Bookmark and Share
Feedburner YouTube Facebook Twitter
RAVEN INTERVIEW ARCHIVE

BACK TO INFO | BACK TO MAIN



Exclusive Interview: Raven Puts On The “Sleeper” Hold In New Movie
By Keelan Balderson on September 8th, 2008

As his mainstream pro wrestling career begins to wind down former WWE, WCW, TNA, ECW…(you get the idea) star Raven is trying his hand at movies and it just so happens WrestlingTruth got the exclusive sit down to discuss his latest film “Sleeper.”



Keelan:
So tell us a little bit about this new movie Sleeper. It’s been described as a horror/thriller, that goes a little deeper than the hot girl running from the man in makeup [I mean Scream not Sting]?

Raven:
Sting? I know Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers were up for my part, but I don’t think sting was available, he was in some sort of two month tantric sex in an ice cube with wife Trudy and David Blaine. But I digress. The hot girl is running from a severely obsessed, physical and intellectual giant. Unfortunately, he, or I, am not using my genius for good, I’m using it to stalk said female and hurt/kill anyone who gets in the way of the woman I desire. My character is so psychotic, he bit his own tongue out, preferring his communication to be all non-verbal.

Keelan:
The Raven character in wrestling was always a dark and brooding figure, that showed a lot of depth compared to other gimmicks. How did this help you transition in to the acting role of Resnik in the movie?

Raven:
Actually it worked out perfect. If because of some female, Raven would have violently fell off the tightrope he’d been walking for years, this is how he would have turned out. In fact, I knew a girl once, who may have been the female version of this character, and god I wished she’d of bitten her tongue off, to stop all her incessant yapping. Obsessive people are truly scary and relatable, because everyone knows someone like that.

Keelan:
You’ve often been tagged as “one of the greatest minds in the business,” in regards to wrestling and there’s no doubt you have a spark for creativity. How much of the role is ‘you’ and how much creative freedom were you given for the part?

Raven:
The director/writer/creative team were really quite accommodating. They wanted it to be raven-esque which made my acting job easier to begin with and if I had some ideas to present, they were more than happy to listen. Some they included, some they didn’t, but they always gave me a chance to be heard. That to me is the most important thing. Even if you decide against my idea, at least give me the courtesy of listening to it. If I didn’t have a proven track record of creativity, I’m not so sure it would be a great idea because it is the director’s show, and if everyone on the set is questioning him, it becomes anarchy and he loses respect. There is one caveat, obviously, he’s probably not gonna listen to the lighting guy’s opinions on the script, but he is going listen to the lighting guy’s opinions on lighting, so yes he may listen to a lot of people’s ideas, but it would be in whatever their forte is. I think our director dru [Andrew Brown] did a magnificent job of keeping the crew’s respect, while listening to people because everyone just wants to feel like someone heard what they had to say, and as he said, “if someone has a better idea, and we use it, its only gonna make me look better”. No egos were involved in the making of the movie sleeper. Dru was awesome. A true pleasure to work with.

Keelan:
You’ve been in front of a camera for many years, with the do it yourself attitude in ECW, the often disorganized and political atmosphere in WCW and the more professional production in WWE, not forgetting TNA which is on its way up. How does being on set and filming a movie compare to the filming of a wrestling show such as Raw or Impact?

Raven:
The movie set was very organized. Everything was set up, ready to go. It really was quite enjoyable, and exciting.

Keelan:
The schedule in wrestling is obviously demanding in different ways than with a movie, but what was it like from your perspective. Did you have a lot of free time or was it a case of get up, get to location and begin shooting? They say in wrestling you get to travel the world and never see any of it. Did you get a chance to check out Australia?

Raven:
Because I had came right to Australia from another movie set, and had to leave Australia to go to Ireland to wrestle immediately after filming, we basically crammed 5 weeks of shooting into 10 nights. They were long, hard, but hey, I cant complain. The crew got there before I did, and left after I went home. Those are the unsung heroes of a movie set. As well as the stunt coordinator, Darko, who made me look twice as badass as I am. He was Keanu Reeves stunt double in the matrix, so anytime you watch the three Matrix movies and go “Keanu couldn’t have done that”, then it was my boy Darko.

Keelan:
Did you get much time to socialize with other cast members? It must have been different from chilling backstage with the Sandman and the ECW crew.

Raven:
Definitely different backstage than hanging with the sandman, but a lot of fun in the same respect. mostly I was working because we had to cram all my stuff into 10 nights which was very cool of Judd and Christian, the producers, and Dru the director. They could have got someone else but they wanted me and were nice enough to work around my schedule to give me this opportunity and I thank them. I didn’t get to see much but I have been to Australia twice before, so I have been around. It’s the most beautiful place in the world, along with New Zealand.

Keelan:
Now that you’re seemingly nearing the end of your mainstream wrestling career, recently finishing with TNA and the impeding lawsuit with WWE, is acting something you want to progress in to and do on a more regular basis? Have you got any more roles lined up?

Raven:
Movie making is a lot of hard work, I prefer wrestling hours to be honest, because even though its fly somewhere, workout, sit around and wait, then wrestle for 10 minutes, I can sit and read all day, or whatever because at heart, I’m kinda lazy. That being said, wrestling is winding down, so I’d love to do more film work. That and talk radio.

Ultimately though, I love movies. I don’t care much for sports, so I have watched an extreme amount of movies. I am an enormous film buff, so whether I am on screen or in the audience watching, I love the movies.

For more information, pictures and video on the movie Sleeper, visit Sleeper-Film.com



BACK TO MAIN INTERVIEW PAGE



TheRavenEffect.com | The Official Website of Pro-Wrestling Superstar Raven | Booking Info
Site Content © Copyright 2014 Raven. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks, logos & copyrights are the property of their respective owners.
Add Raven on Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Sitemap: Info | Media | Schedule | Blog | Store Site Designed & Developed by VictorMoreno.com.