One of the most suspenseful scenes in director Johannes Roberts‘ Primate sees a deaf father arrive home, unaware of the vicious animal attack waging in the recesses of his house.
The character, Adam, as Roberts initially wrote with collaborator Ernest Riera, wasn’t deaf at all. Nor was Adam a character who’s as warm and present a father as Academy Award winner Troy Kotsur portrays him. Roberts reshaped the character entirely when he sought out the actor.
“I asked Johannes Roberts, our director, ‘What made you think of me being involved in this?'” Kotsur tells Bloody Disgusting. “He saw the film Coda, and he started to think about this character of Adam, and that’s what led him to contact me and offer me the role. Then, of course, I’m a big fan of Johannes’ work and all of his previous films, including 47 Meters Down. His work was amazing.
“I was a big fan, and now this is the first time I’ve been in a horror movie. I’ve never had that experience, and you don’t often see actors who happen to be deaf get that opportunity to act in a horror film.”
The actor continues, “And it’s so nice to be able to give feedback through the process. For example, there were a few scenes on a telephone, and to be authentic to a deaf character, you can adapt it to texting or video calls or FaceTime, or there are different ways to make those small adjustments and to go through that process. But we made them, and they were open-minded, and I’m so grateful for them to be so open-minded. Deanne Bray, my wife, was the ASL consultant who worked with Johnny and the other actors who had to learn sign language dialogue. And it was really magic. It was a great team. It was a great crew, and we couldn’t have done it without the collaboration.”
Primate doesn’t just mark Kotsur’s first horror role, but for star Johnny Sequoyah as well. Sequoyah plays Adam’s daughter Lucy, the film’s protagonist, tasked with going toe-to-toe with one ferociously pissed off chimp.
That the actress happens to be a huge horror fan meant this was a dream project. Even if a bit challenging. “I had never done horror before,” Sequoyah said. “So I think honestly, most of it intimidated me just because I had no idea how it was going to work, especially with so much of the script. You can’t really imagine what it’s going to look like when you’re reading it, right? I didn’t even understand how they were going to do the chimp when I was reading it. So it was pretty mind-blowing to get there to set and to see the world that they had created and to see Ben in real life.
“It felt like walking onto this magical set. I feel like a lot of the challenges then became actually doing the stuff, like acting in the water for three weeks, running around, and fake falling. And the emotional sides of it. There were so many physical and emotional challenges that were required. It was really satisfying to be able to get an opportunity like that.”
Both would love to return to horror again, though Kotsur cites an understandable caveat: “As long as it’s old school, I like old school and practical effects and that kind of feel. Old school is my thing.”
Primate releases in theaters on January 9.
Gia Hunter as “Erin” and Johnny Sequoyah as “Lucy” in Primate from Paramount Pictures.
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