"Creepy Cast": The Stars of Jeepers Creepers Two

Victor Salva's Jeepers Creepers was a very stylish horror film about a certain hideous demon attacking motorists on an isolated backwoods highway. It was a hit so the soft-spoken writer/director launched the sequel. In L.A. we talked with cast members who range from newcomers with some t.v. or stage experience to veteran actors like "Twin Peaks" Ray Wise. The Creeper is played in both films by handsome actor Jonathan Breck who let us know what it's like to be a pretty face inside a monster.

The victims this time are chosen from a busload of cheerleaders and football players returning from winning a championship game. The cheerleaders are played by relative newcomers Marieh Delfino (older sis of "Roswell's" Majandra Delfino), Lena Cardwell and Nicki Aycox.

Marieh reveals that she couldn't draw much from her real life cheerleading background. "I didn't want to be on [the squad] anyway. I was going through my 16, feminist phase. 'This is exploitive of women. I'm not going to go cheer for the boys. They can cheer for me'! My mom was like 'you need this on your college transcript. You're gonna do it or be grounded all summer'. I was like 'fine'. I didn't learn any cheers so they said I had a bad attitude. I hemmed my skirt but only in the back so my skirt was long but all the way up to here (indicates risqué high) in the back so after that they had a meeting behind my back. I did this move called 'the camel' that was really unattractive, silly and awkward so they banned the camel and banned me".

The actresses all felt that the audience doesn't have to see the first film to have fun with the second but all were definitely scared by the first movie. "I thought it was very artistic and smart", says Lena, a gorgeous African American actor in a cute pink dress. "It was a good film. It scared me definitely so I was glad to be a part of the sequel".

We asked the girls about meeting Jonathan Breck, who plays the Creeper.

Nicki grinned "He's a sweetheart, a very funny guy". Marieh agreed "It's hard to imagine him as the Creeper. He's just so handsome." The girls admitted that the actor often broke character off camera and cracked them up. We teased Marieh about disappearing from the film after being tossed out of a truck.

"You don't see me again. I survived but the director and I decided that it would be silly if I came back hobbling but I'm saved". Lena chimed in with "And then with me, I disappear for a while and then pop up back on the bus. What happened there? Especially since Johnny wasn't letting anyone back on the bus. Humm, what bargain did I make"?

All the "cheerleaders" worked long and hard on some very physical scenes often shot all night. "We shot till the sun came up. From 5 pm on", says Nicki. "We were fighting the sun almost every day. For five weeks", adds Marieh. "It was very difficult to change back your sleeping schedule. It turned us into vampires pretty much. When we had to switch back over we couldn't handle the sun". Long hours weren't the only problems on the shoot as Lena relates. "(One actor) hyper extended his quad because he stepped into a gopher hole and Eric (Nenninger) had to grab me by the neck and save me because I twisted my ankle on a cow patty! We ran the entire cotton pickin' night! I had to keep up with the boys and represent the women. It was so hard"!

Marieh twisted her ankle twice and wanted a body double. Nicki played it safe. "I knew that they were going to be running for 13 hours straight day after day and I decided my character wouldn't run. She stays with the bus. She's psychic and is saying 'there's nothing you can do. It's going to get you no matter what you do'".

The film was great for Lena who admitted that she was once homeless. "Yes, it's true. I was about 12 years old and moved to New York and lived in the streets. I got a Nike job for a national commercial but didn't get the residuals I thought I would from it so we couldn't survive. My mother and I lived on the streets, in the subway, in Central Park. I sang on the streets for hours to support us for food and all my lessons. I got a job on "New York Undercover" and I was a recurring character and then was able to afford an apartment".

The girls took a bus tour to promote the film. "It was amazing", says Lena. "I lived like a rock star. I was there every day except for three days. We reached out to markets that couldn't get to us. I went to a golf tournament. We missed out on Ozzfest". Nicki has a few fun memories. "I went straight from Baltimore to New York and slept 18 hours. Fell asleep in Central Park and drooled on the lawn. It was a lot of fun, a huge publicity tour. We went to different cities, did morning shows and radio shows, signed autographs, city to city, we were toasted". Marieh was busy shooting her new t.v. sitcom "The Ortegas" in which she plays a Latina dentist. "Don't ask me how."

