All of us at Hectic Films thought it would be fun to send Jesse Najera out on a task to wrangle and interview a giant, but the joke was on us cause he managed to track down the loving and generous George the Giant and capture this great interview!
How tall is George The Giant?
7 foot 3 inches
What did you experience that led to an interest in the sideshow arts?
There are several parts to this story.
1 - when I was 12 years old I went to the Kern County Fair and saw the sword swallower & fire eater perform on the Bally Stage. I was amazed at what the human body could do, and at that time I knew that was "real magic", and not what magicians did.
2 - when I was 21 an incident happened in my life that made me have a fear of fire. I'm one of those people that if I'm scared of heights, I bungee jump. So I decided to eat fire.
You are a sideshow performer who performs a variety of sideshow stunts; one of which is fire breathing. While you once had a fear of fire, how are you able to, now, perform fire breathing stunts? Can you share what caused your fear of fire?
As I said when I was 21 an incident occurred. Someone broke into my brother's home, tied him up. lit him on fire, and left him to die. He survived, but it left him with a fear of fire. And in so doing, left me with a fear of fire.
What led to you being cast in films and an appearance on the tonight show with Jay Leno?
Being cast in film and television is the old story, it's who you know. I was doing Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios working with a great contortionist named Bonnie Morgan. She was doing the Grinch Stole Christmas during the Run. At the time she was 15 so her dad had to take her. Her father is a stunt performer and coordinator, he was in the original Pete's Dragon. Well, one of his friends called him up and said, "We need a henchman who can do something really, really strange". He gave them my name, I received the call, and three days later I was in Vegas shooting a TV show for UPN called "The Strip."
The Tonight Show, The Late Show, and some of the other TV shows I've done are the same thing. People know who I am, what I do, want something odd, and I get called.
Can you talk about the films and television shows you've been cast in and what actors you've played alongside?
Everyone knows about the movie Big Fish, where I got to perform with Danny DeVito and Ewan McGregor. The experience I had with Danny DeVito was something that I will have for the rest of my life.
I did a movie called "Firecracker" with Karen Black. She was a very odd and unusual actress that played great strange characters.
Another movie I did was called "Tough Luck" with Armand Assante, Norman Reedus ("Boondock Saints" and "The Walking Dead") and Dagmara Dominczyk from ("Count of Monte Cristo"). I Had very little interaction with the main actors except for on screen. Norman and Armand showed great respect of the stunts I did.
I have also done TV shows ranging from "America's Got Talent", "Life According to Jim", "CSI Vegas", "Nitro Circus", and "A 1000 Ways To Die".
You have a towering role in the new Hectic Films project; Machine Gun Baby with director Rickey Bird. What can you tell us about your character and your experience with the cast and crew of Hectic Films?
There is nothing I can say about Rickey Bird that is not already in the police report!
I've known Rickey for several years. We worked on a movie where he was doing the special effects of the blood blast from a shotgun where I was shot in the face. We ended up doing a scene that was supposed to take 40 minutes to shoot... it took 5 hours so we had a lot of time to chat.
Whenever he's shooting films I try to donate to the project or help him in any way I can by putting him in contact with people, this just so happened to be one time he wanted me in the actual film. The character he wanted me to do was... so disgusting... how could I say, "No"?
Can you share just a few of the stunts you perform, for the brave of heart? Where can fans go to follow and gets updates on George The Giant?
I use several of the classic Sideshow stunts. Sword swallowing, fire eating, glass walking, bed of nails, and old-time strongman stunts. I also do my own twist on weight lifting, using fish hooks and weights from my eye sockets. The thing that made Sharon Osbourne say I was the most disgusting person she knows, is a stunt called "crazy straw".
You can find me on Twitter: georgethegiant
Instagram: therealgeorgethegiant
YouTube: georgethegiant1
Facebook: George the Giant
Awesome!
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