Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Crispin Glover
Episode Date: October 15, 2019Crispin Glover (Back to the Future, Willard, Lucky Day) joins us this week to talk about his experience in the film industry throughout the many different iconic roles he’s portrayed from George McF...ly in Back to the Future… to Andy Warhol in The Doors… and more. Crispin shares his active passion for protecting actors and their identity from the propaganda machine running behind the big film industry; all stemmed from the prolonged legal battles he’s had to face after his likeness was taken advantage of in the sequel of Back to the Future. We also chat about the unique types of roles he’s taken over the years, his take on method acting, and his wide artistic expression through directing and now authoring books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Man, this interview came up with like a 15-hour notice.
Somebody, a friend of mine who's a publicist, this person, this actor who came on the show today, his publicist.
I was like, do you want this person?
And I was like, are you effing kidding me?
He's promoting a movie.
I'm like, are you effing kidding me?
Yesterday, I said, Ryan, Crispin Glover is going to be on the podcast.
And you were supposed to work all day.
I was. I flipped some things around because I did not want to miss it.
Yeah, I'm glad we didn't miss it.
You know, sometimes I'm a little nervous in the beginning, but he just, he's so articulate,
which is a little unnerving sometimes because, you know, people are, you know, but he's not
condescending. He's just a smart guy who's articulate and is passionate about art and passionate
about, you know, we talked about Werner Herzog and documentaries and we talked about, which
is really fun. We talked about Back to the Future. And obviously he's got this lawsuit, you know,
when you're dealing with studios or dealing with people in general, you know, directors,
sometimes you just speak your mind and you take a chance because you're like this isn't right
and uh he does that and he also talks about the thing that happened on the letterman show if you
guys don't know that maybe watch crispin glover on letterman letterman walked off stage talks about that
i don't want to give too much away which i'm doing but but his new movie lucky day and uh it really
looks good and roger avery who co-wrote reservoir dogs and pulp fiction right and all this
so it's like i think it's going to be good i can't wait to see it
Before we get into Crispin Glover, check out the inside of you handle, my handle on Twitter
and my Twitter and see where I'm going to be for conventions and all that stuff.
And left on Laurel, you know the album's out, all that jazz.
And in love with Michael Rosamont and Chris Sullivan is out.
So make sure you subscribe.
We appreciate you.
And that's about all I have to say.
Thank you for listening.
And here, let's get inside of Crispin Glover.
You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum.
Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience.
We're starting.
I'm into it.
You are.
Have you done a lot of podcasts?
I have done some.
I went on Mark Maron's a number of a couple of years ago, which was great.
He's got a big following.
Yeah.
he's good he's he's got a so you've got a saturn award i do you're like me add i do have a saturn why do you
have one no i was nominated for uh it twice i think but i never won't what willard for willard and
for back to the future well you didn't win i didn't win who beat you i don't know i don't care
i don't remember do you worry about that stuff do you care when someone beat you i very rarely get
nominated. I have won some awards. What awards have you won? Well, interestingly, what I actually
won awards for was my filmmaking. I won awards for my filmmaking before acting, which I'm fine with.
I have no problem with that. Although then I, Ann Arbor Film Festival, which is the oldest experimental
film in the U.S. My first film, what is it won best narrative film? The reason it was in that
categories because, you know, filmmakers like Stan Brackage, who genuinely make non-narrative
beautiful art films, would premiere his films at that film festival. So they had a narrative,
you know, award, which my film won, which I was happy about because people would sometimes
say the film isn't narrative, but indeed my first film, what is it, is narrative? Where do you keep
the award, by the way? Do you look at it or is it like an end? It's just a plaque. I think
I won some money, actually.
What?
Interestingly, not a huge...
It was Lawrence Kazden sponsored it.
I think I won...
Lawrence Kasden?
Yeah.
You mean Empire Strikes Back?
Yeah, yeah.
It was like, for some reason,
that award was named after him.
I think he might have donated money
to the festival or something like that.
But then that film also won
an award at the Citrus Film Festival.
And then my second film won an award
at the Citrus Film Festival.
So you play music, you made a music album, you direct, you write, you have, I don't know how many books, you've got a new book you're working on, you're an actor, I mean, I mean, what the, are you just, do you keep trying things because you get bored? Because that's what I do. No, it's not necessarily about being bored. I just genuinely, most of the books that I published, well, in fact, all the books I published really were books I made mostly in the 80s and very early 90s. There are old books taken from the 1800s,
and reworked and turned into different books
from what they originally were.
Now, amazingly, I still, I tore with those books.
I've published five of those altogether,
four of which are in print.
But I have a live show that I perform before my films.
The live shows are an hour-long each.
There's two different shows.
There's eight different books in each of the shows.
And I dramatically narrate the books.
They're heavily illustrated,
and the images are projected behind me.
You like theater.
You like live.
I mean, by far, most of my work has been, you know, in front of a camera.
I've done some theater, but the show that I do is theatrical.
Do you get nervous?
No, I've done it.
I could do it right this second.
Jump into one thing.
Go.
Rat catching.
Perfect.
You know, by heart, you get up there.
Do you look forward?
Do you get that buzz, not that nervous feeling, but that I'm excited.
I can't wait.
There is something about performing in front of an audience.
Yeah. And especially if they're there to see when you know what they're there to see.
I like performing the show. It is time-consuming. Everything surrounding it, going and setting up the show, traveling to the show, checking into the hotel, all these kind of things take time. If I could just snap my fingers and rat-catching studies in the art of rat-catching for the use of schools, chapter one.
What's the Latin word for rat?
I don't know.
I think it's radisnervegetist or something. Is it? Oh, okay.
I just remember that because I know Ryan's looking at me like, what the hell are you talking about?
I'm so glad, and I don't even know.
I've never taken Latin.
I don't know Latin.
I don't know any.
But I remember a guy in drama class in high school got up and go, I am Radis Norvegedus.
I'm sitting in some shit head.
I don't know.
I think I could be wrong.
People are probably listening.
But I just remember that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Radisnerveged.
It's too easy, though.
Isn't it Radisnerveged?
It's probably where we get the word rat, if it's so.
I think so.
I keep thinking about you reading these old books to then.
First of all, reading a book for me is alone.
That's really difficult.
Well, but also they're very heavily illustrated.
So virtually every page has illustrations on it.
So it isn't just me reading, but there's also a visual component.
I can see what people are looking at while I'm performing at the show.
I'm in a red spotlight.
Some people are looking at me, but often people are looking at the images that are being projected.
But I'm talking about the old books that you sort of transcribe.
That's what I'm talking about.
They're not transcribed.
there, well, I mean, some of them don't even use any of the original text at all.
Rack-catching is one that uses a lot of the original text.
That's the one that feels most like the original book.
But there's some that I use virtually no words from the original book, and it's more about just the images.
All of the books are different from each other.
You dress up a lot, don't you?
Well, especially if I'm, you know, doing media, I'll wear a suit.
I guess this is somewhat.
This is media.
This is media.
I'm going to tell you something, Chris.
This is the truth.
Ask Ryan.
I usually wear, I usually don't shower.
It's not that I'm filthy.
I just wake up.
I throw on a t-shirt in my hat and my shorts.
