A Nightmare On Elm Street - Michael Bailey Smith Interview

we're here today with actor Michael Bailey Smith you might remember him as Super Freddy from A Nightmare on Elm Street part five the dream child he's also been in films like The Hills Have Eyes and the TV show Charmed he's coming to Minnesota for crypticon September 13th through the 15th at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Plymouth Michael how you doing today hey Dustin all good all good well first of all thanks for joining me I really appreciate your time yeah no thank you thanks uh yeah it's been a fun ride it's been a fun ride this whole acting thing's been a fun ride did it for 30 years and uh it's just been a blessing you know the the opportunities I've had the movies I've done I've done over a 100 movies and TV shows and just it's been really good so I I don't you know I just been blessed good stuff well definitely and you're coming here to Minnesota for crypticon September 13th through the 15th and it seems like you've been doing kind of a lot of these conventions over the years well yeah I did them when I started when the hill T I came out uh back in 200 6 2007 I did Hills wise one two and then you know that kind of was the the the main attraction you know for uh of me I guess or for me and then uh people started discovering who I was you know and some of the other things that I've done you know like my first movie ever was you know nightmare in Elm Street uh part five I got to play a bigger version of Freddy Krueger at the time it was the only other person that's ever played Freddy Krueger besides Robert England and so I played a bigger version of him and that was my first role ever that led into this big long you know career as an actor and so I I was doing these conventions and then I then I stopped like uh probably 2010 or so um I just stopped him because I got super busy and I had no time to do it and then uh just probably a couple years ago a gentleman by Peter delor he reached out there hey man you know there's people that want to see you and so and meet you and so I've been doing this last couple years it's been fun trying to get back to I love I love going I love meeting people and it's really remk able to uh you know when you're in it and you're doing movies and you're doing TV shows and commercials and all these things you don't realize that the work you do touches so many different people and so many different different types of people and uh so yeah it's uh so when you get to see these you know you go to these conventions you meet these you know these people that you know it's their it's a big highlight for them and for me too because I love talking to people um I love sharing stories I have a lot of you know having done all this work yeah I have you know great stories I'd be a great Granddad someday when that happens hopefully soon but uh yeah CU I have some tons of stories to tell that's been good well and you'll have a lot of opportunity to tell some stories here at crypticon and I know a lot of other folks from a nightmare and Elm Street part five are going to be there as well this is you know a great opportunity for the fans to see you all together but also for you I'm sure to to see everybody again after all these years yeah yeah it's like Danny Hassel and beus and Lisa wil and all them yeah so these are all the people that were on were in Nightmare you know nightmare 5 and and uh and and to see them again and uh and it's funny uh Danny Hassel who you know played the the the lead love interest to Lisa Wilcox um that's how the whole dream child thing happened because Lisa gets pregnant and has the baby and that's you know Freddy comes through uh the baby's dreams and uh so Danny uh he didn't you know no one knows this but I played two roles in in night Elm Street 5 so when I was finishing up playing Super Freddy uh the casting director and the director were on the set and so was I and they kept you know I'm there waiting to do my thing and they kept looking over at me and talking talking talking looking over at me doing some more talking and finally the director comes over and goes hey Michael we thinking about using you for a love scene and I'm like what it's super Freddy and he's like no no he goes the there's a whole uh there's a whole beginning when the credits roll there's going be two people making love we have a stunt double a body double for the lead actress for Lisa and we need someone for Danny and uh you know would you want to do that I go you're going to pay me for this he goes yep I goes I'm in so next thing you know I'm you know on a close set you know half naked and uh you know and uh you know we're doing the thing so you know they shot some close-ups of they needed a muscular back and things like that and uh and so yeah so that was uh that was my introduction to Hollywood I'm like this is pretty cool I want to make this a living so pretty cool yeah yeah I want to ask you a bit about that um from what I've read I don't know if all this is true it seems um like quite the circumstances here but your family was in the Air Force and then you lived in Iran and you played for the Dallas Cowboys and somehow you wound up getting into acting out of that background I don't imagine anyone else has that same story yeah so there's a little bit before that there's the I yeah my dad was in the Air Force and Air Force Brad so I've traveled all around I actually have a sister that lives in Minneapolis um she hopefully going to come to the show her but um uh but yeah we traveled all around we didn't spend more than probably two or three years at a time at any one place throughout the country and then when I got to be I think a sophomore in high school and I was up in osota Michigan uh in that area where there Air Force Space up there not anymore but there was one called Wordsmith my dad got stationed to in Iran to go um and so he went there and at the time there was probably 50,000 or maybe maybe not that many Americans over there in one form or another meaning working for either civilian you know contractors or companies like Boeing or maybe you know Bell Helicopter or whatever sure and then there was military people that were uh lisons to the Iranian Air Force or the the army or whatever my dad was in the Air Force and so he was helping the Iranians build an OJT program for you know the the f-16s and all those things back in the day um and so he was doing all that and uh and so we went to high school there um I went to high school there and they had a Toronto American school they had a mixture of Iranians and Americans that went to the school and that's that's where we went and then uh yeah so I I wanted my goal was to always to play college football uh and and so you know no one's going to recruit you from Iran so um there's no scouts there showing up so so I had figure out how how I to get to college and being the oldest six kids there was no way that I was going to be able to uh my parents going to afford to to send me so I'm I'm thinking I have to join the military and so I did something pretty hardcore I went in to the military in the Army and in the Army's 82n Airborne Division as a paratrooper did that for three years uh got the GI bill I I got out and then I had a chance to go to Notre Dame to play football but I chose a smaller school still division one Eastern Michigan in the Mac in m American Conference and uh I was there and I was there for you know I started for four years and uh at Eastern and then be got pretty good and to where the Dallas Cowboys wanted me and so I I end up going to Camp with them until I blew my knee out and then uh finished my degree in computer science and then went out to California chasing some gal out that way and that didn't last very long and so I was kind of bumming around in San Diego and that's when I met this this guy named Steve henbury who had dabbled into acting and and he said hey I'm going to Los Angeles to read for this movie called n Mar Elm Street and why don't you come with me maybe you can audition too and that's what happened so I went up there and he read and I went in read and next thing you know I I got the roll so I'm like you know again first roll never didn't know it anything meant got on the scent I was scared holy crap you know i' lined up against Randy White you know playing football you know and to Tall Jones and everybody else you know uh this is a whole different kind of scare and so so uh it was it was cool though and it's what I wanted to do it's it's uh it was exciting and you know just it was kind of cool but yeah I've had I've lived a very interesting uh eclectic life for sure um very blessed at that so uh but you know it all that doesn't come without hard work I mean it's just doesn't fall in your lap if you do get an opportunity you got to do something with it it you know either people are going to say no I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing or stay safe or they're going to take a chance and I took the chance and it seemed to work out so yeah definitely good stuff with that being your your first role did you realize how big Freddy Krueger was or that franchise at the time I mean that was really a big part of culture yeah no um you know in and when I was in the military I saw the first one right uh the first Freddy Krueger you know just regular night mm Street and so by the time I you know finished high school and the whole cowboy thing end up going to having a military then you know the cowboy thing and then know college Cowboys and then to the Hollywood um I still didn't know I didn't know and and uh and in even doing that but it's what happened and I I this is why someone told me that a lot of people really gravitate to certain things and you know the horror genre has really exploded as towards a fan base and uh yeah um you know my doing this this small role I have like what three lines faster than a bastard Maniac more powerful than a local badman it super fedy you know whatever the whole laugh and the things like that doing all that you know they they have an action figure with that there's people with tattoos of Super Freddy on their body you know there's and all that's kind of trippy and and I'm very honored but like holy moly you know it's pretty pretty crazy and uh I didn't you just don't know you really it's like all like hills of eyes they people with tattoos with hills of eyes I I have people that send me stuff from all over the world and they're just fans that are just it's what they like it's like me you know I I'm into I love writing and I love writing stories and that's that's I'm a big fan of I love writers you know and people love horror or people love you know guys that at least play in the NFL where they're big fans you know people draw to that and it gives people you know excitement and uh because I think without that without movies and without music and things like that life would be I don't know kind of boring maybe sure but they'd find something to excite them right jump off a cliff or something I don't know so yeah oh and I know know uh Super Freddy that was definitely a favorite scene for a lot of the fans and I wanted to ask you about that I mean that required a lot of makeup and Prosthetics and I know you've done roles on you know like the show Charmed and a few other things it seems like you have to have a kind of a special kind of temperament or or patience maybe as an actor to go through that process all the time yes sir uh normally when you're going through something like that the first time you go to that takes around 3 to four hours to get it done because a lot of you know one thing you know uh creating these things in a lab but when you actually have to apply them to someone's face you know there's adjustments right and I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing but people say you know you have a great face for Prosthetics and so I don't know if that's good or bad but um but what it does mean is that my face is not oily I don't have a so when they do provide you know they apply the Prosthetics to with you know with the glue and whatever um and I don't have an oily face so it's not going to come off and two I have a pretty good bone structure you know good jawline and cheekbones and things like that so those Prosthetics really they really pop and really stand out and so and you know with me being an actor and the way Prosthetics are nowadays I mean you can really show a tremendous amount of emotion if you look at the hills of eyes and a lot of stuff that I did with that with Pluto I mean it's it's that character is pretty emotional character and there's some a lot of subtlety to it so yeah it's uh I've done you know thing with same thing with you know Charmed I did charm for two years I played like four or five different characters on that show all them requiring some kind of a prothetic or you know extensive makeup um you know I did Star Trek uh Voyer I did Babylon 5 way back in the day yeah then of course Hills Hills of ice one and two and uh and what else and then you know Freddy my first one so it's been there's been a lot of good stuff with that so but it it's but what happens when you sit down the chair you just know that you're going to be there you'll be the first ones there on the set and probably the last ones to leave um and you get there super early and you sit in the chair and you're there for three or four hours and you come out of that and it's great because it's now you've you've been like you're kind of cocooned in this character and you can't like someone else