Principe, Nick (ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2)
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Question: So when you guys were shooting the first one, there wasn’t already a sequel in the works. But how did it change from what your expectations might have been, originating this role and now continuing it?
Nick Principe: It all happened so fast. I think originally when we did the first one, he was planning on doing a second one, and I think halfway through filming – the way things were kind of going, I was, ‘Come on, it’s a slasher movie; it’s pointless.’ Because I think slasher movies should be like comic books. You know, every three years just do another one, or something like that, instead of like monthly. You know, they’re never going to win an Independent Spirit Award, or be up for an IFC award, or something like that. And if it did, it would be like, ‘Wow, great!’ But for the most part it’s just fun. They’re fun movies usually.
Question: Could you tell us something about the tattoo?
Nick Principe: It was something I said I was going to do on the first one anyways, and then he (Hall) said he needed a shot where this other character is actually getting one, and he said he’d pay for it. So I did it and it’s on my back.
Question: It’s on your back. You don’t have any room there (writer’s note: a comment of Principe’s copious tattoo work).
Nick Principe: I know. I don’t have any room.
Question: So, Nick’s going to have his own little tramp-stamp now?
Nick Principe: Yeah. But I thought if it said ‘Born To Kill’ that it would be different! So I said, ‘Fuck it!’ Initially, what I wanted was to do a whole horror leg – like I wanted to do my leg in just horror shit, and I initially was going to get the (Chrome) skull on my knee – have the eyes be there and shit like that. But it didn’t work out that way, and I’m not getting two of them. I don’t like them that much. But it’s free. Tattoos are not that big a deal for me anymore. That was like the most serious tattoo I’ve gotten in like fucking ages. Before that, the last one I got, I was super drunk. And I usually only get tattooed back east by a really close friend of mine, and I was like, ‘I want THUG LIFE on my stomach. Wouldn’t that be funny?’ And I don’t even like Tupac (Shakur) and shit like that. But I just thought it would be funny.
Question: How’s the make-up FX this time out?
Nick Principe: It’s a lot different from the first one. I call it the ‘Kane Part 7’ cowl, because all I remember in Fangoria as a kid was seeing Kane Hodder with the face cowl cut up like that (in Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood) and how silly it looked, and mine is ten times sillier. It almost turns into an S&M mask like the Gimp mask a la Pulp Fiction. In the first one, it was just, ‘Paint the nose black’. There were little pads in the cheeks and forehead, then you just glue it and stuck it on, and that was it. With this one, the rubber mask, it becomes a sweat chamber. There’s a couple times when I’m standing over actors waiting for something and there’s sweat dripping out on them. At least it happened to the stunt guy so he doesn’t mind it as much. If anybody did mind it, they weren’t very vocal about it.
Question: What’s the level of brutality this time versus the last one?
Nick Principe: It’s like how any good sequel should be. Double the body count. Same amount of original different kills as the first one. I don’t think it matters what actors are in the movie – it obviously helps for this and that and for distribution, blah, blah, blah. I just think with the Laid To Rest movies the real star is the effects and the kills. Because that’s the one thing – love or hate the movies – you cannot talk shit about the kills. They’re a reason to watch alone, I think. The kills are spectacular.
Question: You have a fairly gratuitous gag coming up today, right?
Nick Principe: This one’s really fun. Again, it’s heavy mix of the practical with – I guess, it’s technically – CG. But it’s more visual FX. I guess the best way to compare is the Lena Headey kill in the first one, how it was a dummy that gets stabbed in, but then they composite her real face in with it. So it ends up seamless at the end of the day. It’s the same thing, but way more brutal. I had a talk with Rob today, and I thought it was going to be three swipes at the guy’s neck, and he was like, ‘No, you’re going to just keep hacking at the thing until I say stop!’ And it’s literally going to be real meat, inside the thing with two real knives and keep cutting and hacking and cutting and hacking until it actually rips. That should be the ‘star kill’ of the movie. But when the movie is finished, you usually judge it by other people; what they think is the best kill. So far, I think this one is going to be the best kill.
Question: Did you think they were going to take a supernatural route after the second one?
Nick Principe: We wanted to avoid doing the supernatural thing, and it’s a good explanation. You lose some parts of Chromey from the movie. But it’s purely to explain everything from the first one. He (Rob) really didn’t leave any loopholes. So there’s like this mini-recuperation period, and he did talk to a bunch of cosmetic surgeons and stuff like that, saying basically, ‘If the brain wasn’t damaged, the guy wouldn’t be pretty. But if he got immediate response care and healed, after a while he would live.’ We saw a bunch of stuff about this guy in Russia, who was hunting bears, and a bear literally took a swipe at his face, and it was just (his face) gone. It was just a tongue, and no eye sockets, no nose – just nothing there. And they reconstructed it to a point to where he kind of looked like the Unabomber. Like if you were just passing him in the street, you wouldn’t notice it. It’s the same kind of thing, except you can wear a mask to cover it up. That’s what’s cool; you get to see him (ChromeSkull) without his mask, and see the nastiness. And it certainly is nasty. I definitely love ChromeSkull. He’s like my bastard adopted son, and I try to do the best I can with him. And then hope for the best at the end of the day, and that’s all you really can do.
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