One of the most striking details in the 2014 horror-comedy film “Tusk” is that
the story is supposedly based on real events. A man in Canada creating a human
walrus... What is true and what is fiction in the bizarre film?
Real crime?
“Tusk,” Kevin Smith's horror comedy about a man who is surgically transformed
into a walrus, was not based on a true story, as the film humorously claims.
However, it was inspired by a fake online ad in which an elderly man offers a
room in his house rent-free, but with one catch: the lucky tenant must be
willing and able to occasionally dress up in a walrus costume and act like a
walrus.
The man who created the fake ad is writer Chris Parkinson from Brighton,
England. He posted it as a joke, but according to reports in
Variety
and
Screen Rant, Parkinson received more than 400 responses to the ad.
|
| Chris Parkinson and his wife Anna Sandhu at the film's premiere. Parkinson served as executive producer. |
According to Parkinson, the escalation of the strange but unpretentious
project led to “the strangest year and a half of his life” (and one of
the strangest films). The project escalated very quickly, and Parkinson was on
set during the production of Smith's horror curiosity:
"They took me to North Carolina to film. I spent a week wandering around a
deserted country club, watching Michael Parks murmur lines from my
commercial in a gloriously sinister way, and coming face to face with some
very alarming life-size walrus suits", Parkinson recalls.
"A year later, I was in Los Angeles watching the premiere, though I don’t
think anyone had a clue who the hell I was when I walked down the red
carpet".
Parkinson is proud of “Tusk” as a cinematic work:
“I loved it. I think it's absolutely hilarious. But it horrified other
people. It's certainly a bit darker than my original ad, but I think that
works in its favor. It takes the premise established in the post and runs
with it all the way to its logical and terrifying conclusion. And the ending
is probably the most heart-wrenching moment in the entire history of cinema.
Maybe the man really is a walrus deep down.”
Parkinson met with Smith several times and says the legendary director was
“kind, welcoming, and absolutely hilarious.” However, he initially thought the
ad was real when he was researching the film:
“Kevin didn't realize he was dealing with a guy who was posting a
ridiculous ad on Gumtree
(the UK equivalent of Craigslist). He thought people were trying to set him up with a real guy who had a
spare room and a homemade walrus costume. Given how things turn out in the
movie, he might not be the kind of person you'd want to meet in real
life.”
“Tusk” is the only online publication about Parkinson's disease that has been
made into a movie, although an earlier publication caused a stir on a much
smaller scale:
"A few months before the walrus announcement, I reported a vortex leading
to another dimension on a community road maintenance website. Snakes were
coming out of the vortex, and my little dog was almost sucked in. It never
turned into a horror movie, but I found a video on YouTube a few years ago
showing a couple of ‘paranormal investigators’ walking down my street in
search of the vortex. The internet was a different place in 2013/4, and
there was more room to slip in these little strange stories and make the
world a stranger and more interesting place, even if only glimpsed in
passing."
|
| Original ad publication. |
"Hello, I am looking for a lodger in my house. I have had a long and
interesting life and have now chosen Brighton as a location for my
retirement. Among the many things I have done in my life is to spend three
years alone on St. Lawrence Island. These were perhaps the most intense and
fascinating years of my life, and I was kept in companionship with a walrus
whom I named Gregory. Never have I had such a fulfilling friendship with
anyone, human or otherwise, and upon leaving the island I was heartbroken
for months. I now find myself in a large house over looking Queens Park and
am keen to get a lodger. This is a position I am prepared to offer for free
(eg: no rent payable) on the fulfillment of some conditions. I have, over
the last few months, been constructing a realistic walrus costume, which
should fit most people of average proportions, and allow for full and easy
movement in character. To take on the position as my lodger you must be
prepared to wear the walrus suit for approximately two hours each day (in
practice, this is not two hours every day – I merely state it here so you
are able to have a clear idea of the workload). Whilst in the walrus costume
you must be a walrus – there must be no speaking in a human voice, and any
communication must entail making utterances in the voice of a walrus – I
believe there aer (SIC) recordings available on the web – to me, the voice
is the most natural thing I have ever heard. Other duties will involve
catching and eating the fish and crabs that I will occasionally throw to you
whilst you are being the walrus. With the exception of this, you will be
free to do whatever you choose, and will have a spacious double room,
complete run of the house (with the exception of my bedroom and my
workshop), and use of all facilities within. I am a considerate person to
share a house with, and other than playing the accordion my tastes are easy
to accomodate (SIC)."
Podcaster protagonists.
“Tusk” replaces the old man with a serial killer and the walrus costume with a
grotesque surgical transformation into a walrus. But where do the film’s
protagonists come from? The answer to this question is surprisingly simple:
they’re based on the film’s director, Kevin Smith, and his friend Scott Mosier
(Clerks).
On an episode of Kevin Smith's SModcast podcast, the duo read the fake ad
aloud and laughed at it, thinking it was real.
|
| Scott Mosier and Kevin Smith. |
