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An Interview with Joel D. Wynkoop

by Mike Haberfelner

April 2009

Joel D.Wynkoop on (re)Search my Trash

 

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First of all, why don't you introduce yourself to those of us who don't already know you?

 

Okay, my name is Joel D. Wynkoop, I have been acting in and making movies professionally since 1984 - if you count my super 8 stuff it would be since 1972. My dad bought me a super 8 movie camera back in 1972 and I made my first stop motion movie for my Greek Mythology class. Then I made another and then teamed with my next door neighbor Steve Campbell and this kid next door named Tim Ritter to do a stop motion dinosaur movie. Tim let me use his model dinosaur. Then I made The Eight Million Dollar Boy meets The Invisible Transport Boy, teamed with Steve again and using Tim as an actor. That eight year old kid named Tim Ritter would in the near future become my partner. Actually growing up I watched Tim and his sister Wendy for his Mom and Dad. I kept making movies when I left the area and I hope and think I was the one that started Tim making movies, for I had moved away and was still making them and so was Tim.

Ten years later we re-met through Tim's and my nephew's High School. The paper advertised a movie called Day of the Reaper when my nephew Terry told me the guy who made it was Tim Ritter. I put two and two together, tracked him down and we got together the next day. We wanted to do a movie that Tim and I wrote called Inner Forces, but it was to much for us to accomplish FX-wise so we brainstormed and came up with Twisted Illusions - YouTube - Twisted Illusions Trailer - our first feature ... well it was seven shorts.  Tim wrote three and I wrote three and Tim used one of his old stories for our opening with Tim and I as ourselves trying to pitch our movie idea to a bed ridden producer. That started it for us. We took the short and sent it to Peerless Films in Chicago, and Tim secured financing for one of the short stories he would turn into a feature, that feature and short were... Truth or Dare? A Critical Madness - YouTube - Truth Or Dare? A Critical Madness Motion Picture Trailer

Soon after Tim secured financing for Killing Spree - YouTube - Bad Has Never Been So Good - KILLING SPREE "Hammer" - which I only acted in. Then I did Lost Faith, a Martial Arts comedy.  When Lost Faith - YouTube - Lost Faith Movie Trailer - was finished Tim called me and said "are you ready for our next movie, Wicked Games?" - YouTube - Sexy Snuff Trailer: German Wicked Games Preview - which I was assistant director and producer and also starred in as Dr. Dan Hess.  Then came our biggest movie since Truth Or Dare, Creep. Creep - YouTube - Creep Original Theatrical Trailer (1995) - was my launching pad, after this movie I started getting offers from other movie makers like Kevin Lindenmuth and Marcus Koch (pronounced cook). Tim and I kept making our own movies while I also worked for other movie makers like Garland Hewlitt and Phil Herman. My name after Creep really started getting out there.

In between Creep and our next feature Screaming for Sanity - YouTube - Screaming For Sanity: Truth Or Dare Part 3 Trailer - I was working on the Alien Agenda-series with Kevin Lindenmuth and Rot for Marcus Koch. Phil Herman wanted me for his movie Tales till the End as well. Garland Hewlitt asked me to be in Brainrobbers from Outer Space while I was in Tampa doing Marcus' movie Rot. Tim and I next did Screaming for Sanity, followed by Dirty Cop, No Donut - YouTube - Low Down Dirty Cop Preview (1998 Edition) -, then it all stopped for awhile when Tim moved away.

However long distance did not stop Tim and I, we collaborated on Dirty Cop 2: I am a Pig. Then I started working with people in my area, Mike Hoffman (who worked for Tim and I long before I worked for him on Horror Tales 666 which was a Phil Herman movie [Phil Herman interview - click here]). Shortly after this I did Christian Soldiers for Richard Cecere  and Scary Tales, also for Mike Hoffman, and then Tales for the Midnight Hour for Ryan Cavalline [Ryan Cavalline interview - click here].

Soon I was teamed up with Tim again, Kevin Lindenmuth flew me to Kentucky where we shot Alien Conspiracy for him, his next installment of the Alien Agenda-series - YouTube - Endangered Species Trailer (1996). I believe before this I was back with Mike Hoffman working on Scary Tales 2: The Return of Mr. Longfellow. The character I came up with, Longfellow, had a little cult following of people walking around imitating me from the movie. At a con once a guy asked me "would you call my girlfriend and talk to her like Longfellow?" which I did and she loved it. 

