chiller blog

Posted Dec 28, 09 01:41 PM

Holland Tours

That matinee afternoon I remember clearly, except for the crap movie I paid to see. Probably some PG fodder, never the darker stuff my underage allowance craved.

In front of me, a multi-plane cardboard Bates house rose up amid storm clouds into a daunting lobby display. A miniature Norman silhouette extended atop those winding stone steps, staring at the obscure icon of Mother in the upstairs window.

Bedroom light on. Bedroom light off. Bedroom light on...

What a B-12 shot to my imagination. A heart-carving pocket knife run through by an arrow on The Movie Memory Tree.

I perused. The corner of the display prominently and proudly read, "Written by Tom Holland".

Thus began one of my elite but, admittedly, grounded fan creative crushes. As I've said before, I don't get star struck. I get talent struck.

Hey, I've never been one to collect autograph scribblings. To see an industry contemporary in public is to discreetly respect their privacy (tell that to a socially awkward acquaintance of mine who went down in flames cracking JEOPARDY! jokes to a cringing Alex and Mrs. Trebek). But to rally around and root for an artist's career, to seek out any project his/her name is attached to...it's a sacred bond between viewer and filmmaker, known specifically to the viewer, and usually vaguely (and almost always cautiously) to the filmmaker.

I was underage to see the R-rated Psycho II on its theatrical release, but the following Thanksgiving, my Aunt Lois asked what video discs (remember those?) she should rent for me. I jumped. While loud relatives played pinochle in the dining area, I slid the living room door shut and quietly queued up jolt after jolt promised me by that daunting, shrunken spook manor display.

The following year, the kind of magic one can only experience in a movie theater lobby echoed when the poster for Fright Night featured a freaky vampire face rushing out from the clouds above a darkened house. "There are some very good reasons to be afraid of the dark," warned the tagline. Wouldn't you know whose name was in the corner: Tom Holland.

Tom Holland is on my short list, a gentleman who hasn't just persevered and made it, but left and continues to leave an indelible impression in film and television, in the genre, and in the ripe imaginations of those whose fires his own work stokes.

And, to no surprise of mine, Tom Holland, indeed, is a gentleman.

CHILLER: You began your career as a stage and television actor, studying The Method under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. Your classmates included Bruce Dern, Shelly Winters, and director James Bridges. Any "horrific"-ly memorable acting exercises?

Tom: Lee would drone on for hours. He was brilliant, but he talked in never-ending paragraphs. He would do thirty minutes without taking a breath.

CHILLER: It's said that you didn't really enjoy acting, and you dedicated yourself to writing. For our emerging filmmakers, can you provide a glimpse of your foundation years -- before you became an "overnight success?"

Tom: I wanted to direct, and was working production on TV commercials, but I didn't want to direct 30- and 60-second spots. I wanted to direct movies.

Jim Bridges directed me in a one-act play. He just finished writing Colossus, The Forbin Project. He put the idea in my head that writing was a way in to directing feature films.

I became friends with Stewart Stern, who was a member of what they called "The Playwriting Unit" at the time. He was co-chairman with William Inge. Stewart became my mentor. I am eternally grateful to Stewart. We collaborated on a treatment called "The God Game," and he used the experience to teach me about screenwriting. Thank you, Stewart.

I became very broke at one point and he rented a room in my house to write, partially to help me out. He wrote Sybil in my living room. Through Stewart, I met Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and so many others in the Hollywood community, and got an education in how the business worked.

It was the tail end of the classical period in Hollywood, and although I missed it, so many people that I met had come up in that environment and I learned from them. Guy Green, a wonderful director, also became a mentor. He cast me as the juvenile in A Walk in the Spring Rain. Sterling Silliphant wrote it. I used the stage name of Tom Fielding.

He had his trainer on location. The trainer choreographed my fight sequences. His name was Bruce Lee. I have so many stories from that time. It's a different Hollywood, one that has long been gone, but it worked on the "apprentice" system. You could really find people who would teach you.

At that time there were no film schools, as such. I went to Northwestern University School of Theater. It was all that was available. Theater was still the prestigious profession. Then the '70s happened.

My first job was as a contract player for Warner Brothers. Jack (Warner) signed me personally. The year was 1963. I was 17. I came in just after the studio system had crumbled. The Beast Within was (shot in) 1980. So it took 17 years to become an "overnight sensation." Beast was not a success and I couldn't get a job for a year afterwards. It was Psycho II in 1982 that broke it open. So, make that 19 years.

CHILLER: Backing up slightly, in 1978, you sold the story for a TV movie, The Initiation of Sarah. Within the span of 1982-1985, you exploded into the industry, having an incredible six screenplays produced: The Beast Within, Class of 1984, Psycho II, Scream For Help, Cloak & Dagger, and Fright Night (which you also directed). What were some of your personal highs?

