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Exclusive Interview With David Ury From Rob Zombie’s ’31’

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Rob Zombie announced a few days ago that filming for 31 has finished. Over the past couple months, he’s been making casting announcements, with a few more still to come. One of those was David Ury, whom many know best as Spooge from Breaking Bad (the meth head that got his head crushed with an ATM fairly early in the series), who will play the role of Schizo-Head.

Update: Check out a pic of Schizo-Head from the film

Ury has been in numerous films and on even more TV shows (including Grimm and American Horror Story). He also co-wrote a children’s book for adults, wrote and directed a horror short, and works on all kinds of stuff really.

We caught up with Ury to ask him about 31, his love for horror, and the rest.

iHorror: I understand you’re a big horror fan. What are some of your favorites?

David Ury: There were a few movies that I used to watch over and over again starting when I was about 7 years old.   Motel Hell, Creep Show and  The Return of the Living Dead (Which had a great soundtrack) were ones that I probably watched more than a dozen times.  As well as The Stuff, Children of the Corn.  As far as more modern stuff, I like a lot of the Japanese films Ring, The Grudge, Chakushin Ari.   American film-wise I like Eli Roth’s stuff, I loved Slither, and of course The Devil’s Rejects.

iH: So 31 is done shooting. Without giving anything away, do you have any interesting or fun behind-the-scene stories from the project?

DU: Well,  when I got the job I had no idea that film legends Malcolm McDowell and Tracy Walter had also joined the cast.  I don’t have fan-boy moments too often anymore, but I had a pretty severe Clockwork Orange obsession in college, so I was a bit giddy to get to work alongside “Alex”. It really helped sharpen me up and made me ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.

iH: What are your thoughts on working with Zombie? What’s he like as a director?

DU: Working with Rob Zombie is pretty much as good as it gets. He’s a very warm and friendly guy and he makes an effort to make sure that all his actors are comfortable on set.  He is very inclusive.  It’s quite fun to watch him work, you can tell that he is laser focused on his vision.

iH: In 31, you and Lew Temple are playing a pair of murderous brothers who live in Murder World. Anything else you can tell us about your character(s)?

DU: Well, I can’t really give you any details just yet but I  will say it’s certainly the craziest s**t I’ve ever done on film.

iH: I was looking at the set photos from Breaking Bad on your website and it occurred to me that Spooge actually looks perfect for a Rob Zombie movie, complete with the “Wine her, dine her, 69 her” shirt. I actually went back and watched the ATM scene again, and I could easily see Spooge in one of Zombie’s films. Are there any similarities between Spooge and Schizo-Head?

[youtube id=”etInps8K6Gk” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]

DU: Hmmm. I could definitely see Spooge walking off the Breaking Bad set and into a Rob Zombie movie.  But character-wise they’re not too similar.  Spooge definitely uses the word “skank” way more that Schizo-Head.

iH: In Breaking Bad, you played one of the most memorable small roles on the greatest television drama ever created in my opinion. Please tell me about your experience working on the show and with that cast and crew.

DU: Only the first season of the show had aired when I started shooting.  It was critically acclaimed but it hadn’t quite caught on yet.  I don’t think that , at that time, anybody suspected it would rise to the legendary status it has achieved today.  It seemed like it was flying under the radar, but on set you could tell that everyone knew they were part of something special.  The actors and crew I met were all really happy to be there and there was a certain undefinable energy humming through the place.  Aaron Paul was great to work with, and I also got to do a scene with Charles Baker “Skinny Pete”  who’s a fantastic guy/actor.   It was a really fulfilling job, definitely one of the highlights of my career.  I’m a huge fan of Breaking Bad and Walking Dead.  They’re pretty much my two favorite shows.  Hence this video.

[youtube id=”DBCq94ocNeY” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]

iH: What was your experience like working on American Horror Story?

DU: I had a very tiny role on the show and I was only there for a day.   I was in a scene with Eric Stonestreet who had been my improv comedy coach back when I first moved to LA, so that   was interesting. It’s always fun to end up working with one of your teachers.  I’m hoping to get another shot at working on AHS as I’d love to take on a meatier role…maybe alongside Pepper (Naomi Grossman).

iH: You’ve appeared in a number of movies, but it seems like the vast majority of your work is on television. Do you prefer one over the other?

DU: I don’t really have a preference as long as it’s a fun project to work on.

iH:  You wrote/co-directed a horror short called Augustine? The premise sounds very fun. What can you tell us about that project?

DU: I wrote Augustine with actor Tahmus Rounds (The Crazies) who I met on the set of Bones in 2011.  On Bones we played two guys working on a corpse farm where scientists study how human bodies decay.   Tahmus is a crafty artist who had been working for years on these crazy robotic toys. He’d always wanted to do a project with them so we wrote a little short around them. We wrote in a role for ourselves as a creepy pair of brothers.  Soon Co-Director David Neptune came aboard and camera man Otis Ropert (The Shield) and we shot a 10 minute short horror/comedy.  It’s sort of an homage to the low budget horror that we grew up with like Evil Dead.  We used the classic 80’s horror plot of a group of drunk and horny college kids heading to an abandoned cabin…and then they die. The leads are Shelby Young (A.H.S. season 1, Nightlight)  and Reid Ewing (Fright Night, Modern Family). David Neptune and I had previously worked with them on a little commercial parody that won a comedy award years ago.  Augustine will be available on line after it finishes its festival run.  We will make sure to let all you iHorror readers know when it’s posted.

iH: Tell us about your book Everybody Dies. How did you get involved with Ken Tanaka and that project?

DU: Everybody Dies: A Children’s Book for Grown Ups is an illustrated parody of a children’s book that helps adults understand the inevitable fate that awaits us all.  It should appeal to all you sick and twisted horror lovers out there.

