1
I still think that
it's accurate to say I've
murdered more people on film
than any actor in history.
Unless somebody can dispute
that, but I doubt it.
And if you do, I'll
fucking kill you.
You know, I'm not sure
why I enjoy horror
so much, but I really
do and I always have.
People like to be
scared when it's in
the safety of their
own home or a theater.
They don't really have
to take it with them,
but sometimes I think
the most effective
horror movies are
ones that you do
in fact take out
of the theater in
your mind and it stays with you.
We don't address death.
And I remember
thinking I was gonna
live forever when
I was young too.
I think I can't believe I lived
through some of the
adventures I had.
The horror movie makes
us confront death.
It's one of the
few places we do.
You certainly don't do it
in America's Got Talent
or Dancing with the
Stars or The Kardashians,
but you do deal with
death in a horror movie.
And if you go to a
horror movie, if you sit
in the dark with other
people, there's a
collective catharsis
that's in the air
and the energy in the the air.
It's a really great experience.
Kinda like riding
a rollercoaster,
you know the big hill
is coming and you know
you're gonna be rushing down
it, but you still do it.
It's this great
thing that can happen,
and you share it,
and you share that
moment of really confronting
your own mortality.
I think that's really
the key and really
why the horror movie
will always be with us,
it's the place to do
that a little bit.
I think a lot of
people get labeled
horror icons because
they happen to
play a role in a
film that ended up
gaining a lot of
notoriety or becoming
a franchise or
whatever it may be.
Well Kane actually
legitimately loves this stuff,
and I think the fact that,
look, he played Jason,
and Jason is a huge
character, but he really
held the torch for
Jason for a long time.
He was doing the
conventions, the other
guys weren't, not at that time.
It's kinda ironic
'cause you meet a lot
of these people who
play heroes and people
who play bad guys,
most of the people that
I've met who play
heroes are assholes
and most of the people who play
really bad people are nice guy.
It's kinda funny.
What I admire about
what Kane has done
is Kane has
transcended the role.
He is Kane.
He has made a brand
name for himself.
Kane Hodder, plus it's
just a cool kickass name.
Kane being the
Hawaiian word for man.
I think it's kinda
cool considering
I grew up in the South Pacific,
my first name is really
Hawaiian, because a lot
of people think it's not
my real name, that it's
a stage name or something,
but it really is my real name.
The island of
Kwajalein in the Pacific
where an anti-ballistic missile
system is being perfected.
This artist conception shows a
typical operating missile site
whose job will be
to guard against any
possible nuclear attack
from Communist China.
I met Kane in 1971.
We both lived on an
island called Kwajalein.
Both of our parents
were assigned there.
It's a military base and they
had other companies
out there for support.
It was just an
amazing place to live.
An oasis in the
real world really.
I played all kinds of sports.
The tough thing with playing
high school sports is
that we had to play in men's
leagues in every sport.
When you're 16 playing
varsity basketball
against a men's team,
that's not easy.
Every once in a
while, certain sports
like basketball, we
would go to Hawaii
for a trip and play
a couple high schools
which was incredible
for us because we had
never competed against
another high school team.
We made a road trip to Hawaii,
there was only 12
of us that went.
It was a fun trip
because it was just
fun playing other
high school students
for one thing 'cause
then we did much better,
and then we had a
lot of free time.
On one of the days a bunch of us
went to a hotel and
we wanted to see
what the view looked
like from high up
in the hotel and there
was, on each floor,
outside the stairwell
there was a balcony
you could just walk
out to, you didn't
have to have a room to
get on that balcony.
We went up to the 35th
floor of the hotel
and we're looking around
and I thought hey,
another golden opportunity
to entertain my friends.
I thought how fun
would it be for
me on that 35th floor balcony to
climb on the outside
of the railing.
So I'm holding onto
the railing like this
with my feet on the
deck, but that's
the balcony, I'm out
here over just air.
My friends started
freaking out and that
entertained me
greatly, so while I'm
holding on like this
I thought even more
scary would be to talk
to them, go what's
the matter, and then
grab on before I fell.
Now 350 feet down.
Sometimes I'm even
amazed that I did this
'cause it's not very
bright, but I saw their
reaction to that and I
did it one more time,
guys I'm fine, and then
grab on before I fell.
They took off, they went
back into the hotel,
went back down, they
were freaking out,
and I thought man, that
is entertaining for me.
There were several incidents
like that on Kwajalein.
He was a troublemaker.
To make people have
that kind of reaction
because I'm doing
something that I thought
was easy 'cause
I've never really
had a fear of heights
at all, I just
found it so much fun to
do that with those guys.
I didn't know about Kane's
bullying before the book,
and even after we
talked about it, it took
a long time for him
to open up and really
discuss the bullying and
how much it affected him.
During the elementary
school years,
when I was 10 and 11, I
was a meek, quiet kid.
I started getting
picked on a lot.
It became very severe.
There was a story
that happened when
my buddy and I went
to the community pool
during the summer
to go swimming.
It was over at the park.
We went over there
and swam all day
and then we were
getting ready to leave
and we saw three
kids staring at us
that we didn't
know, they weren't
from our school,
and for some reason
they came over and beat
the hell out of us.
I unfortunately got
the worst end of it.
There was three of
them and they were
much older than us
and just beat me
so badly that the next
day my face was so
swollen that it was
hard to recognize me.
It was so bad that he
was embarrassed by it,
and he should've
went to the hospital,
but he didn't even wanna
show his mom, so he
hid in his room and
suffered with all the pain.
I just couldn't figure
out why they were doing it
because we hadn't
done anything to make
them mad, or to do
anything against them
in any way, they just
seemed to do it for fun.
I don't know if that
spawned other people
to do it from my
school, but then I
started getting
bullied all the time.
In I think it was
seventh grade I was
caught by a guy that
had been harassing me
and bullying me
who had thrown up
in a baggy earlier
in the day because
he was sick and threw
it on the ground and
after school thought
it would be funny if he
poured it in my face while
other people watched.
Everybody thought
that was hilarious.
Except me of course.
That's the way it was.
I mean there was
always the typical
pushing around, calling
names, slamming head
into a locker, stuff
like that, but it's
sad to say those
were the things that
didn't bother me
anymore, that was minor.
I didn't say anything
because I was embarrassed to.
It's hard to admit to
someone that you allowed
this to happen because
technically you did.
There's nothing
you can do about it
because you just
don't have what it
takes inside of you to
stand up for yourself.
So you're embarrassed by it.
Very often the
response is well just
stand up for yourself,
just hit them back.
Very easy to say, but
unless you've been
bullied you don't understand how
impossibly difficult
that can be at times.
When a kid is severely
bullied and ends up
committing suicide
as a result of that,
it's my opinion that
happens not because
the kid is scared,
or even worried about
anything further
happening, it's that
the kid starts thinking
they're worthless
because they don't do
anything to stop it.
Until you've been
there, you don't
understand how
impossible that can feel.
And then you start
hating yourself.
And then you say you
know what, fuck this.
I don't need to go
through this anymore.
I'm worthless, I
don't do anything
to stop, and they
end their lives.
Eventually after
years, I don't know
how I did this,
and I just somehow
snapped and I swung
and I punched him.
I couldn't even
believe I did it.
It didn't even seem like
me doing it, it seemed
like I was outside my
body watching me do this.
I punched him not
very effectively
and I got the shit
beat out of me
because of it, but I went home
feeling better about
myself because I tried.
So I thought hey, you
know what, I lost a fight.
I felt better.
Mentally that turned
me around and somehow
I started to let it
happen less and less.
Eventually it stopped.
After I graduated from
Kwajalein High School,
while I was going to
college at UNR, Nevada-Reno,
I saw a sign in my
dorm looking for
extras for a movie,
and I thought
that might be
interesting to go down
there and just see
how movies are filmed.
So I went downtown
Reno and was able to
work on the film, it was
called California Split.
George Segal and Elliott Gould.
I was just an extra
in the crowd, and I
was fascinated by the
process of filmmaking.
I worked on it for a
day and then thought
that was fun, and I had
classes the next day,
so I blew off those
classes and went
back and worked
on the movie again
just 'cause I had so
much fun doing it.
It was the only time in my
life I've ever been an extra.
Even though that was
only 1974, it was
the start of my
interest in film by far.
It was the very first
thing because the
following year I went
to visit my buddy Mike,
and Mike lived in Los
Angeles and he said
let's go to Universal
Studios and go on the tour.
I loved it, I just loved
being on the backlot.
I wanted so badly
to get off the tram
and just wander
around by myself.
Then the tour was
over and we went
to a couple of the
live shows, one of
which was the wild west
stunt show at Universal.
We watched the show
and that was it.
As soon as that show was over
I said that's what I wanna do.
And I knew it.
From that moment.
Once he gets
something in his head,
and sorry Kane, but
it just stays there.
No matter what you say to him,
you can't change his mind.
Very fortune of
course over the years
to get to where I've
gotten, but I've also
worked hard, it wasn't
handed to me in any way.
On a professional
level, I love the fact
that he takes these
parts so seriously.
There's a lot of
times, especially with
producers or studio
execs where they'll
say whoever is gonna be
this villain, we just need
a big, menacing, physical
presence, preferably a
stunt guy who can take
hits and punishment.
