Interviews
[Interview] Actress Ellen Dubin Reflects on ‘Tammy and the T-Rex’ Ahead of Cinepocalypse Screening
When any actor is just getting their sea legs in the acting business, they’re likely to jump into any opportunity presented to them. When your resume is thin and connections very few, it’s hard to be picky. So, when Canadian actress, Ellen Dubin, was encouraged to audition for Helga in TAMMY AND THE T-REX, she listened.
This bizarre horror/sci-fi-/comedy might not have been what Ellen imagined her first break in the business would be; nevertheless, after getting the role she gave it her all. Alongside fellow newcomers (and soon-to-be-famous) co-stars, Denise Richards and Paul Walker, Ellen signed up for what would be a wild ride on this low-budget effort from MAC AND ME’s Stewart Raffill.
Below is our interview where we talked about everything from how she landed the role, working with comedic legend Terry Kiser, and the film’s status as a sleeper cult classic.
John Campopiano: How did you get involved with the film?
Ellen Dubin: My agent in Los Angeles sent me to the audition. I remember getting the breakdown for the character and thinking he was out of his mind because I was way too young for the part and did not fit any of the specs they wanted for Helga. But he encouraged me to go and said because it’s a comedy you can bring your own special spin to the role–don’t worry about what it says. Just go do your thing! I went to my appointment and the waiting room was filled with much older, tall blonde Germanic-looking women (which was what was on the breakdown.) I thought to myself what am I doing in this room?
Sometimes on paper when a scene is that short, it’s harder to think of something to do for the audition. I welcomed the challenge and decided to make Helga a woman who was obsessed with death–in a kinky way. Because the style of the film was an over-the-top comedy, I could make bold choices. So, everything I did in that surgery room was about appetite and sex! The instruments I handed the doctor in the scene were handled very provocatively. I even remember crawling on the board room table and using a rain coat as a prop for the body.
Ultimately, I wanted to do a really unique audition and worked very hard to come up with something special and take a risk. I always like to go that extra mile and boy did I ever. Later on I found out that those ballsy, sexy choices sealed the deal.
JC: What were your impressions the first time you saw the script?
ED: All I knew when I got my audition was that it was a wacky comedy. They had only given me my sides–which was just a small section of the script. I didn’t read the whole script initially, so I had no clue what it was about. What I remember is that my audition scene was very short – it was nurse Helga giving the doctor character (eventually played by the amazing Terry Kiser) the necessary equipment to do the surgery on the brain of a young man who would eventually be played by Paul Walker.
Once I booked the part and read the entire script I remember laughing out loud and thinking how wonderfully ridiculous this movie was. I welcomed the absurdity with open arms and an open mind.
JC: What was the energy like on set?
ED: There was a wonderfully innocent and playful energy on set. I had such amazing comedic chemistry with Terry Kiser who is a brilliant comedic actor. We would just be play off each other without even having to rehearse very much. It was just easy with him–lots of fun energy. It was like we had been working together forever. That’s a rare occurrence.
All of the cast got along well. Denise and I became very good friends and we would spend a lot of time at lunch talking about exercise, dieting and living in Los Angeles. For most of us it was our first feature film. We laughed a lot on set and loved the work. It was a special time in our professional lives–the beginning of our careers in features.
JC: Did you have much interaction with the infamous T-rex?
ED: Oh, that dinosaur! I wanted to take the dinosaur home as a pet! It loomed large on set. How many times in a film do you get to work with a dinosaur?! I wish I could’ve gotten to ride on the back of it like Denise did. I still have that image of her in my brain. And the absurdity of the scene when she’s in the barn with the dinosaur—I couldn’t keep a straight face watching that. What was weird when we did shoot that scene was there was a huge fire on location in Calabasas and I remember the fire marshal coming and telling us all to get out of the area quickly (for obvious safety reasons.) But in true fashion, the Director (Stewart Raffill), Producer, and us actors wanted to get the shot. Fires would not stop us! Ha!
JC: Do you have memories of working with your co-stars: Denise Richards, Paul Walker, and Terry Kiser?
ED: I loved working with everybody. For me, Denise and Paul, it was our first feature film, so we all brought this newbie energy and commitment to the work. I remember we were all nervous because we just wanted to do a great job for the production team. We ran lines at lunch and it was a very nurturing set. Denise and I ended up being friends for many years after this movie. Paul was such a lovely guy. I remember talking to him about how worried I was in the scene where he had to get punched. He reassured me that everything would be alright and not to stress about it. We were all so innocent and caring.
Working with Terry Kiser was an absolute treat. He is a brilliant comedic actor and kept me on my toes. We just kept playing off each other and had a blast. You can see on the screen how much chemistry we had. It was so natural and easy working with him. It was very hard not to laugh during the scenes with Terry. I think learned a lot from him just through osmosis.
JC: Was there a highlight and/or takeaway from working on TAMMY AND THE T-REX?
