AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
It may be Sunday morning, but listeners, I urge you to huddle around the radio and hold your loved ones close. It's time for a legend.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RASCOE: The year is 1947, and the Alaskan wind is whipping so fast, it feels like snowflakes could pierce flesh.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RASCOE: As ramshackle as it may be, you're lucky. You and your expedition team have found shelter from the elements, but it won't be enough to save you from "The Yeti."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE YETI")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, screaming).
RASCOE: A new film named after the legendary ape creature takes us on a journey with one expedition team's brutal but mysterious slaughter at the claws of the giant. "The Yeti" is a scary and funny throwback to the pulpy creature features of old and stars an ensemble cast, including Jim Cummings as Booker.
JIM CUMMINGS: So Booker is the radio guy on the expedition, and he stands out from most of the other cast as well 'cause he barely speaks. One of my favorite things to do in a film is to talk way too much, and I usually do that in all my films. I do a lot of monologues. And this was a cool opportunity to just do the still-waters-run-deep thing.
RASCOE: When you think about Booker, he's, like, calmly smoking as, like, explosions burst behind him. He's not particularly afraid of the wilderness. And he's pretty heroic. Like, did you do anything to prepare for this? - 'cause it's also very active, too. It's a lot of moving around. And
CUMMINGS: Oh, they made me work.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
CUMMINGS: Yeah, they made me bring the whole cart. It was so heavy. I had to do so - I was a pack horse, basically...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
CUMMINGS: ...Throughout the entire production, on and offset. But no, I really thought a lot - "Seven Samurai," where it's an ensemble cast, and they're all trying to do the right thing. And Toshiro Mifune's character in that is so rich and sacrifices - spoiler alert. The movie came out 80 years ago. Sorry if you haven't seen it. But Toshiro Mifune's character sacrifices himself to be able to save the team and the village in a really beautiful way.
And so I'm constantly thinking about these Westerns and samurai movies for Booker and how he fits into the thing. And Gene and Will, the directors, at first, were like, that's a weird take on this thing. And I was like, I think that's right. I think this is the right thing to do. And they let me do it. And I'm very proud of it. In the final cut, there are little mannerisms that I do that - he seems so innocent and seems like such a thoughtful person when everybody else is shouting.
RASCOE: And this movie can at times be really serious, but it also is not afraid to lean into that, like, pulpy creature festure aesthetic. And I've got to, you know, say, that's not something that you see very often with big-budget movies nowadays. Why do you think that is?
CUMMINGS: Oh, it's very austere at times. Like, watching it, the cold open - so the movie opens in this insane way where an actor buddy of mine, PJ McCabe, gets ripped in half. I'm not spoiling anything...
RASCOE: Yes.
CUMMINGS: ...'Cause it's in the trailer.
RASCOE: (Laughter) Yeah.
CUMMINGS: But it's so violent and so ridiculous.
RASCOE: Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
CUMMINGS: And there's a big title treatment. And then a lot of the movie becomes this kind of monologue competition between the actors in this broken up bit of earth that they're hiding under. And so the tone of it - you're a bit curious, where you're like, well, wait, when is the next guy going to get ripped in half? And it happens a lot. But then there is this kind of polished sadness to everybody, where everybody gets a bite at the apple. Everybody has a moment to themselves where they're down and out and we get to learn a bit about their character, and then it all kind of progresses towards this legacy story.
RASCOE: Do you think the practical effects make a difference?
CUMMINGS: Oh, yeah, they were so dope. It was like - it's so much cooler to have an actual seven-foot dude on stilts in this giant Yeti cut. It's contagious. You're on set, and it's like, oh, it feels like we're making a "Star Wars" movie. It feels like we're doing something - you know, it feels like "The Muppets." This is, like, actual cheat codes to be able to make it look realistic.
And oftentimes, I've been on sets where it's all digital, and it feels very cold and callous and forensic in the movements of an actor, and you have a lot less control, whereas when it's real fur and it's a real heavy person stepping on you or beating you up or dragging you through a window or whatever, it's very fun to watch. And it's like you score a touchdown. Everybody races towards the monitor to watch what we just shot, and you're like, oh, we did it. It looks really cool. And that kind of immediate gratification, you can't get with digital visual effects.
RASCOE: That also kind of makes me wonder, with the changing of industry, you have all this media consolidation, streamers are, you know, kind of rolling together with the studios and news outlets. And then you also have social media like YouTube. In a way, it could seem like it's the easiest it's ever been to launch a film by yourself, or I'm sure it would help.
CUMMINGS: I agree.
RASCOE: But is it? Is this really a great time for, like, the independent filmmaker or someone just getting started or trying to learn about the industry?
CUMMINGS: I guess it depends on what day you ask me. We have a television show that we made that was at Sundance this year called "The Screener," and we've been having trouble selling it. So it really depends. It's possible to be able to make something that is excellent and find an audience, and deservedly so.
I think if Orson Welles were making stuff right now - you know, when he was growing up, most of making movies was glad-handing and politicking and shaking hands to be able to get the money to then go and do something. You have to take a million notes, and nowadays, it's possible for filmmakers to never leave their apartment and make something on free software. The film that won best animation was done in Blender, which is a free software in eastern Europe.
I think that that is the future, that people will move towards finding an audience, and legacy corporate entertainment seems to be really struggling right now to keep the eyeballs because of places like YouTube and independent creators. And I think it's only going to get more so like that.
RASCOE: Do you think that's a good thing? Does that give...
CUMMINGS: I do.
RASCOE: Is that an equalizer, or...
CUMMINGS: I think so. For the last hundred years, in order to get platformed on any of these places for anybody to be able to see your work, you'd have to get the approval of big teams of people. You'd have to politick and take a million notes to sanitize something. And nowadays, you don't have to do that. You can make something with your friends and family that is unsanitized. That is stuff that you can't see on TV. And from my experiences, that's what audiences want to see.
RASCOE: Well, I guess, like, in a world like that, especially with Hollywood maybe focused on bigger-budget movies and expanded franchises, but then you also have social media now offering more opportunities - how can regular fans keep little creature features like "The Yeti" alive?
CUMMINGS: I think there will always be an audience of creeps to come and watch movies...
RASCOE: (Laughter).
CUMMINGS: ...Like "The Yeti." That has been the foundation of my career, certainly. So I think that because genre films have such a wonderful audience of people that like to be scared, who like to have a slumber party and watch something with their friends and freak their friends out, or just fandom of, like, how gratuitous can this violence be? Check this out. This is an aspect of my personality that I think you'll like. I think there will always be an audience for the macabre.
RASCOE: That's actor and filmmaker Jim Cummings. He's part of the ensemble cast of "The Yeti," which is in select theaters and streaming now. Thank you for being here.
CUMMINGS: Thank you for having me. It was my pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
