b-independent interviews: JOEL WYNKOOP

Joel Wynkoop
Joel Wynkoop is a Florida-based actor/director with roughly 3 decades of no-budget moviemaking under his belt. He's best known for his collaborations with microcinema pioneer Tim Ritter: TRUTH OR DARE, KILLING SPREE, and the brilliant DIRTY COP, NO DONUT. Wynkoop is also an avid martial artist whose talents are on display in his feature-length directorial effort LOST FAITH. The is part one of a two-part interview.

B-Independent: The standard opening question - why film?
Joel Wynkoop: Why not? If you mean why make a movie, I guess because I've always liked acting something out. When I was a kid I remember being on the second floor of my Mom and Dad's friend's house and I had a glove on and was hanging above the stairway telling my friends I was Batman. After my Dad bought me a super 8 camera and I had made a stop motion movie I wanted to try something with live action. I teamed up with my neighbor Steve Campbell and made "The 8 Million Dollar Boy and The Invisible Transport Boy", I was mainly filming but then took a role as the bad guy, and I also got Tim Ritter involved in the movie. No matter what Tim says, I believe if it wasn't for me getting him in my movies he wouldn't have went on to do his Super 8 movies. After this I knew this is what I wanted to do.
B: You've become the go-to actor for no-budget cinema. How does that feel?
JW: Pretty cool. I get alot of offers from other moviemakers who want me to be in their movies. Sometimes I'll open an e mail from a moviemaker who says "Hey I have a part for you..." Alot of these people I don't know me, but they've read about me and get in touch with me through places like [the B-Independent.com message boards]. It makes me feel good that people out there are watching my movies and enjoy them enough that they want to ask me to join in on their productions.
B: Does it bother you that you aren't workin in bigger productions?
JW: Well, I like doing the acting no matter what, but it would be nice to be doing something big time that would pay the bills. Alot of the b-movies I do for others I get paid for but it's never enough to say "I'll kick back for a couple of months now." I have to always stay busy. To get a big movie or a TV show is every actors dream. I guess I enjoy the art of acting and making a movie, whether it's big time or not. But like I said "The big time money would be nice." So, I guess to answer that, yes and no. If I could take every acting job I probably would, but to be offered 10 or 20 thousand dollars for one movie that would be great.
B: How do you usually prepair for a role?
JW: Well, I don't go out and rape chicks, or kill people, or do drugs or, join the army to get experience, so I use my imagination.
For "Orgy and Rituals" (never released) I imitated Charles Manson from a Geraldo interview, it was later released in TWISTED ILLUSIONS TWO: THE PART and also the begining of DIRTY COP NO DONUT 2: I Am A PIG and DIRTY COP SPECIAL EDITION. I could go through every character I've played but that would probably be boring. I guess I just watch alot of movies and TV and try to act like those actors do as far as characters they play. Cope Ransom I'd say was Snake Plissken, Dan Hess was the Dr.Loomis from Halloween, Nekoda was Chuck Norris, Longfellow was just someone I created, Dirty Cop was just "me out of control", Hazzard was patterened off "THE ROAD WARRIOR" and so on.
I try to think of each character and how they would act and then look at the script and create their history of how they act, a good example is, alot of actors in the b-community love to use the "F" word. They play a different character but the "F" word still comes out. I was on a shoot once where every other actor was using that word one right after the other. In Dirty Cop I used it because that was Gus Kimble and the way he was. Now, look at Dr. Dan Hess, he would never use that word. Nick Hazzard uddered it once because he was perplexed. The CREEP used it because he was just some kind of white trash and he was raised by his weirded-out Mom and dad. I try to make each character dfferent from the last. If I can bring some realism to them without going to school for months and months I'll do my best.
B: As an actor, what do you look for in a director?
JW: Someone that know's what he or she is doing. I've been on shoots where the director lost control of the cast; people we're leaveing in the middle of the shoot to go smoke or eat or drink. I want the director to know the script, to listen to advice, and have a clear vision of what's going on. For example, Tim Ritter knows exactly what he wants and takes the time to explain. He has a vision and can make it happen. I've always enjoyed working with Tim Ritter. Another director like this is Jason Liquori of Hocus Focus Productions. He shoots, stays on time, and is serious about getting his production done. Not that you can't have fun but, stay on schedule and stay on task
B: Elaborate on your history with Tim Ritter.
