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Sunday, August 15, 2004 --
2:30 PM
The witness, who played the villain in the victim's
film and helped out with crew duties when he wasn't on-screen, was interviewed
at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Office. The interview was conducted
by Detectives Armstrong and Murphy and was
recorded on a portable tape recorder with the witness' knowledge and
consent.
- TA = Detective T. Armstrong
- SM = Detective S. Murphy
- BM = Billy Mummy
SM: For the record, please state your name, age, address and
occupation.
BM: Yes, ma'am. My name is Billy Mummy. I’m first
and foremost a chicken farmer. I’m 32 years old, and I live at 187
Calhoun County Road 1908, Bruce, Mississippi. You need my phone number?
SM: That’ll do. Mr. Mummy, we need the history
of your relationship with the victim, Mr. Fitz. How did you come
in contact with him?
BM: Okay, how should I put this?
SM: Mr. Mummy, We're not district attorneys. You’re
not on the witness stand. This is a standard interview. We’re
just trying to get the bottom of this, okay?
BM: I know, I know, it’s just... look, this
is bound to come out sooner or later, but... You see, I was in the
drug trade for a time, but no, no, I’m not with that no more.
I’m totally shed of it. This all has told me a lot about the
dangers of drugs.
TA: Look, cut the bull, Billy. You're not here
on drug charges. So just settle down, and tell us about Fitz.
BM: All right, I just wanted to warn you. Lemme see,
a friend of mine introduced me, and he said this guy was hard up for
some weed. But I just told him who he should ask, you know? I only
get that s*** for my closest friends, know what I mean? Got it, I
should say. I’m just a chicken farmer.
TA: Okay, farmer. Start hatchin’....
BM: We got caught up in the same circles for a while.
I met him in town here one night, but then he’d start showing
up in Bruce. I’d go down to the so-and-so to see some of
my boys, and here this dude was. I mean, I started freakin’,
man, 'cause I thought either, a) that he’s a narc; b) that he
was gay; or c) that this dude was studyin’ to take me down.
TA: That’s quite a life you got goin’
for yourself. Are you paranoid often?
BM: What the hell’s that gotta do... I told ya, this dude was stalking me or something. So I wanted to take him
out in the woods and scare him, you know, get a read on him. So, I
went up to him and said, "Hey, man, you wanna go out in the woods
and shoot the Glock?" And he looks and me and gets this s***-eatin’
grin on his face, and he says, "You’re him!" And dude
hugs me and gets down on his hands and knees and starts beggin’,
"Will you please come be in my movie." Over and over talkin’
about some movie. And like a dumb son of a b****, I did it.
SM: Did he pay you?
BM: Hell, no, I ain’t been paid. Dude’s
dead now, don’t mean no disrespect, but I need to get paid. My
chickens don’t feed themselves.
SM: Who took care of the chickens while you were away?
BM: I had Corwin pay some guy to help my uncle out.
My uncle can’t run that thing alone. I insisted on that in my
contract, so he got his executive producer to pay for it.
SM: Was that in addition to the sum he contributed?
BM: Hell, I don’t know.
SM: So he made you sign a contract.
BM: Yeah, but none of us signed it except Katrina. Hell,
he practically had you signing your damn life away. I’d’ve
hated to see the contract he signed.
TA: So you didn’t have a problem living at the
lodge?
BM: No, it was an all right place. Nice woods, I felt
like I was up in the mountains. And seemed like there was an unlimited
supply of food and lots of movies and pretty girls, ha-ha. Yeah, it’s
just too bad about those other crazy sons of b******. I ain’t
never seen a collection of more deranged people, Detective. Not respectable,
level-headed folks like you and myself... and craziest of all was
that son of a b**** Fitz. I mean, can you imagine doing that
to yourself?
TA: So you think it was a suicide?
BM: Well, hell yeah. Everything he talked about and
wrote about was suicide. Don’t you think that means somethin’?
He mutilated himself. I saw it.
SM: How do you remember it happening?
BM: Okay, I slept restless 'cause I’d
drank too much and was having these hallucinogenic seizure-type things
I get sometimes. I remember it was colder than a
witch’s tit
in that room, and Dave was snorin’ his head off. God, that son
of a b**** can snore! I kept hearing people out in the hall; I thought
I was stumbling around shoutin’ at ’em, half asleep and
half awake. But it turned out I was just dreaming. Finally I get off
to sleep and before you know it, Katrina is screaming her head off in
Corwin’s room. We all rush up to go in there, and Alsace is
tryin’ to be Big Dog again, holding us all back. Finally we busted
through and went in the bathroom and saw it.