Kane really gets into
it and that's why
the characters he
plays are memorable.
Did a movie called
Prison in 1987.
I was happy to be the
stunt coordinator on it,
it was a great movie
stunt wise, and then at
the end of the
shooting John Buechler,
who was doing the makeup
effects, said we have to
have a guy in the full
body prostetic makeup.
The wrongly executed
prisoner comes
out of the ground strapped
to an electric chair
and he has full
makeup head to toe,
prosthetics, dentures,
lenses, everything.
And I said well I've
never done it, I'm happy
to do it 'cause it's
not a comfortable thing.
I'd actually designed
it on another actor,
but when I went to
Wyoming I saw that Kane...
I think he had the chops for it.
I put everything on, it took
3 1/2 hours to
put everything on,
and then Randy
said you know what
would be really
cool, since this is
a corpse that has been
buried, he said why
don't we put live
nightcrawlers all over you.
I said how could would it be if
I had live worms in my mouth?
He's like you would do that?
I said yeah, I still don't
think that was a big deal.
He went nuts with it really.
So I put them in my
mouth and did the shot.
I think that Randy
and John Buechler both
were impressed at my enthusiasm
for working in that
kind of makeup.
John in particular liked
how I moved in the makeup.
The thing I noticed
about Kane during Prison
was that he worked
with the makeup.
It's one thing to design a
cool looking creature effect.
It's another thing to
have it performed well.
Aside from being
an amazing stuntman
and a really fine
actor, he works with
the appliances and he tries to
do as much as he can with them.
That stuck with me.
So that's 1987, the
following year John Buechler
is hired to direct Friday
the 13th Part Seven,
and immediately says I got the
guy that I want to play Jason.
I wanted Kane.
I knew that he could
act, and I knew that
he could really work
with the appliances,
and I wanted to take
the mask off of Jason.
I wanted people to see
how pissed off he was.
The thing I gave to the Friday
the 13th movies was
the rage of Jason.
The makeup for Part
Seven was my favorite look.
Very very well done makeup.
It created the
illusion that when he
opened his mouth you
saw him through holes.
The very first shot
I ever did as Jason
in Part Seven being
my first movie was
the single shot where
Tina has a vision and sees
Michael being stabbed in
the kitchen of the house.
That is the very first
thing I ever shot as Jason.
When I put that stuff
on and went to the set
it felt so natural,
and people are gonna go
oh my God, he's so full
of shit, but really,
it felt right for me to
be wearing that stuff.
But I wanted to do whatever I
could to make the
movie look good.
To this day it's
still my favorite
look of Jason, of
all of them really.
Certainly of the ones I did.
There had been six films before
I ever came into the picture.
So the Friday the 13th name,
the Jason name, were
known worldwide.
For me to be able to
step into that role,
how do you not consider
that a huge honor?
And you better do it justice.
You're given an
opportunity of a lifetime,
so you need to do whatever
you can to add to that.
He brings this special
focus, I think, to Jason.
When I first put the
makeup on and looked
in the mirror, I thought
when Jason is staring at
someone and not moving,
he looks like a mannequin.
I said what can I
do to still do that
same stare but add
life to the character?
I don't think people
understand how hard
that is to make
anything, a lot of it's
just the movement,
a little movement.
A lot of it's in the eyes.
He gets in front
of that mirror and he
looks at the makeup
and he figures
out what he can do with it.
He pushes the limits
and he talks to
the makeup artist,
can I do this, will it
hurt the makeup, I mean
he's very specific.
I came up with
the breathing thing
so instead of this you see this.
To me, that made
it look like the
character was about
to spring any moment.
Even though he's
motionless staring at you,
the heaving chest
looked scary as hell
and people have
said that's one of
my signature things that I do,
but I just thought it worked.
Kane owns that,
and I think that it's
very special and I
think that most fans
immediately can
tell if it's some
other person wearing
the mask and why
it's important for
true fans, I think,
that they really respond
to the way Kane did it.
I remember the
first time I seen him
and he was just
breathing and taking
in air and I was like
oh my God, oh my God.
I'm not gonna sleep
tonight, motherfucker.
That Jason's just a predator.
That's it.
It's like an automatic need.
Just pure nihilistic,
must destroy.
There's something
about the way Kane
plays that focus
that's really fun.
I have never in my
life broken a bone.
Which I'm proud of
because I always
think it's funny
that stunt people
brag about how many
bones they've broken.
Isn't the whole point to
do a stunt successfully?
'Cause anybody can be crazy and
just go do something
and get hurt,
but the whole point is to have a
stunt career successful
that you don't get hurt.
I always find it funny when guys
say yeah, I broke 225 bones.
You're not very
good then, are you?
Kane is perhaps the safest stunt
coordinator that you'll
ever wanna work with.
He is very strong, very
firm, very creative on a set.
He can figure out
something ridiculous
and over the top instantly.
There was a scene
written where as Jason
I chase Tina up the
stairs, she goes up
the top of the
stairs where the door
of course is locked
and there's no escape.
So I come up the
stairs, the way it was
written in the
script was she makes
the light start moving
and it swings and
hits me in the chest and
I tumble down the stairs.
I mean Kane doesn't
do things 50%.
He does things 150%.
You tell him to scrub a floor,
he'll scrub the shit
out of that floor.
And I said to Buechler
I said that's not
too bad, but how cool
would it be if that
thing just swings
and hits me right in
the face, in the
mask, and then I just
fall back like a tree and
I go through the stairs.
He goes wow, you
can do that, and I
said I think so, I think
it would look great.
I think it's more in
character of Jason.
Tumbling down the stairs
I think looks too human.
Take the hit and then
fall straight back
onto their staircase,
that's one of
my favorite shots in
the movie as well.
It must've been
difficult, but you could
never tell by the
way he performed.
He never showed the
discomfort or the
difficulty, he was
always 100% performance.
We're at the lake set, this
is in Bay Minette, Alabama.
To go to the dressing
rooms I would always
walk through the woods,
and whenever I was
in character in any
of the movies I like
to leave the mask on
and stay in character.
2 o'clock in the morning
one night or something,
walking on the trail,
I saw someone coming
to the set, someone
who I didn't recognize.
And I thought this might be fun.
So I stopped on the
trail, still had
the mask on, everything,
and I stared at him.
He uttered the most ridiculous
question I think
I've ever heard.
He looked at me,
in all that makeup,
and said excuse me,
are you with the movie?
That's a dumb
bastard right there.
So I just stared at
him and he started
looking around, yeah,
you're with the movie right?
And that's when I rushed at him.
He took off running back to the
trucks, I never saw him again.
But the next day, just
talking to Buechler
before we started,
he said hey, you know
that local sheriff never
showed up last night.
I said oh, hmm, I
wonder what happened.
For a long long
time, my all time
favorite kill was a Jason kill.
The sleeping bag.
The sleeping bag.
Sleeping bag.
Sleeping bag.
Sleeping bag.
Sleeping bag.
The sleeping bag.
Sleeping bag kill in Part Seven.
The sleeping bag is one of the
most classic ones in history.
I killed somebody with something
that's not a weapon,
that's pretty amazing.
And it was just such
an impactful kill
in the theaters, I went
to the Chinese Theater
in Hollywood when
the movie opened,
just anonymously
sat in the back,
and when that kill
came up opening night,
I watched half the
audience stand up
high-fiving each
other and stuff,
I said wow, that was a
pretty amazing feeling.
One of Kane's most legendary
stunts is his burn
in Part Seven.
At the time it was a
record long fire burn,
the entire thing is on screen.
And I thought let's
make it a little
different than what
you normally see
because you typically
never saw the
ignition of the stunt
person on camera.
It always cut from
somebody making
a reaction, then it cut to the
person on fire
already moving around.
This girl has telekinetic
powers, so why
don't we have her make
the fire blast out
of the furnace and
ignite Jason on camera.
And Buechler was like
wow, I've never seen
that really, and
I said I haven't
either, so that's
why I wanna do it.
We did the ignition of
the character on fire
with a propane
cannon, then I started
stumbling around
doing my acting,
which I always love
doing, and ultimately
by the time I went down,
because I was going
by the feel of it,
I had been on fire
so long that the
fuel is almost gone.
I was on fire for
44 seconds which is,
if you watch your watch
for 44 seconds and
imagine being completely
engulfed in flames
for that long, it's an
incredibly long time
and it set some kind
of records at the time.
To this day it's probably
my favorite fire stunt.
And not only is it an
amazing on screen fire burn,
it's a stunt done by
someone who almost died
from a fire burn, so
it's really poetic.
I mean you have to admit that in
Friday the 13th
Part Seven he gave
one of the most
spectacular full body
burns you've ever
seen in your life.
This from a man who
was burnt horribly.
I always say that one
of the best qualities
to have as a stunt
person is a common sense
knowledge of physics
where you think of
a stunt and you
anticipate what's
gonna happen and
what could go wrong.
That's a huge
attribute in the stunt
business to think
well what if this
happens, then what
are we gonna do?
So then you prepare for that.
Maybe I learned much
more from my mistake,
but at the time you have
to protect yourself.
Basically until
the book came out
I never admitted the real story.
