If you love horror like we do, you should recognize this guy IMMEDIATELY! This is film star, Kyle Labine. Playing in various horror films such as Freddy vs. Jason, Halloween: Resurrection, Ogre, as well as various TV series (X-Men Evolution, The Twilight Zone, Night Visions, Supernatural, V, Alphas, Lost Girl, and Murdoch Mysteries), Kyle is no stranger to the business. Busy as he is, we were able to steal a quick moment with Kyle to chat about what makes him tick…and learned a thing or two along the way!
Tell us something about you that few people know about, but you wish they did.
I’m really a huge fan of spoken word poetry, I used to compete a little bit doing poetry slams back in Vancouver. I own a theatre in Toronto, a 50-seat intimate theatre space called Sterling Studio Theater, and there amongst putting on a lot of plays and things like that, we also host a monthly open mic. Me and a buddy of mine that was on the Toronto Slam Poetry Team, we host it together, and we do some spoken word there, and all kinds of other things. But huge into spoken word poetry—big fan.
How did you get into that?
I guess I was with my brothers and a few other white actors, I had a bit of a hip-hop group for a little while—we never really did anything much but we recorded a few songs, and played a few shows. I got into hip-hop pretty late, but I was writing a lot of stuff and a lot of it didn’t necessarily fit into an 8-bar, 4-bar, 16-bar system, and I was hard-pressed to cut it down or splice it in different ways. I was doing a movie over in Austria, and I toured around Europe after that. When I was in London I did an open mic and I did what I thought was like a hip-hop song but I didn’t have a beat for it, so I just did it A cappella and someone said “I really like your spoken word!” And I was like—Oh yeah, I guess that’s kind of what that was—spoken word. When I got back to Vancouver I started going to the poetry slams and some really amazing amazing poets were still competing in the slam scene there. Probably the biggest poet that Canada has right now is a guy named Shane Koyczan he was still competing then, and I became friends with him, and Barbara Adler and a few other people who—unless you’re in the Canadian poetry scene you probably have no idea who I’m talking about—just kind of became friends with some of them and just kind of got into the scene. I just really enjoy it, it’s a really fulfilling, under-appreciated art form.
Apparently so, because I have no clue about Canadian slam poetry at all!
No—I’m sure few people do, few people have any idea about the poetry scene at all. But, probably in every major city, and not-that-major city there’s like a slam poetry that happens there. Are you familiar with poetry slams?
Not really, I’m trying to picture it, maybe it is something I’ve seen on TV before…
Well, probably what most people equate it to is Def Poetry Slam—I don’t know if you’ve heard of that? A poetry slam is basically competitive poetry. You have three minutes to do a poem with no props or no instruments or anything, its just you. It has to be original, it has to be your piece, it can’t be someone else’s poem. And then people score it—its just like a competitive form of poetry. Its strange to score poetry, kind of equating a number to someone’s heart and soul, but it’s a really cool format that tends to bring out a crowd—it’s just a fun way to get people out listening to poetry. And then people compete and what they’re competing for—they win money if they win—but they also end up on that’s city’s representational team, and then they tour around Canada, ultimately around the world really, competing with other winning poets from other cities. So it’s like a big competitive network of poets, but its really cool, and there’s an incredible camaraderie as well.
Have you won?
I won a slam in Vancouver, but I was never on the poetry slam team, I never did it frequently enough. I think I came in fourth or something like that in the finals. They have slams throughout the year, and if you win one then you compete at the end of the year with all the other winners to see who represents the city. And I came fifth or something like that, just outside of making the team.
Maybe next year?
(laughs) I’m not really doing it anymore—that was in my youth, too much stuff on my plate now, but I’d love to do it at some point, the scene’s amazing but maybe I’ll do it when I’m old. That’s the great thing, you’re never too old for poetry.
I’m going to have to look into this!
Yeah! It’s a great evening, it’s incredible. We do a lot of that at the open mic I have, but its all kinds of stuff—music, comedy, whatever at the open mic that I host. There’s definitely some very talented spoken word people as well.
Interesting. I was doing some research on you, and I notice that you have family that are also in the business, your brother’s an actor and I think you all worked together in an episode of Reaper. Have there been other occasions in which you have worked together?
Just with Tyler? I’ve got two brothers—Cameron used to be an actor when he was younger, he still acts a little bit, but he’s a filmmaker. And with Tyler—when we were quite a bit younger, we were all in a movie I think called, was it Sliders? No it was the guy from Sliders. I can’t even remember what it was called, but all three of us were in that movie briefly. I’ve worked with Tyler on a few different occasions—the episode of Reaper and then also in a movie with David Bowie called—I think it ended up being called Exhuming Mr. Rice, or Mr. Rice’s Secret or something like that. So yeah, I was in that, my brother was in that, I guess that’s it. We all used to make home movies when we were young together, and we’ve all stuck with it—but no, we haven’t, not in the recent past we haven’t worked together. We’re getting more and more interested in developing our own things. I consult with my oldest brother Cameron is screenwriter as well as a filmmaker, so I consult with them a little bit more with some of my projects that I’m starting to try to develop. Then Tyler’s got some production company things like that, so we’re going to try to make some things happen over then next little while that we’re behind.
