The excitement around Rob Zombie’s “3 From Hell” had been building for months since it was announced that the filmmaker would be making a trilogy-ending film that would close the book on the crew of killers he introduced in “House of 1,000 Corpses.” And when the title was revealed, it was clear that the ‘3’ that are coming from Hell would be Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley, and Sid Haig. However, when the trailer was released, that wasn’t the case.
You see, the three characters that make up the titular group are actually Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley, and Richard Brake. Although Haig is seen in the trailer, albeit for a brief moment, the majority of the film doesn’t have the actor who portrays Captain Spaulding joining Baby and Otis.
And in a new interview with EW, Rob Zombie explains that the original plan was to reunite the three actors who made “The Devil’s Rejects” a cult classic for “3 From Hell.” But sometimes, real-life gets in the way and forces a filmmaker to make some last-minute changes.
READ MORE: ‘3 From Hell’ Trailer: Rob Zombie Brings His Favorite Killers Back From The Dead
“The movie that I prepped to make, and was getting ready to start shooting, it was Captain Spaulding, Otis, and Baby, the three originals,” said Zombie. “But three weeks out from shooting, I got a call from Sid Haig. He had been in the hospital, and he had just had surgery, and he was now recovering in a rehabilitation facility. I’m like, holy shit, this is a serious business. So, I went to see him, and he had changed drastically from the last time I saw him. Because Sid, he’s big and burly, and now he’s tiny as a skeleton. So, I was like, oh man. I kind of realized, yeah, he’s in rough shape. So, at that point, I was kind of fucked. I created this charter Foxy for Richard Brake. I had just worked with Richard on a movie called ‘31’ and I knew he would fit the vibe.”
He continued, “He was on another movie in Spain shooting. He flew right from that movie to L.A. and started working instantly. A lot of the scenes with Foxy were supposed to be Spaulding and I twisted things around so I didn’t have to rewrite every single thing. It was the funniest situation and the shittiest situation. Because, I went from one moment thinking, ‘This is the most prepared I have ever fucking been to start a movie — everything is locked down tight’ — and within one phone call, the entire production went into complete chaos for three weeks. But at the end of the day, it all worked out great.”
But as has been seen in the new trailer, Haig did get a chance to appear in the upcoming “3 From Hell.” Even if it is a minor role. In fact, Zombie made sure that the actor would at least have one appearance in the film.
He explained, “Lionsgate was fine with me sort of sneaking him in one day to shoot as much as I could. It was on me to make sure that nothing went wrong. So I got him in, I shot everything I could shoot.”
Fans of the first two films featuring these characters will likely be a bit sad to know that Haig isn’t a major force in the film. That being said, there is a bit of solace knowing that Zombie was still able to tell the story he wanted and end this trilogy the way it was intended, even if the third member isn’t the exact same.
“3 From Hell” is playing tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday in select theaters.