Dave Sheridan – Hardcore Humor

By starrymag | January 13, 2014

Q) What are the most recent projects you are working on?

A) The most recent project right now is a FOX TV show called “Freebirds.” It’s a totally unscripted and improvised show, much in the like of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” with a story line more like that of the movie Garden State.

Q) Tell us the premise of the movie Devil’s Rejects and about your character in the film.

A) The movie is basically a continuation of the Firefly family from The House of a Thousand Corpses. It’s a sequel, but it is not written to be a sequel. You don’t need to have seen the first one to understand and like the second one. I play police officer Ray Dobson, Sheriff Wydel and I  raid the Firefly family house. We capture Mother Firefly, but the others escape.  They go through the desert reeking havoc and we’re hot on the trail of trying to stop them. Eventually, something happens… but I won’t give that away.

Q) What was it like working with writer and director Rob Zombie?

A) I loved it! It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. A lot of people would think he might be really freaky or weird with all of his tattoos and the music he does, but ultimately it is show business. White Zombie and the Rob Zombie things are all show business and that is not what he is really like. He’s really down to Earth and he’s more normal than myself in a lot of ways. He’s More Normal than Normal! As far as directing, he’s great. If you watch the movie you’ll see that the performances are solid and the reason is because Rob’s really hands off when it comes to the actors. He’s more about focusing on the overall picture and not micromanaging any one performance. He lets the actors really do what they want to do. I haven’t really been able to do that since  my first film,Scary Movie.

Q) What made you want to be a part of the project?

A) Money! Money! Money! Money was the biggest reason, but I’ve also never done anything like Devil’s Rejects. Most of my stuff has been comedy, so when I had the opportunity to do  a serious film. I took it.  It also gave me a chance to meet a guy like Rob Zombie who like myself, likes to write, direct and do music. I wanted to meet a guy who was already doing that stuff at a higher level.

Q) What was your most memorable moment from filming?

A) It would probably be the scene that got cut out. It is not in the  movie, but it will be on the DVD. It’s my scene with Rosario Dawson. She actually gets killed by Doctor Satan and I’m trying to pull her off. The movie takes place in 1978 and I sort of framed my character around Eric Estrada and the “Chips” character. I have this feathered hairdo and a mustache. I keep a comb in my back pocket and from time to time in the background of some scenes you might see me combing my hair in the glass reflection of a car door. I tried to add that little touch to the character and part of that same touch, when I see Rosario Dawson, she’s a nurse at the hospital.  Instead of paying attention to Doctor Satan, I’m actually trying to hit on her and get a date, which causes him to have the opportunity to take her out and kill her. In the context of my character, I’m thinking, “Gosh, I could have had a date with her.” Her neck had prosthetics on it, so her skin would get ripped off and this blood would come shooting out as she fell into my arms. It was a shot that we could only do one time so we had to get it right.

Q) You were the writer of Frank McKlusky, C.I. How did you come up with the concept for it?

A) I don’t really remember exactly how I came up with the concept. I think I wanted to just find a funny premise. When I pitched it to Disney, I said I wanted to play a guy who was an insurance claims investigator but thought he was a “Dirty Harry” cop. Ultimately, when you are writing with the studio you make changes and tweaks, and the character transformed as we were writing it. He wasn’t so much a “Dirty Harry” guy anymore, but a little bit more of a safety freak and he was nervous about things. If you look at the clothing, you’ll see that there are still remnants of the “Dirty Harry” aspect with the outfits that I am wearing, which are sort of a through back to the 70’s cop thing.

Q) People might remember you from the hilarious show “Buzzkill” from MTV. Do you keep in touch with any of your former cohorts?

A) Oh yah! Absolutely! My best friend is Travis Draft from the show and he’s went on to produce “Scare Tactics” on the Sci Fi channel and “Trigger Happy TV” on Comedy Central. He’s got a new show called “Home James” on VH1, which is coming out in October. He and I are in a band called Van Stone. We tour nationally with the Warped Tour.  The other guy, Frank Hudetz, I talk with him regularly. He’s in Chicago now and he’s doing more theater stuff, like at the Second City in Chicago.

 Q) What has been your favorite project to work on?

A) That’s a tough one! I would have to say that it would have to be Scary Movie since that was my first film that I did. I worked everyday on it, because not only was I Doofy, but I was also the killer. It was just a lot of fun and I was given a lot of freedom to create my own character with Doofy and to do what I wanted to do. The Wayans brothers, Cheri Oteri and just so many funny people that I was working with, that set was just such a fun time and we were all around the same age group so we could all go out after work. We were at the age where we were going out and now I’m getting a little older, I go to work and just go home.

