The paths to Jason Voorhees are always unique and interesting, but perhaps none more than C.J. Graham’s. After four years in the military and work as a casino manager, Graham was discovered in the hock get-up in a nightclub act, and the rest is history.
There are many who adore Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI, perhaps none more than this writer, but for its litany of memorable moments, it was Graham’s initial portrayal of zombie Jason that keeps fans coming back year after year, and as Jason Lives approaches its 32nd anniversary on August 1, we wanted to offer its devoted disciples a special treat.
Last Friday afternoon (July 6), Graham took a few moments out of a hectic schedule to chat with Horror Geek Life about his memories of those days and nights filming in Georgia, camaraderie with fellow Jasons, thoughts on Friday the 13th’s legal issues, and the prankster relationship he shares with Kane Hodder.
To say nothing of the fact that, if we’re lucky, in one capacity or another, Alice Cooper’s legendary tune from Jason Lives may once again be relevant. You’ll know it when you read it.
Horror Geek Life: We’re coming up on the 32nd anniversary of Jason Lives. Does it feel like it was that long ago?
C.J. Graham: No, it doesn’t, and one of the reasons for that is just the fascination with fans of the Jason concept. I mean, it just keeps going like the Energizer Bunny, so that’s been a huge component in the longevity. I really believe, just the fact that Friday the 13th has its own significance as far as what people look at as horror, old, new, and in the future.
HGL: You’ve recently done some conventions in full-on Voorhees regalia, so what runs through your mind when you first step out in your full Jason Lives costume, to see and hear the reaction of the fans?
CG: I think the most important thing is that I’m able to put the costume on, the wardrobe, and I would say conservatively, it’s within 95 percent accuracy of film, camera ready. All the equipment that was used, I knew where to get it, I knew what it was, so I would say, without a doubt I’ve had 100 percent positive response when the fans come around the corner and there I am standing behind the curtain. They’re like “Hoooly shit!” Then, of course, I grab ’em. I grab ’em by the tee shirt and pull ’em into me and give them some of the experience of what it’s like to be completely helpless.
HGL: Give us the moment — while you were filming Jason Lives — where you just looked around and had that “I’m the luckiest son of a bitch alive” moment.
CG: It was the first scene to be quite honest. I had never done stunts before, I had never done acting or a form of acting, I didn’t even know what a Screen Actors Guild card was, and the first scene was where I stepped into the POV (point of view) of the frame with the side of the hockey mask and the mobile home was rocking behind me. I turned and looked at it, tilted my head, which is kind of an iconic tilt, and I started walking towards that mobile home, that was when I was like, “Holy shit, this is the real deal.”
HGL: As a military veteran, we’re curious about your take on our current political climate — not looking to divide, but rather bring together — what do you feel needs to happen for our citizens to start interacting with one another again, not as split camps of liberals and conservatives, but as Americans?
CG: I think the biggest thing, and I mean this because I have run companies, half-a-billion-dollar companies, so I’ve had to work with unity and, of course, division. I think what we need to do is find some compromise. You’re not going to find happiness on the left, the right, or in the middle, that’s why we call it America. That’s why all of us who went out there and fought, for that Constitution, to give people those rights. But at the same time, we’ve got to find a compromise where everybody needs satisfaction. It’ll never be a perfect environment, never. It’s impossible, you’re dreaming. However, we can’t just draw the line in the sand and say never say never, because things change, things happen, and we’ve just got to figure out a better way to approach it.
HGL: With the frustration Friday fans have been feeling of late over the legalities of the films and game, what advice would you offer to help them take a deep breath and reach that finish line, whenever that might be?
CG: If I understand you correctly, you’re talking about the two parties (Victor Miller and Sean S. Cunningham) that have the two different rights to Friday the 13th and Jason?
HGL: Yes.
CG: It needs to be a compromise. At the end of the day, going back to my last answer, it doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong, you aren’t going to find a perfect solution. So, my recommendation to those two parties — and I’m an outsider looking in, so it’s easy to be an armchair quarterback, always remember that — I would suggest that they put Part XIII together, which it’s time for, we haven’t done one since 2009, so theoretically this would be Part XIII. Resurrect Jason, put the money in the coffer, all the money in the bank, and when you’re done with your legalities and your technicalities and your who-owns-what, divide what’s in the bank. But you’re taking away from the fans right now, and those are the people who gave you the opportunity to have this agreement to disagree.
HGL: There are very few of you, so talk about the camaraderie that you share with your fellow men behind the mask, the other Jasons.
CG: Are there other Jasons? Damn, I must’ve missed that part. We have a very close camaraderie, I’m very close friends with all of them, Kane Hodder and I have known each other for years and years. Kane will tell you that I was scheduled for Part VII, and he had worked with John (Carl Buechler) the director, and really, really wanted to be a part of the horror scene. He was able to work with John and Paramount to make that change, but I give him full credit, he’s done what I could not have done over the last 25, 30 years, being out there every week promoting that franchise and that iconic image of the hockey mask. So my hat’s off to him, and all the way back to Ari (Lehman). Ari may have had 10 seconds in the movie, and didn’t have a hockey mask obviously, nor did Steve Dash, until Part III with Richard (Brooker), but the camaraderie, in my opinion between all of us is extremely well. Again, going back to one of my previous responses, I’ve worked running organizations and corporations, so I understand what it takes to be successful, and all these men, and women who participated in the films have helped make it a huge financial and franchise success.
