Status: Actress
You'll most likely recognize Diane as Biker Queen/Harley Mom in the hilariously insane Feast Trilogy. She has graced us with her presence in many horror flicks and hopefully we'll see her in many many more to come! You can check her out in Feast, Feast 2:Sloppy Seconds, Feast 3:The Happy Finish, Pulse 2:Afterlife, Pulse 3:Invasion, The Collector, Satanic, Halloween 2, Adam's Apocalypse, etc..It was an honor to be able to interview such a talented and friendly actress such as Diane, so I would just like to thank her again for her awesomeness! So now go check out her interview below and learn something new!
1.)So how did your love for the horror genre bloom?
As a kid, "The Wolfman", "Frankenstein", and "Doctor Jekyll", all stole my heart, "The Last Man On Earth" stimulated my imagination; and during the "The Haunting" I was hyperventilating so much, that my mother had to snap me out of it. As a teenager I was terrified and awed by the elegant horror films like "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist. Then there was the roller coaster ride of audacity brought on by Romero's "Dead" films and Toby Hooper's "Chainsaw".
2.)What made you decide you wanted to become an actress?
Well I don't know that I ever decided as much as I just love acting. Great acting makes me cry. It's so magnificent. The first time I acted, I was about 8 -I played a Jackal (haha) in a school skit, and I remember coming out of character as if I had come out of a sort of trance. When I was 14, I performed Juliet (From Romeo and Juliet) and learned of the other perk of acting -you get noticed! Oddly enough I hadn't really thought about that part. After the performance I was heading for my car and a group of kids from the "Foster Freeze" across the street ran over saying there's "Juliet", and...the boy I had a crush on made his way through the kids and gave me a little kiss (swoon).
3.)Did you initially want to work in the horror genre, or did that happen by chance?
I never though about genre. I love "Pink Flamingo's" as equally as "Howard's End". However, the independent films that I have dedicated myself to making with the Gulagers, such as "Fucking Tulsa", are pretty horrific.
4.)I'm a huge fan of the Feast Trilogy! How was it working on all three of those films (For anyone who doesn't know Diane plays the badass twin sisters Harley Mom and Biker Queen)? How was it to play such tough and independent leading ladies?
In the first "Feast" I was up for Tuffy's part which was a much smaller role until John Gulager (the director and my long time partner) started envisioning me in the part. Unfortunately, because of his input it became one of the staring roles and they ended up, of course, getting someone who was a more established actress. Fortunately, "Harley Mom" was available and the studio and everyone liked my audition enough to give me the part. Again because I had the role, John and the writers -Marcus and Patrick, were inspired to give my character some flourishes!!! The baby monster (mouth rape) sequence was not in the original script. When they asked me how I would feel about it, I jumped for joy, I thought it was so much fun. When it came to writing Feast 2 and 3, Marcus always had the idea of Biker Queen (Harley Mom's twin) and her all female biker gang. I think because it was a lower budget situation (and I think because they liked me in the first "Feast") there was no qualms from the studio about me having a staring role!! The cool thing about getting to do "Feast" 2 and 3 is there was some prep time to do research on my character. I learned to shoot and ride a motorcycle. As for being a "strong independent leading lady" -Yeah! That's alright by me. My expiration date is long expired so it is amazing that I was able to star in any film, let alone a horror film where most women are in their 20's.
5.)Who has been your biggest inspiration in life?
My adopted father Clu Gulager -81 years old, and his spirit is undaunted. His love of film, art and artist is kind and fierce. He is still writing scripts, walking miles, going to the movie theater daily, teaching acting class...and ...and...and...
6.)What would you say are the ups and downs of working in the horror industry?
Realistic or "fantastic" the possibilities of being inventive through the horror genre are limitless. The down side is the industry tends to fin the formulaic. That said, interesting things still get made.
7.)When it comes to your on screen characters. What type of characters do you prefer to play or would prefer to play?
That's a hard one, I can't imagine any type of character I wouldn't want to explore. As Sally Field said about nudity when questioned at the "Actor Studios" -"The question is not whether to do nudity or not, the question is whether the project and director is something you believe in and want to be a part of". I do like that somehow I seem to be setting the bar for the most outrageously fucked up memorable moments in film. Even in "The Shield" I walk through the police station brandishing a giant used condom which I then throw on the detective's desk.
8.)What would you say has been your greatest accomplishment so far?
Feast 2 -When I saw it, I thought "o.k. I can die now, I've played a totally cool character in a totally cool film".
9.)When you get a break from acting, what hobbies occupy your time?
I spend most of my time watching films but I love reading, exotic cookbooks, cooking, eating, drinking, dancing etc. I have been doing Tai Chi since I was 19 and the last few years I have taken up Belly Dancing!!
10.)Out of all the female villains/Monsters/Murderers in the horror movie universe, who's the scariest to you and why?
"La Llorona" -from a Mexican folktale (I was partly brought up in Mexico). What could be scarier then a woman who kills her own children, then roams lamenting and wailing "oh my babies" and...despite her laments and tears feels compelled to kill any child she encounters out alone at night.
11.)Who's your favorite woman (or women) in horror?
Ruth Gordon, who plays the kindly satanist next door in "Rosemary's Baby". The little girl in "Let The Right One In" was pretty cool. And I loved the mother in the "The Vampire Lestat" book, who leaped the Paris rooftops, rode hanging on the top of horse drawn carriages with her son Lestat, and who, when she'd had "enough", went to Africa and buried herself in the desert for a few hundred years.
12.)Do you have any upcoming projects in the works that you can share with us?
My character has the misfortune of running into Marcus Dunstun's antagonist in "The Collector" released to DVD about a week ago!! And also, Marcus recently made a brutally awesome music video co-staring the Gulager clan (which I can claim being a part of for 20 years). I'm lucky in that I have a few directors who actually write specifically for me. Clu Gulager wrote a part in his Western that would rival any and every of the "fucked up memorable moments" I have had in film so far. When you talk about inventive and dark, no one is more out right disturbing then Clu (and so funding is always problematic). Tom Gulager wrote a compelling fucked up character for me in the "neo-realistic noir horror film"(hahahaha that is a mouthful -I came up with it myself) that Marcus and Patrick (Feast and Saw writers) are working on getting produced for John to direct. And there are a few other directors that I have my fingers crossed for, who have me in mind for one possible role or the other.
For more information on Diane check out these websites:
www.myspace.com/DianeGoldner
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0325943/
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?ref=sgm&id=1059978092
Check out the Feast Trailers below:
No comments:
Post a Comment