Gruemonkey interviews Jacob Kyle Young (Dead Voices)!!
Hello Grue-Lings,
Today we have Jacob Kyle Young as our guest. He stars in the horror film Dead Voices. He has been in numerous tv series such as: National Park Secrets and Legends, The Coroner: I speak for the Dead, Disappeared, Kirby Buckets, Mysteries of the Outdoors, Murder Among Friends, and Hollywood. He also has been in numerous shorts and films: The Escape, The Survivor, Vanishing, Rock, Paper, Scissors, What’s Evil, Bite Me, Infected, Simon Says, My Brother’s Keeper, The Lurking Man, and Dead Voices. Here is our interview with Jacob Kyle Young:
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GRUEMONKEY: Thank you Jacob for joining me today on Gruemonkey. Let’s talk about your bodybuilding life first. You won 5 competitions and pride yourself of no steroids and clean eating and training hard. Tell me what are some of your clean eating meals and what would a typical training day look like for you during that time?
JACOB: Thanks for having me. I tend to keep things simple and sustainable when it comes to my meals. I always like sticking with grilled chicken, lean beef, potatoes, and veggies. As far as my fitness routine goes, I typically train four times a week if my schedule allows. I like to do legs twice a week, the other two days I split my upper push and pull muscles.
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GRUEMONKEY: NICE!! You worked in Gold’s Gym as a trainer and then became the number 1 trainer in the U.S. How did that happen and what were your feelings about it at the time?
JACOB: It was an intense experience. I remember when my boss hired me at the Gold’s Gym near Highland Mall in Austin, TX. He asked where I wanted to be ranked among all the trainers in the US, I told him I wanted to be number one, he laughed at me and told me that no one ever gives him that answer. I would go into work at 6am, then get home by 9pm usually, six days a week. Being a trainer is commission based so if you weren’t making sales, you weren’t making money. No one had beaten the number one trainer in three years. I became number one after three months. Though I was proud of myself, it also made me realize I had no work/life balance. So I started taking on less clients in order to discover some hobbies. I saw took an opportunity to take a commercial acting class which is where I found my love for film making. Coincidentally, a week later Gold’s Gym was having an open call audition for their National Commercial. I went for it, ended up booking the job, and found out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I took acting classes for a year in Austin before moving to Los Angeles to pursue it on a larger scale.
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GRUEMONKEY: You have a few TV credits under your belt. Tell us about your experiences in the episode you filmed in the Netflix Original Series, Hollywood.
JACOB: I got a call from my manager asking me to turn in a last minute audition for a role of a college football player. She called me at 2pm and the audition had to be done by 5pm that same day. It was very brief, no concrete details were given on the role or what show it was even for. I just knew it was for a new Netflix show and that I had to be shirtless and say about three lines. My manager called me the next day and booked me on the job, which was awesome. That’s when I found out I was going to portray Tab Hunter in Episode 5 of Hollywood. I went to set two days after my audition, and then found out my scene was with Jim Parsons, from the Big Bang Theory. I was a bit nervous at first but we had a blast and Jim is a great guy.
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GRUEMONKEY: Jim Parsons seems like a really cool guy. Tell us about your character in the Netflix movie, Sunrise in Heaven?
JACOB: I actually auditioned for the lead role in that film. I really got my hope up because I had three callbacks, so I figured I booked it. They ended up giving it to Travis Burns, who is a really genuine person and talented actor. I was offered a small role with a few lines, so to me, it was still a win. Usually when you audition for a part, you just never hear anything back if you don’t get it.
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GRUEMONKEY: Tell us how you got involved with the horror film The Lurking Man and what the film is about and your role in it?
JACOB: Interestingly enough, that’s the movie that got me into the Screen Actors Guild, AKA the actors’ union. It was my first day in Los Angeles and I found an ad on Craigslist for an acting role. I got the part, which originally had no lines. When I got on set, I saw that we were doing a scene set up like an AA meeting. I would be playing an addict and they wanted me to improvise some dialogue as if I was sharing about how my recovery was going. After only being in LA for two days and already on a film set, I was extremely nervous. I took it in stride and wound up having a lot of fun. The Lurking Man is about a woman battling addiction and is given a chance at redemption if she accepts Death’s offer.
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GRUEMONKEY: That’s amazing! You never know what role you’ll get on craigslist (Laughs). What made you wanna go behind the camera to be executive producer in 3 shorts films, you also starred in them too. Was that difficult?
JACOB: After one year living in the city of angels, it became very apparent to me that I wouldn’t make a career out of acting if I didn’t step up to the plate and start creating my own content. I auditioned for hundreds of roles in the matter of a year and only booked a few, most of which either didn’t pay, or payed very little. So after doing my own research on how other actors made it in the biz, I was inspired by how Matt Damon and Sylvester Stallone both wrote their ways into being movie stars. Times have changed since then though and I had to take an extra step which was learning how to produce as well as write. The most challenging part is producing. You are literally running the show, you hire the crew, cast the actors, and find the funding to make the project happen. It’s been difficult but very rewarding.
