Split Your Head - Season 4 - Ep. 64 - Interview with Costa Dillon (Attack of the Killer Tomatoes)

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Hello and welcome to Split Your Head. I'm your host, Bob,
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and today's special guest is Costa Dylan, one of the
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creators of the long lasting horror comedy franchise Attack the
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Killer Tomatoes, starting out as a short film in nineteen
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seventy six before becoming a cult classic feature in nineteen
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seventy eight, which led to further sequels and a Saturday
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Morning cartoon. Costa has been an instrumental figure in the
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legacy of this bonkers series that marries the parody of
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B movie creature features with elements of absurd, slapstick and
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dare I say satire with a brand new entry out
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Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Organic intelligence. I've got Casa
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on to talk about why the heck he hates tomatoes
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and what it has to say about his views on
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corporate America. Yeah, Cossa, Yeah, yeah, so tomatoes. Why tomatoes?
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Because that's that's really the burning question I think.
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I don't know, I've never been able to answer that.
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When I first came out with this idea of parody
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of God, a low budget Japanese monster movies used to
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see on Saturday afternoons when I was a kid, Right, Yeah,
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I just thought of something, what would be something completely
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innoculous and a sort of to be afraid of? And
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I have no idea why tomatoes was the first thing
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I thought of, but it was the first thing I
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thought of.
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Okay, so this is just coming to my mind right now.
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But you know, revisiting the films and how like weirdly
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political they are, I'm just wondering, has anyone ever asked
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you if it's like kind of a comment on red scare?
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Oh well, of course there is a red mesk. Okay,
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it grows in your garden.
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Oh okay, Okay, so you're being quiet about that? Okay, Yeah, we.
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Re face the red menace every time we venture into
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a sumber Garden, there's there's you know, I've tried to
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warn people about the danger of tomatoes for almost fifty
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years now, and people keep thinking it's a comedy. It's
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a warning. I'm like the Paul Revere of Killer Tomatoes.
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You know, the red Coats are coming, Yeah, the red Coat.
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Okay, you know I'm Canadian, right So that okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
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that clicks a little too close to home, if you
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know what I mean. So okay, So the first film,
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it started as a short film, and I believe you
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and John and Steven were making films in high school.
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So was it just since day one you guys were
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wanting to do something that was kind of more of
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a parody instead of doing more of an original idea.
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Well, it is an original idea. Up til that point,
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I had never seen anybody do a parody or take
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off on low budget on Twitter words, yeah, yeah, I
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mean people were doing low budget monster movies that were
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just their own low budget monster movies, you know, playing
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that motor space or something. But our idea was to
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pope fun at those and be absurdists. I we just
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had a minuscule budge to do it on right.
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Ray yeah, but yeah, I mean from doing the first
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short film, then doing the first feature film, and then
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doing the second film, it seems like the budgets were
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kind of growing more and more each time. I'm guessing,
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you know, the demand was there and people were kind
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of wanting to see where you could take it.
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Well, yeah, the first you know, look at we look
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at the first film. It's not it's not a real movie,
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so to speak. It's three twenty three year olds with
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a camera, you know, trying to trying to do our
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best to make what we thought it was a movie.
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It's really hard to put yourself in nineteen seventy seven
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and what the market was like in nineteen seventy seven,
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you could and do a movie like that and actually
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get in theaters, which we did for less than one
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hundred thousand dollars, which even today is only like four
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hundred and fifty five hundred thousand dollars. You don't see
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any half million dollars movies.
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Except for except for one genre. One genre in particular
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excels at this.
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What's that horror? Yeah, because right, and but you know,
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horror is almost too easy because it tends to be this,
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It tends to be almost the same thing over and
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over again. There's not it. You see in film classes
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and stuff, and I've talked to film classes and ask them,
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you know, what films are they doing for the film class,
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and nobody ever says comedy. It's almost always drama or horror.
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And Okay, what are you saying in horror that somebody
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else hasn't already said? And uh, and usually not much.
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You know, when you have these unusual horror films like
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Cabin in the Woods or something, you know, and they're
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totally okay, that's different. Yeah, you kind of feel like
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you're phoning it in for these these little budget horror films.
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M Well, it seems to me like what gives it
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strength and substance and is satire, because I feel like
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Cabin in the Woods is a pretty strong satire and
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a lot of horror that's coming out these days that
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is is like has substance and stands out does have
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satirical elements to it, which is something I think that
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ties back into what you guys were doing, was you know,
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like doing satire under the guise of like slapstick absurd comedy.
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You know, Yeah, I mean it's killer tomatoes are They're not.
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There are movies with no message. The idea is to
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just take it as it is and and roll with it,
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you know, the you go so many movies. Now, okay,
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let's take a recent, you know, big hit film like Honesty.
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When you leave the theater, do you leave feeling well,
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that was good? I feel good. That was nice. I
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feel I feel uplifted.
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You probably don't, right right, yeah.
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But we're hoping you watch are we Even you leave
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the theater, you're laughing, and you feel, you know, you
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feel upbeat. You know, yeah, you had a good time.
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I'm not saying out he's a bad movie. I'm just
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saying no, no, no, it doesn't. It doesn't leave you with
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that feeling that we hope, you know, a comedy like
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this does that.
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It's interesting you say that. I feel like I apologize
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for being a bit of broken record about the political
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satire elements, but you know, I did grow up watching
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these films and visiting them now as an adult, the
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political aspects did stand out to me way more so.
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I Mean, one of the questions I wrote down that
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I really wanted to ask you was like, was there
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a draft of these scripts? You know, early on that
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had a lot more anger to it and came off
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more political or was that ever something you guys had
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to think about, like restraining yourselves about. Well, we.
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Each film is a satire of something. The first film
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is was we were trying to post fun at a
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little budget poor movies. The second film we were poking
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fun at filmmaking and sequels in general. The third film
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was detective Shows, and the fourth film that eats France
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was you know, Americans, poorly educated Americans, stereotypical views of
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France and history. And this new film is we're warning
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everybody that the original film wasn't a comedy at all.
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It was actually a documentary and people have been taking
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it all wrong for the last forty five years. Oh
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tonatos are a danger, doug on it and you pay attention.
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So it I guess the political part is, yeah, we
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we definitely Pope funded institutions. We don't have a liberal
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or conservative attitude, but institutions of government and so forth,
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we definitely Pope fund at that from time to time.
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You know, the first film that Senate doesn't actually do
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anything and so forth. So so it's it's kind of
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a political political Okay, we don't. We don't have a
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particular perspective other than two sticking aside to some institutions,
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including corporate institutions.
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Right, yeah, you could definitely feel that in the second one,
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the second one. Revisiting it again this weekend, it made
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me actually think a lot about Grimlins too. The Joe
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Dante film, you know, which was was kind of like
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another film that marries like absurdity and slapstick with sort
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of this like cynicism about commercialism. You know. Was that
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something you guys were again like trying to restrain or
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was that coming out cynicism or yeah, like a cynicism
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towards commercialism.
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Oh well, it's a cynicism towards filmmaking. We had done
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another film called it either goes by the name Happy
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Hour or So Our Graves because the distributor changed the
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name It's rich Little Jamie Farror Town to contained. It
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didn't do very well, and partly we're really annoyed because
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the studio was financing it kept demanding changes in the
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script to the point where we felt like they had
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lost the whole they'd lost the plot, so to speak.
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It wasn't it wasn't as funny as we constructed it
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because they kept watering it down and taking stuff out.
