by kellie abrahamson kabrahamson1@aol.com
Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey is a blood-sucking politician… literally. The self-professed vampire and Satanist ran for Governor of Minnesota back in 2006 and is currently seeking the highest office in the land, running for President under the Vampires, Witches, and Pagans Party. Filmmaker W. Tray White heard about Sharkey's Minnesota campaign and in 2006 filmed the bizarre candidate for 8 months as he basked in an unprecedented amount of media spotlight for an Independent candidate. That footage became Impaler, a fascinating documentary that looks at Sharkey's life, family and unconventional platform which includes affordable healthcare, ending the war in Iraq and impaling law breakers and terrorists.
With Halloween upon us, we couldn't help but to bring this intriguing documentary to your attention. Filmmaker W. Tray White was gracious enough to talk with EU about his time with The Impaler, what the vampire thought of the film and his own plans for the future (which do not include satanic vampire politicians).
EU: What brought Jonathon Sharkey to your attention?
W. Tray White: I saw a little blurb on the news before he got big, just a little passing blurb and a picture of him with his cloak and a sword and didn't think anything of it… Later on that night I was just screwing around on the internet procrastinating on writing and I was just searching around and found a quote that said "Unlike most politicians I will not try and hide my evil side" and it was Jonathon Sharkey. So I just googled his name, went to his website and it was a treasure trove of lunacy [laughs]. I called him that same night and it was really late and I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I wasn't sure if I was going to prank call him or what, I was just bored and doing what any 28-year-old kid would do. So I called him and ended up talking to him and the next thing I knew I was out there in Minnesota filming him.
EU: Was he immediately receptive to being a documentary subject or did it take some convincing?
WTW: Oh my gosh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was all for it. He was excited. The thing is I don't know if it was because it happened so fast, literally I talked to him and the next day I was on a plane, and it wasn't awkward at all, meeting him. It was just very "Hey, how you doing?" "Cool, nice to meet ya," like he'd been in the spotlight his whole life. He starts in not nervous at all in front of the camera and I was really taken aback by how open he was with me being there.
EU: What were your first impressions of Sharkey?
WTW: [Laughs] Oh gosh. I was surprised by his openness, his willingness to tell me anything I wanted to know and just how inviting he was. He's a guy who worships Satan and bites people for blood and daydreams of impaling high-ranking federal officials yet he's actually a pretty nice guy. I expected kind of dark, gothic, skull and crossbones on his door and for him to be all sophomoric and he's not like that at all. He's just really down to earth… I was just kind of like "Wow, this guy's not a lunatic" like everyone's thinking. I mean, he might be a lunatic, he might be. But that's for the audience to decide. But just right off the bat he's a pretty normal guy with a really interesting story. I also did notice right off the bat that there were things he was keeping from me, that we later kind of find out. A lot of things weren't necessarily adding up, that's another impression I got from him.
EU: How much time did you spend with him throughout the entire process?
WTW: This is an eight month long documentary, that's basically how long it took me to shoot it. I was with him a lot [laughs]… I have hours and hours of footage and all these little subplots and little stories that we just didn't have room to put into the movie.
EU: Truthfully, were there ever moments where the guy ever freaked you out?
WTW: No. A lot of it was because I was with him all day long and it was just really boring because he's doing interview after interview after interview. I don't really go into that in the documentary all that much. I'm sure if someone else would have shot a documentary about him they would have focused on the massive amounts of media attention he got but for me that wasn't what was most interesting… So it was really boring and I was sick for the first week I was there. [Laughs] Basically I had pneumonia and I didn't bring any warm clothes to Minnesota because I'm an idiotic Texan so I'm just dying. The first time he does a blood feeding I was like "Eh, whatever" and it didn't kick in until the next morning that wow that was really weird. I was kind of delirious because I was holding a camera all day long. I would wake up, turn the camera on and just film him constantly. I wasn't sure how the documentary was going to be… so I just shot it like a reality show would shoot anything which was just keep the cameras rolling all the time. So with the combination of being really sick and really bored and somewhat delusional, whenever he would do something really crazy I was just like "Eh" and it would always kick in the next day like "Wow that was really wild."
EU: I read some self-proclaimed vampires and werewolves put a curse on you. What was that all about?
