake of telling people that I was writing a Big Finish script for the first series of Tom Baker Doctor Who audios – the opening one (another first!) set on Nerva Station. They kindly invited me to pitch. I did several detailed drafts and revisions, including a four-part version and a two-part alternative. But in the end they weren’t happy enough to commission it.

I’d already pitched things for some of the earlier attempts by BBC Audio and Big Finish to bring Tom Baker stories to audio. This time I really thought it was going to happen, and I felt utterly wretched to miss out. Well, “miss out” is probably a bit misleading – nothing is ever a done deal until the contract is signed, and the recording is complete. That’s why Big Finish – quite rightly – doesn’t tend to announce anything until the studio work is complete. I’ve had other things turned down, of course – that’s not unusual for writers, and you need to be resilient. But I’ve never felt as devastated as on that occasion.

So I’m not going to tempt fate, or upset anyone, by saying or hinting anything. Sorry!

Is there a show you’d like to write for but haven’t?

Each new incarnation of the Doctor is like a new show, and so I would relish the chance to write something for the Twelfth Doctor. I’d quite fancy writing a novel about a pre-Jack Torchwood. I enjoyed Firefly and a lot of Fringe, so those would have been fun.

I persevered with the recent revamped version of The Tomorrow People, and thought that had potential before they humanely destroyed it after one series. I liked some of its set-up, but kept thinking that I could write better dialogue. Which is a very different motivation to, say, writing for Blake’s 7, where we all aspire to write dialogue as characteristic and compelling as original TV writers Terry Nation and Chris Boucher. I feel I’ve got it right if I sit in the recording studio chuckling as Michael Keating (Vila) is performing my dialogue. Yes, I’m afraid I do that.

Beyond writing you have a day-job: how do you juggle your time and do you keep the two worlds separate?

Writing is a hobby I get paid for – and one should always make time for the things one loves. But I can’t compromise my day job, because I really enjoy that, too. In the past, I’ve made time in a variety of ways. It may involve booking holiday from work. Sometimes it’s writing during early mornings and/or evenings or weekends. Other occasions I’ve been able to write when on a plane to a business meeting, or in the hotel.

I treat every writing commission with the seriousness of my regular job, of course – because publishers, distributors, directors  and so on all rely on a professional text being delivered on time and to specification. Hmm… that perhaps makes it sound rather dry and dull. Whereas, of course, it is a fabulous and privileged opportunity to add to the franchises that inspired me to write in the first place.

And, finally, if you had the chance to travel on the Liberator or work at Torchwood which would you choose and why?

Both have a pretty high mortality rate, don’t they? I think I’d take a risk on Torchwood, because the adventure tends to come to Cardiff and I could still pop home occasionally on Bank Holidays to see friends and family. Because Weevils obviously like a long weekend as much as anyone.

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Where other new CW Network genre shows for 2013/14 season have fallen by the wayside – The Tomorrow People and Star-Crossed – ‘young adult’ sci-fi adventure series The 100 caught on almost immediately when it debuted in the US in March, gaining respectable viewing figures and good notices from the critics and viewers alike. The series stars 24 year-old Australian actress Eliza Taylor as Clarke, one of a hundred juvenile delinquents from ‘The Ark’, a network of space stations orbiting an Earth devastated by nuclear war sent down to the planet’s surface a century later to establish its capacity for sustaining human life as resources in ‘The Ark‘ start to run down. Inevitably, what they find isn’t quite what they might have been expecting… STARBURST recently spoke to Eliza about her role in the new hit series as it arrives in the UK.

STARBURST: Tell us a bit about your character Clarke Griffin.

Eliza Taylor: Clarke grew up in a very comfortable living situation on The Ark. Her mother was the chief of medicine, her father was the chief engineer and she was good friends with the Chancellor and Welles, the Chancellor’s son. But things take a horrible turn when she and her father team up to reveal a secret about The Ark; her father ends up being executed for it and she ends up being put in solitary confinement and that’s where we pick up her story. Throughout the series Clarke is a great character. When The 100 arrive on Earth she becomes a fearless leader, kind of an unexpected one but she becomes someone that people can rely on and she always puts other people before herself which gets her into trouble sometimes but I think that makes a for a very strong female lead.