Because he knew
for the first time
ever he had to face the truth.
He was embarrassed
about it for years,
he lied, he told
stories to other people
that it was on the set of this,
on the set of that,
he made up different
situations how it
happened, but no one knew.
It was really this
powerful moment with
me and him when he
finally decided he
could tell the world and open up
and tell the story
and not be embarrassed
about it anymore, that
he's matured enough
to face the facts and
tell the full story.
Since I had officially
gotten into SAG
and done a TV show,
that's when I talked
to this reporter and
she said let's do
a story about the
local kid that's
making his way in
the stunt business.
I'll give you some
pictures and if you
want I'll do a fire
stunt for you live.
She said really and I said sure,
I've been doing it no problem.
We went out, it
was just her and I.
We happened to pick a
place that was, where I was
doing the fire stunt, it
was right next to a lake.
Six feet away from the lake.
But because it was the
lake it was real windy.
We did the stunt
and I was on fire
and I put myself out no problem.
I knew that I wasn't
gonna be happy with it
because the wind
was blowing so hard
it was blowing the flames down,
so I didn't think it
looked as dramatic.
Too bad I didn't
just settle with it.
So the next day they went to a
different area in
the desert, not near
the lake, not near
the water, he had
no safety stuff with
him, it was just him,
his lighter, and the
biggest mistake he did
was he couldn't afford
rubber cement at the time.
Even though it was a
few bucks he was broke
trying to struggle in Hollywood.
I said I ran out of
glue, can you get me some.
The reporter
brought some from the
office saying here you
go, here's some rubber
cement so you don't have
to spend your own money.
Having never used
that brand before,
Kane didn't realize
how flammable it was.
I got all prepped
and ready and I
went to light myself,
which is normally,
when I would do
this you'd have to
touch the glue with the
flame to make it ignite.
He put his arm out
away from himself to
be safe, and when he lit
the match he ignited.
Completely burst
into flames everywhere.
You always see stop, drop,
and roll on TV commercials
and stuff, and that's a
nice theory, but the thing
that people don't
understand, unless you've
been on fire, is that
when your head is in
the flames, and you can
hear your hair burning
and you can feel
your face burning
and your ears burning, you run.
It's not the right thing
to do, it's a reflex.
And every person that
I've ever talked to
that's been burned
seriously in the upper body
says the same thing, they ran.
As I'm running and
burning, she doesn't
realize I'm out of
control and in trouble,
so she keeps snapping
pictures, and again,
I don't blame her in the
least for any of this,
but she didn't realize
until I started
screaming probably
that I was in trouble.
Then I somehow got
my wits about me and
realized there was
some kind of dampness
on the ground, dove
into there and rolled
around and finally
got myself put out.
And when he finally
was conscious enough
to see the reporter,
the reporter looked at
him and that's when he
knew how horrible it was.
All my clothes that
I had on were gone.
My skin was falling off,
I had mud all over me
from the ground that was
falling off with my skin.
I knew I was in
very very bad shape.
She said let's go,
we got in her jeep,
we said we gotta get
somewhere to get some help
because this is very
serious, my face
was burned, everything,
my hair was gone.
We're driving in the
jeep out of the desert
and the first thing we
see is a fire station.
I think oh perfect.
We go there, we
bang on the door,
we try and get, nobody answers.
So we got back in
the car, we went to
the first house we could get to.
The photographer...
Sorry.
Photographer knocks on the
door and a lady answers.
And she looked at me terrified
and says get in here.
And I said what, she
goes get in the shower,
stand in my shower,
I'll call the
ambulance and they'll
come and get you.
I do that.
As I walk through the house...
Sorry.
As I walk through the house
there's a little girl.
Sitting on the floor playing
and she was terrified.
And I don't blame her,
I mean the way I looked.
She was scared to death.
Kept looking out the
shower, looking at
my eyes thinking why
does this not hurt yet.
I was just astounded
that I knew I was
severely injured and
there was no pain.
But I kept waiting for
something to start hurting.
The ambulance finally
came, I walked
back out, the girl
wasn't there anymore
thank God 'cause
I felt horrible.
I felt worse for her
than I did for myself.
Was three years old or
something, just scared to death.
Got in the ambulance
and sat up the
whole time in the ambulance
all the way there.
As it turns out, when
you burn that badly
you burn the nerves
completely off
and there's no pain for a while.
The next day it was
incredible and didn't stop.
That basically started the next
six months of horrific torture.
Can we cut for a second?
Once the pain started after the
initial shock wore
off, it was so
much more than I
ever anticipated.
So much worse than
you can even imagine.
The worst part of this was
he had no painkillers in him.
He didn't know at the
time, but his father
pulled aside the
doctor and asked him
not to give him any painkillers.
And the doctor
went along with that.
I'm not sure why he
didn't just say no,
he needs pain medication
to get through this.
I had less medication
than I should have had.
And the reason for
that was his father
was in The War and
he saw all his fellow
soldiers who came
back with injuries
who got addicted to
painkillers and he
was scared that was
gonna happen to Kane.
And I know my
dad was just trying
to look out for
my best interest,
he didn't want me
to become addicted
to stuff, but that's
something you have
to worry about later,
you have to get
rid of the pain so you can heal.
But the pain itself was so
unbelievably tremendous.
I got to the
hospital and I didn't
know anything about what is the
proper way to take
care of burns.
And neither did my
parents, so whatever
the hospital did for
me we thought was good.
I don't know how else to say it,
they weren't equipped
at all to take care
of my injury, but they
thought they were.
My parents came
in when they could
and my dad walked in
and left immediately.
They could just see
me from here up.
My face was burnt, but
not as badly as the
rest of my body, so I
didn't look that terrible.
I didn't know until
later, when he walked in,
the smell that was
in my room because of
me being burned I
guess brought back
terrible memories of
him during The War.
He had to run out and he had to
go to the bathroom and throw up.
Then I remember
my mom lifting up
the sheet and looking
at this arm and just
started crying because
it looked so terrible.
It was very very
hard for my parents
to see their son
in that situation.
Because I was burned
all in the upper body,
I couldn't use my
hands at all, so I
couldn't go to the
bathroom by myself,
I couldn't even change the
channel of the TV myself.
It was a terrible
way to have to live,
especially since I was
22, when someone else
has to help you take a
piss or wipe your ass.
It sounds funny, but
it's very humbling.
Then they would take
me to what's called
the Hubbard Tank, and they have
to get rid of the dead tissue.
Even when you're
healing, dead tissue
accumulates and it
has to be removed
so the fresh tissue can heal.
So they would put him
down in the basement
because he would
scream so loud they had
to hide him from all
the other patients.
They would soak him
in a bathtub, and then
the doctor would take the
back side of a scalpel.
And scrape all of
the burned area to get
the material off that
needed to be debrided.
This is, again, when
I couldn't even stand
the vibration from
somebody kicking my bed.
Now you're gonna scrape it?
There is no way I
can ever express
the amount of pain there was.
They did a skin graft
surgery and they
splinted my arms
straight out like this.
From my body, I
couldn't move because
they wanted the skin
to take, and when
you do skin grafts
you need to be
motionless so, it has
to be your own skin,
and it can adhere and
start growing to your body.
It's taken from a
healthy area, my legs,
put on the burned
area, and hopefully
grows into it and helps
cover up the burn.
As I'm barely
conscious coming out of
the O.R., going back to
my room, they realize
I can't get in my
fucking room because
my arms are like
this, I'm too wide
to go through the
doorway to my room.
Now I have to, just
after waking up
from major surgery,
have to stand up
like this, walk into
my room, wait for
them to bring the
bed in, and then
get back in my bed,
which I thought
was the most asinine
thing you could
ever do, not look ahead to that?
You couldn't see that coming?
That was just one of
the first days and
that was an indicator
of what was to come.
I was in that
hospital four months,
consistently getting
worse every day.
Trying skin grafts
that didn't work.
One of the most
important things with
a burn injury is
to keep a sterile
environment around the patient.
When I'm in a room with
another person who has
some other kind of problem,
that's not sterile,
and that's what happened
in that hospital.
And everyone had
to scrub down to
come in except for
the doctor, the doctor
would come through
and not wash his
hands, be wearing
his tennis shoes,
and just walk over
and check Kane.
I was amazed that
he thought everybody
else should do it,
but he was above it.
He shouldn't have been
taking care of me at all.
Unfortunately at
that hospital they
did very little
correctly for me.
There was such a
long list of terrible
things that happened
as a result of being
in that hospital that
never should've happened.
My veins started
collapsing, now I have to
submit to a needle in
the vein in my groin.
They put pins through my elbows
and you can still see the scar.
They would hold my
arms up like this.
When they took the pins out
I couldn't put my arms down.
Not being able to
sleep, and then when
you finally do doze
off I would twitch.
That happened every single
time I would doze off.
And I lost my voice completely.
Put a feeding tube through
my nose into my stomach.
I had a catheter for a while.
Gained and lost 50
pounds in five days.
Seven skin graft surgeries.
They kept doing the procedures
and it wouldn't work.
And I didn't have
any health insurance.
If I read it in a
book, I would read it
and say this can't be
true, he's exaggerating.
To make it sound more
horrific than it was.
