October is a busy month for actor Doug Jones. If you’ve sat down to watch any number of Halloween or monster movies, he’s likely to be in at least one of them. Hocus Pocus? Check. Hellboy? Check. Pan’s Labyrinth? Check. I got the chance to sit down with Jones ahead of his upcoming movie Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, in honor of Hocus Pocus 2’s premiere on Freeform, and the premiere of the sixth and final season of What We Do In the Shadows.

COLLIDER: October is a big month for you and your career. Like, you know, it’s been phrased that you’re ‘The Most Famous Actor People Have Never Seen’ There’s, like, this kind of iconicism to your mannerisms. Like, people know it’s you underneath the prosthetics. What does it mean to you to know that you kind of made that impact on pop culture where people like, are like, Oh, I’m going to tune in. Like, ‘that’s Doug Jones under all the fish and gils’?

DOUG JONES: Well, I hope that’s the reaction. Thank you. I would, I would love to think that people tune in because they see my name, but I did not see this coming. I’ll tell you that much when I started out as an actor, many, many years ago, I was hoping to be a sitcom star, like do stand up or do comedy and on pit farts and be the next door neighbor that was kind of goofy and not have to carry the show. I had very low aspirations for myself, but when you come to Hollywood and you are six-three, and weigh 130-145 pounds, and you have a mime background that alerts the creature effects, people like, “Oh, you know, let’s, let’s pile some rubber and glue on him and watch him go.”

So that’s kind of what… how that reputation built, was once you get into the creature effects loop, my life, my cast, my face and hands were molded and passed around all the creature shops in Los Angeles. So when, when a tall, skinny character would be designed for a movie, TV show, whatever, my name came up in that Rolodex of like, “oh, let’s give Doug a call.” So that’s something I did not ever foresee… I didn’t really seek it out. It just kind of, it kind of found me, but in the meantime, it created a love for monsters, for me personally. And when, when that Rolodex came up with my name in it for the movie Mimic in 1997 that’s when Guillermo Del Toro discovered me. That was his first American film, and I came in, joined him for three days of reshoots, and we kind of like hit it off.

And then he kept me, he kept my card in his wallet… Now, 25 years later, and… you know, six movies later and… occurring on his TV show. It turned into a really good relationship. And when you get it, when you fall in with a director like Guillermo del Toro, you’re falling in with an artist who understands monsters in a way that that many directors don’t. He can make them the leading character of the movie. He can make them the heart and soul of the movie, instead of just somebody who’s chasing someone down the hallway in their underwear. You know what I mean? Monsters can be so much more than that. So, I think, for me, the monsters that I fell in love with when I was a kid were the classic Universal ones, like the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Frankenstein and The… you know… werewolves and vampires. So del Toro was the director who kind of, like, brought back that golden era of monsters, I think, and made them leading men and leading ladies again.

So, I again, nothing I could foresee coming back in the day, but now that it’s here, you know when, when you’re standing at the Oscars on the stage with the entire team accepting Best Picture for The Shape of Water, and you’re the monster on the cover of that movie, it all kind of goes, “Are you kidding me?” You know, in your mind, like, “Can this really even be happening?” So I did not see it coming, but it’s very, very heartwarming that people have resonated with my work so much over the years. And now that I’m in my 60s, I am leaning into human characters more than ever before, and kind of like exploring what this face can still do… while I’m still on this earth, you know?

What’s Different About ‘A Symphony of Horror’?
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (2024) revisits the iconic tale of Count Orlok, merging classic horror aesthetics with modern cinematic elements. Set in a hauntingly atmospheric world, the film reimagines the legendary vampire’s sinister presence while paying homage to the original with new soundscapes and immersive visuals.Release Date October 18, 2024 Director David Lee Fisher Runtime 92 Minutes Cast Doug Jones , Sarah Carter , Joely Fisher , Jack Turner , Emrhys Cooper , Time Winters , Joseph Michael Harris , Sara Montez , Aurelio Voltaire , George Maguire , Christian Prentice , Brian Hanford , Rhoda Pell , David W. Ross , Cinda Adams , Ron E. Dickinson , Gregg Lawrence , Karen Teliha , Corey Allen Kotler , Drew Leger , Frank Arend , Drago Sumonja Expand

Yeah, so that’s awesome. And I have a question a little bit later, now that you brought up that you’re leaning more into like, human characters, but we’ll get to that. So the movie that you’ve got coming out just in a couple days on Apple TV, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror , is labeled as a remix of that original 1922 silent film, which I saw in college. And what goes into a remake like that, or like a remix like that, in terms of, like, your responsibility of putting on Nosferatu?

