‘Tusk’s’ Justin Long on being a walrus and the ‘thrill’ of Johnny Depp’s performance

Justin Long may play a man who gets transformed into a human walrus by a deranged former sailor in Kevin Smith's “Tusk” – but as the actor himself tells it, the upcoming horror-comedy actually wasn't his most difficult movie to shoot. So what was?

“'Herbie: Fully Loaded',” said Long during “Tusk's” recent press junket. “For reasons that have nothing to do with prosthetics.”

Okay, so he was kind of joking (ahem). Needless to say, “Tusk” was pretty difficult in its own right.

“To try to do a convincing horror movie performance is so exhausting,” Long continued. “It's just physically and emotionally draining. So I would say it was that, it was very tiring. And going to these [dark] places…to sit in that for several days at a time, is like, it's not fun. And had it not been for Kevin and the tone that he creates on set, it would've been a really tough job. But he makes everything so fun, even when you're getting turned into a walrus.”

It goes without saying that given the subject matter alone, “Tusk” is a ready-made “cult” film in the vein of other body-horror entries like David Cronenberg's “Videodrome” and even Tom Six's barf-worthy grossout “The Human Centipede.” So what are some of Long's favorite cult movies? And what are this thoughts on the daffy performance of a certain A-list co-star named Johnny Depp? Find out the answer to those questions and more in the full interview at the top of the page.

“Tusk” hits theaters this Friday.

×