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Joe Hammerstone: The Man Behind 200 Roles and Counting · Cinema Yūgen

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  G'day, that's right, it's that time again, time for Cinema Yugen! Game. Game. Game.
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  Music.
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  Game.
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  Game.
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  Yes, welcome back, Cinema Yugen, this episode Joe Hammerstone,
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  the mighty Joe Hammerstone, This man has over 200 credits to his name and counting.
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  Joe Hammerstone is a film actor who has been working in feature film and short
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  films since 2002, playing a gamut of roles.
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  With his distinctive look, he has been everything from a pot-smoking delinquent to a proud father.
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  His continued work as an actor grows by leaps and bounds each day as he strives
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  not only to be representative of independent film, But of that,
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  the mainstream Hollywood audience as well.
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  In addition to acting, Joe has experienced behind the camera, I should say,
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  such as in the jobs of cinematography, writing, assistant directing,
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  producing and stunt work.
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  We are very honored to have him here on Cinema You can please welcome Joe Hammerstone.
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  Hey thanks for having me mate it's a pleasure to have you actually i'd like
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  to begin i was looking through your your laundry list of credits you've got
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  you're up there with klaus kinski man you're,
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  Yeah, well, thank you, guys. That's crazy is awesome. Wow, thank you for that.
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  Well, I think he had like up north of 300-something credits,
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  and you're sort of north of 200, so you're up there with the big, big heavy hitters.
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  But I did notice among your credits, and we have six degrees of separation here
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  through a gentleman by the name of Kevin Strange who directed you in a film called Cockhammer.
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  That's right. Now, I know Kevin Strange because 10 years ago,
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  I was a struggling writer, and I couldn't give a script away.
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  And over a beer with a mate, he said, you know, why don't you turn some of the
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  script ideas into books?
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  And I thought, well, I hadn't really ever thought of that. So I did,
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  and I eventually got published at a little place called Strange House Books,
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  started by Kevin Strange.
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  And after he finished making films, he went into publishing.
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  And that's where our paths crossed. So that was the beginning of my journey up until now.
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  Okay. Because that one book led to other books and now with screenplays and
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  writing for Film Threat.
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  And so, yeah, we've come away from a bizarre Western with smart-peddling aliens.
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  From the film so but anyway
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  again let's talk about you you've got so much you've done so much you got so
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  much going on what what was what was it that lit the spark in you with with
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  the cinema and wanting to be a part of well i've always wanted to do being.
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  Filmmaking and being an actor you know as they
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  say when you're just wee high to a grasshopper you
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  know i've always even like when back
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  in the day with toys i would act out scenes it's
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  almost it's funny because i would obviously like play director but
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  yeah no i was huge i i always
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  say that my childhood was different
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  like you know how when you're a child you're looking at the
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  disney pictures and the cartoons and stuff which
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  i do that now as an adult or as i got older
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  no my young kid my young years were
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  full of jason freddy michael all i
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  just i just loved horror and not
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  the only genre it was big a big intense yeah it wasn't until i got older i was
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  starting to get into like you know liking classic comedy stuff like comedy teams
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  like lauren hardy and the marx brothers and then of course the single stuff
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  of like Chaplin and Keaton.
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  So, but usually you know, and liking Disney animated stuff, that's generally,
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  you know, you start out with that. I got into that.
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  Starting off with the R-rated content. It's just,
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  Wasn't like I didn't think I was, you know, kind of like, ooh, did it go old?
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  And I don't know. No, I just, I liked it.
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  Yeah, I mean, I had similar beginnings. And then I kind of went off in this
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  direction when I started to read into films.
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  And I would read the filmmakers that I liked.
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  I would read about the films that they said they liked and then go and watch those movies.
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  And then you'd see how those movies influenced the filmmakers that you like.
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  And then you see how those filmmakers sort of like, you know,
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  you see the, the chain, like of Hitchcock, De Palma, Tarantino,
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  each one influenced because Hitchcock was, was De Palma's guy and De Palma was Tarantino's guy.
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  And you can watch their movies and see how each influenced the other,
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  you know, maybe subconsciously, sometimes indirectly, sometimes flat out the homage.
