Sid Haig - Exclusive Interview

You might remember when veteran actor and the world's scariest onscreen clown, Sid Haig, announced his directorial debut a year or so back — a werewolf picture, which sounded really interesting. But, like so many budding projects in Tinsel Town, that one went to the dogs.

Now, Haig has got all his i's dotted and his t's crossed for his definite directorial debut, Wittenberg.

When I caught up with Sid at the New Beverly Theater in L.A. last week (where they're having an ongoing "grindhouse" film festival, and showed one of Sid's funkalicious 1973 films, Wonder Women), he told me that his production is set to start rolling in May. "We're shooting in L.A., even though it is difficult to secure the permits, and you know, dealing with the crap that can come out [in a big city like that]. But when you start weighing the pros and cons, on this particular film, it beats the cost of putting the whole thing on the road with all the special effects guys and the cast and crew and all of that."

The cast, headed by Haig as the main baddie, is indeed impressive: signed up first were Nicole Travolta (“One Tree Hill“), William Smith (Any Which Way You Can, Maniac Cop), Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton (Hollywood She-Wolf), Ezra Buzzing ton (The Hills Have Eyes, Ghost World), Joe Knetter (Job, Doomed to Consume), and Oscar Dillon (Batman Forever, Idlewild).

The evening I spoke to Haig on behalf of Horror.com, he'd just snagged two more horror icons. "We have just recently confirmed Ashley Laurence (Hellraiser, Lightning Bug) and Tom Towles (The Devil's Rejects, Grindhouse). "Tom is playing this crazy, lunatic guy from the asylum that drives everybody to the location and drugs them so they don't know where they are," Haig said, chuckling rather evilly. Maybe he's getting into character already for his role as the diabolical Dr. Dorian, the head of the hospital.

When I asked Haig how he predicts he might get along with himself as a director, he told me probably wouldn't throw any Method fits or demand a larger trailer. "It'll be easy to direct myself with video-assist. I'll be able to look at what I've just done, and say yes or no."

The story of Wittenberg follows a young, hot-shot producer wants to make a groundbreaking new reality series that explores the question: If sane people are taken to an asylum and treated as if they were certifiable nutbags, would they actually become insane for real? "What caught my eye on this script [by Jill Gatsby] was its craziness," said Haig. "It's very intense and psychologically disturbing. As a certified hypnotherapist, I work with anxieties, so I know how to recognize them and therefore… I know how to create them."

Since Haig plays comedy so well, I was curious to know if we'd get to see some of that between the murder and mayhem. "There will be humor in this film, yes. I use humor to make a point. If you'll notice, in House of 1000 Corpses, Devil's Rejects, and so on… I will do something to invoke humor just before I do something really terrible.

"The film will definitely have an unsettling tone, and I am definitely going for a hard R rating. However, we don't have a lot of gore or foul language… but it's just very unsettling. It's not physically terrible, [but] it's messing with people's minds."

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Interview by Staci Layne Wilson

Photo by Shade Rupe