Horror Society NetworkJoin HS.com On MySpace |
|
Derek Rydall and Popcorn
Thursday | February 07th, 2008 | 2:52 pm | Posted by admin | No Comments
Being surrounded by midnight kidnappings, twisted identities and face peeling embraces rarely brings about the time for self reflection and personal reinvention. Yet, this is exactly what happened to actor Derek Rydall when filming twisted horror extravaganza Popcorn in Jamaica in 1990. “There was a spiritual component to the trip,” Rydall recalls. Rydall spent much time hanging out with his fellow cast mates “getting to know the locals and eating fish that had just been caught.” Floating in night calm Jamaican waters with his newfound friends, Rydall was convinced at times, “I could touch the moon!” That camaraderie is what presently retired actor Rydall misses the most about being on a film set. In fact, by the time Popcorn began filming; Rydall had already portrayed the scarred and vengeful title character in Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge and had tangled with quirky character actor Michael Pollard and sex goddess Shannon Tweed in the black mass tinged Rear Window re-imagining Night Visitor. Yet Rydall was already beginning to feel the “internal changes” that would lead to successful career in writing and public speaking as he joined genre veterans Jill Schoelen, Tim Villard, Denise Wallace Stone and Karen Witter in Kingston to start what would turn out to be his final film. But what a fun, final film! Rydall portrayed Mark, the film’s hero. Of course hero, in the Popcorn universe, means being the guy getting clobbered by a hairy biker and getting stepped on in the dark. It also means a near escape from a deadly guard dog and a bruising collision with a box office door. But that humor is what Rydall enjoyed most about Popcorn - particularly its movie within a movie concept and, even after all these years, he is impressed with how well those individual spoofs came off. Rydall also speaks highly of hanging out with effects supervisor, legendary Bob Clark, “good friend” Villard and character actor Bruce Glover (”He was a trip!”). (Glover, father of Crispin, is amazing as the lead in Electrified Man segment.) In a more somber moment, Rydall recalls that dangers took place, off screen, also. There were troubles shooting in the occasionally violent Kingston and with the shifting nature itself. A near death experience - “I was caught out in a reef for hours” - allowed the already questioning Rydall to truly examine what he wanted. Upon returning to the US, he found himself just losing out on several major film projects (”I was tired of auditioning”), but eventually ruling out a sojourn to a monastery. This examining nature has proven essential to Rydall’s career as a writer, though. In the years that have followed, he has authored successful books (I Could Have Written a Movie Better than That) and even enjoyed a stint writing for Power Rangers Wild Force (”My kids loved that!”). Presently, several film deals are in the offing and Rydall, who has survived as a writer for many years, may even bound back into the acting ring on occasion. He’d probably do well to determine that his co-stars have no vengeful, effects savvy saboteurs in their backgrounds, though. I imagine too much Popcorn can be deadly - most especially in the case of a certain cult film classic.
|
|
Derek Rydall and Popcorn: A Bloodied Hero Remembers By Brian Kirst
HorrorSociety is represented by:
Click the logo to advertise with us
......................................................................................................
HorrorSociety.com is dedicated to Independent Horror!!
All logos and trademarks in this site are property of their respective owner.
The comments are property of their posters, all the rest 2006 by HorrorSociety.com.
(Site best viewed at 1024x768 or higher & compatible with all browsers)
......................................................................................................