Interview with DJ Perry - Ghost Town, G.P.S. The 8th Plague and more
By: Marcus Ingelmo

Evil Dread: Hey DJ Perry, how are you today?
DJ Perry: I'm just doing great. I'm currently back in Michigan after a 2 month shoot in N.C. on a movie called "GHOST TOWN", now in post production. The Christmas season is around the corner and I'm thankful for a great 2006 and looking forward to 2007!

ED: Tell us a little about how you started out, like when did you first know that you wanted to become an actor and have you always been more interested in doing film rather than stage productions?
DJ: I've said this in a few interviews and this probably holds true for many actors. My main inspiration was STAR WARS in 1977. I was 7 years old and I wanted to be Han Solo. It really kicked in when my dad bought a VHS camcorder when I first got into High School. We did all kinds of mini movies and skits like SNL. We shot one take in order with onset music..editing and the equipment we have now did not exist. This is a great age for your filmmakers.

Also while I did have a small amount of theater training at Michigan State University I have never done a stage play. I like Shakespeare but I don't like musicals except something like "O'Brother Where Art Thou." Maybe in elementary school I did a play as a cloud or a sheep, but I can't even recall one.

ED: Looking back on your career, has it been hard to get to where you are now? I mean, you've been in quite a lot of films, but I guess you've had to really work for it? Has it been a bumpy road to travel on as an actor?
DJ: Bumpy is an understatement and I liken it more to climbing a mountain. I see myself as simply a man who lives artistically. Life and art have always been one for me as I think it is a way we observe the world around us much like a scientist and the artists then attempts to manifest his observations on the path to trigger others to have their own unique understanding.

It ties back into the old Greek plays that were part art and part religion. I'm not about organized religion because divinity is like air..we did not invent air but we discovered its properties. Like air we did not invent divinity, we invented many ways to try and monopolize it but really they are all ways to discover the properties of divinity therefore becoming spiritual. So getting off that long winded rant "Art" has always been spiritual, the art lends itself to self discovery and the final work sometimes entertains and sometimes educates and SOMETIMES transcends to something more..something spiritual? This chosen path is often about selfishness and self-sacrifice, denial and self- discovery. The battles continue but I'm a seasoned warrior now and I do try to help others that are fighting their own battles. I can tell you that it has been quite a journey "Clawing my way to the Middle." I bring that up because I'm writing a book now that I hope will help inspire and guide other actor/filmmakers/artists and provide those outside the profession with funny and Zen like insights gleamed from the trials and tribulations in the world of independent film.

ED: What kind of characters do you feel most at home with portraying on screen? For instance, would you say it's easier to be a bad guy than a good guy?
DJ: There is no such thing as a bad guy that is all bad or a good guy that is all good. Even in mythology people had light and dark sides and could be influenced. I love the scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" between the two archeologists and they are comparing how close they are and how it would only take a slight nudge to make one into the other. Small actions with consequences can make or break what side of the protagonist/antagonist teeter totter one falls on.

Both characters good and bad are fun to play but you look at some of the movies this year and I've played a few good guys but also a few like Buddy Colt in "Judges" (Hollywood Video) or Mason in "The 8th Plague" (Also at Hollywood Video) and I would say while both are protagonists they are not the saving knights in white hats. I call them the reluctant heroes and I think I enjoy playing those characters and I'm going to blame HAN SOLO for that one.

ED: What kind of genre of films do you prefer acting in and why is that?
DJ: I don't have a genre really but I don't think you'll see me doing "High School Musical" or "Grease" as I stated before I'm not into the musically thing. I'm always looking to expand and I've talked with several foreign producers/directors and would love to see more crossovers. I think an Indian film minus the dancing/singing about goats filtered through a solid thriller would or could start a new trend like what Asian horror provided.

I LOVE the horror fans! More when they like your work ("The 8th Plague" good reviews) rather than when they take up arms and chase you like Frankenstein through the streets. (Watch "In the Woods," Braindamage Films..funny special edition w/ killer commentary in May. 07) Horror fans strive on Passion and violence..? I love them! But my favorite is non-fiction historical inspired pieces such as the western, WW2, Romans, Colonists..I watch LOTS of non-fiction and then create fiction.

