INTERVIEW: Actor Jeffrey Combs

INTERVIEW: Actor Jeffrey Combs

If you’ve watched TV or movies of any kind, chances are good that you’ve seen Jeffrey Combs in something. He’s best known for his role as Dr. Herbert West in the classic Re-Animator, but he’s also starred in numerous other projects. You may also remember him as both Weyoun and Liquidator Brunt on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Commander Shran on Star Trek Enterprise. More recently he’s been playing Dr. Kevin Burkhoff on USA’s The 4400, and he also played Agent Milton Dammers in Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners. Of course, he’s also done character voice-over work, guest starred in numerous television shows, and featured in dozens of movies.

I recently had the chance to talk with Mr. Combs about his newest film, Return to House on Haunted Hill. He’s extremely nice and eloquent, and we had a terrific conversation about some of his most memorable performances over the past 20 years. Read on to see what he has to say about his new film, his favorite work experiences, and some of our favorite shows.

MIKE SPRING: Hi Jeff, how are you?

JEFFREY COMBS: I’m very good, very good.

MS: Let’s start off with your latest project, Return to House on Haunted Hill. What can you tell us about it?

JC: It looks really good. To be honest I didn't know what to expect because we shot it in Bulgaria, and frankly, a lot of the actors were British but they were pretending to be Americans, and I was wondering how that was going to fare. Once I saw it, I was really amazed at how seamless that really worked. There are a couple of characters that are British, but that’s okay. [Laughs.] The film has a gorgeous look, it’s edited really well; I think the DP and the director did a fabulous job. I have a certain loyalty to William Malone, who directed the first one, and it was kind of a surprise eight years later. Here I am reprising my role that I owe to William, because he’s the one who said, “I want Jeff for this.”

MS: You were the only cast member to return for the sequel, is that correct?

JC: That’s absolutely correct, I’m the only one. And I think I owe gratitude to Victor Garcia, the director, for that because when he signed on, he kind of said, “We have to have him back, or we don’t really have a face to the house that’s haunted.” [Laughs.] And strange that here’s a role that I don’t say a word of dialogue… Well, that’s not quite true, because [with this DVD’s technology] there are branches that you can navigate through, and on one of those I do talk.

MS: Has that been challenging for you as an actor, dealing with new technologies, like seamless branching on DVD’s, affecting the way a movie gets made?

JC: The only thing that was different as far as an actor concerned was--usually you get a script, you find a through-line, and you make your decisions based on that. And one thing happens that motivates another action. And so with this, since there are so many options, you can’t really lay that kind of groundwork. It was more difficult for some of the actors that are a little more nuanced, rather than my character, who’s sort of a vision that shows up. No one really cares a bout my motivation. [Laughs.] So it’s a little easier for me. But when were shooting, you’d think you were done with a scene, and they’d go, “No, no, no... we’ve got to do the option B, scene B version.” Oh, ok. Instead of killing him you don’t.

MS: You seem to work in horror and sci-fi a lot. Are you a fan of the genres as well as a star in them?

JC: I’m a fan of all kinds of genres. It’s kind of a yin and yang, where I’m grateful to be known for my work in sci-fi and horror and that people can place me in that genre and that I have certain strengths there. At the same time, it’s somewhat frustrating because people just sort of perceive you as “that’s what he does.” Which really just got perpetuated with what I first became know for, which is, of course, Re-Animator. You get on that train and all of a sudden, we’ll that’s what you do. And you know, your option as an actor is just turn down everything or you just kind of keep working and try to pick things where you can be different, where you can show your versatility. And not be the mad scientist with a needle in everything you do. Which is what I’ve tried to do and so hopefully it’ll blossom into people realizing I’m a versatile actor rather than actor you can easily categorize.

MS: I imagine then that it’s been very rewarding to work on The 4400, which is an amazing show. Because while you do play a scientist with a needle again, the show really is about characters and drama rather than hardcore science fiction. Is that a good experience?

JC: It is on many levels. First, I think it’s got a great cast. And I think that it deals with some really wonderful themes and ideas. The best of sci-fi is when they take events that are kind of roiling around in our world now and, kind of in an obtuse way, examine them by being removed. And of course, the original Star Trek and sci-fi itself [that’s set] far in the future is able to do that even farther removed. It’s almost like The 4400 is really close to our world, kind of one step removed from it, but you still get to examine those issues that we have. I’m really pleased an honored to be a part of such a smart show. And the fact that I get to continue to work with Ira Steven Behr, who of course was the executive producer on all the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine stuff I did, there’s a nice work lineage there. He’s a really good man and such a talented visionary.

MS: I love the show personally, and I hope it returns next year.

JC: I worry about the show because this year they didn’t do anything to promote it. Usually in the past they’ve done big billboards and you’d see advertisements for it, they even had a recap show. This year the season premiere came and nobody even knew. Even fans probably didn’t know it was starting up. You know, the crew will joke that the ratings go down because they didn’t promote it, and I’m afraid that at the end of the season, they’ll go “Well, we had to cancel it because your ratings are bad.” Well, whose fault is that? [Laughs.] The writing [quality] didn’t go down, the writing got better. It’s so good, but I’m afraid it’s on the bubble. Even if it did get re-upped, I’m afraid they’d probably say, “All right, do the same thing but on a lower budget.” The corporatization of my business is in full swing.

