Nov 8, 2015
Horror has earned a bit of a bad rap with women over the years, often making them weak and vulnerable, and of course, naked. Hey, we get it guys; you like boobs. It’s not a crime. But when a movie has a kickass female lead — and doesn’t use gratuitous flesh to sell itself — it’s a pretty cool thing and a refreshing change. Plus, if you add in super tight spaces and a spider-like, ravenous alien in those tight spaces, you’re bound to get the attention of a claustrophobic or arachnophobic horror fan.
But god help you if you have both, because “Crawl or Die” — billed correctly as the most claustrophobic movie ever made — will reduce you to a fetal position. Star and producer Nicole Alonso sat down for an exclusive interview to talk about the film, directed by Oklahoma Ward.
The Queen of Scream: I watched the “Crawl or Die” even though I’m so claustrophobic. But I had kind of missed that whole part in the plot about the spider-like alien thing, because that’s my other fear, spiders. So yeah, that was an extra special treat for me.
Nicole Alonso: Oh, that’s great! You’re going to see in the next one, we have a whole scene with tarantulas so you’re going to love that.
TQOS: Oh God, that’s it, I’m fast-forwarding through that part. I kept thinking I wanted to fast forward through this, but it was like no, no don’t fast forward, be professional.
NA: Hey, I understand.
TQOS: You weren’t just the lead actress in this movie, but you were also a producer and you did the song for it. So how did you get involved with this project?
NA: Well, I actually met the director, Oklahoma Ward, when I auditioned for his first film and I got a small role in that. And then after that we actually became roommates for a while and so we were working together. And then after about a year we ended up dating, and then he and I kind of launched into this project together, “Crawl or Die.” He began writing it, and then we lived in L.A. at the time and we ended up moving out to Tulsa, Oklahoma to build the set and film the movie, and we just kind of worked on the whole thing together. So that’s kind of how I have all these roles in it and got involved in doing all of that other stuff for the movie too.
TQOS: So you guys do live in Oklahoma now?
NA: Yeah, we live in Oklahoma. We were living in L.A. and we kind of got back and were like, you know it’s just too expensive to do what we need to do. We needed a huge set in order to be able to build all of the tunnels, and in L.A. it’s just ridiculously expensive. The land out here is super cheap and he grew up here so he has family here and he knows people here. So we came out, built the studio and piece of property, and just filmed it all here.
TQOS: Well that’s the great thing about all of the great technology and the high definition cameras available now. It’s so expensive to live in L.A., but having access to all this great stuff makes it easier for people to live in other to do films independently do where they don’t have to be working 60 hours a week just to support themselves. They can actually be artists.
NA: Right, yeah. That’s kind of what our deciding factor was. Because we were basically like, we’re living in L.A. and basically working just to pay our rent, and it was ridiculous. We weren’t creating. So we decided it was just better for us to get out of there and now we’ve made a movie, so I’d say it was worth it.
TQOS: And it’s a great result at what looks like a really reasonable budget. Because even though the set is big, it is probably a pretty low budget because you simply built tunnels, although you do have the special effects of the creature. But even with that, I was thinking it’s probably not really a huge budget because you did keep your set so simple.
NA: We were definitely low budget and you’re right, most of the money pretty much went to the creature and then post production. But for the most part we were really low budget. I can’t say actually how much, but you know.
TQOS: And the creature is animatronic, right?
NA: Yeah, it was a guy who designed a suit that he wore, and he had a head that he would put on and stuff like that. It was basically controlled by three or four people who controled the arms. So it wasn’t electronic or anything like that, it was basically more like a puppet.
TQOS: It looked really good, and you could tell that it wasn’t CGI, thank goodness. Well, thank goodness for most people. For some of us it’s like, oh thank you for that extra dose of scary reality.
NA: I wanted us to do CGI, but with the budget they were telling us for that, we were like no. Unless you can have “Planet of the Apes” quality CGI, it’s just going to look cheesy and bad. So we went with a real monster instead.
TQOS: Well when Oklahoma said to you “Hey, I’ve got this great idea for a movie. It’s about this woman that’s in these really tight spaces and they just keep getting smaller and smaller and smaller,” did you have any reservations? I mean do you have any kind of claustrophobia?
