{"id":19577,"date":"2025-02-17T11:46:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T16:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=19577"},"modified":"2025-02-17T11:46:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T16:46:50","slug":"katt-kolchack-carrie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/katt-kolchack-carrie\/","title":{"rendered":"William Katt on KOLCHACK, CARRIE and More"},"content":{"rendered":"
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William Katt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kolchak: The Night Stalker<\/em> might be best known as a movie and TV series, but it was the original novel by Jeff Rice that started it all. Monstrous Books will be bringing the book back to print, as well as offering an audiobook with Blackstone Audio. Actor William Katt, who played Tommy Ross in the classic horror movie Carrie <\/em>and the lead in the hit show The Greatest American Hero<\/em>, lends his voice talents to narrate the book. Katt spoke to Cemetery Dance <\/em>about how Kolchak <\/em>influenced The Greatest American Hero<\/em>, what it was like working on his first audiobook, and some fun memories from filming Carrie<\/em>.<\/p>\n

(Interview conducted by\u00a0Danica Davidson<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

CEMETERY DANCE: What is your background with Kolchak<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

WILLIAM KATT: I was approached by James Aquilone at Monstrous Books about a year and a half ago. We talked mainly about Greatest American Hero <\/em>because we had a short run of three comics of Greatest American Hero <\/em>back in 2008. That\u2019s why he first approached me. He was interested in wanting to see if we wanted to try and reboot that with his help. We entertained that idea, and I thought that was the last of it.<\/p>\n

Then he got back in touch with me, four or five months ago. I was at a con back east and he came to the table and said, \u201cHey, would you ever think about doing an audiobook with us?\u201d And he mentioned Kolchak<\/em>. I had only seen Kolchak <\/em>briefly in passing back in \u201972, one of the first Movie of the Weeks. I thought it was very, very interesting years ago, but it didn\u2019t embed itself in me until recently. I saw it again when he approached me. I was very intrigued by Darren McGavin\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cI\u2019ll take a crack at this, see if I can pay homage to him [Kolchak] and Darren, and Dan Curtis\u2019s great work as a director.\u201d I wasn\u2019t real familiar with Jeffrey Rice up until revisiting these Movie of the Weeks. I\u2019d been remiss; I did not see many episodes of the TV series.<\/p>\n

Just as a side note, I was reading that Johnny Depp\u2019s company is developing this script with Edgar Wright, who did Shaun of the Dead <\/em>and Scott Pilgrim<\/em>. I think they are planning on doing something, although they haven\u2019t started shooting yet.<\/p>\n

How would you say Kolchak <\/em>has laid the groundwork for shows like The Greatest American Hero<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, you know, I was talking about that with someone else. It was one of the first series where it was always chasing a zombie or a werewolf or something supernatural every week. Kolchak <\/em>was a huge influence for Chris Carter in The X-Files<\/em>. This was when Steve Cannell was doing The Rockford Files <\/em>and so many other of those wonderful shows. I can\u2019t help but think that Kolchak <\/em>influenced The Greatest American Hero<\/em>, because although we didn\u2019t always chase monsters every week, there was always something catastrophic going on with the plot line. Although, we kind of did it with a wink to the camera, we played and looked right at the camera. I don\u2019t think Carl Kolchak did that. But there were a lot of similarities there, I think.<\/p>\n

What did you think reading the novel? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It really holds your attention. If you start reading, by page 10 you can\u2019t put it down. It\u2019s terrific. I like the fact that Kolchak is an investigative reporter. He\u2019s after the truth and he\u2019s a skeptic as well, initially. He does not want to believe that there\u2019s a real vampire out there. It\u2019s through his reporting that he slowly comes to that conclusion that it\u2019s a real vampire. Then of course he has to try and convince the authorities. He has to try to convince his boss, Tony Vincenzo, played wonderfully by Simon Oakland.<\/p>\n