Noor Razooky Interview: Behind the Killer Tomatoes Chaos

In our Noor Razooky interview, the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence actress joins The Fear Review to talk about stepping into one of horror-comedy’s strangest franchises. Taking a movie about killer tomatoes seriously sounds simple enough, until the cast actually has to do it. As Noor explains, some of the most memorable moments were the ones nobody could have planned.

We talked about finding Angela’s personality, the challenges of improvising on an ambitious independent production, and why this particular brand of unapologetically silly comedy deserves another look. There were also a few behind-the-scenes surprises that made me appreciate some of the movie’s smaller jokes even more.

Taking the Ridiculous Seriously

Noor hadn’t grown up with the franchise, but discovering its history and reading the new script introduced her to a style of comedy she thinks audiences don’t see often enough. Once filming began, the trick was believing in the absurd situations as completely as she would in a dramatic role.

That approach led to unexpected moments, including one bit of physical comedy that Amy and I actually stopped and rewound during our screening. Noor had an explanation for how it happened, although it wasn’t the one I expected.

Have We Forgotten How to Have Fun?

Our conversation also moved beyond the movie. Noor had thoughts about why entertainment has leaned toward heavier stories and what audiences might be missing. It’s something Amy and I have talked about at home when we’re trying to find a comedy after watching one dark series after another.

The stories from the set are funny, but Noor’s enthusiasm for the process is what makes the conversation work. From unexpected creative decisions to the challenge of keeping a straight face, she clearly enjoyed making a movie this ridiculous.

Noor Razooky Interview: Watch the Full Conversation

Read our complete conversation below. The Q&A has been lightly edited to while preserving the substance and personality of the interview.

The Fear Review: Before getting involved with this movie, how familiar were you with the original Attack of the Killer Tomatoes movies, and what was your reaction when you got the role?

Noor Razooky: I did not know about the franchise before that. It’s a little bit before my time. What I did find out, through a San Diego connection, was that I’m born and raised in San Diego, and this franchise was also born and raised in San Diego. It was an exciting opportunity for me. It was through a friend of a friend who was connected to Steve Peace, who’s the creator and writer of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

After finding out about it, I did a deep dive and I was like, “The lore on this is incredible. Why haven’t I heard about it?” Probably because it’s before my time. I found out there was a video game, a Nintendo Game Boy game, a cartoon on Fox Kids in the ’90s, four prior films, and George Clooney’s first leading role, I guess. I was like, “Okay, this is exciting.”

Then I read the script, and I was cracking up. I don’t know if my humor is just really dorky, but I was laughing as I was reading it. It felt like a lost, forgotten humor. Movies aren’t funny like that anymore, that type of comedy. I feel like we’ve kind of lost it over the years. Things have turned into heavy dramas and eight-episode limited series, like an eight-hour movie. We’ve been focusing more on that recently, so it felt like a lost and forgotten style.

The Fear Review: I completely agree. This is my type of humor, that silly slapstick comedy, and we don’t have enough of it anymore. We talked about how intentionally ridiculous the movie is in our review, and it reminded us of older slapstick comedies like The Naked Gun and Hot Shots! As an actor, how do you approach situations that are completely absurd when your character still has to take them seriously?

Noor Razooky: Good question, because I think the preparation is the same as an actor, from an artistic point of view. You’re building a belief in the story within the fiction, and you have to commit to that no matter how absurd it is.

However, as a human being on set filming it, there are moments when you get really self-aware and you’re like, “This is so ridiculous,” in all the best ways. You have this moment where you’re like, “What are we doing? We’re running away from a tomato. We’re freaking out over a tomato puppet,” with fully committed performances.

I think that’s the beauty of acting. No matter what genre you’re in, it’s about building that belief in your process and embodying it completely, no matter how ridiculous or absurd. Even if you think about highly acclaimed Oscar-winning films, if the actors get a little self-aware in the middle of a big moment, it is ridiculous. Everything we’re doing in filmmaking is ridiculous if you have that moment of self-awareness. You’re like, “What are we doing? What is this?” Except it could be more fun when there are tomatoes. It could be more freeing. That would be the difference. There’s a little more freedom with it.

