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1
00:00:02,929 --> 00:00:07,100
I think the '80s and '90s
films were golden eras of film.
2
00:00:07,559 --> 00:00:11,229
These movies just jumped off
the screen in an epic way.
3
00:00:12,647 --> 00:00:14,482
People wanted bigger and better.
4
00:00:15,775 --> 00:00:17,777
The Road Warrior was
everything was in camera.
5
00:00:19,529 --> 00:00:23,158
Arnie and Sly came in perfect timing.
6
00:00:23,700 --> 00:00:26,745
And suddenly we had those movies
whose action was dominant.
7
00:00:28,079 --> 00:00:30,559
And that was what they wanted
and after Rambo was an explosion.
8
00:00:30,707 --> 00:00:31,707
That's all they wanted.
9
00:00:32,625 --> 00:00:34,465
Rambo was actually a
Saturday morning cartoon.
10
00:00:34,711 --> 00:00:38,757
When I see it now just the technical, the
practical effects...
11
00:00:39,049 --> 00:00:40,884
Unbelievable how those stand up.
12
00:00:41,301 --> 00:00:45,513
I do think that Die Hard still
to my mind is one of the top five
13
00:00:45,930 --> 00:00:48,058
if not the best action films ever made.
14
00:00:49,851 --> 00:00:55,648
I was very lucky as a composer to come at
a time where things were really exciting.
15
00:00:56,232 --> 00:01:00,195
It felt like the lowest low
budget film I've ever made.
16
00:01:00,487 --> 00:01:00,987
Fuck you
17
00:01:01,363 --> 00:01:02,364
Don't be modest.
18
00:01:02,781 --> 00:01:06,785
Arnold put his stamp on the movie so much,
I've never seen that.
19
00:01:07,118 --> 00:01:08,118
I'll be back.
20
00:01:08,495 --> 00:01:09,871
"I'll be back" -That's cool.
21
00:01:10,205 --> 00:01:13,750
You saw Schwarzenegger for the first time
ever express fear.
22
00:01:15,210 --> 00:01:18,296
Everybody was renting John Woo movies.
23
00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:23,843
The beauty about action is that you don't
need translation.
24
00:01:24,219 --> 00:01:25,219
Watch this guy.
25
00:01:25,303 --> 00:01:26,863
That's what I'm going to do in my life.
26
00:01:27,055 --> 00:01:28,095
I want to do what he does.
27
00:01:28,223 --> 00:01:31,017
In thirty-five-millimeter on a big screen,
slow motion.
28
00:01:31,851 --> 00:01:32,851
Yeah, that's Van Damme.
29
00:01:33,103 --> 00:01:34,023
He's really doing that.
30
00:01:34,062 --> 00:01:36,272
It was how you looked, physical and buff.
31
00:01:36,898 --> 00:01:37,898
You looked buff.
32
00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:41,694
By 1988 they were making
movies for the video shelf.
33
00:01:42,445 --> 00:01:47,033
I think once they realized how tough I was
and I could fight just as strong as a man
34
00:01:47,409 --> 00:01:49,244
I gained a lot of respect that day.
35
00:01:49,536 --> 00:01:53,998
That's what people want to live vicariously
through and they had that.
36
00:01:55,166 --> 00:01:57,252
But it's full on pulls no punches
37
00:02:00,338 --> 00:02:02,006
gory, violent.
38
00:02:02,882 --> 00:02:04,217
I miss those movies man.
39
00:02:16,271 --> 00:02:21,651
If you look at a list of film genres in any
kind of book or publication about Hollywood
40
00:02:22,026 --> 00:02:25,989
you won't see action movies listed
as a genre until really the '80s.
41
00:02:26,281 --> 00:02:28,158
I grew up watching Westerns.
42
00:02:28,741 --> 00:02:31,828
Red Ryder, Lash LaRue, Roy Rogers.
43
00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:33,400
Gene Autry, Johnny "Mack" Brown.
44
00:02:33,621 --> 00:02:36,666
That was the time that I really
started to go to the theaters.
45
00:02:37,125 --> 00:02:38,168
That was after the war.
46
00:02:38,585 --> 00:02:41,921
I went to the theater basically three times
a week.
47
00:02:42,213 --> 00:02:46,009
I was addicted to American action films.
48
00:02:46,551 --> 00:02:49,637
The chases, the horse chases, the action,
the gun shooting.
49
00:02:50,180 --> 00:02:55,101
A lot of movies from the '60s that I
grew up watching in movie theaters.
50
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:56,728
The Great Escape.
51
00:02:57,312 --> 00:02:58,312
Professionals.
52
00:02:58,563 --> 00:02:59,563
Fantastic movie.
53
00:02:59,814 --> 00:03:05,361
I suppose I begin like many sort of people
of my era with Bond. As a small boy
54
00:03:05,862 --> 00:03:10,241
the idea of a Bond movie coming on television
was extraordinarily important in my life.
55
00:03:10,617 --> 00:03:13,578
My father said,"
we're going to see this new action movie."
56
00:03:13,995 --> 00:03:17,155
And then we watched the film and he said,
"This is like the greatest film ever."
57
00:03:17,180 --> 00:03:18,541
James Bond - 007
58
00:03:18,917 --> 00:03:22,879
License to kill whom he
pleases, when he pleases.
59
00:03:23,421 --> 00:03:28,051
It was released as a kind of generic action
picture but it caught on quickly.
60
00:03:28,426 --> 00:03:32,597
We also watched also a lot of urban
detective movies.
61
00:03:33,139 --> 00:03:34,849
Private Eye movies.
62
00:03:35,183 --> 00:03:39,771
So, they included sometimes also some bits
of action movies.
63
00:03:43,608 --> 00:03:46,069
I prefer '70s action films.
64
00:03:46,569 --> 00:03:47,569
The French Connection.
65
00:03:48,321 --> 00:03:49,321
Bullitt.
66
00:03:49,739 --> 00:03:54,786
There's a very strong director focus about
the character what they should be doing and
67
00:03:55,328 --> 00:03:56,371
the believability of it.
68
00:03:56,704 --> 00:03:58,998
Yes, Steve McQueen's golden years.
69
00:03:59,247 --> 00:04:00,767
Steve McQueen was a great action hero.
70
00:04:00,792 --> 00:04:04,921
He was not a physical specimen of beefcake
but he was a cool guy.
71
00:04:05,117 --> 00:04:06,397
He was probably the coolest guy.
72
00:04:06,422 --> 00:04:08,222
One of the coolest action
heroes of all time.
73
00:04:08,258 --> 00:04:09,634
He did ride his own motorcycle.
74
00:04:10,218 --> 00:04:12,053
He did a lot of his own stunts.
75
00:04:12,387 --> 00:04:18,059
Action heroes of the '60s and '70s they
were ambivalent about what they were doing.
76
00:04:18,351 --> 00:04:22,146
Charles Bronson had to go out in the street
and look for justice.
77
00:04:22,438 --> 00:04:27,360
Charles Bronson's vigilantism it was a huge
thing in movies during that period.
78
00:04:27,777 --> 00:04:33,157
So that kind of switched it there I think with
Death Wish where the good guy became like a killer.
79
00:04:33,658 --> 00:04:37,537
In some of the sort of violent action movies
of that time, obviously the Clint Eastwood
80
00:04:37,996 --> 00:04:40,290
movies and Death Wish and others.
81
00:04:40,748 --> 00:04:44,228
Those guys were the heroes and they were just
going around shooting everyone that people
82
00:04:44,253 --> 00:04:45,421
at home didn't like.
83
00:04:45,962 --> 00:04:49,799
It's always believable of course a good
actor as well is believable doing the action
84
00:04:50,174 --> 00:04:51,374
which makes a huge difference.
85
00:04:51,676 --> 00:04:55,138
You've got to ask yourself a question
Do I feel lucky?
86
00:04:56,556 --> 00:04:57,890
Well, do you punk?
87
00:04:58,308 --> 00:05:04,564
It was introducing me to a level of intensity,
emotional intensity in action films in adventure
88
00:05:05,189 --> 00:05:07,191
films and a heightening of stakes.
89
00:05:09,485 --> 00:05:17,452
Here's a guy who just lives for whatever reason he
continues, he survives but he doesn't really thrive.
90
00:05:17,952 --> 00:05:19,120
He just does his job.
91
00:05:19,621 --> 00:05:24,584
The action film stars that I grew up watching
first was Jim Brown and Fred Williamson.
92
00:05:25,001 --> 00:05:29,172
They really had an effect on me growing up
and they were images that I wanted to grow
93
00:05:29,464 --> 00:05:30,673
up and look like basically.
94
00:05:35,845 --> 00:05:40,308
If you were an actor or a young person it
gave you hope in the sense that you saw
95
00:05:41,059 --> 00:05:44,646
somebody that looked like
you that was an action hero.
96
00:05:45,229 --> 00:05:47,357
Many of us had never seen that before.
97
00:05:47,940 --> 00:05:51,027
Those are my heroes first
because I identified with them.
98
00:05:52,028 --> 00:05:57,659
Luckily, I'm in a place where I start to resonate
with youngsters who were very much like me
99
00:05:58,117 --> 00:05:59,117
at the time.
100
00:05:59,285 --> 00:06:03,125
They have a lot of bang for their buck because
you want to live vicariously through these people.
101
00:06:03,373 --> 00:06:05,291
Of course, number one is Bruce Lee.
102
00:06:08,378 --> 00:06:10,380
I was very much influenced by Bruce.
103
00:06:11,381 --> 00:06:13,341
I was inspired by Bruce Lee.
104
00:06:17,345 --> 00:06:19,222
He was a badass. You know what I'm saying?
105
00:06:21,224 --> 00:06:23,559
When he came onto the screen, he was very
dynamic.
106
00:06:24,060 --> 00:06:26,437
He was a completely different character.
107
00:06:27,021 --> 00:06:30,274
Really it was Bruce Lee that inspired me to
take up martial arts.
108
00:06:34,153 --> 00:06:37,699
And he throughout my whole life still now
is a huge inspiration.
109
00:06:38,157 --> 00:06:41,953
I got hip to Bruce Lee
as a kid and loved him.
110
00:06:42,370 --> 00:06:44,497
For me growing up martial arts was a thing.
111
00:06:44,997 --> 00:06:47,375
Bruce Lee, '70s Kung-Fu films.
112
00:06:51,504 --> 00:06:56,134
When Bruce Lee's movies were popular, they
weren't popular in the mainstream.
113
00:06:56,676 --> 00:07:02,223
You could see them in some small theaters
and only fans would know them.
114
00:07:04,934 --> 00:07:08,479
It was a while before I started seeing action
pictures but I guess the first one that
115
00:07:08,980 --> 00:07:10,732
I saw was Enter the Dragon.
116
00:07:11,190 --> 00:07:12,650
This is Enter the Dragon.
117
00:07:13,317 --> 00:07:16,362
The first martial arts film produced
by a major Hollywood studio.
118
00:07:16,946 --> 00:07:18,239
Action is something...
119
00:07:18,531 --> 00:07:19,531
It's deep within people.
120
00:07:20,074 --> 00:07:25,246
It's the same way that I was inspired
by watching Enter the Dragon.
121
00:07:25,830 --> 00:07:28,207
Roper, Williams
122
00:07:29,041 --> 00:07:30,041
And Lee
123
00:07:30,460 --> 00:07:31,502
The Deadly Three
124
00:07:32,420 --> 00:07:36,299
penetrate the secret chambers
of an evil island empire.
125
00:07:36,883 --> 00:07:42,180
He went out and proved himself
in a worldwide audience.
126
00:07:42,889 --> 00:07:48,394
An audience that didn't look at him
as someone who was not bankable.
127
00:07:49,228 --> 00:07:52,732
But he did not appeal to a wide audience.
128
00:07:53,107 --> 00:07:54,400
And this was something...
129
00:07:54,859 --> 00:07:56,068
This was also foreign.
130
00:07:56,402 --> 00:08:00,823
In Hollywood traditionally they like to do
what works in America.
131
00:08:01,282 --> 00:08:02,408
Especially in those days.
132
00:08:02,909 --> 00:08:08,206
There's an obvious transition from the '70s
into the blockbuster era that started with...
133
00:08:08,539 --> 00:08:12,126
It really started with Godfather but then
Jaws really cemented it.
134
00:08:12,627 --> 00:08:16,923
In terms of action-adventure
Jaws was a huge influence.
135
00:08:17,465 --> 00:08:23,805
That sort of everyman hero that didn't have
abilities, that just had pluck, just had guts
136
00:08:24,514 --> 00:08:28,434
and a little bit of savvy and was good at
a job he did but was out of his depth with
137
00:08:28,726 --> 00:08:30,286
this thing that he'd never encountered.
138
00:08:30,311 --> 00:08:32,229
Jaws changed the movie industry.
139
00:08:32,688 --> 00:08:35,858
Suddenly you could have a movie that could
make that much money that quickly.
140
00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,779
So, people started leaning towards and the
studio started leaning towards films that
141
00:08:40,238 --> 00:08:41,238
were going to do that.
142
00:08:41,656 --> 00:08:45,535
That was kind of the gradual evolution and
then came Star Wars and that whole
143
00:08:46,077 --> 00:08:47,077
side of it.
144
00:08:47,537 --> 00:08:51,332
What changes is there's a level in
which the action films are made.
145
00:08:51,958 --> 00:08:56,587
A lot of action films, the '70s you say
were serious times politically and so forth.
146
00:08:57,088 --> 00:09:00,049
And that it's true but there were a lot of
action films in the '70s.
147
00:09:00,508 --> 00:09:08,508
But in terms of I suppose action films as
a genre as an idea that came in the '80s.
148
00:09:11,769 --> 00:09:14,355
Better and more complicated action scenes.
149
00:09:18,150 --> 00:09:19,777
That's what the public wanted.
150
00:09:20,194 --> 00:09:23,072
Less dialogue, bigger body count.
151
00:09:24,907 --> 00:09:30,872
The '80s action films were actually shock
value because that kind of excitement had never
152
00:09:31,330 --> 00:09:32,331
been done before.
153
00:09:35,209 --> 00:09:39,755
And then of course, you start off the '80s and
you have Raiders of the Lost Ark and boom, boom
154
00:09:40,339 --> 00:09:41,340
one after another.
155
00:09:41,882 --> 00:09:46,804
I remember seeing the adverts of Raiders of
the Lost Ark and honestly, I pretended
156
00:09:47,263 --> 00:09:48,681
to be ill until my parents took me.
157
00:09:49,265 --> 00:09:52,226
I saved up to buy the VHS of.
158
00:09:52,727 --> 00:09:57,023
It was like $100 for the VHS and I
saved and scrimped and it was Raiders.
159
00:10:00,484 --> 00:10:06,324
I memorized that soundtrack and now since then
I've conducted that score live in concert.
160
00:10:06,616 --> 00:10:07,783
Huge influence on me.
161
00:10:08,284 --> 00:10:14,999
I think the '80s as an era that really was
the golden era of action films.
162
00:10:15,916 --> 00:10:20,588
The music I think rose to the challenge and it's
kind of one of those chicken or the egg things.
163
00:10:21,297 --> 00:10:23,737
You have great scores for the great action
movies of the '80s.
164
00:10:23,883 --> 00:10:26,203
And are those movies great
partially because of the scores?
165
00:10:26,594 --> 00:10:27,303
And I say yes.
166
00:10:27,595 --> 00:10:33,726
If you have strong visuals and you put a dominant
a really strong theme there then basically
167
00:10:34,477 --> 00:10:36,979
the whole film gets lifted up.
168
00:10:37,939 --> 00:10:44,779
With Raiders you get something that is a huge
hit and has a flawed hero but he's a good guy.
169
00:10:45,613 --> 00:10:46,697
He's a grave-robber.
170
00:10:47,239 --> 00:10:50,618
Good guy and it didn't
always get away clean.
171
00:10:51,535 --> 00:10:52,535
He got hurt.
172
00:10:53,746 --> 00:10:54,746
Whatever it was.
173
00:10:54,997 --> 00:10:56,037
He was not always perfect.
174
00:10:56,332 --> 00:10:57,333
Action was the thing.
175
00:10:57,625 --> 00:10:59,543
Everybody wanted action.
176
00:11:01,712 --> 00:11:02,712
And you know what?
177
00:11:02,922 --> 00:11:04,298
Also, today it's the same thing.
178
00:11:04,715 --> 00:11:10,012
Films from the '60s, '70s, '80s when they were
really doing real stunts. If you saw a car
179
00:11:10,471 --> 00:11:11,514
flip over five times
180
00:11:15,851 --> 00:11:17,603
somebody was in that car and it was real.
181
00:11:18,354 --> 00:11:20,314
Yeah, Road Warrior,
everything was in camera.
182
00:11:20,940 --> 00:11:23,567
I mean nobody had a clue
what a computer was.
183
00:11:24,026 --> 00:11:28,489
And suddenly we had those movies whose
action was dominant and within 90 minutes
184
00:11:29,198 --> 00:11:31,784
we had at least 45 minutes of action.
185
00:11:34,537 --> 00:11:39,667
Action films are always getting revolutionized
when a true genius comes into the fold.
186
00:11:40,251 --> 00:11:43,295
George Miller redefined what
you can do with an action film.
187
00:11:43,629 --> 00:11:47,133
This is a land that prays for a hero.
188
00:11:51,137 --> 00:11:52,304
His films were epic,
189
00:11:55,474 --> 00:11:56,474
mythological.
190
00:11:57,059 --> 00:11:58,059
They had underpinnings.
191
00:11:58,352 --> 00:11:59,979
They had a great hero in Mad Max.
192
00:12:00,688 --> 00:12:06,110
I think that Miller sort of took the things
he liked most about Mad Max but certainly
193
00:12:06,569 --> 00:12:07,570
couldn't afford.
194
00:12:07,945 --> 00:12:12,825
It didn't have the either probably the
cinematic expertise yet or the money to realize
195
00:12:13,367 --> 00:12:17,037
his vision and said okay, great that's kind
of detritus or effluvium and I'm going
196
00:12:17,580 --> 00:12:22,209
to use that as fertilizer and make this thing
that's The Road Warrior which is a masterpiece.
197
00:12:22,835 --> 00:12:28,632
I was seen by Sandy Gore who was George Miller's
girlfriend at the time and she contacted George
198
00:12:28,966 --> 00:12:30,766
and said you've got to
come and see this guy.
199
00:12:31,135 --> 00:12:35,806
He came down and saw me, we had a cup of coffee
and we chatted about all kinds of dumb crap
200
00:12:36,265 --> 00:12:37,683
and nothing about the film.
201
00:12:38,100 --> 00:12:42,271
And about a month later my manager rang me
and said they need you to fly up to Sydney for
202
00:12:42,813 --> 00:12:44,482
wardrobe, fittings and makeup.
203
00:12:44,815 --> 00:12:46,692
And I went, "For what?"
204
00:12:47,610 --> 00:12:52,907
And she said, "George Miller's
using you in Mad Max 2 - Road Warrior."
205
00:12:53,741 --> 00:12:56,535
And I went, "What's a Mad Max 2?"
206
00:12:57,161 --> 00:13:02,625
Road Warrior which has got to be one of the
most successful movies in history because
207
00:13:03,167 --> 00:13:09,673
this movie costs very little but yet it resonates
worldwide and you could watch it over and over.
208
00:13:10,299 --> 00:13:14,804
It was a renowned success throughout the
world because action speaks louder than words.
209
00:13:15,554 --> 00:13:17,598
Road Warrior started a whole genre.
210
00:13:18,099 --> 00:13:21,143
It was like a Gone with the Wind of its own
time and its own genre.
211
00:13:21,852 --> 00:13:26,649
Road Warrior today is more
relevant than when we shot it.
212
00:13:27,274 --> 00:13:31,612
George Miller had made Mad Max and Mad Max 2
and they were having huge amounts of influence
213
00:13:32,404 --> 00:13:36,534
on what the action directors of the '80s were
about to do and he made them on these kind
214
00:13:36,951 --> 00:13:41,413
of dirt-poor budgets but yet they arrived
and became this cult phenomenon.
215
00:13:42,206 --> 00:13:48,629
That idea of a bunch of macho dudes or a macho
guy running around with guns and crime and
216
00:13:49,088 --> 00:13:51,966
things blowing up, kind of turned into its
own genre.
217
00:13:52,883 --> 00:13:59,390
In the '80s there was an opportunity for many
independent producers and directors to produce
218
00:13:59,890 --> 00:14:04,895
a lot of so-called genre independent
low-budget genre movies or B-movies.
219
00:14:05,729 --> 00:14:10,985
Although they did very well people wanted
bigger and better and that's when Arnie and
220
00:14:11,527 --> 00:14:14,029
Sly came in at perfect timing.
221
00:14:15,072 --> 00:14:20,244
They were much stronger and bigger and full
of muscles and it became the standard.
222
00:14:20,870 --> 00:14:24,331
First Blood is a key action movie.
223
00:14:24,790 --> 00:14:26,876
I mean that might be the
progenitor of a lot of this.
224
00:14:27,543 --> 00:14:29,795
John Rambo was just passing through town
225
00:14:30,296 --> 00:14:31,839
but they had nothing better to do.
226
00:14:32,256 --> 00:14:37,052
John Rambo is this wounded vet with PTSD.
227
00:14:39,513 --> 00:14:40,681
They knew he was innocent.
228
00:14:44,476 --> 00:14:45,769
He's hiding out in the woods.
229
00:14:46,353 --> 00:14:47,813
He wants nothing to do with people.
230
00:14:48,355 --> 00:14:51,442
Sylvester Stallone in First Blood.
231
00:14:52,026 --> 00:14:56,488
First Blood - the original movie was
kind of a somber and kind of gritty.
232
00:14:56,906 --> 00:15:02,161
It had big action sequences but it was very kind of
real and then it became this larger-than-life thing.
233
00:15:02,870 --> 00:15:05,998
It was a good story, very well acted,
wonderfully directed.
234
00:15:06,498 --> 00:15:09,793
When we did First Blood, we were not
thinking we're making an action movie.
235
00:15:10,377 --> 00:15:15,591
We were making a real drama, a real story
but it became such an iconic movie because
236
00:15:16,008 --> 00:15:20,804
I'm watching him with all those bullets and
big machine guns and his body and all that.
237
00:15:21,138 --> 00:15:24,266
It was a huge hit overnight
spread like wild fire.
238
00:15:24,892 --> 00:15:27,686
It took actually two foreigners to make a
real American story.
239
00:15:27,978 --> 00:15:28,479
It's funny.
240
00:15:28,979 --> 00:15:31,774
Without Sylvester Stallone
it all falls apart.
241
00:15:32,149 --> 00:15:36,445
I mean sometimes he gets or used to get a
bad rap because of Rocky.
242
00:15:36,904 --> 00:15:38,239
They all thought he was Rocky.
243
00:15:38,864 --> 00:15:40,324
I mean Sly is a very bright man.
244
00:15:41,033 --> 00:15:45,913
People want to write things off like oh,
yeah, they talk about the voice and the tough
245
00:15:46,330 --> 00:15:48,791
guy thing like he's not an intelligent,
246
00:15:49,959 --> 00:15:53,279
He's probably the most intelligent person
in every room that he freaking walks into.
247
00:15:53,796 --> 00:15:55,965
Sly is the real deal in many, many ways.
248
00:15:56,465 --> 00:15:57,800
How do you do that?
249
00:15:58,175 --> 00:16:02,513
Well, the big bold risk on Rocky and he was
able to deliver on that.
250
00:16:03,097 --> 00:16:05,057
You just realize, this guy wrote Rocky.
