|
by 'Rabid' Rich Caron
Slightly more than 27 years ago, Sean Cunningham directed a horror film that would seriously change the way people looked at the slasher flick. While Halloween is considered a slasher flick, its hard to call it a slasher flick. Why? Because all Myers does is choke his victims. But Cunningham created Friday the 13th, and to this day the series continues to thrill audiences worldwide. The series' iconic hero, Jason Voorhees, the maniacal, unstoppable killing machine, keeps bringing audiences in droves awaiting his next kill. But Jason started somewhere. In 1980, Jason made his presence known for the first time taking Alice back to the murky depths of Crystal Lake. Jason was played by then 15 year old Ari Lehman. I had the honor of interviewing Mr. Lehman, now 42, via e-mail for this Halloween edition of GASPetc.com.
GASPetc: Hello Mr. Lehman!
Ari: Hey Richard! And a big Horror Hello to all your online Guests and Ghosts...
GASPetc: Your film debut was in Sean S. Cunningham's Kick (aka Manny's Orphans). How would you compare the atmosphere between Kick and Friday the 13th?
Ari: Well, Kick was a comedy about a bunch of inner city orphans who play soccer, so there were a lot of kids running around, and the energy was very upbeat, and there was a comraderie that translated to the screen, I think.
On the set of F13 I was the only kid around and it was much more laid back, with an emphasis on work in the daytime, and partying in the evening. The cast and crew were from New York City and it was Summer in the 1970's, if you remember what that was like, so the atmosphere at night was a bit wild.
GASPetc: How did you receive the role of Jason Voorhees?
Ari: It was a classic combination of luck and nerve. To back up a bit, before I was in Kick I was a freckle faced youngster who wanted to be in the movies. I also liked to play Soccer, and some of my teammates told me that they had been in a movie about Baseball, called Here Come the Tigers, also directed by Sean Cunningham. They urged me to show up at the audition for Manny's Orphans, later called Kick. Having no agent, I shrewdly showed up with a clipboard to look official, and went to the Westport, Connecticut YMCA, where the audition was being held. "Where's the audition?" I asked authoritatively, "Upstairs," was the immediate response, "up that way", and so, I rushed up the stairs, was handed a script, read for Sean, and got cast in the 80-line role of Roger before they realized that I had basically snuck into the audition. So, when it came time to cast Jason, the very next summer, Sean remembered the little kid with all the gumption, and called me up and asked me to visit to his office. Once there, he simply asked, "Can you swim?". "Yes, I am a strong swimmer.", I said. "Good. You got the part.", said Sean and the rest is Horror History.
 GASPetc: How long was the makeup process by Tom Savini?
Ari: The first thing that Sean did was to introduce me to the famous special effects master Tom Savini, and his assistant Taso N. Stravrakis, who were very inspiring to meet as a young man. They took about four weeks to complete the first mask, which included false teeth, and a glass eye. They were a great deal of fun to be around, always stagefighting with foils, and riding motorcyles. One time when I was going to have a plaster mold on my head for about 15 minutes, Tom said "Hey listen to this..." that was the first time I heard Jim Morrison with the Doors singing "Strange Days". I was totally mesmerized by the words and music, and before I knew it, the mask was dry!
After that, Tom and Sean came up with the new surprise ending, after seeing Carrie. I went back to the studio for a few days, and they completed the slime-covered version that I wore in the final scene. Of course, Tom added the final touch on the set, by applying actual pond scum that Taso and I had dredged from the water the night before. It looked and smelled bad!
GASPetc: How long was your shoot with Adrienne King and Mrs. Voorhees flashback scenes of your drowning?
Ari: I was on the set in Blairstown, New Jersey on three separate occasions, for one day each time,travelling by bus or car from my home in Connecticut.
The first time I went to the set, we shot the scene portraying young Jason Voorhees drowning, and it all went smoothly. These are the shots you see in the flashback sequence towards the end of the film when Pamela is alone with Alice remembering her lost son.
