Cool News
It’s a very AICN HORROR Valentine’s Day Interview Segment One: Ambush Bug Interviews HUMAN CENTIPEDE 1-2 star Ashlynn Yennie!!!
Happy Day Before Valentine’s Day, folks! Ambush Bug here with a special AICN HORROR column for the lovers in the house. Below is part one of a three segmented interview I did celebrating THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2: FULL SEQUENCE release on BluRay/DVD tomorrow. First up is my interview with actress, Ashlynn Yennie, who had the (dis-?)pleasure of being a part of the Human Centipede in not one, but two films. Here’s what Ashlynn had to say…ASHLYNN YENNIE: Hey, how are you doing?
AMBUSH BUG: Hi, Ashlynn, I’m very well. How are you?
AY: Good, thank you.
BUG: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me today. I’m glad we were able to coordinate it. We are going to be trying to air all three of these interviews…I talked with Tom [Six] and Laurence [R. Harvey] a couple of days ago and I’m glad we are adding you to the mix. We are going to air them all next week for Valentine’s Day.
AY: Oh beautiful! That’s so wonderful. (laughs)
BUG: So let’s talk about THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 and 1. I guess the first question is “Why?” Why did you decide to take this role? And what did you know about it when you first auditioned for the role?
AY: The first one…God, it was such a long time ago. I think back on it all of the time, like “what was I thinking? Really, what was I thinking when I walked into this audition?” I was living in New York at the time and my manager called me and said, “Do you want to audition for a controversial European film?” That’s how they pitched it to you. (laughs) They did not tell you anything about what it was going to be about or anything like that. So I went into the audition and there’s all of these really beautiful girls outside of the casting room and we all had a piece of paper with the description of Dr. Heiter and what he was going to do to these three people and I was like “What?” I watched all of these girls get up and just leave. Some of them were my friends and they were like “Nope. That’s porn. That’s disgusting. I can’t do that.” And I was like “This is crazy!” I guess I’m just crazy enough and I always give people the benefit of the doubt, so I was like “Let me go in. I want to talk to these people. I want to see if this is for real.” I thought it might have been a big joke or something.
Then they walked in and there was Tom and Ilona [Six], she was the producer and she is gorgeous…she’s sitting there behind the desk all proper and beautiful and I’m like “Are you serious? You’re making this movie?” She’s like “Yeah” and I just asked her a million questions. I was there for like an hour and I just kept asking her, like, “How are you going to make this? How are you actually going to do this where the people that you actually cast are not actually eating someone’s butt?” She was just like really calm and just gave me these little pictures that Tom had drawn and all of these things and so I auditioned and then I had a callback a couple of days later and then the next week I was flying to Amsterdam. So the whole process for me was really quick and I didn’t get to think about it at all, but we always say…when I actually read the full script that Tom had sent for the first one it’s just so funny. I was like “What is this movie? What is going on?” Then when we were making it we had no idea what was going to happen with it. It was just this small…nobody knew about it. We were filming in Amsterdam and then a year later it just starts getting this huge buzz around it, and then the internet…that little trailer that IFC released just went crazy, and honestly it’s like anything in life--you have no idea what’s going to happen with something and this was just one of those things where I trusted them completely and I adore Tom and Ilona so much and then when they asked me to come back for the second one, I didn’t even hesitate. I was like “Absolutely. I don’t even know what it is going to be about, so I’ll do it.” BUG: It seems like you didn’t have enough punishment in that first film and you were hungry for more I guess, for lack of a better term.
AY: I know. I just love working with him, and I honestly was just like…the first one was such a hit I was like “Oh yeah…” And then Tom was like “I’m taking the second one in a totally different direction.” I was like “Okay.” And he was like “Everything that I don’t show you in the first one I’m going to do in the second one.” I was like “Oh, Tom, that’s going to be insane.” There were a couple of moments on set where I said to him, “You can not show that on screen. You can’t. You can’t show that, Tom.” He was like “You can. You can!” “No, you really can’t. No.” Then all of the bans started happening and all. Crazy.