After four years in Australian soap Neighbours playing the slightly scatty Janae Timmins is it refreshing to play a much stronger character?

Absolutely, I’m really pleased to be playing Clarke. I’ve played the blonde ditzy girl one too many times. I think it’s a very good time for young women in TV at the moment, there are a lot more strong female characters coming out of the woodwork and that makes me really happy and I’m really proud to be playing one of them, setting an example and perhaps even being a role model.

So how did you actually get the role, was it the usual audition process?

I didn’t actually audition. I’d been living in LA for about a month and my credit card was stolen and all my money was taken – spent at Home Depot, which was great – and I was ready to pack my bags and go back to Australia because I didn’t know how I was going to survive in LA any longer and then I got a call from my manager to say that an audition I’d done months ago for a film had been looked at by the producers of this TV show called The 100 and they wanted me to go in for a reading the next day. So I read the script that night and loved it and went in for the meeting the next day and got the role. Before I knew it I was on a plane to Vancouver to shoot the pilot and my whole life changed.

Were you a sci-fi fan before you started on The 100?

My Mom is a huge Trekkie! I grew up watching it (ie Star Trek) so when I told her I’d got the role in The 100 she was over the moon. I sent her the script and she read it and she was so happy and it was really cool to be a part of something in a genre I grew up watching.

We mentioned your time on Neighbours. Have you found there’s been a stigma attached to having a four-year stint on an Australian soap opera on your CV?

In Australia there is a stigma. Not so much in the UK because the UK are much bigger fans of Neighbours than in Australia which is weird because it’s an Australian show. It’s not watched that much anymore in Australia; no-one much watches it there but they do here in the UK which is fantastic. I’m not bagging it because it was a terrific learning curve for me, I was in it from the ages of 14 to 18 which was a big chunk of my teen years and I did a lot of growing up in that time. But Neighbours was a very different kettle of fish and I found that, when I finished Neighbours and I was auditioning for other stuff in Australia, people couldn’t separate me from my character, I was typecast which is an actor’s worst nightmare. I was Janae and they wouldn’t cast me in anything else because they didn’t want people to see Janae. That’s why I decided to leave Australia because it was too hard. But when you’re in the States they see Neighbours on your CV and while they don’t know what it is they see that you did four years on a TV series and they think ‘Great, she’s got experience’ so it works in your favour in the States certainly. It’s not what you’ve done but the fact you’ve done it.

We’ve been quite surprised at how dark and edgy The 100 is compared to many of the shows made by The CW Network. Has that surprised you and does that slightly darker aspect appeal to you?

It has a bit more edge and I think that‘s great. I think the American audiences have been very surprised by the fact we’re showing this sort of stuff on The CW which, for the most part is a bit more tame which I think is great and it’s got a fantastic response even though the content can be gritty and dark. It’s been very well received which is fantastic.

And these days that response can be pretty instantaneous courtesy of Facebook, Twitter et al…

Exactly. I’ve been working in TV for nearly 15 years and even when I was doing Neighbours about eight years ago Twitter just wasn’t a thing and the only way fans could connect with talent or cast would be to send them a letter or to go to an appearance at a shopping mall or something and get an autograph. Now it’s instant and Facebook and Twitter and Instagram are such a powerful medium at connecting the two. It’s a whole new world for me because I was never really around for any of this so it’s cool and I’m enjoying the response I’m getting and I like the fact I can retweet fans saying nice things about the show and connect with them instantaneously.

How do you cope with the rigours of filming mainly out on location in a Vancouver forest?

It can be gruelling but it’s beautiful and it definitely keeps you on the ball because it’s cold out there. It keeps you awake and we’re shooting 15 or 16 hour days so you almost enjoy the cold because you’re not falling asleep in a nice warm studio. Working in those conditions and running around – we did a lot of running – was tough but I was in the best shape of my life! It was fantastic in that regard. Going into the second season I’m going to need to get back into shape!

