Exclusive clip from ‘Best Worst Movie,’ the documentary about ‘Trolls 2’
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There have been plenty of laughably bad movies throughout Hollywood’s history that have reached “so bad they’re good” status -- “Ishtar,” “Gigli,” “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” just to name a few -- but only “Troll 2” -- which, astonishingly, does not even feature one troll and is not actually a sequel -- is so bad that it’s now become the subject of a documentary.
The new film, “Best Worst Movie,” opens Friday at the Nuart Theatre and centers on the low-budget ‘80s horror film. The doc is directed by “Troll 2’s” child star, Michael Paul Stephenson, and follows Dr. George Hardy, a one-time Alabama dentist cast in the movie who has returned to dentistry. Audiences also learn in the movie that in addition to performing root canals, Hardy has a slew of admiring fans who view him as the ultimate cult movie star.
“Up until four years ago, I wanted nothing — nothing — to do with ‘Troll 2.’ ” director Stephenson told reporter Yvonne Villarreal on our sister blog Hero Complex last year. “Then, out of nowhere, I started getting these messages from kids all over the country on MySpace asking if I was the Michael Stephenson from ‘Troll 2.’ Some would send pictures from parties they’d throw .... I just stared at them and thought, ‘Why would anyone do this? How can anyone like this film?’ That’s how it all started.”
In this exclusive clip from the film, we see another former cast member, Don Packard -- who played a Nilbog store owner in the film -- talk about how he was cast in the movie on one of his days off from the mental hospital at the University of Utah. Twenty years later, he admits he was stoned throughout production on “Troll 2” and didn’t even watch the film until 20 years after its creation.
-- Amy Kaufman (Twitter.com/AmyKinLA)
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