Ron Perlman is a scientist whose concerns may not be as crazy as some think inSuccubus. Perlman is one of the most celebrated character actors throughout his near-50-year career, having starred in everything fromThe Adventures of Huck FinnandAlien Resurrectionto his Golden Globe-winning turn in theBeauty and the BeastTV show,Batman: The Animated Seriesand the animatedTeen Titansshow, among many others. Perlman is perhaps best known forhis frequent collaborations with Guillermo del Toro, which began with 1993’s Cronosand continued withBlade II, theHellboymovies,Pacific Rim,Nightmare AlleyandPinocchio.
Perlman stars inSuccubusas Dr. Orion Zephyr, an astrophysicist whose career is thrown into turmoil when a series of scandals, including his research into the titular subject, leads to him being fired. Upon learning that a man named Chris, a father undergoing a trial separation from his wife, has begun talking online with an evil entity posing as a woman, Zephyr races to get to him and explain the truth of the situation before it’s too late.
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Alongside Perlman, theSuccubuscast includes Brendan Bradley as Chris, Rachel Cook as the mysterious woman, Adra,Love & Death’s Olivia Grace Applegateas Chris' wife Sharon andWhat/If’s Derek Smith as Eddie, Chris' over-the-top best friend. Hailing from writer/director R.J. Daniel Hanna, the movie is an exhilarating exploration of the dangers of online dating and social media, as well as the importance of connecting with the ones you love.
Ahead of the movie’s release,Screen Rantinterviewed Ron Perlman to discussSuccubus, why he was gripped by Hanna’s original vision for the titular creature and the horror genre, the unique nature of filming in isolation for the majority of his time on the movie, and his thoughts on his potentialTransformersfranchise future after voicing Optimus Primal inRise of the Beasts.
“…Daniel Hanna did a phenomenal job in creating a world that keeps pulling you in.”
Screen Rant: First of all,Succubusrules. I love it.
Ron Perlman: Really? You’re actually the first person that I’ve spoken to who wasn’t in the movie. So, this is all washing over me for the first time, like that first step into a June ocean.
Well, I’m glad that I can be the one not involved in the film to tell you I loved it. I was so floored by how unexpected it was, in a good way, I did not know what was going to happen as it proceeded. What about the script and the project really sparked your interest to want to be a part of it?
Ron Perlman: You know, I always kind of look for originality first and foremost, and also, as I turn the pages, what is my interest level about getting to the next page? If I can’t wait to get to the next page, that’s pretty much a sign that you got me. And that’s kind of how Succubus was. Full disclosure, you hear the title, and your eyes roll and go, “Okay, what am I getting into here?” But then, if you’re going to explore this kind of sub-Gothic, folklorist trope, Daniel Hanna did a phenomenal job in creating a world that keeps pulling you in. So, that was me, that was my experience when I read it, and enough so that I started to engage.
Perlman Filming Solo Helped Capture Zephyr’s Feeling Of Isolation
One thing I love about this film is that it almost feels like a play in parts, given how much of the filming is just one actor and a camera trying to communicate to another person on the other side of the screen. What was that side of the production like for you, especially given so much of your time in this film is just you and a camera versus you and other characters?
Ron Perlman: We pretty much all had to work on a separate movie. The first time we all got together was when I screened it for the first time a few nights ago. I have these conversations with Brendan’s character over the phone, which I did separately. And the person playing Brendan was not Brendan, was someone else giving me his lines. And then finally, when I get into the house with him, he’s in a kind of comatose state. So, I’m not really engaging with an actor, I’m just engaging with a body sitting in a chair. And I’m also doing kind of my own monologue version of my role.
The only real interaction I had was the scenes with Olivia, where she comes in and finds me, and I’m toying with the idea of what to do about this horrific spinout that’s about to take place. I don’t know about the rest of the cast, but I was very isolated in Dr. Zephyr’s world, and didn’t know how it all kind of came together until I actually watched the movie a few nights ago, and I, like you, was really pleasantly surprised at how beautifully it came together.
If you’re gonna explore this world where we can get sucked into the rabbit hole of internet engagement, whether it be porn or this or that or the other thing, all of the augmented ways we get to titillate ourselves, masturbatory, you know, etc. Daniel did an amazing job of having a command of that slippery slope, and that was what struck me the most when I watched the film, is that if you’re going to be a guy who’s not sure where he stands in terms of his own familial relationship, and start looking at other stuff to glom onto. That’s what this movie is an exploration of, and Daniel’s execution of it was very, very smart.
So, in talking about being isolated in Dr. Zephyr’s world, not interacting with other actors, I would almost imagine that might actually benefit you, since Zephyr is sort of isolated in his own life, trying to stop this succubus from branching out into the world. Did you feel that helped you really get into the heart of your character during filming?
Ron Perlman: Well, it didn’t hurt. That feeling of isolationism, that feeling of, “Am I connecting or not,” is exactly a mirror of what this good doctor is trying to to figure out for himself. “Am I having an impact? I know some stuff here that is very, very explosive. Am I having an impact?” And playing it in a way where I, the actor Ron, was isolated and not knowing whether he was reaching anyone or getting through to anyone didn’t hurt at all, in terms of the frustration that it kind of imbued me with.
In terms of the actual exercise of like, “I’m trying to save some lives here, but I don’t know if anybody [believes me].” First thing the guy does is Google me, finds out that I’m involved in all these scandals, which I was, because I’m dealing with this really sick, twisted world, which is kind of urban myth stuff. So, it looks like I’m a creep, and that’s the first obstacle that I’m trying to overcome in trying to get his attention and say, “Take me seriously, bro, because your life depends on it.”
