Greetings all, and a happy holiday weekend to our American readers! As you know, Memorial Day is the official kickoff of Summer, and with the warmer weather beckoning us to outdoor fun and watery destinations, what better way to welcome Summer than with a movie about the unbreakable bond between a boy and his mermaid. No, not SPLASH, though that’s certainly worth a rewatch this time of year. No, we’re talking about the horror/comedy/drama MERMAID, written and directed by Tyler Cornack, starring Johnny Pemberton (“Fallout”), Kevin Nealon (“Weeds”), Tom Arnold (TRUE LIES), Robert Patrick (TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY), and Kevin Dunn (GODZILLA 1998, TRANSFORMERS, “Veep”).
MERMAID, as you may have noticed, is not a feel-good story, though it does explore Doug’s bond with the mermaid that he names Destiny and the sense of meaning she brings to his otherwise spiraling life. Pemberton’s Doug is like so many of us: reactionary, though slow to be so, staring slack-jawed at a world that exponentially defies understanding and empathy. His bond with Destiny is the realest thing he has going for him, despite being an actual father to an actual daughter who desperately wants to connect to her vapid father.
So when Destiny is stolen and auctioned to Keith in the third act, Doug mans up and mounts an effort to save her. Keith is the perfect sleazy manifestation of opulence: a man who can afford anything finds it nearly impossible to assign value to anything as nothing is beyond his grasp. When he purchases Destiny, he does so with a singular curiosity, that I shan’t spoil for you as MERMAID is a deliciously depraved film worth a watch.
I got the chance to speak with prolific character actor Kevin Dunn, who plays Keith in MERMAID. Check it out below:
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Eric McClanahan: Alright. Hey, Kevin, how are you?
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Kevin Dunn: Good, Eric, how you doing?
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Eric McClanahan: I'm well, thank you so much. We're talking about the film MERMAID. I already got to talk to Johnny Pemberton and director Tyler Cornack, and I asked them both the same first question that I'm gonna levy to you. What is your personal favorite, whether it's apocryphal or personal, Florida Man Story?
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Kevin Dunn: Florida Man story?
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Eric McClanahan: Yes.
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Kevin Dunn: Hmm… That's a big question. I'm trying to think… I, I don't know my, my relations with Florida… it was one of the silliest places. I went down when I was in college, we drove down to Orlando, and went to the beaches down there, and it was just, like, so much like the film, just that… It was just up for grabs, you know, when I was, like, 19. And I remember I just… We ran out to the beach, and I just got totally baked. And I was in my tent, in incredible pain, and we had to go out and hit the bars, and… We went out, and…they had, it was all state-run, and there were these places called ABC, and they all looked the same, they were, like, it was this huge bar, and it was, like, looked like an amoeba, you know, where…iit had all these seats around it, and… I just remember, like, flailing around the chairs. They were stools, and they had wheels, and everybody was dancing, but I was in too much pain to dance, so I used - I just went out on my wheels on my chair, and was flying around. I think I crashed and fell over or something, but… That was kind of my… Florida escapade that's still [with me]. I mean, I've been there a couple times, but… You know, I wasn't a snowbird. I was in Chicago for 30 years, but never really… I think I went down fishing a couple times down there. Which is great. We went to some old places on the Gulf, and that was really nice, and just kind of laid back. And that was kind of like the Florida that I thought, well, this is kind of cool.
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And, yeah, and then there's the Florida, of Miami, I never spent much time in Miami, or, like, the Gulf side around Naples and stuff, it was, I think, very pretty. But it's… it's packed. There're people there everywhere.
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Eric McClanahan: Yeah.
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Kevin Dunn: Then, you know, I moved to LA, and it was just never a place that I made a choice to…”I know, let's go to Florida, where it's packed, you know?” So I’d drive to the mountains, or, you know, go up to northern Michigan or something, just, to get out of LA.
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Eric McClanahan: Let's talk about Tyler Cornack's, Florida, and the film MERMAID. You know, we've got drugs, we've got rudderless young people, we've got, you know, broken marriages, single parenting, and we've got a mermaid. And we have your character, Keith.
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Now, I thought this character was an amazing choice for you, because you're such a celebrated character actor, you always play characters of warmth and authority, and Keith is very much not that. Was that the role you were offered, or did you read the script and say, this is the guy?
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Kevin Dunn: No, it was offered. The actor who was playing him was let go, and it was the last day of shooting. Tyler called me and said, you don't know me, but I love your work, and I just lost my actor on this, and could you read this and come on down to Florida and shoot it? Tomorrow. So I read it. I read the scene, and I thought it was so twisted and so well written that I couldn't not do it. Just because of the nature of this guy, you know, he's such a scumbag and so twisted, he's, he's just, I don't know, there's… He's a something-path.
