I WAS A SCREAMING WEREWOLF: interview with Gustavo Perez

 


 

Gustavo Perez  in Jan-Gel 2: The Beast Returns (2001)

 

 I WAS A SCREAMING WEREWOLF
An Interview With Indie Horror Film Actor/Filmmaker GUSTAVO  PEREZ
Interview By Alan Doshna

Although he has had roles in various high to low ranging budgeted films, Tampa-based actor/filmmaker/model/musician/voice artist Gustavo Perez is probably best known for his co-starring roles opposite late Plan 9 alumnus Conrad Brooks in two of his later, better known films: Jan-Gel 2: The Beast returns (2001)and Plan 9 “homage”/alleged sequel Brain Robbers From Outer Space (2004).

Jan-Gel was the second of a trilogy of films that Conrad starred in as well as wrote, produced and directed. The first film became a kind of a tribute to Tor Johnson due to the physical resemblance to the professional wrestler/actor/Plan 9 icon by the film’s titular “creature,” portrayed by Dale Clukey, who persisted and finally convinced Conrad to do a film starring him for that reason.

While Jan-Gel was part of a forthright and official trilogy of films, Plan 9 has perhaps the oddest sequential lineage of any film ever, being connected to Bride of the Monster and Night of the Ghouls only as part of the so-called “Kelton the Cop Trilogy” (although Tor Johnson also appeared as Lobo in the aforementioned films) with Brain Robbers From Outer Space and Plan 10 From Outer Space being disputed, unofficial sequels.

Be that as it may, Conrad, however, does not appear as his Jamie the Cop character in the Jan-Gel series. In spite of that, and or maybe because of it, Plan 9 and JenGal  possess a kind of intersectionality with the presence of Officer Dan, played in both “series” by Gustavo Perez.

Gustavo also wrote/produced and directed the indie werewolf horror Light of Blood (2005) On top of all that, He was in first place in The New Face of Horror Contest 2023 online for a good part of the competition. Here to tell us all about it, is an exclusive interview with Gustavo himself.

 

“Advanced to the Top 20”.

 

Question: You’ve had many and varied experiences in the entertainment field. How did you get started in all of that?

 

Shape of things to come: Gustavo as a 13 year old werewolf.

 

Gustavo Perez: My fascination with show business started when I saw Elvis and The Beatles on shows like Ed Sullivan and I started watching TV series like Patty Duke, Honey West and The Outer Limits. I was also playing Rock records on my own at four years old, as well as playing Big Band 78s. I was singing the theme songs of the TV series and cartoons and also imitating the characters from when I was five years old.

Q: What was your first actual experience in front of a camera?

G: When I was 7 or 8 I was on worldwide TV on the Spanish Let’s Make a Deal. I won the prize and went on stage to accept it! I also used to record my favorite Rock TV shows and TV series theme songs. From there in junior high school I wrote a play for video class about Alice Cooper and I played him myself. It was voted best play.I then started my Rock band and began composing songs with my friend Ben whom I learned to play guitar along with. We started a Rock band that lasted nine years. Around 1978 I started making little Super 8mm films and into the mid – 80’s on video tape, like Famous Monsters Magazine readers used to write in about and send pictures from Super 8 movies that they were doing!

 

Gustavo and Friends
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Q: Do you have any of your Super 8 movies or the Alice Cooper video?

G: I can’t use the Alice one a guy that helped on it likes to sell copies himself but I can use pics from my UFO video , there’s a scene with me in there .. Yes, and I read Famous Monsters!

Fax: Tell us about your first professional acting experience in movies.

G: One day in 1993 my cousin Kathy called and told me that they needed bad guys for Hulk Hogan’s Thunder in Paradise (1993). I was hired and filmed the role.

Q: You have a picture with Hulk Hogan. What was he like to talk to? Anything you can say about your contact with him?

 

Gustavo and Hulk Hogan on the set of Thunder in Paradise (1993).

G: Hulk Hogan made a joke when I was having the photo taken with him he said, ” They finally got me!” and everyone started laughing ! Because we were bad guys trying to shoot him in the movie! From there it was a series of commercials, TV series’ and more movies.

Q:  One particularly good experience you had on a movie was with The Break (1995). How did that go?

