I spoke to Hanna a week before the film’s release.  The night I met her she had just arrived on a flight from LA and was zonked.  I politely asked her if she would sit for an interview the following day and she graciously agreed.  I was excited to discover that her manager is Nina Axelrod, who played Terry in MOTEL HELL!

Jonathan Stryker: You were born in Denver, CO.  What was it like growing up there?     

Hanna Hall: My family moved up to the mountains when I was two, and it was wonderful.  Colorado is so beautiful and I love being able to go back there.  The city is difficult to live in sometimes, but it’s nice to be able to go back and be in the great outdoors.  I lived in Colorado until I was 18, then I went to Hawaii for school, then I lived in LA for a year, then I lived in Vancouver for a year (filmed BRIGHTS LIGHTS there), and now I’m back in LA. 

JS: Which is your favorite city?

HH: Vancouver is a great city.  I had a really great time there. 

JS: Have you been to Toronto?

HH: Yeah, I shot three movies there, when I was younger…

JS: THE VIRGIN SUICIDES was shot there, wasn’t it?

HH: Yes.

JS: I love Toronto, I was there in 1999 and I have to get back there. 

HH: Yeah, me too!   Canada’s great.  I love Canadians. 

JS: Was FORREST GUMP your first film role? 

HH: Yes, it was. 

JS: How did you get that part? 

HH: Actually, it was very random.  Nina Axelrod, my manager, was tired of LA and moved out to Colorado to teach classes and she had a relationship with an agency that she would get represented by and she had an open casting call in the newspaper when I was seven years-old. My mother didn’t want to take me.  It was a Sunday afternoon and she really didn’t want to go, so I went with some friends and Nina ended up liking me.  They called me back a couple of times and sent my tapes from Colorado to LA and they ended up casting me. 

JS: Do you collect movies on home video?  What are some of your favorites? 

HH: Oh, I love SUNSET BOULEVARD by Billy Wilder.  I went to film school, so I knew a lot about film production and camerawork.  I really love all his films, like THE APARTMENT, SOME LIKE IT HOT, I love film noirs.  David Fincher’s FIGHT CLUB is one of the most profound movies I’ve seen. 

JS: Have you seen the film that supposedly inspired it, PARTNER by Bernardo Bertolucci, which is a film version of Fyodor Dostoyevsky novel “The Double”? 

HH: No, was that good? 

JS: Yes.

HH: What I love about SUNSET BOULEVARD is that it speaks so much to the whole industry, the loss of dreams, and how people base their entire life around this popularity of fame and beauty and then eventually that fades.  And what do you have?  I think that says a lot, and that’s the thing that I don’t like about the industry. 

JS: Describe your experience working with Sofia Coppola on THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. 

HH: Sofia was wonderful.  She really listened to me and the rest of the cast when it came to working on the characters.  She was also really shy and I was very young, too.  It was a wonderful experience.  I read the script when I was 13, and I just knew that I had to be a part of that film.  I had actually screen tested for the part of Lux (the character eventually played by Kirsten Dunst), but I was far too young at the time.  So, then they offered me the part of Cecelia which was really great.  We got to add a couple of scenes, such as the sequence in the tree and the ghost scenes. Sophia did a phenomenal job, you know, her style is so specific.  She has branched out a lot since then.  I’ve learned a great deal since then. 

JS: You play Judith Margaret Myers in Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN, the character originated by Playboy Playmate Sandy Johnson in John Carpenter’s original.  Have you seen John Carpenter’s version? 

HH: Yes, absolutely.  I saw it a few times as soon as I got the role just to see what the film was like.    

JS: The character of Judith Myers, in the original, has sex with her boyfriend, and then is viciously murdered by her young brother Michael, all in the span of less than 10 minutes of the film’s opening.   Does your character have more screen time? 

HH: Yes, she does.  Rob really took the time to develop the family.  My character’s murder does occur early on in the film, but you do see more of her.  I have more of a character and you kind of get to know her before she’s brutally murdered.  She’s a lot more trashy and sexual this time around. 

JS: Were you given the entire script to read or did you just have your scenes? 

HH: We fought really hard to get the entire script because there was some nudity that ended up…we changed it, actually, on the day that we were filming.  You know, I wasn’t really sure of I wanted to be a part of it.  I wasn’t really familiar with Rob’s work.  After I saw his movies, I thought, OK, I see.  I think he’s an amazing filmmaker.  I really had no idea.  Since I was putting so much of myself out there, I wanted to make sure that it was right for me. 

