Kim Novak Talks About Vertigo

Intro And Quotes Compiled By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Labyrinth.net

While searching online tonight for information on one of my favorite movies "Vertigo" I ran across this great 2003 interview with actress Kim Novak. In this interview the actress shared some rather intimate details about the production and her relationship with director Alfred Hitchcock and fellow actor James Stewart. Novak also revealed that while playing the part of Judy Barton she opted to go without a bra.

Told ya it was an intimate interview!

Here are some excerpts that I thought the readers of Monster Island News would enjoy!

"The script was always the most important thing to me and I loved the script. For one thing, I’ve always admired trees. I just worship them. Think what trees have witnessed, what history, such as living through the Civil War, yet they still survive. I’ve always felt that part of why they survive is because they don’t try to intercede, to advise ‘No, that’s the wrong way,’ or to try and wipe out an army. They stood and observed. When I read that part of the Hitchcock script where Madeleine and Scottie are among the redwoods, she touches the tree rings and says, “Here I was born and here I died. It was only a moment. You took no notice,’ I got goose-bumps. When it came to shoot that scene, I had goose-bumps. Just touching that old tree was truly moving to me because when you touch these trees, you have such a sense of the passage of time, of history. It’s like you’re touching the essence, the very substance of life. I remember taking my father to see the redwood forest once. He wept and so did I. He ‘got’ it in the same way as I do. We never talked about it. That scene in Vertigo I felt more than any other, except the one in which Judy says to Jimmy’s character that if she lets him change her, will he love her? And she says she’ll do it, she doesn’t care any more about herself. That scene was so important to me. I was so naked there, so willing to be anything he wanted, just to be loved."

(On Hitchcock)

"Technical points were his main thing. He’d always look through the lens to watch your performance, unlike directors who sit off to the side. You’d never have a sense looking at his face how he thought it was going. He was the camera and I always felt comfortable with the camera. It was always difficult to have a director off to the side. Why I loved working with Hitchcock was that he allowed me that creativity and input. I always painted when I’d go home from a day on the sets of my movies. I love to paint but, back then, I was largely painting out of frustration. I don’t think I painted at all while I worked on Vertigo. I didn’t have the need to. I was so into doing what I was doing and I felt good about what I was doing. No one was telling me, ‘Do it this way.’ Hitchcock wouldn’t tell me how to think. Bad directors love to tell you how to think. I mean, why do they hire you? Today, they could just computerize you."


"I was always opinionated. Once we were making Vertigo, Hitchcock never questioned anything about what I was doing character-wise. Before shooting started, he sent me over to Edith Head, who showed me a set of drawings. When I saw them, the very first thing I said was, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t wear black shoes.’ When she said, ‘Alfred Hitchcock wants you to wear these shoes,’ I said, ‘I’m sure he doesn’t mind.’ I didn’t think it would matter to him what kind of shoes I wore. I had never had a director who was particular about the costumes, the way they were designed, the specific colors. The two things he wanted the most were those shoes and that gray suit. When Edith Head showed me that gray suit, I said, “Oh, my god, that looks like it would be very hard to act in. It’s very confining.’ Then, when we had the first fitting of the dress, it was even worse and I said, ‘This is so restrictive.’ She said, ‘Well, maybe you’d better talk to Alfred Hitchcock about this.’"

"I went in and he said, ‘I understand you don’t like these black shoes.’ He asked me why and I said, ‘I tell you, black shoes always sort of make me feel I’m pulled down. I’ve always felt that your feet should be the same as the top of your head, so that you’re connected. Wearing the black shoes would make me feel as if I were disconnected.’ He heard me out. And then he said, ‘Fine. When you play the role of Judy, you will not have to wear black shoes. When you are playing Madeleine, you will wear them.’ When he put it like that -- after all, he’s the director – I said, ‘OK.’"

