HARRY HERE, and let's get right back into the exciting conclusion of Quint vs Reggie in our battle of bad ass working class monster fighters.... Here's Quint with the first question of Part II!!!!
Q: IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR REASON THEY DIDN'T BOTHER GIVING YOUR PHANTASM CHARACTER A FICTIONAL NAME?
RB: Well. Like I said, Don used to like to... and I imagine he still does... likes to draw his characters he knows or that he's seen that have affected him and stuff. After doing 2 films and working with me, he liked me a lot and felt that if there was ever going to be a good friend in the world, then it would probably be Reg.
The character he was working on for the Phantasm thing had that basis, that foundation of character. That being that, you know, hey... this guy would throw his body on the flames of Hell for you. I think he just went, hey, why struggle with Clyde? I don't know? Harvey? I don't think so. Bill, Tom, James? I don't know. Ah, let's call him Reggie. I think it was more just, "Hey! This is Reggie!" you know? I recognized this character. I don't think with the wrong head nearly as much...
Q: WERE YOU THERE WHEN THEY SHOT THE SPHERE STUFF FOR THE FIRST TIME?
RB: No, not really. No. Uh-uh. I really missed all that stuff that time, but believe you me I certainly hung out in the second one and saw everything I could and in the 3rd one I was always there. I was always on set. The 4th one as well. So, I know and even helped with some of that stuff.
I realized early on... well, in the first part, for example, one of the effects in the first film was the bug that comes out of the finger that becomes the bug from the finger. It was so funny because Don wanted to get a bug that didn't really resemble or look like anything that came from the earth, you know. So, there were these bugs that they used to sell at liquor stores and like in Save-Ons and five and dimes, stuff like that. There were these rubber bugs. Some of them had wings and some of them had these garthy teeth, some of them had fly eyes and some had long legs. They were just like these ugly bugs. Kids love to play with ugly things. (laughs)
So, anyway, he told Paul, "I don't want a bug that looks like anything you can buy. I want a bug that is totally tripped out." So Paul told a couple of guys, "Hey, you guys go to these stores over here and I'm going to go over here to this store and we'll just buy a whole bunch of these things." They were out there in this garage they were using at the house that the kids lived in in the film. We were out in the garage, which was basically used as a staging area for stuff and storage area, and they were out there with razor blades cutting these bugs apart and gluing them back together in all these different forms, you know.
Finally they decided on one. For the scene where it comes down from the air into the "insinkerator" or whatever, that was just on a nylon line and somebody just said, "There it goes!!! Wooooooo!" and into the sink. So, that's how that bug was created.
What's kind of neat about Phantasm, even now in the fourth one, there's a lot of organic effects. You have to be creative to sell these gags. We've always been pretty creative about that and been able to sell them, so kinda something to be proud of.
Q: INDIANA JONES HAD HIS WHIP. LUKE SKYWALKER HAD HIS LIGHTSABER. YOU HAD YOUR FOUR-BARRELLED BAD MOTHERFUCKER SHOTGUN. WHAT WAS YOUR INITIAL REACTION TO YOUR WEAPON?
RB: The shotgun? Well, you know, I saw pictures of it first. When I first went in to get outfitted with stuff, before we started shooting, I got the utility belts... there was gonna be kinda of a sword thing that fit on my back, you know, so I could reach back and pull this machete kinda thing. That was problematic in all the things that I had to do, so we decided to cut back on some of the stuff.
Yeah, when the shotgun was brought to me I thought it was awesome. I also thought it was heavy. There was two of them. There was a prop gun and it didn't fire. Then there was the one that did fire. Generally, I ran around with the prop gun and only used the real gun when I had to fire it. But it was heavy and still is! After running around with it a lot...
I learned some techniques about how to handle it and stuff like that. For example, the grip on the front, to free up both my hands to do stuff, sometimes in a scene I would take the gun and put the grip over my shoulder in the front and it would just kinda hug my body, which was interesting. (laughs) It would free up my hands to do things in a scene. In Phantasm 2, I kinda figured that one out there.
Yeah, but I thought it was awesome. I always thought it was kind of a trip because Michael, James LeGros in the second picture, he makes the flame-thrower and he gets to light the fireplace with it and I got to light up the Tall Man's domain with it! Which I thought was very cool. He makes it and I get to use it for all the good stuff. That was kinda really that crossing over the line thing for the Reg character in Phantasm 2. He was on that path. He was definitely going after the Tall Man. At that point he was going to fuck him up... good... as much as he could! Of course he found that that was problematic as well.