Wow, I had a messy divorce in 1999 which moved me to Tampa and then things just took off in the acting world.  Also I had started working on Fall of an Actor just before I left Fort Pierce. Fall of an Actor is sort of my pet project, we finished it ten years ago and it still needs to be put together, but I'm working on it ... slowly. I got busy when I moved to Tampa with movie projects and even more busy as the years went on and since I left my job of over 20 years it has become very busy for me in the acting field, whether it is commercials on TV or indie movies, I find myself trying to balance projects so I can do them now. The offers keep coming in, not that I'm rich or anything, I am definitely a struggling actor, but I have so much on my plate I don't know what I can eat and what I can't ...

 

A few words about your latest movies?

 

Recent would be like Grimm Fairy Tales with Herschell Gordon Lewis [Herschell Gordon Lewis bio - click here], or Stopped Dead with Debbie Rochon, or Shaawanookie - YouTube - SHAAWANOOKIE TRAILER #1 - with Anthony Wayne or Brainjacked with Krista Grotte.

 

Would you like to talk about Body in a Dumpster (2008) for a bit?

 

Funny, you'd think MySpace was just for kids ... on the contrary, I have gotten a lot of my acting jobs from MySpace. Which is the origin or at least part of the origin of my being in Body in a Dumpster - YouTube - Body in a Dumpster Trailer. I met Kristian Day [Kristian Day interview - click here] in Orlando at Screamfest 2006, if memory serves me We had shared interest in the new Truth or Dare-movie which was supposed to be made (not by Tim though), and Kristian was to do the music. Anyway Kris and I became good friends ... now flash forward to a few years ago when I was on my MySpace and I see a note from him about making a movie called Body in a Dumpster and I message him saying "how can you make a movie like this with out Joel D. Wynkoop?" - I laughed as I wrote it. He wrote me back "We thought about you but we just never put it into words, let me talk to my partner and I'll get back to you."  Next I knew I was flying to Des Moines, Iowa, to shoot the movie.

Working with Kristain and the rest of cast and crew was great. In fact after Kris and his partner the first person I was to see there was Marcus Koch and I told him on location "Man, we live in the same town a half hour away from each other and we both have to come to Iowa to see each other." I also met some new acting friends, Barron Christian from Star Trek 6 [Barron Christian interview - click here] and Bruce Spielbauer from Dark Knight and Larry Laverty of Mad TV whom I will be seeing shortly as I'm ready to go to Indiana to do Post Mortem America 2021. The whole shoot was awesome. I even got to direct Lloyd Kaufman for five short minutes or so. I am anxious to see it come out, these things sometimes take a while.

 

What about Phil Herman's Into the Woods (2008)? And a few words about Phil Herman, with whom you shot quite a few movies [Phil Herman interview - click here]?

 

Phil and I hit it off great right away. It was right after Creep when I read about Phil and Burglar from Hell in Independent Video, a magazine which allegedly  went bankrupt just before our story on Creep came out and we were featured on the cover - figures.

Phil was supposed to be in Screaming for Sanity, but I couldn't get him on the plane to fly down, think B.A. Barrackus on the A-Team, "I ain't getting on no plane Hannibal!!" 

So you think that would stop us?

No, I worked him into the dialogue as one of the patients in Sunnyville Mental Institution, he told me later he was falling asleep in it (thanks a lot Phil) when he heard his name and he jumped up "They said my name." 

I worked Phil into a couple of Hocus Focus-movies I have also worked on, one being one of my recent flicks called Stopped Dead, where my character answers a question "she went ... Into the Woods" - YouTube - 'Into The Woods' trailer.

Yes before all this I had worked on Tales Till the End, Tales to Die For, Horror Tales 666, Jacker 2: Descent to Hell, and I think  Into the Woods. Oh and Always Midnight, which is a story in itself how this ever got done, you'd need and interview by itself to cover that. Phil and I never met in person which is why this alone is such a cool story, we are friends from our movies and conversations over the phone and the Internet. I also credited Phil with a writing credit on my feature The Bite. Phil actually sent me a three page synopsis for a short ... long story short I took too long, Phil had to move on and I turned his three page synopsis into a 80 minute feature called The Bite - Movies - Infidel - Main. I still owed him a short though, so I wrote, starred in and directed Kill Her, Arnold. When Phil was getting ready to shoot  Into the Woods, he told me about it and I told him right then that this was going to be his stand-out movie. He wanted Cathy and I to do a role which was nice of him. We were to play security at the hospital that were keeping an eye on Phil's character. I don't think we're even in the movie for ten minutes but it was fun to do and I am always appreciative of Phil of whatever he sends my way. Not just that, but Phil knows I will go out and shoot footage for him if he needs it just like I have done for movie maker Ryan Cavalline. Check out  Into the Woods, it is a pretty cool little movie which deals with lies and deception and twists and turns that will keep you guessing through the movie till the very end. It marks the return of Nancy Felicianno to features as well, and she does a great job ... although my favorite Nancy Felicianno appearance is that in Tales Till the End playing herself.