Are you happy to stay with The 100 for a while and can you give us a few teasers about what we can expect from season two?

I think we’ve got a really solid show. I’m excited to see where it goes, I’m excited to be a part of it and the cast and crew are honestly the best I’ve worked with in my life and I’ve been doing this job quite a long time! They’re amazing and I can’t wait to see them again and get back to work when we start up again in July. As for the next season, they’ve kind of given us a brief outline but it’s still in the early stages of writing and they never tell us stuff too far in advance.

How would you sum up the show and its appeal?

It’s an epic rollercoaster ride. Just when you think it can’t get any darker it does, it just goes further and further down the rabbit hole. It’s an incredible story, it’s really different to what other people are doing. I know that post-apocalyptic shows are kind of ‘on trend’ at the moment but this is something else. It’s got this strange combination of Lord of the Flies and Battlestar Galactica, it’s like two very different stories going on which is what sets it apart. There have been comparisons with The Hunger Games – talk about strong female leads! – but it doesn’t bother me because I think The Hunger Games is fantastic. Compare away, I don’t mind; it’s a very successful franchise so bring it on! I don’t see it as a bad thing at all.

THE 100 begins its UK run July 7th on E4.

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You may know him as Bo Duke or Jonathan Kent, but the prolific John Schneider has now started up his own studio. Writing and directing, this good ol’ country boy is looking to shake the clean-cut image and throw himself into the world of horror. With Smothered, Schneider has brought several genre veterans together for a humour-laden, sinister, gory and, most importantly, highly entertaining movie that can’t help but bring a smile to the face of long-time genre fans. Starburst was lucky enough to chat to Schneider about his latest foray into horror, potential legal issues with “Teddy” and “Mason”, sequels, and why Smallville is better than Man of Steel could ever be.

Starburst: How did the idea for Smothered come about?

John Schneider: Well a friend of mine, about 25 years ago, said wouldn’t it be fun to invert the horror/slasher model and have the large-breasted girl kill the serial killers. I said that’d be fun, but how in the world are you going to justify it – he was talking about real serial killers, like Son of Sam, Ted Bundy, and folks like that. Firstly, they’re dead, as they’d been killed by the state, and secondly, what reason would they have to go camping together. As a filmmaker, as a writer, I don’t think an audience ever gets over their first “Oh, come on!” And a lot of movies have a lot of “Oh, come ons!” The idea stayed in the back of my brain, until just over a year ago when I was in Dusseldorf, Germany with Richard Brooker . The horror icons were having a not-so-great show and the idea came back to me at the bar one night. I asked Richard and a couple of others guys, I said, “Hey, if somebody were to pay you $1,000 to leave this place right now and go haunt a trailer park for the weekend, would you do it?” They all said yes, so it was at that moment that the ‘writer guy’ inside my brain said that is the device that through a bunch of, not real serial killers, but a grouping of horror icons, that’s the reasons why they go camping. And I went up to the room and I started on page 1 of Smothered. I don’t think it was even 10 days later when I was done. Then it was 11 days later when we were financed!

In terms of the actors in it, was there anybody that you wanted be couldn’t get?

I went after Sid Haig. In the film there’s a big clown that looks like Sid, and Malcolm has Colonel Wilson, but when you’re making a movie at this budget, which we were fairly low, not low-low – we were at $1 million – people have to make quick decisions. Sid was busy and I couldn’t wait, so I turned around and got Malcolm. I’ve known Malcolm for years – we did a movie called The Curse together 20-something years ago – so I called him and asked if he wanted to do the Sid Haig role and he said, “Absolutely.” Originally Malcolm was slated to be Ranger Moochie because of Malcolm’s name in Christine. So that was the first one. The other one, I ran into a bit of a snag getting in touch with Robert Englund’s folks. Again, there wasn’t time to wait, plus my lawyer said to me, “You know, if you have Robert Englund playing someone called Teddy…” We managed to dodge a bullet many times with regards to copyright because many people played Jason, there were several Leatherfaces, there were several Michael Myers. My lawyers said that if you had Robert playing Teddy then you’ll just be getting yourself in trouble. So we had a snag as far as getting in touch with him and we had a snag as far as potential legal problems, so I dropped that. And Bill was wonderful; he did so great in it anyway, which added a layer to the very heart of the film. It added the sobriety layer, which is kinda cool. It adds heart to a film where you don’t necessarily expect it.