The Fear Review: Was it hard keeping a straight face sometimes in those scenes?

Noor Razooky: It was very hard. My lips were bubbling so many times because I was having a lot of fun. We’ve heard that line over and over again: when work is fun, it doesn’t feel like work.

With this movie, of course, our lips couldn’t be bubbling the whole time. You have to remember that we have to get the shot. It was a very ambitious schedule. We had so many different locations and scenes, and sometimes we’d only get one take. We better nail it. It was such a tight schedule. It’s still an independent film, so we didn’t have this ginormous budget behind us.

I remember one day toward the end of filming, our director, David Ferino, came up to us and was like, “Hey, so tomorrow’s scene with the tomato dance…” You saw the movie, right? That tomato dance?

The Fear Review: yeah we did!

We learned that dance in a little meeting room at the hotel where we were staying. At about 7PM, Myrna, one of the leads who plays Marina, called her friend who’s a choreographer. We’re on Zoom, learning this tomato dance in about 45 minutes. It felt like Dancing with the Stars, those stressful behind-the-scenes videos where everyone’s like, “Oh my God!” This was sprung on us, but of course we were all game and ready to do it.

I remember watching her on the laptop and thinking, “Why is she moving this arm?” Because it’s mirrored! That freaked me out. So we learned this dance, and we’re spelling “tomato” with our bodies like the YMCA. It’s completely ridiculous. We’re doing the Beyoncé “All the Single Ladies” move.

The Fear Review: Single Ladies, yeah.

Noor Razooky: That punch-down move. I remember when we were filming it, the entire time my lips were bubbling. That might have been the most self-aware, hilarious, “What are we doing?” moment in the whole movie, at least for me.

If we would get it right, either my lips would be bubbling, or if I finally held it together, Zach’s lips would be bubbling, or Myrna’s. There was a point where our first AD learned the dance from watching us do it, and he was doing it with us like a stage mom on the side.

I’m like, “You can’t, dude. You can’t!” I could see him in my peripheral vision being like a proud dance mom. It was hilarious. The final cut doesn’t highlight all that, thankfully, probably because we were laughing the whole time.

The Fear Review: Talk about the absurdity of the movie. That has to be one of those parts where you’re like, “Okay, now this is absurd. We’re doing a tomato dance.”

Noor Razooky: Yeah! We’re spelling tomato with our bodies, and we’re saying “tomato juice.” It’s really amazing. If I ever have kids, I’ll make them do it at the talent show or something. I feel like that’d be cute.

The Fear Review: That would be funny.

The Fear Review: How much freedom did you have to develop your character’s personality and mannerisms, and what did you want to bring to the character?

Noor Razooky: That was a work in progress. It was such a short window of prep, so it was something we were figuring out as we went, me and David, our director.

On the first day, he was like, “Try a nasally voice. Make it a little more cartoony and animated.” If you see the movie, there’s almost an animated feel to it, where the characters feel like cartoon characters come to life. Even the way you read the script, you’re like, “This is a cartoon.” Something about it feels animated, even the things we’re saying, how high the stakes are, and the way things appear. I pull a record out of my dress. That’s so cartoon-like, for things to just show up like that.

We did the nasally thing, and then I think the next day David was like, “Just drop it. Let’s change it. We don’t want the nasally thing.” Then we were figuring out the physicality of the character. You’ll see she does this nervous picking thing. I kind of have that natural habit in my real life, but we fully emphasized it.

Then there was a moment when I was like, “Okay, there she is.” We were running out of the tomato lair, Gangreen’s tomato lair, and I did this weird, sloppy run where my arms were flinging, my legs were really wide, and I was just stomping.

At the end, we were all laughing. They were like, “Where did that come from?” And I was like, “I don’t know!” That’s impulsively living in the character. That’s how dorky Angela would run.

Slowly, I was developing the physicality. Even when I would walk, it was like a stomp. It probably wasn’t shown so often because something like that would only show in a wide shot, and of course the whole movie isn’t shot in wide. Everything was a little sloppy and awkward. I think even in Kate Patel’s office I do this handshake hesitation thing. She was a lot of fun to play, especially when it came to discovering the physicality.

