Englund, Robert (2001 Maniacs)
Dread Central Staff
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I’ve done a lot of interviews with the cast and crew of 2001 Maniacs over the past month, but the coupe de grace, the one man I needed to make sure I talked to before it was all over, the star of the show; Mayor Buckman himself, Robert Englund.
Due to Robert’s busy schedule he actually ended up being the last interview I did, as welll as the shortest as he’s in the midst of working on his return to the director’s chair, Killer Pad (more on that below). Though he’s a few years removed from Maniacs I could tell it was still a role he was really happy with and a project he was proud of. Check out my chat with him below!
Johnny Butane: Have you seen the DVD for the film yet?
Robert Englund: No, I’ve only seen a picture of the DVD, but I did get a funny poster from the midnight screening of the film from the Toronto Film Festival. It’s got Lin Shaye, who looks sort of like Mary Lincoln from hell, and myself, and we have sort of this American Gothic thing going on. I believe Lin’s going to be in the movie I’m directing right now, Killer Pad, which will be great to reunite with her; she’s one of my favorite actresses. I plan on putting her in the worst Las Vegas divorcee landlady outfit I can find (laughs)!
JB: Tell me what was it like working on 2001 Maniacs?
RE: Originally it was going to be shot in L.A., you know, but we had a terrible fire right near the location, so we were forced to go on location in Georgia. That was all right because someone had scouted this incredible location there; literally they had brought all these Civil War-era homes over to this sort of rolling hills ravine area outside of Fort Bennings, Georgia.
Just working there gave all of us a second wind about the project, I think. It was very low budget and it had a very difficult line to straddle between farce and horror movie, and it also wanted to have a Vaudevillian attitude to it. Some of that hit the cutting room floor, however, or they weren’t able to achieve it because of budget issues.
Originally, each kill was supposed to get more ludicrous, more Rube Goldberg than the one prior to it, and we were using found things on location to achieve that end. Some of it was missed out on, but the location was so great that I think we ended up making a great what I call “drive-in movie”, which was the intention; a homage to the kind of cheesy drive-in horror of the 70’s.
JB: That’s definitely how it came across! Now, were you always involved with the project? I know it had many incarnations before it was finally realized…
RE: I know Tim from way back, from before he did Detroit Rock City even, actually even before he did his Action Figure Magazine. I always liked Tim, I would see him on the set of some of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and he was very smart. We like a lot of the same movies; he has a whole Tarrantino gourmet trash taste was well as just being a guy who loves movies, so I always got along with him.
He had mentioned this project, and it was weird because I had just been at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where this phenomenal looking Norwegian girl was on hand who was this expert on Mexican hardcore cinema. She knew it all, from Mexican porn to Mexican horror, vampire movies to the luchadore movies, it was incredible! So she gave me this magazine she had done called 2000 Maniacs. It was full of weird shit like brilliant articles about Vincent Price, then you turn the page and there’s a girl fucking a donkey; it was just this bizarre magazine.
So when I got back from the festival I ran into Tim, and he was telling me how he got the greenlight, the financing had finally come through, and basically that the movie was finally real . He wanted me in it, so he tailored the role of Mayor Buckman to me. I was able to read some drafts of it and suggest that we keep making Buckman like and old Peckinpah crazy actor; I kept seeing him as Colonel Sanders from Hell.
So he worked in what I liked and let’s face it; it’s kind of hard to turn down a leading role, especially one where you get to mug and make faces, ham it up a bit. So I showed up, had a good time, and I realize now that it’s strange how this magazine had come to me right before Tim approached me to do it. Of course, when I heard Lin Shaye and Eli Roth were involved, as well, it was a no-brainer.
JB: I had heard from some of the other people I interviewed that you liked to mess with some of the cast, playing jokes and such?
RE: No, actually I was a pretty good boy in this film (laughs); I had an awful lot of memorizing to do for some of the big speeches, so I made sure I worked pretty hard at it. The kids were great, I might be using some of the in my new movie, actually, as well as Lin Shaye.
I did dispense some advice, mainly that they had to learn to chill out and pace themselves. There was some warm weather and, especially the girls with their small outfits, it was easy to overwork themselves. The special effects, too; they’re a bit rougher on low budget film, and it’s a lot easier to get hurt. I mean, no one’s going to get killed or anything, but you can get skinned up pretty good or singe an eyebrow if you’re not careful. The kids all wanted to give 110%, so I gave my speech about how it’s better to be 80% with a light in your eyes than being 110% and having half your face out of the frame.
JB: How as it doing the commentary with Tim?
RE: It was good, Tim I had had a few drinks and sat down to do it, so it was fun. The problem with a lot of commentary is, when they do it right out of postproduction, the stars and directors are exhausted. When I did the one for Freddy Vs. Jason I couldn’t even remember some of the people’s names, I kept having brain farts right in the middle of it. That’s no good.
That’s why I don’t like this idea of doing it with the movie; I’d rather just sit down and tell some stories and have someone else do the artistic job of assigning our stories and our memories to the relevant portions of the movie, as opposed to trying to remember something about every scene. It becomes like a bad standup act after a while if you don’t know enough about the scene you’re looking at.
So with Maniacs, I had been involved in several other projects after that, so my head was in a different place. I was trying to remember some of the stories and what would happen more often than not is Tim would say something and then I’d remember the story I wanted to tell. If it hadn’t been for that, thought, I would have missed moments out of the film and that image would have been gone. So I just think there’s a better way to do it.
JB: I agree completely, that would be a much more entertaining form of commentary.
RE: I have to actually run very soon, do you have one more question?
JB: I just wanted to ask about the film you’re getting ready to direct; Killer Pad? What’s it about?
RE: Well it’s being produced by Wayne Rice who brought us Dude, Where’s My Car? As well as one of my favorite films, Suicide Kings. I tell all my fans to go rent that one.
It’s a comedy/horror and so far the cast is shaping up nicely. I still have to cast my devil woman but we’ve got everyone else just about. It’s been a long road with casting, but it’s almost done now.
We’ve got a great place in the Hollywood Hills that we’ll be shooting in, too. It’s about three white guys from the Midwest who come to Hollywood to get laid and partake in everything they’ve seen on MTV and VH1, and eventually they’re approached by you know who, who sells the a killer pad in the Hills which is also a portal to hell.
JB: Sounds very cool, thanks for your time, Robert!
With that, Robert had to run to get back to work, but it sure was great to chat with a legend, even if it was briefly. Almost surreal when I stop to think about it, actually.
Big thanks to Robert and of course Tim Sullivan and everyone at Lionsgate for helping make this and all the other interviews possible! 2001 Maniacs hits DVD on March 28th , so be sure to get your ass our there and buy the damn thing, you’ll thank me in the morning!
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