SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hello, my fellow Dreadites. Welcome back to the Dread Alert Podcast. I'm Vince, and today I'm joined by Linus O'Brien. Linus is the director of the documentary film Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, which focuses on the history, the development, the influence, and impact of the Rocky Horror Show, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show just in time for the film's 50th anniversary. Linus's father, Richard O'Brien, who features heavily in the documentary, wrote and stars in the Rocky Horror Show and The Rocky Horror Picture Show as Riffraf, and we are thrilled to have Linus here today to talk about this incredibly moving documentary. Linus, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

It's a real pleasure to be here. Very nice to meet you.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Nice to meet you as well. I have to tell you, and I hope I don't embarrass you too much by gushing, I loved the documentary. Um the Rocky Horror Picture Show specifically was such a big part of my youth. I was a theater kid. I have a degree in musical theater, and uh unfortunately my college did the show a year after I graduated, so I did not get the chance to flex my muscles as Eddie. Um but I this this show has helped shape me and has helped expand my mind in ways that I didn't think I didn't know that needed expanding. Uh I just it's a beautiful piece of art, and I can't thank you enough for bringing this history, this oral history to audiences. I think it's really worth the time for people to see it, especially if they're fans.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

It's just a real pleasure to hear that. We, you know, the response we've been getting from from film festivals and audiences in general is is far beyond anything we we conceived of. We always wanted it to be emotional and supportive and and and joyful and and and funny. But we never I I never expected uh theater theaters full of people watching a documentary to begin with, and then watching our documentary, and then having the emotional reaction that they've been having. Uh so yeah, the it's the reaction has been far beyond anything I think anyone in our team uh thought of, really. So so to hear it from you as well is really is really uh uh uh lovely to hear.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

It was beautiful. And I I sort of want to highlight the fact that this is a history of the stage production all the way through the Shadowcasts and where we are today. So uh, you know, it has a slightly different title on stage. I don't know if you want to speak to the differences between the two pieces of art because it's you know they're distinct.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Yeah, I mean that the original production was only meant to run for three weeks in a theater that held 60 people. Uh and that was if it had been sold out every night of those performances, which it was, that that would that would have been enough for everyone involved. Uh so from that super tiny acorn, this like phenomenon has grown. Um so yeah, it's really um yeah, it's just amazing. The things that had had to happen in order for us to get where we are now with Rocky are so crazy when you try to connect all the dots. You know, there were so many chances for it not to exist and not to have this cultural impact that it does. Um, but it it found a way, and I think that's due to the uh the attachment and the connection uh that that fans and the community of fans that has grown up around it. I mean, at the end of the day, Rocky will its legacy will be community and connection.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

Yeah, I think that is a wonderful legacy. And you mentioned the fans. Uh this story is told through your father's eyes largely in some ways, but also through the eyes of the fans. And I wonder what drew you to making a film that like this, not not just honoring your father's legacy, but honoring the legacy of the people that affected.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Well, I think that's what we always set out to do. Uh we wanted to celebrate the fans who've loved it so much for all these years. That was really, that was the genetic, that was the what the word I'm looking for, that was the I don't know, that was what it was all based around. And and to be able to celebrate my father's music, tell the origin story, talk about his personal journey, the effect on the the midnight screenings, and the effect on the LGBTQ community, I mean that's it bec became easy in my eyes about what how the short story would be shaped and how the documentary would be shaped. And that bore out during the editing process, which was literally only two months, uh, and and a very like uh quick and uh and really um fun experience for myself and my creative partner Avna Shyloa.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

