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00:00At the end of Smoking in the Boys Room, Tommy or Nikki pulls my silly wig off and I do this
00:06and I wittle my ears. We were just goofing around backstage, you know, in between takes,
00:13and I just did that for fun. And Mick goes, oh, we got to put that in the video.
00:19Michael, good to see you again. I saw you, I think I met you for the first time a few months
00:24ago at the Monroe Comic Con. We chatted for a few minutes. Now you're coming back. You're
00:29going to be at the Howell Theater coming up on September 6th. Q&A, autograph signing,
00:35and then The Hills Have Eyes. Lots of things happening out there that day.
00:39No, that's correct. It's been 50 years since Wes and I, since we did Hills, which seems a little
00:48wrong, but, you know, hey, you know, it is what it is. It should be a lot of fun because,
00:54you know, the fans haven't seen a projected version of Hills in the theater for quite a while.
01:02I think we did one at a convention a couple of years ago, but aside from that, it'll be nice
01:07to have a bag of popcorn and then go, yeah, that's a good movie.
01:11Yeah, right. So how many, this is coming up on your busy time, I'd imagine, right? Do you do a lot of
01:16conventions and Q&As and all sorts of stuff traveling all around the country?
01:20Well, yeah, there is a season of, you know, people in our genre, you know, sports athletes do it too,
01:28but yeah, the convention circuit is very critical to a lot of industries and that includes ours,
01:36especially, you know, COVID didn't help very much as far as production and, but, you know,
01:42that's ancient history. Yeah, right. But yeah, we wind up at airports a lot.
01:48I was pretty cool that way. Yeah. Now it's just started the busy season between now and November.
01:56I'll be at a lot of airports.
01:58Yeah. You know, I saw the list of credits. I mean, we talked about this last time I saw you,
02:03but how many movies have you been in all told?
02:07Oh, I stopped counting years ago.
02:09I really couldn't say. Oh, if you had, you know, TV episodes and music videos and film, you know,
02:21probably a hundred, I imagine.
02:24Wow. That's cool. Yeah. And speaking of music.
02:26Well, it sounds cool, but see, I've been doing this for 50 years. So you divide that by 50.
02:30You see? Yeah. Yeah. Right. You know, what are you going to do?
02:34Yeah. So, I mean, some of the movies that you've been in, weird science, of course,
02:39the Rob Zombie movies, which I love. What's it like working for Rob Zombie?
02:45Well, he's a very intelligent guy, easy to get along with. He's a big horror fan.
02:50He's got a lot of the Universal Monster original props at his home. He's easy to work with.
02:59You know, there's a, well, if you go on YouTube, you know, you click on something and artificial AI will go,
03:10oh, you like that? I'm saying it's more of the same stuff. So bottom line is you can see these little short clips
03:15where they go. There is a fan, you know, there's an actor that's well known and, and, and they always
03:19kind of, you know, do the lead in like, you know, the 10 things, the 10 actors that this person hated,
03:24or, you know, I didn't really hate them. Just, you know, maybe had a disagreement with, but the bottom
03:30line is we work in an industry where we tell stories and you want to show up prepared and you want to work
03:38together as a team. That's pretty much the, how most actors and people in our field behave, you know,
03:48it's, it's really, I would say, and it's just a small project. You could have, you know, 100 to 150
03:55people involved in the, in the projects, you know, including post-production. So it really is a team
04:00effort. That's, that's what I'm trying to make an impression here with. So working with Rob, it was,
04:08it was a, it was a treat. Easy going. He didn't take advantage of his talent. He was,
04:14we did have one incident though. And, and one night when Sid Haig and I were working on
04:24the Lords of Salem, there was about three pages of the script that is, that we never filmed for the
04:33following reason. Okay. The Magnus brothers, which is Sid Haig and I were actually butchers in this
04:39little town where, you know, they have the witches. And there was a footage where they,
04:44the British, the guys in the British hat show up and they grab the witches, they arrest them,
04:51they take them up to the hillside and they, you know, they're setting them on fire and doing God
04:54knows what with them. And, you know, we're filming at night and that, you know, that took a hour and a
05:00half, maybe two hours and the girls are pretty cold. You know, my point is that they had just
05:06finished a lot of really tough footage. Now, when you're watching the movie, you're wondering why
05:14are, you know, why are they doing this to, to the witches? Well, there's the scene where the, the,
05:21the British officers come to our house, which is Sid Haig and mine, and they ask us to help them.
