Denise's Interviews & Media News©

Interview with Benzy

of

    Benzy FX Studios, Pittsburgh, PA.

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»  Hi Benzy, tell me about yourself?

    • Hmmm?? Where to begin. Well, My name is Benzy. Born and raised in Pittsburgh…. I have a dog……Am I boring you yet??? I guess I’m a pretty levelheaded person even though I am involved in some pretty wacky roles and projects. I think that’s the best part of it all. Being able to change personalities and become someone else for a little while is a good time. I also do my fair share of FX work on films and other custom work. Other than work related stuff I really like just doing my own projects, running my FX studio, and cocktails by the pool. I try to stay as laid back as possible but it’s really hard sometimes with deadlines and trying to make things happen in a timely fashion. Ever since I was a kid I knew what I wanted to do. I just never imagined how many different paths I would try, travel, and experience to get there.

» When did you become involved with the FX business?

    •  I got an interest in FX when I was a kid. I mean what kid doesn’t want to see gore in movies and my mom made it very clear to me when I was young that SHE DOES NOT BELIEVE IN HORROR!!!….So when I was 13 years old and not listening to my parents, I went to this costume shop near Pittsburgh and dumped my college savings on over priced consumer FX supplies. I started off playing with liquid latex and stage blood and thought it was the greatest thing in the world. I was off and on doing this stuff for years.

Then my mom gave me a mask making kit for Christmas in about 1998. Go figure. So I started playing around with mold making and other types of FX artistry. Around the year 2000 I attended the Savini School and learned the right way to do FX. A week into school I landed a haunted house gig that was really close to my house so I perused that into a full time job building it from scratch and hand making everything each year. When it came time for my portfolio review I had around 80 molds and a 3 ring binder packed with pictures of FX. I remember when Jerry Gergley (my main instructor) said to me "I would stick with the haunted house as long as you can then do your own thing." So not to long after that I opened Benzidream FX Studios. Which is a one-stop shop for custom fabrications. Anything you could ever want: graphic design, web design, FX for film, outdoor sculpture, custom car, 3D sign age, and even restoration or artificial limbs for funeral homes. "If You Can Dream It, We Can Make It."

» Who was your inspiration to become an actor?

    • This is a tough one and probably not what your thinking but here is a list of people I most defiantly admire and who have had a great impact on my life. To add to that if any of the people mentioned by any chance read this THANKS….Ok here goes: Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Nicolas Cage, Christopher Walken, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Keaton, Tim Burton, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, James Gandolfini, George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Eddie Murphy, Denis Leary, Robin Williams, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Richard Lewis, Jack Nicolson, Chevy Chase, Bill Murry, Steven King, ALF, Michael Richards, Ed Harris, John Goodman, Michael J. Fox, Robert Englund, R. Lee Ermey, and The Ultimate Warrior. Just to name a few. Oh and Jean-Claude Van Damme is the man!!!

» Which films have you had an acting role in?

    • As far as acting goes that’s why I got into the business. I just took a different path than the usual actor. My first film I was ever in was a short student film in which I could not even tell you the name. But it was fun anyway playing the guy who got the life beat out of him. The next film I was in I actually played myself in my own film which was a feature documentary on the Haunted house I created entitled "The Northern Wing." After that was the worst and best time of my life playing Tony in Romero’s "The Screening". The worst because I was really sick through most of the film plus I was key FX the best because It’s not every day you change your personality so much in a role you feel the need to go into the bathroom in the movie and saw 2 feet of hair off with a utility knife because you know if you do that your character with be defined as 110% INSANE! Right now I’m acting and doing FX with a great crew on 911Bio-med. This is a website that was started up 3 years ago. When it started it was defined as a medical fetish site revolving around ER scenes with female patients. In a few months it will be transformed into an online medical drama series. It is pretty much little short stories with a little bit of character background. In this I play Ethan White a chief resident MD that is a total pissed with life alcoholic. I personally have always loved anything to do with a medical background in artwork or TV shows. My family always thought I would become a doctor when I was a kid…….and so it happened. The female patents are nice too.

» Your favorite film?

   • You really don’t want to know and I can’t say. I really don’t have a favorite flick. I do however love the crappy action flicks and the crap 80s flicks. Horror movies are great but I have really grown out of that to a point. If I had to pick one movie out of all of them that I really think was a brilliant piece of artwork I would have to be Tim Burton’s Big Fish.

»  Are there any new projects for FX in the near future?

    • Right now it’s all about Hung by a Thread. We are doing FX for Michael T. Schneider’s film "And Then I Helped". Then our crew will be doing a bonus film for the DVD extras of Hung by a Thread entitled "Jeffrey" which I am directing. Other than that we will mostly be doing custom jobs with Benzidream. To be honest doing FX in films is fun but when it comes to FX there is a whole lot more you can do with the knowledge than just movies. I would have to say that doing FX in films is not my favorite part of Special FX. Also, and this is going to upset the horror fans but I personally am getting sick of making fake blood, probably because I have done so much of it for years now. I always look at Dick Smith who hates gore and is the legend of the FX industry. The gore is the easy stuff. Anyone can throw blood on someone but not everyone can sculpt a replica of a humans face or sculpt like Michelangelo. Now that’s a master artist, most defiantly the guy who inspired me to start sculpting.

» How about any upcoming acting roles for you?

   • I do have a roll in Alan Rowe Kelly’s film "A Far Cry From Home" as "Otis". That one will be a fun part for sure. Also I play "Jeffrey" in the bonus film on the Hung by a Thread DVD "Jeffrey". So yes I do have a few roles coming up. I also have been contacted to possibly play a part in a few other films but I have no details to them as of yet. And I most defiantly will continue to act for Bio-med until something else comes up. It has been a great ride so far. A lot of ups and even more downs at times. But it was all worth it so far and I will continue to pursue this said to be by some people "unreachable dream". This ride just started.

http://www.benzidreamfxstudios.com

Interview by Denise Kaminsky - August 2006