#25 How to Survive a Horror Film with Kelli Maroney

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Jeff Dwoskin 0:18

Right actor thank you so much for that amazing introduction. can't thank you enough kicking off Episode 25 the best way possible getting mygo and so excited to have you all here. I'm Jeff Dwoskin, host of the Jeff Dwoskin show, and this is episode 25. Episode 25 special episodes a milestone 25, as everyone knows, is the sum of every natural odd number. That's right, 1,3,5,7 and nine, that all adds up to 25. It can only mean one thing it's telling you to go listen to episodes 1, 3, 5, 7, & 9 of the Jeff Dwoskin show and they're amazing.

The premiere episode episode three with comedian Bob Phillips. Episode Five was Star Wars expert Dan Zehr Episode Seven with comedian Ricky Glore in episode nine with Big Al moskovitz. Detroit radio legend check them all out. That's the best way to celebrate this the 25th episode of the Jeff Dwoskin show can't thank you enough for coming by. I know you got many options, and thanks for choosing us.

And thanks for choosing the Halloween episode. Oh, it's gonna be a spooky one. We've got a great conversation with Kelli Maroney. She was star of Chopping Mall and Night of the Comet. So many great horror films and Fast Times at ridgemont High we got tons of great stories that she's going to share with us coming up a little later. Also, if you love Scream Queens, check out last week's episode was Susan Linear-Bramlett star of the original The Hills Have Eyes lots of great stories she shared with us you're gonna love that episode as well.

So with Halloween coming up very excited. What am I gonna dress up as well? I'm actually dressed up while doing the podcast. I am dressed as a ghost. And I'm holding a bag and in the bag is a rock. That's right. I'm Charlie Brown. But you're like Jeff, we can't see you. I know you can't see me. You can only see me if you're on Apple TV. Haha. I am no longer viewable on network television. Sorry about that. But I'll try and post a picture. We'll see how that goes.

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And now it's time for the social media to well this week it's more of a rant. I'm ranting at you Twitter. That's right Twitter, you and this ridiculous new retweet button you put on desktop and Mobile That's right. I'm coming at you Twitter. Why did you have to mess up a good thing? I hit that button to retweet. Now you move the button. It's everywhere where it's about No, no, no. All this so that I don't accidentally retweet something I don't mean to do Guess what? I've been not doing that for a long time. And the people that are gonna put out propaganda don't care about the one second delay. Oh, my God, I was almost swayed in this election. Thank goodness Twitter delayed that person one second. And they retweeted it anyway, oh, the world is now a better place Twitter, put it back the way you had it and give us an edit button and stop messing with features that don't need to be messed with. And this is the social media rant.

And now I'm excited to share my conversation with Kelli Maroney with you enjoy. Alright, ladies and gentlemen. You know, Ryan's Hope, Fast Times at ridgemont high, Chopping Mall, Night of the Comet and so much more. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show: Kelli Maroney.

Kelli Maroney 6:09

Thank you for having me.

Jeff Dwoskin 6:11

How are you?

Kelli Maroney 6:12

I'm good. Thank you. How are you? It's hot here in Los Angeles. Boom. Oh, good. How are you?

Jeff Dwoskin 6:16

I'm good. It's freezing here in Detroit. Oh, you should meet in the middle. And maybe we'll get some decent weather.

Kelli Maroney 6:24

Praying for rain.

Jeff Dwoskin 6:25

So in prep, and I don't want to necessarily jump to these right now. But just I I watched Chopping Mall and I watched Night of the Comet over this past weekend to get into my mindset of talking to you. So I'm really excited to talk about those amazing movies. I want to hear all your tips and tricks of surviving 80s horror movies. I want to kind of talk about also, how did you get into acting like what point in your life you're like, I have to be an actress.

