Ahead of our exclusive preview screening of Into The Storm next week ( win tickets here ) we have an exclusive Q&A with two of the sta...
Ahead of our exclusive preview screening of Into The Storm next week (win tickets here) we have an exclusive Q&A with two of the stars of the movie, Jon Reep and Kyle Davis.
How did you become involved with this project?
JON REEP: Well, just got an audition, and I went in for the audition. And I cried. Which was a good thing at the time, because there was a scene, which unfortunately didn't make it into the film, where our characters are running from the storm. We go hide into a bank. And we go under this desk, and we're praying for our lives. We're praying to God-- it was a real moment with God. And we were just bawling. And then got the part based on that. And then they cut that part out.
KYLE DAVIS: And honestly, same audition. I went in there, had no idea it was anything to do with a comedy at all. I just knew my name was Donk. And they said, "All right, we're going have you improv a scene where you're crying. You're in this bank." So I'm crying tears and praying to the lord. Then I get the job and they're like, "You're going to be funny."
What are your characters like?
KD:O h, Donkey. Donk is a-- He's from the Jackass-type crew. That's kind of how I based him off. A little bit of Steve-O, Johnny Knoxville-ish. Because I used to be a skateboarder growing up. So I thought, "You know, I used to be a little crazy." And also I watched some YouTube videos to do a little bit of a research. And there's hundreds of YouTube videos of these guys on there. So I put those together and then when Jon got hired, we looked at those videos together and just-- It's not a stretch for this guy. Come on, look at him.
JR:I got my own viral videos out there now. Yeah. Well, I got kicked out of a Carolina Panthers football game for dancing in the end zone with the mascot. It's illegal to do that. I didn't know that. The cops kicked me out. It's on YouTube. It's out there. I got another one where I play a drunk cop. I pull a guy over and teach him how to pass a sobriety test drunk. But people think it's real. So, I enjoy doing these crazy, viral videos anyway. So, it wasn't a hard stretch for me to act like a jackass.
Did you know you would become the comic relief for the film, and was there a lot of improvisation?
KD: We're funny in this thing?
JR: Oh, nice. Were we supposed to be funny?
KD: Originally, in this movie, there really wasn't much lines for us except "Hey, look at that corner-- "
JR:"Look at that! What's that?" That was it.
KD:And, so, when we were doing the flaming pool of death scene the producer who created this film, Todd Garner, he-- He would give us some lines here and there. Give us a plotline of what to say.
JR:Yeah.
KD:The director and everybody just let us run free and said a bunch of lines. And thank God they did that, because otherwise we might be cut out of this movie. That would be a shame.
JR:Yeah, we improved a lot. I think they saw us having fun in between takes. Like, just, goofing around.
KD:We became instantly, like, really good friends. So we already had a lot of chemistry. We didn't even have to act. We could already go off each other.
JR:Now we're BFF's forever.
KD:We live down the street from each other in real life. Swear to God.
What was it like to act alongside the machines that simulated the weather?
JR: It helped. Because it's weird to act like there's a tornado coming when there's nothing happening.
KD:When there's nothing going on.
JR:So the fact that there was rain and wind hitting you. It really made it feel like we weren't acting.
KD:Yeah, because that wind machine really is going about a 100 miles an hour, throwing debris, and leaves hitting you. Really hitting you hard. I even had some scrapes on me. And it actually puts you in the moment because you really have to scream. You have to scream so loud because the wind machine was so loud, they could barely hear you. It actually worked out really well. I'm glad they had that. We enjoyed it.
How do you feel about the found-footage technique for this film?
JR: It's cool, because you get to see this through other people's point of view. Their own cameras. And we actually were shooting a lot of stuff on these little cameras. He had a Go Pro in his helmet. I had a little flip cam-type thing. And we shot stuff, I think they actually used some footage that we actually shot in the film.
KD:I think every character, actually, because everybody had basically a camera in the movie. The director said everybody who filmed stuff, actually is in the movie. Our shots.
JR:Yeah. That's pretty cool.
KD:That's pretty epic. Because that doesn't happen every day.
JR:So we're not just great improvisation actors, we're also--
KD:We're also filmers. DP's.
JR:Yes, second AD.
KD:Yeah. Second-- There you go.
What was it like working with Steven Quale?
JR:Who's that?
KD:Bless his heart. He is such a peach. I love that guy.
JR:He--Steve is awesome.
KD:He really is.
JR:Yeah.
KD:He's one of those guys because he comes from a CGI background. Working on Titanic. Is it Avatar?
JR:Yeah. Titanic. Terminator. Avatar.
KD:Avatar. So he's one of those guys. He's a fast talker. He says, "All right, here's what's going to happen. There's going to be a big tornado here, there's going to be this here. Now, go out and act!"
JR:He's very excited about it. He's like a kid.
KD:Oh, yeah.
JR:He's got the whole movie in his head. He just says--
KD:Which I like working like that because he didn’t have to come up to us with too many notes and say, “You guys are really effing this up here. Let’s do this—“ He would just say, “There’s a tornado coming. Do your job.”
JR:Yeah, I think he really trusted us, too. Because most of our scenes were at the very end of the day.
KD:Yeah. One-take wonders.
JR:We'd go on set and we'd sit in our trailer or in a chair like this for all day. And they go, "Okay, Kyle, Jon, let's go." We do it three times. "That's a wrap! Everybody go home."
KD:I swear to God. He's amazing.
What do you hope people take away from this film when they see it?
JR:Take away? I hope they remember our characters. I hope they remember "Jon Reep dot com" was hilarious.
KD:And Kyle Davis. No, honestly, we're the funny parts in the movie, but, I think a lot of people will take away how dangerous storms really are. And that they should be safe and not be stupid like us and go into the storm with little video cameras. Because you really can get hurt and that's just dumb.
JR:It's dangerous.
KD:Leave that to the actors, okay, people?
JR:Remember, it's not that the wind is blowing, it is what the wind is blowing.
KD:The wind is blowing. Remember that. Straw, it can go through a tree.
