Kane Hodder discusses playing Victor Crowley once again in Hatchet II, working with director Adam Green, Chillerama and much more.

Kane Hodder's place in the horror history books has long been secured, but, like any driven actor or performer, he's not one to rest on his laurels. He is the only actor to portray Jason Voorhees more than once (four times, in fact, in Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday, and Jason X), and he has even brought some real-life serial killers to life on the big screen in Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield and B.T.K. as the B.T.K. killer, Dennis Rader. This stuntman/actor also portrays the horror genre's most recent beloved icon, Victor Crowley, in Adam Green's sequel Hatchet II, which will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 1. I recently had the chance to speak with Kane Hodder over the phone, about reprising his role of Victor Crowley from the original Hatchet, and here's what he had to say:

I loved the first movie and it seems like there was a plan intact for multiple movies before the first Hatchet went into production. Can you talk about your first interactions with Adam and what he told you about this amazing character, Victor Crowley?

Kane Hodder: Yeah. From the very beginning, he told me that he intended on not telling the whole story in the first movie. When he talked about that, and he talked about certain things that are in the first movie, that showed he didn't want to get into that area until the second movie... well, some people would say, 'Oh, come on. You're just saying that now because you did a second one.' It was, from the very beginning, planned to do at least two, before he told anywhere near close to the whole story. When I met with him, we talked about how the character would be, and the differences we thought would make the character different from Jason, certainly. He's a lot more frenetic and fast and unpredictable. From the beginning, we just hit it off. I love working with the guy. He's an extremely talented writer and director and he's going to do huge movies, no doubt. I'm just happy to be involved with him.

Yeah, I would definitely agree. I love his style of filmmaking and I've enjoyed all his movies.

Kane Hodder: Yeah. I mean, Frozen was so totally different but still riveting. That was, actually, a very hard movie to do.

Yeah, I can imagine.

Kane Hodder: Everything you hear from actors about the difficulties of making that movie, are all absolutely true. In my opinion, actors tend to exaggerate how difficult some things are, but not in this case. Anything they said about it, I guarantee is true. It was fucking freezing, they had to sit in the chair lift for six hours at a time, without coming down at all, because you couldn't move the chair lift backwards. It had to go all the way to the top and then all the way back down for them to get out.

One of the many things I really loved about Hatchet II is we get to see you without all the make-up, where you play both Victor and his father. Was it cool to play both these characters and get a break from all the crazy makeup with Victor?

Kane Hodder: Oh, definitely. In the first movie, I asked Adam to give me something to do outside of the makeup, where I could show some emotion. Even though it was quick, I think there were a few good emotional scenes in the first movie and, I can't tell you how many doors that opened. Filmmakers were saying, 'Wait a minute. This guy can do stuff other than behind makeup and a mask.' I was hoping that would happen, if I pulled it off. In the second one, I was in Montreal and he called me and said, 'I'm done with the script and you're going to love it and you have a sex scene.' I said, 'Yeah, OK, right. That would be hilarious, but what is the movie really about?' He said, 'No, you have a sex scene and more emotional stuff.' He does challenge me. He ends up having me do stuff that I've never done on screen when I'm playing a major character. I'm sure you've heard about Chillerama.

Yes, yes.

Kane Hodder: So, he said, 'I've got something else for you to do that I don't think you've done before,' and that was dance. So now I've danced, which I have never done, so I don't know what the fuck he's going to have me do next time.

I don't know. I'm trying to think of what he would do too.

Kane Hodder: (Laughs) He always thinks of something. He had me cry, then he had me have a sex scene and then he had me dancing. It was the first time, every time.

That's awesome. One of the other cool things is there is such an all-star team from the entire horror world. I'm sure you've worked with some of these people before. Was it almost like a horror high school reunion of sorts?

Kane Hodder: It was, yeah. Even some of the actors I've never worked with before, I've done conventions with for years, so we're already friends. Like, with Danielle Harris, we had never worked with each other before, but we knew each other very well, hanging out at conventions, sitting next to each other, things like that. It was easy to imagine her in that character and I was very happy when she got the part.

Some of the kills in this are so amazing, outrageous and over the top. Although it comes off great on screen, were there a lot of logistic challenges in pulling these off? Like the chainsaw, for instance?

