Nivek Ogre of Skinny Puppy

For fans who know him as the frontman of seminal industrial band Skinny Puppy, Nivek Ogre's leap to acting in the film adaptation of horror rock opera Repo! The Genetic Opera can’t be surprising. Skinny Puppy has a reputation for theatrical multimedia performances, which usually find Ogre (a.k.a. Kevin Ogilvie) in an array of bizarre costumes, usually coated in a number of sticky, disgusting liquids. So really, playing disfigured rapist/killer Pavi Largo underneath layers cumbersome make-up wasn’t much of a stretch—well, except for the singing. A musician who’s spent his career burying his voice under electronic filters, Ogre had to tap into his inner Rocky Horror fan to sing along with co-stars Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), Paris Hilton, horror staple Bill Moseley, and others. Despite all the special effects and labor-intensive score, Repo! had a modest budget and extremely limited theatrical release. It wouldn’t even have gotten that if it weren’t for director Darren Lynn Bousman, who helmed three of the Saw sequels. The bloody story—about a biotech company repossessing its synthetic organs from people who have defaulted on payments—may be too much for mainstream movie fans, but Repo! has “cult favorite” written all over it. The A.V. Club spoke with Ogre about acting, his new ohGr record, and being covered in shit.

The A.V. Club: Had you done any acting prior to Repo!?
Nivek Ogre: I’d done an audition for The Crow way back when—I auditioned for Funboy. I walked into this little room and the director’s there and the producers, and I went “Yikes! This is not a stage!” I had to do this reading with a guy who was doing a woman’s part, and it was kind of a sex scene. I was so out of my element, I just bombed. I came out after, and the guy who made it into the movie, he was waiting outside. He was so nice. He knew by the look on my face. He said, “It didn’t go well, huh? Aww, it’s alright, it’ll be okay.” So as it turned out, I went in for Repo!, and it went good. I prepared, I did a character analysis, and did a bit with a mirror. I put Paris Hilton’s face on a mirror because I thought my character’s so narcissistic that that’s the face he’d want. So I was in the studio auditioning, I was sitting outside with a mirror and studying my lines nervously and figuring out what I was gonna do. At the end, I was gonna yell at the director and say, “You wanna see fuckin’ Pavi? This is fuckin’ Pavi!” And show him the mirror, which I’d been looking into for the whole monologue. So I’m waiting, and I hear this commotion. A person walks by me, and it’s Paris. I didn’t know she was auditioning right before me. So she walks through and these lights flash, it was so surreal. I’m sitting thinking, “Should I do this now?” So I do it. And I get huge applause, and I leave thinking, “I’ve overcome this fear in my life.” That was how I got the role.
AVC: What was it like working with Paris?
NO: I have to say that the media even did a job on me. It taught me you can’t brand people with broad strokes. There’s a lot of things about Paris that I’ll never know, because she’s a very private person in a lot of ways, but she was a trooper. She was right in there, and she did everything with spirit and grace. If you watch the film, she’s getting it. She’s not really the diva she makes herself out to be, and it’s a lot of play and acting. Anyone who can go out and make 100 grand for seeming like a bitch or standing in a bar and shaking hands, I can’t knock that! [Laughs.]
AVC: The make-up is pretty intense in the film.
NO: It was awesome. It was silicone. [I had] three masks: two based on my face and one on the director’s girlfriend. Underneath that, there’s this new process: They realized that if they freeze the glue they use to stick the silicon on with, it gets hard and turns to shit. But if they freeze it, they can make scars and appliances. So there were scars underneath with a mask over that. It was a three-layer process, but for me it was such a blast. I’d do it again in a second.
AVC: How long did it take to put on?
NO: Four hours. But the makeup guys were really into politics and we’d just sit and gab the whole time. It was so much fun.
AVC: So was there a lot of singing for the audition?
NO: My audition was a little different from everyone else’s. For me, it wasn’t about the singing per se, it was more about the acting for me. I did a monologue where I described myself as Pavi. I got right in everybody’s face, whereas everyone else had to sing a song. After that we developed the voice. The producers were looking for more of a Newman from Seinfeld—more of a robust kind of Pavarotti candor. I wanted to do it darker. As rehearsals went on, my darkness kind of wore off. I was using movements I used in Skinny Puppy. Darren wanted this high falsetto voice—that was probably the funnest thing to work on. I’m not in a lot of the movie, but [I have] good lines. I’m kind of comic relief in the whole thing.
AVC: How intimidating was it to sing? With Skinny Puppy, your voice is usually so altered.
NO: It was liberating. When I came back to do the ohGr record, even Mark [Walk, co-writer] said that something changed in me. I’ve always had a problem working outside of my own comfort zone, like working with a new producer. I’m an insecure person in that way. Having to do this kinda makes you pull your pants down and show your sausage and potatoes and go, “This is it.” I asked Bill Moseley if I was going too far with the character, and going too weak and passive with it. He said, “No, you have to bring it all to the table and put it out there. All the dirty bits.”
AVC: Have you seen the final version?
NO: I saw it once. We were gabbing off and everything, and it was a rough cut, no special effects, but I was watching it. It looked good for the money. Not that the back story should have anything to do with the actual story, but to me it means something, because there’s a real passion to what this film is and how it’s been made. There’s a struggle going on with it getting distributed. Making films is like starting bands all over again. If you’re a filmmaker, it’s that way with each film. You have to create all this hype, and it’s a struggle. I don’t think I could do it.
AVC: Is there any talk of a sequel?
NO: It comes down to numbers at that point. If it recoups and makes a little bit of money, they’d be open to doing a sequel and a prequel.
AVC: You mentioned the ohGr record earlier. It’s a relatively straightforward album, at least compared to Skinny Puppy, and even has some downright poppy moments. Are you less interested in experimental freakouts these days?
NO: I’m less tentative about doing something and taking a risk, is where I’m at now. You listen to something like “Feelin Chicken,” and you have that ramp that builds up beforehand and takes you to a new place. There’s a time in my life where I would have been like, “No rivethead is going to accept a fucking tuba—no fucking tuba on a Skinny Puppy record!” [Laughs.] That’s the difference. It’s not cockiness, it’s not ego, but it’s the feeling that you have enough control of the project to take that kind of the risk.
AVC: The ohGr tour is a lot less of a production than Skinny Puppy. Doing all those theatrics must be a hassle after awhile.
NO: It’s a fuckin’ pain in the ass, yeah. But it’s a monster of my own creation—I have only myself to blame for that. For 25 years, I’ve never been the guy who gets to come off stage, sit down, light a smoke or light a joint and drink a beer. I have to come off stage covered in shit, mud, sweat, piss, my own feces, and stumble through people and shake hands sticky and get wrapped up in towels and put in a cab sent back to the hotel. That’s my life. At first I was like, “This is great! I don’t have to communicate with people. I can be me!” Now I’m like “Where are the people?” I’m watching Leno and going, “Where’s everybody? When’s the bus coming?” I’m used to that, that’s fine. I have something planned [for the ohGr tour] that’s going to be a bit encumbering, but it isn’t going to have all the fluids or anything like that, which is awesome. [Laughs.]