Q: WELL, IF IT WASN'T PROBLEMATIC, THEN YOU WOULDN'T HAVE A COOL FILM SERIES, WOULD YA'?
RB: Well, you know, I think it's interesting that, for example, you find out that the Tall Man is afraid of the cold and he's being pursued by the (pause) Ice Cream Man! Which is, I think, very interesting. We seem to be the two characters that have made it all the way through this thing basically intact. It's kind of a trip.
Q: IN THE FILMS YOU HAVE A LOT OF REALLY COOL LINES. DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE?
RB: Oh boy! You know, I really liked it when James LeGros and I are driving along, I've just picked up Kimmy in the 'Cuda and he wakes up and I'm goin', "Yeah, yeah, hey." You know, dah-dah-dah-dah-dah. He looks behind him and sees her in the car and she starts talkin' and he's like looking at me like "What the hell are you doing?" He goes, "Yeah, I gotta take a leak." So, we stop and get out and that whole scene there by the side of the road where we're taking a leak and we're talking about Kimmy and I say, "It gets hard on the road." I think it's a classic line. I really like that line.
You know, lines in (Phantasm) 3 like "Dominate me, baby" were also pretty cool. Reg has a lot of good lines. It's just fun to play him because he is so cool and funny and doesn't know he's funny. That's what's cool about him. He doesn't really know he's funny. He's being as serious as he can be and yet he's just like over the top with humor at various times. I don't know. There's a lot of lines that I like that I've been given by Don.
Q: WHICH ONE DO YOU GET ASKED FOR THE MOST? WHICH ARE THE FAN'S FAVORITES?
RB: I actually had... someone gave me a button that said "Dominate me, baby," and they gave me another button that they gave me that said, "It gets hard on the road." I thought that was kinda telling. Especially since it came from a female fan. Anyway...
But no, the lines like "Come on, you mutha!" (QUINT NOTE: MY PERSONAL FAVORITE) that's always a good one because he reaches in and grabs the biggest chainsaw in the world as I'm standing there with my little chainsaw going "Holy shit..." There's just a lot of good stuff that I've been given.
Q: THE CHARACTER'S NOT ONLY KNOWN FOR HIS COOL LINES, BUT ALSO FOR BEING A NOTORIOUS LADIES MAN. YOU'VE BEEN AROUND A WHOLE BUNCH OF HOT BABES IN THE FILMS. I KNOW IT'S A HARD CHOICE, BUT WHICH ONE IS YOUR PERSONAL FAVORITE?
RB: Oh! Boy... Umm... that IS a hard choice. You know, I like them all for different reasons... but you know (Phantasm 2's) Kimmy beat the shit out of me. I mean, she did! I don't know. Like in that bedroom scene she was just whacking me to death. Then, of course, (Phantasm 3's) Rocky handcuffed me to the bed. Gosh... It's kinda hard to say.
I think probably Jennifer in the last film was probably my favorite to do the scene with, mostly because it was the scene that we were doing. You know, we're laying there in bed, she's this little fox, you know, she turns me down, I have this dream... And you know, it sorta wasn't her fault that she had sphere's for breasts! It's kinda my karma, I guess. Yeah, she was great. Heidi was really, really terrific. Good actor, easy to work with. I really enjoyed being with her.
Having said that, I really enjoyed all the ladies of Phantasm. Even the ones that weren't my hot babes. The other hot babes that were just hanging around, you know, like Paula Irvine who was also a hot babe. I, of course, never had anything to do with in 2 because she was Mike's hot babe. I thought she was great. Then Kat Lester, who I also had anything to do with in 1, but who's become over the years such a good friend. She's a musician as well. I just love them all!
But I have to say probably the easiest scene, at least up until I get the sphere thing going, is probably with Heidi.
Q: ANY MOVEMENT ON THE NEXT FILM, PHANTASM'S END?
RB: I understand there is, but I don't really know the total nature of the thing. I understand that there's somebody looking at it now that would be good for the production. I really don't know too much more than that. Don likes to kinda keep me in the dark about these things because he knows that I do interviews... which he's happy about, but I like to talk, obviously. And good luck on editing this down, by the way. Maybe next year you'll have the interview!
So, I don't really know a lot, but I understand there's some interest wherein we might be able to start doing this thing early next year.
Q: I REALLY HOPE YOU GUYS CAN GET THAT GOING. I'VE READ A COUPLE DIFFERENT DRAFTS OF THE SCRIPT AND IT LOOKS TO BE A HELLUVA LOT OF FUN.
