Writer/Director Rod Blackhurst and Actors Fabienne Therese & Max The Impaler talk to Fest Track about scenario, projecting and reaction in regards to their horror film: "Dolly" playing the Horror Competition section at Fantastic Fest 2025 in Austin, Texas.
00:00This is Tim Waspuk from Best Track Concert TV.
00:29I'm here in Austin for Fantastic Fest.
00:32Can you talk first about sort of the concept of Dolly?
00:37Because it's as much sort of an empathy journey as it is sort of a revenge picture as well.
00:44Sure, it's also a buddy romance, right?
00:48It's a buddy comedy.
00:49I think it's definitely got a lot of love, a lot of friendship, a lot of connection.
00:53I mean, Dolly is grindhouse, kinky, weird shit that's based on, you know, real fears and real people trying to navigate an impossible scenario.
01:05Like what what person ends up with a life size baby in their possession and what regular woman ends up wanting to be mothered by a monstrous creature?
01:14And then how do we get through that? Which is life.
01:16Yeah.
01:17Imagine you have to play without dialogue.
01:20You know, but it's physical.
01:22So, I mean, you know.
01:25In professional wrestling, I don't speak or do anything.
01:30My character in wrestling is a monster.
01:32So, it was a kind of easy transition for me because I'm used to expressing emotion just with my mannerisms and my body language.
01:40So, it was.
01:41But this was a little more subtle because, you know, it's just like.
01:45Yeah, I definitely wasn't Max the Impaler, but I definitely was used to being able to translate my feelings through my body language.
01:56We also talked in pre-production about like, well, not just degrees of Dolly's emotional, like the tears of reaction, the responses of things.
02:04But, I mean, because I knew you hadn't made a movie before.
02:08It was like, well, there's no stupid question.
02:10We'll talk about it.
02:11We'll talk about the like language of making a movie.
02:13Like literally, what does it mean to be on your mark?
02:15Like back to one.
02:16Yeah.
02:29We gotta go.
02:30We gotta hurry, please.
02:34But we were talking about like, yeah, like how the camera things might look bigger on camera relative to the lens size, right?
02:46Like, because in wrestling, sometimes you do have to perform for the back seats, right?
02:50Like one much larger for it.
02:53But so there was like we talked and I was like, man, there's no bad.
02:57There's no stupid question.
02:58Just ask them all.
02:59Like, we'll figure this out together.
03:01Is there a question that you asked?
03:03Yeah.
03:04Literally everything.
03:05Because I'm taught in wrestling, you need to perform big enough so the person the farthest away can see you.
03:11Whereas in film, there's a camera right in front of you.
03:15Right in front of you.
03:16So I don't need my movements to be as huge.
03:19They can be more subtle and they can be more.
03:22Also, I can talk to you.
03:24We can talk about the moment itself and like what I'm trying to do.
03:27So we can focus on that specific movement or that emotion I was trying to portray there.
03:32Whereas in wrestling, it's like.
03:34Right in wrestling, you have a narrative and it's like now go out there and keep the script.
03:39Right.
03:40And get to the end.
03:41Right.
03:42It's a character in that way.
03:43Yes, it is.
03:44You keep it moving.
03:45Whereas like a film, you're doing the same thing over and over and over.
03:48Yeah.
03:49And yet you have to be active and reactive, especially your character, in dealing with Dolly as a character.
03:55You talk about that because it has to.
03:57And you're shooting out a sequence most likely.
03:59So technically, I'm really, really, really crazy with script analysis.
04:03So I print my script and have it up on the walls.
04:06And I like I could be hired as continuity like person.
04:12I I know what happens before.
04:14I know where I'm coming from.
04:15I know where I'm going.
04:16I do a lot of preparation.
04:18I come from theater.
04:19So it's shooting out of order is totally fine.
04:24You know, there's like there's there's setups and lighting changes and things happening.
04:29And I think just like using that space to like really get into whatever that scene is.
04:41What you think?
04:42You can just do whatever you want now.
04:44This is still my fucking house.
04:48And it details like a bottle pacifier.
04:55Yeah. I mean, it wasn't hard.
04:56Like those things were those things are really up.
04:59Like we were in a we were really in the woods.
05:03Like there were snakes and mosquitoes and poison ivy and bruises and splinters.
05:11And and we were in a weird haunted like perfume factory that we built this house in.
05:17And like walking to the bathroom, I would like get scared.
05:19I would run really quickly and like really want to get back to everyone.
05:22So I think it was not hard.
05:24Like the circumstances of what we were shooting in made it easy to stay in that headspace.
05:29And and Max was also just we had each other.
05:33So so we always would check in with each other quietly.
05:37Do you need something?
05:38What can I give you?
05:39How can I help you with the scene?
05:41Because you both come from obviously different modes of thought in terms of physicality, all that.
05:46So were there questions you asked back and forth?
05:49Because a lot of the stuff I told people like there's a brutality to a certain kind of intimacy.
05:54And there's an intimacy to certain kinds of brutality is your close quarters and doing that.
05:59Your body doesn't know it's not real.
06:01Your mind actually a lot of times would be like harder.
06:04You can do that harder.
06:05And I was like, are you sure you're going to be OK?
06:07That sounds kinky.
06:12Yeah, I think like we well, we had a really wonderful stunt coordinator, Corey, who was so, so, so all about like keeping us really safe.
06:23But I also was just like there needs to be a level of this that's somewhat real for us to sustain the emotional height.
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