Arrow in the Head
circa 1999
The Arrow Interviews: Muse Watson
The man showed up in Assassins, From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Blood Money, Rosewood and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (as that Klu Klux clan dude on the Springer show). He used to be that guy...you knew his face...but not his name. Now, thanks to the "I Know What You Did Last Summer" flicks, we all know him as the man behind that big hook with a grudge against Jennifer Love Hewitt. Muse Watson is here and this is what he has to say:
[...]
Ben Willis, your claim to fame. What was the audition like for that part (did they make u play with a hook)? What kind of preparations as an actor did you do to get a handle on "Willis"?
I was told that the production company was already on location. I was asked to go to the casting director's office in Santa Monica and read. From the small piece of the script that I had read, I understood this man to be a doting father who lost a daughter in a car wreck. Her date, who was driving, was a punk who was drunk. Overcome with grief, I found the boy as he sat on his 'pity pot' near the ocean, and I whacked him. On my way back to my truck, four kids driving drunk hit me in the road. They decide to dump me in the ocean and leave me for dead. Well, the irresponsibility of this whole group was like the punk who caused my daughter's death. I was so pissed.
I thought it was very important to show him as a loving father who became obsessed with what he thought was discipline for an irresponsible bunch of kids (This transition became less important on location). My tape was sent overnight to the director and producers on location and within a week, I was on my way to the location. I spent hours on the beach practicing with the hook - Ben was a fisherman. He was very comfortable with tools. I got where I could flip the hook in the air spinning and catch it with either hand and reverse my hand positions. His backhand was as smooth as any professional tennis player's. I could take every leaf off of a bush one by one and never disturb the one next to it. He had to be accurate. A tool like that hook would never cleanly enter a body without being thrust in the exact spot it had to be.
Once I figured out how he was able to make bodies seem to disappear and how he could enter someone's house and cut their hair and then leave without being noticed, I began to feel close enough to him to portray him. This man was intelligent, stealthy, and resourceful.
Do you have any funny set stories from the "Summer" movies you can share with us?
[...] I do remember on "I Know" being let down out of the rig that swung me across the stern of the boat and approaching Love and her saying, "oh my God, call the medic, you are one scary looking guy." Seems as though as I was swinging upside down, I busted all the blood vessels in my eyeballs and it looked hideous. It was not particularly painful, but it looked horrible. LOL.
Your opinion: Which one is superior, I Know What You Did Last Summer or its sequel? Why?
I thought they were both decent films. I guess I had problems with the first one because I didn't get to show Ben's love for his daughter as much as I wanted. In the second one, I had problems with the unnecessary background information that was written about Ben. To me it did not fit the character I had developed in the first one.
The complete interview can be found at Arrow in the Head.
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