Burning Bright is due to make its debut at FrightFest this Friday (August 27th); and is a film that traps a young girl, and her autistic brother, alone in a house with a dangerous and bloodthirsty Bengal tiger on the prowl, and a raging hurricane just outside; and with the DVD release of this tense and exciting horror/thriller just over the horizon, we caught up with the movie’s male lead, Garret Dillahunt; star of Deadwood, The Road, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and The Last House on the Left; to talk about everything from working with tigers, and horror films in general, to his upcoming projects, and the future of Deadwood.
Good Film Guide: What first attracted you to Burning Bright?
Garret: They just approached me, and I thought it was a cool concept. It’s very bizarre, and I thought I’d like to see if I could help make it work.
Good Film Guide: And getting to work with Meatloaf must have been a bonus?
Garret: That was really cool, but it was actually a reshoot done later in L.A., something that we added to help clarify the story. It was only a one day shoot, one very long day. He’s very down to earth though, and it was great hearing all his stories about musical theatre, because he started there first and then went on to rock music, I always thought he’d done it the other way round.
“I Love a good story above everything else.”
Good Film Guide: So how long was the shoot altogether?
Garret: Five weeks in total I think, but for me it was only three or four days… I was working on another project at the same time and this fit in nicely, it was five days at most for me.
Good film Guide: And what was it like working with a real tiger?
Garret: I wish we did more more of that; and I liked the fact that they used real ones; there’s real old school special effects on this movie; they’d have the tiger in the house and have it chase around a green chicken which they could edit out later, then we’d go in on an empty set, film our pieces, and they would meld the two together, seamlessly I think.
Good Film Guide: So the tiger never got too close for comfort? There was never any danger of anyone getting hurt?
Garret: No, they would never let us; I mean the movie’s over if one of us gets hurt, particularly Briana [Briana Evigan, the film’s female lead]; I don’t know exactly how close Briana got, but it was all very separate.
“You want to know what really messed me up?”
Good Film Guide: You didn’t get to feed it then, or play with it in-between takes?
Garret: No, that was really not recommended… and it wasn’t just the one tiger, they had three of them I believe; each being used for different portions of the movie, because one was more aggressive, one was more curious and docile, and the other was a better jumper… but no, I was limited to only seeing them in a cage.
Good Film Guide: Now the character you play in Burning Bright isn’t exactly a nice guy, so how did you try and relate to him?
Garret: Well I tried to, it was difficult because he does a pretty unforgivable thing in the film… but I tried to sympathize with his panic, and the worry he feels over his economic situation. I’ve been homeless before, it was only for a few days, but it’s not a good feeling, I’ve had plenty of empty bank account times as a struggling actor, and it’s not hard to imagine the fear and panic that that can cause, and the lengths someone might go to in order to fix that.
“I love a good fight.”
Good Film Guide: That unforgivable thing is something that makes this character another villain that you’ve played… are you starting to feel like you’re being typecast as ‘the bad guy’?
Garret: No, not at all, I feel I’m lucky that I’m NOT being typecast, because it’s actually quite even with the amount of good guys and bad guys I play, which is an advantage for me, because I like a lot of change; but because of that change, I’m never tied down too long, and that means I’m constantly visiting other peoples’ sets, and end up playing the bad guys, because the hero’s already been cast. In most of my new films I’m actually playing a good guy.
“They used real tigers… I liked that.”
Good Film Guide: So what have you got coming up that we should look out for?
Garret: What, films? Well I’ve got two films screening at Toronto, and hopefully they’ll get picked up for release, the first is Amigo; which is set during the Philippine-American conflict, and where I play a confused Lieutenant; I got to work a lot with Chris Cooper on that one, and I really enjoyed that, and the other film is Oliver Sherman; I got to work with Molly Parker from Deadwood again on that one, and it’s a film about two veterans, and how my character has trouble adjusting to life when he gets back from the war in Afghanistan.
Good Film Guide: And speaking of Deadwood, even though we know you were killed off twice, do you know if there’s any news on a Deadwood movie?