251
00:16:05,432 --> 00:16:08,519
The first Rocky was
fantastic and well written
252
00:16:09,019 --> 00:16:14,900
and I much admired the fact that Stallone wouldn't
sell the script unless he was playing Rocky
253
00:16:15,317 --> 00:16:19,655
which I thought that took a lot of courage
for a young guy to say no.
254
00:16:20,489 --> 00:16:22,324
I play the part or you
don't buy the script.
255
00:16:22,992 --> 00:16:27,246
It was that sort of emergence of the
Stallone-Schwarzenegger era
256
00:16:27,788 --> 00:16:30,457
and then cinema was about going out with
257
00:16:30,958 --> 00:16:34,211
your mates and sort of joining in some kind
of collective experience.
258
00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:35,963
Barbarian...
259
00:16:37,256 --> 00:16:38,299
Warrior
260
00:16:39,133 --> 00:16:40,133
Thief
261
00:16:41,635 --> 00:16:42,635
Conan
262
00:16:43,012 --> 00:16:45,347
I really miss many title sequences.
263
00:16:46,890 --> 00:16:49,893
Conan is a perfect example.
264
00:16:50,728 --> 00:16:54,008
You go into the film knowing it's Arnold
Schwarzenegger and you know it's Conan The
265
00:16:54,033 --> 00:16:57,245
Barbarian but when you hear that
brass and the music, it sets the tone.
266
00:16:57,818 --> 00:16:59,820
You have a prologue with music.
267
00:17:00,362 --> 00:17:04,867
Very rare, it established the themes but when
it is it makes it feel like a saga, it makes
268
00:17:05,242 --> 00:17:07,911
it feel like you're
stepping into another world.
269
00:17:08,412 --> 00:17:12,916
It kind of gives the audience a second
to just sink into the movie theater.
270
00:17:13,584 --> 00:17:18,172
I think the arrival of Arnold
Schwarzenegger was very significant.
271
00:17:19,006 --> 00:17:23,886
Someone who had a name that was hard to
pronounce, who had a very thick accent, who had
272
00:17:24,511 --> 00:17:26,930
this body that was just massive.
273
00:17:27,556 --> 00:17:31,894
I mean we are a society, especially the female
part of it, we are a society that likes to
274
00:17:32,186 --> 00:17:33,186
look at things like that.
275
00:17:33,645 --> 00:17:35,230
It was like oh, look at those muscles.
276
00:17:35,731 --> 00:17:40,527
And I saw Pumping Iron the documentary when
I was in high school and I thought that was
277
00:17:41,070 --> 00:17:42,071
really cool.
278
00:17:42,738 --> 00:17:44,948
Although I did think that Arnold was a bit
of a dick.
279
00:17:45,574 --> 00:17:46,742
Hey Arnold!
280
00:17:47,159 --> 00:17:52,748
He just tells the truth but it's like and he
says things he has no filter and so he just says
281
00:17:53,165 --> 00:17:56,765
what he feels like and it's great working with
him because you always know where you stand.
282
00:17:57,086 --> 00:17:58,337
Everything has its timing.
283
00:17:58,754 --> 00:18:03,717
So, for instance Arnold Schwarzenegger he
was laughed at in the beginning.
284
00:18:04,385 --> 00:18:10,307
This big Austrian guy with an accent who
can barely speak English but luck has it
285
00:18:10,933 --> 00:18:15,062
if there is something at the right time, at the
right moment that works for the general audience
286
00:18:15,479 --> 00:18:16,479
like Conan.
287
00:18:17,147 --> 00:18:20,943
And if someone has a specific style
that can actually create a trend.
288
00:18:21,568 --> 00:18:26,782
I think the difference between a movie that works
and people really like is having that story.
289
00:18:27,366 --> 00:18:31,078
And I think also having that story that the
star really fits into.
290
00:18:31,787 --> 00:18:36,041
One day I got a phone call, we want you to
read and look at the script.
291
00:18:36,417 --> 00:18:38,293
We need to rewrite which is 48 Hours.
292
00:18:39,044 --> 00:18:40,337
Nick Nolte is a cop.
293
00:18:41,171 --> 00:18:42,798
Eddie Murphy is a con.
294
00:18:43,173 --> 00:18:47,344
They couldn't like each other less.
They couldn't need each other more.
295
00:18:48,095 --> 00:18:52,433
So one of the reasons I was put on 48 Hours
was once we had cast Eddie Murphy was to bring
296
00:18:52,891 --> 00:18:54,560
as much humor to the project as possible.
297
00:18:55,185 --> 00:18:56,185
Jack,
298
00:18:57,563 --> 00:18:58,856
Tell me a story.
299
00:18:59,398 --> 00:19:00,398
Fuck you!
300
00:19:01,066 --> 00:19:02,401
That's one of my favorites.
301
00:19:03,110 --> 00:19:07,072
I thought it was a real movie by a passionate
filmmaker that was summing up a kind of genre
302
00:19:07,614 --> 00:19:13,245
piece in which he scraped all the parts of
the imagery and the style and the dialogue
303
00:19:13,787 --> 00:19:17,624
and the intensity of what he had grown up
with knowing as action thrillers.
304
00:19:18,167 --> 00:19:24,840
So, you take all the qualities of great road
movies and great comedy duo's and then you
305
00:19:25,299 --> 00:19:33,299
sort of slot that into on the whole a fairly
formulaic cop plots, you've got something new.
306
00:19:34,808 --> 00:19:40,481
If you know Walter Hills, Walter Hills movies are
like 48 Hours but they're not funny... at all.
307
00:19:41,231 --> 00:19:45,652
You've got that whole kind of approach to
action movies that was suddenly comedy movies
308
00:19:46,195 --> 00:19:47,195
at the same time.
309
00:19:47,321 --> 00:19:49,321
Don't you think you're
being kinda hard on the guy?
310
00:19:49,346 --> 00:19:51,014
You go fuck yourself, convict!
311
00:19:51,116 --> 00:19:54,119
Out of that we got 48 Hours
and we got Beverly Hills Cop.
312
00:19:54,745 --> 00:19:56,288
Eddie Murphy is a Detroit cop
313
00:20:00,167 --> 00:20:02,085
on vacation in Beverly Hills.
314
00:20:02,586 --> 00:20:09,134
It was the first time that I had been involved
in a film that we sort of knew going in that
315
00:20:09,718 --> 00:20:10,844
this was a huge hit.
316
00:20:12,221 --> 00:20:15,599
I've been in some films that turned out to
be huge hits, don't get me wrong.
317
00:20:16,183 --> 00:20:20,395
But that was one that we all knew sort of
from the get-go that it was.
318
00:20:20,938 --> 00:20:24,525
And it was just such a
joy working on that film.
319
00:20:25,025 --> 00:20:26,735
The film was written by Dan Petrie.
320
00:20:27,152 --> 00:20:28,529
Well, Dan was my agent.
321
00:20:29,196 --> 00:20:34,535
Dan had written this screenplay and
Stallone came in and he had Cobra.
322
00:20:35,202 --> 00:20:39,206
And he said here's the film we're going to do
and he said no, we're not going to do that.
323
00:20:39,790 --> 00:20:41,750
He said either you do
this film or I'm walking.
324
00:20:45,254 --> 00:20:47,047
And so they offered it to Eddie.
325
00:20:49,633 --> 00:20:50,633
When you're the best
326
00:20:51,218 --> 00:20:53,136
you do things with style.
327
00:20:54,763 --> 00:20:56,682
J.J. McQuade is the best.
328
00:20:57,432 --> 00:21:02,521
My wife Elizabeth Stevens knew Chuck Norris
before I did actually.
329
00:21:03,272 --> 00:21:07,943
Her daughter, my stepdaughter was taking
karate from one of Chuck's senior black belts.
330
00:21:08,485 --> 00:21:11,530
She also knew Steve Carver who directed An
Eye for an Eye.
331
00:21:12,155 --> 00:21:17,202
Steve invited her to see the screening of
the trailer for Lone Wolf McQuade.
332
00:21:20,038 --> 00:21:23,417
He's a lone wolf lawman
in the lone star state.
333
00:21:25,419 --> 00:21:29,590
She saw Chuck at the screening and Chuck said,
"Hey, are you still going out with that guy
334
00:21:30,132 --> 00:21:31,852
James Brennan who wrote an Eye for an Eye?"
335
00:21:32,092 --> 00:21:33,218
And she said, "Yes, I am."
336
00:21:33,677 --> 00:21:36,117
He said, "Do you have his number
I wanted to write something."
337
00:21:36,142 --> 00:21:40,267
So, I thought that it would be great to have a
guy that walks softly but carries a big stick
338
00:21:40,767 --> 00:21:42,227
kind of type of concept.
339
00:21:42,561 --> 00:21:44,271
A guy who tries to avoid violence.
340
00:21:44,938 --> 00:21:47,733
The beauty about action is that you don't
need translation.
341
00:21:48,275 --> 00:21:49,275
You can see.
342
00:21:49,693 --> 00:21:54,406
And the beauty about action pictures
is something that is heroic.
343
00:21:55,449 --> 00:22:00,454
There are bad guys and there are good guys
and the triumph over bad guys is basically
344
00:22:00,954 --> 00:22:02,122
what the storyline is.
345
00:22:05,709 --> 00:22:11,840
Chuck was actually a real-life world champion, a
martial artist and I think that really translated
346
00:22:12,299 --> 00:22:12,966
to people.
347
00:22:13,300 --> 00:22:18,764
We had kickboxing cops, kickboxing
soldiers, Chuck Norris rescuing POWs.
348
00:22:19,389 --> 00:22:23,310
Chuck had an idea he wanted to do Missing
in Action.
349
00:22:23,727 --> 00:22:26,146
Chuck Norris is James Braddock
350
00:22:27,689 --> 00:22:29,066
ex-prisoner of war
351
00:22:29,399 --> 00:22:33,904
I got a call one day from Chuck and he asked
me to go and have lunch with this guy in Malibu
352
00:22:34,613 --> 00:22:36,198
and it was a producer named Lance Hool.
353
00:22:36,573 --> 00:22:38,784
He said bring the script,
he's interested in it.
354
00:22:39,242 --> 00:22:43,288
So, I went out to Malibu and met with Lance
Hool, gave him the script.
355
00:22:43,580 --> 00:22:50,462
He liked it and the next thing I knew I'm going
down to this new company called Cannon Films
356
00:22:51,338 --> 00:22:53,507
and they want to make the movie.
357
00:22:54,591 --> 00:22:58,679
Chuck Norris worked then for Cannon for a
long time making the movies with Joe Zito
358
00:22:59,262 --> 00:23:00,389
Invasion USA etc...
359
00:23:01,306 --> 00:23:04,685
It was not a company that was making action
movies at the beginning.
360
00:23:05,519 --> 00:23:11,274
When Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, bought
Cannon Film, they started to flirt with actually
361
00:23:11,692 --> 00:23:15,195
with horror pictures because horror pictures
are much cheaper to produce than action.
362
00:23:15,779 --> 00:23:20,492
The assistant director came to me and said,
"Downstairs there is a call for you from Menahem."
363
00:23:21,034 --> 00:23:23,370
He says you have to talk to him
now, right now.
364
00:23:23,662 --> 00:23:27,374
And he said listen, as soon as you finish to
shoot this one, you're going to the Philippines
365
00:23:28,041 --> 00:23:29,459
and you do a movie called Ninja.
366
00:23:30,127 --> 00:23:31,127
I said called what?
367
00:23:31,795 --> 00:23:32,795
Ninja?
368
00:23:38,844 --> 00:23:45,976
And he said there are action heroes that
can kick ass and I'll explain to you later.
369
00:23:46,435 --> 00:23:47,635
He didn't know more than that.
370
00:23:48,103 --> 00:23:51,648
I begged him not to do the movie
so somebody else was sent to do it.
371
00:23:52,607 --> 00:23:57,279
This somebody else failed in the middle and
Menahem went by himself to do it.
372
00:23:58,447 --> 00:24:00,031
And this was the Enter the Ninja.
373
00:24:00,824 --> 00:24:05,245
And so this was the beginning of the whole
ninja things in the movies.
374
00:24:06,204 --> 00:24:11,251
They made Enter the Ninja I would say by
accident or by chance and it was working.
375
00:24:12,169 --> 00:24:13,169
They were making money.
376
00:24:13,587 --> 00:24:16,047
I mean they were
exploitationers definitely.
377
00:24:16,506 --> 00:24:18,258
I mean Death Wish 2-3-4.
378
00:24:19,092 --> 00:24:23,305
I mean I think Roger Ebert called
Death Wish 2 made by exploitationers.
379
00:24:23,847 --> 00:24:26,933
Cannon Film was a small medium sized.
380
00:24:27,476 --> 00:24:30,103
In the beginning was a small company became
a medium size.
381
00:24:30,562 --> 00:24:32,814
At some point they used
to call them mini-studio.
382
00:24:33,356 --> 00:24:38,361
That Cannon the way it would go like this
at the beginning of the movie and I thought
383
00:24:39,196 --> 00:24:44,534
even to this day like
you can feel it... that clung.
384
00:24:45,076 --> 00:24:48,747
So, when I came, I did not come into a
company that was making action movies.
385
00:24:49,581 --> 00:24:56,880
I was one of the people who created this section
of Cannon and swaying Cannon toward action.
386
00:24:58,006 --> 00:24:59,549
The ninja
387
00:25:05,263 --> 00:25:09,810
So Menahem Golan came to me, he was looking
for a director to direct Revenge of the Ninja.
388
00:25:10,477 --> 00:25:14,689
So, he came to me and said OK Sam,
you directed a movie, it's a drama.
389
00:25:15,232 --> 00:25:17,484
I know you can put a
beginning, middle, and end.
390
00:25:17,943 --> 00:25:19,503
But I want to give you an action movie.
391
00:25:20,153 --> 00:25:21,196
Can you handle action?
392
00:25:21,696 --> 00:25:23,240
What am I going to tell him?
393
00:25:23,782 --> 00:25:24,825
I cannot handle action?
394
00:25:25,283 --> 00:25:27,911
I told him don't worry Menahem,
I will handle the action.
395
00:25:28,495 --> 00:25:29,538
Everything will be okay.
396
00:25:30,205 --> 00:25:32,666
I didn't have a clue how
to start with action.
397
00:25:35,627 --> 00:25:37,267
Of course, I have people working with me.
398
00:25:37,546 --> 00:25:38,546
It's not by myself.
399
00:25:38,922 --> 00:25:42,509
I had the stunt coordinator Steve Lambert,
I had Sho KOSUGI the fight choreographer.
400
00:25:43,009 --> 00:25:46,429
So I had two strong action people to rely
on.
401
00:25:46,930 --> 00:25:52,018
There's an enduring quality which is the basics
of these action flicks that means that many
402
00:25:52,561 --> 00:25:54,563
generations can enjoy the tropes.
403
00:25:55,689 --> 00:25:58,529
And it's just that they're presented in a
way that's more of their time.
404
00:25:58,859 --> 00:26:03,613
When Revenge of the Ninja came out, they showed
the movie around and one of the companies
405
00:26:04,281 --> 00:26:08,660
that saw it was MGM and they liked the
movie and they took it for distribution.
406
00:26:09,286 --> 00:26:14,165
Now Cannon suddenly were in a different league
and this was the launch pad for Cannon to
407
00:26:14,666 --> 00:26:16,167
enter the action market.
408
00:26:16,835 --> 00:26:20,547
When VHS started, I believe it started
where everybody had access to it.
409
00:26:20,964 --> 00:26:22,465
It was about 1976-ish.
410
00:26:23,216 --> 00:26:27,637
That was when if a movie went to a VHS it's
because it failed.
411
00:26:28,513 --> 00:26:32,475
It wasn't a compliment that you were on the
shelves in the video store.
412
00:26:33,143 --> 00:26:37,105
But by 1982 it didn't matter anymore.
413
00:26:37,606 --> 00:26:41,276
And by 1988 they're making movies for the
video shelf.
414
00:26:41,818 --> 00:26:48,700
Success of the low-budget
independent company depended
415
00:26:49,451 --> 00:26:52,537
solely on the explosion
of the home video market.
416
00:26:53,288 --> 00:26:56,917
Going to a video store
just browsing was a wonder.
417
00:26:57,626 --> 00:27:01,963
The fact that you could actually bring these
movies home and watch them unedited, uncut.
418
00:27:02,547 --> 00:27:08,720
All of a sudden everybody could watch a movie
at his home and it was like the best time
419
00:27:09,512 --> 00:27:11,097
ever for the independent companies.
420
00:27:11,723 --> 00:27:12,933
It's just like evolution.
421
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:14,768
It's what happened.
422
00:27:15,644 --> 00:27:17,228
It was like sex.
423
00:27:17,938 --> 00:27:21,900
It's a no-no at certain times and then it becomes
accepted and then it's a part of your life.
424
00:27:22,859 --> 00:27:26,112
Well, the same thing
with off-screen movies.
425
00:27:26,696 --> 00:27:29,115
My favorite thing was
going to the VHS store.
426
00:27:30,158 --> 00:27:31,451
There's my film.
427
00:27:32,077 --> 00:27:33,677
You could actually hold it in your hand.
428
00:27:34,579 --> 00:27:37,958
So, the VHS stores were really a place that
was so crowded every weekend.
429
00:27:38,833 --> 00:27:40,627
Then we got a huge boom of...
430
00:27:41,252 --> 00:27:45,799
It was like the boom under the boom because
we had the huge theatrical films come out
431
00:27:46,508 --> 00:27:48,508
and of course a year later
they would be on video.
432
00:27:49,219 --> 00:27:56,935
50 copies on the shelf and under that you'd
have all the guys like Cynthia Rothrock and
433
00:27:57,644 --> 00:27:58,645
Richard Norton.
434
00:27:59,354 --> 00:28:03,149
You'd have movies with
these B action stars.
435
00:28:03,733 --> 00:28:05,053
For me it was all the same stuff.
436
00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:06,720
It didn't matter about the budget.
437
00:28:06,778 --> 00:28:10,865
Because of the explosion of the home video
market there was a lot of money that came
438
00:28:11,616 --> 00:28:17,414
to the independent producers and it trickled
down to the directors, people like me to make
439
00:28:17,706 --> 00:28:18,790
those kinds of movies.
440
00:28:19,332 --> 00:28:24,462
My films were sometimes down there and then
Van Damme's films were up here, I was taking
441
00:28:24,879 --> 00:28:27,239
my film and put it there and I'd put Van
Damme's down there.
442
00:28:27,799 --> 00:28:33,888
For me, if you would go to the video shop
and it seemed like as a teenager there was
443
00:28:34,681 --> 00:28:36,016
a new martial arts film.
444
00:28:36,558 --> 00:28:38,601
Certainly, a new action film every week.
445
00:28:39,602 --> 00:28:45,734
Yeah, back in the '80s I remember like the VHS
that the companies would take me to every video
446
00:28:46,401 --> 00:28:48,695
store and company and
do all this promotion.
447
00:28:49,195 --> 00:28:53,533
So it's interesting that we were the biggest
sellers in VHS back then but yet we never
448
00:28:54,117 --> 00:28:55,952
really broke out of the
independent pictures.
449
00:28:56,661 --> 00:29:02,625
I was inspired by those guys like Don Wilson
and Cynthia Rothrock and all those movies
450
00:29:03,334 --> 00:29:06,654
that would come out in the early 1990s and
they were specifically made for the video
451
00:29:06,963 --> 00:29:07,963
market.
452
00:29:08,214 --> 00:29:14,262
But in the '80s there was born a fantastic
school of cinematic film making and storytelling
453
00:29:14,929 --> 00:29:20,810
that was about special effects and
about huge amounts of personality.
454
00:29:21,269 --> 00:29:25,065
Why is it we remember lines from
these films more than any others?
455
00:29:31,154 --> 00:29:32,474
Come with me if you want to live.
456
00:29:32,739 --> 00:29:35,116
Action is an extension of drama.
457
00:29:35,784 --> 00:29:37,744
Drama is between characters.
458
00:29:38,119 --> 00:29:45,168
Characters perform the action and the action
becomes a bigger manifestation than just the
459
00:29:45,835 --> 00:29:49,464
human side anymore but it's always powered
by the human element.
460
00:29:50,090 --> 00:29:53,968
From a future where man
must hide underground.
461
00:29:54,469 --> 00:29:57,055
Has come a machine wrapped in flesh.
462
00:29:57,847 --> 00:30:03,311
As a whole I think James Cameron is arguably
second only probably to Spielberg in terms
463
00:30:03,770 --> 00:30:07,482
of influence on the whole of '80s culture
and especially in terms of cinema.
464
00:30:08,274 --> 00:30:11,903
And Cameron, he was kind of born in the '80s
and in some ways he's more synonymous with
465
00:30:12,529 --> 00:30:14,781
that era than Spielberg because
he emerged from the '70s.
466
00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:21,246
It's purely happenstance of his age and his
time that he arrived in the '80s because he
467
00:30:21,871 --> 00:30:26,960
just wanted to be a filmmaker and he was such
a forceful personality that it was almost
468
00:30:27,544 --> 00:30:28,544
inevitable.
469
00:30:28,795 --> 00:30:34,717
He's just incredibly passionate about what
he's interested in and when he sets his mind
470
00:30:35,260 --> 00:30:42,058
on something, he just has a single-minded
purpose to do what he wants to do and if you
471
00:30:42,684 --> 00:30:47,730
don't care that much about what is going on
or your job then there is hell to pay.
472
00:30:48,523 --> 00:30:56,523
And he'll step in with this amazing intellect in
this audacity to just assume that his filmmaking
473
00:30:57,782 --> 00:31:02,662
and storytelling vision is as important or
more so than what people tell him can
474
00:31:03,204 --> 00:31:04,289
or can't be done.
475
00:31:04,873 --> 00:31:08,251
While, stuck in this dreadful Italian hotel
with no money.
476
00:31:08,793 --> 00:31:14,132
He got the flu and had this kind of great
fever dream and dreams this image of kind of
477
00:31:14,799 --> 00:31:16,676
robot or half a robot sort of clambering
478
00:31:17,260 --> 00:31:20,763
its way using a knife out of a burning
sort of fire behind him and thus was born
479
00:31:21,472 --> 00:31:22,515
The Terminator.
480
00:31:23,141 --> 00:31:28,188
I had done a lot of low-budget films and television
and often you sit with the director, we had
481
00:31:28,855 --> 00:31:32,066
a little talk first and he
tells you what he's doing.
482
00:31:32,775 --> 00:31:38,239
The big picture, the philosophical picture,
the picture of what's on his mind and then
483
00:31:38,823 --> 00:31:40,950
you watch the film and you go where is it?
484
00:31:41,868 --> 00:31:42,868
I don't see it.
485
00:31:43,912 --> 00:31:49,083
And I knew this was rather low budget and
Jim told me some of the things that he wanted
486
00:31:49,918 --> 00:31:53,338
to do and it sounded pretty
ambitious and it was all there.
487
00:31:53,922 --> 00:31:55,506
So, we knew we had something special.
488
00:31:56,466 --> 00:32:01,721
I probably would venture to say that we didn't
quite know that we have something that special
489
00:32:02,513 --> 00:32:05,642
because who would have known that it would
become a household word.
490
00:32:06,059 --> 00:32:09,179
It's like Frankenstein is a household word,
the Terminator is a household word.
491
00:32:09,479 --> 00:32:10,999
It's important to have a theme though.
492
00:32:12,023 --> 00:32:15,443
The '80s, that period of time
was a great time for film scores.
493
00:32:16,069 --> 00:32:19,239
So many great scores during that time and
it's because they had themes.
494
00:32:19,948 --> 00:32:24,702
In the agency that was representing me as
a composer there were the two main partners
495
00:32:25,078 --> 00:32:26,996
and there was a young, younger woman.