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GRUEMONKEY: Now to talk about Dead Voices. This is a horror film that you wrote, produced, starred in, edited and cast. Where did you draw the writing inspiration for this film and did you have the actors in the mind that you cast for the film?
JACOB: I had written three other feature length screenplays before I wrote Dead Voices. After failing to secure financing on those projects, I decided I wanted to try writing a horror script because that genre tends to be the easiest to sell internationally, and can be produced on a low budget. I also wrote it to be a found footage movie for two reasons; I feel like those are the scariest horror movies because you feel like what you’re watching could be real. The second reason was because I knew I could shoot the movie for a lot less money. With found footage, you don’t have to worry about coverage, like close-ups or wide shots etc… That has a positive impact on shooting schedule and saves a lot of time, which saves a lot of money. Paranormal Activity is one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen, so that inspired me to create this movie in the same style. Dead Voices is about spiritual mediums, and I chose that subject because it was original and I’ve always been very interested in the concept of people speaking to ghosts. I had a few actors in mind for the picture but I ended up auditioning over three hundred girls to find the perfect two to play the sisters. I actually sent the script to my friend Lochlyn Munro, who currently is one of the stars on the CW show, Riverdale. I wanted him to play the first medium that the girls encounter. He ended up loving the script and played the role of Paul.
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GRUEMONKEY: I love him as the Black Hood on Riverdale. Amazing actor. How was it like working with a big name from Riverdale, Lochlyn Munro?
JACOB: I sent Lochlyn’s agent a different script a few years ago. Lochlyn ended up emailing me directly to discuss the project and we met for coffee shortly after. We became good friends after finding out we had so much in common, and I kept in touch with him after that. He’s such a humble, down to earth guy, a great person, and very talented actor. I sent him Dead Voices once I secured financing for the film and he took the role after reading the script. He came to set and everyone got along great with him. His role only took a day to shoot and he was really professional and brought a great energy to the project.
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GRUEMONKEY: I am really happy to hear he was so down to earth. Tell me about Mike and Dead Voices?
JACOB: I played Mike and he is one of the lead roles in the movie. He’s the second medium the girls interview for their project and he proves that he’s the real deal by bringing up specific facts about Lucas; the fiancée of Sara who was reported dead from the war in Iraq, though his body was never found. Mike tells Sara that Lucas might still be alive in the cabin he grew up in near the Yosemite mountains. Though hesitant at first, Mike joins the girls out to the cabin on their search to discover if Lucas is still alive.
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GRUEMONKEY: Any favorite scene that Mike is involved in?
JACOB: My favorite scene is the one where the girls come out of the woods after searching for signs of Lucas. They come back to the cabin to find Mike, curled on the patio, sweating, and emotionally distraught. This is where we find out something really horrific is happening and Mike tells the girls they all need to get out of there.
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GRUEMONKEY: Any cool or funny behind the scenes stories you can share with us from Dead Voices set?
JACOB: Murphy’s law definitely came knocking on the door to our set a few times. Though it wasn’t so funny at the time, I have a laugh when I look back on it. At the cabin we rented near the Yosemite mountains, it was during the summer and the days were always around 103 degrees. Of course, our second day at that location, the AC broke down. Luckily I only had one scene that day so I drove 45 minutes to the nearest town to buy several mobile AC coolers to keep everyone sane. The cabin owner sent someone out the next day and fixed it, so we didn’t suffer very long, but I was stressed out of my mind.
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GRUEMONKEY: Anything else you want to discuss or promote?
JACOB: Dead Voices DVD is now available to pre-order online at Best Buy, Target, and Amazon. Here are the links as well as a link to the official trailer.
Best Buy: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dead-voices-dvd/34947771.p?skuId=34947771
Target: https://www.target.com/p/dead-voices-dvd/-/A-79801240
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Voices-Lochlyn-Munro/dp/B086B9N3ZF/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dead+voices+movie&qid=1588188088&sr=8-1
Official Trailer: https://youtu.be/w85vxnQ7X6Q
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SPEED ROUND:
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Guilty Pleasure TV series and Movie you are currently watching?
Series now is Ozark, movie I watched recently was Big Time Adolescence on Hulu.
Favorite Social Media Platform?
FACEBOOK.
What is on your Playlist currently?
THE KILLERS.
Hidden Talents or Something people or fans might not know about you?
I am pretty good at Karaoke.
Favorite Karaoke Song?
MR. BRIGHTSIDE.
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