Tim Sullivan, the man from South Planfield New Jersey. Producer of
such films as Detroit Rock City and director of the recent 2001 Maniacs
was Born on July 2nd 1964. He's had many jobs in his lifetime and now
his name is known all over to fans of the horror genre
such films as Detroit Rock City and director of the recent 2001 Maniacs
was Born on July 2nd 1964. He's had many jobs in his lifetime and now
his name is known all over to fans of the horror genre
HF: Tell us what made you choose 2001 Maniacs as your directorial debut.
Tim: I had just finished producing Detroit Rock City, which was a dream come true,
and I was looking for my next project, and I had a production office, and some guy
named Chris Kobin out of the blue comes into the office, and we just immediately
connected. We couldn't be more different; I'm a single guy, an overgrown kid,
playing with his models and toys and stuff, and here he is, about five years older than
me, stable, a wife and two kids. But he was a producer, and very good friends with
Russ Meyer. Russ Meyer had introduced him to Herschell Gordon Lewis and Dave
Friedman, and this was at a time when they were remaking the films of William Castle
- Bob Zemeckis and Joel Silver had just done "House on Haunted Hill," and getting
ready to do "13 Ghosts." Remakes were suddenly in vogue, and Chris comes up to
me and says, "Guess what? I got the rights to remake the films of Herschell Gordon
Lewis. I thought, you know, I can't say that those films are the "Citizen Kane" of
horror films, but they certainly are notorious. There's a certain audacious spirit in
them that I always respected.
They always went over-the-top, but always with a tongue in cheek, and I thought,
you know what - that's a great idea for a remake. But instead of taking "2000
Maniacs" and trying to make it , you know, a horror version of "Cold Mountain," the
idea was to keep that tongue in cheek, keep that spirit true, definitely improve upon
the story and the characters and the filmmaking, but keep that bravado intact and
keep the joke intact, do it down and dirty on an independent level, and do something
like Peter Jackson did, with "Dead Alive," or Sam Raimi did with the first "Evil Dead." I
thought that would be a fun combination. I felt, looking at the current state of horror
through the 1990s, that horror became a corporate production – what I call it a
“cock tease movie”. Films like Scream, I Know What you Did Last Summer and Urban
Legend. Where you have a FOX or WB star on hiatus from a television show for a
week so they make a horror movie, and when I go and see a horror movie I want to
see Freddy, Jason or Michael Myers – not some actress who’s been in Melrose Place
or whatever.
HF: Growing up, what horror films really inspired you?
Tim: God, there so many… Let’s see, THE EXORCIST is number one. Then, in no
particular order: NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, HALLOWEEN, SUSPIRIA, HORROR
HOTEL, WICKER MAN, THE HAUNTING (original), THE OMEN, ROSEMARY’S BABY,
RETURN OF LIVING DEAD, CARNIVAL OF SOULS, POLTERGEIST, HORROR OF
DRACULA… The list could go on and on. I mean, I started out reading FAMOUS
MONSTERS and loving the old black and white classics. Then came FANGORIA and my
teenage years and Bam- Splatter took over. And, yeah – I was a big fan of Herschell
Gordon Lewis. He created a type of film that you don’t see much of anymore. We’re
talking about going back to the drive in cinemas of the early sixties, where you
needed something that could compete with television. I think that the film experience
has lost something since then – sitting watching a video is just not the same.
Can you even imagine seeing the original Two Thousand Maniacs in a drive in? I like
the idea of a film being an “event”. Back in the early eighties, back when there was no
cable... I’d have to try and find a midnight showing somewhere to see TWO
THOUSAND MANIACS. It was an adventure to track down a great Herschell Gordon
Lewis movie, and you’d watch it and think, “Oh my God, they didn’t just do that, did
they?” The more work that was involved finding it meant the greater the reward. Part
of the appeal was the inaccessibility – whereas now you can just go on Netflix and
have virtually any movie delivered right to your door.
HF: Tell us about the casting process for 2001 Maniacs. Was it difficult to find the
perfect cast?
Tim: I was working at New Line Cinema and had always run into Robert Englund at
the Christmas parties. Everybody thought we were a little crazy. They’d be off singing
Christmas carols and Robert and I would be off by ourselves in some corner talking
about Dario Argento movies. Our friendship developed, I wound up interviewing him
for a couple of magazines and then I ran into him at the Saturn Awards. That’s where
I asked him if I could create the role of Mayor Buckman for him in 2001 Maniacs. I
described the movie as horror/comedy, a little like Lil’ Abner on Acid and Robert loved
that take on it. Of course that was so helpful because Chris Kobin and I were able to
write the script with Robert acting out the part of Mayor Buckman in our heads.