The Fear Review: That’s funny you brought that up because I was actually going to ask about it. That was the scene I stopped and rewound when my co-host, who’s my wife, and I were watching it. I was like, “Did you see that?” We were both cracking up because it felt like it came out of nowhere. You just took off running in this funny way.

Noor Razooky: Yeah, that wasn’t planned. That’s the magic of filmmaking, capturing these moments that are impulsive, right? Instinctive.

The Fear Review: I also want to talk about the vacuum scene, which had me laughing. I hear you did some scientific research for that scene. Is that true, and how did that moment come together?

Noor Razooky: Yeah, that was the day before. I’d realized we were moving very quickly, and there was a lot of autonomy between ourselves. We had some room to improvise, and sometimes you’d only get one or two takes.

I’d realized the rhythm at that point, and I was prepping the night before for the next day. I was like, “Okay, what am I going to say? I know the gag is that the vacuum is going to turn on.” I could just talk about what’s on the menu for dinner tonight. I could literally say anything. I could even repeat the same word.

I remember in elementary school, a theater teacher was like, “If you don’t know the words to the song, just mouth the word watermelon.” Because the way your mouth moves when you say “watermelon, watermelon,” it looks like you’re saying something.

I could have done that, right? But I wanted to commit to it. So I started researching what I could possibly be saying about the tomatoes vibrating in sync. What scientific phenomena are similar to what these tomatoes are doing?

I researched things like fireflies blinking in sync, the fungal mycelium web, the networks through which trees communicate, and heart cells pulsating in rhythm. I was like, “Let me bring all this together and spit it out in a scientific monologue.”

I don’t even know what I was doing in the moment. I was talking about growing things in the ocean and salinity levels. I was just going off on that, and it felt way more authentic. I felt more committed, even though it didn’t make it in there.

It was for me. It wasn’t for anyone else. It wasn’t for the audience. It was for me. So that was fun.

The Fear Review: I think that did help because you can hear a little bit of what you’re saying, just barely underneath the vacuum. I feel like if you’d just done the watermelon thing, it wouldn’t have been as good. So it paid off.

Noor Razooky: Yeah, right! The professional lip readers. There are professional lip readers out there, and they would have come for me. Who knows?

The Fear Review: We kept pausing and rewinding the movie because there were so many little jokes happening in the background. Not just people fighting, but the signs, funny logos and everything else. Did you know about all that, or were you discovering it on set?

Noor Razooky: I had no idea until I’d walk onto the set when it was built, and I’d be like, “Whoa, cool! Oh my God!” There are still some I’m missing because we’d go in, hit our marks, do the rehearsal and be in the scene. We didn’t have so much time to play with everything, but there were a lot of funny gags that were very clever.

It was all hands on deck. Everyone had a say in some of it. Our producer Michael Polis, I believe his son came up with some of the movie title gags. I don’t know if you paused, but there was a moment where there were all these movies that were gags, like Saving Ryan’s Privates. They would play with things like that.

It’s just like what I said earlier. It’s a forgotten humor. It’s so silly. It’s like we forgot to have fun, and the world got so serious in the last six, seven, eight, nine years. I can’t even keep track anymore. I feel like we’ve lost our whimsy. Hopefully something like this will bring it back.

The Fear Review: A lot of the shows we watch are these eight-part dramas, and my wife has said multiple times, “I’m just looking for a comedy. Where are they?” So we keep going back and watching old ones to have something between all this drama. I agree, and this movie was a good way back to that. It was just that fun, whimsical comedy.

Noor Razooky: I agree. We need more of it. We’re a little too serious. Sometimes people want to turn off their brains and see something without a strong message shoved down their throat.

The Fear Review: Yes, I’ve said that many times.

The Fear Review: You’ve worked in more dramatic material before, and this movie is obviously very different. What surprised you most about this kind of over-the-top comedy, and did it challenge you in ways you didn’t expect?

Noor Razooky: First of all, I was so excited to work on comedy because I haven’t had the opportunity to do that. Everything was dramatic, heavy drama or technical, where I’m learning a language or learning how to use a weapon of some sort. That was a dream as well.