"I really wanted the chance to express myself and he allowed me that chance. It felt OK because he had heard me out. He felt my reasons weren’t good enough, they weren’t right. I just wanted to be heard as far as what I felt. So, I thought, ‘I’ll live with the grey suit.’ I also thought, ‘I’m going to use this. I can make this work for me. Because it bothers me, I’ll use it and it can help me feel like I’m having to be Madeleine, that I’m being forced to be her. I’ll have it as my energy to play against.’ It worked. That suit and those shoes were a blessing. I was constantly reminded that I was not being myself, which made it right for Madeleine. When I went out of Alfred Hitchcock’s office, I remember his wonderful smile when he said, ‘I’m so glad we had this talk.’ I think he saw that this was going to be good. He didn’t say to me, ‘Now use that,’ he allowed me to arrive at that myself."


(On Going Commando)

"That’s right, when I played Judy, I never wore a bra. It killed me having to wear a bra as Madeleine but you had to because they had built the suit so that you had to stand very erect or you suddenly were not ‘in position.’ They made that suit very stiff. You constantly had to hold your shoulders back and stand erect. But, oh that was so perfect. That suit helped me find the tools for playing the role. It was wonderful for Judy because then I got to be without a bra and felt so good again. I just felt natural. I had on my own beige shoes and that felt good. Hitchcock said, ‘Does that feel better?’ I said, ‘Oh, yes, thank you so much.’ But then, I had to play ‘Madeleine’ again when Judy had to be made over again by Scottie into what she didn’t want to be. I could use that, again, totally for me, not just being made over into Madeleine but into Madeleine who wore that ghastly gray suit. The clothes alone were so perfect, they were everything I could want as an actress."

(On working with James Stewart on Vertigo and Bell, Book and Candle)

"It seems to me that when Jimmy and I were making that movie (Bell, Book and Candle), Vertigo hadn’t been released yet. I don’t remember talking with Jimmy about Vertigo. We were just on to the next movie. We had such a wonderful time making Bell, Book and Candle and just got closer as people. We had a wonderful friendship. The director would yell ‘Cut,’ the scene would be over, they’d throw on the lights and we’d still be sitting there. We wouldn’t even say anything to each other. We’d just be there with our feet resting on an end table and communicating silently, comfortable in each other’s presence without feeling we were in the midst of Hollywood. I always felt Jimmy was trapped in Hollywood. He felt it himself. He loved aviation so much and he wanted to be able to do more of that. He somehow just got stuck here. I’ve never met two people who were less ‘Hollywood’ than Jimmy Stewart and Fred Astaire, with whom I made The Notorious Landlady (1962). They didn’t belong here but their lives were here. They couldn’t break away from it, for some reason. I just had to break away."

Read the complete interview - HERE

Giant Bugs From Outer Space Come To Earth To Cause Havoc In INSECTULA

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Avery Guerra / Robert Hood

Aliens always come to Earth to harvest our precious natural resources. The either want our water, our blood or our women. In film maker Michael Peterson's upcoming feature "Insectula" giant insects from another world come to Earth in search of CO2, stomp our cities into dust and rip bikini girls to pieces.

Peterson's film is a cornucopia blood, guts, gore, giant CGI bugs, bikini's and bad mustaches. Granted what we see in the film's trailer is far from the finished product but so far "Insectula" looks like some really great late night movie cheese.

Here's your plot:

A giant alien mosquito-type insect is drawn to earth from the CO2 pollution in search of blood. Del, a government agent, loses loved ones to the creature and is on a personal vendetta while the Dr Kempler is captivated by it and attempts to help the creature cleanse the earth.

Recently our very own monster maniac Avery Guerra sat down with Peterson and got the inside scoop:

Avery Guerra: Is the full title Insectula! Creature From Another World or just Insectula!?

Michael Peterson: The original working title was Insectula! Creature From Another World, but now it has been shortened to just Insectula!

AG: So what’s the film about? The title seems to suggest a single entity on a rampage, but from the trailer it appears that there are various types of giant creatures in it.

