Interview: I was a Shaun of the Dead Zombie Three
Because you demanded it! The final part of our exclusive Tim Baggaley interview. All hail the one-armed zombie!
What's next for you?
I’m ‘resting’ at the moment. I just had a big chat with my agent, Louise Dyson, about what I do next and there are a lot of options. SotD is generating a great deal of interest for me. I’d like to get into theatre but that will be tough without any proper training. Mind you, two years ago I was in an office job and had never even fantasised about being a TV and film actor. Now I’m here with too much acting work under my belt to dismiss it as luck, so I’ve no idea what happens next but that’s half the fun of this job.
Are you a horror fan?
I am a big fan of the traditional Victorian horror: Dracula, Frankenstein, Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I like way the stories are really morality tales about good versus bad inside people, and struggling to make the right call in the face of difficult times. While the stories are set in grim experiences far beyond our everyday ones (hopefully!), they are guides to getting the best from life, not matter what it throws at us.
So I’m not at all impressed with films which rape these stories for their heroes and villains and their marketability, but lose the plot in preference for fancy CGI graphics and heaving breasts. Not that I’m averse to those features but with too many film adaptations of these classic horror tales the cleavage is as deep as they get.
My favourite? Terry Gilliam’s ‘Brazil.’ Not a horror film in the sense of a monster crashing about dismembering people, far more terrifying than that. The huge, dark, insidious beast which is the paperwork and protocol of modern life. ID cards, Gatso cameras, CCTV – all that big brother nightmare stuff. A film which is so dark and crushing and, for anyone who has ever worked in an office, terrifyingly close to the truth. Like all my favourite horror stories, it is about facing a horror we can all equate to our daily lives, and how to deal with it.
Which do you think is scarier? Zombies that lumber along (like Shaun of the Dead) or flesh-eaters that can run at speed (like Dawn of the Dead)?
Being a traditionalist, I’d say zombies should be the slow, lumbering kind. Having said that, ones that run around like they do in the new DotD film would be rather more scary – they are a lot tougher to escape from. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by the DotD remake. It was suitably respectful of the original story, had some good character development and I thought the Blair Witch Project style close was a nice touch.
If you had to cave in a zombie's skull, what item from your own home would you use?
A tea mug, because I’ve always got one close to hand.
Cheers, Tim!
What's next for you?
I’m ‘resting’ at the moment. I just had a big chat with my agent, Louise Dyson, about what I do next and there are a lot of options. SotD is generating a great deal of interest for me. I’d like to get into theatre but that will be tough without any proper training. Mind you, two years ago I was in an office job and had never even fantasised about being a TV and film actor. Now I’m here with too much acting work under my belt to dismiss it as luck, so I’ve no idea what happens next but that’s half the fun of this job.
Are you a horror fan?
I am a big fan of the traditional Victorian horror: Dracula, Frankenstein, Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I like way the stories are really morality tales about good versus bad inside people, and struggling to make the right call in the face of difficult times. While the stories are set in grim experiences far beyond our everyday ones (hopefully!), they are guides to getting the best from life, not matter what it throws at us.
So I’m not at all impressed with films which rape these stories for their heroes and villains and their marketability, but lose the plot in preference for fancy CGI graphics and heaving breasts. Not that I’m averse to those features but with too many film adaptations of these classic horror tales the cleavage is as deep as they get.
My favourite? Terry Gilliam’s ‘Brazil.’ Not a horror film in the sense of a monster crashing about dismembering people, far more terrifying than that. The huge, dark, insidious beast which is the paperwork and protocol of modern life. ID cards, Gatso cameras, CCTV – all that big brother nightmare stuff. A film which is so dark and crushing and, for anyone who has ever worked in an office, terrifyingly close to the truth. Like all my favourite horror stories, it is about facing a horror we can all equate to our daily lives, and how to deal with it.
Which do you think is scarier? Zombies that lumber along (like Shaun of the Dead) or flesh-eaters that can run at speed (like Dawn of the Dead)?
Being a traditionalist, I’d say zombies should be the slow, lumbering kind. Having said that, ones that run around like they do in the new DotD film would be rather more scary – they are a lot tougher to escape from. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by the DotD remake. It was suitably respectful of the original story, had some good character development and I thought the Blair Witch Project style close was a nice touch.
If you had to cave in a zombie's skull, what item from your own home would you use?
A tea mug, because I’ve always got one close to hand.
Cheers, Tim!
posted by Cavan Scott at
12:08 pm
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