Kane Hodder: Oh yeah. That chainsaw was 150 pounds, mostly in the blade. It was incredibly hard to swing around, I'll tell you that. I had to have a little assistance, but I won't describe how that happened. There are always a lot of difficult things, but I've said it before with Adam. He's the only guy that writes kills that I can just look at and say, 'That's fucking perfect.' I don't need to add anything to it. With the Jason kills, they were like, 'Oh, that's not bad, but what if we also did this.' I would add my two cents worth and make it more brutal, but the way Adam writes them, they're already brutal and I don't have to do anything besides do the damn kill myself. It's not very often where that happens.

The sad thing about the movie is how it got pulled unceremoniously. Can you talk about your first reaction when you heard what happened? It really pissed me off, to be honest with you.

Kane Hodder: Oh, I was shocked. It was their idea in the first place, to put it out unrated and Adam said, 'Well, yeah! Of course! Let's do that!' Then, whatever the pressure was and whatever happened, they pulled it. It was a complete shock to me. I was so disappointed. They sent us all over the country, too. It was me, Danielle, Tony (Todd), Adam, R.A. (Mihailoff). We all went to different places around the country for opening weekend, to help promote the opening of it. It was well-received and then, all of the sudden, it's gone.

I talked to Adam a few months ago for the VOD release and he told me that he never got a straight answer as to why they yanked the movie.

Kane Hodder: Well, I know how that is. I have never, to this day, gotten a straight answer as to why I was replaced as Jason. I never got a straight answer. I got all kinds of other possibilities floating around there and reasons, but nobody ever told me, 'This is why.'

When I talked to Adam, it seemed he is booked for the next few years until he can get back to make Hatchet 3. Is it safe to say that everyone would be willing to wait for Adam to come back and cap off a trilogy?

Kane Hodder: Yeah. I mean, unless I direct it. Who knows.

Have you guys talked about the story at all? Is there anything you can share about what Hatchet 3 might be about?

Kane Hodder: Oh yeah. He already had the third one in mind when he did the first one. He described two scenarios to me, both of which, I think would be great, even though I can't tell you what they are.

If it does get made, do you think that would be the last one?

Kane Hodder: Oh, who knows. Who knows. Knowing Adam, I bet there will still be enough information and story left in his mind to do more than one more.

You have several other projects in the works and Robin Hood: Ghosts of Sherwood sounds really interesting. Is there anything more you can tell us about that?

Kane Hodder: Yeah. It's a 3D movie where I play Little John and we're not done with it yet. We have to go back and finish in the spring, when the weather gets better. Tom Savini is the Sheriff of Nottingham and I think he and I are the only American actors in it. I just got a Google alert that there is a trailer up for it somewhere, on YouTube or something. I'm also writing my book. It will come out October 1 and it's basically my life story and how many people I 'killed' and it's going to have a lot of heart to it because it gets into the whole burn injury and everything. We've been working on it since last summer.

That's awesome. What's the title of the book?

Kane Hodder: It's just called Kill and the website for the book is KaneHodderKills.com. I'm writing with an author named Mike Aloisi. If you go to the website, there is some pretty interesting blog information on there too. Yeah, October 1 is when it comes out. The other thing I did is a movie called Cut with Tony Todd in West Virginia. He and I have a lot of cool scenes together and I'm really anxious to see that when it comes out.

Is Chillerama still slated to come out later this year then?

Kane Hodder: I think so. I'm not sure if done with all of the segments. I'm working with Ryan Schifrin next week on a little thing and I believe he was involved. I think you'll enjoy Adam's segment.

I'm sure. I've enjoyed everything he's done so far, so I'm sure I will. Finally, I know there aren't a whole lot of people that actually got to see Hatchet II in theaters. What would you like to say to those who haven't seen it to get them to pick up the Blu-ray or DVD on February 1?

Kane Hodder: You know, I can tell you that I, personally, liked the second movie better, because of so many things that were explained. The violence is just as creative as the first, but I loved the first movie. I wish it had stayed in theaters longer but at least people can see what we really did put together when the DVD comes out. I guarantee people won't be disappointed by it.

Excellent. Well that's about all I have for you, Kane. Thank you so much for your time and best of luck with anything else you have coming out.

Kane Hodder: My pleasure. Thanks, bro.

You can watch Kane Hodder as the fantastic Victor Crowley when Hatchet II hits the shelves on Blu-ray or DVD on February 1.