Tony Todd Talks SPLATTER
Conducted by Phil Fasso and Mike Cucinotta on October 26, 2009
So we're sitting here in The Frightquarters waiting for Tony Todd to report in. We interviewing him via telephone so no need to repeat his name five times. We tried it, it didn't work. (Ok, ok... we only got to 4 and turned the lights on.)
A funny thing pops up on our telescreen: An old doc on 'Bride of Frankestein', hosted by Joe Dante, starring Clive Barker and featuring Bill Condon, all of whom have worked with Todd. Barker and Condon having been involved in 'Candyman' and 'Candyman: Farewell To The Flesh', and Dante having recently directed him in 'Splatter', a new 3 episode web series, produced by Roger Corman and debuting exclusively for free on Netflix on October 29th.
Tony Todd chatting with us about this upcoming free web series, as well a few new and upcoming projects, and the legendary Candyman.
Mike: Can you tell us about SPLATTER and your role in it?
Tony Todd: This project was brought to my manager’s attention by Julie Corman, the wife of Roger. You have an iconic figure not only in horror, but in the film business, and then when they told me Joe Dante was going to helm it, that sealed the deal for me. Joe and I had met a couple of years ago when we were both working on MASTERS OF HORROR. So it sounded like an interesting project, you’ve got basically all the survivors gathered together in a haunted mansion in Hollywood, and one by one, they get picked off, so it’s all about who lives out. And I don’t play Colonel Mustard. It’s being streamed for free by Netflix, starting on October 29th so you watch 10 minutes and deliberate you, and its macabre, and you decide who lives and who dies.
Phil: Your character Spencer Pope is an agent, correct? An agent or a manager type?
TT: He’s a manager. There’s a difference between an agent and a manager; for all my life, I’ve been trying to figure it out. But I think the two have different responsibilities.
PF: So did you base Pope on real managers and agents you’ve had experience with?
TT: Oh yeah. Actors have to draw from their personality files, that they store up from living and watching people. So definitely, I know some agents, and I know a lot of managers, so there’s a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Hopefully it’s communicated.
MC: So what was working with Joe Dante like? You said you spoke to him a little bit during the MASTERS OF HORROR, but this is the first time you’ve worked director/actor, right?
TT: Yes, absolutely. I liked him because he’s very calm, not jittery. I like new directors if they’ve written their own projects. Joe Dante is a different animal. This is a man who develops a groove, and we’re able to develop a shorthand on a set. You know what the other person’s capable of, what he’s comfortable with, and then you look each other in the eye and make collaborative choices. And we all volunteered, and we’re all working well below scale here, and they came from vast projects, from PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN.
MC: You say that everyone was working for scale, collaborating. Do you feel that it freed everyone to work a little looser. You’re on a tight schedule and you’re working fast.
TT: Oh, very fast. I worked 14 hour days for 9 days. We’re working up to the gills to make a total of 37 minutes of content. The hardest job on the set had to be the script supervisor, who had to keep track of what everybody was doing. We shot all the endings, multiple endings, and then come back and shoot it again.
MC: So all of those are already shot, it’s just going to be what the audience decides.
TT: Yes.
PF: So what’s your opinion of the interactive aspect of SPLATTER, the fact that the fans get to choose?
TT: With the popularity of the internet being at its highest ever, I think Netflix was wise to do this, they’re getting their advertising revenue, and they present something seemingly for free. It brings attention to that company. If it’s successful, they’ll be encouraged to offer more and get into the producing game. And that’s always great. It can’t hurt to have another producer out there, willing to take chances. So hopefully it goes viral and I’ll benefit. And if not, the best things at least attempt to succeed, and if they fail, it’s okay, it’s your heart on the line
PF: Let’s talk about what you have coming up now?
I’ve had a great career, and I’m thankful for it. Tonight, I have a first cast reading for this wonderful projected called DREAMING IN AMERICA, which is about immigrants arriving at JFK, who coexist and its effect. That’s going to be a wonderful piece shooting five days from now. And I got a shoot coming January for a movie called PRODIGY, which is a crime procedural. And I squeeze in a few days on a project called ONE BY ONE, by a first time woman director/writer, at the end of the year. And of course, I’m always gearing up for my directorial debut, ERIE, PA sometime next year
MC: What’s ERIE, PA going to be about?
TT: It’s about 72 hours in the lives of two buddy bookies. They did what they did, and now they’re in over their heads, and now there’s a timeline where they need to turn against each other or come up with the cash. It’s like MIDNIGHT COWBOY.
MC: So you’re writing, directing, producing the whole thing?
TT: I’m writing and directing that, yeah.
MC: What inspired you on this film?
TT: I was a film geek fan when I was a teenager, in college, I got my Master’s degree. I just love film, and I just want to tell intelligent, well-made stories, no matter what the genre is. That’s why Hollywood doesn’t understand why PARANORMAL ACTIVITY kicked its ass this weekend. It has a different take on things, which is great.
