Writer/director Adam Green’s old-school horror movie Hatchet is a real throwback and that’s what makes this genre film, according to Tamara Feldman, so appealing. “I think people are sick of like torture-reality, like horror movies that make you feel like sh--.” Feldman describes Green’s film as a real rollercoaster ride. “It’s fun and it’s adrenaline, but it’s obviously not real,” said Feldman.
Tamara Feldman Interview
So you were a fan of this style of horror even before shooting Hatchet?
“Yeah, I was, actually. A lot more than the new ones, that’s for sure. The old Freddys and the old Jasons and everything, so I was really excited that Freddy was my dad.”
Did you get the chance to talk much with Robert Englund (‘Freddy’ in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise)?
“Well I met him, but I didn’t get to work with him which was a total bummer. He dies and then I’m looking for him, so I never got the chance to work with him. But he was around on set. He’s so funny and he’s so sweet. He’ll do funny little Freddie face things and freak you out and keep you laughing, so it’s really fun.”
Because of the old-school style, the effects are practical rather than CG. How did that affect the actors on the set?
“It was better. It was scary because I have a phobia of latex - like the foam stuff that Halloween masks are made out of - and so the monster was made out of that. So I was really, really scared all the time. If I touch it, my heart starts beating really fast. My palms start sweating… It’s this weird phobia I get. I’m actually scared of [the monster], so it made it a lot easier. You don’t really have to be a good actor if you’re actually freaked out.”
That’s the weirdest phobia. Have you had it all your life?
“I have. Even when I was a kid, when I would go into Halloween stores, I couldn’t walk down that aisle with those masks. You would have to drag me through it so I wouldn’t be able to touch them or get near them or anything. I was always really freaked out. And they all thought it was funny so Kane [Hodder] would chase me down like even more. It got to where I had to be like, ‘Please,’ when they yelled cut, ‘Stop chasing me because I’m gonna die!’ And I would run into the producers’ tent and hide behind them, because I knew that he couldn’t come in there and mess with me with all the producers. It was really funny.
But other than that, having no CGI is actually a lot better because it’s really hard to act with a green screen and to react to [dots] on the wall. But if you have something actually physically there, it’s a lot easier. I think the reactions are a lot more real and a lot better.”
Did you do anything special to get in shape for all this running around?
“I did another horror movie that was in Kansas. I actually flew in – I’d been running around in the woods in the middle of the night for a month before that, that’s what I did to prepare. Then I flew…I worked that night, and then I left Kansas at like 6 in the morning once the sun came up. Flew in, got into L.A. when it was kind of evening, early evening and then I went straight to work. They picked me up at the airport and I went straight to work. I had to go in there, they had to wash off the blood from the other shoot and then they reapplied their own blood and then dirt and mud. They were like, ‘Okay, go.’ So I didn’t sleep for like 30 hours on the first day. Then I just had to like run around and do that. So that’s how I kind of got prepared!”
There are a couple of typical horror movie bimbos in the movie, but your character’s not one of them. How refreshing was it to play a horror movie girl that had brains?
“It was really good! Actually, I don’t know that I would have done it the other way. I don’t think so. Nothing against the other girls or anything like that, I think they were really funny and really awesome. It takes a lot of talent to be like funny like that and everything. I don’t think that I would go that route and so it was really nice to be offered something where I got to be the tough chick. I wasn’t the woman running scared; I was the one shooting the gun and kicking everyone’s ass. It was really, really fun.
She’s smart, she’s local, she’s from that town. She knows what’s going on. No one else knows what’s going on. Even the men are kind of bimbos, so they’re all running around like, ‘Oh, what do we do?’ And I’m like, ‘Shut the f--- up! Get down, get over there!’ So it was really good to get to have a brain.”
And you’re also working on Dirty Sexy Money. How’s that going?
“That is really, really good. Even at the table read you can tell how good it’s going to be. I mean, Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh… When they read they’re so subtle and quiet. It’s just like, ‘Wow, that’s how you do it.’ So I’m learning things around these people. Peter Krause is amazing and he’s the sweetest person on the planet. Plus all these really great actors that are actually really nice people. You get to learn a lot. And then the characters are so over the top, and it’s so fun because I can do anything I want. Like I can be a complete bitch one second and then be like giggling and really cute the next second. And I get to wear the best clothes.”