I'm floored to hear that that only took two months because the documentary looks beautiful. It's uh your cinematographer was incredibly competent. The shots are just gorgeous, but you had so much archival footage of the original production and the rocks in production. I'm shocked that you put that all together in two months.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Well, it speaks to the team that we have behind us, the archival producer, uh Gideon, um our uh producers, Adam Gibbs and Garrett Price, my creative partner. Without the team, without this team, the specific team that we have, this movie doesn't get made the way that it has been. And so, you know, all credit goes to the entire team because every person involved contributed something to it which made the final product what it is. And so you can't say if you didn't take out the sound people or the colouring people or you know, all of those that we'd have exactly the movie that we have. So, you know, one of the it's been that's been probably I don't know if it was a revelation, but it's certainly been the what the best thing that's come out of it for me personally is the connections I've made with the team that we have and the experience I had in making it with them. Those are the things that I'm gonna remember and cling on to. Uh, as much as people love the movie and responding to it, I think it just the degree to which the joy I had in making it with the team that we have um it supersedes everything. Um and I can't wait to, you know, people get addicted to that kind of experience. So I'm I'm basically looking now for my next project so that I can have that experience again. Because when you have a group of people who are all collaborating on something creative and you all kind of have the same goal in mind, it's one of the most uh pleasurable experiences you can have. Certainly the most pleasurable experience I've ever had.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Well, I can't wait to see what you all get up to next. And uh it makes me happy to hear it makes me so happy to hear a director who has a respect for the team because it is a creative, collaborative process. But you also had some really You had some beautiful names on this project. You had Tim Curry involved, of course, your father was involved, Patricia Quinn, uh, who won my heart during the watching of this film. She was just fantastic. It's selfish of me to ask, but I have to ask you, what was it like to sit down with Tim Curry first, and then we can talk about some of the other people you had in this film?

SPEAKER_00 7:17

I mean, it was an amazing experience, really, because you know, Tim Curry is such a force of nature, and even with his, you know, uh infirmities that he has from the stroke that he had in 2012, he's still vital, he's still sarcastic, he still has a very dry wit, and it's very and is very touched by by by the fans that have loved his performances over the years. So to get a chance to have him involved, share his story, and be part of the Rocky story that we wanted to tell, uh it meant everything.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Yeah. He had some really beautiful insights uh about the piece and about how its impact on him. I I just that was a highlight of the film. Uh who else were you excited to talk with? Was there anyone else who stands out as something that was just really fantastic to get to sit down with them?

SPEAKER_00 8:09

I mean, it it uh it's the probably the most meaningful conversation I had uh was probably with my dad's uh old childhood friend uh Chrissy Shrimpton, who he met in in acting class when he arrived from New Zealand. Uh she was able to give an insight into my dad that no one else could, because you often share stories that you wouldn't with your family uh or with your coworkers. You would share them with your close personal friends. And so she had a real insight into my dad in those formative years when they were in acting school and while he was trying to make a career that no one else could speak to. I think my producers were like, Really? Do we really need her? And I was like, listen, it's gonna I think it's gonna really be important for her to be involved and and say things that that about my dad that no one else could really.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Yeah, I I think that's a very interesting take to give some context to the man. Um I I I found it so moving hearing him fifty years removed or or more play those songs on the acoustic guitar. It was some of the most moving points I can't imagine. It recontextualized him in my mind as this monolithic figure who has been with me for 30 years, uh parasocially. Uh it just it humanized him. It was just such a beautiful choice to put that in the film.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Yeah, it was really, really important for us to for to fly uh Richard Hartley and uh over to New Zealand and then for us to travel there and have them sing sit down at the piano with songs that they hadn't done so in 50 years. Uh and I, you know, um to get the rendition of superheroes that we did, ugh, it was just it we struck gold basically, because the thing was, my dad said before they were gonna sit down, I was like, listen, we're not gonna perform. And I was like, uh, what do you mean? Exactly, okay. We're just gonna if a song comes up, we'll break into it for a bit, and you know, what we get is what we get. And I was like, okay, let's do it, let's go for it. And so all the music that you see in the movie, those are all one takes. We never went over the songs again. They just did it, they picked up immediately. So for them to do that rendition of superheroes with any other movie, and it's just perfect. I'm like, God, how do they manage to do that? Like, they didn't they didn't practice, they didn't do it again, they did it in one take. I'm like, oh, just really, really happy to capture that.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Well, such a clever choice on your end to end the documentary with that song. I was like, as a true fan, I was like, yes, I got the deep cut there. That was great.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Right. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Uh as a cis straight man who loves Rocky Horror, I feel like Rocky Horror is for everyone. And uh when I was talking with a few other creators that I know that I'd just seen the documentary, one of them sent me a photo of him as Brad in a Shadowcast after 150 performances in a Shadowcast. I'm always surprised at the people who are diehard fans of this movie. Are you ever surprised about the demographics of the people that you're encountering? Because we think of Rocky horror as existing in a queer space a lot of the time. Are you ever surprised by the people who tell you that they love the film?

