Tyler Labine: From TV BFF to 'Tucker & Dale' by Movie Reviewers on Creators.com

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Tyler Labine: From TV BFF to 'Tucker & Dale'

Tyler Labine has blood on his hands.

His Calgary hotel room is stained with the ignominy of a brutal two-week bacchanal out in the woods. The voices of the dead screech in his brain. He and his associate, Alan Tudyk, try to cope with all they've witnessed by gambling at a nearby casino — gambling with their last strains of sanity.

But Labine and Tudyk aren't murder suspects. They just play them in a movie. "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil" is the whip-smart slasher comedy out Sept. 30 in which these affable gents portray hillbillies in a new light.

Canada's own Labine is a face you're bound to recognize. He's the quintessential cherubic sidekick, lending his talents to cult TV shows such as "Reaper" and "Invasion." Now it seems we're experiencing an invasion of Labine all over the big screen. In the past few months alone, he's appeared in blockbusters ("Rise of the Planet of the Apes") and quirky indies ("A Good Old Fashioned Orgy"). Quite the overnight success for someone who's been plugging away at a steady career since 1991.

"I didn't think that I could be an actor feasibly until I was about 20," Labine, 33, says during a recent interview in Beverly Hills, Calif. "I had done this TV show in Vancouver called 'Breaker High' — like a kids show. Me and Ryan Gosling. When it got canceled, I was like, 'Uh, I don't want to go back to school. I think I could probably do this."

Cinema had long been an interest of Labine's. Growing up in Brampton, Ontario, he and his two brothers would while away the days making movies with their dad's camcorder. They'd hold auditions for the town's kids, teaching film fighting classes and directing a martial arts franchise. When Pops saw just how serious his brood took its hobby, the family ventured to Toronto to get an agent for the boys.

Younger bro Kyle excelled at TV ads, and eldest sibling Cameron now gravitates more toward behind-the-scenes film duties. As for Tyler, his luck struck when the Labines moved near Vancouver when he was a teen. The sci-fi genre was rapidly exploding in British Columbia, and acting opportunities were abundant.

"It was just a way to get as many credits as we possibly could," Labine recalls. "I did everything: 'X-Files,' 'Poltergeist,' 'Twilight Zone...' It was a good way to pad your resume."

He made the move to Los Angeles in 2000 and became one of the hardest-working character actors on the tube. Recent credits include Fox's "Sons of Tucson" and CBS's "Mad Love" — both shows that Labine carried with his acerbic wit and underlying sweetness.

In "Tucker & Dale vs. Evil," the sweetness comes to the surface. He plays the shy yokel Dale, whose accidental heroism arises as a bunch of crazed fancy-pants college brats infiltrate his and Tucker's (Tudyk) territory.

The condensed shoot, done in late 2009, was at times rough. That bloodstained scenario mentioned earlier wasn't too off the mark: Labine would return to his hotel each evening mired in fake hemoglobin, which clung to his skin and rubbed off on the linens. But he has nothing but praise for the wacky horror flick's rookie director, Eli Craig.

"I'm not saying that directors with great track records aren't great directors," Labine says. "There's just some sort of level of giving a s—t with these new directors, especially if they've written their material. They want to make the best movie ever — a real excitement for it."

Labine's the kind of guy who expresses excitement in all elements of his life. In addition to acting, he also produces music and draws. (His multiple tattoos are his own designs.) He's a renaissance man who's ready for the big time.

To find out more about Melissa Bobbitt and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.