Tag: Kevin Bacon

Writer/Director Macon Blair on Remaking the Toxic Avenger

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The Toxic Avenger is undoubtedly a cult classic that built Troma Entertainment into an indie horror powerhouse. It also spawned sequels, toys, and even a cartoon. Instead of remaking the film beat by beat, writer/director Macon Blair added to the general narrative. Peter Dinklage stars as Winston Gooze, whose terminal diagnosis and lack of comprehensive health insurance only further strains his relationship with his foster son, Wade, played by Jacob Tremblay.

Once Winston turns into Toxie, he goes toe to toe, in a tutu and with a toxic mop, against punks, weirdos, and street gangs, but most of all against a corrupt company, led by a malicious CEO played by Kevin Bacon. Blair’s remake has some dazzling set designs, a bigger budget, and lots of nods to Troma, including a cameo by its CEO and co-founder, Lloyd Kaufman.

I recently interviewed Blair for 1428 Elm about the challenges of remaking such a beloved film, working with Dinklage, and receiving Kaufman’s blessing. You can read the full interview here, but I included some of it below. Following its recent theatrical release, The Toxic Avenger is currently available on VOD and will see a physical media release on Oct. 28.

What made you want to remake such a cult classic and what would you say to Troma fans that may be skeptical because they love the original Toxic Avenger so much?

Macon Blair: It was something that the studio approached me with to write the script. I did have to think about it for probably the same reasons I’d say to the fans. The original is so singular, and it’s so its own thing. What would the new version be? I was hesitant that they would maybe ask for a PG-13 version or a dark and gritty version.

I ultimately went in and went through the process of pitching the script with the idea that the way to approach it was to find what was special and singular about the original. To me, that’s about tone and a sense of humor more than plot points. It’s a dude in a tutu fighting bullies with a mop. It’s silly and sweet and fun. It doesn’t take itself too seriously.

I feel like it’s not going to please everyone, but my hope was to make something that the fans of the original would be seen first. Hopefully, beyond that, we attract a larger audience, but I really wanted to make sure the original Troma fans would feel like the spirit, fun, and sweetness of the original was something we preserved.

What was it like working with Peter Dinklage as Winston/Toxie? This is a side of him we typically don’t see.

Macon Blair: It’s why I thought he would be great for that role. He has this charisma and likeability, even when he’s playing vaguely sinister characters. People are drawn to him. He has that on-screen charisma. I thought it would be funny to employ that in a character who is unlike a lot of his other characters, not self-assured, not super smart, not super capable. He’s [Winston] totally out of his depth in a lot of ways.

I thought he could bring a lot of weight to that kind of character. I thought having a really strong actor in that central role would help ground it and keep it from flying off into something so silly with nothing you can emotionally connect to.

I felt very grateful when he said yes. With an actor like that, anchoring the whole thing, you could be silly but have an emotional clarity to it that keeps people hooked especially as the story gets more ridiculous.

Troma Entertainment’s co-founder and CEO Lloyd Kaufman has a cameo near the end of The Toxic Avenger. What was it like working with him, and did he give you any advice about the remake?

Macon Blair: He was great. Even before I knew what the story would be, I knew there would be a Lloyd cameo in there. I knew I wanted the nature of the cameo to be him yelling at me and telling me to shut up, which is why I put myself in that character so I could be there at the end for him to chastise. That was the whole point. I felt like we needed to have him in there. It’s his baby and his legacy.

He was very supportive and very kind. He was the first person, when I got hired to write it, that I checked in with. I wanted him to know my intentions were pure. I wanted to do right by him and his legacy. I asked for his blessing, and he was very kind.

He would pitch gags every now and then and call to check in and offer support, but it was really mostly him being a cheerleader. He really did stick to that. He would check in to give support and high-fives.

Maxxxine: A Fitting Finale to Ti West’s X Trilogy

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If anyone says that mainstream horror movies are all remakes, requels, prequels, and reboots, then please point them in the direction of Ti West’s X trilogy, which began with 2022’s X, followed by the prequel Pearl, and now the finale, Maxxxine, all starring Mia Goth in one banger of a performance after another. West manages to stick the landing and conclude the trilogy well, all while steeping the final entry in 1980s Hollywood, complete with cocaine and neon colors.

Comparing the trilogy’s entries really isn’t fair because each and every one stands on its own, and each is stylistically different. X is a bloody romp and tribute to 1970s grindhouse, while also serving as a commentary on voyeurism and audience. Pearl is a tragic character study and technicolor nightmare that has plenty of nods to the Wizard of Oz. Maxxxine, meanwhile, is a nod to the 1980s, video rental stores, and slashers, specifically Giallos.

Maxxxine opens years after the conclusion of X, and though you really don’t need to see the other films to make sense of the final entry, it’s beneficial to give X another watch because so much of the film calls back to that first entry. Set in 1985, the third entry finds Maxine Minx (Goth) in Hollywood. After carving out a very successful career for herself as a porn star, she wants to make the shift to more mainstream movies. It turns out that she lands a starring role in a horror movie that’s a sequel to a B movie called The Puritan, helmed by the very serious and demanding director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki). The filmmaker demands that Maxine get her head in the game and be willing to give her all for the film. Alongside the bloodshed, Bender wants to send a powerful message into the world, using the horror genre to do so. Some of the interactions between Maxine and the director are some of my favorite moments in the film, commentaries about art and the horror genre generally, as well as the difficulty of working with the mainstream studios, which too often stifle truly creative voices that go against the status quo.

The film set is besieged by Satanic Panic protestors who believe that everything from heavy metal to genre movies are the work of the devil. Meanwhile, there’s a killer on the loose called the Night Stalker who torments Maxine for what transpired in X, and he continually picks off young women who worked with the wannabe starlet in the porn industry. In fact, the black-gloved killer hires a private investigator, played by Kevin Bacon, to track Maxine down. Much of the film plays out like a murder mystery, though there are some gnarly and bloody kills that should satisfy horror hounds, though this film doesn’t have the grindhouse elements of X. It’s much tamer by comparison and more of a drama, too.

Yes, this film deals with Hollywood and Maxine’s aspirations as an actress, and like the other entries, it’s very much a love letter to filmmaking in general. It’s also about the weight of a character’s actions. As Bacon’s character warns Maxine, the past is about to catch up with her. She’s haunted by it, and she can’t outrun it. She has to learn to confront it. If she doesn’t do that, then her career and friends will suffer. This is a much more vulnerable Maxine compared to the first entry, again showing Goth’s versality as an actress. She’s rattled by the murders and notes and video tapes the killer leaves for her.

All of Ti West’s films are stylish, and Maxxxine is no different. This film is drenched in pastel and neon colors. The characters, including Maxine, have big hair and 80s outfits. This is a film, like the others, that really should be seen on a big screen, especially for some of the set designs, costumes, and Hollywood studio lots. There’s even a nod to the Bates Motel, again another reference to the fact the past always catches up with the present. It’s inescabale.

While I’m hesitant to say that Maxxxine is as good as Pearl or X, it’s a fitting conclusion to West’s trilogy. Goth’s character comes full circle and I can’t see any other way that this could have ended. Overall, West has made an outstanding horror trilogy that’s also very much his love letter to the process of filmmaking itself and different eras of Holllywood.

Maxxxine opens in theaters on Friday, July 5.