Gunnar Hansen
After meeting him at the Malevolence premiere, I later was able to interview him via phone and let me say, it was one hell of an experience. If you are a horror fan or know anything about horror, then Gunnar Hansen is a name you have come to know, love, and be terrorfied of for he is the man behind the most intense and bone chilling characters ever to grace the big screen...the man behind Leatherface and I was able to interview him...read on....
::phone rings::
Gunnar:: Hello?
Marcus:: Hi Gunnar?
Gunnar:: Yes?
Marcus:: Hey it's Marcus.
Gunnar:: Yes Marcus Hi!
Marcus:: How are you?
Gunnar:: Good thanks, you all ready!
Marcus:: Yes I am! Before we begin, let's get to know the man behind the legendary saw, what is the real Gunnar Hansen like? Spare no details!
Gunnar:: ::laughs:: Well...I live a pretty quiet life. I live on an island on the coast of Maine. Most of my days are spent at the computer writing so it's very different from going to these conventions and working in films. I do work in films but that is of course only part of what I am doing.
Marcus:: Where did it all begin? When did you first get the acting bug?
Gunnar:: I did a little acting in college and I was in a couple of plays. I was in "Of Mice and Men" and then we did Mark Twain kind of play. That is what really started me and because of those plays I got involved with "Chainsaw Massacre". I ran into the guy who I did "Of Mice and Men" with and through him found out that these guys were in town making "Chainsaw" and were looking for someone to play the killer.
Marcus:: What was it like working on the set of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"?
Gunnar:: It was very difficult because it
was Texas in August and early September so the temperature was close to 100
degrees on the set every day. We shot very long hours, 7 days a week, 12 to 16
hours a day and a lot of it involved chasing so it was physically demanding. It
was so physically uncomfortable that it made things on the set very difficult.
There were no luxuries on the set, no trailer to hide in, no air conditioning
but I really enjoyed doing it because it was something I had never done before.
I learned a lot while I was doing it. Very difficult experience..
Marcus:: It was an experience you are glad you did but you wouldn't want to do again under the same conditions.
Gunnar:: Yeah I would certainly like to be, if it had been a union picture I guess it would have been alright ::laughs:: ...because they would have demanded certain amenities. But yeah your right, I don't know if I would want to do it again. Especially not at this ripe old age!
Marcus:: ::Laughs:: What was it like working with Tobe Hooper at the time?
Gunnar:: Well he was fine. He was pretty even tempered, I don't remember hearing him ever really getting upset with stuff. He seemed to know what he wanted, he gave the actor's a lot of room. He certainly let me play Leatherface the way I wanted to play him, the way I figured him out for myself. There are a couple of times when he would say "Let's try it a different way" but pretty much entirely he aloud me to play him the way I thought he should be played.
Marcus:: Tell me, in your opinion, what is it about the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre that makes it so appealing to people? Why do you think it has stood the test of time?
Gunnar:: Well I think there is a realism about it. A reality about it that first off, it's shot like a documentary. So it feels like you are watching the actual event sometimes. You also come away from this film thinking "There are people like this out there!" This isn't a supernatural film, everything in it is believable and I think that makes it even more disturbing. You think "Boy I bet there are people out there in the countryside living in Texas somewhere" I think also, one of the reasons it is so powerful it really attacks you emotionally more then anything else. It doesn't rely on special effects, you don't see much of anything actually in the movie. You have to imagine the things that are going on, the specifics. It doesn't show you anything really and so I think that makes the audience so much more involved with it because you have to supply the images. What you are seeing or what you think you are seeing.
Marcus:: The first time I saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I remember I didn't know at the time it was based off the story of Ed Gein. When you took the role did you have prior knowledge of Ed Gein or did you learn about him after you had gotten the role?
Gunnar:: Well....I had heard of him because I
knew "Psycho" was based on Gein. I didn't know there was any
connection to this film and Gein at all until in the middle of the filming, I
had a conversation with Tobe and Kim. We were taking a break or waiting for
something to get set up and we were sitting and talking ummm they told me about
the Gein connection but even then it was a pretty loose connection. It was
really only based on Ed Gein to the extent that he was the inspiration for the
idea of the mask for Leatherface and the bone and skin furniture in the house.
