Duality: Stephen Wozniak is the very definition. He vacillates between light and darkness like a hypnotic ping pong ball to play each part convincingly and with conviction. But when it comes to horror, this chameleon-actor is as gritty as they come.
Your first role was in a John Waters film. Did this affect the types of roles you chose later, or your acting career overall?
I was a dancer in that movie. In my wee-teens, I would routinely go dancing with friends at a nightclub called Signals in Baltimore. One night, casting director Pat Moran spotted some kids there who she thought could be dancers in John Waters’ original 1960s-set musical feature film, “Hairspray.” A bunch of us who made it through the audition and got picked, rehearsed right away on the only large soundstage in the area, where they shot the film.
There, I remember meeting Divine, who was such a sweet guy. He dressed plainly in a white loose robe, linen pants and Espadrille shoes. He was sitting in a director’s chair, calmly waiting to meet someone in the hair and makeup department. He was soft spoken and a really motherly figure, in the best sense of the word, for most of the cast and crew. I had a great time dancing the many cool 60s moves, like the Mashed Potato and others. It was a real treat! In a certain way, it did give me a taste for unusual roles and movies.
Body Count Rising: ‘Parking Lot Savior,’ ‘Jesus Skater,’ ‘Avraham,’ ‘Jesus,’ ‘Pastor Tompkins’… You’ve played your share of religious roles. Are you a spiritual person in the real world?
Stephen Wozniak: That’s pretty funny. I didn’t realize that I had played this number of religious-related characters. I would say that I am a spiritual person in many ways. I find spiritualism and religion in many things, like art and literature, in addition to traditional means. I also have respect for those who embrace religions that affirm our humanity. I am attracted to roles that either lead the people, so to speak, or have something consequential to say, even though I have also played my fair share of degenerates, sycophants, rockers, drug lords and other outlaws. Now that I think about it, even the guy I play in “Satan’s Children” uses Biblical passages to defend his errant ways. So there’s almost always something religious in many of the roles I’ve played. In fact, one of the rock n’ rollers I’ve played on stage, David Bowie, has been seen as a messiah character, too.
Body Count Rising: You’ve played an amazing range of roles. What’s the most difficult role you’ve played and how did you prepare?
Stephen Wozniak: The most difficult role I’ve played was probably ‘Frankie’ in “Chaos.” He was a methamphetamine user and a follower of a really bad guy, the title role. He also did a lot of bad things on his own, even though he probably justified his actions to himself. We rehearsed for a few days before production, but I spent weeks researching meth users, loners, killers and related folk that added up to ‘Frankie.’ I also watched a lot of horror movies, like the original 1972 “The Last House on The Left,” of course, and Bergman’s drama, “The Virgin Spring,” amongst others.
Playing ‘Jesus’ in the big TV special “Time Machine: Beyond The DaVinci Code” was tough, too. Maybe these two roles were neck-and-neck for me. Savior figures and killers; that’s a funny contrast, but it is what I am attracted to as an actor.
Body Count Rising: A while ago, you mentioned that director and writer David DeFalco considered making a prequel to the true crime cult horror film, “Chaos.” Is this still in the works?
Stephen Wozniak: Indeed, it is still in the works, and alive and well. His new film is very closely related to “Chaos,” and really lives in a parallel universe to that film, instead of as a formal prequel. I will likely be playing another character than the one I played in the original “Chaos.” It will be a little bit more mainstream than the first one, so that the producers can get wider distribution, but will still have many of the brutal touchstones as the original. I think horror fans will certainly take to it well.
"Chaos" is ugly, nihilistic, and cruel -- a film I regret having seen. Don't make the mistake of thinking it's "only" a horror film, or a slasher film. It is an exercise in heartless cruelty and it ends with careless brutality. The movie denies not only the value of life, but the possibility of hope. –Roger Ebert
Body Count Rising: Your first feature film as a producer was “A Place to Die,” directed by Sage Stallone. How hands-on are you as a producer?
Stephen Wozniak: That was quite an experience, as just about everyone who worked on it will tell you. It was a great deal of work overall. I was and am very hands-on as a producer, as I want to make sure that my director and crew have everything that they need, while managing the day’s work to keep us on track and as close to budget as possible. Most of the script that I wrote, based on Sage’s revised ideas for that film, was shot in October of 2008, but Jim Van Bebber (“The Manson Family”) added these fantastic, crucial backstory scenes that were shot later in the spring of 2009.
Soon after, we lost Sage in such an untimely and very unfortunate manner in 2012. My understanding was that the film had been and still is tied up legally. The picture elements (the film negative and sound files) are, I believe, either with Sage’s mother or possibly with his film-releasing partner, the great Academy Award-winning editor Bob Murawski, of Grindhouse Releasing, though Bob was not involved with the production of that film.
Body Count Rising: What’s your favorite memory of working with Sage?
Stephen Wozniak: I have a lot of great memories of Sage, even though he could be a tough nut to crack, as any of his friends will tell you. One of my favorite memories of him was when we were looking for props and wigs for the movie. One late night, at maybe 4 a.m., we essentially broke into an abandoned home across the street from his house and grabbed a bunch of unusual things, like rolls of white naugahyde, weird kitchenware and other stuff. He was so excited to “break in,” (even though nobody cared) and get this stuff that was part of somebody else’s history then fold that stuff as props into a movie somehow. That was his nature. He liked to examine what was and turn it into art.
