[INTERVIEW] Talking ‘Blackout’ With Larry Fessenden and Alex Hurt 

I’ve done a lot of interviews in my time. All of them have been virtual. Every interview I’ve had has been fun, insightful, and has helped me grow as a writer. I must have pleased Mothman, Frogman, or some being of kindness because I was offered the opportunity to speak with Larry Fessenden and Alex Hurt IN PERSON. If you know me, then you know Larry Fessenden is my filmmaking idol. Few artists have captured the malicious beauty of New York the way he has, and his films always pack a societal gut punch. In this interview we touch on Larry’s catalog of films, the Fessenden Extended Universe, how Alex prepped for this demanding role, and SO much more! 

An Interview with Larry Fessenden

Brendan Jesus: To get started, I’m sorry I’m reading these out of a notebook right in front of you.

Larry Fessenden: It’s quite all right, but you should have memorized them. What kind of operation is this! 

BJ: I think it’s fair to label you as a protest filmmaker. No Telling (The Frankenstein Complex) examines big pharma, animal testing, and the environment. The Last Winter is a climate change piece, which you mentioned a few minutes ago when we were talking. For Blackout, you touch on a few topics like race relations, especially in a small town, and the effects/downsides of capitalism. How do you pick the ideas and social issues you want to comment on?

Larry Fessenden: I appreciate you framing my work this way, I’m pleased to be called a protest filmmaker. Cinema can engage people in bigger issues and in the end, the artist is putting out an aesthetic agenda but also I feel there’s an urgency to address social issues. Obviously, Shakespeare and Aristotle were doing this, it’s not something I came up with. It’s a tradition I want to carry on. I grew up in the ’60s when Goddard and other filmmakers were putting out work with social elements. Also, endings weren’t always happy, you know there was this sense of challenging you to think about what was going on in the world. And there are the bigger issues of morality and so on, which hopefully span the spectrum of all art; Dostoyevsky and so on. Not to compare myself to them. Pop culture has shifted–to answer your question, when I say, “I’ve always wanted to put a werewolf on film,” then I think about the personality of the monster. What is its mythology? What about the characteristics of the monster? And that suggests the themes. For example, Depraved was a Frankenstein story that took place during the Iraq war. I read stories about doctors who went over there and realized they could bring the mobile hospital into the field. I thought, think of the ingenuity and passion of these doctors to save these lives…and what if you came back and realized you were in a fake war? This was certainly a problem with Iraq. The character may be a broken man with PTSD, and what if you make that character a genius? That was how I approached this Frankenstein story in a modern context. With Blackout, I was thinking about a werewolf. What is that? A divided personality. Then I’m like well our whole nation is divided right now, so you can see how one comes from the other. I don’t say I’m going to set out and fix the world with this one movie; it’s about the greater implications of the story I’m telling. 

BJ: You kind of answered this, but was there a specific thing that made you pick a werewolf? 

Larry Fessenden: Yeah, because werewolves are cool! I’ve made a vampire movie that was about addiction to sex and substances, it’s an AIDS metaphor. It’s all these things. The point is that’s what was bubbling out during those times. Hopefully, the movies have a longer shelf life than what’s upsetting at this moment. Our culture goes in waves of concern. So, I’ve made a vampire movie, I’ve made a Frankenstein movie, I wanted to make a werewolf film. In a way, the times were speaking to me. I’ve wanted to make this film for about 10 years. Most of these movies, in a way, came from my childhood, but they certainly are something you start figuring out, and it takes some time to gel. Meeting Alex [Hurt], who has the personality, depths, and quirks to be my werewolf–and the same with my Frankenstein movie, I asked…ahh who was that?

Alex Hurt: Adam Driver!

Larry Fessenden: Adam Driver, I asked him to be my Frankenstein. That was when it was going to be a bigger movie. There was some conversation, but that slightly derailed and I said well the tradition of Frankenstein is the monster is an unknown, kind of like how Karloff was at the time. I decided to hold auditions because it actually makes me feel like I’m doing something. I held auditions and oh my god, this guy named Alex Breaux shows up. I should say I saw a picture of him in a play right down the road, he was in a red Speedo and was ripped. He almost looked like a corpse. I said to my casting guys, can you have Alex read? He’s obviously a stage actor and hopefully humble enough to do this. I read his profile and there was something else interesting in terms of his background–-long story short he came to audition and I had my monster. These are supposed to be psychologically sound, personal, character-driven monster movies. I met Alex Hurt during my son’s shoot, and we bonded over many things. Alcoholism. Parental backgrounds. Father figures. And a love of monsters. 

