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Click here for the link to the videoclip showing the behind the scenes action in the making of Sasquatch Mountain.

Michael Worth and Lance Henriksen on the set of Sasquatch Mountain.

As mentioned here earlier, on Saturday, September 9, the Sci-Fi Channel screens for the first time the new motion picture, Sasquatch Mountain.

The plot of the movie concerns a lonely tow-truck driver (Lance Henriksen) who gets caught in a deadly struggle between a pair of bank robbers with a beautiful hostage (Cerina Vincent), local cops, and a Bigfoot that has come down from the Arizona mountains.

This is Lance Henriksen’s third Sasquatch film. He is bringing lots of attention to the movie. Nevertheless, I discovered the man behind the whole project is extremely aware of Bigfoot cinema, history, and related matters.

One of the top-billed main characters in the film is “Vin Stewart,” played by Michael Worth. Worth it turns out also produced and wrote Sasquatch Mountain. Today, I share my talk with Michael Worth about Sasquatch Mountain, in a Cryptomundo Exclusive.

Michael Worth, in character, in Sasquatch Mountain.

LC: Would you mind sharing (without giving away any spoilers to the film) your concept of Bigfoot?

MW: Well, I had originally wanted to write about a story I had heard about someone who was apparently kidnapped by Sasquatch in the early 1900s and thought this would make a great idea for a film. True story, period piece and Sasquatch! But, before I could follow it through and research it, the producers were anxious for a bit more contemporary script.

I love fish out of water stories and knew they wanted action so came up with an idea of a group of urban bank thieves (Craig Wasson, Karen Kim, myself) that go for an “easy” bank in a small rural town and during the get away, crash into a young woman (Cerina Vincent) that forces them into the woods with the local law close behind. It is there of course where the new dilemma takes over.

The original title was “Devil On The Mountain” as I had heard of the term Mountain Devil for Sasquatch and like the metaphor of all the characters confronting their own “devils” on the mountain during the process. The term survives still in one of the character’s conversations but for the TV release, the title was changed for ease of understanding I suppose.

LC: How did you make the film’s script fit with the literature.

MW: Well, what was most important to me was keeping with the legend of Sasquatch and not just taking the idea of a big hairy ape and sending him on a rampage. That was why I was so attracted to the idea of the kidnapping story (be it true or not) as it could lend to a more interesting approach than the usual stalking story line. Your books have so many great stories through history including the Minnesota Iceman and the “discovery” of Bigfoot in Bluff Creek I felt were just ripe for making a film about. But since I had to cater to a certain audience, using your data bank of similarities in the sightings and patterns of the creature helped me formulate what we had in our film.

But both Steven and I felt if we kept Sasquatch along the lines of how we all really perceive him, not getting too close, slightly more mysterious, it would play better.

Of course my dilemma as a writer was trying to give the “money people” their “monster” but not turn Sasquatch into what I personally didn’t like seeing him reduced to in other films. They wanted blood and death where I wanted more or less an “eerie mystery”, the kind of feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you watch the Patterson film. It is not that you are horrified or petrified by that image, but you are held in a sort of awe and the sight can be quite eerie. If I could translate that to a film, I would be doing my job. Reading your book Bigfoot! The True Story of Apes in America, the stories, sightings and folklore of Sasquatch hit my gut harder than any “scary monster Bigfoot” film. I wanted to capture that tone more in the story.

So, to try and balance that out with the commercial fare of the film was both Steven and my job as filmmakers. That and budget restraints of course. One of the ways I did that was to take Lance Henriksen’s character (Chase Jackson) and model him loosely after Patterson in the sense that his wife and he see and shoot a quick video clip of Sasquatch in the film’s opening. The footage itself, like with Patterson, turns the town into a Bigfoot tourist trap. I wanted to shoot it in Willow Creek, California but the logistics were too tough financially. So we shot in Williams, AZ.