That is all Gein contributes to the concept of the film so I never felt a real
strong connection to Ed Gein.
Marcus:: When the movie was finally finished, and you saw it for the first time, what was your initial reaction to it?
Gunnar:: I was very excited! I was surprised at how my heart was racing during a lot of the scenes cause I knew, of course, what was going to happen. I realized that the film was paced so well that I was still really caught up in what was going on.
Marcus:: Also, what did your friends and family think about it?
Gunnar:: Well...I think they thought it was pretty neat that I had been in this movie. I know a bunch of friends got to together with me we went to the opening of the movie, the first night. They didn't do a premiere or anything like that so we just went down there to the movie theatre. I got in free cause we convinced the manager I had been in the movie. Ya know they thought it was all great fun! They made up the "Gunnar Hansen Fan Club" and awarded me a chainsaw. Gave me an "Ancient Chainsaw" so we had fun with it.
Marcus:: That is awesome! I know you said that conditions weren't the greatest on the set but what kind of funny stories can you share from the set?
Gunnar:: Well I don't know...see I didn't have
much to do with the other actors because all the ones of the people who were
playing the victims....they didn't want 
anything to do with me because they
wanted to be genuinely frightened when they first encountered me in the film.
So I only really hung out with Ed Neil and Jim Seidow, the hitchhiker and the
cook when they were on the set. Otherwise I would just sit and talk with members
of the crew. I think the strangest thing was the caterer's daughter, who was a
little girl probably 3 or 4, so I oftened sat and talked with her, she was just
a baby! I would keep company with her because sometimes she would be the only
one! I know that we would sit there and we would talk but then it would come
time to put the mask on and she would start screaming! She couldn't separate or
make the connection between me and Leatherface. I could have the suit on,
everything on, except the mask and she would be fine but as soon as the mask
went on....but she was to young to understand it was still me sitting there with
the mask on. So I thought that was very revealing I guess, that she would be so
frightened.
Marcus:: Oh wow! Where is the iconic saw now?
Gunnar:: I have no idea.
Marcus:: ::chuckles:: What is your take on all of the sequels?
Gunnar:: Umm I never liked them very much. I always felt that a lot of them tried to repeat the first movie. I thought in the second chainsaw there were whole pieces that were just replays of the first movie or the first movies script. The fourth one was virtually a remake! An incompetent remake!
Marcus:: That's for sure!
Gunnar:: ...and the new one I find just missed the point entirely! It was okay as a horror movie but it completely missed the point of "Chainsaw" So I didn't like that, I thought it was to bad in each case the writer...cause it was a different writer each time....that the writer had a totally different Leatherface in mind. I mean, in each of those movies, the Leatherface character is a totally different personality! Which I felt was a mistake! I wondered why these writer's didn't pay more attention to the script of the first one, just more attention to how Leatherface was defined and what kind of creature he was but they really did not do that. They wanted Leatherface, I don't know what was going on whether they just weren't thinking about it but everyone of them had a different Leatherface and personality. In the 5th one, the new Chainsaw, I just thought it was a mistake. I thought it was a bad mistake to explain him away!
Marcus:: Yeah and show his face and everything?
Gunnar:: Yeah that really reduces him to uhhhh it's like Darth Vader! What a great character that was and what a disappointment it was when he was finally exposed and he is just a guy with a scar on his face. I think that's a big mistake...I had no complaints about the other actors! I mean these guys come in and play Leatherface as they are told to! They play him based off of what the script says, they can't play him other wise. They are given the job of creating the character and you know, they do what they have to do. Well I don't think the writers did him any favors! ::chuckles::
Marcus:: ::chuckles:: Well like you were just saying, you weren't the biggest fan of the remake, but when you first saw the remake, what was your first initial reaction?
Gunnar:: Disappointment. . . because it was a
blood bath! That was the biggest thing, ya know? I thought this movie doesn't
get why Chainsaw was such an affective movie, why it was so powerful but I
thought that 
was the big thing. I didn't expect it I have to admit, I guess I
didn't have much of an expectation for it because I had had conversations with
the casting people and the sort of things they had said to me like "Now
this time it's going to be a dark, psychological horror movie, not a blood bath
like the original." Of course my reaction is to say to them "Well have
you ever seen the original?" and of course she says yes but in truth, what
were they thinking? Were they thinking the first one was a blood bath because
what that tells me is that they weren't paying much attention to it. My
feeling...my concern was that they were coming at this new one with a major
misconception of what the original one was about and I think that was pointed
out.
