“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Prequel” set visit: Q&A with Marietta Marich & Terrence Evans

The pair return as the sinister heads of the Hewitt family, Luda Mae and Old Monty, characters introduced into the Texas Chainsaw Massacre mythology in the 2003 remake. (In the first film, released in 1974, the fatal family was called the Sawyers.)

Horror.com’s Staci Layne Wilson was among a group of select genre journalists invited to the hot, buggy, and oh so bloody set in Austin, Texas in November 2005. Here is the bulk of the interview, with spoilers cut out (we’ll run those parts of the interview, uncensored, after the film’s release which is currently set for October 6, 2006).

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Q: So Marietta… how often do people say to you "What's a nice lady like you doing in a movie like this?"

Marich: I ask myself that all the time.

Q: So what is a nice lady like you doing in a movie like this?

Marich: Well, you know, some friends of mine did the very first one in Houston.

Q: Back in 1974? The original?

Marich: Before it was a cult favorite. I never got to see that one and I never got to see this one. But it intrigued me. I just try to keep acting. I've been acting all my life and so I like to keep busy.

Q: Is it strange getting recognized by teenagers who know you from these horror movies?

Marich: Oh it's so crazy! Because I taught at a girls' school, a nice Catholic girls' school in Houston, eighth grade. When they heard that I was in the first movie, I mean the one that we did with Jessica Biel, they just screamed. They thought that was the most wonderful thing I had ever done. And I had done a lot of things on television and told them to watch it. But that was the one they were interested in. So I thought "Hey, I'll do it again."

Q: How about for you? Getting recognized by kids…

Evans: And the fan mail from all over the world. I can't believe it. I didn't know that many people went to horror movies. I don't go to horror movies. It's kinda fleun, you know, people will stop and say "I know you from some place...but you weren't as tall."

Marich: That's the thing! You want to say "No, no you don't."

Q: When people recognize you are they ever afraid of you? Do they ever confuse you with your character?

Evans: Yeah, some people do. Kids will...kinda like you're ambulatory bad news.

Marich: My husband and I went to Costa Rica and celebrated New Year's Eve there. Some teenagers, it was a big table and there was some teenagers at the table, my husband thought it would be fun to tell them that I was Leatherface's mom. And they all suddenly got very frightened of me. Every time I would look their way, they would go "Ohh!". They couldn't separate the reality from the story.

Q: How is it working with Andrew?

Marich: I don't have any scenes face to face with him. I yell for him to come or I yell for him to go, but we don't have any dialogue together so I haven't been in a scene with him. But he's a sweet guy. A big sweet guy. But I'll tell you what frightens me to death is that makeup. I shouldn't talk about the makeup, should I? It's frightening. And really, to tell you the truth, the house that we live in is frightening to me. Every time we do scenes there I get the creeps. It was built in the 1800s and they moved it from the University of Texas property to make way for the University of Texas law school. They moved it out here. So it's very, very old and very, very creepy. Some of the props we used were actually still there in the house.

Evans: I had different...the last one we did.

Marich: You like it.

Evans: Well, when I came back this time and I went in the house for the first time it was like coming back to some place that was familiar. But then I'm part of the family.

Q: Do you do any chili cooking in this one?

Evans: No. She does.

Marich: Don't ask me about that. I can't brag about my cooking.

Q: You ran the gas station, correct?

Marich: Yes. And it's the same place in this one. We get to go back to that lovely little store with all the lovely little things hanging around.

Q: Is that gas station around here too?

Marich: I can't remember the name of the town but it's a little, it's been there for over a hundred years. Because I really got frightened my first day there this time because the floors are so old that they were starting to sag. They told me the week before one of the cameras fell through it. So it's very, very old. I don't know where they get all that stuff they put in it but it's very interesting. I'm always touring just before a shot, looking at all the interesting things.

Q: What do you do to prepare for something like this?

