Actor Kristoffer Polaha chatted about starring as Sam Reinhold in the new horror movie “Mimics,” which he also directed. Marc Oakley wrote the screenplay.
The cast also features Mōriah, Chris Parnell, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jesse Hutch, Arianne Zucker, Jason Marsden and Austin Basis.
It was produced by Ken Carpenter, Kristoffer Polaha, Adam Karm, and Ben Wagner.
The synopsis is: When a struggling impressionist and a contract for fame take center stage, the battle for a good man’s soul takes the spotlight.
Polaha on directing and starring in this film
On directing and starring in this new movie, Polaha said, “I had the time of my life making this film. I had long hair. I want a Kurt Cobain meets Joker vibe to start with. Then you meet the puppet Fergus; he’s my guy.”
Working with Mōriah
Polaha complimented Mōriah for her starring role as Virginia Martin.
“Mōriah is unbelievable in this film,” he said. “Mōriah is so good in the movie, she is so talented and generous as an artist. She is really bright and she brought this story to life, and that means a lot because this story is very personal to me.”
Working with Jesse Hutch and Arianne Zucker
Polaha complimented his entire cast, and praised Jesse Hutch for playing a role that is unlike anything he has ever done before, and Arianne Zucker for playing The Madam. “Jesse Hutch is phenomenal in this,” Polaha admitted. “Jesse plays a totally different character than we’ve ever seen him do!”
“Ari Zucker was wonderful as The Madam. She killed it in this role,” he added.
Polaha pays homage to Andy Kaufman
With this project, Polaha noted that he paid tribute to Andy Kaufman.
“I wanted to do an homage to Andy Kaufman and create those two characters that are named MC Tony and MC Clifton in honor of that,” he said.
“To me, this movie is like Andy Kaufman meets Twilight Zone. It’s a Lynchian exploration of the supernatural. It was fun,” he added.
Polaha on his inspiration to direct
On his inspiration to direct, Polaha remarked, “I’ve always wanted to be a director. That’s something I used to do as a kid. I would take a VHS camera around my house, and I would film movies such as ‘Dracula’ and ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’.”
“I used to edit in camera because with the VHS tape, you couldn’t edit. So, I would have to basically storyboard the whole movie and just shoot pieces in the camera to get it to make sense,” he elaborated.
“So, it’s a language that I’ve always been talking in or communicating in ever since I was 10 or 11 years old,” he added.
“With ‘Mimics,’ I had this movie that was easy to pitch. It’s about a guy who signs a Faustian deal, but there’s a cost to everything, and he quickly learns that nothing comes easy.”
“It’s a horror genre pic, but it’s also a romance, a comedy, and I could make it for under a million bucks. It’s an ultra low budget film,” he added.
Lessons learned from the screenplay
On the lessons learned from the “Mimics” screenplay, Polaha reflected, “I think that what I wanted to do was tell a story that sort of explores the idea of demons or entities that take hold of people to get what they want out of those people.”
“I just wanted the movie to be a little more than just a puppet haunting people, which I think it is,” he said.
Closing thoughts on ‘Mimics’
For fans and viewers, Polaha stated, “Honestly, I just wanted to make a movie that is entertaining that would be able to make people smile and feel kind of swoony, while also being a little spooky.”
To learn more about actor and filmmaker Kristoffer Polaha, follow him on Instagram.