In terms of characters like “Mason” and “Teddy”, were there any sniffs of legal action at all?

We had to be careful in designing the mask for Kane Hodder . We had to be very careful there, so we took a hockey mask, we took a goalie hockey mask, and then we added the primate look to it. I didn’t want it to look anything like Jason’s mask and yet, at the same time, as soon as you see Kane Hodder holding a mask, I want you to go, “Oh my God, that’s so cool!”

By the end, when he ends up wearing a mask, you see his eyes and it just screams Jason…

Yeah, exactly! And you’re feeling sorry for him by that point, which is rather conflicting. The other design where I had to be careful was, you’ll notice that Bill’s gloves, he has two of them, they’re hockey gloves, and they have a .45 on them for their pointer finger. I’ve read a couple of reviews and that seemed to confuse people, but there’s a wonderful picture of Bill as Otis, looking very much like Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales, carrying two .45s. That’s why, as soon as I knew I had Bill, I had those gloves designed to encompass A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wolverine, and The Devil’s Rejects. So that’s why it’s got the guns, that’s why Bill was wearing them, and it’s also why Bill holds some Spanish moss to his chin at one point and says, “I’m here to do the Devil’s shit.”

Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects and House of 1,000 Corpses are some of the more notable horror films of the last decade or so…

I think Rob did great with those movies, and Diamond Dallas Page is a buddy of mine. He was gonna come in but he couldn’t come in, and Rowdy Roddy Piper was gonna have the role that Dane .

Growing up as wrestling and horror fans, Roddy Piper always gets our approval…

Oh yeah, of course. And he was at the convention in Dusseldorf, so he was part of the original plan. I wrote him into it and Richard into it before I wrote anyone else into it. Of course, Richard passed away. Kane and I, we have the same birthday – 8th April – and we both found out that Richard passed away. I think he passed away on the 6th or 7th, but we both found out about it on the 8th. But that was another unusual case of the curse of Smothered as I had every intention of Richard playing himself, playing the guy that first put on the mask, which is why we built in the classic horror icon salute.

That appears in the film, and we’re big horror fans at Starburst, but we were a little confused by that salute…

Well we all knew Richard. I left it in there as ‘classic horror icon salute’ and when we started filming Kane asked what I wanted this to be. I said that I wanted the guys to get together – they all knew Richard – and I wanted the salute to have multiple levels to it and it needs to be something that sticks to the Richard that the guys know. So that’s why it starts out with a drink and moves to the “honk-honk”… So they came up with that and it’s great, I think it’s just great. Like you said, nobody’s ever seen that before.

So how much creative leeway did you give the guys in general? Were you open to them having an input on the film?

Oh, absolutely. The speech I gave everybody when we started – we did a read through the day before we started principal photography – I said, “Look guys, I know the writer and the writer wrote a solid 6 here. But the movie needs to be a 10.” Of course, I’m the writer and the director so I’m talking about the same guy. I said, “Don’t be afraid. I know exactly what I want every day but that’s not good enough. So I want you to come to me and I want you to think about how you can make this better, how you can make this more yours. Come to me every day with an idea. However, know we are shooting a movie in 14 days. Know that it’s better to come to me the day before with something you’d like to try tomorrow. You do your homework, I’ll do my homework, I promise I will listen to you, I will incorporate everything I possibly can given the time constraints that we have.” And it was great. I knew most the guys already anyway; Don is a stuntman; Kane was on Dukes of Hazzard. So I’ve known a couple of them for quite a while.

After being an actor for so long and now directing films, how different an experience is that for you?