BUG: Well, what’s the reaction been like from people? Have a lot of people said anything…have you gotten any negative emails from anyone for taking the role? AY: Oh yeah. Yeah, there’s definitely the negative side of it. As far as the fans are concerned, I was just thrown into this horror genre. I didn’t really know anything about it and they are amazing. They are just the most amazing people. When they love you, they love you. If they love a cult film they embrace every part of it and they are the ones that are the coolest people to meet and then there are the people that take it a little too far, because they don’t understand it’s just a film. They’re just movies. They’re made for entertainment, not for…I remember Tom and I were doing an interview in Texas and this one guy was trying to talk to us about the spiritual meaning behind it and Tom and I looked and just stopped him and we were like “It’s just a movie.” Especially the second one, literally just for shock value. It’s not like this really deep Germany vs. Korea…all of these things that people kept making, like, these conspiracy theories about…we were just like “Well, we really wanted to make a movie to entertain people.”
BUG: So about the film itself. Did you know what the second one was going to be like before accepting the role?
AY: Yeah. Tom sent me an email before the first one had even been released. He sent me an email and was like “I have an idea for you. Let’s Skype.” I was like “Alright, cool.” I think he was in London at the time, or maybe Amsterdam, and I had just moved here to LA, so it was the very beginning of 2010 and the film had just gotten picked up by IFC and was going to be released in theaters, and he was like “I want to do a second one, but this is what I want to happen.” He told me the back-story on Martin and who Martin was and then all of these different people that were going to come into the film, which you’re really not going to get to know that much about them except that all of them are kind of…like my character, she’s self absorbed and there’s people who you’re like “I really wouldn’t want to be friends with that person” and he goes “You’re going to see a much longer human centipede with more duct tape and staples.” I was like “Tom!” So he described every single scene to me. It was like an hour and a half.
BUG: Let’s talk about that scene where you are in the car with Laurence and he’s driving you and you think it’s going to be to an audition for a Tarantino film. That’s just a really great scene--what’s it like working with Laurence? I talked with him the other day and he seems like such a great guy and then to see him in this film is really a totally different version of him it seems. AY: Oh yeah. Laurence is the sweetest. He is wonderful. When I first met him he came up to me with this little tin of candies and he’s like “I want to give you a present” and I go “You are so creepy. You’re giving me candy. That’s what rapists do to children” and I made this joke about it or whatever and he knew what he was doing. He was just being funny. He is so great, and especially in this film, because he has to play this guy who…I told Tom this when we were on set, like no one ever talks to this man. Everyone just talks at him. No one really wants to get to know him. No one really cares about him, so why would he care about anybody else?
BUG: Sure.
AY: So that scene that Tom wanted us to do, it was just very funny, because he’s like “I need you to say Quentin Tarantino, like just be this totally off the wall actress who is so cool. Just because you’ve been in one movie, Quentin Tarantino is going to call you” which is just so delusional. It’s just a big joke. It’s like I’m playing the typical actress who thinks she’s better than she really is and obviously she’s not.
BUG: I’ve heard people that tout this as a gore film. I talked with Tom and he said the first film was definitely psychological and the second one was more of a shock value gore type of film as well, but also it seems like there’s a lot of comedy in there that I think a lot of people just don’t get the joke. Do you see it as a comedy?
AY: Oh my God, it’s such a black comedy. Both of them…the first one has a little bit more structure to it and it does have a little bit more character development as far as…really, in the end Dieter [Laser] is so unbelievable in the first one and he has such a presence and I remember on set we were doing that scene outside in the backyard and he was being really funny and was making me laugh. I was like “Why am I laughing at this?” Then I realized “This is a really funny movie.” I remember Aki [Kitamura] was like “This is so funny. This is such a funny movie” in his Japanese voice and I was like “It really is” and then with the second one, I mean, I think on the DVD you will see there’s a behind the scenes clip like we were all goofy. We weren’t taking it like this serious “We are making this movie…” It’s a movie about ass to mouth, you know? It’s kind of crazy.
BUG: There comes a time when you just have to laugh to keep your own sanity. AY: Exactly.
BUG: What’s that like? What is it like to be in that position there? Being a part of this where you are hooked up to that prosthetic thing.
AY: When we were actually doing it?
BUG: Yeah.
