The Boo Crew Celebrates Their 200th Episode with ‘Willy’s Wonderland’ Director Kevin Lewis [Podcast]

What better way to celebrate your birthday than at Willy’s Wonderland!

This is a horror movie where you’ll see Nicolas Cage spend the night locked in for a dusk til dawn blood soaked showdown with some creepy animatronics possessed by sinister spirits! Appearing on episode 200 of Bloody Disgusting’s Boo Crew Podcast is Director Kevin Lewis – the mastermind of this delightfully fun and entertaining flick.

Written by G.O. Parsons, this super fun thriller is one that will have you reminiscing of your childhood experiences at Chuck E. Cheese or perhaps that claustrophobic fun house type of experiences found at the local county fairs. The star of this film is the quiet drifter known as “The Janitor” played by Nic Cage. After his car suffers multiple tire blowouts on the country road, he makes a deal to spend the night inside Willy’s Wonderland, cleaning up the joint as an agreement with the owner of Willy’s to pay for his car repair. While on duty he indulges in many purple cans of Punch Pop soda as he works and confronts not only the creepy animatronics, but also a pack of teens, led by Liv played by Emily Tosta (Mayans M.C.), who arrive to take down Willy’s Wonderland once and for all.

While chatting with Kevin Lewis, he shared some amazing stories about the origins of this passion project as well as working with Nic Cage and forging an entire new cast of characters into the horror lexicon. In recent years, Cage has appeared in a few horror indie films which have drawn praise from the horror community such as MANDY, COLOR OUT OF SPACE and now WILLY’S WONDERLAND. But what’s it like working with Nicolas Cage? Kevin talks about his fantastic kindness, presence and work ethic.

He tells us, “It was so awesome setting up the shots. He wasn’t in his trailer. He was right there. Sometimes he was there with 2nd team with stand-ins and he came in to hold the Punch Pop. That’s Nic Cage. It was amazing because he didn’t have to do that. You hear about actors, you know that just do their lines and then they’re out and they get someone to do a stand in and over the shoulder shots. That’s not Nic. He came in and he would nail it. I told him I only had 2 and 3 takes to do stuff, “Nic I’m sorry, I don’t have the (production) time.” He was like “Kevin I like to get it in one.”

Willy’s Wonderland plays out as a must see horror thriller with fun surprises and kills around every corner of the joint. Watching Nic Cage help a group of teens battle, destroy and dismember the evil animatronics at Willy’s is like a shot of pure adrenaline fun – Or say a fistful of caffeine to the kisser! This is one fun horror movie that delivers the frights and delights as well as some surprises – including one trait about The Janitor’s (Cage) character that is rather surprising considering Nic Cage is known for his downward spiral into madness in his recent horror movies.

We want a sequel. And more. There are many more adventures to tell about The Janitor and the evil animatronic characters that live at Willy’s Wonderland. When asked about the possibility of a sequel, Kevin had this to say, “I’d love to do it. Like is said I’ve got a Mad Max vibe for the next one and I picture like Frankenstein Willy. You know somebody pitched to me today it was really cool like have all the creatures come out and have all their parts patched together as one. How cools is that? I think the ideas are endless. I think there should definitely be a sequel, I would love to be a part of it. I hope there is. The fans want it, which is awesome. You know you gotta make a good one. It think we could. I hope Nic would be down for it. He’s gotta say yes – so we’ll see. I just love that people are diggin’ this movie so much.”

Willy’s Wonderland is out now on VOD, digital and select theaters. Catch the 200th Episode of Bloody Disgusting’s Boo Crew Podcast with Special Guest Kevin Lewis now!

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