Katie Keene Talks ClownTown!
Drew Tinnin
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With numerous arrests as of late, the creepy clown craze is alive and well in the Detroit metro area but it’s also starting to sweep the nation. In a fictional small town in ClownTown, killer clown maniacs have been embedded for quite some time, waiting to terrorize clueless out-of-towners.
One such tourist is actress Katie Keene who plays Jill – a character who takes her fair share of abuse by a maladjusted circus gang. Keene spoke to us recently about her very real fear of clowns and how she managed to fend off her assailants in ClownTown without losing her head.
Dread Central: I know a horror movie like this can be very demanding especially for the actresses.
Katie Keene: Very much so.
DC: How was the experience overall seeing how all of you were constantly being chased by psychotic killer clowns?
KK: What’s really funny is when we auditioned at first, you didn’t know it was about killer clowns. You just knew that it was an independent horror film. When they called me to tell me that I got the role, they said do you want to be in the movie? Then they said, okay, the first thing we need to tell you is it’s about killer clowns and I about died right there. Clowns are my biggest fear in the world! Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve had this insane fear of clowns. It took me a minute and it really bothered me, to be honest. But I ended up doing it, and it is, it’s very demanding. It was rough on set for me, I literally have a legit fear of them. It was hard, I suffer from really bad night terrors as well, so it’s really funny that I make horror films for a living.
DC: With movies like this, are we slowly making it so real clowns can’t get any work? I wouldn’t want these guys at my kid’s birthday party.
KK: Yeah, exactly. They’re not fun to look at. Even as an adult, it took me a second to ask, ‘Can I do this? Yes, Kate you can.’
DC: At one point, it looks like your character, Jill, is going to receive a pretty disturbing clown makeover. Were you disappointed at all that you didn’t get to play a little dress up and join the gang? The makeup and overall look of them is pretty effective.
KK: Oh yeah, absolutely, how fun would that be? I just think that’s such a disturbing scene there. How funny would it have been if Jill sort of turned to the dark side and became part of the gang?
DC: You could have been ClownTown’s Harley Quinn. You were really going for the title as a new Scream Queen. Did you ever go too overboard and lose your voice?
KK: Oh man, have I gone too overboard? Yeah. In the scene of ClownTown with me screaming at the tree, all I want to do is just shut me up! Why am I screaming so much? When you’re directed to scream, that’s all I can do is just let ‘em have it and that’s what I did.
DC: The big city is usually a lot more dangerous but most horror movies take place in remote places in the country or small towns. What’s scarier to you?
KK: I’m originally from a really small town in the middle of nowhere in Kentucky. So, that’s how I grew up. There aren’t even stop lights where I come from. So, I think it’s funny that that terrifies people, you know, the abandoned towns and the country bumpkin. In a sense, that’s what Clowntown gives, that really small town fear and fear of these backwoods clowns. That horrifies people and, for me, that’s just how I grew up in the woods being around hillbillies.
DC: With Rob Zombie’s 31 now available to rent, do you think that will help or hurt ClownTown? Are horror fans in danger of suffering from clown fatigue?
KK: When we first did ClownTown, we were kind of doing this thing first and then we got the big news that Rob Zombie is doing a clown movie. That’s kind of right when we were making it. Clowns are coming back! People are scared of them again and making movies about them again. I personally think it’ll help us. I think clowns are something that will forever scare people for times to come. I think it definitely helps us, I don’t think it hinders us at all. Obviously, it’s not a Rob Zombie film but we’re trying! If someone comes across ClownTown, how could they not click on it? So I think we’re gonna be groovin’.
Clowntown Release Details:
ITN Distribution, Inc., has acquired North American rights to the horror thriller CLOWNTOWN. Written by Jeff Miller (Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan) and directed by Tom Nagel (The Retrieval), the film stars Brian Nagel (Katy Perry’s “Roar”), Lauren Elise (Justin Lin’s Help), Andrew Staton (Relentless), Katie Keene (Union Furnace), Jeff Denton (The Beast of Bray Road), and Greg Violand (Batman v Superman).
CLOWNTOWN will roll out in theaters starting September 30, 2016, and on VOD and DVD on October 4, 2016.
CLOWNTOWN tells the story of a group of friends who get stranded in a seemingly abandoned town and find themselves stalked by a gang of violent psychopaths dressed as clowns. It is loosely inspired by the clowns who terrorized Bakersfield, California, in 2014.
CLOWNTOWN was produced by Jeff Miller, Tom Nagel, Brian Nagel, Christopher Lawrence Chapman, and Ronnie D. Lee. Robert Kurtzman (creator of From Dusk Till Dawn) co-produced. David H. Greathouse (Syfy’s “Face Off,” Tusk) handled the bulk of the makeup FX.
Archstone Distribution is handling foreign sales.
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