05:29And we're butchers. So they want us to butcher the witches, you know, after they set them on fire,
05:35I suppose. And so there's some dialogue where, you know, it's kind of stupid dialogue where we talked
05:41about, yeah, I love, you know, munching on witch flesh, you know, whatever. We never shot those scenes
05:50because they explain why they're arresting the witches in the first place. So later, later that
05:56evening, we are at the bonfire where the witches have been arrested and the British constables are
06:06there and Sid Haig and I are also there. And they're going to officially read the arrest warrant.
06:14So imagine this, we're talking about a Shakespearean actor that won Oscars and all kinds of
06:22awards over the years for being very talented and professional. And he holds up the arrest warrant.
06:30And here's what we hear. Rob, can you make the torches and the fire a little brighter, please? I don't
06:38have enough light to read the arrest warrant. And I look at Sid Haig and he goes, well, we're effed. And I go,
06:44yeah, I know. I know. So Rob says, all right, cut. And they have a conversation. We all go back to our
06:50trailers. We're waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. And finally, there's a knock on my door
06:54and Rob Zombie walks in and he goes, oh, man, I'm so sorry. He says, you know, if I knew that they couldn't read
07:02the arrest warrant, I would have bought them glasses to fit their prescription and put them in a frame
07:11of a period piece at my own expense, not the company's expense. And I looked at Rob Zombie and I go, Rob,
07:19that's a big negative. He goes, what do you mean? I said, well, first of all, if they
07:23they couldn't read the arrest warrant, maybe they should have read the script and memorized their
07:33dialogue because the dialogue of what they were supposedly reading off of the arrest warrant was
07:38written on the pages for the scene in the script. Now, if you have trouble memorizing, there's a lot of
07:47ways to fix that. A lot of well-known actors that did incredible work have cue cards. Sometimes they
07:55can put a little wire in your ear, a little microphone, and they can feed you your lines.
08:01There's ways to do it, but you don't wait until you're in production. Why? Because every minute
08:07costs you hundreds or thousands of dollars. That's why. And these people knew better, in my opinion,
08:13because they've been doing this forever. So you don't, so technically they were in violation.
08:21They didn't fulfill their contract. So what happened was the whole scene where we
08:28talked to the British guys and we explained and they explained to us and we agreed why it's so
08:33important to, you know, do damage to these wonderful witches. The audience would go, oh, wow. Okay.
08:40Now I see the threat. Now I understand, you know, what they're dealing with. It's called,
08:45you know, continue the storyline. Well, long story short, I'm very verbose on occasionally and
08:51maybe I'm doing it now, but, um, Rob didn't throw a hitch. He's a hitch fit. He was totally calm and
08:59cool and, and, and just moved on. And when the movie came out, we looked at it and I go, wow,
09:04there's a big hole in the plot, but sometimes it happens. Yeah. We were talking about this when I,
09:11when I met you that, uh, that is my least favorite Rob Zombie movie because I'm like,
09:15what is going on here? And not that I'm like a film critic or I'm not like, you know,
09:19diving into things, but, uh, I love his movies. And I went to that. I saw that one in the theater
09:25the day it came out. I don't think it was in the theater very long. And that's, you know,
09:29that's how dedicated I am. And I didn't like it at all. Yeah, me too. But, uh, Rejects was totally
09:35different. Yes. Yeah. House of a Thousand Corpses, Devils, Rejects, great movies. Love those movies.
09:43Yes. Uh, one requires a little more, uh, understanding than the other, but they're both
09:50kind of, you know, they can be tough to watch. I liked them. Uh, over your career, do you have,
09:55uh, do you have a few movies that, that are like the pinnacle of your career that you think,
10:00uh, uh, watching them that, that, that if you were to say, this is my career in a nutshell,
10:04here's these movies. Well, I would say, uh, some of the performances that, uh, that I, uh,
10:10uh, accomplished and presented, uh, on the screen that I'm most proud of, I would say there's a
10:16little film with, uh, Eddie Furlong. It's called Below Zero. Uh, I recommend that. Uh, and, uh,
10:25the emotional depth that I had to bring to the character, um, correlated with, uh, personal, uh,
10:34situation that is, I'm not going to explain, but sometimes you have, sometimes an actor gets a role
10:43and you have to dig deep. And sometimes, uh, what you're digging through flesh that, uh,
10:49uh, that you have not personally experienced. And sometimes it is something you have had experienced,
10:58but, uh, very proud of that, of that role. Also in, um, um,
11:05well, in the X-Files season three, uh, revelations where they think I'm the bad guy and I wind up being
11:12a guardian angel and, uh, uh, uh, sacrifice to save the boy. That's a really good role. Uh,
11:20Motley Crue, uh, smoking in the boys room just for fun and silly and, and creating a wacky character.