That can't all be true,
and unfortunately it was.
And it's a horrifying story.
It's bad enough being
burned obviously,
but all the other
things that went wrong,
I mean it couldn't
have been worse.
Bottom line is after four months
that doctor told my parents that
I had a staph infection and it
doesn't look like
I'm gonna make it.
My parents are like
what do you mean?
After four months he's
gonna die from the burns?
'Cause typically if you die as
a result of being
burned it's early.
You don't get through
the first week.
You don't die four
months later usually.
They were astounded
that he was saying that.
Then he said we're
gonna ship him
to a burn unit in San Francisco.
My dad was wait, burn unit,
we didn't know what it was.
He said what's that
and he said it's a
place that specializes
in burn care.
And my dad almost killed
the fucking guy by saying
why did you not send him
there in the first place?
I get to San Francisco,
the Bothin Burn Center
in Saint Francis Hospital
and everything changed.
At that time it was
the best burn center
west of the Mississippi River.
It was a real first
class burn center.
We had attendings, resident
doctors and nurses,
they all devoted their time to
treating burn
patients specifically.
My doctors
were different, this was
a unit that was self-enclosed.
We have our own
O.R., we do all our
treatments here, we
have hydrotherapy.
That was built in 1967.
The other thing
that the burn unit
had to deal with was
that I was in bed
at the first hospital
for four months,
never being able to sit in any
other position other than maybe
recline a little bit or sit up a
little bit, but I was
always on my back.
So consequently I had two
really bad bedsores on my back.
The burn unit had to
deal with all that too,
they had to get rid
of the bedsores,
they had to get rid of
the staph infection,
they had to get me skin grafted
and get my weight up, and they
did all of that in six weeks.
Whereas the first hospital took
four months to get me to
that horrible position.
If I had been in
the burn unit from
the beginning I
probably would've
been in there four weeks total.
What stayed the same from
when I started 35 years ago
today is the patience that
it takes for everybody,
the caregivers, the
patient, the families.
The body heals only
at a certain rate.
The caring part, the support
that these people need,
is exactly the same
through the years.
That hasn't changed.
I started getting a
more positive attitude
because this place
is state of the art,
even back then, for burn care.
Then that's when the
depression sets in.
Because at the beginning
you're just trying to survive.
Now that you know
you're gonna survive,
now you deal with
the fact that for
the rest of your
life you're gonna
have that visual reminder,
which is the scars.
The biggest misconception is
that it's just about the skin.
It's not just about the skin.
Major burns affect every
system of the body.
It affects the immune
system, it often affects
the lungs if they're burned
in an enclosed space.
It affects the GI
tract, it affects every
system of the body,
and also I think
a lot of people
underestimate the
psychosocial recovery of burns.
I didn't let anybody
come and visit me really,
just immediate family
and that was it.
I actually wanted
to go out and see him,
but he didn't want any
visitors, and I respected that.
But it was scary.
I just didn't want my close
friends to see me like that.
It's the weirdest thing, the
things your mind go through.
I'm never gonna be able to
take my shirt off again.
People are always
gonna stare at me.
I'm gonna have scars
for the rest of
my life, limited movement,
which I still have.
I got very depressed even
when I was getting better.
I was laying in my bed
depressed because there
wasn't much to be happy
about other than surviving.
I looked at somebody come in
to visit the nursing staff.
Everybody had to gown up,
when you go in the unit
you have to put on everything
to keep it sterile.
Even visitors.
This guy, who I
didn't recognize,
was at the nurse's
station, and I'm
watching him, he starts laughing
and having a good old
time, being happy,
shaking hands with
people and I was
laying in there saying fuck you.
You have no idea what
I'm going through
and you're fucking
happy, I hated him.
Truthfully I became
somewhat, I guess you could
say suicidal,
because I didn't know
if I wanted to live like this.
I watched this guy
laughing and having a good
old time and thinking
God, you are so lucky.
He pulls up his
sleeve of his gown,
'cause he was warm
or something, and I'm
looking at him thinking
oh wait a minute.
He's got burn scars.
This guy was in this unit.
He's a former patient
that was in here,
burned badly 'cause I could
see his arm just like mine.
And he's fucking happy.
And I thought holy
shit, this guy does
know what I went
through and he's happy?
I thought holy,
man, maybe there's
something positive
that'll come out of this.
He completely turned my
whole attitude around.
So if he can do it, I can do it.
Everything changed after that,
everything started improving.
That's the thing
with a burn injury.
If you're sitting and
talking to somebody
and they're telling
you what to expect
and you don't see
burn scars on them,
in your mind you're
just thinking,
you're not even listening
because you don't know.
But if you're sitting
there with scars,
I'll listen to you all day
long because you do know.
We do a burn support
group once a month
here in the burn
center where we have
patients come back for years to
get that support from people who
had been through it like them.
It was an amazing
experience that
this guy completely,
basically saved
my life a second
time without even
knowing it, and never
never knew his name.
It seems like this
was the angle.
Right here.
It was bigger than this, it
went out a little farther.
The beds were this
way, not this way.
Right.
We were like this.
He was here.
I guess that could've been
the angle I was looking at.
Yeah, I think that was my room.
My biggest goal was to
get home for Christmas.
Just to be out of the hospital
and home for Christmas.
My doctor's name
was Angelo Capozzi.
He was okay with sending me home
really before I
should've gone home.
Well I think as
we've become more
knowledgeable about taking
care of burn patients,
I think it's one
of the physician's
duties to keep the
patient comfortable.
He allowed me to
go home with the
training that he gave
my mother for my,
I had slight open wounds
all over, but small ones.
Because it was
in-between where the
skin grafts were that
hadn't quite healed yet.
He knew what I had been
through, decided he
was okay with me going
home on December 23rd.
I haven't seen Dr.
Capozzi in 39 years.
Hey doc.
How are you?
I'm great, I'm great.
Been a long time.
Yes it has.
39 years.
Yeah.
This area was some of
my worst, you can see.
It was really quite deep there.
I know, but it looks great.
That's the only bad part still.
A little tight, but if you can
get along with that,
I mean that's fine.
I never really got
to tell you thank you.
Because you saved
my life, there's no,
I'm not trying to
be dramatic 'cause
everybody knows I don't do that.
You saved my life and don't try
and be fucking humble
about it please.
Because...
Strike that.
I would like to say thank
you for everything you did.
You're very welcome.
I really appreciate that.
I went on to have a great life.
I think it's very
interesting that I never
developed a fear of
fire considering it
almost killed me
and I understand
how terrifying it
is to be on fire.
You would think
the last thing I'd
ever wanna do is
be on fire again,
but another friend of mine that
gave me a lot of good stunt jobs
named B.J. Davis,
was doing a movie
in New Orleans called
Avenging Force.
I had worked a
little bit with him,
we had become
friends, and he said
why don't you be one
of the stunt guys
to come down for the
entire shoot of the movie.
I was very happy to
do that, hadn't done
much on location before.
So while I was in New
Orleans, B.J. said,
I don't know how he knew that he
could ask me this,
but he had a good
sense of my personality
I guess, he said
we gotta do two full
burns at the same time.
You wanna do one with me?
First I was like
oh shit, I didn't
think anybody would ever
ask me that, first of all.
Then I start thinking
about it more
and I said you know
what, he knows what I've
been through and he's
confident in me doing it.
If he had said
you probably don't
wanna do this, but
there's a fire stunt,
but he didn't do it
that way, I guess
he just did it the
right way for me.
Just offer it to me
without any hesitation.
If I don't wanna do it, fine,
somebody else will do it.
But ultimately I did
the stunt with him.
B.J. comes flying out
of a window on fire,
and I come out of
the doorway on fire.
It was a full burn
that I did again
for the first time
since my accident.
I loved it.
I felt very
comfortable, I see how,
when you do the
proper setup, how easy
it is to do that stunt
really, and I came
to the conclusion that
I love doing fire.
It's very very surprising that a
burn survivor could even
go near a fire again.
Doing that first fire
stunt again was huge,
a huge step forward in
forgetting about the past.
I met Kane when he was working
on a pictures with Wes Craven.
Called The Hills Have Eyes II.
I had doubled a character
called The Reaper.
Was a stunt double
for him, I was falling
through a skylight and
riding a motorcycle
and doing some stuff
around some fire.
He was a wonderful
and interesting guy.
Clearly he was a guy that didn't
seem to be afraid of anything.
And I ended up
doing every one of
Sean Cunningham's
movies for quite
a while after that one,
all the House movies.
Everything he did really.
I did the original
Friday back in 1979, '80.
I was around for Friday
Two and Friday Three,
but I was anxious to move on and
do some other
things, so the series
proceeded for a while
without me and then
we decided to do Friday
the 13th Part Nine.
Fortunately the
person that was hired
to direct, Adam Marcus,
was a fan of mine
as the character
and immediately said
hey, I want him to
play Jason again.
This is my third
go around as Jason.
He just brought
a certain kind of
consistency and flavor
to the character
that the fans really
responded to and I
would be mad if I were to
think of replacing him.
The last shot of
the movie, when I read
the script for the
first time, it said
Jason's mask is
laying on the ground
and Freddy's hand
comes out of the ground
with the glove on and
the sweater, and grabs
the hockey mask and
pulls it into the ground
to set up for
Freddy Versus Jason.
