Remember When Mike Myers Was Gonna Play Keith Moon? No? Well, For A Long Ass Time That Was A Thing

  

Back in 2002 (yes, this is another “20 years ago” post), it was announced that former SNL cast member, and WAYNE’S WORLD/AUSTIN POWERS superstar, Mike Myers, might step into the shoes of the legendary drummer for the Who, Keith Moon, for a biopic entitled SEE ME FEEL ME: KEITH MOON NAKED FOR YOUR PLEASURE.

From the pages of Entertainment Weekly (Gary Susman, July 9, 2002):

“Having played Austin Powers in three movies, including this month’s upcoming ‘Austin Powers in Goldmember,’ Mike Myers may be ready to play another relic of swinging ‘60s London: Keith Moon, the founding drummer for the Who. ‘I have talked to Roger Daltrey about the possibility of a film,’ Myers tells the Associated Press. ‘I think Keith Moon was a fascinating character.’ For his part, lead singer Daltrey has long wanted to make a film about his late colleague, who was as famous for smashing hotel rooms as for smashing his drum kit at the end of Who concerts. ‘Mike is a genius. I can really see him as Keith. He’s amazing when you meet him, so clever,’ Daltrey tells AP.”

 

At the time, Myers was 39, six years older than Moon was when he died from a massive overdose in 1978. The age difference didn’t raise many eyebrows as it seemed an inspired choice that had a good chance of working, but apparently the project got stuck in development hell as the news faded, and a few years passed. 

 

In 2005, plans for the biopic, with Myers attached, and Daltrey as producer, resurfaced. But another name was being batted around in consideration for the role – Jason Schwarztman, best known for his work with Wes Anderson, and as an drummer (Phantom Planet, Coconut Records). 

It’s true Schwartzman has the look, but could he handle the accent duties as well as Myers? Probably not, producer Daltrey probably thought, as Myers continued being the #1 choice for the iconic part.

But nothing happened with the proposed production, and more years passed. By the time it reared it’s mop-haired head again in 2014, Myers’ age appropriateness for the part couldn’t so easily be ignored. Co-producer Nigel Sinclair justified the casting to Hollywood.com; “Mike looks very young and Keith, of course, looked much older than he was.”

And, yet again, another younger actor was cited as being interested in portraying Moon - Jeremy Piven. I’m glad this idea has been long abandoned, because, well, look at him – that would be likely be a miscasting mess.

Talk of Myers as Moon would come up here and there over the years since, but that’s all it was – talk. As late as last year, there were reports that Myers was still in the running, but he’s now 59 years old, and that ship should’ve sailed a long time ago. The film, which has an IMDb page with little to no information about the production, apparently still seems to be in the works, but no name has been attached for the looney lead.

Now titled THE REAL ME, the film aims to join in the musical biopic trend boosted by such successes as BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY and ROCKETMAN. Earlier this year, Manori Ravindran reported in Varity that the movie has “Moon’s former band members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend on board as executive producers. The pic is directed by Paul Whittington (The Crown, White House Farm) with a script from prolific British screenwriter Jeff Pope, who was Oscar-nominated for PHILOMENA.”

So for two decades, the premise of Myers as Moon has come and gone over and over, but it looks like it’s finally been put to bed. I was reminded of all this casting activity he other night when I was watching Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s 2014 vampire mockumentary, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, and noted that actor Jonathan Brough had an uncanny resemblance to Moon in the very funny feature. His rough, rowdy demeanor is Moon-esque as well, so I think he’d be a great choice for THE REAL ME.

On the subject of age, Brugh’s Wikipedia page has no info on his birthday so it’s unknown old he is, which may be because he really is a vampire and it’s a cover-up. Whatever the case, I bet he could crush it as Moon. Otherwise, a hungry unknown who’s got the chops would be a great idea. It could be a star-making tour de force in the right hands.

 

Still, Myers’ Moon is an epic could-have-been that’s fun to speculate about. Perhaps, like he was used as a record executive in BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, he could cameo in a minor yet juicy sideline part as a Moon overseer or some such. Yeah, that would be groovy, baby. And after that Austin Powers callback, I’ll show myself the door.

More later...

