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| Articles & Interviews with Shuler | |
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Interview
by Devin Faraci, 4 May 2004
Q: Considering that you both had to deal with a lot of makeup and CGI and blue screen, how involved was Sommers during that process with you, and how was it as a performer to deal with that? Hensley: Stephen was crucial, especially in all the blue screen work. For me being the only monster that wasn’t really CG, I had an advantage as an actor what I looked like, how everything would work, how I would move. But I still had a huge amount of blue screen work and Stephen, as you guys know, this is his genre. This is what he lives for. He doesn’t have to do it ever again, he does it because he wants to, and you get that energy on the set to the point that you’re surrounded by blue screen, but there’s Stephen thirty feet below you with a foghorn going, “All right, the Brides are coming.. here she comes! Here she is!” He’s so into every detail that’s going on you think at some point it’s crazy, but then we got to see it for the first time yesterday and it’s absolutely as he described it, to the T. That’s invaluable. He was so involved in the direction of the film, but you also got to watch him view the playback. It was like a child who was watching their favorite cartoon. He would play it back a few times and he would know instantly if he had it. It was really amazing to watch. Q: How grueling was the makeup and the physical work in the movie? Hensley: The makeup for me – let’s face it, I had no choice, I might as well enjoy it. But I did. From the neck up it was four and a half hours and it was between twelve and fifteen individual pieces. So looking at yourself in the mirror slowly disappear was fascinating. Greg Cannom did my makeup, and they don’t get any better than him. You’re learning a new process, you’re getting your character as you sit there. I enjoyed that. Q: Did you guys do a lot of research into the classic characters or legends? Hensley: My first and lasting impression on Frankenstein’s Monster was not the film, it was the book. That was one of the first books I read as a kid. I think that these monsters are such a part of our culture. We all grew up with them, we all dressed as Dracula, Wolf Man, Frankenstein for Halloween, that I literally tried to keep it simple. I didn’t do a lot of research because they’re so ingrained in us anyway. I found it refreshing to allow the look of the monster – we all know the story, right? It was sort of liberating that you begin with the story but it takes a drastic turn so you have the freedom to create without going, “Am I doing this like the old film?” It’s good for these characters that because it’s a new way of looking at something that is so familiar to us. Frankenstein was a part of me, so I didn’t do much film watching. I didn’t watch the film, and I don’t think I have even seen the Karloff film the whole way through. Q: Is there any pressure you feel from playing these classic characters? Hensley: I never thought of it in terms of being nervous or feeling pressure until people started asking me about it. Really. As an actor, you don’t want to recreate anything, you want to create something. It’s a challenge and it’s exciting to find something that can be true to that character but be different. Q: Would you do a movie like this again? Hensley: For me I would do it in a heartbeat. I don’t know per se about the genre, but this film itself was such an extraordinary experience because of the cast. These are people who have no other agenda, they’re easy to work with, they’re imaginative, there’s a lot of theater background and it was an extraordinary experience for six months. I would absolutely do it again. I think it’s exciting that these characters are having a new time with younger audiences. Q: Will either of you go back to the theater after this film? Hensley: Theater is an enormous part of my life and I will never leave the theater. I just found it interesting that in the past few years I have done more film and TV work, but I just look at it as an extension of an actor and not exclusive of each other. I will always be a theater actor. Q: Shuler, considering you and Hugh did Oklahoma together, can we expect to see any behind the scenes footage of Frankenstein’s Monster and Van Helsing doing duets? Hensley: Actually there is a tape floating around where, obviously I have a four hour earlier call and once the makeup is on it stays on, Hugh had his son Oscar and I had my daughter Skyler and Kate had Lily, so there were three three-year olds on set. The monster had to entertain himself and they were the easiest audience! |
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