Fangoria: When we first talked on the set of Creepshow back in 1981, you wanted very much to be in the cast of Roman Polanski's then-planned Pirates, which has finally been filmed for a summer 1986 release. Did you ever get any further ahead on that idea, realizing your dream of playing a pirate in a movie? Fangoria: No, you have to get out there. Fangoria: How did you get hooked up with your current project, doing the special makeup FX for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2? Fangoria: Really? Fangoria: Other than the makeup FX, will you get a chance to act in Chainsaw 2? Fangoria: Yuppies are fair game this time. Fangoria: For instance? Fangoria: There's also a scene where a lady DJ is talking to a listener when he's murdered. Fangoria: Leatherface is back, what about the other family members? Fangoria: What other FX can you tell us about without revealing too much? Fangoria:After Chainsaw 2, what's next? Fangoria: There were reports of you directing at least two more Darkside episodes for the next season. Fangoria: We won't print that fact. Fangoria: The last Laurel film was Day of the Dead. What do you think of the finished film? Fangoria: Will you co-direct The Summoning? Fangoria: What's the story line of The Summoning? Fangoria: What else is in the future? Fangoria: What's your opinion of The Ripper? Fangoria: Are there other projects you want to do? Fangoria: What's happening with "Graveyard Shift," the Stephen King Night Shift story that you were announced to direct as well? Fangoria: And what's the status of George Romero's adaptation of King's Pet Sematary? Fangoria: Sounds like you have a great many projects in the works.
film fears as he revs up for "The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre 2."
Savini: No. I guess the reason is I stopped hearing about Pirates. So, I lost out. It's a big mistake for a fan or anyone who wants to be in this business to think that some producer or director somewhere is going to think of you and give you a call. That's not how it works. I say this because a long time ago, after Dawn of the Dead, I asked George Romero, "What's Dario Argento doing next? I wonder if he'll call me because Dawn of the Dead was a success for him and I did the FX." That's not how it works. There are a trillion FX guys in the world. I thought I could just sit at home-
Savini: You bet! I should have sent packages and tapes to Polanski, but I didn't. Maybe he saw Knightriders and that's why I didn't get it (laughs). I thought he would see it and maybe give old Tom a call (laughs).
Savini: Well, Tobe Hooper saw the Scream Greats tape on me. Kerry O' Quinn [Fango publisher and video producer] sent Tobe a copy because they're doing him next and that's what got me the job.
Savini: Just think about it. Tobe has worked with Stan Winston, Craig Reardon and others. It's an honor to do a movie with him. Scream Greats #1 is full of - in all modesty - personality. I mean we're fencing on roofs, I have my baby. It's full of stuff that a director might not know about a particular guy. Tobe liked what he saw about the FX, too. So, I got the job.
Savini: I don't know. I hope Tobe lets me in there. The publicist, Scot Holton, brought this guy Barry with him. There were no deaths planned beyond my FX list, but during a meeting we had while Barry was there, we said, let's kill him. He's a Yuppie-looking guy. So, we cast his head and we're going to try to kill him. I don't know, maybe there'll be something like that for me.
Savini: There's a point to be made about them in this film. We're going to wipe out a lot of Yuppies.
Savini: The film's opening scene is this long car chase between a Porsche and a pickup truck driven by Leatherface and the family. The two Yuppies in the Porsche did something to offend the family, though whatever it was, it wasn't enough to warrant what's going to happen to them. I don't want to give it away, but it does involve a chainsaw.
Savini: Same scene. The Yuppies in the Porsche are talking to her on a car phone. She hears what happens and that's what gets her turned on so that she and a detective go after Leatherface.
Savini: There's Platehead [The Hitchhiker from the first movie]. He's still around, but he's not alive; he's dead and they carry his body around. They've been taking care of this guy. He's breaking up, they've been sewing him up. They've done something to tan his hide, to preserve him, but he is in bad shape. He was hit by a truck in the first movie 13 years ago. I'm trying to convince Tobe to say it has only been five years because Platehead - after 13, you're dust.
Savini: One guy gets his hand lopped off. There's a parking lot scene that's going to be pretty quick, suggestive shadows and all as to what happens. There's this group of people who are ripping off a car and they're unlucky enough to be in the same place as Leatherface with his chainsaw.
