An
interview with Robert Mukes, "Rufus Jr." in House
of 1,000 Corpses. Robert is SO sweet, thanks Robert! Enjoy the
show folks! -Aine
“Testing testing testing 1-2-3,
this is Robert Mukes being interviewed. a.k.a.. Bonecrusher,
a.k.a. Rufus Fucking Jr. Motherfucker….. "
So Bonecrusher is your wrestling name?
Yeah, I wrestled in the past. I tried that for like a year
and unfortunately I got injured twice; I broke my thumb and
it took a couple of months to recover from that. And my first
day back in training I compressed my spinal chord, so, needless
to say, I didn’t appreciate that injury. I couldn’t
feel my legs for a couple of days, etc. During the healing process
I did House of 1,000 Corpses and Black Mask 2, and that kind
of put me out of the wrestling business. I thought it was a
bit more fun doing the movies.
And what a perfect segue into Black Mask 2.
 Actually,
House of 1,000 Corpses came first, which was a pleasure to work
on. It was a Universal Studios project initially, so I felt
like a movie star going into such an incredible studio. We were
filming there for almost a month and that was a blast. And then
a couple of months later I booked Black Mask 2 and that was
cool. I went to Thailand for about six weeks. That worked out
really well. I thought I was a movie star, but I haven’t
done a movie since, unfortunately it’s been about three
years, it’s getting kind of depressing, but I think I’m
going to make it through it.
But what about Forbidden Highway?
That was before Black Mask 2. It
was somewhat cheesy, but it wasn’t that bad. A lot of
people appreciate that movie. I had tons of dialogue, it was
fun to work on. It was actually a soft porn, but I didn’t
participate in any booty scenes, which is good for me ‘cause
my booty’s kind of flat.
You have lots of disappointed fans because
of that…all the ladies wanted to see you naked.
They weren’t payin’ enough
to see my flat booty.
I don’t think your booty is all
they were hoping to see.
Well, unfortunately, in a soft porn,
booty is about all you’re going to see.
And boobs.
Yeah…booty and boobs.
It was cute in Forbidden Highway that
you were named Tiny, and then you were the brother of Tiny on
House of 1,000 Corpses.
Exactly, that was kind of unusual:
Being Tiny, and then being Tiny’s brother, Rufus Jr. Big
guys are often named Tiny, for some reason, I don’t know
why.
Just ‘cause it’s funny I
guess.
I don’t really think it’s
funny though, it’s almost like a jab. You get a big strong
guy and someone says Tiny, it’s kind of condescending
or whatever.
For those who don’t know, let’s
get the measurements out of the way.
I’m 6’10” and 310
pounds. A little bit of fat, totally no six-pack at all, but
still sexy and strong. I’m just making an accurate account.
I have confidence but sometimes competition is tough in this
town.
So you’re a doorman/bouncer dude?
Doorman/manager dude actually. Bouncers
don’t really have the personality stuff, so they stay
inside and guard the bathroom or whatever. I’m in charge
of selecting the crowd for the establishment and when my manager
goes on vacation, I take care of things. The manager thing can
be kind of a drag, but the doorman part is fun. It can be really
lucrative. When there’s a line, some people don’t
like to wait. There’s like an unspoken word of how to
get in quick, and I like to take advantage of that.
Look at you, with you’re fine flirty
self.
Tips baby, tips, no flirts.
And you did some martial arts training
as well.
Yeah, just for a little while, six
weeks or so goofin’ around with a buddy of mine. It’s
pretty simple though, you just have to practice moves and stuff.
So I do a little bit of martial arts, no Bruce Lee shit, no
particular style, just some good kicks and blocks. That’s
about it.
And it’s fun.
Yeah, it’s fun, and it looks
good on film. I just did enough to look smooth on film. That
was my main reason for doing it.
It could be worse…moving on. Like
Irwin Keyes, didn’t you also do one of the Flintstones
movies?