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  As they say but it's it that's also a great stepping stone i remember martin
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  scorsese did a great program oh geez many years ago now back in the dark ages of the 20th century,
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  it was martin scorsese a personal journey through
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  cinema did you ever see that is that from like
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  2000 or something like that yeah it was it was
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  the late i think it was the late 90s it was definitely just before the millennium
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  but okay and it was predictably if
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  i it might be on youtube probably there's a lot of
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  stuff on youtube these days yeah but it
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  was produced by the bfi and it's an incredible film and
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  he literally talks about all of the well not all of the films but certainly
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  the films that stood out for him and the filmmakers he stood out for him and
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  it's a great that's a great way in for people who who love movies and then listen
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  to a filmmaker that they've probably heard of and that they like.
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  And direct them to films that they've probably never seen because that's always
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  a good way in sometimes to, if you watch the films that the people that you like, like,
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  the parallels are incredible sometimes.
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  And you end up seeing films that you mightn't have watched or sought out otherwise
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  had you not been sort of consciously or unconsciously recommended by someone else that you do like.
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  So, you know, certainly, I mean, look, certainly since I've been doing this,
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  you know, for going nearly 10 years now, I would not, there's a lot of films,
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  independent films that I probably would not have seen had I not been doing this.
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  And there i have to tell you along with
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  some of your work too the revolution
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  is is in full swing with independent cinema and
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  it's incredible and they're such original and wonderful and thanks
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  to technology what we're able to achieve
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  now for very low budgets as opposed
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  to in in decades past is pretty incredible
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  yeah yeah yeah and
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  i like along the lines of
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  influence i love how george lucas was
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  influenced by kurosawa for star wars wasn't it
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  hidden fortress or one of the one of his kurosawa yeah
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  so i i was finding that neat that that's something that helped lead to star
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  wars so it's pretty cool because kurosawa is a great director so anyway talk
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  uh talk us tell us a little bit about i know that you've got a film in post i believe at the moment.
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  Or is it Red Knight of Skies?
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  Yeah, or there was something Matt was telling me in the night or in the dark. Oh, Alone in the Night?
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  Is that? Alone in the Night? Yeah, Alone in the Night, that's it.
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  Sorry. Yeah, that's still in production.
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  I haven't updated the NW page recently.
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  But yeah, so it's still in production right now.
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  But yeah, I'm really looking forward to doing that.
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  So um but i know as far
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  as like i think it's gonna be
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  in april red night of skies was the picture i worked on
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  that's gonna start streaming because it's had a couple
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  of showings at festivals and i
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  don't even think like the dvd or blu-ray is even
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  available on on a site yet but i
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  do know that right now it's gonna be on vimeo
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  in april that's all i've heard so far but
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  hopefully more than that you know like maybe who knows stuff like hulu or netflix
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  would you know stuff like would be nice but yeah i'm really looking forward
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  to that one totally yeah and it's 2025 you got a have you got a big slate ahead
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  of you this year you got a lot of stuff that you're.
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  Got in the pipeline i've got
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  a few things that i'm attached to right now but it's one of
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  those like with that's the thing with a lot
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  of stuff doesn't you know you get attached to
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  stuff but then you don't hear about dates for a while so
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  it's just yeah so but yeah no for sure I definitely and I don't know there was
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  another picture I worked on in 2023 called Triple Xmas where I played a feral
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  elk and it was like a panthas demented yeah.
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  You did see that one? No, I haven't seen that one yet. Oh, okay.
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  Yeah, XXX because Santa goes to a XXX movie set and kills people and brings his crafty elf along.
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  That was awesome, too, because I worked with Phyllis Rose on that.
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  And, oh, she's a sweet woman.
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  She's awesome because you're familiar with Phyllis Rose, obviously.
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  Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. And one thing I'm excited about, the Red Nights,
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  guys, it's unfortunate I didn't get a chance to meet with Bill Moseley, but I love Bill Moseley.
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  And I wouldn't, trust me, I wouldn't have been, you know, nerd boy.
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  All super fanboy stuff. But I'm sure anybody that wrote on that picture,
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  I'm like, I could outname you movies he's been in, but whatever, because he's awesome.