Whenever we’d get stuck we’d just throw our best Robert impressions at each other.
It brought a lot of energy to the process because we knew him well enough to
imagine how he’d approach certain things. When he finally got the script he said “Oh
my God I feel like somebody just tailor made a suit for me.” So once Robert Englund
was on board, I was free to cast newcomers who truly were the best for the roles. I
wanted young, fresh faces. They all fell into place in a matter of weeks. And, of
course, I knew Lin Shaye and Giuseppe Andrews from DETROIT ROCK CITY and
wanted to work with them again.
HF: How did you hook up with Eli Roth on the project?
Tim: John Landis introduced us. I’d been friends with John for years, I was a PA on
COMING TO AMERICA, and one day John tells me about this guy who just made a
horror movie called CABIN FEVER that’s sick and twisted and I’d probably love it- and
this guy Eli knows as much about horror movies as me and how would I like to hang
out with Him, Eli and Ray Harryhausen! So next thing I know, I’m hanging with John
Landis, Ray Harryhausen and Eli Roth- sitting on a couch holding the original KING
KONG armature! Well, Eli and I hit it off immediately. CABIN FEVER was coming out,
Eli had just formed raw Nerve- I had the MANIACS project ready to go- Eli said he
would get Raw Nerve to co-fund it along with Chris Tuffin and BloodWorks (my other
producers)- and dammit, he did just that! Eli is one of the few people in this town that
made me a promise and kept to it.
HF: Your film credits are all over the map. What role is your favorite when working on
a project?
Tim: My favorite part of the filmmaking process is working with the actors. These are
the people who bring your characters to life. It’s like they’re your children, and you
become very protective. You fall in love with each and every single one of them.
Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between the actor and the character, especially
when the actors are kicking as much ass as they did in MANIACS. It’s really true. My
drama teacher used to say, “There are no small parts. Just small actors.” Every
character in 2001 MANIACS from Buckman to the Blacksmith was equally important
and equally perfect. The cast ranged from newcomers like Jay Gillespie and Marla
Malcolm (who played the lead “Guests of Honor”) to old pros like Matt Carey and
Mushond Lee, who though young, have had a lot of screen experience. I think the
“newbies” brought a freshness and energy that really pumped everybody else up. This
was a tough shot. Only 22 days. Actors had to deal with a lot of uncomfortable
make-up and death scenes. Every one of the eight lead Guests of Honor had to have
full head casts. A lot of nakedness in ice cold weather. But everybody was game and
made what could have been very grueling a helluva lot of fun.
HF: Do you have any projects in the works at the moment?
Tim: I just finished up a supernatural teen thriller called DRIFTWOOD. Mike Richardson
produced it for Dark Horse Indie, the new film division of the comic book company
that did HELL BOY, ALIEN VS PREDATOR, THE MASK and SIN CITY. It’s a total 180
from MANIACS. Character driven, subtle, and creepy rather than gory. I guess if
MANIACS represents my guts, DRIFTWOOD represents my heart. It stars Ricky
Ullman (PHIL OF THE FUTURE) as a kid obsessed with death who is tossed into this
Attitude Adjustment Camp for Troubled Youths run by a total prick played by
Diamond Dallas Page and his young sidekick, Talan Torriero from MTV’s LAGUNA
BEACH. Turns out the place is haunted by the ghost of a boy who may or may not
have been murdered. We just screened it for Dark Horse, and they were so pleased
they are putting the movie out in a limited theatrical release next Fall.
HF: What in your opinion is the worst horror film of all time and why?
Tim: Hmmm…. That’s tough, because sometimes the bad ones are the most fun –
just because they are bad. I guess for me, the worst horror films are the super slick
Hollywood “products” that are made by committee and have no soul. What comes to
mind as a perfect example is VAN HELSING, because that just took a legacy of horror
and shit all over it with nothing but profit in mind. I’d take a low budget Ed Wood film
any day over that crap.
HF: Any words on horror films today? Anything you'd like to see change, or anything
you really enjoy?
Tim: No more remakes of great 70’s and 80’s horror movies! No more prequels!
(FREDDY BEGINS… LEATHERFACE BEGINS… PINHEAD BEGINS…) No more watered
down PG13 horror! No more horror movies about video games, video tapes or the
internet!
HF: Is there anything you'd like to say to the fans of 2001 Maniacs?
Tim: We really tried to mix it up with this stew we call 2001 MANIACS. If we made
you laugh, turned you on and grossed you out- It was all worth it and we did our job!