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Eric McClanahan: Sociopath?
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Kevin Dunn: Or a psychopath, or whatever, but he justifies, you know, and he goes and swims with the little fish to find the most decadent thing he can find. And, and that's what he loves about Florida, because it's the only place that still surprises him. I just thought it was just a brilliant monologue, so I said, I have to do this. So yeah, I said, yeah, I'll do it. So, I just studied the role, and I went down, and I hadn't even read the script. Tyler kind of described it a little bit to me, and then as we talked about doing the scene, he pretty much led me through what the script was, because I just had to concentrate on that. I read it on the way home, and thought, wow, this is, you know, it's a lot of things.
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There's certainly very funny moments in it. It's certainly horrific. But there's a heart to it. And, you know, you're right: it's just about a bunch of miscreants, just messed up people. And I think, you know, Tyler and his people, his crew, you know, Joel Lavold, who shot it, and the costumes and the production design, I thought, was just - It looked very expensive, on the whole, you know, and it was just dripping with that kind of decrepit, you know, behind this facade - it's just rotting, you know? You could just see it and feel it. So I just thought it was just really well done on every aspect, and I thought that the acting was great. But I can't put my finger on it. On what it is.
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Eric McClanahan: Well, when you talk about seeing and feeling it, like, you got to work with the mermaid, the titular MERMAID, which is a very practical effect, like, you know, that creature was in front of you, not a green screen, not a TRANSFORMERSset. That had to be grounding. Tell me about that experience.
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Kevin Dunn: Yeah. Well, I mean, she came out, and I hadn't seen any of it, you know? Tyler was describing it to me, but I didn't see anything, and then they bought Avery [Potemri] out, and, you know - Here it is, the last day of shooting, and I'm - she's been through the wringer. She was just, like, a joy. Cracking jokes and stuff, and she's up on that table. There was nothing comfortable about that. 95 degrees, and, when you're in that kind of makeup, all of your skin is covered. There isn't any… there's no pores. You know, I've had to have done a couple times, complete prosthetics, so…I know, it's just awful. It's really terrible.
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Eric McClanahan: Yeah, well, she was amazing in that, so I definitely give props to her, and thank you for giving her her flowers for that, because, yeah, she delivered.
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Kevin Dunn: Great, yeah. And it was fun working with Johnny. He's really a good guy, you know? It's a very hard role, because it's about a guy who can't communicate with people.
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Eric McClanahan: Yeah.
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Kevin Dunn: So you watch the thing, and it's painful to watch. And there's humor there and stuff, but it's still, it's like, here's a guy, he's such a loser, and you go “How can he… redeem himself? How can he… get this monkey off his back?” And you don't really know if he's gonna.
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Eric McClanahan: It is ambiguous.
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Kevin Dunn: You know, it's like the character… my character says, you really don't know how it's gonna end. You don't have any ideas. So… I don't know. I thought it was very good. I saw it twice, and it was two different movies to me, almost.
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Eric McClanahan: Nice. Well, it's coming out on digital on May 26th, so everyone can enjoy it at home.
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Kevin Dunn: What is it, like, digital? Will that be a certain… because I don't even know.
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Eric McClanahan: So people can go and purchase it on, like, you know, Amazon. Watch it at home, and have their own Florida experience. We only have time for, I think, one more question, and I want to talk about your legacy as a character actor. I've talked to many character actors, but I've never asked them how they feel about that distinction. Like, is it something you wear with pride? That you're like “I'm the guy they come to?”
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Kevin Dunn: Well, I think the pride comes from that I'm one of those guys. I mean, I… my favorite actors are character actors, because they can bring so much. They can really play different characters, but they're always… you can always count on them. You know, I was just thinking about Jonathan Banks.
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Eric McClanahan: Yeah.
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Kevin Dunn: You know, and just guys like that, so I just love, anytime I'm at any event or anything, and I run into these guys, I just love to see them. You know, shoot the shit. They're like… Those are, like, the real stars to me.
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Eric McClanahan: Yeah, it's like coming home.
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Kevin Dunn: Yeah, they've survived, and they've thrived, and they've done so many interesting things, and, they're not so much hired for, you know, this persona; they're hired because they can create a certain persona that… You know what I mean? It's just…
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Eric McClanahan: Authentic. Yeah.
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Kevin Dunn: They're unique.
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Eric McClanahan: Alright, well, that is our time. Thank you so much for talking to me today, I really appreciate it, and it’s been a pleasure. Thanks again for MERMAID.
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Kevin Dunn: Alright, thanks, Eric.
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Eric McClanahan: Alright, take care, Kevin.
MERMAID releases on Digital this Tuesday, May 26th for purchase on all major carriers.
Until next time, take care.
-McEric, aka Eric McClanahan-