496
00:32:27,830 --> 00:32:33,670
She said there's this film and director I
really think we should try to get you there.
497
00:32:34,128 --> 00:32:39,884
And the word came back that this guy wanted
to have a meeting with me and I was like fine.
498
00:32:40,551 --> 00:32:46,057
So, Mr. Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd came to
my studio and showed me the rough cut of
499
00:32:46,516 --> 00:32:47,517
The Terminator.
500
00:32:47,976 --> 00:32:51,688
The Terminator theme, you know that Brad
Fiedel's...
501
00:32:52,355 --> 00:32:54,107
It's very engrained in my mind.
502
00:32:54,732 --> 00:32:56,234
The original Terminator theme.
503
00:32:56,901 --> 00:33:02,115
I think the film would have suffered without
the theme but the use of it being judicious
504
00:33:02,824 --> 00:33:10,824
and not to sometimes overuse of the theme can
kind of distance you from what's happening
505
00:33:12,125 --> 00:33:13,209
in the moment.
506
00:33:14,043 --> 00:33:19,590
But there's no doubt in the making of The
Terminator there was just the birth of a kind
507
00:33:19,966 --> 00:33:25,930
of visionary and the birth of someone who would
make films with an extraordinary instinctual
508
00:33:26,514 --> 00:33:29,517
propulsive form of storytelling
that we hadn't really had before.
509
00:33:30,059 --> 00:33:33,730
Imagine editing the scene when Arnold says
"I'll be back" at the police station for
510
00:33:34,188 --> 00:33:35,565
the first time.
511
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:38,985
I'll be back.
512
00:33:39,902 --> 00:33:40,902
It became iconic.
513
00:33:41,446 --> 00:33:42,864
"I'll be back" -That's cool.
514
00:33:43,406 --> 00:33:46,826
If I studied something about
American cinema, it was Terminator.
515
00:33:47,785 --> 00:33:52,332
And the editing of Terminator, the speed of
Terminator, the harshness of Terminator.
516
00:33:52,999 --> 00:33:56,210
I mean all that stuff basically all of what
Cameron did.
517
00:33:56,919 --> 00:34:00,882
It transcended the genre because it was about
ideas because it was mythic, it was a love
518
00:34:01,424 --> 00:34:06,846
story, it was comic in the right places, it's
just self-deprecating when it needed to be
519
00:34:07,388 --> 00:34:09,057
but it was classic and solid.
520
00:34:09,724 --> 00:34:15,897
I think Arnold Schwarzenegger has got to be
one of the coolest cats on the planet.
521
00:34:16,606 --> 00:34:18,486
When he wants to do
something, he gets it done.
522
00:34:18,858 --> 00:34:22,862
I mean who would have ever thought Arnold
would come here and become such a star and
523
00:34:23,446 --> 00:34:24,697
a governor of California?
524
00:34:25,281 --> 00:34:33,281
How can you go from being Mr. Universe to movie
star to Mr. Maria to governor to divorce from
525
00:34:37,085 --> 00:34:39,253
Maria to action hero again?
526
00:34:40,088 --> 00:34:41,255
How do you do that, man?
527
00:34:47,595 --> 00:34:48,721
Death Wish 3
528
00:34:49,097 --> 00:34:55,019
Acting in Death Wish 3, especially cause I was
actually in the middle of film school at the time.
529
00:34:55,394 --> 00:34:58,773
It was like a summer job I did
between sophomore and junior year.
530
00:34:59,148 --> 00:35:01,651
It was really starkly in my face
531
00:35:02,110 --> 00:35:09,408
that extremely right-wing reactionary mentality
of like we're going to take literally going
532
00:35:09,951 --> 00:35:11,994
to take the street back, right?
533
00:35:12,495 --> 00:35:16,999
That's what great about the Death Wish movies it
raises that to such a completely absurd degree.
534
00:35:17,708 --> 00:35:19,794
It's probably because
it's a chain reaction.
535
00:35:20,294 --> 00:35:22,505
It's like the snowball effect.
536
00:35:23,131 --> 00:35:29,428
If one movie ups the violence the other one
has to overdo it.
537
00:35:29,887 --> 00:35:33,641
The genre of films at the end of
the day they're not for everyone.
538
00:35:34,225 --> 00:35:39,772
The people in Cannon, they were clever enough
to look for niche area -What can they do
539
00:35:40,356 --> 00:35:44,068
that other don't do and maximize the profit
in this area?
540
00:35:44,443 --> 00:35:46,523
If the audience don't buy,
the studios don't make it.
541
00:35:47,071 --> 00:35:49,448
The studio makes what the
audience likes to see.
542
00:35:50,199 --> 00:35:53,244
And then somehow, they come up
with the idea American Ninja Boy.
543
00:35:53,911 --> 00:35:55,121
It makes a lot of money.
544
00:35:55,955 --> 00:35:57,248
For two thousand years
545
00:35:58,499 --> 00:36:02,128
the sacred art of the ninja
has been guarded in the East.
546
00:36:02,795 --> 00:36:07,633
That ninja craze kicked up again and my dad
bought me a ninja suit and it was the first
547
00:36:08,176 --> 00:36:09,176
black belt I ever got.
548
00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:15,475
We just mail ordered it and I put this ninja
suit on and I never took it off and we would
549
00:36:16,142 --> 00:36:21,147
do little missions where my dad and my brother
would be in the top room watching me out on
550
00:36:21,772 --> 00:36:23,732
the street and I'm like, I'm here, can you
see me?
551
00:36:24,150 --> 00:36:25,151
Yeah, we can see you.
552
00:36:25,693 --> 00:36:29,413
And then I would go creeping around the gardens
they'd have to keep trying to keep me in their
553
00:36:29,488 --> 00:36:31,908
view and I would disappear like a ninja.
554
00:36:32,533 --> 00:36:36,078
Many, many, many people applied
for the part of American Ninja.
555
00:36:36,704 --> 00:36:43,127
We definitely saw more than 300 capable
good young kids or young actors.
556
00:36:43,794 --> 00:36:47,089
And Michael walked into
the room and this was it.
557
00:36:48,174 --> 00:36:53,679
Before even I talked with him before I read, before
we read any lines just by talking, conversation
558
00:36:54,263 --> 00:36:57,391
I knew this guy is the American Ninja that
I had in my mind.
559
00:36:57,975 --> 00:37:00,603
The first few days of shooting he was very
dedicated.
560
00:37:01,103 --> 00:37:02,605
He took time with Mike Stone.
561
00:37:03,272 --> 00:37:07,151
Two weeks with Mike Stone to train to
prepare himself to be American Ninja.
562
00:37:08,277 --> 00:37:15,034
And the first day of shooting, we were shooting,
I had a very good feeling that something is
563
00:37:15,326 --> 00:37:17,787
happening here with this
character, with this guy.
564
00:37:24,335 --> 00:37:26,546
Boom! It merged together and it worked.
565
00:37:27,171 --> 00:37:30,925
And when the movie came out American Ninja
it was obvious, they loved him.
566
00:37:31,425 --> 00:37:32,425
The audience loved it.
567
00:37:32,635 --> 00:37:37,473
So, I was growing up seeing Bruce Lee, seeing
a bit of Chuck Norris, seeing American Ninja.
568
00:37:38,140 --> 00:37:40,601
I'd never seen a Jackie Chan
film in my life at this point.
569
00:37:41,227 --> 00:37:44,467
I'd tell a lie I had seen the Protector
but they were selling him as Bruce Lee and
570
00:37:44,689 --> 00:37:46,232
he clearly wasn't.
571
00:37:47,024 --> 00:37:51,237
When the Hong Kong actors started to come into
the United States it was a very good sign.
572
00:37:51,779 --> 00:37:53,406
Especially for me as an Asian American.
573
00:37:54,198 --> 00:37:59,620
If you're looking for that Asian action people
they had to come from over there because
574
00:38:00,288 --> 00:38:02,728
it seemed like there was not
very many of them that were here.
575
00:38:03,332 --> 00:38:10,548
There was no representative of action stars
globally, especially in the United States.
576
00:38:11,299 --> 00:38:14,593
People like Jackie Chan, they made quite a
bit of impact.
577
00:38:15,344 --> 00:38:16,929
I was training in Kung Fu.
578
00:38:17,597 --> 00:38:19,348
I always looked at Jackie Chan.
579
00:38:19,974 --> 00:38:22,602
I used to watch his movies every Sunday in
Chinatown
580
00:38:23,311 --> 00:38:25,104
and come home and practice his movements.
581
00:38:25,396 --> 00:38:27,773
And I always thought
I want to be like Jackie Chan.
582
00:38:28,274 --> 00:38:30,359
I never thought I would want to do movies.
583
00:38:30,818 --> 00:38:33,178
It just wasn't in my mind because
it all happened by chance.
584
00:38:33,446 --> 00:38:38,326
He's the one that yeah, I looked at and said
yeah, that's how I wanted to move because
585
00:38:38,909 --> 00:38:41,495
I liked the realism in the comedy.
586
00:38:41,954 --> 00:38:46,334
Like he would take a telephone and start
using that as a steel whip and I loved that.
587
00:38:46,959 --> 00:38:50,629
And I think in some of my films I tried to
do that like take two frying pans and try
588
00:38:51,297 --> 00:38:53,537
to fight with them because I
like that because it's real.
589
00:38:53,799 --> 00:38:56,861
Sometimes you're not going to be carrying a
weapon on the street and you have to use whatever
590
00:38:56,886 --> 00:38:57,886
is available.
591
00:38:58,346 --> 00:39:02,975
There's a reason why we know who Jackie Chan
and Jet Li and Jean-Claude Van Damme are but
592
00:39:03,768 --> 00:39:08,814
yet we don't know other actors from those
regions because they do action.
593
00:39:09,732 --> 00:39:13,569
No man, no law, no war can stop him.
594
00:39:15,196 --> 00:39:17,239
Sylvester Stallone is back.
595
00:39:18,199 --> 00:39:24,080
It took it to a new level because the stunt
work was great and we had terrific crew.
596
00:39:24,497 --> 00:39:28,709
We had great set design,
we had Jack Cardiff on camera.
597
00:39:29,210 --> 00:39:31,962
I mean it was Jerry Goldsmith's score.
598
00:39:33,297 --> 00:39:36,926
Rambo - First Blood Part Two
599
00:39:37,551 --> 00:39:45,226
Rambo's theme by Jerry Goldsmith is absolutely
the touchstone for me for '80s action.
600
00:39:47,645 --> 00:39:52,608
Jerry Goldsmith is my all-time favorite composer
and he always has been ever since I was a boy.
601
00:39:53,776 --> 00:40:00,950
He really created a sense of heroism and humanity
for Rambo and when I think of that it's immediate
602
00:40:01,617 --> 00:40:02,743
childhood.
603
00:40:03,285 --> 00:40:05,579
They've got Rambo going back
to Vietnam rescuing POWs.
604
00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:10,418
In other words, he's atoning for the
mistakes that were made beforehand.
605
00:40:11,335 --> 00:40:16,757
Yeah, there's a big difference in that we see
that sort of evolution to a branded character
606
00:40:17,299 --> 00:40:19,927
as opposed to an actor playing a character.
607
00:40:20,511 --> 00:40:24,515
First Blood was an actor's role, the other
was a Stallone vehicle.
608
00:40:25,266 --> 00:40:29,729
So, why complicate your life and make those
art movies and then go see how where you go,
609
00:40:30,229 --> 00:40:31,669
who buys it, whether you release it?
610
00:40:32,064 --> 00:40:34,692
You make something that people
want and that's what they wanted.
611
00:40:35,109 --> 00:40:37,909
After the Rambo movies, it was an
explosion. So that's all they wanted.
612
00:40:38,028 --> 00:40:43,242
There's a Vietnamese officer and he's got his
pistol out and he's nervous and he's firing.
613
00:40:43,743 --> 00:40:45,703
He's firing at Rambo and
he was trying to hit him.
614
00:40:45,728 --> 00:40:46,979
He can't hit him.
615
00:40:47,455 --> 00:40:51,000
Rambo meanwhile is just calmly pulling back
on his bow, he's got a grenade tip arrow,
616
00:40:51,417 --> 00:40:56,172
he's pulling back on the bow and they keep
cutting to this and he's got shaking and firing
617
00:40:56,464 --> 00:40:57,464
he can't hit him.
618
00:40:57,882 --> 00:41:01,594
Rambo let's go of the bow and the grenade
hits this guy.
619
00:41:02,845 --> 00:41:07,391
There's an explosion and there's like human
tissue flying.
620
00:41:07,850 --> 00:41:09,101
The audience went nuts.
621
00:41:09,518 --> 00:41:16,525
And I'm sure Stallone and the guys from Carolco,
Mario and Andy were in audiences watching
622
00:41:17,234 --> 00:41:19,695
this also and they realized you know what?
623
00:41:20,446 --> 00:41:24,366
We got to take a completely different direction
with these Rambo films because they're loving this.
624
00:41:24,700 --> 00:41:28,704
We didn't want the outgoing crowd to clash
with the people coming in and we put them out
625
00:41:29,163 --> 00:41:32,374
the exits and immediately they joined the
queue for a ticket for the next show.
626
00:41:33,083 --> 00:41:37,046
My parents took me to see Rambo I think
three or four times in the theater.
627
00:41:38,005 --> 00:41:40,299
I mean we just went over and over again.
628
00:41:40,758 --> 00:41:45,095
I believe it was the most successful movie
the year that it came out.
629
00:41:45,471 --> 00:41:51,185
Also, it had the most negative reviews of
any movie.
630
00:41:51,727 --> 00:41:56,315
The fact that Rambo 2,
biggest success of the year.
631
00:41:57,149 --> 00:42:00,444
Rambo 2 most negative reviews of the year.
632
00:42:01,362 --> 00:42:06,492
Here's a guy who went against the grain in
everything that he ever did.
633
00:42:07,076 --> 00:42:15,076
Here's a guy who transformed himself, literally
he chiseled his own body into this statuesque
634
00:42:16,585 --> 00:42:19,338
muscular specimen.
635
00:42:19,964 --> 00:42:27,137
But he was very toned, the way he eats, how he
exercised meticulously every day, every day.
636
00:42:27,596 --> 00:42:29,556
I don't know how many times a day, how many
hours.
637
00:42:29,581 --> 00:42:30,624
This guy lives at the gym.
638
00:42:30,933 --> 00:42:34,854
Have you ever seen a body weigh that much
and be that lean at the same time?
639
00:42:35,437 --> 00:42:36,730
How does a person do that?
640
00:42:37,523 --> 00:42:41,861
He does not eat and only
does juice and works out.
641
00:42:42,570 --> 00:42:47,366
America needed a boost of confidence and what
could be more confidence boosting than a muscular
642
00:42:47,908 --> 00:42:48,993
physical specimen?
643
00:42:49,368 --> 00:42:55,165
The American audience with the help of Hollywood
was looking to kind of elevate the feeling,
644
00:42:55,958 --> 00:42:59,670
the good feeling of being American but we
are talking about the subtext.
645
00:43:00,170 --> 00:43:01,610
We are not talking about the movies.
646
00:43:01,839 --> 00:43:04,425
The movies were action movies except First
Blood maybe.
647
00:43:04,967 --> 00:43:07,553
Stallone goes off on this rant.
648
00:43:14,393 --> 00:43:16,604
He's got a handicap; He's
got a mental handicap.
649
00:43:17,313 --> 00:43:21,942
This was an image that people had of
Vietnam veterans throughout the '70s.
650
00:43:22,610 --> 00:43:28,449
In First Blood you had a guy in a big baggy
army coat come back looking for his compadres
651
00:43:28,866 --> 00:43:31,035
and found they've all died of Agent Orange,
basically.
652
00:43:31,577 --> 00:43:33,078
He's the last one left.
653
00:43:33,537 --> 00:43:37,917
And the most of that movie is him in that
big jacket acting scared, vulnerable, angry
654
00:43:38,500 --> 00:43:40,544
and at the end getting
arrested and put away.
655
00:43:40,961 --> 00:43:43,380
It was a real movie and it was really good.
656
00:43:43,839 --> 00:43:44,923
Then you have the sequel.
657
00:43:45,633 --> 00:43:46,926
Do we get to win this time?
658
00:43:48,260 --> 00:43:49,260
This time it's up to you.
659
00:43:49,595 --> 00:43:54,558
Now it's about the muscles. Now it's the
superhero realm where it's almost like a fantasy
660
00:43:54,850 --> 00:43:56,310
the first John Rambo had.
661
00:43:56,685 --> 00:43:59,438
He gets to go back and
save all these buddies.
662
00:43:59,980 --> 00:44:01,690
He's a powerful superhero.
663
00:44:02,191 --> 00:44:05,351
It's no longer about losing the Vietnam
War; It's about winning the Vietnam War.
664
00:44:05,736 --> 00:44:06,820
And guess who loves it?
665
00:44:07,279 --> 00:44:08,279
Ronald Reagan.
666
00:44:08,614 --> 00:44:14,078
I'm reminded of a recent very popular movie
and in the spirit of Rambo let me tell you
667
00:44:14,578 --> 00:44:16,705
we're going to win this time.
668
00:44:17,122 --> 00:44:23,212
Ronald Reagan had this macho cowboy image
about him.
669
00:44:23,712 --> 00:44:29,385
But the world should know that this administration
continues to attach the highest priority to
670
00:44:29,718 --> 00:44:31,595
the problem of those missing in action.
671
00:44:31,887 --> 00:44:36,975
There was this renewed sense of patriotism
in America. In terms of the response to the
672
00:44:37,601 --> 00:44:42,189
times, it was the Reagan era in the U.S.,
things were getting a lot more militant
673
00:44:42,606 --> 00:44:45,567
a lot more conservative,
a lot more reactionary.
674
00:44:45,943 --> 00:44:46,943
He's America's hero.
675
00:44:47,277 --> 00:44:48,757
It's a good feeling being number one.
676
00:44:49,905 --> 00:44:53,492
I have a photo of with Reagan holding
something saying Rambo is a Republican.
677
00:44:53,784 --> 00:44:54,952
It became even political.
678
00:44:55,411 --> 00:44:56,787
So a lot of people copied it.
679
00:44:57,162 --> 00:45:00,040
And even Arnold started doing like Commando
and stuff like this.
680
00:45:00,582 --> 00:45:06,672
Vietnam played a part in the Rambo series
where it was about a veteran taking revenge
681
00:45:07,381 --> 00:45:09,383
for misdeeds.
682
00:45:09,675 --> 00:45:14,555
So that had that whole Rambo had that whole
Vietnam parallel but I mean Commando didn't.
683
00:45:15,055 --> 00:45:18,600
But I was trying to get with
the current day politics.
684
00:45:20,019 --> 00:45:21,520
Now somewhere
685
00:45:22,688 --> 00:45:23,688
somehow
686
00:45:24,106 --> 00:45:26,191
someone's going to pay
687
00:45:26,775 --> 00:45:31,238
Barry Diller said he met Arnold at a party
and was struck by how intelligent and charming
688
00:45:31,655 --> 00:45:34,825
he was nothing like the
Terminator or Conan.
689
00:45:35,325 --> 00:45:39,204
And he came into the studio he had just been
made head of the studio and he said to Larry
690
00:45:39,705 --> 00:45:42,916
Gordon I just met Arnold Schwarzenegger, a
charming guy.
691
00:45:43,751 --> 00:45:45,511
He's nothing like those
characters he plays.
692
00:45:45,753 --> 00:45:49,273
If you can make a movie with him for ten
million dollars, I'll greenlight it immediately.
693
00:45:49,506 --> 00:45:52,634
And a week later, we were greenlighted with
Commando.
694
00:45:53,093 --> 00:45:58,307
When it came to like a Commando with
Schwarzenegger that was designed as like a hero.
695
00:45:58,724 --> 00:46:00,804
Somebody takes his daughter,
he's going to be a hero.
696
00:46:01,143 --> 00:46:05,189
That movie set the tone for action movies
for years to this day.
697
00:46:05,773 --> 00:46:10,110
I like the script because it
had several levels of action
698
00:46:11,820 --> 00:46:12,820
and comedy.
699
00:46:14,114 --> 00:46:15,114
Don't disturb my friend.
700
00:46:15,824 --> 00:46:16,824
He's dead tired.
701
00:46:16,909 --> 00:46:22,790
So, I said we have to put all of these laughs
in the film like one liners, and the producer
702
00:46:23,165 --> 00:46:28,420
Joel Silver, he said, "That's fantastic
because a pure action movie won't make as"
703
00:46:28,712 --> 00:46:29,712
much money."
704
00:46:30,005 --> 00:46:34,468
The night before shooting I called Arnold
and I said tomorrow's shooting you're going
705
00:46:34,760 --> 00:46:38,639
to walk across the street holding this guy
with your two arms and then you hang him over
706
00:46:39,181 --> 00:46:42,142
the cliff as you're talking
to him and you drop him.
707
00:46:42,601 --> 00:46:44,311
And he goes, I can't do that.
708
00:46:44,770 --> 00:46:45,770
I said what do you mean?
709
00:46:46,028 --> 00:46:47,748
You're like the strongest man in the world.
710
00:46:47,773 --> 00:46:53,779
You lift 400-pound weights and he says, "That's
weights. Those are balanced I cannot carry"
711
00:46:54,071 --> 00:46:57,071
a man across the street and then hold him
over a cliff and do a whole scene.
712
00:46:57,783 --> 00:46:58,783
That's crazy.
713
00:46:59,326 --> 00:47:01,286
Remember Sully,
when I promised to kill you last?
714
00:47:01,787 --> 00:47:02,987
That's right, Matrix. You did.
715
00:47:03,580 --> 00:47:04,580
I lied.
716
00:47:07,709 --> 00:47:12,464
To be honest, I don't think anybody knew that
this would create the trend that it created.
717
00:47:13,131 --> 00:47:14,299
You scared, motherfucker?
718
00:47:14,591 --> 00:47:17,678
Well you should be, because this Green
Beret is going to kick your big ass!
719
00:47:18,220 --> 00:47:20,848
I was doing the next film
that the producers were doing.
720
00:47:21,140 --> 00:47:22,850
Joel Silver was Commando.
721
00:47:23,851 --> 00:47:27,187
And he actually took me and introduced me
to the director and the director said no,
722
00:47:27,604 --> 00:47:28,804
I've got somebody else I want.
723
00:47:29,857 --> 00:47:34,486
The producer wanted him always because of
Road Warrior and then he had done some Weird
724
00:47:34,903 --> 00:47:40,826
Science and other films with Joel Silver but
then we found this other guy and then I never
725
00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:45,706
shot him but we did rehearsal one day and
he was like oh, man we need somebody else.
726
00:47:45,998 --> 00:47:49,209
And then it came well,
we got to use that Road Warrior guy.
727
00:47:54,256 --> 00:48:00,178
Vernon Wells is like the only one that could
have played against him and it was odd because
728
00:48:00,596 --> 00:48:02,639
he was like in love with
him but he hated him too.
729
00:48:02,931 --> 00:48:04,891
He wanted to kill him but
he was in love with him.
730
00:48:04,916 --> 00:48:09,296
This character,
this man wanted to be Arnold.
731
00:48:10,189 --> 00:48:11,315
That was the whole premise.
732
00:48:11,773 --> 00:48:13,150
He wanted to be number one.
733
00:48:13,650 --> 00:48:17,946
When we did the scene I just had jumped on
him and did that whole scene and when it was
734
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:22,367
over Joel Silver said,
"So what do you think?"
735
00:48:22,910 --> 00:48:25,829
And he went, "Never give him a real knife."
