Latest / Cinema Yūgen / Vernon Wells: From Mad Max to Innerspace

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Vernon Wells: From Mad Max to Innerspace · Cinema Yūgen

• 0:00
  G'day. That's right, it's that time again. Time for Cinema Yugen.
• 0:08
  Music.
• 0:17
  Yes, welcome back Cinema Yugen. Ladies and gentlemen, Kent Hill,
• 0:22
  your host, a fan requested classic from back in the day.
• 0:27
  One of my first interviews actually for podcasting softly.
• 0:30
  Was Vernon Wells regarding the film Inner Space, Joe Dante's Inner Space.
• 0:37
  Now, that particular episode at the time I thought wasn't of very good quality
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  for a broadcast, but now, thanks to the wonders of modern technology,
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  you, for the first time, can hear the interview that was originally transcribed.
• 0:51
  And now, for the first time, for your listening pleasure, the mighty Australian
• 0:56
  icon, Vernon Wells from Weird Science, Commando,
• 1:03
  the Road Warrior, the list goes on, Power Rangers, Space Truckers.
• 1:07
  Here he is, the mighty Vernon Wells.
• 1:12
  Yeah that must have been a bit of a dream part for an actor because as I recall
• 1:18
  you don't you don't really say anything do you,
• 1:22
  I don't say anything period yeah yeah oh that that was great I mean you know
• 1:28
  didn't have to learn any dialogue didn't have to do nothing they were all like that.
• 1:35
  It was good to stand there and look menacing hey yeah yeah So how did you,
• 1:41
  how did the, whereabouts were you in your career when the part came along?
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  I had finished commando and I was actually headed back to Australia and my manager ragdolls said,
• 1:59
  that they wanted to see me about a new film called Inner Space.
• 2:06
  And Joe Dante was directing that, who was pretty famous for the Gremlin movies.
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  And I thought, oh, this could be fun. I said, well, you know I'm headed to the
• 2:17
  airport to get on a plane and fly home. And she said, yeah, I know that.
• 2:21
  Can you set it up so you can go do your interview before you head to the airport? I said, okay.
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  So I went to the interview with Joe Dante in his office at the studio at 20th Century.
• 2:37
  And I walked in and he was very happy to see me.
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  We chatted for a while and we were sitting around a round table that had a glass top.
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  And we sort of talked about things and he told me a bit about the film.
• 2:51
  And I was very interested in the whole thing. And he said, you know,
• 2:56
  they wouldn't know until they had got to speak to Steven Spielberg,
• 3:01
  because it was Steven Spielberg's film.
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  And he was in England directing batteries not included at that time.
• 3:11
  So I said, okay, let's try to do that. I said, Joe, I'm headed off back to Australia
• 3:15
  to see my parents and things. So just let me know.
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  And I stood up, and as I stood up, I leaned down on the table.
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  And the whole top of the table lifted up in the air and fell on top of me.
• 3:27
  Jeez. So I was kind of laying on the floor with a table on me.
• 3:31
  And Joe just looked at it and he went well there's an interesting way to get a movie,
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  and they sort of lifted it off and I
• 3:39
  got up totally embarrassed and went well that's
• 3:42
  that you know I told my manager as I was taken to the airport I said you know
• 3:47
  you can forget that one I screwed the whole thing I had the table ball on me
• 3:51
  and anything that could did go wrong and she went out well no worries you know
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  another time sort of thing so I went back to Australia I got off the plane I was walking out.
• 4:02
  Towards where you go to see your, you know, to get picked up by your friends,
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  after you've gone through customs.
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  And there's a guy standing there with my name on a cart. And I thought, oh my God.
• 4:17
  Seriously, my parents have sent a driver to pick me up because I'm an actor now.
• 4:22
  And yeah, right, they're trying to give me a hard time. So I just sort of walked
• 4:26
  over and said, all right, who put you up to this? He said, I'm sorry.
• 4:29
  I said, who put you up to this? He said, put me up to what? I said,
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  carrying the card with my name on it.