AY: It’s weird. The first time around with Part 1 there were a couple of moments where, like…it was the first day when we filmed when the centipede is waking up and I remember Aki, Ashley, and myself were all like “We’re in this together. We are all doing the same exact thing,” which makes it a little easier, because you’re not alone in it and especially behind a female and choosing to do something like that in my first big film…you just have to have the balls to say “I’m okay with it” and yeah, I did it and I own up to it. I was okay with it and then the second go around it was hilarious, because Tom had told me that so many people were just like “I want to do it. I want to do it! I want to be in the Centipede.” He couldn’t have paid people enough money to be in the first one, like nobody wanted to do it, and then the second time around all of the girls that were in it were so excited about getting down on all fours and doing it. I had asked them all “Would you have done this if the first one hadn’t been successful?” They were like “Yeah, totally” and I was like “I doubt it.” It’s not that bad. Tom and Ilona make a very comfortable set, so you’re never on all fours for a really long period of time, but I’ll be honest--on the last day of shooting the blonde guy in the second one, Lucas [Hansen] and I, are just like “Can we just die already? Please just kill us.”
[Both laugh]AY: We were just so tired.
BUG: How many days did you guys shoot those scenes?
AY: The first one was a few weeks for the Centipede stuff and then the second one was ten days for all of the Centipede stuff.
BUG: Oh wow. In the first one you were the middle portion?
AY: In the first one I was the end piece.
BUG: Okay. So in your opinion, what is the worst section of the Human Centipede to be a part of?
AY: Honestly, they are all sucky, but the best is being in the front, because you don’t have anything to worry about other than “Yeah, people are connected to me.” Anytime your mouth is connected it doesn’t matter what your position you’re in…
BUG: I guess you’re right. Enough about that: let’s talk a tiny bit about the third film. I know Tom is in the middle of making it. He said it’s being cast and he’s writing it right now. Are you going to play a part in the third film?
AY: I’m not. (laughs) He’s killed me as a character and then he’s killed me as myself, so I don’t really think there’s any way to bring any sort of…unless he just writes a completely different character that he wants me to play, but I think he’s taking it in a totally different direction, but they are all going to tie together in this really amazing way, so I’m very excited for him and what he’s going to be doing with a third one. I think he’s going to try to shoot here in the US, too.
BUG: Yeah, he said he’s going to be filming in the south.
AY: Probably New Orleans, yeah.
BUG: You can say what you will about THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, but it’s definitely a memorable film. You can’t watch it without having a reaction to it, and to me that’s what I look for in movies anyway. AY: Exactly.
BUG: It was really a pleasure talking with you today. We are going to be posting this next week around Valentine’s Day, so do you have any Valentine’s Day wishes for anyone reading at Ain’t It Cool News?
AY: (laughs) It was funny when I found out this was coming out on Valentine’s Day, I was like “What a sweet movie to come out on Valentine’s Day.” It’s all about love and connection, and just, you know…I think it’s a very interesting choice, but I do wish everyone a very happy Valentine’s Day. It’s not just about if you have someone to love, it’s about loving everyone, so let’s just everyone remember that.
BUG: Definitely. Well, thank you very much. Thanks a lot. Tom Six described you as having huge balls in order to do this role…
AY: You’ve got to.
BUG: So what else is coming up for you?
AY: I actually just wrapped on a film yesterday. I got back yesterday. I was in New Orleans and I just finished a show with Vinnie Jones and Callum Blue. Vinnie Jones is a pretty well known actor, like all of the Guy Ritchie films…so yeah, we just finished wrapping a film down there called SCHISM and it’s an amazing film. It’s a husband and wife team of a writer director from Jace Anderson and Adam Gierasch.
BUG: I’ve met them before. They are great.
AY: They’re a powerhouse. We just finished our film and it will be out probably later this year and it’s an amazing story about redemption. It’s beautifully written and beautifully shot and we are really, really excited about that film. It’s going to be out within the year, so that’s super cool. BUG: Well, maybe we will be taking to you again when that film comes out.
AY: I hope so. It was a pleasure talking to you.
BUG: Thank you very much. You have a great week and have a happy Valentine’s Day too.
AY: Thank you. I look forward to seeing this interview. (laughs)
BUG: Thanks a lot.
AY: Bye.