ED: Tell us about your upcoming film G.P.S. You're one of the co-producer as well as an actor in the film. What is it about and what kind of character are you playing?
DJ: "G.P.S." is a very cool film. It is not a gore fest but has some real moments and maybe a little gore. It is about those little global positioning gizmos that people use to treasure hunt. I found out many people do treasure hunt and what an awesome deal. Bill Gates could be hiding millions of dollars and only those with certain gadgets would/could have an opportunity to find the money. Remember Bill I gave you that idea. The LOTTO will still reign supreme because you still can just get a 40oz and a pack of zigzags and not have to go falling over waterfalls. Sit home and watch movies of other people doing it.."G.P.S." I would call the movie a cross between "WEEKEND AT BERNIES" and "DELIVERANCE."

Seattle WA great forests provided the movies outdoors atmosphere. I kept thinking that we were going to see Bigfoot any moment while filming OR be attacked by Ewoks swinging out of the trees. Awesome location! The two leads played by Paul Proios and Daniel McGill has this natural charm that reminds me of the "WEEKEND AT BERNIES" deal. It is a throwing back to the 80's a touch but director Eric Colley's version is slick and cool with a killer soundtrack. I play Sam the rival treasure hunter and a redneck antagonist. He has some great scenes and I think helps balance the story along with his girlfriend Frankie played by Hallie Shepherd. I really enjoyed the two characters interaction and so I think audiences will be entertained. We don't have a release date yet and it may run the festival circuit, we'll see.

ED: Let us know why people should check out G.P.S.
DJ: Overall I think that it is a good movie. People need to embrace the occasional indie film and help bring new blood and life into the mainstream. I'm excited to see the day when some of my friends will get to direct with a 35 million dollar budget or 60 million, 100 million! Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert, MSU alumni did it. I've seen "The Blind Waiter" and some of their early college shorts. It does happen and it will happen. But filmmakers are trying to tell you the audiences a good tale and we all started as audiences as well. It is a passing of the torch and we will try to create a few good stories.

ED: Then you have yet another upcoming film that is GHOST TOWN and since I'm a big fan of western movies myself, I would like to hear about that as well. Also, which is your favorite western movie and why is that?
DJ: YOU CAN LOSE YOUR LIFE IN DEADWOOD BUT YOU CAN LOSE YOUR SOUL IN GHOST TOWN! I came up with that tag line so I hope it is cool and not shitty. I'm so excited about "GHOST TOWN" which is easily my favorite movie to date. It is the rise of a new genre the EASTERN! It is "Wild West" action in the N.C. Smokey Mountains. You have this different gritty that is mountain gritty. Western MEETS "Next of Kin" meaning that out west people were often separated from their families and fought in gangs and in the mountains, people often lived close by one another and fiercely defended their own.

I think this film will bring a cool new understanding of the 1800's hillbilly's that are really more of the romantic western kind of character then stereotypical barefoot and corncob pipe. I'm here to say that this film WILL be the next TOMBSTONE. That is a film that we all loved and we knew if we could come close to that we would be golden. We reunited the two mountain men from "DELIVERANCE" who won "Best Screen Villains of All Time" by Maxim readers in 2005. Herbert Cowboy Coward & Bill McKinney go head to head in this story and it is powerful! Co-Director and Co-Story creator Dean Teaster returned home to Maggie Valley, NC to the former amusement park GHOST TOWN IN THE SKY to shoot. The movie is a tribute to his father who was one of the actors at the western theme park. Several other theme park actors also appear in the film. Many stars worked at the park like Burt Reynolds who met Herbert Cowboy Coward and introduced him to John Boorman. (Dir. "DELIVERANCE")

FAVORITE FILM: The Outlaw Jose Wales WHY?: It ROCKS!