NA: I actually don’t. And when he told me the idea I really liked the idea and thought it was unique and so great. And I was like, “Yeah, I’m not claustrophobic, so I’ll be fine.” But you don’t realize once you’re in those tunnels, it’s a whole different ballgame because the tunnels were real. We built them, but they were real 50-foot tunnels. There was no cutout, no opening in the tunnels or anything, so once you’re in, the only way to get out is to crawl forwards or backwards. It did become scary at times because in the smaller tunnels I couldn’t move my arms or legs so I just had to kind of worm through and it was intense. But I think it was totally worth it for the final product.
TQOS: Well, that obviously would help your performance. And also the fact that you did have something real and tangible to work with, the creature that was hunting you down.
NA: Yeah, and it’s interesting because we originally filmed it without a creature. You just basically heard the creature and you never really got to see it. And through test audiences and our sales agency, the test audiences loved it but the one thing they all said was we’d like to see the creature at the end. And the sales agency kind of said the same thing, so they gave us a little budget to do the creature but we only had about three weeks to put the creature in the whole movie. So it’s kind of crazy. And we’re looking forward to the sequel, because I know we’ll have a lot more time to spend on the creature and make it more elaborate and kind of explain more about it and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, it was interesting working with the creature, because like I said it was a puppet, and there was four guys working the arms and all, so you had to work together to get the shot.
TQOS: You did mention the sequel, and actually it’s a trilogy. It’s going to be a trilogy correct?
NA: Yes.
TQOS: So I already know now that tarantulas are going to figure prominently somewhere in the next installment — oh boy, can’t wait for that arachnaphobe that I am — but what other things can we expect? Can you give us maybe some little teasers? You don’t want to give too much away obviously, but in the next two installments what kind of things can we look for?
NA: Right. Well obviously I can’t give too much away, and actually the director is very good about, not telling me a whole lot; he keeps things secret. It’s under wraps. But I do know some things. I know that a lot of stuff from this first film will get explained in the second film. Like Earth 2 and why she’s the last woman who can become pregnant, and a little more about the virus, and it ‘s definitely going to be more, there will be more information about Tank, and definitely some crazy new claustrophobic scenes that again I can’t give too much away but, all new situations that she’ll get to get in. So it’ll be really fun and a lot of stuff I know the fans are wanting explained will be explained.
TQOS: That’ll be nice to kind of get the backstory, but for the life of me I can’t imagine how you could possibly push it farther than that last crawling sequence. Because I was like “Oh hell no; just let that spider thing get me already. And obviously I hate spiders, so that’s how claustrophobic you got there at the end. don’t think my cat could have fit through that space, great fat beast that he is. But it’s great to see a strong female lead, and the fact that it’s not something that exploits women. Because we all know, that is a part of horror and always will be, but it was really nice to see a strong female. lead who didn’t have to get naked at all. Was that something that was really important to you in the role?
NA: Oh definitely. I know it was important to myself and the director. He was very influenced by films like “Alien” and he was like I don’t want you to be [nude]. Of course, the distributors and all were like “we need nudity,” but he was like absolutely not, that’s not what this is about. And I think for us it was most important to show that yes, Tank is strong, yes she’s determined and she keeps fighting, but she’s not Rambo. She’s not a guy. She has emotion, she’s afraid, she has weak moments, but I think the point is that she never gives up and she just will fight through everything to keep going. And I think that’s what makes her so badass, is that she’s mentally strong. She doesn’t quit. And I think it was important for us to show that, that she wasn’t Rambo. She’s not going to take down everybody, but she’s a strong person.
TQOS: And there was actually a really vulnerable scene, as you were getting down where there with just the two of you left, and at that point, the other person was almost the stronger of the two of you, but then you kind of bounced back. But there was that vulnerable moment.
NA: Yeah. I do think it was a good balance for her, because I think anyone in that situation would of course be terrified and I think it was cool to play her that way. To show that, I don’t think she ever would have given up, but I definitely think she has moments of questioning if she could keep going. And it was fun to sort of show the both sides of that.
TQOS: There’s also going to be a comic book coming out, so it was that something that was part of the idea from the beginning? Or was it something that’s kind of come along afterwards?
