A.J. Cook and Michael Landes: On the Road to Terror

In Final Destination 2, horror veteran A.J. Cook plays Kimberly Corman, the young woman who inherits a terrible "gift" from Destination one's Devon Sawa. She sees "about-to-be-dead" people. Instead of a plane crash, Kimberly zones in on the ultimate freeway disaster...before it happens. She's rescued and aided by hot cop Thomas Burke played by Michael Landes who was the cute Jimmy Olsen in the "Lois and Clark" t.v. series. We spoke to the two actors recently and found them to be upbeat and positive about their horror film experience that included a dip in a freezing Canadian lake. A.J. is Canadian but Michael is from the Bronx. "Hey, I'm Mikey from the block".

Both young actors are sure that fans will get a rush out of the heightened death scenes in Part 2. Without giving away too much, each actor had the same favorite demise. "I was freaked out by the kid at the dentist office and there's that thing with the falling pane of glass....", says Michael with an "ewwww" frown on his face. "Those death scenes are so realistic and it's like a train wreck, you can't not look. I think they pushed the envelope as much as they could. I actually think when the glass gets that kid, it's pretty sick", A.J. adds.

The freeway pile-up action in the film is amazing and all too real. Michael reveals, "I was part of it and I watched it be filmed but seeing it in the movie it goes on and on. I think that's pretty amazing. She (A.J.) saw this with an audience. I can't wait to see it with that like 86th Street in Manhattan audience. It's cool". The audience experience was a blast for A.J. "That was the biggest payoff because everybody really enjoyed it and to hear everyone clapping and yelling, that's the best right there. That's what we set out to do. We didn't set out to change the world or win an Oscar. We set out to make an entertaining movie and have a roller coaster ride".

We wanted to know what, in real life, frightens these two. "The first one (Final Destination) actually kind of freaked me out because it wasn't a typical horror film", says A.J. "It was clever. It was different and the possibility was there that maybe this could happen. You left the theater and at home you kept thinking about it over and over again in your head. 'Oh, wonder..if I got in the elevator' or this or that. I just got on the creakiest, oldest, scariest elevator the other day and I was almost claustrophobic. I'm like 'get me outa here!'"

Michael agreed. "Actually in my apartment in New York, we live on the 18th floor so I got on the elevator just last week and you trip out a little bit if you're alone. It doesn't have to be like what happens in this movie but an elevator with the chains breaking or whatever, that freaks me out".

Also "freaky" and difficult was a car crash into a lake scene that both actors are involved in. "That's all us, baby", A.J. says proudly. Michael explains, "We shot it in this huge tank and she spent most of the day down underwater with weights on her legs breathing with a respirator in between takes". "And I was blind", adds A.J. "I had to take my contacts out so I can't see anything". Michael elaborates. "David (R. Ellis), the director's background has been in stunts and he's been responsible for all those great ones, like in Clear and Present Danger, all those huge action sequences so obviously he's going to do the right thing and create a safe environment. They won't let you too close to the explosions and then, when we step in they'll create like a smaller explosion. Throw debris from the roof. But it's something to react off of and that's very helpful. If you have to dive out of the way of an explosion you can look like a buffoon but they create something there for you". "Yeah", says A.J., laughing. "They blow air and crap at us".

The lake sequence was shot in the mountains near Vancouver in the middle of winter. It was 38 degrees. A stuntman doubling as Michael's character, dove into the water but then the director told Michael that he needed a shot of him swimming on the surface of the lake. "I thought he was just busting my chops", laughs Michael. "Sure enough, at the end of the day I went in and 38 degrees is not an ice cream headache. It's beyond shrinkage too. Everything shuts down. Like your hands don't move. You would drown in the freezing cold".

Hey, aren't horror movies supposed to be full of dark humor? But these guys had to play it straight. "It was more of a challenge", says Michael. I oftentimes like somebody that can be a little self deprecating or have that dry remark. My guy didn't necessarily have that. There's comic relief in other characters but for us, in order for you guys to believe whatever situation we're in, we had to believe it so it was actually harder to play it straight". A.J. sometimes found keeping a serious face difficult. "It was very hard because you wanted to just relax and crack a smile in a scene maybe but you couldn't and that was torture".

Nervous laughter is the nature of the horror film "beast". "It's funny, they say some people will laugh at some of these death sequences but I think it's more a nervous reaction that you'll sometimes have", says Michael. I went to Catholic school as a kid and my brother and I would get in trouble and I would laugh when the nuns would yell at me. That was my nervous reaction". A.J. smiles and rubs her hands together evilly, "Like, ah ha..we got them. It's this huge build-up to these death scenes. Is it going to be this or that or this that gets the guy?".

Does making a film about death tracking you down make these actors think about their own deaths? "It makes you aware of it", Michael replies, getting serious. "Death is something we all have to face one day. You try not to trip out on it too much or you'll never leave your house. An actor buddy of mine said 'if you can have everything but know you're going to die at sixty and enjoy the next 40 years would you do that or would you rather live until eighty and not know? I'd hate to know". A.J. adds, "It's like a Christmas present, you want to peek and see what's in it but you'd ruin it. I don't think I'd want to know".

Enough death talk. What do each of these young actors do for fun and a natural high in life? "Acting. Acting's my therapy", A.J. responds. "And the gym. I don't drink or smoke. I never have". "I was at the doctor and my doctor was saying, 'if you smoke, you might as well go walk blind on the train tracks'. Because the results have already been proven", adds Michael. "The minute you do drugs it makes you very normal and we're very unique in our own ways. Did you see Braveheart? He didn't even want the painkiller. It takes your wits away from you. I like to play ice hockey and that's the most exhilarating thing. Exercise does give you a high".

A.J. is working on other non-horror projects. Her real life may be clean and healthy but her next character is another story. "My next movie is called Living Neon Dreams. It's kind of a contemporary, tripped-out version of "Alice in Wonderland" meets suicide and drug overdose. It's unbelievable. It's one of the coolest scripts I've read in a long time. My character Alice is 17 and she gets some bad drugs and starts on this trip and that's where the Alice in Wonderland theme comes in and kind of takes over. It's really unique". Michael is making a movie at Fox. "You don't want to get tied down to one genre parse but I think it's just go where the best work is".

The actors have a message for potential Final Destination 2 audience members. "It's fun. It's not supposed to be taken seriously", Michael comments. "It's like the same attraction of going on a roller coaster ride or playing some of those video games. Go for the fun and if you go with a date maybe the girl or the guy is gonna grab you a little tighter and if it's a first date then hats off to you!". A.J. agrees. "I think teenagers will really like this movie. It's really exciting and fun and I can hear them talking about it at school with their friends, like the word of mouth will spread. I just hope they enjoy it".

Will they both return for a third film? A.J. smiles "Perhaps". "I don't know. A couple of people survive in the movie", Michael reveals. "They made this movie because the audience liked the first film. If the audience really goes to see this then that's great".