G: I spent one month filming The Break, which had eight Hollywood stars in the cast, and which was a real blast ! I spoke to Martin Sheen for around ten minutes during a break from filming. I told him I started watching him in 1964 in the Nightmare episode of The Outer Limits (1963). He asked what my name was and was real interested so I asked for a photo of us. I told him “Thanks” and I started walking away but then Martin said,  “Hold on son we have to shoot another photo ! ” I said “Really?” He said, “The sun was in your eyes !”   I also spoke to Vincent Van Patten and had a photo shot with him and spoke to Rae Dawn Chong. She approached me and asked me if I knew how to play on Stairway To Heaven on the guitar. I answered that I used to know how to play part of it ….I was playing guitar around the campfire in that scene on the river .Another good fortune I had on that film was the assistant director kept picking me for eight scenes to be up close to the camera . It turned out every single scene was put in the movie ! We had The Outer Limits 1960s director Lee H. Katzin directing us, I also shot a scene with Gerritt Graham from ” Phantom of the Paradise ” by Brian DePalma, Gerritt played Rock star Beef in the DePalma film . It was a wonderful month working on that film that, by the way, Vincent Van Patten had written. It was partially his life story. Valerie Perrine also starred in it. She won an Oscar for her role as Lenny Bruce’s wife Honey in Lenny (1974).

 

Gustavo with Martin Sheen on the set of The Break (1995).

Q: You have a few fun anecdotes about when you worked on the film Forever Mine (1999). Tell us about those.

G: That was another really fun Hollywood film which starred Joseph Fiennes, Ray Liotta & gorgeous Gretchen Mol .As I was driving there to the Don Cesar Hotel to film a big rainstorm started on the interstate but cleared up as i was arriving on set and I asked a kid in the parking lot where do i go and he showed me I later found out when the film came out that the kid was one of the lead roles named Vincent L. When I was at wardrobe the bathing suits weren’t fitting too well so I lucked out and was sent to a Jr, High locker room to film with director writer Paul S chrader Joseph Fiennes and Osvaldo Calvo who was Frank Sinatra’s co-star!  I filmed a speaking scene with them but before filming with then I went to get a glass of milk for Osvaldo for his medicine, as I was sitting in locker room waiting to film I was stunned when Joseph Fiennes walked up to me and said ” Hi my name is Joe ” Joe then held out his hand to me & we shook hands. Three minutes later I ran outside to have my photo taken with him. I should mention before leaving the Hotel I walked over to the beach briefly and shot a photo of a beautiful blonde that the talent wranglers were giving drinks to and I later found out it was the 2nd lead role, Gretchen Mol!

Gustavo with Conrad Brooks in Jan-Gel 2: The Beast Returns (2001).

 

Q: You later began appearing in bigger roles in independent films like Jan-Gel 2: The Beast Returns (2001) starring Conrad Brooks. How did that role come about?

G:  I was his co-starring in a main lead role in two films.I found out about the two movies that director Garland Hewlett was working on from a Tampa Tribune article (Note: The Tribune was the paper that horror icon Rondo Hatton had written for prior to his Hollywood career) that he put up with pics. A phone number listed in an article for a Plan 9 “sequel”/satire titled Brain Robbers From Outer Space (2004) Unfortunately neither of us can find our copies of the article. Maybe later on (laughs). I called and was immediately cast. Garland asked me if I look like DeNiro and I told him that people say I look like Al Pacino. Even though he had already been filming Brain Robbers for about six yrs, we started with Jan-Gal. Actually, Jan-Gel & Brain Robbers are sequels. Jan-Gel is first because in Brain Robbers I mention how I battled the Caveman Jan-Gel.

 

With Garland Hewlett, Dale Clukey and Conrad Brooks in Jan-Gel 2: The Beast Returns (2001).

Q: Were you familiar with Ed wood and Plan 9 and Conrad Brooks at that point?

G: I found out about Conrad & Plan 9 when I saw it on Shock Theater in 1964 , I was four. I was a horror fan from way back then!

Q: Any anecdotes you’d like to share about while working on the film?

G: One freezing night after filming one time, Conrad and I were drinking Michelobs outside of actor Joseph Miller’s studio and Conrad told me that Bela Lugosi and Ed Wood were really nice guys. He had a really good sense of humor. He spoke loud in the restaurant to let people know that we were involved with big time entertainment (laughs)! It was all in good fun. But that night Conrad was upset because an actor didn’t want to film his other scenes.