MC: I think the lesson learned from that is that it represents something new and something different. Where’d your story come from with ERIE?
TT: I visited the Erie Horror Film Festival a few years ago, and I was raised in New England. And it really struck me as this great dinosaur of a city. You could see it’s magnificent, but it was stuck in the ‘70s. And it just gave me the inspiration, because there’s this huge gambling problem going on there. You’re in an area with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns, and Erie is equal distance. So the course of the movie is during a playoff game between those two teams. And how that is played and not played.
MC: Where will we see you after SPLATTER? Will we see you return to the horror genre?
TT: ONE BY ONE is kind of a FINAL DESTINATION-esque script. And then they handed me a project called THE HAUNTED. From the title, I assume that’s horror, right?
PF: So what is it that draws you to the horror genre?
TT: I just like good movies, and it’s not like I wake up on a Tuesday and say, “Give me a horror script.” I definitely think because of my body of work, people inquire. If the project’s good, and my schedule fits, I’ll do it. But I like film, period. I like film and theatre. So if I can do one good play a year, and one great story, a good horror script, I’m happy. Just don’t interfere with my Lakers when they’re on the march.
MC: A lot of actors we talk to are happy to work in the genre, they’re dedicated genre actors. But you have such a varied body of work.
PF: Including PLATOON.
TT: Which was my first film.
MC: What is it that draws you to a role? We talked about how you want to do one good play a year. What is it that grabs you in a role?
TT: Everything starts with the story. You can’t do anything without a great story, or at least a story that has a beginning, middle and end. Then you look at the character, then you ask, “How does the character relate to my own life?” I’ve been fortunate because I grew up in Connecticut, spent 10 years in New York, I’ve been out here for, on and off, 15 years. I’ve gotten to travel all over the world to apply my craft. When I got out of college, I used to go to the old Times Square. Just walking through that block, you’d be confronted by so many different characters, and I would steal a little bit from here, a little bit from there. Riding the subway I think is still a valid exercise. Any actor who doesn’t ride the subway isn’t worth their salt. All those people hiding behind the New York Post and the Daily News, there’s life there. So you look at life and pay attention, and it’s all there. People ask, How do you act? How do you do it? Well, how do you brush your teeth in the morning? What are the little things you do to get going? So it still excites me. I think life is one big circus. And you just don’t want to be the shit from the elephant. You want to be the other end of the elephant.
MC: Is there anything you always do when you’re taking a role on?
TT: Yeah, I have a dream book for every character, where I do sketches. I’m pretty much of an empath. For instance, with the Candyman, I was having these dreams and visions and artwork, that led to his backstory of being an artist.
PF: What do you think makes the Candyman an iconic character as far as horror characters go?
TT: I’m still trying to figure that one out. I just came from Chicago this weekend, it was Flashback Weekend. And it was great, the love there. The guy, somehow—it was 18 years ago, and the guy is somewhat of an urban, iconic hero. And I remember when I met with Bernard Rose, in Chicago, and he was going on and on about how, “This part is going to change your life.” You know, I was a little cocky there, “I’m gonna do a great job, but I doubt it’s gonna change my life.” And in a way he was right. If I knew the answer to that, I’d be a billionaire. I would bottle it, and I would offer it for sale. But he’s extremely popular in the urban areas and also in the deep South.
MC: He’s become sort of a hero.
TT: He’s especially popular among horror fans in those concentrated areas.
MC: He’s like a classic moral monster. He’s got a reason to be a monster.
TT: Yeah, it’s the revenge factor. It’s classic. What we were going for in that first one was that tortured, interrupted romance between Virginia Madsen and myself.
PF: I think the Candyman plays so well because he’s the victim before he’s ever the monster. So there’s a sympathy built into that.
TT: Yeah, and there’s also the score by Philip Glass, the cinematography and Clive Barker’s imagination. The best projects are built on collaboration. And I hope we capture some of that with SPLATTER. I think we’re gonna shock you with some of the deaths, because we didn’t do the arbitrary stab you with the butcher knife.
MC: Is your character up on the line to be knocked off too?
TT: Yeah, depending on how sick and twisted they are, they can vote me to die first.
MC: Well, we hope to see you through the whole thing.
TT: Either way, we shot it all, so it’s all there for you to decide.
MC: Will this be coming out on DVD, with all the endings?
TT: I’m sure that’s the ultimate plan, to release it with all the versions. Right now, we just want to get this whole buzz going, and hope that the viral campaign by Netflix gets people to see it.
PF: If your character survives, do you think that there’s a chance we’ll see him in a sequel?
TT: You never know. They won’t be seeing him at the pay rate they got him at the first time! But we did this one for love.
PHOTOS BY LISA ROSE (http://www.lisarosephoto.com)
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