JS: How was Rob’s direction? 

HH: I really liked the fact that he was open to suggestions and he really likes to work with you, which is really nice.  Sometimes you get some people who have just one vision and they don’t understand that as an actor you’re bringing the character to life, and you can actually add to their vision and make it better.  So, he was really open to that.  With him, there’s no bullshit, he’s laid back and easy to work with. 

JS: It’s not surprising to hear you say that.  Your co-stars have talked at length about his generosity. 

HH: Yeah, he’s very much an actor’s director.  Acting is such a huge part of your film, any film really.  The acting can either make or break the success of it.  There are so many people who work behind the scenes and who probably don’t get as much credit as they really should.  But, the actors/actresses are the ones who have to carry the film.  They are the ones that the audience will identify with. That’s why it’s really important to work with and have a rapport with them because filming a movie is so organic; if you shut down and don’t allow new ideas to come up you run the risk of making a film that’s uninteresting. 

JS: What’s next for you now that HALLOWEEN is completed? 

HH: I just shot a film in June called HAPPINESS RUNS and it also stars Rutger Hauer.  So, I’ll be taking that to film festivals, hopefully Sundance or Toronto, one of those.  It’s a really beautiful film about really terrible things. 

JS: Who would you like to work with in the industry?

HH: David Lynch is someone I would love to work with.  I love his films, they have really inspired me.  So, David, if you’re reading this…(smiles)

A naturalistic actress from the get-go, Danielle has acted from an early age and racked up a considerable number of television and motion picture credits to her name, among them MARKED FOR DEATH, DON’T TELL MOM THE BABYSITTER’S DEAD, THE LAST BOY SCOUT, FREE WILLY, DAYLIGHT, URBAN LEGEND, POOR WHITE TRASH, and the television shows "That's Life" and "Father of the Pride". 

Danielle has lived in Florida, New York, and currently resides in a suburb of Los Angeles.  She just recently turned 30, although she doesn’t look a day over 19.    I recently spoke with her concerning her career and her role in Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN. 

Jonathan Stryker: You were ten years-old when you landed the role of Jamie Lloyd for HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS.  Were you at all familiar with the original HALLOWEEN? 

Danielle Harris: No, actually, I didn’t watch HALLOWEEN, the original, until after I landed the part. 

JS: You’ve been acting for over 20 years.  What were some of your earliest impressions of different forms of entertainment? 

DH: I remember very vividly seeing GREMLINS and E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL at a drive-in.  I love drive-ins, but there aren’t too many left I don’t think!

JS: You’re right – in its heyday there were about 4500 drive-ins across the United States.  Now there are less than 400.  New Jersey has one new one in Vineland, but I go to Becky’s Drive-In in Walnutport, PA. 

DH: Yeah, I can’t remember the name of the one I used to go to.  What did you see at the drive-in?

JS: The first movie I saw was THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER with Johnny Whitaker and Jodie Foster in 1973.  Then I saw E.T. at the drive-in – I think everyone saw that at the drive-in!

DH: Yeah, drive-ins are great, they need to bring them back.  When I was a kid I watched a lot of cartoons at home.  I also remember seeing THE GOONIES, and all that PG and PG-13 stuff. 

JS: Have you done stage work?

DH: Yes, I’ve done a play, called “Civilization” by Christopher Brewster.  That was in Los Angeles.  I also directed a play. 

JS: How is the theater scene in LA?

DH: There is really no theater scene.  My favorite place to work was in a 27-seat black box theater.  So, it was tee-nee…

JS: Wow.  Kristina Klebe was just lamenting the lack of a “theater scene” in LA, and how she longs for New York. 

DH: Yeah, then there’s larger theaters in LA that seat about 300 people.  There aren’t very many huge productions the way there are in London or New York, like a WICKED, say.  There aren’t many independent theaters.  You know, everyone is doing TV work. 

JS: Out of all the work that you’ve done, do you have any favorites that stand out? 