The challenging part about this wasn’t so much challenging. It was more freeing. I felt more free to play, as opposed to previous roles where they weren’t silly. There wasn’t the same freedom to play.

You could play within the boundaries of the fiction of the story being told, but when you’re learning a new language, you can’t improvise because every word and syllable you learn is accounted for. There was more freedom with this. More freedom to play with physicality. I mean, I played with physicality in other roles as well, but there was more freedom to be silly.

I don’t think there was room for any silliness in the previous stuff. Actually, I did some silly things on SEAL Team. I find a way to make things silly.

I did something pretty silly on SEAL Team. We were teasing ISIS on the radio, and I was improvising, cursing their mothers or something. It was very funny. I could improvise because that scene was in Arabic. So being silly would be the main difference.

The Fear Review: Dan Bakkedahl and David Koechner are kind of comedy legends. Did they give you any advice? Did you get to talk to them about being in comedy and the difference from dramatic work?

Noor Razooky: David Koechner, I didn’t have any scenes with him, so I didn’t get an opportunity to chat with him about that.

Dan Bakkedahl is amazing. I’ve done some promotion with him, and I got to hang with him. He’s a master improviser. I heard some great advice after the fact, not necessarily on set.

The Fear Review: Looking back, what’s one moment from making the movie that you’re always going to remember? Something that went wrong, something hilarious on set or something audiences would never guess, aside from the tomato dance, obviously.

Noor Razooky: Right, of course. That one was amazing. I always talk about Gangreen’s lab when people ask me because the whole heist scene, that whole sequence, was hilarious.

I remember reading the script and thinking, “This is so cool. I hope I get to zip-line and all that.” It ended up being animated. Of course, you can tell that. Imagine if, with the budget we had, we actually did that and got alligators and all that. It’d be hilarious. Reading it, I was imagining it was real. I didn’t think it was going to be animated. That whole sequence was so cool and so much fun to film.

Gangreen’s lab in general, all those tomatoes in the cages were puppeteers. Very talented puppeteers. Every move, every sway was accounted for. They were fascinating to watch.

The radioactive tomato with the human teeth, it was just oozing, and he would come and slam against the glass. That was my favorite, most memorable scene. I felt like a child in Disneyland for the first time, that feeling of fascination. I’d never worked with puppets before. Practical effects.

The Fear Review: I’ve heard stories of people working with puppets who forget that there’s actually somebody behind them. They think they’re talking to Kermit, like Kermit’s an actual person at that point.

Noor Razooky: Yeah, especially because of how talented the puppeteers are. Even when they’re not moving, they’re still moving. There’s a sway, like they’re breathing. The puppets are breathing, and it’s really fascinating to watch.

The final question briefly discusses a story detail from the film.

The Fear Review: If they make a sixth movie and your character comes back, where would you like to see Angela go?

Noor Razooky: That’s a great question. Angela, huh?

I’d like to see Angela running her own lab and making breakthrough scientific discoveries. You can still see Gangreen is alive, so we still have a threat out there. We can fight tomatoes with tomatoes, but I would make good tomatoes that fight back. They’d be like a military of good tomatoes that are organic.

I guess they wouldn’t be organic because I’d have to genetically modify them. I’d genetically modify them the way Gangreen did, but they’d be sweet and good. They would fight back in a nonviolent way, so it would be a sweet, nonviolent fight.

The Fear Review: So turn it into the good-versus-evil tomatoes kind of thing.

Noor Razooky: Yeah. Good versus evil. Like the dark Spider-Man and stuff, but with tomatoes.

The Fear Review: There you go. Well, that was my last question. I definitely appreciate you taking the time to chat with me today. I had a blast with the movie, and I hope it goes on and you all get to make more because we need it.

Noor Razooky: Thank you. Thanks for having me on, and thanks for your support, watching, rewinding and paying attention to the details. I really appreciate that because a lot of love and care went into this movie.

More Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: Organic Intelligence is available to watch at home. Visit the official Killer Tomatoes website for viewing options, and browse more interviews from The Fear Review.