Cinemusings

I thought I would do something different for this week's Inside the Industry and I would give you a real glimpse into the industry. I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Kane about his new film now on DVD entitled See No Evil. In my interview with Kane, you will get an inside glimpse into the workings of the movie industry. For all of you horror fans, this will be a real treat. Enjoy my interview with Kane!

Tony: The past 6 months have been extremely busy for you with doing promotion for the movie and wrestling, how have you balanced both and not gone nuts?

Kane: *laughs* It's what I do for a living and we keep a pretty hectic schedule with the WWE on the road 220 plus days a year, so it's really not something I'm not used to.

Tony: Tell us how the project first came to mind and your initial thoughts on it?

Kane: See No Evil was written by Dan Madigan, who worked for the WWE as a writer for our show, and on the first WWE film, and it was a project which really had me in mind at the conception. That's how it came about with WWE films. The decision was made because they thought it could be successful with our first film being released as a horror movie since that genre is so popular. It also was a natural fit based on my character on TV and what I do for this particular movie. My first reaction to it was that I was very excited, because I'm a horror movie buff myself and those are my favorite types of movies. I thought it'd be pretty cool to be the character of Jacob Goodnight and to see how the whole movie business works.

Tony: What kind of research did you do for the character and how helpful was the writer?

Kane: Since I worked with Dan before I was given a lot of leeway. In fact, with the exception of what Jacob does physically in the movie, the rest was really up to me to determine. I think it worked better that way since I'm the WWE's version of a movie monster anyway, so I had some experience doing that. I think Dan then had enough confidence in me that he didn't have to worry about the details of the character since he knew I could flesh it out on film.

Tony: What was the film like on set? Was it very relaxed and loose or very intense because it was a horror film?

Kane: The set itself was very intense because the actual physical set almost becomes a character itself in the movie. That made it a little uptight for a lot of people at first. We also shot it on a pretty tight schedule so we had to get it done in about 2 months. Things had to get done pretty quickly.

Tony: How familiar were the cast and crew with your wrestling background?

Kane: Some of them were fans and I think everybody is a fan now.

Tony: How hands on were you with the film?

Kane: Mitch Deans, who was the stunt coordinator, worked with me quite a bit and I had a lot of input with the stunts. Of course I also did my own stunts and as Mitch got to know me he took advantage of my background in WWE and a lot of the fight and action scenes became a collaborative effort between me and Mitch.

Tony: Since so many other wrestlers have acted, did you get any advice from them?

Kane: No, I didn't. I didn't really need any advice to play this particular character. Also, I don't think any of the guys have done anything quite like this.

Tony: How hard is it going from pro-wrestling where you get an instant reaction to movies where you don't get a reaction right away and you don't really know if you are doing job correctly whereas with wrestling you get a reaction and know right away?

Kane: That's a good question and that was a big change. It was a bit of a mental challenge because in WWE we are generally in front of a live audience and you have the adrenaline running through your body and the energy and you are interacting with our great fans and you don't have that on a artificial studio and sound stage. That was a big challenge and you are doing take after take after take shooting the movie, so it became ailing to me. You don't get that instant gratification that you get with the WWE. Also, you brought up the point about not knowing if you did a good job, you have to wait many months for a finished product to get a reaction from the audience.

Tony: How hard is it to stay in character for so many takes?

Kane: I guess there's something inside me that can do that. *laughs* The character was a natural fit for me anyway so it wasn't hard for me to do that.

Tony: How come your character didn't say much in the film?

Kane: I think Jacob's actions speak louder than words and I didn't think we needed any more lines than that. It had the impact that we wanted and it told the story that we had. We wanted to make the character as realistic as possible and he is. We didn't want to have witty one liners. I love the Nightmare on Elm Street series, but Jacob isn't Freddy Krueger. There wasn't really any other parts where lines would fit. They also probably would have taken away from the diminishing aspect of the character. It was a creative decision.

Tony: What is your most vivid memory from the film?

Kane: My most vivid memory is the scene with the dog attack. That was actually my favorite scene of the movie because it was pretty brutal, well done, and ironic. Without giving too much away, we see throughout the movie there is a theme of people basically getting killed with what they use the most, or what represents them. The things that they care about are sort of turned around and used against them. That scene in particular stuck out for me. As we were near the end of shooting and things got really intense as far as time, we wanted to get things done so it became very intense and a lot of hard work.

Tony: How come you think horror films are so popular today?

Kane: As I'm sure you know, if you look back at the history of the horror genre it goes into prehistoric times. It's sort of a beastial part of us all and it activates the fight-or-flight response. It's an emotional reaction, it's like a roller coaster, and people go to be scared and have the adrenaline pumping and to release it walking out of the theater. When people talk about horror films and go back in history, the first story in Western civilization which is Beowulf, is a horror story. He's fighting against a movie monster pretty much. I think it activates that beastial instinct in us and they are able to get it out. You also get that sense of relief when the story is over with.

Tony: What is the biggest thing you learned from acting?

Kane: Because of the amount of repetition and the fact that things can become a little monotonous in that you are doing the same thing over and over again, I came away with a new respect for actors actually. In the regard of the people that are good at it and it's an art form. After doing that, I realized that's one of the things that everybody says they can do, but it's a little harder than it looks.

Tony: How did Vince and a lot of the wrestlers react to it after it was realized?

Kane: Everybody loved it and thought it was great.

Tony: Now that the film is out on DVD and you have had 6 months to look at it, what is your final consensus on the film?

Kane: I think it's a quality horror film and the character is not a one dimensional character, he's multi dimensional. He becomes a real human being and that makes it pretty realistic. He has the physical attributes of a movie monster because he's so big but then he's not the movie monster that you run away from and he's walking and he's catching up with you. The old cliches. You can shoot him 100 times and he doesn't die. That makes him a real person and that makes it even more frightening because what if Kane lost his mind and moved into a beat down hotel and that's what would you be facing. It's pretty scary. For that reason it makes it realistic and I think it's a quality horror film. With the DVD, you get the commentary and the extras and a lot of information about the set and the make up. There is stuff on the DVD that if you are a horror film fan and want to see how it's done, the DVD will show you.

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