Posted in: Exclusive, Horror, Interview, Movies | Tagged: fantastic fest, horror, interview, Peter Zizzo, Stuart Ortiz, Terri Apple, xyz films

Strange Harvest: Dir Ortiz & Stars Zizzo & Apple on Film's Grittiness

Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire director Stuart Ortiz and stars Peter Zizzo & Terri Apple on immersion, killer & more.

Director and writer Stuart Ortiz has always developed a mastery of the found-footage and reality-type style of filmmaking dating back to his earlier work in the Grave Encounters franchise as part of The Vicious Brothers with Colin Minihan. On Ortiz's solo efforts, he's also worked on It Stains the Sand Red (2016) and is now tapping into some of the grittiest stories in the true crime genre with Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire from XYZ Films and Adorable Damage. Ortiz and stars Peter Zizzo and Terri Apple, who play detectives Joe Kirby and Lexi Taylor, spoke to Bleeding Cool about how the actors approached their roles, the film's serial killer, Mr. Shiny, and if Ortiz ever felt the need to tone down any of the films.

Strange Harvest is a faux true crime documentary; the film goes to July 2010 when the San Bernardino County authorities were faced with one of the most bizarre crime scenes they'd ever encountered. Alerted by a concerned friend, local police arrived at the victims' home, and the murders they discovered shook them to the ground. The crime scene showed ritualistic aspects, and quickly, one of the detectives recognized a symbol painted on the ceiling in the victims' blood, linking back to a serial killer they'd chased in 1995 before the killer seemingly took a 15-year break.

Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire: Ortiz, Zizzo & Apple on Approaches to Detectives, Mr. Shiny, and Grittiness

Bleeding Cool: Peter, Terri, how does a film of this nature challenge you as actors compared to your more conventional material? I imagine going to certain places psychologically. Aside from the initial prep you tapped into, did anything else help with your performances?

Zizzo: What's been interesting is I've only been back acting for around three years, about two and a half years now. I was exclusively in the music business as a songwriter, record producer, and talent developer for my whole career. I pursued acting as a passion in the background but never thought of it as a career. Getting to this part is making [acting] the focus of my life, and all the training is because it's all you can prepare as an actor pursuing any role. I chose theatrical training, like in an actual theater. I'm in a play right now. I'm on stage all the time doing scene work and analysis.

You're playing for the back row and much of what you're doing as a stage actor, but if you notice in films, the best stage actors are incredible film actors, too, and many film actors in the theater are not good stage performers. The training I've been getting at Beverly Hills Playhouse is interesting. It lent itself naturally and effortlessly to find you, getting the motivations, darkness, hauntedness, and doing a little research. Then, I play it like I'm talking to you right now like I'm doing an interview. [Det Kirby is] doing an interview essentially.

There's a certain pulling back, but not being boring or flat, you must land in the right spot. I told the story in an earlier interview where we had to shoot some extra interview footage because Stewart added a couple of lines of dialogue to move the story to a certain point. About ten months later, I returned and thought, "I'll put on the suit I wore and get right back into it. It will be easy, and I know how to play this guy," but I had a little bit of trouble finding his literal voice, then finding the cadences, and the way he spoke. It took me a good four or five takes before I sounded like the Joe Kirby, Stuart filmed for the rest of the movie. Stuart gently guided me there, and finally, we got the one line.
All that setup [laughs], it's like three words, but it's a pivotal moment. Training is important, but again, no matter how good I perform, no one will care if the story's not there. I'm serving the story at the end of the day, and because it's a narrative, it's told as a story by Terri and me. Finding subtle ways to convey what's on the page is important.

Apple: I love this question and am chomping at the bit to answer this question because I've been in L.A. for many years. I had a nice run in my 20s and 30s, and I always wanted to be a character actress, or I've always been a character actor. It's Frances McDormand, Carrie Coon, Debra Winger, Sissy Spacek, and Jessica Lange are who I like now. When I was coming up, everyone said, "You're funny. You're going to book a sitcom."