736
00:48:26,747 --> 00:48:31,793
He always says in all these interviews, he
says he's the sweetest human being but say
737
00:48:32,294 --> 00:48:35,005
action and he turns into
the biggest raving monster.
738
00:48:35,839 --> 00:48:40,552
When that movie again out performed its domestic
box office overseas that kind of woke up
739
00:48:40,928 --> 00:48:44,890
20th Century Fox to this kind of movie
and all the other majors as well.
740
00:48:45,307 --> 00:48:46,642
It's so famous today.
741
00:48:46,934 --> 00:48:49,186
Everywhere you go everyone
has seen this film.
742
00:48:49,895 --> 00:48:52,606
And so I think it did
set off a whole genre.
743
00:48:54,024 --> 00:48:55,984
A whole genre of this type of movies.
744
00:48:56,610 --> 00:48:59,154
And I remember at the time Stallone and
Schwarzenegger
745
00:48:59,655 --> 00:49:00,864
they had this rivalry.
746
00:49:01,531 --> 00:49:07,037
Stallone was bragging on how Rambo made more
money at the box office but Arnold said, quite
747
00:49:07,454 --> 00:49:10,791
wisely he said in the long run people are
going to remember mine more.
748
00:49:11,166 --> 00:49:15,254
Now they are very good friends but I'm sure
in the old days there was some competition.
749
00:49:15,837 --> 00:49:17,047
It was all about the muscles.
750
00:49:17,589 --> 00:49:21,093
Arnold Schwarzenegger was the
reigning champ of action movies.
751
00:49:21,510 --> 00:49:23,595
Maybe it was Stallone, they were competing.
752
00:49:24,054 --> 00:49:26,181
So, Stallone definitely upped the old...
753
00:49:27,099 --> 00:49:30,185
I mean definitely that was because of
Schwarzenegger.
754
00:49:30,978 --> 00:49:35,524
Would he have gone to those lengths to get
as big as he was if not for Schwarzenegger?
755
00:49:35,857 --> 00:49:38,777
Maybe not but that was the way it was back
then.
756
00:49:39,236 --> 00:49:40,862
They grew together.
757
00:49:41,154 --> 00:49:43,991
I made movies with both of them
so I was happy with both of them.
758
00:49:44,408 --> 00:49:50,247
Actually, I was going to make a movie with
both of them in the same movie and it almost
759
00:49:50,706 --> 00:49:53,792
got made but then for
somehow it didn't happen.
760
00:49:54,209 --> 00:49:56,920
Can you imagine the stress
on the set having this?
761
00:49:57,462 --> 00:50:01,925
I remember quite vividly driving down I
think it was Hollywood or Sunset Boulevard
762
00:50:02,676 --> 00:50:09,224
when I was six years old and seeing the largest
billboard I've ever seen in my life for Cobra.
763
00:50:10,517 --> 00:50:14,104
And that was a Warner Brothers pickup of a
Cannon Film.
764
00:50:14,813 --> 00:50:16,940
I remember my dad pointed it out.
765
00:50:17,232 --> 00:50:19,526
He's like look at that,
just look at that thing.
766
00:50:19,943 --> 00:50:25,532
During my days younger people than the age
that's supposed to be sneaked into theaters.
767
00:50:25,991 --> 00:50:27,492
They bought, they got in.
768
00:50:27,951 --> 00:50:29,631
I mean somehow they found a way to get in.
769
00:50:29,786 --> 00:50:30,996
This is where the law stops...
770
00:50:32,372 --> 00:50:33,372
And I start.
771
00:50:33,790 --> 00:50:41,131
My co-writer Lenny Macaluso and I, we originally
wrote The Touch with the movie Cobra in mind.
772
00:50:51,016 --> 00:50:55,562
And it didn't get in the Cobra movie but the
record label at the time Scottie Brothers
773
00:50:56,021 --> 00:51:01,651
they said we got The Touch in this movie
called Transformers about these cartoon robots.
774
00:51:02,110 --> 00:51:03,403
And we're like, what?
775
00:51:07,949 --> 00:51:11,995
You watch any film from the '80s and the
music is a big part of it, the soundtrack.
776
00:51:18,001 --> 00:51:21,296
They worked out great so it turned out to
be a real phenomenon.
777
00:51:21,755 --> 00:51:23,298
This was a more innocent time.
778
00:51:23,757 --> 00:51:28,845
We didn't have all these
choices on your TV.
779
00:51:29,137 --> 00:51:35,977
I think when the record labels realized what
a lucrative potential promotional vehicle
780
00:51:36,394 --> 00:51:42,317
this would be first for music to get them in
films, there was more of a scramble to get
781
00:51:42,692 --> 00:51:43,692
those slots.
782
00:51:43,944 --> 00:51:49,032
And I think it became more competitive as
time went on to get that big soundtrack cut.
783
00:51:49,991 --> 00:51:57,124
The inspirational rock anthem kind of thing
it started with The Touch and it became after
784
00:51:57,499 --> 00:52:01,002
that it seemed to be a good fit for me.
785
00:52:01,378 --> 00:52:05,966
That whole like upbeat sort of believe in
yourself thing to me is just great.
786
00:52:06,258 --> 00:52:10,846
Kids need sort of, they need to
have positive things in their lives.
787
00:52:11,138 --> 00:52:15,308
It was a beautiful time to be a boy and to
grow up during that period.
788
00:52:15,851 --> 00:52:17,686
These movies were made for us.
789
00:52:18,019 --> 00:52:23,275
The kind of aura that grew up around those
films began to invent the whole geek culture.
790
00:52:23,942 --> 00:52:27,863
We always kind of lay that at the door of
Star Wars and that created it all.
791
00:52:28,238 --> 00:52:32,659
But I think there was a kind of following
certainly around the personalities of
792
00:52:33,201 --> 00:52:38,707
Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Kurt Russell and
their like that invented a kind of film fan
793
00:52:39,082 --> 00:52:40,082
and film cult.
794
00:52:40,250 --> 00:52:45,088
That was a sort of kin to following a rock star
and in that sense, you'd wear t-shirts and you
795
00:52:45,547 --> 00:52:49,342
had posters and you've got collectibles because
that's what you did when he followed bands.
796
00:52:50,051 --> 00:52:55,098
Shortly after Rambo 2 came out there were
Rambo toys for an R rated film.
797
00:52:55,682 --> 00:52:56,808
It makes sense to me.
798
00:52:57,142 --> 00:52:59,062
What was the difference between Rambo and
GI Joe?
799
00:52:59,394 --> 00:53:00,770
Same thing basically.
800
00:53:01,313 --> 00:53:05,442
We had more toys on that movie between the
arrows, bandana, whatever was in the movie
801
00:53:06,735 --> 00:53:09,279
we had the figure of Stallone or the other
characters.
802
00:53:09,905 --> 00:53:11,656
They were selling like pancakes.
803
00:53:12,073 --> 00:53:16,119
Rambo was actually a Saturday morning cartoon
which was the craziest thing in my mind.
804
00:53:16,620 --> 00:53:22,000
The fact that these toys were a little bit
edgier as a kid and I was a kid when that
805
00:53:22,459 --> 00:53:27,047
was happening. I was psyched, I was
like good, I can play with this stuff.
806
00:53:27,339 --> 00:53:28,798
It's not too scary for me.
807
00:53:29,090 --> 00:53:31,760
I don't need to play with
a Smurf or something.
808
00:53:32,469 --> 00:53:37,307
As someone who lived through that I found
it very exciting and I didn't care at all
809
00:53:38,141 --> 00:53:41,895
that it was being marketed to me because I
bought what I wanted.
810
00:53:44,439 --> 00:53:48,985
It started in the '80s,
there's the whole sense of high concept.
811
00:53:49,486 --> 00:53:51,947
You're going out there
to destroy them, right?
812
00:53:52,280 --> 00:53:57,035
Not to study. Not to bring
back, but to wipe them out?
813
00:53:57,327 --> 00:54:02,123
I think in the beginning of Cameron's career
there was something of a kind of surge.
814
00:54:02,874 --> 00:54:08,004
As soon as The Terminator became a box-office
sensation when it was really thought of it
815
00:54:08,296 --> 00:54:12,676
was going to be a horror movie that would
last one weekend and suddenly everybody wanted
816
00:54:13,009 --> 00:54:14,009
to have lunch with him.
817
00:54:14,135 --> 00:54:16,972
Suddenly he was kind of like,
he got the clout to make Aliens.
818
00:54:17,264 --> 00:54:20,559
He'd already written Aliens but now he got
the clout to direct it.
819
00:54:21,017 --> 00:54:24,312
He realized that it's the story of Ripley.
It's not the story of an alien.
820
00:54:24,896 --> 00:54:26,398
That's kind of almost coincidental.
821
00:54:27,065 --> 00:54:28,585
It's not about these creatures at all.
822
00:54:29,109 --> 00:54:31,486
It's about a woman and her journey.
823
00:54:32,195 --> 00:54:34,656
This is kind of a theory
about Cameron is that
824
00:54:35,156 --> 00:54:39,286
all of his films are really about
the creation of the nuclear family.
825
00:54:40,203 --> 00:54:45,875
All these films kind of end or with the kind of
family sort of being put back together because
826
00:54:46,167 --> 00:54:50,088
I think he's kind of quite, sort of
conservative about family life in that sense.
827
00:54:50,630 --> 00:54:56,177
Hicks and Ripley and Newt as the daughter,
you have a nuclear family again.
828
00:54:56,928 --> 00:55:01,141
And that's inspired in the sense that everyone
going in and watching these films can relate
829
00:55:01,558 --> 00:55:02,558
to that.
830
00:55:02,601 --> 00:55:08,273
When I see it now just the technical, the
practical effects, that's what's unbelievable
831
00:55:08,606 --> 00:55:09,899
how those stand up.
832
00:55:10,358 --> 00:55:17,615
But it really comes back to the story and Jim's
script and the actors and the ensemble work.
833
00:55:18,742 --> 00:55:24,664
When she falls with the loader down into that
sort of airlock and lands on top of the alien
834
00:55:25,248 --> 00:55:30,128
there's a moment where you see it under her
and they didn't have the CG then that was
835
00:55:30,545 --> 00:55:36,760
a practical effect and it's just perfect, it
makes it real when you see it in the airlock
836
00:55:37,635 --> 00:55:41,473
in that stark environment for the first
time just exposed without flashing light.
837
00:55:41,848 --> 00:55:45,448
It is squirming under her and because it's so
starkly presented you go, "Get out of there!"
838
00:55:45,727 --> 00:55:46,247
That's real."
839
00:55:46,603 --> 00:55:47,145
I love it.
840
00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:51,358
It's one of my favorite moments in Aliens
is the point where the guys have gone into
841
00:55:51,816 --> 00:55:52,901
the nest and
842
00:55:53,276 --> 00:55:54,527
it's just going wrong.
843
00:55:55,070 --> 00:55:57,030
Shit is going down in
the middle of this nest.
844
00:55:57,322 --> 00:55:58,642
It's just fantastically directed.
845
00:55:59,366 --> 00:56:03,161
Because you always can't figure it out if you
see it on different screens and he's dropping
846
00:56:03,453 --> 00:56:09,626
out the heavens on these poor guys and Ripley
takes over because Gorman can't deal with it.
847
00:56:10,126 --> 00:56:14,214
There he's kind of flaking out and she just
goes right and that's the moment she takes
848
00:56:14,506 --> 00:56:15,506
charge of the movie.
849
00:56:19,010 --> 00:56:20,095
Do something!
850
00:56:23,139 --> 00:56:26,142
From now on I'm the only one who could deal
with this.
851
00:56:26,434 --> 00:56:28,561
That's brilliant but you
don't even question it.
852
00:56:29,062 --> 00:56:34,275
It's just about how brilliant the character is
in that moment and how great the storytelling is.
853
00:56:41,825 --> 00:56:47,080
With RoboCop I don't think that I wanted to
do anything let's say innovating.
854
00:56:53,420 --> 00:56:55,922
I didn't even think about
American action movies.
855
00:56:56,339 --> 00:57:02,804
I mean it was my jump from Soldier of Orange,
Turkish Delight and Spetters into RoboCop
856
00:57:03,304 --> 00:57:06,808
was the adventure,
shot completely different.
857
00:57:07,225 --> 00:57:14,607
And on top of that I was very inspired
by a movie that was one year earlier that
858
00:57:15,108 --> 00:57:16,108
was Terminator.
859
00:57:16,234 --> 00:57:18,737
Ronny we have this film called RoboCop.
860
00:57:20,822 --> 00:57:23,742
RoboCop -The Future of Law Enforcement
861
00:57:24,451 --> 00:57:27,203
But the script was kind
of considered a joke and
862
00:57:27,537 --> 00:57:30,290
was not considered a really serious film.
863
00:57:33,460 --> 00:57:38,965
I'd spent 15 years playing nothing but Mr.
Super Nice Guy, good guy.
864
00:57:39,466 --> 00:57:42,635
So if a role had any balls I never got it.
865
00:57:42,927 --> 00:57:44,554
So I found it intriguing.
866
00:57:44,971 --> 00:57:50,977
So, I went in and met with Paul and meeting
with Paul then I realized that he had a vision
867
00:57:51,394 --> 00:57:57,192
for this film that made it the
absolute special film that it became.
868
00:57:57,484 --> 00:57:59,569
It was not to do something different.
869
00:57:59,861 --> 00:58:05,033
I think the script was already different and
the producer Jon Davison was already different
870
00:58:05,533 --> 00:58:07,327
than say a normal producer.
871
00:58:09,245 --> 00:58:16,711
The script invited you to be different. It's
not that I wanted to be different, the script
872
00:58:17,086 --> 00:58:18,838
ordered you to be different.
873
00:58:19,380 --> 00:58:26,304
In retrospect yes, I can see that is different than
other movies out at that time but I didn't know.
874
00:58:26,596 --> 00:58:32,143
I exaggerated perhaps because I thought that
you'd have a different style than American
875
00:58:32,477 --> 00:58:33,186
action movie.
876
00:58:33,478 --> 00:58:38,316
That it should be partially light-hearted,
that it should be a bit funny.
877
00:58:41,611 --> 00:58:44,155
Paul grew up in World War 2.
878
00:58:44,489 --> 00:58:46,366
He saw real violence.
879
00:58:46,741 --> 00:58:54,741
And his whole concept of the violence in RoboCop
is he wanted it to be so over the top that
880
00:58:55,875 --> 00:58:57,752
you got the joke immediately.
881
00:59:01,589 --> 00:59:03,466
Violence is underestimated.
882
00:59:04,008 --> 00:59:11,224
If you look at the paintings of the very famous
English artist Turner, he has these battles,
883
00:59:11,724 --> 00:59:14,143
sea battles with explosions in them.
884
00:59:14,602 --> 00:59:18,481
Then you could say violence
close-up is horrible.
885
00:59:19,107 --> 00:59:21,526
Violence from a distance is beautiful.
886
00:59:22,402 --> 00:59:24,487
There is something like that into violence.
887
00:59:24,946 --> 00:59:32,829
In the original concept it was so bloody in
the first couple of frames that as an audience
888
00:59:33,204 --> 00:59:35,832
you'd say I get it. I get it.
889
00:59:36,958 --> 00:59:38,501
This is where we are.
890
00:59:40,670 --> 00:59:44,883
Because they had to go back to the censors
God knows how many times.
891
00:59:45,466 --> 00:59:49,345
They cut it back so much so that it finally
got to where it was right on the edge of what
892
00:59:49,637 --> 00:59:57,637
you could stand and they made it the
violence more egregious by doing it that way.
893
00:59:58,521 --> 01:00:04,777
That's non artistic people trying to make
decisions that they have no business making.
894
01:00:05,361 --> 01:00:09,407
One of the most inspired movies perhaps
together is a dutch movie like Turkish Delight.
895
01:00:10,074 --> 01:00:13,870
The most inspired let's say shooting that
I ever had.
896
01:00:14,954 --> 01:00:19,459
That film to me is a
triumph of Paul Verhoeven.
897
01:00:20,293 --> 01:00:21,544
Thank you for your cooperation.
898
01:00:22,170 --> 01:00:22,670
Good night.
899
01:00:23,004 --> 01:00:30,053
In 1987 they released The Predator and
it was remarkable for a number of reasons.
900
01:00:30,637 --> 01:00:36,351
One, it was at the height of the Rambo craze
and the height of the craze over Alien.
901
01:00:37,477 --> 01:00:40,688
Nothing like it has ever
been on Earth before.
902
01:00:42,273 --> 01:00:45,860
What kind of works about the Predator was
just the brilliance of its high concept.
903
01:00:46,194 --> 01:00:47,394
Yeah, it wasn't just an alien.
904
01:00:47,528 --> 01:00:48,648
It was this chameleon alien.
905
01:00:49,113 --> 01:00:50,365
We cannot see it.
906
01:00:51,783 --> 01:00:53,910
But it sees the heat of our bodies.
907
01:00:54,952 --> 01:00:58,373
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator
908
01:00:59,082 --> 01:01:02,710
We've got this kind of gang of macho idiots
that were all kind of rivals to one another.
909
01:01:03,127 --> 01:01:05,505
Carl Weathers and Jesse Ventura.
910
01:01:05,797 --> 01:01:09,384
All these kind of ridiculous people
who were more ridiculous than Arnold.
911
01:01:09,759 --> 01:01:11,803
They made Arnold look
like the straight guy.
912
01:01:12,178 --> 01:01:13,938
But then you saw a film
where Schwarzenegger
913
01:01:13,972 --> 01:01:17,392
actually went beyond and tried
in that movie to really act.
914
01:01:17,684 --> 01:01:19,435
And the result was a guy who was scared.
915
01:01:19,727 --> 01:01:22,647
You saw Schwarzenegger for the first time
ever express fear.
916
01:01:23,314 --> 01:01:28,236
When we got to Puerto Vallarta which is where
we shot most of it and went down to Palenque
917
01:01:28,611 --> 01:01:34,117
down by the pyramids, Arnold I think it was
two ballrooms and he had two tractors and
918
01:01:34,534 --> 01:01:37,870
trailers bring gyms to those ballrooms.
919
01:01:38,413 --> 01:01:44,001
They would get up at 3 o'clock run miles then
come back to the gym, work out for an hour,
920
01:01:44,460 --> 01:01:47,755
an hour and a half, eat breakfast
after that and go to the set.
921
01:01:48,089 --> 01:01:51,134
I did it for a week and after that I just
went to the set.
922
01:01:51,926 --> 01:01:57,724
Rather than becoming just a daft film like Raw
Deal or Commando even which I kind of cherished
923
01:01:58,141 --> 01:02:01,644
for their nonsense,
Predator was kind of exciting.
924
01:02:01,936 --> 01:02:05,356
I think that had a lot to do
with McTiernan as a director.
925
01:02:05,898 --> 01:02:09,986
Filmically I don't think there is anybody
that tells stories better with a camera than
926
01:02:10,278 --> 01:02:11,278
John McTiernan.
927
01:02:11,404 --> 01:02:13,865
He understands actors and
brings the best out of you.
928
01:02:14,699 --> 01:02:17,035
So, we were in good company.
929
01:02:17,493 --> 01:02:25,168
He had a skill with taking the tenets of '80s
action movies but giving them a kind of robustness.
930
01:02:25,793 --> 01:02:29,088
Die Hard is great because there's something
just robust about its storytelling.
931
01:02:29,589 --> 01:02:34,552
It's kind of Cameron's skills in a way where
he's so good at keeping a film going, going
932
01:02:34,844 --> 01:02:36,763
and going yet the story has a shape.
933
01:02:37,138 --> 01:02:39,515
It just comes together as a thrill ride.
934
01:02:39,849 --> 01:02:43,478
There's the humor in it, there's the strangeness
of it, there's occasional moments where it
935
01:02:43,770 --> 01:02:50,735
breaks out and doesn't work like when he says
stick around, at that point, it was not appropriate
936
01:02:51,027 --> 01:02:53,821
to do the traditionally
branded Schwarzenegger lines.
937
01:02:54,572 --> 01:03:00,453
It was also a good science fiction movie that
you felt created a kind of world and a franchise
938
01:03:00,745 --> 01:03:02,830
that could be invested in its own right.
939
01:03:03,790 --> 01:03:08,336
And so, it is kind of again mixed the kind
of pleasures, the idle pleasures of the great
940
01:03:08,669 --> 01:03:09,295
'80s movie.
941
01:03:09,670 --> 01:03:12,799
With something a bit more Alien-like and
a bit more Star Wars even.
942
01:03:14,092 --> 01:03:15,676
It had just a bit more weight to it.
943
01:03:16,302 --> 01:03:20,932
You've got a movie that brings up the best
and worst of the '80s.
944
01:03:21,349 --> 01:03:26,104
It's a perfect slice of '80s, of what pulp
does best.
945
01:03:26,646 --> 01:03:34,028
It manages to avoid the pitfalls and it avoids
the cheesy movies that it could have been.
946
01:03:37,073 --> 01:03:42,245
What's interesting about Lethal Weapon was it
kind of sort of swung the pendulum back slightly.
947
01:03:47,959 --> 01:03:54,841
It took the basic tenets of comedy but did
it with two sensibly straight actors.
948
01:04:00,763 --> 01:04:06,686
The archetypes for me, the ones I draw from
there more often something I read than something
949
01:04:06,978 --> 01:04:13,693
I saw in a movie which is good because it
gives me this sort of little-known advantage.
950
01:04:13,985 --> 01:04:14,865
It's a little knowing.
951
01:04:14,944 --> 01:04:17,196
I mean anyone can read
but so few actually do.
952
01:04:17,697 --> 01:04:18,697
It's all there.
953
01:04:18,865 --> 01:04:22,505
All the influences which are always two steps
ahead of what movies are currently portraying.
954
01:04:22,827 --> 01:04:26,289
All the sort of complex action-adventure
private-eye.
955
01:04:26,706 --> 01:04:28,499
All these sort of genre heroes.
956
01:04:29,375 --> 01:04:34,630
You make those, you put those shapes in your
head much more effectively when you combine
957
01:04:34,922 --> 01:04:37,842
movies with a library of stuff.
958
01:04:38,217 --> 01:04:44,223
And since I was a kid I have been addicted
to the retreat and the sort of isolation that
959
01:04:44,807 --> 01:04:45,807
books provide.
960
01:04:45,892 --> 01:04:53,892
I look at Lethal Weapon as Dirty Harry, 48
Hours but it's more Ed McBain's 87th Precinct.
961
01:04:55,860 --> 01:05:00,531
And what was fun about it knowing about it
was that one of them was Mad Max.
962
01:05:00,948 --> 01:05:05,620
I think thinking of Lethal Weapon is you could
bring something of Mad Max, the spirit of
963
01:05:05,912 --> 01:05:11,000
Mad Max and in the presence of Mel Gibson
it kind of just carried over.
964
01:05:16,380 --> 01:05:20,843
I think we hadn't quite realized that Mel
Gibson that he's a bit nuts, that he was
965
01:05:21,219 --> 01:05:24,430
quite highly strung and
that it kind of works.
966
01:05:25,431 --> 01:05:29,810
He's kind of cool as Mad Max but once you
kind of let him off the leash a bit he's a
967
01:05:30,102 --> 01:05:32,230
bit odd and a bit edgy and discomforting.
968
01:05:32,813 --> 01:05:39,111
But it was guys who were very vulnerable
and the best ones even the toughest ones,
969
01:05:39,612 --> 01:05:43,616
the best parts of the films for me even Dirty
Harry was where they were sort of in-between
970
01:05:43,991 --> 01:05:44,991
and vulnerable.
971
01:05:45,451 --> 01:05:49,051
Where you saw that they're really good at their
job but they're really fractured as people.
972
01:05:49,076 --> 01:05:50,703
And that's what influenced me the most.
