Andras Jones is best known as the likable boyfriend of Kristen Parker in A
Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master but has had quite a successful
career doing other projects. He's also an accomplished musician who has
released several CD's solo and with his band, The Previous. His songs have
appeared in 10 motion pictures, including Touch Me, Green & Little Witches.
We caught up with him and asked some questions about his Dream Master days and about his career. Make sure to check out the links to his new
projects! Enjoy my little flesh farmers! |
March 19th 2006
So, tell us
about yourself... what have you been up to since the filming of The
Dream Master?
- Well, J.P., that’s almost twenty years of
life to cover. I’ll make it as short as I can. I made a bunch more films
and continue to accept roles that interest me. I also travelled the country
as a musician with my band The Previous and solo and released 10 different
CD’s on my own label The City Limits Records. Since 2001 I’ve been working
as a songwriter for artists like Andy Dick and Willie Wisely, and as a
booking agent for several independent singer-songwriters. My favorite project
is Radio8Ball, which is a pop oracle and a call-in show featuring live
guests on KAOS 89.3 FM (http://www.kaosradio.org/) in Olympia, Washington
that I host. Every Tuesday from 6 to 8PM (PST) we answer questions by picking
songs at random and interpretting them as the answers to your questions.
----- People call in with questions. We answer these questions by picking
a CD at random, placing it in the CD player and pushing shuffle function.
The song which is randomly chosen is the answer to the question. Like drawing
a tarot card, throwing the I-Ching or shaking a Magic 8 Ball. When we have
a live guest we answer the questions by picking songs at random off a numbered
sheet of 8 songs that the songwriter provides and performs live as the
answer to the question. People can here samples at: http://www.myspace.com/radio8ball
How did you come about getting the role as Rick Johnson in The Dream
Master?
- Pretty basic, I was living in LA auditioning
all the time and NOES4 was one that I landed. There is a kind of interesting
story in that Tuesday Knight had already been cast in the Kristen role
and she was the one who encouraged Renny Harlin to cast me.
Did you keep any souvenirs from the whole Dream Master experience?
- Sorry, I wish I had. There might be some
polaroids at the bottom of a box somewhere. If I find them I’ll post them
on my MySpace site.
http://www.myspace.com/previous
What was the most memorable moment of your experience during the filming of Dream
Master?
- Lots of great
memories from that shoot. Mostly hanging out with the other kids and palling
around Hollywood like a bunch of hooligans. Hanging with Robert Englund
in the trailer and peppering him with questions about Hollywood in the
70’s while he got into make up was a blast.
Any macabre, strange, or bizarre events happen during filming?
- Sorry, it was all very vanilla.
The notorious Pizza scene was great! How did you film that scene? Did the
make-up take long to apply?
- Not long at all. It was really simple. They
had a big plastic pizza with a whole cut in it for my face. I stood behind
the pizza, they glued my face to it, then they filmed it backwards. Shooting
my reaction in reverse, withdrawing the blade from my head and then running
the film backwards so that it looked like the blade was going in. Cool
huh?
Had you seen the Nightmare films before signing on for the job?
What had you thought of them?
- I really hadn’t
but I rented them all as soon as I got the role and was really impressed
with the intelligence of the series at its best. I know the first is the
classic, but I just love Part 3.
Tell us about the first time you met Robert Englund.
- I don’t remember the first or the last time
we met but I remember the story he told me about Mark Hammill’s post-Star
Wars car crash like it was yesterday.
If there was anything you could change about how The Dream Master turned
out, what would it be?
- I’m generally not one for Monday morning
quarterbacking. At the time there were things I would have done differently
but what did I know? I was just a punk kid? They did a great job, especially
considering that there was a writers strike going on at the time recquiring
some of the actor’s to pen our own scenes. The scene with me and Alice
watching Kristen’s video was added at the end and Renny, whose English
skills weren’t so hot at the time, asked Lisa and I to write some dialogue.
We each wrote our own lines for that scene, so I guess I can call myself
a former collaborator of Brian Helgeland. You think?
In Nightmare 7 many actors from the past films appeared in a funeral
scene, including Tuesday Knight. Were you asked to make an appearance?
If so, why did you turn it down?
- I wasn’t asked.
And I’m still hurt.
Still in touch with any of the other actors from The Dream Master?
- Tuesday and Lisa and I are all still friends.
I haven’t seen any of the others from the film in more than ten years but
I have only fond memories of those days.
What are you up to now? Any big projects?
- Just Radio8Ball and writing songs with and
for Andy Dick and others.
For my final question…. How do you feel about the direction that the horror
genre is heading? Do you think it has gotten better or worse since your
beginnings in the genre?
- Well, I have to admit that I am not big
fan of the genre. I just get scared too easily, which is probably why people
like to cast me in horror films, but it does seem like there are a lot
more smart, crafty, visually arresting films in the horror genre than I
remember from the mid to late 80’s when I got started. Could just be the
technology, and that’s it’s own double-edged sword, increasing the creative
options and decreasing the need for creativity. But, heck, that’s the name
of the game in all the arts in these late days.
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