INT: Kane Hodder

Last Updated on July 28, 2021

The Arrow
interviews Kane Hodder

Kane
Hodder is unique in that he’s actually the only stuntman that I know
who actually became famous within the genre via one of his gigs. Yes gore hounds,
Arrow recently had the chance to shoot the breeze with the
REAL Jason
Voorhees about his new werewolf film “Darkwolf” and the
uncalled for shaft that he was given off the upcoming “Freddy vs
Jason”. This is actually the first time Kane addresses the issue online
to my knowledge. Take out your machetes…it’s Hodder time!!

Intermediary: Kane, I’ve got John
Fallon from Arrow in the Head on the line.

KANE: Arrow in the
Head…what a lovely name…

ARROW: Thanks dude.

KANE: I don’t think I’ve ever done that
to anyone.

ARROW: Well, there’s always Jason 11!

KANE: I have to keep that in mind.

ARROW: [laughs] So what was it about the “Darkwolf” project that
prompted you to do it?

KANE: I always
wanted to work with the director Richard Friedman who always puts
quality work together for less money than he should have and the part
was basically the main bad guy of the movie
before he becomes the werewolf. So I play the character as a human
without any makeup and that appealed to me. The character itself
was also very one track minded and violent…so I’m used to that.

ARROW: Yeah, he’s very Terminator-like.

KANE: Yeah, I think
so too.

ARROW: Did you do your own stunts for
this
picture?

KANE: Of course I
did; have you seen it?

ARROW: You bet.

KANE: That’s not my
ass though.

ARROW: [laughs]! I was going to ask you about
that butt shot actually….

KANE: Not my ass, I
did all my own stunts, but not that one. I did all the action which
wasn’t that much to be honest. If I play a character, I’m usually cast
because I’m a stunt man.

ARROW: Were you the stunt coordinator on this
one as well?

KANE: Not on
Darkwolf. My friend Rick was, he was the stunt coordinator and the guy
who wore the werewolf suit.

ARROW: Was there initially more scenes
in the screenplay involving your character?

KANE: Not really,
you see me as this guy before and after the transformation. The film
is basically identical to the script that I read.

ARROW: Did you train a lot for the part; you
were bulked up like crazy in the movie.

KANE: No…that’s how
I always am.

ARROW: Actually let me sidestep here, some of
your fans on my site asked me to ask you how much you bench press?

KANE: [laughs]!
Right now about 365.

ARROW: [laugh] Damn!

KANE: [laugh]!

ARROW: On a more serious note; Freddy vs
Jason…

KANE: Yeah…

ARROW: A lot of us are pretty pissed off about
what happened…

KANE: Along with me,
I’m sure you can imagine.

ARROW: Yeah. There’s been a lot of rumors and
a lot of stories…

KANE: Tell me the
rumors you’ve heard and I’ll tell you if they’re true.

ARROW: Well, at first I heard that they wanted
somebody with more expressive eyes.

KANE: Yeah, that’s
the sort of bullshit they told me too and they wound up hiring a
Canadian stunt man.

ARROW: I heard it had to do with the Canadian
Tax Credits.

KANE: Sure it does.
You hire a local, you don’t have to pay air fare, hotel, per diem…
People have always told me; one thing they loved about watching
me play the character were my eyes!!!! That seemed like a pretty lame
excuse to me.

ARROW: Yeah, it’s very fucking lame. After all
you’ve done for the role, you took it to the next level.

KANE: I put my life
into that part John! Nobody else has dedicated themselves to Jason as
much as I have! What other rumors have you heard?

ARROW:
I also heard that you were initially “too short” for the part,
but then I heard that you were “too tall” for it as well. You’re 6’3″
if I remember correctly and Ken [Kirzinger– the guy who got the
part of Jason eventually] is like
6’4″ or something.

KANE: More like 6’3″ and half. They just never did
give me a valid reason as to why
they replaced me…they never did. They said “we think we’re going to
go in another direction”. I asked why but they’ve never given me,
or the
fans who are upset about it, an adequate answer and I find that very
insulting to both of us if you think about it.

ARROW: Sure is.

KANE: That’s very
pompous, if you ask me. It had nothing to do with me not wanting to
play the part, that’s for sure! I actually heard a rumor that it was a
money dispute, it never even got to that point!

