Joshua Leonard Talks The Town that Dreaded Sundown, Blair Witch, and More!
Matt Boiselle
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Give an unknown actor a role that he never thought would amount to much, and after the film is knocked out of the park, basically making it a landmark picture in which to reference the found-footage genre from, how much work has to be done in order to shed that “identity?” We sat down with Joshua Leonard, whose work in The Town that Dreaded Sundown remake and, most notably, The Blair Witch Project have merely acted as bookends of a very promising career that has included writing and directing gigs as well.
DC: Can you give us your best description of your character, Deputy Foster, in The Town that Dreaded Sundown?
JL: Deputy Foster is really a caretaking kind of guy who cares about Jami (Addison Timlin) in a really weird kind of paternal fashion, and there may or may not be an ulterior motive in there, but everyone will have to watch the film to find out!
DC: You’ve spent a good amount of your career in front of the camera, but as of late behind it as well – do you have a preference, and if so, which do you feel is more personally rewarding?
JL: A long time ago, when I first got into film – the ONLY reason I got to be in Blair Witch as an actor was because I was a videographer in New York in my early 20’s working for a company called Mystic Fire Video. Because of the deconstructed nature of that film, they needed someone who could run around with a camera and act, and I was by no mean a professional actor OR a professional cameraman – but I was learning! I’d grown up acting because my pop was a theater director and the Professor of Theater at Kent State, and that was how I got my first real acting job – simply because I knew how to run a camera. I loved the collaborative storytelling process of filmmaking – how hard it is to do and how few people are able to master it, and if they can master it, they still fuck up sometimes. But to be able to create something for a crowded movie theater and be transported via a set of circumstances in the film is something else. As a filmmaker, by doing projects – when I do one of my own, I know that it’s going to take years of my life, and they’re usually geared towards big, themed interests of mine, or big existential questions that I’m asking myself, so I’d say that they’re more personal. I’ve learned a lot from this really rad vantage point that I have been fortunate enough to stumble into – as an actor I’ve been able to work on all kinds of different stories that I’ve never imagined writing or directing, or worked with different actors and directors. The amazing thing is that I get to step in for a few months and be a cog in the wheel of a larger piece of machinery, and still be able to have that Christmas Day surprise of “look how good this works and looks!” Look, I’m a high-school dropout from Central Pennsylvania who has been fortunate enough to make my living on both sides of the camera – so I’m not really going to choose which one I prefer, but I’ll keep doing both as long as they let me.
DC: You’ve put out a lot of great work since Blair Witch back in ’99, and I’m sure you always have people saying, “There’s Josh Leonard from Blair Witch” – do you ever say, “Hey, here’s some of my other work – this is what I want to be remembered for?”
JL: You know, it’s funny because I just turned 40, I just got married, I’ve got some of the best friends a guy could ever wish for, and some very close long-term collaborators – I really don’t honestly give a fuck about what somebody thinks of me! (laughs) When I did Hump Day, which was very different, like a comedy – there was this attempt to paint a portrait of me as a guy who did super low-budget, experimental, improvisational movies, such as The Blair Witch Project and Hump Day. It really hit a zeitgeist moment at a point in time, and if you were to sit down and ask me, I’d be like, “Yeah, that’s cool and true, but there was also 10 years between those two movies!” It’s really easy when you’re trying to sum up something to make it sound revisionist, and neater and cleaner than it actually is, and the fact is that I never had a master plan, and to this day I just do my best to know myself and do things that continue to inspire me. We did Blair Witch for $30,000, and we were a bunch of fucking nobodies, and it was such a weird little D.I.Y. project – the fact that it was my foot in the door, and still by far the most famous film that I’ve ever been involved with – sure, it’s annoying to be reduced to that, but at the same time I have nothing but love for that project because I still love the people that I made it with, and I still think that it was so fucking punk-rock that a bunch of kids got together and did this thing – we basically stole the keys to the kingdom for just a minute. I mean, if I met Harrison Ford, I’d want to talk to him about Star Wars, not about what was it, Henry’s Choice? [Actually it’s Regarding Henry] – point being, for someone who is a big fan of film, I get it, and hopefully I’ve done enough therapy at this point to separate my own perception of myself from others.
DC: So what’s the future hold for you – any projects that you are able to talk about?
JL: I’ve got a couple of really cool things that I can’t quite talk about yet, but I’m going to be doing a whole lot more behind-the-camera work this year. I just wrapped Season 2 of “Togetherness” on HBO, and then I’m going to make a film this year. Sorry to be so vague! (laughs)
The Town That Dreaded Sundown Release Details:
RLJ Entertainment, under the Image Entertainment brand, is releasing the thriller THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN on DVD on July 7, 2015. The film will also be available on Blu-ray exclusively at Best Buy on July 7th.
Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me, Earl and The Dying Girl, “American Horror Story”), screenplay by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Carrie, “Glee”), and based on the 1976 cult-classic film of the same title directed by Charles B. Pierce, THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN will be available on DVD for an SRP of $27.97.
Based on a terrifying true story, THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN picks up 65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, when the brutal “Moonlight Murders” suddenly begin again. While on a trip to Lovers’ Lane, 17-year-old Jami (Addison Timlin) watches as her date is brutally slain by a masked serial killer. Barely escaping with her life, Jami becomes obsessed with finding the killer referred to as “The Phantom.” As the body count mounts and the carnage comes closer, Jami delves deeper into the mystery with the help of the town archivist Nick (Travis Tope), following clues that point her toward the killer’s true identity.
The film stars Addison Timlin (“Californication,” That Awkward Moment), newcomer Travis Tope, Gary Cole (“Veep,” Office Space), Joshua Leonard (“Bates Hotel,” The Blair Witch Project), Anthony Anderson (“Black-ish,” The Departed), Denis O’Hare (“American Horror Story,” Dallas Buyers Club), Edward Herrmann (“The Good Wife,” “Gilmore Girls”), and Veronica Cartwright (The Birds, Alien). It is produced by Jason Blum (the Paranormal Activity franchise, Sinister) and Ryan Murphy (“American Horror Story,” “Glee”).
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