TDF - Louis Gastoneux

A little background on "Gaston LeGhoul," one of the player characters from The Dark Fantastic.

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by Frank Frey | Jun 27 2008

“I come here often. I close the shop and just walk here. My niece often comes with me. When my wife, Madeline, was still with us, she would come with me. Maddy would always talk about how the Avalon was like a big studio sound stage. She won an Oscar, you know, for Best Art Direction. She was a very talented lady.”

(Takes a sip of his single malt scotch)

“I got my start back in the early ‘70s doing soap operas. Even today, I can tell you that that was some of the hardest work I’ve ever done as an actor. The schedule was grueling and when it came time to renew my contract I let the writers write me out. I moved on to minor roles in various movies most of which are imminently forgettable. Still, I was working and having a good time.”

“I met Madeline at the wrap party for “Teenage Vampires From Outer Space” down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She was down there on vacation from New Randstad. It may not have been exactly love at first sight but it was certainly love by the third date. I asked her to marry me and she said yes.”

(Takes another sip of his scotch)

“Our life in Hollywood was filled with work and friends. She sure had the talent. As for me, well, I knew from the start of my acting career that I would never be in the same league as Jack Nicholson or Tom Hanks. I made it a point to accept roles that I liked. I’ve done a number of “B Movies” in my time. Some,like Teenage Vampires from Outer Space, were schlocky fun…but others like “Dark Streets” showed, I think, that just because a film has a low budget doesn’t mean that it has to have low quality…and yes, most of the time I was typecast as the Villain…there were a few years where it seemed like I wore a German army uniform so much that I felt like I could’ve qualified for a pension from the Wehrmacht.

Unfortunately, Hollywood became more and more corporatized. No matter what you were working on it always seemed as if some damned suit was right there at your elbow. Maddy and I had both had enough so we sold the house and moved back here to New Randstad.”

“We opened our shop which we called “The Cabinet of Curiosities”. Within a year, I was offered a television gig as the host of a horror movie show. That’s right, I was Gaston LeGhoul, owner of “Mansion of Movie Madness”. Every Saturday afternoon between 2 and 4 I would hold court while showing a seemingly never ending parade of turkeys. Fortunately, I was able to slip in some good stuff. I believe that I was the first one to introduce Guillermo del Toro to this media market. I showed his “Chronos”. A terrific move. My show ran for four years. The ratings started to sag and I felt that it was better to go out on a high note so I claimed that due to personal reasons that I was putting the show to bed.”

(Finishes his scotch and sets the glass down gently on the table)

“We were busy with the shop. Maddy was planning on teaching a course in set design at New Randstad University. She even got me interested in teaching a course on the history of horror movies. Business was booming. It was a magic time…Then she died.”

“She collapsed one afternoon at the shop. I called the paramedics but it was too late. She died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. The doctors said it was a cardiac aneurism. All the magic went out of my world.”

“That was little over a year ago. Now though, I feel something changing. The magic seems to be coming back. It’s a different magic to be sure…but it is still magic.”

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