Late Night Classics – Intruder

For “Zooley”…

Intruder is an old-school gorefest from Director Scott Spiegel (From Dusk Till Dawn 2) that came out at a time when the slasher film was all but dead. 1989 was not the best year for the slice-and-dice subgenre: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers bombed at the box-office and all of these McFranchises were running out of fresh ideas fast.

Out of nowhere; Sam Raimi, Ted Raimi, Scott Spiegel, Danny Hicks, and Bruce Campbell got together after the seminal Evil Dead 2 to create a down and dirty bloodbath that takes place in the most unimaginable of locales – a supermarket. Imagine if you will the Lovecraftian beasties of The Mist replaced by a pissed off employee who is not ready to collect unemployment, and what you have is the Intruder.

I sat down with actor Danny Hicks for a one-on-one about this underrated film that brought home a family of friends at the top of their game.

Jason Bene: How did you meet Sam Raimi?

Danny Hicks: I met Sam Raimi when I auditioned for Evil Dead 2. It’s really kind of strange because even though we were both from Detroit, Sam was film and I was theater so we never crossed paths. In fact, the only one of the whole group that I had ever met was Ted Raimi. The way I met him was a friend of mine was producing and directing a play called See How They Run and she asked for my help in casting it. I went down and I saw this big, tall, and gangly lunatic. I said, “I don’t know who this guy is but you got to use him”, and it was Ted Raimi. So, I actually got Ted Raimi his first paying gig as an actor. It wasn’t until I auditioned for Evil Dead 2 that I met Sam Raimi.

Jason Bene: Can you talk about your experience on Evil Dead 2?

Danny Hicks: What is really amazing is that all these years later people are still insane over this movie. It was my first feature film that I had ever done and fortunately I got a lot of training in Detroit as an actor working in front of the camera doing industrial films in the automotive industry. Every time they changed a bumper mount or a shock absorber they would do an industrial film. That’s where I got most of my training on how to work in front of a camera was from doing industrial films.

Jason Bene: You have a great story about your “death” in Darkman.

Danny Hicks: I survived. When you watch the movie Darkman, I do not die. However, when we were actually filming the movie, they went out and found a stuntman that actually had one leg. He looked similar to me, where they found him, I don’t know. They built an entire apartment in such a way the corners of the walls came together at the bottom of the floor so that was the lowest point of the whole set. Then they designed and decorated it to look like my character’s apartment. The whole idea was Darkman comes in and grabs “Skip” by the throat and throws him the entire length of the apartment, causing him to smash into the wall and fall to the floor. And then Darkman tortures him trying to get the information. They built the apartment and took a week to kill me. There’s the scene where Darkman’s burnt skeletal hand has me by the throat and they had this mechanical mechanism that was punching holes into the drywall all around my head. It was scary as hell! It was really a huge piston. For reasons unknown to me, I think it was just purely technical reasons, they never used it. And this poor stuntman fell eighteen feet, through three high speed cameras and landed on his stump from his missing leg. I don’t think anybody even said cut, I think they just yelled call 9-1-1. He landed so hard it shook the building, he landed so hard. He got up, shook it off and went on his way.

Jason Bene: How did Intruder come about?

Danny Hicks: It was funny meeting Scott Spiegel, the guy who wrote and directed Intruder. The first time I met him was when I went in to audition for Evil Dead 2. There’s this guy sitting in my agent’s waiting room where the audition was going to take place, and I said, “I’ve never seen you around here before” and I said “What are you doing here?” He said, “Actually, I am auditioning for the same part as you are.” I said, “Who are you?” And he said, “My name’s Scott Spiegel and I wrote the script.” I thought okay, like I’m actually going to get this part now. That’s how I met Scott. There actually was a place called Walnut Lake Supermarket and Scott worked there. I think that’s when he began writing the script for Intruder all those years later. After working with him on Evil Dead 2, he decided to use me as one of the principal performers in Intruder. So, that’s how I met Scott.

Jason Bene: There are some truly creative kills in the film, do you have a favorite?