MP: The movie is really kind of a throwback to the nuclear monster movies of the ’50s and ’60s, but using global warming instead. A giant mosquito-like alien travels from planet to planet searching for increased CO2 levels indicating life, much like a real mosquito is attracted to CO2. Its embryonic stage is in a lake so it’s of a different form than its adult stage. The other giant monsters in the trailer are creatures on its planet, and some of that is because I was using the trailer for funding purposes. I would imagine we will have a much different trailer when we get closer to release. Sub plots involve a government agent with a vendetta against it and a mad scientist-type character who wants to help it “cleanse” the earth.

AG: Sounds great! What inspired you to make this sort of film? And what filmmakers have influenced your approach to filmmaking?

MP: I spent my childhood down in the basement watching Super 8 creature feature movies over and over and reading Famous Monsters of Filmland. This film is an ode to those movies. People now can buy or watch whatever movie they want, but back then you had the Super 8s borrowed from the library and creature features on Saturdays and that was it. It was much more exciting when a movie you liked was coming on.

That’s why I have a real soft spot for the older Corman films, but Hitchcock, Carpenter, Sam Raimi all had an influence, I think. I’m probably closer to the sensibilities of Raimi than the rest as it seems like we may share the same sense of humor.

AG: How did this particular film come about?

MP: I was working on some test scenes as a proposal to do effects for another movie. I did them very easily and quickly and they looked really big budget. I thought Man, I could make a pretty big-looking picture for a really low cost. Eventually I decided that’s just what I’d do.

There is a real lack of giant monster films [lately] and I really like them. There was Cloverfield and 1998 Godzilla etc., but I really wanted to revive the melodrama that sometimes occurred in the older ones. Plus making a giant monster film on my budget seemed almost impossible, so some of it was really a test to see if with the tools we have access to at home I could accomplish very difficult challenges.

AG: What types of FX are being used to bring Insectula! to life? Old style or new?

MP: I’m very partial to practical effects actually … cable controlled, stop-motion, puppets and miniatures. But they just weren’t doable with my budget. I’m trying to mix as much practical as I can afford and having to mix that with CGI. I’m doing a lot of the CGI myself so I’m remaining very cognizant of not getting too cheesy-looking.

AG: What are some films that you’re using for inspiration to make this film?

MP: Them!, The Deadly Mantis, It Came from Outer Space and the Japanese Toho pictures are the basic ones. However, I’m throwing in a lot of stuff, such as odes to Kubrick, Hitchcock, Twilight Zone, Jaws — really everything I love. I’m mashing it all together and keeping it from being too serious — without venturing into the Scary Movie overt comedy style.



AG: What are some of your favorite creature features?

MP: The ones I mentioned earlier are probably my favs. I think The Deadly Mantis and Them! because they did such a wonderful job on the monsters. Tarantula was another good one. My original premise was to do something along the lines of The Giant Claw and have a real goofy monster, but I rethought that, fearing the goofiness would wear thin. Plus I’m not making fun of these films … I love them, and to mock them wouldn’t be fair. So I put my head down.

AG: What can fans of the genre expect to see in this film?

MP: I’m trying to bring the vibe from the above-mentioned films into this one. It’s campy but not mockingly. I’m using the algorithm Scorsese’s The Aviator used to emulate the old Three-Strip Technicolor process. I saw that used on Hobo with a Shotgun recently and they actually used Technicolor people on it, but I must say I don’t think they did it quite right. They went overboard. The people using Technicolor back then tried very hard to tone it down and make it look natural; it’s just that colors would pop out in spite of their best efforts.

AG: What was your estimated budget?

MP: I shot about 50% of the movie myself and we haven’t finalized our budget deals so far so I can’t tell you right now. Suffice to say that this will be completed for a shockingly low price for the quality. I’m trying to show what can be accomplished. We shouldn’t even get close to the budget of Gareth Edward’s Monsters, which in itself was low.

AG: What sort of release do you hope to obtain?

MP: I’m talking with a foreign distribution company so we should have good reach into Europe and Asia. We haven’t ventured into the domestic distribution yet. I expect to release it sometime in 2012 is all I can say right now.

Here is your photographic evidence:

Sexy Star Wars Burlesque Vixen Courtney Cruz Talks!

An Interview By: Jason Romanjuk

JR: How did you make the transition from alternative model to burlesque performer?