Yes I did ,Flintstones: Viva Rock
Vegas, unfortunately in editing, my scene was cut out. It’s
somewhere I’m sure, and I did a good job. It’s on
my resume, but if you rent the 
movie you won’t see me. I’m kind of bummed out about
it because it was a pretty good role. Wilma’s going through
the swap meet and I’m this big mean biker dude and I get
my arm branded. She looks over at me and is grossed out and
I go “Arrgghhh!” I go to give her a hug and she
dashes out of the swap meet. And that was one of my earlier
roles; it was just a small one, but it was still fun to work
on a big studio project. Anytime you get to do a scene, for
a day or two, it’s a blast, because you get a little trailer
and catering, and all the yummy food. You get treated special,
and all the hair and make-up. Ahhh, the good old days.
You also did some work on a cartoon,
Sinbad….?
Sinbad, Beyond the Veil of Mist.
It was a 3-D movie actually. It was supposed to be released
in theatres, but it didn’t pan out that way, which often
happens in smaller budget projects. It was pretty cool, we were
doing it for about a month to six weeks. That was when I first
got my SAG card and I was really excited.
You did some TV, Dharma and Greg.
Yeah, I was guarding Dharma’s
fathers’ tent, where he was growing the worlds’
largest zucchini, but Greg’s parents seemed to think it
was marijuana. So Dharma came to tell her father he can’t
do that, and I came out of the tent and won’t let her
in and I pick her up and carry her out of the scene. But they
didn’t show that part, they just showed me saying no and
that was it.
You did other TV too.
Yeah, I’ve done a few things,
little guest spots here and there. I liked working on Fastlane,
I was a doorman or something in that. I liked working with those
MTV pretty boys.
You’re from Indiana originally,
when did you decide to make the move that we all do and come
to California?
Well, my father lives here fortunately,
so I always had a base. So since I was twelve years old I would
spend summer vacations out here, and I played basketball. I
would play in Los Angeles. The competition is a little bit better
out here than in Indiana, and the scouts are out here. So I
would play out here in the summers, five summers in L.A., and
five winters in Europe and a year in South America. One year
I told my agent I needed triple of what I was being paid. Needless
to say, it didn’t pan out. I was living in Hollywood,
working out at the gym, and it just so happened the gym I was
working out at, a guy told me I should try out for commercials.
And I was like, “you know what, my name’s not big
enough, I’m not Larry Byrd, or Magic Johnson” And
he said, “No, as an actor.” So I thought why not,
I’ll give it a try. And here we are today, I’m being
interviewed for a website, for House of 1,000 Corpses.
Which brings us to House of 1,000 Corpses.
(Another great segue by Robert Mukes)
(At this point Robert and I went of on a tangent talking about
Bill Moseley and Sid Haig, I’m bring you in at the first
part that makes sense, enjoy)
I love being in his (Sid Haig) presence,
he and Bill (Moseley) are just hilarious together. Hopefully,
in the sequel Rob (Zombie) will let me do a little bit more
dialogue, other than “Car is done” and “Otis!
Otis! Otis!” Those were my two lines, and although I wasn’t
on camera, you can hear me say, “Get in the pit”
or something like that, when I throw the guy into the coffin.
You have to listen for that.
I just remember Bill saying, “Get
your shit in the box.”
That was SO funny; I wanted to laugh
so hard! He was so hilarious, and Karen Black dancin’
around and shit, it was so hard not to laugh. It was awesome.
There are some amazing quotes out of that movie, and the delivery
was just impeccable. I’m definitely looking forward to
the sequel. I’m looking forward to being more evil.
I bet you get hit on a lot, especially
since Rufus Jr.
No I don’t actually. Guys always
tell me I’m lucky, and that chicks want to be with you,
blah blah blah. I tend to think that girls are kind of afraid
of me ‘cause I look mean. Plus I’m nervous around
girls, I don’t know what to say. Sometimes I say crazy
stuff and I’m just kidding around, but they take me seriously.
So not so much as some people think, or maybe I don’t
notice it.
Oh but you will. The girls are out there,
believe me. And finally, plug your sweet new website!
Right, come to robertmukes.com,
it should be a pretty good adventure. It’s still under
construction, but I predict 2004 should be pretty hot. You’ll
get to see me doing some acting shit!
Copyright © 2004,
myamalgam.com. All rights reserved.
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