JW: I think everyone knows the old story of how we met, I think. Okay, in a nutshell. Tim lived across from me when I was around 15 and his Mom asked me to babysit he and his sister Wendy, which I did. I was making a stop motion Dinosaur movie and Tim lent me his T Rex, then I made a Robin (Batman and Robin) Super 8 movie and Tim played the theif, then [my old friend] Steve Campbell and I made THE 8 MILLION DOLLAR BOY AND THE INVISIBLE TRANSPORT BOY, and we put Tim in as the bad guy.
I had moved away from the area but ten years later I came back and saw an add in the Jupiter War Cry about this guy making a movie called DAY OF THE REAPER - it was the Tim Ritter I knew ten years earlier. Long story short. we got together, talked, and made TWISTED ILLUSIONS, then TRUTH OR DARE, and yawn.... Okay, I lost interest myself.
Tim and I have been best friends since those days and still keep in contact today. Our last movie together was ALIEN CONSPIRACY: RETURN TO THE LOST WORLD and TWISTED ILLUSIONS TWO. Tim's friendship means alot to me and I think mine to him. I think it helps when two people want the same exact thing. I think Tim and I have that kind of friendship that will last always.
B: How does one maintain that sort of filmmaking comradery for over two decades?
JW: Like I said above, when two people want the same thing as bad as we do, you keep trying. It's like a quote I made up for STAY HUNGRY: THE MAKING OF LOST FAITH; "Never give up, never quit and always STAY HUNGRY for your desire."
Being best friends helps too. We we're friends when he was just the kid across the street that helped me and Steve make our table top dinosaur movie [or] was the bad guy for my ROBIN movie. When we hooked back up years later and he saw what I was doing, and I, or we, said "Let's team up and do something." I helped him market DAY OF THE REAPER, and we collaberated on INNER FORCES, a movie we never made.
Hey Tim, do you want to do INNER FORCES? What a cool name, nobody steal it!!
When we decided to do something that would be easier to shoot we came up with TWISTED ILLUSIONS, [and] we worked so well together on this we just knew this is what we wanted to do. There was a little conflict between Tim, [co-producer] Al Nicolosi, and myself, but I think alot of it was just me.
After we sent TWISTED ILLUSIONS to Geoff Miller of Peerless Films, things really started to happen. It was taking to long, things we're happening with me and I had to move to Pensacola, but through it all Tim and I kept in contact. I thought he was beating a dead horse when he would keep in touch with [executive producer] Geoff Miller about making our short TRUTH OR DARE into a big movie. It seemed to go on forever, but one day Tim called me in Pensacola and said "It's happening, you need to get back here." From there it's always been a team effort. The distance keeps us apart... but I'm telling you now, if someone gave us the money to do another movie, and Tim and I became that team again, we would be unstoppable! We've been through alot together that's for sure! Someday we'll do it again.
B: Why didn't you reprise the role of Mike Strauber from the TWISTED ILLUSIONS short film collection in the feature TRUTH OR DARE?
JW: I remember this like it was yesterday. Tim was in control to an extent. Yale [Wilson, producer] and Geoff we're calling alot of shots. Tim had told Yale "I want Joel to play Mike Strauber," but Yale and Geoff had said "no." I remember asking Yale outside the hotel room on the balcony why I couldn't do it and he basically said "You're to nice of a guy, you look to nice." That was the extent of me getting the part.
I remember Tim and I riding with Geoff in his rented Mustang and he said "I'd like to play Mike Strauber, everyone would like to play Mike Strauber." He watched the short again and said "You over act!". Anyway, that was about it, the part went to John Brace and I took a role in the movie as an orderly who later became a young Dan Hess working his way through college at Sunnyville Mental Institution. In a nutshell, I think the [producers] wanted a more experienced actor.
B: Did you work with Ritter to expand your TRUTH OR DARE cameo, as orderly Dan Hess, into the star of the two sequels?
