Full Transcript for Ep. 31: He Joined the Puppet Master Universe… Without Meeting the Puppets | Bill D. Russell

that showed routes to get places. You know, he had to use a map. It's like, how did we do how did we know really where we were going? It mystifies Clint: Right? Bill D Russell: me. Jordan: It's crazy how how far it's gotten. Bill D Russell: Yeah. Clint: Yeah. Jordan: so do you remember the first time that you thought that you were like, Hey, I could actually do this professionally? Bill D Russell: And that took a while to be honest. when I first started performing improv for and for several years. I I it most of the people I knew who were profess you know, professional actors or aspiring to be professional actors w were just self-absored. Jordan: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: and it I don't know. I was just it was a turn off to me. It's like and again, okay. I started studying improvisation initially while I was studying screenwriting and directing at Columbia College in Chicago. I wanted to be involved in film, but act you know, not as an actor. That was again, that wasn't even on my radar. I Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: was really I planned to I was wanting to be a screenwriter is what I wanted to do. And that was part of the reason finally I a friend of mine convinced me to start taking classes with players workshop of Second City, was realizing, well, that's that's another way of creating You know, if you're creating dialogue in your brain, yeah, it's not much different than if you're creating dialogue with another person. In fact, that's probably even better. So that was a lot of the reason I first started doing it again. Wasn't my intention to become a performer. Jordan: Mm. Bill D Russell: say it really was, I was probably 31, 32 already, when Another friend of mine con convinced me that I could again could make money doing commercials. Jordan: Doing it. Bill D Russell: because you know, I just had that look. because when I was when I was doing improv with Del Close and Improv Olympics in the mid eighties, i it was like to me, one, we kind of had this outlaw mentality, like second city, man. We're the improv Olympics. We're we're doing we're we're art. You know, they we it had sort of this or at least I did. I remember at in at the time I wore a full beard and a fellow actors said to me, Bill, you should you should shave because you would get so much more commercial work if with your face if you were clean shaven. And I was like, commercial work? I'm not a s I'm not a sellout. Clint: Thanks. Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: Damn it. So I didn't even have headshots and printed resumes or you know agency representation Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: at that time. It wasn't again until I was it was like in the early, no, it was probably about 1989 when you know somebody convinced me. It's like, you know, you probably could make some money. So I did. I went clean shaven and for a while, yeah, I got I got a fair amount of commercial. Clint: That's cool. Jordan: That's impressive. Just just what a little bit of cleaning the face up can do. Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: Right. Jordan: so looking at your Bill D Russell: And now n you don't wanna see me clean shaven now. It's not pretty. It's not Jordan: Ha ha ha. Clint: man. Bill D Russell: that's that's why the hair is here. It's not pretty underneath. Clint: Okay. Jordan: So looking at your IMDB credits, they go back more than a decade. What do you remember your about yourself like as those first time roles? Bill D Russell: And to be honest, they they should go back farther than that. But a lot of the things I worked on Jordan: Did they not credit you for it? Bill D Russell: I did I I worked on episodes of America's Most Wanted and Unsolved Jordan: Okay. Clint: Really? Bill D Russell: Unsolved Mysteries, you know, the because they do those recreations. I never got to play the killer. my favorite one, there's an America's Most Wanted, where the victim had been an airport lounge singer who who bottoms out as an alcoholic. And after going successfully going through rehab, she gets murdered. And that was the case. But I played a guy sitting at the airport bar who heckles her. I turn Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: around, I turn her, she's singing drunkenly, and I turn around and go, Miss Deled you lush. And then I turn around back to the bartender and say, Cut her off. But find that now. There is there is really no collection of episodes of those old Clint: I'm Bill D Russell: shows, especially ones like that. just within the last year, a friend of mine said, Hey, did you do an episode of Unsolved Mysteries? I think I was like, Yeah, in in nineteen ninety one. What what are you Clint: Damn. Bill D Russell: watching that you see that? Now Jordan: Yeah. Wh where did he find it? Bill D Russell: yeah, and I said, Do you have any idea like what no, of course not. So things like that are just hard to t and if you can't find the episode, IMDB doesn't let you register. Clint: Okay. Jordan: Mm. Bill D Russell: You can't just say, I was on one of these episodes. They they don't do that, you have to know for sure. I was on Jordan: Yeah. Exactly. Bill D Russell: America's Funniest People twice. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: Sh I don't know if you remember that. It was hosted by Dave Poulier and Arlene Sorkin to begin with and Tawny Katane at the end. I was on twice, both times Ton so I got to have Tawny Catane say my name. Jordan: Mm-hmm. Clint: Heck yeah! Bill D Russell: That's that's almost as good as, you know, a hundred thousand dollars. so like Jordan: Ha ha ha. Clint: Right? Bill D Russell: that. It's I've I've never been able to successfully get those onto IMDB. but none of them were like big film roles or big T V roles or anything like that. But I Jordan: Right. Bill D Russell: I I didn't just start doing this ten years ago. And I know it looks like that. I've had people say, did you retire and decide to become an actor? No, I've been Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: I've been doing this You know, for for a long time. Clint: Right. Jordan: So was

there someone early on in your career who made you say, Hey, we need to take a chance on you and this is, you know, we really need to get you into either a acting or screenwriting. Bill D Russell: Okay, say that again did not the whole thing, the first part. Someone that influenced me, you mean? Jordan: So was there someone Yeah, was there someone early yes, someone who influenced you early on in your career that actually took a chance on you as well? Bill D Russell: The yeah, that the it's the take a chance part that I'm not sure about. Wow, that's a great question. You know, I mean, there probably were occasions where I felt that way, but not to such a degree that I was like, that person really went out on a limb for me. I can think Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: of a lot of people who should have, and I've got a list of names. Clint: man. Jordan: I mean I'm down to hear it. Bill D Russell: Mm. Jordan: If you're willing to name drop. I understand. You're good. Bill D Russell: No, no, unfortunately. Clint: He said no. Jordan: so looking at your filmography and all the roles that you play, you've played everything from like a police officer to detectives to villains to fathers to professors. What character do you enjoy the most? Bill D Russell: Don't don't don't leave out vampires. Vampires, Jordan: Okay, vampires as well. Yep. Clint: yeah! Bill D Russell: alien supreme leader. Clint: Okay. Jordan: All right. Bill D Russell: I'm just thinking the ones that I really enjoyed that aren't policeman doctors. Jordan: Okay. So anything I didn't say, what characters Bill D Russell: Anyway. Jordan: what character type do you like playing? Bill D Russell: I I don't know that there's any one specific did you s did you look at They Came Back from Somewhere at all? It's a kind of a Plan 9 from Outer Space parody where I play a Ming the Merciless like character. And it the style calls for it to be elevated stylistically, you know, more it's almost like sitcom. It's more I want you to bring me that shit. You know, it's very that sort of strident character. But it was so much fun. so that but also you know, like manipulative menacing people I like. Jordan: Okay. Clint: Okay. Jordan: Alright, so now this one leads me into a good one. So have you ever gotten a script and thought, How the hell am I supposed to play this guy? Bill D Russell: I wanna say yeah, now I'm trying to think of what 'cause you're gonna say, What was it? and I'm Jordan: Well, of course. Bill D Russell: May maybe I just turned it down and I don't remember. Cause that has Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: happened. There there have been, you know, for whatever reason where you go, no, I'm just this is not for me. Other but Jordan: Yeah. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: for the most part, I I am totally a whore. Ask me to be in your movie and you know. Other other Clint: Okay. Jordan: You'll figure out how to make it work. Bill D Russell: than that now I have now I have a manager who will say you you can't do that. