‘TUSK’: Haley Joel Osment And Genesis Rodriguez Reveal MAJOR Surprise Co-Star [SPOILERS]
A massive TUSK spoiler is contained in this article. If you don’t wish to know who the major, ‘A’ List actor that appears in the film, click away now.
Kevin Smith’s new ultra-strange horror-comedy-fantasy film, TUSK, will be released tomorrow.
TUSK tells the strange tale of podcaster Wallace Bryton (Justin Long), who goes to the backwoods of Manitoba in an attempt to interview a mysterious sea-farer named Howard Howe (Michael Parks). When he disappears, Bryton’s girlfriend, played by Genesis Rodriguez, and his best friend Teddy, played by Haley Joel Osment, team up with an ex-cop to look for him.
What they eventually find is mind-numbingly odd as Howe attempts to turn Bryton physically and mentally into a walrus.
The way that the TUSK film came about is almost as strange as the plot itself. Director Kevin Smith conjured the idea while recording his own podcast, SModcast #259, with longtime producer and friend Scott Mosier. The episode recounted a Gumtree ad that offered free housing to anyone, as long as the tenant agreed to dress as a walrus while in the house. Smith and Mosier continued to riff on the idea for over an hour, and the idea for TUSK was born. Smith asked his listeners to tweet #WalrusYes if they liked the idea and #WalrusNo if they didn’t. The aye’s had it, and TUSK went into production.
After the fact, it turned out that the ad placed in Gumtree was actually a prank pulled by Chris Parkinson, a fan of Smith who hoped to get in touch with him. When Kevin found out about the prank, he hired Parkinson to be a producer on the film.
Kevin Smith originally offered the role of Guy LaPointe, the Canadian ex-cop that helps Bryton’s friends find the missing podcaster, to Quentin Tarantino, but the director/actor turned down the role. Tarantino stated that he thought the script was magnificent, but he had no interest in acting at the time. He did say that he couldn’t wait to see Michael Parks “let loose his internal Kraken” in TUSK.
When Joblo.com interviewed Haley Joel Osment and Genesis Rodriguez about the experience of filming TUSK, they let loose a major spoiler in the form of one of their co-stars. Apparently, none other than Johnny Depp appears in the film. It’s unclear whether Depp took the role turned down by Tarantino or if he plays another role in TUSK.
How did Kevin Smith keep Depp’s involvement in the film quiet? Haley Joel Osment said it was very simple.
“We had all this stuff about Johnny Depp, stuff about the walrus all over the place, not a small crew, pretty big crew, and Kevin just asked nicely, ‘please don’t post it on the internet,’ and nobody did.”
In addition to Johnny Depp’s appearance in the film, Osment is referring to the reveal of Justin Long’s character after he’s been surgically transformed into a walrus.
TUSK opens tomorrow in theaters across the country.
images via JoBlo