DH: I think that THE LAST BOY SCOUT is a great movie, you know, it’s just fun.  I enjoyed making the HALLOWEEN movies and it’s great to be back almost 20 years later.  That’s just…unbelievable.  I feel that this new movie is my best work to date, film-wise.  But, I also loved doing DON’T TELL MOM THE BABYSISTER’S DEAD and that was a goofy comedy with a bunch of kids.  And WISH UPON A STAR, a Disney movie that I did with Katherine Heigl, is one that I like a lot. 

JS: Do you watch your films?

DH: Sure!

JS: I talk to so many actors who say that they don’t watch their films.

DH: Oh, they’re lying.

JS: I think, How can you not watch your films? 

DH: I think that if it’s good, they say they watched it, and if it’s bad, then they wanna say that they haven’t seen it before. 

JS: What are some movies that you’ve seen that have had a big impact on you? 

DH: Oh, I loved THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, TRAFFIC, THE ACCUSED, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY…, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, you know, just the classic, really great movies.

JS: HALLOWEEN won’t be released until August 31, and it’s doubtful that there will be any screenings for the critics, so without giving too much away…

DH: (smiles knowlingly and laughs)

JS: …is there anything that you can share with us about the film?  I don’t want to know too much, because I don’t want it ruined, and I don’t like these websites that want to put the entire script up so everyone can read it…

DH:  You know what, here’s the thing: even if the script is printed on the Web, the movie ends up being very different.  The film, and any film really, goes through many script changes and revisions.  Rob (Zombie) changes things on the fly.  So, you can’t base the film off of any published or leaked script on the Web.  Rob has done an amazing justice to the original.  It’s a Rob Zombie movie and he put his own twist on certain things.

JS: You play Annie, the role originated by Nancy Loomis in the original.  Were you able to keep her characterization out of your mind as you did the film? 

DH: Yeah, I mean it was sort of what like Rob was doing.  I didn’t…I’m not going to copy her, there’s no point to that.  Because I can’t – then it looks like I did a bad job trying to copy her, you know?  So, I did something totally different, I’m just being me, and I did it the way that I would do it if there was no original HALLOWEEN.

JS: Do you like horror films in general?

DH: Oh, yeah…I see tons of them.  I just saw WOLF CREEK the other day.  It scared the crap out of me – what a great movie!  It was sooooo creepy! 

JS: Oh, my God – that movie made a huge impression on me.  It’s one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen.  Just when you think that you’ve seen it all…I’m not big on movies where women are treated cruelly and brutalized…

DH: Right.

JS: …but I’ve seen this film twice and it’s an amazingly effective thriller.  Have you seen HIGH TENSION?

DH: No, I haven’t. 

JS: Check it out – it’s very scary. 

DH: I will!  Did you see THE DESCENT?

JS: Oh, yeah!  Twice in the movies!  That was phenomenal. 

DH: Yeah, I love movies like that!  I loved THE HILLS HAVE EYES.  Just great stuff.

JS: Are you familiar with Dario Argento’s work?

DH: Not really.

JS: Check out his films when you have a chance, like SUSPIRIA and PROFONDO ROSSO.  I always like turning people on to his films.  It’s very easy to see his films now on DVD.  It’s not like 20 years ago when you had to look high and low for mom and pop video stores that carried them. 

DH: Thanks for the suggestion!

JS: What are you working on after HALLOWEEN? 

DH: After HALLOWEEN, I’ll be in LEFT FOR DEAD, which was shot in Ontario, and THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHO POND. 

JS: Two family films!

DH: (laughs) Yeah!  Bring the kids! 

JS: What can you tell me about LEFT FOR DEAD? 

DH: I can’t tell you a whole lot because I haven’t seen it yet.  It’s not done so I don’t know what they’ve changed.  They re-shot a bunch of stuff and it should be out by the start of 2008.  It’s directed by Chris Harrison and it’s a very basic, 80’s-style old school horror flick. 

JS: How about THE BLACK WATERS OF ECHO POND? 

DH: It co-written and co-produced by Sean Clark of “Horrors Hallowed Grounds” and I co-star in it with Robert Patrick, Electra and Elise Avellan, and a bunch of genre actors, and I just finished it around the second week of August, so I won’t know what it’s gonna look like until I see the final cut.  But, I think it’s gonna be cool. 

JS: Thanks for your time, Danielle.

DH: Yeah, sure!

I recently spoke with Kristina prior to the opening of her latest film, HALLOWEEN which, unless you have been living under a rock for the past year, is based upon John Carpenter’s 1978 film.  Kristina was approachable, self-assured, and eager to speak about her worldly adventures. 