Marcus:: Yeah because it really wasn't until the third one that the series became really gory. The third was in all actuality a blood bath.
Gunnar:: Yeah.
Marcus:: Had you been behind the camera of the remake, what would you have done differently?
Gunnar:: Well the main thing is I would have no unmasked Leather face. Had I been writing it another thing I would have done would have been to define the family...that was another thing that I think bothered me. In the original it really was this family that was the element that was so powerful, so effective, so important to the film, and in the new movie...who IS in the family? How many people are in the family? Who are they? What is there relationship? What are the relationships among these characters? I mean I don't know how many people are in this family!
Marcus:: Actually that was one of my complaints about it...
Gunnar:: Yeah exactly like who is the guy in the wheel chair? So that I didn't care much for! I would have been a lot more careful since they placed the movie in 1973. I would have been a lot more careful to make it a lot more consistent to 1973. There are just things in there that just don't work! There was no bumper sticker that says "Shit Happens" in 1973. I would have really paid more attention to details like it takes place in Travis County they are explicit about that and yet they are driving from El Paso to Dallas. If they go through Travis County it puts them 150 miles out of the way and they are in a rush to get to a concert. Ya know, that kind of sloppy ness disappoints me in a movie. That is the detail for me, the big thing for me if I had been making that movie I think would have been to . . .really try to make the film emotionally grueling. You know? Make the film demand this kind of emotional involvement and horror from the audience and I don't see it.
Marcus:: Yeah like one scene
that really bothered the hell out of me was when Leatherface is chasing Jessica
Beil's character out of the house, they had gone back and 
forth through the
woods 3 or 4 times before, she then all of a sudden passes this trailer out of
nowhere. And I am sitting there and saying to myself "If it's been there
the whole time, why didn't they pass it the first 5 or 6 times they went back
and forth?" Ya know?
Gunnar:: Yeah...Oh yeah! And why are you introducing....what kind of writing is this!? Why are you introducing a new set of characters 2/3rd's of the way through the movie!?
Marcus:: Yeah and they had no point in the movie! And at this point the ONLY character I liked was R. Lee Ermey's character and it wasn't because of the writing.....
Gunnar:: Yeah. It was cause of the actor. To me, part of this movie felt like it was filling time. Ok what are we gonna do now? We have this chase scene going...ok let's have her run into another building...she seems to do that a lot! So I agree with you, had this writer not mapped out the plot or have a pretty firm idea of how this thing was going to be structured? That sort of thing is bothersome and apparently it's a first time writer.
Marcus:: And the director had only done like a part of a Janet Jackson video, not even the whole thing and then they give him this thing!
Gunnar:: I mean this whole business of "deep commitment" ya know I mean it was amazing to me ya know? I heard the producer had said that the reason he wanted to do this movie was that there was an entire generation of kids who have never seen the original "Chainsaw" Ya know of young people. And I thought well that is kind of hard to believe considering they have all seen it on video to begin with and second...this movie is rated R and these kids aren't going to get into the theatre. There contact of seeing this movie is going to be the same as there contact of seeing the original which is on a DVD.
Marcus:: Exactly! And they re-released the original "Chainsaw" on DVD before the remake hit theatres, and just re-released it again when the remake hit DVD.
Gunnar:: Yeah, there are plenty of DVD's around! It's not very hard to find the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I am convinced that any kid, who had heard about the original Chainsaw Massacre and was curious about it would have no problems at all finding a copy of that movie. So I don't really think that was an accurate statement that the producer made. ::laughs::
Marcus:: ::Laughs:: Especially during Halloween when every store fills up there end caps with copies of the classics! I say it's all about the money!
Gunnar:: Oh yeah definitely.
Marcus:: You heard they were making a prequel to the remake right?
Gunnar:: Oh yeah....
Marcus:: What's your take on that?
