Goran Visnjic Explains How His Kids Turned Him Into A Horror Movie Fan - Exclusive
Ever since spending a decade as Dr. Luka Kovacs on NBC's iconic medical drama "ER," actor Goran Visnjic has been a near-ubiquitous presence on film and television screens. His IMDb credits tell the story, boasting such TV series as "Leverage," "Pan Am," "Red Widow," and "Extant," in addition to films such as "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," and "The Tribes of Palos Verdes." More recently, he's been in such TV series as NBC cult favorite "Timeless," Netflix cannibal comedy "The Santa Clarita Diet," and Amazon's antihero superhero series "The Boys," among others.
Currently, Visnjic can be seen in the recently released horror film "The Accursed," about the unexpected resurrection of a long-buried family curse; in addition, he'll also be starring in the upcoming reboot of classic horror hit "Hellraiser." So, he must love the horror genre, right? Not so fast; in an exclusive interview with Nicki Swift, Visnjic confesses that despite several appearances in horror flicks, he has mixed feelings about the genre himself.
Goran Visnjic admits his teenage children have caused him to warm to the horror genre
With one scary movie out now and a big horror reboot on the way with "Hellraiser," it would be easy to assume that Goran Visnjic is an aficionado of scary movies. This, he admitted, is not the case. "Oh, no. I'm not a big fan of horror," he said. "Now I have to say, with my teenagers, they've been dragging me into theaters lately to watch the horror movies. I kind of started enjoying looking at them next to me, kind of, ah, enjoying being scared. Yeah. I'm warming up my love of horror a little bit."
While horror may not dominate his acting resume, he has had his moments dipping in and out of the genre. "'Practical Magic' was kind of dark comedy, but I did play a guy who's been killed, then he wakes up as a zombie. They kill him again, he wakes up as a ghost, they kill him again. That was my beginning of horror," he said of his role in the 1998 film. "Then there was a movie about 15 years ago called 'Hypnotic' or 'Close Your Eyes.' That was like a horror. I did that movie in England. I really liked that one. Then it was 'The Accursed' and I've just done a remake of 'Hellraiser.' Yeah, that was interesting. That's going to be a good one, a big one."
Goran Visnjic has vivid memories of the original Hellraiser
Horror fans are eagerly anticipating the upcoming revival of "Hellraiser," the Clive Barker-directed 1987 movie in which a group of sinister, demonic beings escape their sadistic underworld and wreak hellish havoc on Earth, led by one who's come be nicknamed Pinhead by fans due to the numerous metal spikes protruding from his head.
"I was a kid when I was watching those and I still remember them vividly," said Goran Visinjic of the original "Hellraiser" and its sequels. "When that thing came in and I was like, 'Oh my God, are we talking about how these are cool,' it's going to be an interesting movie."
While he hasn't seen footage of the "Hellraiser" reboot, he's optimistic that fans are going to love it. "I can't tell you how it's going to look like in the end," he said. "I hope it's going to be great, but from what we've been doing on the set, we've done some pretty cool, amazing things. The director is amazing and the cast, so I think we have all irons in a good spot."
"The Accursed" is currently available on VOD.