The South Will Rise Again. Or, at least, that's what Tim Sullivan is hoping for. Remember Detroit Rock City? Tim made that. His new flick 2001 Maniacs, a remake/sequel of the original Herschell Gordon Lewis film 2000 Maniacs, is being released this month on DVD through Lion's Gate. (Watch the Unrated Trailer Here) He's also just finished another horror film called Driftwood, and wrote and produced Snoop Dog's Hood of Horror (Tim, a white guy, has the low-down on the hood, yo, and all its scary happenings). So we had Tim bare his soul to Pretty/Scary and get down and dirty about what makes this dementedly sexy man so, well, demented.
What's a date with Tim Sullivan like?
Well, sweetheart, that all depends on whether my date is male or female, alive or dead, fresh or moldy. In general, I guess I'm just a simple, hopeless romantic and a date with me reflects that. Nothing I like better than putting down the top of my Mustang convertible, popping a CD in the stereo (KISS if I'm feeling a bit edgy, Doors if I'm feeling sensual), and going for a night drive along Mulholland. I don't recommend folks trying this at home, but with the wind blowing and the tunes cranking, a couple drops of absinth sure make the city views look even more spectacular. And usually my date. Then it's off to a movie, maybe even a revival of some old splatter classic; If it's playing at the Azusa Drive-In all the better. A midnight snack on the Sunset Strip continues the evening â€' I dig hanging at the Rainbow Room. No pretensions there. Just leather jackets, black eyeliner and rock and roll. After a few drinks, it's a pretty good time for the old 'It's late, maybe you should stay the night' line. At which point it's time to visit my Venice bungalow, where I set up the fold out couch, fire up a DVD, curl up with my partner, and then I slit their throat and drink their blood.
Room for one more, honey...
2001 Maniacs doesn't actually have 2001 Maniacs in it. I counted. How do you explain that?
You know how it is with independent movies? Never enough resources to do what you want. But we actually did have 2001 Maniacs, it's just that on the day before shooting, half of them read the script and ran away.
"Mr Englund, sir, your performance in King Lear at the Pasadena Community Playhouse was mesmerizing...."
What was the most thrilling aspect of making 2001 Maniacs?
I know it sounds obvious, but hands down the greatest thrill was directing Robert Englund. To be able to collaborate with my horror hero on my first directorial outing! What can I say? It's fricking Freddy, for God's sake! And I'm telling him what to do! Not that he ever listened! But still it was a thrill. That and training Jezebel the sheep to have sex with Adam Robitel, who played Robert's son, Lester.
Timmy's parents thought it was all fun and games. No one could have predicted the massacre of scripts and dialogue on such a massive scale when they saw this innocent child.
What are your turn-ons?
Vampires. Yep. I love 'em. Always have since I first saw Bela Lugosi as Dracula when I was five years old. Something about the fangs and the cool clothes. I also like the way they can pick someone out they want and make them into one of their own kind. Is that a bad thing to like?
Tim, unlike most men, has a thing for young, attractive blondes.
Turn-offs?
Folks who tell you that you can't do 'this', you shouldn't be like 'that', they know better than you what's good for you! blah, blah, blah.... Basically, producers.
Tim looks like a brooding, pretentious director in this photo because really, that's the real Tim.
Do you have any funny anecdotes about the making of 2001 Maniacs?
No!!..
Just kidding. Actually the shoot truly did have an aura of weirdness about it. Like I said, we lost half our extras after they read the script. I wasn't kidding. They were this Confederate flag waving bunch of Civil War re-enactors. Got the whole historical thing down perfect, right down to whether the uniforms had zippers or buttons, only thing they were a bit off on was the fact that the South actually didn't win the Civil War. So when they finally read the script, I guess they couldn't appreciate the 'humor', so they took off and damned me and the film with the 'Curse of the Confederacy'. Now I never heard of that particular curse, and I'm not really sure what it entails, but a lot of weird shit happened from the very first day. Generators mysteriously didn't work, we couldn't open our equipment trucks, it rained when it was supposed to be sunny and we didn't get to shoot most of our driving stuff; I lost two Assistant Directors- one fell and went into a seizure, the other got a migraine and passed out. Robert was rushed to the hospital with chest pains, I was stung by wasps and collapsed on the set, Ryan Fleming, who plays Hucklebilly, sprained his ankle, Cristin Michele who plays Glendora, broke her nose, Wendy Kremer, who plays Peaches, collapsed from hypothermia! And yeah, the unions came and almost shut us down. But weirdest of all, I kid you not, at night, as we would be walking thru the woods, there was absolutely no lights, there was no electricity, and you could hear the sound of gunfire, fifes, drums, and battle cries. Yeah, it was a barrel of laughs, that damn curse, whatever it was.