So thanks for being a FANIAC- without you, there is no us!
Tim: I had just finished producing Detroit Rock City, which was a dream come true,
and I was looking for my next project, and I had a production office, and some guy
named Chris Kobin out of the blue comes into the office, and we just immediately
connected. We couldn't be more different; I'm a single guy, an overgrown kid,
playing with his models and toys and stuff, and here he is, about five years older than
me, stable, a wife and two kids. But he was a producer, and very good friends with
Russ Meyer. Russ Meyer had introduced him to Herschell Gordon Lewis and Dave
Friedman, and this was at a time when they were remaking the films of William Castle
- Bob Zemeckis and Joel Silver had just done "House on Haunted Hill," and getting
ready to do "13 Ghosts." Remakes were suddenly in vogue, and Chris comes up to
me and says, "Guess what? I got the rights to remake the films of Herschell Gordon
Lewis. I thought, you know, I can't say that those films are the "Citizen Kane" of
horror films, but they certainly are notorious. There's a certain audacious spirit in
them that I always respected.
They always went over-the-top, but always with a tongue in cheek, and I thought,
you know what - that's a great idea for a remake. But instead of taking "2000
Maniacs" and trying to make it , you know, a horror version of "Cold Mountain," the
idea was to keep that tongue in cheek, keep that spirit true, definitely improve upon
the story and the characters and the filmmaking, but keep that bravado intact and
keep the joke intact, do it down and dirty on an independent level, and do something
like Peter Jackson did, with "Dead Alive," or Sam Raimi did with the first "Evil Dead." I
thought that would be a fun combination. I felt, looking at the current state of horror
through the 1990s, that horror became a corporate production – what I call it a
“cock tease movie”. Films like Scream, I Know What you Did Last Summer and Urban
Legend. Where you have a FOX or WB star on hiatus from a television show for a
week so they make a horror movie, and when I go and see a horror movie I want to
see Freddy, Jason or Michael Myers – not some actress who’s been in Melrose Place
or whatever.
HF: Growing up, what horror films really inspired you?
Tim: God, there so many… Let’s see, THE EXORCIST is number one. Then, in no
particular order: NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, HALLOWEEN, SUSPIRIA, HORROR
HOTEL, WICKER MAN, THE HAUNTING (original), THE OMEN, ROSEMARY’S BABY,
RETURN OF LIVING DEAD, CARNIVAL OF SOULS, POLTERGEIST, HORROR OF
DRACULA… The list could go on and on. I mean, I started out reading FAMOUS
MONSTERS and loving the old black and white classics. Then came FANGORIA and my
teenage years and Bam- Splatter took over. And, yeah – I was a big fan of Herschell
Gordon Lewis. He created a type of film that you don’t see much of anymore. We’re
talking about going back to the drive in cinemas of the early sixties, where you
needed something that could compete with television. I think that the film experience
has lost something since then – sitting watching a video is just not the same.
Can you even imagine seeing the original Two Thousand Maniacs in a drive in? I like
the idea of a film being an “event”. Back in the early eighties, back when there was no
cable... I’d have to try and find a midnight showing somewhere to see TWO
THOUSAND MANIACS. It was an adventure to track down a great Herschell Gordon
Lewis movie, and you’d watch it and think, “Oh my God, they didn’t just do that, did
they?” The more work that was involved finding it meant the greater the reward. Part
of the appeal was the inaccessibility – whereas now you can just go on Netflix and
have virtually any movie delivered right to your door.
HF: Tell us about the casting process for 2001 Maniacs. Was it difficult to find the
perfect cast?
Tim: I was working at New Line Cinema and had always run into Robert Englund at
the Christmas parties. Everybody thought we were a little crazy. They’d be off singing
Christmas carols and Robert and I would be off by ourselves in some corner talking
about Dario Argento movies. Our friendship developed, I wound up interviewing him
for a couple of magazines and then I ran into him at the Saturn Awards. That’s where
I asked him if I could create the role of Mayor Buckman for him in 2001 Maniacs. I
described the movie as horror/comedy, a little like Lil’ Abner on Acid and Robert loved
that take on it. Of course that was so helpful because Chris Kobin and I were able to
write the script with Robert acting out the part of Mayor Buckman in our heads.
Whenever we’d get stuck we’d just throw our best Robert impressions at each other.
It brought a lot of energy to the process because we knew him well enough to
imagine how he’d approach certain things. When he finally got the script he said “Oh
my God I feel like somebody just tailor made a suit for me.” So once Robert Englund
was on board, I was free to cast newcomers who truly were the best for the roles. I
wanted young, fresh faces. They all fell into place in a matter of weeks. And, of
course, I knew Lin Shaye and Giuseppe Andrews from DETROIT ROCK CITY and
wanted to work with them again.
