INT: Chris McKenna

Last Updated on July 28, 2021

The
Arrow interviews Chris McKenna

Actor
Chris McKenna‘s
only other genre credit is 1991’s “The Boy who Cried
Bitch” (a film I always wanted to see, but never found). Having
said that, hold on to your bashed-in heads because the lad recently
crashed into the genre scene full-force via his “tour de
force” performance in Stuart Gordon’s well-rounded and
unapologetically brutal “King of the Ants”.
I
recently had the chance to talk “mallet shop” with Chris
about the film, the demands of the part, how it was working with
Gordon and here’s what he had to say.

ARROW:
What is your favorite horror movie?

CHRIS:
There’s a film my dad made
me watch and he, in general, wouldn’t condone or support me
watching horror movies at such a young age.  I was probably 10
or 11, and he had me watch a movie called “The Stepfather” with
Terry O’Quinn simply for Terry’s performance, and I adored it. 
And to be honest, some of the violence in that movie really reminds
me of “King of the Ants” and how raw it was.  There’s a
scene where Terry O’Quinn beats a psychiatrist with a two by four
– Surprises him and hits him.  The way the guy
collapses—it’s so painful to watch.  It was an amazing
scene and an amazing movie.  Fortunately, later on I got a
chance to work with Terry O’Quinn on a pilot called “The
Contender.”  He played my father and I was of course
petrified of him.  I stayed away from every two by four on the
set (laughing).  He’s a great guy.  And actually, my
very first paying gig turned out to be singing the theme song to
“Stepfather II.”  I was flattered and honored to be a part
in some small way of that film franchise.

ARROW:
Did you always want to be an actor or did you fall into it by fluke?

CHRIS:
I wanted to be an actor
since I was seven, when a flyer came to my school regarding an
audition for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” at the local
theatre.  I thought it sounded like fun.  At the time, I
was always singing and dancing in the living room.  So my
parents allowed me to try out for it. I believe I was type cast, as
Dopey, in the production.  I had one line at the end of it,
‘I love you Snow White.’  That was my first speaking line
ever as an actor and I was hooked ever since.  From then on, I
started doing community theatre for years and years sometimes doing
two or three at once.  Eventually when I was 11 or so, I had
enough great reviews and enough people telling me I had to go to New
York and be a professional actor that my parents said OK we’ll
give it a shot. They brought me to New York and I booked an HBO
special and shortly after, a Soap Opera.  The rest is history.

ARROW:
What was it about the “King of the Ants” screenplay that made
you want to do it?

CHRIS:
At first I didn’t think I
was right for the role.  I thought the breakdown, which is the
sheet they send out that gives a little synopsis of the character
and what they’re looking for in the actor to play the role, did
not describe me in any way –  There’s a small guy, not
noticeable, very meek and I am not such a little guy at 6’3” and
over 200lbs.  I thought, there’s no way they’re going to
cast me and  I’m going to hear once again that I’m too big
or too physical, it’s not going to work.  But, a good friend
of mine had me read one scene at the end where Sean gives the moral
of the story to Beckett.  The scene was amazing.  I sat at
an all-night diner on the corner, drank coffee and read the script
three times over. 

I know it’s such a cliché, but I just really understood the guy
so well.  I understood just where he was coming from; I
understand why somebody who has nothing else going for him would do
this, if for nothing else just to see if he can.  The script
read so true to me and so real.  I was absolutely possessed by
it.  I’m not like that.  I’ll do as little as I can to
get by.  I won’t read the script more than once; sometimes I
won’t read it at all if I can get away with it.  But this one
absolutely possessed me, I couldn’t put it down and I had to play
this guy. I did nothing else but work on this character for the next
three or four days until I got to finally meet Stuart.

ARROW:
How would you describe the auditioning process? Rough or smooth
sailing?

CHRIS:
I’d never ever been to an
audition that I would describe as smooth, let alone smooth sailing
(laughing).  It’s a stressful process.  There are a
million people they’re seeing and very often you’re rushed in
and out.  I showed up early.  I was ready.  I
couldn’t wait to get in there.  I did everything I could to
stay calm.  I didn’t have any caffeine that morning.  I
met with Stuart and the casting director and I had a bunch of ideas
I really wanted to talk to him about and I really wanted to show him
that I understood this character.  I just really wanted to be a
part of this film and I really wanted this guy, so I told Stuart,
‘There are a few ways I can do this.  I understand you can go
this way or that way with it.  I’m going to show you a couple
of ways if that’s OK with you.  He said, “Sure.”  So
I tried some scenes a couple different ways and I said, ‘Now
that’s an over the top version, I think you can do it this way
too,’ and Stuart said, “Alright, let me see that.”  It
seemed to me that he was very open to it right away because most
directors just want to get you in and out of there.

They usually
know in the first ten seconds if you’re going to work or not. He
seemed very open to what I wanted to do and what I wanted to show
him and what my ideas were. That gave me a good feeling right off
the bat.  I did a few scenes and Stuart seemed very happy. 
The casting director came out afterwards and said, “You nailed
it!”  I was very happy about that.  I got a call back a
week later to meet the producers and Stuart.  I knew there were
a bunch of names in the mix that I was going to have to compete
against and THAT I was not looking forward to.  I met with
them, and it went just as well.  At the end I said, ‘I would
really love to work with you,’ and Stuart said the same.  So,
I knew at that point Stuart was on board and he may have had to do
some convincing to the producers who may have wanted somebody who
was an instant box office draw.  But, I knew right then I had
done everything I could do and that Stuart enjoyed my performance
and really thought I’d work and I agreed.  The audition
process was stressful but Stuart made it great.

