Professional wrestler Chris Jericho interviewed Monday, September 28, 2009, while driving through New York.

Hello?

Yeah, can I speak to Chris?

You got him.

Hey Chris, this is Patrick Douglas. How you doing?

Good, how you doing?

Pretty good. You up for an interview?

Yeah, just doing a whole bunch of them in a row so ready to rock it.

Where are you today?

I’m driving up to Albany, New York.

I’m in the great state of Montana.

Oh. Of course, absolutely. Nice state.

I know you’re familiar with the area having spent so much time in Alberta through the years.

Yeah.

Just so you know, my three-year-old is around. He’s pretty good when I’m on the phone.

No problem. I have a couple three year olds myself.

As you know, they’re unpredictable so you just try your hardest to keep ‘em in line.

No problem at all.

How did you get involved with ‘Albino Farm?’

It was actually funny. I was actually doing a costume, Halloween costume bit on a morning show in Tampa with my son and the host of the show was a guy called Sean McEwen who also wrote and directed ‘Albino Farm.’ We just started talking and shooting the breeze and the next thing you know he said ‘I’ve got this script, you should check it out.’ I read it and the part of Levi really stood out. It’s kind of a cool, interesting part in the middle of this weird, strange movie and I guess it all started from there.

What was it about the story that piqued your interest?

I’ve seen hundreds of horror movies and read a lot of scripts for horror movies, most of them bad and the thing with Sean’s script was that it was a little more cerebral than most horror movies. There was a religious context and a little bit more social commentary behind it. Not to get too philosophical. Things I’ve never seen before in a horror movie. Some of the gory parts and the setups for it. I just enjoyed the part of what Levi was which was kind of the venus flytrap. He kind of brings normal people into this crazy world of mutants or whatever you wanna call ‘em. Levi was kind of in between both worlds and thought I could really have fun with it and make some choices with this really strange character that people wouldn’t expect Chris Jericho to play.

It definitely reminded me of the glory days of the horror movie from the ‘80s. The low budget, kids get lost in a creepy off the beaten path kind of situation. How excited were you to be a part of a classic horror film like this?

Like I said, I was excited to be involved in it because I’ve kind of been picky through my short acting career to not choose things that are sort of generic or stereotypical. Like Jericho the cop or Jericho the bouncer or whatever you might expect me to play in a movie. I love the fact that this costume that Levi has and the choices that I made with the facial ticks, it is kind of a classic horror film with the fact that it has characters in it that you can sink your teeth into. You don’t have a lot of that in horror films now. The fact that he doesn’t actually kill anybody. I love the fact that I play this bad guy in a horror movie that doesn’t actually go and cut people’s heads off and slit their throats and do your typical slasher thing. It’s a little bit creepier than that and I like that. I always liked horror movies that had that creepy edge to it. Where you knew there’d be the typical blood but if you actually met this guy, this is not someone that you’d actually wanna hang around with and it’s not so much because he’s wearing a hockey mask or a chainsaw. He’s a very strange guy who would make you feel very creeped out just by standing next to him on a subway.

Another cool aspect to it is the unexpected entertainment value of the movie. I’ve seen a lot of movies in this genre and you sometimes go into it thinking it’s going to be cheesy and cliché. This one had a real unique spin to it and the effects were cool and I think the cast from top to bottom did a really great job. Was there a feeling amongst you guys that this was gonna be something not so generic?

Once again, just from reading the script you know it had a chance to be something different from the normal cheesy horror movie. In execution you never know what you’re gonna get, but there were a lot of talented actors involved, many of them who have gone on to do bigger things. Tammin Sursok has done a lot of big things as Sunkrish Bala. I’ve done a bunch of other stuff since then. It wasn’t your typical one stop shop actors who get one chance and that’s it. I think because of the storyline and the creepiness, the way it was filmed, it very much reminds me, and this might be a bad example, but the ‘Blair Witch.’ It was very creepy in the way they filmed it and the way they shot it. There wasn’t stuff that jumping out at you all the time. The whole tone and mood of the movie was strange and creepy. I kind of felt that once I read the script and once it came together and was shot, edited and music was involved. That was, I think the number one accomplishment of ‘Albino Farm,’ that they were able to keep this unnerving, strange tone throughout where it’s almost uncomfortable to watch because it is very … there’s something about it that makes you feel dirty (laughs).

It gave me the same vibe as the original ‘Texas Chainsaw.’

Good call.

Shaky cameras. Dark tree-filled scenes and the payoff at the end where the freaks come out and start doing their thing. When you’re part of the filming of a flick like this, is it generally a good time behind the scenes with the cast and crew?