Evans: I mean basically, it's nothing that an actor wouldn't do anyway. You put yourself into whatever the situation is. And then of course in a film like this there's some special situations. And for me, I drag up stuff out of my own past that would somehow relate and then try to work right into that. And then when the cameras finally roll you just let go. You just do whatever comes. Hopefully you go to the right place.

Marich: I write down [my backstory] I start with maybe when I first saw Leatherface and go from there. Write about the character and how she feels about certain things and how she feels about Uncle Monty and Hoyt and Tommy, who is Leatherface, and just go from there. And then of course we all, I think all actors draw on the characters from their childhood and their growing up. I use some of my mother's things, she would hate me for saying this. Some of her expressions. I throw in something every now and then.

Q: So you guys have bigger roles in this one?

Evans: Yeah

Marich: I think so, yeah. I know I do.

Q: What type of things can you tell us about?

Marich: No, I can't tell you.

Evans: Or we'd have to kill you.

[laughter]

Q: What were some of the thoughts that went through your minds when you read this script?

Evans: The subject matter of the script... I mean this would ... maggots would love it. [laughter] It is rough.

Marich: It's just so bloody and so scary. I have to admit something that I really hate to do but I didn't go see the last one because it was so frightening to make. The crew kept making fun of me. You said "You didn't see yourself in that?" So finally I got it and watched it. It was scary, really scary. When you were talking about fans I got a problem with some of the special effects makeup they gave me. I got an infection and had to go to the doctor. He asked me everything that happened, who I was and what I did and everything. He said "You're in Chainsaw Massacre?" He was very dignified up until then, then he was like a teenager. He just loved it and he just couldn't get over the fact. And the nurses and everybody else. I thought "Well, gosh, I should have watched that thing."

Q: So are you looking forward to losing your legs?

Evans: Not at all.

Q: It must be interesting to play a character, then read a script and learn new things about the character that you've already played. So as you read the script what was like the one thing that you read and said "Wow that's awesome, that's great, that's fascinating" ?

Marich: I loved what they wrote. I loved the origin. I thought it was great. I disagreed with a couple of the lines because I am originally from Texas. I spoke with the director about it and he agreed that maybe we should change a couple of words.

Q: Because Texans wouldn't talk that way?

Marich: Well, no. They're just a couple of words that I thought she's not savvy enough to use that word. But that happens with every script if you're thinking of the character a certain way sometimes it may not agree.

Q: You said you drew backgrounds of your characters…

Marich: And it was what I wrote, practically. Not entirely, but practically. It's really interesting. In fact, there was one place in the last Chainsaw where I had to keep going in a scene with some lines. You know he just said improvise. 

And I improvised some things that are now in this show. I talked about some things that happen in this show. Oh I wish I could tell you the funniest line concerning him, but I can't do it on tape. The director we had last had this very thick German accent and when he would say things sometimes they were funnier than they would be.

Q: Did you guys complete anything before starting this or have anything lined up for whenever you wrap?

Marich: I don't. In fact I was planning to go to the Edinburgh Festival and they called me and told me they were going to shoot this for the same time as I had gotten tickets. My husband and I were planning to go to the Festival.

Evans: And I had been cast in a play.

Marich: What was it?

Evans: Its a Ray Bradbury play. I don't even remember the name. Ray cranks out plays like this [snaps fingers]. I did one last year, Let's All Kill Constance. They wanted me for one just at the time the director called me and said...

Marich: What theater?

Evans: I don't know what theater it was going to be. Then I got the call for this.

Q: Are you guys doing anything to show that you're younger this time around?

Marich: You know what? I can't figure it out because the makeup people sort of dictate that. They're not trying to make me look younger and I was hoping that I would all of a sudden be different.

Q: Shooting with all these bugs here in Texas must drive you up the wall.

Marich: Last time we had a scene in the kitchen with the tea lady. The large lady who lives in the trailer. And when we sat at the table ... of course my housekeeping is of the Phyllis Diller school so nothing has been swept, nothing has been wiped from the table, nothing is picked up and it's really gruesome, grotty. The flies were very attracted to it.

Evans: Flies don't come anywhere where I am. They're scared. [laughter]

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