MS: Well, we’ll hope for the best. Let’s talk about Star Trek. You were a pretty big supporting player in two different series. Was the Trek universe a fun place to work?

JC: You know, even this morning I woke up real early for some reason, and when I was doing Star Trek, that’s certainly what my schedule was like. It wasn’t unheard of to have a 4:30, 5:00 call time, which meant I had to be up at 3:30 or 4:00. And to be up early [this morning], I had a real flashback to what it was like to making my tea, and just having everything ready to go out the door and jump in my car, arriving on Paramount Studios when nobody is there. Absolutely no one is there but me and the ghost. And it was a drudge, but at the same time it was a thrill. It was such an enriching experience for me to be a part of that family. Not just the people that were on screen, but the crew, and everybody just worked so hard and so good-naturedly. I just miss it.

MS: It sounds wonderful.

JC: I haven’t experienced anything like that since I had the great joy of--when Enterprise came on, I was able to do about 10 or 12 episodes of that, and I got a nice taste of that same thing. The rhythms were all the same just in terms of the logistics of how the whole things was set up, so that was sort of a homecoming in a way. I’m real honored to be a part of the whole Star trek thing. I probably did close to 50 episodes all told, and had three recurring roles. I had two recurring roles on one franchise, Deep Space Nine.

MS: Yes, you played Weyoun and Liquidator Brunt.

JC: Can you imagine--maybe you can’--I mean, the phone rings and your agent says they want to book you for another episode and I get to ask this question: “Which role?” [Laughs.]

MS: Yeah, I can’t say I’ve had a lot of experience with that.

JC: It would actually happen where my agent would call and say “They want to book you for two. One is Weyoun and one is Brunt.” I was like, “Sweet. Fine.” There were people--and this is where you know that maybe you’re kind of doing something right--in the crew, and we were in the middle of a season, and they’d go, “Wait a minute; you’re also Brunt?” Because they don’t see you out of make-up; you’re there before they show up, and when they see you, you’re in make-up. So that was the best possible compliment anybody could pay me. It was like, “Yes I am, and the fact that you didn’t know it means I’m doing something right.”

MS: You were in Peter Jackson’s Frighteners, which wasn’t nearly as big a hit as it should have been. Did you get a sense when you were working on that film that Peter Jackson was destined to become a household name?

JC: Well, I got the sense that he already was a household name. He got nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay with Heavenly Creatures the year before. And he was being produced by Robert Zemeckis, and he’d done those Braindead [Dead Alive] movies, so he was already on that trajectory. But having worked with him, it was like no doubt. He was just a born leader, a visionary. He made it look effortless. And being a director, with all the pressures, is not effortless. And to be witty and funny, and have such a great dark sense of humor that he has--we had a wonderful collaborative working experience together, and I think nothing but fondly about how great that time was. To come up with that character with him, to be able to bounce ideas off of him… a lot of time, directors can be just intimidating. They just don’t want to be bothered or don’t speak an actor’s language. Peter’s the whole package.

MS: It’s a great film, and your role in it is terrific.

JC: And you’re right; in time it’s had it’s recognition, but it was kind of badly distributed and publicized, and at the wrong time. It shouldn’t have gone out in July. The original idea was that it was a Halloween movie, and then they got a hole in their schedule and they moved it up because they were looking at such great dailies. At the time we were looking at it like it was a great thing because we were a summer movie, but in retrospect, it was probably the worst thing they could do.

MS: How does it feel to be part of a cult classic as revered as Re-Animator?

JC: Pretty remarkable. It’s the gift that just kind of keeps on giving. And it’s generational too, because the movie holds up so well because it’s so well done and so well put together, that it can kind of jump over generations and it doesn’t look or feel like it’s dated. I just think of the intensity with which we approached it when we were young actors, and Stuart had never directed anything before, and we couldn’t have imagined that we would still be asked to sign copies of the latest ultimate, all-the-bells-and-whistles release of the movie. It’s just remarkable and I’m grateful for it, because it got my foot on the dance floor; at least I was known for something. So many actors don’t get even that much recognition early on that can propel them on to be offered other things. I hold it near and dear, and Bruce Abbot is still a good friend of mine, as are Stuart and Brian. It’s really a magical little movie. And the fact that American Beauty made references to it, that only perpetuated the myth and the iconicness of the movie.

MS: What else do you have coming up that we should look out for?

JC: Well, right now I don’t have anything in the pipeline, but I’ve been amazingly busy the past couple of years, with Return to House on Haunted Hill and The 4400, and of course I got play Edgar Allen Poe in [Masters of Horror episode] The Black Cat. All of those things are kind of out there now. Coming up next year is a movie I did with Bill Malone, the director of the first House on Haunted Hill, that’s called Parasomnia, which I have high hopes for. I’ve seen a little bit of it and it looks really, really cool. Of course, you’ve heard of insomnia, where you can’t sleep, and Parasomnia is the flip of that, where this girl sleeps 23 hours of her life a day. And this guy sees her sleeping in the hospital and she wakes up and he just becomes obsessed with her. It’s very sort of Hitchcockian in a way. I’m looking forward to that coming out. It’s very visionary because Bill has us go into her dreams and it should be a very surreal experience.

MS: Well, that wraps up my time. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me.

JC: Mike, my pleasure. I appreciate it. See you later.

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