Tickets for Primal Rage – Bigfoot Reborn can be purchased beginning Friday, January 26, online by visiting www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices. Fans throughout the U.S. will be able to enjoy the event in nearly 350 select movie theaters. A complete list of theater locations is available on the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).
Primal Rage – Bigfoot Reborn follows Ashley (Casey Gagliardi) and Max Carr (Andrew Joseph Montgomery) as they, lost deep in the forest, are stalked by a terrifying creature that just might be Bigfoot. Soon, they find themselves embroiled in a strange land of Native American myth and legend turned all too real. Hopelessly trying to survive, with a handful of unsavory locals, they must fight against the monster in a desperate battle of life or death.
Marshal Hilton plays Bigfoot hunter B.D in the film. We spoke to him ahead of the one-night screening of Primal Rage – Bigfoot Reborn.
TMS: Did you always want to act?
MH: I’ve been drawn to creative forms of expression for as long as I can remember. Living in Southern California where I grew up, there are a lot of people working in the entertainment business. The business surrounds you an all levels. As a child I was actually heavily into music for much of my youth. I started out playing Drums when I was six years old. I Picked up Guitar in high school and started playing paying gigs in Rock & Roll and Blues bands. Music has always been a creative outlet for me. My first two Majors in College were Music and Theatre, and the fact that the girls in the Theatre Department were hot didn’t hurt my motivation to go to class. As time went on I eventually changed my Major to Business and Marketing. After several years of barely getting by and sleeping on friend’s couches, I figured that I needed to learn how to make money as well. I transferred to San Francisco State with the goal of an MBA. That’s when I started studying acting again in 1990 with a fantastic acting teacher named Jean Shelton. Jean founded the Jean Shelton Actors Lab and was widely regarded as one of the finest Method acting teachers in the country. She had grown up and worked with Stella Adler, Harold Clurman and Lee Strasberg in the heart of the New York stage community and brought that craft sensibility to the west coast. It gets no more real that Jean. I knew then that I’d be heading back home to the Los Angeles area to continue my acting pursuits.
MH: Did you have a lot of support when you decided to get into acting?
TMS: I really didn’t have support in the classic sense. I’ve always been self reliant and fairly resilient to failure. I think if you enjoy doing something you will always find a way to do it. I can’t remember sitting down one day and saying to myself, or to any other person in my life that time, “I’m going to be an actor”. I just liked the challenge, enjoyed the craft, and kept doing it. I studied, got better, kept grinding, and continued getting parts. I never really thought about the end game that much. You can’t. There is no end game, there’s just the game, and you’re either in it or your not. So as long as they keep calling the old dawg, I’ll be ready to work.
MH: What’s up with Primal Rage? Where can people see it? And what do you want them to know about the movie?
TMS: Primal Rage-Bigfoot Reborn is a joint distribution partnership between Fathom Events, AMC Theatre’s, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark. It will be a one-night special event screening, nationwide, in approximately 400 cities. You can search @fandango.com to find a theatre nearest you, or search “Fathom Events Primal Rage-Bigfoot Reborn”. It’s all over Google.
Patrick Magee, the Director and creator of Primal Rage, is a Master creature creator. The list of superlatives for his work in my eyes would be endless. I knew when I saw the Creature in his studio that it was special. The level of detail was insane. I think it took him and his team like three years to make it by hand. His Bigfoot creature had actual fingerprints on the fingers and toe’s. Know one in the audience would ever see that detail but it didn’t matter to Patrick; he knew it was there, and that’s all that mattered. But when I saw the Bigfoot actually sneaking around in the woods on the first day of filming, I knew it was going to be revolutionary with regards to the Bigfoot myth. It was just plain freaky. I mean, we all knew it was Patrick in the suit, but there is such a suspension of reality when a 6’10” snarling beast is coming at you in full stride that its hard to explain.
The film is truly an Action Adventure Thriller, with some spiritual elements, and yes, there is some carnage. This is Bigfoot like has never been presented. He’s an ancient spirit warrior. He’s intelligent, cunning and brutal. The closest thing I can compare it to is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Predator, with angry fur and carnage. It’s a really creative twist on Bigfoot.
The entire film was shot over a two-year span in the pristine Redwood forests of Northern California and southern Oregon, and its all Practical FX. There is no CGI what so ever. It’s got a very large and epic feel. It’s definitely a movie to see on a big theatre screen with thundering sound.
MH: What attracted you to the project? How did you end up being cast? Did you go through an audition process?
TMS: Yes, I actually read for the role. It was a typical audition situation. I met Patrick Magee the Director, Angela Lee the Producer and Angela’s Bulldog at some place in Hollywood. I got a call that Pat wanted to meet at his Studio the next day. When I walked into to his Studio and saw all his amazing work lining the walls and ceiling, I just looked at him and said, “I’m in”. I hadn’t even read the script. His work was so stunning and so detailed I knew I was going to working with a guy that was not only passionate, but an artist that had supreme skills. He showed me the concept trailer and said we were going to shoot in the Redwoods forests of Northern California and Oregon, and when I saw his Bigfoot creation, it was a no brainer.
MH: How was the audition process?
TMS: It was just like any other audition. You prepare the material the best you can with very little information to work with. You walk into a room filled with people you’ve never met, most likely will never see again, do the work, and leave. You give them some ideas to ponder. Give then a sense of your take on the character. That’s your job. It’s the only thing you can influence. Anything else that happens is out of your control. It’s fate.
MH: What type of preparation and research did you undertake for this role?
TMS: Not a whole lot to be honest. My character B.D. was just a guy out with his friends in the woods doing what guys do. Some roles require a lot of research, especially if they are deep intellectual characters, or require a lot of physical study.
