Actress Gabrielle Stone and I had a chat about her most recent projects, including her roles in the highly-anticipated genre films ‘Death House‘ and ‘Rock Paper Dead‘, which will both see release in 2017. We also spoke about her other upcoming projects, being the daughter of genre legend, and her upcoming directorial debut.
Horror Fuel: “What made you want to act?”
GS: “Both my parents are in the industry, or were in the industry. My mom, I grew up with her on sets and was always traveling around with her, so I always felt at home on a film set. I always thought growing up that I wanted to be an actress, but didn’t really realize it until my first short film and that was called Henry John and the Little Bug. I remember walking off that set and thinking that I never want to do anything else for the rest of my life.”
Horror Fuel: “Speaking of your parents, with your mom being Dee Wallace and your father Christopher Stone, it must be a little intimidating. Do you feel like you have the pressure to succeed?”
GS: “You know, my mom has supported me in anything I have ever wanted to do. I don’t think necessarily that I feel more or less pressure from the facts that my parents were successful. It’s more about the pressure that I put on myself to want to be successful in this industry because I love it. I’m grateful because I have gotten to see so many things that make this industry great and the ups and downs of it through watching them and growing up around them, watching them. I don’t think I have ever felt pressured.
Horror Fuel: “You appeared in Harrison Smith’s 2015 undead flick ‘Zombie Killers: Elephant’s Graveyard’ and were invited back by Harrison for a role in his upcoming horror Mega-film ‘Death House’. Tell us about your role.”
GS: “Yes, I did Zombie Killers with him. Harrison is awesome. He is so much fun as a director. I had an absolute blast on Zombie Killers. The crew, the cast, were so much fun.
My part in Death House pops up towards the end of the film to, I hope I can say this, set things up for the sequel. So I will be seeing everyone in the second installment of ‘Death House’. I only shot for a day on the L.A. portion of it and worked with Tony Todd who is phenomenal. I think all the horror fans are really going to jump when they see it. It’s defiantly not slasher horror. It’s gratuitous and intense.”
Horror Fuel: “What was it like on set?”
GS: “Well, I was only there for one day here in L.A. and it was great. There were a lot of familiar faces from Zombie Killers. Harrison likes to work with people he likes and brings them back. It was fun. Courtney Palm was there. We hit it off. She’s a real sweetheart. Yeah, it was fun. It was a good day.
Horror Fuel: “You have a role in several upcoming films, including Rock Paper Dead. What can you tell us?
GS: “I play Barbara and I am one of the victims that falls for Peter, played by Luke McFarlane. He is one of the sweetest, most loving human beings, definitely a pleasure to work with. He plays this psychotic, messed-up person, and he’s the complete opposite.
I had a blast on that film. Victor was great. Kerry Fleming, the producer, I’ve known him for a long time. And it was great getting to work with Tom Holland. It was a big crew and it was fun. I’m excited to see it. It was a really good script. I read it probably a year and a half before they started shooting. I’ve been talking to Kerry about it for a long time. But I think it’s going to be really great.”
Fleming, Miller, Stone, Holland
Horror Fuel: “I read about your 2018 film, ‘It Happened Again Last Night’, can you fill us in?”
GS: “That’s a short film. That was my directorial debut, with my partner Roze, who co-wrote, co-produced. We just submitted it to about 25 festivals and we just heard back about it today actually, it was accepted into the California Women’s Film Festival. So we will be premiering there first in January. Roze and I are up for Best Director and our lead guy, Randy Wayne is up for Best Actor. We are gearing up for a full festival season.”
Horror Fuel: “What is It Happened Again Last Night about?”
GS: “It’s about a woman who is in love with another woman, and she is trapped in a highly abusive relationship with a man. It’s about her life, her struggle to break the cycle of abuse. She will end up following her heart or stay in the horrible, violent situation that she is in.”
Horror Fuel: “Do you have any other projects in the works?
GS: “Well, they just wrapped Rock Paper Dead. I’m also is this comedy called The Competition, with Chris Klein, Thora Birch, and Claire Coffee, directed by Harvey Lowry. It’s coming out next year as well.
I also did a festival film that is a coming of age drama called Swell. It’s a film that I am really excited about being a part of. It is a really beautiful script and story. The cast on it were just like family on it by the time filming ended. It’s a really powerful film. That will be hitting festivals next year as well.
Horror Fuel: “What about Stray?”
GS: “Stray is a film I starred in a few years ago which is getting a lot of good press. It’s up on Amazon so people can go check that out. It’s a really good drama-thriller.”
Horror Fuel: “Tell us a little about it.”
GS: “It’s about a girl, Jennifer, who had a really tough upbringing and a lot of bad stuff has happened to her. She finally breaks free from her father and goes to a new town and tries to start a new life, but ends up falling back into some old bad habits. It’s about her in this new town where she meets this guy and takes to him and how it all evolves. It’s really a story about a girl who is so broken and is trying so hard to fix herself and the ups and downs that come with that. It’s a powerful film. It was directed by Nena Eskridge, it’s her first film. I’m really proud of it. It turned out wildly better than I thought it would. It was done on a $50,000 budget. It’s a really good indie to check out. Dan McGlaughlin, who plays my boyfriend in it, he was also in Zombie Killers with me. He’s fantastic. He’s so talented.”
Stone has a bright future in the film industry. She is definitely a woman you are going to want to keep an eye on. Follow Gabrielle Stone on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for regular updates on her projects.
‘Stray’ is now available to buy or rent on Amazon. As soon as release dates are announced for ‘Death House‘ and ‘Rock Paper Dead‘ we will let you know.
When I reached out to director Harrison Smith for a still of Stone in ‘Zombie Killers: Elephant’s Graveyard’ and ‘Death House’, he had this to say about her:
She’s a future Sigourney Weaver. Like her mother, a perfect blend of fierce independence, beauty and intelligence. Action, drama, horror…it won’t matter…she will adapt seamlessly to the role.”
