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Thats My E! Exclusive Interview with Stan Against Evil’s Randall Newsome

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To fans of the hit IFC show, Stan Against Evil, we know him fondly as Constable Thaddeus Eccles. But Randall Newsome has had a very successful career on and off the camera, as well as the theater and  even did a stint with the infamous Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus.

His most recent roles besides Stan Against Evil include, the award winning film Hidden Figures and AMC Networks hot show Turn.

We get to chat with him today about his career and his role in our favorite horror comedy from Dana Gould.

Stan Against Evil – Randall Newsome from Randall Newsome on Vimeo.

Stan Against Evil

 

TME: You have a great career with some awesome shows! How did you get involved with Stan Against Evil?

RN: Hey, thank you.   As a journeyman actor, I realize I’ve been pretty lucky, and I’ve been able to spread it out among theatre, television and film.

And getting cast in Stan Against Evil turned out to be another lucky bonus.  I got the call to audition for the show (which shoots in Atlanta), so I shot an audition on video in my NYC apartment, and bam – I got hired within a few days.  I guess it was a right fit.

TME: How did you picture yourself playing the role of Constable Eccles and how did you incorporate that with what Dana Gould had put on the page?

RN: I knew that Constable Eccles had burned 172 witches in Willard’s Mill back in the 17th Century, he was good at time traveling, and that he set the demons in motion to wreak havoc on the current constable.   I wasn’t exactly sure of the tone of my stuff until I got to the set,  but I did know that they were looking for Eccles to establish more of the history and to play it straight.  Since I have a pretty strong background in classical theatre, I knew that I could count on using the words to do most of the work for me.  Dana’s dialogue is so colorful,  I decided that if I could just  “taste” the words as I spoke them, that it would go a long way.

Randall Newsome as Constable Eccles courtesy of IFC

TME: What are some things you can do with this character that you haven’t been able to do with previous roles? Especially as the main villain?

RN: Well,  for one thing,  I get to dress entirely in black.  I figured that I’d only ever get to do that if I was playing a priest, or doing a Johnny Cash tribute lounge act.  I also wield some fire and spend a hell of a lot of time immolating (so-called) innocent people. But one of the more fun things I got to do as Eccles was go in disguise.  Before the character was fully established as the original Constable of the town who travels time, I got to make an appearance to Evie Barret as a mysterious sassy hobo in the woods.  My job in that episode was to mainly establish the storyline, but they wanted me to do it hiding in plain sight as another character.  I’m pretty good at accents and I dig improvising, and somebody said to throw on a baseball cap and a trench coat and do a cajun accent.  So I did.  And that’s how that happened.  I was in heaven.  Love that stuff.

TME: How is the chemistry on set when working with the cast and crew on Stan?

RN:  I really enjoy that company of people.   They are a dedicated group of professionals working in the heat of the outdoors with lots of bugs  and snakes, and doing their jobs with skill and humor. I have such respect for all of them.  Dana Gould is the only Producer/Comedian I’ve ever worked for, and from now on I want all the producers I work for to be comedians.  I wish I could put that it my contract.   He made it nothing but fun.  And of course, John McGinley is a blast to work with.  I did a feature with him for a minute years ago on a movie in Buenos Aires, Argentina.   He was terrific then, too.  I was fired up to be able work with him again.

TME: Do you do your own stunts in the show? You were credited as a stuntman in Tremors.

RN: I did some physical stuff on the show, but nothing too stunty.  Though I have done a bunch of stunts in other stuff including touring with the circus.  I got into the Screen Actors Guild as a stunt double on Tremors.  I was actually an Assistant Director on that classic.   We had been shooting not far from Death Valley for weeks in a town that the art department had built.  One day they needed somebody to stunt double for Michael Gross, so I threw on a hat and a fake mustache and BOOM – I was falling off of rocks and getting chased by giant worms..  Show biz, baby.

Courtesy of IFC

TME: What can you tell us to expect from Constable Eccles in Season 2 of Stan Against Evil?

RN:  Ha.  That’s a good question.  They’re good at keeping it suspenseful  and unexpected and secret -y, so I may be as surprised as you are as to what goes on with Eccles in Season 2.  We filmed a bunch of stuff and I just went with it.  So we’ll see!

