It’s an idea that Stephen King would have been proud of, said Charles Agron, the star and writer of the new suspense thriller “Monday at 11:01 a.m.,” now playing at the AMC Hoffman Center 22 in Alexandria, Virginia.
“I’m a huge fan of making scary films, but I also like to kind of put layers to the story,” Mr. Agron told The Washington Times of the new film, adding he was influenced by “The Twilight Zone” series of twisted tales.
In “Monday at 11:01 a.m., Mr. Agron stars as Michael, who travels with his girlfriend Jenny to a remote town where, for some reason, people seem uncannily familiar to him, although he is unable to discern precisely why. Strange events occur, and Michael begins hearing and seeing things that may or not be real.
“What I wanted to do is deal with certain metaphors like judgment and the idea that just because the masses believe something doesn’t mean it’s true,” Mr. Agron said of the mind-bending adventure he wrote.
Legendary character actor Lance Henriksen, a veteran of “Aliens,” “The Terminator” and over 200 other films, co-stars as the town bartender, who acts as sort of a Greek chorus on the mysterious proceedings.
“I love the simplicity of playing a bartender that has a whole other agenda going on,” Mr. Henriksen said in his mellifluous bass. “A lot of times in a small town [the bar] is like the center of nightlife or day life or behavior.”
The film was shot in sleepy Guthrie, Oklahoma, with many locals serving as extras. The bar where Mr. Henriksen served fictional drinks was in fact a real location where classic Western star Tom Mix used to imbibe.
“The town was like a time warp in a lot of ways,” Mr. Henriksen said. “It was one of those almost historic places that are untouched. There was even a bullet hole in the ceiling.”
When asked if he ever tended bar during his days as a struggling actor, Mr. Henriksen laughed and said, “No, I’ve always been on the other side of the bar.”
Incredibly, it was three decades ago that James Cameron’s “Aliens” crept its way into theaters in the summer of 1986. Mr. Henriksen says he continues running into castmates like Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein even now.
“I have a career because of ’Aliens’ and the kindness of Jim Cameron and [producer] Gale [Anne] Hurd,” Mr. Henriksen said.
Indeed, he even named his autobiography “Not Bad for a Human,” one of his most famous lines from “Aliens.”
Mr. Henriksen also starred in the sci-fi/mystery series “Millennium” from “X-Files” creator Chris Carter, which ran for three seasons in the ’90s. Mr. Henriksen starred as Frank Black, a criminal profiler with a preternatural ability to suss out a killer’s thoughts and motives.
“If it was on now we could say certain things that we couldn’t before” and be more explicit with the violence, Mr. Henriksen said. “We tried hard. We worked hard.”
Mr. Agron is continuing to write, and says he hopes that the horror maestro Mr. King will someday see the film that was inspired by his writing, particularly “The Shining,” Stanley Kubrick’s film of which Mr. Agron said was “very creative at creating fear as opposed to creating ’boo’ scares.”
“I think that being able to do that is fantastic; it’s really something to look up to,” he said. “And hopefully I’m able to do that as well.”
• Eric Althoff can be reached at twt@washingtontimes.com.
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