Did you email/PM David for those specific Q&As, or cull through past interviews, like I did for that old unused FAQ? [img]cool.gif[/img]
Q. What are some groups/albums/artists etc. that capture the same mellow folk vibe and sound as your Last House On The Left soundtrack. What/who were some of the albums/artists you were listening to then?
A. My roots have always been in Folk/Rock/Jazz. No particular influences except the artists of the day and those that led the way during the early developmental periods. I was schooled by my mother, she being a working opera singer and attended Julliard for 2years while at Columbia Univ. So my education and exposure are pretty much to everything. I guess from a technical view point you'd have to say classical, but I never used the form classically. The whole counterpoint idea was mine, meaning that Wes and Sean likes the feeling of music going opposite of what was on the screen, so they let me go with it. Contemporary influences...Bix Beiderbecke, Huddy Leadbetter, Dave Brubeck, Astrid and Jao Gilberto, Pete Seeger, Dvorak, Aaron Copeland, Most of the Musicals of the 50's and 60's and I could keep on going. When one writes, usually in some fashion the hot artists and hot sounds always creep into the composition, but to say that I was actively influenced by my peers would be a misstatement.
Q. Where I can get tabs for the song "Wait for the rain"?
A. I never did any tabs for 'Wait for the Rain.
Q. Where can I purchase a copy of Last House On The Left.
A. Try anywhere. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Q Where can I order the LHOTL soundtrack?
A. You can order the CD here:
http://www.rocketcityrecords.com/cgi...ess_merch.html
Q How do you feel your two Italian films 'Hitch-hike' and 'House by the Edge of the Park' compare to 'Last house'? Do you like these italian movies?
How did you find Ruggero Deadato to work with? I hear he demands a lot.
A. 'Last House' was done on a shoe string...It was basically our first film, I mean for all of us and as such we really bonded together. This makes for great realism and repertory. As for the Italian Productions...I came in as someone who was known in Europe as a 'horror film' actor, so, Yes, the budgets were a little higher and the treatment a little more comfortable. The scripts were generally well written and working with Franco and Corinne was absolutely wonderful. Festa-Campanile let us do our thing and we clicked as a trio. I think that's what made the film so believable. 'House on the Edge' was similar, but, then, Ruggero's shooting style was different then Pasquale's. Ruggero was looking for that 'dolce vita' corruption and I think he found it. The film is still disturbing for me in so far as the way people take advantage of each other. The characters are all a bunch of 'sociopaths' and as such Ruggero struck oil. Working with him is great. We fight like hell and he's always accusing me of being in it only for the money...But I think deep down he knows that's not true and he's basically pulling my leg. He's a true master of horror, both physical and psychological. And yes, he can be a tyrant sometimes, but that's how he gets what he wants. The trick is not to take his work habits too seriously. He is easily insulted if he thinks one is taking advantage of him, as most intellectuals are. We've had an on going relationship for years...sometimes absent for years. I'm very pleased that people have rediscovered the 'trilogy'.
Q. Will we ever get to see it in its uncut and uncensored entirety once again?
A. The uncut version no longer exists.
Q. .David, when you played the psychopathic characters in the so-called trilogy (Last House, House on Edge of Park, and Hitchhike), how much of it was summoned from within you and how much did you take from what was in the culture around you? I know that Manson was very much in the news at the time "Last House" was being made, and I wonder if you incorporated anything from people like that? (I know Ms. Rain's character was named "Sadie" ala Susan Atkins perhaps?). Psychopaths of that stripe weren't as ubiquitous then as they are now, but they were certainly in the news at the time and I'm wondering if they had any effect of your characterization? Or was it completely a self-invention?
A. I believe that some kind of redeeming quality can be found in even the most darkest of personalities. That's what I always look for when I play a baddie and I'll continue to do so. We can't help but be influenced by the media...it's endemic. What we can do is show the horror/sociopathic behavior in such a way that people are turned off by it. This to me at the core level is anti-violent. I don't know what else to say. I play baddies because that's what I get cast as, but it's not my life and it's not me. Granted we need to find a way of doing away with all types of violence, but isn't it better to present it, study it, depict it in the long run, rather then push it under the rug and pretend that it doesn't exist at all? A life long question for me!
Q. What are a few of the things you miss most about the 70's?
A. Most importantly I missed the honesty of the 60's. I think that there was much more confusion, maybe it had to do with the state of the world. We came out of the 60's...Viet Nam etc, Nixon, and we wanted to make things right. Kennedy's death put an end to our childhood. Hurt we were, but we wrote about it, talked about it, acted on it, travelled with it and dreamt along with everyone else of a new begining, tear down the barriers, 'let's get together'. At the same time those of us that didn't sell out to the multi-nationals became part of the disenfranchised. Sooo, we had no choice...we had to remain true to our goals or get swept up in the rush to materialism. I remember when 'last house' hit the theaters how misinterpreted it was and how vilified I was. Everyone thought I had to be that character. In a matter of weeks I had lost my record contract and got fired by my agent. I think what got to me the most is that instead of life imitating art...art began to imitate life. PACKAGING...it invaded everything. Music, Film, Dance, Theater etc. There was less spontaneity, more flash, less involvement, more splash. I went to Europe in 1972 and it hadn't been effected by the 'american way', but you could feel it coming. The studios began to gobble up the independents, the big publishers/record companies gobbled up the small and you could just feel the cult of the personality over running the 'creative process'. It hasn't changed a whit...we're still in the middle of it although I see a light at the end of the tunnel. The 60's were the light before the tunnel and we've had tunnel vision ever since. When the leading world power still has a presidential vote decided by an 'electoral college' that was put into place long before the advent of the industrial revolution, instead of simple majority it says reams about the system. We have been a nation of selection by committee for too long. We have no system in place to support the arts. The artist cannot survive in this country without selling out to the masses...hence the loss of honesty. The 60's were the 60's because they resonated what people felt. Once the door is closed on that kind of 'honesty' it's hard to get it to open again.
Q. Does anyone have a full list of David's movies?
A. Check www.IMBD.com
Q. Under the pseydonym David Hill, is it true you have written songs for Elvis.
A. I write for myself, Elvis just happened to like some of my stuff. [img]wink.gif[/img]
Q. What would your dream electric guitar be?
A. Vinnie Bell circa 1960' or 2nd choice a 1935 Epiphone grand.
Q. What was it like working again w/ Wes Craven on Swamp Thing.
A. He was preoccupied, many production problems. We didn't really get a chance to interact. Other than that it was a blast. It was one of the few roles that was comedic, that I did, that had that side to it. He's very efficient. He understands directing.
Did you email/PM David for those specific Q&As, or cull through past interviews, like I did for that old unused FAQ? [img]cool.gif[/img]
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Got them from q's asked here on the mb. [img]smile.gif[/img]Originally posted by reved:
Did you email/PM David for those specific Q&As, or cull through past interviews, like I did for that old unused FAQ? [img]cool.gif[/img]
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