It’s wonderful. If you’re a creative person it’s really fantastic because as an actor you’re involved in your character, your character’s plot, your character’s perspective, your character’s clothes, car, swagger, and that’s it. The director, you’re involved in every character’s clothes, every character’s swagger, every character’s car, every character’s part. You have to be a bit of a freak of emotional nature in order to keep all those people separate in your head. And sadly or gladly I am a freak of emotional nature and can do that. So I find it very, very rewarding. Creatively, intellectually, I find it much more rewarding to be the director. And I happen to also be the guy that wrote the script. So I guess it is fairly narcissistic, but hey, if there wasn’t an element of that in me then why would I be in this business?

In terms of finding funding for the movie, how challenging has that been?

It’s challenging right now. My ultimate plans is that Smothered can be one of those annuities that keeps making money. The ultimate plan is to have Smothered pay for at least the next one or two movies that we do out of the studio, until we have our cash flow working. Obviously right now I’m out looking for money for the next one because Smothered isn’t out yet, but I’m hoping that it will be a self-efficient enterprise largely funded by the income from Smothered, then I won’t have to go out and look anymore. I don’t like the ‘going out and looking’ part – who does? I don’t know anyone who likes that; raising money is not a whole lot of fun. It’s absolutely necessary but it’s not a whole lot of fun. I’ve been doing this for nearly 45 years now…

And looking good for it…

Well if you’re involved on a daily basis in living your dream, your passion, I think it keeps you young. How good can you really be at a job you hate? The last thing I want is somebody working for me that hates their job. I’ll either let you go or help you find a job that you love.

Having been involved in the business for so many years, going right back to The Dukes of Hazzard, how is it to know that you have such a broad fanbase in terms of age and appeal?

It’s delightful. It’s a little scary but it’s delightful. It’s interesting to me when people see Smothered now, they hear about Anderson Bench – which is a very gruesome, twisted love story – people have an expectation because of Dukes or because of Smallville or because of different things I was involved with. They have a very squeaky clean expectation. However, there’s a show I’m doing here now, it’s not in the UK yet, on The Oprah Winfrey Network, where I play just a nasty, terrible person. That’s actually helped me. A lot of people have to clean up their image, but I’m going through the process of, I won’t say dirtying it down, but I will say making it more realistic. People are getting a bit more of a view of what really goes on in my head. Smothered is doing that because all of those things came out of my brain, all of those ways to die. But so did the notion of Trixie (Shanna Forrestall) and when she gets her comeuppance. I remember when we showed that. It’s so fascinating to me, the people who responded to that and wondered why she said thank you. It really feeds my soul when people understand that little moment ‘cos that’s a very important moment. That and Malcolm saying “Maybe they’ll like me now.” Finally just something worthy of admiration. On the strength of that, he’s taken out of the game. And maybe that’s okay. Maybe that’s what dying on top means – someone finally recognising that you have value. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Whilst Kane Hodder takes the lead throughout most of the film, Trixie arguably has the best arc. After being told that she’s too old, her fate brings things back together in a really nice way.

She was wonderful. Shanna is from Louisiana here, and I have to give her credit for finding those moments. It was how she reacted to what was about to happen to her that made me think, “Oh my God, she just needs someone to pat her on the back here.” Like I said, the script was a 6 there, but Shanna made that scene an 11.

As well as Shanna doing wonders, Amy Brassette as Agness was great in her accent, appearance and sinister edge.

She’s wonderful. Oddly enough, Amy is a beautiful woman who is only, I think she’s a year older than Brea , and she just puts that character on like a dirty gym shirt.

And one horror name that appears in two brief moments with yourself is Michael Berryman. Was there any thought of having him play a larger part in the movie?

There was, but Michael’s condition – Michael does have a glandular and skin condition, I believe – so Michael can’t be out in the heat. So we would have had to have built a place, which I’d be happy to do as Michael Berryman is a delightful being who I’d love to work with, but that was not written for someone like him. I’ll ask Michael to be in another film where I can actually do films with him inside. And these are not demands he makes, these are the reality of things. Kane told me about that because I thought Michael could be in this. 400% humidity? Michael can’t do that. But what a delight?! He is so bad in The Hills Have Eyes! He’s a scary dude.