Film Babble Blog's Top 10 Favorite Cinematic Sight Gags

Back in the day, I used to post listicles (before they were called listicles) of movie tropes that I would attempt to amusingly connect to break up the flow of review after review. So with the upcoming glut of year-end releases plus the stress of the holiday season coming (not to mention the craziness of the post election season we're going through) I thought I’d rekindle that idea and do something silly – list my top 10 favorite movie sight gags.

The following are what I consider meme-worthy screen shots from the obvious suspects: Monty Python, Zucker brothers, Mel Brooks, super hero movies, etc, They’re the engrained images, mostly from my childhood, that always make me laugh when I think of them. So here goes:

1. The shit hits the fan in AIRPLANE!

(Dirs. David & Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, 1980)

Almost every other shot in the line of movie spoofs made by the Zucker brothers (David & Jerry) and Jim Abrahams is a sight gag – some brilliant; some idiotic. The one that most appeals to me is an absurdly literal visual joke from their classic disaster film satire AIRPLANE! that involves Ted Striker (Robert Hays), who’s been called in to land Boeing 707 (Trans American Flight 209) after the pilots have been taken ill. Striker: “The oil pressure, I forgot to check the oil pressure. When Kramer hears about this, the shit's gonna hit the fan.” The film then cuts to a shot of actual shit hitting a fan in the airport control room. Hey, I warned you above that there would be stupidity.

2. Clark Kent can't find an old school phone booth in SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE (Dir. Richard Donner, 1978)

As an eight-year old kid, I remember the laughter from the audience being really big when Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve) was first called into action in the first big screen Superman movie and found that the walk-in phone booths of the past, that he regularly used to change into his suit in the comics, were largely non-existent. Reeves’ expression at this realization of modern times is priceless.

3. The town sign for Plotpointburg in MUPPETS MOST WANTED (Dir. James Bobin, 2014)

Sure, MUPPETS MOST WANTED isn’t the best of Muppets movies, but it’s far from the worst, and this meta gag about how their European-set adventure, the latest in the cinematic series that was rebooted by Bobbins and Jason Segel in 2011, was adhering to a tried and true formula, got the biggest laugh of any of the jokes in their 2014 follow-up.

4. Sherrif Justice's restroom faux pas in SMOKEY & THE BANDIT (Dir. Hal Needham, 1977) 

The second biggest grossing movie of 1977 (STAR WARS was the biggest – duh!) had its share of dumb visual jokes, but this one which had Sherrif Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) leaving the men’s room at a truckstop with a line of toilet-paper following him out the door really made me giggle as a kid. According to Wikipedia, Burt Reynolds said that it was Gleason’s “idea to have the toilet paper coming out of his pantleg” in the scene. I may just have to agree with writer Tyler Coates, who said in his Decider post about seeing the film for the first time, that the shot may be “the greatest toilet-paper sight gag in the history of motion pictures.”

5. A 23rd century McDonald's in SLEEPER (Dir. Woody Allen, 1973)

Many of Woody Allen’s movies have sight gags, especially his “early funny ones,” but this particular one has stayed with me as it’s a really outdated, but still funny joke. In the film, which concerns Allen’s Miles Monroe, a nebbish NY neorotic (duh!) waking up 200 years in the future, our protagonist walks by a 23rd Century McDonald’s that has a sign boasting “Over 795,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000" Served.”

In the IMDb trivia section for SLEEPER, it is noted that “if translated into American numeration this value would be Seven Hundred, Ninety-five sexdecillion," a value with 51 zeroes. By comparison, Avogadro's Number, 6023E23 (or 6.023^23), or "mole," is a value normally used to count atoms or molecules, and, incidentally, thought to be about the number of grains of sand on all the beaches on earth, give or take a couple orders of magnitude. The value of 795 sexdecillion is very nearly a mole of moles.”

As McDonald’s was a somewhat seemingly new fad of a fast food chain in the early ‘70s, you can see why Allen made this joke. Though these days, it seems like a hell of an under-estimate.

6. Combing the desert in SPACEBALLS (Dir. Mel Brooks, 1987)

Another Jewish comedian turned ‘70s comedy star, Mel Brooks, also had many sight gags in his films. In the late ‘80s, Brooks’ schtick was pretty played out, but that didn’t stop him from making a spoof of the STAR WARS films and modern movie sci-fi in general called SPACEBALLS. One of its most memorable involved Rick Moranis’ Darth Vader spoof Dark Helmet ordering his troops to “comb the desert” for the missing Princess Vespa, and, of course, they do just that.

