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Michael Biehn, Rosanna Arquette Talk Xavier Gens’ ‘The Divide’!
On the red carpet for the Saturn Awards last night I ran into actor Michael Biehn (there to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award), who rose to fame in the 1980s after starring in James Cameron films The Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss.
Biehn – who was attending with his wife, actress Jennifer Blanc – has recently been screening his directorial debut The Victim for test audiences in select cities (the film will also be shown on Saturday, August 6th @ 7:30pm at the Laemmle Sunset 5 for anyone in the Los Angeles area interested in checking it out), and in addition recently starred in Frontier(s) director Xavier Gens’ postapocalyptic horror film The Divide, which was picked up by Anchor Bay at SXSW in a low-seven figure deal earlier this year. I asked him about the project, for which no release date has yet been set, which has been noted by reviewers for its utterly bleak look at human nature.
“ ‘The Divide’ is a really brutally honest look at mankind,” Biehn told me. “It’s very hard to watch. It’s a little bit like ‘Requiem for a Dream’ as far as like, you kind of feel like you need to take a shower after you’ve watched it, but it’s extraordinarily well-acted. There’s a performance in it by Milo Ventigmilia, and Michael Eklund…those two guys just blew me away as actors. They just are so good in this movie. And Courtney B. Vance, and Lauren German, and Rosanna Arquette. They all give such great performances. If it doesn’t make it into one of those ensemble cast awards next year, I’ll be shocked.”
Of course, given the intense subject matter and contained location (the film is about a small group of individuals who have survived a nuclear explosion in New York City by shutting themselves in a basement), he also admitted that shooting the film was no cake-walk: “It was tough. There was a lot of tension on that set.”
Also on the red carpet last night was Biehn’s Divide co-star Rosanna Arquette, there to present the Lifetime Achievement Award to the actor for his body of work, who also spoke to the intensity of the production process on the film.
“We had this incredible production designer, Tony [Noble], and he really [did a great job]…to the point where on the set, I got incredible bronchitis,” she noted. “It was so dusty, and it was really, it was so real that there was no way not to react to how real it was…It was quite a challenge, but it was great. The director, Xavier Gens…it was one of the most creative, freeing experiences I’ve had in a long time…It’s very dark.”
And as if the nearly two-hour running time weren’t already enough misery for one sitting, Arquette also indicated the the film may even be longer by the time it’s released to the general public: “Apparently they’re cutting a longer version now…uh oh,” she joked. “It’s pretty wild.”
Daniel Roebuck has been cast as Santa Claus in Terrifier 3, Bloody Disgusting can exclusively report.
Writer-director Damien Leone is currently wrapping production on the highly-anticipated sequel, in which Art the Clown unleashes chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.
“I’ve been holding this secret for a long time!” Roebuck tells Bloody Disgusting. “I’ve been really excited about it. I’m actually entering into the movies that I watch. It’s extraordinary. This is Terrifier bigger, badder, best.”
Roebuck appears in Terrifier 3 alongside returning cast members David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Samantha Scaffidi, Elliot Fullam, and AEW superstar Chris Jericho.
No stranger to iconic horror properties, Roebuck has squared off against Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, played The Count in Zombie’s The Munsters, succumbed to The Tall Man’s sphere in Phantasm: Ravager, and investigated death in Final Destination.
A distinguished character actor with over 250 credits, Roebuck has also appeared in The Devil’s Rejects, 3 from Hell, Bubba Ho-Tep, John Dies at the End, The Fugitive, Lost, Agent Cody Banks, and The Man in the High Castle. Incidentally, he’s also playing Santa in the family drama Saint Nick of Bethlehem, due out later this year.
Terrifier 3 will be released in theaters nationwide later this year via Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting in conjunction with our partner on Terrifier 2, Iconic Events Releasing.
Terrifier 3 comes courtesy of Dark Age Cinema Productions. Phil Falcone Produces with Lisa Falcone acting as Executive Producer. Co-producers include Mike Leavy, Jason Leavy, George Steuber, and Steve Della Salla. Brad Miska, Brandon Hill, and Erick Opeka Executive Produce for Cineverse. Matthew Helderman and Luke Taylor also Executive Produce.
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