When the X-MEN movie was released over 12 years ago it gave rise to a new era of movie heroes and villains. Tyler Mane was a virtual unknown cast to portray Sabretooth, one of the most iconic villains from the pages of Marvel Comics. Tyler’s portrayal of the defiant mutant brought the character to life and set the stage for Tyler to continue acting. Roles in movies “Troy,” “The Devil’s Rejects,” and Rob Zombie’s “Halloween 1 & 2” soon followed and now Tyler is the man in charge of his own projects. Fusion had the great honor of talking to Tyler Mane and finding out about what was going on in his world.
You started your own production company?
Yes I started my own production company called Mane Entertainment. The first picture is called Compound Fracture that my wife and I wrote. We’re in the final production stages right now. We’re in post-production with the music and we’ve got the music score being done by Tyler Bates who did “The Watchmen” and “300.” Everything should be done in about 3 or 4 weeks.
So you started Mane Entertainment because you wanted to create the roles you wanted to play instead of waiting for them to come around?
Yeah exactly. I wanted to do some different things with my career, expand it and to have the opportunity to be a bit more creative and be able to write with my wife. I have been a part of so many big productions where I have seen a lot of the money get spilled out in the middle of the street, gasoline poured on it, and burned up. I figured I could do just as good of a job or better for my investors and that’s why we are doing moderate budget pictures and trying to get a good return for our investors. We want to make this just right and it starts with the writing and creating. Renae Geerlings is my wife and partner in this. She was the senior editor for Top Cow Comics for like 10 years. She is our main writer and very involved with me, making sure everything gets done right.
For such a moderate budget the movies you are making rely heavily on substance and storyline. I read the synopsis for “Compound Fracture” and think it’s a great story, I guess all credit goes to your wife?
(laughs) Well I would like to just get a little bit credit for it.
You guys are relying more on storytelling and acting than million dollar special effects.
Right, exactly. We have special effects in the movie but it is more story driven. It’s about a shattered family that have to heal old wounds in order to escape a hi-tech compound. They have to come together as a family to do it. There are so many of these bigger budget films that are all just special effects and they are not very story driven. I think people want to see, both story and action; a little bit of everything. Instead of just seeing something and saying, “wow that was spectacular! (pause) But what the hell did it mean or what did they do that for?” That’s what we are trying to do, just tell good stories and try to have top quality pictures put out.
In “Compound Fracture” you portray a normal hero type character, a 180-degree mindset departure from a Michael Myers or villain type character, which you are known for.
Yeah, I just approached it differently; you break down the script and see where the storyline is going and your character’s story arc and figure out where your character is going and where you want to take that character. You want that character to evolve and develop within the story so you try to find that. That’s what’s interesting in films; you have to approach every character differently. This was a nice character change; to be able to come out on top and not die.
Now that you are creating the roles you want to play do you see yourself portraying more non-villain roles down the road?
Yeah most definitely. We have about 7 to 10 different pictures lined up that we are planning on doing and they all vary. Although the next one we are doing is Penance Lane, which is a horror thriller and that gets pretty gruesome. I get my hands dirty in that one but in a different way, so to speak. Its pretty cool cause I can take these different approaches to these same kinds of movies but people will be able to see me in doing something in different light, which is kind of interesting.
Did you have any reservations about taking on the role of Sabretooth, a legendary character loved and hated by millions of comic book fans?
Lets just say it was damn good thing that I didn’t know just how big Sabretooth and the X-MEN were when we started filming. It became surreal afterwards. It was surreal to be a part of this cast and work with Sir Ian McKellan, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Ray Park, Famke, all of them. They were just incredible. I remember sitting around talking to sir Ian and him giving me advice and he helped me a lot on my acting. If it weren’t for the X-MEN movie I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Tyler Mane will be at EPCON El Paso Comic Con September 14-16, 2012 – www.ep-con.com
TXT: A. LAWLESS
PHOTOS: Dimension Films
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