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: That's you don't want to do that project. other than that, Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: I'm just I'm like I'm flattered to be to be asked. Clint: for sure. Jordan: Yeah, I mean who wouldn't be? Bill D Russell: And you know, to me as an actor, it's like any opportunity to to do something fun, I'd love to do it. So Clint: Hell yeah. Jordan: Okay, so now you've got me intrigued. In your roles, have you done any improv in off script? Bill D Russell: Not not to a great extent, certainly not like a Christopher Guest movie Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: or you know, any any directors that work with that kind of thing. Certainly There are probably small moments or whatever, or the director might say, as long as you kind of know the bullet points of this dialogue, just you guys just be natural. but that even that, that's not I wouldn't call that a lot of improvisation. but since we're since Jordan: Yeah, and I feel like there's a lot more directors these days. Bill D Russell: we're talking about it, can I want to tell a story. That I never get to talk about. And I think it's a really cool story. Jordan: Let's hear it. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: did you guys know who Del Close is? he was the second city director with Belushi and Ramus and Bill Murray, and he also directed Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: Toronto with John Candy and in Catherine O'Kera. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: This is like in Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: the in the late 70s. by the mid by the time I started studying improv, he was working with a organization called improv Olympics and the the difference but you know second city is does you know quick sketches kind of like what whose line is it that kind of thing Clint: Yeah! Jordan: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: we were doing long form which is you you get a suggestion from the audience and you're basically trying to create create a 45 minute one act play and you're not Trying to be funny. It will be funny because of the nature of improvisation when when discoveries are made between the actors on stage and the audience as part of that discovery. That's what people love about long form. It's not that it's inherently funny necessarily. But Jordan: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: it is a way to take a concept and explore it in different ways that you can create an extended theatrical piece. Clint: Mm. Bill D Russell: so one day our producer, now the the troupe I was on, One of one of my troop members is Joel Murray. Joel is the brother of Bill Murray and Brian Doyle Murray, Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: who both of course had worked with Dallas now, Joel. So Joel was part of that. a couple other, you know, relatively well-known names in the improv world were were part of this group I was on called Barons of Barracudas. So one day our producer said, Bill Murray is working on a movie with Sidney Powell. He had been in he'd met Sydney Pollock on Tootsie and they wanted to work together. So Clint: Hmm. Bill D

Russell: he said, they have an idea what they want to do, but they're having a hard time coming up with a script. And Bill told you know, Mr. Pollock, hey, Del Close used to teach us how to do this long form improv. We could probably improvise a script if we learned this technique. So they decided to get the cast together. Come to Chicago and work with Dell to learn how to do this long form improvisation, but because we were the house team of Improv Olympics, we were, you know, like the demonstrators. So Clint: man, that's cool. Jordan: man. Bill D Russell: we spent an afternoon with Sidney Pollack and Bill Murray, and the rest of the cast was Bill's brother Brian Doyle Murray. Bud Court. From Harold and Maud, if you know who Bud Court is, you may not. He's a an obscure name. C. Thomas Howell, Jamie Gertz, Dana Delaney. I think that's it. but at least at the time, you know, this was the mid-80s. Most of those names were pretty, you know, Jamie Gertz was a huge star at the time. Jordan: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: so We spent an afternoon on stage with these people, like basically showing them how to do this long form improv. and it's a jump ahead, you know, the film never got made for whatever reason. it was kind of Bill's pet project. And my understanding is when they decided it wasn't gonna work out, he he took everyone to dinner or yeah, to dinner and gave them like fifteen thousand dollar checks or something, the the cast Clint: Damn! Bill D Russell: members as as a thank you. Jordan: That's insane. Bill D Russell: but it was And you know, this wasn't open to the public. It was that cast of people and our improv troupe. So I, you know, I got to do some scenes with Bill Murray, and I got to dance with Jamie Gertz on stage. Clint: That's so cool. Bill D Russell: But it it is and it's like t almost totally unknown. There's one book about Bill Murray, there's one biography that mentions it in like a paragraph. Clint: Really? Jordan: That's crazy. Bill D Russell: And of course, back then, you know, we didn't have cell phones. There was, and they didn't want it recorded necessarily. So we have no photographic evidence, anything like that. Clint: Damn. Bill D Russell: but it was it was just such a cool experience. And after it was all done and we were kind of dispersing, my friend Steve Burroughs and I left the the cabaret where this was going on, and we were on our way to the atta or to the Belmont L. And we turned the corner and I literally physically ran into John Cusack who was looking for Joel Murray and so had dumb by Clint: Really? Jordan: Te Bill D Russell: the cabaret. Because is Joel still there? We're like, man, no, sorry. Joel's gone. Clint: Man. Jordan: That's Bill D Russell: So yeah, that that's that's the movie improv and but during that, you know, we spent maybe four four or five hours in an afternoon evening. You could see that it they could have done it, you know. You could tell Clint: Right, right. Jordan: Right. Bill D Russell: it was clicking and they were getting how to play off each other. You know, the big thing for long-form improv is you're not going for the joke, you're you're You're you're trying to build something. You know, it's I'm gonna put a piece here and you add a piece, and somebody else will add a piece, and we're gonna build this thing. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: so it's all it's about ad knowing how to advance or further the action. It's it's what gets dumbed down to yes and if you've heard that expression relating to improv. it basically means you agree with what is happening. And y you do something that justifies it or or adds to it in some Jordan: Right. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: So if if you kind of get in the groove of doing that and you're working with the same group of people, so you kind of you develop a sense of how each other thinks, yeah, you can really we did some, you know, forty five minute improv shows that where you get done and go, How did we cut you know, how did that happen? Because that's what Jordan: Mm-hmm. Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: it it happens. You cannot say, I'm gonna go out there and do this. It won't work. It it It happens. It happens organically. And we would have people Jordan: Right. Bill D Russell: come up to us after shows and like you did that was scripted. You did not just improvise that. They couldn't believe it wasn't scripted because it to them it just had flowed. It Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: looked, it looked effortless. Jordan: Right. Bill D Russell: Which to be honest, you do it long enough, it almost gives. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: you you get into I don't know if you're familiar with the state of flow, the psychologic psychological state of flow. It's like being in the zone. Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: You know, when a professional like a professional basketball player, when everything is suddenly like slow motion and he he's so focused on the basket, you know, that kind of thing, you sort of get into that that mindset where everything is just it's just happening. Clint: Right. Jordan: Yeah, no, I mean that's that's a crazy story. Bill D Russell: Could I answer your question? Clint: Yes. Jordan: Yes, and some. Bill D Russell: I feel like I'm just I I feel like I've just been rambling for a while. Which I have, though. Jordan: Hey, you're Clint: No, you're good. Jordan: you're totally fine. so s Bill D Russell: Thanks thank you for indulging me and letting me talk about that instant. Jordan: Hey, no problem. It's a great story though too, for sure. I mean you can't Clint: anytime. Absolutely. Bill D Russell: It is a great story, I think. Jordan: the bad part is there's no like you know, no proof, no evidence, but like just because like you're Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: I know. Jordan: saying back then there wasn't cell phones like we have today, like, well let me Bill D Russell: Yeah, it even if there was they wouldn't you know, they wouldn't have because of the nature of what we derive.