BUG: THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2: FULL SEQUENCE is out tomorrow on BluRay & DVD just in time for Valentine’s Day! Check out my review of the film here and be sure to tune in tomorrow, for my Segment Two Interview with THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 star Laurence R. Harvey and then on Wednesday I’ve got my Segment Three Interview with director Tom Six.
And don’t forget to check back this Friday for a special Valentine’s Day Twisted Love edition of AICN HORROR!
Ambush Bug is Mark L. Miller, original @$$Hole / wordslinger / reviewer / co-editor of AICN Comics for over nine years. Mark has just announced his new comic book miniseries GRIMM FAIRY TALES PRESENTS THE JUNGLE BOOK from Zenescope Entertainment. He is also a regular writer for FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND and has just released FAMOUS MONSTERS first ever comic book miniseries LUNA (co-written by Martin Fisher with art by Tim Rees) You can order it here! Support a Bug by checking out his comics (click on the covers to purchase)!
(Just announced: NANNY & HANK is soon to be a major motion picture from Uptown 6 Productions!)
THE DEATHSPORT GAMES’ Facebook Page
FAMOUS MONSTERS PRESENTS LUNA: ORDER OF THE WEREWOLF’s Facebook Page
Check out AH Digital: the source for international cinema!
Interested in illustrated films, fringe cinema, and other oddities?
Check out Halo-8 and challenge everything!
Find more AICN HORROR including an archive of previous columns
on AICN HORROR’s Facebook page!
-
+ Expand All
-
Feb 13, 2012 8:54:00 AM CST
what ever career she thought she had in the movie business....
by theboyfromulster
Is now dead due to appearing in these films.
-
Seriously... Nobody would fap to that?
-
Feb 13, 2012 9:00:13 AM CST
You know your doing something wrong when porn would have been a better career move.
by zahaladeen
-
Although I tried to erase the first one from my netflix recently watched, didn't want the kids seeing it
-
Feb 13, 2012 9:23:25 AM CST
I would have thought the audition was a reality show joke...
by pink_apocalypse
...not sure if I would have rolled my eyes and left, or stayed for the big 'ha ha' moment. Which, ironically enough, sums up my feelings watching the movie. For some reason the surgeon's over-the-top accent and acting kept making me crack up repeatedly, and I was never quite sure if the movie was supposed to be serious, or a really dark comedy.
As far as finding deeper meaning goes, it seemed like a pretty good accidental-metaphor for the way original material gets processed in Hollywood now.
Seek therapy if you're masturbating to stuff like this. Seriously. -
Feb 13, 2012 9:24:27 AM CST
Does it creep anyone else out when guys describe women as "yummy?"
by hobocode
No wonder we have movies like Human Centipede.
-
Feb 13, 2012 10:02:16 AM CST
How I can redeem part 1 with added scenes: she gets cut loose by the surgeons and has reconstructive surgery.
by ultratron
Then becomes a human centipede creating psychopath herself or a crazed vigilante who stalks doctors and plastic surgeons. As the first movie stands it has great humor and some moments but then devolves into torture porn that nobody can even jerk off too. I couldn't find value there. Who in the fuck wants to see people crying for any reason onscreen? The best thing to come from this shit is the southpark episode that had me on the floor. Other friends hadn't seen the film which made the episode so funny I couldn't stand it.
-
Feb 13, 2012 10:04:12 AM CST
I see talent in six and would like to see a complete departure from this attention grab gimmick
by ultratron
-
Feb 13, 2012 10:06:01 AM CST
Oh yeah! She was that shit eating chick! We need to hire her for our next movie immediately!
by ultratron
-
As a species we don't deserve to continue. These movies are proof of that.
-
Feb 13, 2012 11:20:16 AM CST
I always like reading the responses from the old ladies at AICN
by mrgiant
Shocking! Shocked!!! Vote for Santorum!