ARROW:
What kind of prep did you do to get yourself physically and mentally
up to the demands of the role?

CHRIS:
First, I stopped working out because I was apparently in too
good a shape to play Sean Crawley because the guy is an everyman. 
So, I lost a little bit of weight, got a little softer, I shaved my
head which I did right before the audition as a complete fluke. 
I wanted to try it and figured if I was going to fall, I was going
to fall forward.  I was not going to NOT get this role and not
going to NOT be part of this movie because I wasn’t trying hard
enough or because I didn’t take any risks.  So, I shaved my
head because I thought it worked.  I thought it gave me a
little bit of darkness, and I liked the way it made me feel.  I
felt nondescript.  I even experimented with some old techniques
you hear about from way back when, like changing my walk, changing
my posture. 

At the end,
I decided that this wasn’t the way to go and to be myself and to
be simple because Sean is nothing if not simple.  I kept to
myself.  I was living with my girlfriend at the time and she
moved out.  I needed to be alone.  I needed to be an
outcast like Sean was.  I didn’t have any social life
whatsoever and with a 24-day shooting schedule I didn’t really
have a chance to socialize.  I changed my habits, kept to
myself and looked in the mirror a lot.  Man, I was having
terrible nightmares during the filming of this movie (laughing) – I
had nightmares of claws coming out of my mouth.  I was a little
tortured for a while there, mentally, but, it was certainly worth it
and I loved every minute of it and I would do it all again.

ARROW:
They say an actor is as good as the director guiding him. Did
Stuart Gordon help you in terms of nailing your performance?

CHRIS:
Stuart is a good director. Stuart makes more with what
he has than any director I’m aware of.  He’s very easy to
work with.  He’s such a great guy.  And he didn’t
over-manage, where the director wants their hand in every scene. 
He’s got a “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” attitude. 
He just watches maybe making an adjustment here and there.  And
there were a couple scenes that I was having a hard time with, and
you can tell I was, and he was so great.  In the scene in the
shed with the golf club, I was really having a hard time with the
fear and the physical state the character was in.  I didn’t
say anything like this, but he could tell, and he brought me aside
and he gave me a little breathing exercise.  He said, “Just
try that and watch how scared you get.”  And he was right.  

 By the
end of the exercise he gave me, I was petrified.  I was
shaking; it was just what he said it would do.  And he didn’t
have to get all deep with me and go back to acting class, he just
said “Breathe and watch what happens,” and it worked great. 
The scene with Kari [Wuhrer] where I had to kill her and I think I
was building up to that scene.  I was really concentrating on
it.  I had a lot of significance on that scene and Stuart told
me, “Stop thinking about it.  Don’t think about anything
but her and we’ll be able to see it.”  And he was right. 
He’s never been wrong in my experience—he’s batting a
thousand.  He knows just what to say, he knows just how little
needs to be done, little micro-adjustments and you can watch what a
great product he comes up with.

ARROW:
What would you say was the most taxing scene for you to accomplish,
be it physically or psychologically?

CHRIS:
The torture scene was tough. All the scenes in the shed
were very difficult.  Physically, mentally, the makeup, the
sand on the floor that was cutting into my knees and my feet, being
in the same room with Daniel [Baldwin] (laughing).  It was all
very difficult to deal with.  They were tough scenes to pull
off.  It was physically demanding: I’m being tied down, three
guys are wrestling with me, some of the other scenes.  Those
were really difficult in many ways.  They actually brought sand
out from the desert and put it on the floor of the shed which was
absolutely shredding my skin, and all the bruises that we all
suffered.  I beat the crap out of Vernon [Wells] a couple times
and he fell on my knee and that screwed me up.  We all got
dinged up and nicked up physically, but mentally, those scenes were
very draining and they were right at the end of the shoot where we
had nothing left really.  Which kind of works with the
character being that he’s so exhausted, scared and going crazy
that I was pretty much going crazy myself by the end of the shoot. 
So, the timing worked out nicely on that front.

ARROW:
What’s next on your plate? What will we see you in next?

CHRIS:
There’s a bunch of things that I have in the works, even
some screenwriting. The next project I’m in is a Terry Zwigoff
film called “Art School Confidential” playing a very different
character.  I’m playing a New York cop.  I’m from New
York, so it’ll be fun to be able to use my accent again. 
It’s a whole lot different than Sean Crawley.  I’m looking
forward to working with Terry and looking forward to the script. 
I think it’s a great script.

ARROW: Do
you have other aspirations within the entertainment industry? Screenwriting,
directing…?

CHRIS:
I’m an actor who also wants to screen write, maybe direct
someday.  I’m co-writing a one-man show for a friend of mine
called “The Jimmy Durante Story.” And, I have the rights to
a novel from an author, whose son I grew up with, named Thomas
Tessier. He wrote a book called “Fog Heart” that I think is an
incredible story. I’m trying my hand at the adaptation process.
It’s coming along and I have Thomas’ blessing for what I feel
will be a really great movie.

ARROW:
Are you going to bring your mother to see “King of the Ants?”?
It’s fairly brutal stuff!

CHRIS:
My mom was first in line, she saw it immediately. There
are some other members of my family that I may have to keep at a
distance. We were playing it at my house and my grandmother was
watching and I had to cover her eyes during select scenes. My
family is very supportive and they love the film. They’re very
proud. They’re twisted themselves, so I’m not really surprised.

I’d
like to thank Chris
for the amazing performance he gave us via “King of the
Ants” and for dropping by the site for some
chit-chat. If you haven’t seen the film yet, I urge you all to seek
it out NOW! It’s one solid and ugly ride.