Gunnar:: Well...who knows what they are going to do with it. Again the problem for me is....I don't know maybe the prequel could be good but...the problem is, is this going to be the movie that explains Leather face again? Because if they are doing that they are once again reducing him and he will become a ridiculous character where as before he was a frightening character. He was a frightening character because he was unknown and unknowable ultimately. You did not know...what was behind that mask if anything
Marcus:: See that is one of the things that I feel made the original so scary it was because you DIDN'T know what was going on. You could tell he was a big guy and that he was strong and you just couldn't predict what he was going to do or what was going through his mind. I think the best thing is the fact you hardly see his eyes. It makes him inhuman in the fact that he only squeals. The fact that this guy COULD be living in that broken down house you pass while coming home from work every day, the fact that he doesn't talk and only makes animal noises is chilling and terrifying at the same time!
Gunnar:: Yeah. I agree.
Marcus:: Have you gotten sick and tired of movies only paying homage to Texas Chainsaw Massacre and tributes to 70's and 80's horror films instead of taking it to the next level, going the extra step and branching off of that and making them their own?
Gunnar:: It's not that at all, I don't mind
that. What I don't care for in horror movies is this post-modern stuff 
that's
going on. Where essentially....the movie is approached with irony. Because what
happens is, when you see a movie like Scream . . . you, as an audience member,
you are disengaged from that movie because the only thing that movie has going
for it is that we are all nudging ourselves going "We are to wise to fall
for this" This is all the cliché's of horror movies strung together and the
purpose of that is for the audience to feel superior and to feel like "Boy
this is kind of funny" because we know which cliché is coming up now. As
long as they think of that ironic attitude they can't be that engaged in a story
for they can't really fear for a character in a film....when they are already
laughing at them! And I think that is where the problem lies with this new kind
of horror film which is this sort of "wise" audience, nudge-nudge,
while we watch is sort of a mistake. I mean there is a whole generation of
people who LOVE that stuff but I don't think it's very frightening. What we need
is a new "Tobe Hooper" We need someone with new ideas and it's fine
with me if they want to reference other films....and say....it's almost an award
for attentive film goers...a little reference here and there....I mean everybody
does them especially in horror! I mean one of my favorite things in the 
movie
"Brazil" is the small references to small, classic films and it
doesn't take away from anything to do that. I think it makes the experience a
lot more enjoyable ya know? But I just wish they would come up with fresh ideas!
::laughs:: Or even if they wanted to use an old idea, for instance
"Alien", I really enjoyed "Alien" as a horror movie but I
know it's an old idea. "Alien" is a classic teenagers trapped in an
old house horror movie...it's just done on a space ship but it's done really
well! So "Alien" is a movie that, in a sense, is not breaking new
ground but it is a terrific movie! So you don't have to be the most original in
your story idea although it would be nice to see something like
that.
Marcus:: Ok, so what do you think the next big horror movie is? Have you seen any new horror movies that you feel can become classic pieces of horror?
Gunnar:: See that is a problem for me because I don't really know. I haven't seen much horror that I have liked that much lately. Ya know a movie like Jeepers Creepers, I really liked it at the beginning! I thought the opening of that movie was terrific all the through the point where they drive past that house again and that creature is there and he stops and watches them as they drive past.
Marcus:: Oh! That shot really creeped me out!
Gunnar:: OH! It was a FREAKY thing but then the movie becomes so conventional and so unconvincing...Yes let's go over there, and yes let's go down that hole! And a movie like that that I thought was potentially so terrific turns out to be so disappointing to watch...and so many of the horror films I watch I don't find extremely frightening and when they do frighten me it's because somebody jumps out and goes BOO not because they are disturbing me with what they are showing me. So I can't say I have seen a lot of stuff that is gonna be classic. But on the other hand it is not for me to say! That's the other part, I am just one more film goer I may have a somewhat jaded view of horror because of my involvement in it. There has to be someone else that determines how a film is thought of 10 years later and it's not going to be me...
Marcus:: At the Malevolence premiere, you described a scene you would have changed in the remake of TCM, you described it with a very vivid image in mind, do you have any aspirations to step behind the camera and direct?