CC: I started by producing fashion shows for a Halloween event here in Los Angeles for 5 yrs called the Masquerade Ball. I have always been into costumes and characters and with a backround in dance growing up I combined the two .

JR: How long have you been promoting burlesque shows with The Devil's Playground?

CC: I started devil's playground 4 years ago.

JR: Is there a Certain numbers of Devil's Playground shows that we will see each year?

CC: I have been producing 12 shows a year for the last 4 yrs .

JR: Will you be performing shows at other venues? Like down in Orange County?

CC: I'm definately interested in expanding the shows to the OC. We did go to San Diego to perform for Comic Con last year that was really fun :)

JR: Now the big question... How did you come to be putting on the Scifi Burlesque shows?

CC: I grew up on all this stuff. Its a personal love of mine.

JR: Can I get you to spill the beans on what the theme of your next burlesque show will be?

CC: July 16th at House of Blues on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood we will be putting on a larger production. More like a burlesque theater production of " COMIC BOOK VIXENS ..."

JR: If I want to follow you or find out what The Devil's Playground is up to do you have a twitter or facebook page?

CC: www.twitter.com/trueburlesque http://www.facebook.com/devilsplaygroundburlesque

See Also: GALACTIC GIRLS Burlesque Set To Invade The 1616 Club In LA

Giant Monster Attack Hawaii - Avery Guerra Interviews Film Maker Dane Neves

Written By: Avery Guerra / Robert Hood / Ken Hulsey

If you were a giant monster, where would you want to attack? Japan? No, its been done. New York City? No, its too crowded. London? No, too rainy.

How about Hawaii? Yeh that would work, mix in a little business with pleasure. Sounds like a plan!

Well that is exactly the premise of film maker Dane Neves' upcoming animated short, "Giant Monsters Attack Hawaii!". Lucky for us, Avery Guerra was able to get an interview with Neves, where he spills all the details on his little film.

First off, though, Neves told Avery all about himself:

I was born and raised in Hawaii (graduated with a film degree at the University of Hawaii) and I have noticed that Hawaii is one of the few places that has never had its own fictional giant monster (i.e. Japan has Godzilla, New York has King Kong, Korea has that Host tadpole thing). In film school, they encouraged us to make true-to-life, character driven, emotional films… but those kinds of films don’t interest me. My thesis film was called “The Monkeyboy Fever”, about a boy who gets bitten by a monkey and turns into one himself the day of his prom. It was the furthest thing from what I was expected to create, but it ended up an award-winning local hit because it’s a crowd-pleaser. I hope to generate the same excitement with this current giant monster movie, which is not a student film but a completely independent production.

Then he went into the film's plot:

The story follows a team of giant monsters on a rampage in Waikiki. It is implied that the human military bombed their monster island home and Hawaii is the first stop in their revenge attack. They are Abercrumble (a Godzilla-like reptile), Maulister (a human-insect hybrid), Cruehl (an obese Kraken), and Zillabong (a frog-hybrid) … and, yes, their names are parodies of popular clothing brands. Zillabong is our protagonist. He is the youngest, smallest of the monsters … the black sheep of the bunch. In the end Zillabong must help his comrades face up to a giant military robot — but does he have the power to do so?


Now to the Q&A:

The audience?

This is a film aimed at younger audiences [though like Pixar's work it looks like it embraces adults, too]. I really enjoy making all-ages movies because I can distribute them to the widest audience possible.

How will the monsters be created?

The monsters in this film do have dialogue and they will be voiced by actors. Abercrumble, Cruehl, and Zillabong will be realistic hand puppets and Maulister will be a guy in a suit (think Power Rangers on crack). All of these characters will be shot against a green screen and then later inserted into on-location shots of various Hawaii landmarks. I enjoy using puppets instead of CGI because, with puppets, there is more of a realistic dimension to them as if the audience can believe they can reach out and touch them. Although CGI has become a very useful tool in creating characters, it is just not the medium I would like to turn to for this particular project.

The concept poster and early concept art included in this post is by artist Richard Dang. Note that in the latter the frog-monster is named Smokely. Why’s that?

