Exclusive: Kevin Pollak Talks Vamped Out
Legendary comedian Kevin Pollak isn’t generally thought of as a terrifying person. However, the guy who is known in Hollywood for bringing the funny is now bringing the fear (along with some humor) with his new Babelgum comedy web series “Vamped Out.”
“Vamped Out” was conceived by Pollak and Jason Antoon (Minority Report) from a simple joke over lunch.
“I went to have lunch with Jason and my girlfriend and I passed a billboard for Vampire Diaries,” explained Pollak. “We were complaining to him when we got there about there being yet another vampire show, and Jason joked about what if you really were a vampire but couldn’t get cast as a vampire for any of these projects.”
“Jason said to me, ‘That’s a great bit for your set, Kevin,’ and I said, ‘No that’s a great bit for a web series,” Pollak added.
From there, the idea of “Vamped Out” became a reality. Both Pollak and Antoon took their project to Babelgum, and as they say, the rest was history. Pollak found the funding, assembled a great cast including himself, Antoon, Samm Levine (Inglourious Basterds), and Seana Kofoed (“Men in Trees”).
Pollak, who is making his directorial debut with “Vamped Out,” spoke about the characters and the talented cast he assembled.
“Jason plays our vampire/hero Al, and I play Elliot, the documentary filmmaker that nearly drank himself out of the business after winning an Oscar like 22 years ago,” Pollak explained. “Samm plays Billy, Al’s agent who is just hilarious, and Seana play’s Al’s love interest. We have a great newcomer, Kit Steel, who plays Ginny, and we all just came together and made something really funny.”
Pollak isn’t generally a household name in the horror community, but as someone who loved his recent work in the deliciously dark and funny flick, Otis, I asked Pollak to discuss just what he looks for when he’s considering a horror project.
“I am a fan of writing anything that is dark and humorous so the horror genre is at its best when it can successfully blend those two elements together. Horror should be dark and funny but shouldn’t feel like it’s making a joke out of the genre either. That’s what we were striving for with ‘Vamped Out’,” said Pollak.
“I think if you engage the audience in the real life drama of the situation and from that situation you can find and develop the humor from within that. The idea of shooting it as a documentary allowed us to play on a few different genre films like Blair Witch that allowed us also to then play with a couple of different storytelling options. It was creatively liberating,” Pollak added.
Now that Pollak’s first project as a director is set to debut this Monday, I asked him if he had any plans on working again soon in the horror genre.
“I had an awful lot of fun with ‘Vamped Out’ so as long as this type of humor would be involved with me continuing to work within the genre, then I would love to work with anyone who would have me. I had so much fun working in horror — this idea of otherworldliness as a storyteller is a great feeling,” said Pollak.
For more on “Vamped Out” check out Dread Central’s exclusive red carpet video from the premiere below, featuring Pollak, Levine, and producer Michael Rotman. Don’t forget to tune in to Babelgum.com on Monday, April 12th, and for the next five Mondays following that to sink your teeth into “Vamped Out.”
Vamped Out – Premiere Coverage
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