The second time I got to the set I noticed a lot of partying going on. The set call was for 7 AM, but that meant around 4 AM for us, because it took around three hours to apply the mask! That morning was rough for us all, and the water was cold. Ultimately, I do not think any of those shots were used, which were intended to add another perspective to the drowning scene.
When I did the final scene of Jason re-emerging from Crystal Lake, covered in muck, to pull Alice into the dark water, it was much later in the year, around October, but somehow, the water was not too cold. Tom Savini instructed me to try not to let anyone see the mask, especially Adrienne King, who played Alice, before the shoot. So, when I jumped up out of the water, Adrienne was really shocked, and bolted out of the canoe, out of the shot, and into the pond. We got it right on the second take, after Adrienne's hair was quickly blow-dried, which explains why her hair looks so perfect after all the fighting and decapitating she did the night before. Sean was happy with the second take. That was a fun shoot for me.
GASPetc: What was the most unpleasant thing about shooting Friday the 13th?
Ari: It was really a fun shoot, but I do remember when Tom asked me and Taso Stavrakos to gather pond scum to apply to the mask, it was very smelly.
GASPetc: You were around 15 when you shot your scenes. Being on film must've made you "Big Man on Campus" at school! At that moment, was there any adjusting to popularity because of the success of the film?
Ari: Well, thanks, that is a nice sentiment, but that is not how it went at all! I was a weirdo in a very snobby high school in Connecticut, where the kids were too absorbed in Ivy League Schools and Skiing to understand the significance of being in the same class with a future Horror icon. Fools!
GASPetc: When hearing about a sequel, did you expect to be cast as Jason or maybe another character?
 Ari: Actually, I had no such expectations, because Sean had sold the rights to producer Steve Miner before the sequel was even conceived. Knowing that Sean was not doing it, and a new team was on it, I was well aware that they would use a different actor. Also, the second version of the character was much bigger that me, and chose to wear a nondescript canvas sack, which never caught on as a symbol of power like the Hockey Mask. In fact, I like being the First Jason, the original Jason, the wet and slimy Jason!
GASPetc: With so many fans and critics analyzing why Jason kills, do you see him as just a momma's boy, someone who is sincerely pissed off at society for allowing him to drown in the first place, or both?
Ari: True, righteous vengeance for his mother's murder is the basic modality of Jason's villany. However, he still holds a unique role in the Horror iconography. Jason Voorhees passes judgement without mercy, without discretion, and his absolute silence increases his inaccessibilty to both the victim and the viewer. He is judge, jury, and executioner all rolled into one. If you see Jason Voorhees, it's all over, there is no reasoning with this brute force so completely focused on total destruction.
Also, Jason is not a schemeing, evil character like Dracula, or connected to some ancient curse like The Mummy, or to the underworld like Mephisto or Pinhead. He is not vulnerable like Leatherface, nor merely a nightmare stalker of the dreamworld like Freddy, or clinically insane like Michael Myers. Jason Voorhees is truly the monster found most often inside all of us, the silent brute who delivers the ultimate justice upon those who do us wrong, righteous vengeance gone horribly awry, blindly killing everyone in sight in a futile attempt to abort the realities that we all must face.
Jason is more similar to The Golem, and Frankenstein's Monster, however, in that they all are like children trapped in the form of a monster, a wronged soul tricked by the material plane that he wantonly destoys, seeking a justice that can never become real. Jason's rage is an essential expression of the frustration we all feel when someone is untimely ripped from life and thrown into the underworld. Like a child, he cannot fathom Death, and ultimately strives to conquer it through lashing out at Life.
GASPetc: How well would you say the character of Jason Voorhees has evolved over the years?
Ari: I think that all of the actors who have susequently played Jason brought something new to the role, thereby evolving the character in an organic manner. Of course, the work of Kane Hodder is widely seen as definitive of the character, and I would generally agree with that opinion overall.
GASPetc: Despite being the adolescent Jason Voorhees, was there anything in the sequels that you didn't particularly agree with as far as character development was concerned?
Ari: In some sequels there is an attempt made to use underworld and psychic aspects in the storyline, which I feel are straying from the F13 legend.
