Joseph Gatt - Exclusive Interview
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Staci Layne Wilson / Horror.com: I haven't seen it yet, so, are you a ghost in Killing Ariel?
Joe Gatt: I don't know if you would classify him as a ghost, or spirit, or a fancy take on Incubus. Succubus and Incubus traditionally haunt people through sex. Basically the lead character Ariel is a succubus character. And without giving too much of the plot away since you haven't seen the movie, succubus haunts in the present and my character kind of comes from the past because I haunted the lead character's mother. In the past It is spooky. My character is very spooky, while Ariel is much more corporeal in the way she deals with people and in the way she haunts the lead characters.
Q: Is the Killing Ariel movie pretty hardcore in terms of gore and violence?
Joe Gatt: With the amount of blood in there, I would presume it would be an R. But even though there is lots of blood, there isn't so much in the sense of gratuitous gore so who knows… because it's also a really funny movie. It's sort of horrific horror movie but it has really funny moments that kind of offsets all that. I was speaking to the director the other day, and I think that has been one of the main problems with Killing Ariel is that people don't really understand that it is a comedy as well as a horror thriller, and even a romance. There's romance in there.
Q: With the living, or the dead?
Joe Gatt: Both. Initially with the living, and then with the dead. It's one of those films that you can kind of watch and completely open mind it and take it as it is. Towards the end it is a little bit more gore.
Q: So what was it that attracted you to take this role?
Joe Gatt: Just the character, for a start. I am either completely naked most of the time, or I am wearing a tuxedo. I am really into not just horror movies because I always liked and love horror movies, but I am into legends, spirits and fables and the whole idea of playing Incubus [was something I wanted]. I did a lot of research about it, you know, the whole thing about how back in the middle ages and the turn of the century priests and various other dignitaries used to get away with doing things that weren't right and they used to blame it on the spirits, on incubus and the succubus. The people believed it, and I found that kind of strange and it seemed very interesting to bring that into the modern day and see if it would kind of work in the same way.
Q: Hm. So did the director explain to you what made him want to tell the story to present-day audiences about ancient sexual beliefs, and try to put them in a modern setting?
Joe Gatt: Not really. There were two writers, Fred Calvert and David Negron Jr. who both were officially directors too, but I think David did most of the directing and Fred did most of the explanation of the text. I think he was more into the meaning behind the sex demons he did more of the explaining as to what kind of things that he wanted.
Q: It sounds like there is so much to latch onto the for horror fans. We love the scary aspects, so… how do you kill your victims?
Joe Gatt: Succubus and Incubus don't necessarily we don't do any of the actual killing. What we do is, basically we intimidate and scare our hauntees and get them to do most of the dirty work themselves. So we are kind of innocent and the whole thing. We just kind of spook you a little bit and then we get down to different things — in Killing Ariel we haunt in the traditional way to the point where we drive them crazy. The lead character goes absolutely nuts and he ends up literally in an insane asylum. There's a really neat twist at the end of it as well that kind of leaves you hanging you don't really know what really went on in the movie, and also an opening for maybe a sequel.
Q: These creatures, are they ephemeral or are they solid? Do they have supernatural powers? Can they move objects with their mind; that kind of thing?
Joe Gatt: No, they are definitely solid objects. Because there is a lot of lovemaking. Especially with Ariel so she's definitely solid, but there is also ephemeral aspect because she gets killed several times in the movie and suddenly reappears again. Like I said, nobody really knows if the stuff is happening in the mind or in reality, but again without giving too much away, there is a lot of ephemeral stuff in there as well. So it kind of switches between ephemeral and real people.
Q: What have you got coming up?
Joe Gatt: The last thing I did was this new movie coming out called Watchmen. It's based on a comic book and I think, if I'm right, it is one of the most anticipated films of all. Basically my body is going to be the body of Dr. Manhattan [played by Billy Crudup].
Q: Oh really, how does that work?
Joe Gatt: Well he plays the character in the movie, and I think he finished shooting a couple of weeks ago, and most of it is going to be CGI from what I know and basically they're just using his face and they're going to be CGIing him onto my body.
Q: So, are you going to be irked when Entertainment Weekly starts asking Billy Crudup for his fitness tips?
Joe Gatt: Yeah, probably. It's happened before, actually. One of the first modeling jobs I did when I first arrived in the states was for Nike and I was a body-double for Michael Vick. I was his body for Nike's specially commissioned mannequins.
Q: And he is an athlete. Why'd they need a double?
Joe Gatt: We are exactly the same size and so he commissioned a sculpture to make mannequins and promote his line of clothing from Nike for the new Nike stores. So I was his body and they put his head on top of my physique. It is my physique in all of the Nike stores… although I think that may have changed since the [animal abuse trial]. I don't think he is promoting Nike anymore.
Q: Probably not. They may have given those mannequins to the dogs to use as fire hydrants. So how does that work in a film like Watchmen, though? Do you do all the action or do they just do a motion capture type of thing and animate it from there?
Joe Gatt: Well, from what I know with regards to something like Watchmen… I think it's going to be mostly motion capture because then it is going to become CGI, the same way they did Silver Surfer. [Portrayed by Doug Jones.]
Q: Thanks, Joe.
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