The girls all admit that the film would scare them if they weren't in it. "I'm on the edge of my seat every time", confides Marieh. "I've seen it three or four times and every time I'm going "Go, go, run!". Various creatures from literature or film made lasting childhood impressions on the girls. Nicki was impressed by Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado". "I thought that was so creepy the way he boxed the guy into the catacombs. It was so wrong". "For me it was The Exorcist, says Marieh. "That spinning around head thing disturbed me for years". Lena looks down and shyly makes an admission. "I thought [Exorcist] was funny as a child but what did get me was "Chucky". I felt like my doll was going to come to life and stab me with a kitchen knife! I slept with my stuffed animals. Or Pet Semetary freaked me out or Poltergeist with the clown. That messed me up with the toys again! Or Puppetmaster too.

Okay, you have all these freaked out cheerleaders, where are their stalwart, football hero protectors? Bring on Eric Nenninger, Garikayi Mutambirwa and Al Santos wearing Jeepers Creepers 2 tees and hoodies. Eric had a recurring role on "Malcolm in the Middle". Garikayi, whose name means "live well" in Zimbabwean, grew up in Switzerland before getting t.v. roles and parts in Bones, They Are Among Us and Clockstoppers. Al Santos will be seen in a new WB comedy "The Help" this Fall and was on the popular "Grosse Pointe". Only Al didn't have to hit the gopher hole-plagued fields running all night... a benefit of dying earlier than the other guys.. "It was really rough. I spent those running days in my trailer playing X-Box. It was great. It was fun watching them fall".

Eric's character Scott was obnoxious. The sort you root for to get offed asap. "Even I couldn't wait for him to die", says the actor. "When you're a Senior in high school and an athlete you're super cocky. You haven't made any mistakes in your life. Everything you do is right. I was like that when I was a Senior. Not prejudiced or homophobic like Scott. I was also an actor so it was kind of weird to come from the musical rehearsal and try to gain respect. 'Sure, tight pants, we know'".

The guys got a chance to work on their characters' backstories and had a week and a half of rehearsal bonding. "And then we were put in this bus, stuck in the bus 12 to 16 hours a day five days a week for three months", Garikayi (pronounced Garickeye) tells us. "We became like a team and fed off each other with mom jokes, spitball and water fights, you name it. We totally reverted back to high school days".

Interacting with Jonathan as the Creeper wasn't too frightening for the guys. Eric tells us, 'We had already seen the first film so we knew what he was like. He didn't feel that he had to hide. There were so many cast members it would be hard for him to hide. He did break and walk around and do jokes. There was a stunt creeper in full make-up so there were two of them walking back and forth. You don't know who you are talking to. He's at the craft's table eating lunch with you. Jokes come up but when he starts doing (the part), he's an actor so he really comes across". Al revealed that all those frightening, wide-eyed fear moments are all pretty fake. "The hard part is nine out of ten times you're not reacting to anything but a red piece of tape on the wall. There's thirteen of us looking at him [the Creeper] but it's not him. It's a camera in your face. Garikayi, who has some frightening one-on-one moments with the creature, disagreed "Hey, speak for yourself. When he's on top of me, he's scary".

Word is out that half of young Hollywood tried out for this film. "It was weird", says Al. "There are kids in the movie that I never met. I met these guys in a bar who said "I'm in Jeepers Creepers 2". And I'm like "you are not"! Everyone I know auditioned for this.

Surely these tough young guys have no childhood fears. "For me it was Jaws", says Eric. "Spielberg was genius to just show the fin". Al may be kidding us but... "I'm more of a realist. I have a scientific brain. I've never been afraid of like Jason and Exorcist. I'm afraid of real things like terrorism, human's living on a small earth. Jason and Freddy don't do it for me". Garikayi looks at him like "oh, sure" then lets us know... "If anything, I was afraid of the Chuckie doll". Garikayi and Lena have that in common.

Veteran actor Ray Wise whom you might have enjoyed as the dad of the murdered girl in the weirdly camp t.v. series "Twin Peaks", revealed that director David Lynch might bring the show back. Meanwhile, Ray is in a new offbeat comedy called The Battle of Shaker Heights in which he plays a wacky collector of nesting dolls. "My littlest nesting doll is little Ruby and I call her that because she has these two ruby red eyes. I have her in my tweezers and drop her on the floor and I lose her for the next ten minutes".

Ray's first film role was as a scientist in the camp horror classic Swamp Thing. We wondered if the actor noticed a lot of changes since then. "Make-up is much better. The appliances on the faces of the creatures have gotten much better, more expressive and realistic looking. Every aspect of production has vastly improved". Ray plays Jack Taggert, a determined farmer whose son is killed by the Creeper in "J.C.2". "The character is like Ahab in Moby Dick. Right down to the harpoon gun. There's a scene where I keep stabbing the Creeper and I actually say the line "From Hell's heart I strike at thee". Victor loved it but I guess the studio didn't".

