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| Interview by Burt Wolf with actress, writer, director, producer, television & radio host, DEBBIE ROCHON! Interview done January 14th, 2007. |
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| YOUR GREW UP IN CANADA & WERE A CHILD OF THE STREETS & VICTIM OF MUCH ABUSE. WOULD YOU CARE TO TALK ABOUT SOME OF THESE EXPERIENCES? All the experiences I went through were traumatic, but I learned a lot & grew up fast. Any one singular story would take a long time to tell, but it was a very rough time to sum it up. I saw a lot of people lose themselves & a number of people die. They were very severe times. But it has helped make me who I am today so I always look at the positive. YOU LATER MOVED TO NEW YORK. WHAT MADE YOU MOVE THERE & WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF NEW YORK CITY? DO YOU STILL LIVE THERE NOW? |
| Yes, I live in NYC. I have been here since October 1984. I moved to NYC to study acting at all the great schools I had heard about in Vancouver. As soon as I got here that's exactly what I did. My impressions where; I loved the city, respected it & really got into art of all kinds so I loved it. It opened my eyes to all kinds of art that I had never experienced before. WHO OR WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO GET INTO ACTING? I was an extra in LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: THE FABULOUS STAINS! For 3 months in Vancouver at the age of 12. I had such a life changing experience living on the set of that film I knew it was what i wanted to do with my life. I recieved such positive feedback from my work, even just as an extra, that it gave me hope for my future. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST ACTUAL ACTING JOB? WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST FILM ACTING JOB? Once in NYC I did some of the dating line commercials. That was hilarious. That was probably some of the VERY first stuff I did here. I worked in dozens of stage shows & started working in small parts in Indie movies by 1988-89. I think my first film parts were in PARTY INC. & LURKERS & LONELY IN AMERICAN in 1988. WHAT WAS THE FIRST NUDE SCENE YOU DID & HOW OLD WERE YOU? I was 20 & it was in a finished, but unreleased movie called BANNED. MEDIA BLASTERS have talked about releasing it but haven't yet. It was shot in late 1988. I hope they do release it, it's a really fun movie & now it would be a really fun time capsule flick because it is about a possessed Punk Rocker. |
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| YOU HAVE APPEARED IN TONS OF FILMS NAKED. DO YOU FEEL REALLY COMFORTABLE DOING THESE SCENES & WILL YOU CONTINUE TO DO NUDE SCENES? Well, I have been in about 140 films & probably 30 of them have been nude scenes in. No one is completely ever comfortable doing them. Maybe Julie Strain is & that's about it! It's difficult & uncomfortable, but it is what's required with some film work so you choose to do it or not. I decided to do it in a number of films because I had a reason to for each project. Either the character interested me or challenged me & it was worth it to play that character, or I needed the money during the very lean years, or something that made sense at the time. HOW MANY FILMS HAVE YOU ACTUALLY APPEARED IN? WHICH WER SOME OF YOUR FAVORITES & WHY? |
| As I have said I have done about 140 films. A great number of them have special places in my heart for different reasons. You can love the work you did in a movie as an actress, you can love the people you're working with even if the film doesn't turn out very well. I like my acting work in NOWHERE MAN, AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, TERROR FIRMER, BLEED, WITCHOUSE 3, RAPTURIOUS, EVIL INCARNATE: THE RICHARD SPECK STORY, APOCALYPSE AND THE BEAUTY QUEEN, THE DEEPING. Most of my favorite film experiences are ones where I have larger roles & not because I am an egocentric actor, but rather because then I would have spent more time on the set & got into the role more. When you go to various locations & shoot for one day it's hard to have a powerful experience artistically in such a short time. It can take a few days to really get into the groove. WHICH ARE SOME OF YOUR LEAST FAVORITE FILMS & WHY? Well, most films I have done have some sort of