who doesn't have the Prosthetics on when they say cut well guess what they you know they they drop out of their character a lot of times me I'm in it whole time cuz I look like the D guy you know so you walk around with this stuff and you're eating lunch or doing whatever hanging out with people but uh yeah so there's when I did the hills of eyes they had to transport me from one location to another location in in Morocco very you know we're out in the desert it's a very it's a it's a religious country you know Muslim oriented and uh when I was being transported they had me in the front seat and this big herd of sheep came across the road and the and the the Sheep herder saw me in the front seat threw up their staffs and run off into the hills thought I was some kind of demon that was it was pretty funny yeah that's happened a few times so and it's awesome yeah it's impressive looking over your career and and all the big shows you've appeared on I think um outside of the Nightmare and Elm Street stuff for me my favorite I don't know how often this comes up for you but um when you took on Urkel when he turned into Bruce Lee on Family Matters I think that was maybe my favorite yeah oh I love I love that that whole the cast you know CU I've done a ton of TV shows right everything from Malcolm in the Middle to uh like you know wings or or family matters it doesn't matter a Murphy Brown uh I've done you know uh blackish and Chuck and house and two and F men so you you get when you show up and I've been like I've done Buffy and and all these different things all these different kind of shows it's really super popular ones and either when you you you go to guest star on a show you're like the you know the you know the the guy of the week right you you show up or the guy or girl of the week and show up and either the the casts who are the series regular are going to welcome you with open arms and say thank you so much for coming here to make our show better because they do need guest stars right to they're just all them just being around yeah could be kind of boring but they bring in these guest stars to play different kind of characters or whatever uh it's always good for their show and it makes their show better and most shows are very welcoming and other ones I've been on they treated me like crap you know uh which was disappointing but Family Matters the whole crew and the whole cops were super super open open uh welcoming it was just really really super uh great to work on that show URL uh working with him I got beat up he you know hit me in the a few of the P private parts during the the filming it was by accident though I got nailed pretty good A couple times but uh yeah it's good uh it was it was definitely a blessing to that that show so it was definitely good play snap that was my character name and it's funny I had a tattoo that wrapped around my neck and came up and then was like a big snake head that came around the side of my face yeah and I don't have any tattoos and I've wore tons of tattoos like when I did undisputed with v Ramsey Wesley Snipes I was aring Brotherhood gang linger I had swas toles in the back of my head ABS on my hand I actually got arrested in Vegas and they thought I was the real thing and me threw up like a car they me up they you know whatever all that craziness it was crazy and um but when this the stuff's on your face like that you get people just like stare at you they'll grab their little kids and like pull them up their kid children and pull them away from you think you're some kind of a creep it's it's a different it's different type of feeling so yeah it's fun though it's all fun well again the resume is impressive and you're going to be coming to crypticon here in Minnesota is there anything else maybe for you coming up or maybe like some acting roles or anything we should be watching out for well I I've been writing a tremendous amount first of all I want I want to thank Chaz uh the promoter of the show he's great and he I did one of his shows before in Denver and so this is great you know my first time uh coming to Minneapolis to uh to see you know to be there for the show so I'm excited to meet people and again my sister and her husband live there Becky Smith she's uh yeah so they uh she's there um be good to good to see her but uh I I I've been doing a tremendous amount of writing I've written a ton of screenplays I have one that just got optioned it's called my good boy uh and it it parallels a lot of my life of being a kid who was who grew up being picked on and beat up in in uh in high school I always had to find new ways at the bus because there always there someone waiting to pound on me after school and what I did and I used all that anger and all of that uh frustration and whatever get back was to be a good athlete at least try to be right and so um high school you know my junior senior year I did really well in sports still was an outcast but just did really well and then when I went to the military I went in weighing 160 pounds got out weigh in 240 and then I went to college and played football you know at a high level and and then left there weigh at about 290 and went to the Cowboys and but it just tells the story of this of this uh this guy um this kid who grows up doing that he uses Sports so as his way to get back and to Excel and then and you we've all seen those great Sports stories you know where someone wins the Super Bowl or someone wins the World Series or a horse wins the greatest race and all these Happy Endings we never hear about the guy who blows out his knee like for me and and when I was in Camp with the Cowboys and you blow out your knee and you're left with nothing and how that the depression sets in how it drives you down a different path and and sometimes it D you down a path you're not too proud of and it's it's that story about a a a kid who ends up going down this path and he has to fight to get out of it it's in Bas in Detroit so it's during the rough times during the 80s mid 80s when all the you know bad stuff was going on then so it's that it's called my good boy so yeah that's that's going to go into production end of this year super excited uh David jeffre is directing and uh producing he's done bones he's doing tracker now and a bunch of other uh TV shows he produces and directs so um excited about it so yeah that's what's happening good stuff awesome man again I'm looking forward to crypticon here and seeing you here in Minneapolis and thank you sir I appreciate your time today again thank you so much yeah thank you sir I appreciate it and again that was Michael Bailey Smith he'll be at Crypton in Minnesota coming up September 13th through the 15th at Crown Plaza Hotel in Plymouth Minnesota go to Crypton minneapolis.com for more info