Dark Match star and producer Chris Jericho spoke to ComingSoon about starring in the pro wrestling horror movie. Jericho discussed his character in the film, its deathmatch sequences, and much more. Dark Match is now streaming on Shudder.
“A small-time wrestling company accepts a well-paying gig in a backwoods town only to learn, too late, that the community is run by a mysterious cult leader with devious plans for their match,” says the synopsis for Dark Match starring Chris Jericho.
Tyler Treese: Chris, congrats on Dark Match. This was such a fun film, and you’re playing The Prophet in this you really get to embrace the occult in this. Your character sacrifices his daughter. He is not a good dude. How is it kinda leaning into that dark side for this persona of this former wrestler gone very dark?
Chris Jericho: I mean, the character [in Dark Match] has a lot of different layers to it, which I really was excited about because I usually tend to stay away from any wrestling-related projects because I usually find them to be a little cheesy. This was not that at all. It was a very well-written script by Lowell Dean. He really did his homework on the wrestling side of things.
But once again, it’s so much more than a wrestling movie, as you said. And to see the character of The Prophet — yeah, he’s batshit crazy. The stakes keep getting deeper for this guy. Where at first, I thought, “Oh, is he doing this because he got mad at the finish of a match?” Like whatever.
And it’s like, “Oh no, he’s filming snuff films. He’s actually trying to raise Satan from hell and take over the world.“ Like, I can dig this.
So there were a lot of dark sides — no pun intended — to this character, and that’s what really appealed to me. I thought I would have a lot of fun playing him and my mission, my mindset was to make people forget that it was Chris Jericho on screen. I think as the movie continues, I was able to accomplish that. You kind of forget, like, “Oh, this is not the Chris Jericho that we know and love. This is something completely different in a completely different world, in a completely different way.”
It’s really great seeing you in a key role in a film rather than just a cameo or popping up for one scene. When you do have a meatier role, how much does that help you and add to you? Because we can see that in the performance that you’ve got a lot to work with.
I had a really good year last year. I think four movies that I did all came out with different varying levels of screen time, shall we say. And, you know, I learned a long time ago, it’s not the amount of time, it’s what you do with it. So even in Terrifier 3, it was a short part, but I was very happy with what made it on the screen.
Because that’s another thing too. You never know what’s gonna end up in the edit and you do all of this great work and I always hate watching a movie the very first time ’cause you don’t know what got used and what didn’t. You’re like, “Oh, but that other line was so much better, and they cut this out and you kinda get mad.” Then I have to go watch it again and just say, “Okay, just watch what now that you know what the movie is.
So I think with a bigger part, like with Dark Match, there wasn’t as much fear of that because there was so much stuff. It’s like if you cut a scene or two, it’s not a big deal. And that always happens. But, you know, just all the locations that we filmed at and then just the whole intricate fight scene at the end. There was some really great parts to this role both from an acting standpoint, [and] from a stuntperson standpoint.
There’s a real creepy vibe to it that you have to fit in throughout the whole movie. So I really enjoyed, like you mentioned, playing a bigger role for so many different reasons. But most importantly because you know that the movie in a lot of ways hinges on you.
And I was offered the part which is very rare in acting. Where that means that you don’t have to audition for it. You don’t have to impress anybody, they just want you to do the role. That’s a really cool moment, but it’s also a lot of responsibility because a lot of people have stuck their neck out for you, saying, “We know this is the guy.” “Well, do we have to test him?” “No, no, no. He’s the guy.”
So I have to deliver above and beyond to make everybody look good, and especially myself.
You mentioned the director, Lowell Dean — he’s Canadian as well, and he has done some really fun films in the past. He mentioned that when he showed you the script, you were a fan and that you felt like this was something you could write and you did have some notes. How was your reaction when you first saw Dark Match the script and really saw what he had prepared?
Once again, you have an offer to do this movie. I knew Wolf Cop, so I was a fan of that movie, so I thought, “Oh, that’s cool… It’s a wrestling movie.” And I’m like, “Oh, whatever.” And anytime, like I said, you see a wrestling-related horror movie or any wrestling-related movie, it’s usually not great. […] It’s just always kind of a little bit… ’cause wrestling’s such a hard world to understand.
But then, when I read the script, I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is so good. Like, this is really, really well done.” He’s done a great job of really, you know embracing and capturing that world.
That was me the first few years. I mean, traveling around rural Alberta and Manitoba, you know, there’s this a great scene where they’re in the van and they pass a sign that says, “235 kilometers No Services.” I mean, I’ve seen that sign. Not that exact one, but many of them like it. So I really felt close to what these guys and girls were going through.
Of course, I never had to face a Satanic cult in Winkler or Manitoba or any of these other places I went to, but I still know the feeling of what it’s like to pull up in the middle of nowhere where the wrestling is the big thing on the night. So I was able to really kind of lock into it from that respect and realize that he really did a good job of not patronizing wrestling and the things he didn’t know about.
You know, I was able to help him out. You could see that I have an executive producer credit in the movie, and that was to be able to consult on, “Yeah, I probably wouldn’t say this,” or, “That wouldn’t look like that.” But there weren’t many elements. He really did a good job of nailing the whole vibe in the best, most legitimate way.