• 4:34
  I don't mean a driver. I'm not a driver, sir.
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  I've actually got a telegram for you. And then I got all worried because I thought,
• 4:42
  oh, my God, someone needs me at the airport with a telegram.
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  Something's happened to my mother or my father or my brother or siblings.
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  Excuse me, Professor. You're all right.
• 4:54
  I'll say that. You're all right. And I was all concerned, and I got the thing off.
• 5:02
  Even I did it open and read it, and it said, Dear Vernon, please go to the Aquinas
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  desk and get your ticket for your return flight to America.
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  You're due in San Francisco for special effects in two days. And I went, what?
• 5:23
  So I was like you've got a bloody kitty and now I was flying I got to Australia
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  and now I'm turning around flying back so as I walked through to go to where
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  I had to go to get the ticket and everything done,
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  and find out when the next flight was out,
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  My mother and my brother were sort of waiting for me behind this line,
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  and I sort of waved to them as I went past.
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  And I walked over, and I said, Well, guys, give me a cuddle and a kiss,
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  because I'm back on a plane flying back to America. Wow. And I was like, What?
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  And I said, Yeah, I think so. Maybe I'll have an hour or so to spend with you.
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  And they took all my baggage and stuff, and it all went back on my plane.
• 6:03
  I think I had a couple of hours before the plane left.
• 6:05
  Right, right. I had a cup of coffee. I had a cup of coffee with my folks, and then went back on,
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  jumped on the plane and flew back to Los Angeles then to San Francisco to start
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  prepping all of the special effects stuff they had to do for the end of the
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  film where I become very small.
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  All right, yeah. Inside that...
• 6:27
  Yeah, and you had to climb... Yeah, you had to climb inside that suit, the robot suit, yeah.
• 6:37
  So it was actually quite interesting because I never thought I'd been in the world.
• 6:42
  But I was told later that when Steven Sturberg saw the interviews of each of
• 6:45
  the people, that he stopped at mine and said, that's the guy out of Mad Max. Right.
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  And Joe said, yeah. And he said, I want him. I think he did a brilliant job
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  in that movie. And I love George Miller, so I want him.
• 7:00
  Wow. So I didn't get it because I could act. I got it because of George Miller. Right.
• 7:06
  That's that's got to be like you know I'm sorry to say but that's got to be
• 7:10
  a thing with you like you know it's the guy from Mad Max or the Road Warrior
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  or something you know it's like get me the good yeah for about for about 10
• 7:19
  years it was like a big millstone around my neck right yeah,
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  So it must have been like, you know, get me the, always you hear the old chestnut,
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  get me the guy from Mad Max or whatever.
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  The other one was, yeah, yeah, we'd like to use you, but unfortunately you'd
• 7:39
  probably be like that Mad Max-y character and that's not what we're looking for.
• 7:43
  Right, yeah. Yeah, that's why I'm an actor. Yeah.
• 7:46
  Because I can only do one thing. Yeah. And it was that way for quite a while,
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  but, you know, eventually it went away. but it's terribly annoying when you're
• 7:57
  the person that it's about.
• 7:58
  Yes. And you know that you can do other things, but you're not going to get the chance. Yeah.
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  That must be extraordinarily frustrating for an actor when,
• 8:08
  you know, yeah, okay, I suppose it's a good thing that you have notoriety,
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  but when it's just for one part and they only expect you to be able to do said
• 8:17
  part over and over again, you know.
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  It must be an annoyance sometimes but you know you've sort of got to look at
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  it logically I did two classic films I did Commando with Arnold Schwarzenegger and I did,
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  Road Warrior for George and then I did Weird Science which has become a classic
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  and inner space you know so I look at it logically if George had never had the
• 8:45
  faith in me that I didn't and put me in Road Warrior I wouldn't be talking to
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  you. That's right, yeah.
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  And that's where my career started, and that's what got me going, and just...
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  That character became, and still is, the definition of who I am.
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  Do you know what? I am damn proud of it now, but for a long time I was like, bloody movie. Yeah.
