Exclusive Interview: Jeremy London Talks THE DINNER PARTY + Offers Quick MALLRATS 2 Update
Drew Tinnin
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A lot of us grew up with Jeremy London, so it’s always nice to catch up with an actor that seems like an old friend, especially in times like these. London, now residing in Mississippi, has stayed busy through this planet pause by donating food from his ever-expanding garden (see the progress on Twitter), teaching acting through his very own London Arts Acting School, and staying involved politically during this unprecedented era in modern history. He also managed to appear in the new cult horror movie, The Dinner Party from director and friend Miles Doleac.
Synopsis:
A seemingly innocent dinner party erupts into a night of violence and terror for a playwright and his wife.
Unfortunately, Jeremy is in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him type of role in Doleac’s competent cannibalistic witch movie, appearing only in flashbacks. Still, London was more than happy to talk about that film, working with Brinke Stevens on Killer Keg and his twin brother on Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece. Additionally, now that Kevin Smith has updated the script for Mallrats 2 to reflect coronavirus, London spoke about the current status of that project as well.
Dread Central: I know you’ve been involved with the London Arts Acting School. Can you talk about how that got started and what the mission is?
Jeremy London: I thought that whenever I first started, if I didn’t have someone there to guide me I wouldn’t have known even how to get into the industry at all. It was my way of doing that for other people but I also found out that I really immensely enjoy teaching. We just started off in a little comic book shop…it’s gotten momentum and we’ve made movies and all kinds of fun stuff.
DC: Are you doing some acting lessons over Zoom now?
JL: Yeah, I teach online mostly through Facebook Messenger and Skype. It’s been tough, people, especially actors are just completely out of work. The ones that aren’t making money acting are usually making money as servers in a restaurant and they’re not working either. That whole process for me came to a screeching halt almost. I had like six projects lined up that I was going to be doing.
DC: I saw that you were doing a movie with Brinke Stevens, I don’t know if you’ve filmed anything for that?
JL: Yeah, I did a movie with her in Florida like a month and a half ago back. I never got to meet Brinke. I’m supposed to do another with her in Texas but your guess is as good as mine.
DC: Another passion of yours is painting. You must have fans asking about paintings for Party of Five and Mallrats, right? Has anyone asked you to do a 3D sailboat painting from the movie?
JL: No, no, no. I’m not a master artist or anything. But people seem to like my style and like the stuff that I do. There’s nothing inside me that has me convinced I’m Michelangelo.
DC: I just saw that Kevin Smith had done a new version of Mallrats 2. It’s interesting that he’s updated it to reflect how malls are now effected by coronavirus. I was wondering if you were in touch with him at all?
JL: I had no idea. Listen man, you probably know more about any of that than I do. I’ve already been through this for like the last five or six years thinking that we were going to make that movie. I sort of reserve my hopes and all of that for when it becomes a little more realistic. It’s a little less of a sting when it doesn’t, you know?
DC: Yeah, I understand that. Before you called, I was actually watching some of Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece.
JL: Oh no! That was hilarious.
DC: That’s got to be the best title of any film you’ve been in. Can you talk about how you and your brother Jason ended up doing a crazy exploitation inspired action scene together?
JL: Patrick Durham, the producer, is just a buddy of mine. Period. It’s that easy. He was like, ‘Yo, do you and your brother want to do this ridiculous scene in this movie?’ and we were like, ‘Uh, yeah, of course we do.’ Patrick and I do a lot of movies together.
DC: Did you know Miles Doleac, the director of Dinner Party as well? Is that why you jumped on board?
JL: I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Miles for a couple of years now. The little bit of a film community that exists here…you start to realize that, for the most part, most of them just don’t know what the hell they’re doing. Miles and his group, they absolutely knew what they were doing. They’re just lovely people and they’re real filmmakers. Getting in with them was really just getting in with the in-crowd here in Mississippi – the real filmmakers in this area.
DC: You kind of play a creepy stepfather in the flashback.
JL: Yeah, that was just really weird to play. It was a chance to do something completely different and freak some people out.
DC: Honestly, I wanted to see a lot more of you in The Dinner Party. Did you shoot a number of scenes? How big was the part in the script?
JL: I don’t know what they show of me in there. I sort of make my cameos here and there in these Mississippi movies and it’s kind of fun to do that. With these guys, I certainly wouldn’t have a problem playing a much bigger role in one of their movies. I do believe that they’re really filmmakers, real quality filmmakers. I think I’ll be a part of anything they have going for awhile, hopefully.
The Dinner Party is in Theaters June 5 and On Demand June 9.
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