Actor Mark Steger stars in Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark. He does a phenomenal job portraying, Harold the Scarecrow and the Pale lady. Mark took some time to talk with Horrornews.net.
Hi Mark, you did such an amazing job in Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark.
Mark- Thank you.
How did you get involved with Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark?
Mark- I have a relationship with Spectral Motion, Mike Elizalde’s special make-up effects and mechanical company. The connection was through them. They called me and asked me if I was interested in playing, originally just Harold but they talked to Guillermo de Toro and Andre Ovredal about having me play the Pale lady as well. I hadn’t worked with Mike Hill before, who sculpted and applied the Pale Lady but I worked with Norman Cabrera who did Harold the Scarecrow. All those people at Spectral Motion, they are some of the best special and make-up effects people out there. It was thrilling, nobody had to convince me or twist my arm. I wasn’t familiar with the books until this project came up because it was a little bit after my childhood. They just came out in the mid or late eighties. I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them. The illustrations are beautiful, I understand they were a little too grotesque and macabre for children at the time, or people considered them that. If I was a child when the books came out, I would have just eaten them up. The little short stories were beautiful as well. It was a collaborative effort.
How long did it take for you to get into make-up and effects?
Mark- Harold was quick because it was a suit and a mask. In between shots, I would have the mask off and then put that on right when we were ready to go. As far as the pale lady, that was a little more involved. It was heavy and I couldn’t really move my legs that much. You see me taking small steps in the movie but that was my range of motion. There was a lot of painting involved.
What was it like working with the director, Andre?
Mark- Andre was wonderful. He had very specific ideas, which was refreshing. It was great to work with him.
What are you working on next?
Mark- Amazon is producing seven feature films with Blumhouse Productions. They will be streaming on Amazon. It’s a good script and I am working with writer/director Axelle Carolyn. She is wonderful, she wrote a wonderful script. I am looking forward to working with her. We are filming on Halloween. We talked about that and its kind of like living the dream.
Is there anything you can say about the TV series, Critters: A New Binge?
Mark- I haven’t seen the finished series yet. That one kind of came out of nowhere for me. I got a call about auditioning for the voice characters. It was fun to do although it was challenging to do the low-gurgling, horse voice sounds for hours on end.
I thank you so much. It was awesome to talk to you. Thank you.
Mark-