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  Because it was always the yardstick that I was measured against. Right, right.
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  And sometimes that yardstick gets to be really heavy.
• 9:18
  Yeah, especially when that's all people seem to see you for.
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  Or they don't see anything else you've, any other things that you've done and accomplishments.
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  Yeah, they don't sort of want to try you anything else. They thought, it's got to be bad.
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  And it was fun because when I started playing, you know, just normal people
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  in films, good guys, as I say, it actually took me a few films to actually get
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  into the rhythm of it because I was so used to being on the other side of the stick.
• 9:51
  Right. Which is when you're playing a villain, them, there's no rules,
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  you know, everyone's had no rules.
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  They go out there and they kick everybody's ass and shoot people and,
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  you know, go for it. When you're the good guy, you're the last dude.
• 10:03
  Yeah. But, um...
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  Yeah. But, um, just, just on that topic, you know, when you were saying about
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  people, you know, expecting that part,
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  it must have been a little bit cathartic to do weird science where you essentially
• 10:21
  did kind of a parody of that character?
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  It took quite a while for them to convince me to do it, actually,
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  because I really didn't want to go back there. Okay, right.
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  I was sort of like, no, I've been there, done that, didn't like it much, going home now. Right.
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  Once again, you know, if I hadn't done it, then I wouldn't be talking to you
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  sort of thing. It was just one of those things, I think.
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  I just wanted to move on and try to find out what else there was because I wasn't
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  old enough and I wasn't mature enough in my acting to accept the fact that the
• 10:56
  one thing that had made me who I was was Road Warrior, and I should be damn proud of it. Really?
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  You know? Live up to it. But I couldn't. I was, you know, if it was there,
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  it was like this ghost that haunted me continuously, and I began to hate it.
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  And then eventually, of course, you go past it and it's realized, shit.
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  Yeah. That's what got me here, you know? that's the thing that people remember
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  me by and that's the thing that,
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  people talk about, so I should be proud of that. Of course, now I am.
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  I'm totally the greatest thing in the world, but back then, for a few years, it was like...
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  Like you said, it was a millstone. Yeah, but not anymore.
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  And, you know, when I got asked to do Inner Space, it was just so much fun.
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  I mean, seriously, it was.
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  Out of control. I loved every second of it.
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  So anyway, getting back to Interspace, so you had the very quick turnaround
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  and you're off to do visual effects. So did you go, you went obviously to ILM to do that?
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  Yeah, they encased me in plaster to make a little dummy of me that was going
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  to be used for all those vinyl scenes.
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  Which was kind of fun. And they kind of had a lot of fun with me when I was
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  totally encased in plaster. They stood me between two desks in the foyer had
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  to let me dry and everybody that walked past me would slap me on the ass. Oh, goodness.
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  Which was kind of fun. There's no stopping these people.
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  There's no stopping these people anyway. I know. They just can't help themselves. Yeah.
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  But that was kind of fun and then doing all of the things that we had to do
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  in it, it was just, it was interesting and I got to do all the fun stuff.
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  I mean, I had the arm that changed into anything that they wanted,
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  including a very large dildo.
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  It was just a fun time, you know. Joe Dante is totally hysterical.
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  I've done two films for him now.
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  And he's just wonderful to work with. But of course, I got to work with my,
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  My other hero, the first one being George Miller and the second one being Steven
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  Spielberg, I actually... Did you meet...
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  Yes. You did meet Steven, yeah.
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  Yeah, on the set. It was funny because Joe knew what I was like about Steven.
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  Steven came to the set and I was there and Joe was working with me.
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  He said, back up, back up, back up, back up.
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  I was back here across the set and I'm thinking to myself, Dear God,
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  I'm going to be like half an inch tall at the shot if I keep going back. Right.
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  I just kept backing up. I bumped into someone. I turned around and I said,
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  I'm sorry, I didn't know the world.
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  I said, Mr. Spielberg, I loved all these films. Jaws.
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  Jaws? Raiders?
• 14:00
  Oh, E.T. E.T., yep. E.T., yep.
