FANTASTIC FEST '10 PODCAST: Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs

It has been a quarter century since filmmaker Stuart Gordon and actor Jeffrey Combs first collaborated on the manically clever horror-comedy Re-Animator, a mad-scientist cult favorite that many believe to be the seminal film adaptation of legendary author H.P. Lovecraft's work. Together, Gordon and Combs share an eccentric oeuvre of grim and gory curiosities, such as From Beyond (which, in addition to Re-Animator, was screened at Fantastic Fest 2010), Fortress, Castle Freak, and The Black Cat—an episode of the "Masters of Horror" TV anthology starring Combs as gothic scribe Edgar Allan Poe. Most recently, the two have returned to their stage roots with Nevermore, a funny-sad, one-man play with Combs reprising his Poe before a live audience:

Dennis Paoli wrote the play, using a compilation of historical accounts, actual monologues, articles, letters and Poe's own words to construct the definitive portrait of American's most famous macabre poet. The play ran for months in Los Angeles and received unanimously glowing reviews. After seeing the show in November, we immediately invited Jeffrey Combs and director Stuart Gordon to come to Austin for this year's Fantastic Fest. Although not a film, NEVERMORE was the very first show booked for this year's festival.

I sat down with Gordon and Combs at the Highball (Austin's combination restaurant, karaoke bar and bowling alley) to discuss their tag team's origin story, the trick to adapting Lovecraft's thorny tales, peculiar reactions audiences have had to Nevermore, and how a Re-Animator joke I made with Gordon two years ago has since become a reality.

To listen to the podcast, click here. (17:49)

Podcast Music
INTRO: Richard Band: "Re-Animator (prologue)"
OUTRO: The Vaselines: "Lovecraft"

Posted by ahillis at October 3, 2010 12:48 PM