Yeah.
And Alex, who's a publicist at your firm, let me know.
Is it fun?
Oh, he's a great guy.
You're going to love him.
I go, okay, cool.
You know, he wears a suit.
He always looks sharp.
I go, oh, shit.
Oh, shit.
No, no, no.
So, you know what?
You're looking at me with jeans.
I'm wearing pants today.
But it's normal.
I just, for whatever reason, I've always felt like doing media, it's proper to wear a suit.
If I'm traveling or something, I don't wear a suit.
Do you like media?
Do you like being interviewed?
Do you like, I mean, do you get...
Well, yeah.
I mean, I like, I especially like it for my own projects, or if there's a project I like.
I'm enjoying, you know, I really liked working with Roger on...
Roger Avery on Lucky Day.
On Lucky Day.
so and and I like talking about my own films as well
so I'm I'm fine with it years and years ago I was
much less comfortable with it but I'm more comfortable
with it now I think people and they do this I mean you know
when I played Lex Luthor people assume I'm going to be this
dark intense character who wears Armani suits and
then they find out I have T-shirts Atari T-shirts and drive a
Volkswagen bus or you know but so that you know I'm not nearly I'm not
that guy I'm not that smart I'm not so
people probably look at you and go, oh, he plays these intense weird roles. Is he this weird
guy? Absolutely so. And do you like the mystery of it all? It doesn't really bother me.
The only thing, I am writing a regular book right now that's not taken from the old books,
one that I just read. This is about the films, the propaganda? Yes. And on some level,
part of why I'm writing it, well, there's this one producer named Bob Gale.
I don't want to go into too much about it, but I just see where sometimes people take an advantage, like Bob Gale, of utilizing a persona to their advantage as opposed to me, knowing that they can take my persona and go, oh, this guy's whatever, and then if they, and he stole something from me.
He did something that was illegal.
What was that?
Well, there was a lawsuit and back to the future.
Right, because they took, they took.
They put prosthetics in another actor.
Yeah, they took the molds of my face from the original film that was used to make the old age makeup.
And then they made prosthetics from my features and put it onto a different actor's face in order to fool audiences.
And used to some guy to do your voice, right?
Well, yeah.
He did an imitation of me.
And it was, you know, it was illegal.
You are not allowed to do that.
It's, yes, my lawsuit set precedence, but it was completely.
completely illegal. Yeah, changed SAG rules and did all that stuff.
Yeah, but even despite that, it was totally illegal.
Yeah, when you saw that, the first time you heard about it or did you see it?
Yeah, I went to the see the movie. I didn't, I went on the opening day to see it. I was in a regular paying audience. I did not know before that moment. That's what was happening. So of course, it was a very, very uncomfortable thing to.
Who are you watching the movie with when you see that?
to the future too. You went to yourself just to check it up because Robert Zemeckis, you know,
directed. I knew something. I knew, I was curious what had, what had happened. I did, I, I was under
the impression that another actor is playing the part, which was fine with me. Had that been
the case? You can't do anything about that. That would have been fine. And nor would I
wanted to do anything about that. I would have been totally happy. There would be never a word about
it again. Fine. That isn't what happened. And when I saw what.
what had happened, it was very bad.
Did you go into, I mean, I, the only thing I could think of is somebody walking into
the bathroom after the, or during the movie and seeing you, they're breaking a mirror.
I, I, I, I, I, I, I sat in the front row and I just kind of had my hands on my head like this
with my head down waiting for the film.
Like, you didn't want people to even see you, like.
People did, did see me and noticed a bit, but, uh, I was actually in Salt Lake Utah when it,
did they think it was you?
Uh, I think so, but, but I just kept my head.
I went in very shortly before the film started and just kept my head like that and then
then watch the film.
And then afterwards, you called your lawyer and said, this isn't right.
No, I didn't have a lawyer.
No, I contacted Screen Actors Guild.
Screen Actors Guild then found a legal representation.
Everybody knew it was outrageous.
So I hope you won some money from this.
Well, the funny thing is, is I don't, I, there is an agreement.
This is another reason I'm mad at Bob Gale.
there was a settlement agreement, which I've always been very careful to stay true to.
And what I'm supposed to say in the settlement agreement is that it was settled with mutual satisfaction.
Everybody was supposed to stick to that.
Bob Gale cannot take that he did something illegal.
He doesn't like that.
There's any kind of question that he could have possibly done anything wrong.
So what he's done is, you know, it's literally what a criminal,
will do when they've they've done something to a person is they'll blame the victim of their
crime well bob gale did something illegal he blames me and so he uses he's been using it really does
drive me crazy he's been doing it for decades now it's just wrong you do not you do not do something
that's illegal and then blame the person for your illegal action so what does he say oh the studio
cleared it they said it was fine well he'll he'll do so many mental gymnastics in order
I wish somebody would really publicly question him.
But, you know, he has the platform of being the producer of the DVD.
So he goes on these DVDs and says whatever he wants.
And then people believe it.
And he just makes up an incredible amount.
Well, all you wanted, it sounds like if he called you up and said,
I'm really sorry about everything that happened.
I would certainly appreciate if he did that in public.
He should do that in public.
I mean, he's been publicly for literally decades now.
And he keeps just every five years when they have something new to sell, he keeps going on the bar higher.
And that's what made me start to say.
So this last time, he broke the settlement agreement.
I sent a cease and desist letter to his lawyer.
It costs me money to send the cease and desist letter.
You know, essentially he'll take all credit when there's something good.
But no, he wasn't even the producer or he had nothing to do with him.
when there's some actual blame of something that he really did do that was illegal.
Do you know how many, you know, it's funny, I can think of, this is about you.
I'm not bringing it back to me.
Yeah.
But I am in a way.
When I played that role, Lex Luthor on the show, when I left, they started to have
an actor who was actually my, uh, double stand in, my double.
Thank you, Ryan.
He's there for articulation.
Right.
Uh, they would show him.
they would uh his back his head you know doing all these things many episodes yeah and i think
they hired another actor they made it appear like he i don't think he ever said anything but people
were like dude you came back oh my god that's awesome i'm like no i didn't that sounds sort of like
what was a dick york and um on bewitch there were two actors that that played the same role
but it's but again that's legal yeah and they're they're hiding my face they're not showing my face
and they're not talking like me.
Right, right.
They're just showing that this character that's created
that I'm not on a show anymore, he's still alive.
Yeah, that's legal.
Where it is not legal is to physically take the prosthetics.
Also, part of the lawsuit was that they were calling the person that played me,
not by the character name, but by my name,
and making derisive jokes and things on the set.
You know what probably drives you crazy, it drives me crazy hearing this,
is you probably have so much admiration and love for this franchise
or at least the first, you know, the first installment.
No, I don't have incredible love.
Or did you at first before this happened?
Oh, yeah. I mean, I put everything into it.
I, you know, I wanted to do a good job in it.
If that never happened in the second one.
If there was never a second film, I'd be at the reunion, smiling, happy.
You'd be all these conventions signing.
Of course. I'd be very happy.
There'd be no problem whatsoever.
Isn't that something?
