|
 LMC:
Talk about your work with the Movie FX Magazine DVD. Any future
segments planned?
JS:
Gary
Barth usually gives me a call every few months to set up a shoot; it
really is up to him what kind of stuff we do…what gets the best
feedback. I would like to do an in--depth maquette demonstration at
some point for him, though.
LMC:
Yes, this is a fantastic way for the poor souls like myself that
don’t live in So. California to learn. DON’T STOP DOING THESE
SESSIONS. You may not realize just how many fans look forward to
them.
LMC:
Do you have plans for your own videos at some point?
JS:
Absolutely.
Perhaps a line of DVD’s even. Cost is the main thing right now. To
do the kind of thing I have in mind would cost a bit. Not a huge
amount, but more than I have right now.
LMC:
What
type of clay do you like to sculpt with and why?
 JS:
Wed will probably always be my favorite for large work because of
its pliability and slow drying time. Super Sculpey is great for very
detailed maquettes that will be finished, unmolded pieces, and
Chavant is good for medium sized work that is going to be molded.
LMC:
Do you
have a collection of masks of your own? If so, what do you like to
collect?
JS:
Like I mentioned earlier, I had an enormous
collection back in Philadelphia. It consisted of a lot of Don Post,
Distortions Unlimited, Death Studios, Joe Reader and Savage Eye
masks. I never really got into collecting masks of characters from
movies (Yoda, Planet of the Apes, E.T., etc.), but I did get those
great masks Don Post put out of the Nazi demons from ‘An American
Werewolf in London.’
LMC: What do you spend your free time doing?
 JS:
Obviously, I love to watch movies. I
spend an awful lot of time in front of the t.v., probably too much.
Naturally, I am drawn most to films in the horror/sci-fi/fantasy
genre. Unlike many of my cohorts in the business, however, I don’t
tend to like stuff like Freddy movies and Texas Chainsaw Massacre
sequels. The slasher thing is really a bore to me. I like really
unusual films that have an eerie edge to them, like ‘Idaho
Transfer’, ‘Safe’, and ‘Jacob’s Ladder’. I also like older, truly
scary movies from the early 70’s like ‘Deathdream’, ‘Let’s Scare
Jessica to Death’ and ‘The Wicker
Man’.
I also read a great deal, again preferring horror, especially short
stories. I have an enormous collection of short horror anthologies.
Some of my favorite stories were written by Theodore Sturgeon, a
brilliant writer from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. In the interest of
spreading awareness about some great horror stories, here is a list
of some of my favorites:
·
COME DANCE WITH ME ON MY PONY’S GRAVE by Charles Grant
·
THE MIST by Stephen King
·
EUMENIDES IN THE FOURTH FLOOR LAVATORY by Orson Scott Card
·
BIANCA’S HANDS by Theodore Sturgeon
·
THE BINGO MASTER by Joyce Carol Oates
·
ONAWA by Alan Ryan
·
PICKMAN’S MODEL by H.P. Lovecraft
·
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Robert Bloch
·
SHUT A FINAL DOOR by Truman Capote
·
PASSENGERS by Robert Silverberg
·
THE SEA WAS WET AS WET COULD BE by Gahan Wilson
·
STICKS by Karl Edward Wagner
·
THE OCTOBER GAME by Ray Bradbury
·
SEE THE
STATION MASTER by George Florance-Guthridge
·
CALL FIRST by Ramsey Campbell
·
THE LOTTERY by Shirley Jackson
·
IN THE HILLS, IN THE CITIES by Clive Barker
·
STEVEN by Elizabeth Massie
If you
can track these stories down, they won’t disappoint!
 LMC:
If you
didn’t get into art, what would you be doing today?
JS:
I
love animals, especially dogs. Chances are fairly good that I would
have become a veterinarian. Either that, or a serial killer
operating out of an abandoned shed somewhere in South Carolina.
LMC:
OH, it’s a good thing you like animals :-)
LMC: What
really ticks you off?
 JS:
I
think that one of the major reasons that I’m good at making monsters
is that I am a very angry person. Despite parental support, my
childhood was not a Norman Rockwell painting brought to life---I’m
not Sybil or anything, but I have a temper. The more accurate question
is: What doesn’t tick me off? However, I would defy Mother Theresa
to sit in an L.A. traffic jam and not scream at the other idiots on
the road. Here’s a decent rundown of my least favorite things: Macho
guys. Hair in my food. Arrogant newcomers in the biz. Passive
aggressive games. Unfunny comedians. Smug movie ‘stars’ getting on
the tube and asking the average working Joe for money on September
11th when their combined salaries could end world hunger,
conserve millions of acres of wilderness in the U.S. and Canada,
plus rebuild the towers—and still have enough for their
Ferrari payments.
 LMC:
What
makes you happy?
JS:
Masks.
Unpretentious artists. Enthusiastic people that aren’t creepy. Food
that tastes good. Great artwork. Sleeping in. Bad horror flicks from
the 70’s. Spending time with my excellent girlfriend, Sharon.
(Honey, why can’t I hang this alien mask in the kitchen? Honey?
C’mon, open the door…You can’t stay in the bathroom all night…I
won’t yell again, I promise…)
Page 6 |
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