Kelli Maroney 6:55

I always wanted wanted secretly to be an actor. But I grew up in Minneapolis, and we had sort of dandy lion head syndrome, where if you if I was to say, I'm going to be an actress, I would have gotten killed, you know, and ridiculed out of school out of my family out of everything. So I never really said much about it. But my mother used to watch these movies on television all the time. And I watched them with her, no matter what was going on with my mother. She just, it was such an escape for her. And I watched her face. And it was I felt the same way about it was so glamorous. And when people had feelings and in movies, and they were allowed to express them work, it seems to me like in real life, you were supposed to stuff down everything you're really feeling and you know, don't make any waves. But they're you know, they were just out there with everything. And it was so dramatic and such a catharsis and everyone's it was just, I just fell in love with that. And but because of my mom space when she watched movies, and so eventually, I got the nerve to say that I was interested in that. I just told her privately and I ended up doing a free apprenticeship at the Guthrie theatre, which that's where you hope that you're going to end up eventually. But I was a kid and they didn't pay us. But they gave us three classes. And then I met some Shakespearean people. And so I ended up I applied for the thing was is that my mom always said to me, you know, go do what you want to do. Life is really short, you'll regret it. There's nothing for you here if you don't want to see her go and do what you want to do. because she'd already had his charity. I was a late baby. And so um, she kind of knew the folly of having people conform when they didn't fit when they felt like they're a fish out of water and that it was not going to work out. And so I was accepted at the National Shakespeare Company Conservatory, which was pretty highfalutin, because I wasn't really one of those kids that was in drama all my life. We didn't have a drama department at my school. That's why I was going to ending up at the Guthrie. So I went there. And then I went back to do the fall. And I was beyond green and everything. I was looking for an apartment and they wouldn't rent me an apartment. I was too young. I didn't have a job only at $500. This woman I think was afraid for me. She said, I can maybe find you a roommate. But you know, my friend is a casting director. And she told me that they're looking for a Midwestern Lolita and let it to call her. So I went over there her office is the size of the closet smoke filled like, you know, just like Barton Fink kind of thing. She said, Well, they're closed at this one picture and it was from like a teenage modeling thing that I was doing. And it didn't look like me at all just running around. It's all I had. So I slid it under the door and long story long got the audition was scared to death didn't want to blow it by notice it then when they're filming me that the man that I was working with was so tired and as I came to find out later on, you get so tired on the soap and I reached over and I patted his face and it was totally I guess it was in character if I was super diabolical, but I was supposed to be, you know, an evil lead. I wasn't really supposed to care about anybody else. But I suppose it could be construed that I was manipulating him but I really just was like, Oh my gosh, he's so tired. And let me miserable, and I'm not making it any better. And I got the part. So like two weeks later, I'm calling my mom going, I'm on TV. Now, that never happens to anyone I know. And so it remains like one of the best stories I've ever had. And I'd love to have a better one, because it's been, you know, years and years. But I haven't taught that one yet. And so after that, because I've never been on television or anything, I just desperately tried to learn everything I could as fast as I could. So they didn't ship me back to Minnesota. And they didn't I just learned from from Louis Shafer, who played my mom kind of taught me what to do, like, how do you know how to cry on cue when you have to do it, like at the drop of a hat? How do you know how to learn in it's a cliche, but because people always say to me that to this day, how do you learn all those lines? And that's like, the most basic thing you can ask an actor, but you know, what, when you don't know how to do it, how do you learn all those lines? So I have like this crash course. And honestly, it was a better training that had I spent four years in a classical theatre school, or done a four year, I never, you know, I never ended up going to college for this. Because I said, should I be going to college or something to you know, my agent, people like that. And he said, You already got a job. That's the whole point. And this went to tell the director of the Shakespeare Company that I got this soap opera, and I was so afraid to tell him, I thought he was gonna laugh at me because you're studying the great classics, and you're gonna go do his soap opera. And he didn't, he said, How do you pull that off? And I said, I have no idea. And he said, that's the whole point of all this is to get a job, you got a job. Bye. See ya. I'm glad I kind of wasted like 10 years, and I'd still be

what you do, you do need training. And that's the that's the best way I could have possibly gotten training, because from there later came to California. And did you know, these independent low budget films, and you had to go very fast. And so those of us who had been on daytime television knew how to do that we showed up prepared, and we knew that we were probably going to get one chance at it. And so when they said, oh, let's take that again. We're like, we get to do it again. I'm going to be better now. It was just charmed, and I'm fully aware of how lucky I was. And I still feel grateful to this day, I'd never take any of that for granted. Because I know that that stuff is doesn't happen. But it did this one time it happened. That's

Jeff Dwoskin 12:10

a great story. So right out of the bat, boom.

Kelli Maroney 12:13

But then, you know, I paid for it. later on. I had What's one teachers kind of snarky at that school? And he said, Well, you know, dues pay now or pay later, I thought, What a horrible thing to say to a kid. And you know what he was right pay now or pay later? I've certainly had my ups and downs since then, sometimes I think is because that happened to me to give me a lot of encouragement, because Had it been really hard from the get go, I don't know how I would have survived. I mean, I didn't have I wasn't trust when I'm a kid. I didn't have any skills, I would have ended up working. I don't know, at McDonald's. I don't know what would have happened. So but you know, if you just fling yourself out there. And plus, I was too stupid to know what I was doing. And my mom said the same thing. later on. She said, had I realized what I was letting you do? I never would allow evil because we didn't realize all right, I do have New York City was in the in the movies. You know, like in the 50s that the skyscrapers and everything in 1980, New York City was Mean Streets, you know, it was a Minnesota strip was in play, which wasn't far from where I lived, where they kidnapped these girls who many from Minnesota necessarily Minneapolis, but and they put them into this sex train. And it was called the Minnesota strip because they get all these, you know, kids from the mall, corn fed blondes and all that and the next thing, so that was actually really happening. And it was cringy. And it wasn't like I went to New York years later with backs. I loved it so much. I love that city so much. And I couldn't believe how clean it was. I didn't even know I didn't know. I did. I did have this one time I was when I first got to the city and I was cruising down Broadway. This is Broadway. Oh, it's terrible. There's trash and bombs. And it was dirty. And this is not I kept looking at the streets. I like this is not Broadway. But it was at the time. And it looks way different Now, obviously. And then I had the same thing when I got to Los Angeles, Hollywood and Vine. I'm sorry, but it was a toilet. Diverse guy. 80s. And now, I mean, it's still you got your Hollywood Boulevard, it's not going to ever be it's still going to have a lot of character as it were, but it didn't look like it didn't in the 80s That's for sure. So from there, I always wanted to be Bette Davis. So that was my ultimate goal. And back in those days, it was a real stigma attached to being on a soap opera. So I got the Real Fast Times at ridgemont High I audition for See I told you I was gonna go off on a