JW: Actually, Tim sent me the script for WICKED GAMES [ToD2] in the mail and I read it and said "this is cool, man." I remember telling Tim, "Dan Hess? Like in the gas station Hess?" I wanted him to change the name at first, I didn't like it, I wanted a cooler name for the character. I'm trying to remember now, I don't think Tim came up with the idea for Dan to be the guard I played in the original TRUTH or DARE until SCREAMING FOR SANITY [ToD3]. In fact, I'm pretty sure because we we're laughing about the idea when we said we'd use flashbacks from TRUTH OR DARE : A CRITICAL MADNESS, we both said "Yeah, that could be Dan Hess working at Sunnyville when he was younger. So no, it just kind of worked out that way, and it made sense.
B: Was this the same "Hess" that later turned up in Kevin Lindenmuth's ADDICTED TO MURDER 2?
JW: This to me is pretty cool. First of all "YES". Kevin called Tim and asked him for us to shoot some scenes for ADDICTED TO MURDER 2: TAINTED BLOOD. We shot some scenes with Rich Hoopes as an abusive father, and [my part] was to be Dan Hess talking about serial killers, or just homicidal maniacs in general.
I remember that day well, I couldn't get the long elaborate lines down that Kevin had writen so Tim had Kathy (Tim's wife) write big cue cards for me to read from. Tim made me do it at least 20 times till I finally had it the way he wanted. then he told Kathy "Take them away and do it now." She took the cards away and I did the lines word for word (pretty much).
Why I say pretty cool is this; I was asked several times by Ryan Cavalline to reprise my Dan Hess character in three of his movies. DAY OF THE AX, EVIL TALES III, and ASPIRING PYSCHOPATH. ASPIRING PYSCHOPATH should be released [soon] through SUB ROSA STUDIOS. It is kind of cool to know you've created a character...that other people want to use in there movies. Sunnyville was used not only in the TRUTH OR DARE movies but also in ROT, THE PART, KILL HER, ARNOLD, CREEP, and probably a couple of others I can't think of right now. A big THANKS to Kevin for giving us the oppurtunity to be a part of ADDICTED TO MURDER 2 and the ALIEN AGENDA movies (Including ALIEN CONSPIRACY").
B: Ritter is known primarily for being one of the no-budget SOV pioneers of the early 1990's. But after working together to help bring two shot-on-film productions to light, you were actually the first to direct an SOV production. How did LOST FAITH come about?
JW: Thank you for that question. We were shooting KILLING SPREE and I said to myself, "Tim's making a movie on his own, why can't I?" That was the start of it.
I pulled out a notebook and started to write this adventure about this guy's wife being kidnapped and he was the only one that could save her. I was heavy into the Martial Arts then so I was acheing to do a karate movie.
Tim gave me a cool scene in KILLING SPREE where I kicked Tom (ASBESTOS FELT) Russo to the floor telling him "Hocus Pocus, Hocus Pocus? Yeah I'll give you a demonstration you'll never forget laughing boy." WHAM!! "Now give me the money you owe me for the set and I'll forget this all happened." Like it's okay to beat up customers.
Anyway, see how I just wander off in another direction, I can't stay focused, where's my ADDH medication?
In the time, I was not needed on the set of KILLING SPREE I was working my untitled script. I took that notebook everywhere I went, out to eat, to my Mom's, to friends, to my job, everywhere, and I was constantly writing (I wish I had that fever now). One of the guys on KILLING SPREE (When I was back on the set) said "Man, you guys are crazy, I saw you on TV last night planning a movie you're doing." Like I said on STAY HUNGRY: THE MAKING OF LOST FAITH, and in alot of TV interviews and magazine articles, "my agents were not getting me alot of speaking roles or big enough roles so I said 'The only way to do it is make my own movie'".
Yes, and Tim will....tell you if you ask him "Joel almost didn't do KILLING SPREE because his agent said it won't be good for his career, and I [asked my agent] "WHAT CARRER?" Tim was right. If I held out for money way back when I probably wouldn't have done anything.
There was one guy I worked with on TRUTH OR DARE: A CRITICAL MADNESS named Terrence Andreuci (I got him the role in TRUTH OR DARE; I worked with him prior...on THE BARNE"S HOUSE OF HORRORS). I had him come to the auditions for LOST FAITH and I let him take a script and a release home, later he told me "Your contract is shit, you offer me no money, no insurance, I get nothing!!"