JONES: Yeah, the character Count Orlek/Nosferatu originally played by Max Schrek right, in the 1922 movie. It was a silent film, of course. And, and just, it has become an absolute classic. It was, it was, it’s like the vampire, Granddaddy. And so it was a kind of a dream of mine to play him, to do a reprisal of the original. And it’s been done, you know, Willem Defoe played in Shadow of the Vampire. And there was also a 1970-something version of Nosferatu. And then there’s one coming out. And this is getting very confusing too. There is a Nosferatu coming, director Robert Eggers and star Bill Skarsgård in the same role I’m playing is coming out in December, in theaters. So this is a different Nosferatu. Ours is called the Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror and it is, like you said, a remix.

So what’s different about ours is that it is a true homage to the original silent film, meaning that we have new actors and sound and dialogue and musical score. But we’re also using a lot of green screens, where we have where the original film backdrop is being included digitally in our film. So it has a very dream, like ethereal kind of look to it, because they have combined… old movie, new movie together, and that’s why we’re in black and white, so we would fit the old movie better. The dialogue, it stays very true. It’s scene for scene the same as the silent film. The dialogue helps flesh out what you might have been missing from the silent film. You know, because in the days of silent films, you would see a lot of like, you know, people moving around. And then every so often, a dialogue card comes up that says, “Yes, mother.” And you’re like, “Wait, he said, so much more than that.” So having the chance to do dialogue and sound, we get to flesh all that out, you know. And give you what the story was, you know. And it stays very true to the original vision. And I got to play with some wonderful actors. And our director, David Lee Fisher. He’s the mastermind behind all this.

David Lee Fisher started, I think, in the video game world. And… so he’s… he’s techno boy. And we did this same process on a movie prior to this, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which was a 1919, silent film that we did the same process on back in 2005 making it a talking with sound and dialogue and musical score with new actors. And then green screen, putting the old movie with the new movie… you can find that on YouTube in its entirety for free, and then Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, we reprised, you know, with better technology now to do that process… because it’s been enough years, so it’s a bit more seamless now. And I got to play with co-stars, Sarah Carter, who I also was a co-star with on the TV series, Falling Skies. And so, in fact, I might pat myself on the back, and I suggested her for this film, and she was like, “Can I?” and they were like, “Can we get her?” So it was a great fit… She’s a movie star in this film, totally. Emrhys Cooper plays the young leading man in our movie, Thomas. He’s the one who set out to come, come fetch me from Transylvania. And then he’s currently on, oh gosh, he’s currently on a series in England, oh gosh, it’s Coronation Street.

And then we also have Jack Turner in the film. He plays the neighbor that young Ellen stays with while the husband is away to get me. Jack Turner is a Hallmark boy. You’ve seen him in a ton of Hallmark movies. He’s been a prince, he’s been a boyfriend, he’s been a fiancé, he’s been all kinds of things, and he’s fabulous. And then we also have Joely Fisher, who was a series regular on Ellen’s sitcom years ago, and she’s also a high up with the Screen Actors Guild. She’s an officer with our union. And also, a little tidbit, she’s also Carrie Fisher’s sister. So Joely plays a wonderful part in this as a spinster sister who kind of like helps guide young Ellen along her way, while she’s was he’s trying to figure out her attraction to me, which no one should be attracted to Nosferatu, but somehow the Ellen character is, and it’s an exploration of desires and loyalties and all kinds of things and we also have a couple of fun cameos in this movie. Actor Thomas Ian Nicholas, who was in the American Pie movies, he plays a blind man on the streets, and you won’t recognize him because he had enough makeup on to like, “Who is… he sounds familiar, but I can’t… Yeah, that’s him.” And also Gothic rock star Voltaire does a cameo as a doctor in our film too. So… There’s a little sprinkling of fun for everyone in this movie.

That’s awesome. I’m really looking forward to it, that hits Apple TV in just a couple of days. That’s super exciting.

JONES: Apple TV Friday the 18th. And it’s already, actually, Amazon Prime already put it up, so it’s available there too. Yeah.

Could Billy Butcherson Get His Own ‘Hocus Pocus’ Spin-Off?
Image via Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Good to know! Yeah. So now moving to two of my personal favorite projects that you’ve done, Hocus Pocus 1 and 2. So what do you think that there is a way for, you know, Billy Butcherson to return in a Hocus Pocus movie, another one, should Billy get a spin-off?

JONES: The age-old question. Both of those things I think are possible, and I would say yes to either, by the way, if offered Yeah, Hocus Pocus 2 took 29 years to make, so I’m not holding my breath, but could there be a Hocus Pocus 3? You know… the goodbyes at the end of Hocus Pocus 2 are kind of final. When the witches were gone and Winifred gave this… Bette Miller did this beautiful tear-jerky speech that kind of resolved her… and it let her live in eternity in peace. And Billy kind of said a final goodbye too. So I don’t… I don’t know, in the magical world of Disney, they could bring anybody back, I’m sure. So if there’s, if there’s a part three, and if it was offered to me, yes, the answer is yes. If there was a Billy spin-off, let’s explore it. Yes.