HF: How did you hook up with Eli Roth on the project?
Tim: John Landis introduced us. I’d been friends with John for years, I was a PA on
COMING TO AMERICA, and one day John tells me about this guy who just made a
horror movie called CABIN FEVER that’s sick and twisted and I’d probably love it- and
this guy Eli knows as much about horror movies as me and how would I like to hang
out with Him, Eli and Ray Harryhausen! So next thing I know, I’m hanging with John
Landis, Ray Harryhausen and Eli Roth- sitting on a couch holding the original KING
KONG armature! Well, Eli and I hit it off immediately. CABIN FEVER was coming out,
Eli had just formed raw Nerve- I had the MANIACS project ready to go- Eli said he
would get Raw Nerve to co-fund it along with Chris Tuffin and BloodWorks (my other
producers)- and dammit, he did just that! Eli is one of the few people in this town that
made me a promise and kept to it.
HF: Your film credits are all over the map. What role is your favorite when working on
a project?
Tim: My favorite part of the filmmaking process is working with the actors. These are
the people who bring your characters to life. It’s like they’re your children, and you
become very protective. You fall in love with each and every single one of them.
Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between the actor and the character, especially
when the actors are kicking as much ass as they did in MANIACS. It’s really true. My
drama teacher used to say, “There are no small parts. Just small actors.” Every
character in 2001 MANIACS from Buckman to the Blacksmith was equally important
and equally perfect. The cast ranged from newcomers like Jay Gillespie and Marla
Malcolm (who played the lead “Guests of Honor”) to old pros like Matt Carey and
Mushond Lee, who though young, have had a lot of screen experience. I think the
“newbies” brought a freshness and energy that really pumped everybody else up. This
was a tough shot. Only 22 days. Actors had to deal with a lot of uncomfortable
make-up and death scenes. Every one of the eight lead Guests of Honor had to have
full head casts. A lot of nakedness in ice cold weather. But everybody was game and
made what could have been very grueling a helluva lot of fun.
HF: Do you have any projects in the works at the moment?
Tim: I just finished up a supernatural teen thriller called DRIFTWOOD. Mike Richardson
produced it for Dark Horse Indie, the new film division of the comic book company
that did HELL BOY, ALIEN VS PREDATOR, THE MASK and SIN CITY. It’s a total 180
from MANIACS. Character driven, subtle, and creepy rather than gory. I guess if
MANIACS represents my guts, DRIFTWOOD represents my heart. It stars Ricky
Ullman (PHIL OF THE FUTURE) as a kid obsessed with death who is tossed into this
Attitude Adjustment Camp for Troubled Youths run by a total prick played by
Diamond Dallas Page and his young sidekick, Talan Torriero from MTV’s LAGUNA
BEACH. Turns out the place is haunted by the ghost of a boy who may or may not
have been murdered. We just screened it for Dark Horse, and they were so pleased
they are putting the movie out in a limited theatrical release next Fall.
HF: What in your opinion is the worst horror film of all time and why?
Tim: Hmmm…. That’s tough, because sometimes the bad ones are the most fun –
just because they are bad. I guess for me, the worst horror films are the super slick
Hollywood “products” that are made by committee and have no soul. What comes to
mind as a perfect example is VAN HELSING, because that just took a legacy of horror
and shit all over it with nothing but profit in mind. I’d take a low budget Ed Wood film
any day over that crap.
HF: Any words on horror films today? Anything you'd like to see change, or anything
you really enjoy?
Tim: No more remakes of great 70’s and 80’s horror movies! No more prequels!
(FREDDY BEGINS… LEATHERFACE BEGINS… PINHEAD BEGINS…) No more watered
down PG13 horror! No more horror movies about video games, video tapes or the
internet!
HF: Is there anything you'd like to say to the fans of 2001 Maniacs?
Tim: We really tried to mix it up with this stew we call 2001 MANIACS. If we made
you laugh, turned you on and grossed you out- It was all worth it and we did our job!
So thanks for being a FANIAC- without you, there is no us!
For more information on 2001 Maniacs you may feel free to view these sites-
2001 Maniacs @ Amazon.com
2001 Maniacs Myspace Page
2001 Maniacs Trailer @ Myspace.com
2001 Maniacs @ Amazon.com
2001 Maniacs Myspace Page
2001 Maniacs Trailer @ Myspace.com
The End!
Interview done by:
Michelle Fatale
Michelle Fatale