Jonathan Stryker: Where were you born?    

Kristina Klebe: In Manhattan,  Roosevelt Hospital.  (mimicking New York Accent) “New Yawk, all the way, baby.” (laughs)

JS: According to the Internet Movie Database you lived in several other countries.  Was this a result of your parents’ professions? 

KK: No, it wasn’t.  My family lives in Europe: Germany, France and Italy.  The reason I lived abroad was because of them.  I would visit my relatives in all those countries.  I then lived in France for half a year when I was 15.  Then I worked in Paris when I was 18 at a film distribution company during the summer.  Except I’m not 18 anymore, even though I play an 18 year-old in HALLOWEEN!  (laughs)  And then I lived in Siena, Italy for four to five months.  So, I lived there for a short period of time.  I worked on a TV show in Germany later on and lived there for about two months. 

JS: What was life like growing up on the move per se?

KK: I am so lucky because I have lived in so many different places and have been fortunate to have met so many different and interesting people.  I love traveling and I love different cultures and different languages.  You can really draw on those experiences as an actor, as it gives you a broader vision of the world, and this helps me to play different characters and really see how different people behave in different cultures. 

JS: Where would you like to visit that you have yet to visit?  

KK: Oh, so many places!  I would love to drive around Australia and New Zealand…I love diving and I would love to dive into the Great Barrier Reef (in Australia).  I would also like to see Vietnam and Peru and go to Machu Picchu (a symbol of the Inca Empire in Peru).  I really want to go to the Galapagos Islands; that’s a major diving trip!

JS: That would be amazing.  I’ve read that the Galapagos Islands, which is an ecosystem, constitutes some of the largest land left on planet Earth that has yet to be touched by Man.  The National Geographic Channel has some amazing programs on it…

KK: I love animals so much.  I think that if I go to the Galapagos Islands I might never leave!  I just want to become a fake native!  (laughs)  I want to take of all my clothes and run amongst the tortoises and swim with the dolphins!

JS: It’s unlikely that they would object to that. 

KK: (laughs) It would be like THE BLUE LAGOON all over again! 

JS: My favorite band is Rush, and they have a crazy song called “Dog Years” which makes a reference to wanting to be a tortoise from the Galapagos Islands instead of having to be a dog which only lives about 12-15 years (laughs).

KK: Oh, they’re a great band.  I have all their CD’s.

JS: Have you ever seen them live?

KK: No, I haven’t.

JS: They put on an amazing show.  Their most popular song, “Tom Sawyer”, is featured in HALLOWEEN. 

KK: Cool!  I can’t wait to see the finished film.   So, those are some of my top places that I want to get to.  I’d also love to see Asia, you know, China and Japan.  They have such specific cultures there.  I read a lot of Haruki Murakami (Japanese author of “Hear the Wind Sing”, “Pinball”, and “A Wild Sheep Chase”, among others), and I imagine what it’s like to go there, so that’s a place I want to visit. 

JS: Can you tell me your earliest memories of going to the movies?

KK: Well, how funny is this!  The first movie I ever saw was E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL.  I didn’t realize that Dee Wallace played the mother in it.  And she plays Laurie’s (Scout Taylor-Compton) mom in HALLOWEEN!  I grew up speaking German, and I didn’t speak English as well yet because my parents made an effort to teach me the other languages first even though I was living in America.  So, I went for an interview at a school and I didn’t speak English well, and I was told that if I did well in this meeting and speak English, my mom said that she would take me to see E.T.  So, I spoke English the best I could, I got into the school, and I got to see E.T.  I mean, New York City is so crazy, you know, they want to interview you for Kindergarten…

JS: Oh, jeez! 

KK: And since then I’ve seen E.T. so many times.  But, my parents didn’t have a TV.  We didn’t watch TV at home.  I really went to a lot more theater than movies because I grew up doing more theater, as opposed to films. 

JS: Have you ever done any Edward Albee plays?

KK: No, I haven’t. 

JS: How about Sam Shepard or John Patrick Shanley?

KK: I did Shanley’s “The Big Funk”.  I also did a lot of Shakespeare, such as “Romeo and Juliet”.  I’ve also performed in plays by a lot of new playwrights who are Off-Off-Broadway and Off-Broadway.    I did a play by Julian Shepard, I did “The Bourgeois Gentleman” by Molière, I did Eric Overmyer’s “On the Verge”…

JS: Do you go see a lot of plays?

