Archived from GeekTyrant. Please visit this site for more interviews like this.

Ryan Nicholson is a fans director and one of my favorite filmmakers. He makes movies for the horror fans and he knows what we like, blood, gore, boobs and crazy killers on the loose. From doing make-upFX work on hit shows like Smallville and SG-1, to blockbusters like Ghost Rider he also likes to take his turn behind the camera and tell his own stories including Famine, Gutterballs and his newest, Bleading Lady. Check out my latest “Versus” with director Ryan Nicholson.

Brian:  First of Ryan, how’d you get into filmmaking?

Ryan:  I think growing up on shows like “Hilarious House of Frightenstein” and creature features on late night cable really shaped my future. I’ve been obsessed with horror and monsters ever since I could walk and talk.Doing make-up effects was a good introduction into film-making. I still do make-up effects from time to time.But I try and focus on writing and directing. I also teach others make-up effects and all that I have learned.

Brian:  You have an impressive resume! Your makeup Fx gigs range from shows like Smallville to blockbusters like Ghost Rider. Then you have your directing, which is your favorite?

Ryan:  I prefer writing and directing. I find it more creatively satisfying. Creating FX for other movies is great but having ALL of the creative control on all aspects on a project is the absolute best.

Brian:  I have to say, since I’ve seen a few of your films one if the things I look forward to is the gory and creative kills. That’s all your work, right?

Ryan:  It’s my partner Michelle Grady’s work and her team, with input from myself. Michelle has created all of the kills from Gutterballs through to Famine. She’s an amazingly talented make-up effects artist.She also handles other elements on our movies. Production details and scheduling. I always look forward to her effects because I know that they will look killer on screen. I think the title character “Hanger” is one of the best and most original prosthetic make-ups in any movie I’ve ever seen.Simply awesome!

Brian:  Who are some of your influences?

Ryan:  Italian horror and 42nd Street sleaze is where you can find me! Canadian horror like Cronenberg and William Fruet as well. I have an extreme love for 80′s sex comedies as well. I think it`s all very evident in my movies.The humour, the cheese.It`s all heaped on very heavily!

Brian:  By the way, I love the movie Gutterballs!

Ryan:  Thank-you!I think it`s a great homage film.It`s a rape/revenge film that steers quickly into slasher film territory and then to the 80′s era.It’s a bizarre film to say the least!

Brian: Ok, tell me about Bleading Lady.

Ryan:  It is my first co-production, with New Image Entertainment and thankfully it was a good one! Making these kind of movies takes a financial toll because no one gets rich off of these. So its great when I can lend my talents to someone else’s production and even better when I get to write the script and have some say in the casting. “Bleading Lady” aka “Star Vehicle” is a character driven dark comedy that has more in common with “Falling Down” and “One Hour Photo” than the usual wells of inspiration. It’s about a man who snaps. He is pushed to the breaking point and then loses it!It all develops on a low-budget horror film exterior set and it’s very much like how it really is. Egos and shit, no one has time for that. This movie is more accessible than my other stuff and I dig that. It has my signature stuff in it but I took more care into writing a character that viewers would relate to and Dan Ellis, who plays the lead Don Cardini, has a break-out performance and will get some well deserved recognition for this role. He steals the show… murders it so to speak! It comes out on March 29th via Breaking Glass Pictures/Vicious Circle Films on DVD everywhere!

Brian:  Being one of the lucky ones to see Bleading Lady before it actually came out, how much blood did you use for this film Ryan?

Ryan:  I used many many gallons. All sprayed and spurted with much happiness! I love fake blood. I can’t get enough of it.

Brian:  How do you get the blood to spray and splatter like you do? Some people use super soakers, do you?

Ryan:  I used pressurized fire extinguishers and all sorts of tubing, funnels etc…I make a ton of different blood formulas for different lighting scenarios.

Brian:  When and where will the horror fans be able to pick this up?

Ryan: They can order here.

Brian: Where can the fans find you on the Internet?

Ryan:  www.plotdigger.com and facebook.com/plotdiggerfilms is where anyone can drop me a line.I enjoy interacting with the entire Plotdigger Family!

Brian:  Would you like to say anything to the fans and aspiring filmmakers?

Ryan:  To my fans, I do this for you!And it’s your support that makes it possible.Many many thanks to you all!To aspiring filmmakers, pick up a camera and start shooting.There’s no time like the present!

Archived from Sidecar Sally. Please visit the site for more interviews like this.

SIDECARSALLY: The man, the myth, the fucking psycho (on screen only) — Dan Ellis — the star of Hanger, Gutterballs, and Bleading Lady. I have some questions for you, Dan.

Dan Ellis: OK, stab at it.

SCS: We are both Americans that moved to Canada. You’re from Ohio and Canada — the two most hated places by other Americans. First off, and be honest, which country do you like better in general?

Dan Ellis: Hold up, man! Ohio kicks ass, and I doubt Canada is more hated by Americans than some other countries. But to answer your question, I was born in America — I served in its military and I’ve had some of the best times of my life there, so I would be hard pressed to choose any other as of right now. Don’t get me wrong — Canada is great, but I love where I’m from and there are good and bad about both.

