Tamara Glynn Talks Howl of a Good Time, Returning to the Screen, and More!
Matt Boiselle
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We here at Dread Central recently had the opportunity of speaking for a few moments with a face that has been far away from the front end of a camera for far too long. Tamara Glynn, who made her mark in the business with her performance of Samantha in Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, has returned after a 26 year hiatus from on-screen performances to co-stat in Patrick Rea’s spooky short, Howl of a Good Time (review).
The film is currently making its rounds through the convention and film festival circuits, and she was able to take some time out of her busy schedule to cover a few topics with us – so settle in for an interview that is both informative and entertaining!
Dread Central – Can you give us a look back at how you got your start in the business?
Tamara Glynn – Actually, I was 10 years old and started out modeling, then did a Gloria Vanderbilt commercial that aired on TV during the Dallas TV show episode where J.R. got shot! That led to more print work, and after an agent from Los Angeles spotted me, and at the time I was a small-town girl from Arkansas. So, he approached my Mom and said “move out to California, where I think your daughter will have an amazing chance at working.” He didn’t promise stardom or anything like that, but he said that I was going to work, so my Mom and I moved out to California. Prior to the move, I went to the local college, where I started getting some speech-coaching, so I could get rid of my “Southern-ness” (laughs), so the accent wasn’t so strong – I started working immediately after the move, and we both had no idea what was entailed, and after a while my Mom got lucky and landed a job at Universal Studios working for the producers of the Alfred Hitchcock Series that returned in the 80’s (she later went on to become the Executive Assistant to Michael Mann of the Miami Vice TV show), and I started working myself, which was amazing.
DC – OK, your return to the big screen in Howl Of A Good Time – what can you tell us about it’s inception and production?
TG – Back in 2013, a former friend of mine introduced me to Director Patrick Rea, and it’s funny how it all came about: one night I’m lying in bed, and I posted on Facebook what I was watching, which was Nailbiter, and the next thing I know, I wake up Saturday morning and I have a message in my inbox from the director, who was Patrick Rea, so he and I started chatting, and he came to my festival in Arkansas (Hot Springs Horror Film Festival), which got started from my love of short films, and watching Patrick work made me very aware of how a story can be written and well-executed in a very short period of time. Most people, even when they attempt this, aren’t very successful in executing getting the point across, so he came to my festival and I explained to him that I was getting all these offers, and I just wasn’t very comfortable in accepting them – it just had to be special, because I was brand new at back to doing on-camera work. I was getting a lot of offers, because in 2012, Justin Beahm had just announced on the Halloween Facebook page that we’d bumped into each other, and in less than 24 hours I had over 4,000 friend requests, and my life changed, because all of the years prior, I’d been in Arkansas, behind the camera as a producer. I knew in my heart that I had to find that one right director that I really believed in, because I knew that this was a rarity, and with all the support I was getting, I knew I couldn’t screw it up. So I called Patrick and said “okay, you are my guinea pig – you’re the one I want to do a project with.” We originally had a totally different concept, which was called Cabin Pressure, and it was supposed to be on an airplane, but due to my location and the logistics, it didn’t work out. I have a historic theater here in Arkansas, so after going back and forth about the plane issue, I said “you write the script, and we’ll have it take place in a movie theater.” So he started this brand-new script, and I’d had some guests coming in for the film festival (last October), and I said “let’s see how many of the guests want to be a part of it.” It’s somewhat of a victory that we covered about 120 different shots over the course of a 3 and a half day period, all the while the film festival was going on, and we had these 6 a.m. call-times, and at night, we had the theater that we opened to the public for a live-speech performance we were doing called The Theatre Of Horror, and it never dawned on me how it was all going to happen. I was feeling very overwhelmed, and exhausted, and I wasn’t thinking very clearly, but I had no idea that it was going to get this much recognition. I hope to possibly be able to someday expand on the backstory, and potentially turn this into a feature film.
DC – The Hot Springs Horror Film Festival: is this something that you came up with, Tamara?
TG – This is something that myself and my business partner, Bill Volland came up with, and back in 2012 we had been planning on holding a festival, and at that time I hadn’t bumped into Justin Beahm yet, and after I did, all of the Halloween fans came on board, and it was like “we’re going to have a horror film festival!” It just made sense – I have a huge love for the genre, and the festival itself covers horror, sci-fi and fantasy. Everything came into perfect alignment, and that’s how it happened. The first year, we had guests like Jeff Burr (director of Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III), David Schmoeller (Puppet Master), Tyler Mane (Rob Zombie’s Halloween series),and his wife (and my co-star in Howl) Renae Geerlings, Eric England (Contracted), and a ton of other wonderful people, and we knew that we really had something special, and that we had to do it again, and now we have a short out of it.
DC – So what’s coming up on the horizon for you?
TG – There’s a lot of valid offers on the table right now, both in front of, and behind the camera, and I’m not going to be specific, because there are some potential long-lasting relationships in the process, as far as collaborations, and these are going to be projects that you’ll see on the big screen, or you’ll be able to check them out on your favorite platform.
DC – Okay, it’s time for a little rapid-fire Q&A: I’ll throw a question out there to you, and you come back with the first thing that enters your mind – ready?
TG – Okay.
DC – Last great movie you saw?
TG – Bound (laughs) – I know that’s crazy, but I saw it on Netflix for the first time, and DAMN! – that movie was every way, every dimension, every element…WOW.
DC – Last terrible movie you saw?
TG – Into the Storm, because that movie really sucked – the Hollywood version of tornados?
DC – One actor (either living or dead) that you would love to work with?
TG – I’m going to go all “total fan girl” and say Paul Walker.
DC – Biggest inspiration?
TG – My Mom – may she rest in peace.
DC – Your biggest vice?
TG – Unsweetened decaf tea.
DC – Biggest pet peeve?
TG – Lying…and tardiness!
DC – Tamara, that’s all I’ve got for you – I’ll let you of the hook. Best of luck with the release of Howl Of A Good Time, and we can’t wait to see you back in front of the cameras again.
TG – Thanks to everyone at Dread Central for supporting this, and I’m so glad that you liked it.
Categorized:News