The major thing I had to justify was why Sasquatch would actually kill human beings. I didn’t want to do it because he was hungry or just some angry animal. In fact, I at first handed in a draft where he didn’t kill anyone, where the film relied on the eerie anticipation of “what’s out there” and how the humans turn on themselves as a result of the pressure. More “Blair Witch” like. This of course didn’t go over too well. So had to go back to the ol “blood and guts” routine.

But even so, this film avoids that trap a lot. I was able to give them enough of their body count and still in the end of the film, make any Bigfoot “fan” walk away feeling the Big Guy’s reputation is still intact.

I think if you are a big horror/gore fan, it will probably not ring your bell as much. No heads get torn off I’m sorry to say. As an actor, I tend to be more story and character oriented in my scripts, using drama as the core. So, if you enjoy something that relies more on the characters, the lurking mystery and hopefully some good ol’ movie humor, this will be right up your alley.

LC: So you used my book, Bigfoot! as a “reference” as you were writing the movie and then later during the filming? How did that work?

MW: Yes, your book was with me during the shoot of the film. In fact, I gave the cover photo to our director Steven R. Monroe and the FX crew as a reference to what Sasquatch may look like.

LC: How did you extend your film’s Sasquatch beyond the old classic stories about it?

MW: Well, I have seen just about every Sasquatch film there is. A few just use him to fill the creature role of the film; others try to dip into his possible benevolent nature. I was really interested in the course of the story; using the creature as a means to unnerve you, but in the end, without giving too much away, show how sometimes it’s the people that can be the scariest.

I actually included a few lines that I researched through your book with regard to Sasquatch and Yeti. I didn’t want to get too into a technical thing where someone sits down and tells the history and folklore of the creature (as that is best left to authors such as yourself) but at the same time, use enough of what we know about them and include it in the structure of the story.

Again, we are an independent film company with limited resources so there are many things I would have like to have done here but could not afford to. But, even with any shortcomings, the film I think should resonate at least with the people that have been following Sasquatch over the years.

LC: Did you have fun with this film?

MW: Filmmaking is usually a lot of work coupled with a lot of fun. This was no different. We shot in Flagstaff and Williams, Arizona, the Pine Tree capitol of the world I believe. The clean area and nice people were wonderful to work with.

We had such a great cast of actors too. Lance Henriksen is probably the nicest guy in film history. Just a really cool and professional actor with no ego. Just steps on set and does his thing. Lance’s character is the reluctant Bigfoot guru in the town who comes to the aide of the helpless group in the forest.

We had Craig Wasson of Body Double and Ghost Story as well. Rance Howard (Ron’s father) plays the sheriff and then Cerina Vincent of Cabin Fever and a host of other charismatic actors such as Karen Kim, Raffello Degratolla and Candace Raquel. Many of the cast members are people I have used in other films I have done like Ghost Rock and Killing Cupid. They are a good ensemble group of people and when you find those kinds of professionals that can work under at times less than perfect conditions (remember, we are shooting in the middle of nowhere with no red carpet and green M&Ms) I like to stick with it. Steven R. Monroe our director is another one that I work really well with and he did a great job here.

Actually, both Lance and Rance have been featured in past Bigfoot films before.

A little tidbit though, our actor “Tiny” Ron who plays Sasquatch, had to wear a yellow vest between takes as it was hunting season and we had to make sure we didn’t lose our main actor to a bullet!

If the film does well and they call for another, I’ll make sure to try my best to get in what we missed on the first one. But if they want something else. I think those Thunderbirds could be pretty cool.

Michael Worth as “Vin Stewart,” one of the bad guys in Sasquatch Mountain.

LC: Thank you for your time and much appreciation for your motion picture.

MW: My pleasure completely Loren. Your work is some of the best I have read and I appreciate your hard-earned research.

LC: Thanks again, Michael. I think many readers of Cryptomundo will be watching Sasquatch Mountain and checking their local listings to find out when it will be showing on September 9th and beyond. I know I will be. Best of luck with this movie and your others.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 5th, 2006 at 9:36 am and is filed under Bigfoot, Breaking News, Cryptid Cinema, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoology, Movie Monsters, Pop Culture, Sasquatch. You can follow responses via our RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.