Gruemonkey’s interview with Matt Mercurio (Hell Fest, Black Lightning)!!
Hello Grue-Lings,
I am very happy to bring to you all a interview with a super cool down to earther actor and pro wrestler. His name is Matt Mercurio.
Matt Mercurio is a theatrically trained stage and film actor. He played ‘Asher’ in amazing horror slasher film “Hell Fest” from CBS Films, Valhalla Entertainment, and Lionsgate. He also has had recurring roles on tv series such as: “Black Lightning” (CW), “The Resident” (FOX), “Life Sentence” (CW),”Sleepy Hollow” (FOX) and the Sony Playstation Network show “Powers”. He also had a one off appearance on Swamp Murders.
He even has theatre credits including Williamstown Theatre Festival and the Alliance Theatre, as well as the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, DC. Matt is a national finalist of the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship and recipient of the American College Theatre Festival’s Marvin Sims Diversity Award in Acting.
Matt studied acting at Florida State College’s Theatre Performance program on a full-time performance talent scholarship and at the BFA Acting program at the University of Florida’s School of Theatre and Dance, where Matt was a proud member of the hip-hop theatre troupe, Signs of Life, as a performer, writer, director, and producer. There is nothing this amazing talented man can’t do. I am so proud to bring to you all my interview with Matt Mercurio:
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HELLTER: First off. I want to thank you for being a guest on Gruemonkey . Very happy to have you here. I read in your bio that you spent a lot of your life aspiring to be a professional wrestler. That is so awesome. Being a Pro Wrestler is fun. I was a indy pro wrestler from 2004 to 2016. I went to wrestling school and everything. It was so much fun. I had a blast. My gimmick name was Hellter Skelter (Laughs). What pro wrestlers did you love to watch growing up that made you want to get involved with wrestling?
MATT: I’ve been a big time wrestling fan since I could remember. I’ve always been drawn to the long form storytelling that wrestling evoked from these personas that were larger than life. It’s a rather long list, but some of my favorites to watch earlier on were Macho Man, Razor Ramon, & Jake the Snake. Then later I started getting into the underdog stories. I really dug Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Dean Malenko (basically the whole cruiserweight division of the WCW Nitro Days -Jericho, Eddie, Ultimo Dragon, Juventud Guerrera). I remember renting WrestleMania 12 from Blockbuster and I watched that HBK vs Bret- Iron Man match till I memorized each spot and I could mimic the moves as they happened. I could go on, but also getting to watch prime Stone Cold vs The Rock was essential viewing.
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HELLTER: Great choices. I loved the whole WCW cruiserweight division, it was amazing. Love Ultimo Dragon. Big fan of Japanese legends such as Jushin Thunder Liger, Great Muta, Great Kabuki, etc. My favorites of all time are Macho Man Randy Savage and The Undertaker. I read you did some Theater at first. What did you like best about Theater?
MATT: Doing theatre is always a transformative experience for me in some way and it’s provided me with some of the best moments of my life. The risks and vulnerability on both sides of the stage are real with every performance. You can’t fake that and so there’s always such a respect and a power that comes from performing or watching a performance that blows you away. Good theatre makes people think, and empathize, and escape, and react, and it challenges in ways that a conversation might not have the spark to do. It’s always a challenge artistically with a new play and it’s flat out just where I get to have the most fun and do the most creating. So I always make sure to work in theatre as often as I can.
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HELLTER: Yeah, theater looks like a lot of hard work and long hours, but fun to. You started out in the acting world basically doing one time appearances in TV series such as Reckless and Graceland. It wasn’t until the horror TV series Sleepy Hollow that you had a few episodes in. You played an Officer in a few episodes of Sleepy Hollow. What was your experience like filming a horror TV series like Sleepy Hollow?
MATT: I’m a big monster movie fan of all sorts so with Sleepy Hollow being my first Recurring TV role I was so geeked to have the opportunity to come onto set or even walk into the costume department for a fitting so I could take a look at all the cool behind the scenes things that were happening. It was such a blast to be able to jump into such a cool world of creatures and monsters of all sorts. We had read the story of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in school and I had seen different reimaginings of it throughout my childhood. And with this version being a different take with a modern twist and in a longer form, I felt that the vibe of the show was going to be something people were going to enjoy diving into as there wasn’t a whole lot of similar content at the time, and fortunately it was able to last a few seasons.
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HELLTER: I actually really enjoyed the Sleepy Hollow series. You did good in episodes you were in. I loved the Sleepy Hollow movie with Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. I laughed when I saw one of your titles is Bro for a series called Replay. How was it like to be a Bro on a show?
MATT: I laughed when I got the audition as well! So that series was a Groundhogs Day…’girl lives the same day over and over’ themed show and my character- BRO was this guy who had these obnoxious bro-rific commentaries with every passing encounter in each episode we saw him in. Coming up with alternative lines of smarmy dude-bro things to say made for some pretty fun scenes. Think the director played with BRO actually having a name at some point, but the series didn’t go on…and so alas BRO was just known as BRO.
