Would it surprise you to learn that the man behind the iconic Leatherface mask in the 1974 horror movie The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was not at all like the character he portrayed? You might be shocked to find out he was a writer, a director and a skilled sailor.
That’s right. Gunnar Hansen — the hulking actor who portrayed the original masked killer in Tobe Hooper’s classic horror film — wrote poetry. In fact, he wrote a whole book of poems.
Fans of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and its various sequels and spinoffs will come to learn all about the man behind the mask in director Michael Kallio’s new documentary about Hansen, called Dinner with Leatherface.
The documentary premieres in Iowa April 25 at Fleur Cinema in Des Moines and is available on Blu-ray through Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Kallio first met Hansen at a fan convention in the early ‘90s. They quickly became friends and started making horror movies together.
Throughout their decades of friendship, Kallio would occasionally bring up the idea for a documentary about Hansen’s life. After all, this was the guy who played one of the most terrifying serial killers in horror history — and Kallio was now casually chatting with him about sailing in regattas! He knew there was more of his story to tell.
“The guy seemed like a guy who could do anything — and did do anything,” Kallio said.
Ultimately, the project became a way to honor Hansen’s life and legacy after he died in November 2015. Shortly after losing his close friend, Kallio got to work conducting and collecting interviews for his documentary, which he now describes as “my love letter to Gunnar.”
Ten years after Hansen’s death — and 50 years after the original film came out — Kallio’s Dinner with Leatherface was finally completed in late 2024.
The finished documentary and the accompanying special features consist of over 60 interviews with Hansen’s family, friends and colleagues, including horror icon Bruce Campbell and original cast members of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The documentary also features a never-before-seen interview that Hansen gave to Icelandic director Júlíus Kemp in 2009.
Kallio is the first to admit that Hansen’s life was defined by much more than his fame as Leatherface. But he knows that the role was the catalyst for his career in entertainment.
“It's funny because I tried not to put Texas Chain Saw Massacre in this documentary as much as possible,” he said. “The truth of the matter is it was part of his life. It was a big part of his life.”
When The Texas Chain Saw Massacre came out in the ‘70s, it changed the horror landscape, especially the slasher subgenre. As Kallio recalled, he had never seen anything like it.
“I think it's the rawness and the realism and the inventiveness of making a movie that's that suspenseful and scary and nerve-racking, with very little blood and very little money,” he said.
The gritty, low-budget style of Hooper’s cult classic would, in many ways, set the template for several major slasher franchises to come. And the character of Leatherface — a towering, silent, masked monster — would be imitated by the likes of Michael Myers in Halloween and Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th.
What Dinner with Leatherface offers horror fans is a glimpse behind the famous character, into the inner life of a man, a poet, a boatsman, a friend.
"I think the funny thing that people might take away from this is inspiration. You’d never think Leatherface would inspire you,” Kallio said. “Gunnar inspired me, and he inspired a lot of people.”