Way to go Nancy, I love you.

 


Perhaps the film with the greatest title in your filmography is Aspiring Psychopath (2008) by Ryan Cavalline [Ryan Cavalline interview - click here]. Would you like to say a few words about that one?

 

Greatest? You must be friends with Ryan, did you know I was supposed to marry his wife first? We actually dueled over her and he won, I wanted her for me but he cheated and used some kind of weird spraying device on his fencing sword which temporarily blinded me and he took her away from me, she secretly loves me, that's between you and me Mike.

Anyway's, okay I just looked at my IMDB, you're right that is pretty good, but the others are nothing to sneeze at either. Out of all the movies I have done for Ryan, Day of the Axe, Tales for the Midnight Hour, Evil Tales 3, Dead Body Man Chronicles, Serial Killer, I think I like Aspiring Psychopath the best, as far as my role goes. I got to be Dan Hess again and that was cool to reprise his character and even bring back the suit I wore in Wicked Games, and it wasn't a cameo, it was more part of the story, the girl is supposed to be Dan's estranged denounced daughter.

Hey Ryan, I know why you did this, when are we doing the sequel when Dan's daughter rubs off on him and he goes over the edge and he becomes this ruthless killer? ... although that is going to conflict with the idea I just tried to sell to Tim about Dan Hess: Monster Hunter, where Dan battles all these kinds of creatures like Kolchak or Dean and Sam Winchester. I love working with Ryan, another person, like Phil, whom I have never met face to face, but get along with great. Especially with his new bride Tracy, her and I just spent time ... oh, that's too personal for this interview, Ryan told me to keep those private issues to myself, sorry Ryan. Tracy, I love you, shhh don't tell Ryan, he'll send the Dead Body Man after me. As in all I thought Aspiring Psychopath was another one of those movies that really makes you think about the person next to you. I thought the movie was pretty cool.

 

Then there's of course the Joel Wynkoop Show. Would you like to elaborate on that one?

 

The Joel Wynkoop Show is something my partner Doug Vaters came up with. He said to me one day as we were doing Wynkoop TV - www.wynkooptv.com (shamless plug) - "You should do The Joel Wynkoop Show!" 

I laughed and said "yeah right!" 

He insisted "No really, we could do that, I'll shoot it and you interview people in the acting or entertaining field." So was born The Joel Wynkoop Show. Doug is redesigning the website now but when he is done we'll start having the interviews up where people can see them on the net. We're still using www.wynkooptv.com since it is established, once you get there you will click on enter and it will have choices for past Wynkoop videos (like Spooky Empire or TV commercials and the like) to watch, Wynkoop TV or The Joel Wynkoop Show. If I can remember I have interviewed Anthony (Dark Dimensions, Shaawanookie) Wayne, Melanie (Slay Angels) Robel, Jaimie (Tidbits of Terror) Lea, Jerry (Bonanza-, Dukes of Hazzard-stuntman) Alan, Jefferey (voice of the Joker, Recount, Swamp Thing) Bresslauer, just to name a few. 

It's a half hour show and I make it my own adding my own antics in a Conan O'Brien-style plus the Wynkoop 30 Second DVD Review. Hopefully people will take a look at it and drop us some comments and let us know what they think. Check it out, hopefully by the time this comes out the new site will be up: www.wynkooptv.com.

 

A few words on your upcoming Brainjacked (2009)?

 

Brainjacked is done and is going through its last stages of post, color correction and all that crap. Hopefully it will be out in the next couple months. I play Norm Simkins, a television reporter that some of the kids trust to help them ... do I? - em, it's a horror movie so ... probably not. Actually the part was a lot bigger but they lost an actor who was to have an entire scene with me and the location fell through along with the actor so it shortened my scene but as I told fellow actor Anthony Wayne, it doesn't matter the size of your (the scene your playing) part, make it your own, and I did just that. The quality is HIGH DEF at it's best, it looks great. You can see the trailer here BRAINJACKED Trailer - AOL Video. I am waiting with great anticipation I have seen enough of this to know it is going to be very cool. The producers are Andy Lalino and Andrew Allan who I again worked for as producers of Herschell Gordon Lewis' new movie Grimm Fairy Tales [Herschell Gordon Lewis bio - click here].