Q) You’ve starred in two videos for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. How did you get acquainted with the members to obtain the roles?

A) They actually tracked me down. The character I play in those videos is a spin-off of the character I did inGhostworld. They already had the premise for the video and they thought of that character. They said they wanted the guy be like the guy inGhostworld and the person casting the video said, “I know the guy fromGhostworld. His name is Dave Sheridan.” They said, “Wow, we’ll just get him.” So, I actually became friends with them on that video shoot. I am now good friends with John Frusciante more than anyone else; he’s the guitar player. I just hung out with them on the 4th of July, they played with Weezer in Las Vegas.

Q) You’ve gotten to work with such great actors as Cuba Gooding, Jr., Chris Kattan, Peter Falk, Jake Gyllenhaal and so many others. Who would you most like to work with in the future?

A) Jack Nicholson  and Jim Carey, I think they are both the best at what they do.  Jack is the best at being in the “present moment.”  I could watch him on screen for weeks.  Jim is the best at character commitment, it would just be a thrill to work with his crazy ass.

 Q) You are a member of the band Van Stone, where did the band get their name?

A) I play Randy Van Stone and Travis plays my Twin Brother Lonnie Van Stone. I got the name from an old friend named Tom Van Stone.  The website for the band is www.GetVanStoned.com
Q) How would you describe your band’s sound?

A) Like the God’s of Thunder ascended from Hell and fucked you in the ears… until they bleed.  Our music is the soundtrack to the apocalypse.

Q) The band traveled to Afghanistan to perform for the troops. How did that get arranged and how did that make you feel?

A) We just sent the USO our demo and they contacted us.  It’s was a great honor going over there and playing for the troops, although most of the people we played for was local Afghan militia.  But they really dug us.

Q) What do you do in your spare time?

A) I’m pretty much a workaholic. If I’m not working on my TV show that I’m doing for FOX then I am working on Van Stone, recording more  music, working on the website or shooting videos. Van Stones next appearance will be on the “Jimmy Kimmel Show” on August 30th. I also write a lot of movies. I have a couple of things set-up at the studios that are in the works. Frank McKlusky, C.I. is the only movie that I wrote that has made it to the big screen, but I’ve worked on six other writing projects with all of the various studios in Hollywood. It takes a lot to get the film up on screen. It’s amazing, when I see films and I see the really creative films that get made (not the remakes and the things made out of TV shows or books), but when you see the creative ones come by like Roger Rabbit or Austin Powers or something like that, it just blows you away that it got made. The reason that they the studios remake stuff and do things from books like Harry Potter or out of a TV shows like Dukes of Hazard is because they know that there is some sort of fan base already existing. They like to take the easiest route and it is very hard for someone who is doing really original material like a Robert Rodriguez or Wes Anderson to break in.  When those people do make it, it’s amazing to watch that stuff because I know how hard it is to get those things made. I have had two other films almost make it at studios and then get shut down.

Q) Is there a summer movie that you’d love to check out?

A) The one I haven’t seen is Batman Begins. I want to see that because I’m a huge Christopher Nolan fan. I knew it was going to be really cool when he was writing it. He wroteMomento and stuff like that. I haven’t gotten a chance to see it and I hope it is still in the theaters. I was just in New Jersey and it wasn’t in theaters there so it might have been one that I missed. I also want to see March of the Penguins, but I might just wait for that one on DVD since it is a documentary. I think I’ve seen everything else I wanted to see. I’ve been kind of disappointed in this year’s film. There hasn’t been that one film that really has blown it out. Usually, something comes by that is so creative like an Austin Powers or something like that and I really haven’t seen something like that this year yet.

Q) What would you like to say to your fans and supporters?

A) Thank you! I don’t know how many fans and supporters I actually have out there. The one thing about me is that I am definitely on the fringe. I choose very odd projects and I spend most of the time working on my own stuff like Van Stone or creating “Buzzkill.” The stuff I do tends to be on the forefront, like “Buzzkill.” When I went to MTV and we delivered “Buzzkill,” there was nothing else like it on TV before. Since then, the sort of shock-reality has been the norm on MTV. You’ve had everything from “Jackass” to “Tom Green” to “Punk’d,” but we were the first element that came in there and did that. I see the same thing with Van Stone. It’s sort of setting the tone. We tour nationally with all these various bands, we have been on the Warp Tour for the last two years, but there is not another band like us on the tour. We’re definitely doing something different. That is what inspires me, to always try to do something that isn’t there. If I don’t see it, then I want to see it, so I do it. To my fans and supporters, thanks for supporting me and keep on supporting me. If you are a fan of what I am doing, keep your fingers crossed because I want to keep doing more stuff and hopefully I’ll make everybody happy and fulfill what they expect from me.