Another time, we went to a wig store on 3rd Street in Los Angeles, so he could choose the right human hair wig for my character in the movie. He tried to negotiate a price with the owner, but her English wasn’t that great. Then, in an attempt to clear things up about who he was, to ostensibly get a good deal, he showed her his I.D. and said, “Stallone, you know, like Rocky Balboa. Rocky! Rocky!” Then he started pumping his fist in the air to mimic his dad’s famous character – and she got it. Then, she proceeded to tell him that the price tag was wrong and that it was indeed more expensive. I started laughing and he paid for it anyhow. He actually thought it was funny, too.
Body Count Rising: You have acted, directed, produced and written. Which are you most comfortable with and why?
Stephen Wozniak: I truly love acting the most. Directing is fun and production is fun as a director. Writing is great when you’re on a roll, of course. Producing is the toughest. I am probably the most comfortable acting. I like that specific type of collaboration. As an actor, I have to trust my director, crew and cast, then give a performance and walk away hoping for the best outcome. When you write, you often get to control every little aspect of what you do, and some people love that. Instead, I actually like the aspect of chance that comes up as an actor, even with all of the preparation that I do to develop a character. Acting is also a great way to understand people. That includes the people who you play and the people who you play against. And I think that is essential in life. We need the movies, literature and such to keep a grip on this thing called life.
Body Count Rising: Please share your advice for an aspiring actor or filmmaker?
Stephen Wozniak: My advice is to stay with it. Half of what you offer above your craft is your stick-to-it-ness. The longer you are in it, the more it feels like something you wear and people recognize your ease, as such. That helps to insure that you get work, in some cases. Also, I would say to watch your medium. Look at great movies, look at the best in TV, study filmmakers, figure out what they do and why you are interested in them. Stay connected to why you love it and what it means, as much as your expression of the craft in the day-to-day of working on a project. Oh, that and stay healthy. You’re the only thing you’ve got in order to get the acting right. So, eat your veggies, get plenty of shuteye and hit the gym in some way, shape or form. I know, nerdy advice, but it works. So, in review: stick around, study what you do and love, and stay alive to do it.
Body Count Rising: You played a role in a stylish, dark, comic feature film, “The Love Witch,” which is now in post-production, and a supernatural biker flick called “Satan’s Children” that was recently announced. What can we expect?
Stephen Wozniak: “The Love Witch” was a lot of fun to work on. What a great cast and crew. Anna Biller, the director, was truly wonderful. I really get her and her work. She has a very specific vision and draws from some of the best directors, like Fassbinder and Sirk, as well as from various colorful exploitation films of the 60s. Understanding her interests and vision made my work infinitely easier. I have a small, but unavoidable role as ‘Jerry,’ the protagonist’s first husband, who helps set the whole wild story in motion. The movie is about a contemporary witch who uses magic spells to get men to fall in love with her, but at a deadly price. It mixes fantasy and reality in a truly delicious, but delirious way. It also looks amazing and was shot by director of photography M. David Mullen, who did “The Astronaut Farmer” with Billy Bob Thornton and “Akeelah and The Bee” with Laurence Fishburne. “The Love Witch” will be released later this year. I’m pretty excited about it.
“Satan’s Children” was an entirely other film experience altogether. Again, great cast and crew, but a tough shoot. We shot it in the desert of Lancaster, California during the winter. It was icy cold, despite the hot-running chopper bikes that abound in that film. I played ‘The White Rider,’ who is a Bible verse-spewing, crank head member of the ostensibly “bad” gang in the film. He is the voice of the gang in many ways. Shooting will be completed later this year. I’m excited to see how it ultimately turns out. The early rough cut clips looked pretty amazing!
Body Count Rising: Do you have any details that you can share in 2016 of your recurring character, ‘Tyler Brunson’ on the hit CBS TV series “NCIS: Los Angeles?”
Stephen Wozniak: Kyle Harimoto and Dave Kalstein, the writers of the April 2014 ‘Three Hearts’ episode that I initially guest starred in, have a certain taste for great bad guys and colorful dialogue. It was easier to say those fun lines because of them. And it is indeed fun to play zillionaire drug smugglers, let me tell you. However, LL Cool J’s character killed ‘Brunson’ with a few clean shots in the chest at the end of that episode, and so I thought, “that was that.”
But, I got a call from the producers to fill in some storyline history for a then upcoming episode in which my character’s brother, ‘Chad Brunson’ (
played by the fantastic Taylor Nichols) takes revenge on my character’s death, which is what that whole episode was about. When I showed up oh-so-briefly again in flashback photos and in lots of series regulars’ dialogue in that second episode, ‘Command & Control,’ in October 2015, I thought again, “that would be it.”
But because a key character from the first episode, ‘Angelo,’ an NCIS deep cover operative, had vanished and may have leaked critical information to the Brunson brothers, my character ‘Tyler Brunson’ may very well come back later in 2016, which would likely require the story to establish him and how he and ‘Angelo’ worked together before that first episode. We’ll see…
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