BJ: You’re two steps ahead of me, you kind of answered my first question for Alex–

Larry Fessenden: –that’s fine I will speak for him! So, another thing! When I was a little boy…

Alex Hurt: I give him full rights to speak for me. 

BJ: Alex. You’ve worked with Jack [Fessenden] and now you’ve worked with his father!

Larry Fessenden: Who’s smarter?

(The three of us have a good laugh)

BJ: Was it intimidating to come onto a project for someone who singlehandedly ran the New York independent film scene of the ‘90s and aughts? 

Alex Hurt: It might have been.

(Larry laughs)

Alex Hurt: Larry’s just such a goofball, so it’s not really intimidating. Last night during the Q&A, one of the questions asked was what our response was to getting the call for Blackout. And why we decided to do it. Motell Foster, who plays Earl, said one of the reasons he was so excited was due to Larry’s almost childlike energy when it comes to the work. Larry called me up, I was shopping for clothes with my kids about two years before filming. I was daunted by many things, but working with him, and with him on set for Jack’s film, I knew what I was getting into. My expectations were set, and I knew there was a lot of love and dedication on his sets. I wondered how I could match Larry’s performance in Habit and how I could take those steps towards doing that. At the end of the day, the thing he did was fully become Sam. So that’s what I tried to do. Become Charley. 

(Rigo Garay enters to mic up Alex for some Blackout bonus feature content, hilarity ensues)

BJ: What was your initial reaction when you read Blackout? Charley is a fairly demanding role, and you delivered an excellent performance. Did you have any specific process for bringing Charley to life?

Alex Hurt: My initial reaction to the script, well I was reading it in a casita and my initial reaction was fascination. I was hooked on the ideas of environmental change, addiction, and grief. I thought this was one of the best things I’ve read. I get this guy. The process we went through to get it on camera was a long one. Larry sent me five volumes of books on moon cycles–

(Larry laughs contagiously, making me laugh)

Alex Hurt: –Wolf studies; I watched any documentary I could get my hands on, and I watched every Lon Chaney movie multiple times. I got asked last night if I had seen Altered States, which is a film my dad did. I was able to work with scene partners and work through emotions and characters with them. I also watched all of Larry’s films again. The one I connected with the most is Habit. All of them have a special place in my heart, but Habit and the vulnerability he brings to it between his filmmaking and acting, that was the thing I wanted to bring to Blackout. How can I personalize this? At some point during reading, I did what all actors do and read it over and over and over again. Then I realized these synchronicities between the story of Charley and Hamlet. I figured Hammond was a Claudius and Charley was this man stuck in this immature phase of life, his development hasn’t quite finished yet, and he hasn’t quite figured out who he is or what his place is in the world. All these actions he’s taking aren’t leading to an effective end when it comes to this villain who is destroying his home. The town. What is a town? It’s a community. A society. And that society is breaking apart. There are references, like the sheriff Luis (Joseph Castillo-Midyett) who says, “There’s something rotten in this town.” We drive on Wittenburg road, which was Hamlet’s university. When I said this to Larry he said, “Ahh, I didn’t even realize this!” But you see the point, right?

Larry Fessenden: What was the line you didn’t put in? 

Alex Hurt: The readiness is all.

Larry Fessenden: See, that’s the thing about real actors. They care about the classic texts. 

Alex Hurt: Every day I was running seven to 10 miles a day. I would be on these runs next to these rivers and I thought I should jump into one of these fucking rivers. We decided to do that, and that was the moment he decided to clean himself fully. It’s a baptism of readiness. Ready to end this evil. So, that was a lot of my process. We had a choreographer for the wolf, too. We had these long conversations about this. Larry would send me videos and be like I think it’s more Fosse, what’s the Fossiness of it? Also, my studies into all the monsters, started when I was young. I mean, my godfather was a nut for monster films and character actors. He raised me on these films. Boris Karloff’s performance as The Monster is one of my favorite performances of all time. All of that led up to the two-year prep for Blackout.

Larry Fessenden: His coach to lose the weight was Alex Breaux. They met on Jack’s film. 

Alex Hurt: Well, we’re both theater geeks. He’s a Julliard guy, I’m an NYU guy. We used to sort of fear and resent each other. We’d get callbacks and be like, fuck the other Alex is going to get this. When we met on Jack’s set, the first thing we said was basically about how we hated each other for a long time. Within 30 seconds of meeting each other, we became–

Larry Fessenden: –besties!

