At HorrorFind 8 for Halloween in Hunt Valley, MD
Scan of Ezra during the interview
Q: Did you have any scenes with Malcolm McDowell?
A: No, I saw Malcolm when I shot mine. My scene was with Tyler and I was the graveyard guy who unfortunately managed to find Michael when he tries to move the tombstone and he throttles and basically kicks the shit out of me and kills me. But I met Malcolm on set that day, he was arriving for a scene he would shoot later. We didn't get to play opposite each other which was a shame because I love him, he's incredible.
Q: Did you get to see any of his scenes?
A: I saw him shoot a little bit of the scene, but I tend not to hang around when it's not my scene. You never know with actors they are very different, sometimes they don't mind you watching, sometimes they do. So I tend to stay clear out of respect to each actor. I'm only there for my scenes.
Q: Do you get to hang out after filming?
A: No, we'll probably do that here at the convention actually because we have the same energy, so that will be cool. (his cell phone rings and he grabs it, shuts it off and doesn't miss a beat) I don't have a lot to offer on Malcolm, I can tell you more about Rob.
Q: Tell me whatever you'd like.
A: Rob Zombie is great, he's got such a great vision. I love all his films, I think he's incredible. It's a match made in heaven, him and Halloween, it makes perfect sense. It's a no brainer. When I heard Malcolm was attached it made more sense to me because he has the perfect energy for it. For the doctor clearly he's intelligent, he's sensitive and knows what to bring to the character. It's an incredible cast.
Q: What is your feelings on the controversy about remaking Halloween?
A: You know it's funny, I'm of two minds on remakes. I was in The Hills Have Eyes remake with Alexandre Aja. At first I thought - umm remake? When I saw High Tension, Alex's movie, and when I spoke to him and I asked while he was filming Hills Have Eyes why he wanted to make the movie it made sense to me. The only question that matters with remakes is why are they doing it? If they are doing it to just make a quick buck or just because they can, I think that's a big mistake. But if you get a bunch of artists together to try and do a new take on the subject, that's totally different. We can't trash a musician if they are going to rerecord an Elvis tune, so there's nothing wrong with that, you've got to put your stamp on it. My background is theater, so you can't just put up West Side Story once and never mount it again, so there's nothing wrong with that. It keeps it alive, it keeps the genre alive. Rob was too young to direct one of the original Halloweens, so now it's his turn. It's also not remake, it's not, it's a rethinking, it's not the same fucking movie, there's no way and you'll see that.
Q: So you've seen it?
A: I haven't seen it yet, no. I have read the script. I can't wait, I'm terrified I'll be cut. I would just die if I'm cut out of it, but I'll make sure I get on the DVD if nothing else! (laughs)
Q: That would be horrible.
A: Yeah, wouldn't that be terrible?
Q: You go to the premiere with people and you're like where am I?
A: Where the hell am I!? It's happened before! I was cut out of Zodiac. David Fincher whom I've worked with twice now overshoots. He shoots so much stuff. I shoot films myself, so I totally get it. I know why we get cut out. It never has anything to do with how we perform, it's about time more often than not. It's the luck of the draw, you never know.
Q: So you were only on set 1 day?
A: Yeah, I was only there one day. We had to shoot it real fast. It wasn't a long scene, but it was a good scene. I'm a redneck and I get beat up by Michael Myers and killed. I mean you can't beat it! (laughs)
Q: What more do you want?
A: Yeah! And that doesn't take more than a day. You can pop in there, get killed and be home for dinner.
Q: Were you called back for the reshoots?
A: Yeah, they did do rehsoots. I was attached to that, then for some reason I don't know I didn't need to go back. So I was like...all right.
Q: I guess if you are dead you can't come back.
A: That's kinda my thinking. I heard that Sid Haig, a friend of mine, was hired on as a graveyard guy too and I wrote him 'That's my part! What are you talking about?' (Laughs)
Q: He's reshooting your part.
A: They may have for all I know, but it's all good, it doesn't really matter. If I'm replaced by anybody, then fucking Sid Haig - it's all right. He can do whatever he wants. You never know. When you are shooting a movie you make three movies - the movie you write, the movie you shoot and the movie you cut. They are all three different movies and everyone that makes movies knows that. It's all good, you have to roll with the punches if it doesn't work out all right.
Q: What are you doing next?
A: I think in December I'll be appearing in George Clooney's Leatherheads. They took me out to North Carolina a week to shoot with Clooney which was real nice. Also Alex who did the Hills Have Eyes remake is doing a film called Mirrors with Kiefer Sutherland, I don't know when that opens, but I have some time in that. I'm another burn victim so I got to go to KNB and get my face completely covered with crazy latex again. Check out buzzington.com or myspace/buzzington. Thanks!
© 2007-08 Alex D. Thrawn for www.MalcolmMcDowell.net