Smokely is his former name … he is now officially Zillabong. Also, the character Abercrumble will most likely not look like how he does in the concept art. I really want him to be more reptilian.

The production schedule?

Shooting will commence over the course of the US summer. It will star Grant Uchida, Jobe Allen, Chris Ricketts, Dennis Noah, James Chan, Michael Hardy, and Duane Kiyota.

Your aim in making the film?

My goal for making this film is to prove to the rest of the world that there is a lot of talent in Hawaii and that we can create something on a large scale like this. I would like to start off by submitting it to various local, national and international film festivals and see where it goes from there.

The cream on this particular giant monster chocolate cake is the fact that the author — and owner of Undead Backbrain (Robert Hood) — played a part, albeit unknowingly, in the film’s development. How’s that, you ask?

A lot of it is inspired by Robert Hood’s Daikaiju books. I read them for inspiration for this film. Please tell him I said “Thank you” for editing those books … really great material.

Then Robert (Hood), being the gentleman he is, responded this way on his website:

It’s a pleasure, Dane. My co-editor Robin Pen and myself are just happy we could help contribute to the genre in this way.

For those reading this who don’t know, a few years ago I edited (with Robin Pen) three anthologies of original giant monster stories collected from around the world: Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales (Agog! Press, 2005; Prime Books US, 2006), Daikaiju! 2: Revenge of the Giant Monsters (Agog! Press/Prime Books US, 2007) and Daikaiju! 3: Giant Monsters vs the World (Agog! Press/Prime Books US, 2007). The first book (which took the Best Collection category in the Ditmar Awards — the Australian popular SF awards — in 2006) sold out two print runs in Australia and a few of the local editions of the other two are still hanging around. But US editions of all three are now available from Amazon. If you don’t have them, go and buy them now. You won’t regret it.

Ryuhei Kitamura - The Godzilla Final Wars Interview

Written By: Ken Hulsey

A lot of fans over at the "Godzilla 2012 - Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros (Fan Group)" on Facebook were commenting on how much they enjoyed "Godzilla: Final Wars", so I thought it may be fun to dust off my exclusive interview with that film's director, Ryuhei Kitamura, from 2004.


At that time, my website, www.kensforce.com (gone now...sadly) was the only English language website to be granted an interview with the Japanese director.

Actually there is an interesting story that goes along with this interview that I never shared on any of my sites. You see, when I found out that the world premiere of "Final Wars" was slated to take place in Hollywood, I contacted Grauman's Chinese Theatre to find out about getting tickets for the event.

They, in turn, put me in contact with a publicist from Toho here in Los Angeles. When she learned that I published a website that featured "Godzilla" related articles, she became very excited, and told me that she may have something interesting for me.

My curiosity was raised.....

A day or so later, the publicist contacted me and said that Toho knew of my site, and liked it. I was, to put it mildly, surprised by this. She continued to inform me that they wanted me to interview Kitamura for the site.

I was thrilled!

So, I sat down and hammered out a dozen questions or so for the director, and passed them on to the publicist.

This is where it gets interesting.

The publicist then translated my questions into Japanese and sent them on to Toho, were Kitamura then took time to answer them. They were then sent back to the publicist, again, here in LA, where she translated them back into English, and then sent them to me.

Somewhere along the way, I think that the intent of a few of my questions got misinterpreted, because in one answer, the film maker got a little angry in his reply.

So here we go, this is my interview with "Godzilla: Final Wars" director Ryuhei Kitamura from 2004:

Ryuhei Kitamura is considered by many to be the Japan's Quentin Tarantino, a young director with a flare for action and fast paced films. His prior films Versus, Azumi and Sky High featured the high speed action and sword play that has now become his signature style. For his latest film, however, the action movie king is taking on something much larger. The King of the Monsters. A challenge Kitamura was honored to take on.