In the case of B.D. I really didn’t have a lot of details on him as far as scripted elements. I just try to look at the actions of what the character actually does, his scripted actions. In life, people are what they do, not what they say. B.D. is most definitely an enigma. We don’t know much about him, but we certainly get a sense about him. His pace, his style, his cigar, his jewelry, they all say something about him. I think what says even more about B.D. is how his crew reacts to him. Know one ever challenges him, so you never know for certain if he’s just a narcissist, or a guy that could possibly be dangerous. And that’s the key to B.D., the element of uncertainty. The only person that dares to get in his face is Ashley. And there’s a moment when he doesn’t take kindly too her attitude, and he puts his foot down. But in another moment he also offers her his coat as a sign of grace and empathy. And yet another moment when he feels kind of like he’s a pervert. He’s just hard to figure out and that’s his power. So that’s how I took him. Unpredictable…
MH: How was the shoot? Was it tougher than other films that you've worked on?
TMS: To be honest, the toughest part about the shoot was the 13 hours drive too, and from Crescent City, California. In 20 years I can honestly say that it was one of the most enjoyable shoots I’ve been blessed to be part of. It’s not the size of the show, but the size of the heart in the show. Everyone was “In it” 100%. I think the cast and crew knew we were doing something unique and special. Every day was an amazing adventure, because of the quality of the people that were involved.
MH: You went on a self-imposed hiatus from acting for seven years. Why did you stop and what made you decide to return to acting?
TMS: I was burned the hell out. I had just wrapped the FOX series that I had been on for two years and needed a break to re-charge my creative batteries. I turned my energies to music endeavours, producing music and records, and other business interests. It was a great time of re-evaluating my life, what inspires me, and when the little voice inside said “its time”, then it was game on. It proved to be a great decision because I had a fresh pair of eyes and a better understanding of what to expect. Once you’ve been in the game and see it for what it is, you’re then better equipped to handle the ups and downs that Hollywood can deliver on a daily basis. You can see the shit storms well in advance. You can separate hype from substance and you’re not at the emotional mercy of the business.
MH: You’ve appeared in a great deal of indie productions, which means you probably have seen and dealt with a lot of crazy situations. Are there any particularly weird or wild events that stand out?
TMS: It sounds like you’ve been in the mix ;)
Frankly, there’s too many to list. Each small indie production will have its challenges. You know going in that something will suck at some point in the process. Hopefully it won’t be the entire production. I’ve been fired. I’ve been shit on by a Mule. I’ve had checks bounce never to be paid. I’ve been given parts only to have them taken away. I’ve been called an asshole by self-absorbed ego maniac wannabe producers for standing up to their abusive behaviour to my cast mates. I’ve eaten enough Subway Sandwiches and Red Vines that would kill an elephant. And that was on just one film…
It’s the life. Either you suck it up and deal with it, or you can get pissy. And know one likes a Diva. Over time you learn to identify the signs of trouble ahead and steer clear of nightmare productions. It’s hard to say “No”, but most of the time it saves you a lot of grief.
MH: Can you tell us anything about the other projects that you are working on or planning on working on? Or, anything else that you would like to plug?
TMS: Several actually. I have a number of projects in various stages of Post Production but these are the nearest to completion. I just finished shooting a Dramady Episodic Pilot titled Flicks that will be pitched to FX, Netflix, Amazon, and all the usual suspects. It’s a quirky character driven story about a struggling screenwriter whose been bumping around town for 10 years and just cant seem to break through Hollywood. I play his agent Elan, a rough and tumble, fowl mouthed, bull in a china shop Talent Agent. He’s an animal. It very much has the Indie feel of a show like the Jim Gaffigan show. It’s a small intimate slice of life piece. My description of the story theme is something along the lines of Entourage, except the main characters are still eating Top Ramen and can’t seem to catch a break. It’s about all the insanity and failures people deal with on the “lower levels” of the Hollywood swamp. There’s definitely no lack of storylines.
I Co-Starred in a Sci-Fi Adventure Drama feature with Gary Daniels, titled Astro, co- written by Asif Akbar and Bernard Selling. It was Directed by Asif Akbar and the film is in the final stages of Post Production and should be released sometime this year. We shot it in Roswell New Mexico. Also in the ensemble cast are Louis Mandylor, Michael Pare’, Randy Wayne, Dominique Swain, Max Wasa and others. I play “Alexander Biggs” a mysterious billionaire space entrepreneur who recruits an old friend and colleague to help him discover the mysteries of an extraterrestrial life form he’s discovered in another solar system. I also had a chance to hook up with an old friend Writer-Director Jesse V. Johnson with a little Cameo appearance in his upcoming Action Drama The Debt Collector, Starring Scott Adkins and Louis Manaylor, produced by Deborah Del Prete and Charles Berg. It also features Tony Todd, Vladimir Kulich and Michael Pare’, and true to Jesse Johnson fare, I’m certain that it will be a kick ass movie!
I also will have a Supernatural Thriller Film hitting the Festival circuit mid 2018 titled Echoes of Fear. It’s a Supernatural Thriller by husband and wife team Brian and Laurence Avenet-Bradley, the creative team behind “Ghost of the Needle, Dark Remains and Malignant. I can’t give you too much here, other than to say I play “David”, a kind-hearted yet nosy next door neighbor who Alysa ( Trista Robinson ) keeps running into as she confronts the haunting of her grandfather’s house.
It’s been a pleasure and thank you for reaching out. Speaking on behalf of the cast and crew, I just want to say thank you for supporting this film. It was a passion project for everyone involved. I hope you and your readers enjoy the film. And remember; be careful when walking in the woods… You can keep tabs on what’s going on by following any one of my social media profiles. We’re constantly putting up news and info. Official Desktop Site, IMDB, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.