Exclusive Interviews from the Set of Parasites
Staci Layne Wilson
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Next we caught up with Robert Miano, who plays the main homeless villain in the film.
DC: Are the Parasites actual or metaphorical?
Robert Miano: The parasites are people preying on other people that are weaker than themselves. What are parasites? Someone that is sucking the blood out of another creature. They could be [metaphorical] because the film is about a homeless society that’s here on Skid Row and the situation is dire for them; they’re being pushed into a corner and most of the people on the streets are mentally ill, suffering from all kinds of mental problems like schizophrenia, paranoia, whatever you want to call it. A lot of them are ex-drug addicts, crystal meth addicts, and rather than incarcerating them, they use that area in Skid Row. The Mission; it’s like an institution that’s outdoors. People are walking around that have serious mental problems so the character that I’m playing, Wilco, is an ex-Vietnam vet who’s kind of a broken guy who is doing his best to survive on the streets and he feels that he’s really being pushed into a corner. I don’t think he can take it anymore so it’s like he’s going to strike back, he’s going to push. So he decides with his group of homeless guys that they’re going to jump the next group of people that comes down in the car; they’re going to jump them, and it turns out that these three college students are driving one of them home downtown, and they got lost. The bums put a board with nails in it on the road and the car runs over the board, and they get a flat so they had to get out of the car to fix it and when they look up there is this group of homeless guys looking down on them. My character asks them if they need help and they say, “Yeah, we have a flat,” and we attack them.
DC: And is it pretty gory?
RM: I would say it’s pretty hardcore; there are several people getting murdered in the film and so it’s nasty but there is dark humor in it. There’s a real story to be told.
DC: So what typically attracts you to certain roles, even when it’s low budget?
RM: I look at the character, I read it and see if it’s something that I’m interested in doing and in this, the character of Wilco is a very complex character, a very conflicted character, more like an anti-hero when he realizes we’re the last of the Mohicans. He feels that he is a warrior and he’s standing up for his nation. So that’s one of the reasons why I decided to do the film, along with working with Chad. I haven’t worked with Chad before, but my wife, Silvia, did a film with him, and she spoke very highly of him.
DC: Are you also producing this one?
RM: Yes, I am producing it, executive producing it, put my own money in it. I believe in it. It’s a risk because you never know; who knows? But this being the last day, I look back now and I keep running the film over in my head and I say, “My God, for the money that we spent Chad has done an amazing job” in putting this thing together. We shot this in 9-10 days, shooting 10-11 pages a day, so I can’t tell you how happy I am or how pleased I am with the people I worked with on the film, the special effects by Crystal; I mean, you can’t get a better special effects girl than her. She created animals and people and bodies, I mean, she’s spectacular. I know that she works with one of the best special effects houses in the business on some other projects but she is one of the best [on her own]. She can work with any of the studio people.
DC: I was looking at her work and it’s impressive.
RM: It’s very impressive. So I can’t say enough about what Chad has put together and I’m looking forward to seeing the first rough cut.
DC: So what’s being filmed today?
RM: Today is the climax of the film where I’m chasing the college student that gets away. So the film is about these bums chasing him and how he survives, or he doesn’t survive… his last refuge here is the church, so ironic, and I track him down and the police show up. I’m not going to tell you how it ends, but the end is quite a twist.
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