973
01:05:50,998 --> 01:05:54,278
I think that's what encouraged me to make
the Mel Gibson character in Lethal Weapon
974
01:05:54,303 --> 01:05:57,473
not just a really good
cop but a fractured cop.
975
01:05:58,005 --> 01:06:05,304
And you put him up opposite a weary aging kind
of black cop in the brilliant Danny Glover
976
01:06:05,930 --> 01:06:08,307
and you have kind of everything would work.
977
01:06:08,849 --> 01:06:11,686
Opposites, comedy, straight man, comedian.
978
01:06:12,353 --> 01:06:13,354
I look back on it.
979
01:06:13,771 --> 01:06:15,773
Do I remember the action scenes persay?
980
01:06:16,357 --> 01:06:18,818
No, I can't bring them absolutely to mind.
981
01:06:19,318 --> 01:06:23,656
There are great action sequences but I just
remember their interaction and the way they
982
01:06:23,948 --> 01:06:25,783
played off each other more than anything.
983
01:06:26,117 --> 01:06:31,831
And that's I think is just a great recalibration
of the grand tradition of The Odd Couple.
984
01:06:32,206 --> 01:06:34,750
Have you ever met anybody you didn't kill?
985
01:06:38,004 --> 01:06:39,630
Well, I haven't killed you yet.
986
01:06:40,589 --> 01:06:42,309
The Lethal Weapon franchise is interesting.
987
01:06:42,633 --> 01:06:45,261
I did work with Donner on the first one.
988
01:06:45,636 --> 01:06:47,680
The second one, I wrote a draft.
989
01:06:47,972 --> 01:06:53,728
It was good, it was a fairly depressing draft
and needed a bit of work but the work it needed
990
01:06:54,020 --> 01:06:56,897
was not so much the issue
as the somberness of it.
991
01:06:58,399 --> 01:07:06,399
That second one was very much in the realm of
sort of the Dirty Harry of tough '70s driven
992
01:07:08,284 --> 01:07:11,871
more like Bullitt than Animal House.
993
01:07:12,621 --> 01:07:14,915
They wanted like the Joe Pesci of it.
994
01:07:15,207 --> 01:07:19,211
They wanted a lot more humor and I didn't
dig that.
995
01:07:20,046 --> 01:07:24,925
I thought it was going to be a feel-good fun
ass movie and I thought well, it's not so
996
01:07:25,217 --> 01:07:29,138
much way kind of like a
taut suspenseful thriller.
997
01:07:29,513 --> 01:07:30,673
And that was where it parted.
998
01:07:30,806 --> 01:07:32,726
It was part of it was I
killed Riggs at the end.
999
01:07:32,975 --> 01:07:34,060
I didn't have to do that.
1000
01:07:34,810 --> 01:07:39,857
They call that sending away the bread truck
basically but in retrospect I was probably
1001
01:07:40,191 --> 01:07:44,737
being a little too somber
and too pretentious about it.
1002
01:07:45,029 --> 01:07:47,790
But it was enough for me to say look,
I don't want to do this anymore.
1003
01:07:47,815 --> 01:07:51,652
I don't want a comedy.
I'd rather do something different.
1004
01:08:00,795 --> 01:08:06,842
Die Hard is based on a novel called Nothing
Lasts Forever which itself is a sequel to
1005
01:08:07,176 --> 01:08:09,387
another novel by the same author called The
Detective.
1006
01:08:10,179 --> 01:08:16,143
Interestingly enough, The Detective was a movie
made, was Frank Sinatra produced and starred
1007
01:08:16,477 --> 01:08:18,813
in I think in the late "60s."
1008
01:08:19,188 --> 01:08:24,151
Curiously enough because it was the same author
and the same book series Fox had to offer
1009
01:08:24,735 --> 01:08:28,239
Die Hard but under the title of
Nothing Lasts Forever to Sinatra.
1010
01:08:28,823 --> 01:08:33,911
Fortunately, he said I'm too old and too rich
to do this which is good because otherwise
1011
01:08:34,203 --> 01:08:36,363
the chases in the building
would be on Rascal Scooters.
1012
01:08:36,705 --> 01:08:38,265
Willis, that was an interesting choice.
1013
01:08:38,707 --> 01:08:41,752
He was a funny guy, there was a TV show,
Moonlighting.
1014
01:08:42,211 --> 01:08:45,506
Casting him in Die Hard was brilliant.
1015
01:08:46,173 --> 01:08:49,051
I tried to make Bruce
as grounded as possible.
1016
01:08:49,593 --> 01:08:57,593
I was already aware of the overworked overbuilt
steroid muscular hero which becomes problematic
1017
01:08:58,102 --> 01:08:59,728
who do you have to fight him?
1018
01:09:00,187 --> 01:09:05,109
After Schwarzenegger, Willis sort of started
the more regular sized human being kind of
1019
01:09:05,526 --> 01:09:06,526
action hero.
1020
01:09:06,944 --> 01:09:12,158
So, when I construct an action movie, the
first thing I think of is the villain.
1021
01:09:13,659 --> 01:09:21,250
So, the protagonist of Die Hard is really Hans
Gruber and the antagonist is John McClane.
1022
01:09:28,257 --> 01:09:33,053
And if you think about it that way in your
mind you end up getting the cat and mouse
1023
01:09:33,429 --> 01:09:34,429
chess game.
1024
01:09:34,555 --> 01:09:40,978
I do think that Die Hard still to my mind is
one of the top five if not the best action
1025
01:09:41,270 --> 01:09:42,270
films ever made.
1026
01:09:42,813 --> 01:09:44,732
It's exciting. The big sequences are great.
1027
01:09:45,149 --> 01:09:46,442
It's incredibly well plotted.
1028
01:09:46,859 --> 01:09:48,819
They have great characters, great actors.
1029
01:09:49,111 --> 01:09:52,823
McTiernan was the perfect director, Jan de
Bont was the perfect cinematographer.
1030
01:09:54,283 --> 01:09:58,370
One of the best bad guys in film
history which is incredibly important.
1031
01:09:58,829 --> 01:10:02,500
Alan Rickman which I
thought was incredible.
1032
01:10:02,958 --> 01:10:07,546
But I talked about him many times
saying this guy's talking too slow.
1033
01:10:08,047 --> 01:10:09,087
This is not going to work.
1034
01:10:09,340 --> 01:10:12,051
And it comes out on film
and he's incredible.
1035
01:10:12,468 --> 01:10:16,138
Due to the Nakatomi Corporation's
legacy of greed around the globe
1036
01:10:16,597 --> 01:10:19,517
they are about to be taught a
lesson in the real use of power.
1037
01:10:20,142 --> 01:10:22,561
And I also loved that sense
of it being contained.
1038
01:10:22,937 --> 01:10:26,137
There is something about that if it's just
all taking place in this one building.
1039
01:10:26,398 --> 01:10:27,566
You get the logic of it.
1040
01:10:28,067 --> 01:10:34,657
You get the sense of the challenge for the bad
guy, the good guy and in the back of your mind
1041
01:10:34,990 --> 01:10:36,390
for the writers and the filmmakers.
1042
01:10:37,034 --> 01:10:38,914
It's just how are they
going to make this work?
1043
01:10:39,161 --> 01:10:42,706
Well, I think what happened post Die Hard
is a lot of people did this Die Hard in it
1044
01:10:42,998 --> 01:10:45,042
and it became shorthand for a movie pitch.
1045
01:10:45,501 --> 01:10:48,379
Not everybody did what we did
which was have an ordinary guy.
1046
01:10:49,004 --> 01:10:54,301
So for example, Under Siege all you think he's
an ordinary guy but it turns out he actually
1047
01:10:54,760 --> 01:10:57,721
was a Navy SEAL who got demoted because he
punched an officer.
1048
01:10:58,264 --> 01:11:02,977
Die Hard is one that if I'm flipping channels
and it's on I'll say I'll wait, I'm just going
1049
01:11:03,269 --> 01:11:07,565
to wait to the scene which they put in late
in the game which is Hans Gruber going up
1050
01:11:07,898 --> 01:11:09,658
and looking around and
running into McClane.
1051
01:11:10,192 --> 01:11:11,192
Hi there.
1052
01:11:11,360 --> 01:11:13,153
And going oh, no, no, don't shoot me.
1053
01:11:13,445 --> 01:11:14,325
Oh, my God that scene.
1054
01:11:14,446 --> 01:11:15,572
I love that scene so much.
1055
01:11:15,948 --> 01:11:17,628
And then I end up watching the whole film.
1056
01:11:20,160 --> 01:11:27,334
In the late '80s I remember how huge some
of these R rated films like Terminator 2
1057
01:11:28,294 --> 01:11:29,294
and Rambo 3.
1058
01:11:29,587 --> 01:11:32,590
I remember how big those movies
were and how expensive they were.
1059
01:11:39,471 --> 01:11:41,890
Rambo is never looking for a fight.
1060
01:11:42,224 --> 01:11:44,602
You've got to force him to fight.
1061
01:11:44,935 --> 01:11:50,024
And that was one discussion that Stallone
and I had about Rambo 3.
1062
01:11:50,399 --> 01:11:53,068
We've got this war going on in Afghanistan.
1063
01:11:53,360 --> 01:11:56,405
It's Russia's version of Vietnam.
1064
01:11:56,989 --> 01:11:59,450
There are bad Russians in Rambo 2.
1065
01:11:59,742 --> 01:12:00,742
Rambo 3?
1066
01:12:01,535 --> 01:12:03,120
Let's have Russians again.
1067
01:12:03,579 --> 01:12:05,339
But where are they
causing a lot of trouble?
1068
01:12:05,706 --> 01:12:06,906
Where are they killing people?
1069
01:12:07,249 --> 01:12:07,833
Afghanistan.
1070
01:12:08,208 --> 01:12:09,626
Rambo's got to go to Afghanistan.
1071
01:12:18,427 --> 01:12:23,849
We had less luck I think on Rambo 3 because
the political climate had changed.
1072
01:12:24,350 --> 01:12:29,271
I did mention to them when we were shooting
Rambo 3 that Glasnost was happening and people
1073
01:12:29,647 --> 01:12:33,651
were shaking hands and not killing each other
but I was a little bit ignored about that.
1074
01:12:34,401 --> 01:12:37,946
First of all, Peter McDonald
was not the director initially.
1075
01:12:38,405 --> 01:12:39,573
It was Russell Mulcahy.
1076
01:12:39,948 --> 01:12:46,038
Russell actually directed the film for I think
the first couple of weeks before he got fired.
1077
01:12:46,372 --> 01:12:47,790
Sly was not very happy.
1078
01:12:48,624 --> 01:12:50,417
Rushes were dark or something.
1079
01:12:51,085 --> 01:12:52,961
Maybe the guy was intimidated by Sly.
1080
01:12:53,253 --> 01:12:55,047
I have no idea, I wasn't there.
1081
01:12:55,589 --> 01:12:58,384
I just came when the
things started to happen.
1082
01:12:58,884 --> 01:13:03,681
And then we all got together and said okay,
well, unfortunately he's not working with
1083
01:13:03,972 --> 01:13:05,933
him but we're making the movie.
1084
01:13:06,517 --> 01:13:11,855
So, we have the second unit director which
is Peter.
1085
01:13:12,314 --> 01:13:18,904
On Rambo 3 I was directing and photographing
the second unit as I had done on Rambo 2.
1086
01:13:19,321 --> 01:13:25,619
During that period, I took over photographing
the first unit for two or three days and they
1087
01:13:26,036 --> 01:13:27,705
were quite well behind schedule.
1088
01:13:28,205 --> 01:13:33,460
Stallone asked me into his trailer which
was big as a normal house and then asked me
1089
01:13:33,794 --> 01:13:36,004
about taking over the film.
1090
01:13:36,672 --> 01:13:41,093
And I really was very dubious because I knew
I was going to inherit the first film I was
1091
01:13:41,385 --> 01:13:42,719
going to direct, was
1092
01:13:43,053 --> 01:13:44,304
a totally out of control film.
1093
01:13:45,180 --> 01:13:48,350
So, I looked outside and saw all these
people who were now going to be sacked.
1094
01:13:48,642 --> 01:13:50,269
So, I said well, I'd do it.
1095
01:13:50,728 --> 01:13:57,443
It's a pretty damn good movie and in retrospect
so many people are saying that Rambo 3 is
1096
01:13:57,776 --> 01:13:59,778
their favorite of all the Rambo movies.
1097
01:14:00,195 --> 01:14:06,243
Personally, I like Rambo 2 but back then
they just felt that they had to hate it.
1098
01:14:07,578 --> 01:14:14,001
Sly did say to me do you realize this is going
to change your life? And I said for better
1099
01:14:14,460 --> 01:14:18,297
or for worse? And I'm still trying to work
out whether it was for better or for worse.
1100
01:14:23,594 --> 01:14:26,972
It's been a while since there's
been any good martial arts movies.
1101
01:14:27,389 --> 01:14:29,429
Sooner or later they're
going to make a resurgence.
1102
01:14:29,933 --> 01:14:32,102
And then bang, Bloodsport.
1103
01:14:39,276 --> 01:14:45,115
Jean-Claude Van Damme came to our office
and he just wanted a part in a movie.
1104
01:14:45,449 --> 01:14:53,332
Whoever came out any of the executives he
would start doing his splits and somersaults
1105
01:14:53,707 --> 01:14:54,333
and stuff.
1106
01:14:54,625 --> 01:14:57,878
And then Menahem Golan was the head of the
company.
1107
01:14:58,921 --> 01:15:01,298
He said okay, we'll do Bloodsport.
1108
01:15:02,216 --> 01:15:05,719
I had been introduced to
Frank Dux a few years earlier.
1109
01:15:06,261 --> 01:15:12,142
He was telling me these stories about this
Kumite tournament that he participated in
1110
01:15:12,684 --> 01:15:15,395
and he had an article that
was in Black Belt magazine.
1111
01:15:15,771 --> 01:15:19,525
That's when he told me this
competition used to get very bloody.
1112
01:15:20,192 --> 01:15:22,820
So, we had a nickname for
it which is Bloodsport.
1113
01:15:23,487 --> 01:15:29,159
Somebody had suggested you should go check
out this movie No Retreat No Surrender in
1114
01:15:29,451 --> 01:15:31,203
which Jean-Claude played a villain.
1115
01:15:31,495 --> 01:15:34,831
He played Ivan the Russian was the name of
his character.
1116
01:15:35,290 --> 01:15:37,167
And we were just blown away by the guy.
1117
01:15:37,459 --> 01:15:38,502
Frank Dux met Jean-Claude.
1118
01:15:38,919 --> 01:15:42,519
According to Frank they had some training
sessions, he showed Jean-Claude a bunch of stuff.
1119
01:15:42,923 --> 01:15:43,465
I doubt it.
1120
01:15:43,882 --> 01:15:46,593
Jean-Claude knew far more
than Frank ever knew.
1121
01:15:47,094 --> 01:15:51,849
In fact, Bloodsport sat on the shelf for
about two years if I'm not mistaken before
1122
01:15:52,182 --> 01:15:55,519
they finally released it because
Menahem thought it was a terrible movie.
1123
01:15:55,936 --> 01:15:58,397
And actually, the first cut was really bad.
1124
01:15:58,689 --> 01:15:59,273
It was bad.
1125
01:15:59,648 --> 01:16:01,128
I saw the first cut with Jean-Claude.
1126
01:16:01,441 --> 01:16:02,109
We all saw it.
1127
01:16:02,442 --> 01:16:04,042
We all thought this movie's a mess.
1128
01:16:04,403 --> 01:16:09,366
And they brought in a guy they have like a
film doctor but he basically recut the movie.
1129
01:16:09,700 --> 01:16:11,700
He allowed Jean-Claude to
come in the editing room.
1130
01:16:12,119 --> 01:16:18,083
Jean-Claude helped a lot with the action
scenes but until all that work was done
1131
01:16:18,625 --> 01:16:23,046
the movie looked pretty bad and Menahem
thought it was a piece of shit.
1132
01:16:23,463 --> 01:16:25,465
I'm quoting,"It's a piece of shit.
1133
01:16:25,799 --> 01:16:26,719
Jean-Claude is a loser.
1134
01:16:26,744 --> 01:16:27,717
"He's Poison."
1135
01:16:27,968 --> 01:16:29,469
Poison was his word for Jean-Claude.
1136
01:16:29,970 --> 01:16:31,972
This is before Bloodsport
had been released.
1137
01:16:32,514 --> 01:16:37,519
It gets released and suddenly he does a
complete 180 and now he wants to put Jean-Claude
1138
01:16:38,103 --> 01:16:41,148
in as many movies as he can but he's only
got a three-picture deal with him.
1139
01:16:41,607 --> 01:16:49,607
When I saw Bloodsport when I was 12-13 and
that's an age where you kind of can work out
1140
01:16:50,574 --> 01:16:55,120
between 12 and 16, you could kind of work
out what you want to be like I think for the
1141
01:16:55,621 --> 01:16:56,621
most part.
1142
01:16:56,705 --> 01:17:00,792
And for me it was seeing Bloodsport and
realizing that that's what I wanted to do.
1143
01:17:01,335 --> 01:17:07,257
I was so inspired by Bloodsport and Van Damme
I remember calling my mom in and saying look,
1144
01:17:07,633 --> 01:17:08,633
watch this guy.
1145
01:17:09,426 --> 01:17:10,886
That's what I want to do in my life.
1146
01:17:11,303 --> 01:17:12,343
I want to do what he does.
1147
01:17:12,679 --> 01:17:20,395
A team is not a team if you don't
give a damn about one another.
1148
01:17:21,688 --> 01:17:25,651
The reason that I made Best of the Best was
something that was very close to my heart.
1149
01:17:33,241 --> 01:17:36,536
I represented USA in the
1980 Olympics in Korea.
1150
01:17:36,870 --> 01:17:41,416
There was five guys who made it and that
experience was phenomenal for me.
1151
01:17:41,708 --> 01:17:45,420
I wanted to share that story into a movie.
1152
01:17:45,712 --> 01:17:47,352
And that's how Best of the Best was made.
1153
01:17:47,377 --> 01:17:52,508
I accepted that job in Best of the Best
part one because I loved the script.
1154
01:17:52,969 --> 01:17:56,431
We choreographed those fights
before we shot anything.
1155
01:17:56,974 --> 01:18:00,811
And Simon Rhee was basically the fight
choreographer on all the movies.
1156
01:18:01,561 --> 01:18:04,356
And you did what Simon told you to do.
1157
01:18:04,648 --> 01:18:06,358
Simon says do this, do this, do this.
1158
01:18:06,650 --> 01:18:09,069
Wait, do this, just like that.
1159
01:18:14,366 --> 01:18:16,576
For me I wanted to be grounded.
1160
01:18:16,868 --> 01:18:24,868
Let's do our actions wide-shots so we can see
the technique rather than go boom-boom-boom
1161
01:18:25,752 --> 01:18:28,547
and keep it really tight and you don't see
what the heck is going on.
1162
01:18:29,214 --> 01:18:33,760
I have never been more surprised to being
a hit that big.
1163
01:18:34,219 --> 01:18:36,221
That was a giant smash of a hit.
1164
01:18:36,722 --> 01:18:37,889
Part 1 did really well.
1165
01:18:38,640 --> 01:18:40,434
Part 2 did phenomenally well.
1166
01:18:40,892 --> 01:18:42,185
Part 2 is okay.
1167
01:18:42,811 --> 01:18:44,604
Part 3 and 4 aren't very great.
1168
01:18:45,480 --> 01:18:48,859
I got a call from the Bob and
Harvey Weinstein's company.
1169
01:18:49,443 --> 01:18:54,614
We want to do Best of the Best 3 and after
that they called me back again and said,
1170
01:18:54,906 --> 01:18:55,949
we want to do Best 4.
1171
01:18:56,491 --> 01:19:00,091
You write it, you direct it, you produce it
and you star in it and we'll write you a check.
1172
01:19:00,120 --> 01:19:07,586
I am the only Asian American to ever write,
produce, direct and star in a movie in America.
1173
01:19:10,213 --> 01:19:11,213
And that's a shame.
1174
01:19:19,598 --> 01:19:23,560
In the beginning at first, I was like there
was always the guy that would come in and
1175
01:19:24,061 --> 01:19:27,189
save the day and I would fight and then he
would come in and save the day.
1176
01:19:28,732 --> 01:19:32,360
That was a little bit different as
being the lead in the American pictures.
1177
01:19:32,694 --> 01:19:36,656
And it took until I think China O'Brien but
then Lady Dragon and then when they realized
1178
01:19:36,948 --> 01:19:40,388
that those movies were really successful and
made a lot of money, I was the lead pretty
1179
01:19:40,786 --> 01:19:41,786
much after that.
1180
01:19:41,995 --> 01:19:43,955
For me it was a glorious
time as a teenager.
1181
01:19:44,372 --> 01:19:49,419
Every week go to the video shop and there
would be a new China O'Brien or Blood Fist
1182
01:19:49,711 --> 01:19:50,754
or whatever it was.
1183
01:19:51,046 --> 01:19:55,550
When we were shooting China O'Brien, I did
find a big difference in shooting with Robert
1184
01:19:55,884 --> 01:20:00,722
Clouse then shooting in the Hong Kong because
remember, that's all I had was Hong Kong experience.
1185
01:20:01,348 --> 01:20:06,269
He wanted to do everything in one long shot
and one long take and I was used to them doing
1186
01:20:06,728 --> 01:20:08,105
that but coming in for close-ups.
1187
01:20:08,605 --> 01:20:12,150
Close-up of the foot to the head and this
and that and we'd be like no, but wait, you
1188
01:20:12,484 --> 01:20:14,164
have to come in and do the close-up of it.
1189
01:20:14,236 --> 01:20:16,196
And he'd go, "Bruce Lee didn't do that."
1190
01:20:20,075 --> 01:20:22,828
At that time, I think I was just
as up there with everybody else.
1191
01:20:23,495 --> 01:20:29,125
My movies were making top money so I never
I never felt inferior in the market.
1192
01:20:29,668 --> 01:20:33,338
Any Hong Kong movie that I did
that's my favorite fight scenes.
1193
01:20:39,761 --> 01:20:45,433
On my films I think what I'm really proud of
is actually Righting Wrongs or Above the Law.
1194
01:20:45,767 --> 01:20:47,477
The fight scenes were phenomenal.
1195
01:20:51,857 --> 01:20:52,858
Yes, Madam!
1196
01:21:01,241 --> 01:21:06,913
The Chinese people really embraced me because
they weren't used to seeing a white woman
1197
01:21:07,372 --> 01:21:08,665
that could fight so hard.
1198
01:21:08,957 --> 01:21:13,003
And I remember the first day of filming we had
an all-night shoot and it was in the airport
1199
01:21:13,503 --> 01:21:19,426
scene of Yes, Madam! And it was very tough
and it was brutal and I didn't know what to
1200
01:21:19,885 --> 01:21:21,765
do so I just said I'm
just going to do my best.
1201
01:21:21,845 --> 01:21:23,179
If I get hurt, I get hurt.
1202
01:21:23,680 --> 01:21:28,101
So, I gave it all and I think that first day
it impressed everybody and the stunt people
1203
01:21:28,602 --> 01:21:31,438
because they could hit me hard and I wasn't
going to complain.
1204
01:21:31,771 --> 01:21:35,233
And they weren't oh, no, it's just that we
don't have to put on the delicate gloves for
1205
01:21:35,692 --> 01:21:36,776
her because she's a girl.
1206
01:21:37,277 --> 01:21:41,323
I think once they realized how tough I was
and I could fight just as strong as the men
1207
01:21:41,948 --> 01:21:43,825
I gained a lot of respect that day.