KK: Yeah, well, when I lived in New York I went to see a play maybe once or twice a week, but now that I live in Los Angeles I don’t see many.  Honestly, they depress me, they’re just showcases.  None of them are real.  Unless you go to a really nice theater in LA, it’s really hard to find really good theater.  Whereas in New York you go to little black boxes of about 50 seats and you can see something great in an intimate environment. 

JS: Yes, you’re right.  I saw Ione Skye and Josh Hamilton in Jonathan Marc Sherman's “Evolution” at the Bleecker Street Theater in New York in October 2002.  That was in a very small theater, and it was nice because I sat next to Frank Whaley, who I liked in PULP FICTION. 

KK: Cool!

JS: Let’s talk about HALLOWEEN.

KK: Let’s! (giggles)

JS: You play Lynda, who was originally played by PJ Soles.  Have you seen John Carpenter’s version? 

KK: I have now, and I started watched it just prior to shooting, right after I learned that I got the role.  But, I stopped watching it when the girls came on because the way that Rob (Zombie) wrote the script was so different than the feel of the movie, so I stopped while we were shooting, and then watched it completely after shooting was over.  And when we were done, people were asking me if I kept saying “Totally!”

JS: That would not have made sense because you never hear that anymore.  Today, the most overused expression is “Awesome!”

KK: Right, I know.  In fact, I say “totally” like twice, and it’s not even how they say it in the original. 

JS: Were you aware of the classic status that has beset the original? 

KK: No, I had no idea.  I didn’t even know what I was auditioning for.  It’s not that I don’t like horror, I’m just really scared of horror films.  I watched A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and had nightmares about it for weeks.  I watched ARACHNOPHOBIA and I thought that spiders were gonna kill me.  I didn’t grow up watching that many horror movies, so I was unaware of the status of the Carpenter version.  I now like watching NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and the older horror films. 

JS: How did you approach your role in Rob Zombie’s film? 

KK: Well, I guess the weird thing is that the role came from the script because Rob wrote Lynda so specifically, and therefore it was easy to play the character.  The character just came naturally.  She’s this kind of tough, bad-ass cheerleader, and I was never a cheerleader, so I had to imagine what that was like and internalize that to become the character. 

JS: How did Rob Zombie direct the film?  Did he stick to the script, or did he use improvisational techniques? 

KK: I love improve and he let me improvise.  There’s a scene where me and my boyfriend get out of his van and walk into the Myers house, and Rob just said, “Make up some dialog.”  We never really changed anything that he wrote, but we added our own little contributions.   I love going by the script and also improvising, so mixing it up is fun. 

JS: You’re in a new film called THE ACCIDENTAL HUSBAND with Isabella Rossellini.  Have you seen BLUE VELVET which also starred Rossellini?

KK: Yes.  I actually made a movie in college.  I have my own 16mm camera and I made a short film about a woman who is raped, and so BLUE VELVET is what I really watched to get the ammo for the filmmaking and the way that the film was shot, just because it was so dark and so sexual. 

JS: Have you seen IRREVERSIBLE? 

KK: No, I haven’t. 

JS: It’s a French film by Gaspar Noe with husband and wife stars Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci.  The film is told in reverse and it details the rape of a woman and how it affects her and her husband.  The rape scene is the most brutal I’ve seen in a major motion picture, and it’s done in one take and runs nearly seven minutes, almost as long as the unbelievably intricate penultimate shot of Michelangelo Antonioni’s THE PASSENGER as the camera passes slowly through window rails and does a 180-degree turn. 

KK: I’ve heard about that film, and if I watched it I would probably be really disturbed by it.  I know I should see it, though. 

JS: What do you have in the pipeline?

KK: I have an independent film that I shot that should be doing the film festival circuit.  But, I’m just right now…I shot a short movie about two weeks ago, and that short is going to the festivals, too.  I am supposed to be shooting a movie now but…Hollywood likes to pit people against each other, and that’s all that I’m gonna say about that. 

JS: What directors would you like to work with?

KK: Christopher Nolan.  I loved MEMENTO.  Martin Scorsese.  Edward Norton isn’t a director, but he’d be great to act with.  Quentin Tarantino.  Stephen Gaghan, he made SYRIANA.  Victor Salva, he made THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR, which is a beautiful film. 