Because you probably had no issues with the.
actors, right? Absolutely not. No, they were all great. I never have problems with
actor. I mean, and in fact, I didn't even, there were minor things that I've talked about
because I know what it blew up into, but it's the kind of thing that had this lawsuit never
happened because of stealing my face and other stuff, not just my face, but it's the kind
of stuff, you know, you wouldn't talk about at all, but it's blown up, particularly by Bob Gale out of
proportion.
And that's why you're writing this book about propaganda in films?
It's not the only reason, but there are multiple things I'm writing about in the book.
Would you consider other propaganda, like some would say, like Oliver Stone's version on JFK or Tarantino's version of the latest movie?
Well, it's a complicated issue.
Propaganda isn't just, I've so far written 450 pages on it.
That sounds like six books for me.
Say it again?
That's six books from me, with color pages.
No, that's good.
That's a lot.
I mean, I'll probably edit things down.
I have to go through editing.
But the subject matter is propaganda within the U.S. film industry.
But even the word propaganda, it didn't originally have the negative connotation that we have with it now.
Essentially, it's the art of persuasion.
The negative connotation, I would say, and part of what the, part of what the,
the main element in the book has to do with is corporate interests that make people believe
something that it seems like it's good for the people, when in fact, it's really good for corporate
interests, not good for the people. And that's all over our entertainment media. And it's not
really heavily talked about. I am very happy to see that something having to do with the
internet, it is something that people are starting to discuss more. And I see people,
discussing it in politics and news media, which is positive. My first film, What Is It,
was very much reacting to this. And I came out with that in 2005, or I premiered in Sundance
in 2005, I actually started shooting in 96. So the ideas in it really are very old. But when I
first started touring with it, even in 2005, in the U.S., and I started talking about propaganda
in U.S. entertainment, people in the audience, I could just immediately tell we're like,
what are you talking about? What's wrong with you? It's brave. But I'd go up to Canada and they knew
exactly what I was talking about. Anywhere outside of the United States and people knew exactly
what I was talking about. Not in the U.S. But I've seen that start to change now and it has
something to do with the internet, just that people, you know, podcasts like this are important.
Yeah. And just the kind of talk that is not being.
being communicated well it it now it's being communicated because it's not so corporate right which is
it is positive it's important and it's important you know i keep thinking you know i go to these
conventions sometimes to sign autographs and the fans love it and it's just they they're you know
and i see sometimes the back to the future of guys you know yeah and uh michael j fox and you know
uh christopher lloyd and like you said you got along with those guys great so obviously the studio has
nothing to do with it. I'm being selfish now for fans. It has nothing to do with what?
I know. Well, with the sense that, you know, these actors are individually invited to come
do like a Back to the Future signing. So what I'm, what I'm of course insinuating is, gosh, why don't
you go? Boy, would that be fun? Well, the reason I don't go to those is is because of the lawsuit
for Back to the Future or less than the lawsuit, but because of the sequels, essentially if I go to
those, I'm promoting the use of my face or stealing of my face. I know it doesn't seem like that.
I know what you're saying. You're saying that if you do that, they're going to go, oh, well, he didn't care.
Now he's making money. Exactly. So it's okay for him. Yeah, yeah. Completely.
Yeah, I can, I can never do those. Right. But I tore around with my, my own shows and films.
Right. I used to sign everything absolutely for free. I have my books, of course, that I sign. But I had an
incident in fact somebody uploaded it weird aggressive like autograph people came to one of my shows and got
really aggressive with me to like sign stuff and it was strange i was like surrounded how do you react to
that what did you do it's online i mean i'm the thing that's funny about is i think i come off very well
i'm actually really reasonable and explaining to what are they saying sign this sign this come on
dude it's it's that part of it's off camera but you can tell that's what i'm reacting to and you're getting
worked up not too worked up
But I think I come up very, everybody that's made a comment, it's funny because they all say negative things about the guy who uploaded it.
They're not saying anything negative about me because I'm being completely reasonable.
But ever since that, I now I do charge for, except for my books, I sign my books for free, but anything outside of that, it's just become too much of a business.
And it also is slowing the line down.
It just got to the point where it's like, fine, if somebody really, really wants to.
pay a lot of money for their, you know, whatever particular collectible that they're having
to sign, I'll do it. I always, I felt strange about doing it, but it just got to the point where
it was taking too much time and causing too much issue, essentially, to not do that.
But what if somebody said, Crispin, come for the weekend, back to the future folks aren't here,
it's just you, you're going to be signing at a table? Well, what I've done is I've, I think it's happened
twice, I'll do the same show that I do at movie theaters, if they do it within my complete show
within the confines of the convention, which includes a signing. I do a one hour live performance,
then I show the feature film, one of them 72 minutes, the other one 74 minutes, then I have
an hour and a half Q&A, and then I have the book signing. But the thing is, is those conventions
are a business as well. So for them, it's a hassle. So most of them won't.
won't do that we don't want to do all those things yeah they just want you sitting there and and signing as
much as you can that's very true yeah yeah inside of you is brought to you by rocket money if you want
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I look at your career, and I was really excited about this.
I've had a lot of people here, and, you know, I wouldn't say I get excited.
And I was like, oh, that's cool.
They're cool.
You know, but with you, I even called a couple friends.
Oh, well, thank you.
And they were just like, dude, are you kidding me?
I mean, it's always that.
I mean, even Ryan, this is true.
I'm not bullshitting you.
Yeah.
Ryan, what did you, what did you have today?
No, I had another job, and I had.
Where?
Oh, where in Santa Monica.
Santa Monica, right.
The whole day booked to make money.
More money than I pay you.
Yeah.
Thanks for bringing that up
Well, you brought it up
So anyway, what happened?
I said, hey, Crispin Glover's coming tomorrow.
Is it Chris McGlover's coming tomorrow?
So I left yesterday
And I
No, I, you know, I sort of, I planned my day around it
Because it was very excited.
You had to do it.
I mean, you obviously have fans.
I mean, you're a big,
Hot tub time machine.
That was my favorite running gag.
Oh, good.
Yeah, I had a good time making that film.
I didn't watch that movie
because I didn't get cast
sometimes I, you know, when I don't get the role.
Do you ever do that?
Well, no, I don't really care.
In fact, sometimes I'll watch movies if there's something that I've had some kind of interest or offer for.
You do have to grow a relatively thick skin, so to speak, at a young age to, I mean, that's just normal.
It's like it's normal that otherwise I'd be in every movie that was cast.
I mean, I saw Saving Private Ryan.
Yeah.
I saw the movies that I didn't kick.
cast and of course like those but some movies you're like like for instance willard yeah if you
for some reason didn't get cast in willard do you think you would have seen it uh it all depends
i mean probably not but not because i didn't get cast just because it wouldn't be on my your taste
a genre maybe yeah i mean i these days i almost never see movies i i used to see movies all the
time and i almost never do i sometimes i spend time in new york last year i was in new york a lot
and I did go see a whole bunch of movies at MoMA that, you know, like Martin Scorsese had
curated a series, and that was really enjoyable.
But seeing contemporary films, that's really, really rare for me these days.
So are you a doc, you like documentaries?
Yeah, there's some really good documentaries.
What's your favorite documentary?
I'll just say Bunewell's documentary Land Without Bread, just because I love Bunewell.