And I said okay,
well I'll tell you
one thing right
now, I'm gonna be
wearing that Freddy
glove to do that shot.
Nobody else is
gonna do it 'cause
Robert Englund is
not gonna do it.
I did that shot, I was
underneath the set,
pulled down the mask and
pulled it into the set
thinking I was setting up
for Freddy Versus Jason.
Back in 1983 I had a
meeting with Wes Craven
and he said I'm developing
a new character.
He's gonna have burn scars.
I'm thinking about using
somebody with real burn scars.
And I said wow, that's great.
What kind of
character, well he's
not a really nice
guy, he's a pedophile.
I said okay, and
with burn scars,
and his name is Fred Krueger.
Wes Craven was a
friend of mine, I did
a series with Wes
Craven and I know that,
I think there was
a time when he was
really considering
Kane to play Freddy.
Obviously we know
where this is all headed,
I did not play the
character because he
decided to go with a
more established actor
with prosthetics instead
of real burn scars.
I think Robert did an amazing
job as that character,
and obviously one of my horror
heroes is Robert Englund.
How different life could've been
for everybody had that happened,
but I know that West
thought very highly of him.
Well Kane and I, we go way back.
Robert and I have been
friends for a long time.
We do conventions
together of course.
And we just hit it off
because we both have to
go through a lot of the
same off-screen fan stuff.
Give it up for Kane Hodder and
Robert Englund,
ladies and gentlemen!
When I started in this business,
never anticipated ever
signing an autograph.
You loved it the first
time that goth girl
walked up to you and
went sign me, Kane!
But we have worked together also
which was a lot of fun for me.
I had done a web series with
Robert called Fear Clinic.
Well Fear Clinic's
where Kane and I
got to do most of
our work together.
That's really where
we found our vibe
as actors together
'cause we were really,
we had a lot of
scenes between us.
I'm taking you down before
you kill anymore patients.
I'm not fond of this
new attitude of yours.
Clearly you don't understand the
employee/employer relationship.
Now help him!
Yeah, blah blah blah, I know,
I got the body,
you got the brains.
It was fun working together.
It's cool to have
pictures of him
face to face arguing
without makeups on.
Really Freddy versus
Jason in a different way.
There was still this pressing,
my pressing need to go
ahead with Freddy 1 Jason.
And still, because New
Line and Robert Englund
and some other issues,
we couldn't do that,
at least not yet, and
so that's what led
us to Jason X, or
Jason in Space.
It seemed like a really
good idea and was
a really fun notion
to try to figure
out how we would do all of that.
The sets were amazing and the
movie was pretty
clever I thought.
There was a part
of the film where
somebody created
a virtual reality
to try and slow Jason
down, and all of a
sudden Uber Jason was
back at Camp Crystal Lake.
We're in space and
we're looking for
all the kind of
gags that we used
to do and that
Jason's known for.
Basically this is just
for the fans really,
the fans of the previous films.
I had a girl in a sleeping bag,
and I was slamming
her against her
friend that was in
her sleeping bag.
So killing them both
with each other.
Redid the stunt that
the fans so loved.
It was my idea to do one shot
to the tree just as a throwback.
It was just so silly.
My hands down
favorite Jason kill
is the frozen head
in Jason X where he
lifts it up and then
just shatters it.
Freeze the head in liquid
nitrogen and smash it.
Liquid nitrogen and
smashed on the table.
And then smashed it
and he brain rolls out.
I thought that was great.
No one was expecting that and it
was just so gory and
so crazy, and just
the way he does it, just tosses
her aside, it's an awesome kill.
I got a call from an
executive at New Line.
She wanted to have
lunch with me.
She gave me a script
called Freddy Versus Jason
and she said we're
finally doing this movie.
And I said that is fantastic,
I'm so happy to hear that.
I assumed at that time that
meant I was doing the movie.
You're giving me the script
and saying we're finally
doing this movie, pretty
sure thing in my mind.
Then in the weeks that
followed I started
getting a weird
vibe from New Line.
Well I knew Kane.
I was told by the
powers to be, for most
of that prep time it was
always gonna be Kane.
Ultimately I was
told that they had
hired somebody that
played Jason before.
Then I found out
it was Kirzinger.
I was like how is he having
played the character before?
And then I remembered in
Part Eight, 'cause they
didn't want me to
take a chance of
getting hurt and not
being able to work,
I was forced to allow
Ken Kirzinger to do the
car hit where the cop car
hits Jason in the alley.
Even though I've done
that stunt many times,
they thought if you
get a broken leg
or something we're in trouble.
It seems to me that
someone, I don't think
it was him, I'm almost
sure it wasn't him
because I've talked
about it with him,
but someone had represented him
as having played
the character also.
Based on that shot.
That was a done deal,
he was already hired,
and I, to say the
least I was devastated.
It's only a role, but
it's something that
I had put my heart and
soul into for 15 years,
four films in a row,
and it seemed like...
None of that mattered.
I never in a million
years would've
given them a reason
to replace me.
By saying hey, I
want this much money
and they just say oh
can't afford that,
let's go somewhere
else, then that's on me.
But I would never
have given them any
kind of reason, I
was never difficult
to work with, I was
never late to the
set and undependable,
nothing like that,
so I couldn't understand
why I was replaced and
I don't think I'll ever
know the real reason.
It was a very very low
point of my career.
It was almost as low a point
for me as getting burned.
Because I was never
told any reason.
Took me a long time
to get over that.
For almost 20
years he was Jason.
And in thousands of
fans, upon millions
around the world, he
is Jason, he always
will be Jason no
matter if someone
else plays him more than
once, or if he never
plays it again, he will
always be the Jason
because he's the one
that made him iconic.
That made him more than
just a guy with a mask.
After the whole
mess of not doing the
Freddy Versus Jason
movie, I got contacted
by Adam Green about
a new character
that he thought could
be a franchise also.
Well my first project with
Kane was the original Hatchet.
I was a huge fan of
all the Slashers.
Michael Myers, Jason
Voorhees, Freddy Krueger,
and the concept
of possibly having
Kane Hodder be
Victor Crowley was
always just a pipe
dream, and then
John Buechler who was
doing the effects,
when he first suggested
well why don't
I show the script to Kane,
I was just like really?
Seriously?
'Cause I didn't think
he'd wanna do it
just because he's
already done it.
And he had been a
fan of my work as Jason
and wanted to talk about playing
a character called
Victor Crowley.
With Jason, he came
into that so late
in the game, and as
much as he's the Jason
as far as anybody who
knows what they're
talking about with
Friday the 13th goes,
this was a great opportunity,
especially because
it's a very different
character and
he's not hidden behind
an emotionless mask.
I was somewhat
excited because it was
similar to Jason, it was
a character in makeup
that didn't speak and killed
everyone he could reach.
That movie was very surprising.
It was very over the top.
It started like a
comedy at first and then
suddenly it switches
gears and it
turns into the most
horrendous over the
top makeup effects extravaganza.
I mean I love that.
I think Adam
purposefully didn't reveal
everything in the
first movie so he
could give some more
information over
the second one and
ultimately answer
everything left
in the third one.
That's pretty
confident for a guy
that was unknown at the time to
assume that you're gonna get the
chance to tell your whole story
over the course of three films.
Kane was really one
of the only people
who I said what
the next two movies
were gonna be because
I feel like if you're
gonna do a slasher
series, you have to have
an endgame and you have to
have things planned out.
The idea of just
making one, and then
all of a sudden it
performed, so now
you're gonna make another
one, you can start
to tell as a fan
they're just finding
their way with this
and they're just
either repeating the
same movie over again,
or they're making shit
up, but I had a plan.
There were a lot of similarities
to Jason with Victor.
And I did not wanna
do the same thing,
I wanted to do more
of a grotesque guy.
We did a demo appliance and the
prosthetics on top
of him, and I did it
in such a way that
it was risky because
there was so much
prosthetic on his face,
but I think it worked
out pretty well.
Kane really gets
into it and that's
why the characters he
plays are memorable.
When you have a real
actor behind these
prosthetics and makeup, it
makes such a difference.
You can tell when it's
somebody just going
through the motions and
when it's a character.
There are a lot of
actors that could have
simply thrown the
makeup on and thrown
the prosthetics on
and just getting
in front of the camera
and going grrr like
Godzilla in a Godzilla suit
or something like that.
He was, every night, in
uncomfortable situations,
he was off taking it
very very seriously,
so that when he came
out and when he did
his performance, it
had a lot of weight
behind it and it had
a lot of realism.
I mean the character
really seems
like a creature that's in pain.
And so the fact
that he takes it so
seriously and does not want the
other actors to see
him at all, so when
he's in the makeup
he stays separate.
Whenever I'm
playing a killer like
Jason or Victor
or anyone really,
I like to fuck with
the actors a little bit
for their performance
being enhanced
and also just for my
own entertainment.
The cast just
didn't know anything
about him and never
got to see him
or spend time with
him, and I think
that made a huge
difference because
that way what you
see in the movie
when the cast sees Victor
Crowley, that's their
first time seeing him
and they were terrified.
