Arquette, David (The Tripper)
Dread Central Staff
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If you don’t like David Arquette, you don’t have a soul. With one of the most infectious personalities under the sun, this gifted actor is best known to genre fans as Dewey from the Scream trilogy, having appeared in a wide range of roles in mainstream and cult films. Now he takes the director’s chair with The Tripper, a twisted political horror-comedy about a Ronald Reagan-obsessed slasher and his distaste for hippies. Mr. Arquette recently took time out of his busy schedule to talk to Dread Central about his widely anticipated directorial debut:
Andrew Kasch: Hey, David. How are ya?
David Arquette: Good, buddy. How’re you doing?
AK: Good. So I hear the big Tripper premiere is just around the corner…
DA: Yea, it’s this Friday. I’m as nervous as all get out.
AK: Well, you couldn’t pick a better place to have it than Screamfest.
DA: Yeah, I’m excited. It’s so cool that they pulled the trigger on us.
AK: So what should fans expect from this?
DA: Well, it’s pretty gory. It’s a flashback to the slasher movies of the 70’s with sort of a Scream tone to it. It’s a political horror film.
AK: There are obviously a lot of big names in front of and behind the camera, but from the clips I’ve seen, it looks like a total indie guerilla film.
DA: Yeah, we shot it in 22 days in the Redwood Forest. We were holed up there, freezing our asses off in January/late February. It’s definitely an indie film in every sense of the word. It’s independently financed, everyone did it out of love for the project, and I got to make it with all my best buddies. Paul Reubens, Lukas Haas, Balthazar Getty, Thomas Jane…they’re all my good friends, so they did me a big favor by doing it for next to nothing of what they usually get paid. Jason Mewes jumped on board and was totally gung-ho, and he turned in a performance that I think is really gonna surprise a lot of people. It’s not like “Jay.” I think it’s closer to his real personality. It’s really funny. And Jaime King jumped on board too. She’s our heroine.
AK: How did you get Steve Niles on board?
DA: Steve Niles has a company called Raw Productions with Thomas Jane, so that’s how he got involved. It was great because we got good connections with this whole world and he understands it very well. Along with Joe Harris, our co-writer, we really set out to make a film that the fanbase would appreciate and find entertaining. There’s a ton of humor in it, there are a lot of great gory moments, and there’s a little satire to it as well.
AK: Have you played fist-a-cuffs with the MPAA yet?
DA: No, but I want an R. I have a full-frontal nude hippie couple, so we’ll see how they react. I heard Jackass had full-frontal or something like that, so I’m hopeful.
AK: I know there are a lot of screwed up things about the Reagan Era, but is there anything in particular that attracted you to the subject?
DA: Yeah, it’s kind of a plot point, so I can’t get into anything specific. While we were writing this, [Ronald Reagan] passed away. I had written the script before he passed away, and as Joe Harris got involved and we were pitching things back and forth, it turned into sort of an omen.
[pause]
Yes, I said “omen.”
AK: [laughs]
DA: I think he’s such a dynamic character. He’s so loved throughout the world. He had a really great wit to him. He was from Hollywood and an actor, so I think that had something to do with it.
AK: Were there any directors that influenced you personally?
DA: Well, Wes Craven obviously. He’s such a tremendous influence on me. I love his sensibility for the genre, and just in general as a person he helped me through so much stuff in my life. And it was through those three [Scream] movies – how he treated the crew, how he handled himself, how he collaborated… He always had a quirk through – that professor-like persona. I just kept all that in mind when I was doing my movie; how you can straddle different worlds at the same time. Another person I looked up to tremendously and learned a lot from was Robert Rodriguez, working with him on Roadracers way back. His knowledge of the camera is just really impressive. He’s an expert.
AK: Usually when a horror film is really successful – particularly a slasher film – it spawns ten thousand sequels. Would you even be interested in a Tripper 2? You have plenty other presidential administrations to go through.
DA: Yeah, exactly. We definitely have an idea for 2 and 3.
AK: I was at the Scream Awards the other night I enjoyed your solemn dedication to all the fallen horror characters.
DA: Yea! I was supposed to sell it and take it seriously with the joke being that it wasn’t real characters. Did it play?
AK: It fooled me.
DA: Oh good! I didn’t know if I oversold it, being so serious. I got a kick out of it. It was fun and the crowd was so into it. Horror and sci-fi fans are the greatest. Not only are they just tremendously cool people, they’re funny, and they get it.
AK: Well, we’re all looking forward to the flick. Thanks for your time, David.
Special thanks to David Arquette and Laura Khaledi for all their help. The Tripper has its world premiere at Screamfest LA on Friday, October 13th. Get your tickets now!
Categorized:News
