Juliette Cummins is an actress, casting assistant, and teacher. She has been a busy working actress for over twenty years having starred in such films as Don't Let Go, Friday the 13th Part V and Lucky 13. In the last 5 years, Ms. Cummins has appeared in over 60 commercials working with top Cleo award winning commercial directors. Juliette trained with some of the elite Los Angeles Acting and Improv teachers. She taught her own commercial classes for three years before being selected and trained to teach for Carolyne Barry.

How did you get started with acting?
An agent saw me in a restaurant eating lunch with my mom when I was about 14-15 years old and asked my mom if I wanted to be an actress. The agent said she knew of a casting call and would I like to audition for it. I did and I landed the role opposite actor Eric Stoltz. I played his sister in a film called Lucky 13 in 1984.

How did you land the role of Red in Psycho III?
I auditioned for the role with the casting director and it was Anthony Perkins who was reading with me. I was so confident and in character. I remember Tony saying the last line in the scene and I just looked him in the eye, gave him the finger, and walked out of the casting office and went straight to my car. They couldn't believe I walked out of the office & didn't come back. I heard later that when I walked out Tony said: “Now, that's Red". And I got the role before I even got home.

About how long did it take you to shoot your scenes on the movie?
Oh gosh…. It could have been 8 weeks maybe more. We had to do a re-shoot three months later because the underwater scenes were too murky and you couldn't see Red's dead body, plus they added the scene by the ice chest. By the time the reshoot came around I had cut my hair, so in those scenes I'm actually wearing additional hair called a fall to match my hair in the original shoot. From what I remember, the first night of shooting for me was in the bar. It was quick and simple.

You are listed in the end titles as Red... did you ever ask why your character didn't have a name?
No. I've always been called Red my whole life because of the color of my hair so it didn't matter that I character I played had the same name. Also, that was the characters name from the first audition so who am I to change the writers character names? “RED” was a sexy, free for all, party girl.

How was it working with Actor/Director Anthony Perkins?
In truth, he was pretty much a free for all guy but he was a little odd at times. He had his idiosyncrasies. I remember him always taking a handful of vitamins. Anyway, sometimes he was really happy and there was nothing wrong and other times he was just moody. I remember, one of my first days on the set, Jeff, Tony & I were sitting & talking near the steps at the Psycho House on the hill while they set up the next shot. The sun was setting and a tourist tram had just passed by. He was just chatting up a storm and we were laughing and it seemed like we got along really well. Jeff told me later that when I had walked away Tony had said: “Now there goes my RED”.  It made me feel good. Then a week later, I jokingly said to Tony's stand in: “Is Tony just happy or is he just gay?” Of course the stand in went directly to Tony then came directly back to me and said that Tony just flipped his lid. He told me that Tony had said that:” if I say ANYTHING to anyone on this set that my “ass would be fired!” I was fearful & started to cry & I tried to explain myself. His stand in didn't want to hear any excuses and just walked out of my trailer with attitude. I honestly was just having fun. It was something I had heard on the radio driving to work. I had no idea it would have that huge of an impact on anybody. In fact, I had no idea that he was gay. It didn't matter to me much. My best friend was gay.  

How did this affect your working relationship with Perkins and was there any hard feelings?
The rest of the time on the set was strictly business. Tony didn't joke around with me anymore. He was really offended that I had said that. I was stupid, young and free. I didn't think of the consequences it would have on a man who was in the closet. So from then on, Tony was just real professional and only spoke to me when giving me acting directions. I think Tony died a very sad & troubled man.  I just wish that during his lifetime he knew that people would still love him no matter what…. regardless of his sexual preference. Besides, I believe that it's none of our business who other people choose to love. It's their life. Let people just be themselves.  How come we (the public) are always trying to fit someone in a mold of our own perceptions?

How was it working with Jeff Fahey?
It was great. He was really dedicated to his job. There wasn't any joking around with him. He was there to work. I think he was married at the time so he was really professional. He actually bought that beat up car from Universal and drove that around for a while. Of course, it was almost a new car underneath and it was beat up just for the film. Fahey has become a very successful actor and has done lots of films since.

There were rumours that Anthony Perkins wanted the sex scene between you and Jeff Fahey's character to be a lot more steamier.  Was this true?  Were you comfortable filming the sequence? 
Rumors are never true. Tony never wanted the sex scene explicit. He was always about less is more. I think he would have felt awkward if he had to direct a steamy sex scene. In fact, when we were done filming that scene on the chair with the guitar (the sex scene) I asked him when were we going to shoot the sex scene and Tony said: “You just did. That was it!”   Jeff & I both had body underwear on so our parts wouldn't touch when we were in the chair. You can't see it from watching the movie though.

Did the nudity bother you?
Yes. I asked Tony if he could clear the set to make me feel more comfortable. What I didn't realize is that when they clear the set, there are still 50 people still standing there in the rafters watching. I just laughed. Besides it didn't turn out to be an explicit sex scene. Tony would always get so excited from take to take and jump up and say “great great! Okay, now let's do this….”

When Fahey's character throws you out of Cabin 12, was that really you or a stunt double?
Being thrown out of the cabin was fun. Tony wanted to hire a stunt double, but I said “No”. I wanted to do it. I think we did that in 2-3 takes of me landing on my butt. Since I was an Olympic gymnast, I knew had to fall correctly without hurting myself. We did two versions of being thrown out of the cabin. One, topless and one, with a towel so we could show it on TV.

Tell us about your bloody demise inside the telephone booth
The telephone booth was great! It was originally scheduled for the night before it was actually shot but the crew got behind in shooting and wrapped at 3 A.M. Instead, the scene was filmed the following day. Tony said that this was going to be the equivalent of Janet Leigh's' shower scene so I was excited. Anyway, there is one point in the phone booth were I have two men holding my body up horizontally. In the shot you only see my arm & hand trying to protect myself from being stabbed. Another camera trick was the knife in the phone booth. They shot it from knife point of view so every time the knife goes to the bottom of the frame it's actually going into a bucket of fake blood. And when they take the knife out of the bucket it looks like Red is being stabbed and it's her blood.

Do you have any funny stories about shooting the movie or any anecdotes to share?
When we did the close up of me pulling up my pants on the porch of the motel, it took FOREVER because the makeup people had put so much body make up on my legs to make me look tan, the jeans just kept getting stuck right at my hips take after take. I just kept laughing when I couldn't get them up. Eventually, all body makeup had to be removed. You try putting on your tightest jeans with a heavy, thick, oil base lotion. Not easy! Also, one day, I was walking to our soundstage and I heard this music playing as someone had opened the door from the soundstage next door. So I peeked in to see who it was because it was really loud. And there was STING rehearsing for a tour. I said hello, listened for a while and then went back to work.

Do you have any advice for aspiring actors/actresses/filmmakers?
Have persistence and get out there when you're young and don't be afraid. Everyone is afraid and that's just human behavior. No body on this planet knows how to do any (scene) perfectly. And acting isn't about perfection; it's about the imperfections that make us human & interesting to watch.

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