Bigfoot Auteur

a conversation with Abominable Director Ryan Schifrin

Interview by Kevin Klemm

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Girls and Corpses: I have a confession to make; Bigfoot scares the shit out of me. I saw the Legend of Boggy Creek when I was a kid and it really freaked me out. Every time I was in the woods I was afraid I was going to run into Sasquatch. But as scared as I was over the Legend of Boggy Creek, if I had seen Abominable, I would really be fucked up! Your Bigfoot is no Harry and the Hendersons Bigfoot, yours is a mean sumbitch that enjoys killing people. What was the catalyst that made you want to make a Bigfoot movie? I know budget constraints were a factor, but why Bigfoot?

Ryan Schifrin: I love Bigfoot! When I was a little kid, I had all these books about Mysterious Creatures and UFO's, and Bigfoot fascinated the hell out of me. I had the 6 Million Dollar Man Bigfoot action figure. I remember seeing HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS with such high hopes 'cause it was about Bigfoot. When it came time to do ABOMINABLE, the idea was to do REAR WINDOW as a creature feature, to fit within the constraints of our budget. I realized there hadn't been a theatrical Bigfoot movie since HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS, and that this was a world famous iconic monster, with built-in-marketing, and its public domain. And, did I mention how much I love Bigfoot?

G&C: I was thinking about how hard it must be to direct your first feature and I came up with an analogy that might be appropriate for it. The day after my daughter was born; I brought my wife and the baby home from the hospital. My wife, being exhausted, went to bed and I was left to care for my daughter. She was in baby carrier; sound asleep and I had her sitting on the coffee table in front of me as I sat on the sofa. I remember looking at her and thinking "I don't know what the Hell I'm doing", if she wakes up, I'm a dead man" "I have no clue on how to be a father" But you know what, she woke up, I changed her first diaper and I learned on the job. Is that how Abominable was for you? Did you push your fears and misgivings to the back of your mind and just plow ahead with the film, dealing with problems and learning as you went along.

RS: It's funny, but actually, making ABOMINABLE felt like I'd been doing this for all my life. The reason for that is, I actually have been doing this for all my life! Since I was a little kid I was making films, on Super-8, then on video, then on 16mm when I got to film school. It all comes down to you, a camera, and the subject in front of the camera. The only difference becomes the number of people in the crew helping you out, and having extra lights, a better film stock, and so on. After I graduated from USC, I made a short film called EVIL HILL. We shot on 35mm, and had a crane, and a full crew, exactly like what you'd have on a feature length movie, only for four days. All those things gave me confidence when it came time to do ABOMINABLE, and I was shocked to realize, as we were making it, how it really was no different than when I was in high school making horror movies with my friends -- if anything it was easier, because now I had all these professional people helping me out, a much high caliber of actors, and many more lights! But I had taught myself, long ago to know what I needed to get, to know how to talk to actors, to know how to edit, where to put music -- which all helped make the process easier. It felt very, very familiar. Having said that, I learned a ton of stuff making this movie. Even if you have one kid, if you have another one you're going to learn things you didn't know before -- like how to divide your attention, deal with jealousy, and so on. Life wouldn't be worth living if you couldn't learn as you go.

G&C: You have populated the smaller roles in Abominable with some top notch talent, Dee Wallace, Lance Henrickson, Jeffrey Combs etc. Who else would you love to work with?

RS: Robert Englund -- I think he's got such a great screen presence. Malcolm McDowell -- he's as good as Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart and all those other British Shakespearean actors.

G&C: Tell me about your Director of Photography, Neal Frederick's involvement. Did he get to see the final cut before he passed away?

RS: Neal helped us so much with this film, I can't even tell you. He brought in most of our crew, assured us it was possible to do this ambitious project with the short amount of time and money we had, helped me shot list the whole movie, location scout, and then of course make the actual thing. We based our shooting schedule on his estimate of how fast he and his crew could work, and it was spot on. He said we'd never be waiting around for lights to be set-up, and it was true. Once we were done shooting, he and I spent weeks color timing the film. I showed him the rough cuts as we were editing and got his feedback. He saw an almost completed version of the film, before he tragically passed away. Of course, none of the stuff with Lance Henriksen was there, and none of the final sound FX. But, he saw enough to be really proud of it, and he told me it was a film that even his parents would enjoy seeing -- which coming from him was the highest compliment.

G&C: I am a "Huge" fan of Drew Struzan. He is one of the best poster artists in Hollywood. He did the poster art for John Carpenter's version of The Thing, The Goonies, Big Trouble in Little China and- Abominable. How the heck did you get him to do your poster?

