Texas Chainsaw Massacre:
The Beginning
Oct. 6, 2006
Lee Tergesen plays a biker named Holden in this prequel
to the cult horror film series.
The original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was made in 1974,
became a cult horror classic and spawned several sequels. In 2003,
producer Michael Bay created a remake of the original. He has
followed that up with "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The
Beginning" -- a prequel to the remake. Got that?
The story was set up to answer questions about the
psycho character "Leatherface" and the cannibalistic Hewitt family. The filmmakers want to explain why Leatherface uses a
chainsaw and how his mask originated.
This prequel is set in 1969 and features Lee in a
"small but pivotal role." It was filmed in Austin, Texas, in
October-November 2005 and was released Oct. 6, 2006.
Lee's first scene in the theatrical release is a brief appearance in a
dusty roadside store in rural Texas, where the main foursome of
teens has made a stop. He's having drinks with his girlfriend, Alex
(Cyia Batten), and he's really just part of the scenery at this
point. In the unrated DVD version, released Jan. 16, 2007, they
actually get some dialogue: Alex mutters threats and Holden tells
her to settle down.
Also, in the unrated DVD version,
Lee-as-Holden makes an earlier appearance, as the bikers harass the
foursome in their Jeep.
In an interview in October 2005, Lee likens
that scene to a movie he saw as a kid called "Chrome and Hot
Leather":
"The first scene is this biker gang driving around this car with two girls in it. They have all sorts of things and they’re banging on the car -- so the first scene where you see me, it’s sort of a scene like that."
Back at the store, the girls, Chrissie (Jordana Brewster) and
Bailey (Doira Baird), are spooked by the large pack of bikers in back of the store and hustle
to the Jeep meet up with their
boyfriends, Eric (Matthew Bomer) and Dean (Taylor Handley), and hit
the road.
Holden's biker chick, Alex, follows them with the
idea of robbing them. But that plan goes very wrong, starting with a
collision with a stray cow and culminating with a run-in with the
faux Sheriff Hoyt (R. Lee Ermey).
After arriving on the scene of the accident,
Hoyt hauls the kids back to the Hewitt family estate in his
ill-gotten police car. Alex "rides shotgun." Literally.
She was instantly blown away by the bad sheriff, and he puts her in
the front passenger seat. Bloodied Dean, Bailey and Eric are in the
back seat. Chrissie was thrown free of the accident, and attempts to
rescue her friends from the clutches of pure evil.
About halfway through the movie, Lee makes a
more substantial appearance. In seeking help, Chrissie flags down a
biker on the roadway -- it turns out to be Holden. He's a scruffy
but welcome sight. He's got long hair, a dark beard and a big gun.
His denim jacket is emblazoned with his biker gang's emblem, out of
El Paso.
Chrissie leads him through the woods back to
the Hewitt household, where Sheriff Hoyt is supplying his nephew
Tommy/Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski) with fresh meat to butcher. In
this case, it's Alex.
Although Chrissie is interested in rescuing her
friends, Holden tells her she's on her own. He's just there for his
girlfriend. He doesn't know she's dead (and dismembered) yet.
He has the element of surprise, initially, but
then Hoyt gets a hold of him. Holden wants to see "the
girl." So Hoyt shows him Bailey, who's bound and gagged. Wrong
girl. Then, just about everything else goes wrong.
Holden scuffles with Hoyt, and winds up falling
on top of the chainsaw. Hoyt
holds down Holden and encourages Tommy/Leatherface to rev
up the chainsaw, telling him that Holden's like the kids in school
who used to torment him. After a few fruitless pulls on the cord,
the chainsaw starts up, and Leatherface ruins that nice biker jacket
of Holden's. And everything in between. (Click
for a pic of the jacket, courtesy of Deelitefulee, who won it in
a memorabilia auction conducted by New Line.)
Lee said of his final scene, which is the
first-ever chainsaw kill in Leatherface lore: "It was just fucking
grueling ... it was brutal Every angle, constantly screaming. It was tough."
That's not quite the last we see of
Holden. Part of him appears during a gruesome dinner scene with
Hoyt, his mother, Uncle Monty (just call him "Stumpy") and
three of the remaining teens.
While Mama Hewitt is dishing up dinner, she
drops some fingers on the floor. Apparently the five-second rule
applies in cannibalism, too, and the fingers go back in the stew.
Then, she examines another piece of meat on a fork. "Whose
tongue is this?" she wonders. Hoyt replies, "It's from
that asshole biker." Cut back to Mama Hewitt, sticking her
tongue out at the tongue in a very Lee-esque manner.
So, just like in "Desert
Heat," Lee plays a biker whose tongue becomes the main
attraction. Or, in this case, the main course.
In an
interview
at Bloody-Disgusting.com Lee describes how he got the part
in the "Chainsaw" prequel:
"I actually went and met with Michael Bay and talked about it. ... I had just finished working on
'Wanted' ... and it sort of worked into my time schedule. I’ve always been a big fan of horror films, I love a good scary movie. And I have friends down in Austin and I didn’t have to cut my hair, so it sort of all worked together."
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