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The promise of the film is a scientist wanting to
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do good for humans invents a chemical that whatever you
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put it in becomes addictive, and his idea is to
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put it in toothpaste and things like that so kids
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will brush their teeth, and the corporate world gets a
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hold of it and puts it in beer. So pretty
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soon you know, the country is drunk all the time
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because of the greed of the corporations, and they messed
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with it so much the satirical element was gone. It
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just became a oh, it's a party movie that's lots
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of people get drunk. It's like, no, that wasn't and
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so we were really disappointed. So when it came time
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to we got the offer to do a second Killer
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Tomatoes film, which we hadn't really thought about doing at
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the time. That's how we said on the theme was, well,
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what's we've been through this process of making a film
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that that was kind of tough, and let's see what
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we can do now. It turns out there's a there's
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a I think a great Kevin Bacon film called The
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Big Picture nineteen eighty nine. So it came out two
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years after returned to the Killer Tomatoes, and and it's
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about him as a student filmmaker who gets, you know,
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an offer from a studio and they they keep changing
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his movie and changing his movie and changing his movie,
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so incredibly frustrated. And when I saw that movie, I
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could really relate to it. Yeah, I understood what he
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felt like because I had been through it. And so
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so yeah, we returned to the Coach Tomatoes. You know,
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even even the setup, you know, there's a gag in
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there where whatever you do in the first reel pays
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off in the third reel, you know, and film people
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get get the joke at that, because that's formulaic filmmaking.
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Ray ray. It's kind of making me wonder, then, like
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when you went to go do the sequels for Caller Tomatoes,
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did you run into similar sort of issues of studio interference?
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No, we really, fortunately not. The studio that financed Return did.
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They wanted an R rated film because R rated comedies
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were really the thing, so they wanted some R rated elements,
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and we did not want an R rated film. We've
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never wanted R rated films, but we want a film
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that kids can see and adults can see, and people
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can see it with their kids. And of course that's
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what led us to have a cartoon show. You don't
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see a lot of cartoon shows based on R rated movies,
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and so we wanted to stay in the PG realm.
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Yeah.
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So, and we were successful at that. And the third
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and fourth films, which were from Fox, Fox really did
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not interfere. They kind of let us do our thing.
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M okay. Yeah, because again there was something I wanted
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to ask you. I wrote down about how the product
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placement gag in the second one. Was that actual product placement,
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like where you actually get reaping the benefits of that
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while also making a comment on it.
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No, I mean the comment was, you know, the humor
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of it. All we got out of it was a
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couple of boxes of free that's these crunch bars in
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a case of beer and you know, a couple of
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We didn't actually get any money. Oh we got we
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got we got permission to use those products and they
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sent them over. I mean, we had enough, that's these
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crunch bars to feed the crew for a couple of weeks.
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But but no, we didn't actually get any cash because
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we weren't we weren't an own quantity. We were coming
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from a big studio. They weren't gonna put money into it.
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They didn't know who we were, but the film was
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going to be and so they were gonna pay us
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for product placement. We had to ask for permission to.
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Yeah, I figure this much though, But I mean the
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second one se seems to be the most like highly
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regarded of the series. Would you say that's that's a correct.
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I would say so, but also but partly because people
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haven't seen Killer Tomatoes Eat France. It's kind of disappeared
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and okay, you know, we're like Star Trek. All the
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even number ones are the best ones. Okay, except except
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now the fifth one is great. The uh Killer Tomatoes France,
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I think is very funny, and I'm hoping that the
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you know, with the release of this new film, that
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we can get Killer Tomatoes Eat France out in front
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of the public again because it's not streaming, It hasn't
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been streaming, and it's a DVD is long out of print,
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so I would I would hope we can get it
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out there again because it's pretty funny.
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Yeah, I feel like was it Aerrow Video? I think
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released the Killer Tomatoes box set not that long ago.
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I might maybe it's I can't keep track of who oh, sure,
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some people in streaming rights, some people on DVD rights,
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and people before and rights. It's like, I can't, I don't.
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There's the business people to do that.
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No fair enough, fair enough?
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Right?
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So that brings us to the new one, then the
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fifth one. I mean we're talking like almost thirty years later, right,
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So why now? Why why does the world need a
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new Killer Tomatoes film? Now?
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Well? Yeah, why I do have a fifth film in
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our trilogy? Yeah, because nobody took our first film seriously
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as they said. They kept you know, the government covered
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it up and made people think it was a comedy.
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They even paid off critics, you know, to pan the
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film so that people wouldn't see it. And we realized
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now that was the time. We've got are Steve Peace
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and I. We're in our seventies now, and we said,
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if we don't do it, now, who's going to do it?
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We have to warn the world. But Killer Tomatoes are
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dangerous and now they have organic intelligence, they're thinking on
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their own. That's worse than artificial intelligence. So we you know,
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the way we look at it it's everybody's civic duty
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to see this movie and then go out and more
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and everybody else. So that's that's why we were just
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getting to the point where we're not gonna be we're
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gonna be too old to pass this warning on. We
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better do it now.
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Ah Okay, So then I need to ask there's something
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missing from the equation here, John Debello. Did he give
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you the blessing to go on and do this fifth
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film because you now have as a David Farino directing it.
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Yeah? John, Yeah, it was John's choice not to participate
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in the film. He does, you know, own part of
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the rights, just like all of us do, and so
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we are. Yeah, there's no animosity with John. We talked
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to him all the time and he runs his own
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film company in San Diego. He's pretty busy, and he
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just said this, he chose not to participate in this project.
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But it wasn't as though there he had some sort
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of you know, we didn't cut him out or anything
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like that. It was just his choice.
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Like maybe he married a tomato? Is that the shoe?
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You know? John is married and I am not going
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to comment on his wife, so.
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Safe, safe, But how did you come to meet David Frino, then, like,
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how did he get involved the project?
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I don't know. I remember meeting with him the first time,
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but you know what, I don't really I'm not really sure.
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I can't remember how we got introduced to him in
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the first place. I don't really remember.
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Sorry, but he was he was the right guy for
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the job.
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Yeah, you know again, where Steve and I are are
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seventies and we weren't going to direct the movie, and
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it part of the theme of the new film is
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a handoff of generational handoff. In the film, the old guy,
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the old guard, the people who are in the previous
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movies are passing the torch along to the young guard,
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a younger generation and of tomato fighters, and we kind
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of start sort of the same thing. Here's we're going
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to hand off the film itself. That's good. Yeah, younger
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people's perspective. You know, I don't want to count how
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many years younger David is I am, but you know,
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the crew and so forth, they were I don't think
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I'm not sure a single one of them was born
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when the first film came out. So so, yeah, we
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wanted we wanted a younger a younger perspective to on
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the film and David and the actors and the Krugabrinet.
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Did David at least like, did he grow up watching
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the films?
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Uh, you'd have to ask him that.
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I don't know.
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I mean, I wouldn't seen the films, but I I
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don't remember if I had a conversation about him about that.
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Okay, okay, I mean there was also the cartoons, so
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maybe he caught some of that.
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You know, yes, most most, almost everybody we meet under say,
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oh fifty probably saw the cartoons first. And a lot
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of them people we met didn't even know there was
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a movie. They only knew the cartoons because that's how
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they saw as kids. They didn't know there are any movies.
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Yeah. Yeah, Well I'm forty one and I grew up
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with my parents being like big film fans, so they
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showed me definitely the first two. You know, I have
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the one line was it the undercover cop as a tomato?
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Can someone pass the ketchup? Has been kind of like
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imprinted in my brain all my life. I love that line.
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Would you guys have an excellent callback for that? In
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this new one? There's actually a lot of great callbacks
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are you kind of hoping that people will go back
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and watch the first one now after they see this one.
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Yes, absolutely, we have a lot of callbacks and easter eggs.
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Some of them are obvious, you know, as as you
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know when at the beginning of the film, when these
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women are attacked in their apartment, you know, their line
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is they they're horrified. That quote Tomato eight my sister. Well,
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anybody who knows the theme song knows exactly where where
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that line is pulled from, because it's a song, right.
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And then some of them are extremely obscure. In the
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first film, there's a radio bit where Finletter and Mason
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Dixon are in the hotel room and they're they're waiting
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to hurry out and they're listening to news bulletins and
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they keep getting interrupted by commercials while we move for
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the news bulletin. One of the commercials is Schwitz Beer.
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Remember you ever too drunk to ask for Schritz? And
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in the farmhouse scene in the new film there is
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a Schritz beer model sitting on the counter.