 

Any future projects you'd like to talk about?

 

As I was stating earlier in interview, my very latest short was Shelter and latest feature flicks were Stopped Dead both for Jason Liquori [Jason Liquori interview - click here] of Hocus Focus Productions and of course Grimm Fairy Tales by Herschell Gordon Lewis, the Godfather of Gore

Future projects? Well, so far I am slated for Dirty Cop 3 in October, Hellstorm sometime in September, Post Mortem 2021 in May, Unexpecting in two weeks and a couple of my own projects plus whatever comes up that I can squeeze in. Of course I will release The Joel Wynkoop Show as soon as new site is done.  Anybody that would like me in one of their movie's please contact me at my email nekodablast@aol.com but leave a reference in the subject box, thanks. Or if your serious about using me in a role please call me at 813 951 5431 - if I don't answer please leave me a message. 

 

Besides acting, you also direct movies (or contributions for anthologies) from time to time. What can you tell us about that aspect of your career?

 

If I want to do something and am too impatient I start stuff on my own. Twisted Illusions was done because Tim and I wanted to do something as a collaboration and we did just that. Both of us directing and both of us producing as well as acting. We had agreed that we would each write three stories and we would direct as well so I kind of started knowing I could do that as well, I just like the acting more. Although now I am getting offers from movie makers to direct their features as well. Lost Faith was a favorite of mine, I wrote, directed and starred in that feature as well as produced (and made sure I had catering and everything else that goes on with making a movie) and did the fight choreography. Aside from assistant directing on Tim's movies I think the next I produced and shot would have been The Part which was one of the short's for Twisted Illusions Two. Once again I wrote, directed and produced as well as starred in. Then I think came The Bite, another movie I starred myself in but also wrote and directed and produced with my partner Chris Conklin. I guess like I said, I love the acting more but like I've said I have got offers to direct as well just because of my experience with the flicks I have been in or have shot myself. Kill Her, Arnold was another short I had written and directed and starred in for Always Midnight, the Phil Herman anthology. 

 

Check out Lost Faith, The Bite along with the shorts I've done as well that are in anthology videos like, Mental Maniacs, Crazed Killers, and Savage Sickos. Oh, of course, Fall of an actor, my pet project that is taking forever to get done.

 

What got you into films and filmmaking in the first place?

 

When I found out as a kid or a teen that King Kong was an armature, and Godzilla was a man in a suit. I grew up on Horror IncDracula, Curse of the Werewolf, The Blob, Green Slime. Anybody remember The Shuddered Room? Also that was the horror side, but then I loved super heroes too, and I guess I did that a lot as a kid, pretending I was Batman. I guess it was just how I grew up and what I watched on TV that made me want to be an actor too. My Dad bought me the super 8 camera to keep me out of trouble and get me interested in something and I think  that is what really did it, those first super 8 movies of mine. I met Steve Campbell and the two of us said "let's make a movie." The rest is history.

 

Your website, mySpace, youTube, whatever else?

 

I would love to hear from you or you readers at my email nekodablast@aol.com or my MySpace www.myspace.com/108272825, www.wynkooptv.com. If anyone would like to see my trailers or videos of me, my movies, TV show or anything, a lot of it is on YouTube, just pull it up and put my name in search engine, there's a lot there to see. 

Oh here is a commercial, we're going to shoot a better one, but if any one is interested in a T-shirt you can see the P.O. box address here, or just watch it for a laugh.  YouTube - WYNKOOP COLLECTIBLES,  YouTube - WYNKOOP T SHIRT, YouTube - WYNKOOP NEWS NETWORK COMMERCIAL.

 

A few words about some of your past films from your rich filmography I feel we just have to talk about: Twisted Illusions (1985) pretty much put you on the scene as actor and director. Please tell us something about that film and your co-director Tim Ritter, with whom you collaborated quite frequently over the years?

 

Tim is great. As I said above, I met Tim back in 1972 I believe. My neighbor Steve Campbell would here him playing his ... was it a flute, no I think it was a trumpet, he would play The Six Million Dollar Man over and over again until he saw Star Wars, then it was that tune every single day. His mom asked me if I could watch him and his sister while she worked, which I did. Tim's mom was even my substitute teacher when I was a kid at Lake Park Elementary. Little not known fact, one day I saw Mrs. Ritter at her house outside, I asked her if everything was okay and she said she was locked out, I picked the lock and let her in, little trivia fact there for Ritter fans.