 

A suave Gustavo in Brain Robbers from Outer Space (2004)

Q: You mentioned Joseph Miller. You told me that he appeared in the British films The Creeping Unknown and The Crawling Eye, although he didn’t have a British accent.

G: Right. Don’t know if he was British. I heard from his best friend that he was in those films. In Crawling Eye I think it’s him stuffing rags in Molotov cocktails at the end.

Q: You were in John Landis’s The Kronenberg Chronicles (2002). Did you have to audition for that?

G: Believe it or not, for some reason I didn’t have to audition for the Landis film. Although I took more time off from work than I should have (laughs)! John Landis called my agent and said “Tell Gustavo Perez to just show up for the filming. I’m impressed with his resume”!!! So I went and filmed with him five days at Universal Studios as well as a ranch that was fifteen miles north of Orlando. Some of the days we had to film in the rain. He said that exteriors for his Animal House were shot in the rain because they could not lose the days of filming for budgetary reasons.

Gustavo and John Landis.

Q: Any interesting things you learned about Landis that you could share?

G:  Landis said that  he had a great time playing the caveman in Schlock, the low budget film he wrote and directed. Kinda like caveman film I was sharing lead role with Conrad Brooks, ” Jan-Gel 2: The Beast Returns! (Laughs).

 

Poster For Light of Blood (2005), inspired by Henry Hull’s werewolf transformation in Werewolf of London (1935).

Q: One of your best known roles is as the werewolf in the film Light of Blood (2005), which you wrote, produced, directed and starred in! What inspired you to do that?

G: Then there was the time on Vacation in Cuba when I saw the dilapidated buildings & said to my brother Eric, “These looks scary enough to be used in a Horror movie ” the next day we started filming scenes like the scene at La Floridita where Ernest Hemingway used to have dinner and drinks plus a scene from the top of a mountain . When i arrived back in Tampa I finished the film here . One time in St. Pete I was walking out from behind bushes as the werewolf carrying a bloody severed head and a woman slams on her brakes scared to death when she saw me ! I said to her we are filming a movie ” She calmed down & started driving again . It was a really fun film to do working with lots of pretty girls and enthusiastic young people.

Gustavo with Jaime Allen in Light of Blood (2005).

Q: It kind of reminds me of the film Face of the Screaming Werewolf (1965), starring Lon Chaney except in color, because of its Latin backdrop. Were you also inspired by Chaney’s Wolf Man, or Paul Naschy’s many werewolf movies?

G: Besides Lon Chaney and Paul Naschy my other two big influences for Light of Blood were Michael Landon in I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957) and Steven Ritch in The Werewolf (1957). One of the DVD covers for the film was inspired by Henry Hull’s transitioning to the Werewolf of London (1935) from behind the parlor posts.

 

A tribute reel to Light of Blood (2005).
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Q: You appeared in Dolphin Tale (2011). There was a scene with Ashley Judd that you were able to expand for yourself. Tell us about that.

G: On Dolphin Tale I changed a scene myself and the director mentioned it to me. Well in the scene with Ashley I was only supposed to be in it 3 seconds when she pulled up to me in the sun but I decided to turn around and walk over to the path where she was walking so she has to walk by me and  I lengthened my scene an extra seven seconds … I thought I was getting kicked out but he liked it and kept it my way. I made the scene with Ashley and me longer . Got lucky that time (Laughs).

Q: Anything you can tell us about Ricou Browning (Creature from the Black Lagoon (1953) ) who also worked on the film: if you met him, what he was doing in the film, etc.?

G: Ricou Browning was directing the actors when they were swimming under water how to turn and swim for the camera … I only saw Ricou on set but could not speak to him because there was a rough woman talent coordinator that kicks you out if you talk to the leads… In fact she told me not to look at Ashley too much.

Fax: That must have been hard!

