Photo courtesy of Rob Daly
Quinn Lord is a remarkably talented actor. At the age of 10, he has managed to do what some actors go their whole lives hoping for; to create a memorable character who will be watched on a yearly basis for years to come. As Sam in Trick ‘r Treat he embodied the spirit of Halloween without saying a single word. Quinn has also appeared in the highly anticipated film The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus with Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp and Jude Law as well as The Hole (Nathan Gamble, Haley Bennet) and has had many TV appearances, including Smallville. I had an opportunity to talk to him about Trick r’ Treat and his many other endeavors. Check out the interview below.
The Film Stage: How are you?
Quinn Lord: I’m doing spectacular.
TFS: Are you excited for Halloween?
Quinn: Yes, I’m all set for Halloween. I’m going to dress up as Ash from Evil Dead.
TFS: Did you get to keep the costume from Trick’ r Treat? That would pretty much scare everybody.
Quinn: Yeah, I know, but I couldn’t keep the costume, it was [pause] part of the set, I guess.
TFS: Are you upset that the movie went straight to DVD? Because it would do a lot better than Saw or something like that.
Quinn: I got to see the movie on the screenings, but that’s pretty much the closest I could get to the theater, so it was pretty much like a theatrical release.
TFS: In the movie Trick ‘r Treat, you play the most memorable character, but you don’t say a word throughout the entire movie. Is that easier or harder than something where you get to talk?
Quinn: It was very interesting yet…pretty easy because i was used to like, just doing the cocking the head to the side and not doing many facial expressions but the body language was basically the motion or…the head language.
TFS: I’ve heard there’s absolutely no CGI in Trick ‘r Treat, is that true?
Quinn: I think that’s true, because I saw lots of plastic severed limbs on set, so, I don’t think they did much CGI at all, except for editing the pieces together, I think that’s all they did.
TFS: So did they use a stunt double when you had to do something really gory? Did they prepare you for that, or was it like living in a scary movie?
Quinn: I think that they prepare the stuff, like they get me to run to a certain place when something happens. Yeah, it’s pretty much all planned out.
TFS: So you don’t get nightmares after you shoot a scene?
Quinn: No, no, no…I’m not scared of anything. No horror movie can scare me. I went paragliding, so I’m not even scared of that.
TFS: Are you thinking of going skydiving?
Quinn: No, not skydiving. I like paragliding- it’s peaceful, like jumping off a cliff.
TFS: You’re a big fan of comics. How did you like being in Smallville…do you like the way they’re remaking Superman?
Quinn: I kind of do like Superman, how he’s being recreated in Smallville, it’s interesting, like the story’s kind of different. It’s like a little…story before the movies. It’s kind of like Star Wars, how they made IV, V, VI, then they did I, II, III
TFS: And now they’re making an animated series, The Clone Wars.
Quinn: Yes, very good 3D animation there.
TFS: Would you want to remake or do the pre-story to any comic series yourself with CGI?
Quinn: I don’t know…I’m not too…good at drawing, but I do pretty well at animation, like I download some things and work with them, it’s pretty easy.
TFS: You’ve [accomplished] a lot already. What do you want to do in the future? Do you want to continue doing movies or maybe go into the production side of things?
Quinn: I think I might keep doing movies but at the same time I want to be a director, so…an actor/director/CGI person.
TFS: I wanted to ask you a little about The Imginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Quinn: That is a very good movie, I love [it]…it’s Terry Gilliam!
TFS: Have you seen his other movies?
Quinn: Not really, but I may have seen a tiny bit of some of his movies, but I think he is an awesome director.
TFS: I read somewhere that you’ve watched it multiple times and notice something new each time.
Quinn: Yeah, I’ve watched it about three times and I keep noticing something different. Those Terry Gilliam movies, they leave you with something different each time you watch them.
TFS: My friend’s going to go see it in a few hours, is there anything he should look for?
Quinn: I would say that he should look forward to the end, because that’s one of the most powerful parts of the movie. It’s also where I am in the movie. Other than that, the rest is Monty Python-ish, very creative…
TFS: I love Monty Python. I like Holy Grail, it’s a good movie.
Quinn: [laughs] Holy Grail is my favorite movie, too. I love that movie.
Perhaps because I had Halloween on the brain, our conversation drifted back to Trick ‘r Treat.
TFS: I can’t think of a better way to phrase this…there’s some really gruesome scenes with your character. Is it disturbing when you have to stab someone with a lollipop, or is it just really good editing?
Quinn: It’s really, really good editing. Before I physically touched the guy with my lollipop, they cut, and then they start again when I have my lollipop in his chest or something. Very powerful weapon.
TFS: Yeah, I’m pretty much going to stay away from lollipops for awhile now.
Quinn: [laughs]
TFS: What do you think about you character [Sam]? It really embodies the spirit of Halloween. Is that what got you interested? What drew you to the role?
Quinn:I was drawn to the role because of I love gory, gory, gory, stuff, like…Army of Darkness, lots of gore in that. I love zombies, and I love zombie movies and things, I’m really looking forward to Zombieland. I like that Sam carries, well, drags a sack along like his head sack…but I don’t think the contents are the same on the inside, I think he might have something [else] in there, maybe a couple of heads or something.
TFS: If you like Army of Darkness, have you seen Drag Me To Hell?
Quinn:Yeah, I watched that last night.
TFS: What did you think about that?
Quinn: It’s just like Army of Darkess. Lots of gore, lots of funny stuff.
TFS: I’m surprised Bruce Campbell wasn’t in it.
Quinn: Yeah, even though Bruce Campbell wasn’t in it, I still liked it. It’s like the Army of Darkness without Bruce Campbell and the story’s kind of changed, so so gory.
TFS: Do you ever have issues going to see horror movies, or do they let you in?
Quinn: I sometimes watch some PG-13 movies when they have lots of lots of violence and gore with it.
TFS: Thanks for talking with me. Happy Halloween!
Quinn: Happy Halloween!
Trick ‘r Treat is in stores now and you can check out my review here.