You have to hand it to Kevin Smith- after 20 years in the industry, he still isn’t afraid to take any chances as a filmmaker. His latest, Tusk, looks to be an entirely new (and wickedly creepy) direction that features performances from Michael Parks, Justin Long, Genesis Rodriguez and Haley Joel Osment.

While at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, Daily Dead had the opportunity to sit down and chat exclusively with writer/director Smith and Rodriguez about the film and what we can expect when Tusk is released on September 19th, 2014 by A24 Pictures.

Tell me a little bit about your character and how she fits into this world we see in Tusk?

Genesis Rodriguez: Well, I’m kind of this girlfriend who has been a bit abandoned by this successful podcaster, so I’m in this world, but not really part of it at the same time. He goes off to do one of his normal trips and doesn’t call back for three days, which never happens. So when that happens, I have go and find him with the help of Teddy- that’s Haley (Joel Osment)- who thinks Justin’s just pulling a prank. But I know better, of course.

So it’s really cool that Tusk is kind of like two mini-movies in that you have what’s going on with Justin and what’s going on with our characters separately. And eventually, those two mini-movies come together right around the time when Justin is becoming the walrus.

Does Justin end up going “Full Walrus” then? Does Tusk get that dark and was that a huge appeal for you as a performer since this seems so different than your previous work?

Genesis Rodriguez: It goes there. I remember the first time we were all together and we watched it and I just sat there shaking. And honestly, the trailer we released is really only about 20 percent of the movie.

So for me, it always starts with the script. I always chase good scripts. And what happened with Tusk was that, because I started reading the script at around 1:30 AM, I didn’t go to sleep that night at all. It was so beautifully written and just so messed up at the same time too, I knew I needed to be a part of this movie.

It’s really great to speak with you today, Kevin. I’ve been a huge fan since Clerks and I really enjoyed Red State- it made me an instant Michael Parks fan.

Kevin Smith: If you were a fan of Parks after Red State, we owe that to Quentin and Robert (Rodriguez) because the first time I ever saw Michael was in From Dusk Till Dawn in 1995 at the Sunset Laemmle 6. Bob (Weinstein) asked me if I wanted to see their new movie and I was like, “Fuck yeah, especially for free (laughs)!” so Scott Mosier and I went and saw it there.

And I was unfamiliar with Michael’s work at the time. I had never seen Here Comes Bronson and I watched Twin Peaks, but I don’t think it clicked with me that it was him at the time. So we were watching the first few minutes of the movie and it was like discovering Yoda. This dude was making choices I had never seen another actor make; he was instantly captivating, speaking in a way that no normal movie person ever speaks. The way he spoke and his mannerisms just drew you in, and I was like, “Oh my god, what would it be like to work with a guy like that?” to Scott. I always followed his work after that, but I never had anything for him to do before Red State. What was he going to do, play Silent Bob’s grandpa?

But then when Red State happened, I thought that I could write that role just for him. While I loved working with him on Red State, I feel like I kind of fucked Parks out of any kind of the propers he deserved for his work on the film. Because there was such a circus surrounding the film and its release, that immediately divided a lot of people. It came down to this mentality where a lot of cats were like, “You either like Kevin Smith or you don’t, end of story” and there was never any discussion about some of the really wonderful aspects of Red State because of that. Because I was out there all the time saying, “Look at me, look at my movie, look at what we’re doing,” that took a lot of the focus off Michael’s acting propers because I really believe he should have gotten more accolades. But how’s that going to happen when I’m out there, going “Fuck critics!” (laughs)? It’s not and I totally get that.

I felt like really bad over the last few years about all of what happened with Red State and were it not for me, Michael might have had his chance to get recognized for the amazing work that he did on the film. So I always wanted to something else for him and I had this massive role written for him for this other project called Hit Somebody, but then that became a mini-series. Then episode 259 of the Smodcast happened and we were talking about this human/walrus idea. I realized that was going to be the ‘cuddly’ version of The Human Centipede, so I knew this was going to be a super-fucked up idea that needed someone who could go to those dark places. That’s when I quickly realized that the Old Man could be Parks.

I didn’t want to make movies anymore after Red State and not in a shitty, spoiled brat kind of way either. It was more like I just didn’t have anything else to say or I had used up my personal life experiences, so I didn’t have anything there to use anymore. Happy people don’t make good art, so I wasn’t going to make a good movie because I was happy. Plus after Cop Out, I didn’t enjoy that experience at all, so I just didn’t want to be a part of any of it. But this conversation about Tusk is what brought me back as a storyteller because, after talking about the idea, I was sad that no one was ever going to make this wonderfully disturbing and creepy-as-hell movie. So I talked myself into it, like I talked myself into Clerks back in the day. I thought that if this is a movie you want to see and no one else is going to make it, well then, you better go and make it yourself then. So I did.

Look for more exclusively on Tusk in the upcoming premiere issue of DEADLY - Horror & Sci-Fi Magazine this September!

 

  • Heather Wixson
    About the Author - Heather Wixson

    Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.