tangent. Right

so I auditioned for Fast Times at ridgemont High audition for the Stacy role the Jennifer Jason Leigh prior but they already had her I think so they offered me the part of the cheerleader and up to then I play an evil Lolita on the soap opera and then I also played a psychotic killer in my first film. And so when they asked me to do that earlier, I couldn't believe it. What did they get that so that was my actually my first film but it didn't come out till after Fast Times. So I went I had to fly that myself there and everything but it was the best thing I ever did. I was really glad I made that decision because now The movies, you know, it's in the Library of Congress and everything else. So it would have been stupid to turn that down

Jeff Dwoskin 15:06

Colt classic. Did you get to work with Cameron Crowe on said and

Kelli Maroney 15:11

all the time. As a matter of fact, my big thing that I got to do was, I don't want to say that I just want to say that we're not spirit bunnies anymore. There was a line in that in the book, I had the good fortune to have the book, which is it gives you a whole other slant on those people. And there was a line in the book that was not in the script. And I thought it was the heart of the whole reason she was doing what she was doing is the heart of the whole speech. And I said, um, can I put this line back in here? He didn't want to talk to him. I said, Well, at one point, she says, you know, it takes a lot of courage to get up here and do something, you know, people will make fun of, I think that's the whole reason that she's doing what she's doing anyway, because he's kind of like, I mean, I haven't seen him a lifetime, but at the time, he was kind of like, Doonesbury, and he's like, Well, okay, try that. See if it's happening. That was everything It was at that scene was happening. And he was so enthusiastic. What about the movie? And he was there all the time? I did put it back. And I was really glad I did. Because um, it did explain that character

Jeff Dwoskin 16:09

clips online actually show that you saying that line. So it must have I'm sure you had to been impressed that you read his book that he based his screenplay on, right? Maybe but

Kelli Maroney 16:20

you know, that we did stuff like that everybody that was so there was nobody just horsing around, I'm going to be in a movie and no big deal. Everybody was so dedicated to what they were doing. That's and then what I had to look at the administer Vargas is when it goes the human heart, they take us to a morgue or something, a hospital and I actually went and got cadaver books and looked at to see what I'd really be looking at in real life. Yeah, we were all dedicated. We were like, you know, Sean Penn wouldn't answer to answer you, unless you called him Spicoli. And he had Spicoli. On his honey way in a trailer, I used to go in early because I didn't I couldn't drive. So it's either the Teamsters picked me up at the crack of dawn, I had the Teamsters pick me up, and I got to see Universal Studios light up and come to life. And, you know, the wardrobe and the props and everybody getting there, and all of a sudden, you'd start to smell the breakfast burritos in it. And it was a, it was like, beyond my expectations of what a movie studio was. I just thought that so glamorous. So I'd be sitting in their hair makeup trailer, and Shawn would be in there too, because he had to have this. Those were extensions. You know, he didn't walk around with it all the time. So he'd have to have to have his extension somewhere. He'd be really quiet. And I never talked to him cuz I knew you weren't supposed to, you know, call him anything but Spicoli I just respectful. One day, the hair lady says to me, you know, you can't need to be nicer to shine is a good boy. He's a really nice boy. And you're so mean to him. I wasn't perfect. But you know, I was just like, not talking to him. Because I didn't know what was gonna happen if I did. But we that's that's kind of how I got to know him a little bit. It was me being there so dang early, and him having to be there. So it was just a little insight, which she said, You need to be nicer to Sean, you kids. Should he or she was right. She was I mean, I knew what he was trying to do. You know, I knew he's trying to hang on to this character. We all understood that. That's what he was doing. And we were playing along, I guess more or less, you know, and then I couldn't be at the party, the wrap party or anything, but I understand that he walked in as Sean and he introduced himself. Hello. I'm Sean. I'm recall. Yeah. And then he was done with Spicoli because he never talks about it ever again. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 18:38

that's odd. That's That's awesome. Did you I didn't watch it. Did you watch the table? Read? We just did a table readers. Yeah, I

Kelli Maroney 18:45

know they did. And fortunately, they want a lot. They raised a lot of money for it. I didn't. But I understand that Shayla both played spicoli. He's just never mentioned that character again. And he doesn't I mean, he will resist all efforts to make him do so. It's not going to happen. He's never touching that character again. I don't know why. But that's his feeling so shy. I wish I had the book did a really good job. But you know, people were saying, How come you're not in that? Because they're trying to raise money. That's the point. It's not about people doing Fast Times about getting, you know, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston in there. So that people will work over a lot of money for his his charity, which is doing a lot of stuff like getting Kovac tests. And I'm sure you know that he's in a lot of involved in a lot of humanitarian things now. And that was the point of it. I think people almost missed that because it was so fun to see. To see all these people reach out people. I think they sort of missed the fact that there was a fundraiser.