JS: He did the JEEPERS CREEPERS films!

KK: Yeah!  God, if he was still alive, I’d love to work with Stanley Kubrick.

JS: He’s my favorite director, and when he died I was so angry.  I thought we would get at least one more movie out of him. 

KK: I know. 

JS: Have you seen RUN, LOLA RUN?

KK: Yes!  That’s a great movie. 

JS: Good luck with HALLOWEEN, and thank you for taking the time to speak with me. 

KK: Oh, sure, no problem!  Thanks!

Jonathan Stryker:  You were born in Long Beach, CA.  What was it like growing up there?  Did you live near Signal Hill?   

Scout Taylor-Compton:  Yes, I was born in Long Beach.  I had the measles for two weeks!  Then I moved to Hemet, CA, then to Apple Valley, CA, then to Bishop, CA, and my father is a mortician, so I spent a lot of time traveling with him.  I am now based back in Apple Valley, CA, which is a really small desert town near Victorville, CA in San Bernardino County.  I love to ride dirt bikes, so it’s great for me. 

JS:  Was performing in your blood from an early age? 

STC:  I’m a very talkative person, and I don’t shut up, so my parents got me into acting.  We got scammed out of $5000 in the beginning, but I got some good head shots out of it so, my parents knew I’d be a good actress, and it took me ten years to get to this point, so it took a while. 

JS:  Were you an avid TV or film viewer as a child?

STC:  I was more into films when I was younger like the teen movies, you know?  I like the older movies like THE GOONIES and SIXTEEN CANDLES and stuff.  Really, though, I am a fan of horror.  I like the Chucky movies.  Meeting Brad (Dourif) on the set (of Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN) was amazing.  And, I also like Freddy, and of course Michael.  Can’t forget Michael! 

JS:  Can you tell me your earliest memories of going to the movies?  What were the films that you saw? 

STC:  I really didn’t go to the movies much, but we would rent movies. 

JS:  Sure, renting VHS tapes was very big at the time that you were growing up.

STC:  Yeah, so my parents would buy me THE GOONIES, PULP FICTION and THE EXORCIST.   I like the older films. 

JS:  Did you go to the drive-ins at all? 

STC:  I go to drive-ins now, actually!  I take my jeep and my guy friends and we go up to the Skyline Drive-In in Barstow, CA.  I love driving, so it’s great. 

JS:  That should be cool when they get HALLOWEEN!

STC:  Definitely! (laughs)

JS:  What are some of the films that made the biggest impact on you? 

STC:  I love Steven Spielberg’s work, his films are terrific.  Like I said before I really like THE GOONIES.  I wish that Hollywood would go back to doing something new and original for a change.  They keep making prequels and sequels and remakes –

JS: Like HALLOWEEN?

STC: Yeah (laughs), and that’s fine, but I want to see something big and new for a change! It’s like no one has any originality anymore. 

JS: I think that there is originality; you just have to look for it and that it usually out of the scope of the Hollywood production. 

STC: Right.

JS: I mean, there are so many opportunities to see something low budget and independent, especially with DVD and high definition and all of these new cable channels that need programming.  Granted, the climate in Hollywood is not like it was in the 1970’s when the studios were all in shambles and the up and coming directors were given free reign to do anything they wanted, but independent cinema really affords filmmakers the opportunity to explore subjects that Hollywood won’t touch, even though American films are still fairly violent and afraid of sex again! 

STC: The studios are hard to get by.  Especially for this one, Dimension.  Rob (Zombie) had a few problems with Dimension.  I mean, I love them but they had to screen the movie in order to get more money because they said, “Okay, this is good, but we’ll give you more money to go and fix it.”

JS: I was talking to Rob Zombie recently and he said that doing just that was actually the dream scenario, to get more money to go out and get extra stuff, because that never happens in reality. 

STC: Well, Dimension now has a great fuckin’ movie on their hands! 

JS: Do you collect movies on home video?  Any favorites? 

STC: I collect all the old movies like THE EXORCIST, SIXTEEN CANDLES –

JS: Great double feature!

STC: Yeah!  (laughs)  THE BREAKFAST CLUB.  I love James Dean, too.  I really like all the Indie horror films, such as the Eight Movies to Die For. 