What he'll do is as
he's getting into
character you don't
know where he is.
He's off in the
woods somewhere and
you just hear him
screaming or kicking trees
and just these
bursts of rawr, rawr,
and the cast is
terrified at that point.
So the cast is
already convinced that
he's half crazy
anyway, and by doing
things like that it just brings
so much more to
their performance.
We would do some rehearsal
sometimes without him.
B.J. McDonald would
come out and say
so Kane's gonna
come out from behind
the tree and when you
see him squeeze off
a couple of shots,
say your lines,
and run off in the
other direction.
A lot of times the
only time I saw Kane
on the set was when
they would go action
and Victor Crowley would
come out, be in frame,
scream something horrible at us,
and then I'd be
running for my life.
And what was so funny
about it is when
you don't do a lot of
rehearsal with him,
he actually comes out
of the pitch black,
out of the woods, and he
scares the crap out of you.
Amanda!
There's an interesting
connection about
having been through
some violent acts
in my past and being
able to recreate those on
film has to have
helped somewhat because
that's what people say
the most is when they
watch me kill somebody
on film, it's so violent.
So it's like to become
the ultimate badass.
I think it's a pretty
interesting thing that
he picked up as a result
of his background.
He got used to torment
and agony and suffering,
and then he just started
getting paid for it.
Good deal.
When it comes to your death
scene, it's not gonna be easy.
I'm not gonna hurt
you, but it's not
gonna be comfortable
either because
I like a little bit of realism.
Without fail the actor will say
goddamn, that was
a little rough.
Then they see it on
screen and they love it.
And they're happy
we did it that way.
I've known him for 33 years now.
I always wanted him to kill
me and finally that was
the thing where he sawed
me in half with a chainsaw.
And I told the guy that
was behind me, Coulton,
I said Coulton, he's
gonna take a chainsaw
and stick it between
our legs and lift us up
in the air and we're
gonna get sawed in half.
He goes yeah I know,
I said bring a cup.
And he goes why, I said
I know Kane, bring a cup.
So Kane comes out,
we're standing there
and he goes waff,
lifts us up in the air.
And as soon as
we're done Coulton's
like this, he goes thank you.
So yeah, Kane plays hard.
You would think
that would be enough,
but then there's the
pranks which I'm just
as guilty off because I
love doing it as well.
Adam and I decided that it
might be fun to scare Mercedes.
Mercedes McNab, on
the first Hatchet,
started to complain
after a while.
Well everybody else has
been pranked and Kane
scared them, but nobody's
done anything to me.
I was like, we were
already planning it,
but I'm like now you're
just asking for it.
So in the full Victor
Crowley getup Kane
snuck into her
trailer and just stood
in the bathroom in
the dark for a good
20, 25 minutes, and
just waited for her.
Then Joel David
Moore had a camera
that day on set
where he was just
documenting his
day, and so they go
into Mercedes'
trailer and Joel's
interviewing her,
and when he says so
what was your favorite
Victor Crowley moment.
Kane just comes bursting
out of the bathroom.
Goddammit!
I scared the absolute
shit out of her.
It was very funny.
I think she called me some
names that I had never
been called before, so
that was pretty creative.
What he wouldn't
want you to know though
is that the things
that he wants, like in
his trailer, are
peanut butter and jelly
and DVDs of Saturday Night Live.
We would use code
and be like oh bring
another dead baby
to Kane's trailer,
or another bottle of Jack
or whatever, but it's
really just peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches.
He's a very simple guy
when it comes to that.
My favorite Victor
kill is one of the
goriest kills in the
history of cinema where
he grabs the woman's
mouth and rips it open.
Anybody can kill
people with a gun,
but how many people
can catch a woman
who's running away
from them and put your
hands in her mouth and
rip her head apart?
Now that's creative.
I like the more hands
on creative things,
I mean that's my favorite
kill that I've ever done.
Hysterical because
when I started writing
Kane's biography,
my aunt was like oh
who is this guy
you're writing about,
so she decided to watch
Hatchet, and she's
never watched a horror
movie pretty much
in her life, and she
saw that scene and
threw up three times,
and Kane thinks it's
the greatest thing in
the world that someone
threw up because of a
kill he had in a film.
It's fun as hell to have an
effect like that one somebody.
I mean for me,
knowing that Kane is our
stunt coordinator,
I know I don't have
to worry about getting
hurt, so I always say
if Kane's coordinating
I'm doing my own stunts.
Unless Kane says you
can't do this Dee,
is the only time
that I won't do it.
When Adam first
talked to me about
playing Victor, I asked him if I
could do something
as another character
and show some emotion
because I wanted
to show people that
I could do something
other than just
violently kill them.
So that's when he came
up with the idea of the
father, he said let's have
you play Victor's father.
I already believed that Kane
could play Victor
Crowley's father,
so it's funny, he
approached that as
let me prove to you
that I can do this.
He was already cast,
and I don't know
if I should admit that, but I
already believed he could do it.
Just sat
there for almost 10 years
before he finally died
of a broken heart.
And I think he surprised
himself a few times,
but I just love that he's
up for the challenge.
"- I mean we a" draw from
our own life experiences
and they help us become
who we are and how we
deal with things and how
willing we are to open up.
He got to be himself and
not be covered in makeup.
And he cried on camera for
real for the first time.
He was so inspired
and moved by that.
He got out of monster
stuntman, gonna do what
I know how to do and I'm gonna
literally take the mask off and
I'm gonna be
vulnerable, and that's
something that I think is really
hard for a lot of
people, especially a man,
and someone like
Kane, so when he did
the scene he got a
taste of the bug.
They say when you get
the bug it's like a drug.
So it worked out
very well, that started
all the people
thinking wait a second,
he can do something
else, so let's try this.
That was the beginning
of all of it.
Every time I see
Kane at a convention,
of course we're always
choking each other,
that's the first thing we do,
we just go over and
choke each other.
He can really choke you.
He's like, Kane,
we're just joking
around, you're
like turning blue.
Kane definitely
choked me one time,
he grabbed me, he's a
tremendously powerful man
and his hands are large,
so when he puts the grip
around your neck it's
surprisingly tighter than
you think it's gonna
be, so you're like
oh wow, that's fun,
I can't breathe.
I'm known for choking
people at conventions.
Anybody that's had me do it
knows that I choke you for real.
I don't say it in
a cavalier way,
it's just what I've
become known for.
People love it and
they love to bring
their friends who
have never met me
because they can't wait
to watch the reaction of
the person 'cause they've
all been through it.
Watching people turn
blue as he chokes them.
Yeah, they're a
little unexpected.
I thought I was dying
'cause I was like I'm
fucking getting choked
what's going on, holy shit.
Yeah, it does seem
real, you can feel the
pressure of the hand
grip around your neck.
It definitely felt real.
It felt real and it's awesome.
Does he ever choke you?
It hurts.
He choked me to
death, I don't know.
I introduced Kane to my mom and
he's like come
here, and he does it
and I'm just like that's
my mom, Kane, stop!
She can't breathe!
I've been choked by
Kane quite a few times.
It shocks you a little bit.
I guess that's the idea.
I was new to Kane's
choking tricks.
Kane put his hands
on mine and started
squeezing really
hard and I realized
oh my God and there
was nothing I could do
in terms of
countering his power.
Kane was really
choking and I panicked.
He'll grab someone,
he'll grab them.
I mean you'll hear them go.
He really gets in
there, I think he
enjoys actually scaring
people for real.
He's the only one
I've let choke me, so.
People love to get
choked out by Kane Hodder.
I don't get it.
I don't understand.
It does nothing for me.
But I guess that's
your chance to be
in a scene essentially
with Jason.
Well my experiences
with Kane are not
horror related, my
experiences with
Kane are comedy
related, and what a lot
of people don't know is
that Kane is very funny.
He's a natural comic.
By the time we got
to Holliston, I mean at
this point Kane doesn't
even need to see
a script I don't
think, I just say
oh hey, we're doing this,
and he'll be like great.
He said he wanted me
to play myself in it.
I thought that's interesting.
The idea of making
fun of the whole
Kane losing the
character of Jason
in Freddy Versus
Jason thing and making
that a plot point and having him
own it and laugh at it and make
fun of it was huge, and for me
I was just like I
hope he gets it.
And this was somewhat
a touchy subject
not long before this,
he said now I want
you to freak out and
try to kill yourself
every time somebody says
Freddy Versus Jason.
I was like wow,
that is going into
an area that was once
very sensitive to me,
but maybe it's time
to make light of that.
That's exactly what we did.
Oh God.
Oh!
Hey.
He got it, and he
realized hey, if I
do this, it goes away finally.
If I'm the one to stand here and
make jokes about it
and be all pathetic
and try to kill myself
anytime somebody says
Freddy Versus Jason, nobody
can say anything anymore.
So I tried to make fun of it and
the fans responded
to it, they respected
the fact that I could
finally do that.
It was a fun thing to do.
I don't have any friends.
I'm not even Jason anymore.
Now I'm gonna get
stuck doing shit
Friday the 13th ripoffs
with wannabe young directors
that think they're making
the next horror icon.
Nice ad-lib, dick.
You like that?
I've never had an
acting class in my life.