Jeff Dwoskin 19:43

Yeah, they did the same thing with Princess Bride.

Kelli Maroney 19:46

Mm hmm. Exactly. It's a great idea. I've always admired that. I remember the floods in New Orleans or read someplace that this guy had been pulled out of the water by shot he was in the in the boats and everything. Just point rescuing people. thought, How weird would that be? If you're drowning and you get pulled out of the water, and it's the call, it must have been such a jerk. I'll never forget that as long as he lives, you know?

Jeff Dwoskin 20:12

That's a story you tell. So you die. There was Sean Penn.

Kelli Maroney 20:20

Slap me on the back. And then from there, the reason I got Night of the Comet was because Tom Everhart, who wrote and directed it, my my character, Samantha, you know, if people haven't seen the movies, they're gonna not have any idea what I'm talking about. Well,

Jeff Dwoskin 20:33

they should have seen Night of the Comet they should have seen Fast Times at Ridgemont Hight so Shame on them, keep going. It's

Kelli Maroney 20:39

also amazing how many people have seen it. You know, a lot of people think, Oh, that's a sleeper movie. But then you realize, I mean, I hear stories all the time. That was my babysitter on when I was growing up. Because, you know, my mom had worked nights and I was scared and she was afraid to leave me alone. So she put me to the common app because you guys had guns and I wasn't scared you and my babysitter's so because it was on cable. Everybody got a really personal vibe with it was the best thing that could have happened. It's one thing to go see a movie and then it's another thing to see it on. Cable all the time you go Oh, there it is. Again, you know, and that's how people really got to know don't know the movie. That's why it feels like it has. I feel like our fans are so personally connected to it is that that's probably why to a large extent. But Tom Everhart had written written it that I was, it's about two sisters, two sisters, and they wake up one day, it's the end of the world, they have to figure out how to survive. But then they run into this character named Hector played by Robert Beltran was on Star Trek. Later on much later on. At one point, my character was supposed to die. He said, so this is the reason for it. He said, I want somebody really annoying, you know, like, like that cheerleader on Fast Times at ridgemont. High, no one will Mind if I kill her. We can actually get that cheerleader up Fast Times at ridgemont. High. And as it turned out, as you know, if you've seen the movie, he didn't kill me. You gave it away. It's a

spoiler alert. Spoiler

Jeff Dwoskin 22:07

alert for those since 1984. But you're right, those movie that movie a lot of movies in those early 80s when everyone was just getting cable when I rewatched it this weekend. I like all of a sudden I realized, wait a minute, I've seen this movie. Seen. Yeah. So it's but it was fun to watch it again.

Kelli Maroney 22:27

Because you remember what you were like when that movie was out. It brings people back to you know, their own lives and what connection they had with it. They remember what was going on when they saw it. So I got to do conventions and stuff. People have said, you know, when I saw chopping wall, it was the first time I bought my own ticket and I took the bus into the city and I saw it by myself was my first movie ever that I did that for and you know, somebody else said that was my first date with my wife. So yeah, this story is our law, who you know, you really feel connected to your fans. But that way the people that love the movie, and they show you so much appreciation that you know, just really touches your heart, you feel like well, I you know, I didn't waste my life, I thought I'm doing something that people are happy to have, you know, are enjoying, and that's great. Sometimes you can feel like, what am I even doing this stuff? I think we all do, you know, just go? I do I try. But then you have that feedback of Oh, that's fine. I'm really I'm really glad. But you know, I didn't, I didn't give up the ghost there. I think everybody feels that way. We all need that. And especially actors do because we're shooting it in a vacuum sort of in the cruces as we know, you know, but then when the audience finally sees that, we've done it, but then they remind us that, you know, we weren't just yelling into a void there. Somebody heard us a tree fell in the forest. And they heard it. That's the wonderful thing about being, you know, in movies. And that's why I love being an actor. Because it's giving other people a personal experience. It gives them permission to feel like they have a catharsis, like, he didn't go to a movie, you might not realize that you're feeling sad and traumatized. But all of a sudden, you're crying your eyes out. And the movies allowed you to get in touch with that feeling that you might have, like been avoiding, or not even really aware that you had and then all of a sudden, it's like therapy. I mean, with horror, you get so tense about everything that's going on in the world. And then you know, you watch a maniac running around killing people. And it's and all that fear come comes out. I think it's very cathartic for them. I think it serves a real purpose.

Jeff Dwoskin 24:23

Absolutely. 90 of the time it was it held up pretty good. I mean, I was I enjoy the soundtrack is amazing.

Kelli Maroney 24:31

So 80s We were so 80s that we were we didn't even know how 80s we were at that time. That was just us. That's how girls wore their hair. That's the kind of music that was there. You know, that's how they talk. That was what was important at the time to them, you know, and Tom actually wrote it as a bit of a satire. He decided he sat down his daughter's friends and he said, Okay, if it's the end of the world, what would you do? And they said, Well, we Colgate guns. Yeah, my dad taught me how he kept the shooting range, I'd be fine and then everything would be Free like they started to realize everything would be free it just called the store and get whatever you want it and he just watched the reasoning of these 80s kids and he just wrote it

Jeff Dwoskin 25:10

both Night of the Comet and for sure choppy ma your your hair was on point at, it was like you're me I've read was really

Kelli Maroney 25:20

this is great. I really

wore it.

