Nathan Witte: Gutterballs’ Heroic God of Gore. By Brian Kirst
Long hours, little sleep, caloric breakfasts and lots and lots of blood! Such is the experience of making a low budget horror film – especially if you’re Nathan Witte and the lead in director Ryan Nicholson’s follow-up to his flesh peeling Live Feed, Gutterballs.
But such toiling is worth it if you’re getting maximum exposure as the hero of a film with one unique and crazy killer. Gutterballs, scheduled for release on April 29th, features a sadistic psycho (who creatively kills at least 13 by Witte’s count) whose inventive disguise is a brilliantly altered, highly functional bowling bag. Considering the attention that such a pedigreed killer might bring this project, it is lucky that Witte, a gregarious and personable celebrity guest at February 2008’s Fangoria Convention in Chicago, is a fan of the horror genre.
If you ask him about his beginnings, though, you’ll discover that his first influence was the comic energy of Will Smith, not the snazzy killings of Robert Englund’s seminal Freddy. In fact, Witte has recently had a chance to act upon on those "Fresh Prince" imaginings. He has recently finished developing and filming a sketch comedy show, FineLine. With that project undergoing its first screening and Gutterballs’ imminent release, Witte is definitely a man on the rise. He is thrilled "to be getting paid to do what I love. Acting with new people and new crew is always exciting and that’s one of the many reasons why I enjoy what I do."
But, Witte may already be growing tired of tickling the funny bone. When asked what type of role he’d like to play, his answer is a serial killer in a suspense film. (Al Pacino, beware! Your 88 Minutes may truly be up!) With the talent and drive of someone like Nathan, this answer is not truly a surprise though. "I think it would be fun to explore the possibilities of having different characters in one individual," he says. Hopefully, Gutterballs‘ slickly brilliant Nicholson or another inventive director will someday give Witte (and by proxy, us) that chance!