Maybe a funnier sight gag in SPACEBALLS was in the film’s few minutes, in which there was a parody of the opening of the original STAR WARS’ long, continous shot of a ginormous starship. That one, isn’t as well captured in a gif though.

7. The Black Knight's limb loss in MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (Dirs. Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones, 1975)

More ‘70s sight gag funniness comes from the iconic British comedy group Monty Python, whose films are full of them. I’ll go with this one from their 1975 classic MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, in which a black knight gets both his arms chopped off yet afterwards still continues fighting. The blood gushing was a new thing for a comedy film in that era (Dan Aykroyd's Julia Childs SNL bit around that same time  hit the same vein - sorry), so this was as groundbreaking as it was hilarious.

As a runner-up, I’ll go with this shot from MONTY PYTHON’S LIFE OF BRIAN which happens after Brian (Graham Chapman) has been up all night following a strict Roman Centurion’s (John Cleese) orders (again with the literal following of orders) to paint “Romani ite domum,” which means “Romans go home,” a hundred times all over the Roman Palace’s walls:

8. Steve Martin cleans his gun in DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID
(Dir. Carl Reiner, 1981)

Okay, so either the ‘70s-‘80s is the glorious age of cinematic sight gags or I’m just old and that’s the era that I most identify with, but I have to go with either this Steve Martin should be comedy classic’s shot of Martin’s detective character Rigby Reardon cleaning his handgun in a sink with a bottle brush, or the tie shot that has him shaving his tongue. How either of these really satire the world of Humphrey Bogart-era gumshoe film noir is debatable, but I still find both damn funny.

9. TIE: THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (Dir. David Silverman, 2007) & AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY (Dir. Jay Roach, 1997)





Both of these films feature sight gags involving the obscuring of the male member. I don’t feel I need to explain any more than that.

10. Brick Tamland's reaction to his dismembered TV image in ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGANDY (Dir. Adam McKay, 2004)

Although Will Ferrell's big deal newscaster Ron Burgandy could be seen as a walking sight gag (as could just about every character he's ever played), it’s Steve Carrell’s character in the 2004 '70s news spoof, Brick Tamland, freaking out because his green pants made his legs disappear on a weather green screen that makes the cut here.

Okay! So what are your favorite sight gags? Let me, and other readers, know in the comments below.

More later...

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2014: Day Two

Like with yesterday's weather and thematic content, the second day of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival held at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, N.C. and a few adjoining venues started out all serious and grim, but ended up on the sunny side.

I kicked off my Friday at the fest with EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL, the first full length feature doc by NYU-grad Darius Clark Monroe. I found it to be a stirringly emotional experience as it deals with Monroe coming completely clean about a bank robbery in Houston he took part in when he was 16 (he's in his 30s now).

The very personal film retraces the steps that led to the crime, via confessional interviews with Monroe, family members, and witnesses/victims, and detailed recreations that are full of momentum and appear to be dry runs for the director to make a full-out drama. EVOLUTION OF A CRIMINAL is a straight forward, honest film about owning your past mistakes, and it's a damn fine debut too.

This year, award-winning filmmaker Steve James (HOOP DREAMS, THE INTERRUPTERS) is getting the Full Frame Tribute with screenings of a selection of his acclaimed work. I usually skip older docs at this fest that I can easily see streaming or on disc in favor of the new exclusives, but I decided to check out one of James' works I hadn't gotten around to yet: 2005's REEL PARADISE. This one had me right from the get go because I was familiar with its protagonist, John Pierson (I read his book: “Spike, Mike, Slackers, & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema” back in the '90s), and I loved the premise of a film lover relocating his family to Fiji so that he can run free movies in a crumbling old theater in the jungle. Shots of Pierson's audiences at the at the 288-seat 180 Meridian Cinema, mostly children, laughing like crazy at broad commercial fare like BRINGIN' DOWN THE HOUSE prove that's there's at least something redeeming about that movie.

The debate between Pierson and his son Wyatt over whether APOCALYPSE NOW or JACKASS will connect with the movie-going kids is amusing, but at times it feels like disjointed episodes of a reality TV show that gets caught up in less interesting story-lines than its original premise. Still, Pierson and his family's year-long adventure hosting one of the most remote cinemas ever mostly makes for some wonderfully watchable stuff.

