PopHorror Let's Get Scared
We were recently given the opportunity to chat with the lovely and multi-talented actress, Victoria De Mare, about her work in the Killjoy franchise (see our ranking of the films here), the Batty Boop movie that almost was, and her other work.
PopHorror: Were you already familiar with the previous Killjoy movies when you were brought on for the third?
Victoria De Mare: Yes! I was familiar with the Killjoy series before I was approached about Killjoy 3. I had seen the first Killjoy and most of Killjoy 2.
PopHorror: How much of your character, Batty Boop, was left to your own creativity, and what was the inspiration for the accent?
Victoria De Mare: The entire character of Batty Boop was my creativity. John Lechago and I met in 2002 when Charlie Band hired him to write and direct Killjoy 3 aka Killjoy’s Revenge in 2009. He wanted to give Killjoy a posse and main squeeze, so he wrote Batty Boop with me in mind. An esteemed colleague and friend of mine, cult filmmaker Jeff Leroy, who is also a colleague and friend of Lechago’s, read the script before I did. He told me to read it and that Lechago wanted to talk to me about playing the female lead and new character named Batty Boop.
I have a ton of respect for Leroy and Lechago, so obviously I couldn’t wait to read it and was intrigued as all hell with that name. After I read it, Lechago and I met and he said he wanted to do some makeup tests with key makeup artist, Tom Devlin, because it was going to be a full body process. Since she is a demon succubus, Lechago wanted to paint her front with teeth. Lechago is an amazing painter and fine artist, so he said he basically wanted to use my body as his canvas to create her look from head to knee and ideally I needed to be fully nude. Also, he loved the fact that I was also a professional dancer and wanted me to incorporate her movement and behavior physically to move a certain way to give her a specific demeanor. He wanted her to sound a specific way, and asked me to give her a heavy accent like southern Brooklyn or Bronx or British Cockney or make something up.
So, I created her sassiness from her sauntering movement and mobility, and I used a combination of a friend of mine’s accent from the south Bronx and the baby voice I use to talk to my kitten to create the accent. I wrote out all my dialogue phonetically in Batty language and memorized it that way, so I could duplicate the voice if there were additional films.
PopHorror: Was any of the dialogue from either Batty or Killjoy improv, or was it all pretty much scripted?
Victoria De Mare: All of the dialogue was scripted. It’s an actor’s job to make the words on the page live and bring them to life. I find it especially disrespectful to not do your job when the director of the film is also the screenwriter. The only improvised word I added was, “Boo-ya!” my opening line in Killjoy 3, which was also in my opening monologue in Killjoy Goes To Hell. I had bought my friend from the south Bronx dinner and a beer to be able to record his voice to take home and study. During the meal, he would randomly yell out for no apparent reason, “Boo-ya!” I thought it was so awesome, I incorporated that into Batty’s personality.
PopHorror: Most of, if not all, of Batty’s wardrobe was body paint. How was that process?
Victoria De Mare: Yes, Batty’s wardrobe was paint, a wig, gloves, thigh highs, boots, a boa, and a tail. The process was very difficult. I was picked up at 4:15am every day for a set pre-call of 4:45am with the makeup department, Lechago, and the line producer. The process of getting into it took 5 1/2 hours, standing the entire time completely nude. The process of getting out of it took 2 1/2 hours in and out of being rubbed down with remover and scrubbing in the shower. My work days were 20 hour days with 12 hours of shooting in between getting in and out of makeup. I essentially had 4 hours a day to decompress, study, workout, sleep, shower, and be driven to and from set.
PopHorror: Which is your favorite Killjoy movie, either to have worked on or to watch?
Victoria De Mare: My favorite Killjoy film to watch is Killjoy Goes To Hell. My favorite Killjoy film to work on was Killjoy 3 in China.
PopHorror: If Batty could meet any other killer clown from any other movie, which would you want it to be?
