Interview: Jeffrey Combs on his new film LILLY LOVES ALONE, his Lovecraftian past, and that time he was on JAKE AND THE FATMAN

Also discussed: auditioning for John Schlesinger, playing Poe for John Astin, and his appreciation of the expansion of the Andorian mythos for STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE

Jeffrey Combs is an actor with a diverse filmography that lends itself to a feature like, say, the A.V. Club’s Random Roles, and given that I have a bit of a history with that particular feature, it’s not exactly surprising that the publicist handling Combs’ new film, Lilly Lives Alone, reached out to me and asked if I’d be interested in doing a Random Roles interview with him. As it happens, Nathan Rabin beat me to the punch on that front way back in 2013 - good for him! - and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to secure the interview for That Thing They Did, but I guess my reputation was solid enough to work in my favor, because here I am now with the conversation that Mr. Combs and I had last week.

The conversation in question was tied to Combs’ new film, Lilly Lives Alone, which is scheduled for release on August 22, but I was able to check it out in advance of my conversation with him, and it’s a dark piece of work. I wouldn’t call it horror, per se, but it’s definitely a psychological thriller that revolves around love, grief, and guilt. Fair warning: during the course of our chat, Combs doles out some information about the film that definitely qualifies as spoiler-y, but having seen the film, I left the discussion unedited, mostly because it’s such a mood piece that knowing the information he provides isn’t going to affect your overall appreciation of the proceedings. With that said, however, if you want to skip past the discussion in its entirety, I used the film’s trailer as the dividing line between the conversation about Lilly Lives Alone and everything else.

But, please, do at least watch the trailer. Combs is proud of the film, and I can see why.

As for the aforementioned “everything else,” you’ll see that we talked about his first and second film roles, the film role that made him a horror icon, the TV role that provided him with the opportunity to go blue, and a few other projects of note.

Oh, yes, and we also talked about his episode of Jake and the Fatman. But, hey, would you expect any less from me?

Read on and enjoy!

I’m glad I was able to watch Lilly Lives Alone before hopping on the interview with you, although I keep wanting to call it Lilly LOVES Alone.

Jeffrey Combs: You know, what's funny about the title is that when I shot the movie, it was simply called Lilly. But I like Lilly Lives Alone. She certainly does. In her own tragedy she lives alone, and she'll never escape it, so... Yeah, Lilly Lives Alone is a more precise, poetic title. I like it more.

How did you find your way into the film? Did [director] Martin Melnick reach out to you directly?

He did! He called my agent and said, "I would like for Jeffrey to play a role in this. Can I send a script?" And I read it, and I was just deeply moved by this sad story. I mean, it's a melancholy tragedy. It's...not a happy ending. It's not a happy beginning! It's an examination of both grief and guilt. You keep the grief, and there's nothing you can do about the guilt. It just destroys Lilly. It always has, and I think it probably always will. It seems like she tries everything to cope, to numb herself. I think it's pretty evident right at the beginning of this movie that when a particular trigger - in this case, a 10-year anniversary - comes along, you're just as raw and broken when it happened. And the coping mechanisms aren't working...or they never did. Maybe for a little while, but they didn't make anything go away. This is not a comedy, folks. [Laughs.] But it examines things in the human condition that have to be examined and not ignored or pushed to the side and not dealt with. You kind of have to, y'know?.

Shannon Beeby is magnetic in the role of Lilly.

Oh, Shannon is incandescent in this. She's really captivating. The trick here - and she achieved it - is that, as a viewer, you can't help but be judgmental about her in what you come to find out happened. And once you've got that information, it's kind of hard to root for her. But somehow Shannon achieves that. I would say that Lilly can't do it for herself, either. She doesn't cut herself any breaks. It's just heartbreaking. It's a heartbreaking tale, and I just hope that her driving away at the end is the beginning of a new beginning. It's not a new beginning, but it's a step in the right direction, towards some kind of semblance of healing. Because I think a mother having that kind of a loss never fully heals.

I'm curious: did you ever imagine that you'd reach the point of having the "quirky / mysterious / grumpy old man" phase of her your career?