TA: You didn’t hear the shots?
BM: Nope. I don’t guess I did. But I thought
I heard a bus wreck at one point.
TA: What? Never mind... Where was everybody?
BM: They all came to the door to see what all the
commotion was about. We all just assumed he’d finally up and
shot himself. He never let anybody in that room except Katrina
and sometimes Macy.
TA: How did you get along with him? I heard not too
good.
BM: Ha, ha. Sometimes guys like us, we have folks
in our life who we just like to beat up on. Like, you could never be
friends, but you like messin’ with the guy. That’s him.
He put up a good fight.
TA: I heard that you two really got into it
on the set one time. Anything to that?
BM: Hell, yeah. I think he was filming it. I’m
tellin’ you, he just lashed out from behind that camera and went to
way-layin’ me. I mean, we were on, just acting our asses off,
and he must’ve gotten so into it that he jumped me, and we went
round and round for, hell, must’ve been twenty minutes. Totally
demolished the kitchen, where we were filming this scene. Broke dishes,
light fixtures. Corwin put a damn dent in the refrigerator tryin’
to knock me out with a crock pot. I was like, s***, man! Chill! He
came to and we laughed it off later. But I’m tellin you, that
set was intense. There was some for-real acting goin’ on. I ain’t
never acted, but now I’m addicted.
SM: Did you disagree at any other times?
BM: Well, you know, we did. A lot of times it was
about my acting. I guess he didn’t feel like I was good enough
once we had started, and it was too late to replace me. I don’t
know. Anyway, he’d always take me on these walks and try to explain
discipline and getting in touch with your inner demons. It was all
a bunch of junk. I liked it best when we all just got cranked up and
started yellin’ our heads off to get in character.
SM: Did you want to be there?
BM: Not really.
TA: Why did you stay?
BM: Holdin’ out for that money.
SM: How much were you told you would get?
BM: He gave us each 500 up front, but some of us were
looking at 2,500 more after the lodge shoot, and then we had to do
some road shoots, probably talkin’ about another grand there.
He talked big, and by God, I held him to it. I didn’t let him
forget it.
SM: Did you ever meet Chuck King when he came to the
set?
BM: That old fool. He came up to the house bitchin’
one day, and that’s just not the kind of grief you wanna give
Corwin when he’s workin’. He practically threw the guy out,
and then he came after all of us.
SM: Physically?
BM: Yeah. He was a madman.
SM: What was Mr. Fitz's relationship with the women on the
set?
BM: What, you mean his harem? Boy, he was juggling
those gals like a couple of fruits. I tried to hook up with Macy for
a while, but she was a little too insane for me. She had, shall we
say, other priorities.
SM: And those were?
BM: Being an all-out nuisance. Ha! It didn’t
matter though. Corwin didn’t want me messin’ with any women.
He said my character was resolutely male, didn’t have time for
women. Only packin’ heat and lightin’ people up.
SM: What about the actress who showed up on the set?
Had you ever seen her?
BM: No. I reckon I would’ve remembered 'cause
she was decked out awful fancy. She was a good looker. I was hopin’
he’d let her stay, but he ran her off. He was afraid he had ruined
the dynamic, and pretty much trashed his office. Just in a rage.
TA: Did he know her?
BM: I have no idea. She wasn’t around long enough
for even us to get to know her.
SM: And you say he trashed his office. What did he
keep in there?
BM: I don’t know. I never went in. But I think
it was all his film equipment. Seems like he had a computer and junk
in there. He wouldn’t never let any of us see it. Kept the key
around his neck. He was awfully paranoid. You know, he once told us
that if we didn’t get our s*** together, he was gonna burn the
whole place down while we slept.
TA: Did you believe him?
BM: Hell, yeah. He was a maniac. Smart fella, though.
TA: Okay, Mummy, that’s all we’ve got for
now. We may be in touch later.
BM: Well, I’ll be out at the farm.
TA: See to it that you keep out of trouble, and maybe
we won’t have to visit you for any other reasons. Got me?
BM: You know I do, sir. Thank you.
Interview ends -- 3:12 PM |