Jordan: Right. Clint: Right. Jordan: So spending a lot of time in the independent production world, what keeps you coming back to indie films versus doing commercials? Bill D Russell: Who offers me the opportunities, quite honestly. It's not like I'm making a decision to do one or the other. I Jordan: Mm-hmm. Clint: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: audition for commercials all the time. I've got to do one when we're done here. I'm I'm gonna I'm Jordan: Ha ha ha. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: I I'm auditioning to be a poop butler. It's for a robot pooper scooper, and the character is going to be, you know, a very a petite. British butler Who will pick up the Jordan: boy. Clint: Okay? Bill D Russell: poop for I'll pick up that poop for you, sir? Jordan: Yeah. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: So yeah, so I'm I'm certainly doing that, you know, it's not like I'm not picking one or the other. It's who you know, who gives me the opportunity is really what it comes down to. Like I said, I'm not I'm not gonna turn down my Clint: Absolutely. Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: Unless I don't work for free and unless my manager says no, that would not be good for you. Otherwise, yeah, hell. Clint: Okay. Jordan: All right. So in your opinion, what do Bill D Russell: Yeah, Jordan: you think the biggest misconception people have on independent filmmaking? Bill D Russell: Independent filmmaking in general? The Jordan: Yes. Bill D Russell: biggest the biggest misconception? Jordan: Yes. Bill D Russell: that's a good question. I I think one is It doesn't really take much knowledge to make a good movie. Is is a lot of people mentality. And it's it's like at least w study some movies if you're not gonna take a filmmaking class. There's a lot of not all of it certainly, but there's a lot of independent film out there, not just in the horror genre. Although that's where a so much independent film is Jordan: That's where a lot of are, yeah. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: right now. Where it's it Like Okay, we got blood and boobies, but you don't Jordan: Ha ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: know how to create a story, you don't know how to light a scene, Jordan: Hm. Bill D Russell: the audio, you know, all of those things. it's like it's not that hard. Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: and so that's a misconception on the point of filmmakers. as if if you're talking about a misconception among the general public, maybe maybe the Just the concept of funding. You know, it's not everybody understands well I I think to be to be honest, if you're an independent filmmaker and you're trying to raise money to to make your movie and and you're not succeeding, there is probably a Clint: Right. Jordan: Yeah. Bill D Russell: Sorry. But I'm Clint: Great. All right. Bill D Russell: trying to think of I don't know. Do you know any do you have any misconceptions about the independent film world? Jordan: I mean, we've had our fair share. We've had a few independent film ge guest on and like Clint: Yeah. Jordan: it's definitely different, you know, it's not your Hollywood studio backed, you know. And Bill D Russell: god, it's it's yeah. Jordan: you you gotta ha I think the biggest misconception is like people gotta go into it kinda having like an open mind and like Clint: for sure. Bill D Russell: Mm-hmm. Jordan: get the grasp of the story and not be so judgmental like on, you know, how the you know, actors are portrayed or how the filming is done. Like these guys are working Bill D Russell: Yeah. Yeah. Jordan: on a budget for a reason. Like they're just doing something they enjoy. Bill D Russell: Yeah, and and a a so much of independent film is really just people who are doing it because they they love it, you know. They Jordan: Right. Bill D Russell: know they're not gonna make a lot of money. Jordan: Right. Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: Be on a streaming platform so somebody can see the movie I made. Jordan: Right, and Tubi's a big one right now. Bill D Russell: So it's like Clint: Yes, no. Bill D Russell: absolutely. To me it you know, it's like doing I I'm not gonna be on Broadway, but I like to act so I'll be in a community theater project. It it's not Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: the big time, but the person is doing what they love. It it's Jordan: Right. Clint: For sure. Bill D Russell: easy to look down on it, but we shouldn't. And it I think it to a similar extent it's the same with with independent film. People are trying to do the best with what they have. Clint: Absolutely. Jordan: Right. All right, my last question before I kick it over to Clint. before your manager here, now we're gonna kick it but back, before Bill D Russell: Mm-hmm. Jordan: your manager, when you were doing this, what was the biggest red flag that you would look for before agreeing to a production or a film? Bill D Russell: I learned to look for certain things. Yeah. Somebody who's just announced their film idea and they're starting a fundraising campaign and they go off overly ambitiously. You know, they're they're biting way too big too soon. Jordan: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: I've seen that happening in a couple of projects where, you know, I've been offered a role and I'm like, okay, nope, this is gonna crash and burn. I'm not eager now. Jordan: Ha Clint: Right. Jordan: ha Bill D Russell: I mean Well, one of the things I do is is if somebody reaches out to me that I don't know that person or if I'm auditioning for something, is I I chuck them out. I, you know, I'll Google them, I'll look them up on IMDB. I want to know what's your track record. And if there is no track record, then be very cautious about what they're you know asking you or offering. Clint: Right, right. Bill D Russell: It's it's amazing how and I've seen this happen several times. Somebody has a really clever idea for a film, and it gets the idea alone gets such a positive reaction that yeah, it's like they forget to make the movie. You know, they Jordan: Ha ha ha ha. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: start

acting like the movie's already made and been a big hit. Jordan: Right. Bill D Russell: So Clint: Okay. So you found yourself involved with quite a few horror and darker genre projects. What were some of your horror movie influences growing up? Bill D Russell: You don't even we only have a certain amount of time. because that was a a big love for me as a kid. like I said, I gravitated core toward comedy, but I loved watching horror. Where where I grew up in Wisconsin, I I didn't have siblings until I was almost 12 years old. There were no other children that lived nearby, and It was a very small, close-knit community that we had moved into. So if you're an outsider, you're you're you're an outsider. So I was Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: a l I was a a lonely ass kid. and y all we had as far as as what to watch, you know, there wasn't physical media yet. There wasn't satellite or cable television or street, you know, or the internet. So it was we were at the mercy of the two or three broadcast television stations in the area. There was very little programming to choose from. But at Jordan: Mm-hmm. Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: night at that time, and we're talking about the the 60s basically, Johnny Carson was the only network show that was on after the evening news. All the other channels showed old movies. Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: and thank god horror movies seemed to be popular among the programmers. For me, especially it was hammer. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: there was one one station that just showed hammer films like every weekend. Clint: Really? Bill D Russell: And when you're you know, just entering adolescence. Because there were a lot of, you know, it was bloody and but a lot of curvy women in sheer nightgowns, you know, type of thing. Being Jordan: Mm-hmm. Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: being bitten in the neck. like what's not to like? Jordan: Mm-hmm. Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: so yeah, so I was really into that. I subscribed to famous monsters of the filmland magazine. but you know, I was again in it was never something I thought that I could go into that that genre of horror movies. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: but as as a fan, I loved it. Yeah. Clint: Okay. So do you remember your first experience acting in horror? And if so, what was it like? Bill D Russell: The first thing I would say was, and again, we're well for horror, we're jumping ahead to when I finally started pursuing acting. I I did a film that was a a graduate student project for a Columbia College film student called Johnny Verbeck's Machine, which is an old folk tale about Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: A butcher in a small town who is kidnapping the area dogs and grinding them up into his sausages, and the sausages are very popular until somebody figures out what he's up to, and by that point he he may also be grinding up people. We don't. So so this Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: guy basically wrote a screenplay based on that, and I played that carrying.