11:27It's just delightful. Uh, that was a lot of fun. Uh, I'm proud of that. Um, uh, Cuckoo's Nest was
11:36my second day as an actor, my second job. I worked 127 days, six days a week at Oregon State Hospital.
11:45And I learned so much. I mean, my makeup artist that did my lobotomy scores was Fred Phillips.
11:51Uh, he, his father started the makeup artist union. Fred Phillips designed, uh, Leonard Nimoy's ears for
11:59Spock. Uh, the, the, the people that were doing our sound on Cuckoo's Nest were working on the, uh,
12:07Mutiny on the Bounty. I mean, it was handpicked. I mean, so I had an opportunity to understand,
12:14uh, and Milos Forman, uh, gave me a book on cinematography. Most actors don't know what a,
12:19what a lens does really. I do. I'm a photographer and I, I devoured that, that book he gave me.
12:26He gave me the best advice ever as far as, uh, working in film.
12:31And because I asked him, I said, you know, this is all new to me. I have a, not as a minor
12:37in art history in college, but, uh, I said, how, what are some things I need to know?
12:43Whether it's the technical aspects as to, uh, you know, the wide shot, the, the, uh,
12:49closeups, et cetera, et cetera, and how to hit your mark and how to project your voice.
12:55So the sound guy can get a good level, all that stuff. Well, there's also the frame.
13:02So right now I'm right in the middle of the frame and I've got to move over here.
13:05You see, it changes the dynamics. Uh, so composition is what I'm talking about.
13:12Um, I, I, I, I studied still photography for years just because it helps you stay within that,
13:19within that realm of creativity. So what Milos did was he, he was popping on his pipe and he goes,
13:24okay, come over here. And we had Panavision cameras, which are wonderful and celluloid film,
13:31you know, the old school stuff. Our lighting was carbon arc light from, especially for the exteriors.
13:38You know, that was very interesting. So he had me look through the camera, through the lens and, um,
13:47I'm, I'm, I'm looking in and I, I rack focus a little bit, zoom in and zoom out. I'm kind of going,
13:53wow, this is, this is what they see me doing. And now I'm getting an idea of, uh, what I need to present,
14:02you know, uh, for, for the scene. And here's what he told me. He says,
14:08I want you to have a, a, a love affair with the glass. And the glass, of course, is the lens.
14:18And then he handed me this big old book and I, I chewed on that puppy for a long time. So, uh, very,
14:26very grateful, uh, to, uh, George Powell, who gave me an opportunity to, uh, end up talking to you,
14:35but also, uh, my second day as an actor being on a film that won almost won all the Oscars.
14:42And see what George Powell did was, you know, I wrote a memoir. It's on Amazon, just punching my name
14:48or title. It's all good. And I tell this story. Um, I had a, I had a friend who, uh,
14:55his, his house, I know I'm going around talking in circles. That's just too bad.
14:59Uh, I had a buddy whose house burnt down in Washington state and he, the insurance company
15:04paid for the Lincoln logs. He had a log home. Uh, so he had the foundation, he had all the Lincoln
15:09logs and the materials for the roof. He couldn't afford, uh, anybody to help him, uh, you know,
15:16drill and stack, stack up this and make this house before the rains came. Well, he gave me a call. I
15:22stuck out my thumb in Venice beach and got hitched a ride with a, in a VW bus with a bunch of hippies.
15:27And we made it all the way up to, it was 1970, made it all the way up to Washington state and
15:33I picked up a buddy of mine in Berkeley and in seven, in six weeks, we were putting the roof on.