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HELLTER: That sucks the series didn’t go on BRO (laughs). Glad you had fun with it. When you did Ballers, did you get a chance to talk and hang out with The Rock?
MATT: Being a life-long wrestling fan, getting to work with The Rock was unreal. I actually had food-poisoning the previous two days and even till the morning of our first day of filming I was feeling the effects, but I pressed on not wanting to lose a chance to work with somebody who I had looked up to for so long. The first book report I did my freshmen year of high school was on The Rock’s book, I had dressed up as him the previous year for career day, and I had followed his wrestling career since his debut, so I was amped to get a shot to share the screen with him. I didn’t tell anyone in production that I was not feeling well (though I probably should have) in the hopes that I would just magically feel better. But as soon as The Rock showed up on set to run lines with me, my stomach issues calmed down enough to chill out and give way to this incredibly surreal experience, working with someone whose journey inspires my own. And I swear just as soon as we wrapped my stomach gave me issues again. But for those scenes it all worked out…Thankfully.
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HELLTER: I am happy to see that your stomach worked well with you on meeting and acting with The Rock. That had to be such an amazing feeling being in the same room with him. Can you tell us about your character Asher in Hell Fest?
MATT: Asher is the life of the party. He wants to make sure everyone around him is having a good time and enjoying themselves. On a normal night he’s going to do his best to make sure the good vibes are flowing right and on Halloween night in particular, he’s going to make sure the levels are dialed up to ten in not only fun, but the scares. The scarier the better for Asher when it comes to Halloween and Hell Fest. He looks forward to Hell Fest more than anything throughout the year.
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HELLTER: I loved your character in Hell Fest. You killed it. What attracted you to this film and to your character? I read about your love for horror films.
MATT: A good horror film is a must for the Halloween season and this had that old school slasher feel, but took a different take with a setting that hadn’t been explored too often and so conceptually I was already intrigued. And with horror, it’s always a good sign when you read a script and get creeped out. Asher was a fun character that I hadn’t gotten a chance to play anything like on film thus far and I really enjoyed the relationships and quick banter between all the friends.
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HELLTER: I really enjoyed Hell Fest a lot. Plus, I actually work in a Haunted House (Laughs). Would you party in an abandoned theme park or party in a theme park after hours and throw a Halloween Horror Fest there?
MATT: If it was anything like the experience filming Hell Fest, which was a lot of fun, then I would be down!
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HELLTER: It’s weird. I always thought something like this is possible. I been to so many Haunted Houses and Haunted Hayrides around Halloween season and I always thought about if a real Psycho can show up at one of these attractions and start killing everybody, and then Hell Fest the movie happens. I used to work for Eastern State Penitentiary Terror Behind the Walls Haunted Attraction in Philadelphia. Have you ever been to Haunted Houses and Hayrides and every wondered if something like Hell Fest can happen there?
MATT: If you give yourself to the allusion of the haunt, your mind can begin betraying itself and start making what’s already there even scarier. It’s not something I’ve specifically thought about, but it makes these haunts even scarier when you watch Hell Fest before you walk through and creep yourself out even more. I’m going to have to do that before my next haunt attraction to enhance the experience.
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HELLTER: October is a few months away, you will get your chance to do that. What was your favorite scene and favorite kill from Hell Fest?
MATT: My favorite scene was when we are playing the carnival games. It’s a giant party and we’re having a blast laughing, playing these games, surrounded with the spectacle of Halloween sounds and colors, and then we reset and do it over and over. Going to have to say my favorite death is Gavin’s as it’s the one the audience doesn’t always see coming.
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HELLTER: Yes I agree with you, Gavin’s death scene was nuts. Since you’re a huge horror fan. What were your thoughts on the recent Halloween film and how do you feel the new actor playing Michael Myers did?
MATT: Really dug the new Halloween! I like when horror films acknowledge smart character choices and that Laurie is ready to protect herself and for that day that Michael breaks out. Thought the actor playing Michael did a great job as well.
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HELLTER: I really liked the new Halloween film to. James Jude Courtney was amazing as Michael. What are some of your favorite horror films and why?
MATT: Recently, I really love IT FOLLOWS. All of its moments are really well crafted, but simple, and are so lastingly creepy. Metaphorical, art house horror is on the rise and I have a lot more to catch, but that’s one that sticks out along with GET OUT. GET OUT was one of the best movie watching experiences of my life because of the audience reactions. Coming from theatre I love a little audience participation and immersion. And as far as classic horrors- The Shining because of the top to bottom fun house of mind aerobics that Kubrick executes in that and Killer Klowns From Outer Space because it’s a just a whacky 80’s style fun horror movie and people’s reactions to it are hilarious.
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HELLTER: (Laughs) I love Killer Klowns From Outer Space!! Anything else you want to discuss or promote?
MATT: Got some big projects coming up that I can’t quite talk about just yet, but you can follow all my journeys and what is next- @yomattymerc on Instagram + twitter or check out my website at www.actormattmercurio.com
Thanks!
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