Standish913.com has been blessed to do an exclusive interview with...
"DAVID HOWARD THORNTON"!
Let's get into some exclusive questions...
STANDISH: When we last spoke a few years ago, you were at a different point in this journey. What’s something you believed about success back then that you would challenge now?
DAVID: I really can't think of anything that I would challenge now, though it has become more clear how others seek to use your fame in order to promote their own fame and agendas.
STANDISH: Art’s popularity creates a strange challenge: people show up excited to see someone they’re supposed to fear. How do you turn that affection against the audience and make their favorite character feel dangerous again?
DAVID: That's definitely a challenge that Damien and I face on set. This is why we sometimes do different takes on scenes. For instance we may do a comedic take of me doing something to a victim and then do a serious and scary take. Walking that fine line of making Art a funny character that you cheer for but also a scary character that you also fear is a daunting task.
STANDISH: Art often behaves as though he’s the funniest person in the room. Have you ever played a moment as a joke that nobody appreciates and could that wounded ego be more frightening than his enjoyment of violence?
DAVID: Not yet, but that would be a fun take on a scene at some point.
STANDISH: Give us an Art “outtake” in words: a gesture, reaction, or bit you loved that never made the final cut. What would it have revealed about him?
DAVID: We did film the scene where Victoria takes a fork and slams it down into Art's neck stump, slams his decapiated head on it, and then duct tapes his head back into place. Unfortunately it was cut for time reasons, but I think it would have better explained how he got his head back on his body. There's also plenty of bits of me playing that have been cut for time purposes, especially with the opossum and the costume shop scene.
STANDISH: If Damien showed you a scene and said, “It’s disturbing, but it doesn’t feel like Art,” what would you examine first? What separates something Art would do from something written simply to shock people?
DAVID: That's easy. Art would never rape someone. I see him as an asexual monster that takes not pleasure in such acts. It's beneath him.
STANDISH: Audiences can get used to almost anything, including extreme gore. Where do you think Art’s next genuinely unsettling moment could come from if making the violence bigger were off the table?
DAVID: We had MUCH more to the finale that got really disturbing with Art and Victoria in how they handled Sienna and Gabby that was cut before we filmed it due to time. I don't want to elaborate more since it might be included in part 4, but things got DARK!
STANDISH: Is there a scene where your face tells a different story from what Art’s hands are doing? Walk us through that contradiction and why you chose it.
DAVID: That would be when he was shooting Tara in the face. For once, he was not taking pleasure in killing someone while he was actively doing it. He was disgusted and disappointed in having to do that.
STANDISH: Without revealing any official backstory, what private belief about Art helps you play him consistently, even if you’ve never shared it with Damien or the audience?
DAVID: It all comes from a line that the Cat Lady had in the first film, that Art kills because he finds it funny and amusing. He doesn't kill for revenge etc. He just does it because he finds it entertaining. He's the anti-clown. Clowns are here to bring joy and amusement to other people. They are selfless. Art is here to bring pain and misery to others for his own selfish amusement.
STANDISH: What’s the most useful disagreement you and Damien have had about Art? Take us inside the conversation and how it changed what ended up onscreen.
DAVID: We've had many discussions about his origin over these years. It wasn't really a disagreement, but he shot some of my ideas down because he never wanted Art to be a sympathetic villain. He wants him to be pure evil incarnate. Once I understood that, it made playing him easier.
STANDISH: Which moment across the three films would you nominate as your strongest acting, rather than Art’s most memorable kill? What were you doing in that scene that deserves a closer look?
DAVID: I would say that the bar scene or the mall scenes were some of my strongest comedic moments that I have had because I got to either play and do my comedy with professionals that I have admired during my life, or that I had a large audience watching me that I could play to. Though I am also happy with the face acting I did in the moment that Sienna stabs me with the sword in part 3. Art goes through a whole range of emotions, and I did all of that while being practically blind due to the contacts I was wearing that I could not see through. I just had to trust my instincts and play that moment.
STANDISH: Art’s silence less viewers supply their own meaning. Has a fan ever described a scene in a way that was completely different from your intention but made you reconsider your own performance?
DAVID: Not yet at least.
STANDISH: When fans meet you, they’re meeting the person behind someone who frightens them. Has an encounter ever moved beyond the usual photo and autograph and changed your understanding of what this character means to people?
DAVID: Many people have told me how watching these films have helped them cope and deal with the trauma that they have experienced in their own lives. Some literally had some Art therapy watching these films. I think a lot can identify with Sienna's journey and what she has had to overcome.
STANDISH: What’s one creative risk you would take with Art even if you suspected some fans would hate it at first? Why would that risk be worth taking?
DAVID: Hmmm...letting him loose in a maternity ward? That would definitely test the boundaries of the character's vileness.
STANDISH: You’ve given Art a face people remember. What kind of role would let you show an equally powerful side of yourself that this character has no room for?
DAVID: Well, I have never truly been given an opportunity to really speak and monologue. I am a well trained theater and voice actor with decades of experience on the stage and behind a microphone. I think playing an eloquent and intelligent character that loves the sound of his own voice and has interesting philosophies about the human condition would be a great way to show more of my range. The Joker is a great way to do that, I think!
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Thanks so much for your time!
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