JS: Yeah, some of those were really creepy, like THE ABANDONED. 

STC: Yeah, I just saw WICKED LITTLE THINGS, which was part of that.  And THE HAMILTONS, by the Butcher Brothers.  I am going to be working with them on the remake of APRIL FOOL’S DAY, so that’s exciting.    

JS: You play Laurie Strode in HALLOWEEN, one of the all-time great scream queen characters and originated by Jamie Lee-Curtis in John Carpenter’s original.  Have you seen John Carpenter’s version, and how did you approach your role in Rob Zombie’s film? 

STC: Absolutely, I have seen it many, many times.  I loved her performance in the film and wanted to make sure that I didn’t mimic everything she did.  I went in and read it with Rob and changed some things here and there and spiced up her character a little bit.  She’s a lot freer, she’s not the bookworm who sits in the back of the classroom and you don’t really see her.  Her friends are playfully mean to her, but she gives it right back.  She also has a little spiciness to her character when dealing with her mom, played by Dee Wallace, which is fun. 

JS: Did you spend a lot of time with the other cast members on the set, or did you keep to yourself? 

STC: No, I had a great deal of interaction with the other cast members on the set.  Tyler Mane (Michael Myers) was like my dad on the set.  We’d watch movies together and play football.  We watched A CLOCKWORK ORANGE with Malcolm (McDowell) in Malcolm’s trailer.  I’d go into Malcolm’s trailer while he was doing make-up and vice-versa and we’d have these really long conversations and debates.  I would spend the night at Danielle’s house and she and I and her boyfriend would go out to dinner, and also to a few parties, and I’m really close with Kristina, so it was really nice. 

STC: At first I was just given my scenes, but then when I went to read with Rob I was given the whole script and initially it read very close to the original.  But then as we continued to read he made some changes, particularly in the dialog. 

JS: How would you characterize Rob Zombie’s directing style? 

STC: I’ve been a fan of his music and movies and he’s a very laid back person.  You just go up to him and talk to him about the scene before you do it.  He tells you what he wants and if you’re not comfortable with it, you can tell him and he’s open to that.  He’s such a sweetheart.  He works great with actors.  He wants to create an atmosphere on the set where everyone is comfortable.  If he doesn’t get what he wants, he keeps after it until he gets it. 

JS: I’ve read that you play the drums.  How long have you been playing? 

STC: Oh, wow, yeah!  I’ve played for three years, off and on.  I’m pretty good.  I know a couple of Beatles songs, a couple of Misfit songs. 

JS: Are there any particular drummers you admire? 

STC: Tommy Lee’s pretty good.  I wanna meet him.  He’s hot!  (laughs)  I tried guitar and piano and they just didn’t sit with me.  I’m the type of person who needs to be moving a lot.  I can’t sit still. 

JS: When you play the drums do you use both of your legs in addition to both arms? 

STC: Well, I have a double bass, and you use both your feet for the double bass.  Or some drummers use one foot for a single bass and the other foot with a high-hat. 

JS: Does that come easily to you? 

STC: Yes, especially when I’m stressed!  (laughs)  When I get really stressed or angry I just go to my drums and just let loose.  I start really fast and then I come down to a slower beat. 

JS: Neil Peart of Rush and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater are my two favorite drummers and they have these insanely large drum kits with over 100 pieces that practically swallows them up. 

STC: I couldn’t do that – I would get so confused! 

JS: I see that you’ll be in the remake of APRIL FOOL’S DAY.  Have you seen the original?    

STC: I have not.  I’ve been getting yelled at by the fans today for not having seen it!  I am actually going right to North Carolina right after the HALLOWEEN premiere (on August 23) to shoot the remake. 

STC: Just recently I worked with Catherine Keener and James Franco on a film called AN AMERICAN CRIME, which is based on a true story (about a woman who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her home in Indiana in the Sixties), and I learned a lot from them.  So, that film will be coming out soon. 

JS: Catherine Keener is one of my favorites, she’s very under-rated.  I just saw her in SURVIVAL QUEST, the Don Coscarelli film from 1989, and she’s almost unrecognizable in it.  Who in Hollywood would you like to work with?

STC: Everyone!  (laughs)  Steven Spielberg, Johnny Depp, Mel Gibson…God, there are so many…

JS: Thank you for your time, and good luck with your future projects.

STC: Yeah, thank you for interviewing me!