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  I said to him when I was, as soon as I spun outside, and I said,
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  oh my God, I'm so sorry. you, Mr. Billberg.
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  Oh, I'd love to see you. And then I went, oh, why did I say that?
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  I've all the dumb shit things, wasn't I? Oh, yeah. Well, I know what it's like
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  talking with people I admire, like yourself.
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  I mean, you're always, you know, I said to my wife this morning,
• 14:27
  you know, I get him to say the line, should I?
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  You know, she said, no, no, save it till the after the interview,
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  because if you piss him off, he won't want to talk to you.
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  I don't get pissed off very easily yeah but so but it's I don't know which one no,
• 14:47
  yeah that's what I said she goes he doesn't have any lines in Inner Space so
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  I said no some of his other lines that I like you know you know like what is
• 14:55
  it how come two unpopular dicks like you is having a party you know,
• 15:02
  oh yeah it's weird science yeah.
• 15:07
  Yeah, but that's cool. You got to meet Steven Spielberg.
• 15:11
  So then once you finish it, did you, I mean, at what point did you get the script
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  and look through it and go, yeah, okay, I don't really have anything to say
• 15:20
  and woo-hoo, I just get to, you know, I get to do it.
• 15:24
  Oh, you did? You did? Okay.
• 15:28
  With Steven, it said that he was taking away all of my tools.
• 15:32
  Okay. I'm an actor, one being my hands because I use my hands when I act,
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  the other one being my eyes because I have these big blue eyes,
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  and the third one being my voice. Okay. I'm curious to you.
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  Your voice is too known, you know, like I just talk and people know who I am.
• 15:52
  Right. And so he took all that off me just to see if I could act. Right.
• 15:57
  Well, yeah, I mean... It was quite platinum. Yeah, I mean, it must...
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  In a lot of ways, that's more challenging when you can't use the things that,
• 16:05
  you know, that you... Yeah. Yeah, I mean, because you've got to...
• 16:10
  How do you say? You emote without emoting, you know?
• 16:13
  Well, now you have to create the character internally at Hammond,
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  so it's the whole thing, whereas if you can use your hands, your eyes,
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  or your voice, you can reject the character. that you don't have to do so much work, so to speak.
• 16:29
  But, yeah, I enjoyed it. It was a great challenge, and I enjoyed doing it.
• 16:33
  It was a lot of fun doing it, because I had all this really fun stuff to do.
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  I mean, I've worked with wonderful people.
• 16:41
  Throughout the whole film. So what was the shoot like?
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  Was that all San Francisco, the shoot mostly, was it?
• 16:50
  No, it was shot in California. In California?
• 16:54
  In San Francisco. We worked up in the park up by the Golden Gate Bridge.
• 17:00
  Yep. We worked up there and shot stuff up there and shot stuff in San Francisco on the hills.
• 17:07
  There was two or three scenes like the factory scenes, different things that were shot there.
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  And then the majority of the film was shot back here in California.
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  It was got all the stuff in the shopping centers, California,
• 17:24
  all the stuff where I was driving around in the BMWs, California.
• 17:30
  All the internal set stuff was in California over at Warner Brothers.
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  So I got to... And it was very funny.
• 17:39
  A funny aside to that is that while I was on the Warner Brothers lot shooting
• 17:45
  in a space, at the same time, Mel was there shooting the first of his lethal weapon.
• 17:53
  Oh, wow. movies, and George was directing Witches of Eastwick.
• 17:58
  Okay, wow, all at the same time, eh?
• 18:01
  All at the same time, the three of us, and none of us saw each other. Oh, wow, okay.
• 18:05
  I was about to say, did you bump into, you know, but... We were all working
• 18:10
  in closed sets and things, and we never ran into each other.
• 18:14
  It could be all at different hours. Right, right.
• 18:18
  Well, that's, that's, um... We've got to see each other, but the three of us were in the same film.
• 18:22
  We're all on the... Three different films in the same studio.
• 18:25
  Wow, that's a great story.
