1. Were you a Troma fan before working on Tromeo & Juliet?
I didn’t know who Troma was before auditioning for "Tromeo". I had heard of a few of their films (Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke ‘em High, etc), but didn’t know about the company, and the craziness that is Troma, until I became involved with them.
2. How did you end up working on Tromeo & Juliet?
I submitted for an ad in "Backstage", looking for actors for an adaptation of the Shakespeare play "Romeo and Juliet" by this indie film company. I studied theatre in London, and had done a lot of Shakespeare both there and in New York. When I got called in to read for the role, I went to the Troma offices in my old neighborhood, Hell’s Kitchen (on the West side of Manhattan). You may have seen pictures of the inside. It’s filled with all these posters and paraphernalia from their films. Here I am, this snobby, Shakespearean actor, thinking that I’m going to read for basically an art house film, and I’m waiting to go in, reading posters for "Curse of the Confederate Cannibals", "Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid", and "Rabid Grannies". I was kind of freaked out, thinking ‘I don’t know who these people are, but they can’t be serious’, and I was considering leaving. Then I got called in, and I went and read for James Gunn and Andrew Weiner. They loved my audition, and called me back the next day to the next round. I went in and read again, and they told me that I had the part if I wanted it. I took a copy of the script home to think about it. Well, if you’ve seen the film, it’s like nothing you’ve seen before, and I had decided not to do it, since I wanted to be a "serious actor". Andrew Weiner called me up that night and talked to me for about an hour, and finally talked me into it.
I ended up recommending one of the other actors in my classical theatre company for the role of Capulet, as well. It turned out to be a great, life-changing experience. I’ve worked on tons of projects in theatre, film and TV, but never stayed connected to any of the people I worked with for very long afterward. Out of the cast and crew of "Tromeo", years later, I count the bulk of my friendships, with James Gunn probably being my best friend. Simply the best bunch of people I’ve been around. After "Tromeo", I went right into another film, which was later titled "Rockabilly Vampire" and acquired by Troma, which allowed me to work with Valentine Miele again, as well as Sandee Brockwell (who had done special effects make-up on both films). James and I collaborated on a lot of ideas for sketches and so on for TromaVille Cafe, and my participation in Troma became a place for me to be goofy and creative.
3. There's an infamous story regarding the fight scene between you and Tiffany Shepis. Could you explain it a little more?
James writes about this in the book, "All I need to know about Filmmaking I Learned From the Toxic Avenger", which is a hilarious read, by the way. We had rehearsed the big fight scene between the Caps and the Ques several times in a room at the production offices in Manhattan, with this so-called fight coordinator. We were in sweats and sneakers, and we got it fairly well worked out, even though we had no idea how it would be shot. That’s very important, since the way you "sell" a punch or kick or whatever, has a lot to do with where the camera is. Cut to a few weeks later, first day of shooting for me on the film, on a street in Astoria, Queens, filled with trash and broken glass. Now we’re all in wardrobe, which for Tiffany included a pair of 5" metal stiletto boots. The "fight coordinator" says a few words to us about the cameras, and we do a walk-through of the fight, making adjustments on the fly. Well, a fight scene is very complex, and requires memorizing anywhere between 50-200 moves in sequence, both in your head and in your muscle-memory, and that’s aside from the task of actually "selling" the fight, or making it look as real as possible. In this scene, Tromeo’s fighting Tyrone, and I’m fighting everyone else. So everyone in my group each has several opponents. Since the fight guy has now wondered away from the set, I’m trying to get everyone to focus and be as relaxed as possible, stressing safety and teamwork. We’re all a bit stressed. Roll cameras, action! We do the fight several times as the cameras are following the beginning of the scene, peeling away to follow Tromeo’s part of the fight first. Then when they’ve finished that, they swing around to shoot our part, the 5-way big brawl in the streets. Now we’re all pumped, having gotten through it a few times already, but it’s still hard to keep the adjustments just right. Action!!! We run into the scene, and begin. At one point, Tiffany’s character kicks mine in the face. What’s supposed to happen is that she kicks a few inches to the off-camera side of my face, and my reactions sells the move. This time, though, the heel of her plant foot wobbles on an uneven part of the street, changing the trajectory of her kick, and she really does connect... and she’s a black-belt! In the moment, it just felt like a light tap, like someone flicked you with their little finger on the mouth, and we continued on. As the fight progressed though, I felt weird, my vision got a little blurry. I hear Lloyd yelling "Cut, cut, cut!!! Dammit!!!" Tiff has her hands over her mouth, looking at me like she’s going to cry, and the guy playing Vick looks at me and says "Man, you’re gonna need plastic surgery!"What!? I just thought they cut because of something with one of the cameras or something. I’m about to say "Hey, I’m fine, let’s get this shot..." but the words are coming out like I’m drunk. Next thing I know, I’m on the ground coming to, seeing the world in black and white, and there’s an ambulance arriving. Tiff had accidentally put the heel of her boot right through my chin, into my gums, splitting my lip open. I got rushed to the hospital to get stitched up, but couldn’t shoot any more that day because they were worried I had a concussion. I understand that they tried to use a double to finish the fight in my place, one who looked nothing like me. What ended up in the film though, is just what they got of me before the accident. Funny thing is, when you look at the fight, the kick that put me down is in there, and it looks fake!
