Posted in: Horror, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Sam Morgan, The Red Mask

Sam Morgan Talks The Red Mask, Donnie Darko, Beth Grant & More

Sam Morgan (The Red Mask) spoke to Bleeding Cool for his love for horror, Donnie Darko, and Beth Grant's invaluable advice she gave him.

Sam Morgan is always embracing new challenges as they come as an actor, director, model, and writer. He emerged into the scene from NYU in 2016. He made his feature debut in the 2018 indie anthology Mississippi Requiem and hasn't looked back, appearing on Paramount TV's American Woman opposite Alicia Silverstone and Mena Suvari. He would also appear in Showtime's Shameless, CBS's Bull, and Blue Bloods. Morgan spoke to Bleeding Cool about his love for horror films, including his upcoming indie film The Red Mask, working on his indie film that he starred, wrote, and directed in Confessions of a People Pleaser (2022), which features a Donnie Darko (2001), and the friendships he developed, including the invaluable advice star Beth Grant gave him.

Sam Morgan on Horror and His Donnie Darko Reunion in Confessions of a People Pleaser

BC: What can you tell me about your role on The Red Mask and being able to play in that horror space?

SM: I love that. I've had a lot of horror films come along this year. I have that one, and then there's this other movie I'll shoot in Spain called The Betrayer. That one is in pre-production. I don't usually see myself…I don't watch a lot of horror films, and so interesting to be in that world. The Red Mask is cool. Basically, it's about a group of filmmakers rebooting a horror film that was popular in the 80s within the world of the story, and then I'm one of the main characters in the original version. I got to be like in the eighties, and you know, like in the '80s fashion world in the movie, and it was fun.

I grew up in the 80s, so I love the slasher genre.

What's your favorite OG slasher movie?

I liked the early Freddy Krueger films, such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Hellraiser, which featured a Greek tragedy-like psychological aspect that felt more nuanced than the others.

Yeah, 'Hellraiser' is cool. Did you watch the 2002 remake of it?

Yeah, I thought Jamie [Clayton] was pretty awesome as Pinhead, and they did a wonderful job. I'm hoping to see more coming out from that incarnation. I'd say it was more of a throwback to the way that Doug Bradley handled things before, without being over-the-top. My final question is, what did you like about your experience wearing those multiple hats for 'Confessions of a Closeted People Pleaser? How much did that take out of you? Was it something that, like, once you got it out of the way, you're glad you did it?

Listen, I am glad I did it, because I had written that as my thesis film while I was at school and then it happened that then I met John Riggi, who happened to be, I'd written this half-hour comedy and then I met somebody who was a vet of the half-hour comedy space, like The Comeback, 30 Rock and Will & Grace. I was like, "Wow!" and he took me under his wing. I cast a bunch of actors where there was a lot of Donnie Darko overlap, because 'Donnie Darko' was like my first film.

I remember I cast Beth Grant as playing this version of my mom, and then I couldn't figure out who was going to play the dad. I then went into this (annual) Easter screening of the film, because of the big bunny mask. I was by myself and was sitting in this theater in Santa Monica watching 'Donnie Darko.' Somebody comes down to introduce the film, and they're like, "This is actually the movie theater where they shot it." I'm sitting in the seat that they were sitting in, sitting in the movie. I was like, "Whoa," so then the first frame comes up where it's like introducing all the characters. Have you seen 'Donnie Darko?'

Yeah.

They have this montage where it goes to all the characters, and then it gets to Holmes Osborne (Eddie Darko), and he's like out in the yard. The girl jumps on the trampoline, then she gets to him in the yard with the leaf blower. I was like, "Oh my God! That's my dad, and my dad's name was Holmes Osborne, so it just felt perfect. I reached out to him, then I got to cast him, and we had a nice little 'Donnie Darko' reunion.

[Confessions] felt very nostalgic, and it was a lot of work. I feel grateful that I had an ensemble cast, because that was the biggest lesson for me. I had eight actors with eight different acting styles. That's the thing people don't realize about directing, because you are juggling all these things. The cinematographer tells you he needs guidance on what you want the frame to look like. There are all these different wardrobe, hair, and makeup questions that you're fielding.

At the same time, you also have all these actors where maybe one actress works this way, and maybe another actor operates that way. You almost become an emotional maestro. As a director, you must raise this one while putting this one down, and you're making the symphony happen. That was my big takeaway from doing that. I'm so grateful Beth and Holmes became good friends of mine.

I spoke with Beth while she was promoting The Bondsman, and she approaches her work not as "the business-as-usual" type. She was so fun to talk to, even if it was like the brief time I had to share with her, and she was paired with somebody else, too, so she has such a joyous presence to her.

Oh man, so I'll tell you a funny Beth story, and there are a couple I would like to share. There's always a Beth-ism she has in the form of sayings. I was doing a fellowship in Berlin. I came to L.A. on a whim. I crash-landed here and met James Franco on my third day. My friend was taking his class at UCLA. I don't think James could maybe pick me out of a lineup now, but he had put me on all these projects early on, because this was 2016. I met James, who introduced me to his assistant, who's like a good friend of mine still, and I started working on these features that he was doing with different actors and the universities, like UCLA and USC. Beth was on my first set. She was maybe two weeks into my LA experience. I'm such a fan of hers. She's been in over 300 movies, so it's easy to find one that you love.

I'm sitting there, and this is before we've worked together and everything. I was like, "Do you have any advice for a young actor who came here?" She looks at me and goes, "Well, a lot of people go home," and I'm like, "That's it?!" She's like, "Yep, that's it," and I still think about that. Part of the hack of making a career out here is that you can't go home. You've got to make home wherever you're at, so that was my very first interaction with her, and I always come back to that.

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