• 18:27
  That's a great story. Yeah.
• 18:31
  So, obviously, throughout the film, you, you, you, you didn't,
• 18:34
  you know, I mean, you didn't work with everyone because, I mean,
• 18:37
  you, you know, you, you had your scenes and...
• 18:42
  Kevin, yeah. Yeah. He must have been a great guy to hang out.
• 18:49
  He was wonderful. I love Kevin.
• 18:51
  Yeah. He was just a lot of fun to work with. And I worked with...
• 18:57
  Meg Ryan. Oh, God. Meg Ryan. And I worked with... Martin Short.
• 19:02
  You told me. Martin Short. Yeah.
• 19:05
  Because I was inside Martin Short. That's right. Yeah. Was he... Yeah.
• 19:12
  Yeah. Well, so I worked, and then there was a lady, I could never remember her
• 19:15
  name, that was my boss. Oh, yeah.
• 19:20
  I can't, could never think of her name, but she was wonderful to me.
• 19:23
  Yeah. So I've worked basically with four leads continuously.
• 19:28
  Yeah. And though you were inside Dennis, did you get to meet him on the outside as well?
• 19:35
  No, I was inside Dennis. Okay, sorry. Sorry, that's right. Sorry,
• 19:40
  you were fighting with Dennis inside Martin, sorry.
• 19:43
  Yeah. I'm giving him a tummy ache. Yeah. And what was Dennis Quaid like, nice fella?
• 19:50
  Dennis was wonderful. Everybody was wonderful. Martin was wonderful.
• 19:55
  Every time Joe Dante gave on the set, Martin would sing. Yeah.
• 20:00
  Dante, whoa, whoa, until Joe got sick of it. Yeah.
• 20:07
  And he was always joking, and Meg was very quiet, but very, very lovely.
• 20:13
  Yeah. And Dennis was great. They were all just really cool people.
• 20:18
  Yeah. It was just a really good ensemble cast, I thought.
• 20:23
  Uh-huh. Yeah. We had a lot of fun. Yeah.
• 20:28
  I guess, as I often ask in these interviews, any amusing anecdotes from the
• 20:34
  set or the shoot that have not surfaced?
• 20:38
  Yeah, well, everybody knows it, but there was one when I was inside that big costume.
• 20:44
  Yeah. They actually start it from under, they take it from being straight up
• 20:49
  and it goes over, down, down,
• 20:51
  and it's flat, and then this floor, you know, like this door comes across as
• 20:57
  I go into the machine to be, you know, taken down to being small.
• 21:01
  And I have a phobia about being in small places and I have a bigger phobia when
• 21:07
  I have all these batteries around me and lights.
• 21:11
  So they were going to try to get this scene done as quick as possible Joe knew
• 21:15
  I was a little bit not happy about it,
• 21:19
  and they did it like a couple of times and then on the third take doing it it
• 21:25
  all got stuck with me under the floor and they couldn't open the floor and they couldn't get me out,
• 21:31
  It was funny because in a very big stage whisper, one of the stagehands went, Shit,
• 21:38
  there's stuff down there and he hates being in small places. I went, Crap.
• 21:43
  So now I had to convince myself not to panic because I was inside this thing
• 21:48
  underneath with all these badgers around me that could.
• 21:51
  It was just one of those interesting times that you have.
• 21:55
  Of course, nothing happened, but it was all inside your mind.
• 21:58
  I was paranoid that I was going to get fried or something.
• 22:02
  Then they got me out, and I was fine.
• 22:07
  The other classic thing that happened was Whoopi Goldberg came to the set to have lunch with me.
• 22:14
  I met Whoopi in New York a month earlier.
• 22:17
  She was on the set during my belief.
• 22:20
  She was on, she either came down for a television interview or she was in Wixers
• 22:25
  of Eastwick, I'm not sure which, and she was there,
• 22:28
  and she came across and came on the set and just around lunchtime and came and
• 22:34
  had lunch with me and Joe.
• 22:37
  Wow, that's great. And Mike, I believe, is a producer.