I think I covered how we did Twisted Illusions together, but it was a lot of fun. It was actually 1984 when we started shooting it. I can tell you this: I was never intended to be in Twisted Illusions except maybe the opening story. We were sitting in my crappy apartment in West Palm Beach and Tim said "I really need a guy to be crazy and intense in the Truth or Dare segment, hopefully I can find someone like that." I said, "what, like this?" and I started acting out the Truth or Dare scene when Mike was hacking his hand off and ripping open his chest - and Tim screamed "YOU GOTTA DO IT MAN!!!" That's how I got the part of Mike Strauber in the original Truth or Dare - YouTube - Truth Or Dare Original Short Starring Joel D. Wynkoop We had another short that we shot but never got put into the Twisted Illusions movie it was called Take Out the Trash about a little boy that was afraid to take out the garbage, he tells his Mom there's a monster in the garbage bin, so the mom walks out an shows him there's no monster and when the boy is finally convinced his Mom tells him "take out the trash" the boy does and while he's throwing out the trash a monster comes out of the garbage bin and eats him. Why didn't we do that, we have footage of it on one of the Twisted Illusions releases, we've released three of them: Twisted Illusions 1984, Twisted Illusions 2000 and Twisted Illusions Unlimited. Tim has been my best friend for years and I miss working with him, hopefully things will go according to plan for Dirty Cop 3 and I'll get to work again with him soon. We stay in touch yet today via emails and occasionally MySpace.

 


What about the Alien Agenda-movies (1996 - '98)?

 

It started right after Creep started getting publicity and Kevin Lindenmuth got in touch with us and wanted Tim to shoot a scene with me for Alien Agenda - Out of the Darkness. I was playing Sasha Graham's father. It was just a flashback scene but it was pretty cool to be asked by Kevin to be in the movie. It was me in the bathroom reacting to the camera which was supposed to be Sasha's characters POV so I was basically yelling at the camera the whole time. We did several takes of me yelling some with shaving cream on and some without. It made the cover of Alternative Cinema in 1996 (I believe 96 or 97) so that was pretty cool. 

Next came Alien Agenda: Endangered Species - YouTube - Endangered Species Trailer (1996) - Kevin and Tim had written the Ransom story for Endangered Species and I was to play a character called Cope Ransom. This was pretty cool to do, I actually got to use some karate which Tim was usually against, but this time he said "Yes, your character would know karate so I want you to work out some cool fight scenes." I remember Tim saying "Man, the sun is melting the camera." We had gone through a hurricane at the time and Tim wanted to go out and film in it but at the last minute we were like, "Maybe we better not." Post apocalyptic was the tone of the short so we drove around looking for deserted places which would fit the movie. There was an old broken down K-Mart by his place we used, an old gas station up by where I lived, a school bus out in the middle of these weird woods Frank Wales had found for us, he even spray painted WANNA PLAY TRUTH OR DARE on the side of it. The fight scene I worked out was with David Lurry who I had worked with in Lost Faith, he played Barnes in that movie, this role was much more serious. He played one of the worm aliens guarding the wall that I had to climb over to get to the desolate areas. This was a homage to Escape from New York because Tim and I were both fans of the movie, "Call me Snake". We were actually going to open it like that, me being walked in to see him, Tim was going to play the part with his hair all pulled out and we were going to do the same "basic" dialogue Plisken and Hawk had. Just change it to fit Endangered Species ... oh well, maybe some day in the future. Long time pal of ours Rich Hoopes was in this as well, it was always fun working with Rich.

This is also the shoot the cops drew down on me with their guns. We were in Johnathan Dickenson State Park and the cops seen me pointing a gun at Kathy, Tim's wife, but they couldn't see Tim with the camera or Rich with the sound equipment because they were blocked by some bushes. They saw me though and yelled "drop it now!" Like a dummy I turned with the gun in my hand and they dropped to their knees pulling their guns and said "Drop it now or you're dead." 

I dropped it and said "Okay it's just a prop."

 "Are those weapons on your belt?" 

"Yes" I said 

 "Drop them now!!" 

"I can't" I yelled "They're taped to my body." 

What way to make a living ...