NA: We always wanted to have a comic book, and I know with the deals we made with our distributor we made sure to keep the rights to do things like that, but it wasn’t intended to be so soon. But when it came out in Japan we had such a huge response in Japan from the fans, and actually they were sending in artwork for us, like fan art, drawing pictures of Tank. This one artist in particular sent us this amazing fan art, and we were like “Oh my God, we’d love it to do a comic book with you.” And he was stunned that we asked him, and he really was in to doing it, so we headed down the path with a translator to work all the details out, and he’s now creating our comic book. And I’ve got to say, it really looks awesome. I can’t wait to put it out there. It’s coming out really cool.
TQOS: Are you going to keep the iconic hair? Or are we going to see changes in color? Because that is so perfect for the whole comic book and for the movie.
NA: Oh, yeah. In the comic book definitely, it’s the mohawk all the way, the same hair, so yeah. It’ll be the same color. The comic book is actually mostly black and white, so it’s all going to be the same color. Tank is definitely the mohawk, that’s her thing.
TQOS: Have you filmed the sequel, the second part of the trilogy yet?
NA: We haven’t filmed it yet. I know Oklahoma has it written and he knows the story and all that. We’re finishing up the promotion of this film which will probably be for another four to five months, and then we’re going to start looking at pre-production for the next movie. So probably six months down the road we’ll be starting pre-production and get to film it. So it’s exciting.
TQOS: Well then maybe it’ll be ready for next Halloween?
NA: Maybe — I hope so. Of course we’re going to try to get it done as quick as possible but we’ll see. Hopefully. Until then, you can check out Alonso in “Crawl or Die” on iTunes or Amazon, and also the indie film “Screen,” which you can rent or buy on Vimeo currently.
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May 6, 2013
“Grimm” has been the surprise hit of the new season for the network, and despite a somewhat challenging Friday night timeslot, the show has been steadily gaining a loyal following, with signs of achieving cult favorite status. With a lead like David Giuntoli, it’s easy to understand a certain aspect to the fan base — the ladies — but if you ask fans of the show why they love it, you get some variation of the same answer again and again:
“I love Monroe!”
Fans are singing the praises of Giuntoli’s sidekick on the series, played by actor Silas Weir Mitchell. If, for some foolish reason, you haven’t tuned into the show yet, the premise is Giuntoli plays a detective who has just discovered he’s a descendant of the Grimms — the legendary folks who penned all those tales as warnings about the beasts they hunted down and killed. Monroe belongs to one species of those monsters and is a “Blutbad” (German for “blood bath”) — a modern day version of the big bad wolf, or a werewolf, if you will.
But as Monroe himself would point out, a very modern and reformed Blutbad, who has gone “vegetarian” with a “strict regimen of diet, drugs and Pilates.” He and Giuntoli’s character, Nick, have paired up to solve some crimes, with Monroe also giving the detective a crash course in this whole new world of Grimms vs. Wesen (monsters.)
To say Monroe is a quirky character is putting it mildly, and if anyone has followed Mitchell’s other characters on shows such as “Prison Break” or “My Name is Earl,” it comes as no surprise if you look him up on Wikipedia that the words “unstable” and “disturbed” come up.
A lot.
But just in regards to the characters he plays … really. And Mitchell is quick to point out he had nothing to do with the construction of that page, for the record. But there’s no denying he has developed a niche for the, shall we say, outsider archetype.
It seems like you’ve been kind of typecast as the guy that plays the weird characters. Is that something that just kind of came about naturally or do you like being put in those roles?
Mitchell: Well, it came about because when you start out, you try to get work that you can get and that’s just the work that came to me because of, you know, the combination of physiognomy, timing, and sense of humor, I guess. It’s just the nature of it, you know.
But on the other hand, not to say that it was completely out of my hands, because I am interested in that frame of mind. The frame of mind that is not ordinary, like what’s going on in that guy’s head? That guy on the corner who’s talking to himself, what’s he talking about?
Do you think you like playing those parts because you feel like it’s similar to you or do you feel it’s something completely opposite from your real personality?
Mitchell: I feel like it has nothing to do with me, per se. It has more to do with what I find interesting in the human psyche. So it’s not about whether it’s like me or not like me. It’s more of something that I am objectively interested in, as the person who is interested in what makes people tick and when you find people, when you can’t quite figure out what makes them tick, I think that’s interesting.
Are there any different kinds of roles you would like to play besides the crazy guy or the eccentric?
