The POSTAL Balcony

[The Postal Balcony is a new feature that spotlights news and interviews about the Postal Film by Uwe Boll]

Raging Boll Update
As Uwe begins to slice and dice the footage he shot for his film interpretation of Running With Scissors’ POSTAL, curiosity, if not outright interest has begun to build for the movie. In fact, the Uncle Dave (Dave Foley, previously best known for his work on the skit comedy “Kids in the Hall” and the sitcom “NewsRadio”) sequences apparently represent some sort of homage’ to John Waters’ early work with Divine.

Boll’s interviews are ubiquitous on the net, but we found a pretty good one for our readers. We’ve even located a pretty interesting chat board on the subject.

Uwe, meanwhile, moves on with the relentless need of a film shark, developing both original and game-based properties as if in a race to see if he can make more movies than Roger Corman.

According to our old friend Gareth Von Kallenbach, Boll is headed to South Africa to film “Tunnel Rats”, an original project. Then comes a Romanian shoot for “Alone in the Dark 2” and a return to his “Postal” stomping grounds in Vancouver for the Uwe-ization of the hugely popular game, Far Cry.

Jackie Tohn Speaks
And now for something special, we’ve got an interview with the film’s leading lady, Jackie Tohn. Jackie plays “Faith,” a character who was created for the film and serves as the love interest for the Dude.

Q: Welcome to Postal Nation, Jackie -- or is it Jaclyn?
A: It’s Jackie. Or Jack actually, depending on how close we get over the course of this interview.

Q: You've worked on an amazing range of productions from appearing on "The Sopranos" to "Return to Sleepaway Camp."  Where does your experience on the Postal movie rate on that scale?
A: Every job is totally new experience. Shooting (literally—sorry, I couldn't resist) “Postal” was incredible. I busted my ass learning how to fire my .45 handgun and various machine guns. Doesn't every kid want to be inside the video game? It was the perfect combination of work and play. I love what I do, and when Ii can do it in a new place with new and amazing people, there's a good chance I'm going to have an amazing time.

Q:  What did you think of his boxing matches with the Internet critics?
A: I thought they were fantastic. People talk a good game and when it’s time to put their money where their respective mouths are, they shy away. So Uwe put that theory to the test and challenged critics who trash-talked him. He kicked all their asses. I was there. One can't imagine how crazy it is to have the man direct you in a film during the day, and then BOX some wiseass critics at night. CLASSIC!

Q:  With a film that seems like a cross between "Fahrenheit 911" and "Epic Movie" what do you think the public will make of “Postal”?
A: I honestly think the public is VERY ready for “Postal”. It couldn't be better timing for us. People are sick and tired of the direction this country is headed. “Postal” is all the things you're thinking but would never say aloud [for] fear of offending people. We're equal opportunity offenders in this film; of that there is no question.

Q:  Anything new you're working on you can talk about without having to kill us afterwards?
A: I just did “Veronica Mars” which was fun. I'm a musician and released my first album "The Golden Girl EP" last year. You can find me on myspace.com/jackietohn. And you should too!

Zack Attack!
Now it’s time to move on to the outspoken Zack Ward. Zack chilled our blood as a child actor, playing the frightening, yellow-eyed Scut Farkis in the legendary Jean Shepherd holiday saga, “Christmas Story.” Since then he has worked steadily and, in the period of less than a year will appear in “Bloodrayne 2” and the big budget “Transformers” flick while also assaying the role of the Dude in Uwe Boll’s “Postal.”

Q: First, I suspect some people (like me) still freak when they realize you were uber-bully Scut Farkis in "A Christmas Story"?
A:"Uber Bully"? Really? I like that, thanks. Yes, I am he with "yellow eyes". It's an amazing gift to start out your career with a film that becomes a classic and a character that people adore despising.

Q: Obviously when you took the lead in Uwe Boll's movie version of POSTAL, you knew you'd be put through the wringer, given the legion of Boll Bangers out there, especially among video and computer gamers. Have the Net movie and game mavens been a nightmare?
A: Not really. People know Uwe's films and they know my acting and they don't confuse the two standards. I find the Net filled with people that actually inform themselves so their opinion has merit, most of the time. Film critics are usually more annoying. You read "A fun filled romp" and you know it's a piece of shit and the critic is just sucking up to the studio. Net people don't do that.

Q: What was it like working with Raging Boll? Is it true he basically makes it up as he goes along or is it actually more structured and just comes out looking that way?
A: You have to flow with the situation and make the dialogue or action work with the place and people in the scene. I did that with Cameron Crowe, Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay... pretty much every movie or TV show I've done has a bit of on set tweaking. Usually not so much if it's in studio, but outside of soap operas, that is standard operating procedure.

Now, Uwe doesn't have storyboards on set for everyone to look at and he's always on the phone or computer dealing with his film financing and he's German so his English doesn't always convey everything he's thinking and that makes it difficult. But he also lets the actor try things out and experiment, which is scary and fun. I like Uwe. I don't agree with everything he does, but I like him.

Q:  Have you seen the edited final cut?
A: Nope. I'm excited and terrified.

Q: Were you at all familiar with the game franchise before taking this role?  If so, what was your degree of familiarity?
A: Nope. I'm a Mac  computer guy, so I've never really played  games on my computer, just  game platforms. So I had never heard of or played Postal.

[Wow, what an excellent opportunity to point out to Zack and any other members of the Mac Community—which includes yours truly—that the POSTAL franchise has supported the Mac and Linux formats in virtually everything RWS has ever published. –Doc]

Q: In retrospect, what were your hopes for your portrayal of this sort of cult icon, the Postal Dude—and how well were you able to achieve those aspirations?
A: I wanted to make the character vulnerable enough that when he snaps, you believe it's what you would do. He's an everyman. We've all been the Postal Dude and when we were, we wished to God we could be someone else. I think I was able to convey about 75% of that. There were some scenes I felt really solid about, that I searched out the nooks and crannies to find the gems. Other times... I fucked up. It's hard to be objective. I'll have to wait to see the final edit just like you. Nerve racking.

Q:  Anything else you'd like to say?
A: Yes. If I suck, it's Uwe's fault. If I'm brilliant... that's half me and half Uwe. I mean, I can't be an absolute prick, right?
Q: It’s certainly never been a hard and fast rule with us, Zack.

Q:  Any upcoming projects you'd like to discuss?
Z: Yes. “Trade” with Kevin Kline comes out in April. It's about the child sex slave trade and I play an absolute douche bag. We premiered at Sundance to a standing ovation and when I walked up on stage for the Q & A I got "booed". But it was the "you play a bad guy" boo, not the "get a day job, crappy actor" boo. So that was nice. “Transformers” comes out 7/04/07 and I have a cool part in that. “Bloodrayne 2” comes out [at some point], and I get to be a seductive vampire. Amazing how the ladies want to get bitten once you're supposed to be the "bad boy bloodsucker." Look for “Kissing Cousins,” an indie romantic comedy and “Dead and Gone,” an indie horror film. Good fun stuff.

Zack also suggests we check out his interview with Gareth Von K and suggests we “do this again after ‘Postal’ comes out...just in case I have to apologize to Running with Scissors for killing [your] baby.”

And that’s a wrap for our special section on the POSTAL movie.  We’ll be updating information on the gopostal.com site as it becomes available.

Cut! Print that!