Perlman Was Facing A “Slippery Slope” In Trying To Make Zephyr Connectable For Audiences
“…there’s kind of a creepiness about this guy.”
So, I’d love to actually expand on the scandals a little bit, because this is a character who, for much of the film, we do see him seemingly trying to help Chris, but then when he finally gets to the house, there’s a darkness to him. What is it like walking that balance between someone who sincerely wants to help someone, but also does have this sort of dark past and darkness present in him?
Ron Perlman: This is where I kept saying to Daniel Hanna, who’s directing the film, “How am I doing?” [Chuckles] Because you’re right, there’s kind of a creepiness about this guy. His name alone, Dr. Orion Zephyr, and then what comes up on him, and his research is really off the chain, and he starts off the movie begging with his ex to just get his research out, although he knows how she’s going to get laughed off the face of the Earth by even acknowledging that she has a relationship with me.
I’m aware of all this stuff, and it makes me look like I’m easily dismissable, whereas we’re watching something play out in real time that I discovered the gravitas of, and that it needs people’s attention. So, the slippery slope is trying to get people’s attention while being surrounded by the cancelation process.
In talking with Daniel a lot during the production of this, did you try and come up with a wider backstory of things that we don’t already see and learn about in the film?
Ron Perlman: I always have my own stories that I tell myself that I don’t share with anyone else, because t actually just makes the colors a little bit more vibrant when they’re charged with a backstory, a history that I can kind of hang my hat on. I made some decisions about him and how things got all messed up and spun out, and even the fact that he no longer was with the woman that he loves, because of how dangerous it can be to even traffic in this world.
He’s paid a price, and he’s damaged when we meet him, so that needed to be part of my DNA, and also, if that affects the creepiness of what you take him for. Do you take him at his word, or do you see some sort of snake oil guy who has his own agenda of manipulation? And that’s an important kind of a dynamic in the storytelling.
Zephyr & The Succubus' Confrontation Was All “Out Of The Imagination” For Perlman
“…we never, ever intersected on this film.”
I don’t want to go too far into spoilers, but I do love that we get to see a confrontation between Dr. Zephyr and the succubus at some point in the film. A lot of those shots seemed to keep the two of you apart. Did you actually get to act with Rachel in person and see her in the full succubus makeup?
Ron Perlman: Who’s Rachel? Does that answer your question? [Laughs] No, I never got to, I saw her name on the call sheet with the letter H next to it, meaning that she was on hold on the days that I worked. So we never [worked together]. I know Rachel in real life, but we never, ever intersected on this film. It was all that she’s the imaginary person that I’m playing to a piece of black tape on a matte box. That’s my relationship, so it all has to come out of the imagination, which, you know, it’s challenging in and of itself, but it’s part of the game, man.
What was it like when you actually did see that scene, the final product of them, you know, having that confrontation with one another?
Ron Perlman: Yeah, I think I was kind of like you, I was really, really surprised at how well executed it was, and how it all came together. Because when you’re participating in an isolated bunch of contributions, you have no idea what they’re going to look like in the final analysis. I dug it, I dug it a lot.
I was very pleasantly surprised with how adept Daniel was in he knew what he was doing, he knew the movie that he was making. And it was very, very clear when you finally watched it how strong a grasp he had on the material, how he knew, going in, what he needed to accomplish, and what these isolated elements were going to all need to be so that they could all melt into some sort of recipe.
Perlman Has No News On Optimus Primal’s Future (But Is Game)
“I dug being the gorilla with the green eyes.”
I think I’m almost coming up on time, so I did also want to ask you really quickly. I loved hearing you asOptimus Primal in the most recentTransformersmovie. Have they talked to you at all about maybe having a future in that role as the franchise continues to grow?
Ron Perlman: I haven’t heard a word. While we were making the movie, we all knew that we were part of a storied franchise, and wondered whether we were going to — there was a bit of a departure in this particular one, and went in a couple of different directions. We all wondered whether that was going to parlay itself into some future visitation. But, no, I can’t make any news with you today.
I’m more just excited and hopeful to hear if they’ve been talking to you than trying to create news! Are you interested, though, if they do approach you to keep that role going?
Ron Perlman: I dug being the gorilla with the green eyes. If I have to go be him again, I would definitely run that walk.
AboutSuccubus
SUCCUBUS follows a young father going through a marital separation, joins a dating app, and matches with a beautiful but mysterious young woman…whose powers of seduction and manipulation entangle him in a mystery more horrifying than he could have ever imagined.
Coached by his over-sexed friend Eddie, Chris, a new father, joins the StarCrossed dating app “just to see what’s out there,” and eventually comes to the conclusion he should probably rekindle things with his estranged wife. But when he matches with Adra, a seductive young woman with a mysterious past, his curiosity gets the better of him, and he finds himself getting sucked into her world even as his own life falls apart. As Chris, Eddie, and Adra’s stalker, Dr. Zephyr circles her, Adra’s power grows, finally revealing her harrowing true nature.
Stay tuned for our otherSuccubusinterview with Brendan Bradley & Rachel Cook!
Succubusis now available on digital platforms and DVD!
Succubus
Cast
A new father, overwhelmed by fatigue and a troubled marriage, uses a dating app to escape. After swiping right, he finds himself interacting with what appears to be an inhuman presence.