I did do a stage production
in high school.
I enjoyed performing,
but I had never
been trained and
still hadn't ever
had any formal acting training.
If I do in fact have any
talent with acting it's
gotta be from watching
quality actors work in person.
Did a movie called Monster
with Charlize Theron.
I was the stunt
coordinator on the movie.
I always say that
was some of my best
acting training was
watching her work.
I was on the set every day
helping her through the
action stuff and watching
her prepare and do scenes.
Then the director
said you know, I think
I want you to play
a cop in this movie.
I was like a cop, wow.
I'm always a bad guy,
this is one of the
first times I've been
asked to play a good guy.
I'm gonna be a cop,
finally something good,
and she goes yeah, you're gonna
be undercover in a biker bar.
Oh, well there you go.
Same thing as always.
Two whiskeys, two
beers for the lady.
I'm VG.
Come in here much?
Oh come on.
But it was very
cool to do a scene
with someone who wins an
Oscar for the character
that they're playing in
the scene you're doing.
I was so proud of
him for doing that
'cause it was such
an amazing movie.
All of us get pigeonholed
into certain things
and to break out of
that has been amazing.
He made that
transition from stuntman
to stunt coordinator
to actor and really
did all three very effectively.
Personally I love
seeing him without
the makeup because
he is a good actor
and people are
finally giving him
a chance to show
his acting chops.
Another guy that I
credit to helping me expand
my acting career in a
big way was Mike Feifer.
I think that Kane was
at a place in his career
where he was looking
to do real roles,
to actually show
that he could act.
I think, you can
imagine you're behind
the mask for so
long, nobody knows
who you are or
what you look like.
Kane is an actor.
He called and said
hey, I'm gonna do a
movie about Ed Gein, I
want you to be in it.
It's based on the story.
I think you would
be good in the role.
I was impressed that he
had that confidence in me.
I specifically
remember a moment where
he's sad and he's
upset and he has
a picture of his
mother and he drops
the picture and he hits the wall
and he slides down
the wall crying.
And I was like wow, I mean
there's somewhere he's reaching.
I tried to make
him uncomfortable
all the time, just
weird and creepy
'cause that's the
impression I got
from reading books
about Ed that he
wasn't really that
terrifying, but everybody
was always like God,
that guy's weird.
So I tried to make him just feel
uncomfortable all
the time and it was
great playing a
character like that.
He said I liked what
you did in Ed Gein,
now I want you to
play Dennis Rader,
who was a guy known as
B.T.K., another real guy
who was a serial killer
and I loved that role
because here's a
character that an actor
would die for because
he has to be really
likable in a lot of
scenes because that's
what the history was with him.
People loved the guy.
He was a church president,
he was a Boy Scout leader,
and then he was a
murderous maniac.
That's right, girls.
Your father has been chosen to
take the church down a new path.
I think he really
creepily enjoyed
playing that character,
so it was fun
to watch Kane inhabit
this role of this
straight guy who's
really mean and nasty.
Kane and I are doing a movie
together called Death House.
Directed by a guy
named Harrison Smith.
What I love about
Kane is that he
speaks exactly
what's on his mind.
And it was a lot of
fun working with Kane.
It's awesome, it's like
The Expendables of horror.
It's got all kinds of
horror stars in it.
Kane's the big bad
guy in the script.
Kane's character Sieg has a very
unique ability to regenerate.
So he gets shot, bullet holes
seal up, things like that.
The way out is not that way.
It's down.
To them.
With me.
To work with him as an
actor, consummate professional.
He's really concerned about
the quality of his performance.
Most of all, that
imagination of his,
he brought, I mean
he was the character.
That's what I loved
about him, he took this
totally seriously, and
after we were done shooting
Bill Moseley said, he
goes this is Kane's movie.
Now Bill Moseley is
also hyper intelligent,
so when you get Kane and
Bill Moseley together,
I mean I just sit there and it's
like they're talking in.
It's like I have
no idea what these
two guys are talking
to each other about.
But they both have
really bizarre sense
of humor, so it's
always so much fun.
And Kane is especially
smart, and I think he
prides himself on
talking about his MENSA,
'cause a lot of
times we play pretty
dumb, scary, one
note characters.
I will fuck you in Hell.
It's been in the
works for a while and
some of the best horror
icons are involved.
I don't know what
Kane's career would've
taken had he been cast
in Freddy Versus Jason.
It didn't happen and
Kane, being a survivor
that he is, and most of
all transcending that
mask role, went off and
forged another career.
Nobody handed it
to him, he worked
his balls off to
get back, and I mean
he worked and he
worked and he worked
and it finally paid
off, he got the
Jason, the Victor Crowley
and things like that,
and honestly, just
me, I'm proud of him
because I've known
him for a long time.
I know where he
came from, I know
the things that vexed
him a little bit.
While the burns scarred
him physically forever,
the worst effects from the
burns were actually mental.
I was burned when I was
a child on 35% of my body.
We have talked about
that and discussed it,
and I think we felt
a little bit of
comradery because of
our burns and getting
through your life and
trying to deal with that.
Most patients the
recovery is difficult
because of posttraumatic stress.
As a little kid I
had a really amazingly
hard time, and really
all my life with it,
and to go through
what he's gone through
I can't even imagine
because it took me
my whole life to be
able to deal with it.
I started getting
the feelings of...
And it's been, I've
been to many therapists
and stuff and it's
been classified as
PTSD type thing
from the accident,
everything I went
through, slowly manifested
itself because since
my parents and my
sisters were the only
ones that saw me,
and I got a staph
infection and almost
died as a result, that
somehow I've come to the
conclusion within my
brain, not consciously,
but that they had
something to do with that.
So for some reason,
years later, gradually I
started feeling that
if my parents or my
sisters came to where
I lived, then they
were bringing something
bad with them.
It's almost the worst
part of this whole ordeal.
Everyone that had
anything to do with
him at that time was
suddenly infected,
they were contaminated in a way.
Even his own mother,
who was the one
who took care of him
and stretched him
and did every single
thing afterwards
when he came home, all
the therapy with him,
if she wanted to
see Kane she had
to go through what
he calls a process.
I would have to
have them, once they
arrived at the house,
give me everything
they brought with
them so I can put
it in the washing
machine, they'd have
to go immediately
into the shower and
get rid of whatever they brought
with them, that's
how it felt to me.
If I washed all their
clothes and they took
a shower, then I was fine
with them being in the house.
It's ridiculous,
I'm the first one
to admit that it's
ridiculous, but it
was something I
could not control.
I would either ask
them to do that
or I wouldn't be
able to have them
come to the house,
so what's worse?
Now that my mom
is gone, I've seem
to have lost touch
with everyone.
It's a sad thing
because I was always
very close to my
family and obviously
it's basically, it's
my fault that I don't.
He lost a lot of family members
because of it
because they couldn't
understand the
OCD that Kane had.
It's not something
I'm proud of certainly.
I'm ashamed of it,
but it's just the
one thing I was
not able to beat.
And I have to live with that.
I don't give up on anything.
My wife and kids know that and
they mean everything to me.
My wife Susan is very...
She's a therapist,
she has a practice.
For many years
helping people cope
with certain problems and stuff,
so she's very caring
and empathetic.
And helps people get through
some stuff, including me.
I'm probably her
star client because
I've had so many
issues that she's
helped me deal with
and been very patient.
I think what was
horrifying to me was
not so much the burn
story, which is bad enough,
but then the recovery
story was really
I think much longer and
more tedious than it
could have been, or than
it should have been.
Being in the hospital
for six months
I think made him a much
more sensitive person.
It made him a much
more generous person.
I love hanging out
with Kane and his family
because we were
knuckleheads, we were young
knuckleheads for a
long time and then we
both started families
about the same time
and I knew him with Susan
and his relationship
and their dynamic
is great, they're so
different and yet
they complement
each other and it's
just so fun to watch.
When we first
started dating I was
a set decorator, but
I stopped because
it was exhausting
and really hard and
having two people, I
found, in a relationship
that are in the same
field was really hard.
I think when Susan
started seeing me
really start working,
there had to be
an element of concern
with her considering
I was doing dangerous
stuff quite a bit.
Earlier in his
career it's a little
nerve racking, and
there was a few times
when he would be
doing, like if he was
doing average things
and car stunts,
those didn't worry
me, but things
where he could get
seriously hurt.
Perfect example was I doing
a movie called House 11.
I was testing a rope,
there was a rope
hung from the permanence
in the sound stage.
One of the characters
had to swing
on the rope from
the top of the set
on a long swing
down into the set
and then up the other side and
then back to the top
of the temple again.
I swung out, and as I
was swinging back in
I hit part of the
set and it knocked me
off the rope and I
fell pretty close
to 25 feet to the
stage floor and hit
really hard, and
right at that moment
Susan arrived on
the set to visit.
I just came down
to visit, he was
really excited to
be on the movie.
And one of the
stunt guys I had there
for the day ran
over to her and said
oh my God, we
thought he was dead.
Oh my God, I thought he
was dead, and I'm like...
What?
Wait, what do you mean?
What are you talking about
you thought he was dead?
And then she found
out I had fallen.
They showed me
where he had fallen.
