Any 10-year-old's life would probably change when cast as the young lead in a horror film. But Michael Paul Stephenson wasn't cast in just any horror film back in 1989. He whimpered and winced through Troll 2, which has since earned a rarified cult-classic distinction as the worst movie ever made. And now, having lived to tell, Stevenson will this weekend unveil Best Worst Movie, his new documentary about living to tell.
More than just chronicling the experiences of castmates like George Hardy (now an avuncular dentist in small-town Alabama) and his Italian director Claudio Fragasso (who won't rest until you understand how misunderstood his film is), however, Best Worst Movie is a snapshot of fans living to tell. Both the loyalty and the limitations of the subculture around Troll 2 -- in which vegetarian goblins attempt to turn humans into edible plants -- are depicted here in vivid detail. In the end, we're left with not merely a sturdy comic doc about artistic failure, but also a complex, immersive study of one man's adventures in catharsis.
Stephenson talked to Movieline about his Troll 2 epiphany, his involvement (or lack thereof) with a sequel, and why, when it comes to movies, "worst" is relative.
What compelled you to make a documentary about the so-called "worst movie ever made"?
It was actually about four years ago. I should say that I've always wanted to be a filmmaker and an actor and work in the business for as long as I can remember. I did Troll 2 when I was 10-1/2, and it was far from what I thought I was making. I was dreadfully embarrassed by my role in that film; I really wanted nothing to do with it while growing up. I continued to audition and act in other roles that I thought were more notable and would get more recognition, I suppose. But Troll 2 never went away. It was continually on. And I just remember thinking, "This thing is never going to go away."
And then a funny thing happened back in April 2006: I got these messages from some people on MySpace -- these kids who said they were fans of Troll 2. And they would say something simple like, "Are you the Michael Stephenson from Troll 2? Please say it's so!" And I would look at these and think, "Is this for real?" And kind of laugh and think, "How in the world does this movie have a will to live?" I started getting more messages from people around the country -- none of them knew about each other; they all thought they were the only ones watching Troll 2. And they all started sending me pictures of their Troll 2 parties. There would be eight kids in a basement, around a TV, celebrating Troll 2 and having green slime poured across their face. They had green cupcakes that said "Eat me" across the top, and green icing. And I just remember looking at these photos and thinking, "Why?" And I was also thinking: "How does something like this happen?" this movie was made 20 years ago. Everything was happening from word of mouth, on its own, organically. This was before the screenings and everything. I can't describe the feeling. I woke up one morning staring at the ceiling and having this incredibly warm feeling, smiling ear-to-ear, thinking, "Wait a minute. I'm the child star of the worst movie ever made. There's a great story here."
I'd still been trying to find what would be my first film, and when I thought of the idea for the documentary, everything clicked. It was one of those things: "You have to do this. " Obviously the subject matter was so personal and accessible to me that I started immediately. It became kind of this compulsion, really, to understand this and wrap my head around this.
As shown in Best Worst Movie, fans have a very specific sense of ownership over Troll 2. Did you sens any bitterness or resentment from this cult who felt like maybe their secret was exposed?
I know, kind of like the neighborhood coffee shop becoming a chain or something? I've had fans actually [say] when I was making the movie, "I don't know how I feel about this getting so big. This was kind of my movie. I watched in my basement with 20 of my friends, and now it's selling out theaters all over the country." There was some of that. It goes with the territory; that's kind of what a phenomenon is. Eventually it grows and grows. I've seen what happened with Troll 2, and the film certainly hasn't died. In fact, since making the documentary, it's continued to help it and reach more audiences. And different types of audiences.
We played Best Worst Movie on the festival circuit for the last year. Most of the people who had seen it had never seen Troll 2. I've even had 40-year-old women e-mail me ans say, "I got my friends together and we watch Troll 2. We're actually going to make it a tradition every Thanksgiving -- because it's a turkey." We played South by Southwest, and by the next week Troll 2 was Netflix's third-highest rental in the state of Texas. And every day still, I get messages from people who say, "I thought I was the only one." There are 12-year-olds having parties! These people weren't even born when it first came out.
(L-R) Troll 2 stars Robert Ormsby, George Hardy and Michael Paul Stephenson join a few goblin devotees in Best Worst Movie.
One thing your film doesn't address is the economics of the resurgence. You sense some tension between the principals, and there are memorabilia shows and things, but who's making money off Troll 2's comeback?
MGM. They own Troll 2; they just picked it up from some other distributor, catalog after catalog. They also just happened to have Troll 1 as well, so they decided, "Let's package them together! They must be sequels." So that's how the DVD came to pass. People ask if I get residuals, but nobody does.
But Claudio Fragasso wants to make Troll 2: Part 2. Is that actually going to happen?
Yeah, believe it or not. I actually talked to Claudio a couple of days ago. When Claudio came to Los Angeles the first time and saw the line, he pulled me aside and he said [adopting heavy Italian accent], "Ay, a-Michael, look at zis! We musta make Troll 2: Part 2. The sequel! We must-a make it!" And his eyes lit up -- obviously because of the audience and the line. Talking to him, he's confirmed that he and [his wife and co-writer] Rossella have a script. So now he's just putting the financing together and looking for the right company, I suppose.
Will you be involved with it?
[Laughs] Oh, man. [Pauses] That's a really tough question. I'm split down the middle. If George was the star of it, and he had another chance to act, and I was in any shape or form able to work with him again, I don't think I could turn it down. I don't care if it's the second worst movie ever made. If Claudio were able to do this... I have a lot of respect for Claudio because of the heart and passion he puts into things. How many people probably told him that Troll 2 was the worst idea for a movie, and that he was silly to go to small-town Utah and work with actors who couldn't act to make his film about vegetarian goblins? But somehow he did it: Claudio got it made, and 20 years later it's still having an impact on people. It takes a lot of heart. [Pauses again] Man, I don't know. That is tough. One thing I can say definitively is that you cannot set out to make a film like Troll 2. But if someone said, "You have to make a sequel," then of course you go get Claudio, put him in the director's chair and say, "Have at it." Who knows what the result would be?
Well, let's be honest: Troll 2 isn't really the "worst" movie ever made.
Oh, absolutely no
t.
It's too entertaining, there's too much crazy stuff going on between the lines. Our resident Bad Movies We Love guru wrote a book about finding the worst movie ever, which ultimately wound up being just a maddeningly dull, poorly made, interminable film.
Oh, there are millions of others. You can say it's been voted the worst movie ever by IMDB, but I can't even really say it's a bad movie any more. "Bad" is relative. The worst thing you can do is fail to entertain, and how many movies out there will have you bored to tears? Troll 2 never does that.