You know big hair covers up a multitude of sins. Like if you don't like the shape of your face, or you don't want to take attention away from a facial feature that you don't care for. The bigger your hair is, the less it shows. So that's we were hiding under that big hair to a large degree. I mean, I was it I felt like I had a you're looking at my hair and not looking at you know, my

Jeff Dwoskin 25:48

Oh, you don't need to hide anything. Yeah,

Kelli Maroney 25:50

we all felt that way though. I think you know, I mean, everybody's everybody's self conscious about themselves. And I think that the big hair was you know, if you got big hair you were styling no matter what back in those days.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:01

Oh yeah. So your sister co star and that was was Catherine Mary Stewart. Right? He went on to the Last Starfighter. I remember that and then yeah, I'm glad you mentioned Hector was in Star Trek because it was when I was watching it. I'm like he looks so familiar

Kelli Maroney 26:17

with his movie that that brought him to attention and then that's how we got married worn off to be he recommend eight he said Mary Would you like to do this movie with me? That's how we got her to play the scientist the

Jeff Dwoskin 26:28

scientist with the conscious Yes.

Kelli Maroney 26:31

He doesn't even roll with marijuana often part Paul bertell were cannibals and and he was roll. I don't know if you haven't seen it is a really, really odd early 80s movie that raves and it's it should get raised. It's hilarious. And then also Jeffrey Lewis who's a character actor you know for the ages.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:50

Yes. Lots of lots of fun actors and actresses in that movie and then the whole scene at the mall you like you like movies with see big scenes in malls apparently at night, but the

Kelli Maroney 27:02

you know, it was it wasn't planned. Somebody called it my mall trilogy. Where I and I used to be so I'd say you know somebody one of my friends gets a movie and goes to France or goes to Sweden or whatever. And I get a movie and they go Okay, your call time was at 8am in Van Nuys. Van Nuys. What happened to Paris? I'm soundstage Sally, I just whenever I guess I shoot, like somewhere in a warehouse.

Jeff Dwoskin 27:31

So I got a big chuckle when you get you get mad at your sister and I have a fight for trying to steal the only other boy that's

Kelli Maroney 27:40

Yeah, you know what that was written. It was so funny that we just like died laughing and felt fell on the grass were written that we were in a yard or something like that. And I thought, well, it is really really funny. But then when we shot it, it wasn't that funny anymore. Because it was true. Same with the limit stop boys have us tied up like, you know, sweet Polly purebred the train tracks. He's holding the gun to my head. And I say what do you want us to do pay for the stuff or what that was supposed to be funny. But you know, do you get a lot of data this way? That kind of thing. But it wasn't for him a gun to my head. So we got to see how the script read so hilarious that I was cracking up on the plane to myself, which is embarrassing, but I couldn't. It was one of the most entertaining when Tom Everhart was a genius at making his scripts really entertaining. And that's how you get readers to read them. That's how you get green lights on your movies is make the reader entertained. But it was super entertaining. But then a lot of it as it played was different. And we had one producer who would come running and going, why are you people goofing off. This is serious. So we would do something that was a little bit more pulled back. Another producer. Okay, this is lane Crawford, Andy lane, and they had been valley girl before and they had a smash hit. So they're kind of, you know, following along that line. And I don't know if Tom he had moved on. He was writing a social commentary, but he won't admit to it. So you know, Tom's got kind of like this sort of cynical view. And then Wayne wanted it to be like a comedy. And he said we can't we want the audience to feel good. So we would have we'd have nobody really knew what it was. So it turned out to be its own thing. Because when Andy would say, she's got to be serious with that. Why she laughing? It's the end of the world. And Lima go, No, no, no, no, no, that's what's funny about it. And Tom will just see and he's just running around shooting so fast. He didn't know if he was coming or going. Actually, somebody at the LA Weekly said this movie doesn't know what it what it's supposed to be.

It became its own thing, you know, which is

Jeff Dwoskin 29:35

fine. It ends Anna it ends on a very funny line where Regina is now with her new family and you're across the street, and they don't cross and then you go to cross and they're like you don't cross the line. And then the boy almost hits you in the car and he's like, well, you should cross against the light. And it's it's so fun. I know you're like and you drive off with him. It's worked out A

Kelli Maroney 30:00

lot of people don't realize it's DMK from in the beginning when she's playing the game and somebody keeps beating her and DMK and she goes who's DMK? And he was DMK said that his license plate his dad must own a Mercedes dealership or something.

Jeff Dwoskin 30:14

Oh, that is funny. I didn't get that either. But now I'm mad at myself because it's so it's such a subtle little nod. Okay, that's, that's brilliant. Okay, thank you. Yeah, there's a whole nother layer. Thank you, Kelli. Okay, so that's cool. That's awesome. And then I do want to talk about Chopping Mall. But is there anything else? So besides other things, besides the things that we've talked about, which is like your favorite thing that people don't talk enough about?