I'm sure, well, Herodzog's made some great documentaries.
I was just going to say, Runaugana.
is fantastic.
Grizzly Man.
Grizzly Man was great.
In fact, I premiered my film What Is It in Sundance
the same year that Werner Herzog
was premiering Grizzly Man.
And I had actually shown a rough cut of what is it
to Werner Herzog.
And then he came, I went and saw Grizzly Man,
and he came and saw the premiere of What Is It?
He was great.
Crispin, what is it?
Yeah.
This movie is so great.
That's good.
I really sincerely think you're a filmmaker.
Perhaps we could do something together.
What was interesting about, you know, he's been literally making film since before I was born.
And at the show, he was, there's some video footage, somebody's been making a documentary about my filmmaking for a while.
And there's video footage of Werner Herzog asking me questions about how I made certain things in the film, which is, you know, I'm a huge admirer of his.
Supposed, well, he lives not far from me, like a couple of people.
locks over.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't know.
Actually, I walk by his house sometimes.
Oh, okay.
I've never seen it, but one of my friends said that he got so pissed because people were
partying till later hour and he came out there yelling and said, what the f?
Get up, what the, it's two in the morning.
What are you doing here?
And he's such a calm guy.
I can't imagine him screaming.
I would have paid for that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because he's, you know, famously the My Best Fiend where he's talking about
Klaus Kinski and the Indians are.
the Native Americans or Native South Americans were saying that they would,
they were more afraid.
This was Herzog's self-report in my best fiend that they were more respectful and
or afraid of Herzog because he was quiet, whereas Kinski was loud, which meant he wasn't
isn't that something?
Like I always feel like that I'm kind of a loud personality.
Ryan, would you agree?
100%.
Thank you.
But I can be loud and I look at you, you're reserved, you're kind of humble and you're not
that I'm not humble.
but I think when people when you yell when you're just they don't take you as seriously
yeah so when you're this quiet mild manned guy and he says you you're you let the people listen
to quiet people I think that's the theory isn't it probably I mean I you know I'm not always
calm I wish I was do you what do you freak out about what's the one thing that you go
corporate tyranny really right right I noticed that Ryan did you notice that you were intense
in a way that it's not intensely it's it's it's passion
You're very passionate about it.
I think there's something truly out of balance with how we have allowed corporate tyranny to control things.
And then also the, which is also why the propaganda aspect is important to me because it does influence how people think and then treat each other.
And people, you know, easily will get subsumed into an ideology that you can clear.
tell has to do with a kind of propaganda, some element of propaganda that's become the
norm. But there are complexities to that, where which kind of propaganda is being put forth,
what ideology is put forth and why. It gets complicated. What do you think about what Martin
Scorsese said about Marvel films? Somebody asked me that the other day. And in terms of this exact
topic. I think the word cinema that he used was a little problematic because anything that you put up on
a screen can be called the cinema quite literally. But I would say what he's really reacting to is
corporate propaganda. I haven't seen most of those comic book movies. But my sense is, you know,
the original comics that they're based on were made in the originated in 1930s and 40s during World War II.
which was really to make children feel comfortable with the wars that were going on or the war that was going on at that time.
So now it's been upgraded to adults essentially to do that same thing.
To make the U.S. citizens feel comfortable, it's metaphorical, but generally to feel comfortable with the idea that the U.S. is a moral police state of the rest of the world.
People in the U.S. believe that.
People outside of the U.S. do not.
They clearly see that's not true.
There's always been that.
Sure.
I mean, there's always a movie.
Well, it's been there for a long time.
How long has it been that people in the U.S. believe that the U.S. is this moral police force?
I don't think I'm kind of forgetting my U.S. history now, but I believe that it was under Teddy Roosevelt was when the U.S. first became imperialistic, meaning doing anything outside of U.S. grounds in terms.
of wars. I could be wrong about that, but I, that's from high school, AP history and high
school. I know some things about Teddy Roosevelt. I know, like, he introduced national parks and
I know that he was shot. Wasn't he shot? I think that might be Jackson that was shot, but
maybe Roosevelt was shot as well. Or was it McKinley? I know McKinley got killed. He died. He was shot
and killed. Jackson was, you know, in a duel and he carried the fragments of the bullet in his body.
But I'm assuming there's various presidents
that have been shot, evidently.
Reagan was shot.
JFK, of course.
Yeah, let's keep going with this.
Lincoln, there's a lot of them.
Was Garfield shot?
Check that out, Ryan.
I think Garfield, it was.
The cat or the?
No, Garfield, the president.
I think he was shot.
This is not my area of expertise.
Yeah.
I actually really like history, but I don't know.
Let me get into this a little.
First of all, your roles, like, I know people have talked to you about this.
When I think of a role, a Crispin Glover role,
besides, of course, George McFlock,
I think of Andy Warhol in the doors.
Yeah.
I think of that, like, that role was to the point where I thought,
as much as I thought Jim Morrison was playing the lead role.
Yeah.
I thought Andy Warhol was in the movie.
That is how good you were.
The funny thing is, as I met, I met Andy Warhol.
Like four years before, unbeknownst that you were going to be, right?
And it was at Sean Penn and Madonna's wedding, right?
That's exactly right.
Yeah.
And I literally stood back after I talked to him thinking he would be a good person to play.
watched how he held himself and kind of thought about it.
So you're sort of like gearing up for maybe playing him someday before you even know you have the role.
That's right.
And so when I heard that the role was in this film, I had had a nice meeting with Oliver Stone for a platoon.
I didn't read or anything.
We just sat and talked and I wasn't in the movie, but I had a good meeting with him.
so my agents contacted him
I went in auditioned and I got it
did you're a wig and glasses and everything
no no I just I I went in
without that but I you know I held myself
in the way that I I had seen
Warhol holding himself so I really had done
in person research
did he ever give you did he ever give you
direction um on
you know I could see Oliver doing tons
of takes and I could see but with
what you did I think he was like just let him go
I he had
an interesting way of dealing with it. He just early on before we shot, he said something to the
effect of, you know, there are people that know Warhol and you can know what he's like,
so you'd better be good. But I like, I mean, I didn't. You didn't get nervous about that?
No, I like, I like very much working with him. I don't, I don't mind that kind of direct thing.
I mean, I didn't feel like he was being mean or condescending. He was just being free. And he was
right. Of course. I totally agree with that. Was there anything you added that he was like, oh, my God.
No, no. In fact, I asked to subtract things, which he did nicely. Like, Paul Williams was in the
scene with me. And he, and I had a funny thing because it's only, it's one of the rare things I
remember in my childhood. I went and saw Phantom of the Paradise, which he was in. I don't know
what my age was. It was when it came out. So he's relatively young. And it's the only time I can
really think of myself where I saw the, it was at Warehouse Records in Westwood. There were pictures,
you know, his album was up not too long after that movie. And of course, he was playing a bad
character, a villain in that movie. And I remember looking at the thing, at the albums and this
is a very bad man. That's the only, that's the only time I really mixed that up. I was pretty young.
And so I told this to Paul Williams when I was working with him.
Of course, he laughed.
But he was given, they originally had me saying the line.