• 22:41
  Right. So it was kind of really cool because I knew Whoopi and so that was nice.
• 22:48
  That's cool. But, yeah, little things like that. It was just, you know, fun.
• 22:54
  Just fun around. A really laid-back set.
• 22:58
  Right. Just enjoyed it because Joe is very laid-back when he's directing.
• 23:03
  So you don't have any tension. Everybody just does their job and does it well.
• 23:08
  That was kind of fun. Yeah, I was sort of leading up to, you know, Joe Dante.
• 23:14
  I mean, he's a big hitter. he's made some classic movies, and you've got to
• 23:18
  work with him a couple of times.
• 23:21
  Yeah, I mean, directorially, does he give you much, or do you sort of know what
• 23:29
  he's looking for, and you give it to him, or...?
• 23:32
  No, he gives you a lot.
• 23:35
  He sets the scene, lets you know where he wants you to go, and then it's up
• 23:39
  to you to deliver. Right.
• 23:41
  And, I mean, he expects, if he's hired you to do the job, he expects you to do it. Exactly.
• 23:46
  And so, you know, there's not a lot of, you know, some directors could be very,
• 23:51
  like, just their attitude makes the set just a little bit tight.
• 23:56
  You know, everybody's a little bit wound up. Right. But on Joe's set, it's the opposite.
• 24:01
  Of everybody's very sort of mellow and laid back and you're doing their job
• 24:06
  and you don't have any kind of attention on the set at all, which is really
• 24:11
  cool. I love working with him. He's a really cool dude.
• 24:14
  I think it's, I don't know if it's just me, but a bit of a contrast,
• 24:17
  it seems, that two movies you've been in, there's been a shopping mall sort
• 24:24
  of chase action sequence.
• 24:27
  Of course, in Commando, I mean, you weren't in the scene with Arnie when he
• 24:30
  was running around the supermarket, but you got your chance chasing after Martin
• 24:35
  Short in the shopping mall and in a space. What was that like?
• 24:40
  Obviously, did they film during business hours?
• 24:45
  I think we actually filmed it on a weekend. Okay.
• 24:48
  No, we couldn't have because that would have been hell. I think we might have
• 24:52
  shot it early or midweek, so there wasn't a lot of people around.
• 24:56
  And that particular area where we were was closed off, so we could shoot.
• 25:00
  I just, I had a lot of fun doing it. And it was so funny because we wanted to
• 25:05
  figure out something I could do to the clown, which was just horrible.
• 25:09
  And we came up with popping the balloon he had in his hand.
• 25:12
  Right. And, you know, and that's probably the worst thing you can do if you're,
• 25:16
  if you've got a clown that's blowing balloons or somebody come off and pop him.
• 25:20
  Right. So that Joe had me do that, which was kind of a.
• 25:25
  Mean, to say the least, to the poor clown. Right.
• 25:29
  I liked your interchangeable hands or hands.
• 25:34
  How did that work? Did you obviously have something you could, you wore?
• 25:40
  You know, they had a fake part in my sleeve that I could put my hand into and
• 25:46
  then the bits that they were using screwed into that so I could hold them.
• 25:51
  Right. And if they had to move or do anything, I could put my fingers in whatever
• 25:57
  there was to control them. Right.
• 26:01
  I mean, it was a little uncomfortable sometimes, but once you got used to it, it was fine. Right.
• 26:06
  But I liked the bit where the little kid's got his toy gun and you have your
• 26:12
  real... I like my finger.
• 26:14
  Your literal handgun.
• 26:18
  Yeah. and you do the whole, you know, blow the, you know, the old chestnut,
• 26:25
  yeah, blow the smoke off the finger.
• 26:28
  But so, you know, it must have been a treat to see it all put together in the
• 26:33
  end, especially like... I loved it.
• 26:36
  Yeah, I thought it was a really, really good movie and should have done so much better than it did.
• 26:41
  I think it was just a matter of timing, a matter of what about it didn't seem
• 26:45
  to get behind it for some reason.