So you know when you said it took 29+ years to sort of get the ball rolling on the second one… So what’s the most memorable moment you have returning to that world, you know, on Hocus Pocus 2 ?

JONES: Well, you know, working on the first one, I was young in my career. It was, you know, we were filming it in 1992-93, and it came out in the summer of ‘93, and I was just like, I get to work with Bette Midler. And you know… she was in the heyday of her Touchstone Pictures, you know, Down and Out in Beverly Hills and Outrageous Fortune and Ruthless People and Beaches had just come out. I mean, it was a huge era for her… So I was just like in the presence of, you know, this screen legend, and I’ve been a fan of hers before the movies too, with her music career and her concerts and her body persona. So my first night of work on Hocus Pocus 1, I’m in a scene this far from her nose, and I was just, you know, pinching myself. ‘I cannot believe I’m standing in front of this woman and I’m playing her boyfriend from 300 years ago. Are you kidding me, right?’…

I’d also been a fan of Sarah Jessica Parker’s before that. And Kathy Najimy… Kathy Najimy was just coming off of Sister Act when she made a big, big breakout. So it was, you know, great fun and the crew was excited to be there. But what, what changed in part 2, 29 years later, is that I had 29 years of career built up by that time, and I felt a little bit more like a peer this time, instead of just a slobbering fanboy. But when I got in their presence again, it was like, “No, I’m still a slobbering fanboy.” I really am… But coming onto the set with the crew, was that I noticed that difference immediately, that the crew was for Hocus Pocus 2 was made up of a lot of young people that had grown up watching the first movie, and now the Sanderson Sisters are coming back onto the set looking exactly like they did in the first movie, and it was like Elvis had come –it was, it was like The Beatles had come back from the grave, right? And, and then when I came on set, it was like, Elvis, you know, it’s, “oh my gosh, they’re back, they’re back!” So the treatment was much more, you know, we felt like royalty coming back. Honestly, it was, it was very, very sweet indeed.

We’ll Get An Explanation for The Baron’s New Look in ‘What We Do In the Shadows’ Season 6
Release Date March 27, 2019 Seasons 6 Studio Story By Jermaine Clement, Taika Waititi Streaming Service(s) Hulu Showrunner Stefani Robinson , Paul Simms Expand

Moving now to What We Do in the Shadows. You know, the final season is upon us… Your Baron has seen sort of many different forms. And, you know, you’re kind of the King of Prosthetics and all that kind of stuff. But most recently, we see kind of like a restored version. He gets a little crispy in the end there, but it is fine. What was the most like, fun sort of physical incarnation? Because at one point he’s got like this half body, and then you got like this dusty skeleton. So like, what’s the most fun for you, in terms of your incarnation of the Baron?

JONES: Right, The Baron has had four different looks on this show to date… We started off in Season One with me wrinkly and pointy-eared, kind of like a Nosferatu-y, kind of looking old school, old world vampire, and that got burned by the sun and my body broke in half while they were burying me, and you thought I was dead, and then when they dig me up in Season Three, he’s still alive, but with only half a body and one arm like fused to his chest cavity. And just like… charred, like I was a charcoal briquette, and then magically reformed to my entire body with my real face and a wig. That was great, and then that got burned by the sun in Season Five… but not as bad. So I’m a little bit crispy now… and my hair was all singed off. So those are four different looks. How am I going to come back in Season Six? Well, I will let that be determined when you see it, but when you do see me in the opening night of Season Six, you will get an explanation right away for why I look like I do, and whatever magic is involved in that… But as far as most Gosh, it’s so funny… his original form, the Baron’s original form included that one episode called the “Baron’s Night Out”, and the scene that gets the most notoriety is the pizza eating scene when I went vomiting throughout the sky. You know, projectile vomiting because, you know, vampires don’t eat human food. They just eat humans. So, so when he tried to eat pizza… his tummy didn’t, didn’t agree with it.

One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in my life, ever been a part of, but then in Season Three when I’m dug up from the grave and I’m only half a body, there were a couple of moments that were really dropped dead hilarious: where I’m riding on the back of the Golden Retriever… the hellhound, like horseback, but on a dog with just half a body, and then also in the Barbie car… We broke into, like a Home Depot, kind of a store, like a big box store, and I found a Barbie car, so I’m driving around in that just with my half body and one arm. So, you know, when you’re doing something that ridiculous, you can’t help but giggle and laugh all day, and it’s just it makes the entire process so much more pleasant when you’re doing it for the funny.