Gunnar:: Oh ::chuckles:: Well... noooooot really I mean I have been doing some directing now, I have directed a couple of documentary films. I really don't have aspirations to be a film director. I...It's a hard question I mean, obviously anyone with an ego would love to direct because it feels like you are controlling everything or you have the illusion that you are controlling everything. In truth, I would much rather concentrate on writing instead of directing. I guess if someone offered me the opportunity to direct it would be great but...I would rather be writing. I think I have been feeding that particularly lately with directing this last film...you spend months producing a film that in reality, you only spend a fraction of the time on writing. I find that frustrating because I would rather be creating the ideas then putting them on the film.
Marcus:: Wow. Is that why you stopped acting after the movie "Demon Lover"?
Gunnar:: Well yeah I never really intended to
be an actor, I always had the intention of writing, it was always the thing I
wanted to do and I turned down films early on! I don't know why I did
"Demon Lover" The guy 
prevailed on me to come out and do that! If I
was going to accept the role why was I going to accept it from a guy who was
such an incompetent film maker. But...ya know I turned down a chance to be in
the "Hills Have Eyes" Oh yeah, Bob Burns who was the art director on
"Chainsaw" was the art director on "Hills" and he calls me
up and says "Hey I am working with this guy Wes Craven. Nobody knows who he
is yet, it's going to be a great movie. We wanted to know if you were
interested, we would need you in town in 2 weeks to shoot." I said no I am
not interested, I am not doing films. Really it was because I wanted to
concentrate on writing, I think it was a big mistake not because it was
"Hill's Have Eyes" but because I was willing to suffer and struggle to
whatever I needed to do to survive to be able to write. But I didn't want to
have to struggle and suffer and do whatever I had to do to be an actor. And that
is fine except I wasn't being asked to struggle and suffer....I was being asked
to come out and work on a film! And if I had viewed it as an opportunity to act
and there by an opportunity to support myself while writing, I would have jumped
at it. I just didn't have that figured out in my head and so I turned that down.
There were other films that came along when we finished Chainsaw and I was still
in Texas. I was told there was a film being shot in San Markus and why don't you
come down and we what when we can get a part and I say no I'm not really
interested. So I never really pursued them but it was because I would much
rather be writing.
Marcus:: Oh wow, that is just so interesting though, do you know which character they wanted you to play?
Gunnar:: No. I don't know.
Marcus:: Ok. You co-wrote and starred in MOSQUITO which I got a kick out of....
Gunnar:: Yeah I didn't write Mosquito, Gary Jones and I have co-written a couple of films since then but I was just in the film. I had nothing to do with writing the film.
Marcus:: Oh, my bad, there is a second part to the question, it was a 2 partner so....I can still use the second half ::laughs::
Gunnar:: ::laughs:: threw you off huh?
Marcus:: Yeah ok, in Mosquito, you hold up a chainsaw and remark "Wow I haven't held one of these in a bout 20 years." What was it like holding the chainsaw yet again after all those years?
Gunnar:: Well I thought it was pretty funny! I
have no sentimental attachment to chainsaws and so since then I am a little
reluctant to pick up a chainsaw ya know? I think it's to easy a gag to do in a
movie now for me to pick up a chainsaw but it was to do. The difference between
that and in those 20 years was that I had used a chainsaw
a fair amount. Because after Chainsaw came out, about a month later I moved to
Maine and I heated my house with wood. I had to use a chainsaw to cut wood and
then I realized how dangerous chainsaws were. When I did Saw I didn't know how
dangerous these things were I mean I knew they were dangerous! I knew you could
kill people with it! But I did not 
realize the kind of risks they were taking!