Danny Hicks: Killing Sam Raimi I think. Especially now that I have worked with him like in Spider-Man 2. I got some payback. Sam loves to torture his actors, so I got to torture him a little bit. That was my favorite kill.

Jason Bene: There seemed to be a relaxed atmosphere throughout the movie, was that due to the closeness of the cast?

Danny Hicks: It wasn’t. It was Lawrence Bender’s [Pulp Fiction] first film and I think he panicked a little bit. Ultimately, the film is his and the final outcome is his. Sometimes there was quite a bit of tension. The way I learned about acting and being an actor is, a producer doesn’t talk to an actor. The first assistant director and the director, they are the two people who communicate with the actors and not the producers. So if the producers come up and are telling the actors what to do, it really gets hard sometimes. All I know is my character. I can disagree with the director forever and it doesn’t really matter. All I know is my part and I probably know my part better than the guy who wrote my part. I know more about my character than he does, but he knows more about the whole project than I do. He sees the big picture, I just see my little part of it.

Jason Bene: It’s funny that both the trailer and the poster make it clear that you are the killer. Is that something the producers weren’t concerned about?

Danny Hicks: I have no idea how that came about. I have no idea how that happened. It certainly does spoil the suprise, doesn’t it? There is one scene in the movie where the boyfriend is outside of the doors and I’m in the inside. It was very weird because I can see his face and then I can see the reflection of my face, and then he moved away and I stepped in just a little bit. It’s a very subtle movement and that puts it in your mind that I’m the killer.

Jason Bene: The boys at K.N.B. EFX were youngsters at the time. Did they bring a lot of positive energy to the project?

Danny Hicks: Absolutely. Greg Nicotero is a genuis. I love working with him and he’s a lot of fun. I did two movies with [Robert] Kurtzman [The Demolitionist, Wishmaster]. I had a cameo in Wishmaster as a customs official when the statue is first brought in.

Jason Bene: Do fans recognize you and walk up and say, “I’m just crazy about this store?”

Danny Hicks: In this situation, yes, but in real life I’m very rarely recognized and I kind of do that intentionally. I ugly up very well. It’s not real hard to make me look real bad. I kind of thrive on it. In fact, I think that’s the way I actually got the job with Sam Raimi in Evil Dead 2. The character description was a scuzzy scuzzbucket. That morning I got up and I walked outside and washed my hair with gravel from the driveway and got some grease from under the hood and smeared my face after not shaving for five days. I said, “How scuzzy do you want him?” And he said, “As scuzzy as you can make him.” And I stuck my face right in the camera and said, ”You want him this scuzzy?” He said, “Oh my God, an actor without vanity.” I ugly up well enough so people don’t usually recognize me, but sometimes they still do.

Jason Bene: Did you pattern your craziness after anybody?

Danny Hicks: It was in the script. Read between the lines. That’s the way I create a character anyway.

Jason Bene: Who came up with the bit about carrying the head by the hair in one hand and having a sandwich in the other? Did you improv that?

Danny Hicks: That was in the script, in fact, I think Scotty had lent that to the Coen Brothers for Raising Arizona. I haven’t seen it myself, but people have told me a portion of that speech is delivered by Nicolas Cage. Somehow or another I’ve never managed to work for the Coen Brothers. Are you listening guys? I want to work for you! I’ve worked with Frances McDormand, Mrs. Coen, on Darkman, but I’ve never worked with the Coens.

Jason Bene: You have worked with Sam Raimi on Evil Dead 2, Darkman, and Spider-Man 2. Is there any possibility of working with him again in the future?

Danny Hicks: Well, actually we were supposed to start next week on Spider-Man 4. I don’t know what they [Sony Pictures] are going to do with it now. The last I heard, Sam’s out, he’s gone. That means consequently that I’m gone. I think the main issue is they were trying to take creative control away from Sam again. The train sequence from Spider-Man 2, I think I worked on that for seven weeks. I’ve got one line in the movie and it was wonderful, I made a ton of money.

A little less than a week after our interview with Danny, his wife of almost eleven years passed away. Elaine Hicks, who Danny called Zooley, was and will always be the light of his life. Killer Film would like to dedicate this interview in loving memory of Elaine “Zooley” Hicks.