Peter Simeti Writes About Casting Roddy Piper in The Chair

– Peter Simeti sent out the following promoting, the horror film, The Chair. The film is based off of Simeti’s graphic novel, and features Roddy Piper in one of his final roles…

On Speaking with Piper: When I first spoke with Roddy, he had already read the script and loved it. He loved the nastiness of the character of Murphy, the complexity, the nuance of the desensitized nature of a death row guard that’s seen it all and done it all – he was just so thrilled to be a part of it. As a child, I had Roddy Piper bed sheets, Roddy Piper wrestling figures, and I even dressed up as Roddy the wrestler and Roddy as Nada from the creepily relevant classic “They Live”. So to hear a childhood hero speak with such enthusiasm over something that I created… well I just couldn’t believe it.

On Piper’s Energy & Love For The Role: Roddy cared so much about this role and we had multiple phone calls going over the character as he took notes and offered his own spin on things as well. But the absolute best part about those calls was the fact that they’d turn into longer talks about family and life and our experiences working against the odds and following a dream. He was a great guy and due to an awful snowstorm in Boston at the time, I wasn’t able to fly out during filming and shake his hand and thank him for his time and friendship. Texts and phone calls, as great as they were, just aren’t the same thing. It’s something I’ll always regret. As a child I loved Roddy’s energy and his larger than life presence, he was a hero of mine even when he was a villain. As an adult, I loved how humble and approachable he was and how he made you feel like he knew you his whole life. You don’t often get to meet your childhood heroes and sometimes when you do, you wish you hadn’t – but Roddy went above and beyond expectations. Just like he always did.

On The Movie: Please check out The Chair’s trailer at [in the video above] and if you’re interested, you can order tickets on there as well. We have special screenings playing in 28 cities and tickets are only available to order for the next 4 to 5 days. If you see the film, I hope you enjoy it – it’s a perfect viewing for this Halloween season, and if you do watch it and you see Roddy being the nastiest villain you’ve ever seen him play, take solace in the fact that he was really one of the nicest and most caring people to ever walk this earth.