Savini: There are so many things happening. I was up for the job of directing Trick or Treat for Dino De Laurentiis. They called me. I sent them stuff on tape. They were very nice. They said they liked my stuff, but they chose to go with Charlie Martin Smith as director.
Savini: My schedule got in the way of that. I was sent a couple of scripts that they wanted me to do and I took the werewolf one. I've already cast the girl, Patty Tallman. She did the stunt in my "Inside the Closet" Darkside episode. I originally wanted her to be in the episode, but the producers wanted someone else, this pretty little girl from Canada for whom they had already gotten a work permit. She was great, but I want Patty to do it this time. The 10-year-old guy who's the werewolf is not cast.
Savini: No. You can run that, because luckily that's not the important plot point. He turns into a werewolf in the first five minutes. I always try to save the creature to the end. You obviously appreciate that or you wouldn't say you would cut it out. Luckily, it doesn't matter if anyone knows he's the werewolf.
Savini: It's not the movie George wanted to make. Don't get me wrong, I think we did a fabulous job on it. I'm getting a lot of praise for the FX work. And I won the Saturn Award from Dr. Donald Reed for Best Makeup. Artistically, I'm not disappointed, but I am disappointed in the way UFD distributed it. It seems like they got their money back and they didn't care about making any money for anyone else. They distributed it regionally, why not a blitz? Everybody involved in it who I know, is vastly disappointed in how UFD handled it. It didn't even come to my hometown until eight months after it was released. People were still calling me to go down to the movie theater, so I went and did some promos. But we just didn't care. We got tired of hearing about Day of the Dead. I'm not disappointed in the film, I'm disappointed in how UFD handled it.
Savini: Co-direct? No, they're after me to direct and to do the FX. I just got a message on my answering machine from the guys doing it. They apparently want me to talk to investors and get something going. That might be something to do after Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
Savini: There's a lot of makeup FX in it. It's a revenge/murder mystery/horror movie. I tagged "horror movie" onto that description because it does involve a creature and some voodoo. That's not giving too much away.
Savini: I'm writing a movie about dreams. I'm trying to get that going. And there's a group in Pittsburgh that wants to start making movies strictly for video. They want to do a story of mine. I think they would be the second firm in the country doing direct-to-video movies after the Oklahoma guys who made The Ripper [a video movie - Fango #50 - in which Savini appeared].
Savini: Yesterday, at the convention, I asked if anyone in the audience had seen The Ripper. I asked them all to stand up and then I kneeled down and apologized to them all. I did one day on the film, then I left. I mean, it's a noble effort, the guys are nice people, but the tape came out and it's "Tom Savini in The Ripper" and I'm only in the last 60 seconds of the movie!
Savini: I had gone over to Japan with a script a while back and met two men who said they would finance almost anything my name was on. So, I went, came back and my goal was to find a script I like, then send it to them. The second script I read was from John Esposito, a fan from Levittown, New York whom I met at a convention. It's called Tell-Tale Tavern, one of the best scripts I've read in a long time. I've also sent that to De Laurentiis, Cannon Films and other places. I hope to get that started with me as director and doing the FX.
Savini: I am up to direct it. Here's a guy, George Demick, who went to Wilmington, North Carolina and met Steve King on the set of Maximum Overdrive. He asked him for the rights to "Graveyard Shift" and Steve gave it to him, with a deferred payment if it gets going. Legally, they have to get an approved script by a certain date or they have to pay something, pennies. That's a token gesture from Steve King. George is looking for the backing. The screenwriter is John Esposito - who I recommended to them. They hired him. Now, he's working on the script.
Savini: I thought it and Creepshow II were in limbo. There was a time when Pet Sematary was hot and it was going. I talked to George. He said that around January 19, "If they haven't made a deal, I'm not going to do it." Well, January 19 came and went. I didn't hear anything and assumed it wasn't happening.
Savini: I'm making all these connections, sending all these scripts out to various places. Even if they say they don't like this project, I'll just send another. I'm working on one more idea, a kind of action-murder mystery without any creatures, not a splatter film. It may sound strange coming from me, but I feel the less you show, the better. That was the magic of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It really scared me. Before I saw it, I talked to people who had and they said, "You gotta see this movie, man! They split this guy open and all his guts fall out." And none of that really happens in the movie, but in their minds, it did.