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#19
24th November 2015, 05:29 AM
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Whilst I wish 88 Films the best with their work, I have been dismayed by their customer service and behind-the-scenes decision making over the past few months. I recently set them up with contacts for Olivia, Devonsville Terror, Brainwaves, Drive-in Massacre and The Driller Killer - in my own spare time and during a period when I am busy with my books and academic commitments. I think that those are more or less my farewell to this industry - and I hope they invest in really good editions of these movies. They have a great label - no question - and it is not too late to claw back a really brilliant run of titles. Like I said, I really wish them luck in growing and moving on from this period - Richard and James more than have it in them to establish a brilliant new era for 88 Films. I have faith in them and always did - but they definitely need to get on top of things. I still think 88 Films could be a realistic contender to Arrow Video, and I helped to build the label to prove to elitist Alex Agran ("you make your own luck in this world" said the boy born into a millionaire family) that I could make a home video outlet with my hands tied behind my back. The entire run of 88 Films' slasher classics would have been most beneficial to Arrow Video (as well as Anthropopaghous etc) and anyone who thinks otherwise is probably crazy. They may also want to get shot of films such as Nekromantik too, which I set Arrow up with. I think the fans lost out in the long run as Nightmares in a Damaged Brain, for instance, would have been a stunning Arrow edition. I acquired that for 88 Films for not a penny to my pocket. How many people would do that? For all his hiring decisions, Alex Agran still didn't get anyone who was able to acquire - say - Zombi Holocaust or Boogeyman. Which I think says it all. My point has been, I feel, proven. The label's elitist decisions on whom they work with has not produced some of the key titles fans would have wanted - you can look to lowbrow, non-BFI ol' villainous me for that. Well, at least you got these titles in the end - and that's the main thing! I've ranted a bit online before about this but now I'm calling it a day. So in tribute to Gunnar... King of the Chainsaw Erstwhile Leatherface actor Gunnar Hansen speaks about the trials and tribulations of sawing his way into screen history…! By Calum Waddell The original Leatherface - Gunnar Hansen went from playing one of the fright film’s most dominant, and delirious, madmen to working as a writer and a poet after the experience of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre left him with nothing but a notch of notoriety and a £25 cheque. Thankfully, though, the ever-gracious, soft-spoken thespian would be convinced to return to the mantle of macabre movies with 1988’s slice and dice satire Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers. Framed with the same narrative as a classic noir, what makes the Fred Olen Ray-directed B-movie so special is its sharp wit, shapely Scream Queens and a super-fast pace that rarely skimps on the skin or the splatter. Obtaining a short theatrical stint in Los Angeles, and a handful of other territories, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers was a hit on VHS, and during the James Ferman era of the BBFC it was also one of the most insane casualties of the scissor-happy censor. Re-titled Hollywood [insert image of a chainsaw] Hookers for the UK, the obviously tongue-in-cheek limb-lopping action was severely curtailed – although all of the ‘offensive’ stuff is, thankfully, placed back where it belongs for this uncut 88 Films release. For Hansen, Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers proved to a less-than-pretentious return and it brought the actor back into the limelight. What followed were stints in the likes of 1991’s Campfire Tales, 1995’s monster mash Mosquito (in which he once again wields a chainsaw) and Hellblock 13 (1999). In the new millennium, Hansen has been more prolific than ever – appearing in the surprisingly sharp no-budget splatter satire Brutal Massacre (2007) and the gore-heavy Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre (2009). He finally returned to his roots with a cameo in the disastrous Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013), but we forgive him for wanting the pay cheque. Clearly enjoying himself – and staying busy - it is easy to say make the point that the actor will never escape the shadow of Tobe Hooper’s relentless 1974 classic but, at the very least, he remains a distinctive screen presence and a subdued, unassuming personality… (As a quick aside – the word “chain saw” only became “chainsaw” when The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 came around. When referencing the original film, this interview uses the correct title spelling of “chain saw”) The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is, alongside Psycho and The Exorcist, probably one of the three most famous horror movies ever made. But tell me this: back when you were making it, what were your particular hopes and expectations? That is actually a good question to begin with because when we were making the film I actually did ask myself, “What do I expect from this? What is my big hope for this movie?” And the funny thing is that my big hope was, five years after its release, we would have made enough money to pay off our investors and a few hardcore horror fans would remember it. That, to me, was about as big as I could imagine its success being. I do not think anyone involved in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre expected it to become a phenomenon. So at what point did you realise that this little low budget horror movie you had done was picking up a lot of friction? Well when it was first released there was a lot of criticism for the movie – and you have to remember that. For example, The Philadelphia Enquirer ran two successive front page stories on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Now all they were interested in speaking about was how disgusted everyone was. They spoke about people throwing up in the theatre as they were watching it and then demanding their money back. For them it was all about the sensationalism, you know? But I remember thinking “Wow, you cannot get better press than this. This is just great…” However, you most certainly could get better publicity. In fact, didn’t Johnny Carson begin speaking about on American television? Right, exactly! It was Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, which