For Riverdale actor Rick Miller, who plays Stumpy Sam in the Toronto International Film Festival flick The Legend of Beaver Dam, spending four hours in gore make-up to transform into the evil swamp monster "was tolerable for a few days."
But he admits of the horror musical comedy "It was particularly fun to watch the kids come in and freak out at the transformation…And screaming and yelling and killing Sean Cullen was pretty cool too."
The veteran actor, known for his Fringe festival solo show MacHomer and theatre performances such as Bigger Than Jesus and the multimedia piece HARDSELL, has played a variety of characters in the last year, and is thankful to not be "stuck in a pigeonhole."
"On film in the last year, I played Tom Thomson (iconic Canadian painter), Stumpy Sam (evil swamp monster) and next is Brian Mulroney (evil swamp prime minister)," he typed in a recent email.
The Legend of Beaver Dam, by Montreal duo Jerome Sable and Eli Batalion known for their Fringe festival super hit JOB: The Hip-Hop Musical, follows nine campers and their camp counselor (Sean Cullen) as they take a canoe trip to Beaver Dam Wilderness Reserve. Ten people head out, but only one person returns, Danny Zigwitz – the nerdy one in the group. In a bizarre twist of predictable fate, Danny turns hero, saves his fellow campers and gets the cute blonde girl at the end. Or at least it seems all is well…
The blood and guts (and some swearing) are offset by dark humour and of course the music as Danny battles Stumpy Sam to the death.
Clocking in at 12 minutes, Miller sees the short film as being as rewarding as a longer one, saying "A short film is always more of a 3-day rush than an ongoing job, but it’s very rewarding nonetheless…"
The Legend of Beaver Dam is Miller’s first horror film, but not his first musical, offering up the comical question: "…is this the start of a new genre?"
The film screens at TIFF Sept. 9, 11:59 p.m. and Sept. 11, midnight. Visit www.tiff.net or www.stumpysam.com for more info.
- Antoine Tedesco, InsideToronto.com
Source: http://www.insidetoronto.com/what%27s%20on/article/870579–stumpy-sam-goes-to-tiff