So when we did Mosquito, I was a lot more cautious when using the saw. We did a
couple of things, for instance in the scene when I was in the basement cutting
the door down, I learned how dangerous it is to take a chainsaw and stick the
tip of the saw into the door I mean most saws nowadays have a guard over the tip
for that very reason because you can instantly lose control of the saw if you do
that. In most cases the saw will buck, it will kick back and you can kill
yourself. So when we did that shot I said I don't want ANYBODY
to be there unless they absolutely NEED to be there which
is the camera guy. I just didn't want anybody there cause I was so concerned the
saw was going to buck and somebody was going to get hurt. As it turned out, it
was no big deal, the saw was...it was a BIG saw and it had an extremely powerful
engine on it accompanied by a brand new chain. I went through it and the saw
didn't buck because it was to powerful and the door didn't offer enough
resistance. Even in that filming, later when I was in the basement with the
saw...the chain broke and came off and went FLYING! We had a Plexiglas sheet in
front of the camera and it went almost down to the floor to protect the camera
crew because I was running around swinging that saw. And that chain came off the
saw, hit the ground, bounced, went UNDER the plastic guard and wrapped around
the leg of the assistant camera man. She has on blue jeans and by the time the
chain had hit the ground and bounced, it had lost most of the energy so it
didn't hurt that much at all. She had just gotten chain grease on her pant
leg but it spooked all of us. We realized how dangerous this thing really was.
We had like 2 more shots to do with the saw after that and I just said I didn't
want the chain back on the saw we didn't need it. They were quick takes on the
saw so the audience would not see that there wasn't a chain. . .but it was
pretty freaky! ::laughs::
Marcus:: I'll say! Was there ever a point when you just wanted to hang your saw up, leave the Leatherface behind and say to hell with being him? Have you ever just gotten sick and tired of being Leatherface?
Gunnar:: No not really. I got an unlisted
number because I got tired of someone being drunk and deciding he was going to
call me up and tell me 
another
chainsaw joke. Or calling me up and making chainsaw noises and thinking it was
actually funny. Usually it was in the middle of the night because that is
usually when most people get shit faced. I got tired of that so I got an
unlisted number. I have to admit though, by the end of October...I really don't
want to talk about Chainsaw . . . because I am on the road so much during that
period. Late September through October making a lot of Halloween related
appearances and by the end of October, through November and into December I just
assume not have any conversations about the movie and in fact I don't do any
booking during that period. I just want to be able to be in the real world and
get my work done! Ya know, all this work I do with Chainsaw and the appearances
and working in films....I have to admit...it's all secondary to me. It is really
NOT what my life is about so I really don't want it to be all that I talk about!
The only thing I think about. I....ummm
Marcus:: You want to keep the real Gunnar Hansen and the Theatrical Gunnar Hansen/Leatherface separate...which a lot of people seem to lose the concept of. Which is really strange!
Gunnar::
Well that's the thing when you work as an actor it is very validating for people
to identify you with your character and it is very easy to feel like you are
that character. Ya know Sid Haig...what a GREAT guy he is....I don't think he
will ever get caught up that way. But how many people when you meet him at a
convention, how many people call him "Captain Spaulding"? And so, more
and more he has had that pressure. People think of him as Captain Spaulding. I
think, I mean, I don't know him very well, I talk with him and I see him.
Knowing what I do know I highly doubt he is ever going to think he is Captain
Spaulding. He has got to much perspective on this to ever really think he is
Captain Spaulding. There is that whole thing of seeing your self starting to
identify with the character....I mean I will never think of myself as
Leatherface, there are 4 other guys first of all! So I think it's very easy to
slip into that kind of thing...
Marcus:: I did an interview
with Sid and he was saying that Spaulding is like the first big character people
relate to with him. And he finds it funny the fan reaction to his character NOW,
after all these years of acting, 
and some of the fans have gone to INSANE
extremes like I think someone actually got his face tattooed to there body!
Gunnar:: Oh yeah! And when I saw him in "House of 1,000 Corpses" I recognized him instantly! I recognized him from being in a bunch of other movies...but at the same time...couldn't recall what those movies were! I think it's become the single biggest character in that sense. Let's face it...he did the best acting job in that movie too! I mean, to me he WAS the heart of that movie!
Marcus:: I agree! I honestly wish they had more of his character in it!
Gunnar:: Oh yeah! But I think it's one of those cases where you write an interesting film and you write an interesting character into it and you have no way of knowing you are going to get somebody like Sid Haig to bring that character to life! And now I think they would have to, it's like on a TV series, you set up these characters and you have a pretty firm idea of who these characters are but it is only as the show develops and the actors who are playing them show there stuff that you finally begin to see who the primary characters in this series are going to be and I think a lot of that evolves depending upon who you have got playing those characters.
