Joe Dante on Eerie Indiana

[froodle]

Another project I have to mention that got me into horror, was that show that you were involved in called Eerie, Indiana. As a kid watching the "Foreverware" episode, it just left an indelible mark on my mind. And I always feel like that show was Twin Peaks for a younger audience.

Joe Dante: Well, it was. It was, in a way. It was also pre-X-Files. It was X-Files junior.

Did you get approached to be a part of that? Because you ended up directing several episodes.

Joe Dante: I talked to the guys about doing the pilot. And I really liked it. I got pretty close to the group and I got involved in the casting and all that, and I really had a good time. And when the pilot sold, they said, "Why don't you come on and be the creative consultant?" And so I got to have input into all the stories and all that kind of stuff. And whenever I was available I got to direct some. I was supposed to direct the one that I'm in, which is the last episode, the "Reality Takes a Holiday," where Marshall learns that he's an actor in a TV show. And I was working on Matinee, or I was going to work on Matinee, and I wasn't available. I said, "But I'll play myself."

So I'm in it. But it was directed by Ken Kwapis. And it was supposed to be the last episode of the show, and it was designed to be. But there was another episode, that they hadn't run, about backward masking, because it was considered too controversial. There's this father, and he doesn't want his kid listening to rock music, but when you play it backwards... that was in the news at the moment as a sort of a controversial religious thing. They wouldn't run that episode at all. But when they put the show together for the DVD, they took that episode and put it last, even though it's from the middle of the season. And so you don't get to really enjoy "Reality Takes a Holiday" as the end of the show, which is what it was supposed to be.