I think since that
day, that was the
instance why I
don't go to the set.
I think I've brought
the kids and we've
visited the set,
but I don't like to
watch him work and I
think he's nervous.
I have two sons, Jace
and Reed, and they're
very responsible, smart,
well-adjusted kids.
He really is a wonderful dad
and he's totally plugged in.
It's amazing that
Kane is able to
keep two completely
different lives.
He has this life
of flying all over
the world and
putting on makeup and
ripping heads off of
people, and then he
goes home and sits
on his couch and
watches a TV show
with his family.
If you saw a shot of
them sitting there you
would think they're no different
than any other
family in the world.
It's really cool
that he can keep up
the balance of both
of those and not
let the two bleed into
each other too much.
When he's home
we still enjoy our
time together
watching TV and movies
and stuff like
that, finding one of
his movies every
once in a while,
watching a little bit of that,
him realizing how old it is and
then switching to a new channel.
I think some of
my favorite memories
are probably when we
hang out together.
Most fathers and
sons don't really
hang out that much
together, but I
really enjoy
hanging out with him
instead of going out
with my friends at night.
Both of my sons,
when they visited
when I was shooting
Jason X, I was in full
costume and I have a
picture with both of them.
That was one of my
favorite sets to visit.
I was pretty young,
and I mean seeing
all the people in their makeup,
seeing how futuristic
everything looked.
It was a really
unique experience
to be on the set of
a movie with my dad
and seeing him in person
acting was really cool.
The funny thing
about Kane is he has
this intense presence
about him, but he's
the nicest, kindest guy
once you get to know him.
Most people wouldn't
think of Kane as being
a nice, basically
mellow, soft spoken guy.
I'm sure he has his
moments, but I think
that would be very surprising
to a lot of people.
Maybe he sews or does
macrame or something,
I'd be curious what
his hobbies are.
Kane is the entire
horror community.
I can say that bar none.
Kane's body language,
Kane's posture,
the hockey mask, the
way he moves, his bulk,
all of that is the
logo for the experience
of 30 odd years of
Friday the 13th films.
He's a horror icon.
Me being into the
horror genre and
loving horror
movies, he is Jason.
He is the epitome
of Jason, goddammit!
Know about it, motherfucker!
He's by far the best Jason.
He's known as Jason,
that's, you can't
really take that away.
I have to think
that of all of them,
and I've said this before, he is
the one, the only, and the best.
Nobody else can even
compete with him.
As a leader, when
you're an icon,
if you wind up
playing a role that
becomes really
important to people,
there's a responsibility
that comes with that.
Kane's one of the few who really
takes that
responsibility seriously.
Well I think my
fans are the best.
There was a big
outcry from the fans
when I was replaced
as Jason, and that
made me feel good that I wasn't
the only one that
was disappointed.
Let's face it, if
we didn't have fans
we wouldn't be in the
place that we are.
I have a reputation of
being nice to the fans
and Kane has a
reputation of really
being fun with the
fans, they love it.
He makes everybody have
their own special moment
to walk away with, he's
definitely a fan's fan.
Fans are everything to Kane.
He goes above and beyond.
Fans are completely the life
blood of the horror community.
You see dozens of
horror conventions
with people lined up
who wait hours to meet
their favorite celebrity
for a few seconds.
You might be doing a convention
every weekend for
a year, or on tour
promoting something,
but for this person
they're waiting
all year for this
moment that you're
coming to their town
and they have something
they wanna tell you
or share with you, so you
can't ever forget that.
It doesn't matter what
else is going in your life,
everything could be
going to shit, you could
have the worst day
ever, you could be sick,
for those five, 10
minutes that this person's
gonna get to spend with
you, that's everything.
Kane really gets
that and that's why
the same fans will come
see him all the time.
It doesn't matter
that they already got
his autograph once,
they just wanna see him.
That's huge.
Even a couple people
in line ahead of me,
just how he was talking
to them, they'd ask
questions I'm sure he's
been asked 80 times a day
and he stills answers
enthusiastically as much,
but he's still got that
snarky asshole attitude
that you love about it,
which makes it perfect.
The first photo we took, I
was wearing my hockey mask.
I did what Kane
does, I did the heavy
breathing where he lifts
up his shoulder like.
And tilted my head a little.
He smiled at that, I think
he thought that was cool.
He gets it, okay, just
like a few of us get it.
That the fans are
the ones that are
really important in
this whole scenario.
We're just guys doing our job.
The fans are the ones
that make it all happen.
They're the driving force.
Whenever I'm with him in public,
and he gets
recognized by someone,
he's always happy
to take a picture.
They're really important
to him and that's why he
does so many conventions
to meet all of his fans.
People come to see
Kane Hodder for a reason,
over and over, I mean
his line never ends.
I was very envious of
him 'cause he had a line
going clear out the door and
I had nobody at my table.
He's so appreciative
and so good with the fans.
I don't think you could have a
better ambassador
for a franchise.
That whole segment of
fandom didn't get the respect.
Now I think everybody
realizes that
the horror movie, like
the science fiction
film or the fantasy
film, is a go to
popcorn ingredient in
the soul of Hollywood.
Horror fans, they
tend to be very
fervent for some reason,
I'm not sure why.
You don't have people tattooing
Adam Sandier on their body.
I'm not sure why, maybe
that would be a good tattoo,
but Kane Hodder, I'm
sure he's on a lot
of bodies as a tattoo,
the classic face.
I do have this Kane
tattoo right here.
I have Jason from Part Seven.
I had gotten this
tattoo, it was the
first one I had on
this arm, and he comes
over me, he's like you're a huge
fucking fan, but
you got the wrong
Jason on your arm, and
then he socked me one
and I was like all
right, this is how
the relationship is
gonna go from now on.
Now he has a whole
new fan base of
a younger generation who grew up
watching the Hatchet
series and those
kids' parents grew up
watching the Jason series,
so it's changed and
gave him a whole
new rebirth in his
career and now he's
doing almost 20
movies a year because
people wanna see him do stuff.
I think Kane is
relentless when it
comes to anything that
he's passionate about.
He overcame a lot of
things, and that's
by his own volition
by a force of will.
Some people just don't
have that in them
anymore, they give up,
they roll over and die.
Those are words I cannot
use to describe Kane Hodder.
Whether you wanna draw
an analogy to Jason
who never dies, maybe
Kane never dies.
I'm blown away
by his history and
what he's gone through
and just how he's a
triumph and he's the
coolest man walking really.
A man with that much
fortitude, desire, and ambition
to go through what he
went through is amazing.
To go from what
happened to him to being
one of the best in the
business as a burn guy
I think pretty much tells
you all you need to know
about Kane, the guy's got
balls of freakin' steel.
A lot of people
would've just been well
I had my time and
that was my thing and
I'm just gonna be
put out to pasture
and do the
conventions, but he was
smart enough and
still hungry enough
when Hatchet got
put in front of him
to say I'm gonna go at this with
everything I have, and I'm gonna
keep going and I'm
gonna keep showing
people that I'm just
getting started.
More people should
approach their
work and their
life like he does.
When you go through
an ordeal like that,
you begin to take
life seriously.
You slow down for a
second and you make
sure that your next
step is the right step.
And I think that's
what Kane does.
The fact that I
was, suicidal thoughts
and stuff, I know how you
can get to that point,
and I understand when
people get there.
I think I could've been
justified possibly ending
my life then because of
everything I had been through.
But look what I would've missed.
That's huge, I think,
I hope to instill
in people that get to that point
you don't know what
you might miss.
And I would've
missed all of this.
I still believe he's
just getting started.
10 more years from
now there could be
a whole 'nother
documentary about yeah,
so he did all of that,
but then he did this.
J Haters, more than a monster J
J Haters, your worst
nightmare come alive J
I Haters, more than a killer I
J The one who's coming
to take you tonight J
I Fear has many forms I
I He comes in the dark I
I In his mind, his
clothes are torn I
I Wielding anything like
a weapon to take lives I
I His gift is the power,
the ability to survive I
J A stab with a mask or
a cloak, a dark shroud J
I Take the whole world
and flip it upside down I
J You can't stop the
rage he has within J
J I mean you could try, but
you can't, and you won't win J
J Haters, more than a monster J
J Haters, your worst
nightmare come alive J
I Haters, more than a killer I
J The one who's coming
to take you tonight J
How would I want
Kane to kill me?
I think quickly.
Very, very quickly.
I just thought of
something horrible.
It was sexual.
I definitely, I'd want
him to choke me out.
You ever hear the expression
rip off your head,
shit down your throat?
Maybe if he made
me eat my own shit,
or some script that
I wrote and stuff
it down my throat and
made it eat it, or shove
my own movies down my
throat or up my ass.
I thought we were gonna
be friends and partners.
What do you know about the
script that I don't know?
I'd like to be beat to
death by two naked ladies.
Wow.
Number one, his
character couldn't kill
me 'cause I can whip his
ass any day of the week.
Period.
With kindness.
No, I don't know, let's
see, a particular way,
how about he and I are
both burned up in a fire.
Ew, creepy.
By the way, I don't
know if you know this,
Kane has killed
more people with his
hands than anybody
else in movie history.
Don't know if you know that.
J The one who's coming
to take you tonight J