• 26:47
  There wasn't a hell of a lot of advertising the actual advertising they did
• 26:51
  the hand with the little capsule that was inside Barton Short was just you know
• 26:58
  you had no idea what it meant.
• 27:01
  So I don't think that worked at all and just a long time to bring it out,
• 27:07
  it's just one of those things you know sometimes we have no control over that
• 27:12
  we have to go with what happens but I was a little disappointed that, uh.
• 27:19
  Gangbusters, but it's totally beloved by everybody. Oh, sure.
• 27:23
  I think it's great what Joe Dante does.
• 27:26
  I spoke recently with Eric Luke, who wrote Explorers, which was another film he directed.
• 27:32
  Right. I was saying how I love the fact that he likes to make movies that are
• 27:37
  not essentially remakes, but a different spin on older movies,
• 27:42
  and with the likes of Explorers, it was kind of a new spin on the old science
• 27:47
  fiction movie this island earth and i thought inner space was a good sort of
• 27:51
  not a reboot not a remake but a but a reimagination if you will of fantastic voyage,
• 27:59
  where they go inside the where it's a team though that goes inside the the human
• 28:03
  body and and encounters yeah yeah um it was the same kind of thing and i think
• 28:10
  that was the problem when they came out with that poster with the hand and that
• 28:15
  little capsule on the hand,
• 28:17
  people thought it was just a remake of Fantastic Voyage, which it wasn't.
• 28:23
  No. And I think that was, I think they tried to play on that and it just didn't work. Yeah.
• 28:29
  But, you know, me personally, I don't care. I love the film and I thought it
• 28:34
  was extremely well done.
• 28:36
  I'm very proud of it. Yeah, no, it's, um, it's certainly a favorite.
• 28:42
  Another, another sequence I wanted to talk to you about is when you're actually
• 28:46
  doing the, the, uh, the, where the two pods, I mean, where the two pods fight,
• 28:53
  like you're in your single, you know, your, your sort of, uh,
• 28:57
  like, like big, uh, your high tech thing.
• 29:00
  And when you're, when you're fighting with Dennis and his pod,
• 29:03
  how was that? But was that, I mean, was that just mostly effects and then they
• 29:07
  shot inserts of your faces?
• 29:10
  Because I know mostly Dennis, he was all in the set, like all by himself, you know.
• 29:15
  Yeah, some of it was that way, but a lot of it was us doing it on,
• 29:21
  we're on cables. Okay. Okay.
• 29:24
  Viking, you know, like to get the thing of being in liquid, which was inside the body.
• 29:29
  Right. But then a lot of the faraway seeds, that's why they needed to make a body of me. Okay.
• 29:36
  So they could use it for those seeds. Right. Yeah.
• 29:40
  So some of those seeds, of course, were shot wide. They could use that.
• 29:45
  But in the close-ups, it was us doing our thing and having fun. Yeah.
• 29:50
  But, you know, I must have, you know, you look back at these movies and they endure,
• 29:56
  you know, what do you think that it is that, do you think it's solely that people
• 30:03
  probably didn't give it a chance the first time and come back again and sort of say, no,
• 30:08
  that's really a good movie, or do you think it's something else that helps these
• 30:12
  films endure the way they do?
• 30:15
  No, I think it's just that I'm such a bloody good actor. Oh,
• 30:18
  of course. I mean, I was getting around to that, But, I mean, that's a given.
• 30:24
  I think it's television, to be really honest with you. The fact that they play everywhere on cable.
• 30:31
  So you've got all these movies to play, and a younger generation gets to see them.
• 30:35
  And people that now have kids that sort of, when they were young, see it again.
• 30:39
  They go, oh, my God, I remember this. This is that movie, and they get their
• 30:43
  kids to watch it, and their kids like it.
• 30:45
  And so you now have another generation that is suddenly going,
• 30:50
  you want to see this like another one line Weird Science is all over the internet at the moment.
• 30:57
  They've got this whole big thing because Weird Science is playing somewhere.
• 31:01
  I'm not sure where and there's this whole big internet thing.