Going forward, are you going to be looking at purely horror films for you studio then?

The next one is Anderson Bench, then we have one called Musical People, which is a story about justifiable homicide among the elderly. When Smothered comes out and starts doing well, I have the outline for two other Smothereds. There’s Suffered, which is the prequel, and there’s Striper. Striper is the sequel with Kane. Ultimately his affliction, the stripes on his face, actually wind up making him famous. Those two are outlined. I haven’t written them yet but I’ll start when Smothered has come out and starts making headlines. I really believe it has the ability to do that because it’s so different. Then I’ll write those, we’ll come back and we’ll make some more movies.

Any particular people that you’d like to get involved in those films? With a prequel, we’re guessing you’d look to bring back some of the guys from the current movie?

For the prequel I’d have to have the guys back and more, because the reason that DeeDee has this issue is that her step-father, who you see at the beginning… the massaging that’s talked about… there’s issues with masks and horror because her dad was into that. So his sick part of the molestation with his daughter involved knives and masks and all that kind of stuff. I believe that humour is very important. I’ll find the humour, but there’s not a lot of humour in the outline so far.

The humour is such a big part of Smothered but it also makes the more serious moments more impactful, such as the arc with Trixie, and it’s something that fans of the genre will appreciate.

Thank you, I appreciate that. There was a review that came out after Mad Monster Party that was great. It said that Smothered is not a movie for everyone, it’s a movie for us.

And you give screen time to some of the big bodies who are usually behind masks. As well as Kane being great, it has to be said that Don Shanks is in ridiculously good shape…

Yeah, and he got in better shape after the movie because he competed in an over-60 Mr Olympia in Las Vegas about a month after we finished. He’s phenomenal!

In the film, he’s probably best described as being a loveable dick…

I like that . I love that. That’s one I’m gonna call him the next time I see him. He’s like James Bond, he’s wonderful.

Considering the audience we have, it would be majorly remiss of us not to talk about Smallville. How was that to be involved with for you?

It was great. Smallville, I think, is the best part of the Superman legacy. I just saw Man of Steel and I thought, “Oh really?!” It was beautiful but unfollowable, I thought. I’m a big nut for story structure, which may sound funny from somebody who put Smothered together the way I did, but that was a result of when it was cut linearly people didn’t like the fact that R.A. was terrific, but I wish he didn’t look so much like Tom Welling. Of course, Tom Welling looks like Superman. I so enjoyed, on Smallville, the relationship between father and son that was so wonderful, so teaching, so loving.

We’re long-time fans of Smallville, and it was great to see the dynamic between Clark and Jonathan Kent. Initially Jonathan was full of life lessons but then he had to start to step away and let Clark forge his own path.

It was a wonderful parental arc. Miles wrote a great show. The lighting was impeccable, camera work was great. Like I said, I think it’s the shining jewel in the Superman crown but the more movies they make then the better it looks. To me, I don’t think any of the Mission: Impossible movies are as good as the worst episodes of the television show – that was a brilliant television show. Same thing with Smallville; I don’t think any of the movies they’ve made, or even the movies they made before, are as good as Smallville. I think Smallville just took the bar, gave it to Superman, and said, “Put this up in the sky somewhere and see if anyone can ever come near again.” And I don’t think they will.

The show seemed to get better from Season 3 or 4 onwards, when it became apparent that there was more chance of it being renewed each year. That along with the talent and writing involved, it felt as if a big screen outing would have been a perfect send-off for Smallville…

Sure! Star Trek is the only franchise that did that. They didn’t do that with the Dukes show either, but they should’ve. I promise you, I will never cast anyone as Kane Hodder other than Kane Hodder. Don Shanks will always play Don, and R.A. will always be R.A.

Smothered is currently awaiting a UK release date but you can find our review of the movie here.

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Convention season is in full swing, and that means it’s interview time! Pop culture gatherings provide the perfect opportunity to meet and talk to the actors and creators who make the movies, shows, and comics we see daily.