Has there been any sibling rivalry?
Sibling rivalry? Like industry-wise?
Yes.
I don’t think so, well I mean there have been times when Tyler and I have been up for the same role, so I guess there’s a little bit of rivalry there, but nothing really. I mean its not like he and I are dead ringers for each other. I’ve never felt like it’s “may the best man win” we offer very different things, what he does and what I do, so I don’t feel a real rivalry, no.
Watch the “Reaper” episode starring Kyle Labine
(laughs) Well, horror movies is just something that kind of happens along the way. We were all like super-outgoing, wanting to be the center of attention-ish…well, I don’t know center of attention, but certainly unabashed with our energy and our exuberance. So my parents were like—okay, lets maybe channel this into something potentially productive, and they put us into some drama classes and we all really, really loved it. They’re thinking—okay, we’ll get them an agent and maybe they can make a little money for college…and then 25 years later we’re all still doing it. It’s pretty addictive, once you get on set or whatever, it’s a pretty big-time high, and its pretty addictive and it’s hard to go back.
Did your parents ever say, “What did we do?”
I’m sure they have! I’ve certainly had some peaks and valleys in my career. But you know, I think that, you know, they probably look back and they kind of go “Hmmm, maybe we got that one right” you know? I’m sure fucked up lots of stuff, but maybe that’s one of their strokes of genius.
You have children yourself—are they going to go into acting as well?
No, I’d never do that to them! Certainly there’s a chance, my wife is in the industry as well. She’s an incredible acting teacher, a director, and an actress as well, although she focuses more on some of those other things that I mentioned more so. So, yeah, there’s ever chance our children end up wanting to do something in that vein, and that’s fine, I’ll put them in theatre and see if they like it or whatever, but I won’t let them be professional actors until its out of my control. When they’re 16 and they want to go fuck of from school and make movies or something like that then that’s their choice. But I won’t pull them out of school and take them to auditions and stuff like that. I think kids can do with a regular childhood. I started acting when I was really young—my two older brothers didn’t get into it so much until they were in high school, but I was at age 6 and 7 I was doing lots of stuff. You know, sometimes I look back and think it would have been nice to be in school all the time and just have a regular childhood. You kind of get thrust into this adult world and it distorts things a little bit I think. That’s why I’m so fucked up. Can I blame that? I think I can blame that, right?
I can believe it. You’ve played in both family films and horror films. Do you have a preference between? They seem to be two drastically different things.
Oh yeah, the second half of your question was how did I get into horror films or how did we get into horror films. The horror film thing was just, I always get asked this question—people are like “why did you decide to do this film?” and I’m like listen man, I’m out there auditioning for stuff and when they’re like “Hey, you got it!” I just do it. Unfortunately I’ve never been at a state in my career where I’m like going through scripts and deciding what I want to do. The one that I got—I happened to get some horror films, and I’ve done a few along the way and I guess I excel at being scared or something like that. But, I mean if you have a decently long career, unless you specifically decide to avoid it, you’re going to do some horror films now and then. They’re fun—I was all set to go into an acting program, which just a stupid acting program, nothing illustrious or anything like that…I shouldn’t say it’s stupid, it’s just not a big acting program, I don’t think I was going to learn a lot there. I was all set, I had an audition, I was in and then I got this part, and I was like, okay, I think I’ll probably…I had a decision to make, but I ended up going with the movie. Then, I guess that was 12 years ago when I got the part, and now I’m doing these conventions like 12 years later, its pretty wild—but I think I made the right choice there.
And do I have a preference between family films and horror movies? I mean, you know, no I don’t have a specific preference. I don’t want to do anything that’s boring. I say that I don’t choose my parts or whatever , but I don’t choose what I get, but I choose what I don’t do, you know I don’t want to do anything if it’s really stupid or really boring I won’t even bother going out for it. So, no—a family film, like, seriously Up, with the house with the hot air balloons on it? That was awesome, I cried my face off at that movie. Obviously that’s animation but, there’s excellent family movies, and there’s excellent horror movies. I’m starting to write a horror film right now, kind of seeing that I have a bit of a horror following, so maybe I can cash in on that and get some additional cred with writing my own horror film. I’m open to all genres: comedy, drama, horror, sci-fi—sci-fi is fun.
Have there been any roles that you’ve regretted turning down?
When I was younger I maybe turned down some roles where they wanted me to shave my head or something like that, yeah and look back on that and I’m like—man, why did I do that? I don’t they would have been career-making things or anything like that—like when I’m 15-16 I have a career to get fucked No, nothing that I’m like, oh fuck I wish I…there were some auditions maybe where I was like—fuck I wish I’d got my shit together a little bit more for that, but nothing really. I’ve been pretty fortunate really with some of the things I’ve booked. And, actually I’ve always worked out of town, I don’t do a lot of stuff where I live, I always seem to get something that takes me somewhere else, there’s been a few exceptions, but I’ve been really fortunate to do some amazing projects overseas and stuff like that.
