Late last year I chatted up actor/stuntman Kane Hodder about the biography he had just completed with co-author Michael Aloisi.  Unmasked: The True Story of the World’s Most Prolific Cinematic Killer covers much of the territory you’d expect — Hodder’s youth, his first jobs as a Hollywood stuntman, his rise to cult fame as the man in the storied hockey mask — but it also offers surprisingly candid accounts of a few of the darkest episodes in the actor’s life, including his childhood run-ins with bullies and the near-fatal burn injury that almost ended his career just as it was getting started. I’ve been waiting for the right time to post the interview; I don’t think there’ll ever be a better occasion than 2012′s first Friday the 13th.

First off, Kane, I want to ask you about a quote from the book: “I am closer mentally to a killer than normal people are.” Tell me about that.

It sounds like I’m making a joke, but often people say, How do you get to such a convincing murderous state in some of your movies? My response, and I mean it sincerely, is that I believe that my personality is closer to that of a psychopathic killer than most people’s personalities. I’m not saying I am that, but I think I’m closer to that in general, so that the trip from my personality to that of the killer is a shorter trip than other people have to take. I can get there very quickly. I know it sounds like a joke, but I honestly feel that.

From an actor’s perspective, what are some noticeable differences between playing a fictional psychopath, like Jason Voorhees or Victor Crowley, and a real one, like Ed Gein or Dennis Rader?

It is definitely different. When you play a fictional character, you’re inventing things to do to people and ways to be violent. When you play a character who actually existed, that’s a pretty bizarre thing to think about, especially if you recreate some of the things that person actually did. It’s easy for me to do that stuff on film, but it’s just fascinating, and I think that term is accurate – I’m fascinated by serial killers. The psychological state that their mind has to be in to be able to do these things, often without any kind of guilt or any feelings at all… it’s just unbelievable for me to think that someone can get into that state. It is very strange to play a character that actually existed. It’s often just hard to think about.

Creatively, what contributions did you make to the Jason Voorhees character?

I think my contribution was a subtle thing, but an important thing. I always watch the Jason movies. I love the character. That’s why, when I was suddenly wearing the hockey mask, I was honored and wanted to do it justice. And to me, whenever I would see the character in past movies and he was standing and staring at someone, he often could look like a mannequin because he wasn’t moving. It looked good but at the same time, it looked like he could have been a statue. So that’s when I decided I had to make him look alive when he’s stalking someone, and that’s when I came up with the breathing thing. Now when he’s staring at you, with the heaving chest, I think it looks much scarier and much more intimidating. He looks like he’s about to do something fucking crazy. I added that and, from what I’ve been told by fans, because I sound like an asshole if I say it myself, it looked more natural. Sometimes, some of the guys before and after look like they’re acting, trying to be scary. I hope, if anything, that I made it look a little more natural and not forced.

You were a big Boris Karloff fan when you were growing up. What was it like to get to do such a fun take on the Frankenstein monster in Chillerama?

As soon as Adam Green mentioned that he had this idea, I knew that I would like it because I think he’s a genius. I knew he would come up with something fun and interesting. Sure enough, he did. And in just about every movie we do, he comes up with something new for me to do that I’ve never done on film before. In the first Hatchet, I had never cried in a movie, so I was able to do that. In the second Hatchet, I had never had a sex scene, and I did that. With Chillerama, I had never danced on film, and I did that – and probably will never do it again.

A lot of the material in your book is stuff you’ve never talked about publicly. What made you decide to be so candid?

There are stories in that book that I’ve never told another person in my life, particularly a couple of the bullying things. It was just so humiliating that I never wanted anybody to know – not even my parents, when I was younger. So, once I started telling my story to Mike, I started thinking, the one thing I don’t like about reading biographies, and actors’ biographies in particular, is that I never learn anything that I didn’t already know. It’s fun to read about their careers. That’s very interesting, but I would also like to know some of the bad things that happened in their life, and know that they were able to overcome them. I decided that, if I’m going to tell my story, I’m going to make it my entire story, good and bad.

Some things don’t reflect well on me, but it’s what happened and I can’t do anything about it at this point, so I’ll talk about it. I just know from the experience that when you’re going through something traumatic – getting bullied, a burn injury – and you can read about it or talk to someone who’s been there, that is a huge help. If a person hasn’t been in your shoes in their past, they’re not going to be able to help you. So when you’ve been through it yourself, and you can maybe help somebody else get through it just by them reading your story and knowing you were able to overcome it, then it’s all worth it. That’s how I feel with the OCD stuff, the burn injury, the bullying, anything. If it helps someone, then it’s all worth it.

In the book, you mention that you talked to Wes Craven when he was casting the role of Freddy Krueger. Tell me about that.

It was actually before he even started casting. He just had the idea – I don’t even think he had the script ready yet. He just had this idea about this crazy character who was going to have burn scars. Since I had done The Hills Have Eyes 2 with him, he talked to me about it briefly. Obviously, he made a great choice in going with Robert [Englund], because Robert’s a great actor and he made the character what he was, but it just made it interesting when, later on, I heard about this Fred Krueger – that’s what he was called at the beginning: Fred Krueger. It was kind of odd.

I understand that Rob Zombie played a part in helping you get over the disappointment of not being cast as Jason in Freddy vs. Jason…

I was replaced and never given a reason for my replacement – I was devastated, actually. Maybe it sounds corny, but I really was. Jason was a character I truly loved, so I had a lot of trouble dealing with it. Then Rob Zombie says he wants me to coordinate the stunts on The Devil’s Rejects, and I’m a huge Rob Zombie fan and also a fan of House of 1,000 Corpses – what better way to help me get over the pain of losing the Jason character?

You can score a copy of Unmasked on Kane’s website.