ED: Again, because it was our first feature film we were so eager to do a great job but also there was a great sense of play on set. The highlight was meeting all these wonderful people. And also you never forget your first feature film! And when I look back I realize how many people in this film ended up having such successful careers. Stewart and Diane Raffill and Harriet Greenspoon (casting) put together an incredible cast.
JC: In closing, do you recall the first time you saw the film in its entirety?
ED: I don’t really remember the first time I saw it. I’m not sure if they had a formal screening or not, but what I do remember was my jaw hanging open at all of the costumes. I never laughed so hard! I also remember that they kept in the scene that I thought would end up on the cutting room floor where I’m running away from the dinosaur spewing all that crap out of his mouth and spitting at me. My skirt flew up by accident, too. Well they kept it in! It was very funny.
Later on when I was working on NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, Efren Ramirez who played “Pedro” came up to me at lunch and asked, ” Do you remember me? I played the pizza delivery boy in TAMMY AND THE T-REX.” We both had a huge chuckle over that. Small world! I saw part of the film recently and thought how tragic Paul Walker’s passing was. I still can’t believe it–just so sad.
The rated R “gore cut” of Tammy and the T-Rex is screening at this year’s Cinepocalypse, which returns to the Music Box Theatre in Chicago from June 13-20 (check out the lineup)!
Of all the places to find a coven of witches, the attic above a Christian youth camp is probably the last place you’d think to look. But that’s just what we find in Camp, a surrealist nightmare of feminist empowerment from Canadian filmmaker Avalon Fast.
Emily (Zola Grimmer) is still reckoning with her involvement in a horrific tragedy when she accidentally contributes to the death of her best friend, Charlie (Giselle Morison). Unable to move on, the traumatized teen takes a job at a rural summer camp, hoping to forget her own sorrows by looking after at-risk kids. She quickly connects with a counselor named Clara (Alice Wordsworth) and finds comfort in her close-knit group of female friends. But a mysterious whisper from deep in the woods warns that they may be leading her down a darker path.
Fast burst onto the scene in 2022 with Honeycomb, a psychological horror film that follows a burgeoning matriarchy. Known for their focus on “Girl Horror” stories, the talented young filmmaker tackles similar themes in Camp as Emily leaves the modern world behind to embrace a dark vision of self-discovery through magic.
Ahead of the film’s U.S. release on June 26, Bloody Disgusting sat down with Fast to chat about the nebulous nature of good vs. evil and the intoxicating power of female-driven horror.
Bloody Disgusting: What inspired this unique story? Did you go to religious summer camps when you were young?
Avalon Fast: I did. I went to lots of different summer camps, but all of them were primarily Bible camps. The memory I have of camp is kind of strange. I was very homesick as a kid, and I didn’t necessarily enjoy all my time there. I definitely remember meeting some interesting girls at camp and having that presence of religion hovering around the whole experience.
BD: I really love the film’s gorgeous natural setting. Camp is the kind of surrealist nightmare that you don’t just watch. You feel it too. How did you approach creating this world?
AF: Well, a huge part of it was working with my cinematographer Eily Sprungman, who’s a very close friend. We spent years prepping, shot listing, storyboarding, and mood boarding. She’d had a similar experience to mine. We grew up around the same place, and so we understood each other’s visions from the get-go. But there are so many other pieces that came together. The costuming, the art, and the animated sequences were done by Sofiya Iurkevych. One of our producers, Taylor Nodrick, was obsessed with shooting on Super 8 film. I’ve always wanted to as well, so all the memory sequences were shot on Super 8. It was just a lot of people with an understanding and a vision for what this project was. I’m really happy with the way it turned out.
To the extent that you’re comfortable sharing, what’s your relationship to witchcraft, and what does Camp have to say about modern witches?
Well, that’s the question of Camp. It’s not that I don’t resonate with any of these things, but I specifically wanted Camp to be a little bit ambiguous around what witchcraft looks like. Is this witchcraft? Are these girls witches? Emily explicitly asks if that’s what’s happening here, and the answer isn’t yes. The film isn’t going to answer that question for you. My relationship to magic and witchcraft? It’s tough. I feel like there’s so much magic, connection, and spirituality that comes from these friendships, the closeness of these women, and what’s happening around them. A lot of what Camp is trying to say or show is just that magic can come out of friendship.
I loved watching these female friendships develop. And you’re right. No one ever says the word “coven,” but you can feel that connection, and you can see a change in Emily as those relationships grow. I’m also really fascinated with the way Camp plays with the idea of good and evil. At one point, Clara says, “Maybe God drew us to the devil,” which stopped me in my tracks. How do you view witchcraft or the magic these girls are experiencing in regard to good and evil?
That was such a huge part of the script’s construction. The story is really trying to keep a balance between those two things. I like asking people if they think these girls are good or bad, because I feel like a lot of people come out of the film thinking one or the other. They’ll say things like “thank God Emily found her people” or “God, I really wish she’d gone home.” I just don’t think there’s ever an answer. I wanted to explore the idea of going down the wrong path, especially coming out of grief. What makes you a bad person, and does healing mean you’re looking to become a better person? I don’t have an answer, but I do feel like that’s a huge part of what Camp is asking. What is good? What is bad? Why did God bring me to the devil?
