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Dark Side of the Ring Producers on Nerves for Interviews and Feeling Intimidated Talking to Abdullah the Butcher

April 28, 2019 | Posted by Jeffrey Harris
Dark Side of the Ring

– Smark to Death recently interviewed the VICELAND docuseries producers of Dark Side of the Ring, Evan Husney and Jason Eisener. Below are some highlights (h/t Fightful) and audio from the interview.

Evan Husner on the Von Erich documentary for Dark Side of the Ring: “Obviously that’s been chronicled in WWE documentaries, independent documentaries, ESPN 30 for 30 spot on it. Every time you’ve seen Kevin tell that story, he’s always put in a studio, he’s lit, and there’s a backdrop and it seems very produced. We wanted to try to tell the most intimate version of that story. We are gonna go to his turf and we’re gonna spend time with Kevin, we’re gonna spend days with him to get the real emotional story of what he went through.

Eisener on how open Kevin Von Erich was: “He said after he did it it was the most open he’s ever been about his family story. It was super emotional, even for us, we had to take a lot of breaks during that interview because it would get really heavy. Evan and I were tearing up while we were doing it because it was so emotional.”

Jason Eisener on nerves for certain interviews: “There were certain ones I’d be nervous about, and Evan would be nervous about.”

Evan Husney on how the interviews can be intimidating: “If you’ve seen the show, you know that most of the interviews are attached direct camera. The way it’s achieved is through a gimmick you attach to the camera that allows myself to have a conversation, it’s like a set of mirrors that reflects my image over the lens so that when they talk to the camera they actually see my face and vis versa I can see their face. And sometimes it can be a little intimidating because some of these guys are just intimidating, like Abdullah the Butcher.”