I'm like, "F you!" to my acting teachers. I'm from Kansas City, but I studied forever. I've done voiceovers since I was 16, but I am anti-sitcom. It's set up, set up, joke, and in a way, I've gotten what I want. It's taken a long time to get there, but I'm finally doing the roles I've never played, which is why I wanted to do it. I revel in characters and deconstruct them with great writing, acting, and moments. I find that world more in indie features, and I realize it's not the Hollywood way, but I'm glad I did not. I watched these $100 million films. It's so less about acting and more about the closeups and moments, and I rebel against getting to the raw in a play. I'm glad it worked out and thrilled I could because now I'm starting to work a lot in all these worlds, which I want.

What can you say about Jessee's [J Clarkson] performance as Mr. Shiny in 'Strange Harvest' and how it deals with the psychology and inspiration of what went into the character?

Ortiz: Mr. Shiny is a composite of many different killers. He's got some of the Zodiac Killer with his letters to the police taunting them. If I were to relate him to anyone, he's less like a [Jeffrey] Dahmer or a Ted Bundy and more like the Son of Sam killer, David Berkowitz. Berkowitz thought he was killing for this weird, higher purpose. He was there as an entity to which he was responding.

There's this other guy, Herbert Mullin, in Santa Cruz, who believed if he was talking to his dead father, and if he didn't kill people, there'd be earthquakes that would destroy California, which is apocalyptic. The killer, Mr. Shiny, is in an apocalypse called "Basically." That was the conceit, and working with Jessee was awesome. He was super game to do it, and he's also the art director in the film. He sometimes does these types of roles. In some James Franco bank robbery movie, 'The Vault' (2017), he played a killer and designed the mask he wears himself.

Peter and Terri, what are your thoughts on Jessee's performance?

Zizzo: I met him the first day we found the hospital. I looked at him, "Man, if I didn't know who this guy was, I'd be scared." He's so tall and looks like who [Mr. Shiny] is. [Jessee is] a sweetheart of a guy, a quirky and lovely guy. Funny thing, it doesn't exactly answer your question, but it's a cute anecdote. I brought one of my best friends to the screening we did last year, and he's 65 and thin. Three people thought he was the actor who played the serial killer. I have to say, "You were great, man! It creeped me the fuck out." He's like, "I'm just Peter Zizzo's friend." I responded, "I hope you don't get that too much in your regular life."

Ortiz: I hope he does because it means that the movie is out there in a big way if people recognize him.

Zizzo: Relative to the movie, absolutely, but in general. People don't think [Jessee] looks like a serial killer, but he is great. It was perfect, and even when you learn his identity at a certain point, there is not a big reveal at the end. He remains a mystery because of where he claims to be coming from. Increasingly, it looks like he might maybe actually be coming from. The little you see of him, he's not ugly in terms of attractiveness, but there is so much ugliness in his face, and it's the little bit that we see. It was a fantastic casting.

Stuart, we see the grittiness of the scenes. Was there anything you felt you might have had to cut back on, or was everything you wanted in there as is?

Ortiz: Always. I never needed to cut back on anything, as I pumped the gas with that as much as I could. There was some stuff we reshot because it wasn't graphic enough. It was never a consideration because of the nature of the format. I've talked about this before: true crime holds your hand through the process because the genre will show you these horrific things, but they'll be like a commentator. There's always the context given for it, and often, crimes have happened in the past. It's the same thing with us in our story. These are crimes that happened a while back. There's a feeling of safety there, and you can do that for that reason. I wasn't afraid to push things too far because you can tolerate it a lot more when it's in the nice package of a true crime documentary.

Strange Harvest, which also stars Andy Lauer, Matthew Peschio, Thomas Wolfe Jr, Tim Shelburne, Christina Helene Bra, LA Williams, and Jessee J Clarkson, was featured in Fantastic Fest 2024 held at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, and is awaiting distribution. For more information on the film, you can check it out.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!