We followed up Alien Agenda: Endangered Species with Alien Conspiracy, I flew out to Kentucky to shoot Alien Conspiracy with Tim again for Kevin Lindenmuth. We were way up in the mountains and the main thing I was concerned with was Tim driving up the side of the mountain, I thought for sure we were going to go right over the side of the cliff. I remember at 3 o'clock in the morning having freezing cold water thrown on me to substitute gasoline for the torture scene, oh well I guess it was better then real gasoline. Tim promised he would never make me run all over the place again but here he had me out in the woods, making me run up and down this mountain of a hill and run down steep paths until I would drop over gasping for breath. Up and down the same hill over and over again, fighting a battery operated worm, breaking through force fields and fighting pasty faced monsters that think they're rock stars. It was great just to be working with Tim again, we had been apart too long. As far as the short, it was a lot of fun to do and I think pretty entertaining. Alien Conspiracy was the last thing we worked on for Kevin Lindenmuth.

 


The films that actually give Aspiring Psychopath a run for its money title-wise are the Dirty Cop-movies, Dirty Cop No Donut (1999) and Dirty Cop 2: I am a Pig (2001). A few words about those?

 

Those were fun to do although part one probably rushed my divorce along but I'm all for the better now. Dirty Cop No Donut was actually called Low Down Dirty Cop, but it sounded to much like Low Down Dirty Shame so our distributor said come up with a new title and Tim came up with Dirty Cop No Donut. This was basically ideas and scenes written down, Tim would give me the idea what we wanted to accomplish and what basic things to cover and then he would say "GO". The store scene was fun to shoot, it was cleared with the guy on duty but all those hammerheads in the background had no idea what we were doing. We had a lot of fun working together on that, and it was our last feature we worked together on. Dirty Cop 2: I am a Pig we shot separately, Bill and I shot our part in Fort Pierce while Tim and Donald Farmer shot their part in Kentucky. That was a lot of fun too but I remember Tim telling me when I sent him the footage Bill and I had shot, "there's no pay off." It was more of a comedy I guess, our part I mean. But I like the comedy but Tim wanted more of a pay off like someone getting punched out or wrestled to the ground. Actually there are several versions of Dirty Cop 2: I am a Pig. There is that, then Dirty Cop 2 and Dirty Cop 2 Special Edition and then there's one with the other scenes that were originally cut out with those scenes put back in. Then Dirty Cop 2: I am a Pig has the Donald Farmer scenes and my scenes in the one movie, the others they are separate. My second to favorite scene in Dirty Cop 2 Special Edition is in the store when I am arguing with the clerk, that cracks me up. My favorite is when I am talking to my cameraman in the car and I tell him if he says one more word I'm gonna kick the shit out of him and he says just tryin' to make conversation and I chase him and throw potato chips at him and then beat him into the ground. I just like the comedy of it. I loved doing both of them.

 


Actress Apocalypse (2005) is actually another film with a great title. What can you tell us about this one?

 

Actually this is something I did for Rich Anasky in Spring Hill. I am in the extras on that for the original Actress Apocalypse when I played the original character. It was a blast doing that, Rich is a lot of fun to work with. I also did I am Vengeance for him where I reprised the Dirty Cop-role, it was like Gus disappeared from Dirty Cop 2 and had this little adventure in between. When we did Actress Apocalypse, I think we called it The Lincoln Brothers, but I can't remember. Anyway, I was the original actor in the original shoot.

 

A few words about Brain Robbers from Outer Space (2004), mainly because it's another great title?

 

Brain Robbers from Outer Space was the role I got because I was in the Tampa area doing Rot for Marcus Koch. Marcus was on the phone with Garland Hewlit, who was producing his own movie called Brain Robbers from Outer Space. Marcus was telling him I can help you, but I have Joel Wynkoop here and we're shooting scenes for Rot, but I can still help you out. Garland at this time said "Joel Wynkoop from the movie Creep?", and Marcus responded yes. well Garland asked Marcus "Do you think he would do a scene for me in my movie?" I jumped at the chance and went over with Marcus and met Garland, who in turn lined his whole cast up so they could meet me. A very cool experience and a lot of fun. I karate battled a zombie ... and I lost. I think there's a song like that, it goes "I fought the zombie and the zombie won" ... or maybe it was the law. Hum? You can do a search for Brain Robbers from Outer Space on the internet and even purchase it. It is about four hours long so keep your Pepsi nearby. Brain Robbers from Outer Space is the unofficial sequel to Ed Wood's Plan Nine From Outer Space [Ed Wood bio - click here], it even stars Conrad Brooks, boy can I tell you stories about Conrad.

