Why are ‘Thriller’s’ Ola Ray and ‘E.T.’s’ Henry Thomas in town? Let them explain.
Mad Monster’s second big Charlotte-area event of the year, Mad Monster Expo, kicks off Friday at Embassy Suites in Concord — and this time, the three-day horror and sci-fi convention reunites stars from “E.T.,” “Halloween III” and “Killer Klowns from Outer Space,” and also will see stars from Hulu’s hit “Predator” prequel “Prey” making their first convention appearances.
Other guests include actor Henry Thomas; “Hereditary’s” Milly Shapiro; scream queen Barbara Crampton; pro-wrestling icons Jake “the Snake” Roberts, Matt Hardy and Scott Steiner; as well as Ola Ray, who starred alongside Michael Jackson in the groundbreaking music video for “Thriller.”
The Expo also includes free workshops on screenwriting, movie makeup and FX, filmmaking, and ghost hunting.
Henry Thomas and Ola Ray recently spoke with The Charlotte Observer by phone, separately, to promote their appearances at the convention.
Chatting with Henry Thomas
First up is Thomas, who in addition to playing Elliott in 1982’s “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” has appeared in several of horror guru Mike Flanagan’s projects, including the hit Netflix miniseries “The Haunting of Hill House” and the upcoming “The Fall of the House of Usher.” He’ll be featured in the “E.T. 40th Anniversary Reunion Panel” at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
Q. Have you done a lot of conventions and fan events?
I started doing conventions in 2018. I’d heard of them for years because Robert McNaughton and Dee Wallace, who played my family in “E.T.,” had been doing them and encouraged me to do them. I’d written it off as something I wasn’t ever going to do. I agreed to do one and it was actually pretty fun.
Q. So you’ve stayed in touch with them over the years.
I stayed in touch with Robert (who plays Elliot’s brother Michael). We became friends on set. He’s about four or five years older and we were close enough in age we could relate. We stayed in loose contact. Generally film work is pretty migratory so you don’t end up speaking to those people again.
Q. Given that, what’s it like working with some of the same actors on multiple Mike Flanagan projects?
It’s been nice. Mike Flanagan enjoys bringing familiar people back. He likes to work with known quantities and he doesn’t like a lot of variables thrown in the mix. He’s very organized. If he finds a tool that works, he likes to use it again. It has a real repertory theater feel amongst the cast. It’s fun to come in and play a different character with the same actors. Actors have a lot of different characteristics and they can embody roles in different ways, and you don’t often get to see actors get to do really varied characters or performances. It’s fun for us because we can play around in those worlds. If you know the actor and read the script and think so and so is going to play this character, I’m excited to see what happens.
Q. What are you working on now?
We just finished “Fall of the House of Usher” in July. They’re cutting it together now. It’s going to be fun for fans, especially fans of “Hill House” and “Bly Manor.” It’s in that same vein. It should be season three, but for legal reasons or something, it isn’t. I don’t know when Netflix is going to put it out. Mike has “Midnight Club” coming out this fall.
Q. You were just 10 years old when “E.T.” was made. What was filming E.T.’s death scene like for you at that age?
It was difficult because it was just me giving a speech and crying. That was a great thing about Steven (Spielberg). He really knew how to talk to kids, not in a way that was condescending. He made you feel like you were an adult working on something with him. He had a way of making you feel at ease. He talked to me before the scene like he usually did. He would speak to you matter-of-factly. It was all stuff I already knew. It’s like the coach telling you to do this thing he’s told you to do 3,000 times. It’s more the reassurance. It was more about making the kids feel safe so they could go to those emotional places. I felt like I could try anything on that set and nobody would say it was stupid.
Q. You play a plumber fighting for his life in this new movie “Crawlspace.” Was that pretty harrowing?
That was a lot of fun for me. It’s the first film that I’ve starred in in a while, and it was also the first film in a long time where I had some action sequences. The whole movie I’m trapped in this basement. I’m a plumber who witnesses a crime. The people don’t want to leave any loose ends. It’s sort of like “Home Alone” in a cabin. There was about a four-foot-high clearance. You had to be on your knees and on all fours crawling around. I actually watched it last night with my kids because my kids went with me while we were filming it. During one of the scenes, my son was lying in the crawlspace next to me. We watched it and he had to say, “I was right there for that one.”
Q. Are there any other projects you’re excited about?
I did a film last year in Georgia with Sissy Spacek and Dustin Hoffman called “Sam and Kate.” I have a small part in it, but it was really special to me because Sissy Spacek was the first actress I ever worked with. She and her husband, (production designer) Jack Fisk, discovered me and cast me in “Raggedy Man.”
