Beaks here...
When Phil Blankenship of The New Beverly asked last week if I'd like to moderate a Q&A with Peter Weller before a screening of THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION, I a) accepted immediately, b) started humming this, and c) began worrying that the veteran movie star wouldn't have much to say about a bizarro box-office bomb he shot twenty-seven years ago.
I worry too much.
Joined by co-stars Billy Vera and Jerry Peterson (of the still-quite-active Billy Vera and the Beaters), Weller came to the New Beverly last Monday night ready and rarin' to discuss everything: W.D. Richter, Earl Mac Rauch, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum, Jeff Goldblum's virginity... if there was a verboten subject, over the course of a half-hour (which could've easily extended to an hour had there not been a second feature on the bill), we certainly didn't find it. This all resulted in one of the most entertaining Q&As I've ever moderated or witnessed ("witnessed" because, after a while, I just let Weller take over).
And now, thanks to my pal Cathie Horlick, it's online for all you Blue Blaze Irregulars to enjoy!
Before you watch the video, I want to stress that this was shot from the front row of the New Beverly as a means of casually documenting the evening. This is not a professional recording of the Q&A, so please don't hold it against Cathie if parts of answers are drowned out by laughter or applause. She wasn't planning to broadcast this to the world; it's just that the whole thing went so well that she couldn't bear to keep it to herself. (Cathie also wrote a terrific blog about the event that you should absolutely read.)
Also, to help some of you better appreciate Billy Vera's amazing anecdote in the second video, this is Marianna Hill:
There are other pictures of her out there. She was quite memorable in Haskell Wexler's MEDIUM COOL.
When the first video begins, Weller is answering my question "What shape was the script in when you first received it?" - a legit query given that the screenplay was patched together from a number of (sadly unpublished) Buckaroo Banzai adventures written by Rauch. The rest is hopefully self-explanatory.