I was honored to have been granted a short online interview with Ryuhei Kitamura in conjunction with the world premiere of Godzilla: Final Wars here in Hollywood. The reader truly gets the feeling of how passionate the young director is about this project. His desire to make this the greatest Godzilla film of all time comes through in his responses. It was an honor for him to be able to make a Godzilla film and he took the project very seriously. His desire was to make the best film possible without exceptions to return Godzilla to the throne not only as Monster King, but the King of Entertainment as well. A very bold idea from a very bold director. From this Godzilla fans world wide can only hold their breath in anticipation of what will surely be a Godzilla film like no other.

KH: You are best known for your action films featuring great sword fighting such as Azumi and Sky High. How hard was it to incorporate your style of film making into a monster (kaiju) film?

RK: It wasn't too difficult to apply my style to this film - I don't consider myself an action director. I felt it was my mission to make this film the coolest and most powerful super-entertainment film more than the past Godzilla films.

KH : Many fans know that you were scheduled to make your American film directing debut this year. What motivated you to make a Godzilla film instead of a Hollywood epic?

RK: No Japanese director would ever dare to say "no" to Godzilla films. I can make any Hollywood-style film but only a few can make Godzilla films, plus this is the 50th anniversary of Godzilla. I think this is the greatest challenge of my life to make this Godzilla film.

KH: What do you feel that you have done in this film that has been missing in the prior Godzilla films?

RK: Power and speed, I guess. In the recent films, Godzilla was too week. I wanted to make this film through action and wanted to convey to the world that this is the return of the monster king, so the screen is dark and hard,and monsters are speedy and powerful.

KH: Are you surprised at the amount of world-wide interest in this film?

RK: No, I wasn't surprised. It's Godzilla and so many fans are out there.

KH : Do you feel that the publicity of this film will help generate more interest in your prior films?

RK: I hope it will help generate more films for me. I'm sure a lot of people will see this film. I want Godzilla and my fans or anyone to watch and have a fun.

KH: Why were the monsters featured in Final Wars chosen over others from the series?

RK: I decided with producer Mr. Tomiyama, special effects director Mr. Asada and writer lined up historical action figures on the table and we decided democratically which ones should be in this film Final Wars. It was difficult because everyone had a different attraction to different monsters, but at the end we were happy with these selections for the film.

KH: A lot of the film's action takes place in Australia a place you used to call home. When you were planning the action did you stop and think, it would be great to destroy that landmark....that place would look great crushed by a monster...etc?

RK: I am furious with people who can't make the separation between reality and fantasy. In the fantasy world of Godzilla it is honorable that the landmarks are destroyed, I guess. For this film the world is a stage, and I chose my second home country -

Australia - and chose to destroy Sydney first, and I enjoyed it very much.

KH: Why choose Hollywood for a premiere over the Tokyo International Film Festival which has been host for the premiere of Godzilla films for over a decade?

RK: 50 years ago, the first Godzilla film inspired the world , and it was the King of entertainment films. But after 50 years Hollywood is the leading place for entertainment films, and Japan follows Hollywood's lead. After 50 years, I believe the greatest Godzilla film is completed, so Godzilla should be King again.

As a Godzilla fan I was truly inspired by Kitamura's passion for making Final Wars a unique film that would stand alone as the greatest Godzilla film of all time. It is rare to find someone who has this sort of pride in their films in the industry today. In picking Kitamura Toho has matched the right director with the right film. If he follows the style seen in the classic Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla (1974) with his own flare for action this film should be a treat for monster movie fans the world over.


The premiere of the latest, and possibly last, Godzilla film "Final Wars" will take place in Hollywood on November 29th at the famed Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Toho plans to do an event in the style of old-time Hollywood with Godzilla himself walking the red carpet. Of course the director Ryuhei Kitamura and the cast of the film will be on hand as well. In conjunction with the premiere Godzilla will be receiving his own star on the famed Hollywood Walk of Fame and will be riding on a float sponsored by Toho in the Hollywood Christmas Parade.

I should note that this was my very first interview, so the questions were a bit raw, but overall I was pleased....and the folks over at Toho were pleased.

Overall the whole experience was a great thrill! I even walked the red carpet at the premiere of "Final Wars" just ahead of Godzilla himself. I was an once in a lifetime event that I will treasure all my days.