One of this year’s most exciting conventions, Wizard World, recently connected us with Lou Ferrigno, a world-renowned actor who played the Hulk in the ’70s television show and who currently voices the not-so-jolly green giant in the Marvel movies. Our interview with Mr. Ferrigno was conducted as part of Wizard World Philadelphia, and you can read it below!

STARBURST: Your roles have spanned many different genres. You did things like The Hulk TV series in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as a recurring role in King of Queens. How difficult was it to adapt to these different types of roles? What was the challenge of doing comedy versus playing the Hulk?

Lou Ferrigno: Comedy is not easy, mainly because while filming a sitcom you’re in front of a live audience. I’ve done a lot of acting and theater training because I enjoy doing drama. But I love comedy because when you’re taking the writing off the paper and delivering the lines, you have to be funny, you can’t really pretend to be funny. But I love performing in front of a live audience because I just love that instant gratification.

Besides talent, what do you think is the most important quality every actor must have?

You have to have the background. You have to understand the script and enable yourself to get into the character. That takes time, and as long as you’re aware of that, you’ll get caught into it.

When you first started landing roles and making a name for yourself in the industry, what about the film industry surprised you the most?

The media, and how the three different TV series I was doing became famous all over the world, how much people loved to watch TV, and how people embraced the characters and all the things I’ve done. It really surprised me. I’m really impressed and overwhelmed by it.

What kinds of things do you look for in roles you audition for?

What’s most important is that they have a character I’m interested in. I have to make that connection with the character. I want to be able to feel the character and not just say the lines.

Are there any actors or actresses who you’ve only worked with one time that you’d love working with again?

Well, I enjoyed working with Judd Nelson on my last film and a couple of TV actors because they don’t have the ego. Sometimes I work with actors that have egos and they interfere with my work. Edward Norton is another one. He’s a fine actor and he’s very respectful.

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The horror genre is one that is full of iconic killers and scream queens. So often dominated by large, unrelenting, hulking males in the Michael, Jason and Freddy mould, the independent Blood Widow looks to introduce a sleek, clinical female killer. And for every good killer, there comes a slew of potential victims. This is where Danielle Lilley comes into frame, playing the heroine in Jeremiah Buckhalt’s film. We managed to get some time to chat will Lilley about this female-driven horror with a stylish psycho at its core.

Starburst: First up, for those unaware of the film, how would you describe Blood Widow?

Danielle Lilley: Well the film’s very interesting. I’d kind of describe it as Friday the 13th meets A Nightmare on Elm Street. They really took the film back to the old cult classic, slasher-type. I found that really intrusting, and everyone’s really resonating with it very well.

How did you end up involved in the project?

I had just come home from L.A. and I really needed to strengthen my reel. So I went over to Orlando and auditioned for some films over there. While I was auditioning, I noticed this little posting on the wall that was a casting notice for Blood Widow. So I went in, signed up, read, and here I am.

Did you know any of the guys beforehand then?

That was the first time I met them. It was one of those situations where I was in the right place at the right time.

Your character, Laurie, is the heroine in this. Were there any particular “scream queens” that you did any background work on or drew inspiration from, like a Jamie Lee Curtis, a Neve Campbell, a Heather Langenkamp?

I always try and take my characters, try and develop them and make them a piece of me. I like to develop them on my own; I don’t really like to compare them to other scream queens. I wanted to be different. That’s something I always do when I’m developing a character; how can I make them different from other characters in the past. I really try to focus on that when I’m studying for a role or working on some character development.

Your character does a lot of research on the Blood Widow throughout the film, although she never truly finds out the full story. Do you think she gets a fair pay-off in the film?

I think that my character definitely takes some time to do some investigating; to really get inside of Blood Widow, understand where she’s coming from and why she’s doing all of this. You see that throughout the film, various points where I resonate with her and really kind of understand her from a different level than the other characters do. From my character’s perspective, I really get to relate to her from a woman to a woman, seeing the abuse that she was put through. From Blood Widow’s perspective, I think I remind her of someone from her past. So, throughout the film, you see that relationship.