Tom: There were so many highs and lows. I didn't work for a year after The Beast Within. I got hot with Psycho II, but Scream For Help was unreleasable -- it was why I finally pushed for directing...to protect the writing. Cloak & Dagger is a terrific movie, but it was still a better script than a finished film. When I wrote Initiation of Sarah, ABC thought I was nuts because I had the characters bewitched and changing into animals, which hadn't been done at the time. They remade that as a TV movie recently, because the concept had finally become in vogue.

I think I was way ahead of the curve. I was writing for a CGI world before there was CGI. If you look at Beast Within, it contains some of the earliest transition EFX, crude by today's standards. I had the boy shedding his human skin to become a Cicada-like monster, but you can see where my imagination was taking me.

CHILLER: I adore Psycho II. But that's a tough assignment, sequel-izing Hitchcock. There are purists who don't want anyone revisiting and expanding on a professed classic. But people forget that even the original's author, Robert Bloch, published his own (rather forgotten) sequel the year before your film came out. How did you navigate this process?

Tom: With the greatest trepidation. Robert Bloch, by the way, was a lovely guy, but he had written a sequel that didn't use Norman in a way that had any appeal to the fans. I remember him criticizing me in a panel for an over reliance on violence. Wonder what he'd say today with torture porn.

Psycho II was a work of love. Kudos go to the director, Richard Franklin (now passed away), who gave me the job. Richard was a Hitchcock scholar. He was as good as Robin Wood, who wrote some very influential criticism on Hitchcock.

Richard and I watched every film Hitch had ever made, including the silents. We looked at the visual sequences. We built in five such sequences in the movie, extended visual sequences in which there was no dialogue. We storyboarded the sequences.

I was scrupulously faithful to the original because I knew the critics were going to be outraged than we would ever attempt a sequel. The visuals were designed to be Hitchcockian. Everything we did on that film stood on Mr. Hitchcock's work and echoed it, including a shadow of the master that can be seen on a wall in mother's bedroom.

CHILLER: Did Anthony Perkins and Meg Tilly really not get along? They have such chemistry, but word is that Meg was a relative newcomer and didn't...mystify Anthony.

Tom: I don't think "mystify" is the right word. Tony read with her and approved her before we started shooting, and then at a later point went off on her. I don't know why, but he claimed it had to do with her work, that he wasn't getting anything from her.

That obviously wasn't true. I thought she was terrific, and had pushed casting her. Tony was brilliant, not just as an actor, but as an intellect. He was one of the smartest and most complicated men I have ever met. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of film. One of his best friends was Stephen Sondheim. They wrote "The Last of Sheila" together, which may give you an idea of the complexity of Tony's mind.

I can't guess why Tony became cross with her, but Richard Franklin calmed him down. Not enough credit has been given to Richard. I think because he had a rather dry academic personality, but he was a first rate thriller director. He didn't work as much as he should have because he was Australian and never was willing to give up his home country for LA. But he taught me so much about suspense.

Looking back on it, my career has really been built on a series of teachers: people who were kind and giving with me, who went out of their way to help me learn about film.

CHILLER: *SPOILER ALERT* Pscyho II is relatively bloodless for much of its running time. Then your Act III is *bam!* *bam!* *bam!* and REALLY delivers some truly squeamish character exits -- Vera Miles' and Robert Loggia's, in particular. Was that due to development decisions to rival the graphic trends (Halloween, Friday the 13th) in the independent horror cycle... or was that Tom and Co. pushing the envelope?

Tom: Yes, Mike, the knife through the mouth was to up the blood quotient, but Robert Loggia's death was boarded out. His falling on the knife was a deliberate "ouch" moment from the audience; also Tony grabbing the blade and Meg pulling it back, slicing his fingers.

The knife coming up through the seat in Child's Play , making Chris Sarandon jump, even as he driving the car, is a similar moment. I'd watch the previews and every male in the audience would come out of their seats in sympathy.

I've always looked for the "universal" in moments on screen; also in the concept. I did Child's Play because every kid, including me, has been frightened by their playthings. Also, a tip of the hat to Dan Curtis for the Zuni Doll in Trilogy of Terror. I knew a doll could work because of what he did with that Richard Matheson short story. It's also the first example of steadicam before steadicam. Everybody talks about the use of the gyro cameras in The Shining Look at Dan Curtis's work in that short in Trilogy. I mean, it's brilliant.

What I am saying here is that all creative people learn, use, steal, and pay homage to all the work that came before them in their own endeavors. I certainly have. There are only two ways to learn to write -- reading and doing it. There were only two ways to learn to direct -- doing it, and watching movies.

I know it's simplistic, and there is much more involved, but every successful creative effort channels what's come before.

CHILLER: Fright Night is a terrific horror/comedy that doesn't take its chills for granted.

Tom: Colin Higgins critiqued Fright Night and gave me brilliant notes. The mother's line -- "Would you like a Valium?" (always a big laugh) -- was his. I rehearsed for two weeks and did a run through, like a play, and Collin came down and gave me his thoughts (Not always the best, actually; he thought Stephen Jefferies was over the top, which of course, he was, but brilliantly so).

