SILVER BULLET’s werewolf, looking like a hungry man waiting in line at the In ‘n’ Out Burger, just trying to figure out what (or who) he wants to eat.
rod motorized wheelchair unto Marty and works hard to prove his new maturity to Nan—just as strange things start to happen around the town of Tarker’s Mills. People are dying in horrible ways, and it appears as though an animal is to blame. When Marty unsuspectingly comes face to face with the creature responsible and manages to survive the ordeal, he sets out to uncover the truth behind the killings, or, at the very least, rid Tarker’s Mills of its unwelcome scourge. The dark story was tailor-made for
the golden era of splatter, yet Attias saw different potential in the project. “I was really thinking it would work as a PG- 13 children’s adventure, but Dino was determined to make a hard R-rated film with a character dying brutally every X number of minutes.” Despite his marching orders, the director
knew that casting would make or break such a unique project. “The role of Marty
was clearly the most important,” Attias says. “The film depended on him. He had to be totally witty, adventurous and able. I saw another film with Corey in it and knew right away that he was the one. We cast him when he was twelve years old, just this adorable kid with so much enthusiasm. In fact, he did the entire shimmy down the drainage pipe scene himself, with no complaints.” After Marty came Uncle Red. “Critical casting,” says the director. “I fought for Gary Busey, and I knew he was a fantastic actor from the BUDDY HOLLY STORY. He had this little kid quality that was required. I knew Gary could handle it.” While Haim came into the film fresh faced and ready for the world, Busey was at the other end of the spectrum at the time production began (in October of 1984), and wasn’t a shoe-in at the start. “He was going through one of his
Battling werewolves. We call it a fight for survival. Gary Busey calls it an average Tuesday.
many very difficult times, had not been cast for a while,” shares Attias. “I really fought for him. It was a roll of the dice because he was such a handful, but [the producers] finally allowed me to cast him and he was fantastic.”
The rest of the cast was filled out by Terry
(THE STEPFATHER) O’Quinn as Sheriff Haller and Leon (TRUE GRIT) Russom as Marty’s rarely-seen dad Bob. But it was Everett (TWIN PEAKS) McGill’s turn as Reverend Lowe that Attias says figured prominently into the final success of the story. “Reverend Lowe has this dark quality in himself and is in the process of dealing with a vast, deep denial. You see it in that crazy scene where he is on the bridge trying to kill Marty, and he is still desperately trying to make himself whole and account for his dark side, trying to wrap it in the language of the Bible. It is totally insane, and that is what makes him so scary. Everett totally went for it, and I really enjoyed him in that role.” And then there was the matter of the werewolf.
FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND • JAN/FEB 2012 25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102