Alex Hurt: And during the pandemic, we became really close. We were helping each other with self-tapes. At one point he was in Santa Fe filming something, and then he became interwoven with my family and children. He’s one of my top three best friends in my life. When we were getting into filming Blackout I asked him for help. I thought I was going to get buffed up for this role, you know I take my shirt off and I’m ripped. Then Larry and I discussed this, and how we wanted the character to be able to move more. 

BJ: Since we brought Alex Breaux up, I want to jump ahead in my questions. Now this is a bit spoilery, but that post-credit scene. At what point does this scene take place within the story of Blackout? And does the post-credit scene imply a Fessenden Extended Universe? 

Larry Fessenden: I like that you asked that. It never occurred to me that it was a flashback. The whole movie plays with questions like do silver bullets kill this guy? Did his girlfriend kill him? He’s lying in the woods and detransitions and has these sad thoughts. The way I see it is literal. No, he didn’t die. In my universe, all of the rules we know don’t apply. It’s the idea that the rules of society don’t work, it’s the belief in them that work. That goes all the way to our current problem of democracy. If you don’t want to play with democracy, then it’s just a fantasy. My movies are about breaking down and reminding people this is just a social contract. In my films, vampires appear in the daylight, and I question whether silver bullets work. All I’m getting at is he’s still alive. Was he ever a werewolf? I mean, I’m not trying to be vague, but I want the audience to realize there are no rules. Life is slippery. I see it as Charley is still alive. If you’ve seen Depraved you know the monster has had it with humanity and is walking away, he’s heading upstate. We did that final shot many times. He turns and freeze frames and Charley intuits this realization that this is a fellow outsider and maybe we can work together. This is the beginning of my monsterverse, and to answer your question I do intend to make a mashup. It’s the final comment on these movies I love. This interview is gratifying because one of my secret weapons is that Alex and Alex are good friends and I think I can get them on set one more time. Even just for two weeks. The roles are going to be different, they won’t be the centerpieces. One of my schemes was that I laid out these character’s backstories, but now I want to show them from the outside. And they’re fucking scary and bitter. 

Then, they’ll fight and do all the things you’ll do in a monster movie.

BJ: [To Alex] How do you feel about that?

Alex Hurt: I signed up for it–

Larry Fessenden: –I’ve been teasing that since we started shooting. I told people if you live through the movie then you’re going to be in the sequel. 

BJ: Could you guys talk a bit about the prosthetics creation and application? Alex, was this your first time in this much SFX makeup? And Larry, how did you go about creating the look of the werewolf? 

Larry Fessenden: There’s a lot of talk about Lon Chaney Jr., but as a child, I loved a comic called Werewolf by Night drawn by Mike Ploog. There’s beautiful articulation and there’s that Fosse element. Mike Ploog had these amazing freeze frames, Issue One is one of the most iconic things of my childhood. He’s articulated like a superhero. And that’s what I wanted to portray in Blackout. I worked with Brian Spears and Pete Gerner to get that vibe. Ironically, we were thinking we’d have a furry suit, but then we realized his physique was much more interesting to look at. It’s more sexy and fun. It also reminds the audience that Charley is someone who is suffering. Yes, maybe he’s a werewolf, but I wanted a thin line between whether this was a fantasy or someone who was suffering.

Alex Hurt: I’ve sat for some prosthetic castings before. I’ve done scar and wound prosthetics, but never like this. Brian and Pete are the pros, and they’re some of the kindest and funnest dudes to hang out with for six hours. They’re perfecting something. Obviously, the beginning touches of that was a latex mask that would go over my face, but then there was the detail and the coloring. It was absolutely outstanding. There were a few sets of teeth for different transformations, and at the end, you see the fur mohawk going down his spine. So many great and minor details. 

Larry Fessenden: The funny thing is in the movie, because there wasn’t much money and I’m patient, half the movie is a makeup test. Like I had to black out some of the background. One of the coolest werewolves was one of the first days of shooting. I told Spears it was a makeup test when we shot with the young couple, but that’s still not Charley’s final makeup. I’m influenced by Coppola’s Dracula, where the monster is depicted differently each time. I’m kind of obsessed with it. It keeps the monster in the psychological realm. It’s like, I’m having a bad day, so today I have hair on my nose. I do it with Deranged, too. I’m interested in that so the audience is kept on their toes. The first monster we see on the road, which is depicted as a memory from Miguel (Rigo Garay), is some of the best imagery in the movie. And it was a makeup test. We tried to make it according to the moon calendar so that the first scene was filmed during a full moon. 

A huge thanks goes out to Larry and Alex for talking, and Stacey for setting up this wonderful day. Blackout releases nationwide on VOD on April 12! You don’t want to miss this one. 

Awooooooooooooo!