Kelli Maroney 30:45

I really liked the thing I did called face down. I did it again with Tom Everhart. It was a second when we read it together and then moved in two minutes together. But that was the next one. And it came like over 10 years later. And I'm a schizo phrenic. And said, kind of like a gumshoe noir type thing. He did it with Joe Montana and Peter riegert. And Adam and and it was play played on Showtime. So and it never, it never became a blu ray or anything like that. But that was actually one of Michael's favorite jobs I ever had. So there's that one. And I always like what I'm doing now. You know, whatever. People say, what's your favorite movie? what I'm doing right now is my favorite thing, you know? And I like all of them for different reasons, what I learned and who I met and what I had, because actors are always you're always you have that imaginary circumstance. You can't be anybody else. It just draws pieces out of you that even the known were there. Otherwise, maybe that's the reason it's hard to choose which was your favorite part. So but then the mall trilogy again after after that Jim Malinowski, who wrote and directed Chopping Mall, had seen that in the Night of the Comet, and they were looking for the final girl and Chopping Mall. And I apparently at one point, she was supposed to get naked. I don't know. It wasn't the case with me by the time I was there. And he wanted somebody that was kind of funny, like they had kind of and I actually, we didn't end up having Allison be that much of a smart alec at all. But he wanted some levity, and he wanted somebody who you could believe was able to fight for herself, but yet was sweet, you know, wasn't, you know, wasn't too harsh. And so he decided he wanted me and it was Julie Corman and it was his first major thing that they're gonna let him do. I was blown away because I walked in and I've been up all night shooting the zero boys, which we had to shoot all night long. So I was exhausted. I mentioned everything was fine. I went in to meet Roger and Julian, all of a sudden hit me up. This is Roger Corman. I started to get like a little uptight. And as a little Tad says, He goes, What's the matter with you? I said, Well, I've had enough sleep. And now I realize what I'm doing here. And he's Don't be nervous. Don't be nervous. I wish I knew who this was, um, because she did another movie after this, too. I can't think of what was right now. She had been wanting to use her. But that is she was a Mormon and she didn't want to do nudity and she didn't want to swear. And so this will happen with parts. Um, so I ended up I didn't have to do nudity by that and I didn't terrify swore. And I actually didn't really end up swearing at all other than comedic combining a little bastard that this will happen over and over again. I remember when I was a kid, they were casting the World According to Garp and the babysitter had to get naked. And so everyone was like, and you know, if something is you have to get naked, don't go if you don't if you're not willing to do it, because that really makes them mad. So a lot of people didn't go she wasn't naked.

Like I was misinformed.

I think when they find the right person and the person doesn't want to take their clothes off, or they decide they don't have to take them It happens after the fact. And then I was also on another movie with it was known entity and director was pressuring one of the other actresses to take her clothes off. And she was freaking out, you know, and I said you don't have to do but she felt like she had to, I could. I was really lucky because I was already working on people in that way. So they're more likely to treat me professionally but people were coming in and it was like the first job or something people felt like they were more easy prey if you will, you know got the predator kind of thing out because so things that I've got to avoid a lot of things bad bad bad things that have happened to other people just because I mean I already knew that you know somebody is doing that to you. You're not serious about wanting to work with you. There's something else going on there but I don't know I don't know what would have happened to me if I didn't have that. The good fortune to already have that established fame or that some somebody is going to know I know better than that. Again, I'm really lucky and I knew it.

Jeff Dwoskin 34:50

So Chopping Mall, is the story of whether the setup of Chopping Mall I just watched it so it's a it's it's fresh in my brain. The Beginning of chacma, as a presentation, just this up defied these robots are going to now be the security for the small eye to actors, very character actors, I can remember their names, but one guy isn't a lot. Like, wow, that seems dangerous.

Kelli Maroney 35:17

Oh, that's very often called marihuana is in that same ballpark? Tell us a little cameo, Vic villars. Like, they actually did a documentary about him called, I forget, of course, what is that guy who's in everything or something like that, about his career? Because he had an amazing career? Is it? It's kind of see people, I don't know, people think that they want to be famous. You know, what's what works about being in this business as being a character actor working all the time, getting these great, great parts, nobody's bothering you. Nobody's, you know, put in magazines or anything like that. And you just do your work and have your life and you're always there. Because if your character actor to you, nobody even cares what you look like that much. Because it's so you know, you're not being hired for your beauty. And that's really the way to be. If you just want to have a career in a nice life. It's not the famous thing. Nobody gets that. But that's, I mean that I suppose. I suppose if that's what you really want, you're not going to be happy with what I'm talking about. But that's why I have a good time.

Jeff Dwoskin 36:20

Yeah, I think Bill Murray once said, if you want to be rich and famous, try just being rich first and see if that does it for you.

Kelli Maroney 36:26

Yeah, probably. Well, it well, in some cultures think that fame is a karma, that if you get famous, it's because you have to work, you're repaying a debt. And sometimes when you when you have to show up as the person who played so and so you kind of feel why they think they kind of know why that why they came to that conclusion. I guess people get into it too, for all kinds of reasons. If people some people start out being an actor, and what they they think they want to be an actor, but what they really want is a validation that they're going to get someplace else. Or I mean, there's all sorts of psychological reasons why people go into one thing or another. And then you figure out it wasn't really that profession, it was something else that you wanted. And you know, you kind of figure that out, as you go along.