RB: That's another thing. Don will not let me read the script. I mean, things just kind of appear on the internet and my computer wouldn't be able to pick it up. Somehow he would come up with something that would block my computer! (laughs)
I know enough about it just that I've heard. Some from him and some from other folks that have read it that he was getting kind of critical reviews of the script from. It sounds like a great script. It sounds like it'd be a lot of fun to shoot and it sounds like it'd be a lot of fun for the fans. Lotta action. Some good, honest humor I'm sure where it should be and a continuance of the Phantasm paradigm that will have integrity as all the others have.
Q: IF AND WHEN IT GETS OFF THE GROUND, ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR NEXT LOVE INTEREST BEING A MONKEY?
RB: You know, I'm not crazy about working with a monkey. Just... you know... I... Maybe I'll fall in love with this monkey, but we'll just have to see. I think there's going to be a period of time where I'm just going to have to hang out with the monkey. You know, take him to bars and stuff, maybe. Buy him a beer. Maybe he could entertain people for the beer.
I don't know. I gotta figure out a way to get involved with this monkey and have him love me a lot so that he doesn't bite... they will and do bite. You know, it's like getting bit by a human being, man, you know... anyway... I try not to think about it too much. I'm assuming it's going to be a female monkey, but I don't know. I'll do my best. I'm pretty good with animals. I'm a vegetarian. As long as I can convince him that I don't eat anything that has a face, you know, I'm sure we can get along. We'll see how that goes.
Q: YOU HAVE APPEARED AT MANY, MANY CONVENTIONS AND TALKED WITH A LOT OF PHANTASM FANS. ANY REALLY WHACKED OUT FAN EXPERIENCES?
RB: Whacked out fans? Yeah, but they don't generally reveal themselves right away. That's kinda spooky, too, but yeah... I'm very open with people. Gosh... We get involved with some fans. I have to say that for any fan that I've ever had out of all the ones that I've been around, there's only been a couple of whackos. That always kinda ended up in... I don't know... Fans have a way of thinking that they can just... fall into some sort of business thing with you. It's kinda weird, but some sort of business thing, whether it's some sort of artwork or models or something like that.
Or even films. I get a lot of fans that call me and go, "Hey, we're doing this film in... in... Kennybunkford, Maine..." which is fine. I encourage them to do their films, but, you know, they want me to be in their film. What I do is I just go to basics and go, "Well, sure. I'd love to do your film. Now, it has to be a Screen Actors Guild contract film." That generally quiets them down because they don't want to go through that. If that doesn't quiet them down, then I go to, "Well, I gotta have this kinda situation to come out and do your film." That usually quiets them pretty well.
I've had offers from fans from Germany to go to Germany and do a film. I had to go through that little thing with them. "Well, I'd love to do it, but here's what we have to do..." Which is kinda cool. It has nothing to do with whether I'd do it or not, it's just a matter of a workman getting compensated for his work. Like that. I think them into a more realistic situation other than "Oh,I'm going to take my little video camera out there and make a film." Which is fine! It worked for Blair Witch. Which was odd. That was an odd thing.
But no. I don't get any really... I think I've had maybe one real
threatening kind of person... or maybe two. But, you know, I tell them I'm
going to sic my attorney on them and they kinda go away generally speaking.
They're pretty much pretty good. I really enjoy meeting the fans, talking
about the films and what's going on.
Q: BESIDES THE PHANTASM FILMS, YOU'VE ALSO WORKED ON A FEW OF BOB KURTZMAN'S FILMS. HOW'D YOU GET INTO THOSE?
RB: Well, we had a lot of good special effects people on Phantasm 2. Bob Kurtzman and Greg Nicotero were two of those people and did some terrific stuff. They built some stuff that was really nice. For example, the thing in Liz's back, the creature that comes out of Liz's back, they did that. They manipulated that creature. You know, they just did some good stuff. Oh, like they helped with the melting of the Tall Man. That was great.
So, anyway, Bob always had wanted to direct and, of course, they both just wanted to make movies, so they always said, when were on the set of 2, they went, "Ahh, Reg, man! When we do our movies, man, you're going to be right there with us." So, I went, "Hey... yeah, cool! Let'd do it, you know?"
So, Bob got the opportunity to do The Demolitionist and then gave me a call, then got the opportunity to do Wishmaster and gave me a call. I've really, you know, dude, mostly I've worked with and for friends. I'll get to know somebody either through the convention circuit or through email or something like that and they turn out to be totally legitimate. They're going to what they say they're going to do.
You know, people talk a lot. You know, they just do. Matter of fact, I wrote in one of my songs, Fools Paradise, in Fools Paradise I wrote: "Everybody's talkin', talkin', talk is cheap and you know what's walkin'" That's true. Talk is cheap and you know what's walkin'. That would be Bullshit... that's walking!