Marcus:: Oh yeah if you look at the original episodes of Happy Days, the Fonz was barely even a side character, 2-4 lines tops! And now look, he ended up becoming "THE FONZ" he WAS the show! Hell, 75% way through the series, every character left except Fonzie!
Gunnar:: Yep! It's exactly that way and now here this guy comes along and puts so much life into that character you can't throw that character away! You have GOT to use that character more! I don't know much about the new movie, The Devil's Rejects, but I am just assuming he is in it more. He has got to be! He HAS to be!
Marcus:: Oh yeah he is, actually there is an all star cast in the movie and this time it's 100 times more disturbing, one scene I understand contained Sid Haig and Ginger Lynn the porn star and it was so disturbing and so gross the cinematographer left! It is looking to be one HELL of a great movie but the only thing they are worried about is how the MPAA will ream it. They have favorites....it's ok for them to have CGI deaths in Hollywood movies but for low budget horror films.....oh it's FORBIDDEN! They differ on which films they choose to pick on...
Gunnar:: Oh yeah they are
definitely harder on
horror films then they are on regular films. Like when Chainsaw came out there
was a lot of ranting about how DARE they give that movie an R rating! It should
be X! But not long after Chainsaw came out...Raiders of the Lost Ark came
out....Raiders is actually much more explicit then Chainsaw is! And RAIDERS WAS
AIMED AT KIDS! Nobody complained about the violence in Raiders...but Raiders had
a HUGE budget, very mainstream and I think that is part of it. Horror movies are
very easy targets and I think it's a shame that they demand more of horror
movies then they do movies with a giant budget. Just look at the X-rating!
Originally it meant adult, in the sense of adult scenes not pornographic. The
first X-rated movie was Midnight Cowboy and it was a sensible rating until the
porno industry took it over. As a result you can't get a film into the theatres
with an X-rating now. So they weren't interested in changing it until a big
budget film came along and captured the X-rating so instead they changed it
around and now they have NC-17. I mean today I bet Chainsaw would get a PG-13
rating...with today's standards. I remembered Johnny Carson on the tonight show
. . . ranting....very angry! How dare they give a movie like that an R rating!
It should have an X rating!
Marcus:: Ok your newest film DEMONS 5 is coming out soon...what can you tell me about it and about working with the cast?
Gunnar:: Ummm that movie hasn't been filmed! ::laughs:: One of the big problems that has happened with me with internet movie database is that, people are putting stuff up as if it is already in production and yet they are still raising money for these films. It's not even scheduled yet! I get this a lot with films I have no idea if they are being made or if they are even gonna be made! They are films I have been approached about and I am interested in doing, ya know? We will have to work out the production schedule once we know what it is! I like the script for DEMONS 5 a lot and it's an interesting character I am going to play so I am hoping it is going to get made, it just isn't a movie yet.
Marcus:: So what is next on your plate then?
Gunnar:: I got a couple of films I am talking to people about. One is called "WOLFS BANE" which Jim O'Reare co-wrote with DEMONS 5. Looks like I will be filming that just outside of Nashville in October. And then there is another picture of which I don't know what is going to happen with it yet entitled "SHADOW" Tony Todd is the lead character in it and it's filming in the Philadelphia area. It's going into production and I am tentatively scheduled for it but...haven't heard back from them yet.
Marcus:: Before we go, is there anything you would like to say to your fans?
Gunnar:: Yeah! Keep coming to horror movies! Especially the good ones!
Marcus:: Well I want to thank you for doing the interview, I know you have been busy...
Gunnar:: Oh no problem! It was a great interview! Really liked it. I enjoyed myself immensely.
Marcus:: Awesome! Same here! Talk to you soon!
There you have it folks! I want to thank Gunnar Hansen for doing the interview, it was just so cool to be able to talk on the phone with him and get to know this man. He is just so down to earth and on the level that it's just awesome to find that out about a legend of horror cinema. I think that everyone should check out his site "Http://www.gunnarhansen.com" and be sure to keep an eye out for his upcoming movies. If you haven't seen the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre....then get off my website cause that's an insult to horror fans!
Gunnar Hansen and myself at the Hotel before the Premiere for Malevolence in Worcestor Ma, at the Bijou Theatre