Jeff Dwoskin 37:17

Yeah. Agree words?

Kelli Maroney 37:22

Like what the essence of what I really want here,

Jeff Dwoskin 37:25

are there any roles that you regret doing

Kelli Maroney 37:28

now? I guess not? I guess not. Because he learned something. And also, I don't really have a, you know, people think that you get to choose your roles. And unless you're like, you know, Brad Pitt, you don't you take what you're given, you take what you get, and you you know, make the most out of it. Actually, as you as you go along, when you're establishing yourself, then all of a sudden, whether you're Brad Pitt or not, you realize I don't have to do anything I don't want to do and you don't really know that. When you start out. I always think well, what if I turn this down, it turns out to be the best thing I could ever done. And I blew it, you have to get over that attitude. Because otherwise you'll just do anything that comes along. And then on the other hand, there's always on the other hand, and I've seen these horror movies, my agency was saying you are destroying your career with this stuff. I want you to start turning this stuff down. In fact, there was one that was so stupid, I did turn it down. They're like, We're so proud of you. Thanks for not doing that. At the time, they were right, because a horror was really looked down on. And it was it was it was a career killer. You know, I mean, people were still bothering George Clooney about having done the tackle the Killer Tomatoes. What did you do that for? I got to work, I got a job to pay the rat. And then so I had a double whammy. I first had soap operas, which were looked down at at the time. And then what do i do is like I get into towns, people start to audition me for stuff, what do I end up taking horror movies, I had to pay the rent and eat and stuff like that, too. And so I was just happy to get stuff like that and working out what I knew how to do because I knew how to do nothing else. And they were saying your if you were known as a horror person, you you know, became way down the totem pole, not that way anymore. So I have lived long enough to see the worm turn. And now it's cool to do her. And people go into horror on perspective on purpose. Whereas before I go, writer director would do a horror movie to get his foot in the door. Yeah, to be allowed to like interact something or write something. And now they do it because they like to do more. And it's a whole different vibe. And you can see it too. It's so much more. In a way. There's a lot of things that are so much more sophisticated because of that. It's an exciting time her had a really strong Renaissance. Well, as you can see, it's it made it mainstream. Mainstream people are doing horror, it's on television. It was not before. It was always kind of a low rent kind of thing. Same with daytime. JOHN Fontaine came on to play my agent when I was on, because my character was an actress. And she had done it because Elizabeth Taylor was a huge fan of all my children. They offered her to come on the show and she asked Richard Burton Should I do that And he said, more people are going to see you in one day that have seen me on stage possibly in my entire career. And she's like, okay, so she did it. So then she gave all this other actors permission to come on and do these guest spots, because they're all feeling like Joan Fontaine. She said, The reason I did it was because I caught up, save hours to get my groceries. And the girl on the phone said Joan Fontaine didn't used to be an actress. And she said, Oh, that's not what I want to hear, you know? And so she played she was lovely. That was quite the experience. Yeah. So I got I got an opportunity working on my feet to learn stuff. I was never gonna learn anywhere else.

Jeff Dwoskin 40:38

That's awesome. I do want everyone to go watch. You could stream choppy ma it's in watch Kelli kick by she's got the kind of the Sarah Connor thing going on. And taking on robots, and kicking ass and then the end finding love. So it's really a love story. It's really a love story. It is an oddly no chopping, no chopping happens at all.

Kelli Maroney 41:01

No. It was called Killbots. But then nobody was picking up on it. And Roger Corman, his salesman said something wrong with the title. And legend has it that the maintenance guy said I don't know cuz he's watching and he thought it was a real piece of property. I say that's um, why don't you call it a Chopping Mall. What game I don't know if that is the legend. I have no idea if it's true or not.

Jeff Dwoskin 41:24

We'll go with it.

Kelli Maroney 41:25

Everybody's big complaint is there's no chopping and this

was my big complaint two, we got it. And this is presented to me as Okay, this is going to be shot at the Beverly center and Robert shorts going to do the robot and he done Darryl Hanna's tail and splash and he was a big stuff. And I thought wow, class x is gonna be okay to do. I think we all thought that and then pretty soon we here it's going to be called kill bots. When we go ooh. And then we heard it was going to be called chopping All we know

is no.

And you know, for years and years, that thing would come on. And I i was i was merciless, mercilessly teased and ridiculed for having done that movie back in the day. And now haha. everybody's like, it's more popular now than it ever was. Which you know, I don't know why. I have no idea why but I'm really glad people love it. And but it's kind of indicating for me because I did take so much crap for being in that movie. I can't believe you are in Chopping Mall.

Jeff Dwoskin 42:32

kicked ass and shopping. Today could take place and it's a lot of time. And I can make a lot of sense in the kitchen setting. That's what they should bring back. Like they're bringing back all the other classic horror movies like Halloween salvation, bring you back. Save another mall?

Kelli Maroney 42:49

Well, it's different now. So I mean, there is an idea out and about regarding that. I don't know what's going to happen with it. But it would be bigger. You know, it would be

a different kind of thing.