value to me personally. Even if they didn't come out great I either had a good time making them or liked something about the experience. I think some misfires have been KILLJOY 2: THE DELIVERANCE, SANDY HOOK LINGERIE PARTY MASSACRE & THE REGENERATED MAN. But it doesn't mean I didn't have a great time doing them I just found them to not have been comprehensive movies for my taste. There's probably more titles than just those, but you get the drift! ARE THERE SOME FILM ROLES THAT YOU TURNED DOWN OR DIDN'T GET THAT YOU WISH YOU HAD? No, but because of an accident I had I was unable to be in a movie I wrote for myself called SUBURBAN NIGHTMARE. That was too bad, but they made the best of it without me. That was a big disappointment for me, but some times things happen for a reason even if you're not sure what it is. You gotta be a little zen in this business to keep yourself positive. YOU HAVE DONE A LOT OF WORK FOR TROMA (WHICH IS WHERE I FIRST SAW YOU IN TROMEO & JULIET). HOW IS IT WORKING WITH LLOYD KAUFMAN & THE REST OF THE TROMA CREW? I honestly love Lloyd. I consider him a good friend & a great film maker. I love his style & subject matter & I would work with him any day of the week. He's been a tremendous friend over the years & I love him to death. We have done a number of TV projects & stuff together as far as being in a Lloyd Kaufman movie I have been in TERROR FIRMER, TROMEO AND JULIET, CITIZEN TOXIE: THE TOXIC AVENGER PART 4 & I just did a cameo for POULTRYGEIST: NIGHT OF THE CHICKEN DEAD his latest flick. My favorite of these has to be TERROR FIRMER. |
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| YOU HAVE A FEW FILMS YOU ARE FILMING NOW. WHAT ARE THESE FILMS? Well, I did a small role in BEING MICHAEL MADSEN, really meaty role in EVIL INCARNATE: THE RICHARD SPECK STORY. I just finished a really fun film called SPLATTER DISCO which I had a riot being a part of! YOU ALSO HAVE SOME FILMS IN POST PRODUCTION, WHICH ONES & A LITTLE INFORMATION PLEASE? RAPTURIOUS has just been completed & the lead actor won best actor award at the New York City Horror Film Festival for his work in it. I am very proud to be in that movie & I hope it gets a good release it really deserves it! Kamal Ahmed, ex-jerky boy, was the director & he just did an amazing job with the film. I can't wait |
| for people to see it! THE SCREENING directed by Cameron Romero, George's son, should come out sometime in 2007. NOVEMBER SON directed by Jason Paul Collum is a really awesome flick that he' finishing up. I shot my second BIKINI BLOOD BATH movie which I always have a huge amount of fun & laughs doing. WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME OF YOUR MOST RECENT FILMS TO BE RELEASED? On January 23rd APOCALYPSE AND THE BEAUTY QUEEN will be in Blockbuster & Netflix. I have tribute disk that's download-able on www.EZTakes.com called DEBBIE ROCHON CONFIDENTIAL: MY YEARS IN TROMAVILLE EXPOSED! that you can get right now. EVIL INCARNATE film will be out in March 2007 via LIONSGATE FILMS, RAPTURIOUS should be out sometime this year by Halloween. Not sure of the release dates on some other features yet. YOU HAVE ALSO PRODUCED & WRITTEN SOME FILMS. I wrote SUBURBAN NIGHTMARE, but was unable to star in it as I have already mentioned. I am getting more & more into writing & producing now. I wrote & directed a 'Behind the scenes of SLITHER' documentary for FANGORIA TV which was awesome to do. WHO ARE SOME OF THE PEOPLE YOU ENJOYED WORKING WITH THE MOST & LEAST IN THE INDUSTRY? Anyone who is not so much fun to work with is hardly ever worth mentioning in the first place, at least that's always been my thought process. I loved working with director Tim McCann who made NOWHERE MAN because he was so smart & dedicated & helped bring out a performance in me that I might not have gotten to on my own. I really enjoyed making AMERICAN NIGHTMARE & WITCHOUSE 3 because both directors Jon Keeyes & JR Bookwalter where very easy to work with & they both trusted me to do my thing & gave me a wonderful amount of freedom which I really loved. I enjoy working with Chris Seaver on his zany movies & Mike Watt & Amy Lynn Best on their original, cool productions too. It's all about the material & who you're working with. I have also really enjoyed working with Jason & Nancy of HOCUS FOCUS PRODUCTIONS on their