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White smoke billowed, a Union Army officer spurred his horse across the
muddy field, and my commander ordered me and another footsoldier to go.
We ran for our lives, past the pile of bodies of our less fortunate
comrades, rushing so that we would get across in time. We stopped
suddenly in our tracks, unable to run any farther without crashing into
the equipment which was just out of frame. "That's a cut, let's do it
again," the director said. I had just made my first appearance on
celluloid, at least my first as more than a speck in a crowd. I was a
Union soldier in the Civil War sequence of PHANTASM IV: OBLIVION,
shooting in Camarillo, California in November of 1997.
As
I described in a recent article for
Phantasm Archives, I had met Reggie
Bannister at a horror convention in 1992. I later interviewed Reg, and Angus
Scrimm, and then
got to hang out occasionally during the shooting
of PHANTASM 3: LORD OF THE DEAD.
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Todd
and Reggie posing with a skull. (click to enlarge).
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Reg
and I wrote a screenplay together, which we unsuccessfully tried to
market. Meanwhile I got to know other “horror movie” types in L.A.,
both writers and directors, and visited other movie sets, but I never
tried to get into the business—I stuck with my library day-job.
PHANTASM 3 came out, sadly going straight-to-video, despite Don
Coscarelli’s best efforts.
Several
years passed, and the word came that a fourth Phantasm film was in the
works. OBLIVION, they were calling it. It would incorporate “lost
footage” from the original PHANTASM…scenes I’d always heard about but
had never seen. I was excited. But I didn’t make it to many of the
sets. I was working full-time now. Harder to get time off. I heard
about exciting (but freezing-cold) shoots in the high desert, and a
dangerous hearse-flipping stunt that I was sorry I missed. I vowed to
get my act together and get to one of the sets.
RETURN TO ANGELES ABBEY
I
called Reg and asked about the shooting schedule. The budget for the
film was low, and the production was going ahead quickly. (It must’ve
helped the bottom line that those scenes shot back in the ‘70s cut the
amount of new footage needed!) Reg told me that they were shooting at
Angeles Abbey again.
Angeles
Abbey is the cemetery and mausoleum complex in Compton, California
where numerous scenes for PHANTASM 3 were shot. This time they were
just shooting a few scenes in one of the mausoleums. I took my friend,
the literary agent Dan Hooker, to scope out the action. Bill Thornbury
and Angus Scrimm were there; I introduced Dan to them, and we watched a
few hours of filming—which equals a few seconds of screen time.
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Only
on a Phantasm shoot would
the craft services (snack) table be nestled close to
real tombs! P4 location shoot, Angeles Abbey, Compton,
CA. (click to enlarge).
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I
noticed that “craft services” (that is, the snack table) had been put
up right in front of some tombs in the front hallway of the mausoleum.
Not that the dead care…but I could definitely tell I was on a Phantasm
set!
This
was a quick visit. Show Dan around, say hello to a few people, watch
some shooting, explore the mausoleums. Then out of there before it got
too late. Compton, just south of L.A., could be a scary place, which
had nothing to do with the cemetery (unless you ended up there after an
unlucky encounter with a bullet).
I GO INTO
BATTLE
There’s
no cooler place to be than a Phantasm set. And since Phantasm
shoots only occur every five to ten years, I wanted to make sure I got
another chance to visit a set before the movie wrapped. I heard about a
location shoot in Camarillo, 50 miles or so north of L.A. I drove up to
the farm with my then-wife Denise Dumars, who was writing an article
about PHANTASM IV for Cinefantastique Magazine.
That
day’s shoot was a Civil War scene—hey, anything can happen in the
Coscarelli universe! (The Coscarelliverse?) Though he wasn’t in the
scene, Reg was there—not surprisingly, since his girlfriend was doing
makeup. More about that shortly.