Yeah, no. [Laughs.] I'm suddenly 70. I don't feel it, but I am. And it's not necessarily "WOO! New phase of my career!" But none of us can avoid it. But, hey, I'm still working. I think I can bring some skill to a different range of characters. And when you first see my character in this, he's a bit of a red herring. You think, "Oh, this guy's got something to do. What is this guy up to?" And I think that Martin really sets that table really well. Maybe that's why he chose me: because I've been known to play some malevolent characters in my day. "Oh, there's Jeffrey Combs! He must be behind all this." So it's a nice twist that, oops, not really. In fact, in his own way... You know, everyone in this movie is in some kind of pain. That's really one of the things that's so moving about the movie: everyone is coping with a loss or a tragedy. I have a line in this movie that at the time I didn't really think would be all that pivotal, but when I'm at her door near the end, I say, "You know, you don't own sorrow. You're not the only one." Everybody's got tragedy and loss in their lives. But I'd say that she has a lot more than most. But then again, you don't know anybody else's story in this, either. But you get a good clue: everybody is hurting. And I like that that's examined.

I always find it odd in movies when everybody lives in a big, beautiful, two-story, absolutely marvelous house. Do you notice that? You don't know what they do, but everything is just great and...you never really have a whole lot movies about people that are on the fringes like this. Interestingly enough, Martin... In the original script, this took place in a trailer park, which I thought was really perfect. But he had to navigate away from that because trailer parks are owned by corporations, and corporations go, "No, no, no, not here. Uh-uh. There's too many aspects, too many people here... Just no." He couldn't find one. If he had a much bigger budget, he could've created his own trailer park and shot it. But you make do with what you have. And you don't miss that when you watch this movie. But I do think it's an element that would've kind of crystalized what strata of society we were dealing with here. You know, everybody here, they're stocking shelves in a Circle K or whatever they're doing, and everybody is barely getting by. And they're broken. And that's no fun. But it has to be examined. Human grief has to be acknowledged. You can't pretend that it's not there. So it's very brave of Martin to sort of take out this subject and run with it. And Shannon just does a great job. Everybody does. Everybody is distinct and on their own melancholy path in this movie.

I like to ask actors about their first onscreen role, and I have to trust IMDb, which isn't always trustworthy, but...was your first role really in Honky-Tonk Freeway?

Really, it was. I had done a lot of theater, I was lucky to get an agent when I was doing theater, and she was a good one. She said, "I've got an office in New York and LA, and I'd like to represent you," which was great. But then the reality is that big adjustments have to be made when you make a decision to come to a new place, with a new skillset required for films. So, yeah, I was banging around, and I went in and got an audition for the great John Schlesinger. Honky-Tonk Freeway was directed by John Schlesinger! You know, Midnight Cowboy John Schlesinger? [Laughs.] And he gave me my SAG card. My audition was an improv, which I'm not adept at, but they paired me up with a dear friend of mine now: Jonathan Frakes. Number One on Next Gen! So he said, "I want you two to improv two guys stealing a car. And go!" And so we did. And I got a call later, and I got a part, but it wasn't that. Not even close to that. I got a part playing a bank teller, like in the drive-up windows with the tube. Kind of like that. The movie didn't really go anywhere, but it was one day and, hey, I got my SAG card.

And I just kept plodding away and working at it. And then I got another one day on another pretty big movie called Whose Life Is It, Anyway, which was a Broadway play. The movie starred Richard Dreyfuss, and my scene was with the great John Cassavetes. I had a scene with John Cassavetes! Not too shabby.

As far as your early work, this morning I actually watched a bit of one of the movies you did with Fred Olen Ray: The Phantom Empire.

Wow! Well, you know, how that came about was, I had done another movie with him called Cyclone, and...I did Cyclone because I was going to be a leading man. I wasn't going to be asked to do quirky Herbert West-y stuff. It was, like, "Oh, I'll just play a regular guy! That's good. That's what I want to do."

And he called me up maybe a year or two later and said, "I'm making a movie in a week." I said, "In a week? You're making a movie in a week?!" "Yep!" And I said, "Yes," but you know what I found out? You can't really make a movie in a week. [Laughs.] That's what I found out! But the commute wasn't bad, because it was, like, half a mile from where I lived. So I didn't have to go very far. Most of that movie was shot at the famous Bronson Caves, which is right below the Hollywood sign. In the mountain, they actually created caves there for shoots many, many decades ago, and people go up there and shoot things all the time. I see 'em in movies, and I go, "Ah! Bronson Caves, there they are!" And I liked Fred, and I went, "Oh, okay, it's just a week..."