comedies. It's always a great time working with them! I've had some really great times making movies, it's hard to name them all off after being on over 140 productions. ARE THERE ANY PEOPLE YOU WOULD LOVE TO WORK WITH THAT YOU HAVEN'T YET? Oh yes, so many! David Cronenberg because he's a genius! George Romero because he's a true icon in the field. Quinten Tarentino because he has origional vision. Anyone who has vision, talent & passion for their work. So many others it's impossible to name them all. But I would really adore any opportunity to work on really solid material with any gifted director wheter they had a famous name or not! ARE THERE ANY GOOD OR INTERESTING BEHIND THE SCENE OR ON SET MOVIE EXPERIENCES YOU COULD SHARE WITH US? Well, when I was making SPLATTER DISCO recently I had a very mild & brief love scene with Trent Hagga whom I have worked on dozens of films with before. Now we've known each other for years & so that was a very strange feeling. It's hard to do something like that with someone who you view as like a "brother". I giggled a few times & poor Trent kept saying "It's not THAT bad is it???" It made me laugh a lot. |
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| YOU MOSTLY DO HORROR FILMS, SO WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE (NON-DEBBIE) HORROR FILMS? THE SHINNING, THE EXORCIST, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, NOSFERATU, BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON. There's so many it's impossible to narrow them down, but I love the DEXTER series on Showtime as well. Anything with really good writing regardless of blood index! WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST & LEAST ABOUT BEING IN YOUR INDUSTRY? I love being creative, creating things for film, the page & the radio show I co-produce & co-host. I hate politics & selfish people. |
| YOU GOT INDUCTED INTO THE B-MOVIE HALL OF FAME IN 2004. WHAT WAS THIS LIKE & HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT BEING INDUCTED? IS THERE AN ACTUAL BUILDING FOR THIS HALL OF FAME? I love the fact that I'm in the B-Movie Hall Of Fame! LOL. It doesn't exist in the sense that someone could go there like a musuem or anything. The awards were determined by a company in Syracuse, New York. YOU CO HOSTED A NUMBER OF RADIO SHOWS IN NYC BASED ON FILM & POP CULTURE. WHAT SHOWS WERE THEY, SOME INFORMATION ON THEM & ARE THEY STILL GOING? Yes, I've worked on a number of radio shows & yes they mostly had to do with film & pop culture. The current show FANGORIA RADIO I co-host with TWISTED SISTER frontman Dee Snider. We deal with all things horror, movies, books, comics, music, you name it. It airs live every Friday night from 10 pm to 1 am New York time on Sirius Satelite channel 102. You can find more out about that by stopping by www.FANGORIARADIO.com. YOU HAVE ALSO CO-WRITTEN A FEW BOOKS. WHAT BOOKS ARE THESE & WHO DID YOU WRITE THEM WITH? I wrote a satirical book called THE B MOVIESURVIVAL GUIDE with my photographer & long time friend Gary Cook. It's a funny joke book on surviving horror movies to the end credits & also has anecdotes from famous horror movie celebrities. I wrote a chapter for ATTACK OF THE QUEEN B'S along with other famous horror actresses. It tracks the history of women in horror movies from the silent era to today. This book was edited by Jon Keeyes. Both books you can find on Amazon.com. YOU HAVE YOUR OWN SHOW FOR FANGORIA ENTERTAINMENT CALLED "TRAILER PARK"? WHERE CAN WE FIND THIS SHOW & WHAT IS IT ABOUT? I hosted the comedic & informative segments which were designed to introduce classic horror & sci-fi trailers from the 50's & 60's uncut & in their entirety. It's a really great show, we have only made five episodes so far. They run some of the episodes on www.FANGORIA.tv & there is also an episode on my new disk DEBBIE ROCHON CONFIDENTIAL: MY YEARS IN TROMAVILLE EXPOSED! YOU HAVE WON NUMEROUS AWARDS OVER THE YEARS. WHAT WERE SOME OF THESE AWARDS? Well, I have recieved the best supporting actress in a comedy award for my work in SCREECH OF THE DECAPITATED, best comedic performance by an actress for my work in DR. HORROR'S EROTIC HOUSE OF IDIOTS & a few others I think they're all listed at the IMDB.com. It's great receiving awards for your work. It's very hard to be recognized when you do really good stuff at such a small budget level. I hope that changes though. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WEIRDEST THINGS YOU HAVE SEEN A FAN DO FOR YOU OR GOTTEN FROM A FAN? I don't consider fans weird. I mean there are a lot of great supporters out there that I love like friends after knowing them for so many years. I think the non-fan stalker types or people who are not fans, but enjoy trying to say horrible things about you for no reason on the internet because it is so safe & anonymous - those people are freaky & weird. |
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| WHAT TYPE OF MUSIC ARE YOU INTO? WHO ARE SOME OF THE BANDS YOU HAVE CURRENTLY BEEN LISTENING TO? I love Funk music the most. But I also listen to U2, I dig out old music sometimes like T-REX, I usually have on Classical music on the radio when I'm at home working. I have a huge variety in taste as far as music goes. I even think there's a good time to throw on a Dean Martin CD! WHAT IS ONE THING YOU'D THINK PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOU? |
| I have to fight to not be such a hermit. I have spent a lot of my time alone when not working & grew up a lone so I'm used to it. But I have to fight myself & force myself to be social because I have so many good friends. I usually have so much work to do it's easy to say I need to stay home & get this or that done, but it's important to socialize too! Good for the soul. WHAT DO YOU DO FOR FUN WHEN NOT DOING ANY WORK FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT BUISNESS? My favorite thing is going to the movies. My second favorite thing is going to museums. I really love creating so I consider most of my work very enjoyable. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE DOING IF YOU WEREN'T IN THE BUISNESS YOUR IN NOW? It's never been an option. I never had a fall back plan or only gave this buisness so many years to take off for me other wise I would quit. I never thought like that. It's all I know so I make it work. The paths I go down may vary though. I have worked a lot in radio, I have written for a number of magazines, I have co-created a number of scripts. But this is just all I know & all I'm interested in. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE STRANGEST PRODUCTS YOU HAVE SEEN YOUR IMAGE OR NAME ATTACHED TO IT? Well SANDY HOOK LINGERIE PARTY MASSACRE was a hoot to shoot & I just loved everyone I worked with on that movie, but it's weird watching it because there is no real story. I don't know about strange, there have been some movies that have come out pretty bad, but there have been some that have come out very good too. WHAT CAN WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING NEXT FROM DEBBIE ROCHON? I will be directing my first short film sometime this year. I am going through material now deciding what strikes me. I will be continuing with the FANGORIA RADIO show of course. I will be making a number of films, one really hope gets going this year was one I just finished co-writing the script on: AMERICAN NIGHTMARES the sequel to AMERICAN NIGHTMARE. It will also serve as a stand alone film, meaning if you never saw the first one it wouldn't matter. |
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| WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE ANSWERING THIS INTERVIEW? WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW THAT IT'S DONE? Hard to answer that questions because you have sent me 33 questions that have many parts to them so I wrote out the answers on many different sittings when I've had the time! Today, I had a cup of coffee & cleared my head (it's Sunday) & decided to get some of my writing down & out of the way before Monday morning when I'm back at FANGORIA working on the show. The next thing I will take on will be another writing task I need to get done! THANX A LOT FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DO THIS INTERVIEW. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT. YOU HAVE BEEN GREAT! PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ADD ANYTHING TO CLOSE OUT. Just a huge thanks to you for your patience & all the best to you & this awesome site! Stop by my site for any further updates! |
| www.DEBBIEROCHON.com ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF DEBBIE ROCHON INTERVIEWS MAIN PAGE |