 We also made a funny promo for the book with some Breaking Bad cast members (Skinny Pete/Charles Baker   and Marco Salamanca/ Luis Moncada)

[youtube id=”SjoIDBuVAGo” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]

Co-Author Ken Tanaka is my long lost Japanese identical twin brother who I met through YouTube (long story) and in the past few years we’ve collaborated on various projects together. He illustrated the book and we wrote together. He’s a very good looking chap. We’ve done a lot of YouTube videos together. “What Kind of Asian are You?” is our most famous with over 7 million hits.

[youtube id=”DWynJkN5HbQ” align=”center” mode=”normal” autoplay=”no”]

We followed that up with a zombie parody of the video that nobody watched but iHorror readers might dig it.

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iH: Any other projects you’re working on that you’d like to talk about?

DU: I play the coroner Dr. Death in Playstation’s new series Powers. This was a really fun project for me because I got to be a good guy. I’m almost always playing a sketchy perp of some kind (except on Disney/Nick shows)  so getting to be a professional who works for the police was a fun change.  You can watch it for free on PS plus or buy the episodes/season on their website.  The first episode is free on Youtube and Crackle. It stars Sharlto Copley (District 9, Chappie) and the amazing Susan Heyward, Eddie Izzard, Phillip Devona and a slew of other talented folks.  Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a Playstation to watch the show, you can buy the episodes in their store and watch on your computer.  I also play the venomous “Sir Pent” in the film Little Boy out April 24th with Kevin James,  Tom Wilkinson, and Ric Sarabia.

For more on 31, check out our post 31 things we know about 31.

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This Horror Film Just Derailed a Record Held by ‘Train to Busan’

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The South Korean supernatural horror film Exhuma is generating buzz. The star-studded movie is setting records, including the derailment of the country’s former top-grosser, Train to Busan.

Movie success in South Korea is measured by “moviegoers” instead of box office returns, and of this writing, it has garnered over 10 million of them which surpasses the 2016 favorite Train to Busan.

India’s current events publication, Outlook reports, “Train to Busan previously held the record with 11,567,816 viewers, but ‘Exhuma’ has now achieved 11,569,310 viewers, marking a significant feat.”

“What’s also interesting to note is that the film achieved the impressive feat of reaching 7 million moviegoers in less than 16 days of its release, surpassing the milestone four days quicker than 12.12: The Day, which held the title of South Korea’s top-grossing box office hit in 2023.”

Exhuma

Exhuma’s plot isn’t exactly original; a curse is unleashed upon the characters, but people seem to love this trope, and dethroning Train to Busan is no small feat so there has to be some merit to the movie. Here’s the logline: “The process of excavating an ominous grave unleashes dreadful consequences buried underneath.”

It also stars some of East Asia’s biggest stars, including Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee and Kim Eui-sung.

Exhuma

Putting it in Western monetary terms, Exhuma has raked in over $91 million at the worldwide box office since its February 22 release, which is almost as much as Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has earned to date.

Exhuma was released in limited theaters in the United States on March 22. No word yet on when it will make its digital debut.

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Watch ‘Immaculate’ At Home Right Now

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Just when we thought 2024 was going to be a horror movie wasteland, we got a few good ones in succession, Late Night With the Devil and Immaculate. The former will be available on Shudder starting April 19, the latter just had a surprise drop on digital ($19.99) today and will be getting physical on June 11.

The film stars Sydney Sweeney fresh off her success in the rom-com Anyone but You. In Immaculate, she plays a young nun named Cecilia, who travels to Italy to serve in a convent. Once there, she slowly unravels a mystery about the holy place and what role she plays in their methods.

Thanks to word of mouth and some favorable reviews, the movie has earned over $15 million domestically. Sweeney, who also produces, has waited a decade to get the film made. She purchased the rights to the screenplay, reworked it, and made the film we see today.

The movie’s controversial final scene wasn’t in the original screenplay, director Michael Mohan added it later and said, “It is my proudest directorial moment because it is exactly how I pictured it. “

Whether you go out to see it while it’s still in theaters or rent it from the convenience of your couch, let us know what you think of Immaculate and the controversy surrounding it.

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Politician Spooked By ‘First Omen’ Promo Mailer Calls Police

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Incredibly, what some people thought they would get with an Omen prequel turned out to be better than anticipated. Maybe it’s partly due to a good PR campaign. Maybe not. At least it wasn’t for a pro-choice Missouri politician and film blogger Amanda Taylor who received a suspicious mailer from the studio ahead of The First Omen’s theatrical release.

Taylor, a Democrat running for Missouri’s House of Representatives, must be on Disney’s PR list because she received some eerie promo merch from the studio to publicize The First Omen, a direct prequel to the 1975 original. Usually, a good mailer is supposed to pique your interest in a film not send you running to the phone to call the police. 

According to THR, Taylor opened the package and inside were disturbing children’s drawings related to the film that freaked her out. It’s understandable; being a female politician against abortion it’s no telling what kind of threatening hate mail you’re going to get or what might be construed as a threat. 

“I was freaking out. My husband touched it, so I’m screaming at him to wash his hands,” Taylor told THR.

Marshall Weinbaum, who does Disney’s public relations campaigns says he got the idea for the cryptic letters because in the movie, “there are these creepy drawings of little girls with their faces crossed out, so I got this idea to print them out and mail them to the press.”

The studio, maybe realizing the idea wasn’t their best move, sent out a follow-up letter explaining that it was all in good fun to promote The First Omen. “Most people had fun with it,” adds Weinbaum.

While we can understand her initial shock and concern being a politician running on a controversial ticket, we have to wonder as a film enthusiast, why she wouldn’t recognize a crazy PR stunt. 

Perhaps in this day and age, you can’t be too careful. 

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