LUKE GOSS INTERVIEW
DEATH RACE 2

Q: Death Race 2 is a prequel to the first Death Race film. So you play the original Frankenstein.  How does you character become him? 

A: My character, Luke, is kind of cool.  He’s a criminal but he’s not a violent criminal.  He’s an absolute professional at what he does. He prides himself on a clean job and he makes sure that nobody gets hurt.  It’s one of the ethics of what he does. And he’s good at what he does because it’s primarily about getting the job done safely - in and out - and that ethic is compromised by Sean Bean’s character, Markus Kane. He’s my boss, but we have been friends for twenty years. In the story, he basically suggests something that compromises Luke’s ethic. And, as much as he knows that I’m not a big fan of the idea, he also knows that my character is going to get this done because he’s loyal. But, of course, it is a bad call and costs me dearly. It puts me in prison, which is terrible, and that’s the beginning of his evolution.  Bringing Luke in the movie to Frankenstein at the end, which definitely evolutionates the story.  When I read it, I was like ‘wow, this is a really good story’, because it really shows you how Frankenstein showed up  

Q: He’s kind of a good-bad guy isn’t he? 

A: They are the best good guys to play, you know. I haven’t ever found myself wanting to play characters that are squeaky clean and doing the right thing but don’t have any mischief in them. It’s not as cinematic, you know what I mean? So, he’s a great character. 

Q: Tell me about the experience of making the film, because it looks like it must have been a lot of fun on set. 

A: It was really fun.  Firstly, the director Roel: he and I became such great buddies. We are actually planning to work together again, on projects that I’m producing and he’s directing.  And that’s partly because I really admire his unbelievably hard work ethic.  Usually, there were about four or five cameras on set, and he would operate a camera on every single shot.  Unbelievable.  And, at the end of the day, when I get driven home, he’s still there filming.  It’s an unbelievable work ethic.  And he really understands the genre, the action element of the film.  He’s a really talented man. So that was fun because, if the director’s cool and hard working, just trying to make a great movie, then the cast gets a sense of that. You feel like you are in a group that is trying to be the best that they can.  We wanted to make the best picture that we could.  

Q: How much of the action did you get to do yourself? 

A: Almost all of it.  I think there is one fall that was doubled for me but I did all the fighting myself, and a lot of the driving.  Some of the really crazy stuff… there were things I didn’t do.  I trained for it and could do it but Universal were bloody terrified to put me in a car when we were doing really crazy stuff.  With the other cars, like the earlier ones, we had dupes, we had more than one of those things.  It was fine.  But the actual yellow car that I drive, we only had one of them.  And it was about fifty thousand bucks worth of car. I remember driving down the freeway with cameras in the vehicle, I was in the car doing the driving and we did about eight passes and when I turned up at the end, the men from Universal had such a look of relief on their faces that I hadn’t scratched it.  They said ‘I will get fired if you scratch the car’. I like doing my own stunts. 

Q: What was Sean Bean like to work with? His character is so terrifying. 

A: He’s really a lovely guy.  He’s very energetic. We would do these late, late shoots, very late at night and the director wanted a single shot and immediately we got on.  I’m fairly easy to work with so we got along really well. Sean’s as good an actor as you would hope him to be. I’m a fan of his work so, to be working with him, and to realise that he is a gentleman as well, was a very nice thing. It doesn’t always work out that way. 

Q: Was there anyone in the film that you were really excited about working with?  Or anyone that you really loved working with that you were surprised by? 

A: I really loved Danny, I think he’s so cool.  I was like, ‘wow, Danny Trejo is in the movie.’ I couldn’t believe I was doing scenes with him. He just has a really great look; he looks fantastic.  I’ve been a fan of what he has done for years. And he was cool, he came to the house. When we were filming in Africa, we stayed in this lovely place, looking over the ocean. So we would all hang out there, drink booze and eat until the early hours.  It was a good little gathering.  Danny didn’t drink actually. I don’t know if he drinks normally, but he didn’t drink when we were hanging out.  He’s a good guy: very, very cool.  Danny is going to be in the movie that I’m producing with Roel actually. We are going to shoot it in January I think, in a desert.  So he and I are going to be working together again. 

Q: What was the most exciting day on set? 

