The Human Centipede 3: Final Sequence – Exclusive Interview with Tom Six, Laurence R. Harvey, and Dieter Laser
While I do appreciate Tom Six’s audacity (one astute pundit likens him to a modern-day Andy Kaufman) and his innovation (is The Human Centipede not one of the most original ideas of recent years?), I am still not a fan. I don’t go in for scatological humor or shock for shock’s sake. Never have and never will. But it’s my job to interview everyone who’s relevant on the cinematic scene at the moment and take my own outlook out of the equation.
In case you’re not familiar with the subject matter, The Human Centipede film series is body horror so extreme it makes David Cronenberg look like Steven Spielberg. Josef Mengele is probably spinning in his grave, wishing he’d thought of it. In this depraved morality play, a wicked warden sews 500 prisoners from mouth to rectum in order to save money on food costs.
We met up in a lovely art deco bank vault in Glendale, CA. Six was dressed in his trademark Panama hat, snazzy suit, and cowboy boots. Flanking him were his beautiful, well-spoken sister and co-producer, Ilona Six, and lead actors Dieter Laser and Laurence R. Harvey. Laser was his usual pontificating, nearly unhinged self while Harvey was modest, thoughtful, and retiring.
I posed my questions, uncolored by opinion. I let the filmmakers speak for themselves; here’s what Six and co. had to say about Human Centipede 3 – The Final Sequence (review).
Dread Central: Since coming up with this wild idea so many years ago – one I know that was initially born of a joking comment you made about such a procedure being perfect punishment for child molesters and rapists – how does it feel to have it come full circle?
Tom Six: Absolutely, I came back for my original idea. When I made the first movie, I changed my idea of punishment, and I used innocent victims as the parts in the Centipede; it’s like a horror movie, but this time I wanted to return to my original ideas about penalty. I wanted to make part three the big grand finale, and I wanted to shoot it in America, and then I thought, ‘[Where better than] in a big prison.?’ I wanted to go out of the trilogy with a big bang. I wanted to go extra, extra large, American style. The acting is also very over the top. Part two is very reserved, very intimate, very dark. This one is loud and large and politically incorrect.
DC: Laurence, I remember you from part two. But you’re a totally different character this time around. Can you tell the fans a little about who you play in this one?
Laurence R. Harvey: In this film I play Dwight Butler, who is the assistant to Mr. Bill Boss. Bill Boss is such a mad character, and Dwight has to kind of cope with that as best he can. Martin was a fan of the first film; Dwight is a fan of the previous two films, and it’s his idea to come up with The Great Centipede, or at least introduce it to the prisons in order to save money. It’s all about saving and the austerity of the system.
DC: In spite of your evil intentions, you seem like something out of the 30s or 40s kind of screwball comedy, the hapless assistant to a megalomaniac boss. What were some of your references for playing your character?
LRH: Actually, I looked at Bud Cort for inspiration. Mainly from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, where he’s the office drone. And the guys in Office Space.
DC: Dieter, you yelled throughout the entire film – tell me, were there tons of honey and herbal tea on hand for you between takes? How did you maintain that level of intensity?
Dieter Laser: That’s just coming from inside. Natural. I don’t need anything. The drug is the part itself; the drug is to work with these wonderful people: with Lady Ilona, with Sir Thompson Tom, and with my beloved friend Laurence. The power comes out of the script, of the atmosphere these wonderful people create, and therefore, this is the only director [for me]. I talked very little during working hours, but at night keep away from me… I accumulated so much non-talking that I got to go home and talk to my wife and say, ‘You are talking to one-take man.’ And that only happens when working with Tom, with Lady Ilona, and with Mr. Laurence R. Harvey, whom I love. The beauty of that work… this time yesterday night we saw the film for the first time, Laurence and me. And overnight it grew in my mind, blowing up, and this morning I thought: ‘First we have Dr. Heiter in [Human Centipede] Part 1 and that’s kind of an alien coming from the kingdom of fascism. Then we have Part 2, with a brilliant performance from Laurence, and he is an alien coming from the underworld. And yesterday I saw a tiny piece of that second film and I laughed from what Sir Tom did. The frame, the little frame, and in the frame you are underworld and the alien. I love that picture since I saw the film the first time. It sticks in my mind because that’s the conflict.
LRH: It’s conflict, too, because of the filming…
DL: Yeah, it’s fantastic. It is a very strange creature from Tom. Dr. Heiter and Martin are nearer to creatures than to human beings. They are characters that go beyond and they stem from beyond. He is from the underworld, and he even manages as the silent creature from the dark underworld… he manages that, and in the end you love him. I loved him when I saw the film, and in the end I loved him. He was sweet. And now we do the third part and he goes beyond because we always are coming from beyond. This is the strongest alien from that part, it’s far more beyond. It has nothing to do any more with real world. It is, for me, a kind of alien. [As you watch] you can make your own film, always. That’s the beauty of Tom’s work. I would say if you want, you could say, ‘That’s a snake, this is a man.’ He’s not an earthling because it’s so beyond everything, and it’s very well that he’s dancing in-between a wonderful ensemble of very good American actors and British actors in the person of Mr. Laurence R. Harvey. He’s dancing on that seemingly normal ground; this alien is moving around, and it is completely crazy. But that’s the beauty of it. There’s no director in the world, as I know, who would dare to do this together with the crazy.
The Human Centipede 3: Final Sequence is available TODAY in select theaters and on VOD.
Synopsis:
Bully prison warden Bill Boss (Dieter Laser), leading a big state prison in the US of A, has a lot of problems; his prison statistically has the highest amount of prison riots, medical costs, and staff turnover in the country. But foremost he is unable to get the respect he thinks he deserves from his inmates and the state Governor (Eric Roberts). He constantly fails in experimenting with different ideas for the ideal punishment to get the inmates in line, which drives him, together with the sizzling heat, completely insane. Under threats of termination by the Governor, his loyal right-hand man Dwight (Laurence R Harvey) comes up with a brilliant idea. A revolutionary idea which could change the American prison system for good and save billions of dollars. An idea based on the notorious Human Centipede movies, that will literally and figuratively get the inmates on their knees, creating the ultimate punishment and deterrent for anyone considering a life of crime. Having nothing to lose, Bill and Dwight create a jaw-dropping 500-person prison centipede.
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