The following doc, Salvo Cuccia's SUMMER '82 WHEN ZAPPA CAME TO SICILY, making its North American premiere, was of particular interest to me because I was a big Frank Zappa fan when I was younger. I drifted away from the eclectic musician's weird sprawling oeuvre over the years, but retained a certain respect that was confirmed watching this excellent examination of both a controversial concert in Palermo, Italy in 1982 and the Zappa family connections to that region of the country.

Archival footage of the show, which escalated quickly into a riot, is at the center of the doc, but the newer material concerning Zappa's widow Gale, his offspring Dweezil, Moon Unit, and Diva joining one of Frank's best friends, Massimo Bassoli, to meet some of their Sicilian relatives is what makes this maybe the most moving doc I've seen so far this year. Bassoli and director Cuccia were on hand for a Q & A after the screening that was more unintentionally funny than it was insightful, due to how little English that Cuccia spoke.

The final film for my Friday at Full Frame was a doozy: SUPERMENSCH: THE LEGEND OF SHEP GORDON, the directorial debut doc of Mike Myers (yes, Mike SNL/WAYNE'S WORLD/AUSTIN POWERS Myers). Myers gives charismatic manager Shep Gordon his biodoc due in a poppy portrait that covers the man hyping Alice Cooper into a star, out-partying Teddy Pendergrass, dating Sharon Stone, and creating the cult of the celebrity chef, all the while maintaining some sort of Zen nonchalance.

Scores of hilarious anecdotes told by dozens of stars (Myers even chimes in but sparingly), along with period footage, and a smidgeon of comic recreations, all add up to a heartfelt love letter of a movie. Afterward, Gordon was there to answer questions, moderated by Full Frame Director of Programming Sadie Tillery, and the guy came off even more affably easygoing than in the film, especially for a guy who used to wear a t-shirt that said: “No head no backstage pass.” Gordon even told one of the questioners who said he lived near him in Maui to come by for dinner somtime - he always has an open-door policy.

That's all for now, I'm getting a little verklempt.

More later...

The Film Babble Blog Top Ten Worst Movies Of 2008

2008 was definitely not as strong a year in film as 2007 as it had many more clunkers and mediocre movies that crammed theaters weekend after weekend.

I mean this was a year in which respected icons Al Pacino and Robert De Niro (together again for the very first time!) appeared in a movie nobody cared about while Mike Myers and Adam Sandler competed over who could make the least appealing former SNL player vehicle ever (THE LOVE GURU and YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN respectively). I avoided those movies but I saw more than my share of absolutely awful films.

Here’s the worst of the worst:

1. WANTED
(Dir. Timur Bekmambetov)

This ginormous train wreck of a movie actually featured a ginormous train wreck in a central sequence that was certainly its most memorable moment. That, for way obvious reasons, is fitting because the awful premise that attempts to flesh out a FIGHT CLUB-ish dis-satisfied working cog scenerio into a Swartzennegerian high octane comic book extravaganza just ends up a CGI suckfest. I felt sorry for James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie (who make one of the most unconvincing screen couple action duos ever) along with Morgan Freeman, Terrance Stamp, and even the damn fake train for having to take part in this high octane tripe. I literally got sick seeing this last Summer, that may have been the food at the Raleighwood Cinema Grill, but this sure didn’t help!

2. AN AMERICAN CAROL (Dir. David Zucker)



Michael Moore responded to a question from Time Magazine’s Richard Corliss about this movie that mocks him with “[Cyber-silence].” Not dignifying it with an answer was beautiful on Moore’s part because a film that treats Bill O’Reilly like he’s a hero and treats the audience like idiots ready to lap up faux patriotism presented as cheap shots at a popular liberal documentarian should be (and was) roundly ignored. Chris Farley’s brother Kevin was in the lead role as the ersatz Michael Moore. Enough said

3. CHAPTER 27 (Dir. J.P. Shaefer)

Infamous John Lennon murderer Mark David Chapman is no deranged Travis Bickle poetically stalking the mean streets, and this is no TAXI DRIVER. Jared Leto gained weight but no cred for this disgusting nothing. Fun fact: Lindsay Lohan’s only screen appearance of 2008 was in this as a Beatle groupie named Jude. Oh, actually that’s not really much of a fun fact. Nothing about this is. Read my review of the detested DVD here.

4. EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED

(Dir. Nathan Frankowski)



The most aptly titled film on the list by far. Ben Stein used to be likable despite being a former Nixon speechwriter because he was like ironic, you know, as the game show host on Comedy Central’s Win Ben Stein’s Money and that classic cameo in FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (“Bueller? Bueller?”). Now he’s destroying that charming ironic image by trying to debunk the theory of evolution and equate those scientists who supposedely repress the study of Intelligent Design to Nazis.

This poorly made, poorly written, and just plain poor non doc is even stupider than it sounds. I was too appalled to write a review when I watched the DVD a few months back but I highly recommend Roger Ebert’s blog-piece (not an official review mind you but still brilliant) “Win Ben Stein's Mind” (Dec. 3rd, 2008).

5. THE HAPPENING

(Dir. M. Night Shyamalan) 

The only thing that happened here was we were given the undeniable sign that Shyamalan should be stopped at all costs. Donnie Wahlberg, so good in THE DEPARTED, regressed into a placid persona that will be SNL impression fodder forever. It wasn’t his fault though, some actors are only as good as their material and he was given a formless piece of high concept crap in which to run around aimlessly in. How can we stop this hack Shyamalan from offending again? Any ideas?

6. THE ONION MOVIE (Dirs. Tom Kuntz & Mike Maguire)

In Britain this was renamed NEWS MOVIE which makes it appear to be in the series of putrid non satires including EPIC MOVIE, DISASTER MOVIE, MEET THE SPARTANS, etc. and though that’s not really accurate it’s still right as rain to add it to that bunch of bullshit. Read how I believe it killed off the tiny sub genre – the sketch comedy film – here. 

7. QUANTUM OF SOLACE (Dir. Marc Forster)



Bad Bond – bad! Read how bad here.

8. WAR INC.
(Dir. Joshua Seftel) 

A while back I wrote about how much I craved a new good John Cusack film, but while he did make a close to decent film this last year (GRACE IS GONE) he took a huge step backwards with this quasi sequel to GROSS POINT BLANK which is just grossly unwatchable. Glib with not a plausible frame or laughable line, WAR INC. wastes not just Cusack but Dan Aykroyd, Marisa Tomei, Ben Kingsley, and even the voice of Montel Williams (that’s right) as well in this toothless political parody. Even John’s usually reliable sister Joan comes off as unbearably obnoxious. I never wrote a review of it but the Onion A.V. Club’s Nathan Rabin’s hilarious appraisal (“No Blood For Oil Stridently Political Case File #129: War, Inc.”) in which he labels it a “Fiasco” is well worth checking out.

9. THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE

(Dir. Chris Carter) 

Way to kill off a possible franchise, Mr. Carter! Make a movie that contains none of the original supernatural charm of the seminal series or the previous film and make it excruciatingly dull too, why doncha? Read more of my bitching here.

10. CASSANDRA’S DREAM
(Dir. Woody Allen) 

Hey, the Woodman has a film on both my Best Of and Worst Of 2008 lists! The luscious VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA luckily erased memories of Ewan Macgregor and Colin Farrell as brothers who scheme to…uh, like I said I don’t remember. I just remember being bored and wondering if Woody would ever make a good movie again. Thankfully he did.

Read more about my darkness before the dawn (I know –sounds appealing doesn’t it?) here.

Okay! I skipped so many movies that probably would’ve made the list had I seen them – 88 MINUTES, SPEED RACER, FUNNY GAMES (I did see the original if that means anything since it was a frame by frame remake), BANGKOK DANGEROUS (more crappy Nicholas Cage!), THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, MAMA MIA!…the list goes on and on.

Well, for now at least, it stops.

More later…

5 Multiple Role Movie Masters

There are not many actors that can truly pull off playing more than one part in a single movie (hence this being a top 5 and not a top 10 list). It can be a scene killer and movie deal breaker if it’s not a convincing second character, or in some cases 3rd or 4th or 15th character (see # 3 on the list). In making this list I wanted to avoid when actors play their twin brothers or sisters (or other family members for that matter – but that rule was meant to be broken) or when they are clones, robot copies, or their primary character in disguise. Also tried to weed out the one timers – I mean Sir Alec Guinness was fantastic as 8 different people in KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS but in the end that didn’t make the cut over those whose careers are almost based on their multi-tasking personas. Especially like this guy's :