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  And so that's the only thing I didn't like about that picture is I didn't get
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  a chance to work with him.
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  But everything else is awesome. but i'll definitely
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  check it out triple triple xmas yeah
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  triple xmas sets it's i think it's had
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  a few showings because obviously or i
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  think it might be available possibly on the
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  director's website monster kid productions because it's
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  currently it currently has a star rating
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  on imdb so i doubt it's people just deciding if
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  they okay it's an eight oh this is a five you know
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  i i would imagine people have actually seen it yeah
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  so i'll definitely check
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  that one out for sure hey listen you're i see in
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  your your credits too you're in the inform that matt damon
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  soderberg directed maybe the informant what was
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  yeah what was that experience like i was just
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  an extra in that picture but it was still fun
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  you know be on set with just like with also up
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  in the air with george clooney when you're on set with a big a
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  big time a-lister it's fun yeah yeah
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  probably the most back in the
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  day when i've done x did extra work and some extra work i'd say one of my favorites
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  was the lucky ones because that's with rachel mcadams tim robbins and michael
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  pena this was what in 2007 it was shot because it's a 2008 jerk but oh my gosh tim robbins super tall.
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  It's weird like after after i remember reading
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  william goldman's book and he talks about being at
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  the hotel and seeing sylvester stallone down in the pool and he had like this
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  little obsession with with seeing how big movie stars actually were as you know
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  i mean because you see them up on a screen quite a lot you don't get any idea
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  until you're sort of standing toe to more not maybe not toe-to-toe,
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  but on the same level anyway.
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  Or what they look like, what they actually look like up close,
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  because, you know, for a lot of people that, you know, that...
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  You see these people in movies, but somehow they don't seem real until you're
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  standing like a few feet away. I mean, you know.
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  No, I get that. I've done it a few times, but, I mean, you know,
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  it's always interesting.
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  They're always sort of, hey, you're not as big as I imagined or tall, I should say.
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  Right. Or it could be like, I don't know, with Tom Cruise, I guess,
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  because obviously they shoot at up angles, and then I think he's even shorter than me.
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  So that would be kind of different because you're not used to those camera angles
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  showing Tom Cruise's actual height.
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  Because I've heard, too, if he has a female lead that's taller than him,
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  she might have to walk in a trench so they could be eye to eye. I think I've heard.
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  It's funny. Although Kevin Costa apparently had to do at the start of Field
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  of Dreams, the corn, which they thought was not going to make the height that
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  they needed, grew too high.
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  And so he had to walk on planks with apple
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  boxes so the scene where you see him walking through the
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  corner at the start he's actually walking on because the corn was would
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  have dwarfed him yeah okay yeah so
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  yeah so he's actually walking on on on planks
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  to make him his head higher than the uh
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  than the corn right because the stock the stocks
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  were so tall yeah yeah there was all this
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  panic like was it going to actually grow at all and
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  then when it finally grew it grew too tall
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  you know just like just like most things in the movies
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  you plan for everything except the unexpected right yeah which is you know always
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  the case you know they turn up everything's fine the weather's fine that you
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  turn up to make a movie and they have the first snow in a thousand years or,
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  Right. Or the first tornado that's ever been through the valley or whatever.
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  Right. The weather looks great. Then all of a sudden, oh, rain today.
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  And you have exterior shoot. It's like, oh, perfect.
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  You know, or you show up for the snow and there's no snow, you know,
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  like they have in the past.
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  Like they plan, like we're going to be here because there will be snow when
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  they get there and there's no snow.
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  You know, I think it was in that movie. do you see that movie Rabinous with Robert Carver from 99,
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  yeah from 99 with Guy Pearce yeah the cannibal it's the cannibal movie,
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  yeah it's 99 and that was apparently what befell them they went to this where
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  they filmed it because they knew that was the time of year there was snow and there was no snow,
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  oh wow that was shot in Chernobyl wasn't it yeah yeah it was shot over in Europe somewhere and Oh, okay.
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  Yeah, but they were assured, you know, based on the seasons, there would be snow.