It was written for my character, as Andy Warhol, to say, in the future,
everybody will be famous for 15 minutes, which to me felt a little bit too on the nose,
just at this moment when he's meeting Jim Morrison.
So I suggested I don't say that.
And then that, they had Paul Williams saying, which was much better.
Right, because if you said that, it might take away from your little relationship, the little moment in the movie?
Yeah, I just felt like the less said the better if possible.
And Oliver Stone was very accommodating.
He was, he was nice.
What is the moment when, is it Jim Morrison, or, you know, Val Kilmer obviously takes your glasses off, was it?
Yeah, there's something I'm talking about the telephone.
I don't remember.
It's something about, I actually don't remember myself, but something about talking.
talking to God. I'm forgetting what the line was. They say if you want to talk to God or something.
Something like that. And then, right, did he take off your glasses and you kind of seem shy and there's
so much going on and just that little moment. Yeah, it was good. I remembered. It was just so
genius. Was that improvised? We took the glass. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was. I'm pretty sure
Val just took the glasses off. I think he did. Yeah. Were you like, did you love it? Yeah, he's a good
actor. You know, he was, he was, he was into staying in in character and such. And so he, yeah,
had an intensity to do what he was doing. I think I'm all for that. I think it's a good thing to do.
Sometimes people get irritated if somebody does it. It certainly doesn't bother me.
Personally, for me, what the most important thing is to keep concentration internally in my own head.
I would feel like if I did something that annoyed somebody, I would end up being more concerned about that, which would take away from my concentration.
And so I don't want to, like, stay in character to the detriment of the performance.
If it's a theater game, you know, if it's something where the director wants everybody to stay in character and everybody's on that same level, I actually do think it's a very good way to work.
But for me, if I'm imposing it onto others, it would make me, I would feel that too much.
I would feel, I would get concerned about people being annoyed by it.
So I don't.
But I do think it's a very good way to work, but I don't specifically do that.
I just try to concentrate in my own head because that's the most important.
Okay.
What's ridiculous right now is I assumed that you were like a method actor.
The guy on set that just doesn't talk to anybody.
He's so like in the role.
Well, I mean, I, the concentration is the important thing.
How do you do that?
Talk to me about that.
But, you know, like that word method is, is a kind of overused term because that
specifically was coined by
Strasbourg. Right. And
Strasbourg and Udhaagen
and Stanislovsky? And
well they're all based on
Stanislovsky. So Stanislovsky
if you read his books, he's the
best person to read books
about acting. His stuff is great.
But like if you take, if you
look at any of those other
Stella Adler, they've taken
essentially sections
of Stanislovsky books and made that
their whole thing.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So the fact that Strasbourg coined the term the method, you know, I think actually much of what he is specifically teaching, I didn't study Strasbourg.
I studied other Stanislavski elements, and there were even elements that I studied that had to do with his.
But what he, as far as I know, much of what he teaches is emotional recall, which is slightly.
different than staying in character, I'm not certain that I know of anybody necessarily
teaching it like it's kind of being practiced. So when people are saying a method actor,
this idea of staying in character, I do think it's good. And there was one thing I did early
on where the director did want me to do it. And so I did on set. What was that for?
It was just a, it was a short film called The Orkley Kid. Oh, yeah. Well, that's where you end up
in a dress. I play a fellow who wants to...
You love Olivia Newton-John.
And what had happened, I went to the same, one of the schools, acting schools I went to
was one that Sean Penn had gone to, which was interestingly how I did end up getting
that part, but it was just because there was somebody that was doing catering on the short
film that went in, and they told me about, then I went in for it. As I recall, that's what
happened. But in any case,
he had done the first year version of it, which was shot on video.
I did the second year version, and it was based on a documentary that the filmmaker had made.
So when Sean Penn did it, he was insisting in staying in character,
and the director thought it was good.
It was good.
And so then he asked me to do it.
So I was all for it, and it was good.
It was helpful.
I liked it.
But I had one brief experience on a different film where I test.
that, but because it wasn't something that was called on, I felt like it could confuse people.
And I just didn't want to continue that. I thought it's best to keep it in my own head.
But in terms of the word method, to me, what they're really referring to is Stanislavskiy and
psychological truth, which definitely that's what I was taught and I'm, I'm into. I just, it's
overused turn. You know what? I always say, whatever,
if you're an actor, it's what you're comfortable,
what works for you. And for me, it's like
when I heard all these things, we have to read all the Udhaugans
and the read about Strasbourg and what their
teachings. And I was like, oh, I like what he did there. I like
what he's talking about there in that chapter. Oh, I like
what Stanislovsky said about that. Oh, Udahagan made it. So it's
kind of like a little bit of everything. Sure, of course.
It's kind of like a little smorgasbord.
Well, and, and if you, if you read the books by
Stanislavski, those have
all of the things in it. Yeah.
So that's really why he's the,
the best. Do you have a lot of celebrity friends? Uh, I have, I do, but I do stay to myself a fair
amount. Um, I'm not overly social. I travel a lot. I own property in the Czech
Republic. That's where I'm, I've been, I have a film that I've been working on for many
years that I'll have out next year, uh, that I made, I developed for myself and my father
to act in together. Right. And my father and I've never acted together before this.
My father's Bruce Glover.
He's in films like Diamonds Are Forever in Chinatown.
The villain, right?
He was, there was, in Diamonds or Forever, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd.
He was Mr. Wint, I believe.
Is he proud of you?
Yes.
Does he ever, did you have a childhood where, you know, you'd look at you, your career
from an outsider's point of view, and you go, I wonder if he had a crappy child.
I wanted to just dysfunction because he plays these weird characters and this.
And he's like, so I bet.
You know, he was just like his mom was an alcoholic and his dad beat him.
No, no, no.
No, I actually came from a good household.
And I went to a very good private school.
So you were loved?
Absolutely.
Did they say, Crispin?
I love you.
Yeah, they did.
You are so good.
I'm so proud of you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Luckily, I did come from a good, a good household.
That makes me so happy.
I mean, I mean, you know, there's, everybody has little things that they can complain about.
Were you picked on?
No.
No, that's, that's an interesting thing.
because I played characters, a lot of characters.
But, no, I really never, I never had any, you know,
I was never beaten or hit or anything.
I mean, I went to a private school from first to ninth grade
called Merman School.
In Venice?
No, up on Mulholland Drive, which was a really great school.
I'm grateful I got to go there.
I did go to two years, three years of public high school.
Two years was in Venice High School.
And then the last year, you're allowed to go to.
any public school, at least at the time in the L.A. system. And I knew more people that went to
Beverly. Some had gone to Merman. I was friends with an actor that I'd worked with in something.
They had a good drama department. So last year, I went to Beverly High School.
Do you ever talk to Sean Penn? I ran into him a couple of years ago.
I mean, you're at his wedding. You figure you'd keep in touch with someone who isn't your what, you know.
