Hi everyone..this marks the first time I have ever had a guest on Hero Worship. Well for an interview. Her name is Jennifer Cooper and she is quite awesome. She has appeared on my blog before back in October to help me with my 31 days of Horror. Well she's back, this time with a vengeance. Sounds like a trailer for an action movie doesn't it. So without further delay, take it away Jenn.
If you don't mind, could you fill in my readers on what makes Jennifer who she is.
Haha, some very wonky genetics and warped brain cells! ;) I was always a strange child, I was more into the things that are normally associated with boys. Instead of all the princess crap and everything being pink, I was into dinosaurs, astronomy, archaeology, geology and saving the planet. When I was a kid at school and we had to write stories, mine would always include aliens or people dying in horrific accidents, lol! I guess I always loved horror, and that part of me has just grown and grown as the years have passed by. I am a hard core X Phile, like seriously, Mulder and Scully are the loves of my life, The X Files is such a huge part of who I am. It's the same with Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, I've always been a total nerd for them! It's funny because now my total obsession is Sons of Anarchy, which totally goes in a new direction from my usual sci-fi and alien loves...now I want to be hunting aliens on a Harley, haha.
I've always been into nature, camping and hillwalking. I'm a total eco-warrior and animal rights activist. And I also have a huge fascination with serial killers. I largely prefer the golden age of Hollywood to modern stuff. My partner in crime is my dinosaur Rex, we go everywhere together. I love Beagles however have a scruffy Westie called Hamish who is always coming on adventures with me and Rex. And I love bunnies and have a house bunny called Jonah, after Jonah Hill. He's a fat shit who loves to eat, hence the name. Haha. Although now Jonah Hill has went all freaktardedly skinny, it's not quite the same, lol!
What made you start blogging? -
I used to blog via LiveJournal years ago, that was a total nerd fest, as was my MySpace blogging. It's a great way to share my thoughts on films, TV and all sorts of geekery with my fellow nerds! I started taking it seriously though when I started my Musings of a Morleysaurus blog. I started that after getting really involved with Women in Horror Recognition Month, it was the perfect ways to share my reviews and interviews and nerd thoughts with my fellow peeps!
What are some of your favorite films? Modern and classic? -
Lord of the Rings, Dahmer, The Omen, Jurassic Park, Dawn of the Dead, The Indian Runner, Requiem for a Dream, The Goonies, The 'burbs, Arsenic and Old Lace, Psycho, Heat, His Girl Friday, Love Comes to the Executioner, Shadow of a Doubt, The Birds, Dead Hooker in a Trunk, House of the Devil, Hatchet 2, Superbad, Saw, Insidious, Spellbound, Notorious, Rear Window, Tombstone, Cape Fear, May, The Commune, The Town, I Spit on Your Grave (original of course!), Stigmata, Ed Wood, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, A History of Violence, Hackers, Mulholland Drive, The Elephant Man, I Sell the Dead, American Psycho, Eastern Promises, Frankenhooker, Friday the 13th (all of them, haha), Halloween, Toy Story 1, 2 and 3, The Care Bears Movie, Underdog, Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and Paul. To name just a few, haha.
Describe your first movie-going experience. Like where, how old, with who, etc... -
I think it was Bambi when I was 3 or 4, and I'm sure my Granny was with me. This was back when my town actually had a cinema! I remember also going to see the Care Bears Movie and the My Little Pony movie. I'd go with my friend and neighbour Rhiona quite a lot, and my sisters! One of my earliest and highly entertaining movie experiences with my sisters however was when we went to see The Witches! Lol, this is a perfect example of how evil my sister Cat and I were to our younger sister Susan, haha. Susan was sat in the middle of us and was really scared and wanted to leave, and we wouldn't let her, hahaha. She has still to this day never forgiven us for it! ;)
What is your favorite film genre? -
Horror. No question about it! Whenever I go to the video store, or rent movies from LoveFilm or am in a store looking at DVD's, I instantly go to the horror section before anything else!