HGL: Give us your best Ted White story.
CG: What I love about Ted White was doing an interview with him 10, 15 years ago, and Ted is very straight forward, matter of fact, he cuts to the chase, he just says what’s on his mind, and I kind of look at him and go, “Oh, okay. That was interesting.” But that’s Ted. Ted is of a second school beyond myself, and you know what, if he’s got something to say, he’s gonna tell you to go piss up pole. Not to mention, the man has done over 200 films, and to this day he’s totally amazed that everybody remembers him because of Jason. But he’s worked with some phenomenal people in the past, so he’s a true iconic pioneer of the industry all by himself. And you know what, he just fell into the Friday the 13th frenzy that’s still out there today.
HGL: It’s one of our favorite questions — be it on the street, at a convention, or a random encounter on the street — what is the strangest request you’ve ever received from a Jason Lives fan?
CG: I don’t know if they’re strange, but what I find extremely interesting is to be on the street, not at a convention, I’ll take it a step further, going through a line for TSA at the airport and having a TSA agent look at my name, then look at me and go, “Are you the guy that played Jason?” And I’m thinking, “You have to be kidding me,” or walking through Universal Studios with my family and have somebody point at me and go, “Hey, you played Jason.” Not understanding the value, and what it’s brought to the fan base, both those are something completely out of the norm for somebody who wears a hockey mask.
HGL: Conversely, through mail or in person, what is the most touching gift you’ve gotten from a fan?
CG: I think the most touching gift would’ve been from some of my younger fans, those that are 5, 6 years old, full wardrobe, and they come to the table and they can talk you through every scene of the movie. I just kind of look at them with awe that, number one, I can’t believe you’ve already watched it, you’re kind of young, but going back, it’s one person’s choice, but I think it’s been touching to realize that we’ve touched people of my age, older like Ted White’s age, all the way down to five-year olds. Again, the Energizer Bunny. Everybody knows Tom Cruise, you know what he looks like walking down the street, you may not know what Jason looks like walking down the street, but if I put a hockey mask up and say, “Have you ever heard of Friday the 13th, Jason?” Everybody goes “yes.” So I think it has the same A-presentation of the hockey mask as an A-actor of recognition worldwide. It’s a worldwide franchise.
HGL: Kane Hodder thoroughly enjoys pranks and frightening people, but you have ever gotten him with a prank?
CG: (Chuckles) Yeah. I get him all the time. He comes by my table with his little fart machine and smells up the place and walks away. Maybe a year ago, we were doing a show in New Jersey, and he likes to have a separate corner, the Kane Hodder Korner I call it, and it just happened to be next to the bathroom, so I went ahead and took one of my pictures and turned it backwards and put “Kane’s Office” with arrows pointing to the bathroom. Now, that’s just one of the things. The other things I do to Kane, and he loves me, but he hates me, is he’ll take a break and I’ll run over to his table and sign a couple of his pictures and put them back in his stacks and go back to my table. We go back and forth, he throws paper at me when I walk by, he likes to call me B.J., “Hey, B.J.!” and I just look at him and say, “Whatever,” but I think of all the Jasons, I’ve seen Kane in more different areas and talked to him more frequently, so I think we have a special bond all by itself.
HGL: I’ve been to one baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston, but the Red Sox blasted four consecutive home runs that night, and I made the conscious decision right then and there that I would never go back, because I wanted that memory to remain unblemished. Is that what it’s been like for you with Jason Lives? For the fantastic job you did in that sixth Friday installment, there had to have been, and continue to be offers for other genre roles. How is it that you’ve only done one other film?
CG: The thing is, I was more reasonable when I looked at my career. I knew that being 6′ 3″, 245, 250 (pounds) that I’d have limited participation in A-films. Let’s go back to Tom Cruise, a standard, normal sized person, 5′ 10″, or (Sylvester) Stallone, 5′ 11″, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger, 6′ 1″, 230 pounds on his best day in body building. I knew there’d be limitations at that time, so I elected to go back into the casino industry and further my career. With that being done, when you’re a chief operating officer or general manager of a multi-billion dollar corporation, the last thing you can do is take three, four months off and go do films. Some offers came over the table I had to decline, now that I have stepped away and retired a year ago from the industry, I’ve reactivated my Screen Actors Guild card, so I have three or four projects that have been offered and I’ve put some letters of intent out there, we’ll just see where it goes at the end of the day.
One thing a lot of people do ask me about Jason, if I would do it again seems to be a very popular question, so what I would say to that is, if the script was well-written and I felt it had merit, and I knew that I could deliver a product equal or better than Part VI, I would seriously look at it. But if the script didn’t have the grab that I felt it should have, because I don’t want to take away from Part VI, or I didn’t feel I could deliver as well as I did in Part VI, I’d have to pass because the franchise is bigger than me just doing one payday to go do a movie.