A: It’s hard to say really because, being on a movie set, there is so much crazy shit going on.  It’s a case of ‘what insane shit am I going to do today?’  There were intimidating days. I mean, there was one scene where I had to show up completely naked. It was the scene where I went to prison, so I was de-liced and hosed down at 5 o’clock on a windy, chilly bloody morning. And I literally have never, ever been colder. It was like a proper fire hose hosing me down, completely naked. I was just thinking ‘oh my god, I hope you don’t pull anything off with this bloody water’.  I was thinking ‘god protect me from this scene’.  That was more intimidating than the fights, or the driving, or hanging out with everyone on the show. Nakedness and a cold shower is not a combination most dudes would brag about. Cold water and nakedness are not things I want to do with my day. But luckily it didn’t make the movie, so I’m happy about that. Relieved. 

Q: How into cars are you in real life?  Is it a passion of yours? 

A: Oh yeah.  I’ve always liked cars, I’ve always been a massive fan of cars.  Cars for me, you know, it’s your own space, your own music and it goes where I want to go so it’s a little escape capsule.  I’m a massive fan of cars. I’ve got a Carrera Porsche 4SS4, the white-bodied Carrera, and a range rover. I don’t drive them at the same time though. I have tried, but it didn’t work out. Hahaha! 

Q: Your accent in the film is brilliant. Do you enjoy doing accents? 

A: I do actually. But most of my characters from the last ten years have been American, even when I was in theatre in London years ago. I’ve got a movie called Blood Out coming out soon, with Val Kilmer, and again I play an American.  I like doing accents.  What it does is help you change shape a little bit, get into your character. I’m doing a shoot in Texas in January, a cowboy (Scorpion Sunrise), so that’s going to fun.  I’ll get to wear the Stetson and ride the horses and shoot from the hip, which I have wanted to do for a number of years.  I’ve wanted to do it since I was twelve so I’m doing it now as a grown-up.   

Q: Do you keep the accent up all the time?  Or can you switch in and out of it? 

A: I keep it up all day long.  I mean, it depends how user-friendly it is on set.  If it’s an action piece, there are so many safety issue that you have to be yourself some of the time. But if it’s a purely dramatic piece, and it’s not just about action, then I’ll stay pretty much true to the character throughout the whole process because it makes it easier.  If you’re shooting quickly, then coming in and out of the accent all of the time just slows up the process. This way, I’m always ready to go. 

Q: So you keep the accent up even if you call home and speak to your family?

A: Yeah! They understand it. They’ll give me shit about my twang but, obviously, we are English. It’s our responsibility to give each other shit about everything we possible can.  

Q: The film has an interesting message about people being tired of fake violence. Do you think there will ever be a time when real violence is on TV for entertainment like in the film? 

A: I hope not! But I think it is possible. People seem to have a tenacious appetite for shit. Don’t get me wrong, I think being too civilized can be horribly, bloody boring. Spontaneity is great. But, when I was looking at the cage stuff, and I did three weeks in the cage in South Africa before we started filming – the violence and the bludgeoning definitely bothers me. But I think it is definitely a possibility unfortunately. 10 or 15 years ago, there is no way I would have imagined that TV audiences would sit there watching real people giving shit to each other, and even just sleeping, with a night vision camera on them. I mean, I don’t want to see people doing that. But it’s become normal. That just proves what an old sod I am.  I think anything is possible. 

Q: What’s coming up next for you? 

A: I’ve got a movie called ‘Blood Out’ with 50 Cent and Val Kilmer, which I’m really proud of. What we achieved on that film, and the time we had, it was just really cool.  I’m happy with that. I’ve got a movie called ‘Pressed’, which is a thriller, and kind of a cautionary tale of an American who loses his job. It’s very topical at the moment – he’s doing well and then he loses his job, his money and his savings because of the economy. He can’t solve the problem as he would like, and he makes a couple of choices that cost him dearly. So that’s a good thriller. I also have ‘Tekken’ coming out, which is an adaptation of the video game. I’ve got the Western, set in present day in the 1800s, it goes back and forward and I play two characters in that.  And I’m producing three movies.  Secured a huge chunk of money for a film I’m producing.  Of the three I’m producing, I wrote two.  And I’m going to be directing towards the end of next year.  I’ve got a lot going on!