Who are some of your favorite actors/actresses? -
Ooooh, wow okay for once, I don't seem like a total freak for listing my favourite classic movie actors and then modern, haha. Okay so modern, my favourite actors include Jeremy Renner, Viggo Mortensen, Dominic Monaghan, Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Gary Oldman, Christian Bale, Joaquin Phoenix, River Phoenix, Cillian Murphy, Emile Hirsche, Sean Penn, Jared Leto, Mickey Rourke, Ken Foree, A.J. Bowen, Brad Renfro, Nick Stahl, Devon Sawa, Chad Donella, Tom Noonan, Larry Fessenden, Timothy Olyphant, Sam Neill, R.A. Mihaloff, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Edward Furlong. And obviously as the most hard corest of X Philes David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are waaaay top of my list...but that just goes without saying, haha. Actresses include Kate Winslet, Patricia Arquette, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, Erica Leehrsen, Claire Danes, Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, Shawnee Smith, Thora Birch, Greta Gerwig, Lin Shaye, Camille Keaton, Sheri Moon Zombie. Classic actors – Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, . Actresses – Grace Kelly, Joan Fontaine, Patricia Wright, Ingrid Bergman, Katherine Hepburn and Tallulah Bankhead.
What films upon first viewing did you not like, then later on when re-watching them,
loved the hell out of them. -
A recent addition to this list is All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. The first time I saw this film, after so long waiting to see it, totally geeking out over the film...and then I watched it and I fucking hated it. I didn't get why all the boys “loved” Mandy Lane. In fact, even now, I still don't really get why? Surely not putting out can't be a reason for instant obsession...I dunno, it's just weird. Anyhoo, last year after reading a blog that John Squires of Freddy in Space did about his love for the movie, I decided to give it another shot! I mean, when I first saw it, trust me, I let everyone know how shit I thought it was. I guess in watching it again I partially wanted to reiterate that statement, haha...but at the same time I thought, fuck it, I'm gonna watch it...away from the original hype I had around it, and then make up my mind. I'm glad I did. I don't like admitting to being wrong, haha, but on this case I was totally way off target! The first time I saw it, even though I basically hated on most of the film, I did say that the last 10 minutes or so were totally badass and that I was a fan of that, just not the rest of the film. Visually I think it's gorgeous and despite the fact that I dislike half of the douchebag teenagers, the film is well acted, wonderfully directed and at the end of the day it's just a good film!
What are some of your favorite film quotes? -
“Now look, you wait right here. Make yourself comfortable, pull up a tombstone!” “Look I probably should have told you this before, but you see, insanity runs in my family...it practically gallops!” Heehee, both Cary Grant from Arsenic and Old Lace obviously!
“Let me see, let me look, is it rotten and covered with gook!” - Jack Skellington – The Nightmare Before Christmas
I am also incredibly partial to Mulder's line of “Come on Scully, get those little legs moving!” Haha. I frequently say it to my dog Hamish, lol!
“I missed, I never miss. They must have been smaller than I thought!” Steven Seagal – Hard to Kill Haha. I can pretty much quote this whole film, I do love me some Seagal!
Me: Great mix of quotes Jenn!
What classic films that are widely loved, could you care less about?
Okay this is actually a really tough question, I'm gonna have to think about this!
And then my stupid boyfriend mentions the word ROADHOUSE!!! Fucking Roadhouse, is not as he says...GENIUS!!!! I freakin' HATE that movie with a passion! In fact, I feel sick even classing it as a “classic” film...however, if you have a penis, generally the consensus is that it's a “classic”!!!!! The only thing friggin' classic about this stupid film is the Family Guy episode where Peter Griffin, in all his penile glory...keeps saying fucking “ROADHOUSE!!!!” Arrrrrrrgh!!!
Another that Craig mentioned that instantly got given the “classic” label was Black Swan, which in my humble opinion is the worst Aronofsky film! As a hard core Aronofsky fan since waaay before Hollywood started paying attention, I just felt that the film, I dunno...lacked in so much! I think part of my MEH towards it was the fact that I just couldn't really care less about Natalie Portman's character. And that was a real problem for me. The supporting cast was superb, Barbara Hershey and Vincent Cassel are obviously miles ahead of their game as always, but I guess it was Mila Kunis that was the real kick in the face for Portman, not only was her character more likeable, she was also most believable. Now as someone who is all dark, dank and dreary, in a perfectly cast Aronofsky film, I would have genuinely been completely obsessed with the Portman character...but I wasn't. And that irked the fuck out of me! I don't think that it is a quintessentially bad film, but for a director that makes as flawless a films as Aronofsky, it did kinda suck! And I hate the fact that I feel this way about it.