G: Right! I also got to be in Dolphin Tale 2 (2014) (Laughs). You have to be careful about interacting with the bigger stars if you have a smaller role, especially with women. Even if it’s an independent production, you have to be on guard to avoid being  misinterpreted. I had kind of a problem with a blonde from a movie I directed called Angora (2014) do that too , I called her on phone & she pretended it wasn’t her and I said “I recognize your voice” and she hung up… I think she didn’t wanna do indies anymore because like only one in 200,000 gets picked up….. But I never made move on her. I hate when they jump to wrong conclusions.

Q: Some of them have a sense of power that they feel that can use.

G: Certain ones know they can make lots of cash hand over fist because they get hired everywhere and promoted fast.

Q: But there are negatives as well as positives – when they get old, the money people can’t get rid of them fast enough.

G: I know but there are a lot of them keep going like Sally Field , Jane Fonda …. Diane Keaton….

Q: Yes, some are able to rise above it. But getting older can be a factor for all actors, although less so for men it seems.

G: Right. Michael Keaton is Batman again in The Flash (2023) (Laughs).

Q: Happy to hear that. Gives us older guys some hope.

G: Yes true.

 

Q: You were in Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (2016) which was directed by Tim Burton of Ed Wood (2004) fame. Any funny or interesting stories about him that you can share.

G: Yeah, he said he liked my leather jacket! (Laughs). He was cool to work with, nice guy.

Q: Did you have to audition for that?

G: No. I just signed up as an extra. I was just a neighbor walking down the street in a scene.

Q: Did he direct the scenes himself or did he have an assistant director do it, from a distance?

G: No, he directed it all.

Fax: The main star was Eva Green who was in Casino Royale (2006) and Sin City: A Dame to Die For. (2014). Did you have any contact with her?

G: No I didn’t see Eva.

 

Trailer for Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (2016).
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children – [Official International Theatrical Trailer #2 in HD] – YouTube

 

Fax: Did you keep in contact with Conrad after the Jan- Gel movie?

G: Yes. We spoke on the phone about ten times. Sometimes he called me, sometimes I called him. I asked him for copies of his other films and he sent them like Saturn Avenger, Misfit Patrol, Slaves of the Vampire Wolf (all 1996), Iron Bound Vampire (with Dolores Fuller) (1997) and several others.

Q: How did you learn that he had died?

G: I believe maybe a writer friend of mine named Mikee Plastic was calling him to do story , I gave Mikee his number and they told Mike he passed away . I also saw the photos of Conrad in bed with his cat, Conrad looked bad so I had feeling it was near

Q: can you tell us about some of your upcoming projects?

G: Yes. This summer I had an action movie with the director I did The Wildman Skunk Ape (2021) with Michael Pare which has a Kung Fu scene in it. I may have an action Mafia/Kung Fu movie within three weeks and in January or February a horror film with a young woman director. I don’t know what I’m doing in it yet.

 

Gustavo with Dan Inosanto

Q: Didn’t you have some training from one of Bruce Lee’s instructors?

G: Yes, Dan Inosanto. He showed Bruce Lee how to use nunchucks and fought Bruce in Game of Death (1978 ) and The Green Hornet TV episode Praying Mantis (1966).(Note: He appeared as the stuntman for actor Mako)… At a Kung Fu school I heard that he would be coming and so I signed up to practice with him!

Q: Good to hear. Must be cool to be able to use your Kung Fu skills!

G: Yes BRUCSTAVO LEE! (Laughs).I was a friend of Van Williams, who played the Hornet in the 1960’s TV series in the later years of his life. I have all Green Hornet TV episodes on DVD and VHS.. I always liked their art and logos, I liked the green, black & yellow colors they used.  Too bad it was canceled early.

 

Q: Any dream projects that you would like to do?

G: I would like to do a sequel to Light of Blood, another werewolf movie. There were a couple of times that there seemed to be interest but unfortunately it didn’t come together. I wish I had done more promotion when I was younger, earlier in my career but I am planning to set aside more time in the near future  to do more bigger budgeted films. Talking about full moons and werewolves, there’s an old joke: “What did the moon say to his therapist? : “I’m just going through a phase!” Well, I guess you can say I’m looking forward to a new “phase” of my career!

(Laughs).

Charming ladies man Gustavo with some of his lovely co-stars.
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Gustavo Perez and author Alan Doshna outside of Wing House- in Tampa, FL
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Birthday tribute to Gustavo Perez
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Gustavo Perez – IMDb
Facebook   (Gustavo Perez profile).