Jordan: So you played the Clint: Okay. Jordan: butcher? Bill D Russell: Yeah, yeah. In fact I I've got it, I've got a copy on VHS and I've been looking for someone to digitize it for me. Especially there's one scene it's like, you know, I look you I look back on it now where I I I kidnap this young girl out of her yard. And Jordan: Ha ha. Bill D Russell: I'm like, my God. It's like Clint: Man. Bill D Russell: Me too, me too. You know Stop. You can Yeah. Like, my god. Jordan: I'll say, Yeah, you do that today. You're in some trouble. Clint: Yeah. So, what do you think the most uncomfortable or bizarre scene you've ever had to film is? Bill D Russell: Hmm. I I worked on a film a year ago called The Clown Dies at Midnight to Clown Harder, where I have an extremely bloody death scene that involved half a dozen people all holding bottles of fake blood and pouring them on me at it's like the camera starts out at my face. And pans down my body, and you just see all this blood running. It starts out, they had a prosthetic made, like a fake this thing that went on my neck that was flesh colored. But when I tilted my head back, it would crack open and they had a tube running through it, so blood starts squirting out of my throat. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: that was just uncomfortable because, like I said, I was drenched. Clint: Right? Bill D Russell: In pink blood Gosh Right off the bat I can't think of anything that was really uncomfortable. I'm sure there is Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: something and it's just not coming to me. So it must not have Clint: Okay, Jordan: No big deal. Bill D Russell: been overly traumatic or Clint: Okay. Jordan: Right. Clint: So, in anything that you've done, have any of the practical effects ever generally caught you off guard while filming? Bill D Russell: Great question and no. not for me, but honestly, I haven't had that many scenes where there's scenes where the practical effects are happening. like Vic effects. I don't know if you guys are familiar with that one at all. It's a it's a I play a movie director who hir hires someone to do sound effects for my horror movies. and you know. She creates evil with these sound effects and the evil becomes part of her life, but none of what was for the movie, because there were a lot of practical effects for that film, but nothing that I was in esteem for. Clint: Okay. Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: There was supposed to be in the original script for Doctor or for Puppet Master Dr. Death, my character dies at the very beginning. Dr. Death torments me in a nightmare. And then the script head, Dr. Death bursts out of my chest and stabs me through the eye with a hypodermic needle into my brain. When we Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: actually shot it. They had decided not to do it as a practical effect. so what they did is is at some point they were shooting and I was screaming and all of this. And then director Dave Parker gave a cue. Greg Leitner, the special effects guy, had a squirt bottle full of fake blood and starts pumping this blood into my face that is supposed to be, you know, the blood squirting, blattering me when Dr. Death bursts out. And then they ended up not doing it at all in the film. They Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: had said. They had said, Yeah, we were gonna do a practical effect, but we just we're we're just gonna add it in later. And then they didn't even do that. Clint: Damn. Okay. Jordan: That sucks. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: I know. Clint: That's awesome though, you brought up Puppet Master. That was like my next set of questions for you. So you played Max in Puppet Master, Dr. Death. How did you become involved Bill D Russell: Yes, Max Kuda. Clint: with that project? Bill D Russell: I answered a blind audition notice on a casting platform. there's Clint: Really? Bill D Russell: a there's a couple of platforms out there. This one is called Actors Access, and it's one of the primary like a bulletin board for different auditions. If somebody's auditioning or somebody's casting a film, they go to they go to Actors Access and and say, Here are the roles. This is, you know, the breakdown of those roles. have them send us takes. so it actually I had I had submitted to audition for Baby Oopsie, if you know the baby oopsie films, which are from Full Moon features, a few months earlier Clint: I don't Bill D Russell: and hadn't heard from anybody. So then I saw this one for for Puppet Master Dr. Death, and I s would when what you submit for the role, you you you basically send them an an electronic message saying Here's my headshot, here's my resume, here's my demo reel. if you think I'm right, then then they will send you a script. So a lot Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: of times you submit yourself for something and you never hear anything because they decide they don't want to Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: see. So they said, Yeah, I got a message saying we want you to self-tape this one character for a scene. So I did that. Then I got an email from the casting director saying the director would like to do a callback with you on Zoom, but we want you to read for this other character. There's like three old men who die in the film. And I auditioned for all three of them eventually. Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: So then the second Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: one that I did, I did on Zoom with Dave Parker was for a different character. And then when I got the you know, the offer the year hired, it was like Well, it's now it's for this character. But the good news is it's the very you're in the very beginning of the movie. And and honestly, Clint: Okay, still cool. Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: I wasn't that involved in the horror community yet. Dr. Death is is what got me involved. I had never been to a horror convention until after Dr. Death started streaming and I thought, maybe I sh I could network. I should cash in. but I was I was unfamiliar with the Puppet Master movies. I I knew Clint:

Really? Bill D Russell: of I knew of them because I I would see the titles on Tubi, but Clint: Yup. Bill D Russell: not being at all familiar with them, I I I just thought they looked dull. Which some of them are, but to to fans Clint: Okay. Yeah. Bill D Russell: that's part of the allure. Clint: Right. Jordan: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: So it really wasn't until And I I posted something on Facebook about you know, in our actors chat group. I was like, hey everybody, I got booked in this puppet master commission. And all of a sudden people start making these comments about, my God, you're gonna be in a puppet master, you're gonna be in the puppet master canon. And I was like, There's there's a canon? Jordan: Ha ha ha. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: Which which I guess I am now. If you go to the fandom wiki online, you know, I'm in there. Clint: That's awesome. Bill D Russell: Yeah. Clint: So what was it like working with the puppets on set? Bill D Russell: I I didn't. Clint: NALHO Jordan: Yeah, he I mean he was here here and there, Bill D Russell: Not at all. Nope. Jordan: boom, done. Clint: Damn. Bill D Russell: All I all I saw was I saw Greg Leitner's workbench, where they had he had some puppets there, and a lot of just like, you know, it looks like puppet triage is what it looks like. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: you know, it's like a workshop. It's like his workshop. Dr. Death was not amongst them. And all we shot was I'm strapped down to a gurney screaming for almost so. Clint: Damn, I figured they would have busted him out or something. Bill D Russell: It in the movie you just see Dr. Death as sort of this apparition. You know, you can you can tell it's not it it's not a practical effect that they're doing. But it's supposed to be a it's a dream, it's a nightmare. So Jordan: Right. Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: So yeah, so I didn't get to actually work with a puppet. Clint: Okay, so we're. Bill D Russell: And from now on, I'm put I'm putting that as a writer in my contract. Even if puppets aren't in the movie, I want to work with a Clint: Hell yeah, Jordan: Ha ha. Clint: okay. So a little bit about producing. Do you think acting made Bill D Russell: Ha ha ha. Clint: you a better producer? Bill D Russell: Well and I'll be I'll be honest with you. My my activity as a producer is very, very limited. I I'm not making any decisions. That the the word producer is so vague. You know, somebody somebody who made a connection that helped The filmmaker finds somebody else who was right for their film. That's all they did was made an introduction. They might get a producer credit for that. Jordan: Why is that? Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: it's an acknowledgement, Jordan: Right. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: I guess. so most of my producer credits are some of them are basically fundraising per you can Jordan: Okay. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: you know you you invest in it's not very mu that much money, you know, make such and such a contribution, Jordan: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: and you you'd have an associate producer or an assisted producer, you know, depending on how much money you want to spend. I I take that as I'm gonna use that fact that I'm listed as a producer on this film and do everything I can to help promote it. So to Clint: For sure. Jordan: Right. Bill D Russell: me I I'm not looking at it as I paid for this perk, so now my name's in the credits. and basically because I'm looking for reasons to promote things when I don't have anything myself coming out to promote, if that makes sense. Jordan: Okay. Clint: Okay. Jordan: Yep. Clint: Yeah, for sure. Bill D Russell: And and some it like R.I.P. man, I was I was given that a in exchange for doing the my promotion. Clint: Okay, okay. Bill D Russell: So, you know, I I didn't have to contribute for that Jordan: Okay. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: financially. Clint: So have you ever been on a production where everything seemed like it was falling apart and somehow everything still got finished? Bill D Russell: that just I don't know. I've I've I suddenly feel like I have repressed memories of such things. Like all of a sudden things were bubbling in my brain that went, no, no, don't think about that. Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: You know, I and again, I don't know that I necessarily want to name names, but yeah, there's there's been some productions where it just like you you thought, this is nothing's ever gonna come of this. Nobody, Clint: Right? Bill D Russell: nobody knows what they're doing, or there's the the old conflict of egos, you know. Three people who want to make a movie together, once they start making that movie together, you know. what seems like it was a shared vision to begin with. You know, suddenly one person is like, well, I want to do it this way. So yeah, you you have that happen and it just gets uncomfortable. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: But nothing I nothing Jordan: I is there a lot of more Bill D Russell: that was really disastrous. Jordan: Is there a lot more butting heads at that point? Bill D Russell: Yeah, yeah. Jordan: Yeah. Makes sense. Bill D Russell: Not always, but yeah, a lot of times. Clint: Okay, so it seems like you've been extremely busy lately. So what's driving you at this stage of your career? Bill D Russell: And see, part of that illusion is is why I take those producer credits. Jordan: Ha ha Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: I promote that stuff and people just think, wow, you're involved. You've got a lot going on. And that is honestly why I got, you know, why I started doing that is is is just if I can have my name attached to some projects I'm not necessarily in, but they're I think they're good projects. Clint: Mm-mm. For sure. What's driving you at this stage of your career? Bill D Russell: I'm all good with that. What was the question again? Seriously. Before I l Jordan: Mm. Bill D Russell: what's driving me? Clint: Yes. Bill D Russell: because yeah, because I'm very busy. Clint: Yes. Bill

D Russell: I have one that's extremely morbid. W when I you see how long it takes a film project sometimes be from filming to when it finally is done. Puppet Clint: Mm. Jordan: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: Master, they're cranking those out. We shot that in July and it was screening by Halloween. I Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: worked on other projects. Okay. Right after I filmed Doctor Death, I shot a short film called Soul Sucker. That is to be part of an anthology series called Six Pack of Terror. It still hasn't been released. Clint: okay. Bill D Russell: So that's been four years now. Clint: Wow. Bill D Russell: And I keep hearing, Jordan: That's crazy. Bill D Russell: well, we think we have all of it ready now. You know, I keep hearing updates. It's not like it just went away, but it it takes a while. And Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: I just have to be realistic. I'm, you know. I'm getting up there in years. I I want to do a lot of fun projects while I s and be able to see them while Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: I while I still can. And and just just to do, you know, I I'm starting to get bigger and better opportunities, and I want to keep doing that. Clint: Mm-hmm. Okay. Bill D Russell: I just wrapped earlier this year a film called Hug These Bones, I which I play the lead. It's the first film I've really played the lead character in. and it's totally a dramatic role. I'm not I'm not evil. I I'm I'm just I'm a broken man who wants to reunite with my estranged adult children. I almost die from an overdose. and at a at like a rehab meeting, there we they discuss, we're offered different kinds of therapy, and I end up choosing cuddle therapy. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: which which is a thing. It's really a thing, cuddle therapy. And there are also cuddle parties that aren't necessarily therapeutic. so so I I meet I meet this c therapist and we start doing cuddle therapy and Yada yada yada malevolence ensues. You know, there is Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: evil is afoot. And I can't say much more than that without giving things away. But Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: just to me, the concept when when director, writer director Chris Shern, who also did the Vicky Fecks movie I referred to earlier, when he said, I I'm I'm we're I'm writing a f a horror film that's set in Cuddle parties and I was like, my God. Because what's what sounds creepier than a than a cuddle party? Because Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: they're non sexual, you know. Just Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: a bunch of strangers who get together and cuddle. And and as far from a therapeutic value, i you know, there's certainly it's it's like touch deprivation. There are people who, you know, never got held as babies or whatever, and it affects you psychologically, and that's that's scientific. so that's what pedal therapy is supposed to address. But like I said, things things go wrong. There's supernatural interventions of of the evil sort. Clint: Okay, I'll to check that out. Bill D Russell: Yeah. Clint: And then my last one for you before I kick it back to Jordan. Is there any upcoming projects that you're involved with that you think people should specifically keep their eye out for? Eye out. Bill D Russell: Pro something upcoming? Is that Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: what you said that people should keep their eye on? I'm trying to think. maybe maybe Joker's Wild, Lazarus Risen? How about that? Clint: yes. Bill D Russell: it's the sequel to Joker's Wild, which is a short fan film. In other words, nobody's gonna try to make any money out of this. We're just doing it because we love Aaron Bennett, did a film adaptation of a DC comic storyline from I believe the late nineteen eighties called a Death in the Family. the Joker Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: kidnaps Robin II and basically tortures. So Jordan: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: and that's so that's what happens in this movie. so it's very dark. It's very bleak. Mr. David Howard Thornton, known to many people as Art the Clown from Terrifier, plays the Joker Jordan: Playing a whole different clown. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: yeah, and it and it's you know, to see him do that and to hear him do that, you know, because he doesn't talk. he Jordan: Yeah. Bill D Russell: Art the Clown is basically Harpo Marx the as as satanic, you know. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: There's I don't know if you're a Marx Brothers fan. You can I I am. That's another thing I grew up on. Monster movies, but also Marx Brothers movies. And yeah, the very first time I saw him doing art, I was like, my god, he he's totally doing harpo mark. You know, the bicycle horn, all of it is is is harpo. Clint: you Bill D Russell: so he played the Joker. and yes, so the f the there's a sequel coming out. An actress by the name of Lauren Alenia is playing Harley Quinn. I'm trying to think. Joel LeBlanc. Joel LeBlanc played Robin in the first one and he's back. And then there's there's a couple other characters that we aren't revealing in because we want it to be a surprise. So it's equally Clint: Okay. Hell yeah. Bill D Russell: dark, but it's you know Harley Quinn is is is the baddie in this one instead of the Joker. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: And here's here's an important tidbit. I I have been cast as Alfred Pennyworth. Clint: Let's go. Jordan: Heck yeah. Bill D Russell: So Jordan: Kiddle Alfred. Bill D Russell: Yeah. So yeah, I'm very, very excited about Clint: Very cool. Bill D Russell: And and as far Jordan: Mm. Bill D Russell: you know, we're we're again, we're still in the process of raising the budget, so we're not sure yet when it will but either by the end of the year or very early into the next year. Clint: Okay, very cool though. Bill D Russell: Unless Jordan: Yeah. Bill D Russell: someone sees this and would like to give us a Jordan: Ha ha ha. Clint: Let's go! Bill D Russell: Then we could do it sooner. Jordan: Yeah, we're we're we're Clint: We'll definitely tag the link. Send us the link. Bill D