Another
friend, C. Courtney Joyner—movie writer, and director of
TRANCERS 3 and LURKING FEAR—was also visiting that day. To top it off,
Roger Avary, who won a screenplay for co-writing PULP FICTION, was
donning a uniform to play a Union soldier. Avary had worked at Video
Archives, the Manhattan Beach video store where I’d often rented videos
during the late ‘80s. I chatted with him about the old days while
Denise interviewed Don for Cinefantastique.
Avary
had co-written a script with Don called PHANTASM 1999 which was
going to be an epic conclusion to the series. I’d been hearing about
this project, so it wasn’t a complete surprise to see Avary on the set.
He was having a great time, and turned out to be a very friendly guy.
In addition to writing scripts, Roger had directed the films KILLING
ZOE and MR. STITCH.
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Roger
Avary and Todd
clowning around before they shoot their big scene (click to
enlarge).
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Reggie
chomps a cigar while a
Civil War soldier fills out a release form (click to
enlarge). |
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Roger
Avary rehearses in his
coffin (click to enlarge). |
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Todd
(center, with bloody head
and bandage) prepares to go into action (click to enlarge).
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After
a hearty chicken lunch, I was relaxing and preparing to watch the
shoot when the call came out: “Anyone else want to be a soldier?” I
couldn’t believe my luck, and rushed forward to volunteer. I was issued
a blue Union Army uniform and a hat. Someone, though, decided I’d look
better with a bandage around my head (maybe because my head was too big
for the available hats). Gigi Porter, who happened to be Reg’s
girlfriend (and later became his wife), tied the bandage on me and
applied some blood—with a thin red stream running down my face.
I
filled out a release form and waited for my orders. The scene was a
dream or flashback in Mike’s mind, with the camera moving through a
battle in progress to a medical tent where the Tall Man was about to
“operate” on poor Mike. Roger Avary and Guy Thorpe took pride of place
as dead bodies in standing coffins. (Guy has supplied hearses for a
couple of the films.) Other “soldiers” were laid out on the ground as
corpses. Somehow I was lucky enough to get a live role: a soldier
running across the screen. I was issued a rifle and waited for my cue.
My
fear of having my extra bit cut out of the film (which happened to
me on LORD OF ILLUSIONS and JACKIE BROWN) faded as I realized that the
guy running just behind me was Andy Coscarelli, Don’s son!
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Todd
and Angus Scrimm at the Civil War battle shoot (click to enlarge).
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At
last everything was ready. The smoke machines kicked in. Andy and I
had to wait for a horseman to wheel through the frame, then we had to
run. Running seems simple enough until you have to run naturally and
not trip or hesitate. I had previously done an extra gig where I’d had
to walk through a mall, and it was harder than it seemed—“Am I swinging
my arms naturally? Where should I be looking?” In this case I was more
afraid of waiting too long to start running, but we did several takes
that Don seemed happy with. And with that my career as a Phantasm extra
was over.
Denise
and I hung out until dusk as the crew packed up their gear. We
hated to leave, knowing this might be our last time on a Phantasm set.
And it was, as it turned out. Now I only have my photos, my memories,
and my “bloody” strip of cloth, kept as a souvenir. Oh, and I also have
my name all over the Web, thanks to Don generously listing all of us
extras in the credits. My name pops up online almost anywhere the film
is mentioned.
Sorry
I don’t remember more details. After ten years the whole
experience is kind of a blur—rather like the blur I make as I run
across the screen during my one second or so of screen time. (Due to
the hallucinatory nature of the scene, you actually see us run across
twice—the first time, just our legs, and then the full view.) Still, it
was a awesome experience, even if I only got paid in fried chicken.
If
there’s a PHANTASM 5—and I really hope there will be—I’d like to
nominate Dustin McNeill, our hardworking Phantasm Archivist, for an
extra part in the flick. Don, think about it. As for me, I’m retired
from acting—unless you happen to hear about a film shooting near
Portland, Oregon, that is!
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Todd's
cameo in the finished film (click to nelarge).
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The
entire 13th Morningside Volunteer Infantry from PHANTASM 4.(click to
enlarge).
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