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  So initially you see that it's just kind of wet and muddy, and then as it progresses,
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  the snow actually – they did put, I think, some fake snow.
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  But then initially the snow did catch up, but it was, you know.
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  You plan – like we were just saying, you plan, okay, yeah, we're going to be
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  there because there's going to be snow, and you get there and this is the first
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  time it's never snowed in, you know, whenever.
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  Yeah. And then it's almost like, of course.
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  Yeah. So Mother Nature doing it to me, of course. Yeah, yeah,
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  yeah. It's a conspiracy.
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  But so when you're looking, when you're out looking for, like people would look
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  at your credit list and say that you jump at anything or are you a little bit more selective?
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  Do you take everything that comes your way or do you –,
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  Do you say more? No, you're a bit more selective than me as far as projects and stuff like that.
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  I think for the most part, it's almost like a Michael Caine syndrome. You take everything.
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  So yeah, I'll take quite a bit. I can't think of any instances offhand that
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  I can be like, I'm really not sure that I would.
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  I know there's been a shoot or two that I've had to pass on because either the
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  date that they would have wanted me to come out didn't work with me,
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  or just like maybe there was an area that I really didn't want to go shoot at.
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  Then I'm like, you know, I'd have to pass on that.
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  But again, usually not much, not often.
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  But I think there has been some.
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  No, but I mean, it's certainly something aspiring actors should take note of.
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  I mean, if you want to progress, you should really be open to jumping in anything,
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  short films, student films, independent films.
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  Independent theater, anything, you know, anything that you can get into.
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  Because if you're hanging out for that magical moment where you'll be sitting
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  in the bar somewhere and there's someone staring at you from across the way and go, hey,
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  you're just the person we've been looking for to star in this new $300 million
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  epic that I just happened to be producing tomorrow.
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  And you're the guy or the girl. Right. Or the, you know.
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  Person. and so that way i
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  mean it's waiting for the right
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  time is always the wrong choice because
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  there's no such thing as the right time right yeah i
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  think maybe sometimes people may have think that oh
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  they they may have seen me too much
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  i'm like well i don't know i do i would always want
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  to do as much as possible because first off i love doing
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  it and second off you know
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  if you're in let's say 100 credits
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  what's the percentage that one of those 100 pictures actually grows some legs
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  so that's why I would do so much because if I do a lot there's a decent chance
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  that something there's got to be one thing at least that can get a little attention,
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  because there's absolutely no indication I believe some people think that.
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  But I don't think so I don't think that.
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  You ever know that you could be in a film or you could make a film or write
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  a film or anything that's going to catch fire, so to speak. Right. You know?
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  Right, yeah. Yeah. You never know that, you know,
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  like anyone who created a franchise or something that became a cult,
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  a classic or whatever, I'm pretty sure when it started out it didn't have,
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  oh, this is going to be around for the next 10, 20 years, 30,
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  40, however long, you know, it's not, it's not on the surface because ultimately
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  with anything that we do in,
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  in the industry, it's going to be the audience that it's going to be the audience's response.
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  Right. That will determine whether or not it, it lives on after we do, you know?
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  Right. Or it's kind of like the, uh, 1980 Friday the 13th with even Sean S.
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  Cunningham admittedly admitted that it was just
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  going to be a cash grab from Halloween and so
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  I guess Betsy Palmer they were telling her oh nobody's
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  gonna watch this movie and she needed it I think it was a car at the time or
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  whatever so she did it of course now it's Friday the 13th doesn't go away right
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  so all over the place but back then they're saying oh nobody's gonna see it
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  it's just gonna show it a couple theaters and then done.
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  But so that's kind of the lines of you
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  know if you you know you don't know what to expect i mean i'm sure in the back
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  of their mind the producers like frank mancuso and stuff were like yeah if we're
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  gonna ride on the coattails of halloween let's let's get something yeah but
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  but maybe they I didn't realize it was going to be as big as it is.
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  It's almost, it's like with Halloween, it's like, those are like the granddaddies
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  of the slasher. Well, I shouldn't,
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  the parents of the slashers, because really the granddaddies would go back to
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  like psycho or maybe even black Christmas from 74.