363
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So, oh yeah, and.
364
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One too, right, Yeah, it's extremely obscure reference to for fans,
365
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and yes, the film is full of those.
366
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That's awesome. So it's it's coming to theaters this month.
367
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Is that right, It's already it's it's uh, it's in
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select theaters. So it's in LA this week. It'll be
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in some theaters in Texas next week, and I think
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Long Island is coming up, and so it's it's here
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and there. I think we have seen Wisconsin and a
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few other places.
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Okay, what's the reception been like so far from people
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that you've talked so far?
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00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:57.720
You know, positive, I'm really pleased people have We don't
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have any official critics review, but we've got lots of
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people commenting on IMDb and social media and so forth
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saying that they thought it was great, theft they left
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the theater, you know, like as I said earlier, feeling
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positive for an hour and a half. And that's that's
381
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what we're hoping for. So it's all comedies are risky
382
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because comedy is so subjective some people, you know, three
383
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things happen when you watch comedy. You don't get it,
384
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you think it's stupid, or you like it.
385
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That's true.
386
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So people often choose comedy best based on preconceptions. As
387
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you know, I like a Bell Books kind of comedy,
388
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So they'll go see it because they like his kind
389
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of comedy based on the the actor or director, and
390
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it's it's sometimes people don't. It's harder for him to
391
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take a risk on a new comedy. So we're hoping
392
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that people give it a try and find that it
393
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is a comedy they like.
394
00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:10.279
Right right, it does remind me. I mean, the closest
395
00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:11.720
thing I could think of is sort of like the
396
00:24:11.799 --> 00:24:14.839
Zucker Brothers films, you know, like they did some really
397
00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:18.279
strong parodies back in the day where they at all like,
398
00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:20.880
you know, did they feel like your peers back then?
399
00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:24.400
They came after us, right, but you.
400
00:24:24.359 --> 00:24:26.680
Guys were making along the same say.
401
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:28.720
Yeah we were. No, I don't know them, I've never
402
00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:32.119
met them. But you know, when Airplane came out a
403
00:24:32.119 --> 00:24:34.079
couple of years after ourn film, we said, well, that's
404
00:24:34.119 --> 00:24:36.960
our movie with a budget. If we had that kind
405
00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:40.319
of money, we could have gotten Leslie Nielsen too. We
406
00:24:40.839 --> 00:24:43.400
didn't have that kind of money to get name actors
407
00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:48.839
like that, and like it or not, the fact that
408
00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:54.599
you had these well known people who had established TV
409
00:24:54.720 --> 00:25:01.680
and movie types made the film funnier because it was
410
00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:04.880
funnier if Robert Stack was saying it you know and
411
00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:10.039
so forth, and we were kind of jealous of that
412
00:25:10.119 --> 00:25:12.880
because we said, yeah, we'd had those people in our film,
413
00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:14.839
it probably would have been funnier too, just because you
414
00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:20.400
would have seen that person saying it. So it's yeah,
415
00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:22.880
we're kind of in the same ballpark. We just weren't
416
00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:23.799
in the same league.
417
00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:27.559
Yeah, but I mean the there's a new Naked Gun
418
00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:29.440
film that came out last year that seemed to do
419
00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:32.359
really well. So in a way like maybe there's something
420
00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:34.640
in the water right now, like people are kind of
421
00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:37.880
in the mood for this type of comedy, this type
422
00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:38.640
of parody, you know.
423
00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:41.799
Yeah, I hope. So when we were well into production
424
00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:45.440
when that film came out, so oh cool, it wasn't
425
00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:48.640
an inspiration for us. We had already we're well in
426
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:52.519
the way. But in fact I haven't seen it, so
427
00:25:53.640 --> 00:25:58.160
I don't, Well, I don't like to see anything anything
428
00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:00.920
that might influence me while we're writing and making a film,
429
00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:03.519
because I don't want in any way to feel like
430
00:26:03.559 --> 00:26:07.279
I might have accidentally taken something from somebody else's film,
431
00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:11.039
So I purposely don't do that when we're in production.
432
00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:15.759
I don't look at any other comedy. So I think
433
00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:21.720
it couldn't hurt. I mean, absurdist comedy has been kind
434
00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:24.759
of off the market for a while, so I'm hoping
435
00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:28.720
that people are receptive to a service comedy. You know
436
00:26:28.759 --> 00:26:31.680
that you look at the in the nineteen thirties, you know,
437
00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:36.720
in the depression, when people were, you're, not in the
438
00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:41.680
best financial situation. That was the height of the Marx Brothers,
439
00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:47.680
you know, and Screwball comedies and so forth, because it
440
00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:51.319
was a way to laugh to feel some relief. And
441
00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:56.000
we can't deny that a lot of people are, you know,
442
00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:01.079
feeling financial constraints right now. And yeah, laughing at films
443
00:27:01.400 --> 00:27:04.680
is a long time honored tradition in the United States,
444
00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:09.240
and when times are tough, it's nice to have a
445
00:27:09.240 --> 00:27:13.559
little comic relief and that's what these films can provide.
446
00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:16.920
Yeah. Absolutely. I also think too, you know, you've got
447
00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:23.599
Charlie Chaplin kind of directly commenting on Hitler with the Dictator, right.
448
00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:25.880
It kind of makes me think that again, I keep
449
00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:28.279
going back to, like, you guys have all this political
450
00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:31.759
messaging in your films, like secretly tucked in there or
451
00:27:31.799 --> 00:27:34.400
not even really secretly. I think, you know, it doesn't
452
00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:37.559
take anyone with like a high school degree to figure
453
00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:40.839
out this stuff. So no, you know, yeah, that's the
454
00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:44.240
fun of it. Yeah, so with a lot of the
455
00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:46.640
more kind of I guess I would say, like more
456
00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:50.680
current sort of political messaging in this one. Was this
457
00:27:50.839 --> 00:27:54.799
all taken from like you and Steven's kind of issues
458
00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:56.519
that you see with the world, or did you get
459
00:27:56.559 --> 00:28:01.039
like feedback from from David as well or anyone else
460
00:28:01.079 --> 00:28:01.480
on crew?
461
00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:05.519
Well, the script the film pretty much adhere to the
462
00:28:05.559 --> 00:28:09.000
way we wrote it. I mean, there is some ad
463
00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:15.359
libbing on the set. Dan Bakeadhal particularly, who was well
464
00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:18.880
experienced in improv, ad libs some lines which we were
465
00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:21.519
perfectly fine with, but mostly it's the way we wrote it.
466
00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:25.400
So I think that certainly David put his stamp on
467
00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:29.960
the film, there's no question about that. Steve and I
468
00:28:30.039 --> 00:28:33.880
have lived through it, so to speak. Yeah, Steve was
469
00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:38.680
a California state legislator, right, Yeah, I worked for the
470
00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:42.079
state legislature for a while. I was in a federal
471
00:28:42.119 --> 00:28:46.400
civil service for thirty five years, so we have, you know,
472
00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:50.200
kind of some inside perspectives on what it's like to
473
00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:54.799
be in government from the legislative event and civil service
474
00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:58.359
point of view. And yeah, we got a few positions
475
00:28:58.359 --> 00:29:01.599
in there based on our experience. But again they're not
476
00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:06.079
a that they're they're more of a comment on institutions
477
00:29:06.119 --> 00:29:08.680
than they are on the politics themselves.
478
00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:12.880
Yeah, but also technology too with this new one. Like
479
00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:15.400
I think it's pretty clear you're you're kind of going
480
00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:19.240
for apples jugular at certain points in the film.
481
00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:24.240
Yeah, definitely. And and you know, we decided early on
482
00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:26.640
that we were going to use practical effects for one thing,
483
00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:32.160
because the people who like the original Killer Tomatoes like
484
00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:35.240
the fact that it was practical effects. Yeah there's there's
485
00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:38.640
not even stop motion, it's it's you know, actually rolling
486
00:29:38.680 --> 00:29:41.359
to you know, fake tomatoes and real tomatoes and so forth.
