Ezra Buzzington: Making Fish Faces with the Hills Have Eyes’ Gruesome Goggle. By Brian Kirst
Ezra Buzzington, (www.ezrabuzzington.com) best known to horror fans as Goggle in The Hills Have Eyes remake, is one of the finest character actors working today – and his continued employment record with high profile directors (Alexandre Aja, The Farrelly Brothers) definitely bares that claim out. The passionate, articulate Buzzington has not only appeared in such modern horror opuses as Mirrors, Someone’s Knocking at the Door, The Haunting of Marston Manor and Skeletons in the Desert – but he is an exciting, committed presence in such art house favorites as Magnolia, Secretary and Ghost World. Recently, Buzzington generously took some time out of his busy schedule to answer some exclusive questions for Horror Society.
Brian: Who were your first performing influences – Jackie Gleason going ‘straight to the moon’ – Jack Nicholson visiting China Town – A favorite uncle doing pirouettes with a lampshade?
Ezra: Ok. This is kind of lame. But it was my mom. She was an incredible actress who, in the bland, dull gray of Muncie, Indiana seemed to have this exciting nightlife filled with fun, intelligent people and fancy drinks. She was a member of the local civic theatre. Sometimes I think it was the comparative glamour of the parties and crazy actors that made me go into the business. Turned out it was nothing like that but it was too late by that point. That was theatre. With movies it would have to be the heightened realities of characters (and actors) like Nicholson in Easy Rider, Hoffman in The Graduate, and Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy. All kind of dark and anti-heroey. DeNiro in anything really but especially Taxi Driver.
Brian: You have played interesting roles in a number of seriously respected independent films (Magnolia, Ghost World, Art School Confidential, Million Dollar Hotel, and Secretary). Is there a certain way you go about making an impact with a limited amount of screen time?
Ezra: The text always comes first but then I start with the look. Right now my hair is dyed a really cheap over-the-counter blonde and I’m growing a scruffy goatee that’s darker. I’m playing a wheelchair-bound vet who’s gotten into child pornography. The look just kind of fits. Zwigoff always like to wig me in the parts he puts me in and I really dig that cos I disappear in the roles. But the text is always the most important thing. As an example: if a character says “Yeah, thought so.” It implies an educational level that would be different if the line were “Oh, yes. I always believed that to be true.” Words hold secrets to character. Syntax and rhythm do as well. Then you just ask yourself a shit load of questions: How’d this guy do in school? Has he been married? What was his family life like? Etc. Once you answer all those and marry the look to the text, you’re in. Playing it’s the easy part.
Brian: With your experiences on Me, Myself and Irene & Say It Isn’t So, can you tell us what it feels like being a member of the Farrelly Brothers team?
Ezra: Lucky. I love those guys. When I heard a few years ago that they were going to be doing a film of the Three Stooges, I found a couple of Stooges shirts at a vintage store and sent them to them. Telling them not to fight over who gets which. Bobby wrote back thanking me and calling me a sheep-fucker. Like, how he knew, I’ll never know. I’d love to work with them again. And hope I will. But I gotta tell you, the best was getting to play with Jim Carrey. He’s a fricking genius.
Brian: Do you have any specific memories of your time on the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer television set?
Ezra: What I remember most is how well the set was run. One of the best teams I’ve ever worked with. But the weirder thing is when I first moved to town, I reconnected with an old buddy from Seattle. I had dinner with him and his wife and he was bitching about not getting any work. Everybody told him to hang in there, etc. One month later he was cast as Spike. James and I used to do theatre together in Seattle. Haven’t heard from him since he booked Buffy. Bastard. (Totally kidding).
Brian: Is there a certain type of character you prefer playing – a murderous heathen, the goofy sidekick?
Ezra: Truly, I love them all. I find something about each one to love. I just played a demon serial killer rapist from the 1970’s for a film called Someone’s Knocking at the Door and I totally dug his sense of humor. He was just about as evil as you could get but as he was attacking somebody, he’d be saying all this funny shit. The only type of character I really dig playing, though, is somebody with a serious edge. Like <serious> edge. Somebody who goes there and doesn’t care what anybody thinks. The further out the better.
Brian: Cool. On The Hills Have Eyes remake, do you find there was a lot of difficulty in adjusting to the desert while being fully costumed as Goggle?
Ezra: It was hot. But the make-up by KNB was so great it was a lot easier to deal with than you’d think. The worse thing was the ants. When you’re covered with sticky blood and you’re lying on the ground and the ants come, you kinda want to get the shot done as fast as possible. Not to mention the scorpions. It was Morocco, after all.
Brian: How did you approach the character of Goggle? Did you create an elaborate back story or did you just place yourself within the circumstances of the script?
Ezra: Goggle had a huge back story. There was a reason he was separate from the rest of the mutant family. When he was a kid, he’d seen his family attack and devour a group of hippie travelers he’d befriended after he’d gotten lost in the hills and they’d saved him. Goggle never ate people. Just dogs and other animals. Never people. Goggle was actually a very sad guy with a huge heart who got trapped in an act not of his own design. There’s a special place in my heart for Goggle.
Brian: What was your most interesting moment on The Hills Have Eyes set?
Ezra: Probably when I found myself sitting at the gorgeous, 4-star hotel in Ourzazate, Morocco having dinner with Michael Bailey Smith, Bob Joy, Ted Levine and Billy Drago while Moroccan bats swooped inches above our heads as we talked horror films. Also, running around scaring the locals who worked on set was a lot of fun. They would literally run away if you chased them in make-up. Totally ruled.
Brian: Can you tell us about your character and involvement in Mirrors?
Ezra: Alex called me and asked if I’d like to be in it even if he had to direct me from Budapest. We shot my bits in Burbank and Greg Nicotero (KNB) ran the camera while Alex directed over the phone. – Which, when you consider his thick French accent, was kind of a challenge. But I’d do anything for Alex. I’m hoping I can play a fish in his “Piranha” remake.
Brian: Do you have a favorite memory of working on the set of Mirrors?
Ezra: I love working with prosthetic make-up. When they cover you up and you’re watching in the mirror, sometimes the character just appears and all you have to do is get out of the way.
Brian: Can you tell us a little about your involvement in the very interesting sounding The Haunting of Marsten Manor and Skeletons in the Desert?
Ezra: Ok. Marsten Manor (which I finally just saw) was shot in this haunted bed and breakfast in Utah. It has a kind of religious theme and my character is a kind of sleazy mechanic. The other actors were a joy to work with and it was cool being in a creepy B and B. But I gotta tell you, Utah is not one of my favorite places unless I’m attending Sundance. Organized religion freaks me out. Fast. Skeletons was crazy! They had, like, two dollars to make a movie and, while it wasn’t one of the most organized shoots I’ve ever been on, I have to commend the level of dedication of all the participants. I liked my character in that one a lot. A crazed evangelical Christian serial killer. I mean, come on. What’s not to like?
Brian: Totally! Now – Lastly, any words of wisdom (IE: Never drive the family camper down a side road inhabited by chemically indestructible mutants) or future projects that you’d like to tell us about? And thanks – this has been better than a raw leg of German Sheppard. I swear!
Ezra: “Don’t make someone a priority in your life if they’ve only made you an option in theirs.”
“Everyone prefers a rising sun to a setting sun.”
“Shit or get off of the pot.”
