UHM's interviewing maestro got to speak with Diane Goldner who plays "Harley Mama" in the upcoming film Feast.

CONDUCTED BY: Dan AKA Master of Horror
EDITED BY: FrighT MasteR
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON: 10/01/06

How did you initially get your start in acting?

In elementary school during summer break, the person in charge of helping us kids entertain ourselves set up a scenario where I was a jackal. In that moment, and from then on every time I "acted" whether it was carrying the "clap" sign which I had drawn from a hat as my part in that particular play or being the captive princess in a neighbour’s back yard,  I experienced a kind of epiphany or focus which was like nothing else I had ever known. 

Who have been some of your biggest acting influences?

Bergman's women especially BiBi Anderson.  Fellinni's Anouk Amie and MARCELLLO MASTRIONI. Kurosawa's Toshiro Mifune. Wim Wender's Bruno Ganz.  There are so many great actors that I admire but truthfully, my biggest influences have been John, Tom, Clu, and Miriam Gulager with whom I have spent the past 20 years watching and making films. Clu taught an acting class in which every week we would go to a different location (sometimes funeral homes sometimes airports etc.).  We very often would write our own scenes for that location and rehearse a minimum of 4 times a week.  Class would consist of first viewing then redirecting if necessary then shooting, (-I'm not talking an over the shoulder and a master shot, we usually got some interesting coverage) then we viewed and got critiqued.

Feast is your first horror film role, how did you feel about being in this kind of movie?

In Clu's acting class we usually did a horror or as Clu experienced it in France a "Grand Gignol" scene per session.  We also did a portion of a film called "Fucking Tulsa" in which there was only one death in the 30 minutes of film, which we made, but it was so horrific that someone accused us of being "psyuedo intellectual voyeurs getting off on other peoples pain".  Of course, I was thrilled to have gotten into "Feast".  To be in the film at all would have thrilled me but to be able to participate in John's first feature was a dream come true.  However, despite all the perks like having your costumes, props, make-up hair etc. taken care of for you it was tough because we didn't have the luxury of the rehearsal.  There was a machine steam rolling us forward that was not kind to the actor's process.   

Tell us a bit about your role.

I am not loved!!  (Except by the little monsters)

Are you a fan of the genre? If so, what are some of the horror films you might call your "favorites"?

Raymand Chandler was once quoted as saying something to the effect "there are no inferior genres just inferior writers".  I love a good film no matter what the genre.  What a good film is of course subjective.  One of my favorite films is "Pink Flamingo's" which starts out with a singing anus.    Some "stand out" horror films are "The Bride Of Frankenstein", "The Haunting", all of Romero's films, "Rosemary's Baby", "Repulsion", "The Tenant" "Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer" "Re-Animator"  "Sean Of The Dead" "Eraserhead" "The Innocents" "Silence Of The Lambs".  I loved reading Bram Stokers "Dracula" and Anne Rice's "Interview" etc. but I don't feel any one has actually captured the feel of either of those books. Though, Coppola's Dracula came close. 

Satanic, recently released, was your second genre role, which did you enjoy more?

Enjoying your self too much on a project is dangerous.  Though sometimes one feels like studio film making is a series of heartbreaks because there is so much that is out of your control, compared to a no budget 11 day shoot...  I threw caution to the wind and did Sabtanica because the director is a friend of mine.  I had fun doing the film but don't ever want to work under that kind of schedule again.  I am a confirmed believer that film making takes time.    

Given the chance, which director would you like to work with?

Pedro Almodavar -he just keeps getting better and better and always makes films with all kinds of varied and interesting women.

As an actress, do you ever feel like you're not being taken seriously or that you're being forced into a specific role?

Being not taken seriously or being type cast would be a step up from the obscurity in which I exist. 

Do you have a goal in mind for your acting career or do you plan to just take the jobs as they come and have fun doing it?

I plan to continue to work with John, Clu and Tom because with great film makers an actress can do great work.  I hope through doing great work other opportunity to work will become available.  Already I have a few promising directors who want to work with me. 

Which of your roles do you feel has been the highlight of your career thus far?

I just finished putting on a performance piece called "Naughty, Naughty, Mr. James Joyce" which Clu adapted and directed from Molly Bloom's monologue in James Joyce's "Ulysses". Which I am extremely proud of.  I performed a 10 page stream of conscious monologue about sex while my inner world is embodied in a sort of performance art, Robert Wilson sort of way.  (Clu and Robert both were mentored by the same man, Paul Baker).  One of my girl friends said,  I guess Clu has been influenced by being around all us performance artists.  Each generation thinks they are the first, meanwhile in the classic Greek Tragedies the chorus wore giant prosthetic penises.  When Clu first gave me the cutting to read I was amazed and delighted.  I thought I had already been drenched in erotic literature being a fan of the the Beats ("holy holy holy -the asshole is holy the cunt is holy...) and Henry Miller SEXUS, NEXUS, and PLEXUS.  My thought being oh yeah "Ulysses" was banned during the turn of the century, back when a woman's ankle was taboo how bad could it be. But, like everything, more then the fact that it goes there, is how.  Wow the writing is so beautiful so fluid and fun!! And Clu's direction and the process of developing the piece was an amazing journey.

Special thanks goes out to Diane Goldner for the interview and my buddy Brian "Horror Pimp" Harris.