It kind of felt like my career had come full circle. Her daughter, Schuyler, was also in “Sam and Kate.” When Schuyler was born — or shortly after — was when I was being nominated for all the awards because of “E.T.” I was scared out of my mind at 11 years old having to go to a televised awards show. Jack and Sissy, knowing I’d lose because I was a kid, made me an award they called the Schuyler Award. It was a wooden block with a weather-vane-looking horse on it. That’s the best award I’ve ever won.
Chatting with Ola Ray
Ray is best known for playing Michael Jackson’s girlfriend in his 1983 “Thriller” music video. But before “Thriller,” she’d already modeled and performed in Japan, was a Playboy Playmate of the Month, and appeared in the movies “Night Shift” (with Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton), “48 Hours” (with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd), and Charles Bronson’s “10 to Midnight.” Her rise in Hollywood was cut short by her arrest on drug charges in 1992.
She chronicles all of it in her recent biography, “The Thrill of It All.” Prior to her appearance at Mad Monster Expo, Ray discussed her career, Jackson, and the book.
Q. You and Michael Jackson both came from large performing families. Did you guys bond over that similar background?
I let him know. We laughed about it. I was raised in a family of 9. My mom and dad would have us come down and perform for our aunts and uncles. We thought we were The Jackson 5.
Q. How difficult was revisiting some of the harder times of your life for the book?
I cried so much every time I submitted a chapter to the book company. If I had to rewrite something, I would cry again. I went through so many emotions. It was so hard to talk about my dad in the beginning, to talk about everything that happened after “Thriller.”
I spent the last five years writing my book. That’s basically where my concentration has been. I haven’t thought about acting. What I want to do next is produce films on the different chapters in my book. I would like to go to schools and prisons and talk to kids and people that are incarcerated about the importance of staying sober.
Q. Is that why you decided to write it?
I never knew that my life would turn out the way that it did. For me, writing the book was like therapy. I had to talk about it. People that are in the entertainment industry these days need to be aware. You might walk into a room where there are drugs all over the table. Prepare your mind to say no. These producers are asking you to have sex with them to get the part. These are some of the pitfalls you may encounter. Just know you can say no. These guys are probably not serious about your or your talent.
Q. So it’s a cautionary tale.
I wish back in the day someone would have prepared me for the situations I found myself in. The biggest part about that, every time I got into another situation, I was kidnapped or locked in someone’s basement. I went through every emotion that would cause severe PTSD and depression, but through the grace of God I was able to get through everything. I’m here to tell the story. To give people hope, maybe, if there is anyone that are in these situations. Know you can overcome and get out.
Q. What did you think of the New York Times article and the #MeToo movement exposing a lot of the abuse in Hollywood?
I thought it was great. Finally someone had the courage to stand up to these guys. I don’t have the courage to stand up to them. These guys in my book are still predators in Hollywood. I’m fearful for either my life or just being blacklisted again. I take my hat off to the girls that did have the courage. Maybe one day I will reveal.
Q. Are you a fan of horror or sci-fi yourself?
I’m not a big horror fan. I don’t like being scared or anything demonic. I come from a Catholic background. I didn’t think about it when I did “Thriller.” I don’t celebrate Halloween now.
Q. Your scream is iconic. Did you practice it?
I had a little practice doing things that required me to (scream). In “10 to Midnight,” I was afraid someone trying to kill me in the shower. I just wanted to make sure, working with Michael, to give him the best scream I could. In my mind, I had to imagine what would scare me. Because whatever I was doing was going to make the audience fearful. I had to belt it out. I put a lot of thought into what I did with the two roles. When I played the shy girl in the 1950s in the poodle skirt getting a ring, I thought about how women were back in that day. When we shot that scene I asked Michael — because it says I have to kiss him — I asked where did he want me to kiss him? He just looked at me and said, “Where do you want to kiss me?” I said, “I haven’t decided that yet.” Then I reach up and kiss him on the cheek because it was back in the day and all.
Q. I also read you dated Prince. Is that true?
A: I dated Prince for a whole year before he did “Purple Rain.” I didn’t know that (information) was out there. Maybe I’ll make that my next book.
Mad Monster Expo
When: 6-11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Embassy Suites by Hilton, 5400 John Q. Hammonds Drive, Concord.
Tickets: Single-day tickets are $40 Friday and Sunday, $50 Saturday. Three-day weekend pass is $90. Kids younger than 12 are free. Individual autographs and photos with celebrities are available for an additional charge.
Details: madmonster.com/expo2022.