Yes, because this is all happening at “God camp” in Emily’s words. So how can both of those things exist at the same time? Along those lines, I’m also fascinated by the voice Emily hears in the woods. Without spoiling too much, what is this voice asking, and what is required in return?
Emily comes to camp with a shout into the void, asking can anyone hear me? Does anyone want to? And it’s answered so clearly by these girls, specifically responding only with love, care, support, and trust. It’s like her prayers were answered. It doesn’t mean that everything is going to be alright, but Emily is looking for peace. She’s looking for a moment where she feels pure good. And I think, even at its surface level, she does get that experience.
Personally, I don’t really think people are good or bad. I think we all exist somewhere in the middle. Camp centers traditionally villainized characters, but that’s where Emily seems to find her peace, however you choose to define it.
I also wanted to show the experience of having decided that you are a bad person, you’ve made mistakes, and you feel cursed. Then when you meet other people who have done things that you would consider worse, you can actually feel good in their presence. You feel like less of a bad person. I think that’s a huge part of the story as well. Emily’s finding her version of other fucked up people, and she feels less fucked up around them. I’ve found that in my own life. It’s a cool thing. I don’t think it’s bad.
I don’t think it’s bad either. It’s finding your home, your people. We meet Emily in the aftermath of unthinkable trauma. Is this a story about mental health and healing?
Witnessing it myself. witnessing other people experience tragedy and then move through grief, you hear a lot of talk about healing or coming out the other side. There’s so much conversation around what that looks like, with self-care and showing up for yourself. I always felt really averse to it. It annoyed me. I think the beginning of the film speaks to that. The therapeutic version of what getting help looks like is obviously very different from what Camp is showing. And again, I don’t have an answer for what you’re supposed to do. But I think that’s another question I was asking: how do you heal? Do you heal at all? Is that the end goal, or are we just trying to get better? It’s something I experienced in my own grief. And the answer, for me, at least now, is just that I’m not looking to get better. So I felt like I hadn’t. I found it hard to find people to have those conversations with. And I think that’s what I ultimately wanted to make a film about.
I love that unanswered question. In my own experience, I’ve had to reframe what healing actually looks like. There’s not really an endpoint. It’s just finding a way to keep going. There’s also an element of sacrifice in this story, particularly regarding another counselor named Jo (Sophie Bawks-Smith). What role does she play in Emily’s journey?
For me, Jo is this human embodiment of Charlie, Emily’s friend. As Jo, she had a life at this camp before meeting Emily, and then was kind of taken over by Charlie’s spirit. I think a lot of people view Emily’s final choice as horrendous and tragic. In a way it is, but for me, if Jo becomes her angel, it’s almost like a self-sacrifice. Jo knows that by sacrificing herself, she’ll be giving Emily power to move forward. In the original script, the girls were supposed to bring out another counselor, JB (Aidan Laudersmith), and burn his body. But I just thought, there’s no way sacrificing this guy could give the girls enough power. There’s just no way, right? Logically, that just didn’t line up for me.
I’m glad you mentioned JB, because he has his own tragic arc. How do men factor into the world of Camp?
The way men factor into my world is so bizarre. I have such little respect for them in my films, which is something I’ve been called on. I think I have to challenge myself in the future to make a movie about a boy because, these boys … It’s not that the men in my films aren’t redeemable, but there’s no depth to these characters. They’re just treated with such disrespect. I don’t know why I do that, actually. That’s something for me to look into. It was the same with Honeycomb. They’re just such peripheral characters. I’ve had people ask about Kayne (Henri Gillespi), the scary guy at the fire, what happens to him? I just think, I don’t know. I don’t care. That’s not the point of the story.
Well, I can say after a lifetime of watching women on the periphery of the story, the course correction feels nice. In a similar vein, I’m in love with your homepage, avalonfast.com. There’s an image of girls on a film set and then a still from Honeycomb in which a blood-covered girl is screaming at the sky. And in the middle, it just says Girl Horror. It’s a really powerful statement that gives me chills. How do you define Girl Horror, and what draws you to these types of stories?
I was obsessed with the term when I started making my movies. It was something I’d come up with to kind of brand myself and describe what I was doing. Then I went through a period where I felt like it was a bit gender exclusive and didn’t interest me as much. But now I’ve come full circle on the term. I think it’s a bit of a commentary on youth and the horror of growing up female. But I think everybody can relate to that experience. I don’t want it to feel like this exclusive thing, that I make movies exclusively for girls, because I don’t think I do. I’m interested in exploring what Girl Horror means. Originally, it was just a title, something I came up with, and now it’s become something that resonates with people. You said it gave you chills. That’s cool for me to hear because there’s obviously some depth there.
Are you working on anything new?
Yes. I am actually making a movie about a boy. That’s the next thing.
That’s exciting! The more I think about feminism, the more I end up coming back to men and boys, because they have a place in the world of Girl Horror too.
Absolutely. It’s all just part of being human.
You must be logged in to post a comment.