Is there any part of you that wished you were playing the Blood Widow role or are you happy to have your face on show, putting yourself out there?

I really like to be able to put myself out there and to have that character development. Blood Widow was never something that I was necessarily interested in. I was very happy playing Laurie.

A lot of actresses that play the heroine roles often become typecast in that type of role. Is that something that you were weary of or was this film just about broadening your horizons?

I don’t think necessarily working on horror films is a bad thing. I think it’s a matter of working on the right one; the one that has character development. You really need something to work with. I really felt that with Laurie and Blood Widow when I was reading the script. They wanted to work on the audience building a relationship with Laurie, to be able to relate to her. When you’re watching the film, you feel the pain that she’s going through, the struggle. And that’s good.

Did you have any say in the development of the character or the script?

That’s the great thing about working on indie films. I think there’s always room for that discussion to be had. There’s probably some loose ties in the script that give you a little bit of room to play with, and that was definitely the case with Laurie. Jeremiah, the director, and I had those discussions several times. I think that it worked great and in the end it was a good thing.

You touched on it then, but the film is obviously a low-budget, small crew movie. How hands-on was everybody on the movie and was it a team effort?

With any indie films, you’re doing a little bit more than necessarily on a bigger production. Even though it was a low-budget film, as an actor on the film, I felt that they were treating me fantastic; they really just wanted me to come in and do my job. I always tried to lend a hand here and there when needed, but they never really wanted me to. They wanted me there to play Laurie. I thought that that was really nice and a breath of fresh air. They really felt that it was important for me to just focus on my character.

For the first half of the film, Laurie shares a lot of screen time with partner Hugh (Brandon Kyle Peters) before she ends up becoming the focal point of the second half of the movie. How did you feel about being painted as the lone survivor?

I thought it was great; I thought it was a nice little trick. When you’re watching Laurie, watching the characters develop, you realise that she really relies on Hugh and really wants him to be a man. Then the chaos begins and when we get introduced to Blood Widow my character becomes very strong and assertive and really just takes hold of everything. It’s like, “No, no, no. I’m not going to let this happen.” I loved it. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

It’s safe to say, your character is the sensible one throughout the film. How close to the real you is that?

I think I’m a little bit of both. I’m definitely fun, but when things have to be serious you gotta be serious. There’s always a good time to have fun.

You mentioned earlier on that this movie is like a hark back to the classic slashers of the ‘80s. That’s a sub-genre that’s dominated by big, burly, male serial killers. Do you think that Blood Widow is a nice change of pace to that and works as a nice reintroduction to slasher movies?

I think it’s awesome! Like you said, the past slasher films were masked killers that were all male. I think having the killer female makes it different. She has this delicacy to her that takes a different spin on everything. I think it’s definitely intriguing and our fans are really liking it. We’re getting great feedback on her being a female.

Now your character may or may not make it (no spoilers here), but do you see Blood Widow being the start of a series of films?

Well I think it was always in the back of their minds, the possibility to do a sequel. I think if the opportunity was to present itself then they would be on it. I guess there’s already plans in place. I think it’s just a matter of seeing how well Blood Widow does first time around. When I was hired on, I didn’t know that it was going to turn into a sequel. I just knew that it was an indie, but working on these films then you never know.

If there was a way for your character to come back for a sequel, would that be something that you’d be interested in?

Absolutely! I would love to come back if I could come back. I’ve already discussed that with Jeremiah, and now it’s just a matter of waiting and see.

For yourself in the future, what’s lined up for you at the moment?

I’m currently not signed on to do any projects at the moment. I’m really just working on auditioning, being picky and choosey about the next role that I do. I think it’s always important to take a step in the right direction when you’re looking at your next film.

Blood Widow is currently awaiting a UK release date, but the film is now available on VOD internationally as well as on DVD in the US. To keep up to date with Danielle Lilley, be sure to follow her on Twitter, and be sure to check out our Blood Widow review at a later date.

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.

  

CLICK TO BUY!

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