Deathmatches have a long history in pro wrestling. This movie has a really twisted card with actual death matches. You’ve always been innovative with your matches. So, did you get any wild ideas, even if they’re not applicable in a real-life setting from doing this film?
I mean that’s the thing. We’ve had Inferno matches in WWF and they’re always kinda lame. Like they don’t really set it up properly and nothing really happens. And you know, I just love the concept of, you know, fire, water, earth and, and wind. Those were all the matches. Each death match was based around that.
And I thought he did such a good job, like the vision that he had, and obviously our set designers […] That fire match looked better than an inferno match that you would have in early 2000. Like Kane would have them, but they always looked stupid. This looked great. And there was a lot of that sort of element to it.
So that’s another reason why I say this movie turned out so well. It wasn’t just how it was written. The actors — Steve Ogg, Aisha Issa, and Michael Eklund — did such a great job of playing these parts. But then the fight scenes were so good, and the lighting was so well done, and the set design.
And the gimmicks of the matches really, really good. Like the wind match when – spoiler – one of the guys gets his throat cut and then the wind is blowing the blood, like it’s just this fountain of blood. It just looks like it makes it such a cool looking kill scene from that.
So once again, really, really well done. Taking something that could very easily be on the cheese side and making it look visually cool and storyline-wise was very well done as well.
You mentioned Steven Ogg. You guys have a great little match near the end of the film. How is it working with him on those fight scenes? Obviously, you have a pro wrestling background, but filming’s a little different.
Obviously, I was a huge fan of his from Walking Dead and didn’t even know about his background on Grand Theft Auto, which he has a huge fan base from as well. But the moment I got on set, my very first scene is when The Prophet comes on the balcony looking down at the party and Steven is down there.
Once again, like I told you, I got this as an offer. So it’s my very first scene and I need to impress. Especially Steven Ogg. Like this is the real deal, man. I don’t know him, he doesn’t know me, but man, I love his work and he’s the real deal when it comes to an actor. So, okay, “All right, Jericho, how good are you?” And you have to jump in with both feet into this scene with all of them and realizing like, “Hey man, I belong here. I can, I can hold my own.”
Then when we did the final fight which is a match, I said, “I do not wanna do a wrestling match. I don’t want to do body slams and Walls of Jericho.” “Hey guys, it’s The Prophet doing a Code Breaker.” Like, I don’t like that. I think it’s really gonna be like seeing the boom mic in the shot.
So we had a great stunt coordinator named Jean from Montreal, and we put together a really good fight scene. Like it could be in a wrestling ring, it could be in a back alley. You know, Roddy Piper and Keith David from They Live. It could be in a restaurant or whatever it may be.
I really enjoyed that fight scene, and I thought we did a great job. There’s great gore scenes in it, there’s a great kill scene in it. Aisha was awesome. So I, I thought we really built it well to a great finale that was very intense as a fight and not having to worry about, you know, hitting the ropes and doing Suplexes, which I just thought wouldn’t have fit at that point in the movie.
Anyway. So Steven was great to work with a true professional and once again, took everything very seriously, which is all you can ask for when you’re doing something like this.
That’s wonderful. You mentioned some great gore. The last time we talked, which was Terrifier 2, since then you got disgustingly killed in Terrifier 3. You finally got that scene with Art the Clown you’ve been really wanting. I can’t think of a bigger privilege for a horror fan than to get killed by Art the Clown. Just how special was that moment in getting to see that on the camera? Because it looks fantastic when your face is just getting ripped apart.
Yeah, I got double-teamed by Art and Victoria, which was amazing.
That whole experience on 2 and 3 was a blast. Long long story short was the whole ending had to be reconfigured because the movie Malignant had the same finish as we had originally filmed for two, and had Malignant not come out, I don’t think that my character or Victoria were even planned to be in three.
As a result, I got a whole great kill scene out of it and Victoria got a whole movie out of it, so thank you Malignant for stealing Damien’s idea for the ending of the film. We really put a lot of time into that, and it was really amazing because they build the mold of your face now with a scanner and then to be right off camera watching my exact face that looks just like this with skin and everything – jaw getting ripped off – and the skin is stretching, and the bone is… like, “Guys, I’m standing right here. This is pretty gross.”
So yeah, it was really cool to be a part of that. Now of course every horror movie convention in the free world wants me to come do signings and stuff. So I think I just created another job for myself for the next 20 years just from that two-minute scene in Terrifier 3
Last year was announced you were working on an adaptation of Self Storage. How’s that going?
Wow, very cool. Yeah, I haven’t heard much about that since then. We put a lot of work into it, but I think a lot of times, as you know movies are dependent on financing, so it’s the proverbial financing. But it’s a great story and I’m really looking forward to delving into that.
As a matter of fact, I’m gonna call my manager today and find out where we’re at for that. But once again, that’s another reason why Dark Match turned out so well is the production company, Dept. 9 based outta Edmonton, put a lot of time and a lot of money into this film. So hopefully we’ll find somebody that will do the same for Self Storage.
Thanks to Chris Jericho for taking the time to talk about Dark Match, which is out now on Shudder.