1208
01:21:44,159 --> 01:21:48,455
The idea of the female action hero I don't
think quite took hold.
1209
01:21:49,039 --> 01:21:53,835
There's an interesting sort of like almost
through sub-genre within the '80s which was
1210
01:21:54,127 --> 01:22:00,425
created I think ostensibly by a decision Ridley
Scott made in 1978 when he was filming Alien
1211
01:22:00,800 --> 01:22:03,762
where someone said why don't we just make
Ripley a female?
1212
01:22:04,304 --> 01:22:06,848
And they did this and this
is really the key bit.
1213
01:22:07,140 --> 01:22:10,820
Obviously, Sigourney Weaver is amazing and the
casting of her is important but I think what's
1214
01:22:11,019 --> 01:22:13,980
really important is they didn't
change a line of dialogue.
1215
01:22:14,648 --> 01:22:18,443
So, nothing about Ripley's dialogue
was changed to make her female.
1216
01:22:18,818 --> 01:22:20,258
We know it's using the air shafts...
1217
01:22:20,612 --> 01:22:21,812
Will you listen to me, Parker?
1218
01:22:22,364 --> 01:22:23,364
Shut up!
1219
01:22:23,531 --> 01:22:24,574
She was pretty fierce.
1220
01:22:25,283 --> 01:22:33,283
I think it was a very empowering thing even
for me to see a woman in a movie just be that
1221
01:22:33,750 --> 01:22:38,046
effortlessly cool, intense and effective.
1222
01:22:38,505 --> 01:22:39,505
Never gave up.
1223
01:22:39,798 --> 01:22:41,466
Cameron drew a lot from that.
1224
01:22:41,883 --> 01:22:43,385
Yeah, he loved Alien.
1225
01:22:43,760 --> 01:22:46,680
I think he loved that idea
that females could be tough.
1226
01:22:51,017 --> 01:22:54,020
Really it's her arc as she becomes Ripley.
1227
01:22:54,646 --> 01:22:56,356
She finds the facility to survive.
1228
01:22:57,023 --> 01:23:03,822
The transformation of Linda Hamilton from
the victim to the hero was really shocking.
1229
01:23:04,155 --> 01:23:10,245
It's a chance to do the suspense genre but
to channel something that was a little more
1230
01:23:10,620 --> 01:23:16,293
rare going into the '80s or '90s which was
a woman who was lethal, a woman who had the
1231
01:23:16,710 --> 01:23:22,507
same sort of admirable yet frightening skills
that we found in previously male heroes.
1232
01:23:23,049 --> 01:23:27,304
Being Vasquez was really
an incredible opportunity.
1233
01:23:27,637 --> 01:23:31,641
When I was discussing with Jim about how I
wanted to play her and I said well, she's
1234
01:23:31,933 --> 01:23:32,976
not going to be likable.
1235
01:23:33,393 --> 01:23:36,771
There was this thing also like in the '80s
especially in television where you had to
1236
01:23:37,063 --> 01:23:38,315
relate to the character.
1237
01:23:38,690 --> 01:23:40,483
They had to be relatable and likable.
1238
01:23:41,026 --> 01:23:44,654
And I was like I'm going to play her who she
is and how she is and I'm not going to be
1239
01:23:45,030 --> 01:23:45,613
that way.
1240
01:23:45,905 --> 01:23:46,905
He said that's great.
1241
01:23:47,032 --> 01:23:47,792
I've got your back.
1242
01:23:47,991 --> 01:23:48,991
Don't worry about it.
1243
01:23:49,242 --> 01:23:55,415
There's of course, the situation of the male
dominance that has been there for thousands
1244
01:23:55,957 --> 01:23:57,000
of years, in fact.
1245
01:23:57,542 --> 01:24:04,382
When I grew up, when I went to elementary
school, the women in the class were as clever or
1246
01:24:04,799 --> 01:24:05,884
mostly better than I.
1247
01:24:06,176 --> 01:24:08,261
So, I have never seen a difference.
1248
01:24:08,720 --> 01:24:14,351
I thought basically yeah, they look different and
of course, there is a certain bit biologically
1249
01:24:14,851 --> 01:24:18,146
there is a difference clearly
but here there is no difference.
1250
01:24:18,688 --> 01:24:23,401
For a long time in Holland by coincidence
because how I started there were a lot of
1251
01:24:23,818 --> 01:24:27,155
male parts because I like
to work with Rutger Hauer.
1252
01:24:27,739 --> 01:24:33,536
And here in the United States at a certain
moment basically there were female parts like
1253
01:24:33,953 --> 01:24:37,791
the one of Sharon Stone and
it moved to that direction.
1254
01:24:38,083 --> 01:24:39,751
So, I don't see the difference.
1255
01:24:40,043 --> 01:24:43,880
I think the pickings are slim as far as female
action stars is because there's a stigma I
1256
01:24:44,297 --> 01:24:45,799
think and it's that same old thing.
1257
01:24:46,174 --> 01:24:48,760
Well, women don't sell as good as the men
or something like that.
1258
01:24:49,052 --> 01:24:55,850
There was a lot of pressure when we did the
Long Kiss Goodnight and halfway through
1259
01:24:56,226 --> 01:24:59,437
I had told some people what I was
doing including various producers.
1260
01:25:00,397 --> 01:25:01,797
They'd say what are you working on?
1261
01:25:01,822 --> 01:25:03,658
I said this thing with
a female protagonist.
1262
01:25:04,025 --> 01:25:05,985
And across the board they said dude, that's
not...
1263
01:25:07,028 --> 01:25:09,989
If you want that to sell, can't you make
them a man?
1264
01:25:10,365 --> 01:25:11,605
Why does it have to be a woman?
1265
01:25:12,075 --> 01:25:17,080
And I would explain sort of dichotomy of the
woman who's desperately living that sort of
1266
01:25:17,372 --> 01:25:24,212
housewife mentality to shield herself from
the memory of the things that she can't abide.
1267
01:25:25,130 --> 01:25:27,090
They say well, just do it with a guy.
1268
01:25:27,590 --> 01:25:30,385
No... it didn't feel interesting if you put
a man in there.
1269
01:25:30,802 --> 01:25:31,928
It had to be this woman.
1270
01:25:32,762 --> 01:25:35,223
As I got more into it,
we got Gina involved.
1271
01:25:35,598 --> 01:25:42,564
It became a really powerful film that ultimately
the critics who had said use a man, box-office
1272
01:25:42,897 --> 01:25:44,566
wise they were probably right.
1273
01:25:45,024 --> 01:25:46,568
Story-wise they were wrong.
1274
01:25:47,152 --> 01:25:48,192
It didn't work with a man.
1275
01:25:48,486 --> 01:25:50,071
It was a perfect woman role.
1276
01:25:50,613 --> 01:25:51,613
It didn't sell.
1277
01:26:00,123 --> 01:26:06,087
Tango & Cash was an interesting experience
because you had this diverse group.
1278
01:26:06,671 --> 01:26:14,671
Jon Peters producing Sly, Kurt and Andrei
Konchalovsky directing who Andrei had directed
1279
01:26:15,930 --> 01:26:20,143
a couple of good films but they were very
different to what we were making.
1280
01:26:20,477 --> 01:26:26,065
And I had an office next to Andrei and I was
sitting there with my assistant we heard Jon
1281
01:26:26,441 --> 01:26:31,112
Peters outside the carpark shouting out to Andrei,
don't forget you're making a buddy-buddy film.
1282
01:26:32,113 --> 01:26:36,034
And at the time Andrei's English wasn't that good
at the time and he came to his Romanian assistant
1283
01:26:36,409 --> 01:26:37,994
and said what is buddy-buddy?
1284
01:26:38,536 --> 01:26:39,829
Look up buddy-buddy.
1285
01:26:40,121 --> 01:26:44,292
And I thought well, we're probably in a bit
of trouble here because it's a genre that
1286
01:26:44,834 --> 01:26:46,836
the director didn't understand.
1287
01:26:47,128 --> 01:26:49,005
They went way behind schedule.
1288
01:26:49,297 --> 01:26:52,008
I mean I was the executive producer
and directed the second unit.
1289
01:26:52,300 --> 01:26:54,636
The studio should've said
after week two or three
1290
01:26:55,094 --> 01:26:56,137
This is not working.
1291
01:26:56,513 --> 01:27:02,060
Instead of that they waited till week
14 just to say this isn't working.
1292
01:27:02,602 --> 01:27:06,439
And I said that we've only got two weeks to
go I mean you're sacking Andrei with two
1293
01:27:06,731 --> 01:27:09,025
weeks to go that's fairly stupid.
1294
01:27:10,276 --> 01:27:11,986
But they did and it was fairly stupid.
1295
01:27:12,612 --> 01:27:17,158
It was Jon Peters that made a suggestion
about the end action sequence.
1296
01:27:17,575 --> 01:27:21,287
We had these great big earthmovers because
he'd drive into the studio, he passed this
1297
01:27:21,663 --> 01:27:26,376
earthmover working down the road and he said
I want to hold a sequence with 12 of these.
1298
01:27:26,793 --> 01:27:31,256
I said but it cost five hundred thousand
each maybe we can do it with less.
1299
01:27:32,090 --> 01:27:34,509
He had the idea of making it bigger.
1300
01:27:35,134 --> 01:27:40,390
Sly and Kurt wanted to make it a more thoughtful
film and I think it was Jon that wanted to
1301
01:27:40,765 --> 01:27:44,394
make it a more kind of wow this is
a biggest action film in history.
1302
01:27:44,769 --> 01:27:46,229
The film worked okay.
1303
01:27:47,272 --> 01:27:50,483
It could have been better but
what film couldn't be better?
1304
01:27:50,775 --> 01:27:52,694
And I think it made them money.
1305
01:27:52,986 --> 01:27:56,666
And there was always talk about making another
one which in a way is quite good because there
1306
01:27:57,156 --> 01:28:03,871
is a good chemistry between Kurt and Sly and
I must say Kurt's a charming guy and very
1307
01:28:04,205 --> 01:28:05,665
easy to work with.
1308
01:28:06,082 --> 01:28:07,458
He made life so much easier.
1309
01:28:14,590 --> 01:28:17,427
Early '80s Arnold wanted
to do Total Recall.
1310
01:28:17,802 --> 01:28:19,429
But Dino refused.
1311
01:28:19,804 --> 01:28:25,143
Company of Dino there went, let's say, bankrupt
or something like that, Arnold's basically
1312
01:28:25,435 --> 01:28:27,854
called Mario Kassar and
said buy the script.
1313
01:28:33,276 --> 01:28:35,903
I took that movie because of the ambiguity.
1314
01:28:36,404 --> 01:28:37,404
Quaid.
1315
01:28:37,530 --> 01:28:38,530
Catch!
1316
01:28:39,073 --> 01:28:40,783
Get ready for a surprise.
1317
01:28:42,493 --> 01:28:50,335
I think the idea that you don't know if Arnold
is dreaming or if it's true, it felt postmodern.
1318
01:28:50,793 --> 01:28:51,793
You know?
1319
01:28:52,170 --> 01:28:56,424
There is two realities and they don't even
compete with each other.
1320
01:28:56,924 --> 01:28:58,301
They are next to each other.
1321
01:28:58,760 --> 01:29:00,720
That was a funny thing about Total Recall.
1322
01:29:01,137 --> 01:29:05,850
It felt like the lowest
low-budget film I've ever made.
1323
01:29:06,351 --> 01:29:08,561
They cut so many corners.
1324
01:29:09,228 --> 01:29:13,149
At one point they called me up and they
said Ronny this is an expensive film.
1325
01:29:13,441 --> 01:29:19,155
I said everybody's agreed to
fly down to Mexico in coach.
1326
01:29:20,239 --> 01:29:24,243
Are you telling me that Arnold
Schwarzenegger is flying coach?
1327
01:29:24,702 --> 01:29:27,497
They said well, no, not Arnold.
1328
01:29:27,997 --> 01:29:31,292
So, I said well, no, not Ronny.
1329
01:29:37,006 --> 01:29:41,719
Obviously, they were spending a lot of money
on the screen and those are the biggest most
1330
01:29:42,178 --> 01:29:44,305
wonderful sets at that time.
1331
01:29:44,847 --> 01:29:52,480
The technology was not nearly what it is
today so it can take you a day to get a shot.
1332
01:29:52,939 --> 01:29:57,276
We were really very hard trying to make the
script true both ways.
1333
01:29:57,777 --> 01:30:02,031
That it would be a dream and he is still in
the factory and at the end of the movies he
1334
01:30:02,448 --> 01:30:09,747
is basically wiped out or he is a really a
wonderful guy that basically is abused by
1335
01:30:10,206 --> 01:30:11,874
Cohaagen the bad guy.
1336
01:30:12,333 --> 01:30:17,171
But finds out his humanity and at the end
save the world, the world of Mars.
1337
01:30:17,755 --> 01:30:19,966
These two things they're true too.
1338
01:30:20,383 --> 01:30:22,427
You never know if it's real or not.
1339
01:30:23,052 --> 01:30:27,432
Arnold put his stamp on the movie so much
I've never seen that basically.
1340
01:30:27,974 --> 01:30:29,100
And all for the good.
1341
01:30:29,392 --> 01:30:32,186
Always on my side, always preparing.
1342
01:30:33,771 --> 01:30:39,527
If production was basically difficult and
that they didn't want to pay because the scene
1343
01:30:40,027 --> 01:30:45,366
was too expensive, Arnold would say-I
want the scene.
1344
01:30:46,367 --> 01:30:50,167
Paul Verhoeven was making Total Recall then I
thought which was the most exciting Schwarzenegger
1345
01:30:50,371 --> 01:30:54,167
movie ever and Cameron was going to turn up
and make one that was twice as good and twice
1346
01:30:54,459 --> 01:30:57,420
as expensive and twice as
Schwarzenegger than ever before.
1347
01:31:04,469 --> 01:31:10,391
When I decided to go ahead with Terminator
2, I got so much flack from you name it.
1348
01:31:10,850 --> 01:31:16,481
The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, CNN, I'm going
to bankrupt Caralco, I'm crazy, I'm overspending
1349
01:31:16,939 --> 01:31:18,232
you name it all...
1350
01:31:18,566 --> 01:31:19,776
Success has many fathers.
1351
01:31:20,401 --> 01:31:21,481
At the end it was a big hit
1352
01:31:21,611 --> 01:31:22,612
they all said of course.
1353
01:31:23,571 --> 01:31:30,328
Terminator 2 was a classic example where
that felt like a great use of money.
1354
01:31:30,953 --> 01:31:35,583
When you went to see T2 you felt like okay,
they took what was already a great movie and
1355
01:31:35,875 --> 01:31:40,129
made something that was so much bigger
they're both great movies but arguably better.
1356
01:31:40,671 --> 01:31:42,590
That never felt like a
waste of money to me.
1357
01:31:43,090 --> 01:31:47,428
Everyone expected a sequel sooner and then
after a while people started to learn about
1358
01:31:47,720 --> 01:31:50,723
Mr. Cameron and he takes
time between things.
1359
01:31:51,182 --> 01:31:58,481
And then he had this inspired idea of can I
get one better than the T-800 the Arnold one?
1360
01:31:58,940 --> 01:32:00,483
How do I make a worse one?
1361
01:32:00,900 --> 01:32:04,340
Then he created this idea of the liquid metal
and then he had to figure out how to make
1362
01:32:04,365 --> 01:32:05,366
the liquid metal.
1363
01:32:05,488 --> 01:32:08,658
James did something very,
very smart and very expensive.
1364
01:32:09,200 --> 01:32:14,831
He perfected the special effects and showed
me a reel of the special effect that you see
1365
01:32:15,289 --> 01:32:17,708
in the movie before we
start really shooting.
1366
01:32:18,292 --> 01:32:24,840
So, we spend I don't know how many millions
of dollars in doing the chrome guy, the finger
1367
01:32:25,341 --> 01:32:26,425
that goes like this.
1368
01:32:26,968 --> 01:32:30,328
Then the guy that comes out from the floor
and when you start seeing all this you say
1369
01:32:30,353 --> 01:32:32,939
oh, my God this is going somewhere amazing.
1370
01:32:33,307 --> 01:32:38,437
What expanded with Terminator 2 was not just
the level of action and the level of excitement
1371
01:32:38,896 --> 01:32:41,357
there's also going to be a
special-effects revolution as well.
1372
01:32:41,941 --> 01:32:49,574
And when I saw the T-1000 and I came up with
this stuff that kind of almost made you nauseous
1373
01:32:50,116 --> 01:32:54,912
when you listen to it because I felt like
the visual was so groundbreaking that the
1374
01:32:55,329 --> 01:33:02,378
music had to meet that bar and not be any
cliché of music that we know because we're
1375
01:33:02,879 --> 01:33:05,464
now seeing something
we've never seen before.
1376
01:33:11,804 --> 01:33:14,891
Which is I wanted to disorient the audience
somewhat.
1377
01:33:15,933 --> 01:33:22,607
It was like these weird samples of brass sections
backward and upside down that I was stretching
1378
01:33:23,065 --> 01:33:24,275
out and playing with.
1379
01:33:24,567 --> 01:33:30,448
So that you kind of got this woo because
like all of the sudden reality isn't reality.
1380
01:33:30,740 --> 01:33:35,494
It's like you go to do something and you go
right through it but it's not a ghost
1381
01:33:35,953 --> 01:33:37,663
it's a thing that can kill you.
1382
01:33:44,920 --> 01:33:48,090
What I love about Terminator 2
is the characters and the humor.
1383
01:33:48,591 --> 01:33:51,260
The idea of Arnold Schwarzenegger sort of
being a good terminator.
1384
01:33:51,677 --> 01:33:52,677
It's definitely you.
1385
01:33:53,054 --> 01:33:57,975
If I ever sat alone in a room with Cameron and
say Avatar is great and all that and you're
1386
01:33:58,476 --> 01:34:02,313
doing such amazing things but you're the guy
who flew a helicopter under a freeway bridge
1387
01:34:02,813 --> 01:34:04,565
and you've not bettered that.
1388
01:34:07,610 --> 01:34:10,947
In some ways Terminator it's kind of like
the cusp, isn't it?
1389
01:34:11,280 --> 01:34:14,784
It's the kind of culmination of the great
'80s era.
1390
01:34:15,660 --> 01:34:17,578
It was '91, I know that.
1391
01:34:18,120 --> 01:34:21,999
Yeah, it's the point where all the '80s stuff
had done as much as it could possibly do and
1392
01:34:22,625 --> 01:34:27,838
you can feel the kind of the move toward CGI and
Jurassic Park or things that were just around
1393
01:34:28,130 --> 01:34:29,130
the corner.
1394
01:34:29,423 --> 01:34:31,133
So it's a film almost to be celebrated
1395
01:34:32,051 --> 01:34:38,140
as the last great hurrah but at the same
time it's just another wonderful piece of
1396
01:34:38,557 --> 01:34:39,557
storytelling.
1397
01:34:39,600 --> 01:34:45,439
There was a period of time where the John
Woo style was very prevalent.
1398
01:34:50,695 --> 01:34:54,240
I think John Woo had a huge
impact on me and Adam Leff.
1399
01:34:55,783 --> 01:35:00,871
I remember watching The Killer and just thinking
oh, my God, this is better than any Hollywood
1400
01:35:01,205 --> 01:35:05,376
action movie because we thought
this is really the kind of action,
1401
01:35:05,751 --> 01:35:09,880
this is just better. In terms of the stylization
of the action and the way it was shot.
1402
01:35:12,800 --> 01:35:15,344
Everyone I knew in Hollywood was watching
those movies.
1403
01:35:15,720 --> 01:35:19,000
One of the executives at Warner Brothers
they said why do you want to use this guy?
1404
01:35:19,306 --> 01:35:24,895
They don't even shoot sync sound and they
kind of disrespected John at that time.
1405
01:35:25,563 --> 01:35:31,360
So, then Universal swooped John Woo
and he made Hard Target with Van Damme.
1406
01:35:33,696 --> 01:35:38,868
So, Van Damme, he went through this period
where he was the guy bringing in these
1407
01:35:39,285 --> 01:35:40,536
Hong Kong directors right?
1408
01:35:41,120 --> 01:35:44,665
John Woo, Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark.
1409
01:35:45,291 --> 01:35:49,503
He was sort of the guy to bring them to Hollywood
and it made perfect sense because obviously
1410
01:35:49,795 --> 01:35:51,380
martial arts is a big part of it.
1411
01:35:51,756 --> 01:35:53,396
Not so much with John Woo funnily enough.
1412
01:35:53,758 --> 01:35:55,968
But that style, it stuck around.
1413
01:35:56,677 --> 01:36:00,222
It really did influence
Hollywood for a period of time.
1414
01:36:10,357 --> 01:36:16,280
I kind of discovered Roland Emmerich when
he was down in my building, he did a movie
1415
01:36:16,614 --> 01:36:17,198
called...
1416
01:36:17,573 --> 01:36:19,450
a very small movie, I don't remember.
1417
01:36:19,867 --> 01:36:22,578
It's a very futuristic movie
that cost nothing that he did.
1418
01:36:23,162 --> 01:36:26,832
And I wanted to meet him after I saw the
movie and I met him and he's a wonderful guy
1419
01:36:27,249 --> 01:36:29,877
very, very smart and very creative.
1420
01:36:36,300 --> 01:36:41,806
I had this screenplay called Universal Soldier
where I managed to put Van Damme who came
1421
01:36:42,264 --> 01:36:46,143
to Canne and said Mario I want to make a
movie with you at the right time, right?
1422
01:36:46,727 --> 01:36:51,107
So, I get the screenplay with I needed two guys
they were all presented by the same lawyer.
1423
01:36:51,440 --> 01:36:55,111
Jake Bloom who was our lawyer at that time.
1424
01:36:55,486 --> 01:36:57,363
He was very nice and very helpful.
1425
01:36:57,863 --> 01:37:02,284
I said look I want to try to put Jean-Claude
and Dolph together in this movie and I'm going
1426
01:37:02,576 --> 01:37:05,037
to have this German director
Roland Emmerich do it.
1427
01:37:05,371 --> 01:37:09,542
And it was actually the first big hit of Van
Damme that costs a certain amount and from
1428
01:37:09,834 --> 01:37:15,089
then on of course, he became more and more
famous and more expensive and it worked.
1429
01:37:15,548 --> 01:37:21,470
So, that I did it not because I wanted to be
in the sci-fi movies but that was the story
1430
01:37:21,762 --> 01:37:23,430
that I liked about it.
1431
01:37:23,889 --> 01:37:27,935
I am in the original Universal Soldier but
you need the pause button to see me.
1432
01:37:28,269 --> 01:37:29,728
It's in the early part.
1433
01:37:30,020 --> 01:37:31,397
It's in the Vietnam flashback.
1434
01:37:31,689 --> 01:37:39,155
It's Jean-Claude and I in the foxhole and I
run off and I guess I get blown up and put
1435
01:37:39,572 --> 01:37:44,743
on ice and come back eight years later as
the bad guy, as Seth.
1436
01:37:45,327 --> 01:37:47,163
I guess you can look at it like that.
1437
01:37:49,248 --> 01:37:52,835
Studios are making pictures for the largest
common denominator of people.
1438
01:37:53,210 --> 01:37:58,299
They want to get as many seats in that
theater and paid seats as they can.
1439
01:37:58,799 --> 01:38:05,681
Now they need the date crowd, they need the
women to come with them into the theater.
1440
01:38:06,390 --> 01:38:07,516
Maybe younger audience.
1441
01:38:07,808 --> 01:38:12,855
The original cornucopia the studios were chasing
was the foreign box office which liked the
1442
01:38:13,230 --> 01:38:15,191
R rated hard action movie.