The thing is for me, playing the part of Levi  is a very strange character and I didn’t want to lose that once I grasped on to what I wanted him to do so I pretty much hung out by myself even in the shots, I kind of hung out in the forest and I decided that Levi would smoke even though I don’t smoke. I decided that having the cigarette in my hand made me very Levi. I kind of stayed away from everyone ‘cause I didn’t want them to be like ‘That was great, Chris. You’re so funny. Ha, ha, ha,’ Ok, it’s time to get back in this mood. I kind of wanted it where they didn’t know what to make of me so that when we worked together that could come across in their performances too. I think it worked to be a loner on the set. I kind of explained that to people too. Don’t think that I’m being a typical thespian but I don’t really wanna to talk to anybody when I’ve got this stuff on and I’m in this mode. It worked out.

I’ve read good things about Sean and you’ve talked about it a minute ago. What was it like working with him as a guy who’s just getting involved in filmmaking?

Sean knew exactly what he wanted and he was very friendly in letting you know. He was very specific but he was very cool about it too. He gave the actors a lot of leeway to do a lot of things. He knew what he wanted. He gave the actors a little bit of a shot to add their two cents in it so to speak. I think he’s got a big future as a director because he’s able to communicate what he wants to do without losing sight of being a really nice, sweetheart of a guy so to speak. He brings some great dialogue as well. He’s got some other projects in the works already. I think you’re gonna see a lot more from him in the future, which is why I was glad to work together so early in both of our careers so maybe we could end up having a Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi kind of relationship.

Your character’s obviously pretty creepy. Was it written in the script to have the ticks or whatever?

It was just choices that I made. I decided somehow, someway, when I put that stuff on, this is what this guy would do. This is his problem. In the script it doesn’t really say with the character what he does physically. As a matter of fact, when I first saw the script, that part was written for a teenager and I said ‘I can play this part. I wanna do this guy,’ he didn’t even have a name. Sean thought about it and did some tweaks to it and decided to go with Levi and said I’d be perfect for it. Sometimes you read things into a script that are described for another character, another age group and if you think you can do it, you’ve gotta stand up and try and make it happen. That’s what I did and it worked.

Were there any other elements to the character that you added that you were proud of and thought would work really well?

The smoking. I thought the smoking was cool. When I put the cigarette in my hand, that wasn’t in the script. That was just something I thought he would do. Just the whole over the top redneck, which isn’t really over the top redneck if you know any people from those areas. People that act just like that. It’s almost like this guy’s psycho in how much fun he’s having mowing his yard or whatever. I kind of took some of those elements themselves. I really enjoyed fashioning my character and playing him. It turned out great on screen too and that’s all you can ask for.

Obviously there have been guys in recent years like John Cena and Dwayne Johnson who have made the transition from wrestling to acting and I’m sure you’ve probably answered this question in every interview, but what do you hope to do as far as making this a bigger part of your life?

I trained and studied acting for two years when I was off and learned methods. The Strasberg method. I love playing characters and my body of work is getting bigger now. I’ve done about a half dozen things and each one of them has some kind of a character element to it that I really enjoy. Like I said, I’ve been so specific in staying away from typical goals that you would expect Jericho to play and I’m gonna continue to do that. I’m gonna increase my body of work and get bigger parts as time permits. Obviously right now I don’t have two, three, four weeks or months to do a movie, but I do have four or five days at times and that’s why things like ‘Albino Farm’ or when I did ‘Aaron Stone’ for Disney or I did ‘MacGruber’ for Lorne Michaels, it’s given me a chance to spread my wings and show what I can do. I’d definitely like to do more acting in the future and learn more and expand more and play more characters ‘cause I play a character every week that I’m on. Chris Jericho’s someone I created and play every week with great commitment. I would like to continue doing that in other roles as well.

Has ‘MacGruber’ been completed?

Yeah, that’s already wrapped. That comes out, I think, in April.

What was that like for you?

It was great. I have a great scene with Will Forte. I was able to do some improv in that that added to my scene. Added some lines to it. Got some great feedback from everyone on set. Will Forte to Jorma Taccone to Seth Myers to Lorne Michaels himself. Thought I did a great job and I was funny. You get thrown into the fire with these guys, they’re the funniest guys in the world and you have to show ‘em your chops and get involved in it right away and I think we were able to do it very quickly in like three or four takes and it was a great experience and once again a great piece to have for future gigs that’s for sure.

You’ve also been heavily involved in the metal scene with the new album coming out next year. With getting involved in film, writing books, being on the radio and still wrestling, where do you find time to do all this stuff?

I take what I can and do it all relatively. Obviously, there are a lot of the things that I can’t do. I just don’t have time for it. If it’s a project I believe in and I feel I can make it work and I feel that I have the quality of what Chris Jericho is used to getting, then I’ll do it. I’ve never really put chains on myself or limitations. If it’s something I feel I can do, then I’ll do it. It’s the way I’ve always lived my life and I’ll continue to do that. Whatever it may be. Especially with Fozzy, our last record was very big for us and this one is gonna be bigger so as long as the quality of my work is up to snuff then I’m happy to do all these things.

I’m a metalhead journalist and I’m pretty sure that we’ll speak again when this album comes out and make it more of a music related interview.

Very cool.

I appreciate you visiting with me.

Thanks a lot. You have a good day, alright?

You too.

Take care of that boy.

Alrighty.