Blast took a moment to talk to actor Corin Nemec about his role in the chilling “Bundy,” playing the title character of serial killer Ted Bundy. We also asked Nemec what inspires him, like … “The Goonies?”
BLAST: So “Bundy” is coming out on DVD soon, and we have to ask: How did you prepare for playing a character like that?
CORIN NEMEC: Well, you know, really it’s about research. The thing that helped me out most was watching certain videos that he did. Namely the big interviews that he had “" he did several of them. What caught me most was in some of the video footage of him by news teams when they were filming them, and he was not necessarily aware that he was being filmed. He would get these looks on his face. These really jarred, sardonic looks … He would kind of break character as I call it. He would go from his social Ted Bundy to whatever is going on inside. That was kind of my peep hole … and I’d think, “this guys has got a serious dark side.”
Not that it wasn’t obvious in the first place, but that’s what was helpful to me. His motivation “" and this I can’t confirm “" it’s what I discovered in my research and what Mike Feifer had discovered in writing this script “" though we don’t address it in the film “" when he realized that he was an illegitimate child, but his father still claimed to be his father. What dawned on me was him possibly being a child of incest. And this was a discovery he’d made after college. And so that to me was the catalyst for his so-called insanity. I thought it was that point that he just completely lost it and went over the edge and really embraced all the dark fantasies that he had.
BLAST: And what attracted you to the script and the character for this role?
CN: Well, Mike Feifer and I worked on “Chicago Massacre,” where I played Richard Speck, and I had a great time working with him as a director, and I think we really gelled and work well together.
I hope to work with him again in the future. He also worked on “Boston Strangler,” and I played a small role in that, the Boston Strangler’s lawyer. And when Ted Bundy came up, and we got the green light on that and he asked me I jumped at that chance because I had the opportunity to work with Mike Feifer.
BLAST: Did you ever find it difficult or chilling to get into the mindset of the character?
CN: You know, not necessarily, but I definitely found moments; about halfway through it “" which is rare for me, because I’m not a method actor and I don’t take things home with me “" where I really felt nauseated by the guy. It wasn’t when it was necessary for me to be the character but those in between moments. I was like, “Wow. I just feel so creepy.”
BLAST: Speaking of acting and technique, we heard you were very much influenced by “The Goonies.” Is this true?
CN: Well yes, in many ways. My father was the art director in that movie and when it came out “" although the characters were about two years older than I am “" when it came out I was about the same age. My father told me it was something I would really love. I came from an artistic family … so I had been around theater and music and then film and TV. So I knew that film and TV, there was a process that went into making it. And I understood that these people were acting and that they were on sets and all this stuff and then at the end they would put it all together and these people would have this life outside of it … and I was such an imaginative kid, and I realized that, you know, it was an opportunity to do that same thing but on a much more dynamic level. And be able to watch it back. That was what blew me away the most. I can go pretend to be someone else in a real setting, someone will film that, and put it together. And then you can watch the experience that you had back, in the order its supposed to be in! And I was just ten or eleven years old and thought, “Wow! This is incredible.”
And that’s what struck me about it and inspired me to become an actor.
BLAST: So what genres attract you the most? Adventure? Sci-fi? Horror?
CN: No, I’m not really specific with what I look for in a project. Is there something I can bring to the character? Is there an arc? Do I think I can bring something to the project that is going to possibly make it better than what it already is? And if I can answer yes to those questions, then … its really about what character am I playing.
BLAST: But you have worked in sci-fi before, correct?
CN: Oh yeah, I did “Stargate SG-1,” the series. And then have done numerous of these sci-fi oriented movies for the SyFy Channel but, outside of that, my previous work before that was drama and comedy. The first time I got to do anything outside of the box was “The Stand,” playing Harold Lauder, which was my first step into that sci-fi horror kind of world.
BLAST: What character would you love to portray in a film?
CN: Well again, I don’t know what I’m looking for in a character until I read it. Its not like I’m pursuing a type of character out there that I’d like to play. If the character is something exciting for me to play that I can bring something to,then I would go for it.
BLAST: So, what are your aspirations for the future?
CN: Well, I have a production company with David Faustino. We’ve had a production company for a few years now. It’s opened up a lot of doors. We’ve been working on some reality shows and fully scripted shows and feature films. We have a lot of things in development and in the meantime I pursue my other acting projects on the side. But that’s what is exciting to me right now with the production company; it gives us the ability to write our own stories … instead of being at the whims of Hollywood.
BLAST: What is the series that your production company worked on?
CN: Star-Ving. (The series was released in January 2009)
Nemec will star in “House of Bones,” set to be released later this year, along with Charisma Carpenter (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel”). “Bundy” comes to DVD July 21.
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