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  That's the, the very, you know, the earlier ones, but yeah. So sorry.
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  I was just kind of going wrong.
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  Yeah. No, mate, you can, you can ramble. That's what we're here to do is ramble
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  on about. I go on TV sometimes.
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  Joe Hammerstone has been my guest. We'll put a link in the description to Joe's
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  work. Joe, where can our audience, do you have a lot of social media presence
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  that our audience can follow you on with your projects and what you're up to?
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  Oh, okay. Yeah, well, I do have a Facebook page and stuff on YouTube.
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  And I'm not involved with Hammerstone Studios, which is unfortunate because
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  I'm like… I was about to say that's a really great name for a studio,
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  like Hammerstone Studios.
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  Is it's got a nice that rolls on the tongue really well right because i think
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  studio yeah it's like are you involved and it's like yeah because they did what
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  bill and ted face the music and.
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  Barbarian and so i recently have emailed
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  like hey because i found one of the emails
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  on indb pro it's like
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  hey i love your name well where'd you
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  get it and so i just you know i wouldn't be one
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  wouldn't be like hey that's my name you can't you
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  know that's uh because anybody with the name last name
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  smith and all of a sudden smith productions hey that's my name you can't do
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  it who knows they may have gotten it from a wrestler his name's alexander hammerstone
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  that's try google me i played basketball i played basketball in in high school
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  with a dude whose last name was i can't remember his first name but his last name was hammermeister,
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  Oh. Hammer Meister. So that was, you know, everyone called him Hammer,
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  of course, which was easier because. Me too.
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  Yeah. Right. It's less syllables.
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  Yeah. Not because he was.
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  Oh, geez. Yeah, no, I was trying to think of his first name,
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  but it's gone. But yeah, Hammer Meister. But yeah, but Hammer Stone.
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  That's funny. Some people think that's a porn name. Like, no,
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  it's on the birth certificate. It's a real name. It's not a stage name. Yeah. So.
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  It's, yeah, I mean, what was weird once is when I was early getting published,
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  people thought that Kent Hill was a, because it was too, they thought it was
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  too simple. They thought I had a, it was a pen name.
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  And I said, no, I said, I've been fighting for years to get my name published
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  on something. Why would I change it?
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  Right. Why would I use a different name?
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  Right. I couldn't get my name on something for ages. I would never.
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  Like, I think a friend said, don't you think you should use a pseudonym or a
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  pen name or something? No.
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  I want to see my name on a book, not someone else's. Because then you spend
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  the rest of your life trying to convince everyone that, I know I am Richard Bachman.
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  Right. Yeah. you know i'm not you know steve richard bachman is not stephen
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  king i'm corbin dallas you know what i mean yeah.
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  Anyway, Joe Hammerstone, which is his actual name, we'll put links in the description
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  to all of Joe's wonderful work.
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  Go and check it out. Joe Hammerstone, he's in a lot of films in the making, films coming out.
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  I'm going to certainly check out that Triple Xmas.
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  What do you play in Triple Xmas again, Joe?
• 25:07
  Oh, it was a feral elf. So I go with Santa and then his elf henchmen.
• 25:15
  Oh, okay. You're his little henchman.
• 25:18
  Yeah, that was easy to memorize those lines. It was just grunting.
• 25:22
  But it was fun. It was a lot of fun. It sounds like a lot of fun.
• 25:27
  Triple X must put a link in the description of Joe's work.
• 25:32
  And everyone, check him out.
• 25:35
  Joe, it's been wonderful to talk to you, mate. Thank you for coming and being
• 25:39
  our guest here on Cinema Union.
• 25:41
  Thanks for having me so much. Appreciate it. Yes, Joe Hammerstone.
• 25:46
  We wish Joe all the best with all he's got going on and coming out.
• 25:52
  He's a very busy boy. Joe Hammerstone. Check the links in the description.
• 25:57
  And as always, my little Yugenites, thank you for listening to us on Spotify
• 26:04
  or wherever you choose to listen to your favorite podcasts. I'm Ken Hill.
• 26:07
  And until next time, you've been listening to Cinema Yugenite.
• 26:13
  Music.