Some actors just can’t seem to stay out of trouble, and DEATH RACE 2 star Luke Goss just found himself behind bars again. But unlike Lindsay Lohan, Goss is making another prison-set movie. The actor called us from a Provo, Utah correctional facility, where he’s shooting INSIDE, a haunted prison movie written and directed by Daryn Tufts. Before the movie wrapped on June 18, Goss gave Fango the scoop on the independent production (which co-stars TRUE GRIT’s Paul Rae and FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS’ Derek Phillips) and a few exclusive pics.

FANGORIA: It looks like you can’t keep out of jail, huh?

LUKE GOSS: [Laughs] I should take this shit personally, right? I’ve been looking for a scary, spooky movie for a long time, and they’re always a bit too teeny or a bit too mainstream, and I always wanted to do a horror slasher. I wanted something genuinely really bloody creepy. So I read the screenplay to INSIDE, they asked me to do it and I said, “When do we start?”

FANG: So what’s the general plot and the character you play?

GOSS: I play a character named Miles Barrett, who has been in jail one time before on a drug-related smaller sentence. And then he messes up on his parole and they put him in a top security prison for 18 months to make a point. So the day that he arrives in this prison, there’s going to be an execution at midnight. It’s a very claustrophobic, very adult kind of spooky movie because there’s a lot of drama, character and great dialogue. It’s Hitchcockian in the sense that you don’t see everything; it’s dark and very stylistic. And it’s basically these two guys who ironically hope to find some kind of safety in the cell they’re locked in while people are dying, huge amounts of distress going on. But they’re stuck in this cell, and because of the supernatural element, they realize they must find some way out of these cells very soon. They’re not going to last the night. And it’s very heavy stuff, people just brutally injured or killed. It’s a very, very intense film.

FANG: How does this character differ from the other jailbird you played in DEATH RACE 2?

GOSS: I’ve been looking for a character who wasn’t really about being stoic, or kicking ass. Miles is a recovering drug addict, and he’s still clean after going cold turkey, but he’s basically very, very unstable and he’s afraid. He has a beautiful wife and daughter, and, as he says, “I’m just an ordinary guy.” And he’s a good guy, but he’s been locked up a few times and he found himself in the wrong cell in the wrong prison on the wrong day. And the story is quite clever because you wonder, “Was the story meant this way?” Was it an accident or was it preordained? You have to work that out. Along with the supernatural, INSIDE really is about a man who is just a mess. He’s not at his strongest hour. He misses his wife and child who he adores, he’s very much aware how much he’s let them down as a father and a husband. It’s not like SCARY MOVIE 2 or something. It’s an adult story, and it’s very, very driven by drama and truth. Our director of photography [Peter Sova] shot THE STRANGERS, and this looks beautiful; it’s really stylishly shadowy and cool. I’m not giving a badass stoic performance; there’s no hero here. It’s got a human level, about having some resolve, but it’s certainly about kicking ass too and trying to stay the hell alive.

FANG: So the menace in INSIDE is supernatural, as opposed to a slasher?

GOSS: I won’t give too much away. You will see… There’s a slasher, but I don’t want to say what it is, or how it happens or what happens, but for sure it’s not devoid of blood. You have to see because there’s a lot in the movie that I don’t know, and the audience needs to have no clue either.

FANG: How’s the shoot going overall?

GOSS: There’s a lot of discussion needed in every single scene because it’s the type of movie where you really need to watch because the entire movie takes place between two cells. The film has a very claustrophobic feel, and the director is really open to getting it right, so the script’s constantly evolving.

FANG: What’s it like shooting in a real prison?

GOSS: It’s interesting to not only be shooting in an abandoned prison and using it as a location, but—it’s not a promotional thing—the great thing about this location is that the basement in this place is quite heavily haunted. We’ve had lots of haunted activity, apparitions and banging. And one of the production designers was alone and literally heard 15 bangs, then it stopped, nothing. I hadn’t been there yet, and I was like, “You know what, this story is already too intense.” We were shooting a scary movie in an already haunted prison!

FANG: So are you a believer? Do you think this supernatural stuff really does go on?

GOSS: One-hundred percent. My grandfather was a medium and a healer. My whole family had been around it, and so I never really had a doubt in my mind. I don’t want to say the name [of the ghost] because I’m too freaked out about it, but the story’s actually based on a demon that has existed for the last 4,000 years.

FANG: So has the shoot been down and dirty?

GOSS: It really is, but we had some really talented people. We were shooting all day long, waking up at 5:45 a.m., wrapped about 8:00 at night. We’re doing six-day weeks… we’re literally living the film. This really is what making a movie is about. It’s looking great, and we’re pulling it together last minute, guerrilla style. I had read this creepy screenplay in my home, and the next morning we were negotiating to pull it off around my schedule. That’s how impressed I was.

FANG: DEATH RACE 3 talks are heating up. Have you gotten a call yet?

GOSS: Probably. Probably…I don’t know what I’m allowed to say.

FANG: Any calls from Guillermo del Toro? He’s going to start a new movie called PACIFIC RIM this summer.

GOSS: I know, I heard about it! I haven’t spoken to him in a while. Of course, I’d love to work with Guillermo again if I were ever right for a role. I think he’ll call if I’m right for it. I’m not going to twist any arms. He knows I did my best for him on BLADE II and HELLBOY II.

FANG: How about THE LODGER, is that happening?

GOSS: I’ve heard about it and it sounds interesting, but I think it’s a risk area as far as I’m concerned.

For more on Goss, see our previous interviews here and here.

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