GASPetc: When was the band First Jason established?
Ari: After I was in F13, I went on to become a professional touring and recording musician, playing keyboards for some of the top names in Reggae and World music, and working for Tuff Gong and Interscope Records. When I finally hit the Horror Con circuit in 2003, I was selling my band's World Rock CD's at my table. The Horror fans were appreciative, but I soon recognized that their taste was more for Heavy Metal and Punk Rock. I decided to create a Jason-inspired Dark Rock band, as a way of expressing my own appreciation for these harder sounds and Horror-based lyrics. I like to say that I simply went from playing World Music to Underworld Music!
 In 2005, I began to write the songs like "You Better Run", "Red Red Red", and "Sink orSwim" that FIRSTJASON fans now recognize as our theme material. These songs reflected the bands that I had heard in NYC as a college student at NYU in the 80's: The Bad Brains, Reagan Youth, The Dead Kennedys, The Clash, Motorhead and Danzig. A driving, rhythmic, dark sound was formed to back up the lyrics that portray the inner workings of Jason's mind: the hidden monologue of a monster gone mad. By 2006, FIRSTJASON was appearing at Horror Conventions. Our first show was at a Horror Convention in Chicago opening for a Horror fashion show hosted by none other than The Mistress of the Dark, Elvira. Since then, FIRSTJASON has played many conventions, and Horror events, and we toured throughout the Midwest this past Summer.
GASPetc: With songs titled You Better Run, Mother and Red, Red, Red, one can't help but think that not only Friday the 13th, but the entire series had a profound affect on your music. Do you feel that your music would've taken a different turn if not for Friday the 13th?
Ari: Interesting question. To me, having a subject matter to write about fuels creativity, and the subject matter provided by the Horror genre is absolutely fantastic. Here, we hve the ability to speak in vivid metaphors, deal with death and life and the afterlife, and sing from the perspective of monsters, demons, ghosts...there are no limits except for one's imagination. This is much more appealing to me than  trying to write something supposedly about my "feelings", or another sappy song about looking for love. Horror affords the songwriter the ultimate pallette.
Therfore, certainly, my work is profoundly affected by the entire Horror genre, including Mythology and Folk Legends, not just Friday the 13th.
GASPetc: Is it safe to assume that not only yourself, but the other members of the band are horror fans as well?
Ari: Absolutely. Each bandmember has a different style that they like the most, but one good indicator is the stage name of our Guitarist: Spider Baby!
 GASPetc: Has the filming of ThanXgiving fired the fuel in you to want to go back to acting?
Ari: Yes. I have been acting more and more, and doing soundtracks as well. You can see me as Henry the seafaring rogue who gets his head cut off and kept alive in an aquarium for 200 years in "HAG" from MTC Productions, and also in "Spilt Milk" starring Tiffany Shepis, from Fantasm Films. I did the soundtrack for "Vampira: The Movie" a documentary about Maila Nurmi, the first Scream Queen, and for an all-female version of "Salome", both produced by my good friends, Kevin Sean Michaels and Alexia Anastasio.
I have recently been cast in Sean Cunningham's Black Friday, and I am acting in a film starring Betsy Palmer to be shot this November in NYC.
GASPetc: Let's play a little word association. One word that describes Friday the 13th related individuals:
GASPetc: Sean Cunningham
Ari: DRIVEN
GASPetc: Adrienne King
Ari: DEVOTED
GASPetc: Betsy Palmer
Ari: DIVINE
GASPetc: Steve Miner
Ari: DETERMINED
GASPetc: Tom Savini
Ari: DIONYSIAN
GASPetc: Jason Voorhees
Ari: DAMNED
GASPetc: Thank you Jason. I mean Ari!
Ari: Many Thanks, and remember...
JASON IS WATCHING!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~ Ari Lehman, the First Jason Voorhees
www.FIRSTJASON.com
www.MySpace.com/FIRSTJASON
Rich and Ari, at the 2007 Rock And Shock convention in Worcester, MA.
|
