I was 13 years old when Kane Hodder made an impact in my life. It was the summer of 1989 and a friend of mine and myself journeyed to the local theater for opening day of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. We were waiting in anticipation as Jason was now going to be killing off New Yorkers instead of camp counselors. As the film started and we got a glimpse of some bare breasts as a man and a woman on a boat are making out, that’s when real evil hit: the usher of the theater came by and kicked us out. As we argued with the guy that we were old enough to see the film, I could see Jason aiming a dart gun at the guy, killing him. Sure, I saw the film as soon as it came out on VHS but I wanted to see Jason on the big screen so bad, my little pre-pubescent mind couldn’t handle the disappointment.
In the summer of 1993, I took my girlfriend at the time on our one month anniversary dinner…and then dragged her to see Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. At dinner, the trailer for the film played at the T.V. hanging over by the bar so I quickly jumped up and ran to see it as my date sat alone at the table.
In the spring of 2002, I took my other girlfriend (whose now my wife) to see Jason X on the big screen. Not being a horror fan but not wanting to disappoint me at the same time, she went reluctantly and sat thru it. Kane Hodder has always played some sort of part in my life, especially being a huge Friday the 13th fan. Now, with Hodder’s new book Unmasked (co-written by Michael Aloisi) out on shelves and a whole slew of movies under his belt, Hodder is now a horror icon, a legend to horror fans.
This interview wouldn’t have been possible without the permission and help of my good friend John Aranza who runs one of the best goddamn stores around, Horrorbles. Horrorbles is located in Berwyn, IL and it’s the home for horror (I even taught a horror screenwriting class there) with posters, toys, movies, and memorabilia. Interviewing Mr. Hodder at Horrorbles was all the more fitting and I thank my friend John from the bottom of my bloody heart for getting me this interview.
James Klein: You started out as a stunt man before you became an actor. How did you break into being a stunt person and what drew you to that career move?
Kane Hodder: I broke in very slowly, extremely slowly. It took eight years really to get something working. I thought it would be a great career to have. I didn’t realize just how difficult it was to get into it when I wanted it to start. I just got…I got bitten by the bug by doing something crazy and getting paid for it. So I thought I’d like to try it. It took forever. I still do a lot of stunt work, even when I am playing certain characters because it almost always has some stunt activity involved with that character that I play. I still choreograph the stunts that I do for movies. I still love it.
JK: One of your first roles was in Lone Wolf McQuade with Chuck Norris. What was it like working on one of your first films and working closely with such an icon like Chuck Norris?
KH: Actually it wasn’t my first movie but it was my first movie I was on for an extended period of time. Um…it was fantastic because I am sure that anyone that was ever talked about Chuck will say he is a great guy which he is. He’s a pleasure to work with. A great guy to do a fight scene with because he knows his business. There’s a lot of actors that think they know how to fight but they don’t, they end up hurting you. But he’s a great guy and we had a lot of fun because we did all kinds of different stunts in that movie. From fights to ya know even some car work. It was the first time I was ever on location for awhile, down in El Paso for a few months. And it was interesting working with David Carradine too.
--- Read the full interview by James Klien at UnRatedFilm.com
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