487
00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:44.160
So we decided to do the same thing. We would
488
00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:51.279
use practical effects, big big inflated tomatoes and real tomatoes
489
00:29:51.319 --> 00:29:54.480
and some puppets and stuff. And we when we ever
490
00:29:54.559 --> 00:29:57.519
we used c g I in the film, we did
491
00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:02.839
it with a kind of a nod to we know,
492
00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:07.640
you know this is CGI. That's the whole point. Yeah, Yeah,
493
00:30:07.960 --> 00:30:10.720
it's so obvious. We want you to know that when
494
00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:13.759
we're doing it, because we want to be obvious that
495
00:30:13.799 --> 00:30:16.200
we're doing it, because that's the joke, is that We're
496
00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:20.400
not trying to pull anything over on anybody. Obviously, it's cgi.
497
00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:22.279
We're not trying to hide it.
498
00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:26.920
I think with the title Organic Intelligence, a lot of
499
00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:29.359
people are going to go into it expecting like a
500
00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:32.799
huge sort of criticism of AI. And I do think
501
00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:36.359
that there is that in the film, somewhat like what
502
00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:39.480
are your thoughts more or less on AI than do
503
00:30:39.519 --> 00:30:41.960
you have kind of a concrete statement on.
504
00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:45.200
That or well? Our point in the film is that
505
00:30:45.519 --> 00:30:49.799
AI is it spews out what only what you put in.
506
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:52.680
You know, it takes stuff and synthesizes it and puts
507
00:30:52.680 --> 00:30:56.799
it back out. It's it's not and people say it's
508
00:30:56.839 --> 00:30:59.400
going to be able to do original thinking, and maybe
509
00:30:59.400 --> 00:31:03.039
it's doing a little bit of it. But our premises
510
00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:07.880
that tomatoes are organically intelligent, it's not artificial. They can
511
00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:10.519
think for themselves, and that's why they're more dangerous is
512
00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.440
because you can't predict them.
513
00:31:12.720 --> 00:31:16.079
Yeah. Yeah, And I'm guessing like you're kind of hoping
514
00:31:16.119 --> 00:31:18.359
people will kind of come away not seeing it as
515
00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:21.160
like a completely anti AI film, Then.
516
00:31:21.720 --> 00:31:26.480
Well, we just AI is dangerous, but not as dangerous
517
00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:29.119
as OHI organic.
518
00:31:32.119 --> 00:31:34.160
So when did you when did you guys start writing
519
00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:35.039
this script.
520
00:31:34.680 --> 00:31:40.079
Then nineteen sixty two. No, it just seems that way.
521
00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:46.359
I was like, wait, a second machine or something.
522
00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:52.200
Well, probably Steve and I decided we wanted to do
523
00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:57.400
a new film, probably oh maybe seven years ago, and
524
00:31:57.640 --> 00:32:01.279
we were headed off in one particular direction, which it
525
00:32:01.480 --> 00:32:07.960
just wasn't working. And I probably have twenty draft scripts,
526
00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:12.119
which is nice because they're on the computer. I used
527
00:32:12.119 --> 00:32:13.759
to have to type them. That was a lot more work.
528
00:32:14.039 --> 00:32:17.279
And we started we didn't have computers. We typed scripts
529
00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:23.079
in nineteen seventy seven, and probably once we got on
530
00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:28.599
the premise of this film, probably two years okay, oh,
531
00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:32.480
once we decided to this was the premise we liked,
532
00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:34.599
it was probably two years of working on.
533
00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:39.079
The script, right, right, So then we're looking at roughly
534
00:32:39.240 --> 00:32:42.960
like thirty years in between the last film in the
535
00:32:43.000 --> 00:32:46.119
cartoon and then doing the script. Like, where were you
536
00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:48.119
guys working on any other scripts in that time?
537
00:32:49.240 --> 00:32:52.319
Well, no, we didn't own the rights to the films.
538
00:32:52.519 --> 00:32:57.960
They belonged to other people, and various rights were owned
539
00:32:57.960 --> 00:33:02.079
by different organizations to the different film and they were
540
00:33:02.079 --> 00:33:08.319
sitting on them. They they didn't produce anything new. So
541
00:33:08.559 --> 00:33:13.319
once we obtained the rights to use the characters. Again,
542
00:33:13.559 --> 00:33:18.440
that's when we got seriously interested. Because nobody else had
543
00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:20.960
done it, we weren't allowed to do it, and then
544
00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:28.599
so we were, as we say, ripe for.
545
00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:32.519
But you know, what you should have done is like
546
00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:35.480
an attack of the Killer Turnips or something, and just
547
00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:38.119
made a film that's a commenting on how you don't
548
00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:41.279
have the rights and you change everything so that they
549
00:33:41.279 --> 00:33:43.119
can't actually take you to court over it.
550
00:33:43.400 --> 00:33:46.119
Yeah, we probably could have, but I'm not sure we
551
00:33:46.119 --> 00:33:47.920
would have found our audience back right.
552
00:33:48.680 --> 00:33:50.720
Oh maybe, I don't know. I mean I think you
553
00:33:50.759 --> 00:33:54.839
could market it in a certain way. That's yeah.
554
00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:57.240
I wouldn't pay if I had to start a little
555
00:33:57.240 --> 00:33:59.440
where I picked something easier to make than tomatoes. There.
556
00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:02.880
They're a tough, tough product.
557
00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:06.079
I thought they were actually pretty soft, to be honest.
558
00:34:06.079 --> 00:34:12.559
But yeah, well not the ones you get in the
559
00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:14.039
store now. They're pretty darn hard.
560
00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:17.960
Not quite an organic intelligence.
561
00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:18.719
Yes, that's right.
562
00:34:18.840 --> 00:34:22.840
Yeah, do you have any hopes of doing another one? Then?
563
00:34:23.480 --> 00:34:28.559
Well, as a as I intimated, we're really passing the torch. Oh,
564
00:34:29.400 --> 00:34:34.880
we're hoping if this does well then Uh. The younger
565
00:34:35.400 --> 00:34:41.400
people were working with the producers on this film, including
566
00:34:42.519 --> 00:34:49.880
Chad Peace and Juan Hernandez and Michael Poulis will if
567
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:52.920
if they have the opportunity and the film does well,
568
00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:55.719
then we would say more power to you. You know,
569
00:34:57.079 --> 00:34:59.000
I don't. I think we're kind of Steve and I
570
00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:02.039
are kind of done. We're seventy three years old, and
571
00:35:02.079 --> 00:35:05.119
that's kind of it's time for somebody else to do
572
00:35:05.199 --> 00:35:10.159
something and bring a new sensibility to the concept.
573
00:35:12.039 --> 00:35:14.679
Are there any other kind of new movies that you
574
00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:17.960
do like and maybe not necessarily comedy?
575
00:35:20.639 --> 00:35:25.760
Oh well, that's a good question. I'd have to stop
576
00:35:25.800 --> 00:35:30.199
and think about one movies I've seen recently. I'm afraid
577
00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:34.039
I'm still mostly I'm a fan of classical films. So
578
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:36.800
I watched Turner classic movies.
579
00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:40.599
Okay, yeah, no, they play so much on the.
580
00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:46.280
Right because I just find there's a depth and quality
581
00:35:46.679 --> 00:35:52.000
the classic films that too many films now don't have.
582
00:35:52.199 --> 00:35:55.239
And it's not that I sure am saying people are
583
00:35:55.320 --> 00:35:59.199
bad filmmakers or something. I just really, I mean, if
584
00:35:59.239 --> 00:36:02.960
I can watch Carrie Grant, That's what I'm gonna watch,
585
00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:04.119
you know, fair enough?
586
00:36:04.159 --> 00:36:04.679
Fair enough?
587
00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:08.800
Yeah, I mean I think Matt, you know, Matt Damon's great,
588
00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:10.599
but he's he's still not carry grant.