 


Speaking of Conrad Brooks: You worked with the man on Jan-Gel: The Beast Returns (2001), which he also directed. What was the collaboration with him like, and a few words about the film?

 

This was a BLAST too. I remember one day watching Conrad direct and I probably shouldn't have said anything but I couldn't help myself, it is so hard for me to watch someone direct and I see things they are doing wrong or I see a better way to do it. One scene, behind Conrad's back,  I actually told an actor "watch me for direction not Conrad." I know that sounds terrible but it worked out okay. Also I would constantly correct Conrad, he would say "Okay scene 4" and I would say "Conrad it's a take, take 4." I would keep correcting him and tell him the difference between takes and scenes. The best one was when I was trying to direct an actor from behind his back and he turned around and saw me mouthing what to do to the actor and he said "Your directing him? Okay, go ahead kid, you know what you're doing, you direct it." So Conrad was okay with it, he did appreciate my help and it made the movie one percent better. Conrad is a great guy and I would love to work with him again, next time I'll tell you what happened at McDonalds when we went for dinner one night. I'll give you a hint. He put his hand out to some lady in line and said "Shake the hand that shook the hand of Bela Lugosi." Conrad knows I love him and I know he's okay with this. He's a GREAT guy. I'm getting ready to shoot something again soon, maybe I'll call him down for a scene or two, that would be cool.

 

Any other movies you were in you would love to talk about?

 

Shaawanookie was very cool to do. It's about a Bigfoot that terrorizes a bunch of Weekend Warriors and I play Dr. Krell, a scientist who lives in a run down trailer near the beast. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to it coming out and watching it. For Christ's Sake I finished like a year ago and I am waiting to see that one as well as it's counter part For Nicole's Sake [Interview with For Christ's Sake's Dustin Hubbard - click here]Indiscretions is another Jason Liquori flick from his company Hocus Focus [Jason Liquori interview - click here]. I have done several flicks for Jason including All Wrapped Up, which I was in three of the four shorts, and I was also in Deathplots in two of the four episodes also by Hocus Focus Productions. I was a Reaper  in two episodes, a scientist named Ignus in another. 

I, along with my wife played security guards in Jaguar's Bite and Jason even made a game out of it at the premiere, it was called Who can find Wynkoop

Dark Dimensions was AWESOME. I loved the role of Louiss. I played an interdimension hopping timelord that keeps getting in everyone's problems and helping them solve crimes, thwhichat the people he's helping DO NOT appreciate - YouTube - Dark Dimensions Trailer.

Twisted Illusions Two was 20 years in the making. Tim and I put at the end of Twisted Illusion "coming soon Twisted Illusions Two" ... Well it took us 20 years to decide to finally make it.

 Time for Dessert was a short I did for Phil Herman's anthology video Before I Die - I  cast my wife in it and she carried the short, it was a lot of fun to do. We made it around the same time we did The Part. It looks like just a woman picking up guys until in the end you find out she is a alien that is killing and eating men, shot 1950's style. Alien straight from the 50's.

 

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Actors (or actresses in fact) who inspire you?

Oh, some people will say "He's not an actor" but I am a big Chuck Norris fan. I've seen all his films and of course Walker, Texas Ranger. He inspired me to take up Karate after I saw Good Guys Wear Black. Pacino, DeNiro, Shatner, gosh there are so many. I like a lot of actors. I always say you learn something every day and you can always learn something from someone no matter who they are. I guess I'd have to say all actors, male and female.

 

Directors who have influenced you?

 

My partner Tim Ritter. I watched him direct first hand when we were shooting Twisted Illusion, but even bigger than that was when he was directing Truth or Dare: A Critical Madness. Hitchcock I suppose, Wes Craven, Romero, Tarantino ... again a lot to look up to, but I think more than any I am influenced by the directors I have worked for. Probably the biggest would be Herschell Gordon Lewis [Herschell Gordon Lewis bio - click here] for directors I have worked for. Garland Hewlitt, Jason Liquori, John Lewis, Kevin Lindenmuth, and so many more that I have worked for. These are people I know personally and have worked for them, so it's easier for me to be influenced by someone I'm working with then someone I haven't met.

 

Apart from actor, director, occasional producer and screenwriter you're also a cartoonist. Would you like to talk about that aspect of your career a bit?