TME: When we talk about your acting career, you once toured with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. What did you do with them and how has that experience added to your acting method?

RN: My experience with Ringling Bros Circus was a fantastic, raucous phenomenon. I was a clown.  In the 90’s I got an invitation to RBB&B Clown College and later toured with the 125th Edition of the Circus.  The whole experience was brilliant.  There is hardly a day that I don’t think of some aspect of it.  It was one of the worst paying and most exhausting (and physically painful) jobs that I’ve ever had, and I would’t trade it for anything.  Its no doubt an asset to my acting career, but some of  the people I trained and worked with  became gifted dentists, firemen, lawyers, clergy, teachers… We learned that hard work spurs creativity (most people think it’s the opposite) and that an open heart invites wonder.  It truly was awesome.

TME: What is one role you have had that you would pick as one of your greatest achievements?

RN: Years ago I was starring in a Larry Shue farce in an off-Loop Chicago theatre.  A friends’s aunt come to the show one night, and in middle of Act 2, I made her laugh so hard she threw up in the aisle.  We kept doing the show.   It doesn’t get better than that.

TME: What is one of your dream roles you would love to play?

RN: A mean SOB in a western.  On a horse, wearing boots  (me, not the horse).  And I want a good hat.

TME: Finally, if you had one piece of advice for actors what would that be?

RN: Shut up and listen.

Stan Against Evil airs on IFC November 1st, 10pm E/P with back to back episodes.

Follow them on Facebook @IFCStanAgainstEvil or on twitter @StanAgainstEvil

You can also follow the cast

John C. McGinley @JohnCMcGinley

Janet Varney @JanetVarney

Dana Gould @Danagould

Deborah Baker Jr. @deborahbakerjr

Randall Newsome @RMNewsome

Also check out Randall’s website www.randallnewsome.com

 

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Dune Part Two: The Lisan Al Gaib comes for you!

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Welcome back to our struggle for control of the known universe already in progress, the continuation of the journey of Paul Atreides from exile to Emperor, Dune Part Two

So when we last left our intrepid if dubious heroes, House Atreides had been betrayed and virtually destroyed, by a combination of House Harkonnens surprise attacks and the added treachery of Emperor Shaddam and his Sardaukar. Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet), the last surviving heir (so far) of House Atreides and his mother Jessica, have taken refuge on the desert planet of Arrakis amongst the indigenous Fremen, and as far as most are aware, the other remnants of House Atreides are dead as well. And here is where we catch up with everyone, as the struggle for Atreides emergence and dominance begins in earnest! 

The Emperor’s daughter Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) is known for her many skills, but her copious note-taking and writings on the large events shaping her world come to the forefront as she takes counsel with her father amidst games of chance on their homeworld. Her life is one of luxury and privilege but alas, Irulan is a trained Bene Gesserit and is well aware that in all likelihood, she will be used as a pawn in the marriage games empires have to go through. Bet she never imagined it could be to a House everyone swore had been utterly destroyed. 

Meanwhile, on Arrakis, Paul is trying to integrate himself into the Fremen way of life, which is admittedly far different from the life he led back on the Atreides homeworld of Caladan. (If nothing else, Caladan has vast oceans.) The Fremen are fiercely independent, gloriously strong fighters, survivors who dare to ride and revere the giant sandworms that inhabit their planet that they call Shai-Hulud, and rightfully distrustful of outsiders. After all, the previous stewardship of Arrakis belonged to House Harkonnen, known for their cruelty and glee at hunting Fremen and torturing their victims, sometimes for weeks at a time. But Paul won his and Jessicas way into the Fremen by fair combat against Jamis, and if nothing else, the Fremen are firm in their beliefs of the old ways. 

Or rather, the elder Fremen are, most particularly the famed Fedaykin fighter and Naib (leader) of Sietch Tabr Stilgar (Javier Bardem) is adamant in his unshakable belief that Paul is the foretold Lisan Al Gaib, the Voice from the Outer World, that will lead the Fremen to peace and paradise. Stilgar’s steadfast belief in Paul’s potential only grows, and he manages with just that to convince a great many of the other Fremen elders. The younger generation of Fremen however, of which Paul’s beloved Chani (Zendaya) is a part, generally scoff at the legends of otherworldly prophets and Arrakis as a fabled green, wet heaven. In the beginning, Paul himself swears he doesn’t want to be the Messiah, only a Fremen fighter amongst the rest of them, hundreds of years of the Missionaria Protectiva, the Bene Gesserit practice of spreading useful religious propaganda as seeds on various planets, is working double-time against him. It doesn’t help that Paul’s mother Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) is expounding on that myth as much as she possibly can. 