ED: GHOST TOWN stars the 2 guys from DELIVERANCE that you just mentioned as well as XENA's side-kick Renee O'Connor. How was it to work with those people? Were they cool and would you say that you learned anything from them?
DJ: Did I learn anything? DUH! I was preparing the night before to act with Bill McKinney. He plays my father and as I'm reading lines "THE OUTLAW JOSE WALES" came on screen and here is McKinney playing opposite Eastwood. The man is a legend to me like Robert Duvall or Martin Landau. Herbert Cowboy Coward is a huge lesson in just being natural. He is a natural and I'm most excited by the fact that the many, many people who knew Cowboy from the theme park days as "Pappy" or "Old Zeke" as well as the fans of "DELIVERANCE" (His only other movie) will see a full spectrum of him as a man, an actor and as Harmon Teaster, who was an actual folk hero. I wrote the screenplay and so I was able to make that happen. Dean Teaster came up with this idea for this awesome reunion onscreen. It will be very fricken cool! I promise you.

Renee O'Connor..100% professional! I wasn't sure what to expect as this was our first time working together, but the first few phone calls were so chill that it was like talking to one of my close friends. She is dynamic and I think has potential to be that runaway Doc Holiday/Val Kilmer role. She plays a role originally written for a man and added a whole new element to the story. I'm VERY happy about that casting and I would work with her again at the drop of a hat. Is that a hat dropping I hear?

ED: Do you like XENA? If XENA and HERCULES would fight, who would win and why?
DJ: Like? I had a lust maybe for those entrancing eyes and that ass kicking body like on some old AD&D Cover. You dorks out there know what I'm talking about. XENA would win with a mighty kick to Kevin Serbos Pillar of Hercules. Plus Gabrielle would be there to make sure Hercules sidekick doesn't try to save the day.

ED: I thought that THE 8TH PLAGUE was an awesome film. Tell us a little about your experience on the set. Did you enjoy making the film and how do you feel about the finished product?
DJ: I noted earlier that I love the fact that the horror fans for the most part have embraced the film. We won a few festivals and I think made a damn scary film. I love the fact that we made a scary film that takes place during the day! We tried that with "IN THE WOODS" back in the day BUT monsters in the daylight look like Muppets..lesson learned.

The experience on set and off set was awesome. We really had fun together as a group and I really went all out on the intensity and action. I really saw this as a chance to squash critics of some of my soft horror (Knight Chills, From Venus) and go FULL GORE AHEAD! I tried to create a few memorable scenes and I hope I did thanks to everyone's combined work. I can swing an axe with the best of them! So I really made this film for the fans that have stood by me, but maybe the horror films in my past that didn't deliver 100%. I gave everything I had to that film and left it all there on the prison roomfloor..literally. If you liked it..thank you. If you didn't..sorry I'll keep trying.

ED: Is there any special scene in THE 8TH PLAGUE that you consider to be cooler than the rest?
DJ: The scene where.. I can't really say without giving away a spoiler. All I can say is keep your EYES open and you can't miss it!

ED: In THE 8TH PLAGUE you played the role of Mason who had to experience a bloodbath or two. Could you relate to the character somehow and was it a demanding role to play?
DJ: It was demanding in a physical way because I'm a very physical method actor so to speak. I come from a long martial arts background but only use it as a tool not as a genre so..no American Ninja for DJ. Watch in 3 years I'll be in a ninja suit. DAMN!

I can relate to the fact that sometimes it is just GO TIME. DO OR DIE! I'm sure that I have a great reserve of aggression that I can call upon. I'm very much into the whole no drama, stress free Zen thing, but if cornered, I think I would come out swinging like a crazed badger. You want this soul? No dice Jack! That soul is saved and if you want this flesh..come get some. Mason is going to make you earn it!

ED: What is your view on horror films, do you watch a lot of them and what scares you? Which are your favorite horror flicks?
DJ: I like some of the new editing techniques they use and I'm a fan, but not a crazed fan. I guess because I'm not really scared of the man with the hockey mask etc..my personal feeling is a lot of what I put into Mason. It could be a prison inmate with a shank or Jason Voorhees's with a pitchfork. Why run? It is like the character Joe in "PREDATOR". Either you run like a bitch or you stand and fight and maybe the evil franchise ends there. I would love to play the one guy that ends up dropping all these killers. Freddie, Candyman, Chucky, Jason, Hellraiser dude, Blair witch..step right up. It is like Mike Tyson, everyone was afraid to go toe to toe. It is easy to get your throat cut while you are running away or they jump out from around a corner. Bring it Gladiator style and see which monster is better. Man can be one hell of a monster as well.