We can't say too much about Ray's actions or we'll give away the film but the actor did have his own explanation for the origins of the Creeper. "I have a feeling that he's very elemental. He springs from the earth and has been around since the beginning of time, since before man or life on this planet. Freddy and Jason would not stand a snowball's chance in hell against this guy. He could be somebody's idea of God, the all encompassing being of the universe. He's powerful and can change into whatever he wants to be. His molecules stay around forever no matter how you try to scatter him... especially if there's money to be made". [laughter].

Since the actor is so good at why and wherefore, we asked him if he knew why horror movies are so popular again. "I think everyone likes to go to a movie, sit in the dark for two hours and be scared by something that can't hurt them", the actor said. "They leave the theater and listen to the sirens and listen to the news and see the smoke and all those things can hurt. The drive-bys can hurt but Jeepers Creepers 2 can't hurt you. You can get an adrenaline rush and leave the theater and go back to your life".

Last but most certainly not least, the Creeper himself, blue-eyed Texas actor Jonathan Breck entered our interview room and we noted that, as creatures go, this dude is pretty good looking! We comment that he isn't very scary in person. "Hey, I've had a good night's sleep so I don't look the same. I've had my 23 years to rest".

What about playing a monster a second time? "It was great because the origin of the Creeper is left to be a mystery. When you don't define a character you don't put a fence around him and say he can only do these things. We can keep coming up with new things. In this film, I got to spend most of the time on wires in the air which was a whole new thing for me. A whole new set of challenges". Jonathan had a stuntman for the most difficult and dangerous scenes but confided that he really wanted to do all the stunts himself.

Jonathan did add his own special acting magic to the Creeper's personality. Like, licking the bus window when he sees some appetizing prey. (joking) "I had a lot of issues to work out and worked them out on film. But, the creeper is a very discerning hunter. He looks for the best in everybody because he knows that by ingesting a certain piece of somebody he regenerates into that piece. So, when I needed a new head I had to go after a good looking head, because Creeper wanted some play in the bars"!

The actor has a great sense of humor and admitted he had fun creeping out the cast off camera but, once the cameras roll, he's deadly serious. "People give you a very wide berth, a lot of room but they mold the suit to my body and it feels like a second skin. It's pretty bizarre. The first time I put that latex glove on, I looked down at my hand and it was my hand. All the lines and veins in my real hand were there. It was just grayer Creeper skin. It's a great feeling of power".

We had one very basic question. Uh, how does a Creeper actor hit the bathroom? "You sweat", Jonathan answered candidly. "The suit is the last piece you put on. I was in the suit for 8 to 10 hours but it's so physically demanding that I sweat so much a lot of days you could take the leg and just jump out the sweat. So, I didn't have to go very much".

We had to know what scared this guy when he was younger. Was he a horror fan? "I don't have a horror background and I wasn't a fan as a kid. When I got into the suit I was a little self-conscious and I think that helped me. I didn't have any conscious or sub-conscious ideas of anybody I'd seen before. I just asked 'what does he need? How bad does he need it and what does he do to get it'? However, the first time the actor saw himself in a mirror as the Creeper was more emotional. "It scared the hell out of me. The first week, doing Jeepers Creepers One, I'd walk by a mirror and I'd catch myself and then I got used to it".

Jonathan admits that being encased in latex in a film is a mixed blessing. "There was some talk in pre-production on the first movie... I went in to audition and wasn't wearing any prosthetics and they loved my look. I shaved my head. They wanted to put as little as possible on me then transform me by the end of the movie. When we got to the set and it became obvious that I'd be encased in latex I became a little disappointed thinking that you're slugging away in this town for eight or nine years and finally get a big movie and they're doing to cover me all up. My mom... how am I going to get her to believe it was actually me? But it works out as a benefit because I can do as many Creepers as I decide to do and not be just defined by the role. I have another career outside of the mask. I'd hate to be in another movie and have some guy say, 'That guy playing that girl's husband is the Creeper'. I love to do stage work and smaller independent films. I've been very lucky. I may do an original play called Marilyn and Monty about Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift".

The actor's mom is still apologizing to her friends. "He's really a very sweet boy". Jonathan makes no apologies. "I think the Creeper, with this film, will take his place alongside some of the greats. I like to think I'm the Creeper. There's a special performance behind it".

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.