SCS: Good answer, Dan. I love Canada more though because the weed is cheaper and they serve alcohol at fully nude strip clubs, which they don’t in most US states. Next question: A lot of your fans don’t know that before you butchered people on screen, you were in the military. Is acting something that you didn’t become interested in until after you were honorably discharged?

Dan Ellis: The opposite, man. I started acting when I was about 10, but I had a pretty ugly experience with the political side of things when I was about 14 and it really turned me off. It had always been in the back of my mind as I got older, and I remember one day I was like, “What the fuck am I doing? I wanted to be an actor,” so I started trying to get my hands into whatever gig I could. I joined an improv group, did some plays, a couple student films and whatever I could find that had a spot I fit. Thank God I met Dan West and Rick Popko — they were doing an indie film called “Monsturd.” They offered me a part and that was what made me really remember how much I loved it and how much fun it could be! As long as I have been alive, acting is the only thing that I really truly loved doing (skateboarding was a close second) and I am going to try to spend as much of the rest of my life doing it as possible, so here we are.

SCS: Monsturd is still on my list of movies to watch, but it sounds awesome. Next question: Does your wife get grossed out by Ryan Nicholson’s films?

Dan Ellis: She’s not really a horror fan, and I have spared her from “Hanger,” so what she has seen (“Gutterballs” and “Bleading Lady”) she’s been fine with. It’s the Asian hermaphrodite midget rodeo clown refluxophile porn that I make her watch that she has problems with. She’s kind of uptight sometimes.

SCS: You’re into that stuff too? I have a whole collection of AHRCR porn! At least she got to see the penile mutilation in Gutterballs. Next question: Your hair is extremely curly in Bleading Lady, but not in Gutterballs or Hanger. What magic is responsible for that?

Dan Ellis: Car batteries, lots of car batteries… Nah, I got a perm and dyed it black . When I suggested it to Ryan I was kind of joking. I also wanted to do it, but when Ryan said “that would be killer man,” I knew we were doing it — and that was that. I love changing my looks, and this was a big one because I couldn’t just “take it off” when we wrapped! That perm and dye was waking up with me for a few weeks, and it fucked with my head at times seeing Don Cardini in the mirror like that. I idolized Lon Chaney when I was growing up, and watching his films I was always amazed at how he changed his appearance and did it so well — a true master — so I imagine that made an impression on me. If I was even 1/100th of the man he was that would be something.

SCS: A fucking PERM — I knew it! Most of my readers are too young to know who Lon “The Man of a Thousand Faces” Chaney is, but you’re right: Even if you were only 1/100th of him, you’d still have ten faces. Next question: Do you ever have dreams about executing people in horrible ways because you’ve done it so many times in your movies?

Dan Ellis: Hell no, man. I love horror films, but the movies are where it ends for me. I’m a pretty even-keeled guy and when people start getting fucked up in my dreams, then it becomes a nightmare and I wake up all freaked out. I can’t even have a good fight dream anymore without the old “I can only move in slow motion” or “All my limbs weigh 15 tons” action, haha! I think if you start having dreams about hurting people, then maybe you just need a little sit down with someone.

SCS: Sleep-dream paralysis is a bitch of a whore. Seriously though, I dream about murdering people all the time, so I will take your advice and talk to someone about it. Next question: I’m sorry, but I have to ask this. What are your three favorite horror flicks that come to mind right away?

Dan Ellis: This is never a fair question, man. Just off the top of my head: “American Psycho,” “2000 Maniacs,” and “Re-Animator.”

SCS: Your next Ryan Nicholson film is The Murder Mack, in which you sport a Nicolas Cage-type haircut. Tell me, what does the real Dan Ellis’s hair look like?

Dan Ellis: Do you say Nicolas Cage because it’s fake or because of the style? Oh no I didn’t! *Evil laughter*

SCS: Nicolas Cage is to hair what Lon Chaney was to faces. While we are still on the topic of hair, would you mind telling me what kind of shampoo you use?

Dan Ellis: It’s some “Mane & Tail” shampoo I get from the Co-Op up the street, and I’m starting to think you either want to be a barber, or you’re sweet on me!

SCS: I swear I haven’t been sending you those photos of me naked. Mane & Tail is shampoo for horses, but people use it too, and they also claim that it makes their hair grow faster. OK, last question: Are there any other projects of yours that you want to mention?

Dan Ellis: I just finished a film called “The Hard Cut” and another called “I Woke Up Screaming the Day I Died,” directed by Vince D’Amato of Creepy Six Films — they should be released this year. Ryan and I are going to shoot “The Murder Mack” and we’ll get started on that one this year. Marcus Koch (“100 Tears”) and I have been trying to work on a project for a while now, so I hope to be doing something with him this year as well. Besides that, I’m pretty open for now, so I hope to squeeze in a few more!

SCS: Thanks a lot for answering my questions, Dan. I feel like I just interviewed Jason Voorhees, or Freddy Krueger, or Rosie O’Donnell (she terrified me as a teenager). I wish you the best of luck, and when you end up in Hollywood working along side of Tom Cruise, remember me.