SUBMITTED BY katystarlet

August 30, 2001 — Ryan Rotten: Everybody who was at the audition said you came out of nowhere. Did you get a chance to read the script in advance – did you know what you were getting into?

Jonathan Breck: I was lucky. Usually you don’t get much time with the material. You normally get a day. This one I got a week ahead of time. I read it over and thought about it. It was a very vague audition too. They weren’t very specific about what they wanted, so I really conjured him (the Creeper) up in my mind - who I thought this guy was. At the time I had a head of hair and I just felt like this guy would be bald. He wouldn’t want the mess, or the clean up. He’d be clean. I was taking a hell of a chance because they called me in on a picture that had hair. But I just felt very strongly who this character was, so I shaved my head and I went in. Everybody was in the room, doing the thing that people do in auditions. They hardly notice you when you walk in. I sat down across from them, and they all looked up and went, “You’re bald!” I said, “Yeah, I am.” They said, “Do you mind telling us why you shaved your head?” I just looked down and said, “This guy wouldn’t have hair. Plain and simple.”

RR: What is your take on the Creeper?

JB: We really don’t know who he is or where he’s come from. All we know is that he comes out every 23 years for 23 days and feeds. That’s really by design. He’s kind of an enigma that way. We don’t know where he’s come from. I personally feel that he’s a couple thousand years old and he’s lived a pretty tortured and hard life to get where he is. He’s just a creature that follows his very basic instincts about what he needs - doesn’t make him bad, necessarily. As a matter of fact, he looks for some sort of human touch, camaraderie. That’s why the wall of the cave. That’s why he likes to be around his people. Beyond that, I have a lot of things that I work with in finding character. I’ve got my own feeling about who he is.

Read the rest at Creature-corner: