The Mini-View Featuring Jim O'Rear

Jim's Demo Reel

Check out Jim's official website for more info:

http://www.jimorear.com/

Jim's IMDB page:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1252668/

Pick up a copy of Jim's book Tennessee Ghosts:

http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer/book_template.php?isbn=9780764331183

This week I was lucky enough to get the multi-talented Jim O'Rear to take a break from his very busy schedule to answer a few questions.

Jim O'Rear has been involved in the entertainment industry for over twenty five years, beginning his career on tour as The Youngest Professional Magician with David Copperfield, Harry Blackstone Jr., and The Great Tomsoni and opening for acts like Cheap Trick and John Anderson.

With his "magical" background and having been trained in New York at The American Academy Of Dramatic Arts, it was only natural that Jim move into the realm of film, television, and theater where he has worked steadily as an actor, stuntman, and special make-up effects artist on such projects as Day Of The Dead, Star Trek 4, The Vampire Wars, Lethal Weapon 3, Creature Feature, Hayride Slaughter, Cop & A Half, Psycho Beach Party, Evita, Little Shop Of Horrors, No Retreat No Surrender 3, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, and many more with actors including Martin Sheen, Burt Reynolds, Mel Gibson, Amanda Plummer, Maximillian Schell, Robert Englund, Jon Voight, Chris Sarandon, and others.

Wanting to get some of his own ideas onto the screen, Jim successfully moved into the area of screen writing. Although competition is tough, he has written and sold a number of horror-related screenplays, including The House Of Pain (in development with Robert "Freddy" Englund, Gunnar "Leatherface" Hansen, Tom "Friday The 13th" Savini, Bill "ChopTop" Moseley, and Debbie "Scream Queen" Rochon), Hayride Slaughter, Hayride Slaughter 2, The Deadly Obligation, Vampyre Tales, and (currently in production) Wolfsbayne. Jim also placed third in 2003 for Best Screenplay in TSA's screen writing competition and is a current finalist for Best Screenplay in the Fade In Screenplay contest and Writer's Network competition. Pre-production has just begun in Los Angeles on his new screenplay, The Demons 5, featuring an all-star horror cast.

Currently, Jim continues to work as an actor and stuntman on several films per year, recently acting in a new Manson-based movie with Linnea Quigley titled Miss Maniac, making a cameo in the upcoming horror film Skarecrow, playing a zombie slayer in Dead End, portraying an alien bounty hunter in It Came From Trafalgar (with Butch Patrick and Gunnar Hansen), pulling double duty as the star and martial arts stunt coordinator on The Corruptors, starring with Lynn Lowry in a follow-up to the cult classic I Drink Your Blood called It Feeds, appearing in Day Of The Axe with Tom Savini, and is in development deals for three more of his screenplays. Jim's production company, Underground Entertainment, is turning out Haunted Industry magazines and how-to books as well as a new haunted house how-to video and DVD series. As if that isn't enough, Jim continues to write for horror publications all over the world and consult for horror-related projects internationally.

1. Having got your start in film as a stunt man, with years of training in several forms of martial arts, do you have any one incident/accident that may stand out more than others?

Yes. It would probably be the one time I got seriously injured. It was on the set of THE VAMPYRE WARS with Robert Englund (NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET), Chris Sarandon (CHILD’S PLAY, FRIGHT NIGHT), Amanda Plummer (PULP FICTION), and Maximilion Schell (A BRIDGE TOO FAR). There were some pretty rough stunt sequences in that film and several stunt guys got injured and received broken bones.
It was a fight scene… a flashback to the Holy Wars… with swords and staffs on horseback. Long story short, I ended up with my spine twisted and pulled out of place.
The sad thing is, Universal still hasn’t released the film so the stunt guys who got hurt can’t even see the sequences that they were injured in.


2. Besides working in film, you have also released a book titled Tennessee Ghosts. How did this come about?

I’ve always been interested in the paranormal and have hunted ghosts as a hobby in my spare time for many years.
I was appearing as a guest at DragonCon, in Atlanta, and a publisher who knew my writing from screenplays and various magazine articles approached me and asked me if I wanted to write about my paranormal experiences in Tennessee. I knew that if I didn’t do it, someone else would. So, I agreed.
The book has done very well and they will be publishing a new paranormal book I’ve written later this year titled Hollywood’s Paranormal Movies.


3. Looking back over your film history, what one film stands out that you learned the most from?

You really learn something on all of them, but it would probably be a couple of films I produced titled THE DEEPENING and SCREAM FARM. I guess I learned the most on them because I wrote them, produced them, directed them, cast them, acted in them, edited them, etc etc etc etc… I was, basically, forced to learn every aspect of putting a film together from start to finish, as well as the marketing and distribution headaches that come after the film is done.


4. If you weren't so heavily involved in film, and were to fall back on a past career which would it be and why?

Not that it’s a drastically different career path, but I would love to go back into live theater. I spent many, many years as an actor and director of plays and musicals. There’s nothing quite like live theater.

5. Working in horror, what truly scares the hell out of you in life?

That commercial with the talking babies.
Just kidding….
I’m not easily intimidated or scared by much of anything. I suppose I’m just desensitized to a lot of things due to my experiences in horror entertainment and the paranormal.
I guess if I had to pick something… and I’m completely serious about this… it would be chickens. They creep me out, man.

Many thanks to Jim for his time!

- Brandon Bennett