589
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:15.840
Sure, sure, yeah, And I believe you're you're of Greek descent,
590
00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:19.840
Like have you been following any Greek films at all?
591
00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:22.440
Like is there any Greek directors or any.
592
00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:26.480
No, No, really Greek films and z.
593
00:36:28.039 --> 00:36:33.159
Z oh the right, Okay, so now the now I'm
594
00:36:33.199 --> 00:36:33.639
seeing that.
595
00:36:33.639 --> 00:36:36.320
Yeah, those are the classics back then, Yeah, was over
596
00:36:36.360 --> 00:36:40.920
the Greek Never on a Sunday, that's when the most
597
00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:44.039
famous Greek films are back in the Americans, know, back
598
00:36:44.039 --> 00:36:45.199
in the sixties.
599
00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:48.760
Right right, Yeah, And has that at all influenced you
600
00:36:48.840 --> 00:36:50.960
and in filmmaking in any way?
601
00:36:51.719 --> 00:36:52.639
No, I don't think so.
602
00:36:53.320 --> 00:36:55.960
No, okay, So what what were your influences then and
603
00:36:56.320 --> 00:36:58.039
for you guys getting into making films?
604
00:36:58.039 --> 00:37:01.440
For me, oh, the Marx Brothers, what do he when
605
00:37:01.480 --> 00:37:05.920
he was still doing comedies before he got serious. The
606
00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:12.960
absurd comedies, the concepts that were you know, early Blake Edwards,
607
00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:19.440
like like The Great Race and Pink Panther, these absurdist
608
00:37:19.719 --> 00:37:26.199
comedies that were indicative of that that there were there
609
00:37:26.199 --> 00:37:31.199
were different from the screwball comedies, which relied mostly on
610
00:37:31.280 --> 00:37:38.320
dialogue and relationships. We I and I love those films
611
00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:41.599
you know, the Philadelphia story and such. But I really
612
00:37:41.719 --> 00:37:44.079
was influenced to try to make films that were more
613
00:37:44.199 --> 00:37:50.320
like the slapstick absurdist comedies. Yea, that was what I wanted.
614
00:37:50.039 --> 00:37:54.719
To do, like more visual gags than like written jokes. Yeah, yeah,
615
00:37:54.800 --> 00:37:57.719
I get that. Yeah. Were there any comedians that were
616
00:37:57.760 --> 00:37:59.159
influencing you guys at all?
617
00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:03.199
Oh yeah, I would say the same as everybody else.
618
00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:06.639
You know, the what he owned when he was still
619
00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:11.519
doing stand up. His routines were great. Steve Martin. Of course,
620
00:38:11.840 --> 00:38:16.320
Bob Newhart. You know, you watch Bob Newhart or listen
621
00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:20.559
to Bob Newhart. He's just a master of timing and
622
00:38:21.519 --> 00:38:25.119
he just knows when when to when to do it.
623
00:38:25.159 --> 00:38:27.440
Same same to Jack Benny. I still listened to Jack
624
00:38:27.480 --> 00:38:32.039
Benny radio shows now and and Jack Benny really knew
625
00:38:32.079 --> 00:38:36.920
how to milk silence, and he also knew how to
626
00:38:37.480 --> 00:38:40.039
step back and let somebody else get the laugh. He
627
00:38:40.039 --> 00:38:42.760
didn't care who got the laugh. All he cared was
628
00:38:43.119 --> 00:38:46.639
there's a laugh. And you know, listening to those shows,
629
00:38:46.679 --> 00:38:51.280
you learn how they constructed a joke and constructed a
630
00:38:51.320 --> 00:38:54.719
scene so that you know it's theater of the mind
631
00:38:54.760 --> 00:38:57.559
because it's radio and and his TV show was great too.
632
00:38:57.599 --> 00:39:01.039
I did like his TV show, but it it's those
633
00:39:01.119 --> 00:39:06.679
those classic comedians. Everything wasn't set up, set up punchline,
634
00:39:06.719 --> 00:39:10.679
set up, set up punchline. And I didn't want to
635
00:39:10.800 --> 00:39:13.800
set up set up punchline, which is when a lot
636
00:39:13.840 --> 00:39:18.280
of comedy it's constructed, like especially TV sitcoms.
637
00:39:19.400 --> 00:39:24.519
Ray Ray and you were saying earlier, how like Japanese
638
00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:28.119
kyu films, like the Japanese monster films, you were kind of,
639
00:39:28.480 --> 00:39:31.559
you know, parroting a lot of that stuff. Were you
640
00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:33.559
also a big fan of that type of film?
641
00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:37.760
Oh? Yeah, Yeah. When I was a kid, you know,
642
00:39:37.960 --> 00:39:42.559
pre videotapes, you know, pre streeting and all that, you
643
00:39:42.679 --> 00:39:44.960
only got to see something when the television station put
644
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:46.440
it on so you could see it. That was your
645
00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:50.440
only choice. And then it used to be on Saturday afternoons,
646
00:39:50.519 --> 00:39:54.840
which was you know, dead space. They used to put
647
00:39:54.880 --> 00:40:00.159
on low budget films, Tarzan movies and science fiction and
648
00:40:00.760 --> 00:40:06.880
movies from the fifties and these Japanese monster movies, and yeah,
649
00:40:06.920 --> 00:40:09.800
I love them, you know, yeah, that's where you first
650
00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:13.760
my first you know, saw Ray, Harry House and stuff,
651
00:40:14.360 --> 00:40:17.880
and you watch you know, I got That's where I
652
00:40:17.880 --> 00:40:21.840
got the idea. One particular Saturday, I watched Attack of
653
00:40:21.880 --> 00:40:25.880
the Mushroom People and it just hit me that, boy,
654
00:40:25.920 --> 00:40:29.039
there's nothing they don't make into a monster. It's must
655
00:40:29.079 --> 00:40:31.920
of the people to be a monster. Then tomatoes can
656
00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:33.840
be a monster, only we'll do it as a comedy
657
00:40:33.840 --> 00:40:37.039
instead of actually being afraid of I mean, in the
658
00:40:37.079 --> 00:40:39.559
Killer Tomato movies. That's the conceit of the movies is
659
00:40:41.280 --> 00:40:44.960
if you watch a you know, King Kong, you think,
660
00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:49.159
oh man, King Kong could kill me. Yeah, we don't
661
00:40:49.159 --> 00:40:51.800
expect people watching Killer Tomatoes to actually be afraid of
662
00:40:51.880 --> 00:40:55.159
killer tomatoes. But the people in the movies are afraid
663
00:40:55.199 --> 00:40:59.559
of killer tomatoes. And so that's that's kind of the difference,
664
00:40:59.760 --> 00:41:04.639
is that it's it's most monster movies, you would be
665
00:41:04.679 --> 00:41:08.559
afraid of the monster too, But in the Coach Tomato movies,
666
00:41:08.679 --> 00:41:11.880
you're you're you're laughing at the people in the movie
667
00:41:11.960 --> 00:41:15.079
because they're afraid of tomatoes because it's so ridiculous.
668
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:18.199
Right right, Yeah, it sounds like you have a fondness
669
00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:20.800
for these these horror films in a way, like you
670
00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:23.199
you revere them, you know, even though I think you're
671
00:41:23.239 --> 00:41:25.760
saying earlier when we started, how you feel like they
672
00:41:25.800 --> 00:41:28.320
can get kind of repetitive or formulaic. You know, maybe
673
00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:30.079
that's sort of the charm of it in a way.
674
00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:33.760
So there's a difference between formula you know, well there's
675
00:41:33.760 --> 00:41:34.440
a difference.
