The Perez Hilton and Anthony DiBlasi interview
The night before their ten-year high school reunion, an unknown killer stalks and brutally murders a group of former classmates, spoiling their pre party plans. MarVista Entertainment and director Anthony Diblasi proudly present a proper spring slasher “Most Likely to Die”. Starring Heather Morris and Perez Hilton, “Most Likely to Die” hits theaters this Friday the 13th, marking a shattered killer reunion that is sure to linger throughout the graduation season.
Perez Hilton and Anthony Diblasi recently shared their experiences with College News about what it’s like working with each other on the set of their new film “Most Likely to Die”, and how their collaboration evolved into developing this sensational slasher. Perez also caught us up on the latest celebrity gossip, his plans for the summer and let us in on his new acting roles.
“When you are creating and wanting to establish yourself, your job has to be the priority. It has to be your lover and your whole life”.
Perez and Anthony also shared their paranormal experiences, revealed what Scooby-Doo character they would be if they had a choice and discussed the casting process for the film “Most Likely to Die”.
College News: Your new movie “Mostly Likely to Die” kicks off Friday the 13th. It’s a proper slasher movie of the 90’s like “Scream” or “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. What drew you to this project?
Anthony DiBlasi: That was really the main thing that drew me to “Most Likely to Die” when the MarVista producers approached me and sent me the script. Growing up in the era of “Scream”, “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Valentine”, which are not all great movies, but I think they are a movie of that generation. They were these horror films that really spent time creating a villain that was kind of sexy in a way. It was a time when horror films where coming out of the 90’s being very sleek, being very much these – whodunit, slasher films. They were distinctively different than those of the 80’s because they were like – oh wait! We can shoot these in a way so that they are sexy and stylish, have great camera work and really focus on the characters. And of course a movie like “Scream” and “Most Likely to Die” do that really well, because they have characters that are so appealing to the audience.
Perez Hilton: Well, I’ve always been a huge fan of horror movies since before I should have been watching them. I remember watching in the 80’s, so many vampire movies. I don’t know what drew me to that subsection of the genre, but I love vampire movies. I love all horror movies! I’ve always been a huge fan and I’m just excited to put my college degree to good use. This being the first movie I’ve done in a really long time. I was actually in a horror film last decade in 2000. I did one called “Camp Fire Stories”. It’s nice to return to the genre that I am a true fan of.
CN: What is your favorite horror film of all time?
AD: Definitely “The Shining”. Growing up, horror never really scared me that much, but “The Shining” always got to me. It’s always something that stuck with me. I still watch it. I think as far as slasher films, the ones I really enjoyed like “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, are movies that I watch over and over again. I am one of the rare people who likes “Nightmare on Elm Street 2” which a lot of people don’t.
PH: Of course it would have to be “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, because it had the most interesting and haunting villain. I mean “Halloween” was great and awesome and epic, but Michael Myers didn’t speak and Jason didn’t speak. Freddie Kruger spoke!
CN: I think a lot of that has to do with the plot as well as the casting. Anthony, could you tell me a little bit about your casting process in “Most Likely to Die”?
AD: We were going for a nice group of young actors and we did a lot of casting calls in Los Angeles. The MarVista team had brought us Heather Morris from Glee and I thought she was a perfect fit for the lead role. She had that final girl feel. She’s a strong female character, she’s a strong actor and has a strong presence. Someone that you could believe that would step up and get down and dirty when they had to, and she does in the movie. Then the wild card that was kind of dropped on us was Perez Hilton. One of the mangers had approached us and said, “what about Perez Hilton?”. And I thought – you know, that wouldn’t be a bad idea. It’s a good role, it’s one of the leads and it’s a very flushed out character. Something that he had never played before. It’s not like he is coming into this thing — like a cameo, as if oh, I’m Perez Hilton. No! It’s a lead, I met with him and just really felt like he had a quality that was inherent in that character that was on the page. So it was a pretty easy process, and I think people are going to be really surprised by Perez in “Most Likely to Die”. He is extremely funny and kind of steals a lot of the scene.
CN: What was it like to work with each other on the set of “Most Likely to Die”?
