Danielle Harris Takes Us Inside The Hospital Walls Of Inoperable
Ever since her appearance WAY back in 1988’s Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers, Danielle Harris has been a noticeable face as far as horror films are concerned, and she keeps on truckin’ up until this day with her latest mind-bender, Inoperable (review). She was gracious enough to give us a few moments to discuss the film itself, as well as address the controversy of her supposed comments regarding the new Halloween film – park yer butts, read on and enjoy!
DC: Danielle, can you tell us what the film’s all about, and give us a look at your character, Amy?
DH: Amy was involved in a pile-up on the highway and finds herself in the hospital without knowing how she got there, and is forced to relive the day over and over again, Groundhog Day-style, and needs to put the pieces together to figure out how to get out of this hospital that she’s trapped in. All the time she’s in there, all of this crazy shit starts happening, and it’s just confusing the shit out of her (laughs) – she keeps meeting people that are giving her clues on how to get out and she’s basically trapped.
DC: With this being a physical role, are you at the point in your career where you’re embracing these roles where you’re getting beat up to an extent, or are you more inclined now to say “I want to hang back a bit and take it easy?”
DH: I think I’m more inclined to want to hang back and take it easy, but it depends – I know the first thing that I look at is “do I die, and how bad is it going to be?” I usually go there first – if I’m strangled and left on the floor, that’s ok…but if I’m getting chased for 5 hours, then cut & dragged, tossed in a cage, tortured and raped, I say “I just can’t do that” – been there, done that. Years ago I did a movie called Shiver, which was one of the most awesome roles for me that I’m super-proud of, but I definitely came home after shooting every night and had a bit of whiskey, because I could not shake it off (laughs). I’m a mom now, so I can’t exactly come home now and have a shot of whiskey – I can pick and choose more wisely these days.
DC: With you being a mom now – congrats, by the way! So, is this something that you’d like to pass the torch onto someday, and hope that your child will follow in your footsteps?
DH: Well, thank you – and HELL NO! (laughs) – I would hope that my kid wouldn’t want to be in the business. I mean, of course he can be if he wants to be a cinematographer or a composer. I find as I get older, it’s tough to differentiate in this business who really has a passion for it and who just wants to be famous, especially men…and I’ve dated a lot of them, trust me (laughs). That’s why I’m so lucky to have married a man who’s not even remotely close to the business and has no idea about the business. We could so use an attorney in the family – my husband is a financial adviser and his family is filled with doctors, and my side is more of the creative side, but I really hope that our child gets more of his father’s side of things.
DC: You’ve definitely earned the title of “Scream Queen” – what was the first film that reeled you in and made you say “Oh yeah, I’ve got to keep on with this?”
DH: I’d probably have to say when I came back in Urban Legend, because when I did Halloween 4 and 5, I was so young so I really didn’t know what I was in at the time – then I saw fans going “holy shit, she’s back!” My genre career really didn’t take off until Rob Zombie’s Halloween, and I had kind of an idea how big these things were, but I never knew it was that huge – I definitely owe Rob for casting me in the films and starting my career over again.
DC: Perfect segue into the next question – there’s been a lot made of your supposed “disapproval” of not being cast in the latest Halloween film – what exactly happened with all of this?
DH: It’s so funny, and I was just telling someone this story the other day – I was at a convention in Nashville and nobody came – I was so bored and Tyler Mane and Scout (Taylor-Compton) were there as well, so we went to our photo-op and nobody showed up, so we said “fuck this” and took a picture with all of us holding up our middle fingers, and they gave me a copy of it. I never had a conversation with either of them about the new movie, so I was looking for a good caption to use for the picture, and I just happened to say “this is how we all feel about not being cast in the new Halloween film – HAHA” – then everybody thought “Oh my god, she speaks!” I was going “wait a minute, what did I say?” When I went back and read the caption I thought “people take things so literally!” To be honest, I’m super-excited to see the movie, and Jamie-Lee is back, which is awesome and they’re bringing it back to the way it should have been. I love what Rob did with his versions, but I don’t know how it could have gone on from there, but this franchise has always been all over the friggin place – it’s been great, then a mess, okay, then a disaster – really good, then shit again. I was only bummed that she has a daughter now, and it’s not Jamie – that was the only thing about my “disdain” for it (laughs) – of course I’m going to go see it.
DC: Lastly, after the release of Inoperable, what’s coming up next on the work slate for you?
DH: I’ve got a movie called Camp Cold Brook, that I’m in with Chad Michael Murray, and it was directed by Andy Palmer – it’s a Joe Dante film, and I’ll be going to a screening of it next week. I’m excited to see it, and from what I’ve seen already it’s going to be pretty freaking awesome – it’s super old-school classic horror, and it’s a character that I haven’t done in a while so I’m happy about that. I also just completed a movie with Lew Temple called Come, Said The Night – I worked on it about a week and a half ago where I play his love interest so that should be interesting as well.
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