If you threw a movie theme party, describe how you would do it. The costumes, decorations, food, etc... -
Oooooh...Hobbits...lots of Hobbits. And mushrooms. And pipe weed. And beer. Haha. I knows how to rock the Hobbit partaaaay! ;)
I love to throw horror themed nights! There is nothing better than getting all ghouled up and watching some good old horror...whilst drinking and snacking!
Me: Awesome!
Who's the biggest film fanatic that you know? Besides yourself of course. -
Wow, I know a whole lotta film fanatics...all of my fellow Women in Horror of course...you, hell, so many! Of my closest friends though I'm gonna go with is my friend Paul Moxham, or The Mox as I loving refer to him, haha. The Mox and I worked in Vue Cinema in Plymouth, England together. A dorky friendship ensued the very second we met when we both realised how much the other loved The Lord of the Rings! You know you've found your perfect best friend at work when you can work a 12 hour opening day Harry Potter shift and then decide to stay on for an extra 4 hours just because working with that one person is so much ridiculous amounts of fun! Working in the cinema with him were some of the most fun and memorable times I've ever had. I started work there just before The Return of the King came out...I actually got the job there when I found out that cinema workers got to see movies first, haha. As an obsessive Lord of the Rings dork, I instantly applied for a job there and started about a week after! :D Paul was studying film studies whilst working there and is honestly one of the most passionate geeks I have ever encountered in my life! Working with him was always a blast, and we were notoriously joined at the hip whilst doing so! Despite not being a massive horrror fan, at least not of slasher films etc. (he was always more a fan of classic horror and less of the silly, so still A OKAY in my book!), the two of us still had so much in common and appreciated just downright good film! Paul now works for BBC Radio Devon and amongst other things, is their film critic! Monty, you would definitely be a fan of him, he's a total comic book nerd as well and I know for a fact that Syliva Soska would LOOOVE him due to his major love of Spiderman! And in fact, when Jonathan Ross left the BBC as their film critic, I totally wanted The Mox to take his position! He most certainly would have been better than that wretched Claudia Winkleman...you know me, I'm all about the girl power but she is an insult to female kind! She has no idea what she is talking about and is orange! The Mox however is charming, handsome, intelligent and more importantly, he knows what he's talking about and can offer amazing insight and a wonderful knowledge about film! A true film lover if ever you were to meet one! You can listen to his film reviews on BBC Radio Devon as well as check out type reviews at this blog. I totally recommend checking these out! :) And holy fucktard's...as I have been working on this interview I have just found out that The Mox has just sealed himself an interview with Viggo fucking Mortensen, OMG, OMG, OMG, OMG!!! *squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee* I am both super proud of him and super jealous at the same, haha. Although in all fairness, he would definitely be better at keeping his composure and not squeaking like a little girl like I would, haha. Plus, personally I'd rather listen to him interview Viggo, both have voices I could never tire of. And next to Jeremy Renner, Kate Winslet and Dominic Monaghan, this is the most amazing interview that he could possibly get!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So yay, please do follow his work, he's amazing and my super favourite rising star!
Describe the perfect way for you to watch a movie.
Oooh, well I am definitely a fan of going to the cinema, however I'm not sure what I'd be like at a cinema in the States, haha. I like peace and quiet whilst watching films...American audiences seem really noisy! Although if it's a bunch of nerds watching a film together and appreciating the awesomeness together, that I can handle! When the 2nd X Files movie, I Want to Believe came out, I went to the premier in London. I went with one of my best friends in the whole wide world, Nia Edwards Behi, another of my biggest film dork friends and X Phile to the bone (we met on an X Files message board about 11 years ago, lol...who says internet dating doesn't work, haha!?!!).
After seeing the movie at the premier, and having Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson introducing the movie, we then watched it again 2 days later at a private showing...a showing to raise money for one of Gillian Anderson's charities. That was a showing of hard core X Philes from around Europe and that was so much fun having fellow Philes to cheer and clap, and cry with! By the end of it I was flicking tears at Nia, lol!
Me: We American audiences can get pretty rowdy, especially when it comes to sci-fi and comic book movies!
Awesome Jennifer! Just awesome! I enjoyed every minute of your interview. To put it mildly, you rock!
