Tonight at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival, Jason Krawczyk’s He Never Died premieres at midnight and Daily Dead had the distinct pleasure of recently speaking to the film’s star, Henry Rollins, about this harrowing look at cannibalism and immortality in advance. Rollins chatted about his interest in the project, the difficulties of getting into the mindset of a character who is immortal and how this film may only be the start for his character if all goes well.
It’s so great to speak with you today, Henry- the film looks really fantastic. What was it about this project that initially hooked you?
Henry Rollins: The script was what got me. I had never read anything like it before. This lovely woman, my agent who has been bossing me around for decades now and is someone I implicitly trust, sent me the script one day and told me I had to read it right then. She knows me pretty well so I knew I should do what she told me and so I read it and was immediately hooked. It floored me and when I finished, I called her to tell her I loved it. She said, “I know. I’ve already booked you a meeting with the director and the producer for tomorrow so you need to go and meet with them.” She knew before I knew.
So these guys just happened to be in New York at that time so I went and met with them and we all immediately hit it off. We talked a lot about the script and I admitted to Jason that when I read it, I laughed pretty much the entire way through and I wasn’t sure how he was going to take that just because I wasn’t sure if the humor was necessarily intended that way. Thankfully, Jason’s also a guy with messed up sensibilities and he did want to make people laugh with this story and I knew he was going to be a great person to get to collaborate with.
A lot of times when horror films are dealing with cannibalism, we often see more surreal and over-the-top approaches to the concept. He Never Died seems to be anything but that, though.
Henry Rollins: Yeah, this isn’t what I would call a “blood sprayer” by any means. It’s very understated and there is some graphic stuff but what makes the movie so damn good is that it’s realistically awful in the best possible way. Jason was really savvy about how he shot this film- we downplay seeing most of the violence onscreen so that when I go off to kill, you’re left to imagine the horrors that are happening offscreen. That’s not to say there aren’t a few gory moments in He Never Died but that wasn’t the intention of this film at all. It’s more about this character than anything and you don’t need to see tons of blood and guts to understand the story.
How do you get into the head of a guy like this then?
Henry Rollins: You know, Jack isn’t a guy who ever really loses control or even raises his voice. He’s very much in control and he finds violence to be somewhat dull even. It’s only something he does in order to survive, there’s no pleasure in it for him at all. To him, pouring a cup of coffee is the same as killing a person- it’s what you do in order to survive. And he’s just a guy who has become so bored by living for so long, the only real ambitions he has is getting up every day, eating his vegetarian dinner at the local diner and trying to finish up whatever episode of Star Trek he may be watching that night. That’s all that’s left in Jack’s life at this point.
And that’s the thing- this guy is just so bored. He can’t die and something like that can really affect how you view the world and humanity, which is almost intrinsically comedic, but it’s also something none of us can ever really understand. I played the part and I’m not sure if I still have fully wrapped my head around Jack just because how could I possibly ever know that feeling? We all live our lives with mortality hanging over us so when you remove that fear, where would your mind go? That’s a lot of great stuff to be able to dig into as an actor- I mean, when you have a 150 page script that’s about someone who can’t die, it truly allows to explore some intriguing existential moments as a performer.
How was it working the project with Jason and the rest of the cast?
Henry Rollins: There are some gigs or roles in your career that when you’re done, you don’t want to leave them and He Never Died was exactly that. I hated leaving this character behind and saying goodbye to everyone who worked on the film. What’s cool is that Jason has written more for this character, even some stuff for television, so I know this is a concept that we’re all hoping we can reunite for soon and get back into this world because there’s so many funny and insane ideas that Jason has for him, it would be great to see this guy’s story live on beyond the film.
But it’s out of our hands though so it’s really up to audiences and fans to support it so I’m hoping the folks at SXSW will enjoy it so that we can all collaborate again. And I’ve done a lot of cool things in my career but He Never Died is probably one of my favorite experiences that I’ve ever had and I hope everything that made this experience so special for me- and all of us, really- comes across on the screen.
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.
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
