Human Centipede actors shared reality of filming ‘horrific’ scenes
The cast of The Human Centipede (First Sequence) have opened up about what it was really like behind the scenes of one of the most controversial horror movies of all time.
But shooting the film's shocking moments was far less dangerous than you might think.
If you've (luckily) been able to avoid spoilers for the 2009 horror, it follows a deranged German surgeon, called Dr Heiter, who kidnaps three tourists and conjoins them surgically, mouth to anus, forming a 'human centipede'. And if that wasn't enough, it actually had not one but two sequels.
Speaking to Horror Channel back in 2010, Human Centipede actors Akihiro Kitamura, Ashley C. Williams and Ashlynn Yennie shared how they were approached by director Tom Six.
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Kitamura played Katsuro at the front, Williams portrayed Lindsay in the middle, and Yennie played Jenny at the end of the film’s disturbing 'human centipede'.
Despite the bizarre premise, the stars said they were on board from the start.
“Tom, the director, told me the beautiful girl is going to be attached to your a**,” Kitamura said. “And I said, yeah, I would do it.”
For Williams, the experience started with an unusual audition in New York. The director showed her a drawing that explained the film’s central idea.
“Tom Six sat me down and showed me a blue piece of paper with the drawings on it,” she said.
“He asked, ‘Are you easily shocked?’ I said no… and the rest is history.”
But not everyone reacted the same way.
Yennie said she witnessed actors walking out of auditions.
“I watched girl after girl walk out,” she claimed.
“They were yelling at Tom and freaking out. I think we were the only two girls that were like, ‘Yeah, we’ll do it’.”
If you're wondering how The Human Centipede's most infamous scenes were filmed, the cast said special effects and clever costume work did most of the heavy lifting.
“We weren’t attached really,” Williams explained (phew).
“They made a molding and we had shorts with a fake butt inside.”
Yennie also confirmed that the actors were never physically connected during filming.
“We were never actually attached. We were inches from each other,” she said.
Kitamura then joked: “We were all very clean people, so we trusted each other.”
The actors also praised Dieter Laser, who played the terrifying Dr Heiter.
“He’s probably the worst villain I’ve ever seen in a horror film,” Yennie said of his performance. “But in real life Dieter is an amazing man. He’s so sweet and wonderful.”
Director Six previously explained that 'for about half of the shoot', which was two weeks, the actors 'were on their hands and knees'.
In 2010, he told the BBC: “They got back and neck problems so we gave them a massage every day.
“The special effects people made a construction that each time we finished a shot they could easily stand up again, but it was pretty tough on them.”
While the film may have shocked people watching at home, it was seemingly a professional production with a lot of trust among cast members behind the scenes.
Anish Vij