AD: Perez Hilton was excellent! He is a busy guy. Every morning he kind of staked out his plan on the set, because he had to work during the day on other things as well. He would do his radio show every morning, which is short, but he’d always have to do it. He is extremely professional and willing to try anything. If there was anything that anyone had to do that was awkward, I’d always ask Perez to do it and he’d be down to do it 100 percent. He was just brave as an actor. Just willing to do what it takes to get it done.
PH: Anthony DiBlasi was awesome! He was very open to collaboration. I try to be as easy as possible and usually I am. Like I am professional! I show up early, I do my job, and I’m as easy as possible. But what was great about Anthony, is that he is very receptive to ideas and encouraged them. So before we even started filming, I expressed to him my excitement for being a part of “Most Likely to Die”, but also my anxiety. Their might be a huge suspension of belief to see me play a heterosexual. But that’s what that part was written for originally. So I asked how he would feel about making my character gay, just so that it would be closer to me but not be myself. I still wanted to be in character, but I didn’t want people being distracted by – oh look at Perez trying to butch it up or trying to play some straight dude! He was totally cool with that. Or like another day, he had me be more involved in one scene that I wasn’t supposed to. He asked if I would scream for him! I said, well sure so long as you give me a few takes just to make sure I don’t make a fool of myself on the first one. He’s like, “of course”. He was great, he was awesome, I have nothing but glowing things to say about him.
CN: Perez you are well known in the UK for your appearance on Celebrity Big Brother and for your celebrity gossip blog. What’s the latest celebrity gossip out there?
PH: Gosh! Well today was a crazy day for that! With Blac Chyna being pregnant with Rob Kardashians baby! It’s still trending on Twitter and Facebook! It truly is a real life soap opera. It is insane!
CN: Have you ever experienced paranormal activity?
AD: I’m always on the lookout for it! I chase it down if I can. I’ve had some ghostly encounters. I stayed in New Orleans once when I was working with Clive Barker and he sought out the most haunted hotel there. The room I stayed in was owned by this civil war general, and there had been a lot of sightings of him. He had kept slaves in the house that had died tragically in ways, and every night before I’d go to bed, I had blood on my arm, randomly. It happened three times on three different nights. It was a streak of blood on my arm and it did not come from me. I don’t know where it came from, but I think the general might of had something to do with it.
PH: Hmm? I don’t think so? Not really! I am not going to lie and make something up!
CN: If you could be any character in Scooby-Doo, who would you be and why?
AD: Any character in Scooby-Doo? Well, probably Velma, because she’s hot and she has a nice rack! What’s the other one? The blonde? Shes the stereotypical – you know, the hot one, but everyone knows that Velma is the real, you know — the nerdy hot chick!
PH: Any character in Scooby-Doo? I’d probably be Scooby-Doo because he’s the star! He has his name in the title and he makes the most money.
CN: So whats next? What’s after “Most Likely to Die”?
AD: I’m actually doing another movie with MarVista Entertainment who’s releasing “Most Likely to Die”. It is like a Hitchcock style thriller called “Beneficiary” which is in post-production right now.
PH: Well Iam doing “Most Likely to Die” which Iam really excited about. I am actually doing a lot more acting which is just amazing. I’m in “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie”, a fun cameo and that comes out this summer. I’m also doing a couple of sitcoms, but those haven’t been announced yet. Like just you know, as guest star on a couple of sitcoms. Two to be exact! Which will come out in the next few months. So I’m really excited that I get to have my day job, which I love. Then I also get to just explore the other side of things, which is a return to my roots!
CN: Perez do you have any advice to any aspiring bloggers out there?
PH: My advice to young people would be that the key to success in any industry, whether you want to be a blogger, a director, or anything you do, its just really about work. The amount of work that you put in! There is no such thing as balance when you are building. When you are creating and wanting to establish yourself, your job has to be the priority. It has to be your lover and your whole life. For the longest time, it was and is still a huge priority in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I still work incredibly hard, but now I also have more balance in my life because I’m in my late 30’s. But when you are starting out, you have to be prepared to work, work, work, work, work as Briana says.