There's a lot of talk, but there's a few people that are as good as their words and those are the people I like to work with. That's Don Coscarelli, that's Bob Kurtzman, that's Brian Yuzna. These are people that when they say, "Yeah! I really dig what you're doing and I want you in my next film." They don't fool around. They give you a call and go, "Hey, we're shooting." That's cool.
Q: YOU GOT ANYTHING COMING UP?
RB: I got this picture that's supposed to be on video and get a video release here pretty soon. It's another friend of mine, a guy named Chuck Williams, who's actually doing a lot for Full Moon right now. He's doing some digital movies for Full Moon. Matter of fact I think William Shatner's directing one of them...
Anyway, Chucky did this film and he acted in it and he produced it and it's called Up Against Amanda. It's about a psycho chick who's totally obsessive and falls in love with this guy who already has a very cool wife who's a singer in a band. Justine Priestly is Amanda in it. Chuck's in it. I'm in it. Dan Roebuck's in it, if you know Dan. Duane Whittiker is in it. We just kinda threw in to help Chucky do it. From what we shot, I think it's probably going to be a pretty good little picture.
Outside of that, you know, everybody's talkin', talkin'. (laughs) There's a guy who wants to shoot a vampire movie. He's trying to come up with the wherewithall to get that done. This is all supposed to happen by the end of the year. And some other stuff, but like I said, talk is cheap.
Q: HOW ABOUT ON THE MUSIC SIDE OF THINGS. YOU HAVE ANYTHING GOING THERE?
RB: I've been playing a lot. I may end up just doing the hired gun thing... I've been looking around on the internet. There's some good folks out there that need some help with guitar players and singers. I may do that, do a little bit of that.
In the meantime, I've got my little band. I got a drummer, a bass player. We play various places various times. Yeah, I'm really enjoying my music. It's kinda interesting because stuff that I've done for years sounds new to people now, which is a trip. It should sound new because people forget from one day to the next who they are and where they've been. That seems to be the nature of our society.
I was reading in the paper the other day that one of the reasons that Al Gore's message is kinda not getting across to the people about all this prosperity that his administration brought is that the Clinton Administration has been in the White House for 8 years, so everybody forgot what it was like to struggle. Really, that was an analogy of the situation and really agree. People are being raised today that have no sense of tradition or history. They just don't understand. They don't know where they came from or particularly where they're going. They don't have a clue who people like George Washington was. I'm serious!
You know that Jay Leno bit that he does where he goes out and he...
Q: OH, JAYWALKING.
RB: Yeah, yeah! Jaywalking. He goes out and he goes, "Do you know who Janet Reno is?" "Yeah, doesn't she live in Arizona?" Also, a friend of mine is sitting here and said that they asked somebody who Julius Caesar was and they said it was a salad. (laughs)
I'm telling you. These are people you look at 'em and they look like they have money. They look like they have good jobs and young people, some of them in college and stuff and they just don't have clue. It's kinda interesting where we're going here in this country and who we're bringing up to run it. Oh my goodness!
Q: I SAW ONE THE OTHER NIGHT WHERE JAY ASKED SOME PREPPY, FRATBOY GUY WHERE THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WAS LOCATED...
RB: I saw that!
Q: AND HE'S LIKE "... DALLAS?"
RB: "Dallas? Some city, isn't it?" Talk about horror stories! Look who's going to be running this country 40/50 years from now! Holy Cow! Then again, maybe it won't even matter, you know what I mean? Maybe everybody will be on that Yadda-Yadda plane, you know, "Heeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyy weee'rree having fuuuuuunnnnn..." and nobody will care. Maybe that's it. Maybe ignorance really is bliss.
You know, there's an actual website, maybe more than one, that has to do with the dumbing down of America. I just have to say, it's really true, man. We're creating a lot of idiots. (laughs)
Q: AT LEAST THEY PROVIDE GOOD ENTERTAINMENT.
RB: Yeah, yeah, yeah. At least. You know, that reminds of another thing, since we're on this subject, I was reading in the Hollywood Reporter, they had in the last issue that I got, they were comparing things like Scream with things like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Dawn of the Dead and stuff like that and how the older genre films obviously had certain messages inherent in them. Now the genre films are just... you know put a bunch of teenagers in a house and just have at 'em. I don't know. They're shallow. That's too bad.
