Wesley O’Mary [Interview]

When I was young, probably around 4, I wanted to have every job in the world. I had this crazy vision of going into Walmart for 5 minutes, and then running over to FedEx for 5 minutes, and then just going to a bunch of different places to work. I wanted to do everything, and then I found out about acting. So far, I’ve been a cashier, a drug dealer, a mob boss, a solider, and a scientist, and there’s still plenty of parts to be played. Acting allows me to have every job in the world, so I could accomplish my childhood dream. Although, I don’t really see it as “playing pretend.” It really depends on who you’re talking to. Often when I play a character, if it’s an original character, then I am that character. That character is a combination of several parts of my psyche. Even if you play a historical character or another person who existed, research is often still done on how they act, for the actor to become that person on screen. Even when on screen, we do actually do a lot of the things on the screen, such as eat, fish, or drive a car. Yes, a lot of it is faked for safety or ease. But often I find myself amazed that I’m actually doing some of the things I used to pretend to do as a kid. Around five years old, I use to make VHS taped skits for my friends for their birthdays. By the age of eight, I was full on into film. I received a mini DV video camera and a director’s chair for Christmas. It was also the year I got my first role in a SAG film.

In recent years, you have been known to do a bit more work behind the camera as well in several different gigs. What was your inspiration to work on the production side of the house more than with on screen work?

It’s really a combination of a few things. Since age 5, I was directing the skits I was producing for my friends. Then, when I was about 11, I worked on a film called Bohemibot. A syfi alien film by Brendon Bellomo. On my days off, the director allowed me to help out on set. I had a lot of fun doing that, and it was a very CG heavy film. Even from a young age I was in love with tech. Now, being able to work in the camera department, and handle all this cool tech we have now is a dream for me. Another part of it, is the high that I think anyone would get from creating an entire universe. Taking a blank document, and writing a script to create this blueprint of a world, and then building off this blueprint, by filming it, and editing it. To me there’s no other feeling like that.

You worked with our favorite horror filmmaker, Steve Sessions, on Shriek of the Sasquatch and Aberrations. We’ve been covering Steve’s work for many years, so I have to ask, what was it like working under the guise of a director like Mr. Sessions?

It was very interesting working with Steve. He found me on IMDB and contacted me about the part in (Shriek of the Sasquatch) and once I got the part, I began to check out some of his other work, and really enjoyed his movies. At the time, like other indie films I had seen, I didn’t really understand indie filmmaking. Steve’s films didn’t look like they were home movies, and I had to know how he did that. At the time, I had a little handy cam that didn’t even record at 480p.

The first time I worked with Steve, we were doing a scene where I was chilling out by a tree, then see a helmet in the woods and decide to investigate. When we were doing the scene, I asked him if he wanted me to scream, when I find out there’s a head in the helmet. He said no, he just wanted me to make a terrified face and he would let the music do the rest of the work. I thought that was interesting, and I’ve never forgotten that, Steve must be able to see and hear everything that’s going to go on in his film, even when it’s not there, and he does a lot of this by himself. I often wonder if that’s why a lot of his movies turn out so well. They don’t really suffer from too many ideas from too many people being included.

One time Steve contacted me saying he wanted to shoot a scene for a movie at “Red Bluff”, which is a bit of a tourist attraction where I live. I had already been a part of several projects at that location, so I was familiar with it. Steve made plans with me to shoot some footage of me running through the woods trying to get away from a sniper. That day was nearly the end of our favorite horror mind. I drug Steve and my father down to the bottom of the bluff, shooting the scene along the way. Coming back up, was not as simple as going down. We took several rests on the way back on one of which, Steve said he saw a blue spider on one of the trees, but my father and I never saw it. It was close to 100° that day. To this day, we still say he was hallucinating in the heat.

What is it about the horror genre specifically that makes you enjoy working within it?

I am going to be honest here. I love watching horror movies. However, working on horror movies, kind of takes away from any of it being scary. Without music, and color work, the killer running with the knife and yelling comes off more comical than scary. Even when I’m watching the movie, I know what’s going to happen, and I just end up trying to remember where I was standing off screen. Not to say that none of the movie can scare me, because there can still be the unexpected jump scare. But I feel like horror suffers the most, from the magic being taken away from it for the people involved in making it.

That’s not to say we don’t have spooky moments on set. Our AD (assistant director) on one set, got so frustrated with people talking on set, that he yelled to have everyone on crew be in one spot. When we still could hear people talking in the house, we found out that whoever it was, it was no one on our crew, and to our knowledge there was no one in the house with us.

What is your favorite scary movie?

My favorite horror movie is the 1982 remake of The Thing. I love that movie because of how freaky and isolated that movie was. From the effects to the locations, it was all so cool to me. Anytime a character would go outside, and could barely see five feet in front of them even with a flashlight. The alien was cool too. Infecting the blood of its victim. All your limbs being able to become a different creature. I liked the original, and the 2011 remake was ok I suppose. (But I did like the teeth fillings part, that was nice. Not as cool as burning the blood but now I’m just rambling.) However, I saw the 1982 version first, and as with most movies, I have an attachment with it since I saw it when I was young.

What are your plans for this coming Halloween? Any traditions you try to stick to each year?

Last October I was working on a horror film, and this October I will be working on another feature. However, I will probably be watching ELREY, or Netflix and checking out all the horror movies playing.

If a horror movie premieres in the theaters this year on Halloween I might try to get a group to go to the movies. I don’t really have any traditions for Halloween. I love it, but tend to just make up something to do on the day.

I do have a fireman friend, who is completely into anything to do with Halloween. He counts down the days, and decorates his entire house and yard. He just acquired a coffin and hearse this year.

What does the future hold for you? Anything you’d like to plug to our readers?

I do have a film I helped work on, premiering in October. Demons by Miles Doleac, will be coming out in October, and I worked as VFX supervisor on it.

My father and I are currently building a universe for us to release our horror ideas. That’s several years from now, but feel free to check back with me for updates on projects I’m working on.

What was the last thing that made you smile?

The last thing that made me smile was my girlfriend, calling me incredibly excited to tell me that her new roller skates came in the mail.