Yeah, those things are all so funny.

JONES: Thank you. But… but I’ll say, for comfort’s sake, I love being me with a wig. That’s, you know, when all the rubber was taken off my face and… that look was introduced in Season Four for Nandor’s wedding. When I came out… I was the officiant of the wedding, and I upstaged the bride. I came out with a much bigger entrance than she did, as The Baron would only have it, right? So [Laughs] so that there’s, there’s, there’s an element of funny and special to all of his looks and why he’s and why, you know?

Doug Jones Wants to be a Hallmark Channel Dad
Image via Paramount+

That’s great. I’m, I’m really excited to see it, even though I’m sad to see it go. This is sort of the question I was hinting at, at the beginning. So you are so synonymous, like you said, with October and spooky and prosthetics, and sci-fi too, with Star Trek: Discovery, but you’re also in prosthetics, but when is Doug Jones going to do, like, a campy, cheesy holiday rom-com? Like, is that something you’re interested in?

JONES: You’ve been… you’ve been reading my mind and reading my mail! Yes! Yes! Yes! Because my go to when I’m when I’m trying to relax and watch TV, like I noticed I’ve discovered the Hallmark Channel when I was at a hotel working on a dark movie where [I’m in] Monster makeup years ago, many years ago. I would come back to my hotel room after cleaning off, and I’m like, you know, bedraggled from the day, and I’m still sticky behind the ears, and, oh, right, turn on the TV channel surf. I come upon the Hallmark Channel with some light, fluffy story being told with, like, you know, people falling in love. And the worst thing that happens in those movies is, like, a little misunderstanding, but they get over it really fast. It’s like, you know, happy endings, low stakes. Love it. You don’t have to invest too much of your heart and soul. It’s just like… oh, this feels good. So now that I’m aging, it’s like, I… my dream is to be a dad of a grown woman on a Hallmark Christmas movie or a Great American Family is another great channel for those feel good movies… where I’m holding a cup of hot chocolate, and I’m wearing a reindeer sweater, and I’m giving her some really solid advice on her new relationship, because her mother would be so proud of her, because, of course, she passed away. You know, I’m talking about, you know, I’m talking, right? Ah, I want that so, so, so much. Yes.

Oh, wow, yeah, agents of Hollywood, you heard it here.

JONES: Like yeah, yeah, right, exactly.

Oh, yeah, give him a call! So to sort of wrap it up, another sort of broad stroking question we touched on it a little bit at the beginning, but what is like the most rewarding part of being labeled “The Most Famous Man You’ve Never Seen?”

JONES: Oh, I don’t know… Well, I think the fun of it has been that I have been in some humongous projects. Again, I’ve been on the stage at the Oscars and been at worldwide viewership, worldwide audience, on television series and films, and I can go to a coffee shop and not be recognized. That’s kind of nice. That’s kind of a nice niche to be in where I can live a normal life now, because of things like this happening with all the press that I’ve been doing over the more recent years, I am recognized in public a little bit more often, but it doesn’t… I never cause a mob scene, but… I walk through airports and get like, “Excuse me, are you Doug Jones?” That happens more now than it used to, right? But when it does happen, it’s because someone has truly been a fan of mine over the years, and it’s really a sweet encounter when it does happen.

So… I think, the plus side, I’ve been able to live and work in a fantasy world where… I’m helping tell such fantastical stories as fantastical characters and I think it’s offered an escape for people. And what science fiction and horror and comic book movies and fantasy movies can do is, can take us out of our life, let us get lost in an hour and a half, two hours of a story that we can invest ourselves in and kind of like relate to characters in it and help. And once that movie or TV show is over, we can come back to our real life and be like, you know, what? I’m kind of empowered to tackle the demons in my real life too, you know? And if I feel like a monster, maybe that’s where my beauty lies. Maybe I can be the pretty monster that helps save the day. Or if there’s other monsters coming after me, I now have the heroism, I’ve seen an example of how to fight them, whatever it is, you know?

And so I hear these stories from fans all the time… I do the convention circuit now, and I’ve been loving, loving it. I’ve been on a very, very busy convention tour this fall already. And what I hear person after person that comes to my line at my table, is personal stories of like “I was in the hospital recovering, and I watched this or that of yours, and it helped me get through it.” “Every time I see this or that movie or TV show, it reminds me of my dad when we watched it together. He’s passed away now, and it brings him back every time I see it.” Heartwarming stories, right? I’ve had couples holding a baby in front of me saying “Our first date was a movie of yours.” Do you know what I’m saying? So it’s like, I’ve been a part of people’s personal lives, and that that’s been my favorite part of this entire career, for me.