• 31:05
  Let's have Weird Science back and it lists all the people that were in it.
• 31:11
  Let's see Weird Science. It's a
• 31:14
  new generation that's catching on to these movies and
• 31:17
  there's no blood and guts in them they're just fun movies
• 31:20
  and i think people sometimes just like
• 31:23
  to relax and watch something that's fun and
• 31:26
  funny and and nice without everything
• 31:29
  blowing up and people getting shot everywhere that's true and i mean it was
• 31:33
  such a inner space is such a good balance of of comedy and drama and action
• 31:39
  and you know and it's got chases it's got laughs it's got But there's so few
• 31:47
  films today, I should say,
• 31:49
  that have a good balance like that.
• 31:53
  Yep, and I think having done plenty of movies where everything gets blown up
• 31:59
  and people get shot, killed,
• 32:02
  being able to do the occasional movie that's like a family movie or a kid-friendly movie is kind of fun.
• 32:10
  No, so, but, um, it's, um, geez, it's, it's, it's been a number of years now,
• 32:17
  but I mean, the film, the film continues to endure and it's.
• 32:23
  It's a wonderful thing. Yeah. But thank you.
• 32:27
  Listen, thank you very much for chatting with me today. It's been a rare treat.
• 32:32
  I've been trying very hard not to geek out a little bit.
• 32:38
  Are you sure you don't want me to do the like? No, no, no. No, it's okay.
• 32:43
  It's okay. But I suppose you... I could do one for you. You could do one? Okay.
• 32:48
  Could you do one from Commando? So, you know, John, can you hear me,
• 32:55
  John? Stick your head out.
• 32:59
  Which one? The one, if I had my way, I would have killed you last or your little piss-out soldiers.
• 33:11
  Yeah, well, I like that one, you know.
• 33:15
  What did you say? I don't need the gun, John. Yeah, I don't need the gun, John. I can beat you.
• 33:22
  Okay, I'll do the job one. Okay. John, John, I'll be waiting, John.
• 33:31
  That's great. What was Arnold Schwarzenegger like, by the way?
• 33:34
  Nice bloke. He is, yeah. Yeah.
• 33:39
  Yeah. Dude, have you? I love Arnie to work with.
• 33:43
  I like Dink's a brilliant director and a brilliant actor. I work with him in a heartbeat. Yeah.
• 33:51
  Yeah, have you stayed in touch with any of the fellas or probably not?
• 33:57
  I see Arnie every so often, not regularly on any basis. No, no. Now I think twice. Yeah.
• 34:05
  And, you know, that's the way it goes. You know, you just, everybody moves in different circles.
• 34:10
  No, that's true. You're all on the, on the, on the, in intense relationship and then separate.
• 34:17
  Yeah. I'll do you one more before you leave. Okay, all right then.
• 34:22
  So, how come two kids like you is having a party?
• 34:30
  Tossed off into any good books lately.
• 34:36
  That's fantastic. Yeah, I think so.
• 34:42
  But they still respect me in the morning.
• 34:48
  Anyway, thank you very much, sir. It's been an absolute treasure.
• 34:52
  To chat with you this morning. I'll send you a link when I type it all up,
• 35:00
  because I'll put a little bit of an intro on the front about the film and such
• 35:04
  and then your reminiscences afterwards.
• 35:09
  My pleasure. Yeah, but listen, thanks very much for giving me your time and
• 35:14
  yeah, it's been a rare treat and I can't wait to see more of your movies and,
• 35:21
  of course, go back and visit the favorites as well. My pleasure, sir.
• 35:25
  Yes, Vernon Wells. Check the links in the description. Great movie, Inner Space.
• 35:31
  Check out all of Dante's movies. Check out all of Vernon's movies.
• 35:35
  Check the links in the description.
• 35:38
  And as always, my little Eugenites, thank you for listening to us on Spotify
• 35:44
  or wherever you choose to listen to your favorite podcasts.
• 35:48
  I'm Kent Hill. And until next time, you've been listening to Cinema Zero Game.