Geekscape Interviews: WWE Superstar Kane on ‘See No Evil 2’!
He is the Big Red Monster. He is the Devil’s Favorite Demon. He is also really cool!
He is Kane, former WWE Champion, World Heavyweight Champion, ECW Champion, and the star of the new horror movie from WWE Studios and Lionsgate, See No Evil 2.
On a lazy July night in 2003, I sat down on my living room couch in a state of total boredom. I was 11-years-old and I channel surfed until I got to the start of a live WWE RAW broadcast. I used to belittle pro wrestling and thought lesser of my classmates who did, but I was so bored I thought, what the hell? Why not.
What the hell indeed. That night, I saw Kane set fire to announcer Jim Ross. I was hooked.
Arson, sadism, and the belittlement of human life wasn’t what got me into pro wrestling, but it was the spectacle, the pageantry, and the utter absurdity. I’ve been a dedicated pro wrestling fan since that day, and so it was a personal achievement that I had the opportunity to interview Glenn Jacobs, better known to WWE fans as Kane.
A veteran of the industry, Kane has been dominating the WWE ring for almost two decades, chokeslamming and piledriving poor sons of bitches straight to hell. The summer I started watching pro wrestling, Kane removed his intimidating red and black mask — a signature of his for years at that point — and unveiled an even more hideous, scarred visage underneath. It was the biggest storyline of that summer.
In 2005, Kane transferred his Monday night terror onto the big screen when he became Jacob Goodnight, the big bad of WWE Films’ first horror movie, See No Evil. Now, Kane has stepped back into the shoes of Jacob Goodnight and is ready to bring the pain once again.
You have portrayed Kane for well over a decade and you have built a career igniting fear to audiences worldwide. Including me! I was terrified of you as a kid. With your role of Jacob Goodnight added to your list of personas, what has been the most fun aspect about playing monsters?
Kane: The thing about playing monsters is you basically get to do things you can’t in real life. That’s what’s the most fun. People ask me, in wrestling, would you rather be the good guy or the bad guy? Well, I always wanna be the bad guy! There really are no rules as to what the bad guy can do. Good guys have a certain moral code they have to stand by, deep down. Even if it’s a guy like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who is not necessarily who you’d think as the conventional good guy, he’s still has certain things he can do and certain things he can’t do. When you’re a bad guy, you can do anything. And that’s what’s really fun.
See No Evil was an early success for WWE Studios. What’s it like to return to the Jacob Goodnight role?
Kane: It was a lot of fun, basically because I worked with such great people. I worked with the Soska twins, the rest of the cast was great, and the rest of the crew were very experienced. We shot it in Vancouver, where there’s so much going on. So, I really had a good time because of the people I was surrounded with.
The Soska twins raved about you when I spoke to them.
Kane: They’re great, they’re awesome. I’m gonna rave about them too! [laughs]
As an actor, how different is playing Kane from Jacob Goodnight? On the surface they’re similar, but how are they different psychologically?
Kane: Kane is actually much more evil than Jacob. Because [with] Jacob, his mother controls him. Jacob is almost like an inanimate object. He’s an instrument of her. He’s her weapon. Kane is his own weapon. He loves being evil. He’s fully cognizant of what he’s doing and he glorifies it. Despite the fact that he doesn’t do as nasty things as Jacob does, that’s what makes Kane much worse. Kane is like the sort of Hannibal Lecter-ish character who is really aware of what he’s doing and is intelligent, and cognizant, and self-aware of his evil and basks in it. Whereas Jacob, really doesn’t have that much choice in what he’s doing. He’s a victim of his own circumstances.
How difficult is it for you to constantly be in the headspace of sadistic monsters? Do you do anything to relax that separates you from Kane or Jacob Goodnight?
Kane: It really isn’t that difficult, you know, for me. Because I don’t get self-absorbed into the characters at all.
Oh, wow.
Kane: Yeah, no. It’s not like, I become the character. It’s definitely a difference for me.
That’s fascinating to hear, I always hear about actors who “become their character.”
Kane: Now, granted, some of the things you do in particular, [like what I’ve done] as Kane, that stays with you for a little while. But then I think just to get my mind off of it. Just think about something else.
What influenced the look and aesthetic of Jacob Goodnight? What dictated your portrayal of him? Did you see something in a movie or in your life that you poured into Jacob?
Kane: Not really. First of all, Jacob — I think — is unique among the movie monsters. Because, yes, he’s like Jason Voorhees, yes he’s like Michael Meyers, but he’s also very different, in that those guys are forces of nature. They’re instinctual. Jacob is very emotional. Which I think comes out a lot more in See No Evil 2. By the end of See No Evil, because he’s had it really rough, he’s had this terrible mother, as bad of a childhood as you could possible imagine. So by the end of See No Evil you’re like, “Aww man, I feel really bad for him.” Because it’s not his fault.
But by See No Evil 2 his mother is gone, the biggest influence of his life, so now you have a psychopath going through a psychotic breakdown on top of it, if that’s even possible. So he’s just different, and for that reason, I don’t think there’s anything I could look at. Yeah, certainly you do with Michael Meyers and Jason Voorhees, the classic slasher monsters, you certainly have that influence. Jacob never runs. Always walks. [laughs] That sort of stuff. But some of the other things, I just don’t think there’s a template for him.
Aside from being evil, you’ve also done incredibly well with comedy. During your tag team runs with the Big Show and Daniel Bryan, you showed the world that you have a funny bone. After See No Evil 2, would you like to pursue other genres? Would you ever do a comedy?
Kane: Yeah! I attribute a lot of my longevity in the WWE to the fact that I can reinvent myself. And when you look at WWE, at the guys who have been around for a long time, that’s the way it is. Even though The Undertaker has always been The Undertaker, he’s been different incarnations. He’s been different. Same with Shawn Michaels. Shawn Michaels changed over the years. That’s the same with me. And also the fact, of course, I’ve been surrounded by great people the whole time. But when you actually look at whatever characteristic that we share in common, it’s that versatility, that ability to reinvent ourselves.
And I think, as an actor too, you do get stale when you play the same character for a long time. Because then you’re not acting anymore. Then it becomes doing something by rote. You’re not challenged intellectually. So yeah, I would definitely love to do some other things. The horror genre is my favorite genre, because just the fact that it’s escapism, it’s fantasy. For the stuff that I’ve done anyway. But I would love to do some other things as well. Because I look forward to that challenge.
In the pantheon of horror, from Jekyll & Hyde to Freddy Krueger, you’ve become an icon amongst pro wrestling and horror fans. How do you feel about leaving your mark on pop culture? What has been the most rewarding thing about your career in spreading fear?
Kane: [laughs] We had the premiere of See No Evil 2 out in L.A. And, as an entertainer, seriously the most rewarding thing is just when you get to see people enjoying the product. No matter what it may be. That’s why you do what you do. To bring people pleasure and to bring people enjoyment. And not just by scaring the hell out of them! [laughs] Other times it’s making them laugh. But that’s the most rewarding thing. The fact that in some way you’ve impacted people’s lives for the better. Whatever platform or venue it is, that’s why we do what we do.
See No Evil 2 is available now on VOD and Digital HD, and on Blu-ray October 21th!