I don't know if you actually got to work with him in Cyclone, but Robert Quarry was in both that film and The Phantom Empire.

I did! I loved Robert Quarry. He was quite witty and arch and kind of the old-school brand. We got along nicely when we got paired up. Yeah, Robert Quarry was great. Although in those days, there was no internet to go, "Huh, I wonder who Robert Quarry is... Let me look him up!" I didn't know. It was a lot harder to find out in those days. But it didn't matter. I liked him! And then later I went, "Oh, okay, he's been in a lot of things!" But he was a very nice man. He had a good laugh.

I'm a huge fan of The Frighteners, but I'm curious in particular how it was for you to be in the same film as John Astin, given that you're both noted Edgar Allan Poe aficionados.

Well, at the time, we both weren't. I had no notion that I would ever do Poe. But I certainly knew who John Astin was. First of all, he's really great in The Addams Family. He brings exactly the right kind of wacky tone to Gomez and all of that. But he was an actor with some chops, much more than just that. And we had some lovely talks, although even though we're both in that movie, we didn't really have any interaction except kind of being down there [in New Zealand] overlapping during shooting.

And I was really honored many years later when I did my Poe show and they asked me to come to Baltimore for Poe's bicentennial to perform my show where he's buried. In his graveyard, there used to be a church, but now it's more of a meeting house kind of thing, and I performed the show. And John came and saw it. That was very meaningful. He lives in that area. He used to teach at Johns Hopkins. But he was very gracious and understood the unique experience of the one-man show, which I had never done before. What I discovered is that it's an incredibly lonely experience. I mean, you're out there with the audience, but there's no camaraderie afterwards with your castmates. Everybody goes home, and you go, "Okay..." [Laughs.] But it was very fulfilling. And he was quite kind to me. Yeah, I really appreciated John. He's a wonderful man, as is... Maybe you've heard of Peter Jackson, but he's pretty great.

I've heard good things, yes.

He was also such a thrill to work with. And the absolutely beautiful, wonderful, what-you-see-is-exactly-what-you-get Michael J. Fox. I mean, what a man. What a guy. I just admire him so much, how he's handling what he's having to go through. It's heartbreaking. Yeah, it's one of my mountaintop experiences, The Frighteners. In my career, it's way up there, no doubt about it.

I know you've also spoken highly of Love and a .45.

I really liked Love and a .45. I think it's an unsung little classic. [Quentin] Tarantino before Tarantino. I understand Tarantino actually has spoken highly of Love and a .45, which tells you everything you need to know. [Laughs.] It's a great cast, it's sassy... I don't understand why that writer/director never made another movie. It baffles me. I don't get it.

I was actually working at a record store when it came out, and I'm sure we played the soundtrack hundreds of times.

Oh, my God, it's all over the place, that soundtrack! I love that soundtrack! To go from Johnny Cash to the Butthole Surfers? Really?! Okay! [Laughs.] Yeah, it's as sassy as the movie is. Renee Zellweger's first leading movie, and...just look at all those actors! It was such a thrill for me to get to work with Peter Fonda and...just everybody in that movie. Everybody was bringing it! That was shot in Austin. Hotter than hell Austin. I think it was July or August. I was just, like, "Ughhhhh..."

I know you've appeared in several Star Trek incarnations, but of your roles, I think my favorite is still Shran [in Star Trek: Enterprise].

Well, that's a good choice, that's all I can say. Definitely the most complex of the three that I've played. They had never bothered to explore the Andorians. They'd been around since the original series, they were kind of wheezy diplomats, but I loved what they did in that show. They militarized them and...I loved that then they kind of messed around with the Vulcan mythology. Maybe Vulcans aren't sure pure and logic-driven after all, and I loved that they used the Andorians to point that out. I've often said that the Andorians are to the Vulcans like the Irish are to the Brits. "Get off our island!" [Laughs.]

I know I need to keep you running on time, but I wanted to ask you about your Lovecraftian connections throughout your career. How familiar were you with the work of H.P. Lovecraft before you did Re-Animator?