RS: To this day, I have no idea why he agreed to do our poster. I didn't know Drew. I cold-called him out of the blue, and he agreed to have lunch with me. I explained the movie to him, and he looked at it, and I guess he must love monsters too -- I know he did a great Creature From the Black Lagoon painting on commission. I feel so, so incredibly lucky that he did our poster. The reason I called him was, I was thinking about how to market the movie, and I knew you couldn't show the monster on the poster in a photograph, but JAWS handled this brilliantly by showing the shark coming up to eat the girl, only it was a painting, so somehow that was okay. And, being a huge fan of Drew's work from STAR WARS, INDIANA JONES and the others you mentioned, I figured, why not try for the best? We've since become friends, and I have such respect and admiration for him -- he's a true artist, in every sense of the word.

G&C: Getting back to the subject of Bigfoot, did you hire Matt McCoy for your lead because he's appeared in more Bigfoot movies than any other living actor?

RS: You know what? I actually had no idea Matt had been in other Bigfoot movies before I cast 's one of those actors I had wanted to work with for years -- I would write parts for him in screenplays. I finally met him one day, and we became friends and would play tennis together over the years. When it came time to write ABOMINABLE, since it was a REAR WINDOW type thing, I needed a modern day Jimmy Stewart. Jimmy Stewart is Matt's favorite actor, and they even share the same birthday. I wrote the part with Matt in mind, not knowing if he'd agree to do it. Later on, I found out he had done these other Bigfoot movies, which was pretty funny. He and Lance Henriksen are now tied for appearing in Bigfoot movies though... Lance has a new one coming out called SASQUATCH MOUNTAIN. It wasn't a factor for me, because I just wanted to work with these guys. A good actor is a good actor, and the characters they play in the other movies are so different from the ones they play in ABOMINABLE. Oddly enough, when ABOMINABLE debuted on the SCI FI CHANNEL, it was on Matt and Jimmy Stewart's birthday. How's that for synchronicity?

G&C: When you were writing the screenplay, did you consciously throw, what Joe Bob Briggs calls the three b's into your script (Blood, Breasts, and Beasts)?

RS: Its funny you ask that, because I was actually quoting Joe Bob Briggs to everyone, explaining why we had to have nudity and gore in the movie. I remember when I was a kid watching his show on cable, and he'd rate movies according to the 3 B's.

G&C: Your "Ass Monkey" line reminded me of a line from another Bigfoot move, Creature from Black Lake. "I'm gonna get my shotgun and make a rug out of that damn thing". Was the Ass Monkey line scripted or was it a Christien Tinsley improvisation?

RS: I think the line in the script originally was "Hey maggot breath, eat this!" and then he swings the axe into Bigfoot's back. Christien improvised "Hey, Ass Monkey!" which was 100 times better. I'm sure he knew it was his big moment, and he wanted to come up with something quotable -- I think he's so damn funny in the movie. He's supposed to be playing a despicable character, so despicable and obnoxious that you laugh despite yourself.

G&C: I thought Christien did a great acting job. Has he ever acted before? He's now a "Double Threat", great F/X artist and now actor.

RS: Christien had never acted before -- maybe in his little brother's short films or something, but not professionally. I approached him early on to do our FX, we had met on my short film EVIL HILL, where he did our Dr. Evil prosthetics and bald cap, and became friends. While I was casting ABOMINABLE, he asked me if I had anyone in mind for the part of Otis, and I didn't yet. So, he asked if he could read for it. I said sure. After I saw him read, I just couldn't picture anyone else in the part -- he totally captured the essence of that character. It was a bit of a risk to put him in such a big part, and I'm so proud of him for doing such a great job. He went above and beyond too -- he shaved a huge bald spot, and receding hairline and grew out this fat moustache -- because that is how he saw the character. I think Christien has a lot of charisma, and if he wants to keep acting, he certainly has the chops.

G&C: You were interviewed on Nightline and now you are being interviewed by Girls and Corpses Magazine, do you feel like you are slumming? What do you think of Girls and Corpses Magazine? Also, why do the guys on Nightline have plastic looking hair? I wonder if it's a prerequisite to working on that show.

RS: Slumming? I don't know about that... I made a movie about a big, hairy monster killing naked chicks. That's not exactly high-brow, is it? I think Girls and Corpses is hilarious -- in a 'wink wink' kind of way. I don't personally have a fetish for dead bodies, mind you, but to each his own. I wish I knew the secret of the plastic hair -- I suspect it costs a lot of money though. Dammit!

G&C: Last question, the porn industry loves to remake Hollywood films (The Sperminator, Romancing the Bone), what will the porn remake of Abominable be called?

RS: I don't know, but it should star Ron Jeremy!

Abominable comes out on DVD Oct 3rd from Anchor Bay.

"The Big Foot of Porn"
Ron Jeremy