Actor Rob Freeman starred in genre favorites like "Smallville," "Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud," "The X-Files," and many more. His most recent role is in the zombie film "The Dead," portraying American Air Force engineer Lt. Brian Murphy, who is trapped in West Africa and on the run from ravenous living dead. I had the opportunity to speak with Freeman about his role in the movie.
What do you hope people take away from the film?
First, it's a horror film. Secondly, it's a road movie that has zombies in it. It's a road movie like "Easy Rider" in the sense that it documents the real life of Burkina Faso two years ago. Those are real villagers and real village situations. There are no sets.
It's a heck of a scary ride. If you want to sit down and be scared you can get that emotion. You can just sit there and get scared. There are tons of things in the film to analyze if you dig getting scared and then talking about it afterwards. We can talk about African and non-African relationships. We can talk about the repression of anybody. I'd say it's a multi-multi-layered film. I watched the film six times myself. Each times [sic] I had different questions and discussions.
Share with us any projects you have coming up.
I just finished shooting a pilot for a reality show. I went back to Canada, where I used to be a professional ice hockey player. I hadn't played for 30 years. I raised the question, "Could a 55-year-old man be fit enough to go back and play at that level again after 30 years? Is that humanly possible?" I got a commitment from a team and played for four months with them. I shot some footage and now I'm putting a package together to present it as a reality show. I think it would make an incredible reality show.
Tell us a bit more about that concept. What are you trying to get across with it?
We all age. The question is, "How do we age?" When a person gets to the age I'm at. How do I judge the way I'm supposed to act or what I'm supposed to believe in? I decided that perhaps I wanted to challenge what I thought would be the common belief pattern. That's what I did and that's what I continue to do.
I'm looking at running and inline skating across North America this summer to challenge those beliefs of what a person my age can do. There are so many people out there now that aren't physically keeping themselves fit. I want to say, "As you get older you can keep yourself fit. It's not that overly difficult."
For more articles by Eric Shirey, check out:
Blu-ray Review: 'The Dead' Rise Again in Africa
Ford Brothers Reveal Dangers of Making 'The Dead'
'The Dead' Directors Discuss Shooting in West Africa
Eric Shirey is the founder and former editor of Rondo Award nominated movie news websites MovieGeekFeed.com and TheSpectralRealm.com. His work has been featured on Yahoo!, DC Comics, StarWars.com, and other entertainment websites. Eric has interviewed and worked with actors like Harrison Ford, Brooke Shields, Gerard Butler, Brendan Fraser, Selena Gomez, and many more.
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