I told him "I never promised anybody any money. It's a chance to do another movie and get your work out there for people to see you" but he declined. I don't think he did anything after TRUTH OR DARE. My point is sometimes if you hold out for "just money" you might not ever get the chance to do anything. I mean Terrence wasn't Tom Cruise, and neither am I, but I took the jobs that didn't pay to follow my dream. I always hoped the big pay off would come later...and I'm still waiting.
Wow, this is still one answer.
I guess it was just being hyped up from doing TWISTED ILLUSIONS, TRUTH OR DARE, and KILLING SPREE, and then saying "This might be it. What if Tim doesn't do another movie? I don't want to stop." Before I knew it, I was on the set of "LOST FAITH" with a new partner, Steve Reed, and with Tim as consultant, and I was making my kararte movie LOST FAITH. With full acknoledgement going to my nephew Mark Heidebrecht for coming up with the name LOST FAITH. And that my friend is the long worded answer to how LOST FAITH came about.
B: You were really in your physical prime in that movie. How much of you is Steve Nekoda?
JW: So what's that mean, I'm fat now? ;)
[My wife] actually worries about me because I do get involved in other people's altercations; she's afrad I'm going to get stabbed, shot, or beaten up for real because I like to help people. More then a couple times I've been in real fights where it was my karate that saved my ass. I think Steve Nekoda is a guy that likes to help people with there problems whether it's praying for them or taking on there battles as in LOST FAITH, and the sequel if I would just write it.
Just to give you an idea, and I never bullshit anyone, one night I was returning a movie to VIDEO GALLERY in my hometown of Fort Pierce. One of the girl clerks was on the phone with another girl that worked part time at the video store. Tonight, the second girl was at her other job and she was telling the clerk about some guys that were hanging out in front of her store and that she was scared. When the clerk got off the phone I said "This is none of my business but what's going on?"
She told me the situation and said she was going to go up there. I told her "No, I'm going to go up there, you stay here." Well, she wouldn't hear of it, so I told her she could go and see her friend and I'd deal with the guys that were pestering her. We drove up in seperate cars to the store and sure enough there were two guys hanging out in the parking lot. One guy is about my size, and I'd say my age at the time, and his buddy is about six inches shorter then the both of us but he looked older.
I got right out of the car and said "Hey guys, how's it going?" They both looked at me as if to say "Who the 'f' are you"
"We're trying to get some beer." they said.
I told them "That's my sister in there and I'm picking her up. You can get some beer down the road at the Shell station."
Quickly, one retorts back "Your sister said for you to wait down there and she will come to you."
That's when I new these guys were up to no good. "Look guys, you're scaring her and I'm telling you to leave."
"Are you telling us what to do," the big guy smirked.
"Sounds like it to me," I said.
Then his buddy, a little smaller then him, comes up to me ( I take a step back to give myself kicking room), and says "You got a problem with me?"
"No," I said, "but you're gonna have a problem with me if you don't get out of here now."
The guy advanced again but I already worked the scenario out in my head so I was confident. I [braced myself] and [though] "this is it, I have to take them both on."
The taller guy grabbed his buddy and said "Let's go man."
They started to leave but quickly turned around towards me. [I told them to] "Keep going". Then the girl with me (from the videostore) goes in the store, comes out with the other girl, and leaves with her friend. No thank you or anything.
I called the police and then got told by the officer, "Don't ever do that again. Call us. We just came from a double murder in Lakewood Park. Let us handle it."
"Well you guys weren't around so I thought I'd handle it."
"Well next time just call us. They could have had a knife and you'd have gotten cut, or shot if they had a gun."
"Well, I know karate, I figured I could take them."
"Well karate is not gonna stop a bullet. just call us next time."
Then they left and I was like "That's gratitude for ya." I mean the lady went in, got her friend, and they left. Then I'm there by myself at 11 p.m. at a closed convience store to call the cops and make a report for a victim that's not even there.
I've had other incidents as well. It's hard not to get involved. I just want to be able to help, in any capacity, whether it's somebody with a movie project, a prayer request, or helping them out of a jam. One time a buddy of mine got involved with this guy's wife and the [husband] came looking for [my friend]. I told my friend "Man, he's a second degree black belt. Dave, he'll kill you."
B: WICKED GAMES, the first TRUTH OR DARE sequel, put Ritter behind the camera again. How much of a role did you play in getting Ritter to try his hand at SOV filmmaking?
