Fresno Famous

There is more than one reason Sid Haig has selected the downtown eatery George's as the place to talk about his next movie project. The horror film actor whose characters have launched a thousand nightmares will make his directing debut with the feature film "Last Door." The movie, written by K. Raven Rozier of Fresno, will begin shooting here in mid-January.
There's the sentimental reason for selecting the spot by Haig. The Fresno native's parents were friends with the owners.

Then there is the inspirational reason.

When asked who have been the biggest influences on him, Haig just points to a giant black-and-white photo over his left shoulder. There hanging on the north wall is the image of Fresno-born writer William Saroyan.

"My influences were Jack Hill, Quentin Tarantino and Rob Zombie and him," Haig says.

Haig will call on those inspirations as he works on the movie being produced by Oracle Pictures. The production, with a budget of about $2 million, originally was to start shooting in October. Delays in finding locations, casting and funding caused the three-month delay.

And no one is happier than Rozier that the project is ready to start. She worked on several screenplays for others in the past. Rozier decided with this script, she wrote based on a true story of a San Joaquin Valley family, she wanted to keep control. That's why she and producer Jeff Jackson moved ahead with the project.

"Last Door" is the story of a family's battle to save their 12-year-old son from a secret society. The youngster, when finally reunited with his father, begins to show signs of having 400 different personalities.

"I wanted Sid to play the heavy," Rozier says between bites of her lunch. "I called his agent, and we met six months ago. That's when Sid said he would like to direct the movie."

There's a very good reason Rozier thought of Haig for the bad guy. Many of the 50 films and 350 television appearances that the 6-foot-4-inch Haig has made cast him as the bad guy. He has built a cult following for his work in horror movies such as "The Devil's Rejects" and "House of 1000 Corpses."

As for those directors who influenced him, Zombie re-energized Haig's career when he cast him as Captain Spaulding in "House of 1000 Corpses." Tarantino wrote a role in "Jackie Brown" with Haig in mind. And Haig's first acting job was in Hill's student film "The Host."

"There were also a couple of other influences," Haig says. "There was John Toomasian, one of my teachers at Roosevelt, and Alice Merrill. She was my drama coach."

Though this is Haig's first directing job, he brings years of hands-on knowledge to the job. He has been in films where things were done on the fly, sometimes called guerrilla filmmaking, so he is confident with his experience that he knows about every job on a set except running the camera.

Haig slides a copy of the script to Rozier. He has spent the past few days making notes. Haig tells the author that he is a stickler for details.

This kind of concern is the reason Rozier feels confident Haig is the right man to handle the job. The whole process for her is like having a baby. She spent months writing a book based on the account. Then she turned the book into the screenplay. Now she has turned the story over to Haig to nurture it into a finished film.

The plan is to release the book at the same time the movie gets released. That should be in the fall. All three are determined that "Last Door" won't be a direct-to-video project. They will push to get the movie released theatrically. That's why it will be shot on 35-mm film instead of the cheaper format of video.

Since Haig has come on board, there has not been much time for the director, writer and producer to do anything but think about the project. They scouted numerous locations in the city. Rozier explains that everyone involved was always convinced that Fresno was the only place to shoot the movie.

Part of the reason for shooting here, at least for Haig, goes back to Saroyan. He feels a connection to the Fresno writer because they grew up in the same downtown neighborhood. Haig's father went to school with Saroyan. So that's just one more reason Haig has a dear spot in his heart for the city.

Casting has been ongoing. The three are close to deals with the actors who will star in the movie. But they can't say who will be in the film until contracts are signed.

Haig knows that the most important role cast will be that of the young boy.

"We are not going to be able to show all 400 personalities. But there will be a lot for the young actor to do," Haig says.

If all goes as planned, production will begin Jan. 14. The entire shoot will take 29 days.

"And 29 days will go by real quick," Haig says.

Shooting the movie here will mean more than just the money that is being spent. Jackson says that a portion of the proceeds of the movie, once it hits theaters, will be donated to organizations for abused children.

Jackson says the money is being donated because the movie's main theme is child abuse, and this is a way to give back to the community.

Now it all falls on Haig's shoulders.

As for how he will approach the challenge of his first directing job, Haig quotes Winston Churchill.

"He said: 'Never quit. Never, never quit.' "
The reporter, Rick Bentley, can be reached at rbentley@fresnobee.com or at (559) 441-6355.