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"It's a 'mouse-ploitation' film!" Jamie Bailey and Simon Phillips on The Mouse Trap - SciFiNow

“It’s a ‘mouse-ploitation’ film!” Jamie Bailey and Simon Phillips on The Mouse Trap

It’s Mickey Mouse… in a horror movie! We speak to The Mouse Trap director Jamie Bailey and writer Simon Phillips about the Mickeyverse.

Directed by Jamie Bailey and written by Simon Phillips (who also stars as Mickey, the masked killer), The Mouse Trap takes place on Alex’s 21st Birthday. However, she’s stuck at the amusement arcade on a late shift so her friends decide to surprise her, but a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse decides to play a game of his own with them which she must survive.

We sat down with Jamie Bailey and Simon Phillips to find out what the hell this is all about, being inspired by Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey and whether we’ll be seeing more horror movies in the Mickey Mouse universe

Okay, so how did everything start with The Mouse Trap?

Simon Phillips: I had the idea after seeing what they did with Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, which I thought was a great idea. Maybe not a great movie, but a great idea. Then when we heard that the copyright on Mickey Mouse was coming up, I said to Jamie, ‘what do you think of attempting something similar?’ Mickey Mouse in amusement park. Because that had a nice Disney feel to it. It would be almost like Disneyland, but they were in an arcade, and he’s capturing and playfully hunting down some innocent children. That was our jumping off point and thankfully, it was a crazy idea, and Jamie went with it, and we worked it up from there.

Jamie Bailey: What’s really cool is that we’ve invented a movie category. It’s a ‘mouse-ploitation’ film haha!

Simon Phillips: There aren’t many people that can claim this. We’ve created a sub genre!

Was this always going to be a slasher movie?

Jamie Bailey: There’s no doubt. Being able to take Mickey Mouse, the character that we all grew up with and loved – and he’s sweet, he’s innocent – and having him kill teenagers in an arcade… I mean, who wouldn’t do that?

I’ve actually read stories of people criticising us and saying ‘why couldn’t you make it more family friendly?’ Or something that’s in the same genre that already existed with Mickey Mouse. But it’s already been done. I think there’s another company that’s actually done that quite well. So we wanted to do the exact opposite of whatever existed.

The Mouse Trap was always going to be a slasher movie…

What were your influences for The Mouse Trap?

Jamie Bailey: I love the Evil Dead movies. Sam Raimi’s movies. Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, those classics. I like the synth music in the background, as the murderer is walking around. We try to make it scary, but really cartoon scary. So how scary can that be? I think the Evil Dead movies kind of sum up the tone that we’re going for.

What can audiences expect from The Mouse Trap?

Simon Phillips: You know what, let me tell you what they should expect… Not too much! Haha.

This is my problem with people going ‘if I watch this movie, will it change my life?’ Honestly, probably not.

If anyone is going to watch this thinking it’s going to reinvigorate any part of their life. They’re probably not. It’s a popcorn movie. It’s something to be enjoyed and not taken too seriously.

Jamie Bailey: If you want to watch it with other movies that are kind of the same tone, I would probably watch maybe, Gandhi and then afterwards, The Passion of the Christ… haha.

Maybe don’t expect too much from The Mouse Trap…

Simon, you play Mickey the masked killer. How would you describe him?

Simon Phillips: He’s someone that’s been trapped in celluloid for 95 years and has just been released and is very mad that his essence was trapped there, and he’s going around to set the world right again.

What’s scary sometimes is not knowing why someone is doing something. Why are you doing that? Why are you trying to kill me? Not getting that answer is also scary.

Jamie Bailey: Michael Myers in Halloween is a classic example of that. They don’t really explain why he’s killing people. He just is and it’s terrifying. If you watch the Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse, the Mickey in that is terrifying. Mickey’s kind of sadistic. He’s torturing animals to make Minnie laugh. It’s the different sensibilities of the 1920s. That’s my take on it. That’s why Mickey’s killing everybody, because he’s Steamboat Willie Mickey and he was sadistic.

What were the thoughts and ideas behind Mickey’s creepy mask?

Simon Phillips: So ours is the 1928 steamboat, Willie mask. For copyright purposes, that’s the only version of the character that’s available to us to use. It’s black and white. In the movie, our colour picture, the mask is black and white. He doesn’t have any eyebrows. His eyeballs are black. He doesn’t wear the white gloves. He doesn’t have the red jumpsuit. All of those things were true of the 1928 version. Obviously, the Mickey Mouse that we all know and love, that we grew up with, is the more colourised, he’s a lot more of a developed image. But we’re going right back to the grassroots of the character here, and that’s the one we can use.