1443
01:38:15,774 --> 01:38:20,404
Bloodshed, action, mayhem and a plot
that is not dependent on dialogue.
1444
01:38:20,905 --> 01:38:25,284
They saw what happened with the Ninja
Turtles that appealed to everybody.
1445
01:38:25,659 --> 01:38:31,123
Hey, there's toys and hamburgers to be had
here but they have to feature PG-13.
1446
01:38:31,415 --> 01:38:32,917
Let's rein that back in.
1447
01:38:33,209 --> 01:38:39,340
And there were the franchise elements, there
were the books and hats and t-shirts and cups
1448
01:38:39,840 --> 01:38:44,762
and mugs and in some of the cases almost
made as much money sometimes as the movies.
1449
01:38:51,727 --> 01:38:55,189
I mean it started as me saying
to my writing partner Adam
1450
01:38:55,856 --> 01:38:59,526
we should do a reverse
Purple Rose of Cairo.
1451
01:39:05,866 --> 01:39:10,246
Where a kid goes into a movie and it's an
action movie and we get to live out
1452
01:39:10,746 --> 01:39:12,414
all of our fantasies as fans.
1453
01:39:12,873 --> 01:39:18,545
And the idea that you as a fan by knowing the
genre would actually have a huge advantage
1454
01:39:18,921 --> 01:39:22,841
just seemed to me who wouldn't want to see
that movie that just seems like exactly what
1455
01:39:23,217 --> 01:39:26,262
I would have wanted to
see when I was younger?
1456
01:39:26,553 --> 01:39:28,722
I mean I was only 22 at the time.
1457
01:39:29,014 --> 01:39:34,144
I think you could definitely say that Last
Action Hero turned into the classic snake
1458
01:39:34,520 --> 01:39:35,813
that eats its own tail.
1459
01:39:36,230 --> 01:39:43,153
It definitely was a weird moment to be parodying
certain people and then have those people
1460
01:39:43,821 --> 01:39:44,822
take over the movie.
1461
01:39:45,489 --> 01:39:51,787
It was a chance for us to step in and take
this sort of basic idea of lampooning the
1462
01:39:52,246 --> 01:39:53,831
current action genre.
1463
01:39:54,123 --> 01:39:55,923
But I wanted to take it
a little further now.
1464
01:39:56,000 --> 01:40:00,045
Eventually the writers of that script that
originated, they didn't like what we did.
1465
01:40:00,379 --> 01:40:05,968
And they were pretty vocal about not liking
what we did and that's fine.
1466
01:40:06,343 --> 01:40:12,308
Then something fun happened which is someone
did what Zack thought we did to his script
1467
01:40:12,641 --> 01:40:13,934
that got done to our script.
1468
01:40:14,685 --> 01:40:18,063
Then we said hey we don't like it because
it got taken away from us.
1469
01:40:18,897 --> 01:40:24,903
It became less about suspense, adventure,
detective stuff, cop stuff and more just about
1470
01:40:25,487 --> 01:40:28,866
a big world of movies with
dinosaurs and things like that.
1471
01:40:29,283 --> 01:40:35,831
In other words, the spectacle of just movie
world as opposed to cop movie world.
1472
01:40:36,290 --> 01:40:37,791
Sort of overwhelmed.
1473
01:40:38,375 --> 01:40:44,590
I think a lot of problems probably came out
later in the process too but I do think there's
1474
01:40:45,007 --> 01:40:50,846
something to be said for two total movie buffs
writing this movie where we love that genre.
1475
01:40:51,347 --> 01:40:55,392
We thought we didn't sit there and say
Commando this is so stupid.
1476
01:40:55,768 --> 01:40:56,894
We thought it was awesome.
1477
01:40:57,227 --> 01:41:02,858
Whereas I think for McTiernan and then for Shane
and for a lot of those people they had kind of
1478
01:41:03,150 --> 01:41:05,986
gotten tired of this stupid version of what
they...
1479
01:41:06,403 --> 01:41:08,947
I mean Shane writes the smart
version of those movies, right?
1480
01:41:09,239 --> 01:41:11,909
I mean Lethal Weapon
is the smart buddy cop.
1481
01:41:12,284 --> 01:41:13,660
It's the better buddy cop movie.
1482
01:41:14,078 --> 01:41:16,198
There's a lot of crappy ones, he writes the
good ones.
1483
01:41:16,223 --> 01:41:21,144
I think with Last Action Hero even when I
first saw it, it's not like there aren't
1484
01:41:21,251 --> 01:41:23,045
a whole bunch of great
moments in the movie.
1485
01:41:23,337 --> 01:41:27,841
I mean there's a couple left over from our
draft but there's also the dogs that form
1486
01:41:28,133 --> 01:41:30,386
a pyramid and everything with Charles Dance
is great.
1487
01:41:30,844 --> 01:41:33,972
I've just shot somebody,
I did it on purpose!
1488
01:41:35,099 --> 01:41:38,499
It is very hard for me to watch it at the
time because I really had no idea what I was
1489
01:41:38,852 --> 01:41:39,852
getting into.
1490
01:41:40,020 --> 01:41:43,065
I was at the premiere and afterwards there
was this bubble of silence and...
1491
01:41:44,108 --> 01:41:48,570
It was the only time I went to a premiere
back then of something I'd written
1492
01:41:49,154 --> 01:41:50,634
and I just went I'm not that excited.
1493
01:41:50,864 --> 01:41:53,033
I'm glad I did it but... great party.
1494
01:41:53,492 --> 01:41:58,414
We went into there they had Kiss playing and
they had like giant statues and all the food
1495
01:41:58,747 --> 01:42:00,499
you can eat but this is good food.
1496
01:42:01,041 --> 01:42:04,641
I'm glad we made that movie because I'm having
a great snack but meanwhile no one's talking
1497
01:42:04,837 --> 01:42:06,422
about the movie, no one liked it.
1498
01:42:06,880 --> 01:42:11,760
There's so many people who love the movie and
there's so many people who at least acknowledge
1499
01:42:12,052 --> 01:42:15,681
one thing that I even felt at the time was
this is a deeply weird movie.
1500
01:42:16,140 --> 01:42:21,228
This is one of the weirdest big-budget movies
that anyone's ever made and the fact that
1501
01:42:21,728 --> 01:42:25,732
people appreciate that
now is hard for me to...
1502
01:42:26,108 --> 01:42:29,111
I'm not going to dissuade
someone from feeling that way.
1503
01:42:30,112 --> 01:42:33,866
And I do think it's aged much better than
people expected.
1504
01:42:34,992 --> 01:42:38,954
If my twenty billion dollars are not
delivered, the hostages will die.
1505
01:42:39,955 --> 01:42:40,998
I don't think so.
1506
01:42:41,540 --> 01:42:43,584
Capcom executives are coming to Hollywood.
1507
01:42:43,959 --> 01:42:48,881
They're having a round of meetings with producers
all over town looking for someone to make
1508
01:42:49,173 --> 01:42:52,050
a movie out of their successful game,
Street Fighter 2.
1509
01:42:54,136 --> 01:42:55,136
Do you understand?
1510
01:42:55,304 --> 01:42:55,984
Do you know this?
1511
01:42:56,263 --> 01:42:59,423
I said yeah, my kids have put like their
college fund into that coin-op machine.
1512
01:42:59,808 --> 01:43:04,563
Can you have a story to tell them,
an approach to this movie in three days?
1513
01:43:05,063 --> 01:43:08,859
With this like crazy schedule stuff like that
I'll only take this assignment if I can direct
1514
01:43:09,151 --> 01:43:10,194
the movie as well.
1515
01:43:10,666 --> 01:43:12,546
So, I don't want to do another tournament
movie.
1516
01:43:12,571 --> 01:43:15,157
So, I came up with more of a G.I. Joe
1517
01:43:15,741 --> 01:43:19,421
In other words, people have said to me since
then you actually made the first G.I. Joe movie.
1518
01:43:19,578 --> 01:43:22,539
I just decided that General Bison was the
ideal person to be the villain.
1519
01:43:23,117 --> 01:43:26,477
I'm looking at the cast of characters and
since the characters were all international
1520
01:43:26,502 --> 01:43:32,049
fighters, I thought they'd come together because
the UN goes too and then it rolls for everybody.
1521
01:43:32,633 --> 01:43:36,053
So, I pitched this to them in the meeting
and they go crazy.
1522
01:43:36,470 --> 01:43:38,096
And they were on the same wavelength.
1523
01:43:38,388 --> 01:43:42,017
They showed me a sketch of Bison's
underground base with missiles and stuff.
1524
01:43:42,518 --> 01:43:46,605
So, I inadvertently pitch them
something they were thinking of doing.
1525
01:43:47,231 --> 01:43:50,484
But anyway, they had a budget in mind,
so the first couple names on their
1526
01:43:50,817 --> 01:43:54,112
list Stallone, Schwarzenegger, the obvious
choices, they were unaffordable.
1527
01:43:54,738 --> 01:43:57,282
And then they said Van Damme and can we
afford Van Damme?
1528
01:43:57,783 --> 01:44:00,994
We go well, probably but he has his accent.
1529
01:44:01,286 --> 01:44:03,914
And they go, what accent?
Because they're only hearing him dubbed.
1530
01:44:10,963 --> 01:44:14,341
Isn't there a danger putting Van Damme in
the movie that people are going to expect
1531
01:44:14,675 --> 01:44:15,801
an R-rated movie?
1532
01:44:16,301 --> 01:44:17,553
Because you wanted it PG-13.
1533
01:44:18,095 --> 01:44:20,335
So, that was nagging me but
they were adamant about that.
1534
01:44:20,847 --> 01:44:24,560
I mean I completely understand why
Van Damme did Street Fighter at the time.
1535
01:44:25,310 --> 01:44:28,480
It was a massive payday
and it was a big property.
1536
01:44:29,022 --> 01:44:30,022
It was a big film.
1537
01:44:30,190 --> 01:44:31,630
Everyone's going to go and watch it.
1538
01:44:32,234 --> 01:44:36,738
For General Bison our first choice was
Stephen Lang who was the wonderful villain
1539
01:44:37,155 --> 01:44:39,866
in Avatar and he came in and read for us.
1540
01:44:40,325 --> 01:44:47,207
He was phenomenal but the Japanese they were
really into this marquee value and Raul Julia
1541
01:44:47,499 --> 01:44:51,086
was a much bigger name and as it turned out
his children played the video game.
1542
01:44:51,378 --> 01:44:55,507
So, he knew it and he said all right I'll
do a popcorn movie for my kids.
1543
01:44:55,924 --> 01:44:58,010
Game over!
1544
01:44:58,427 --> 01:45:03,181
Right before the movie came out the censorship
board even though I without doubt had done
1545
01:45:03,640 --> 01:45:09,813
a PG-13 movie they rated it R. You cannot
advertise toys for an R-rated movie on
1546
01:45:10,230 --> 01:45:11,350
Saturday morning television.
1547
01:45:11,607 --> 01:45:14,327
I had to start cutting back on the fights
on the impact on any blood.
1548
01:45:14,693 --> 01:45:15,902
We turned it in again.
1549
01:45:16,236 --> 01:45:17,529
It was rated R again.
1550
01:45:18,155 --> 01:45:22,326
So, now we cut deeper into the fights and
we turn it in and they rated it G.
1551
01:45:23,243 --> 01:45:27,122
Like oh, my God, that's the kiss of death
in another way because no teenager is going
1552
01:45:27,539 --> 01:45:28,779
to want to see a G-rated movie.
1553
01:45:29,124 --> 01:45:30,250
That's a Disney rating.
1554
01:45:30,959 --> 01:45:34,296
So, I had Jean-Claude come back in and give
me one wild line.
1555
01:45:34,588 --> 01:45:35,714
Where he said...
1556
01:45:36,048 --> 01:45:38,300
Four years of ROTC for this shit.
1557
01:45:39,217 --> 01:45:42,897
And then we submitted again and they go we have
to give you a PG-13 now with that curse word.
1558
01:45:43,096 --> 01:45:45,657
It was a very profitable movie and
made over a hundred million dollars.
1559
01:45:45,682 --> 01:45:48,076
It's only one of two Van Damme movies that
broke a hundred million dollars.
1560
01:45:48,101 --> 01:45:49,269
That and Time Cop.
1561
01:45:49,561 --> 01:45:51,021
It wasn't the best film.
1562
01:45:51,313 --> 01:45:54,941
I think most people agree especially as a
fan of Street Fighter.
1563
01:45:55,734 --> 01:46:02,157
It's very different to what the original concept
is for Van Damme to do that it didn't put it
1564
01:46:02,449 --> 01:46:03,449
past him at all.
1565
01:46:03,784 --> 01:46:05,264
He's like yeah, you got to go for it.
1566
01:46:05,452 --> 01:46:06,662
It's a big payday, big film.
1567
01:46:07,329 --> 01:46:08,830
It's a bit more for the kids.
1568
01:46:09,831 --> 01:46:10,831
Go for it.
1569
01:46:11,083 --> 01:46:13,293
You've made me a happy man.
1570
01:46:13,752 --> 01:46:15,379
Next, I make you a dead one.
1571
01:46:18,757 --> 01:46:22,427
True Lies is almost the exception that
proves the rule I think in Cameron's films.
1572
01:46:23,011 --> 01:46:27,557
I'm sure it was sold in as what if James Cameron
directed a Bond movie with Schwarzenegger in?
1573
01:46:27,933 --> 01:46:28,933
What would it be like?
1574
01:46:37,943 --> 01:46:40,195
It's the one he didn't originate.
1575
01:46:40,737 --> 01:46:42,137
So, it came through Schwarzenegger.
1576
01:46:42,406 --> 01:46:47,035
It was a Schwarzenegger project and I think
he persuaded Cameron to do it.
1577
01:46:47,452 --> 01:46:52,165
I think he came into it almost like a director
for hire and I think that kind of interested him.
1578
01:46:52,541 --> 01:46:56,253
So, it's a slight anomaly in terms of his
career as a whole.
1579
01:46:56,670 --> 01:47:03,260
I think that counts tonally as well that
it's got this sort of comic spy edge to it.
1580
01:47:03,844 --> 01:47:10,058
It has this kind of really interesting Jamie Lee
Curtis sort of subplot or you could say plot.
1581
01:47:10,559 --> 01:47:13,895
Obviously, she's the wife of Schwarzenegger
secret agent,
1582
01:47:14,438 --> 01:47:15,598
there's no idea what he does.
1583
01:47:15,939 --> 01:47:17,274
So, it's a domestic problem.
1584
01:47:17,774 --> 01:47:21,361
Again, we come back to Cameron's sort of
fascination with the family unit.
1585
01:47:21,820 --> 01:47:24,448
True Lies I think it was, I had to pitch.
1586
01:47:25,073 --> 01:47:26,575
I had to really sell him on it.
1587
01:47:27,117 --> 01:47:29,911
He did hire me before I
presented any of the music.
1588
01:47:30,662 --> 01:47:33,540
He and I had never done an orchestra score
together.
1589
01:47:34,124 --> 01:47:39,379
We thought about orchestra on T2 but we didn't
have the time and we decided that we liked what
1590
01:47:39,713 --> 01:47:45,093
we were getting on True Lies
ironically going back one notch.
1591
01:47:45,385 --> 01:47:48,430
I think what got me that job was Striking
Distance.
1592
01:47:49,389 --> 01:47:51,099
The orchestra sounded really good. I said,
1593
01:47:51,516 --> 01:47:56,938
well, yeah, okay. So I now realized
okay, he needed a solid thing.
1594
01:47:57,314 --> 01:48:00,400
So, it's kind of an unusual
pleasure I think True Lies.
1595
01:48:00,692 --> 01:48:03,653
It's sort of you come back to it and think
I forgot about this one.
1596
01:48:04,529 --> 01:48:08,992
And it's got that slightly sort of buoyant
silliness about it.
1597
01:48:09,576 --> 01:48:15,165
It's the kind of, it was that period where
Schwarzenegger began to get lines and he kind
1598
01:48:15,457 --> 01:48:19,336
of thought himself as more of an actor and
you kind of have to come and go with that.
1599
01:48:19,753 --> 01:48:24,382
And he's alright, he's fine... we have
problems with contractions again and you know?
1600
01:48:24,758 --> 01:48:29,888
It's got horses riding into elevators, we've got
stuff blowing up, it's got Harrier Jump Jets.
1601
01:48:30,555 --> 01:48:33,683
He doesn't stint on any
of the Cameron stuff.
1602
01:48:34,434 --> 01:48:36,686
You got to be totally
sold on what you're doing.
1603
01:48:37,062 --> 01:48:41,399
You can't be a step back kind of going ha
ha about it.
1604
01:48:41,691 --> 01:48:44,778
Even though there's James Bond-ish things
it wasn't a spoof.
1605
01:48:45,195 --> 01:48:50,951
It was his movie True Lies with that story
and he was having fun with it.
1606
01:48:54,830 --> 01:49:02,830
The studios decided rather than getting these
bodybuilders and martial artists like Seagal
1607
01:49:05,382 --> 01:49:10,387
and Van Damme and trying to turn them into
actors, why don't we hire actors and teach
1608
01:49:10,679 --> 01:49:15,183
them how to do some of this
action stuff and use doubles?
1609
01:49:15,517 --> 01:49:19,896
They called me in at 20th Century Fox
to talk about a movie called Speed.
1610
01:49:21,439 --> 01:49:22,599
Why are they messing with me?
1611
01:49:22,983 --> 01:49:24,503
Do they think I'm doing this for fun?!
1612
01:49:28,446 --> 01:49:34,619
Speed's script first went around the sort of
nickname for it was Die Hard on a Bus and to
1613
01:49:34,995 --> 01:49:36,997
which I said fantastic.
1614
01:49:37,622 --> 01:49:40,292
Once the bus goes 50 miles an
hour, the bomb is armed.
1615
01:49:40,584 --> 01:49:42,919
If it drops below 50, it blows up.
1616
01:49:43,587 --> 01:49:45,422
And so, it was an inspiration for Speed.
1617
01:49:45,881 --> 01:49:52,679
That said, I had been playing with that idea
for years even before Die Hard came out.
1618
01:49:53,013 --> 01:49:57,559
And it was something that my father had told
me about that there was a script that Kurosawa
1619
01:49:57,976 --> 01:50:00,376
had written about a train that
couldn't slow down or blow up.
1620
01:50:00,401 --> 01:50:01,441
That became Runaway Train.
1621
01:50:01,563 --> 01:50:02,563
I saw that movie.
1622
01:50:02,731 --> 01:50:03,851
Andrei Konchalovsky's movie.
1623
01:50:04,274 --> 01:50:08,320
It's pretty good but I thought hey, it would be
better if there was a bomb because in Runaway Train
1624
01:50:08,695 --> 01:50:10,055
they just can't get to the brakes.
1625
01:50:10,447 --> 01:50:12,532
If it was a bomb and if it was a bus.
1626
01:50:13,074 --> 01:50:17,454
We were trying to find a lead for Speed and
then someone at the studio said what about
1627
01:50:17,746 --> 01:50:18,746
Keanu Reeves?
1628
01:50:18,872 --> 01:50:19,998
And he was very young.
1629
01:50:20,415 --> 01:50:22,792
We didn't know for sure
and then we met him.
1630
01:50:23,501 --> 01:50:24,544
He's like 6'2".
1631
01:50:25,003 --> 01:50:26,803
He was lean,
he already had the cool haircut.
1632
01:50:27,088 --> 01:50:29,633
He hadn't bulked up yet but he was riding
a motorcycle.
1633
01:50:30,300 --> 01:50:33,345
I was like he's cool and he had done Point
Break.
1634
01:50:33,637 --> 01:50:37,432
So, we knew he could run around with a weapon
and do stuff like that and hopefully we could
1635
01:50:37,766 --> 01:50:40,518
make it a little less sort of over the top.
1636
01:50:40,977 --> 01:50:45,482
I was speechless like you're talking about the guy
that was in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure...
1637
01:50:45,815 --> 01:50:48,443
I am the Duke of Ted!
1638
01:50:49,027 --> 01:50:52,447
Is going to play a cop
in this action movie.
1639
01:50:53,198 --> 01:50:54,278
Is that the best we can do?
1640
01:50:54,303 --> 01:50:54,971
Keanu Reeves?
1641
01:50:55,241 --> 01:50:57,202
Well, how wrong was I, OK?
1642
01:50:57,953 --> 01:51:01,623
In the first drafts of Speed there was a
whole thing I tried where you find out that
1643
01:51:02,123 --> 01:51:05,763
his partner who was eventually played by Jeff
Daniels is actually the one who's doing things
1644
01:51:05,788 --> 01:51:09,292
and it's a big twisty twist thing
and it ultimately didn't work.
1645
01:51:10,757 --> 01:51:16,262
The reason I done that is because I didn't
think having Jack go up against someone who
1646
01:51:16,888 --> 01:51:21,559
and if they had no contact really except on
the phone if there was no personal thing
1647
01:51:22,102 --> 01:51:28,608
it wouldn't be that interesting and I just neglected
to think that if you cast Dennis Hopper it's
1648
01:51:29,067 --> 01:51:30,193
going to work great.
1649
01:51:30,652 --> 01:51:35,490
I think Speed showed that you could have a
cast that didn't have big stars in it but
1650
01:51:35,824 --> 01:51:37,701
that the movie itself would be the star.
1651
01:51:38,493 --> 01:51:43,957
I think when Hollywood realized that they could
cast somebody like Nicholas Cage in something
1652
01:51:44,290 --> 01:51:49,754
like The Rock. I think when that happened
around that that time the Jerry Bruckheimer type
1653
01:51:50,088 --> 01:51:56,261
film the Simpson Bruckheimer movies, these
movies forsook the action stars, the real
1654
01:51:56,761 --> 01:52:01,182
action stars, the bodybuilders the guys whose
acting was a little rougher around the edges.
1655
01:52:01,641 --> 01:52:08,189
Maybe we can do, we can have Nick Cage
in The Rock which is one of my favorite
1656
01:52:08,690 --> 01:52:13,403
I'm not always a huge fan of Michael Bay films
but that one I love and it's got Nic Cage
1657
01:52:13,778 --> 01:52:16,281
and Sean Connery and it's
like this is pretty awesome.
1658
01:52:16,781 --> 01:52:21,119
One thing you'll notice with a lot of those
characters and those actors is they've got
1659
01:52:21,536 --> 01:52:22,536
a sense of humor.
1660
01:52:22,662 --> 01:52:26,374
And Nic Cage oh, my God. He was a
comic actor, he knew how to do that.
1661
01:52:26,666 --> 01:52:33,673
So, you get that guy in the lead and I think
you're probably rooting for him more than
1662
01:52:34,132 --> 01:52:37,719
you are for someone who's huge.
1663
01:52:38,553 --> 01:52:42,015
I was called in by Jake Bloom who I had a
three-picture deal with.
1664
01:52:42,307 --> 01:52:45,310
He told me,
Matthias you might as well give up.
1665
01:52:45,727 --> 01:52:46,887
And I said, what do you mean?
1666
01:52:46,936 --> 01:52:47,562
It's over.
1667
01:52:47,854 --> 01:52:48,934
What do you mean it's over?
1668
01:52:49,147 --> 01:52:50,147
It hasn't even started.
1669
01:52:50,648 --> 01:52:53,735
Oh, no, I told the same to Schwarzenegger,
Stallone.
1670
01:52:54,194 --> 01:52:54,694
It's over.
1671
01:52:55,070 --> 01:52:56,070
You guys are done.
1672
01:52:56,571 --> 01:52:59,783
It's the Keanu Reeves, it's the Brad
Pitt's, it's the other guys now.
