Interview: Dee Wallace on BEYOND THE SKY and the Existence of Aliens
For more than thirty years, Dee Wallace has played many highly diverse roles in films like Cujo (1983), The Lords of Salem (2012), and the upcoming 3 From Hell (2019). She has also guest-starred in countless TV shows of all genres ranging from Starsky and Hutch (1977) to Grimm (2014). I’ve been watching Dee Wallace my whole life and my favorite role of hers will always be Elliott’s mom in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). In addition to being an actress, she is also an author and a healer.
Dee stars in the new movie Beyond the Sky, which also happens to be about aliens. The film stars Ryan Carnes as a filmmaker who is making a documentary about alien abduction. He meets an abductee, played by Jordan Hinson, who leads him to make an enlightening discovery. Dread Central was delighted to be able to speak with Dee Wallace about her new film, her thoughts on aliens, horror remakes, and a lot more! Read on to find out what we talked about.
Beyond the Sky is in theaters, on demand, and digital HD September 21st.
Dread Central: Hi, Dee! Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today!
Dee Wallace: You’re welcome! My gosh, Dread Central and I are old friends (laughs)!
DC: I loved Beyond the Sky. I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but I was intrigued by the film’s message. Why did you want to be a part of this film?
DW: I think its way overdue to have an intelligent film about aliens that aren’t all about them coming in to kill us. That’s one of the reasons I was attracted to it because I have this whole other life as a spiritual healer and teacher and I know that everything is about love. When we get back to love, that’s the answer to everything. So, I thought that was an interesting part of the film.
I did a lot of work with Dolores Cannon, who was one of, if not the, past life regressionist in the world, and she’s written several books, on alien interactions and abductions. She said, “They’re here to help. They’re here to guide, but they cannot intervene and they can’t make our decisions for us.” So, she opened my eyes. There is no question within me that aliens exist. It doesn’t make sense to me that they wouldn’t exist. But, the fact that we’ve taken them and made them into bad guys in so many renditions and films (laughs); how we portray them, I think, is unfortunate.
DC: I really wanted to ask you what your thoughts are on the existence of extra-terrestrials. You believe they would be friendly?
DW: Oh, absolutely! They’re higher beings and the higher your consciousness goes, the higher your consciousness expands and the more you know love is at the root of everything. I think E.T. got it absolutely right (laughs). This is an interesting take on a message I think is really important for everybody.
DC: What specifically drew you to the role of Lucille in Beyond the Sky?
DW: Well, I liked the script. I actually go in and help a lot of young filmmakers. My name in this genre sometimes helps get more financing and gets a film done. It was a nice, spunky part. I liked her. I really liked the character. I love the script and the story. I think Ryan and Jordan are just awesomely good in it; simple and good and charismatic. I think they’ve got a really great little film here. I would put my recommendation behind it a hundred percent.
It’s hard to come up with something interesting and dynamic and original these days. I mean, I just heard yesterday that somebody thinks that they’re going to redo Cujo. I said, “Good luck with that (laughs)!” It would be like someone saying, “Let’s redo E.T..” So, it was just really awesome to have something original that was well-written. They did a remake of The Hills Have Eyes and I thought it became a slasher film. Today we just don’t want to take the time to create those relationships. Relationships are what make true horror films or suspense films. Beyond the Sky really takes the time to create some relationships and even relationships with people you don’t see more of until the end of the film. But you understand why the relationship with his father drives him so much.
DC: You’ve worked in different genres over the years, but you’re very well-known in the horror community. I’ve grown up watching your films and I’ve wondered, what do you enjoy about the horror genre?
DW: Yeah, everybody’s grown up on me, baby (laughs)! It just gets me to do a lot of the emotional work that I love to do. A nice comedy here and there is nice and I would love to do another one, but what I really love to do is the dramatic, intense, emotional arc performances. There is no other genre that allows you to do that as well as the horror genre. You can play the regular character going through life and be happy and be sexy and be lighter and then move into the horror aspect of it. The Frighteners was a dream for me because in the first part you think she’s this simpy, little, weak victim and then she becomes this ball-buster, murderer that takes everybody out. It doesn’t get any better for an actress than that and to be able to romp through all that (laughs).
DC: Do you have any upcoming projects you can share with me?
DW: I have five films coming out, especially Rob Zombie’s 3 From Hell, that I did this year. And some beautiful Christmas family films that I’ve done this year and I just finished NCIS. It will be on in late October, I believe. It’s been a really, really busy, great year for me.
DC: I was really honored to be able to speak with you today. Thank you so much!
DW: Aww, thank you. Thank you so much. Me, too, Dread Central always supports the things I’m in and we appreciate that, believe me.
Categorized:News