Victoria De Mare: Well, Batty Boop is technically a demon succubus clown, so she essentially was not human, giving her an advantage … until the final film, when she and Killjoy began to turn human. Killjoy is the demon clown of vengeance, so when he created his posse, they were all demons from Hell. But, even after turning human, Batty still can seduce and destroy, and she’d absolutely love to seduce and destroy the pansy-ass Joker. (laughs) She could have a ton of fun playing with him.
PopHorror: There were brief talks of a stand alone Batty Boop movie. Would you like to expand on that and the possibility of it still coming to life?
Victoria De Mare: After we shot Killjoy Goes To Hell, there was talk amongst Full Moon Features to do a spin-off film from the Killjoy franchise into another film series. Then, after my Batty Boop doll/action figure—her tail moves—was released, there were rumors of doing a Batty Boop spin-off film bringing Killjoy into the storyline in a couple of scenes. Then, after Killjoy’s Psycho Circus was released, fans started asking on social media, “When is there going to be a Batty Boop movie?”
I’d definitely be interested, but what’s stopping a script from appearing is the lack of a budget. The production schedules got shorter each time we shot, ultimately leading to me working 20 hour days, which is not healthy. We need a proper budget to be able to shoot it without anyone having to go to the hospital. Several fans were discussing starting a crowd funding campaign to finance the film, but I haven’t seen anything organized and launched yet.
PopHorror: You are probably best known for the role of Batty Boop, but what other characters would you like to shed some light on that you have done?
Victoria De Mare: Yes, I have appeared in over 150 films and TV shows. Batty Boop has the largest fan base worldwide of anything I’ve played. And, she’s definitely one of my favorite characters I’ve played thus far in my 21 year professional career. It’s absolutely a dream come true to have become not only an action figure from a character I created, but two comic books as well.
I also loved playing Amanda in Sid Haig and Dick Miller’s final film, Hanukkah, which is also the first Jewish dramatic horror film in cinema history. I also loved playing The Bride in Thomas Haley’s The Crossing for which I won my first acting award in 2018. And I loved playing Virtue in the comedic short, The Do Over, that I didn’t audition for, but the director had seen a ton of actresses and could not find what he was looking for until after he saw my performance of Batty Boop in Killjoy 3. He called me and said, “I know you’ll know exactly how to play this based on what I’ve just seen.” It was the only film I’ve ever worked on where the director gave me zero notes on direction the entire shoot. And, honestly, there’s another character I absolutely loved playing that I cannot say anything about because the film hasn’t been released yet.
PopHorror: You also have a career in music. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Victoria De Mare: Yes, I’m also an award-winning ASCAP songwriter, composer, and music publisher. I have four solo albums out now available everywhere you listen to music, except my first, self-titled debut album, which is only available on CD via my website. I also have several songs in films including the latest Steven Seagal action film, Beyond The Law, which played in theaters in 20 cities in 11 countries worldwide between December 2019 and January 2020, and is now airing on Showtime for the next two years as well as on all digital platforms, DVD, and Blu-ray. I also have a co-starring role in the film and am credited four times as actor, and then in the music credits as artist, songwriter, and song publisher. The real thrill watching the music credits is that my pop song, “Wondering,” is credited directly underneath a 50 Cent song.
My 2019 solo album, titled Fuck u, has twelve tracks and combines ten different genres of music. My greatest passion in life is creating music. I’m currently in the process of composing my first choral symphony, titled “u,” which I intend to be performed worldwide on one tour that I will conduct as well as sing the vocal middle section.
PopHorror: Do you have any upcoming projects that you’re working on?
Victoria De Mare: Yes, I’ve currently been put on hold in production on one dramatic horror film titled Blood Magick due to COVID-19 that I am waiting to resume shooting. And I’ve also been commissioned to write a song for the film as well. Additionally, I’m waiting for two other films and a TV series to be green lit to begin production since being shut down because of the corona virus.
Follow me on social media to keep abreast of all my new releases and upcoming productions.
FB- @TheVictoriaDeMare
IG- @victoriademare
TW- @VictoriaDeMare