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Uh no, not at all, really, because you know, it's you know, I think Trixie spoke to it as well, Trixie Mattel, who we interviewed, uh, when she first started performing in Rocky and her shadow cast, I think most of the casts were straight at the time. And so they were just doing Rocky, you know, they weren't Rocky is never the thing about Rocky is Rocky's never tried to bang you over the head with themes or what to think, right? It presented a lot of kind of transgressive material and transgressive themes, but that was never its intent. I think if it had been its intent, you would see a lot more uproar over from the conservative sides of society. But because it's so just filled with joy and fun, it doesn't it's really hard to push back against something when it is full of joy and fun. It's very difficult. You can't get outraged about it because Rocky doesn't allow you to get outraged about it. Uh so yeah, I I it it never surprises me who likes Rocky because they're from all don't they're from all walks of life, and then they all kind of find each other through Rocky. I I'm I'm I'm amazed at the community and the bonds that have been formed within the various Shadowcasts over the years. What's really kind of gratifying to me, and I don't know how much I thought about it, was that you have three generations of Rocky fans, but you also have three generations of Rocky Shadowcast fans. And at our documentary, you're having grandmas who are in Shadowcast Rocky meet teenagers that are currently in Rocky Shadowcast, and so you're getting that connection continues now. And so I I don't know if I ever thought I thought maybe you know our documentary would end up on streaming and people would process it that way. But because we made a push to have it in theaters, we're now seeing the benefits of that, and it's very important that the documentary came into theaters because documentaries don't come into theaters very often, and B, they don't have the emotional reaction necessarily that our documentary has. So to have it all work out the way that it has, um, yeah, I'm sometimes I feel like the universe conspires to help us make things, and we're kind of just on this wave riding what we started, basically. Um, yeah, so yeah, amazing experience for for me and our team.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

And not to put too fine a point on it, uh, I think the point is made in the documentary that the original production was in a theater with a blank movie screen behind it, and now people are doing theater with a movie playing behind them, and now your documentary about the people in the theater with the screen is on a screen. It's just a beautiful cycle, and I'm so excited for you.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

Yeah, that's it's really weird that cycle continues because you know, Rocky um Rocky celebrated 50s B movies, and what happened with the midnight screenings is Rocky started uh supporting cinemas that were going out of business. So they could rely on a full house Friday and Saturday night, and that would allow the theater to the cinema to remain open. And so Rocky has this strange way of supporting the very thing it was celebrating. And what another what an amazing time we are at now, because obviously cinema attendance is at an all-time low compared to what it was, and so now Rocky is again celebrating cinema, people watching movies together, and hopefully our documentaries doing the same thing. So yeah, just very circular, the whole business basically.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

I love that. And yes, it is playing uh in in my city at a one-screen theater that is specializing in indie films, and I hope that that drives traffic to them because they're in the heart of our cultural district. Um I know you mentioned community as one of the big themes of the Rocky Horror Show and the Rocky Horror Picture Show. And I totally agree with that theme and uh and the legacy of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I wonder what you would say, and you don't have to speak for your dad, but I wonder what you would say, Richard, would say the legacy of the Rocky Horror Show is.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

I I I mean, I think he'd probably echo what I'm saying, and I think he he he said it towards one of the most like you know touching moments at the end of the movie. You know, he talks about he was in no man's land, and and I think the thing about Rocky, it helps people feel like they're not alone, you know? And so, you know, what what an amazing thing to be a part of in in even just a small sense. I mean, it's not ours, it's not my dad's, it's not mine, it's the fans. And to feel like you've had some in some small way help people feel like they're not alone, you know, it I'm I'm getting choked up about now about it because I I can't think of anything better to to spend my time associated with on planet earth than making or helping people feel like they're not alone. So if our documentary helps continue that that feeling, then it's a it's a blessing. It's an absolute blessing.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

And that is a beautiful moment, a humble moment from your father, and probably a humbling moment for your father, where he says that Rocky doesn't belong to him, it belongs to the fans. It's a humble thing to say, and it was such a beautiful moment. I have to say, I watched it with my wife, who is uh co-editor here at Dread Alert Media, and she was in tears. She's she's seven months pregnant. She's like, my pregnant ass can't handle this right now. So uh Wow, congratulations to you both. Thank you very much, and and hopefully a fourth generation of Rocky fans will be entering into the conversation here soon. Right, right. So I have a couple of quick I have a couple of quick questions uh or variations of these we ask all of our guests, and we can run down them quickly. If you don't have an answer, that's fine. If you need to think about it, we'll put it in the show description. But do you have a favorite sci-f sci-fi or bee horror movie? Or bee movie that would play at midnight?