everyone in America was watching back then… Carson went off about it because he thought it was outrageous that we even got an R-rating. He thought it was unsuitable for everyone (laughs). That was also funny because we were hoping for a GP rating, which was the equivalent of a PG back then. So for Carson to say it should have been an X was amusing. It was generating some controversy but what silenced everyone was Rex Reed, who was a hugely respected critic, saying it was the scariest movie he had ever seen. So, looking back, I would say that it quickly became a success. At what point did you stop following the press that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was obtaining? Well, as everyone now knows, we never got paid properly for the film – despite being promised that we would – so I was eager to just leave a lot of this behind. To be honest, it was a film that was a success because of the controversial and shocking nature of it. Now, it is hard for me to know when The Texas Chain Saw Massacre transitioned into being “respectable” because it came out in 1974 and in 1975 I moved to an island on the coast of Maine. After that I had nothing to do with the film business, which was purely my decision. Right – and as some people may not know, you actually turned down Wes Craven’s classic 1977 chiller The Hills Have Eyes… Yes, that is absolutely true. I was asked to do The Hills Have Eyes and I told them I was not interested. Was it Wes Craven that tried to get you involved in The Hills Have Eyes? No, it was Bob Burns – who was the art director on both The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. I never spoke to Wes. I got a call from the producers and I said to them, “I don’t do movies anymore.” Stupidly! Bob had read the script and said to them, “I have just the right guy for this part.” I was going to be one of the lead cannibals in it. Looking back it was a stupid thing to turn down. But even though The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was popular right away it took a while for the whole Leatherface cult to develop. Did you turn down any other roles during this period? Oh yeah. In fact, there was a film being shot in Texas called The Great Waldo Pepper with Robert Redford. I got offered that movie too. I always said “no”, which was crazy, but being ripped off on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had soured me on the industry. I didn’t even have a television back then. So was there a point when you realised that perhaps your “cult” status as Leatherface might allow you to get back into the film industry? Yeah - I think it was when I saw an episode of Cheers and the Kirstie Alley character had been invited to spend a weekend house-sitting some big estate outside the country. At the end of the show it is getting dark and she is getting scared. Well, she runs around locking all the doors and windows, and then she is sitting in the living room when she hears a noise. So her last line in the entire show is: “Oh Leatherface I hope that is not you.” I realised at that point that the movie was so much a part of the culture that she didn’t have to even explain who the character was. But I missed that transition. I was off pounding rocks or whatever I was doing (laughs)… It was also around that time I got some weird calls… What happened? Just some fans started calling me up and making chainsaw noises down the phone (laughs). They did not happen a lot, but there were enough of them to become annoying, and this was before I came back and did Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, before I was even publicly visible. Now my phone number is unlisted of course… I also had a woman call me in Texas once, and she asked if she could come and visit me and party. I said, “No,” and she said she was married but her husband was boring and wouldn’t do anything! So I said, “Definitely no!” That was probably at the beginning of the whole Leatherface cult… And, of course, that led to your comeback, of sorts, in 1988’s Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers. But, prior to that, you had done one other film: The Demon Lover. What was that about? Oh that? Now that was a very bad movie. I did it quite soon after The Texas Chain Saw Massacre but it took them some time to find distribution on it. To give you an example of how bad that film was: on the first day the director expected me to shoot a scene without any rehearsal. I said, “I’m not doing it. I refuse to do anything without rehearsing first.” At that point the director told me I had to because they were running out of light. I told him to get some more lights! It was just a crap-shoot… At the same time as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was whipping up a box office storm in America, of course, it was banned in the UK… I do remember that it played in London in 1974 because the city gave it a special license. I knew of that because when the distribution deal was made there was nothing from Europe but one of the crew was over in England and he saw the poster advertised all around London. I did some appearances in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s and I signed a whole lot of bootleg videos. Now who was the chief censor during the eighties that wouldn’t even let it come out on VHS? That was the late James Ferman… Ah that’s right. Now the remark that was the last straw, at least for me, was when he said it wouldn’t be okay for auto-workers in Birmingham to see it because the film could have a really bad effect on them. I think that was shocking, you know? To put down the working class like that. It was just shocking. At the time did you take any small amount of pleasure that the film was offending people? Of course I did (laughs). In fact, back in 1975 Harper’s magazine ran a cover story called “The Pornography of Violence” which spoke a lot about Chain Saw. We got called “A vile little piece of sick crap with literally nothing to recommend to it.” I thought “Wow the horse that this guy rode in on is very high.” Then he said it was “like a scab picking at the human spirit” and referred to me as “An obese gibbering castrato.” I love it when people can get offended to that sort of level… Before Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers you almost returned in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2. You have always claimed you did not make a comeback as Leatherface because of the small cash sum offered to you, but Tobe Hooper claims that the budget – after paying Dennis Hopper - simply could not accommodate much in the way of actor’s salaries… You know, I would tend to disagree