Well, I, no, I'm not like in regular, I don't have his telephone number or anything, but any
time I see him. I'll talk to him and he's always nice. The last time I saw him, I actually
talked to him about something having to do with the orcly kid. But, you know, I'm always
complimentary. I like his work and I, I feel friendly with him. Is there anyone you worked with
it? You were just like, no, I, I'm pretty, uh, for me with, with actors, it's like, even if somebody
is not in a good mood or, or whatever, I just feel like, whatever,
they have to do it's it i do think acting's hard it's like i make i'm a filmmaker as well
right and that it's a different kind of hard work it's true but but uh the psychological aspects of
acting i it is difficult and a interpersonal day-to-day uh work you have to go into this one
realm of a different psychology and then another realm of interrelating with people so i can
understand where if you're if somebody's kind of in their own zone so to speak i i'm very
more than willing to whatever they have to do to to make their work work is fine with me did you ever
did you ever not get it in a moment where you're like you're in a scene and you just you can't get it
who you as an actor me yeah where you're just like i don't know what to do here i don't know
what the director wants i can't get it i feel like i'm not doing the job well i mean i mean when i was
16, I did a pilot. I was playing the page, you know, not having the proper subtext of the character. And the writing wasn't very good. Even to this day, it's embarrassing to me. There's one scene. I auditioned with an improvisation. I had learned to act essentially with
improvisation with technique as opposed to humor. I was very comfortable with improvisation. And I got it from a cattle call.
and I did an improvisation.
They utilized the improvisation
or kind of they changed it a little bit
what I had auditioned for in the show.
That scene was fine,
although it was changed from what I initially did,
but it was essentially fine.
But the other things that they wrote were really pretty...
And did you know it then?
It wasn't, this isn't good?
Well, yes, but not in the way that I would now.
So it was like I just kind of did what
I felt like I was expected to do, but I could kind of feel that.
So I'm sure I felt like, oh, is this good?
I didn't, I, but then, you know, I was in acting class at the time, and people, you know,
said things that were helpful, you know, in the school, like about playing the page.
And I recognized quickly thereafter that it was very important to get into the
psychology underneath.
So that's something I always try to do.
But, I mean, of course, I'm still capable of making mistakes.
And sometimes I can, I can, you know, think that I'm doing something correctly.
It's very rare that that happens, but it has happened.
And then I realize after, oh, that was a mistake.
That's rare, but it has happened.
You know, it's, I always think like, you know, George McFly, I know you've done this a million
times you talked about this a million times but it's just something that how do you come up with that
it's oscar worthy it's to me it's so good and so like what actor would play it like that the the choices
you make are choices of like what risk what it's so you know the funny the funny thing is is it
it's so it really is so long ago now and i've not gone to see it since it came out so i i actually don't
particularly remember. I mean, I'm glad you're saying these things, but I really...
Don't you think so, Ryan? I mean, I remember liking. It was a great part, and I remember I did work
hard on it. I made very specific choices that were very detailed. And Zemeckis loved them?
Well, not necessarily. He did in a way, but he wasn't always
complimentary of it. It was actually a little bit strange.
But some of it, stuff that I'm writing about in this book as well, you know, there was an actor that was fired from it.
Eric Stoltz.
And I think there was a certain amount of tension perhaps that was brewing because they perhaps were, well, obviously they did do that.
They would know that something was up without relaying it to everybody else, but at the same time you could feel it.
But...
Was that hard for you?
Did you like Eric a lot?
Well, Eric also went to the same acting school that I went to.
He and I had played brothers in a bear aspirin commercial when I was 16.
So I knew him.
Like I say, I'll go into more detail about it in the book.
But, oh, there you have the Uda Hogan respect for that.
Yeah, there you go.
Yeah, I know.
I have...
Dude, how do you see that?
I have contacts here, and I can't even see you.
well my right eye is quite sharp and my left eye have an astigmatism yeah but uh but i've
good eyesight but back to george for one moment i know because we're going to get in the lucky day
because yeah yeah it looks badass we're going to talk about that oh yeah i can't wait to talk
about that yeah did you ever take risks that you remember or specific risks that he's like
no don't do that no he no he he liked me i actually did have a good working relationship with
with Robert Zamekos.
I liked working with Robert Zamekos.
There were sometimes things that, you know, I was talking about, maybe I wasn't talking
about in this interview.
I've been doing a number of interviews, but sometimes a director, you'll have to translate
into your own head what they're really meaning to say.
Sometimes a director will just say, you know, something that's not in actually terms,
so to speak.
You don't understand it exactly.
It's not that clear.
Well, no, it's clear, but it's just you have to kind of retranslate it so that it can become an organic thing.
Right.
As opposed to an external thing.
But, I mean, ultimately, he is a very good director and gave me good directions.
I also worked with him on when I played Grendel as well.
And he gave me a very specific direction on that.
Beowulf.
Yeah, and Beowulf, which is actually related to Lucky Day as well.
Because Roger Avery was a writer on that.
He co-wrote it with Neil Gaiman.
Right.
And I'm working with Neil Gaiman right now on American Gods, which is based on his beautiful book of the same title.
Right.
And he's the executive producer for that show.
And then Zemeckis bought, he read the script.
It was written originally for Roger Avery to direct Beowulf.
And then Zemeckis got hold of it and he wanted to direct it.
So he paid Roger.
for the script and he said to Roger and Neil
that he would cast who they wanted to cast in it
and so I was who they wanted to have play Grendel
and so I'm grateful to Roger and he's got a long
list of amazing credits like he wrote
co-wrote with Tarantino and a lot of films right
Roger Aver yeah he he co-wrote
Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction which he won the Academy Award
for Best Original Screenplay with
So when he called you for this
It was a no-brainer?
Well, yeah, well, let me just finish the other story.
So then I was, you know, there had been the lawsuit
about Back to the Future, or the sequel, rather.
And so it's the kind of thing where you think, well,
I'm never going to end up working with any of those people again.
So be it.
That's how it would be.
So the fact that that ended up happening, I owe to Roger and Neil, and I am glad that it happened.
It was reparative for me, just, I mean, not totally, but I mean, I did have a good working relationship with Robert Zemeckis on Beowulf, and I did ultimately on Back to the Future as well.
Unfortunately, you know, the things that happened after, that's too bad, but at least there was a reparative element.
And so, yeah, when I got the script from Roger, well, also, the character itself was great.
So I absolutely wanted to.
And it's got some gore.
I mean, you know, just the trailer alone.
Yeah.
And by the way, I'm just going to be honest, I just, this interview just happened late yesterday.
So I didn't have time to watch the movie.
That's all right.
But this is my genre, man.
Yes.
When I watch it, you're always hoping something's going to be good because it's easier to talk about.
Sure.
And then I see this trailer and you've got this accent.
Yes.
This and they're like, he's got this French accent.
He's not even French.
Yes.
And it's got this humor, but it's got this grit and this craziness and this intensity.
And then you see Roger, you know, directed it and wrote it.
So it makes perfect sense.
Yeah.
I'm actually having seen it myself.
I'm going to see it tonight.
Really?
Yeah.
I had the.
Sure, I'll go with you.
I had the, sure, if you want to go, you're welcome to go.
The, the, the, the, the, um, I had the opportunity.
do. I either watch it on my computer or go to
Lionsgate and see it, but I
kind of thought, this is a movie. It does
have humor and there's a visceral quality
and I feel like it'll get audience
reaction, so it'll be a fun film to go see
in the movie theater. So I'll go see it
at the Wilshire
what is it called the
musical tonight. Right. At 7.