Garret: Ah, no…. that’s a long killed rumor, and it was never any more than a rumor. There’s just no way to assemble it again; as soon as it finished everyone had jobs right away; they were a very talented bunch of people, and getting it together would be a logistical nightmare.
Good Film Guide: So is Deadwood one of the things you’re most fond of working on?
Garret: Oh absolutely; Deadwood changed everything for me; they let me play two different characters on the show, and that really set the tone for me; it gave me a reputation, whether it was deserved or not, for being able to do anything; but that’s what we all do, and what most of us want to do, I’m very lucky to have had that; it was a wonderful way to work, and I want to repeat that process on every job i have; It was a really creative environment, but unfortunately what made it special killed it, and it will never happen again.
“I’ve been homeless before… it’s not a good feeling.”
Good Film Guide: That reputation’s obviously served you well, but then when you landed the role of the main Terminator in the Sarah Connor series, how did you approach that? because it must have been difficult following Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Patrick, knowing that their versions so iconic?
Garret: Well I doubted we would have any comparable special effects budget, and I had to; well I knew I wasn’t going to surpass what they’d done; I had to be my own Terminator and give him unique personalities, because you don’t know what he’s seen and gone through with the time travel and everything. But the biggest thing is not make him angry; it’s a tempting trap to act mean, and something a lot of actors who have played Terminators have done, but if you think about it, he doesn’t really care; he’s not emotionally invested; he’s just a machine with a program, so if he fails, he’s not upset, he just, ya know, gets back at it; there’s no hesitation, no self flagellation, and i think that makes him scarier; there’s no reasoning with him, no talking him out of it, he’s coming… and he’s calm… and he’s armed.
Good Film Guide: So you like the scary aspect then? Are you a fan of watching horror films?
Garret: I do. My wife and i are dream audiences; we see everything, bad or good; we just like the whole experience; I don’t know if we’re paranoid, or just gluttons for punishment, but we love that whole thing where you have to work it out; like thinking ‘what would i do in that situation?’ or ‘you really shouldn’t have run into that haunted house.’
Good Film Guide: What’s your favourite horror then?
Garret: Last House on the Left! *laughs* No, seriously, you want to know what messed me up? What gives me goosebumps every-time I see it? The Changeling, by Peter Medak, there’s just something about that ‘70s child, the murdered ghost; it really makes the hairs on my neck stand up.
“Deadwood changed everything for me.”
Good Film Guide: And what’s the biggest movie you’ve watched this summer?
Garret: Inception, that’s pretty big, and I thought it was pretty great; it reminded me of a video game and I can get hooked on video games pretty easily if I’m not careful, it had the whole levels, and there were tasks to be completed; I didn’t know exactly what was going on all the time, but that’s the fun part, and what I liked about it was that even though all of the actors in it are fantastic, it wasn’t a star vehicle; it was all about the story, and that’s great, I love a good story above everything else.
Good Film Guide: And will you be seeing The Expendables?
Garret: Yeh probably, I’m going to see everything, and I love a good fight! I’ll probably watch it and be envious of the fight; I really love a good staged fight.
“The movie’s over if one of us gets hurt.”
Good Film Guide: And talking of the stage, we know that you first started on Broadway, and wondered if you’ve got any plans to go back there?
Garret: I hope so; I try to do a play every couple of years, but I’ve only done three or four in the last ten years; I do like to travel back and forth through the mediums, but it didn’t used to be that you could do that, a few years ago you had to choose if you were going to be a film actor, a television actor, or a theatre actor, whereas now I think we don’t have a choice anymore; we have to do everything, and I like that, I like the change.
Good Film Guide: Finally, could you sum up why you think our readers should make the effort to see Burning Bright?
Garret: I think they’re going to be stunned at how, well, at just how brilliant a concept it actually is, and the fact that it works; people have a ball watching this movie.
After receiving its debut at FrightFest this Friday, Burning Bright will be getting it’s U.K. DVD release on September 6th (it’s already available to order in the U.S.), and is a fun, yet tense and suspenseful, horror/thriller that’s sure to entertain any fan of the genre, and ensures that anyone watching will “have a ball.”