that money was a factor for them. My understanding, at the time, was that the reason he did not have us in the movie was because he could not find us. However, John Dugan, who played Grandpa in the original movie, found that claim to be interesting because he called Tobe’s house, left messages and sent letters to him asking to be considered for the sequel (laughs). So I don’t know the answer. Certainly, they approached me about being in the second one but they refused to pay me a penny more than scale, which I found insulting (Note: scale is minimum wage for an actor – current price is $750 per day). I didn’t ask for a lot of cash, I just wanted them to acknowledge that my name was worth more than a guy taken from the street. They actually cut the offer by 10% when they found out I didn’t have an agent. The original offer was scale plus ten for my agent. At the time I was unhappy that I did not get to be in it but, honestly, the money I would have made from being in that would have been long gone by now and the shame and the embarrassment would still be there. Oh dear, so I presume you are not a fan of the sequel? Exactly (laughs)! In the sequel Leatherface becomes more of a comedy character than a figure of terror. I didn’t like it at all. Is it true that Tobe will not appear at the same convention as the rest of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre alumni? That is what I hear! But listen, I have never said a bad word about Tobe. All I know is that he seems very afraid of me. Now I have never had a problem with the guy. And I can see why, Tobe is a really sweet person… Well I saw him at a show in New York in 1993. Now neither of us knew the other was going to be there. I saw him signing some autographs and I went over to him, arm outstretched, and said “Hey there Tobe.” Well he jumped up and backed away to the wall (laughs). I flew out to LA a couple of years later to do the commentary track for the original laserdisc of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and we were all standing around talking. Then one of the guys who was producing the track came over to me and said “Tobe told us just yesterday he would not get into the sound booth alone with you Gunnar. So we have had to call Daniel Pearl and he has agreed to sit with you both.” It actually turned out to be a really good commentary track but I was surprised to hear that. I have done a couple of shows recently where Tobe was supposed to be there and he cancelled. But I found him easy to work for and, as far as the outstanding money on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre goes, we all got screwed. As for who did the screwing? Who knows? I am not going to accuse anyone. How bad was your initial payment for the movie? Do you know what Tobe made? Although Tobe was a major shareholder of the company the real theft occurred at the distributor level. I don’t know what Tobe made… but he owned a significant part of the movie. Basically, the shares that I signed up for before making the movie were worth less than I was led to believe and it is common knowledge now that my first royalty check was for $45, a whopping £25! Ouch. Yeah, can you imagine? Moving on a little, then, and most relevant to this BluRay release, can you speak about returning to the film world with Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers? That wasn’t until 1987, 13 years after Chain Saw. My friend Fred Olen Ray called me and said, “Hey Gunnar, remember I always had this dream of being a movie director? Well now I am in Hollywood. Come out and let’s make a film.” So I went out, because it was a bit silly to be turning down actual paying roles, and did this thing called Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, which is really goofy. But now that has a cult following all of its own. It does indeed! And when I got to LA for Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers it also dawned on me that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was just getting bigger and bigger. You see, on the second day of filming one of the actresses said to me, “You are a really nice guy.” And I said “What do you mean?” And she said “Well your character in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is so horrible, and your movie is so famous, that we all presumed you would be an asshole.” These were the exact words she used – she thought I would be this big pampered movie star (laughs). On the first day of filming everyone was afraid of me. I hadn’t really thought of why but, when that girl explained it to me, it became obvious that Chain Saw was really cemented in the popular culture. Did Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers get much of a theatrical run in America? It had a theatrical release in New York and LA, and some midnight showings elsewhere. I mean, look, it is not very well made, let’s not kid ourselves, but I think it is a whole lot of fun – and I can see why the fans love it. And hanging out with a naked Linnea Quigley and Michelle Bauer was probably the fantasy of many a Fangoria reading teenaged boy! Oh yeah, of course (laughs). What can I say except spending a few days hanging around naked women was not exactly tough! Was it a generally relaxed atmosphere on the Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers set? Absolutely – it was very relaxed. In fact the film’s main star, Michelle Bauer, she was especially laid back. Once she was naked on camera she would just spend the rest of the day without anything on … at least until her husband turned up (laughs). It really was a lot of fun to make that movie. Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers put you back into the fan spotlight as well. So much so that the director Jeff Burr came to you about possibly putting the mask back on for Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part III. So what happened there? Well, I read the script to part three and I discussed the story with the director, Jeff Burr. My main issue was whether or not he could fix it because the script was awful. Anyway, Jeff was a cool guy and he called me at home to tell me that the studio said, “We don’t have the budget to pay Gunnar any more than scale.” I had no problem with that because at least he was straightforward with me. But for the fourth film, The Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, they only offered me $600 dollars a week, which is a fraction of what I charge for a day. So I told (the director) Kim Henkel where he could go. And that was the end of that. Last edited by Calum; 24th November 2015 at 05:40 AM.  |
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