But it's also going to play in selected theaters and it's
going to play in video in demand. Yes, yeah.
So you guys could find this for sure.
Yeah, yeah. Are we live or
recorded? It's not. It's recorded.
Okay. This was live.
Oh, my God. That'd be kind of cool.
Can we do that, Ryan?
Do like a live radio show?
Oh, my God.
I'd love to do live, like Stern.
Right.
I have no idea how these things happen, but people do it.
I have been in various, you know, I'm very glad that this kind of home-type talking,
because it's much more the way people actually talk.
There's just something that happens when you're sitting in somebody's room with their books.
You start to forget about like all the crap.
That's why, you know, a lot of people are like, what happened?
Because we usually shoot in video.
And I'm like, I don't know.
people are just more intimate.
The conversation is like more open when you're just two people talking.
Definitely.
You know, sorry about sometimes I'm taking pictures and stuff.
It's hard.
It wasn't that distraction.
No, I, I mean, I, I, I'm on both at the same time.
I mean, I know that it's happening.
Happening.
And, and, uh, but it does give a, you know, I've been on those late night talk shows,
which are the, the most unnatural form of conversation.
They're, you know, predetermined.
You have the pre-interview.
You have five minutes.
Yeah.
Or less.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's...
Oh, speaking of which, why did you bring that up?
What?
One of the most, you know, your publicist
didn't even know about this.
I was like, well, you know the Letterman thing.
Right, right.
Ryan, you know about the Letterman thing.
Yeah, I just heard about it today.
Because I told you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, well, I...
It was for a role, right?
There was a...
Well, go ahead.
You tell the story.
Well, okay, so I, I, you know, I'm writing,
I'm writing this book also for many different reasons.
And...
The second.
set the record straight? Well, the thing is, what I've said in media to date in public media is
I neither confirmed nor deny that I was on the Letterman show. So, of course, you know, it has a
humor to it. But there are reasons that I do that. If you go into details, like, similar with the
back to the future stuff, I actually did not want to talk about that. I've actually always planned
to write stuff out about it. The only reason that I started talking about it,
about it was because Bob Gale specifically was lying. He was saying that I asked for the same
salaries Michael J. Fox. It's just, it's total fabrication. But it was designed and calculated to make
me look bad. Again, he stole something from me. He's blaming the person that he stole from
for stealing from them. It's blaming the victim. It's what criminals do. And he did something
that was illegal. He won't take the ownership of his illegal activity. And he blames me for his
a legal activity. It's really not right. So I did not really want to talk about back to the future
stuff because there's really a lot to it. And if you take a little bit out of context, which I knew
would happen, people start attacking about one thing or another. I've always meant to write it
all through so you can really see the perspective of what I was thinking about and doing things,
because there was always very specific reasons. Similarly with the Letterman thing, I've already
written that part out. It's very
specific about
the reality
of whether
I can deny or confirm
that I was on the Letterman show.
But what people
think is
not what it is.
But it will be very clear. So you're saving that
for the book, so to speak.
Can you give me a taste? It's not
just saving it for the book. It's just that
if you start to go
into a little bit of detail, it's just
it's well you know the classic can of worms it just you can't really pack it in quickly
it's it's uh oh it it's it's it needs to be done justice sure properly well answer me this
maybe if you if you will yeah were you concerned and upset that maybe like you like fuck man
letterman the king of fucking late night i feel bad this sucks because it was my one chance on
letterman now he hates me he's never going to let me go on that i've been on the
letterman show multiple times. There was the first time, oh, I shouldn't say that. I neither
confirmed or deny. You caught me. But I neither confirmed or deny that I was on the
Letterman show. However, there was, there were multiple appearances that I neither confirm or deny.
Do you like Letterman? I do like David Letterman. Does he like you?
I don't know about that, but, but no, I, he's okay. I, I don't think he hates me. No, I don't think
hates me. What do you want people to
know about you if they, you know, they obviously
they think you're this, like we talked about earlier
and you know, this guy and he's just, is he weird?
Is he this? He plays these intense roles. He's such a good actor.
He's a method. Is he? What do you want
to know about you?
Well, you know, my initial, my initial
plan when I started acting
was to not do any promotion
for anything at all. I didn't have
a want for becoming a public persona, so to
speak. I just kind of liked the idea.
of being an actor that would play different characters
that I would show up
and people wouldn't know really what that person was like.
Like I didn't do any publicity for Back to the Future.
It was only after River's Edge came out.
And because Back to the Future
had been the prior movie to that,
there was a fair amount of interest in me
to promote the film River's Edge,
which I was proud of.
So I did end up doing promotion for Rivers Edge.
But once you do that, you can't, you kind of, you're in it.
And I, that was when I really kind of made a splash, so to speak, that I can either
for a confirm or to not.
You always work.
Do I always work?
I mean, you always, I'm saying, you always work.
Oh, you can work as much or as little as you want.
Is that true, so to speak?
No, no, it's not totally true.
I work, there are times I turn things down, if I can afford it, sometimes.
and it's like my taste gets better when I can afford it.
And when I can't, then I just, I have to work.
Say it again?
Then you're the page.
You'll have to do the role of the page.
Well, I mean, even then I learned to try to, you attempt, aspire to get under the page.
But it's true.
At a certain point, you kind of sink with the ship.
But, you know, there's nothing one can do at a certain point, but you always attempt to get underneath.
But, again, you know, I make mistakes.
What's your favorite role?
I don't, I don't really have a favorite role.
Well, you perked up when I said Andy Warhol, because I didn't you?
I mean, at the same time, even with what Oliver Stone said, I was always, I was concerned about that just by, it's something I think is very difficult for any.
actor when they're playing somebody that's
known. Part of the way
somebody is, if
they're a known figure, is part of
what
they're known for.
And I wouldn't even say I did a
you know, my face doesn't
particularly look like Andy Warhol's
face. My nose is very different than his
and I wore a prosthetic
nose because his nose in dense.
So there was a prosthetic that sort of made
but I have a bump in
my nose. So it had to
like really be quite prominent but uh so there was something put on you know i i i wanted
to do it right say you wanted to do it right you wanted to yeah yeah please the director please
the people who knew him and also please yourself but i i'm glad i was i was the first person in a
corporate film to play andy warhol and the reason that i say it is because i researched it a fair
amount, and I already was interested in Warhol's work even when I met him, but he had sent
people for college appearances or one person, I don't know, to look like him. Of course, it was the
60s, so he was able to send some people without going to the college appearance and he got
paid for it, and then eventually he got caught and he had to stop doing that. But I always thought
that was really funny actually.
So other people played him,
but I believe I'm the first person
to have played him in a corporate
film. I don't think anybody's played him
better. Well, there have been good
people that have played him. I can't remember.
Like David Bowie
played him in Bosquiat and he played
him at a different time period.
I was playing him in the 60s and
he was playing him in the 80s
during interview and I thought he caught
something very interesting. And of course, he knew
he did know Andy Warhol so I thought he caught something very interesting there's been a lot of
people that played him that I thought some people naturally looked more like Warhol than myself
or maybe David Bowie as well but I think a lot of he's an interesting character so there's been
interesting takes on him well look I I love your work well thank you I'm honored to have you here
I'm glad to be here and I hope look anytime you want to talk you have a platform oh well thank
And seriously, I know you're very passionate about all the things that you're writing about and doing.