1673
01:53:00,158 --> 01:53:01,158
It's not you anymore.
1674
01:53:01,576 --> 01:53:09,375
It did seem like the very specific tropes
of the kind of loosely cop or military based
1675
01:53:09,876 --> 01:53:13,213
action movie were starting
to wear themselves out.
1676
01:53:13,755 --> 01:53:17,675
These guys weren't able to sustain a career
in theaters.
1677
01:53:17,967 --> 01:53:19,687
Arnold's movies didn't make any more money.
1678
01:53:19,928 --> 01:53:23,807
Stallone's movies didn't make any more money
because they were too expensive to make.
1679
01:53:24,182 --> 01:53:28,311
I remember seeing a test screening of Eye
See You years before it came out.
1680
01:53:28,770 --> 01:53:30,605
It had a disastrous test screening.
1681
01:53:30,897 --> 01:53:31,897
Disaster.
1682
01:53:32,107 --> 01:53:34,692
It was Stallone's big
comeback after Copland.
1683
01:53:35,193 --> 01:53:37,278
People cheered when he came on screen.
1684
01:53:37,695 --> 01:53:43,743
By the time that movie was over people were
cursing in the lobby. Just a handful of years
1685
01:53:44,327 --> 01:53:50,208
before with stuff like Rambo 3 the biggest
movie of all time at that that period just
1686
01:53:50,750 --> 01:53:53,920
a few years later he was in this movie that
it was junk.
1687
01:53:54,587 --> 01:54:01,344
Stallone and Van Damme started using stunt doubles
a lot once they moved into that straight-to-video
1688
01:54:02,011 --> 01:54:07,725
era just because they didn't feel that what
they were doing on-screen was appreciated
1689
01:54:08,101 --> 01:54:09,978
as much as it used to be when you'd see it
1690
01:54:10,478 --> 01:54:13,690
in thirty-five-millimeter on a big screen,
slow motion.
1691
01:54:13,982 --> 01:54:14,982
Yeah, that's Van Damme.
1692
01:54:15,191 --> 01:54:16,111
He's really doing that.
1693
01:54:16,136 --> 01:54:18,054
Remember digital effects have it big.
1694
01:54:18,444 --> 01:54:20,613
That's a very important part of the story.
1695
01:54:22,115 --> 01:54:27,620
Because what you saw was a transition from
a time where the best that Hollywood could
1696
01:54:27,912 --> 01:54:34,836
deliver in terms of spectacle was makeup
and stunts and certain types of action to
1697
01:54:35,253 --> 01:54:36,337
we can do anything.
1698
01:54:36,921 --> 01:54:42,177
I remember when the Matrix came out and thinking
to myself okay finally Hollywood have figured
1699
01:54:42,468 --> 01:54:43,845
out how to do it right.
1700
01:54:44,137 --> 01:54:45,697
This is how you shoot a fight sequence.
1701
01:54:46,264 --> 01:54:49,601
You do it the Hong Kong way and here we're
seeing it in the Matrix.
1702
01:54:50,393 --> 01:54:52,270
And it's glorious.
1703
01:54:57,692 --> 01:55:03,323
But now we've found a way to especially with all
the comic-book movies to take an Oscar-winning
1704
01:55:03,740 --> 01:55:10,622
actor, a top actor in the game and give him
enough skills to look believable as an action
1705
01:55:10,914 --> 01:55:17,295
star whether that's putting a stuntman in a
superhero suit or whether it's taking them
1706
01:55:17,795 --> 01:55:22,675
for six months, three months and putting them
in a grueling training regimen to get them
1707
01:55:22,967 --> 01:55:27,388
up to standard to be able to do stuff in
camera like Keanu Reeves does Charlize Theron.
1708
01:55:27,847 --> 01:55:31,976
They figured out how to make anyone look
competent.
1709
01:55:38,983 --> 01:55:44,280
Even Arnold when he came back after Batman
and Robin and Jingle All the Way.
1710
01:55:44,906 --> 01:55:46,626
What the heck was he doing in those movies?
1711
01:55:46,651 --> 01:55:48,611
His big comeback was End of Days.
1712
01:55:48,952 --> 01:55:52,747
It was just such a grim time to be a real
action star because all these actors were
1713
01:55:53,164 --> 01:55:55,124
coming in and starring in action movies.
1714
01:55:56,960 --> 01:56:01,631
And how far could the Schwarzenegger thing
go without it becoming self-parody to a point
1715
01:56:01,923 --> 01:56:03,323
where it was sort of self-damaging?
1716
01:56:03,800 --> 01:56:11,800
Maybe we just got tired of that testosterone
massive bulging chests period that we celebrated
1717
01:56:14,018 --> 01:56:15,228
for such a long time.
1718
01:56:15,770 --> 01:56:18,898
I always say it's the
death of the superstars.
1719
01:56:19,565 --> 01:56:22,735
There aren't that many anymore
because there's too many nothing's.
1720
01:56:23,111 --> 01:56:25,488
There are too many TV
shows, too many nothing's.
1721
01:56:25,780 --> 01:56:27,156
How do you stand out?
1722
01:56:28,032 --> 01:56:32,495
There's something about being on a big screen
and your eyes are this big and people can see
1723
01:56:32,829 --> 01:56:33,829
the soul of you.
1724
01:56:34,163 --> 01:56:35,443
You can't hide that from people.
1725
01:56:35,999 --> 01:56:37,792
So, you're either real or you're not.
1726
01:56:38,251 --> 01:56:41,129
That's the problem with
a lot of these new guys.
1727
01:56:41,629 --> 01:56:43,006
They can't stand up to that.
1728
01:56:43,548 --> 01:56:44,548
I mean the Bourne movies.
1729
01:56:44,924 --> 01:56:48,344
I think Doug Liman had a lot to do with the
changes in action movies.
1730
01:56:51,180 --> 01:56:52,807
That he was going to do handheld action.
1731
01:56:53,182 --> 01:56:56,811
I remember him, he actually told me that
and I thought he was crazy but then I saw
1732
01:56:57,186 --> 01:56:59,066
the movie was like okay,
you were totally right
1733
01:56:59,355 --> 01:56:59,995
and I was wrong.
1734
01:57:00,356 --> 01:57:01,356
This is what's sad.
1735
01:57:01,399 --> 01:57:06,195
Bourne which was echoing Bond, there was the
new version of Bond was so successful that
1736
01:57:06,571 --> 01:57:08,197
Bond started emulating Bourne.
1737
01:57:08,865 --> 01:57:14,704
That whole thing with the shaky cam which
I hated with a passion but that was a way
1738
01:57:14,996 --> 01:57:20,126
of disguising the shortcomings of the performer
and saying okay this is your new action star.
1739
01:57:20,668 --> 01:57:22,188
You just can't see what they're doing.
1740
01:57:22,420 --> 01:57:27,884
And Expendables was the first time and done
so cleverly where it made sense to have like
1741
01:57:28,343 --> 01:57:32,930
a Chuck Norris and an Arnold because their
personalities come with it.
1742
01:57:33,222 --> 01:57:36,476
I remember at that point maybe
he'd done three films with...
1743
01:57:36,768 --> 01:57:44,025
No, four films with Jean-Claude and I was
his henchmen on Expendables 2 and we're there
1744
01:57:44,359 --> 01:57:46,944
with Stallone and Schwarzenegger and Bruce
Willis.
1745
01:57:47,779 --> 01:57:52,116
And I remember looking at Van Damme and I
could see that he was more nervous than me.
1746
01:57:53,618 --> 01:57:55,620
It was nice to see that
from him to be honest.
1747
01:57:55,995 --> 01:58:01,167
A little bit of vulnerability and that sort
of in that moment because it was a big deal
1748
01:58:01,542 --> 01:58:04,253
for everyone to be on those films.
1749
01:58:05,129 --> 01:58:06,964
Even Stallone and Arnold you know?
1750
01:58:07,256 --> 01:58:11,135
It was not lost on them the fact that all
these action stars had to come together for
1751
01:58:11,511 --> 01:58:12,220
one film.
1752
01:58:12,512 --> 01:58:15,432
When the Expendables came out and I
was like, "How come I'm not in there?"
1753
01:58:15,457 --> 01:58:16,348
I should be in there.
1754
01:58:16,474 --> 01:58:17,794
You have all these guys in there.
1755
01:58:17,819 --> 01:58:18,819
Are you kidding me?
1756
01:58:18,976 --> 01:58:19,976
Why am I not in there?
1757
01:58:20,019 --> 01:58:23,689
Because I was the top female
then in the '80s and '90s.
1758
01:58:24,023 --> 01:58:28,236
Executives are going to hire somebody for
their popularity and it's just going to be
1759
01:58:28,736 --> 01:58:32,031
like oh come on, we're not buying that.
1760
01:58:32,407 --> 01:58:34,951
There's a lot of movies with names that did
not make it.
1761
01:58:35,410 --> 01:58:39,080
So, there's no more the star system
that was in the '70s and '80s.
1762
01:58:39,497 --> 01:58:40,497
I think that's done.
1763
01:58:40,748 --> 01:58:45,294
Well, the big change has been you don't do
the stunts for real anymore and the CGI has
1764
01:58:45,837 --> 01:58:46,963
changed them entirely.
1765
01:58:47,255 --> 01:58:50,925
I think they can almost cut the stunts out
because the fact is special effects can do
1766
01:58:51,217 --> 01:58:54,178
so much stuff,
they can make nothing look great.
1767
01:58:54,679 --> 01:59:00,601
Yes, we can do anything now with the computer
but in the back of your mind you know when
1768
01:59:01,102 --> 01:59:02,311
it's real and when it isn't.
1769
01:59:02,770 --> 01:59:07,692
The Fast and Furious franchise is the most
surprising franchise of all time.
1770
01:59:08,025 --> 01:59:10,903
There's just no way anyone
could have predicted.
1771
01:59:11,195 --> 01:59:18,161
Every like last hope of classic '80s action
movies to me is in the Fast and Furious because
1772
01:59:18,661 --> 01:59:23,040
all of these things of the countdown and
the thing and the missiles going to go.
1773
01:59:23,374 --> 01:59:25,793
All that stuff you don't
see that in other films.
1774
01:59:26,711 --> 01:59:28,463
That pretty much is gone.
1775
01:59:28,963 --> 01:59:36,596
I'm glad that we're getting the last gasp
of the vitality that guys like Stallone and
1776
01:59:37,096 --> 01:59:40,099
Schwarzenegger still have
and possess a little bit.
1777
01:59:40,558 --> 01:59:45,480
I mean look at Arnold if you're smart enough
he's 70 some years old and he's still involved
1778
01:59:45,938 --> 01:59:47,440
in The Terminator series.
1779
01:59:48,357 --> 01:59:50,985
You somehow have to find an
angle how you fit into it.
1780
01:59:51,277 --> 01:59:56,699
I would argue that Terminator is one of those
like the Matrix and like X-Men, the nature
1781
01:59:57,116 --> 02:00:00,495
of the idea allows the
universe to keep expanding.
1782
02:00:01,454 --> 02:00:05,166
Bruce in these Die Hard sequels is getting
more formidable.
1783
02:00:05,458 --> 02:00:10,171
You know Die Hard, what's tough about it is it's
a premise about a character who finds himself
1784
02:00:10,546 --> 02:00:11,964
in an unlikely situation.
1785
02:00:12,590 --> 02:00:17,094
If he keeps finding himself in that unlikely
situation it becomes increasingly difficult
1786
02:00:17,386 --> 02:00:18,679
to keep that premise going.
1787
02:00:19,096 --> 02:00:22,892
So, the character is getting older but he's
getting more indestructible.
1788
02:00:23,184 --> 02:00:29,190
I was at one point approached and I wrote
a very extensive treatment with my friend
1789
02:00:29,815 --> 02:00:32,485
Chuck Mondry of Lethal Weapon 5.
1790
02:00:33,319 --> 02:00:35,988
Never really kicked off but I like it.
1791
02:00:36,614 --> 02:00:37,614
I still keep it.
1792
02:00:37,823 --> 02:00:39,543
Some people ask to see how would you do it?
1793
02:00:39,617 --> 02:00:43,204
I said well look at this it's 63 pages as
a treatment read it God damn it.
1794
02:00:43,496 --> 02:00:50,586
If someone right comes along and tomorrow
comes and knows how to do Aikido it could
1795
02:00:51,087 --> 02:00:53,297
be another Steven Seagal being born.
1796
02:00:53,923 --> 02:01:00,429
It always has to be that guy that knows how
to capture the audience.
1797
02:01:01,055 --> 02:01:04,267
People are finally aware
of who Scott Adkins is.
1798
02:01:05,017 --> 02:01:07,979
Scott Adkins for example is a great martial
artist.
1799
02:01:08,271 --> 02:01:09,605
One of the best I've seen.
1800
02:01:10,106 --> 02:01:13,818
And I think that's the allure about Scott
is that he can get up and do entirely all
1801
02:01:14,318 --> 02:01:21,158
of his stunts and do some incredible kicks
and fight sequences, choreography that make
1802
02:01:21,659 --> 02:01:24,078
people watch the film and
tell their friends about it.
1803
02:01:24,453 --> 02:01:30,459
When I first started, I'm talking about
independent lower-budget sort of action movies
1804
02:01:30,918 --> 02:01:35,214
but when I first started you had
about seven weeks to make a film.
1805
02:01:35,673 --> 02:01:41,304
It was difficult but you could do it and now
that seven weeks is shrunk to about four weeks,
1806
02:01:41,971 --> 02:01:43,431
sometimes three.
1807
02:01:44,265 --> 02:01:49,270
And that for me is the most difficult part about
being an action star as it is in today's world.
1808
02:01:50,187 --> 02:01:55,026
Scott Adkins, myself, Tony
Jaa, we're finding our way.
1809
02:01:55,401 --> 02:01:59,864
Well, Scott and Tony are like my brothers
and I'm very connected to Scott.
1810
02:02:00,197 --> 02:02:04,577
I'm just super proud every time I see him
doing stuff and I'm glad that he's producing
1811
02:02:05,036 --> 02:02:09,957
and getting involved more
in front and behind camera.
1812
02:02:10,374 --> 02:02:12,418
He's kind of like my big brother really.
1813
02:02:12,877 --> 02:02:16,005
Someone I look up to and can ask advice.
1814
02:02:16,672 --> 02:02:17,715
He's very wise guy.
1815
02:02:18,007 --> 02:02:19,527
He's been in the industry a long time.
1816
02:02:19,552 --> 02:02:20,467
Smart guy.
1817
02:02:20,509 --> 02:02:22,094
Tony is such a beautiful spirit.
1818
02:02:22,595 --> 02:02:30,595
He's probably the most person that's closest to
the exemplary idea of what a martial artist is
1819
02:02:31,228 --> 02:02:32,730
then anyone else I know.
1820
02:02:33,314 --> 02:02:41,314
The things that I love about Jason Statham and
Gerard Butler are again their charm because
1821
02:02:42,073 --> 02:02:48,454
both of those guys can kick ass and do
great stunts but they also are funny.
1822
02:02:49,038 --> 02:02:50,790
The Rock is incredible.
1823
02:02:51,248 --> 02:02:56,087
I mean he's a guy that you'd think that
this guy is so big and whatever he can do
1824
02:02:56,379 --> 02:02:57,379
whatever you want to do.
1825
02:02:57,546 --> 02:02:59,757
But he's like one of the
nicest guys you will ever meet.
1826
02:03:00,257 --> 02:03:04,637
Somebody should have had a word with the Rock
about ten years ago when he'd lost all of
1827
02:03:05,054 --> 02:03:09,475
his muscle because he was obviously thinking
maybe this muscle thing is not good anymore
1828
02:03:09,809 --> 02:03:11,936
Maybe I'm too big to make it in Hollywood.
1829
02:03:12,395 --> 02:03:14,605
Well, he has changed is his tune
now, hasn't he?
1830
02:03:14,939 --> 02:03:18,734
When he did Pain and Gain
wow, he went big again
1831
02:03:19,151 --> 02:03:20,611
and he stayed that way ever since.
1832
02:03:21,362 --> 02:03:24,782
I want Dwayne Johnson to
just make his R-rated movie.
1833
02:03:25,241 --> 02:03:29,328
I want to see him make his
Commando, his Rambo.
1834
02:03:29,620 --> 02:03:31,247
He doesn't have a touchstone movie.
1835
02:03:31,539 --> 02:03:35,793
I mean present-day there's the Deadpool's
which cost a lot of money.
1836
02:03:36,168 --> 02:03:40,923
They don't cost probably as much as an Avengers
does but they cost a lot to make and they are
1837
02:03:41,257 --> 02:03:43,008
are as R as you can get.
1838
02:03:43,384 --> 02:03:44,024
I like The Raid.
1839
02:03:44,385 --> 02:03:45,385
I like The Raid 2.
1840
02:03:46,011 --> 02:03:49,724
Again, these movies are not for everybody
though.
1841
02:03:50,182 --> 02:03:52,101
Raid movies are borderline horror films.
1842
02:03:52,393 --> 02:03:58,566
I mean there's so bloody and just taxing on
your spirit after a while.
1843
02:03:59,233 --> 02:04:06,574
Like Commando you can watch with your dad,
your grandfather, your son and your wife or
1844
02:04:06,991 --> 02:04:07,991
your girlfriend.
1845
02:04:08,325 --> 02:04:10,045
You can't watch The Raid with those people.
1846
02:04:10,870 --> 02:04:14,331
You got to watch The Raid by yourself
or with your like your buddy.
1847
02:04:14,915 --> 02:04:18,294
I think you are seeing a return to R-rated
action movies.
1848
02:04:18,753 --> 02:04:22,423
I think obviously Taken was one of them but
John Wick...
1849
02:04:22,882 --> 02:04:29,972
I mean John Wick is I would argue kind of a
better version of an '80s action movie in that
1850
02:04:30,431 --> 02:04:34,602
you could pitch the first 30 minutes of
John Wick and grab somebody's attention.
1851
02:04:35,019 --> 02:04:39,732
And the action is so different
than the action in other movies.
1852
02:04:40,274 --> 02:04:44,361
I look at Keanu Reeves and what he does in
the John Wick films and the Matrix and other
1853
02:04:44,779 --> 02:04:50,242
movies, action films, and because I'm someone
that does it, I understand how hard it is.
1854
02:04:50,618 --> 02:04:52,828
And I can see the hard
work that he puts into it.
1855
02:04:53,370 --> 02:04:59,919
If Keanu Reeves can pull off John Wick other
people can pull this off too but why can
1856
02:05:00,461 --> 02:05:01,796
Keanu Reeves pull it off?
1857
02:05:02,379 --> 02:05:07,134
It's not that Keanu Reeves even has a
muscle but Keanu Reeves is so super cool.
1858
02:05:07,510 --> 02:05:13,766
The true action stars of today are something
like Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise and he's
1859
02:05:14,391 --> 02:05:17,061
literally putting his
life on the line, Cruise.
1860
02:05:17,436 --> 02:05:19,271
I mean, you got to respect that.
1861
02:05:19,939 --> 02:05:25,903
He might not be as physically capable as Jet
Li or Van Damme but man, he is hanging off
1862
02:05:26,445 --> 02:05:27,738
the side of planes, right?
1863
02:05:28,113 --> 02:05:29,113
It's amazing.
1864
02:05:29,323 --> 02:05:34,787
A couple of the big action directors
nowadays started out being stunt doubles.
1865
02:05:35,538 --> 02:05:41,710
Chad Stahelski who's directed the John Wick
movies he was a stunt double for Keanu Reeves.
1866
02:05:42,336 --> 02:05:47,508
Also, David Leitch was Brad Pitt's stunt double
for years and he was also the stunt double
1867
02:05:47,925 --> 02:05:49,009
for Van Damme.
1868
02:05:49,552 --> 02:05:51,112
They're both directing huge movies now.
1869
02:05:51,220 --> 02:05:56,725
David's did the Deadpool sequel and
they basically know how this shit works.
1870
02:05:57,184 --> 02:05:59,812
It's not clear to me what
the kids think about this.
1871
02:06:00,187 --> 02:06:05,234
What a teenager now thinks about Stallone
and the Rocky's and the Rambo's and Arnold
1872
02:06:05,526 --> 02:06:08,362
Schwarzenegger, The Terminator that's about
to come out, the new one.
1873
02:06:08,737 --> 02:06:13,492
For you and I, we remember the glory days
of action cinema.
1874
02:06:14,034 --> 02:06:18,539
It's full on, pulls no
punches, gory, violent.
1875
02:06:19,623 --> 02:06:20,875
I miss those movies man.
1876
02:06:21,500 --> 02:06:26,714
It's because I fell in love with
these guys the first time we saw them.
1877
02:06:27,089 --> 02:06:28,089
Above the Law.
1878
02:06:28,632 --> 02:06:30,801
He came out of nowhere.
1879
02:06:31,302 --> 02:06:32,302
Steven Seagal.
1880
02:06:32,511 --> 02:06:36,432
What a beautiful talent he had and he was
different than anybody else.
1881
02:06:36,932 --> 02:06:44,565
And even though over time their skills or
their appearance may have degraded a bit,
1882
02:06:45,399 --> 02:06:49,695
I mean we look at Steven Seagal today he's
not the same guy we remember but he still
1883
02:06:50,112 --> 02:06:52,448
has that skill and it's
still worth watching.
1884
02:06:52,948 --> 02:06:53,948
It is.
1885
02:06:54,450 --> 02:06:59,413
The action movies of the '80s the ones that
are memorable they had a little more plotting,
1886
02:07:00,122 --> 02:07:07,338
more twists, more plausible villains and nowadays
I think people are emulating just the stunts
1887
02:07:08,130 --> 02:07:10,424
and not looking at the underlying material.
1888
02:07:10,925 --> 02:07:17,932
Well, I think the films of the '80s I think
they came from old-school heads who they knew
1889
02:07:18,474 --> 02:07:26,398
story arc, they knew character arc and
built on that, they put action there
1890
02:07:26,857 --> 02:07:30,277
that was organically
motivated by the story.
1891
02:07:30,736 --> 02:07:37,201
I find more today that the action motivates
the story, not the story motivates the action.
1892
02:07:37,785 --> 02:07:41,497
The question is do you care about anybody
that got shot?
1893
02:07:42,373 --> 02:07:43,791
That's the real question.
1894
02:07:44,458 --> 02:07:47,169
But today I don't know if you get shot...
1895
02:07:47,544 --> 02:07:50,547
I like that special effect. That was great
but do I care about you?
1896
02:07:51,173 --> 02:07:54,510
Today's generation just seem like
they don't care what's out there.
1897
02:07:54,969 --> 02:07:55,969
I'm going to go see it.
1898
02:07:56,303 --> 02:08:01,600
We're still hopefully grasping to that feeling
we have when we watch those movies for the
1899
02:08:01,892 --> 02:08:03,644
first time as kids.
1900
02:08:04,478 --> 02:08:08,524
I can't compare anybody nowadays
to Stallone and Schwarzenegger.
1901
02:08:09,066 --> 02:08:16,281
These guys aren't meatheads even though the
people seemingly, one of the sophisticatos
1902
02:08:16,615 --> 02:08:18,701
want to like kind of downgrade someone.
1903
02:08:19,159 --> 02:08:22,121
No, these are the smartest dudes in
the room and they will whoop your ass.
1904
02:08:22,746 --> 02:08:23,746
They're fun.
1905
02:08:23,914 --> 02:08:24,914
That's why they're cool.
1906
02:08:25,457 --> 02:08:26,897
That's why they'll always be around.
1907
02:08:27,292 --> 02:08:30,671
That's why those guys will be in
wheelchairs and still doing it.
184474