I wanted to ask you guys, without naming any names, have either of you guys worked with people like Huckle or Scram Putoff in real life, or was it more just a pastiche of that type of person.
Fortune: Well, when I moved to L.A., I was doing music P.R. for a small boutique agency. That was like being thrown into the deep end of the swimming pool with a wolf. It was just a goddamn nightmare. I’m not gonna name names, but I saw a lot of egos. A lot of yelling and abuse. That was the easy part, writing to those people, I think. Ooh, can I ask Spain a question? What was Ray Wise like on set?
Willingham: Probably one of the most fun days in the whole experience of doing Beast Mode from beginning to end. Just because he drives up as Ray. With that character, he had every line just coming out naturally. He had it memorized so well. He read the script, he said, many times. He said he didn’t do it for the money. He said he only did it because he loved the script, and he doesn’t do this kind of smaller thing too often. I was just so happy because I got to share the screen with him. Of course, you know, me being a huge Twin Peaks fan, and a big David Lynch guy, I was like, “Sorry…BUT I have to ask.” So we went into Twin Peaks. He was happy to talk about it.
I chatted Robocop with him a little bit because that’s one of my favorite movies of all time. He was just so cool. Trammel Steadfast, the character he had to play, had to drink a lot of beers. Those beers, even though we labeled them with fake labels, they were beers. He’d say, “Trammel would have the taste in his mouth, and I want to be him today.” I was like, “But, yeah, Ray, you don’t have to slug six beers. We’re gonna get you up close, medium, wide. We’re gonna get all kinds of angles, and you don’t have to slug a beer every time. You’ll be six-eight beers deep, and then we’ll be done, and you’re on your way home, so I’m just trying to be safe.”
Fortune: Wasn’t that a Quint joke from Jaws that we did that?
Willingham: Yeah, it was.
Fortune: Slugging a beer and then crushing it.
Willingham: He did crush many beers. I kept being like, “Ray! Ray!” and he’d say, “It’s Trammel, and I’m fine.” It was so fun. Everyone on set was like, “AHHHHHH! THIS IS AWESOME!” Yeah, it was so sweet, and he was just so good. He said, “I hope this thing’s great, and I would do it again.” So, we will take him up on that.
“[Ray] said he didn’t do it for the money.”
Yes, that’s awesome! Let me ask this because I wanted to from the very beginning. There’s a lot of Troma influence in this movie. I know that Drew is a Troma head, and I guess you are too, Spain.
Fortune: Oh yeah.
Willingham: Yeah, we both are.
I was wondering if you guys toyed with the idea of having Lloyd (Kaufman) in the movie. Because while I was watching it, I was like, “Why is he not in this?”
Fortune: I swear we discussed it at one point.
Willingham: I’m sure we definitely did. Just because his cameos are so hilarious, especially in the random horror movies you see him in, he has nothing to do with it. It’s just like, “Let’s get Lloyd!” A friend of mine actually got him for one of his lower-budget movies, but yeah. I’ve met Lloyd several times. He’s always so cool. E-mailed him a few times. He’s always so cordial and nice. He could be like, “Whatever, kid, I got a million things going on!” I think we should probably think about if I’m ever lucky enough to do a follow-up to this or the anthology movie I’m trying to do now. I would love just to have him because he scarred me with The Toxic Avenger because I was too young.
Fortune: The part where he crushes the head, good God.
Willingham: Yeah, dude, I’m tellin’ ya, man. I had to pop that VHS out of the VCR and kind of like sit for a second. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. As the years went by, I saw how his humor was. I started understanding the Troma Way.
Fortune: I remember my friends and me, we used to go to Suncoast Video at the mall back in the day. We would just look for the little Toxie logo and be like, “Oh! A Troma! A Troma!” So I know this isn’t a Lloyd movie, it’s a pick-up for them, but Bloodsucking Freaks, we took it home on a sunny afternoon after school. I remember we put the VHS in, me and two of my friends. At forty-five minutes in, I was like, “Look, guys, I don’t feel well. This isn’t right. I gotta go home.” I really felt so terrible watching that movie and just soul crushed.
I used to have that poster above my kitchen table in my first apartment here. I guess my last question for y’all is what your favorite Troma movies are.
Fortune: I’m a big Tromeo & Juliet guy.
Willingham: I’m a Terror Firmer guy.
Yes! Both have Will Keenan!
Willingham: Yeah, Will Keenan is awesome.
Fortune: Oh! Poultrygeist was good.
I worked there for the release of that one. Thank you, guys, for taking the time to talk to me!
Drew Fortune is now working on a screenplay entitled Luna, and Spain Willingham is currently working on an as-yet-untitled horror anthology film. So, be on the lookout for them, but in the meantime, check out Beast Mode on VOD or DVD.
