Roy Whistle interview

Sunday, April 19, 2020 – 2:30 p.m.

Roy Whistle played the villain in Dalton Kimbrough's film and helped out with crew duties when he wasn't on screen.

Detectives Armstrong and Murphy interviewed him at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department.

Participants:

• Detective T. Armstrong
• Detective S. Murphy
• Roy Whistle

Detective Murphy: For the record, please state your name, age, address, and occupation.

Roy Whistle: Yes, ma'am. My name is Roy Whistle. 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?

Detective Murphy: That'll do. Mr. Whistle, we need the history of your relationship with Dalton Kimbrough. How did you come in contact with him?

Roy Whistle: Okay, how should I put this?

Detective Murphy: Roy, 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?

Roy Whistle: 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.

Detective Armstrong: Look, cut the bull, Roy. You're not here on drug charges. So just settle down, and tell us about Kimbrough.

Roy Whistle: 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.

Detective Armstrong: Okay, farmer. Start hatchin'.

Roy Whistle: 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 that either a) he's a narc, b) he had a thing for me, or c) this dude was studyin' to take me down.

Detective Armstrong: That's quite a life you got goin' for yourself. Are you paranoid often?

Roy Whistle: 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.

Detective Murphy: Did he pay you?

Roy Whistle: Hell, no, I ain't been paid. Dude's dead now, and I don't mean no disrespect, but I need to get paid. My chickens don't feed themselves.

Detective Murphy: Who took care of the chickens while you were away?

Roy Whistle: I had Dalton 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.

Detective Murphy: Was that in addition to the sum he contributed?

Roy Whistle: Hell, I don't know.

Detective Murphy: So he made you sign a contract.

Roy Whistle: Yeah, but none of us signed it except Gwen. Hell, he practically had you signing your damn life away. I would've hated to see the contract he signed.

Detective Armstrong: So you didn't have a problem living at the lodge?

Roy Whistle: 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**** Kimbrough. I mean, can you imagine doing that to yourself?

Detective Armstrong: Do you think it was suicide?

Roy Whistle: 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.

Detective Murphy: How do you remember it happening?

Roy Whistle: Okay, I slept restless 'cause I drank too much and was having these hallucinogenic seizure-type things I get sometimes. I remember it was colder than a witch's *** 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, Gwen is screaming her head off in Dalton's room. We all rush up to go in there, and Alonzo is tryin' to be Big Dog again, holding us all back. Finally, we busted through and went in the bathroom and saw it.

Detective Armstrong: You didn't hear the shots?

Roy Whistle: Nope. I don't guess I did, but I thought I heard a bus wreck at one point.

Detective Armstrong: What? Never mind. Where was everybody?

Roy Whistle: 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 Gwen and sometimes Kayla.

Detective Armstrong: How did you get along with him? I heard not too good.

Roy Whistle: 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.

Detective Armstrong: I heard that you two really got into it on the set one time. Anything to that?

Roy Whistle: 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 butts 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. Dalton put a damn dent in the refrigerator tryin' to knock me out with a crockpot. 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.

Detective Murphy: Did you disagree at any other time?

Roy Whistle: 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.

Detective Murphy: Did you want to be there?

Roy Whistle: Not really.

Detective Armstrong: Why did you stay?

Roy Whistle: Holdin' out for that money.

Detective Murphy: How much were you told you would get?

Roy Whistle: He gave us each $500 upfront, 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.

Detective Murphy: Did you ever meet Chuck Mulroney when he came to the set?

Roy Whistle: That old fool. He came up to the house pitchin' a b****one day, and that's just not the kind of grief you wanna give Dalton when he's workin'. He practically threw the guy out, and then he came after all of us.

Detective Murphy: Physically?

Roy Whistle: Yeah. He was a madman.

Detective Murphy: What was Dalton's relationship with the women on the set?

Roy Whistle: What, you mean his harem? Boy, he was juggling those gals like a couple of fruits. I tried to hook up with Kayla for a while, but she was a little too insane for me. She had, shall we say, other priorities.

Detective Murphy: And those were?

Roy Whistle: Being an all-out nuisance. Ha! It didn't matter, though. Dalton 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.

Detective Murphy: What about the actress who showed up on the set? Had you ever seen her?

Roy Whistle: 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 she had ruined the dynamic and pretty much trashed his office. Just in a rage.

Detective Armstrong: Did he know her?

Roy Whistle: I have no idea. She wasn't around long enough for even us to get to know her.

Detective Murphy: And you say he trashed his office. What did he keep in there?

Roy Whistle: 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.

Detective Armstrong: Did you believe him?

Roy Whistle: Hell, yeah. He was a maniac. Smart fella, though.

Detective Armstrong: Okay, Whistle, that's all we've got for now. We may be in touch later.

Roy Whistle: Well, I'll be out at the farm.

Detective Armstrong: See to it that you keep out of trouble, and maybe we won't have to visit you for any other reasons. Got me?

Roy Whistle: You know I do, sir. Thank you.

Interview ended – 3:12 p.m.