-
There was all this talk about how the sequel was sick and graphic and made the first movie look like my little pony. I'm a fan of horror movies. I'm not into stuff that's too graphic. I mean Dawn and Day of the Dead are pretty graphic, but I don't like real autopsy photos or wanting to see real death or anything. The first movie was dubbed at a sick/gross movies. I don't know what movie they were watching. Yes, gross concept, but you see nothing. The German guy was creepy as fuck though. So I heard the sequel is so much worse. So I watched it, thinking if it got too bad, I'll just stop watching. The movie to me felt like a comedy. Martin, the gillian is horrible in terms of acting. With fart noises of him crapping himself or overacting in every scene. He's creepy in the sense that you wouldn't want him touching you. But the movie is like a Trojan movie. The acting and violence are so over the top that you actually laugh st some places. The only part that made me cringe was the scene where he starts to assemble the centipede and used a hammer on the guy's teeth. But I have a thing about teeth. The end scene with the woman, in the car. So over the top and bad. WasnT there supposed to be some scene where he rapes a girl with barb wire? I didn't see that part. But the movie is litterly crap.
-
Great line. I have never really wanted to see the Human Centipede films, but I have nothing against their existence.
They're among the vast number of films that someone I know would have to personally recommend to me before I'd make time for them... ya know?
But this was a superb interview... that line in particular killed me! -
I simply cannot bring myself to watch these movies. I have nothing against them; I just can't handle the topic. HC1 has been sitting in my queue forever but every time I think about watching it, my stomach gives this weird little gurgle and that's all she wrote. Ugh. Thought I could watch anything.
-
To get Olivia Munn to be the tail end of the American Human Centipede. She's no stranger to humiliating herself. Just look at any Attack of the Show broadcast during her entire tenure!
-
Every single one of you people (myself included) would eat that chick's ass given the chance.
-
"They get on board the plane as humans... they come out as a human centipede... now its up to society to accept them for who they are, as human centipede citizens, ones who work and live as one, ones who fight for freedom to marry other human centipedes, ones who can give multiple birth at the same time, and most of all, ones who have the right to board a plane like everyone else...
-
that chick is probably a freak in bed. She has no excuse now to reject any sex act, she will do it all.
-
But Human Centipede doesn't do it for me. Can't I have a dissenting opinion and not be a Kool-Aid drinking fundie? And is this not what we tell the public regarding censorship of movies like this - that if you don't want to see it then... DON'T. I'm choosing not to but HEY! If you want to see someone's mouth sewn to someone's anus then enjoy. STILL BETTER THAN JERSEY SHORE.
-
It's just that on AICN there's always a hugely exaggerated outraged group of Young Republicans who are so offended that a movie like this even exists, and then there's the talk about the makers being child molesters, and people should be in jail, and there's never been such sick movies ever made...it's always the same old shit. Usually from people who haven't seen it, of course.
And I didn't think the first was that good, so I'm not really defending the quality. I just think there should always be a place for disgusting offensive horror, like Freaks, Cannibal Holocaust, The Evil Dead, etc. -
Feb 15, 2012 12:38:12 PM CST
I really want to be the guy that can watch anything but...
by ungodlymanner
i dont know about part 2..it just seems so out there...i watched a serbian film on harrys recomendation and will never forgive him for it...i will prob see it one day but its gonna take some courage
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- THE EXORCIST Is Being Remade... -- 226 total posts 225 posts
- UPDATE!! What The Hell Happened With G.I. JOE: RETALIATION?! -- 215 total posts 215 posts
- Quint has seen the brand new Jaws restoration and demands that Universal do a wide theatrical rerelease this summer! -- 172 total posts 172 posts
- THE DARK KNIGHT RISES TV Spot Has New Footage And Dialogue! UPDATED To Add Second Spot! -- 328 total posts 168 posts
- Remember when I said I’d kill The Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day last? I lied. -- 161 total posts 161 posts
- The day we've all been waiting for has arrived...IN THE ARMY NOW II is in the works! -- 81 total posts 81 posts
- A New Clip From PROMETHEUS!! Charlize And Fassbender Talking About...Something (?)... -- 80 total posts 80 posts
- AIN'T IT COOL with Harry Knowles: Episode VIII: John Landis, Carroll Spinney (Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird), MONSTERPALOOZA, And More!! -- 78 total posts 78 posts
- Gary Oldman Joins The ROBOCOP Remake! -- 150 total posts 74 posts
- G.I. JOE: RETALIATION Delayed Nine Months...Thanks To A Force More Sinister Than Cobra!! -- 280 total posts 66 posts