676
00:41:34.159 --> 00:41:37.639
In monster movies and horror movies. I think, Okay, you know,
677
00:41:38.159 --> 00:41:43.840
it takes some it takes some real dedication to you
678
00:41:44.000 --> 00:41:46.119
to what you believe to put a guy in a
679
00:41:46.159 --> 00:41:52.079
rubber Godzilla suit and stomp on toy cities, knowing that
680
00:41:52.199 --> 00:41:54.960
everybody watching it knows it's a guy in a big
681
00:41:55.039 --> 00:41:59.119
rubber suit and it's a toy city. You're you're really
682
00:41:59.159 --> 00:42:05.719
dedicated to the story, not the effects. And today with
683
00:42:05.920 --> 00:42:09.679
the c g I, so many films are overtaken by
684
00:42:09.719 --> 00:42:13.320
the effects and not the story. And so yeah, the
685
00:42:13.400 --> 00:42:19.280
charm is the charm isn't there because they're they're putting
686
00:42:19.360 --> 00:42:22.719
you know, cast of a million soldiers or whatever up
687
00:42:22.760 --> 00:42:27.679
on the screen. But you don't feel like, you know,
688
00:42:27.800 --> 00:42:30.760
Ray harry House is sitting there for six months moving
689
00:42:31.280 --> 00:42:35.559
little armatures, you know, a millimeter a frame for you know,
690
00:42:35.599 --> 00:42:38.119
hours and hours and hours to make this dinosaur come
691
00:42:38.159 --> 00:42:43.360
to life. It I mean, I'm amazed when I see
692
00:42:43.400 --> 00:42:46.800
stuff like Jurassic Park, like anybody. But I'm also amazed
693
00:42:46.840 --> 00:42:50.039
when I see Ray Harry Housen's creatures because I know
694
00:42:50.079 --> 00:42:53.719
how much work went into them. And I don't know
695
00:42:53.800 --> 00:42:58.760
how much you know, listeners know about film. But when
696
00:42:58.800 --> 00:43:02.599
you watch a movie, you know there's a it's a
697
00:43:02.679 --> 00:43:05.719
frame goes by, so to speak. It's not technically a
698
00:43:05.760 --> 00:43:09.239
frame anymore because we don't use them, but when you
699
00:43:09.280 --> 00:43:11.639
made film, you had to frame the buy. So a
700
00:43:11.679 --> 00:43:15.360
movie is an imagine an imaginary thing. It's a series
701
00:43:15.400 --> 00:43:19.159
of still pictures that you watch, and when the still
702
00:43:19.199 --> 00:43:21.639
pictures are run together, it looks like a moving picture.
703
00:43:22.000 --> 00:43:27.199
Because of that, every frame isn't exactly a sharp picture.
704
00:43:27.920 --> 00:43:32.000
It's pretty sharp, not exactly sharp. And that's why stop
705
00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:36.280
motion animation looks different, is because every frame is exactly sharp.
706
00:43:36.559 --> 00:43:40.480
There's no movement between the frames, and so you can
707
00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:45.400
tell it stop action because because there's no fluidity of
708
00:43:45.480 --> 00:43:50.159
motion like there is when you're actually filming something that's moving.
709
00:43:51.119 --> 00:43:58.039
And that again relates to me watching those films watching
710
00:44:00.039 --> 00:44:03.360
a house and stuff. The charm of it is, yeah,
711
00:44:03.360 --> 00:44:06.039
you know it's stopped mac stop motion action because of
712
00:44:06.079 --> 00:44:09.920
the way it moves, it's obviously stop motion, but that's
713
00:44:10.079 --> 00:44:11.840
I think a pretty cool thing about it.
714
00:44:12.559 --> 00:44:16.320
Yeah. Yeah, it makes me think about sort of you know,
715
00:44:17.400 --> 00:44:19.880
I don't want to say my issues with CGI because
716
00:44:19.920 --> 00:44:22.360
I think like I've kind of come to terms with it,
717
00:44:22.400 --> 00:44:25.719
but as as someone who grew up watching eighties horror films,
718
00:44:26.199 --> 00:44:28.760
I definitely was kind of a little bit, you know,
719
00:44:28.920 --> 00:44:32.039
keep my distance from CGI. And I think it's because
720
00:44:32.079 --> 00:44:35.320
of its uh, it never seems like it's actually in
721
00:44:35.400 --> 00:44:38.559
the world it's been created for, you know, I think
722
00:44:38.599 --> 00:44:41.400
maybe because of lighting or anything like that. But I
723
00:44:41.400 --> 00:44:44.000
think it's just a matter of adjusting your idea of
724
00:44:44.039 --> 00:44:48.719
what is artificial and how film is just artificial anyways
725
00:44:48.719 --> 00:44:51.440
to begin with. It's always just like a form of art.
726
00:44:52.480 --> 00:44:57.719
And people who study film no film, see things that
727
00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:02.440
people who don't study film don't notice. I watched north
728
00:45:02.440 --> 00:45:07.119
By Northwest the other day, and you can see there
729
00:45:07.159 --> 00:45:11.159
are a lot of backdrops that Hitchcock used. He wasn't
730
00:45:11.199 --> 00:45:14.760
actually in the United Nations, and he wasn't actually in Chicago.
731
00:45:15.400 --> 00:45:21.119
It's a backdrop. But you your average viewer doesn't notice
732
00:45:21.159 --> 00:45:25.280
that because they're focusing on you know, even Marie Saytan
733
00:45:25.880 --> 00:45:28.639
and James Mason carry grant talking and what are they
734
00:45:28.679 --> 00:45:32.320
saying and what's the scene doing. They're not looking at
735
00:45:32.360 --> 00:45:34.639
and going at the background going oh wait, that's a
736
00:45:34.679 --> 00:45:38.960
process shot. They're not there, that's that's a that's a
737
00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:42.800
big photo behind them, because that's not the first thing
738
00:45:42.880 --> 00:45:46.400
you see when that happens. But now, yes, when you
739
00:45:46.440 --> 00:45:49.119
see some of these films, like I said, there's a
740
00:45:49.480 --> 00:45:51.599
you know, one hundred thousand soldiers out there, you know
741
00:45:51.679 --> 00:45:53.760
right away it's cgi there's not a one hundred thousand
742
00:45:53.760 --> 00:45:56.519
soldiers out there, And it can kind of distract you
743
00:45:56.719 --> 00:46:01.320
because you're you're you're amazed at the you're watching technology
744
00:46:01.400 --> 00:46:06.960
instead of the story. And when you watch a real
745
00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:12.679
film with real, massive soldiers. I think the Soviet Union
746
00:46:12.719 --> 00:46:14.519
made a version of war and peace. I think in
747
00:46:14.559 --> 00:46:17.360
the seventies where they actually used you know, thousands and
748
00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:21.199
thousands of soldiers and horses, you go like, wow, that's amazing.
749
00:46:21.360 --> 00:46:23.960
Or Ben Hurb, you know Ben Herb was an actual
750
00:46:24.760 --> 00:46:28.800
stadium filled with people watching that chariot race. Nowadays n
751
00:46:28.840 --> 00:46:32.119
b c GI people watching this terr chariot race. So
752
00:46:32.599 --> 00:46:38.639
there's that It's organically interesting to watch, whether you are
753
00:46:39.280 --> 00:46:40.239
aware of it or not.
754
00:46:41.159 --> 00:46:43.199
Yeah, you're you're.
755
00:46:45.199 --> 00:46:49.960
Subconscious notices the reality of it, and and it makes
756
00:46:49.960 --> 00:46:50.639
it more amazing.
757
00:46:51.440 --> 00:46:54.159
Hm. I feel like I can tie that all back
758
00:46:54.199 --> 00:46:57.280
into Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, because I think a
759
00:46:57.280 --> 00:47:00.000
lot of the gags all of your films are really
760
00:47:00.199 --> 00:47:04.880
just commenting on that, like the product placements in the
761
00:47:04.920 --> 00:47:08.760
second film. You know, usually product placements you're not supposed
762
00:47:08.760 --> 00:47:11.400
to see, You're not really supposed to make up on them, right,
763
00:47:11.480 --> 00:47:13.679
And so you were you were all saying, no, no,
764
00:47:13.719 --> 00:47:16.280
this is out in the open, because this is filmmaking,
765
00:47:16.320 --> 00:47:19.400
this is artificial. Also the same with the new film,
766
00:47:19.480 --> 00:47:22.679
how you said it was intentional to make the CGI
767
00:47:23.880 --> 00:47:26.840
look like, yes, it is CGI. You know it's CGI.
768
00:47:27.000 --> 00:47:30.719
You're not being tricked into thinking it's real or anything exactly.
769
00:47:31.039 --> 00:47:33.119
I can see how all these things kind of connect
770
00:47:33.159 --> 00:47:33.960
back into.
771
00:47:33.719 --> 00:47:37.639
That yes, and that's and I appreciate that, and I
772
00:47:37.719 --> 00:47:41.400
hope the audience appreciates that. You know, in the original
773
00:47:41.559 --> 00:47:43.840
sometimes people in the original who have seen the original
774
00:47:43.840 --> 00:47:45.239
film will come up to me and say, you know
775
00:47:46.639 --> 00:47:49.119
that scene where the six foot tomatoes rolling into the
776
00:47:49.119 --> 00:47:53.599
parking lot, I can actually see the little skateboard underneath
777
00:47:53.639 --> 00:48:00.920
it when you push it, And so you made a mistake. No,
778
00:48:01.000 --> 00:48:04.719
we didn't. Great, we didn't expect you to think it
779
00:48:04.719 --> 00:48:07.199
was a giant six foot tomato crossing the parking lot.
780
00:48:07.239 --> 00:48:09.519
That was That's the joke of it. It's it's obviously
781
00:48:09.840 --> 00:48:13.239
a big prop. So yes, you know, I've already had
782
00:48:13.639 --> 00:48:16.760
somebody's comment on this new film saying, well, that looks
783
00:48:16.800 --> 00:48:21.199
like CGI. And I'm thinking, duh, yeah, you know, because
784
00:48:21.239 --> 00:48:23.960
it's a short clip and the trailer where it's it's
785
00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:27.760
like seventy five foot tomato smashes a farmhouse. Well, yeah,
786
00:48:28.840 --> 00:48:31.679
what did what did you think? We actually got a
787
00:48:31.880 --> 00:48:36.719
seventy five foot tomato and smashed the farmhouse. It's we
788
00:48:36.840 --> 00:48:39.760
did that on purpose. It's supposed to be obvious. And
789
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.039
and Dan Backadol has a line where they're watching this
790
00:48:44.119 --> 00:48:47.599
stuff and he says that looks like CPI and I
791
00:48:47.679 --> 00:48:51.599
mean says, I think you mean CGI. I mean, so
792
00:48:51.679 --> 00:48:55.159
the characters in the film even comment on it. What's happening.
793
00:48:55.400 --> 00:48:58.639
Yeah, it's sort of I mean, maybe this is a
794
00:48:58.679 --> 00:49:00.079
bit of a stretch, but like you're kind of of
795
00:49:00.480 --> 00:49:04.280
trying to teach the audience about like being media savvy,
796
00:49:04.760 --> 00:49:07.920
like understanding what you're watching and what is real and
797
00:49:08.000 --> 00:49:10.639
what is not, you know, and being able to differentiate
798
00:49:10.760 --> 00:49:11.360
between the two.
799
00:49:12.480 --> 00:49:15.920
Well, the danger of tomatoes is real, so that okay,
800
00:49:17.760 --> 00:49:19.440
make sure we understand that right there.
801
00:49:19.920 --> 00:49:23.760
Okay, okay, but yeah, some other things may be made up.
802
00:49:25.880 --> 00:49:32.199
You got because that you got that's a perfect answer. Well,
803
00:49:32.679 --> 00:49:36.079
we are coming up to an hour here, so if
804
00:49:36.119 --> 00:49:38.119
it's okay with you, we'll get to the questionnaire and
805
00:49:38.159 --> 00:49:40.320
then I'll sure your way. I just want to do
806
00:49:40.400 --> 00:49:42.199
one thing quickly though, before we go.
807
00:49:44.039 --> 00:49:45.400
I'm not going to autograph anything.
808
00:49:46.039 --> 00:49:49.239
I was talking about Greek films with you earlier, and
809
00:49:49.400 --> 00:49:52.360
maybe you never will watch this, but it's from nineteen
810
00:49:52.440 --> 00:49:57.639
sixty six by Costas Manusacus. It's this film called The
811
00:49:57.760 --> 00:50:01.800
fear Ily recommend this Yeah, all right, it's it's black,
812
00:50:02.119 --> 00:50:04.239
it's black and white, nineteen sixty six.
813
00:50:04.679 --> 00:50:05.840
All right, Greek film.
814
00:50:07.119 --> 00:50:11.320
Yeah, great stuff, thank you? All right. Yeah, so before
815
00:50:11.360 --> 00:50:14.519
we hit the questionnaire, I guess we'll just run over
816
00:50:14.719 --> 00:50:18.880
how Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Organic Intelligence will be
817
00:50:19.000 --> 00:50:21.719
hopefully coming to a theater near you, you know where,
818
00:50:21.760 --> 00:50:24.719
wherever you're listening, check the local theater listings because it's
819
00:50:24.800 --> 00:50:28.000
kind of going through like a tour of like limited theaters, right, yes, and.
820
00:50:28.039 --> 00:50:30.440
Then it'll be streaming at the end of September.
821
00:50:31.239 --> 00:50:32.480
Okay, do you know where it's streaming?
822
00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:35.400
Uh no, it mad it'll be a multiple platforms though.
823
00:50:35.800 --> 00:50:39.960
Oh okay cool, So just VOD basically, right, Okay, sounds good.
824
00:50:40.559 --> 00:50:44.239
Right, yeah, it'll be video on demand first, yes, right.
825
00:50:44.280 --> 00:50:48.320
Okay, all right? Questionnaire time. What is one item you
826
00:50:48.440 --> 00:50:49.280
can't live without?
827
00:50:52.559 --> 00:50:55.000
Okay, so I can't. I can't say obviously, he's like
828
00:50:55.119 --> 00:50:56.760
my wife and daughter, right, so I can't say that.
829
00:50:56.960 --> 00:51:00.400
You can you can? Sorry before Yeah you go, there
830
00:51:00.440 --> 00:51:00.559
you go.
831
00:51:00.920 --> 00:51:03.679
I guess that's I guess that's two things, right. Yeah.
832
00:51:05.199 --> 00:51:07.840
What what was the last great movie you saw in theaters?
833
00:51:08.480 --> 00:51:10.039
Well? I did see The Odyssey, and I thought it
834
00:51:10.159 --> 00:51:13.400
was pretty good. You know, I being Greek, I was
835
00:51:13.679 --> 00:51:16.639
brought up on these stories and so I knew what
836
00:51:16.800 --> 00:51:18.760
was coming. It's like, oh, I know where they are now,
837
00:51:19.360 --> 00:51:22.159
and I knew it's you know, it's gonna be service
838
00:51:22.360 --> 00:51:26.920
and all that sort of thing. And this controversy about
839
00:51:27.679 --> 00:51:31.320
you know, whether or not you should have certain kinds
840
00:51:31.320 --> 00:51:34.239
of factors and certain kinds of roles. It's like, hey,
841
00:51:34.320 --> 00:51:39.199
it's a myth. None of it's real. So David doesn't
842
00:51:39.199 --> 00:51:42.199
look particularly Greek. But it's okay, it didn't. That didn't
843
00:51:42.199 --> 00:51:46.039
bother me in the slightest. I it bothers me is
844
00:51:46.159 --> 00:51:48.719
when they do films like Troy where they took the
845
00:51:48.760 --> 00:51:52.039
gods out of it, Well, now it's just not just
846
00:51:52.159 --> 00:51:55.039
another sordid sandal movie. If you take the gods out
847
00:51:55.079 --> 00:51:58.519
of it, that's the whole story. So you know, I was,
848
00:51:58.559 --> 00:52:00.440
I appreciate it. They didn't take the god's out of
849
00:52:00.480 --> 00:52:02.000
this one. So I did like that one.