JW: I don't know if I can take credit, but I do know when we started releaseing DAY OF THE REAPER one guy was complaining about not having sync sound (it was silent Super 8 with a voicetrack added). I told him that "our next one will have all the sound. We're shooting on video." To which he replied, "no, not video!!" He was looking for some big Hollywood-style production.
Anyway, that was my input. KILLING SPREE on 16mm was expensive! Film, dailies, cameras, the whole nine yards. I think Tim saw the oppurtunity to shoot on digital video. I mean, I had just done LOST FAITH on broadcast video and it came out pretty cool. I think [it] was a new camera too, and I think the digital video was pretty new as well. I remember because [Tim's] dang camera kept eating the digital tapes. We shot [WICKED GAMES] twice, ya know? The first stuff we shot kept getting eaten and it was really frustrating that we actually gave up, the camera had to go back to the maker and I think Tim got a new one. we continued shooting amd we shot the scenes all over again. Hence, we shot it twice. The footage was not as bad as we thought because it was put together to make a different version, and it didn't have Rusty's dang color correction on it! I hated that, our editor would color correct it but it tinged it orange. Everyone told me it was okay and that I must be colorblind, but I'm not. It was that dang color corrector.
Sorry. got off task again. I had always said "What's the difference?" As long as we're telling a story, I don't care if the movie is on video or film, let's just make a movie. I think Tim felt the same. Shooting on film was just to expensive.
B: Next came your first ALIEN AGENDA project. Explain Cope Ransom.
JW: He's an anti-hero, like Snake Plissken. This was written by Kevin [Lindenmuth] and Tim. Kevin had the storyline, but Tim, I believe, came up with Cope Ransom.
I thought Cope should run into bad guys, kick their ass, and then say "cope with it," but we never did. I think as Tim explained the character and story, the first thing I said was "like Snake Plissken from ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK?".
Cope was retired military and on his own in this desolate world. He was recruited to go into the badlands and find alien technology. Tim told me "this you can use your karate in. You can work out all the fight scenes." Tim and I are both big fans of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, and the Cope Ransom story was kind of a homage to ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK as is [the sequel] MONSTERMAN.
Did you see the review in FANGORIA, "Wynkoop is going for that Snake Plissken look but has all the raw charisma of Alan Hale Jr." Hey, I like the skipper!!
B: CREEP is an extremely sleazy affair. How did you prepair for the role of Angus Lynch?
JW: I first read the first script for CREEP...and didn't like it. I think Tim wasn't to sure about it either so he wrote a second which I read and really liked. I think I just told myself to become this sleazy bad ass, tough, gnarled, bastard that nobody would mess with. Some actors actually go out and see what it is like when they prepare for a role, I didn't think it was neccesary to rape and kill people so I just used my imagination.
As I read the script I kind of became what I thought Angus would be like. That's why the "F" word is thrown around by Angus so much - it was the way he was raised. Alot of people in the low budget b-world will use that word (The "F" word) just because, but I try to make each character different from the rest. Like DIRTY COPs Gus and Angus went to the same disfunctional school together, but Dan Hess and Steve Nekoda went to a more [refined] school of grammar.
Angus was messed up as a kid by his parents, I could see him getting in trouble all the time as a kid and he grew up that way. Just a nasty F'ing bastard. I remember when we shot the scene in the strip club where Angus went to see his sister and she runs to Angus. Originally, I picked up Kathy (Willets), twirled her around, and was smiling [as if to say] "Good to see you sis." Then I looked at Tim and said "Angus wouldn't do that, he probably wouldn't even put his arms around her, he'd probably just stand there."
Again, I watch a lot of movies so I just tried to look at those characters and roll them all into one and become Angus. You can ask Tim, when I get a role I really submerged myself in the part, I become that character but can pull myself out of it right away. I also saw Angus as a guy that didn't care about anything, who he killed, what he ate, who he pissed off, he didn't care what he did to anything or anyone.
B: What was your experience like working with Conrad Brooks on the first JAN-GEL series?
JW: Actually, I wasn't in JAN-GEL: THE BEAST FROM THE EAST, but I was in JAN-GEL: THE BEAST FROM THE EAST RETURNS. This was my first time meeting Conrad Brooks, what a character. I think, I was with him at a collectibles show in Tampa, the TNT con, but I [actually met him] on the set on JAN-GEL.