Yeah, I would definitely be in Chopping Mall again, casino. I lived. That's the cool thing about being the final girl. Sometimes they do Part Two and you think, Oh rats, I died in that. But if you're the final girl, you cannot you're always going to be in the second one.

Jeff Dwoskin 43:18

That's awesome. So where can people follow you and keep up with everything you're doing?

Kelli Maroney 43:23

Well, right now I have a movie at festivals. It's a HP Lovecraft film called The deep ones. And it's playing the festivals right now. So I'm doing a lot of interviews and stuff for that. And set such as and the UK and Spain and everyplace I'm really happy that people are paying so much attention to it. But my website is Kelli Maroney comm ke l Li, m AR o n e y, which people misspell My name but don't feel bad. I was on True Blood and they misspelled my name on the credits. Yeah, I got it. I got this review of The Hollywood Reporter. And it was so nice, except for they spelled My name wrong through the whole I think they used autocorrect in the middle of the night, you know, and just sent it My name was spelled wrong. And I said you guys stole my name. I called them up and say my name is misspelling Oh, was it great review? Isn't that I went? Yeah, they were just like, thank you. No, Count your blessings and they hung up on me. They say as long as you spell my name, right, but apparently you don't even need it to be spelled right. But in this case, you would because you won't find me. I think you might actually find me on the internet if even if you spell my name wrong. I'm on Facebook actress Kelli Maroney and I have the fan group and I have Twitter, Kelli Maroney and Instagram Kelli Maroney. I figured it was easier to just stick with my name because why make it hard for people to find you? I just got on Twitter. I haven't been on Twitter. I got on Tick Tock but I haven't done it yet. Because it's it seems so confusing. I had to go with real Kelli Maroney before that one because that was a Kelli Maroney on there already. I used to always be the only one. I never had to worry But that but kids are now grown have grown up in their name is Kelli Maroney like my name.

Jeff Dwoskin 45:04

Follow Kelli Maroney on all the social medias. I can't thank you enough for spending some time with me. I really appreciate it.

Kelli Maroney 45:11

Thank you. Thank you for listening to me babble.

Jeff Dwoskin 45:13

No, it was brilliant. Love it

Kelli Maroney 45:15

before we started. I like when people go off on tangents. And so I did. Because I wanted to please you.

Jeff Dwoskin 45:24

Is it me, please? Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Yeah.

Kelli Maroney 45:28

Thank you. Nice to talk to you as well

Jeff Dwoskin 45:31

That was fine. Kelli Maroney is awesome. Check out our movies, check out our new stuff follow on the socials. You'll won't regret it. And now it's time. Everyone's favorite part of the show. And it's time for that hashtag roundup hashtag of the week, and this week, we picked a great one from brand new McMahon and his game hashtag your red, which is on Tuesdays on the hashtag Roundup. This hashtag is hashtag bad names for a slasher flick. Obviously, in honor of Chopping Mall, we're gonna do that one. Alright. And as always, I'm going to read a bunch of tweets. They're going to be retweeted at Jeff Dwoskin show on Twitter. Go follow those folks retweet them and then also get the hashtag round a bap play along with the hashtag games and one of your tweets can show up on a future episode of the Jeff Dwoskin show you will be the envy of all your friends. All right, here we go. Hashtag bad names first slasher flick Teletubbies three gypsies revenge. Freddy vs. Jason robarge. The classic actor Children of the Corn dogs Hmm, that is scary for yo Tommy. This islands of the yams at Alka Irish raise. Can you hear the Amazon boiling? seesaw? Actually, that sounds fine. I married an axe murdering alien who knows what I did last summer. Whoo. frightening. Well, that's how this on the left has a lovely garden actually. Oh, but don't pick the tomatoes. They'll kill you. Nightmare on Elm Street. That's scary. Especially if you're an adult stuck in a room for a long period of time with a kid the Nebraska butter knife incident. Oh, sweet lord. All right. The Texas coast la massacre. you've ever been to a picnic? You know it's not that hard to massacre co slaw. stabby man. That's horrible. Freddy vs. Jason in divorce court Friday the 13th bowling night. Who that is scary. Especially if you have to wear someone else's shoes. You don't know where those shoes have been? frightening. Well, that's it that is hashtag bad names first slasher flick. How fun. All right, check out hashtag Roundup. You know the drill. And we have come to the end of yet another glorious episode of the Jeff Dwoskin show. I can't thank you enough for spending this time with me. Please subscribe and like and tell all your friends about the show. Sign up for our mailing lists at our website. Jeff is funny, calm. I'll send you emails, all that kind of good stuff. Follow us on Twitter at Jeff Dwoskin show Instagram at Jeff Dwoskin show. We're on Apple podcast, Spotify, amazon music everywhere. subscribe, like, share, and we'll see ya next week.

Announcer 48:24

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Jeff Dwoskin show with your host Jeff Dwoskin. Go repeat everything you heard it sound like a genius. catch us online at the Jeff Dwoskin show.com or follow us on Twitter at Jeff Dwoskin show and we'll see you next time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai