"The Monkey" with Osgood Perkins, Theo James & Rohan Campbell

In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, it's all about the brand new horror film The Monkey. I talk with THEO James, director, writer osgood parkins end star.

I talk with star THEO.

James and Rowan Campbell and writer director osgood Perkins.

Let's go.

Welcome to pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon from iHeartRadio, your pop culture news, views, reviews and celebrity interviews on all the movies, TV, music and pomp culture you crave weekly. Here's Kyle McMahon.

Nett nana no, nett na na no, Hello and welcome the pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon. I of course am Kyle McMahon, and I thank you as always for joining me once again for another episode of pop Culture Weekly.

I'm really excited about.

This episode because we are diving in to one of the most anticipated horror films of the year, if not my most anticipated.

The Monkey.

I talk with the stars Rowan Campbell and THEO James, as well as Osgoode Perkins, who is the writer director. So The Monkey, if you don't know yet, is based on Stephen King's chilling short story. It's a new adaptation and people are already talking about you know how creepy the trailers are, but we're gonna talk about the film. We're gonna talk to the stars, and it's all about the monkey.

So all right.

So if you love Stephen King's work, creepy, cursed objects or psychological horror, you're in for a treat this episode, or maybe maybe a nightmare. The Monkey was originally published in nineteen eighty as a short story in Gallery magazine. Eventually, Stephen King put it in his nineteen eighty five short story collection called Skeleton Crew.

And let me tell you, if.

You've read the short story, this is one of those stories that just lingers in your mind long after you finish it.

It's very creepy. So what's the premise, right, It's simple. It follows two brothers, Hall and Bill, who discovered.

This old wind up symbol clapping monkey in their parents' attic. You would think that's cute, right, but this is Stephen King, so you'd be wrong. Every time the monkey claps, it symbols somebody dies. And we're not just talking about like they you know, natural causes like a heart attack or something. It's like gruesome, often unexplained events, deaths, and then years later they had thought that they'd rid themselves of it, but guess what, Hal finds it again and the death

Of the death.

So now all these years later that was what eighty five, So forty years later, I'm bad at math. I think forty years later you can fact check me. But we have The Monkey hitting theaters. So it's directed by Osgood Perkins.

Who I love.

He is the mind behind Gretel and Hansel, which is seriously underrated. You know, if you're a horror fan or just want a creepy movie, Gretel and Hansel is it. And he also is behind I Am the Pretty Things That Lives in the House, which is a Netflix original horror, really great, and it's produced by James Wan and Jason Bloom, who I freaking love both of them, so you know

I love Osgood Perkins Long Legs.

He did Long Legs last year, which was one of my favorites of last year.

It just puts you in that creepy space.

Like it's just uncomfortable unsettling and Long Legs was just executed amazingly, and Nicholas Cage was a freaking freak.

Show in that movie.

But as I mentioned earlier, he also did Gretel and Hansel I Am the Pretty Things that Live in the House. He's had a great career thus far, and this, you know, is right along those lines, except it's not a lot of his other movies are a little bit more subtle and maybe you know, a little slow burning. This is, you know, I would say, this is not slow burning in that kind of traditional Osgood Perkins way. It's more in your face out there, you know, hits your right in the head in.

Some points, some people are in the head, if you get what I mean.

But it is awesome. I absolutely loved it. People in the theaters were laughing, they were screaming at the appropriate parts. It's just an awesome, awesome movie. And I was it was my most looked forward to, my most looked forward to. It was the movie I was most looking forward to this year, the horror movie, and it I'm definitely I was not disappointed by any stretch of the imagination.

It is awesome. So if you have the chance, go see it.

In theaters because seeing it on that big screen with the incredible audio mix and the soundtrack, it's just all done so well that go see it in the theater, it's definitely worth your watch. So we're gonna kick things off on the interview side with Rowan Campbell, my buddy.

I love Rowan. He is.

Rowan's an actor who has been making waves in both television and film.

He's got this screen presence that's just I love him. I love his work.

He recently starred as Corey Cunningham and Halloween Ends, which was awesome, and I loved his role in that. It was very much not a red herring. I don't know what the word I'm looking for is very much a I don't know, let me.

Know you, let me know what I mean.

But it was very much a cool character in Halloween Ends and kind of did a lot for that trilogy of films, turned its head, turned it on its head a little bit that I wasn't expecting.

So I really enjoyed that.

I really enjoyed him in that, and Rowan has been just steadily building an awesome career across various genres. But I interviewed him originally for The Hardy Boys on Hulu. So I'll have that interview linked in the show notes if you want to go back and hear me speak with him on that. But he played Frank Hardy in Hulu's modern adaptation of that classic detective series, and he was very charming and intelligent and just had some cool, fresh energy for the series. I already talked about that

How you doing, bro, I'm good, dude. How are you? I'm doing well? Thank you? So great to see you again.

You too, man, you too, I'm happy, you know, I'm so happy to see you in The Monkey. I mean, first of all, the Monkey was incredible. You know I told you that.

Why Why was this something that you wanted to do? Oh man?

A never ending list of reasons Stephen King is one of my favorites. Uh. What a what a niche outlook on the world, what a what a poet of nightmares. Also, the script just blew my mind, like it was so perfectly funny and scary and ridiculous, and again, what an insane outlook in the world.

And I just thought, I gotta, I gotta do this.

And then I just fell in love with the character, like it's such a such a good opportunity to sort of disappear into something.

Yeah, quite quite literally. Actually you so what that was that your hair? Or what was that a wig? What was we wait, we wigged me out?

Uh?

Yeah, we threw a wig.

On me.

And uh, I remember when I first thought it on me, and Oz just cracked up, like it was just so funny. Uh, and we were like, we gotta do this, it's so ridiculous.

Uh and uh.

And then there's that moment where you meet my mom and she's got the same haircut, and yeah, it's so ridiculous.

That's one of the things that you know, I love about I mean, first of all, it's it is terrifying. Even the concept of the film is kind of terrifying. And then it is so over the top, but in an awesome way. You know what I'm saying, Like it's done so well, it's it's it's ridiculous in the best

And I love that about it.

Yeah, he's got he just dialed it in. He's got such a control on that tone in those levels.

Yeah. Yeah.

And so as you're doing this, you know you've done you know, the Halloween franchise, another one of my favorites. As you're doing kind of these projects that have this you know, storied history and fan base and you know Stephen King short story from Stephen King, like this is some some big, heavy hitting, uh stuff in the pop culture world. Do you are you able to separate that as you go to film, or is that kind of in the back of your mind, like, shit, this is I think you're.

Always sort of shitting yourself. I think it's just like what are you gonna let somebody else do it? Mmm? I love It's like it's like why not? It means the world to me, this stuff. It's something that you know, I I grew up reading and I grew up in it. I love horror films and I'm such a fan. It was like, you know, I feel well equlipped equipped to go in and try and write a little love letter to this this this man's mind, you know. And that's

That's so dope.

I I think I'm the type of person i'd be like, oh my God, like I gotta, you know, I gotta. I think I would feel so much pressure where it's actually a really cool and refreshing, you know, point of view, to be like I should be able to do it you know what I mean, who can do it better?

I'm going to do it and make them proud, you know. I love that.

Yeah, And I mean it's not even like so much you can do it better. It's just like, might as well give it a shot. If someone's that me to do it, I'm gonna try so hard.

So yeah, what do you as a fan of horror? You know, I'm a huge horror fan. I know you're a huge horror fan. As a fan of horror, what do you think people will get out of this once?

You know, once it hits theaters?

Man, this is a hard question. There's so much you can get out of this movie, and Oz does such a good job of tying up the thought. But you know, sort of the unexpectedness and cruelty and an unfairness of death personified in this toy monkey that's controlling it, you know, and and that urge to sort of fight it and find your way out of it. It's amazing message. But also I just want to just a good fucking.

Time at the movies. Man.

I just want people to go have a good time at the movies.

That's what I want.

I love that I think that they will, I know, I enjoyed it so much. I had to check with you know, publicity to make sure. I'm like, am I allowed to talk about this yet? Because I need to talk about this.

Yeah.

They're like, yeah, just no spoiler. So now now I'm like, you know, shouting from the rooftops. You got to see in February twenty first February twenty you know, I mean, so, so this monkey comes in your life?

You know, how would you handle it? Mm?

Similarly, I think this it's such This is a crazy sentence. It's such an insane.

Plot and topic that.

Unravels so logically, and I think that's very You can you can empathize with what the characters do in this situation. But who knows, maybe the monkey is in all of our lives.

Thanks Royan. Now I'm gonna be like searching my adit your attic, man, my brother, Thank you so much.

You're a joy to watch, You're a joy to talk to, and I can't wait for everybody to see the monkey or the man buddy.

Thank you, dude, It's so good to see you. Kay you as well talk soon, all right? Man, enjoyed the day you too.

Rowan Campbell such a great guy. I really do love him, love his work, and he's just an awesome person, you know, besides being an awesome artist.

He's an awesome person too. So love Rowan.

Can't wait to see what he does next, can't wait for you to see him in The Monkey.

All right, we're gonna take a quick break to pay the bills.

When we come back, we're gonna talk with THEO James and I was Good Perkins, see you back here in sixty.

All right.

Thank you for hanging out with me and supporting our sponsors that allow me to bring Pop Culture Weekly to you each and every week. Without them, there wouldn't be a me, and then I wouldn't be with you, which sucks.

So thank you.

So we're rolling on with all things the Monkey this episode, and next up, I'm talking with THEO James and Osgood Perkins. So I've talked a little bit about both of them before, but just to give you a little bit.

More in depth.

You know, really, when it comes to horror, there are few directors who capture like eerie, unsettling atmospheres quite like Osgood Perkins. And when you pair that with the undeniable screen presence of THEO James, you've got a dynamic that is well worth your time. Osgoode is kind of known for a slow burning, psychological approach to horror. It's very thoughtful and what he does.

