Widely renown for his role in the original Hellraiser, actor Nicholas Vince has turned his iconic turn into a nice career for himself in bit parts of various genre films. Now, in honor of his new film Book of Monsters is released on March 18, I talk with him on his career and the film in general.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, where did you get the urge to go into acting?
Nicholas Vince: It was something I had from a very young age. I was acting in school plays from around the age of 5 or so. At the age of 11 my English Teacher encouraged me to join the local amateur dramatic society and by the time I went to drama school at age 21 I'd done 50+ amateur plays.
Me: Were you always into genre films growing up? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
NV: I'd read ghost stories from my early teens. In 1970's, the UK ratings system didn't allow you to see X rated films until you were 18 and so the first horror films which I saw were Universal creature features and Vincent Price / Roger Corman / E A Poe films late on a Friday night on TV. I only got to watch those as they were screened in a slot where they'd been showing Marx Brothers films in the previous 4 weeks, and my Mum and I were expecting to see a Marx Brothers film.
Me: Is there any specific type of character you prefer playing?
NV: A well written one. It makes life so much easier. OK, seriously, it's always therapeutic to play bad guys, as long as there's some hint of humanity in there somewhere. By which I mean there's something more to the character than just plain violence.
Me: Having worked with Clive Barker on plenty of his films early in your career, what tools and skills do you acquire working on those that transferred to feature-film projects?
NV: Hmmm. That question implies you think I worked on his short films. I didn't. I only worked on Hellraiser, Hellbound and Nightbreed, so I only worked on Clive's feature films. What I learned on Clive's films was the importance of having fun on set and treating people who support you, really well.
Me: That brings us to your new film 'Book of Monsters.' What can you tell us about your character Jonas?
NV: He's the heroine Sophie's father. He's also got a drink problem and is really struggling with being a single father to an 18 year old.
Me: What specifically drew you to the role?
NV: I'd wanted to work with Stewart Sparke (director) and Paul Butler (writer) after I'd watched their first film and met them at FrightFest, London. They're obviously very talented and I really liked their idea of doing a Kickstarter where the backers got to choose the monsters and deaths etc. which appear in the film.
Me: What kind of preparation do you take to get into the character? Once on set, what do you have to do to stay within that mindset?
NV: A lot of the initial preparation is just simply learning the lines. During that process you obviously think about the character a lot. Then when you're on set, it's actually much easier as you'll be in costume and have the set and fellow actors to interact with. To stay in the mindset, I tend to take myself off into a corner and sit quietly.
Me: With the amount of comedy present in the story, was that a challenge to incorporate that aspect into the character?
NV: That's a good question, as whether you're playing comedy or drama I believe you simply have to play the truth of the character. The humour tends to come out of the situation, as I don't think Jonas really thinks he's a funny man.
Me: Lastly, do you have any other projects coming up you'd wish to tell our readers about? Thank you again for your time.
NV: There's quite a lot to keep an eye out for this year. In the last couple of weeks I've recorded or filmed DVD extras for For We Are Many an anthology movie produced by Hex Media, and for Borley Rectory, which is directed by Ashley Thorpe, both due for release this year. There are also three feature films where I have cameos, which are in post production; Heckle (dir. Martyn Pick), Paintball Massacre (Darren Berry) and Fuck You Immortality (dir. Federico Scargiali). On May 11 I'm introducing a screening of Nightbreed at the Mary Shelley Theatre, Bournemouth UK and at the end of April I'll be with Clive Barker and other cast from Hellraiser at Motor City Nightmares.
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