And why would she do that? Survival yes, but also, Jessica is a thoroughly trained Bene Gesserit and knows of plans within plans within plans. Jessica also has many secrets of her own, and one very important one happens to be that she’s pregnant with Paul’s sister. The Bene Gesserit bodily control may be something out of legend, but even Jessica, possibly Reverend Mother Mohiam’s best and most fractious student, will have trouble with the trial the Fremen are insisting she go through to become truly one of them. The Reverend Mother equivalent of Sietch Tabr, known as their Sayyadina, is old and dying, and the Fremen have to have a Reverend Mother. Jessica tells Paul this much and explains that each culture is different in their trial to become a Reverend Mother, so she honestly doesn’t know what to expect. The reality happens to be worse than she could’ve imagined – Jessica must drink the Water of Life, a deadly poison that comes from Shai-Hulud (sort of), and come out the other side of it. And Jessica manages to do it, barely, with almost all of the consequences going to the poor fetus in her womb, the girl that will grow to become Alia Atreides, an insane legend in her own right. But for now, the unnamed fetus is awake and aware and full of the memories of generations of Bene Gesserit women that came before her – before she was even born

Paul participates in razzia raids amongst the Fremen as they work to take out the spice mining operations of the Harkonnens, immerses himself in the vastly different desert culture of his chosen people, and perhaps most importantly, his romance with his beloved Chani only grows stronger. After declaring his desire to join the fierce fighter elites amongst the Fremen known as Fedaykin, Paul is told by Stilgar that he must summon and ride one of the giant sandworms, the embodiment of Shai-Hulud where the Fremen get their terrible tooth Crysknives from. And after much sendup, in a glorious scene of blinding sand and huge monstrous killer worm-riding, Paul is triumphant and riding atop the sacred creature, his Maker hooks set properly to control the great beast, waving at great distance to his fellow Fremen as Chani looks on in bemusement. 

But that’s all external, and inside Paul is beginning to become divided on what he wants to do. As Jessica pushes the Protectiva hard amongst the women and priestesses of the Fremen, she is also pushing her son to become much larger than he ever wanted to be, if nothing else a conqueror can take revenge for the destruction of House Atreides and the death of her beloved Duke Leto. Paul may have earned his place amongst the Fremen and been given new names – Usul, meaning the strength of the base of the pillar, as his private name within the Sietch; and Muad’Dib, from the small mouse survivor of the desert, well versed in desert ways, called ‘Instructor-of-Boys’ in Fremen legend, as his open-use name – but now everyone wants Paul to be something greater, and potentially more destructive, than what he currently is. It only gets worse when Paul begins to suffer prophetic dreams, and visions when he’s awake, prodding him further to his destiny as an epic conqueror of worlds. Nothing can be done for it, Paul convinces himself that he must take the Water of Life himself, to awaken the sleeping prophet inside himself, and allow him to hopefully See a path through the future. 

The problem with that plan, is that Bene Gesserit are almost exclusively all women, and only they are supposed to know how to transmute poisons internally, along with all sorts of other “witchcraft”. But Jessica has been training Paul in forbidden Bene Gesserit ways all his life, and as much as Paul might rail and even quail against it, there is no denying his incoming destiny, crushing any resistance he may have with all the force of a giant sandworm hunting a spice blow. And even when Paul has finally given in and taken the cursed substance almost mockingly called the Water of Life, it falls to another strong and prophetic in her right female in his life, his beloved Chani, to save him from himself. But even Chani can’t stop Paul’s destructive destiny as the conqueror of the known worlds, guilty of slaying millions upon millions of people in his quest for vengeance, thinly disguised as peace. 

