five with frights:- jeff kober
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Mr. Frights is a big fan of actor JEFF KOBER, who has worked on many TV series and movies that continue to entertain horror fans; and it's a great pleasure to bring fans this interview!
www.jeffkobermeditation.com
IMDB
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MR. FRIGHTS: From the very beginning, from "V" all the way up through "Burn Notice", you've worked on many many of my favorite shows and movies.
You've worked a variety of projects, not just horror. My question is though, do you ever prefer horror type projects? -
JEFF KOBER: No, I don’t really think of projects in those terms. What I look for in a job is, ‘how interesting is this character? Is there something interesting I can bring to this job?’ Often times in a ‘horror’ project, the characters are terribly interesting, so there is some interest on that level. -
MR. FRIGHTS: For you, what's one of your favorite accomplishments with regard to your career?
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JEFF KOBER: Favorite accomplishment: my favorite moments are those times when I am able fully to embrace a fictional reality. There was an episode of ‘Nothing Sacred,’ in which I played the ne’er-do-well brother of the priest played by
Kevin Anderson. Robert Young was directing, and the whole episode we shot as if it were a small film. With Robert’s direction, the work became simpler and simpler, and more and more real as we went along. It was this perfect time, each of us fully invested, fully present. No ego. Just the work, the moment to moment work. It was an amazing time.
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MR. FRIGHTS: You've often played the "bad guy" in things I've seen your work. Do you enjoy being the antagonist more than being "good guy"?
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JEFF KOBER: Yes. Sure. It’s so much easier to embrace a point of view as the bad guy. And it’s often this great challenge to find this character inside, to behave in this way that I personally never would behave, and to find the way to do it without judgment. Because everyone has a reason, a justification for doing what they’re doing. No one, in their own mind, is a “bad guy.” Everyone’s doing what they have to do. As actors, that’s our job: to find out why this particular person is doing what he’s doing. And find a way to enjoy doing it ourselves.
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MR. FRIGHTS: I saw on IMDB you have a credit for Art Department for original paintings on "Kindred: The Embraced"... Has your artwork ever made it's way onto any other shows or movies?
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JEFF KOBER: I don’t think so. Those paintings on “Kindred” happened because I was playing a character who was over 3000 years old, and spent a lot of time alone in the basement. I said to the producer,
John Leekley, I think, after this much time I’d have picked up a hobby or two. Like painting, or playing the cello. He liked the idea of the painting. I didn’t have a clue how to paint, but there was an episode where I was painting a portrait of this boy, and the Art Dept. wasn’t coming up with anything, they were very busy with other aspects of the show, so I gave it a shot myself.
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MR. FRIGHTS: You've had to wear some pretty heavy make-up/costumes in some of the things you've done (i.e. Tank Girl). Is something that dramatic of a transformation a fun thing? Does it make it harder to do the work?
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JEFF KOBER: That kind of make-up actually makes the work so simple. “You” are completely hidden, and you can really let yourself go in the work. The work is amazingly fun, though the putting on and the taking off of the prosthetics can be a royal pain. My role in “Tank Girl,” Booga, I absolutely loved. One of my favorites. So innocent and funny. And having the make-up just pushed all of us to really embody these great characters.
Hit the Grab Bag Questions below to go on with the interview...
GRAB BAG QUESTIONS
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MR. FRIGHTS: You've got a very distinct voice, I'll never forget Patrick Channing egging on Lou Diamond Phillips' character in The First Power... "Piggy piggy..." (simply awesome). Have you ever done voice work for anything?
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JEFF KOBER: Not a lot. A few voice-overs for some Play Station ads, and a U.K.Bacardi campaign years ago.
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MR. FRIGHTS: Do you happen to have a favorite horror movie? And if so, why?
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JEFF KOBER: Favorite horror movie… hm… from my youth I have a soft spot for two movies. Edgar Allan Poe’s “Tomb of Lygeia,” a
Roger Corman movie starring
Vincent Price. The screenplay turns out to have been written by
Robert Towne. Scared hell out of me. And a sci-fi film, “Invaders from Mars.” Somehow I got left home alone and saw it alone, I was about six or seven, and of course it’s this kid who ends up the only one in his world who had not been taken over by the Martians. So when my family came home, I had to get a look at the back of their neck in order to make sure it was okay to trust them.
And “The Other.” 1972. It had my friends, Jenny Sullivan and John Ritter in it. Also Victor French, who gave me my first big break in TV (“Highway to Heaven”), and Uta Hagen. But when I saw it, it was just scary. I didn’t know any of them then. -
MR. FRIGHTS: We all know and love the work you do as an actor, but do you think you'll ever do some work behind the camera?
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JEFF KOBER: I’m in the process right now of co-writing and – directing a small film with the actress,
Susan Traylor. Also, I have a play I’ve just finished that I would like to direct. But really, directing is so hard. It takes a very special kind of person to do it, and to do it well. I love acting too much, along with the other things I do, to spend the time and energy it would take to have that career going as well.
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MR. FRIGHTS: Have you ever played a scary practical joke on anyone, or had one played on you? Tell us about it.
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JEFF KOBER: Sorry. Not that I can remember.
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MR. FRIGHTS: If you could star with any horror icon alive today, who would it be and why?
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JEFF KOBER:
Mia Farrow. Is she an icon? “Rosemary’s Baby.” Very good. very scary.
And she was extraordinary in it. Why? Because she is so talented, beautiful and classy. A combination rather rare at any time.