I would say...more than I thought. And I say that because if you'd have asked me back then, I would've said, "No way, not at all." I didn't really know who Lovecraft was. When I was a kid, I was watching horror movies and TV shows, and I was reading Eerie Magazine and Famous Monsters, and I just didn't realize how much a lot of that was ripping off or paying homage to Lovecraft, actually. It's only once you become aware of Lovecraft that you go, "Wait a minute! I've heard this or seen this or had this idea posed before! Wait a second!" So that's why I say that I knew it more than I realized. And you know what? For Re-Animator, it didn't really matter. Because Re-Animator was actually a departure for Lovecraft. Not his typical work. It was done for hire, for money. He was approached: "Write this serialized Frankenstein sort of story. Have at it!"

So it was a job for hire, and he tossed it off and moved on, but he never really thought it was one of his better pieces of work. But I'm glad he did it, because it was much more plot-driven and character-driven than a lot of his work is. His work is very atmospheric and suggestive and gives you a sense of unease, uncomfortableness, things that are around you that you can't see, and mythology and all of that. Re-Animator doesn't have any of that. It's basically graverobbers and Frankenstein all mixed up. Because that's what he was paid to provide. But he didn't really care about it. And, look, if someone asks you now what's your favorite Lovecraft movie or story, they're gonna say, "Re-Animator." Thanks to Stuart Gordon, right? The great Stuart Gordon, who just had a birthday. My dear friend. I miss him very much.

So what is your personal favorite H.P. Lovecraft story?

Um... Well, I'd be remiss if I didn't say "Herbert West - Reanimator," because it's been so good for me. [Laughs.] But, you know, "At the Mountains of Madness" I really like a lot. One I was really drawn to was "The Hound." Do you know that story? I think it's about a Cerberus, a three-headed dog. I wanted to adapt that at one point. I thought that would be a good, interesting movie. Certainly a visual one, with a three-headed dog! Honestly, I'm more of a plot and character guy, and I love his mythology and all of that, but I do find that there's nothing for me to hang onto a lot of the time in a Lovecraft story, because it's all about something you can't see or "I can't describe it, it's so hideous." It's more about a general, amorphous disease than it is something that's driven by characters. I'm an actor, so that's what I'm drawn to. What people are doing, how they react. It's just the way I'm wired!

I'll just close by saying that, believe or not, I actually watched - of all things - your episode of Jake and the Fatman today.

[Long pause.] You've got to be kidding.

I swear to God, I've had this DVD set on my shelf since 2008, I literally had never opened it, and then when I was looking through your filmography, I saw that you'd done an episode, and I was, like, "Oh, this is like breaking open a bottle of champagne. I'm breaking open Jake and the Fatman!"

Wowwwwwww! That's AMAZING! What I remember about that was how gracious William Conrad was. The Fatman, right? [Laughs.] He's an icon. He had a big career in radio. He was the voice of Matt Dillon in the original Gunsmoke radio show. He did a lot of noir. And he was just so gracious and kind. And I do remember that they came to me and said, "Listen, when you get a close-up, he will be there. He'll be off-camera, and he'll be feeding you lines. That's what he'll do. But when he has a close-up, don't be anywhere around him. Don't be there. Don't stand off. Don't give him a target. Don't say your lines. He doesn't work that way."

He was fascinating. What he would do was, he'd hit his mark, and they'd have cue cards for him, and he'd say his lines, like, "What do you think you're doing, punk?" or "Is that right? Well, we'll see about that!" or "Where do you think you're going?" He just read his lines off. And, you know, you put it together, you cut back and forth... You don't know that's how he's done it. And it's just because he came from radio, where his eyes did not track when he read. He could just look and see it. And that was an amazing technique. I wouldn't advise that. [Laughs.] But that's just the way he rolled. And he was so struck by how I looked like Charles Manson that he had a photographer come over and take a bunch of pictures with me. And when I left, he was very, very kind, and said nice things to me when I was wrapped.

Jake and the Fatman. Wow. [Laughs.] That's pretty good. That's Obscura 101 right there. Hey, I got paid, I got residuals, and I got to work with the great William Conrad. Win, win, win.

It's more about the fringe benefits in the long run.

It is the fringe benefits! I mean, he's a legend. Thanks for bringing that up! That's a nice memory to dredge up. I enjoyed that.

Well, I'm so glad we got to talk today. Thanks for your time, Jeffrey.

Thank you, Will. And do whatever you can for Lilly Lives Alone. It's a powerful piece.