Over on the Harkonnen homeworld of Geidi Prime, “Beast” Rabban (Dave Bautista) is disgusted and enraged at the continuing Fremen raids against the Harkonnens on Arrakis, and terrified of what his uncle the notoriously cruel Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard), will do to him in response. The Baron’s nephew Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), heir apparent or na-Baron to House Harkonnen, demonstrates his blood-inborn savagery in a slaughter of the remnants of House Atreides gladiator-style, as his birthday celebration. Pleased with the spectacle, the Baron commands Feyd-Rautha to take control of the fight against this Fremen rebel known as Muad’dib, as Rabban is proving himself more and more useless. And any tool or toy that the Baron finds broken or unusable, is destroyed before being discarded. 

As the legend of Muad’dib grows off Arrakis and circulates among the Imperial worlds, the Emperor grinds his teeth in frustration and the Bene Gesserit, led by Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling) as the Emperor’s Truthsayer, begin pushing forward their plots and machinations. Lady Margot Fenring (Lea Seydoux), a criminally underused character in this respect, demonstrates her willingness to be a pawn in Bene Gesserit machinations, but never forget, strong Bene Gesserit women have been breaking their own rules for generations. Just look at what Jessica did. 

As the raids and rebellion on Arrakis continue, both the Emperor and the Baron become more and more desperate, sending in mercenaries and smugglers in the hopes they might have more luck. And aboard one of those smuggler’s vessels happens to be an old hand at being a smuggler himself, the warrior troubadour with the scarred face given him by “Beast” Rabban himself, Gurney Halleck (Josh Brolin). Reunited with his beloved Duke’s only son, Gurney finds himself swept up in the legend of Muad’dib in the making along with everyone else, though at least from Gurney’s point of view, Paul is using the messianic angle to take revenge for House Atreides. 

Finally, in an act of what could be considered the ultimate in arrogance, Emperor Shaddam Corrino himself comes to Arrakis, along with Princess Irulan and many others of his Court, the Baron, and Feyd-Rautha in tow as well, to crush this upstart Muad’dib and his Fremen warriors. Sadly for all that the powerhouse actor Christopher Walken plays him, Emperor Shaddam Corrino is shown as a doddering old man, cowed in the face of Muad’dib’s overwhelming vitality and growing-ever-stronger legend. And there is where we will end the review, for the final confrontation between all key players in the Known Universe is full of spoilers and derivations from the original opus of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune

For those of you who stuck around long enough to get to the end, after all, Dune Part Two is almost three hours long itself, if you are fans of the original novel and the zany Lynchian masterpiece that was the first Dune film, you may be disappointed or even angered at the changes made to the story for the climactic end scenes. Director Villenuve has an eye for making grand epic scenes like Paul’s sandworm ride but can be a bit scattered when it comes to piecing the story together with all the key players needing to be involved in a way that can be understood by any layman. Dune in any form is a rich, vast universe of storytelling, and even an almost three-hour-long sequel simply can’t cover every last bit that’s in the novels. But if nothing else, the film is an overwhelming feast for the eyes and should bring a whole new legion of fans to the many worlds contained within Dune

If you want to dive further into the Dune-iverse, do yourself a favor and read the Dune prequel books written by Herbert Jr. and Kevin J. Anderson. Until then, dive into the sands of Arrakis along with Shai-Hulud and scream vengeance to the skies with Paul Muad’dib Atreides in Dune Part Two, in theaters now! 

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The 8 Episode Series Tries To Encompass A Lot Leaving Fans In A Cliffhanger.

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The 2010 “Avatar: The Last Airbender” movie by M. Night Shyamalan faced criticism for its deviations from the beloved animated series. The film struggled with pacing, casting, and a lackluster script, disappointing fans who cherished the source material. In contrast, the 2024 Netflix series has generated positive buzz for its commitment to diverse casting, adherence to the original storyline, and improved character development. The series seems poised to capture the essence of the animated show, offering a fresh and faithful adaptation that resonates with both new and existing fans.

Even though the Netflix series comes closer to the core ideals of the animated series, I feel it lacks heart. Many scenes barely scratch the surface of the relationships between the characters and the push-and-pull relationship between Aang and Zuko. I will admit the CG versions of Momo and Appa are just so gosh darn cute.

The 8 episode series tries to encompass a lot leaving fans in a cliffhanger. It’s worth a watch and I am hanging on for the next season to be announced.

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