Earlier in the week, we brought you an interview from Comic-con with director Zach Lipovsky of WWE and Lionsgate’s “Leprechaun: Origins.” Today, we bring you another interview, this time with the star of “Leprechaun Origins,” Hornswoggle (Dylan Postl). I got a chance to sit down with the WWE superstar at Comic-Con for a roundtable interview, where he talked about the “rebirth” of the 90’s horror franchise, how “incredibly different” this film will be from the rest and how it “will be better than the originals.”
Q: How it is like being a part of the franchise remake.
“I wouldn’t use the word remake. Rebirth, more so. We’re doing nothing like what they did in the past…nothing. I’ve never seen one of the originals…ever, and Zach talked to me, we had dinner before it started and I said ‘I’ve never seen one. Should I?’ He [Zach] goes, ‘if you want. We’re not gonna take anything from it that we need.’ I said ‘yeah?’ He said ‘yeah.’ And it shows. I’m glad I didn’t watch them. I might watch them some time, but I would have taken nothing from what we did in our film compared to [the original franchise], it’s so incredibly different.”
Q: Horror movies are known to be very physical, what’s the physicality difference between the WWE being a nightly show, and having to get up everyday for a horror movie?
“One of the biggest differences isn’t really the physical, but it is you don’t get that right away…admiration, cheering, or jeering. You do a take, you punch a guy in the fax, wait eight seconds later…cut, was that good? Oh okay, lets do it again. But well was that good or was that bad? It’s not that initial reaction. WWE, punch a guy in the face, [crowd] ‘Aw yeah! He punched him in the face.’ So, that is probably the biggest difference in the two realms but man, we were just as physical in this one. I’ve had easier matches than I’ve had with this film, but I’ve also had harder. It’s three o’clock in the morning! (referring to a particular scene when he had to run up a hill non stop). I know you want to get this out of the way, the first thing though?! I’m very glad we did get it out of the way cause that was probably about the toughest thing we did. It was just like four hours of up and up and up, woo, it was a rough start but it was fun. Every night was so worth it. Looking back on it now, seeing the finished product for the first time, last night…every long night, from the wee hours of the morning, was totally worth it.”
Q: I asked, with all of that being said, would you want to do another film soon? (Dylan’s answer stuck with me and hit me right in the heart)…
“I want to. Completely. I love wrestling. It’s my dream, my passion, it’s always what I’ve wanted to do with my life but I would love to make another film. It would be fun. It was an experience, nothing like WWE. Like I said, I love wrestling. I want to be able to play football with my son when I’m forty years old. I feel forty-eight now, at twenty-eight. Doing a couple films, might help that out. It might make it a little easier. I would love to, I would love to do more.”
Q: How did you prepare for this role?
“How did I prepare? I didn’t. I feel almost lazy that I didn’t prepare cause I didn’t know how the prosthetics would move. I didn’t know how it would show facially or what you are doing. And Zach goes, ‘just make it you. Whatever you want to do, you do it.’ And I did it. I didn’t think about it. Once I got the prosthetics down, I did it. I made it my own. Zach would say kind of ‘why don’t we tweak it a little bit? How do you feel about doing this?’ Whatever you want boss. [Zach] is one of the best people I’ve ever worked with. WWE or not, he’s so easy to work with. We still text every couple weeks, ‘hey, how are ya?’ Zach is one of my good friends from this movie. He comes out to some of our shows. When I come down to LA, I see him. We have dinner. He’s already done so much. Kind of like a dark horse. Not a lot of people know about him but he’s great, good kid. He’s a great guy.”
Q: So if you get rid of all the campiness of the original franchise, how do you make your leprechaun threatening and scary?
“It’s not poetry and cheesy little songs. It’s killing, slashing, and scary. It’s running after these guys and the jump scares in this are pretty out there. They got me twice and I knew they were coming last night. Everyone says ‘well it’s not going to be like the originals.’ I know. It will be better. It’s simple. I might be tooting my own horn here but it’s going to be better than the originals for horror fans. It’s a true horror movie. It’s not not in space, not in the hood, or in the hood again. It’s a horror movie.”
Q: Was it hard to convey the emotions under all of the prosthetics?
“Man, I was so upset at first, cause knowing that no one is gonna see much of me but the final result, it’s amazing man. It is amazing how it turned out. Those makeup people up in Vancouver, they do an amazing job. They’ve done a lot of work for a lot of films. I spent a lot of time with them and for a week and a half straight, I was out there everyday for four to six hours doing head casts and this cast and this. They love what they do, and if you love what you do, you excel at it and you make it as great as it can be. If you don’t love what you do, it will show. They love what they do and it shows.
Q: Are you a horror fan?
“No. I’m starting to get into them now cause I did this one but man, I’d rather laugh than jump in my seat. I hate horror movies but I saw a movie that I really liked, and I watched ‘Paranormal Activity,’ at noon, with all the lights on, the windows open and still had blankets over my head half of the time. I think I’m going to get into them more now though. I really do.”
Q: Emotionally, mentally, how did it affect you going onto a set everyday, this is a place of violence, so not being that kind of person who leads towards violence necessarily and having to deal with it everyday?
“It was just a change, it made it fun. It made it interesting, it made it different than what I would normally do. I’m not going out there and like my normal job at WWE is going out there, slapping hands and kissing babies, making people laugh and that’s what makes the challenge fun. It make it interesting everyday.”
Q: Is there a lot of CGI used?
“No. We didn’t use any CGI and I’m glad. I’m really glad cause it’s a legit movie. It’s hard to say that I did a movie without CGI these days. Everything’s CGI.” It was later confirmed that there is only minor CGI used, but not on his character.
Q: Are you in the film a lot?
“Some people might say a lot. Some people might say not enough but I think it’s the perfect amount. Could it be more? Yeah. Could it be less? Yeah. It is a reveal. It’s an awesome reveal. It’s great. I’m glad that I just didn’t come out in a green suit ‘hey…dead.’ It’s a horror movie.
Q: Stunts, did you do them?
“Yeah man. I did all of them but one but I cussed Zach because I wanted to do it so bad! Zach and the producer. I wanted to do it so bad. ‘No. You have to wrestle tonight.’ ‘No, I don’t want to wrestle, I want to do this stunt!’ I’m glad I didn’t cause it’s for two seconds of the movie. Man, I was mad. I wanted to do it. I guess it was for my own bragging rights. I wanted to say that I didn’t have a stunt double but it was a very physical movie. It was fun. We made it fun. We high fives at five everyday. We’d turn on random music and high five everyone. We stopped shooting, just to do it. It was fun.”
Hornswoggle (Dylan Postl) was a very down to earth guy, that even just conversed with us after the interview was done. Go watch Hornswoggle as he stars in “Leprechaun: Origins,” which is out August 26, on VOD and Digital HD and Blu-ray/DVD on Sept. 30.
Here’s the synopsis courtsey of WWE/Lionsgate:
Backpacking through the lush Irish countryside, two unsuspecting young couples discover a town’s chilling secret. Ben (Andrew Dunbar), Sophie (Stephanie Bennett), David (Brendan Fletcher) and Jeni (Melissa Roxburgh) quickly discover the idyllic land is not what it appears to be when the town’s residents offer the hikers an old cabin at the edge of the woods. Soon, the friends will find that one of Ireland’s most famous legends is a terrifying reality.
Check out the official trailer:
