By MICHAEL GINGOLD
In between directing and producing high-quality genre and other kinds of films via his Glass Eye Pix (which sees its 40th anniversary this November), Larry Fessenden has frequently taken the time to appear in fright fare made by others. This fall, he can be seen in a pair of fear features–largely on video footage within the movies. Fessenden speaks about his roles in GOOD BOY and BLOOD SHINE below.
In GOOD BOY, currently in release from the Independent Film Company and Shudder, Fessenden plays the grandfather of protagonist Todd (played physically by director Ben Leonberg and vocally by Shane Jensen). Todd has moved into the remote home formerly owned by his recently deceased relative, who appears on old VHS cassettes Todd watches; meanwhile, Todd’s dog Indy (playing himself), from whose point of view the story is told, begins to detect malignant spirits lurking about (see our GOOD BOY review here). In BLOOD SHINE (pictured above), currently touring the fest circuit (it screens Thursday, October 23 at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival), Fessenden is also seen on video as well as in the main body of the movie, playing the leader of a cult in which heroine Clara (Emily Bennett, who wrote and directed with Justin Brooks) becomes enmeshed.
Says Leonberg, who wrote GOOD BOY (pictured below) with Alex Cannon, “We had been filming the movie for a few years before we were able to, kind of through a friend, get in touch with Larry and tell him about this project. We’d had this part ready to go that we’d been shooting around, and we were just waiting for the right actor. He is both amazing in the movie–he knew exactly what to do–but also has been a huge cheerleader for the film, an amazing advocate and a source of info as we’ve taken the movie into the world, and have been excited to share it with everybody else.” And we’re excited to share Fessenden’s words on both movies…
How did you get involved with GOOD BOY?
I was having an embroidery made of my werewolf from BLACKOUT by a new neighbor in upstate New York who normally makes embroidered pet portraits. She asked one day if I might talk to her friend who was a film teacher at Columbia and was making a movie starring his own dog. Ben sent me a short scene from GOOD BOY, and I thought the filmmaking was very succinct and evocative and I agreed to show up.
What was involved in shooting your scenes?
I drove out to New Jersey somewhere, where Ben and Kari [Fischer, Leonberg’s wife and co-producer] had rented a house. Ironically, they had a dog with them but it wasn’t Indy. I worked with them through the day doing scenes outside, throwing a stick and talking to the camera, as if the grandfather was making home videos. Then we did some intense scenes in an upstairs room–blood gags and so on. All the while, it was just us making the movie; Ben would light and shoot, Kari would help with art department and costumes and hosting. It was a good hang, as low-budget productions can be.
Did you shoot at the same house location as the rest of the movie?
We were in the same house; that’s where they had been for the previous four years, I believe. It was very lived-in, and then I kind of realized it was all a set. They had bought the house to be their shooting location, and had built the gates of hell in the basement. It was all just slightly crazy, which I related to.
What did you think of GOOD BOY’s concept when you first heard about it? Did you feel it might be difficult to pull off?
I thought the concept was very cool, one of those ideas you hear and you say, “Of course.” But it’s all in the doing. When I watched that initial clip they sent me, I felt this was going to be executed with control and an understanding of tone and pacing, and that it might transcend the gimmick.
What are your thoughts on how GOOD BOY turned out?
The movie is very strong. Of course, most of the conversation is about Indy and how charming he is, as it should be with a breakout performance. But what makes the film resonate is the craft of it. It is truly an exercise in shot-reverse shot filmmaking, bringing to mind Hitchcock’s discussion of the schematics of building suspense and also the Kuleshov effect, which is how you create meaning in cinema by cutting from an actor to the thing they are observing to build empathy and emotion. Without being remotely heady, this is what Hitch called “pure cinema.” There is no dialogue per se; the story is conveyed in sound and image.
I think it’s interesting that there is little talk about how bleak and sad the movie is. It is about mortality–the movie is haunted by a debilitating illness affecting generations of the human characters. It is about the isolation we feel in sickness. Finally, the movie is such a winning example of an idea turned to reality through a real commitment to doing it right, and then the festivals responding, which led to a wider release. It is the kind of success story we want to champion. So I was very happy that a favor turned into something worthwhile. Oh, and the werewolf embroidery by Hannah Lamar is pretty damn cool too!
How did you approach playing BLOOD SHINE’s cult leader?
I always take a character to be a true believer when I play a part. So I found the conviction in the words in the script. I believe in inspirational language and the idea of giving people solace through guidance. At the same time, there is a dangerous tendency to take advantage of people’s desire for meaning and twist it toward self-glorification and dominance. And nowadays, we are surrounded by preachers whose teachings lead to dark places. As a kid growing up in the ’70s, these cult leaders like Jim Jones were very much part of the cultural lore, where now of course they have been legitimized and become our political figures. I was also thinking of Gene Jones in Ti West’s THE SACRAMENT, one of my favorite performances in a movie about a cult.
How was your experience shooting this one?
It was a great pleasure. The video material of the preaching was shot in my own barn upstate, so I didn’t have to leave the house! And then the live stuff we shot at Emily and Justin’s home in a remote part of upstate New York. They have a true family atmosphere when shooting, but both are focused and dedicated. Their house is like a horror museum, with DVDs and Blu-rays shoved into every nook and cranny. It was a night shoot with lots of blood, and the whole vibe was everything I like about indie shooting.
It was also great to see David Call, who was my Dr. Frankenstein in DEPRAVED, and Toby Poser, such a great actor and matriarch to the fantastic independent filmmaking clan The Adams Family. Also, my pal [makeup effects artist] Brian Spears was there and he brought some test sculptures for the project we were working on next, so it felt like an extended community of artisans committed to making movies off the grid. It was very atmospheric, where you feel the vibe of the story even behind the scenes. That’s what I find so fun with a small crew: It is very immersive.
How was it working with Bennett and Brooks?
It was a pleasure. Each in their own way is such a dedicated artist and very committed to the genre, and the story they’d been telling for some time; I worked toward the end of the shoot. But most of all, it is very ennobling to see any collaboration go so well, filled with respect and a constant exchange of creative ideas. And to know they are a couple, it was endearing as well.
Are you enjoying being the guy on video in these movies?
I love movies that work with different formats. Aesthetically, it provides texture and reminds us how infiltrated we are by images shaping our own consciousness. Old Super-8 and lo-fi video evoke the ghosts in our lives and in our culture. Just as cell-phone imagery suggests how trapped we are by the narratives that shape our lives. Also, when you get older, you’re happy to blur the image a little!
What else do you have coming up acting-wise?
I am in a movie called DEMONATRIX that’s starting its festival run, a movie called COWBOY, produced by my pal Marc Senter, and a short called WILD ANIMALS, and a bunch of other flicks that I showed up for, each on various stages of their journey to the public. And I show up in my own film TRAUMA OR, MONSTERS ALL, which I’m editing right now.
