Interview: Brendan Meyer (Color Out of Space)

Actor Brendan Meyer (The Guest, Andy) stars in Color Out of Space. It is in theaters on January 24^th. Color Out of Space is directed by Richard Stanley (Hardware, The Island of Dr. Moreau) and stars Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Q’orianka Kilcher, Tommy Chong, Madeleine Arthur, Elliot Knight and Brendan Meyer. Brendan took time to talk with Horrornews.net.

Hi Brendan, how are you?

Brendan: I am doing good.

Color Out of Space was so good. You and the cast did such an incredible job in the film.

Brendan: Thank you.

What was it like working with Richard Stanley, the director?

Brendan: It was awesome working with Richard. He’s a nice guy, really warm and open. He’s great to talk to. He was a great presence to have on the set. Its amazing that it had been twenty years since he’s been on a film set because he was locked in on what he wanted and how he communicated with people. He put everyone at ease. He was a great support to have. It was a great experience.

I loved the back and forth banter between Benny and Lavinia (Madeleine Arthur). The two of you do a great job with the characters. What was it like for you working with this cast? All of you did a great job in Color Out of Space.

Brendan: Well, Madeleine was such a cool story because I knew her ahead of time, we were friends for a couple years ahead of time. I liked working with her and getting to know her even better than we already knew each other. So that was awesome and the whole cast was great. Nicolas Cage, Julian Hilliard, Joely Richardson, Elliot Knight. Everybody I came in contact with so great. We filmed in Portugal.

That is cool. The landscape and the house sort of becomes a character in the movie.

Brendan: Yes, that’s where they found the house and the field that they liked. I remember when I first read the script, I didn’t expect the house to become so much of a character. They really found an incredible piece of land that sort of took on this otherworldly life of its own.

Did you have to do anything special to prepare to play Benny and were you an H.P. Lovecraft fan?

Brendan: I knew H.P. Lovecraft but I hadn’t read a lot of his stuff but I definitely familiarized myself with the short story and to play the character I read the script a lot. Richard gave us all some great character backstories, just about three pages of stuff he was thinking on the very first day that we were there. That was cool and it helped because I had my own ideas and thoughts. Things that I would try to get all of this extra stuff. It wasn’t stuff that would make it into the movie, it just kind of gave me a good background and the situation with them being in that new house.

The scene where Theresa and Jack sort of mold together. The effects in Color Out of Space are wild. Did you guys all get to see that right away?

Brendan: Some of it was practical effects so obviously there’s a lot of the visual effects stuff which I didn’t see until the movie was finished. They did some really cool practical effects stuff with creating a real sort of thing that Joely could wear that would make it look like Julian was attached to her even though he was never physically attached to her. They made a rig to look like Julian was for some of the scenes. It was really cool. So, we did see some of it being onset. It was cool.

The effects were really cool. What are you working on next?

Brendan: I just did a reshoot on a project that I’ve been working on called, Unfollowed. Those are the guys that did Searching and Unfriended and stuff like that. I’m assuming that will be the next thing that will come out. We’ll see, I am still auditioning and looking for the next thing as well.

That’s cool. What would you want to say to the audiences that will be watching Color Out of Space?

Brendan: Just get ready! It’s a wild ride. I think the biggest thing that I would say is go see it in the theater if you can. I think it would be great to catch it in this early run in the theater. It is a big screen experience with the sound and the colors.

I agree. I think it would be amazing to see in the theater. I did watch the screener on my laptop and its wild. I think it would be awesome to see in the theater.

Brendan: Yeah, I mean there is still a lot you can get out it no matter where you watch it. I think there is a whole other level there.

Yes. Did you have a favorite scene from the movie or something that you instantly remember from being onset?

Brendan: I always remember getting to work with those alpacas. That was fun. They are interesting animals. They all seemed to have their own personality. They were always talking to one another and making noise. It was fun because that’s an animal that I haven’t really been around a lot. It was fun to be around that all the time. I think the whole crew sort of loved having these alpacas around. So that was fun and then I just really liked a lot of the things with the family. I really liked a lot of the other actors and to have that dynamic, even when we were around the dinner table. I really enjoyed that.

I loved the alpacas. I thought that was an interesting choice to have alpacas. You guys did seem like you knew each other forever like a family.

Brendan: Richard wanted to do something unique and something interesting. He didn’t just want cows or something like that. He wanted it to be a unique animal that you don’t see all the time. It was really interesting so I thought it was a good idea.