As a footnote, I returned to shooting two days later, to do the scene in the Capulet backyard where Murray and I taunt Cap with our little song, he fires an explosive arrow at us, and we leap over the garden wall to escape. The same fight guy wrongly places the mats on the far side of the garden wall (it was a longer drop on the other side, compared to the side we were shooting on), and I end up landing on an upturned brick in the neighbor’s garden, tearing three tendons in my foot. The rest of the film, I hobbled around on crutches, and would hand them to the AD right before we rolled. When you see Murray and I drunkenly going up the stairs in the Que house, Val literally was dragging me up, taking all my weight.
3. Are there any other interesting behind-the-scenes stories from your work with Troma?
They really are trying to create a genuine Toxic Avenger! Late at night, interns from Troma’s Hell’s Kitchen office prowl the streets in nondescript windowless vans, abducting homeless people and runaways. Hundreds of hapless victims have been dunked headfirst into drums of radiological toxins (including an entire Vietnamese family), in the hopes that one or more of them will develop into an actual superhuman mutant. This is an attempt to save money on actors portraying the character, in favor of Troma’s wish to own the creature outright, as a sub-human slave to use in subsequent films and promotions. Most of the victims simply succumb to radiation sickness and die, while others have developed mutations that render them far inferior to their previous state. Dozens of these disfigured souls toil away in Troma’s DVD and merchandise sweatshops until their mangled appendages drop off (they are summarily executed by Michael Herz), while I understand a few have found work as writers for the Lifetime cable channel. Their one success story was in the accidental creation of a creature similar in every way to the Marvel Comics character "The Hulk". Word is, Troma offered to loan out "Andrew" (the beast’s real name) to Hollywood for their movie, but the studio preferred to use a CGI version instead.
Also, during the making of "Tromeo", James Gunn and I both competed for Jane Jensen’s affection. She ended up choosing neither of us, which I attribute to poor decision-making on her part, but as long as she’s happy, right?
5. You've continued to work with Troma on Rockabilly Vampire and Tromaville Cafe, but do you plan on working on any future Troma projects?
Believe me, if Lloyd comes calling, I’m there! Troma’s been nothing but good to me, and for me. Lloyd Kaufman is one of the best human beings I’ve met on the planet, a great soul. I’m in LA now, but if they did anything I’d be right for, I’d do everything I could to be there. As for now, there’s nothing in the works that I know of.
6. I've seen discussion on the Troma message board about this, so I thought it'd be best to bring it up: Is it true your father is Marlon Brando? Some sources have said this.
I’d rather not discuss that... don’t believe everything you read.
7. Are you working on any new projects you'd like to mention?
I worked on a film with Chad Ferrin (Troma’s "Unspeakable") last year, called "The Ghouls" that’s nearing completion of editing... a project that includes Tromeo’s James Gunn and Tiffany Shepis. James and I play dirty LA detectives. Also, I’m doing some producing and screenwriting now. Some horror stuff... more on that later.
8. What are some of your favorite movies?
I like a lot of older films. Almost anything by Sidney Lumet, Billy Wilder, Tony Richardson or Elia Kazan. "The Fugitive Kind", "Room at the Top" are the top of my list, as well as Nick Gomez’ "Laws of Gravity". In horror, I like most of what John Carpenter does, especially "The Thing" and "They Live", as well as most of Dario Argento’s work ("Suspiria" is my favorite of his).
9. Favorite music?
Again, old fashioned. I grew up on Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Tom Jones, Chet Baker, Billy Eckstein, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Louis Prima. I love all of that still, and jazz like Coltrane, Art Blakey, Herbie Hancock, Monk, Clifford Brown. I like Elvis Costello a lot (especially the record he did with Burt Bacharach), the Chili Peppers, Eminem, Shaggy, Norah Jones, Jane’s Addiction, and (of course) anything Jane Jensen lays down. I guess I have weird taste.
10. Anything else you'd like to mention?
Hey, this has been fun! Good luck with the web site. Also, I’d like to say thanks to all those Troma fans out there who write to me. I can’t get back to everyone, but I do read them. It means something to me that they take the time.
More info on Stephen Blackehart can be found at Blackehart.com.