 Clint Howard is one of my all-time favorite actors. Ever since I first saw him in "Rock 'n Roll High School" back on beta in the early 80s, I've been mesmerized by his uber-ClintHowardness - truly, there is no one out there like Clint other than Clint, as he's a force unto himself. As I developed a fondness for all things b-movie-related and schlocky, I came to know & love such immortal classics as "Evilspeak" and "Ice Cream Man" and his brief but utterly hilarious cameos in Adam Sandler's "The Waterboy" and "Little Nickey." Heck, I even enjoyed Clint's straight-man turns in his brother Ron's films, including "Apollo 13" and "EdTV." When DVDschlock.com was offered the chance to interview Clint as part of the publicity for the recently-released "Senior Skip Day" (click here for our review), I jumped at the opportunity - how often does one get to talk to a true screen icon? I was so excited... and was blown away by how friendly, funny and genuinely sincere Clint was - it was a fantastic conversation, and my best attempt at a transcription is below... I just want to start off by saying how much I appreciate you making the time to talk to a lil' web site like DVDschlock.com - let me say that I'm a true fan, and that's not just blowing smoke, as I count some of your films as my all-time favorites. Well thank you very much. I'm very grateful for people who appreciate my work, as the relationship between the audience and the performer is important, and I dig it. I get a kick out of the work I do and the fact that others as well is cool. Lionel Huffer (Clint's character in "Senior Skip Day") was a great character - the film is quite funny, but for me, his role was the highlight. Thanks very much - y'know, it's a little indie "Ferris Bueller's" on steroids. There's a lot to like about the movie and I had a blast working on it. It's one of those projectst that I'm really glad I said "yes" to, and I knew I was going to say yes once I heard who was involved. Getting to work with Larry Miller was fun - he's great character actor, and the filmmakers respected us enough to give us some latitude and let us do our own thing. We improvised quite a bit, especially our final scene together - that was completely us working through the possibilities, sun going down, clock is ticking, and we just had fun with it. FYI - Clint has probably the best line in the movie here: "I had a dream - I wanted to be an air conditioner repair man. And you FUCKED that up, so know I'm going to cut your head off." I also appreciated the set up of the movie - it was a young, energetic film crew and a young, relatively inexperienced director and writer. They were sort of mentored by George Gallow, who wrote "Midnight Run" and when I saw they had a mentor as one of the producers, I thought that was really cool. George helped behind the scenes and was there for the crew and the actors as a veteran - it was fun having him around. I had fun with the character - I told the director I wanted to shave my head, think outside the box, have a jailhouse tattoo and just be weird. There's give & take when you make small movies, and it was fun to really get into the character.  What do you enjoy more - playing the oddball or the straight-laced guy?As an actor, I try to make things honest, as I need to believe it too. I've been able to do a lot of different things in my career, honestly, because I hardly ever say no, so I get to do a wide range of characters. But I do wish I could do more straight actors, non-psychotic. I know the movie business likes to hire "safe" and cast "safe" and cast good looking, but in real life, there's a lot of quirky birds in a lot of interesting positions. I've met a lot of really interesting doctors and attorneys, but in the world of casting they always hire the same type to be a doctor. But hey, I'm an actor - I can play an attorney, I'm a smart guy, I could've been a doctor... but that being said, I would love the opportunity to play those roles, and with the right Armani suit I could be an attorney and with the right get up I could be a doctor... Yet I understand, and I'm not bitter - if they want to hire mre to play freaks, I'll play freaks. That's one thing about Rob Zombie - we're good friends, and he's a great guy - and he called me up when he was casting for "Halloween" and said he wanted me to play straight character. Rob's got the balls to cast against type - he wanted to see me play straight. Y'know, I've worked with Hank Arthur, Red Skeleton and now I've worked with Rob Zombie - that's a helluva eclectic mix. Well, it's a credit to you that you've played so many roles in over 180 productions now, and that's why you won the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award... Y'know, I knew ahead of time that I was going to be presented with that, so I had time to prepare my words in advance. My Dad said to me, "Listen, take it seriously - that's the way this skit/segment is going to work." I talked with Ron and Dad, and there were jokes that could've been said... and those jokes could've gotten laughs... but those laughs wouldn't have been memorable. "If you take it seriously, then it can be memorable..." I remember doing that and lots of people have fond memories of that particular moment in TV movie awards - and it was real. I truly feel honored to be in the positon I'm in - I'm grateful, that's no bullshit. Would I like to be a $25,000,000 movie star? Of course. But the fact is, if this is what it is: me being a character actor, creating a body of work that allows people to watch movies & TV and embrace me as their sort of personal favorite, that's great - I think it's wonderful. It just proves that you don't have the be the best, fastest, best looking guy to end up leaving a mark. But the same could said for Charlie Manson, so.... With your indulgence I'd love to ask you about a couple of my personal favorite Clint Howard films and hear whatever recollections you'd like to share... Sure, go for it. Rock 'n Roll High School Great experience - shot in 1979 and I was full-fledged into rock & roll at the time. Getting to be in that movie was really fun and, being a Roger Corman movie and having worked in a couple Corman films prior to that, there were lots of the same guys involved, so it felt like family. Playing around with the Ramones and hanging out with Vince Van Patten - great memories. It was one of first movies where I was out on my own - doing dialogue on my own, driving to set by myself, left to my own devices. Evilspeak  Made right after "Rock 'n Roll High School" - my "coming of age" as an actor and an adult. My first lead in a movie, there were a trio of creative people who made that movie: the director, the cinematographer and myself. I felt really good that I was being included on an adult level - I was the lead and the director trusted and respected my judgement and effort. The three of us really worked hard on that movie and it was another one of first movies that I worked on on my own. I was no longer a child actor, but was now an adult actor, with another set of rules. I got laid for first time during filming of "Evilspeak."Y'know, it's really an underrated movie - people online take shots at it, but I'm proud of it. It was a really low-budget lil' indie movie, but when it came out, it was #1 or #2 in the markets that it opened in. Now, there were some fundamental mistakes made in the release of movie, so it didn't get a full studio release... but then video and dvd releases came out, plus its claim to fame was that Britain deemed it a "video nasty" (banned movie). I guess they didn't like pigs eating a naked woman in a bathtub... Fun movie to work on. Last question: as an indie filmmaker myself, how would I go about getting him involved in one of my no-budget movies? Well, I'm a SAAG member, so it would need to be a union movie. I'm certainly more than willing to read material and talk to creative people. I like to stay busy, I like to work, so send something to my agent and I'll be happy to take a look! Thanks so much to Clint Howard for being such a fantastic interview! Labels: interview |