This is also where I met Gus Perez, but that's another story.
"This will be so cool to meet him," I thought. I was driving over from Fort Pierce, like usual in those days. I was heading to Garland (The director of BRAINROBBERS FROM OUTERSPACE, which Conrad also stars in with me) Hewlitt's house in Brandon, Florida, where I was staying and meeting Conrad for the first time. I knocked and Conrad opened the door, he was in the middle of shaving and said "Come on in kid." "Kid" became my new name, it was pretty funny. I introduced myself and we talked after he got done shaving. I can't remember the order of event, but we went to a TV station and to Warren Madden's house (I'm working on ROCK, SCISSORS, PAPER with Warren). We shot at Warren's, there were scenes with Gus and Conrad tracking down or investigating these murders and the character ROCK ULA.
Gosh, it's been so long since I did it this it's hard to remember. I actually did a voiceover because one actor wasn't there so I imitated the actors voice and that's in the movie. Then we went to the TV studio to do my scenes in an office area. Conrad couldn't make up his mind where to shoot and Garland was getting upset with Conrad. Until that day I had never seen Garland get so upset. Conrad had everyone use there regular names for some reason, I asked to change mine but he said "No, Joel Wynkoop is fine."
That scene went fine, I just sat behind the desk and did my lines. Funny thing was that Conrad just shoots my lines and he answers off screen with no cut aways or reverse shots. Just he and Gus at the begining, then just me through all my lines, and then the two of them at the end. Conrad let me throw in some of my own lines which is always cool with me, alot of directors let me do that.
The next set was at [actress] Mitzi Reid's house. I wasn't in these scenes but I was just there to help. I couldn't help myself, Conrad kept doing things that were annoying me while he was directing. I finally spoke up and said "Conrad it's take three not scene three." He kept calling the takes "scenes" like "Scene three ok scene four" I would tell him "Conrad, it's take 1, then the next time you do it it's take 2 and 3 and so on." Then he was trying to block out the action in the scene. That was all wrong and I helped him with that. This went on all night. Finally, I was telling one actor "Do it this way" and I showed him exactly what I wanted, not Conrad, and it made the scene better. Conrad turned around at one part of the shoot and saw me motioning the actor to listen to me not Conrad (with hand signals). Conrad said to me "You direct it kid, you know more then me." I ended up directing the rest of that night. It was pretty cool doing that for Conrad.
Going to McDonalds that night was a trip. Conrad would talk to people in line and say "I'm Conrad Brooks, this is the hand that shook the hand of Bela Logosi's." We ate and when we were finished I started to clean up our mess and he says, "leave it kid. They got people to do that."
I told him "Conrad, I'm not gonna leave all this on the table. My Dad taught me better then that."
I cleaned up the table and he says to me and Gus, "go wash your hands now kid."
I turn to Gus and say "Okay Dad, lets go Gus I don't want Dad to get mad at us."
After we come out of the bathroom, we we're all about to leave when I see some more garbage on the table that I had missed. I picked it up and put it in the trash and Conrad says "don't do it kid."
So, just to put the finishing touch on the night I said "Conrad, watch this," and I smashed the garbage all down into the receptacle.
"Oh, kid, now you gotta wash your hands again!"
He wouldn't touch the door handle either, but he is one "HELL" of a nice guy.
He used to call [my wife] Cathy and I at least three times a monthm but then he just stopped. Cathy and I like him alot and I would love to work with him again. He's a BLAST to work with and a GREAT guy!
At the TNT show he told me "hey kid you can put your movies on my table and then you can walk up once in awhile and I'll introduce you to people and tell them about your movies."
I said, "Okay, Conrad," then I found the lady that ran the show and asked her if she had a table I could rent. [She had one] and I told Conrad, "Thanks anyway Conrad, she gave me a table over here." The neatest thing was that at the end of the show he bought four movies from me. That was pretty cool of him.

Joel speaks furthers about his heroic adventures and goes in-depth on his film DIRTY COP, NO DONUT in part 2 of this interview. To read further, please click here.
copyright 2007, B-Independent.com. No part of this interview may be reprinted in part or in whole without the express written permission of the website administrator.