CHILLER: This was your second time working with Roddy McDowall (also Class of 1984) and your first of two pairings with Chris Sarandon (who rejoined you for Child's Play). What was it about you guys that made you to click?

Tom: Roddy was wonderful. He was another teacher. He also had the biggest collection of old movies of anybody in Hollywood. If I wanted to watch a hard to find film, I asked Roddy. He would run off a VHS tape for me. Yes, Virginia, there were tapes in those days.

Chris Sarandon is a wonderful actor. His "Jerry Dandridge" will always be definitive. He also trusted a first time director enough to say "yes" when it really counted. He also co-starred in a TV movie I did, The Stranger. Rick Schroeder was the star and was brilliant in it. It got him a Golden Globe Nomination, which he richly deserved.

CHILLER: What's going on with the Fright Night remake?

Tom: The rights were sold by Sony to DreamWorks. I heard a rumor they are having trouble clearing all the rights. I would suspect that is because Fright Night, Part II was made by Vista, sold to Alive, which was then bought by Carolco, which then went bankrupt. Don't you love Hollywood?

The way the studios are going through their catalogues, I'm sure they'll get to Fright Night. Mike DeLuca is the producer and he's talented, so I'm hopeful. But then you never really know.

CHILLER: Along comes the iconic smash Child's Play, which you also wrote and directed. Four diminishing sequels follow, none with your involvement. If a filmmaker's price naturally rises for delivering a success, what's the studio rationale behind investing in a proven formula vs. cutting back and taking a risk on a brand new creative team?

Tom: I don't know, but they almost always do the sequels without the original team. As you say, they won't want to pay the price for the talent that success has brought. Short-sighted on a creative basis, but business people are mainly concerned with the bottom line, not the quality of the product.

Also, what's good or appealing is ephemeral. (Box office) Gross is what tells Hollywood something is good. Marketing types, who run Hollywood, are always trying to quantify the creative process. Numbers are understandable; what makes a hit is not.

CHILLER: "Chucky" has proliferated across the horror landscape...and even found its way into Mexican Lucha Libre as a character in wrestling rings. What was your first reaction to, uh, seeing your idea on THAT stage?

Tom: Laughter, as in ROFLMAO.

CHILLER: How much collaboration did you have with Stephen King during your association on The Langoliers and Thinner?

Tom: Very little, but he was very supportive. I was very happy with The Langoliers, less so with Thinner. I stand behind the (latter) film, but there is a better ending that was left on the cutting room floor. Robert John Burke was brilliant in the lead.

Stephen King is also another kind of genius. He played a small part in The Langoliers, and had to wait for a long while before I could use him. At first, he was a nervous wreck at not being able to write. The thought of wasting even a few hours made him comfortable. Then he settled down and I glanced over to see what had relaxed him. He was reading the obits in the local Bangor paper. Perfect.

CHILLER: *SPOILER ALERT* I love the scene in The Temp with the glass in the cookies. Are there darker ideas you want to explore that, as an established filmmaker, you're allowed more license to on a big budget stage...or have you found that studios try to soften the tone?

Tom: The Temp was a train wreck. The then-head of the studio, Stanley Jaffee, changed the ending. It made no sense, but he was determined. I had to recut the movie to just have it try to make some sense. It's the worst experience I've had in Hollywood.

CHILLER: So...did you find that you had the greatest creative freedom on television, between Tales From the Crypt and Masters of Horror? You did three episodes on the former, and trucked out a particularly melty frozen treat with "We All Scream For Ice Scream.

Tom: I enjoyed making every one of those shows. The Tales were terrific in every way. Think of the great actors I had -- Amanda Plummer, Patricia Arquette and Brad Pitt, before he was Brad Pitt.

He starred in my Two-Fisted Tail and King of the Road I saw him in a video audition; you couldn't miss that slow smile of his. It lit up the screen. I like to think I discovered him. I remember trying to get my agent to take him, but he didn't think he had enough of a name. LOL.

CHILLER: So what's next for Tom Holland? Anything you'd care to promote?

Tom: I have a short on the web, "5 or Die," that might be the first of a webisode series. I am working on other web series, iPhone Apps, movie scripts and a novel. I have just set up a new company, AppStar, with David Chackler -- my music supervisor on Fright Night, Child's Play, and a number of others. He also ran my production company for a period that was productive for both of us.

We both believe there is a seismic shift going on in media, with the web and digital technology. It's so big and deep that it will have to be covered in another interview.

But we're doing this for a web site, for a channel that is also on cable TV. It's just the beginning of media distribution across platforms. I can't wait for 4-G. I think cell phones are going to take it to another level.

It's a very exciting time to be a content creator and I can't wait to get more material out to my friends and the people who like my work.

Great questions. Thanks for everything.

CHILLER: And thank you, Tom. All the best to you.