 

Well I haven't done anything professionally but I just like to draw. Sometimes if my wife and I are at Denny's or Perkins waiting on our meals I will get some paper from the waitress and start drawing for the kids in the restaurant. One lady actually did a search on me when she saw my signature and found me on the Internet and she wrote to Tim and sent him an e mail she "thought it was so nice of your friend to draw these pictures for my kids." I created a bunch of super heroes and if you pay attention to my movies you'll see Ray Blast pop up in conversation in a lot of my movies. You should see my Stopped Dead script, on the down time I was drawing constantly all over the script pages. It's really just a pastime for me. 

Once I met Dave Cockrum who penciled the X Men for Marvel Comics and I thought it was so cool meeting him. I asked him, "Mr.Cockrum, could I draw a picture and you could tell me what you think about it?" He said "yeah, I'll either tell you it's good or it's a piece of shit." 

I thought WOW, that's not very nice but I said okay anyway and went a drew my superhero Ray Blast. I brought it back and stood in line again and when I got up to him I said "Hey Mr. Cockrum, here it is, what do you think?" 

Keep in mind I just drew it really quick like in ten or fifteeen minutes. He took it from me and said "This is horrible, you need a lot of help in anatomy drawing", then he handed it to the artist that did the golden age Captain Marvel, and he said "What are all these lines, what is all this, this is terrible." Then if that wasn't bad enough Dave Cockrum says "This is a piece of shit man, you need a lot of help." 

That was the last X Men-comic that he penciled I ever bought. Rest in peace Dave Cockrum.

 

You also seem to love comicbooks. Some of your favourites?

 

Spiderman would be number one. Occasionally I'll still pick them up but not like I did 20 years ago. They're to hard to keep up with. Everything continuing in another comic and so many crossovers and sub stories, and when Marvel tried to say Peter Parker was the clone all those years and Ben Reiley was really Pete I said I've had enough. They were trying to say all these adventures Peter Parker had as Spiderman were really Ben Reily and they lost me then and now forget it. Aunt May's dead, then she's alive again and dead again and then Spidey makes a deal with Mephisto to get her back ... oh why did you get me started?

But yes I still like them, I pick them up now and then just to see whats going on in the Marvel and DC universe.

 

Your favourite movies?

 

Dawn of the Dead, Robocop, Spiderman 1, 2,and 3, X Men, all of them, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Batman, Evil Dead, Darkman ... again there are so many.

 

And some films you really hated?

 

Robocop 2 and 3, Laserblast, Spaceballs, Jason X (I don't want the humor and robotics in Jason). I liked Freddy vs Jason but I hated the pinball part. Batman and Robin ... again probably more I just can't think of.

 

Anything else you are just dying to tell us and I have just forgotten to ask?

 

I'm looking forward to the release of Grimm Fairy Tales the Herschell Gordon Lewis-movie [Herschell Gordon Lewis bio - click here]. This will be my biggest movie yet so I hope the footage doesn't get lost, burned in a fire, have a legal snag, put off, lawsuits, arguments between the hands that be, anything that could stop this from coming out. Sorry, I should be OPTIMISTIC!! It will be great to see it when it comes out. 

Also I got to work with Brooke McCarter from Lost Boys, and that was really cool. I had predicted this in 2007 I said on the Screamfest-video "Brooke McCarter and I will work in a movie one day we just don't know when" - YouTube - Screamfest 2007 Part 2, about half way in, look for it, it's history! 

I think I have covered it all, althoguh I was just told by my publisher for Cult Goddess Magazine - CultGoddessVol1 Issue 1 - that my articles are to big and no one reads them - CULT GODDESS TWO -, I hope that's not true here. Just trying to be as in-depth as I can ...

Thank you Mike for showing interest in me and my movies, hope to talk to you again soon. To everybody else that watches my movies, thank you very much. Getting ready fro FX INTERNATIONAL - FX International-Creators Alley - so I better wrap it up. Thank you again Mike and your readers.  

 

Oh, just in case here's some links to some of my YouTube stuff.

SLAY ANGELS 1ST EPISODE

YouTube - Screamfest 2007 Part 1  

YouTube - Spooky Empire 2008 Part 1

YouTube - WYNKOOP Q and A part 1

YouTube - THE LAST TFR PART 1

YouTube - SOMETHING FOR THE TFR

YouTube - WYNKOOP OFFICE INTERVIEW

YouTube - Wynkoop TV (interrviews Barron)

YouTube - WYNKOOP COLLECTABLES

YouTube - Not of This World Episode #4: Rendezvous in Room 215

YouTube - WYNKOOP T SHIRT

 

Thanks for the interview!

 

© by Mike Haberfelner


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special appearances by
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