Jamie Bailey: We also had to pick the one that was the most claustrophobic for Simon to wear, because he thoroughly enjoys that. That was a really weird thing about him wearing that mask that I never really thought about. The first few times we were shooting a scene where he had to do stuff and he had no depth perception in it. Also, weren’t you claustrophobic in the mask?

Simon Phillips: Yeah! There was a lot fighting and moving and the minute you do that, you’re breathing slightly heavier. This mask is rubber, it’s not plastic, it’s rubber. So you breathe in, and it just sort of sticks to your face. The mask was an effort to get on because I’ve got a big head and the mask is small, so I’d have to peel it up halfway to breathe between takes.

I can’t wait to wear it again…!

This is the Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse. For legal purposes…

Speaking of which, are there more Mickey movies planned in the future?

Jamie Bailey: There is a Mickey and Minnie sequel – kind of like a Joker and Harley Quinn movie that’s coming, and we’re gonna have a lot of additional characters. Characters that you probably aren’t even really thinking about that will be in the sequel. We have a much bigger idea for part two, for sure.

The horror Winnie the Pooh Universe is called The Poohniverse, will the horror Mickey movies be called the Mickeyverse?

Jamie Bailey: That is what it’s called right now. That might change. But yes, it’s called the Mickeyverse right now.

What do you think it is about these Disney horrors that appeal to audiences?

Jamie Bailey: Mickey Mouse especially, is a character that we all grew up with. You can’t buy a children’s anything without a Mickey Mouse on it. So being able to play with a mega-star. Usually, if you’re making a movie, especially as an independent filmmaker, the first question you’re being asked is ‘is anybody in it?’ If there’s nobody in it, that kind of devalues it.

The great thing about horror is it kind of subverts that, where the genre itself is the star. So being able to take a world-famous character like Mickey Mouse and plugging him into the horror genre is like super-fuel for your movie. Everyone knows who Mickey Mouse is. There’s that. Then also the added value of taking this innocent childhood cartoon character and flipping it on its head and having him kill a bunch of teenagers… we haven’t seen it, so just that morbid fascination of seeing that happen on screen. It’s like, show me what that looks like!

We’ll be seeing more movies from the Mickeyverse…

Aside from Disney or any copyright issues – what other childhood character would you like to see at the centre of a horror story?

Jamie Bailey: Give me Grimace from McDonald’s. That’s what I want to see. I want to see that giant purple thing killing people. What do you think, Simon? Is that a good idea?

Simon Phillips: I think that that looks more comfortable to wear. I wouldn’t have to watch my weight in that costume. When do we start?

Jamie Bailey: Let’s do it. All right. I gotta write the script this weekend. We’ll shoot it on Monday

Simon Phillips: Hold on, you’re gonna take a whole weekend to write the script. That’s long. That’s double the amount of time it took to write this Mickey thing…! Haha!

In all seriousness, I want to do – and I’m gonna push it on Jamie for the next 10 years, so that in 10 years we’ll be able to revisit this interview, and I’ll remind him about it – is Superman.

Superman comes into public domain in 2035. Now I don’t know what a horror movie with Superman would look like. There were elements of it in Brightburn. But a Superman horror movie… yeah, that would be interesting.

He would be the ultimate villain because he’s Superman. I don’t know how the world would respond to it, or what his goal would be or why he would be doing it. Imagine this –  Superman becomes a bad guy and the world has to turn to a Lex Luthor-type character, and we now need Lex Luthor to defeat Superman. They need the genius. What does that movie look like?

Jamie Bailey: Kind of like The Boys?

Simon Phillips: Yeah, I’m trying to watch it. I auditioned for it three times…  anyway. It doesn’t matter. I’m over it. I’m over it. It’s fine. I actually think Henry Cavill would be a perfect, evil Superman…

Jamie Bailey: Oh, yeah, totally!

What do you want audiences to take away from the movie?

Jamie Bailey: The meaning of life, obviously, is probably the first thing.

Honestly, I hope that they are entertained. That it was an enjoyable ride. It was silly, ridiculous. And also they don’t regret their decision haha!

Simon Phillips: Don’t take this too seriously. We know we had a crazy idea. We just ran with it. I don’t know how it’s reached your screen, wherever you’re watching it. I’m so sorry, but the pressure of the internet has put this on your screen. Morbid curiosity and peer pressure are what’s made this happen for you.

Please enjoy.

The Mouse Trap will be released on digital platforms and DVD in the UK & Ireland from 14th October