Ari Millen is best known for his multiple roles as The Castor Clones in Orphan Black. Since that show ended he has gone on to carve out a very interesting film career on the indie circuit. His last film, The Oak Room, was one of our festival favourites from last year’s circuit (and is available to own in the UK now if you missed it), and had him play a sinister bartender. It originally began life as a stage show, in which Millen starred, playing a different character to the one he does in the film, and was directed by Cody Calahan. Calahan and Millen have been friends their whole lives and Millen has become a regular in Calahan’s films. Their newest collaboration, Vicious Fun, has just landed on Shudder across the globe and offers exactly what the title promises.
Vicious Fun unfolds in the eighties across one manic night as film critic Joel (Ethan Marsh) finds himself hunted by a pack of serial killers after accidentally crashing their self-help group. Playing the head, or at least the most aggressive, killer is Millen. His evil alter-ego is Bob, a blonde haired, silver-tongued con man with a liking of disguises. It’s one heck of a gutsy and committed performance, Millen throwing everything in his impressive arsenal at the screen. We at THN have been championing Vicious Fun since we caught it late last year and were thrilled to sit down with Ari to find out more about himself and the brilliantly batty Bob.
Bob seems like such a fun character to play, how did you set about creating him?
I was lucky that most of it was on the page. A lot of the time for me it’s seeing who the character is visually, putting the clothes on. I’d never had my hair bleached before, so having a mop like that [helped]. It was just about trusting what was on the page and rolling with what was coming at me from Evan Marsh and Cody’s direction. We all had fun on that set. We all just got it. The film found itself very quickly and just took off.
It really was the set that brought it out of me certainly, but I think a lot of just the chemistry with everyone. Evan would do something that would give me permission to do something. David Koechner would do something that would give the group permission to do something. It was just very interesting for me how things developed. I did improv in high school and it really is a muscle. But working with people who are very, very strong at it, and for whom it just seems to come naturally to them, is very freeing. Normally I would be someone who would just read what’s on the page and bring it to life. But having to act by the seat of your pants because what’s being thrown at you isn’t necessarily what was there, it was a very different process and really, really fun to be caught off guard.
When I spoke with Cody, he mentioned that he brought you onboard quite early, were you able to help shape the role?
He definitely shared the script with me, probably a year before. I remember telling him it was one of my favourite things that I read, ever… and that Bob was mine. No one else was getting Bob! I wanted it really badly. But it wasn’t until it was a reality… you know how things are in this business, even when you’ve signed the dotted line there are no guarantees. I try to never get too far ahead of myself, because if you do, the fall is so much harder. Once it was a go, once it was mine, that’s when Cody and I had conversations, and little ideas would pop into my head. It was a very organic process.
You and Cody have been friends for years, does that bond of friendship make it easier to fully commit to a role?
He’s my oldest friend. He likes to say that we grew up in the same crib. There’s pictures of us aged one month together. So there certainly is a shorthand that he and I have. He understands things about me that maybe I don’t. I’ll do something and he’ll just know how to finesse to get exactly what he wants. It’s very easy to work with him.
One of the key elements of Bob as a killer, are his disguises, do you have a favourite one?
I had a blast with the prop team. So the moustache – moustache Bob FBI Agent esque guy – that was certainly one of the most fun I think. The scene in the jail cell with Joel on one side and Carrie on the other, with the cops. I think that was the last scene we shot, and I like to say, that’s exactly when I hit my stride. That was the most freeing and like electric I think that I got to be with Bob, it was certainly very fun to do certain things that normally I wouldn’t necessarily have the courage to do.
Bob’s main prey in the Vicious Fun is film critic Joel, was there anything cathartic about trying to kill a critic?
(Laughs) Thankfully I’ve learned over the years, don’t read the press. Don’t buy into your own hype, and don’t buy into the criticism because it’s not going to be any good. I think it was just a fun story. Evan Marsh really was the perfect casting, he’s sort of lovable and you also just want to hit him half the time. He did a bang-up job and so it was very easy to play an opposite of him and pick on him, and take those hits for those reviews I read way back when.
You’ve worked on a number of projects with Black Fawn Films now, what is it about the company and their work that excites you?
The characters. They are constantly offering me really fun characters. Nothing’s ever boring with them. I’m always happy to take a stab at it and to just have fun.
Your role as the Castor Clones in Orphan Black was one of your first “big” jobs, what lessons did working on that show teach you?
I don’t know how often this gets talked about, about that show, but there really was no ego with the cast and that started at the top, and so it was impossible for anyone underneath to have an ego either. I think that’s very important. You’re a team, there shouldn’t be levels of who’s most important and who isn’t. Translating that to a film like Vicious Fun where it became very improv based, if you have ego and if you are saying, “well I’m number one on the call sheet” or, “I’m the only important person”, then you’re not really supporting your team, and you’re really not going to get the best performance. So I really appreciate just sort of the tone that Orphan Black set for how a workplace should be, can be, and was. That ultimately means in the future that every other set has a high bar to meet now, but I’ll do my best to be on everyone’s team.
As an actor, how do you go about playing all those different characters when most are all within the same scene?
It really came down to seeing myself in the mirror after hair and make-up. It must have started on Orphan Black, the sudden realisation of okay this is how I find my way in. You get in the room and thankfully I was used a lot, and you get into a rhythm and you find your things. When the mind is engaged and you’re firing on all cylinders, it’s just there. Every once in a while I would get a little reminder from the AD – “you’re a little too much of this character, can you switch it over?”
That was what was great about Project Caster was…I mean Tatiana [Maslany] had all of her clones split up, and she was so convincing in all of them. There was no wiggle room. Whereas Project Castor, my guys, were all brought up together in a familial setting and so some mannerisms were more similar. I was lucky that I had it a bit easier with project Castor. I didn’t have the challenge day in day out that Tat did, but I did my best to find the differences in the similarities.
I asked this about The Oak Room when we discussed that film, but what’s the ideal food and drink accompaniment for Shudder audiences to enjoy Vicious Fun?
Just some bad bar tequila, chase it with a wine, chase it with a beer, and hold onto your lunch!
What are you working on next?
As I said earlier, until everything’s in motion it’s not set in stone…but there’s a couple of things with Black Fawn that are potentially lined up. Hopefully in the next two years following we’ll have two more films that should be coming out. One I’ve been working on since 2017 got greenlit a little while ago. So that’s finally getting developed. I wish I could give you something more concrete…
I spied another film that was in post production on IMDB…
Six Days to Die? I play The Purveyor. That’s a really cool post apocalyptic western with Matthew Campagna. I worked on another movie with him years ago. My wife, Kassandra Santos, is in it too. It’s all green screen. We actually shot it at the same studio that we shot The Oak Room. It looked so different because it literally was like a pile of sand on the floor and then just a green screen, and then like a few practicals. It was back to Orphan Black and tennis balls.
Because of Covid protocol, it was literally just Kassandra and I in the scene, even though the whole room will be populated. It’s like Sin City or 300, where stuff will get painted and the other actors will get put in during the magic of post. The art that I’ve seen of the backgrounds looks great. I’m really looking forward to seeing it. I know nothing other than the day or two that we were on. It was truly in a bubble.
What do you hope the audience’s response to the Vicious Fun will be?
I just hope they are willing to give it the time and that they’ll laugh out loud. That’s what the movie is meant for. It’s exactly what the title says. Just have fun.
Vicious Fun is available to watch on Shudder around the world now.
