| BijouFlix Releasing presents |
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| A cinema 'lifer' in a candid interview talks about his career as a pro stunt man, working with indie vet Al Adamson, and as director of the new BijouFlix Release PYRAMID. |
| Innerview by Christian Hale |
Gary Kent has spent
a lifetime in the industry of making movies.
 From his earliest days working at the tail-end of Allied Artists, to
catching the rising tide at both Corman's and Al Adamson's scenes, to directing
second unit on such cult classics as FREEBIE & THE BEAN and PSYCH-OUT's
famous acid sequences, as well as acting in such t.v. shows as THE MAN FROM
U.N.C.L.E., and to this very day on such projects as Don Coscarelli's recently
'wrapped' redneck mummy flick BUBBA HO-TEP and a flick directed by William
Shatner, Kent has truly carved out a remarkably salient niche in an
ever-changing, risk-filled biz by wearing a variety of hats, from special
effects to stunt man to director and beyond.Gary was nice enough to talk about his career, philosophy of flickmaking, and about PYRAMID in the following beer-laden interview. BijouFlix: How'd a good ol' boy like yourself wind up in the movin' picture business? Did you have an Uncle Jed or just take a stab at it? Gary Kent: Grew up on a ranch -- wheat, cattle... nearest town was a small one, 19 miles away. Entertainment was a movie one day a month. It is hard to explain  the magic that one day held for me. A movie theater then, before
t.v., was like a temple, like a church to me. It was almost holy. I would stand
outside, and before I even entered, begin to transport inside, where there were
cowboys and indians, lovers, snowstorms, dogs that talked and saved lives,
people that sang and laughed, women with beautiful, dramatic faces, and even
better legs, valor, tropical islands, foreign accents. Whereas, on the ranch,
my job was riding the fence line of 20,000 acres on my little Morgan mare
Trixie. It wasn't me, though, I was Gary Cooper, Randolph Scott, John Wayne,
etc. I did lots of acting in school. After a stint in Naval Air Corps, I drove a friend on an audition to The Alley Theater, in Houston. The director asked  me to read for a part, so I did. I was signed
on as the juvenile lead, where my actual pay for acting was $50 a week. The
lead was Katherine Hellmond who later made a name for herself in t.v.s series
such as WHO'S THE BOSS? and SOAP.After a year at the theatre, and smitten severely by the acting bug, I grabbed a Greyhound to Hollywood. Joined all the theaters and workshops, worked my way into Allied Artists via the mail room. Allied Artists? Wow, that must have been a real eye-opener for someone so young. Many 'has been' and 'up and comers' alike were working there in those days. Hey, it was a studio, and I was inside the gate! I got to learn a little bit about how movies were really made. You know, that it takes a crew, and a large one at that. Snow is really styrofoam flakes, wind comes by way of machine, and make-up made everyone look better.  A publicity department would send out the buzz daily to several thousand press outlets worldwide, even if it was bullshit. Lawyers haggled, producers whined, and directors agonized. I got to eat lunch with Rod Stieger, who was shooting AL CAPONE, and saw the real Gary Cooper show up for a press conference and Tony Perkins sunbathe on the back-lot. John Wayne gave me a sweater for Christmas -- I thought I was in heaven. |