USA TODAY International Edition
We love Pizza Guy from ‘Annabelle Comes Home’
Some characters steal horror films by fighting bravely, effectively fleeing or dying bizarrely.
But wild-haired Pizza Guy in “Annabelle Comes Home” delivered a fresh pie to a spiritually besieged house and was a righteous dude, while also managing to snag a slice for himself.
The random, hilarious scene starring 26-year-old Bill Kottkamp, literally billed in the credits as Pizza Guy, was a shining moment of laughter in writer/ director Gary Dauberman’s horror film.
Besides the hair under the corny hat, Pizza Guy tells the film’s besotted Bob (Michael Cimino) that he has to work to win over babysitting beauty Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman).
“You have to woo her,” Pizza Guy tells Bob as Mary Ellen awkwardly looks on.
He reveals Bob’s NSFW nickname from serving as manager of the basketball team and drops off the pizza with a casual “It’s all there, minus one slice.”
Kottkamp says the total chill demeanor was easy to channel and the ‘do is all his – no wig needed. “That’s my hair, unfortunately. In my real life, I tie it up. But I needed a haircut,” he says.
Even Kottkamp admits Pizza Guy probably should have been killed off horrifically. “He should have totally run into a werewolf,” he says. But Pizza Guy was undeniably funny and, major bright side, still viable for “Annabelle 4.”
“I like moments of levity in my horror,” says Dauberman. “It makes the scares scarier and the dark feel darker because it’s a longer distance to travel.”
Like any great Hollywood story, there’s a sense of Pizza Guy destiny as Kottkamp has classic pizza delivery experience. He faked it once in 2015, wearing a white satin Little Caesars jacket (purchased on eBay) and carrying a pizza in order to sneak into a Jack U marathon dance party.
He could be seen on the party’s live stream, grooving up a solo storm on the dance floor, and earned a Pizza Guy Facebook fan page in tribute from admirers. “Music industry people don’t dance,” says Kottkamp. “People on the live stream were chanting ‘Pizza Guy, Pizza Guy!’ ” Dance on, Pizza Guy.