Once
again I have to thank Warren for giving me my
first big break and the armor to wage the fight
in the entertainment business.
This is no small
deal Warren is the last of the "Old
School" movie artist that took in
younger starting artist and taught them their
craft out of a want to keep it going on for
generations after.
I have a book
called "BEHIND THE MASK" that tells
the story of "Dick Smith" taking in
"Rick Baker" to live at his home and
teach him F/X work. Then Rick had taken in
"Rob Bottin" in the same way to pay it
foward.
Warren had done
pretty much the same with me and Shawn. We
didn't live at his house (Although the time we
put in we could have) he had taken us into the
company and taught us everything he knows (Hell
I can even show you how to change out and load a
film magazine and never shot it yet). And he let
us in on the script rewritings with Tony he
could have easily said "This is where I
have to do some changes so you guys take a
walk". But he didn't he would let
us come up with ideas and he went with them
making changes in the scripting. Try doing that
with any other filmmaker! So there was no
ad libbing it was thought out and scripted.
Kenny did add a few words or lines here or
there, but he was following what he memorized
from the hard copy.
I had done a few
months work on "Invasion for Flesh and
Blood." Like sculpting the head for the
"Golden Slayer". Warren could
have easily stood over my shoulder and told me
what he wanted, but he didn't he gave me total
creative freedom on it. Then he did the casting,
pouring and painting. It was supposed to be
my first, but I had mad problems at home and had
to take leave of V.E.I. for a while. And
Warren was beyond understanding (You tell me one
person that would let you vanish for eighteen
years then come right back to work with no
questions asked!)
Then there was
allot of unused footage (Maybe we'll add it to a
blooper reel) that was shot with Shawn and
me. One of which was the original exploits of
"Steve and Shawn" with the video
camera. My character "Rod" from
"Flesh Eaters" had spotted a
"Flying Sid" spying in windows and
told his friend Shawn about it. Then had the
idea to film it then capture it. Shawn agrees
and they head out. Then they discover
that not only could they film the alien they
could film Women changing their clothes (Or
doing more) and sell the videos.
Well we had filmed
some of that, but I had to leave. So Warren
renamed Rod "Steve" (Thank you) and
found an actor that looked pretty close to
me rewrote the scenes and gave him (Me) a
kick ass death. It's even funnier that he used footage
of me for the video tapeing before the
death scene so in a way I was video tapeing
myself. HA HA HA
And there was
another scene with us blowing up Shawn's kitchen
(After he calls me a mutated foreskin). For some
odd reason I decided to wear a flannel shirt so I
looked out of character to begin with. The lines
were funny, but it just didn't look like me (And
it gave Shawn plenty of verbal ammo to bust my
balls). Then we even went as far as
building a miniature of the house to blow up
(Which I almost set myself on fire with) and
filmed that.
And I also like to
refer to that period of time as "The first
perm club" Kenny and me had
perms done (No they are not gay!) It helped
Kenny becuse it made him look different
from when he was in "Flesh Eaters From
Outer Space" and I had one done too
because "We were all about the Metal!"
I know we have pictures of me sporting the big
perm.
While on my own I
worked with Mr. B's Entertainment,
Hollowgraves Haunted Manor and The Brother's
Grim Circus Sideshow. Which really gave me a
education in promotion, contracts and
entertainment business. And the best thing is it
really gave me new things to bring to the table
with Warren. He had shown me how to work with
any kind of set and with professionals.
Which helped me land those gigs. So it's pretty
much come full circle. And will now lead to us
getting huge houses we don't need and super
cars we'll never drive.
"TOP OF THE
WORLD MA!" ;0)