Two of my favorite horror films are very unconventional.."The Serpent & the Rainbow" and "Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom." Does the latter qualify as a horror film? I think that it should and it does. That darkness is what disturbed mainstream Indiana Jones fans and delighted many horror fans.

ED: Like I said before, you've been in quite a lot of movies as an actor, but at the same time, you've also written and produced a lot of films. What do you prefer doing, do you like it as much behind the camera as in front of it?
DJ: I'm an actor who as a producer isn't at the whim and mercy of others as to what stories I can or cannot tell. I love to help tell other people's stories but it is good to be able to make your own path when needed. I'm an actor first.

I've also directed one project which is the "SUPERMODEL SHOWDOWN: Costa Rica" reality show. They want to pitch our 13 shows to the FOX NETWORK and several other studios in 2007. See supermodelshowdown.com or check it out on . There is a 60-minute on location DVD that was released for sale this year filled with good stuff. As a writer I LOVE to write because it is just you and your imagination and the story unfolds.

ED: Which are the best people you've worked with? I mean have you for instance worked with any actor that you felt you really learnt a lot from?
DJ: I learn from everyone good or bad, but I would have to say if I've taken something away from watching or having scenes with certain people..off the top of my head, Terence Knox in the crime drama "An Ordinary Killer" (Netflix & Amazon) where he just has a real natural flow, Bill McKinney loud intensity, David Carradine & Wes Studi both had silent strength. Rance Howard has a gentle natural energy. Irene Bedard and I would have to say Princess Lucaj my female co-star in "Ghost Town" really moved me with her performances. Renee and I have had great conversations and insights about the biz, same with Bruce Campbell, Dennis Haskins, Tony Becker and the list could go on.

Working with myself and discovering characters and making them real..that is the actor I've learned the most from. Every artist journey is his or her own. It is like dying..you can watch someone die, you can have someone talk about dying but only when you DIE will you truly know what death is all about.

Acting is intimate time with oneself and imagining "what if I was this person?" or "what if I was in this situation?" More people should explore themselves and I'm not talking about porn on the internet.

ED: Looking back on all the films you've been in, which is the one role that you think has been the best and why is that?
DJ: I will exclude "Ghost Town" which is not yet completed and I would have to look back and say of all the other character's I've played maybe John Sunderland in "WICKED SPRING" (See Blockbuster, Hollywood Video) because I got to play a family man with wife and three little girls and then transform this kind dress maker into a soldier and then throw down some gritty action followed by drama and concluding with action. It is not a perfect movie but it had a lot of range and was directed by my Lionheart Filmworks partner Kevin R. Hershberger and shot by talented D.P. Stephen M. Lyons. Check it out ( lionheart-filmworks.com) if you like the Civil War or Historical action/drama.

ED: What does the future hold for you, what do you have coming up after G.P.S. and GHOST TOWN, if anything?
DJ: I had a busy year with releases and finished this comedy "Unconventional: The Movie" just before leaving for the "Ghost Town" shoot. I have another horror film that I agreed to shoot in Jan. 07 entitled "MURDER AT HOLLOW'S POINTE". I'm signed on this Deadwood movie "The Hard Ride" as Wild Bill's killer Jack McCall followed by a small role on a Michael Madsen film by the same producer.

The UK horror film "The Book" is on track for September and I just read the new script and it is very good. Other then that we will probably do one or two films ourselves. I've actually been flooded with scripts for potential projects and so I'm grateful to have choices.

ED: Anything else that you would like to add and say to the readers before we wrap this one up?
DJ: I do want to thank all the fans out there and I do sincerely hope that one of these films hits you just right. I've had some bum reviews early on because of script, FX, inexperience with acting but things have been really changing over the last decade of films. I also want to thank Evil Dread and websites that review and give much needed exposure to these movies that a large group of artists put their blood, sweat and tears into. You can have a great time making a bad film but it is so much more rewarding when someone truly enjoys a performance, a certain line of dialogue or an entire story. Thank you so much!

ED: Major thanks for all the answers, it was an honor. Best of luck with things to come!
DJ: Happy holidays and let's all hope to have a great 2007 at the movies!