I think.

He's also the son of psychostar Anthony Perkins, by the way, so he grew up surrounded by the genre and he's found his own unique space in modern horror.

Today.

He has done, as I talked about before, Gretel and Hansel.

Which is beautiful.

It's visually stunning, and it's like a horror inspired take on the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale, definitely reimagines it. He also did I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House, which is a ghost story that has a lot to do with like dread and isolation. And that's what I mean when I say a lot of his work deals with these kind of bigger issues, whether

And THEO James.

THEO James is an actor who you know, really kind of blew up with his role as Four in the Divergent movie franchise series, but since then he's been kind of breaking out in all kinds of different genres, including Cameron Sullivan in The White Lotus season two, The Time Traveler's Wife, and The Gentleman, and he is amazing in this He plays a dual role and it's it's pretty insane, but he does a great job with it.

So in any of it, let's.

Jump right into my interview with Osgod Perkins and THEO James.

Thank you both so much for joining me.

I really appreciate it, and I'm measure First of all, I love the Monkey.

I had to ask publicity earlier. I was like, am I allowed to talk about it? Yeah? And they were like, yeah, just no spoilers.

So I've been like dying for everybody to see it because it's just so great.

So congratulations to both the vo on that oz.

Why you know, why did you end up choosing this project as your as your next next project?

The project chose me, right, it was it was an assignment, you know, and that makes it sound like homework would and it was really the opposite.

Right.

It's just unbelievable golden ticket opportunity to work off of the great author, to sort of play in his sandbox and all that he's brought to the genre, into the world, and to just just to entertainment in general. Right, Stephen King has created so much viable, everlasting entertainment, whether it's horror stuff or it's shash Ank redemption, like everything in between.

Right, Like this is the guy.

So to be able to sort of snuggle up to a master is a real privilege. And then on top of it, you know, it comes with this image. It comes with this image of this toy monkey, which for whatever reason is uncanny to the human eye, like we for whatever reason, anytime you see this thing, there's something off putting about it.

You kind of can't wrap your head around it.

So, you know, as a as a writer facing the blank page, it's nice to kind of have these big leg ups Stephen King and this monkey's face.

I love that, and THEO similarly, you know what attracted to you about the monkey the film.

Well, Oz, I'm very attracted to that monkey too.

I mean, osboy here. I was a fan of his.

I'd seen his work, we had worked together a little bit developing something in the past.

I knew how good a writer in a directory was.

And then that, you know, coupled with a piece of iconic, ip iconic literature from Stephen King, and then the chance to play two very different characters in a horror comedy, and beneath it there's there's some real meat to it. You know that there's a real sadness and melancholy about fathers and sons and intergenerational trauma. As pretentious as it sounds to say that, but it's true. So as an actor, you had the fun of it on the page, but you also had some meat beneath it to gobble up.

I've got to say that as you were doing the narration, I was thinking in the theater, and I'm like, it's a cross between like a nineteen forties radio announcer.

And like a sex line operator. And I was like, that.

Sweet spot, It's like a really fine line exactly.

I was oddly horrified and intrigued at the same times.

So congratulations on that.

And for you when you're doing these kind of dual roles, and similarly, I'll ask you, Oz, but how do you approach that as an actor? It's got to be difficult, in my opinion, to kind of you're playing two very different people in the same film. How do you approach that?

Well, I think from the get go we Oz and I didn't want to just rely on mannerisms or specific kinks or something little ticks that maybe the characters have, because we thought that that might cheapen it. We wanted to make it simple, but make them, you know, incredibly different. You feel as an actor when you read a script

Into I love that. Thank you both so much. That's my time.

I can't wait for everybody to see the Monkey. It is so enjoyable. Thank you, Thank you as Good Perkins and THEO James. I've got to say, I mean you heard me say I'm not normally like this, but THEO James. When I literally was listening to his kind of narration in The Monkey, it's like this weird mix between like this radio announcer from like the forties or fifties or something, and like a sex line operator. And I was oddly, oddly into it and horrified all at the same time.

Weird. Now I have confusing feelings.

Thank you THEO an event, great actor, great director, writer with Oz Good. I love The Monkey so much, and I think you will too. If you're any kind of fan of horror or psychological drama or even you know, comedy, it would be a very very dark comedy. But it is just an awesome horror movie. I will give you a little warning that it goes there, so you know, don't expect a lot to be left to your imagination. There's gore, and so if you're not into that, just

The Monkey is awesome.

It is out in theaters now, and I hope that you go and see the Monkey in theaters. What do you think? Let me know if you see it. I want to talk about it. You can see my review up on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, all of the things. Let's discuss the monkey, all right. I love you, see you next episode.

We thank you for listening to Pop Culture Weekly. Here all the latest and pop culturewekly dot com.

The monkey is.

It's cause me the monk.

Looks the monkey.

What jesus me?

The monkey is a scary one?

Is cl