It may be one of the reasons the next Phantasm film has been around for so long and nobody thought it would make any money. I mean, evidently. I don't know why else it wouldn't get funded. Maybe it's too heavy. I don't know. Who knows? It may fall into that category where you have to have some sort of a brain to relate to it, or something, and they just don't trust anybody to have a brain.
Q: YOU OWN A COMPANY CALLED PRODUCTION MAGIC INC. TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT.
RB: Well, Production Magic, Inc. was formed really by my partner before I actually got involved, Gigi. Gigi Porter. It was her dream for a long time. She had another partner when I was first brought into the company, but now it's just her and I. We do live events, TV production... You name it and we can do it. We fill a lot of holes, which is a tough position to be in.
I mean, this is an age of specialists and if you specialize in one thing, well, you know, you get a lot of people not hiring you. "Well, we have to have you doing this," or whatever. When you can fill holes, in other words, when you come up with a production crew. You know, an entire... gaffers and their crews, juicers and their crews, everybody. Or we can cast a piece. We can bring the videographer or the camera operators. We can even get directors. You know, what do you want to do? We can do the whole thing.
It's been kind of a struggle, but we're still alive. Production Magic, Inc... we still get things together. We got things together, actually, for Phantasm 4. Some of the stuff was directly related to our efforts. For example, getting KNB effects on board was really my effort on behalf of Production Magic, Inc. The CGI footage of the spheres that swarm in the front of the film was due to our efforts. The Civil War scene which looked like a million bucks was basically due to our efforts.
So, yeah. We're really great to have on board. (laughs) It's kinda a like if you got me on board, basically you got us on board. Gigi also does special effects make-up. She was the special effects make-up coordinator in Phantasm Oblivion. She wore a lot of hats, by the way. She worked with wardrobe and make-up, like regular make-up and special effects make-up and right on down to cleaning the RVs and stuff. She's great.
Q: COOL. WELL, I THINK WE'RE AT THE POINT OF THE INTERVIEW NOW WHERE I ASK MY STAPLE QUESTION. SO, REG. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DIRTY JOKE?
RB: What's my favorite what?
Q: DIRTY JOKE.
RB: (laughs) My favorite dirty joke... wow... I was talking to Duane Whittaker last night and these aren't really dirty joke, but I think they're damn funny. I can't remember all the ones he told me. He's got several musician jokes and I could only think of one to tell him back, but he told me several. One of the ones was: What do you call a guy that hangs out with a bunch of musicians?
I said, "I don't know... what do you call a guy that hangs out with a bunch of musicians?" He goes, "A drummer." I went, "Oh, cool. I got one for you. What do you call a musician that just broke up with his girlfriend?" He goes, "I don't know." I go, "Homeless." Which I thought was funny. Hold on just second, I'm getting a wave of somebody over here... (laughs) That's a pretty good one.
What's the difference between a guitar player and a pepperoni pizza? A large pepperoni pizza can feed a family of four. (laughs)
And hey, it's not that I haven't laughed and loved dirty jokes, I just can't think of any right now, but I think these musician jokes are pretty funny. (Pause) OK, Gigi has one. What came first the chicken or the egg?
Q: I DON'T KNOW.
RB: (To Gigi) He doesn't know.
(Gigi in the background): The chicken. Eggs can't cum.
RB: Did you hear that?
Q: YES, I HEARD THAT LAUGH! (LAUGH)
RB: (laughs... then to somebody in the background) What? God! Look what you started, man! I'm in the middle of jokes here... What do you call Reggie Bannister in a three piece suit? I have no idea... A defendant... I don't know, I don't know. Anyway... Yeah you can mix and match or choice one or throw them all out, I don't know.
Q: OH, I'M USING THEM ALL.
RB: (laughs)
Q: IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT OR PLUG OR SOMETHING?
RB: Yeah, you know... really not so much right now. I think we pretty much covered everything. I had fun with it. Basically this new little picture, Up Against Amanda, should be out shortly. Hopefully we'll get to shoot the next Phantasm film. Hopefully some of the talk about some other pictures that are supposed to happen before the end of the year will be more than talk and we'll get to do that, but basically I'm just playing a lot of music and having a good time doing that. Matter of fact, I'm getting ready to go out and play right now.
AND ON THAT NOTE, MY FINE LITTLE SEA SQUIRTS, WE MARK THE END OF THIS INTERVIEW. KEEP YOUR EYE OUT SQUIRTIES, FOR THE OL' CRUSTY SEAMAN IS SOON GONNA WHIP OUT HIS TREASURE CHEST AND SHARE SOME GOOD NUGGETS WITH YA'. 'TILL THEN I BID YOU ALL FAREWELL AND ADIEU.
