An Interview with Michael Barber

Michael as 'Tommy' in Eldorado

Michael Barber played DC Poirot in the BBC series Ashes to Ashes. Michael has also appeared in numerous TV programmes and films including: Doctor Who; The Bill; The Bourne Ultimatum; Harry Potter; and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. In Eldorado, recently released on DVD, Michael plays 'Tommy', a deformed chainsaw wielding monster.

How did you first get involved in the production of Eldorado?

I think it was a case of they were getting a bit desperate basically! They’d had a lot of famous people in line for the part before me like Warwick Davis for example. But in the end, last of all, I ended up replacing Corey Feldman because Michael Jackson had died and he was too upset to travel to England (which was my luck and his misfortune).

Some of Eldorado was actually filmed in Las Vegas, but your scenes were all filmed in England weren’t they?

Yes, in Cornwall – I was down there for a whole month.

And during that time you worked alongside some very famous Hollywood names. Of the cast that you didn’t film scenes with who did you purposely seek out to meet in addition – Bridget Neilson for example?

I couldn’t be bothered to be honest. I’m sure she’s a lovely lady, but the person I really wanted to meet was Michael Madsen. He was a really really nice guy. We had a good laugh.
Was it true he gave you some advice on the ear cutting scene?

Yes that’s true. He invited me into his trailer and he said “I believe you are later on sometime doing the ear cutting scene – the best way to cut someone’s ear off if they’re tied to a chair is to straddle them because otherwise it just doesn’t look right sort of leaning over them - you have to sit on the guy and chop it off!” And he was right. So I cut Oliver Tobias’ ear off (and he was another very nice gentleman – it was just a dream come true working with those two guys).

What were your experiences of shooting in 3D?

I found 3D an absolute pain in the arse. It just took forever, instead of taking an hour to set up a scene it would take three. And sitting in those prosthetics for 3 hours just waiting wasn’t much fun.

How long was your make-up process?

They got in down to just under two hours applying it, and around an hour getting it off. But some days I would be filming scenes at 3am – after I’ve been thereon set since 6am the previous day!

But being a big horror film fan yourself, it must’ve been a dream come true once the make-up was on and you were unleashed to do some serious mayhem with a chainsaw?

In a way yes, but it’s quite real though. For example they asked me if I wanted the nipples to be made from standard sweets which they’d shape to look more realistic, or would I mind if they just made them out of gelatin. I said I didn’t mind the gelatin. But it was disgusting, it was just horrible. There’s nothing glamorous about it. And the toilet scene – that toilet was like the worst toilet in the world – it was incredible. Full marks to the art department!

Now, looking at the cast list on IMDB there appears to be a few actors missing from the DVD version.

You’re not gonna ask about David Soul are you coz he wasn’t in it.

I wasn’t, but now you mention it... I also didn’t spot: Tom Savini and Robin Askwith to name but two.

No I didn’t spot them either.

Given the cock-up on the sleeve with the running time, is the version that’s currently on DVD the full length one or is there in fact hours and hours of footage that just never made it to the final print? 

The latter really. I think if the ‘18’ version does get released it’s gonna be a 2hours and 40minutes film instead of what we have now. I filmed a lot of things that was probably why he [Richard Driscoll] had a lot of problems getting the ‘18’. In the scene where I chop up the lovely Alexis Caley, I do a lot more to her shall we say and then I went up another level and came out with the catchphrase “daddy loves you, daddy loves “. A lot of people had to leave the set and were sick that night because I was really let loose. And the director just loved me that night. He forgot this, but he came up to me at the time and said, “you’re gonna be in everything I ever do”: which I’m not.

So do you think there was some truth in those Facebook statements?

I think maybe there was some hype in there, but to be honest I think he really needed to get that film out there. And then of course it’s not currently available in 3D, and 99% of what I filmed was in 3D. It’s due to be released again in June or July in a longer version in 3D and hopefully then it’ll be more of a horror movie then a comedy sing-a-long. In fact, he could probably make a completely different movie with an ‘18’ certificate. He could almost make two movies out of one! You know I didn’t know they were all going to be singing a song until it came out. I mean although I was the Elvis impersonator on stage singing ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ – THE worst, wackiest Elvis impersonation you’ve ever seen...

Agreed.

I thought I was gonna be like your Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees character really.

Well you never know, Eldorado might turn into another Friday the 13^th-like franchise with Billy becoming as popular as Jason Voorhees.

I did put that to the director at the time. If my character became very popular, I said Tommy could have a twin brother called Timmy and his face would be deformed on the opposite side.

And I’ve heard you recently had to collect from your agent a huge sack full of fan mail from all over Europe. Was that all from Eldorado fans?

'DC Poirot' from Ashes to Ashes

A lot, but also from Ashes to Ashes and Doctor Who fans who track you down. I worked in the ‘Shakespeare Code’ episode with David Tennant. You know I stroked his coat coz it’s like moleskin or something – you watch it on the tele and you think it’s just a Mac, but in real life it’s a really nice quality coat.

Who needs Doctor Who Confidential. So what’s next for Michael Barber?

I’m in a film coming out soon starring Bob Hoskins and a great British cast called Outside Bet. I play the part of Moxie, the pub landlord. It’s gonna be The Full Monty of horses I think hopefully. A nice family movie.

Unlike Eldorado - even with the ‘15’ certificate version!

But surprisingly everyone seems to like it. Blues Brothers with horror – or so it seems like.

I think maybe, just maybe, in years to come it could become a Rocky Horror thing, with screenings at the Prince Charles Cinema where everyone comes dressed in character and sings-a-long.

Maybe they’ll all come dressed as Tommy!

Now that would be a frightening prospect.

Paul Worts