To date, within your filmography, which role do you feel defines you as an actor and why?
I wouldn’t say that any single role defines me as an actor, if I had to say there was anything that defined me it this huge variety of roles that I have on my resume. I haven’t been pigeon-holed into one specific kind of thing, and I guess that’s a credit to my versatility as an actor, I’m able to embody a lot of different things. I’m not afraid to go to dark places, I’ve played murdered, I’ve played rapists, and then I’ve also played friendly guy-next-door type stuff. I guess the roles that…I did a sci-fi show where I actually met my wife on that show, and that role gave me a lot of versatility. I’ve done a lot where I’m comedic relief in shows that are not comedy, know what I mean? It’s a sci-fi show or it’s a fantasy show or whatever and I’m the guy cracking jokes or whatever, which is fun, which is great, but in this one I got to do a lot of things, I got to have my own storylines throughout the show, and I got to do a lot of different things, a lot of dimensions to the character. Honestly, I guess to date if I had to choose one project where I was like—hey, watch this—and trying to get a feel for what I’m about, it would be that one. That was called Grand Star. I guess the wide spectrum of roles that are on my IMDB kind of database or whatever is more definitive of what I’m about.
Are you living the dream? Do you feel that you’ve achieved everything that you’ve gone out to achieve?
No, not even close, nowhere close. I don’ t think you can ever—that would be, I think, a pretty shitty day where you’re like—yep. Did it all! That’s it! I guess I can just fucking die now. I’m at a point right now where I really want to be creating stuff for myself, creating stuff in general, but creating stuff for myself. As an actor, you’re kind of, you only have so much control, right? You’re hoping someone writes something for you, and then you’re hoping other people see you for that same thing, and you’re hoping that the director likes you, there’s a lot of waiting and hoping and hoping that the thing that someone writes for you is a story you want to tell. You have very little control. It’s a very cool career, it’s very rewarding and it’s a lot of fun, right? But I think that’s one of the main reasons why I was so drawn to spoken word poetry, it’s a performance thing so you still get that kind of rush of being a performer, more like in theater, where you have that live, immediate spark, but instead of telling someone else’s story through your cadence and everything, which is what you do as an actor, instead of having to draw on your own experiences, you can just talk about your own experiences. So, I’m really interested in starting to tell stories that I want to tell and projects that I want to work on. That’s really the next step for me is starting to develop my own stuff. I don’t think there’ll ever be a point where I’m like—Ha! I did it! Done. Satisfied. I want to do lots of stuff and once I do that stuff, I’m sure there will be lots of other stuff I want to do.
Being that RockRevolt is a music-related website, if you had to pick a current song or a current hit to play continuously in the background of your everyday life, what song would it be?
There is, I don’t know if it’s a current song, but there is a song that I constantly have running through my head which is—on Netflix there is Leapfrog. My 2-year-old son watches this Leapfrog Amazing Alphabet thing, and its just like all day, every day I just have this “Big A, little a…Big B, little b…” just all the time going through my head, so sadly I already have that kind of running soundtrack that I wish wasn’t there. But, I’m so out of touch on music…I’m a really huge, there’s a few artists that I just kind of check in on every now and then, and whatever they put out I pick up. I’m pretty big into hip-hop, actually there is some current stuff—I’m a pretty huge Aesop Rock fan. He’s pretty amazing. If I had to have one song playing, he’s got a few that I could choose from, some great stuff of his recent one, Gopher Guts he has this really really good one: Cycles to Gehenna is pretty amazing. Um…Popular songs, how old am I, I must know some popular songs.
Because you are about 10 years younger than I am, you keep talking about being old and I’m like, um…
What’s a popular song that I’m into right now, that I hear on the radio. I like the—I don’t even know if it’s still out right now—I heard that new Macklemore song, about “couldn’t change if I wanted to, my love, my love, my love she keeps me warm…” That’s a really nice song about being gay and I think that’s really cool that they put that out as a single, and it’s a really lovely song. But not that that would be my running soundtrack, you know. There’s got to be some other ones…I don’t know, I’d just listen to old Aesop Rock.
The two-year-old song, and the Mackelmore song about being gay.
And anything from Aesop Rock over the past 15 years.
I’ve never heard of him, I’ll have to check it out.
Yeah, its just one guy, he’s really incredible. It’s A-E-S-O-P like Aesop’s Fables, and R-O-C-K, like a rock. Or like Rock Revolt Magazine.
I was gonna say, yeah…I’m familiar with that!
He’s fantastic. The best description I’ve ever heard of him is that he’s America’s MC Laureate—I don’t know if you are familiar with Poet Laureates, they’re like the people who are kind of, there would be one Poet Laureate for the States and one for Canada. I thought that was a cool description.
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