Mitchell: Of course. I mean that’s what’s great about Monroe, you know. Like Monroe is an oddball, but he’s not malicious and insane. I get to explore and live in a completely different realm of the human soul or spirit or high humanity. It’s like, it’s a very different place I get to live in with Monroe because for all Monroe’s otherness, there’s still a very, very deep streak of humanity and compassion and, you know, there’s a real effort being made on the part of Monroe to live a decent life, despite, my ancestry and my own tendencies. That’s really fun.
Well, you know when I was telling people that I was going to be talking to you, everyone said that you’re their favorite on the show. They just love what you do with the character. Are there any parts of Monroe that you do feel kind of similar to you or is there any special preparation you do for the quirkiness?
Mitchell: Yeah, I mean, I think there’s an affinity there. One of the things I was talking to David and Jim about — David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf, the creator and head writers — I was talking about the similar way Monroe’s mind works. It kind of bounces around a little bit, you know, and then once it latches on to something, it will bore all the way into it, like the clock making or the Pilates or the vegan thing or, you know, but when it’s not anchored, it kind of skitters around. My mind is like that. If I don’t have something to really focus on, I can kind of, think about five things to do at once. You know what I mean?
I definitely make an effort in my personal life. Sometimes I just do one thing at a time, you know. Fill the dishwasher then, you know, fix the couch then make the bed instead of, sort of, making a third of the bed and then running to the dishwasher, putting a few more things in there and then, you know, running into the other — you know what I mean? Like I’ve tried to do one thing at a time.
Sadly, I know exactly what you mean. I think you just gave me some insight to why I love the character so much, which scares me a little bit. Now, you’ve been working a lot with David Giuntoli and there’s a lot of dry humor in your scenes. Like, in particular, the bit where you’re translating about the Wesen species Nick’s aunt was involved with, and make the comment that “They have very large sausages — I can’t be translating that right.” I mean, are you guys having a hard time keeping a straight face through some of that?
Mitchell: There are moments of straight faces being hard to come by, yes. I love that and you know, the convivial and collegial working relationship. So it’s quite nice.
Are you guys getting kind of to a point where you’re ad-libbing a little bit or are you doing a little improvisation now that you’re kind of really getting to know the characters?
Mitchell: Yeah … I mean there’s definitely room for that. It’s not improv. It’s more like, “This line would be better if we just moved this around this way.” You know, there are definitely elements of that. I always call the writers and I badger them about things to a point where I sometimes feel like, “Hi, I’m sorry. It’s me again. What about this line?” But there’s a lot of that. They’re very, very open to that because, you know, yeah, like you said, once you’re on episode 20, you’re starting to really sink in to the world.
Now you guys just got picked up for a second season and I just watched a bit of an interview where you said that you told somebody that you didn’t think it’d go past the first season. So obviously, it sounds like you’re a little surprised, but happily so.
Mitchell: Well, I wouldn’t say I didn’t think it was going to go past the first season. What I was saying was I’m surprised that it’s the first thing that NBC renewed. I mean, I was saying, who would’ve thought back in October of last year, you know, cut to spring of this year and what new NBC show that’s not a mid-season replacement would still be standing.
Like, I don’t want to forget a show that’s still there but I’m just saying I don’t think many people would’ve said back in October, “Grimm” is going to be the show that NBC gives the first re-order to of their new hour-longs. I just don’t think that people would’ve thought that and I certainly was more than pleasantly surprised when that happened.
Well, yeah. You guys have that Friday night timeslot which is really tough.
Mitchell: I guess it’s tough in a way but it’s also, apparently, one of the good things about Friday is you don’t need to pull huge numbers to justify sticking around. You don’t need to get Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday numbers.
We were really, really worried when the pilot was in the air because I don’t know if you remember this but we were up against the World Series and the World Series was supposed to be finished. Without doubt, there was no way that the World Series was going to last longer than Thursday before we opened the next day on Friday, even if it went seven games before we premiered. And then they had a rainout.
So not only was there a rainout, there was an opportunity for one team, the Rangers, to close it out, win the series, and be done with it on Thursday night and they were up two runs and then they got tied and then they were up two runs again and then they got tied and then they were up again and the other team won it in the bottom of the ninth or something to force Game 7. So we were up against Game 7 in a way that should never have happened because there was the rainout and there was this incredible comeback victory. We were all looking at our cell phones manically watching the score of the game.
So, I feel like we were up against some pretty serious odds and we hit something and it’s very, very exciting.