15:40So I'm helping a buddy and, uh, I'm going, wow, I love it up here. Next thing I know,
15:45um, uh, I wind up going back to, uh, uh, California to get my things because I wanted
15:54to homestead in Alaska. Well, when I went back to Santa Monica, I bumped into a gentleman at a little,
16:00uh, an art shop in Venice beach. His name was George Bell. He said, he, he, he put his hands up
16:06like this, you know, like a framed hand. Are you an actor? And I go, no, man, I'm not an actor.
16:11What's up. And he goes, well, I'm making a movie. You look like the character.
16:15And I go, no way. And he says, yeah. And he handed me a business card. And then I said,
16:21wow, you're, you're really George Powell. I says, I know, I know about all your old movies and,
16:26and war of the worlds and where you came from and why your work's important and big fan. He said,
16:33just call my office. And, uh, I worked one day on a movie called doc savage and George is kind
16:38enough to write the letter to the screen actors guild. Cause if you don't have a job,
16:41you can't get in the guild. So it's kind of a catch 22. And he gave me a two day guarantee
16:47because the Taft Hartley act labor law says on day two, uh, on a union job, uh, you can't be,
16:54you have to join the union. So, and he even paid my, my dues, which is saying 400 bucks.
16:59And, uh, so now I have a, uh, I have a sad card and a plane ticket and did cuckoo's nest. And then,
17:06um, um, uh, saved my life basically gave me a career. So, uh, let's see. What else? Uh, probably,
17:16um, well, there's a, there's a, uh, uh, but I'll say below zero cuckoo's nest,
17:22hills have eyes, weird science, of course, because of being able to, uh, continue to comedy.
17:29Um, and I've, I've always had a little, uh, flair for, uh, being kind of silly on occasion.
17:36So at the end of smoking in the boys room, when, uh, I think it's Tommy or Nikki, I forget which one
17:43it is reaches through the portal and pulls my silly wig off. And I do this and I will my ears
17:52we were just goofing around backstage, you know, in between takes. And, and I, and I, I just did that
17:58for fun. And, um, um, Mick goes, oh, we, we got to put that in the, in the video. So we did. It's at the
18:06very end, right? Well, it was real popular on MTV for quite a while. And then, uh, one day people were
18:12watching it and there was no ear wheel and people got on the phone and complained to such a degree that
18:20somebody who worked at MTV had to, uh, you know, edit back in the ear wiggle.
18:27And, uh, and I thought that, you know, somebody was, I says, yeah, that didn't really happen.
18:31I go, no, I really didn't happen. And then the guy that, the guy that actually did the editing
18:38was doing the, uh, the sound for another movie I'd worked on years later.
18:44And he said, I knew you were coming in today. So I made a copy of my worksheet the day I had to put
18:51your ear wiggle back in the Motley Crue video. And I go, oh, I says, BS, man. No, you know, that didn't
18:57happen. And I look at it and I had a whole list of everything he had to do that day.
19:02And toward the bottom of the page, it said Motley Crue smoking in the boys' room,
19:07ear wiggle, reinsert, four seconds.
19:13That's great.
19:14You can be proud of something that gets you an Oscar, you know, and you get a, you know,
19:18many scenes, or you can make people laugh for in four seconds.
19:25That's funny. I'm going to go back and watch that video now, man. That was when I was a kid. Wow.
19:29That's unbelievable.
19:31Yeah.
19:32Well, Michael, it's a great talking to you September 6th, um, at the, uh, Howell Theater Q and A,
19:37uh, I got your signing at four 30 Q and A at six o'clock and the movie at, uh, at seven,
19:42this is going to be so much fun. And, uh, I know a lot of people want to get out there and
19:46press the flash with you and, uh, have a great, uh, Halloween and a fall season.
19:51Oh, we will. Thank you very much. And I, again, uh, uh, it's so nice to work with the, um,
19:59preservation for our legacy, which is, I mean, the Howell Theater is beautiful.
20:04Yeah.
20:05And, um, um, when I, when I think of the independent theaters and the Ma and Pa theaters,
20:11uh, God bless y'all for keeping it going. And, uh, if you, if you,
20:15if you want to get the, uh, delightful, warm and fussy feeling about movies, watch, uh,
20:21Joe Dante's film matinee, because that's right up the same alley and, uh, uh,
20:27just make sure you have plenty of popcorn brother. We'll see you soon.
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