850
00:52:02.039 --> 00:52:03.039
And I liked.
851
00:52:05.280 --> 00:52:08.519
Project Hill Mary. I, Oh, okay, that film.
852
00:52:08.639 --> 00:52:10.679
Yeah, I heard that was very like uplifting.
853
00:52:11.480 --> 00:52:12.400
Yeah, it was.
854
00:52:12.840 --> 00:52:13.039
It was.
855
00:52:13.239 --> 00:52:13.480
It was.
856
00:52:13.920 --> 00:52:15.480
It was a kind of film you did feel good
857
00:52:15.480 --> 00:52:16.039
at the end of it.
858
00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:20.400
Okay, sounds good. All right. What was the last great
859
00:52:20.519 --> 00:52:23.360
concert you went to? And if no concert, great song
860
00:52:23.480 --> 00:52:26.039
you heard and you can't say Puberty Blues?
861
00:52:27.119 --> 00:52:31.440
Yeah, yeah, what was the last I see a lot
862
00:52:31.519 --> 00:52:33.800
of plays, but I don't see a lot of concerts.
863
00:52:35.559 --> 00:52:38.480
Let's see. And you know, I'm just so old school,
864
00:52:38.639 --> 00:52:42.599
you know. I went to see the Who two years ago,
865
00:52:42.960 --> 00:52:47.360
and Who Amazing in nineteen seventy, even the cow Palace
866
00:52:47.400 --> 00:52:53.360
in San Francisco, and and I waved at Roger Daldry,
867
00:52:53.440 --> 00:52:55.639
but he didn't remember me at all. I'm so disappointed.
868
00:52:57.920 --> 00:53:01.000
I dare you, Roger, you know.
869
00:53:01.199 --> 00:53:06.119
And then and I don't go to modern concerts because
870
00:53:06.119 --> 00:53:07.639
it's not the music appeals to me. You know. I
871
00:53:07.679 --> 00:53:13.159
saw and recently in a few other old timers. You
872
00:53:13.239 --> 00:53:17.400
know that's that sens Yeah. Well, the symphony music. I
873
00:53:17.480 --> 00:53:18.440
do like symphony music.
874
00:53:18.639 --> 00:53:19.920
Yeah, symphony is great.
875
00:53:21.159 --> 00:53:22.360
Symphony is great.
876
00:53:23.119 --> 00:53:25.599
What were they playing if you remember.
877
00:53:25.679 --> 00:53:29.480
The last time I saw them? I think they were
878
00:53:29.639 --> 00:53:30.679
doing Chikowsky?
879
00:53:31.519 --> 00:53:37.239
Okay, wi. Yeah. The last thing I saw was, oh,
880
00:53:37.440 --> 00:53:41.360
what's it called? It's the most famous song like the the, the,
881
00:53:41.679 --> 00:53:50.800
the the what's that song called? A fortune?
882
00:53:51.079 --> 00:53:51.199
Is that?
883
00:53:52.119 --> 00:53:52.320
Yeah?
884
00:53:53.000 --> 00:53:56.000
I saw that a few months ago. Yeah. It was fantastic.
885
00:53:56.119 --> 00:53:59.159
Yeah, yeah that that became the classic. I'm in the
886
00:53:59.519 --> 00:54:00.719
sound of nineties movies.
887
00:54:00.840 --> 00:54:08.480
Yeah, right, in a world where you know, spot on you.
888
00:54:09.440 --> 00:54:10.960
What was the last great book you read?
889
00:54:11.360 --> 00:54:18.239
I recently finished. You can't think of the exact name.
890
00:54:18.320 --> 00:54:26.800
Is the Volcano book based on got it? The guy
891
00:54:26.840 --> 00:54:28.679
who wrote Jurassic Park.
892
00:54:28.519 --> 00:54:31.280
And so Michael Crichton, Yeah, it was.
893
00:54:31.400 --> 00:54:33.960
It was written by Michael Crichton and somebody else. Because
894
00:54:33.960 --> 00:54:36.480
it was post after his death and it takes place
895
00:54:36.559 --> 00:54:41.119
on the Big Island. The wine darn eruption.
896
00:54:41.320 --> 00:54:44.360
I think his er Okay, cool, it's good.
897
00:54:45.159 --> 00:54:45.599
I liked it.
898
00:54:45.760 --> 00:54:50.280
Yeah, okay, all right. Last question, this one's a long one.
899
00:54:50.679 --> 00:54:54.760
For his final meal, John Wayne Gacy picked KFC chicken, shrimp,
900
00:54:54.840 --> 00:54:58.360
and strawberries for your final meal before being executed. What
901
00:54:58.440 --> 00:54:59.000
would you pick?
902
00:55:00.199 --> 00:55:03.199
I'm hoping I don't have that. I mean, you know,
903
00:55:03.360 --> 00:55:05.440
critics can be harsh on films, but usually you don't.
904
00:55:08.719 --> 00:55:14.719
That is a great question. I would probably go to
905
00:55:14.800 --> 00:55:16.280
my roots there and pick yours.
906
00:55:17.519 --> 00:55:22.159
Oh okay, okay, nice? Nice? Do you have euros? Are
907
00:55:23.039 --> 00:55:25.719
you can either have like pork or chicken? Is that right? Well?
908
00:55:26.039 --> 00:55:29.880
No, it's usually mixed together lamon and beef the way it.
909
00:55:29.960 --> 00:55:34.199
Is, oh, lambon beef. Would you have any dessert or
910
00:55:34.199 --> 00:55:35.239
anything to drink with it?
911
00:55:36.880 --> 00:55:41.079
Oh? I gotta have the whole menu. Yeah probably, I
912
00:55:41.119 --> 00:55:46.760
would guess for dessert it would be a berry pie.
913
00:55:48.000 --> 00:55:53.599
And I don't have any preferred drink one big one,
914
00:55:54.519 --> 00:55:56.480
just water, sparkling water.
915
00:55:57.280 --> 00:56:00.639
There you go, what about like flavored sparkling water. I'm
916
00:56:00.679 --> 00:56:03.199
drinking product placement booby.
917
00:56:03.360 --> 00:56:08.039
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah, probably like peach peach my favorite.
918
00:56:08.119 --> 00:56:11.559
Yeah, okay, any fried green tomatoes with that?
919
00:56:12.239 --> 00:56:15.079
Uh, you know, I have tried fried green tomatoes and
920
00:56:15.760 --> 00:56:17.519
they were okay, but I didn't think they're that great.
921
00:56:18.519 --> 00:56:20.480
Okay, Well, you should write a movie about it.
922
00:56:23.760 --> 00:56:26.159
There's a joke in this film about fried green tomatoes.
923
00:56:26.719 --> 00:56:30.079
I love that because Fried Green Tomatoes is such a
924
00:56:30.199 --> 00:56:34.039
serious film in a way, so it was very irreverent
925
00:56:34.480 --> 00:56:38.280
to do that joke, which I appreciated. So yeah, but anyways, Yeah,
926
00:56:38.360 --> 00:56:41.400
Costa was great chatting with you. The film is out
927
00:56:41.559 --> 00:56:44.239
now playing at different limited theaters in your area. Just
928
00:56:44.360 --> 00:56:45.719
check the local listings.
929
00:56:46.280 --> 00:56:47.800
Yeah, Killer tomatoes dot Com.
930
00:56:48.360 --> 00:56:50.239
Killer tomatoes dot Com. I'll have the links up in.
931
00:56:50.239 --> 00:56:53.559
There tomatoes dot com. Well, we'll always have the latest information.
932
00:56:54.360 --> 00:56:56.320
Okay, great, thank you so much for your time.
933
00:56:56.360 --> 00:56:57.599
Have a great Thank you, my pleasure.
934
00:57:19.400 --> 00:57:22.199
Thank you for listening to hear more shows from the
935
00:57:22.280 --> 00:57:26.079
Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network. Please select the link in
936
00:57:26.119 --> 00:57:26.639
the description.