Russell: Right. Clint: We'll definitely put it in this episode. Jordan: Yeah, w we're stoked for that one. We've seen it on Kickstarter and stuff like that. Bill D Russell: see Joker's Wild, Lazarus Risen, Kickstarter, put that in your search bar and it'll it'll Clint: Yeah, we Jordan: Yeah. Clint: watched the short film, the first one at work on lunch the other day. Jordan: Yeah. Bill D Russell: cool. Yeah. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: Yeah. It's something. Jordan: So so we're we're a bit excited for the second one and we were trying to get Lauren on too. Bill D Russell: As well you should be. Clint: Yes. Jordan: all right. Bill D Russell: Yeah, and it's it's been interesting to me some of the reaction I've gotten from people, the fact that I I'm in the puppet master universe and now I'm going to be in the DC comic universe. You know, then Clint: Hell yeah! Bill D Russell: what what is the the Venn diagram overlap of those two? Clint: Right. Jordan: Right, Bill D Russell: So I've had a Jordan: no doubt. Bill D Russell: lot of people who's like, my god, that's mind blowing They don't say it like that, but Jordan: So in your career, how many times Bill D Russell: Yeah. Jordan: have you seriously considered walking away from a film? Bill D Russell: From a film. In all honesty, I I can't recall it ever getting that bad. Jordan: Getting to that point. Yeah. Okay. Clint: guy fair enough Bill D Russell: There there you know, back in the day when I was also doing a lot of theater, doing a lot of stage work and not just improv but regular theater. there were there were a couple that you just you you get into rehearsals and you realize the director doesn't know what they're doing. really. A lot of people think, you know, I want to direct a play. I don't have to like study directing, I don't ever have to have been in a play. You know. So sometimes you run into people like that and when you realize they don't know what they're doing, you walk away. But from a film project, as of yet, I've not been in one that's that's gone that badly. Jordan: Okay. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: I'm sorry, that's not a very good story. Do you want me to make up a story? Jordan: So matter arrogant. No, you're good. You're good. Clint: And I mean, I look at that as a good thing, man, for real. Jordan: Yeah, one hundred percent. Bill D Russell: It's like he wanted to hear a story and I don't have a story. Jordan: Hey, I mean the amount of years you got into this career, you never Bill D Russell: Hey. Jordan: know. Bill D Russell: What are you implying? Jordan: I'm not implying anything. at this point, I don't know if you've had any rejections on a cast or anything like that. But w if you have, what was the hardest rejection you've ever experienced? Bill D Russell: And rejection is an interesting word for actors because rarely are we rejected Jordan: Or denied. How about that? Bill D Russell: because you know we just didn't get d does that make sense? It's nothing Jordan: Yeah. Bill D Russell: per I'm not rejecting you personally. I just this Jordan: No. Bill D Russell: is the this guy over here is is the best one. But but to answer your question, Jordan: Ha ha. Bill D Russell: like I said, I was I was studying filmmaking and specifically screen writing in Chicago in the early 80s, I had read an interview in the Chicago Tribune magazine with Harold Raymond. who at the time was, you know, he'd written Animal House and you know, he Stripes was coming out. There were all of these comedy movies, and they all I started saying seeing these same names popping up and all of them tracing back to Second City. and that was a big reason that I had decided to start doing to take improv classes was because of this interview with Harold Ramis. So flash forward a few years, they sh they're shooting Groundhog Day in Chicago. Harold Ramis is. And I Clint: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: got to Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: audition for like maybe five different parts. I it I don't think I've ever auditioned for any project more than I did for Groundhog Day, I got as far as meeting with like the big shot Hollywood director of of the time, Howard Frewer is his name, which you probably wouldn't know, but he was one of the preeminent casting directors at the time. Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: So I got as far as reading face to face with him. But yeah, I was really not happy about I wanted to to be in that so badly and to work with Harold. Clint: Yeah. Jordan: Okay, so this one we we we now we have throwing a curveball in. Since we're off the shelf and y we talk about collectibles and pop culture, being involved in horror films, have you accumulated any props or memorabilia from movies? Bill D Russell: Honestly, not that much in a lot of it. I mean, I have I have the c heart of a collector. When I was Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: younger, I collected a lot of stuff. Just af after you you have a family and you move a few times and you downsize and it's hard to keep, you know, I I had to let go of so much physical media just because I I I didn't have any where to put it. I had Jordan: Do you still collect? Bill D Russell: a huge, you know, DVD collection. I really don't know because i it like I said, I I'm a I'm a completist. If I start collecting something, I want Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: everything. I want all of it. Clint: Okay. Jordan: Fair enough. Bill D Russell: so i I just sort of let go with like, yeah. And I really I I where I live now I don't have a lot of space to display stuff. You know, I've got a few things. Not nothing Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: nothing great. Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: I have I have my I I have a signed photograph of Billy Bob Briggs. Is it no Joe Bob Briggs? Clint: Joe Wawbregs, yeah. Very cool. Bill D Russell: and I'll I'll the story that goes with that is this movie that I referred to earlier, Vicky Facts. Joe Bob did a reaction. A trailer reaction video for us where he's watching the trailer and

commenting on it and you video recording Clint: Okay, yeah. Bill D Russell: it and use that for promotion. So he had done one for us and I was watching and he talks about, yeah, there's this going on and Victoria does this, and then there's this guy, this Burrow Ives looking dude who's whispering in her ear. And I was like, Who in the movie looks like Burr? Do you who Burrow Ives is? Do you guys Clint: Yes, I've heard of it. Jordan: I don't. Bill D Russell: he he he was like a jolly old mustache bearded guy that he was in the Rudolph movie. I think he was Santa Claus in the Rudolph cartoon from the 60s. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: You would you would Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: know who he was if you saw him. I watched this video three or four times before it finally dawned on me he was talking about me. I was the bro. I was looking like I went, my god, really? So a few months ago, he He was doing an event nearby in Musk yeah, in Muskegon. Clint: Yup, at the mall. Yup. Bill D Russell: Yep. So I thought I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna ask so I had the video queued up on my phone and when I when I met him I I showed him and I said, I don't know if you'd remember this, but you said I you called me a Burr Lives lookalike and just goes like Like, okay. So he signed it to to my favorite Burr Lives lookalike, Joe Bob Briggs. So I got I got Clint: That's awesome, Noah. Jordan: That's awesome. Bill D Russell: that. Clint: That's cool. Very. Bill D Russell: For whatever that's worth. But yeah, Jordan: Hey. Bill D Russell: I mean if I if I could, like I said, I I have the heart of of the collector. I just I I just really don't have the room or the resources for to be honest. Clint: Right. Jordan: Right. Clint: Okay. Fair enough. Jordan: Alright, so this one's gonna take it into effect. Granted you're not collecting these days, but if you could keep one prop from any movie that you've ever worked on, what would you choose and why? Bill D Russell: From a movie I've worked on. As far as a prop. The movie I referred to earlier, they came back from somewhere where I play like a Ming the Merciless, like character leader of the aliens. I I had a scepter. It was really it was like a a walking stick with this very ornate knob at the top that Wasn't in the script, but it was just something I happened to have. And I said, can can he have this? And you know, I found the floor with it and I poked people in the chest with it. Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: I had so much fun with this prop, but I I offered it for them to you know that's another thing in in filmmaking fundraising campaigns. Screen use props are big things that you can get in return for making a content. So that's what I did with with that with that Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: particular Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: prop. Somebody essentially bought it. I mailed it, I signed it and sent a picture from the photo or a photo from the movie that I signed and and sent to him. but it's not like I go, gee, I wish