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Well, it's it's funny. I I'm my dad was very influenced by m uh science fiction movies from the 50s, and I was very influenced by science fiction movies from the 70s. So I have a lot of sci 70s sci-fi that I'm really attached to. Uh Logan's Run was something that I loved. Uh Omega Man, uh, I love that. Soylent Green, I love that. Like these kind of dystopian 70s sci-fi. It's just like I can't get get enough of all that stuff. I mean, and then obviously, you know, in the later 70s, there's Star Wars and there's uh Alien. The production design on Alien is like pop level. Like it doesn't get you can't get immersed in a world more than uh Alien. Forget about the subject matter in the storyline, just being transported through that world through the production design of Geiger and Ridley Scott. I mean, you can just you just want to live in that world. And I think that's you know, I think that that's a similar feeling that Rocky fans have. They want to live in that world. Uh so if you can make a movie that that makes you want to be inside of it, I think you've you've you're you're on the right track.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

I love that. That is a that is a solid answer. Um so on our channel we primarily do horror reviews and so uh and horror interviews. And so I wanted to ask, do you have a favorite horror film?

SPEAKER_00 19:22

It's it's funny because horror has never really been my thing that much. I think my son actually likes horror movies more than I do. Uh there were some horror movies from from the the 80s which I kind of tuned into. Uh Salem's Lot was one of them. Uh and then another one, I don't I don't know if it's horror, but The Dead Zone, that's another Stephen King. Uh so those those those are I think I I feel like they go slightly more into the uh psychological uh than rather the the the gore, that's that's for sure. Um uh Nightmare on Elm Street was a huge one for for me. Uh that's you know a classic movie now that spawns several sequels. Um but I think I think that's about it. My son takes me to see horror movies all the time, and I haven't really uh connected with one. There was one. What was that one? Is it by Ari Asta? What did he do? Like, do you remember the horror movie or Midsummer? Hereditary, yeah. Yeah. So I saw Hereditary, and I was like, wow, this is like forget about the horror elements. This is like a really amazing film. Uh in fact, that that stood out more than anything afterwards, and then Midsomar was super creepy uh as well. Uh so yeah, I I I I I enjoyed those. I like it when it gets more psychological than than horror than core-based, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

There's not a bad choice on that list. I think all of those are solid recommendations. All right, cool. Well, okay, well are you working on anything next that you'd like to plug?

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Uh that I'm working on three things which I can't plug. Uh so one's a mockumentary uh about a uh a very famous personality. Uh the second one is a docuseries which is kind of rocky-based, uh, which I can't say too much about. And then the third one is a science fiction film, uh, a treatment that I've written that if someone will give me twenty to thirty million dollars, I might be able to make it. So um, yeah, so lots of projects in the pipeline. I don't want to stop this uh this train that I'm on. So uh yeah, hopefully it all comes together.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Well, like I said before, I'm excited to see what you get up to next. Where can people see the film?

SPEAKER_00 21:49

So it's out in theaters in the United States and in the UK. Um, it's gonna come to Blu-ray and DVD and streaming in the UK on October 20th. And then the extended run in theaters in the US is gonna go to Halloween and maybe a little bit beyond. And then I think I think it might it's either gonna go to streaming shortly after that, or we're in talks now for with a distribution company to do another push in theatrical and see if it can just keep going through awards season. So uh yeah, what about go to go to rockyhorror dot com and just type in your city and see where it's playing near you, or follow uh Rocky Horror documentary on Instagram or Linus.obrian on Instagram and you'll be kept up to speed with everything.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

That is fantastic. I highly recommend you all do this. This documentary is moving, it's informative, and if you're a fan of the show or if you're a fan of the movie, you will not be disappointed. Linus has done some incredible work here. Linus, thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Oh, listen, it's been a pleasure, Vince. I really enjoyed chatting with you. Can't wait to see this online soon.

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Likewise. Well, excellent. As always, stay spooky, my friends.