WTW: Yeah, yeah, well there was a group that did some mass curse on me but the newest news is, that… well, I'll just read it to you. This was forwarded to me [because] Jonathon and I aren't speaking. It's not me, it's him. He doesn't like how the movie is edited… He's pissed at me. He's been doing this thing where he's been going around saying he's going to impale me… if I mock him in the movie, he's going to impale me and I don't think I mocked him. I think if there are laughs in it it's not because of my manipulation, it's because of what he's doing. I think I gave him a pretty fair shake. The first time he watched it I think he was more a little bit in shock and he was cool with it. But after a few weeks I could tell his attitude was changing a little bit and he started sending messages to people and people were forwarding his emails to me and I'm like "Yeah, whatever. I'm doing other stuff; I don't really have time for this." But he ended up posting on some vampire site how he's going to kill me and I was having a really bad day so I just, being a redneck Texan, I called him up and I was like "Alright, enough's enough. I fly for free; I'll meet you anywhere you want." So he called the Secret Service on me like he's some dignitary [laughs]. So we're not talking but he's sending messages… [This email] is from a sock puppet email address: "A dire warning from the vampire community: Look over your shoulder, we're coming after you" that whole thing. So I wrote them back and gave them my address and told them what my schedule is… It's gotten kind of ridiculous but I still don't have hard feelings for him because I think maybe he needs some help.
EU: It doesn't concern you that these imbalanced people want to impale you?
WTW: I carry a gun, I'm a Texan. I boxed and did martial arts for most of my life so I'm not really afraid of any of them [laughs]. Not that I'm trying to sound like some tough guy, I'm not, it's just if a vampire wants to fight me, alright, that's cool with me. I'm fine with that.
EU: So Sharkey's first impressions were pretty positive?
WTW: Yeah. He brought his impaling pole to the theater… and sat and watched the movie and when we were going down for our Q&A session he gave me a hug and he was like "You did a really great job,"… and I was happy that he realized I did a fair job on him, that I didn't mock him and I didn't take any cheap shots and it just slowly kicked in the irony of it all, the attention that he wanted to get from the movie well, that's not the kind of attention he wants. So, yeah, he did like it at first and now he wants certain parts edited out.
EU: What's been the general response from audiences so far?
WTW: When they don't know anything about the story, they're blown away. That sounds a little… Uh [Laughs]… I'm shocked that it's so well-received… I'm shocked that they like it. In Seattle I sat and watched it at a festival with a bunch of strangers that didn't know this guy ever existed, didn't know anything about the story and I was looking over at the guy who helped me edit the movie and he helped me shoot it on a couple of days and we were just looking at each other like "Wow they get every little thing." They were laughing at every little detail that we didn't expect people to laugh at and the question and answer session went for forever. The festival director had to cut it off and say "OK, talk to them out there, we've got stuff to do." So I think outside Minnesota it's been very, very well-received. In Minnesota I got one bad review. They take it really personal in Minnesota. They think that I made a movie that is an indictment of the American media and I'm not going to say what the movie is about… that's not my call to make. But they take it real personally… They're basically like "Tray is a scumbag and this and this but the movie works and it's good." So they didn't like me a whole lot in Minnesota but everywhere outside of Minnesota its been well-received and I've gotten really good word of mouth and its hard to get into festivals and its even harder to be invited to festivals and I've been invited to festivals and I've actually been having to turn festivals down now because we're going into the distribution phase of things and I just want to stay focused on that… I'm pleasantly surprised that it's been so well-received because it's kind of a weird documentary and it's weird to explain to people.
EU: What's been worked out as far as distribution?
WTW: We had our official theatrical debut at the Hoff Theater in Maryland. That was kind of like a test run is what I consider it. It's a really hard movie to market and I don't have $30,000 to be pumping behind big firms to do this kind of stuff for me so it's kind of trial an error. We got a really good deal with the Hoff Theater that guaranteed a three week run so its more testing the poster art, testing the trailer out, seeing what brings people in and what not. I don't see it having a huge life in theaters, I'm just happy to have a little bit of theater distribution. That's fine with me… Right now we're just in talks with a bunch of different distribution companies in all different territories and we're just trying to figure out what route to go; what the best deal is for us and what company fits us best.
EU: Do you see Impaler making it to DVD any time soon?
WTW: Yeah, soon. In North America, soon, yeah. In other territories it might take a little longer.
EU: I came across a strange posting by Jonathan that mentioned the possibility of an Impaler sequel. Do you know anything about that?
WTW: [Laughs] No, I think I've had my fill of satanic vampires for a lifetime. There is no sequel in production right now. I own the rights and if someone wanted to come and take the life story rights off my hands then go for it, but right now I have no plans. There has been some interest but we'll see. I'm not doing it again; I want no part of it [laughs]. I'm moving on to other things.
EU: What's next for you?
WTW: I'm in the process of shooting a documentary. Over a past year we've been shooting this documentary actually the host and narrator lived in Jacksonville for a couple of years and his wife still lives there. So that's going on and I'm in preproduction for a film that I wrote and I am in the process of negotiations for another screenplay I wrote that's too big for me to direct so I'm trying to sell it off.
|
EU Critic’s Choice Awards
