The news that Mickey Mouse had gone into the public domain was swiftly followed by the announcements of at least two films based around the Steamboat Willie narrative.
One of those films is Mickey’s Mouse Trap, which sees a group of teens stalked and slashed by a person dressed up as the world’s most famous mouse.
We caught up with the writer Simon Phillips, who also plays Mickey in the film, to find out more –
The trailer has just dropped for Mickey’s Mouse Trap, how has the reaction been?
I think it’s fair to say we broke the internet on day 1 of 2024! It’s been nothing short of epic response. Even people that seem to ‘hate it’ also comment that ‘they can’t wait to see it’. So we must be doing something right.
Is there a fear when dealing with an established character/look in a horror setting?
Not really as that’s the fun with this. We get to take an iconic character, something everyone knows, and turn it on its head. Creating the look for the film was something super exciting for us, and Mickey himself was great fun to work up.
When did you start thinking about creating a Mickey Mouse horror film?
I had the idea back in the summer of 2023 after reading some articles about the character coming into public domain – pitched and worked it up with Jamie Bailey and we shot in September 2023.
What was your experience like working with director Jamie Bailey?
It’s always good with Jamie. This one of many projects I have worked on with him and we make a good team as we come up the project from different perspectives – mine coming from the actor/story and Jamie from the visuals and thematic, but it’s our ability to work together, with ego entering the discussion, that I would say is our greatest achievement – which isn’t always easy in a creative and high pressured work environment.
What does a typical day on set of Mickey’s Mouse Trap look like?
Well we shot in an actual Arcade, FUNHAVEN in Ottawa – but it was all night shoots as we had to film when the place was closed for business. So our ‘day’ used to start at 8pm and roll right through the night. Night shoot are always tough as you have to keep your energy up, which means attempting to sleep all day – but everyone gets up too early as they feel like they are vampires if they don’t spend at least a few hours in the daylight.
Has the success of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey motivated you?
Well for sure and we love what they did with that. But this is Mickey Mouse – what we noticed with our first week of 2024 is that he truly has a global reach. We have been doing news broadcasts in Korea, Japan, Sweden, France,Germany, Africa – like EVERYWHERE in the whole world was interested, which was epic and demonstrated to us the true iconic nature of the character that disney had created.
What other cartoon character would you like to adapt into a horror if you have a choice?
Mickey’s the number 1 for me. Everything and everyone else just doesn’t compare. So i can’t even think of doing someone else, as it would feel like taking a step down… like who on earth is a bigger cartoon icon then Mickey.
When is Mickey’s Mouse Trap being released?
March 2024 – details still TBC… but it’s coming!
Bloody Flicks 