Rob Zombie’s 3 From Hell Originally Focused on This Character

Next week will finally see the three-day release of Rob Zombie‘s newest film, 3 From Hell. The movie will continue Zombie’s trilogy after House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects, and will see the return of Bill Moseley (Otis), Sheri Moon Zombie (Baby), and Sid Haig (Captain Spaulding). However, the “3” in the film’s title doesn’t actually refer to the three original characters. According to Entertainment Weekly, Haig’s health forced Zombie to reimagine the script with a new character named Foxy, played by Richard Brake (Mandy, Doom). While Haig still makes an appearance in the upcoming film, his part was greatly reduced.

“The movie that I prepped to make, and was getting ready to start shooting, it was Captain Spaulding, Otis, and Baby, the three originals,” Zombie explained. “But three weeks out from shooting, I got a call from Sid Haig. He had been in the hospital, and he had just had surgery, and he was now recovering in a rehabilitation facility. I’m like, holy sh—, this is a serious business. So, I went to see him, and he had changed drastically from the last time I saw him. Because Sid, he’s big and burly, and now he’s tiny as a skeleton. So, I was like, oh man. I kind of realized, yeah, he’s in rough shape. So, at that point I was kind of f—ed.”

He continued, “I created this charter Foxy for Richard Brake. I had just worked with Richard on a movie called 31 and I knew he would fit the vibe. He was on another movie in Spain shooting. He flew right from that movie to L.A. and started working instantly. A lot of the scenes with Foxy were supposed to be Spaulding and I twisted things around so I didn’t have to rewrite every single thing. It was the funniest situation and the sh—tiest situation. Because, I went from one moment thinking, ‘This is the most prepared I have ever f—ing been to start a movie — everything is locked down tight’ — and within one phone call, the entire production went into complete chaos for three weeks. But at the end of the day, it all worked out great.”

However, Zombie was still determined to get Haig in front of the camera.

“I knew it was so important he be part of the movie,” Zombie added. “Lionsgate was fine with me sort of sneaking him in one day to shoot as much as I could. It was on me to make sure that nothing went wrong. So I got him in, I shot everything I could shoot.”

Haig was just in the ICU after a “nasty spill,” but his wife recently revealed on Instagram that he’s recovering.

In addition to the core cast, 3 From Hell will also feature Danny Trejo, Kevin Jackson, Wade Williams, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Clint Howard, Pancho Moler, Emilio Rivera, Daniel Roebuck, David Ury, Sean Whalen, Austin Stoker, Dee Wallace, Bill Oberst Jr., Richard Riehle, Dot-Marie Jones, and Tom Papa.

Tickets for the September 16th, 17th, and 18th nationwide release of 3 From Hell are available at FathomEvents.com/3FromHell.