And I think that's brilliant.
And it's brave.
So it's very brave to go, to do what you're doing.
And I think you need a lot of, you know, you need some brave people out there.
Well, I appreciate it.
I try my best.
Now, now with a compliment, I'm going to ask you one more back to the future question.
Okay.
I mean, this is a movie that you know that, like, I'm almost as old as you, by the way.
You're a young guy.
You're 54.
I'm like 47.
Yeah, yeah.
Actually, I'm 55.
Okay, well, you know, I was, I was helping you there, you know.
Well, it's easily known.
I don't worry about it too much.
Yeah, it's on Wikipedia and all that stuff.
Aging is inevitable.
I just, I try, I attempt to age gracefully.
Do you use moisturizer because you have really supple, soft skin?
I mean, it is.
Well, I, I, thank you.
Good hair.
I, I, I sometimes put coconut oil on my face, but that's, that's about it.
I try to eat healthfully.
What do you?
thing um you're sort of a vegan right at my healthiest i'll eat raw vegan uh right now i'm eating
cooked vegan it's better if i eat raw vegan sometimes i'll eat fish otherwise i try to avoid animal
products but you exercise i exercise you hike uh no i work out at the gym or ride the bicycle
uh sometimes yoga uh people come up to you and say hey chris mcglover a lot you get it all the time
yes yeah all the time and you're nice about it
Yeah, yeah. The only thing that I've only recently stopped doing, and I think I mentioned it a minute ago, I've stopped doing that. I will only do that at my show.
You know, Steve Martin, you know what he did. He gave him a pride and joy card or something. Something like that. They would say, you're Steve Martin. Can I get a picture or an autograph? No, but you could have this card. And it says, you met Steve Martin. Yeah, that's right. And I always love that. Why am I thinking pride and joy? I don't know.
Somebody had a pride and joy. I don't know what that is.
I'm not big enough of an actor to have a card.
You met Michael Rosenbaum.
Who gives a shit?
No, the fastest thing to do is everybody, of course, has a phone now and everybody wants a picture.
So that's fast.
I don't mind doing that.
That's just the easiest thing to do.
Smile, say hello, etc.
And then that's easy.
It's actually much more difficult for the signatures.
So, you know, for the back to the future, I just keep thinking of some of these lines, like the very famous line.
The, um, hey, Biff, get your damn hands off her.
Yeah.
And I just could see Zemeckis laughing back behind his camera going, yes,
and you're just surprising him with these takes and these just,
are you stretching it, are you milking it?
I just want a moment where you remember where you're letting you go.
No, as I recall, that was a night shoot and it went quite smoothly.
I don't, you know, some things we had to reshoot because there is about,
I think it was five weeks of shooting.
I was about to be done when they
when they fired Eric Stoltz.
So then we had quite a bit of reshooting to do.
I can't remember if there was anything
in that sequence that we re-shot or not.
There may have been, but I'm really forgetting.
But is there a moment where you are in the moment,
you say something and you just know,
oh my God, by everyone's reaction, I'm fucking good.
It's very, it really was,
strange shoot in that way. I mean,
Zemeckis did like me,
but it wasn't an overly
effusive
kind of complimentary
set. Don't actors need that? Don't you need to go?
Oh my God, the whole crew loves it. Oh,
God. Hey, Crispin.
You do want to take more of a beep when you say,
Hey, Biff. There were
times that there was one
thing that's not in the film that I remember
we did that was much more of a visual gag, but it was
It was much more broad than was in the style of the film.
What was it?
What was it?
It was just, it was a visual gag.
And as I recall, I was like in between a bed and my body was up high and there was like somebody else's feet were bed.
So it was like I was bent backwards in half.
it was an impossible look
I think I suggested it
but and people laughed
on the set but it wasn't
it wasn't in the style of the film I don't even remember
why I suggested that and it wasn't
something that was normally
suggested but people did
laugh when it happened but I
even know it wouldn't
it wouldn't have been
it just didn't fit
it wasn't yeah but it was something
we actually shot as I recall
and I remember people laughing
actually that was the thing I
I remember people laughing, but it was a strange thing.
Keep going with that.
You were thinking you had that vision.
There was a moment when I'm sitting in front of the television set,
and my character's laughing, although I had a different interpretation of the purpose of the laugh
than how it was represented in the film.
It wasn't just a silly laugh.
There was a purpose behind it.
I actually had a lot more pathos.
to it. But I don't think Zemeckis quite understood that. Well, I know because of what, how it ended up
being presented. But I do remember people laughing at that. That was that something you just came up
with that laugh? Well, it served a different purpose than it comes off in the film. Because
what I'd said to Zemeckis was there should be something on television that's not funny,
kind of just mundane, and that the laugh is the character trying to get out of mundanity.
And I was not aware of the honeymooners.
For whatever reason, it didn't play on the local stations.
Now I'm aware of it's a great show, and it is really funny.
So it didn't fit with what, it looks like I'm really just laughing at a funny show.
I had suggested that I was laughing at something that was mundane.
Right.
Like I was trying to bring joy into a mundane situation.
But nonetheless, people were laughing at the laugh.
And you just came up with that laugh.
Yeah, I don't think I came up with it on the set.
I think I prepared it.
I did work hard in advance in preparation for it.
I'm sure sometimes, you know,
nuances and that kind of thing
were on set. But I'm quite certain
I prepared that. That wasn't just
on the, but at the same time
probably, you know,
the nuance of various
take to take, of course, would be
differentiated from whatever
was going on at the time. But there
was a fair amount of preparation.
This is, look, this is amazing.
I'm not going to keep you any longer.
Lucky day is out.
Yes. You're going to
watch that guys. Listen, it's
Watch the trailer.
You're going to have a great time with this.
What a great character.
I want to see more of them.
Hopefully you're really, yeah.
It was a great character.
And I, this was one that I could sink my teeth into.
You're perking up again.
Yeah.
I could see it.
Now you're happy again.
Yeah, yeah.
No, it really was a good character.
And I really enjoyed working with Roger.
And I'm, I'm interested to see what people think.
I feel like people will enjoy it.
I mean, you never know.
But my, that's, that's, I enjoyed playing.
and I'll go see it in just a few hours.
Maybe I'll hate it.
I don't think so, though.
I think I'm going to enjoy it.
Lucky day is out.
Go check it out.
This is Crispin Glover.
Thank you for allowing me to be inside of you today.
This has been so much fun.
You want Instagram or any of that?
Yes, I'm on all these things.
There's a Crispin Glover.com.
People can sign up for the newsletter.
Let's it be no one.
I'm touring.
Actually, I know I already have a show in January in San Francisco on the 15th at the Castro,
which is part of something called the SketchFest.
But people can sign up for the newsletter.
I'm Crispin Helion Glover on Instagram.
Crispin Helion Glover on Facebook.
There's also an official Crispin Hellion Glover on Facebook.
And then I'm Crispin Glover on Twitter.
So I have all those basics.
This is a real joy.
I'm honored to have you here.
I hope you had a good time.
I really enjoyed it.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
Thank you.
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