I had that back. I'm glad I I'm Clint: Right? Bill D Russell: glad somebody has it, but that that's probably my favorite prop. Yeah, right off the bat. I c yeah I can't think of anything else that I I haven't done that much that I've that I personally been involved with with a lot of problems. Jordan: Okay. Clint: Right. Jordan: This this one's a little wild. So if someone made a Bill Russell action figure, which character should they make and what accessories should come with it? Bill D Russell: A good question. Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: the film director character from VickyFex, his name was Milo Kemp. I actually had someone make one of those, you know, you can make a like a meme Clint: The phone call. Bill D Russell: of yourself as an action figure. So there's Jordan: Yeah. Clint: Yeah! Bill D Russell: a there's a Milo Kemp action figure photo out there. and somebody did a similar thing for my my aliens supreme leader character as a Funko Pop. And I I think that's the character I would most like to see be an action figure. And he would have the the scepter, you know, the the staff and a ray gun. There's I I get to shoot someone with a ray gun and turn them into a skeleton. Jordan: Okay. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: and then So I I fire the ray gun and you know, we do the thing where the actor is standing there and then they duck out of the frame and we just stand there motionless. And they put a skeleton Jordan: Ha ha. Bill D Russell: in her place and then we continue. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: So when you see it, it just looks like she suddenly turns into a skeleton. And Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: and they added the special effect, you know, of the laser coming out of it. But when I'm done Jordan: Mm. Clint: okay. Bill D Russell: firing it, I still go. Jordan: Ha ha. Bill D Russell: Which of course, there's no smoke to blow away from a laser gun. Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: And to me, it's like the funniest thing. And I'm sure nobody else really notices or appreciates it. Like, my God, that's so funny. Clint: us. Jordan: All right. And if you could be dropped into any existing horror franchise, which one are you choosing? Bill D Russell: Halloween comes to mind right off the bat because I've had people compare me to Donald Pleasance as Dr. Loomis a lot. And I've I've had a I've Clint: Dr. Bill D Russell: had a few people who were, you know, bouncing around the idea of making Halloween related films that have approached me, but nothing that has ever actually happened. but yeah. I I wouldn't mind being in Halloween. Clint: Now. Bill D Russell: otherwise as far as a f franchise, yeah. I I'm fond of the okay. Evil then. Clint: love it. Absolutely. Jordan: There it goes. Bill D Russell: Or anything with Sam Raimi. my god, yeah. but especially Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: Evil Dead. yeah. I don't know why that didn't just occur. I think because it's seems like so unlikely. Jordan: Right. Bill D Russell: It didn't pop into my head Clint: Thanks. Bill D Russell: right away, but my god, yes, I would love to Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: be in an Evil Dead franchise. Clint: That would be cool too, for sure. Jordan: Alright, and then this is what we like to call Bill D Russell: Sam Raimi, if you're watching this, have your have your people Jordan: Y Bill D Russell: call my people. Thank you. Jordan: he I Clint: Absolutely. Jordan: know he's got more in plan. Bill D Russell: He's Jordan: All right. Bill D Russell: the energizer bunny. Jordan: Yeah. Clint: I'm telling you. Bill D Russell: my god. Jordan: So this next section is rapid fire. Whatever comes to your mind, answer the question. Alright? Favorite horror movie? Lightning round before closing. Bill D Russell: Okay. All right. Is this the lightning round? Dracula has risen from the grave 'cause that was the first one that just made a huge impression. Clint: Okay. Jordan: Alright, favorite horror villain. Bill D Russell: Dracula. Jordan: Alright, if you were to play one, hero or villain. Bill D Russell: The one? Jordan: would you much rather see a movie in the theater or on a streaming platform at home? Bill D Russell: Theater, the bigger, more opulent the theater, the better, and the fewer audience members, the better. I Jordan: All right. Bill D Russell: am I am in heaven sitting by myself in a movie theater. Clint: Okay. Jordan: You're going to those super, super late night or early morning showings. Bill D Russell: Honestly, whenever my schedule I don't specifically try to think, ooh, when is it gonna be the emptiest? Jordan: Yeah. Clint: Ha! Bill D Russell: I just hope that it is. But yeah, during the day tends to be tends to be better. Clint: Right. Jordan: Yeah. Slasher or supernatural whore? Bill D Russell: It took me a while to warm up to the slasher genre because like I said, I grew up with the classic monsters and slashers to me just seem like, it's just some guy with a knife, I mean so I'll say supernatural. Jordan: Okay. Clint: Okay. Jordan: Most underrated horror film. Bill D Russell: that would be Puppet Master Dr. Def. Okay. and I can't think of the name of it right now. yeah, do you know the name Finn Wolpard? Does that mean anything to you as a director? Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: he did something summer, something summer that I thought was just incredibly well done that did not really land too well. Final Summer is another one that I think is very underrated. And any of the Adams family films, they need to find, you know, they've got a huge cult following, they're very well respected, but they don't have that big mainstream exposure yet. So I'm again, Clint: Yeah. Jordan: Right. Bill D Russell: I don't know if you're familiar with their films. Where the Devil Roams is the one that I love the most. Mother of Flies was what came out recently. Clint: Okay. Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: They're they're Jordan: Dream Bill D Russell: they're referred to as art house horror films. Jordan: Okay. Clint: Okay.

Jordan: Alright. Well check it out. Clint: For sure. Bill D Russell: You should, you should. Jordan: Dream director to work with. Bill D Russell: Well now that Harold Ramis is dead, Sam Raimi. Jordan: I was going to say, I think that one's already been Clint: Really, yeah. Jordan: answered. Bill D Russell: Yeah. Jordan: Dream actor to share a scene with. Bill D Russell: That's a such a great question. I mean, you know, any of the big names like, you know, Nicholson or De Niro or any those, yeah, of course, but realistically who I'm gonna work with. I I I I and it will happen sooner or later. I wanna work with my friend Jessa Flux, Jessa Jupiter Flux. I don't know if you know who Jessa is. Jordan: Yeah. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: yeah, we're we're friends and she's just She's amazing. I would love to be able to do something with her. Brett Wagner and I are good friends. If you know Brett, he was Leather Leatherface 2003. He Clint: Yes, with. Bill D Russell: was he he did the very first kill in the movie. He killed someone with a sledgehammer. Clint: Yep. Bill D Russell: And he got sun poisoning and had to be hospitalized. Clint: Really? Bill D Russell: And rather than wait for him to get better. They cast another actor, Andrew Bonarski, to play Clint: Yep. Bill D Russell: Leatherface for the rest of the movie and didn't credit Brett at all. So for for a long Jordan: That's crazy. Clint: Damn, we're actually gonna see you, Bill D Russell: for a long time he was he his nickname was the Lost Leatherface because you know his name wasn't associated with him. Then fortunately Clint: Yep. Bill D Russell: for him, that other actors asshole. And and conventions would book this guy, and he was like a loose cannon. So conventions basically replaced him with Brett. And instead of being Clint: Yeah, we're actually- Bill D Russell: instead of being the lost leatherface, he's the Kemper kill leatherface. Because the Jordan: Mm. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: the guy he kills with a sledgehammer was named Kemper. Yeah, yeah. Clint: Yep, it's Temper, yeah. We're actually going to see him next Friday at the, Bill D Russell: yeah. Tell him I said hello. Clint: yeah, at the horror show. Bill D Russell: Yeah, he he's he's just he's a awesome human being and I yeah, I would love to. we were we're technically we're both in the film called Steve Merlow's Unseen, but he and I both have like small voiceover roles. We don't have scenes together. but Jordan: Gotcha. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: yeah, I would love to work. Jordan: Alright, one role that you'd love to play that nobody would expect. Bill D Russell: that nobody would expect that's a good that's a qualification. What might that be? President of the United States. Jordan: All right. Like it. Bill D Russell: And only because I have a metaphorical gun to my head to to come up with an answer. I have no Jordan: Ha ha ha. Clint: Right. Bill D Russell: rational basis for this. Jordan: Alright, n th this'll end up or wrap up Rapid Fire. movie you've watched more times than you could p could p possibly count. Bill D Russell: Well, the honest answer to just any movie I've watched that many times would have to be The Wizard of Oz. And I I loved Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: it so much. growing up, colored television was still kind of a novelty and only only rich Snabby people had we had black and white television for for all of my youth. So I had never seen The Wizard of Oz in color. And I remember Danny, when I watched it, Danny Kay would introduce the show and he'd say, now there's there's nothing wrong with your with your television sets. The movie starts out in black and white and then it will change to color. And as a kid, I'm thinking, they must have developed the color process while the movie was being made, you know, not really understanding how these things work. So I'd moved to Chicago. I was in my early twenties. and for for a few years, literally every night I went to a movie theater. I I was like a spun. You know, finally I was in a place where there was you could have access because there were all the in the pre VCR days, there were a lot of theaters that specialized in showing old movies, and they would have a different double feature. Literally every night. So I would go to those all the time. So the first time that's how I saw the Wizard of Oz for the for the first time on a big screen, and the first time in color was in a movie theater, Clint: That's awesome. Bill D Russell: the Parkway Theater in Chicago. So I wasn't really thinking about the whole that starts out in black and white and changes thing. So when it happens, Clint: Mm-hmm. Bill D Russell: when she walks through the door and suddenly it's color, I was like, holy Wow. It just Jordan: Ha ha ha. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: blew me off to have seen the movie that many times. And I never got to experience that moment where the where she enters the Clint: Right? Bill D Russell: fantasy world. It was it was pretty cool. Clint: Hell yeah! Bill D Russell: so that one honestly, National Lampoons, Animal House and Blues Brothers are movies and er every man's staple, Caddyshack. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: You know, those, Jordan: Yeah. Bill D Russell: yes, I've watched those over a lot of Marks Brothers films, Duck Soup, I've seen multiple. Jordan: Okay. Bill D Russell: I'm trying to think if anything fits into the horror genre that I've seen that many times, and I I don't think there is. That I've seen that many. Jordan: Hey, it wasn't just the whore genre. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: Yeah, yeah. Jordan: It was any movie. Bill D Russell: Yeah, exactly. I'm still in. Jordan: Alright, in the closing here we got what's something about Bill Russell that people who only know you through your movies would never guess? Bill D Russell: I am a certified hypnotherapist. Clint: Really? Bill D Russell: Yeah. Something that even more they wouldn't guess is that when I when I graduated high school, I

spent three years in an ultra conservative fundamentalist Baptist Bible college studying for the ministry. be before I went these people don't seem to be doing the same thing that Jesus said to do in the Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: But it took being like immersed in that. world for me to to have that realization. But you know, I tell people that now and they're like, you you went to Bible? Clint: Yeah, Jordan: Crazy. Clint: that is wild. Jordan: Right. And if we were to have a conversation five years from now, what do you hope that we'd be talking about? Bill D Russell: So so you'll be you'll be at a seon. Clint: Yeah. Bill D Russell: Talking to me from beyond the grave. Jordan: Ha ha Bill D Russell: I give myself less than five years. Jordan: Really? Bill D Russell: But I I I'm at that point in my life when every time like the someone whose name you recognize dies, I take note of how old they were and I I figure how far am I from? It's horrible. I told you it's morbid. Clint: I Jordan: Can't be thinking that way. Clint: Damn. Jordan: All right, Bill, before we get you out of here, I got two more questions. you've spent Bill D Russell: Yes. Jordan: years building this career. You've got over thirty five acting credits behind you. What i if we were to put something anywhere in your chapter of your life and career, what would it be and why? Bill D Russell: Put what is a chapter? I'm sorry, could you restate that? Jordan: Yeah, so obviously you've got your thirty-five years b or your not thirty five well Bill D Russell: Right. Jordan: probably more than that actually. Your thirty-five Bill D Russell: Yeah. Mm-hmm. More than that. More than that. Jordan: acting credits behind you. what represents this chapter of life and career and what would it be and why? Bill D Russell: What represents this part of my this chapter of my life now? What represents Jordan: Yes, yes, sorry. Bill D Russell: it? Jordan: I'm all over the place today. Bill D Russell: No, that's all right. I'm trying to think Do you mean like an image, an idea? I don't know. I'm Jordan: Anything about your career, your image, your upcoming, you know, anything, Bill Russell. Bill D Russell: J Psychopath, Bill Russell. Psychopath. There's Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: there's I don't know if you saw the photo that is actually supposed to be my character Milo Pemp from Vicky Fecks. I'm kinda like this. I'm smiling, I've got my hands in front Clint: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jordan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bill D Russell: of me. That photo is modeled on photos of Charles Band from Full Moon Features and John Carpenter. Both had photos where they were doing that with their hands, and I thought that just seems so odd. Clint: Okay. Yeah. Jordan: This photo? Bill D Russell: Yes, yes, that's it. Jordan: Ha ha ha. Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: That's it. That to me, that's a representation Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: of who I am now. Jordan: I love it. All right. Before we wrap up, what's next for

Bill Russell? What projects should everybody be watching out for? Where can people follow you and support everything that you're working on? Bill D Russell: Well like a like yeah. As I said, the Joker's Wild, the Lazarus Risen is is the big thing right now. I have some other film roles coming up, but they're they're way far. Hug These Bones, the Huddle Therapy horror film. you know, should be it's we're done shooting it, but hopefully it'll be done being edited and ready to to see by the end of the year or maybe after. I have a couple of appearances coming up. October 3rd and 4th, I'm gonna be at the Illinois Horror Horror Film Festival in Illinois, of all places. And then the following Clint: nice! Bill D Russell: weekend, and this I'm really excited about, I'm gonna be in Las Vegas for an event called Nightmare in Vegas. And it's it's not a traditional horror convention. the the primary events are they have a custom car show like spooky cars. and a pinup girl pageant that they call pinup ghouls. You know, big they're Clint: Okay. Bill D Russell: pinups they're they dress like, you know, in that pinup attire but as spooky. Clint: That's cool. Bill D Russell: Yeah. And that's that's just gonna be a lot of fun. That's just gonna be a lot of fun. So that's coming Jordan: And it's Vegas. Bill D Russell: up in its yeah, it's it's you know, Ryan's really gonna be my soul. Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: I'm Bill X Russell on Instagram. or Russell CHT is my username on Facebook if people want to find me. Jordan: Okay. Well, Bill, we appreciate you coming on and hanging out with us tonight. Clint: Yes, thank you. Bill D Russell: my gosh. I I was so much fun. Jordan: we thank you for sharing Clint: Yes, thank you, man. Jordan: the wild stories, obviously, and just hanging out for the night. everybody will Bill D Russell: Well and thank you for giving me the opportunity. You know, I'm I'm gradually Jordan: Hey, no problem. Clint: Any time, dude. Bill D Russell: turning into the old man that sits out on the porch going, The day we're doing the time about Jordan: Ha ha ha. Bill D Russell: There was this time that Sydney Pollock and Bill Murray and I So yes, thank you for allowing me Clint: They're all good stories. Bill D Russell: to have that. Jordan: Hey, no problem. Clint, you you got anything else? Clint: That's it, man. Jordan: All right. Everybody watching or listening, make sure you support Bill. Check out his upcoming projects. Obviously, Joker's is gonna be a big one. Joker's Bill D Russell: Joker's Well, Lazarus Risen. Jordan: Wild one is gonna be good. Clint: Yeah. Jordan: we can't wait for it here. we'll have his information down in the description below while you're down there if you enjoyed the conversation. Clint: Yes. Bill D Russell: I wanna know what you were reading. Jordan: While you're down there, if you enjoyed the conversation, hit the subscribe button, leave us a comment, let us know what Bill Russell projects you've seen and which one you're going to be checking out next. Clint: Hell yeah. Jordan: So we'll catch you guys Bill D Russell: Good question. Jordan: on the next one. And this has been off the shelf. See ya.