ARROW: I also heard that you were too
“complicated” or “demanding” to work with.

KANE: Anybody that’s
ever worked with me knows that’s not true.

ARROW: So if New Line would ever come to their
senses and wanted you back for Jason 11, would you come back
and do the part?

Yeah probably…I love
playing the part. I think the performance will suffer in “Freddy
vs Jason”. A lot of people seem to have the impression that it’s just a
“guy in mask” and that all he has to do is walk around and
stuff. But that’s really not the
case.

ARROW: I agree. You brought something fresh to
the role, an aggressive edge and a personality that wasn’t there
before, making you the best Jason…in my opinion anyways.

KANE: Well, I
appreciate that…thanks a lot. Obviously a lot of people felt that for
the simple fact that before me there was 5 different guys that played
the part, one time each, they were never doing it good enough to the
point to be asked to do it again.

ARROW:
Not only that, but some of them saw it as just another gig; you
took it further, you met  the fans, you took pictures, you signed
autographs, you promoted the role…I still have that picture of you
choking my neck….

KANE: And I was
happy to do it!

ARROW: [laughs] Yeah and it shows in your
face! 

KANE: [laughs]!

ARROW: Let’s move on to another topic. I
heard a while back that you were planning on directing a horror film.

KANE: Probably a
rumor.

ARROW: Ok, scratch that. So what’s up next for
you then?

KANE: I’m going to
continue doing stunt work because that’s what I love and I will also play more
characters, more acting stuff.

ARROW: I saw you for a second in “Daredevil”
during the boxing match.

KANE: Yeah, people
don’t realize that I’m the one that kills Daredevil’s father in the
alley too!

ARROW: Oh yeah?!? I didn’t pick that up!

KANE: After the
fight.

ARROW: How was the “Daredevil” experience ?

KANE: It was good,
it was great, a fun shoot to work on. Just to have a part, it’s not a
big part, but it’s fairly important. I haven’t seen the movie, but the
death of his father had something to do with his growth as a character,
so it was kind of an important role.

ARROW: Back to “Darkwolf”…how do you feel about
the finished product?

KANE: I’m really
impressed by the quality of the film.

ARROW: What was the budget, if you don’t me
asking…?

KANE: Much less than
it appears to be.

ARROW:
What I got out of it is that people worked really, really hard on it.

KANE: They had an
excellent crew, the director was also great.

ARROW: How long was the shoot?

KANE: I’m not sure,
I worked on it for 3 or 4 weeks.

ARROW: That long? Wow. And how do you feel
about the werewolf effects in the film?

KANE: The creature
came out looking pretty good. Sometimes it’s hard to do something like
that and not have it come out looking hokey and I think it came out
fine.

ARROW: Well, there were a multitude of methods
they used to communicate the creature, some methods came out better
than others, but again, for the budget they had, it came out decent.
Who did the creature effects?

KANE: The reason
that I first played Jason; John Buechler
(director of the
The New Blood).

ARROW: Oh yeah? I didn’t know that he did the work
on this one…cool! Two last questions Kane: what’s your favorite
werewolf movie?

KANE: I know this is
going to sound like a bunch of shit, but “Darkwolf”. I’ve done two or
three of them myself and have seen other ones and I think this one pulls it
off better than the other ones I’ve seen.

ARROW: Fair enough. Any “Darkwolf: Part 2” talk
yet?

KANE: Some…I’d
love to do it. Let’s see what we can do next with this guy!

ARROW: Hopefully they’ll give you more lines,
keep you badass and get you to kill lots of people!

KANE: Hey, I
wouldn’t mind that!

ARROW: [laughs] Well, that’s it Kane. Thanks for
the interview man and I hope to see you behind that hockey mask very
soon.

KANE: Thanks for all
the support John.

ARROW: No problem.

I’d like to thank Kane for the chit-chat, it was fun.
Hope to see you hacking some teens in the next Friday the 13th
installment, dude and know that you have a multitude of fans behind
you. GIVE IT UP FOR THE TRUE JASON VOORHEES!!!! LONG LIVE THE KANE! He
freakin’ earned it. Shame on you, New Line. NOTE: In case you didn’t
notice…I’m a Kane Hodder fan. I love this job.