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If you’re looking for a new cult “Halloween Horror” film, than look no further than “Bad Milo.” Part comedy-part horror film, “Bad Milo” is the surreal story of Duncan [Ken Marino] who is living with a demon in his butt that comes out during stressful situations and wreaks havoc on Duncan’s family, friends, and life. The Four Seasons Hotel is where I meet Ken and Gillian Jacobs, who plays Duncan’s wife Sarah, and our interview is nothing short of amusing. We begin:
I’M CURIOUS WHAT YOUR THOUGHTS WERE FOR THIS STORY WHEN YOU WERE FIRST PITCHED, BECAUSE IT’S NOT YOUR EVERYDAY TALE…
GILLIAN JACOBS: Yeah, ‘I would like to work in the future, so let’s do this ass demon movie and call it a day.
KEN MARINO: As an actor in this town, you always wanna do the next big thing, you know? Like what’s the next big project that everybody’s going to relate to, and everybody relates to taking a crap.
[LAUGHTER]
KM: Mark Duplass called me up and asked if I wanted to do it, I said yes, absolutely, I read the script and said ‘oh, wow, this is outrageous.’ I thought it was a special kind of script. It was ridiculous and silly and horrific, but there was something special about it.
GJ: Yeah and it does come from a personal place from Jacob [Vaughn, Director]. When you talk to him you see that this is something he is really passionate about, and I really like the fact that he wanted to play a lot of it very straight and real… and Ken’s performance is very grounded and that allows for you to be in a movie about an ass demon and not just have it be a goofy, stupid movie.
ARE YOU SURPRISED AT THE KIND OF REACTION YOU’RE GETTING NOW?
GJ: People actually seem to like this movie! I was certainly nervous about it before we watched it at the SXSW premiere, because we didn’t get to see the whole thing edited… and it was so gratifying to watch it with an audience and hear their responses and you people don’t seem like you’re bullshitting us!
[LAUGHTER]
HOW EXCITING WAS IT FOR YOU TO HAVE THE ACTUAL PUPPET [MILO] THERE AS OPPOSED TO A GREEN SCREEN?
KM: It was great, the first day I met Milo was actually the day I wasn’t working and Milo was beating the crap out of you…
[Turns & points to Gillian]
GJ: Umm Hmm…
KM: I was so excited to meet him. There’s no substitute for a monster who’s actually there as opposed to a green screen or CGI thing. When you’re performing with the puppet you can actually play back and forth.
GJ: I’m really bad at imagining things, which is sucky cause I’m an actor, so for me yes, having a physical thing there to interact with was so much easier than looking at a golf ball or whatever you look at… I’ve never done a large budget film so I wouldn’t know…
[LAUGHTER]
GJ: So yeah, it was hugely helpful.
WHAT DO YOU HOPE THE AUDIENCE GETS OUT OF SEEING THIS MOVIE?
GJ: I hope that they laugh, that they are touched by the story and the characters, and that they want to buy a Milo figurine.
KM: For me, this movie is kind of like… a throwback in tone and feel and texture. That was one of the appealing things to me when I read the script; it was kind of like [an 80’s movie]. There are some really funny people in it, a really talented group of people, and I just hope people enjoy it.