Tim takes time out of his busy day to walk the drunk actors back to their trailers.
If you had become a priest instead of a filmmaker, which film would you find more blasphemous? And why?
a) The Omen
b) The Exorcist
c) Choice C can either be:
1) The Seventh Sign
2) The Ninth Gate
3) The mini-series Revelations, starring Bill Pullman
Ah, you heard about my early calling to the priesthood. That would have been interesting. Actually, as a person who has grown to trade 'religion' for 'spirituality', I find none of the films you mention blasphemous, as they all prove that sometimes, the only way people can acknowledge light (or 'God'), is to come face to face with darkness (or 'The Devil'). And I feel all the above-mentioned titles do just that quite well and completely inoffensively. A film I do find blasphemous, however, is DETROIT ROCK CITY, which glorifies KISS fans, cuz as you know, KISS stands for Kid's In Satan's Service.
He's straight trippin', boo!
Snoop Dog's Hood of Horror: You co-wrote and co- produced it. What ghetto-slang word would best describe this film? Phat? The Shiz-nit? You tell us.... and also, tell us the plot, but use as many ghetto slang terms as humanly possible, okay?
Yo, yo, yo. It's the phishizzles. Take it from this white as Casper Jersey boy who until recently thought Lil' Bow Wow was Snoop's baby bro; HOOD OF HORROR's got bling bling and brown sugar. Blood that bleeds just as red and wet whether the flesh be black or white. Like my main man Michael Jackson said,' It don't matter if you're black or white'. You're still taken the elevator down below if ya do the crime. And HOOD's got the Hound of Hell, the Dogg himself, rapping the 'wassup' on three fools taking that ride. We got 'The Scumlord', this cracker ass punk who's rich, dead daddy slips him a ghetto tenement- which he and his rich bitch turn into a hellhole for the poor old war veterans who live there. Word up, they get theirs. The there's pretty little street tagger, Posey, who tangles with a voodoo curse which lays on her the power to 'Cross Out' the street bruthas. For good. Last up, but most definitely not least, is the saga of Pooch. He got his 'Rapsody Askew'. He some dumb ass wanna be rapper, always thanking God and shit, when you know he be in league with the Devil.
Tim volunteers at the Center For Troubled and Attractive Youth every other Wednesday.
Driftwood: There are some really hot guys in Driftwood. Are any of them over 18? Oh, and also, can you describe the plot of Driftwood for us?
All except Connor Ross who plays the ghost. But he's not hot so who cares. (JUST KIDDING, Connor. You know I love ya!) Regarding the plot, to quote the summary from IMDB (and because I'm feeling lazy): 'Riddled with guilt over the death of his rock star older brother, 16 year old David Forrester (Ricky Ullman) becomes obsessed with death, leading his misguided parents to send him to Driftwood, an "Attitude Adjustment Camp for Troubled Youths" run by the sadistic Captain Doug Kennedy (Diamond Dallas Page) and his brutal young henchman, Yates (Talan Torriero). Once there, David becomes haunted by the spirit of Jonathan (Connor Ross), a former inmate who met a mysterious end; a mystery whose resolution could very well be David's only way out.'
Don't lose your Head! hahahahaha (couldn't think of another joke for this picture. sorry.)
How would you contrast directing Driftwood with directing 2001 Maniacs?
It truly was night and day. They are two completely different animals. One's splatstick. The other is a serious, character driven, supernatural teen drama (I'll let you guess which is which). But one thing they both had in common - Both locations were haunted. Yep, DRIFTWOOD was shot in an abandoned juvenile correctional facility filled with angst ridden spirits. Guess I just can't get away from that.
Tim is always happy to help out a burn victim in any way he can.
What's next on the Tim Sullivan horizon?
...I guess what's next is figuring out how to maintain the damn site - that, and perhaps, just perhaps, making sure the South truly does rise again. Can you say 2002 MANIACS?!?!?!
Visit Tim's official webpage at http://www.myspace.com/newrebellion
Visit the Official 2001 MANIACS website at http://www.myspace.com/2001maniacs