Well, you know, DVR has been a blessing to you guys. You’ve done really well with DVR ratings added in. Even people that don’t catch it when it’s running live, that’s been a big factor in your ratings as well.
Mitchell: I believe that you are correct in that and I think it speaks to, I mean, it speaks to the age we live in when, you know, there’s a metric for people who watch something on the DVR but there has to be. So many people do it that you have to start measuring it and if you add those in for the numbers, you’re right. We get a lot more viewers than just those who watch it live and I’m glad that they’re aware of that because I’m sure that contributed to their decision to renew us.
Well, and it seems like it’s picking up almost a cult-like status. People are really catching on. I mean, do you see that happening? Would you be excited if it became, you know, like a Star Trek-type cult thing and you’re doing conventions playing Monroe 20 years from now?
Mitchell: Oh, man. Now you’re really scaring me. Twenty years from now?
Well, look at Mr. Spock.
Mitchell: I don’t know what I’m going to have for lunch. I’m not thinking about 20 years from now.
Okay, fair enough. Well, do you know anything about what’s coming up for season two or any spoilers that you can give us? Of course, obviously most of it has to be under wraps but anything that we can be looking forward to for season two or even the rest of season one? You said you’ve got a big part in the episode you’re working on now.
Mitchell: Yeah, I can say I honestly — I’m not trying to be coy — I don’t know anything about season two, not literally one tip. But what I can say from what I know is that I think fans, especially the fans that you were just referring to, “cult-like fans” or the, you know, the people who know David Greenwalt’s work from “Buffy (the Vampire Slayer”) and people who are interested in the “genre shows.” I don’t know what that word means, except it’s the most vague term. It’s like a genre show — that’s like saying, you know, a round cookie. Every show is some genre. Anyway …
I think they mean horror and sci-fi geeks.
Mitchell: I know they do. That’s what genre means but I feel like it’s the strangest term because it’s like a generic term for, you know, a type. It’s like saying, “You’re on a type of show”. Well, yes, I am on a type of show. Anyway, that’s a semantic point. What I’m getting at is I can tell you that the fans of this genre will be very excited, I think, by what happens towards the end of season one because the mythology of the whole set-up, the underpinnings of Nick’s situation, his relationship to various people in the world, the tip of the iceberg starts to, you know, broaden and we start to feel a little bit more about what’s really going on and I think that’s going to be really fun for people. There’s the procedural element.
The procedural element sort of gets woven into the fabric of Nick’s particular journey, i.e. what am I doing here, who are these people, what are their motives. You know, it’s not just crime of the week. It’s crime of the week that has to do with the “Grimm” mythology. So, the writers have done a really cool job, sort of, dove-tailing those two things and I think that’s going to be fun for people. You have to forgive me because I’m just completely rambling, you know. Sorry.
No, that’s okay. But I was going to say that your writers are really great, I especially really love how they wove in real history with their mythology in the “Three Coins for a Fuchsbau” episode.
Mitchell: Yeah, in fact the “Three Coins” episode which was the, sort of mid-season, I don’t know what you call it — it was episode 13 so it was, kind of like, the midseason, not cliff-hanger, but kind of climax in a way. I think that type of writing and that type of narrative where the crime of the week, which was the coin, has to do with the deeper mythology of the Grimm story, which was exactly what I was just saying. I feel like that is going to start happening more, which is really — its fun. It just gets darker and richer and like, brings in real history and I think it’s fantastic. It gives it a kind of gravitas, you know.
Yeah, what you were saying made me think of “Three Coins” because I really, really loved that one. That was the “please-don’t-cancel-us” episode.
Mitchell: Yeah, I guess it kind of was. “You want some action, here it is.” Although by the time that aired, by the time they were writing that, I think we knew that we weren’t going to get bounced.
Where are you right now in your filming schedule?
Mitchell: We are filming the next to last episode right now and we start shooting the last episode after Easter.
Okay and then do you guys know yet when the second season comes back, probably next fall?
Mitchell: I think next late summer is my guess. I think, from what I heard, you know, this is all rumor. I don’t really know. I just keep my head down and just say words. You know what I mean?
Oh, yeah. Hey, you’re still trying to figure out what you’re going to have for lunch. Alright, take care and hopefully, maybe next season we’ll sit down and chat again.
Mitchell: I’d love that.
“Grimm” airs Friday nights on NBC at 9 p.m. ET.
