March 24, 2024

REFLECTIONS on 3/24/24:

My vague memory of what led to the KART DRIVER short film was the series of Daywalt Fear Factory videos that were drawing attention in the early, Wild-West days of YouTube. It was summer of 2011, and I’d already produced and helped on a handful of short horror films with writer / direct Drew Daywalt and FX artist / co-producer Jeff Farley. For Drew and Jeff, the weekend short film shoots were the equivalent of a weekly card game. But instead of getting together to play poker, why not come up with a cool, scary idea and try to execute it?

Bedfellows was Drew’s hit. And after interviewing him for several of the horror publications I was contributing to at the time, I was so inspired and wanted to get more involved. Hence came: The Closet, The Many Doors of Albert Whale, Spoon, Meat, and a handful more. (You can watch them all on the “short films” page of this website.)

These all got the attention of G4, and filmmaker / G4 producer Joe Lynch, who reached out to Drew, as well as two other filmmakers to create 3 exclusive horror shorts, each one based on a different video game, and debut them for Halloween of that year. The choices were ANGRY BIRDS, MARIO KART, and DUCK HUNT. Drew went with MARIO KART and pulled from things we all knew from DONKEY KONG and SUPER MAERIO BROTHERS. Fueled by an inspiration of Gaspar Noé films, he came up with an absolutely bonkers interpretation of these characters. (Or as he called it at the time, Gaspar Noé’s TAXI DRIVER.)

Around this time, I was working in the video department of Amoeba Music, and growing out a ridiculous mustache. Why? I was just really into Italian “Giallo” horror at the time, so why not? Drew took one look at me and asked if I’d be willing to act in the short as Luigi. How could I pass that up?! It was only one scene, but a handful of lines to memorize. Thankfully, I had an amazing scene partner in Ben Giroux, whom I only just met for the first time the morning of shooting our scene!

We very easily slipped into our feuding Italian brothers roles easily, and I even remember after a take or two Drew turning to producer Stephen Johnson and saying, “boy, this sure is familiar.”

It was so fast, laid back, and easy; like all of Drew’s shorts tended to be. Even though this time we had a tiny budget and were making it for an online “network.” The best find of the whole thing was the location this crew found for the finale, which literally looked like a DONKEY KONG level. On top of that, Jeff Farley’s absolutely disgusting version of Donkey Kong really set this whacky little short apart from the pack. You can watch it, in all its R rated gory, glory below!

I do recall after it premiered that online fans complained about a line I adlibbed on the spot without much thought. In the heat of my argument with Mario, I refer to him as my “little brother,” and people called blasphemy! Did they ever really establish which one was older in anything? I didn’t know! But for the context of the short, I figured – OK, Luigi has his own plumbing business, his own van, and everything in his life put together. Mario keeps messing up, has money and car problems, and a girl that keeps running off. I just assumed these were the mistakes of a younger brother, and so that line just came out of me. (And I stand by it!)

Acting is a tough gig, and I respect all actors that have to do this on a much grander level. I’ve only acted in bit parts like this, but I’ll forever be proud of this crazy short.

And as fate would have it, I was digging through my archives and came across some photos I took on my phone the day of the shoot, which I’m including below in a gallery. These were all from the summer of 2011. Enjoy!