1. Peter Sellers (1925-1980) Tops the list because he's the only actor ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for playing 3 different parts * - Captain Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley, and the title character in DR. STRANGELOVE. He was even originally going to play a 4th character - Major T.J. 'King' Kong but he was uncertain of his ability to do a Texan accent so the role went to Slim Pickens. Sellers came from a sketch comedy radio background as a member of the Goons (with Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine, and Harry Secombe) so he was well equipped early on to handle tons of assorted dialects. 9 out of the roughly 35-40 movies he made (depends on which filmography you read) had him playing over 25 different parts. The range of accents, change of genders and ethnic makeovers throughout his career makes it difficult to know how his real voice (if there actually was one) sounded and what he really looked like in real life - though to him there probably was no such thing as "real life".

The most notable of the films in which the master inhabits more than one personage is THE MOUSE THAT ROARED (3 characters), LOLITA (2 characters), the original 1967 CASINO ROYALE (just 2 characters but one was James Bond!) and the little seen SOFT BEDS, HARD BATTLES in which 2 of the 6 parts he played were Hitler and the President. His final film - the dismal THE FIENDISH PLOT OF DR. FU MANCHU had him play 2 characters - the villain of the title and who he considers his "worthy adversary" - Dr. Hayland Smith. Not the greatest exit in cinema history but at least he went out doing what he did best.

2. Eddie Murphy - I'm sure many readers will be cynical about Murphy being this high on the list but just consider this : he's played more characters in a fewer amount of movies than Sellers and he has convincingly portrayed an entire family (aided by CGI) through 2 incredibly profitable if not acclaimed films (THE NUTTY PROFESSOR & NUTTY PROFESSOR II : THE KLUMPS). It worked so well in a movie as cheesily charming as COMING TO AMERICA that I can overlook the device in such crap as VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN and NORBIT. So even if Murphy spends the rest of his days doing the Donkey in future SHREK sequels or resurrecting Axel Foley every now and then for a fast buck he's still got his multi-tasking part playing skills to fall back on.

3. Monty Python (1969-1983) - Okay so many readers wrote me to say that they felt the Python players (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin) got short shrift in my 10 Definitive Films-Within-Films and 10 Movie Moments That Broke The 4th Wall posts so I’m giving them full due here. Part of the powerful charm of the original BBC Flying Circus program, which was heavily inspired by the Goons (Sellers again!), was that each of the 5 performing members played a bunch of parts in various sketches every episode. Even animator Terry Gilliam, so not an actor, put in a few memorable moments. When it came to their movie work no other films in comedy movie history were as peopled by, well, the same people over and over. I’m not going to list everybody’s exact standing in multiple role-dom but just for example’s sake here’s the most popular Monty Python member John Cleese’s stats :

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT (1971) - 15 characters.
MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975) - 7 characters.
MONTY PYTHON’S THE LIFE OF BRIAN (1979) - 6 characters.
MONTY PYTHON LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL (1982) – 12 characters.
MONTY PYTHON’S THE MEANING OF LIFE (1983) - 9 characters.

Whew! That’s 49 different characters in just 5 movies – quite a run, huh? Figure in all the other Python players and their plethora of parts and you’ve got the biggest tally of multiple characters in cinema history. Can’t tell you the exact tally though – too lazy to do the math.

Postnote #1 - Maybe it seems lame to have the Python troupe under one entry but a list where each member was given their own slot would have been tedious - therefore lamer - so I opted for a one for all entry.

Postnote #2 - Carol Cleveland : From Flying Circus to Meaning Of Life she was the unsung female reparatory member. For a list like this that should be noted.

4. Lily Tomlin - Sure, she hasn't been in as many movies where she plays multiple roles as some of the others on this list but for 3 solid reasons she makes the top 5 - 1.) The only highlights of the dire mostly unfunny sci-fi spoof THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN (Dir. Joel Schumacher - go figure! 1981) was in addition to her playing the title character and neighbor the pursed lipped Judith Beasley there was the bringing to the big screen the classic Tomlin character Ernestine - the persnickety telephone operator from Laugh-In. 2.) This list is way too male dominated and we need Tomlin to break up this sausage party. 3.) It's her BIRTHDAY Damnit! She was born in Detroit on September 1st, 1939 - to be exact. So let's give her props, okay? Though I didn't want to include when someone played their own sibling on this list - she did that duty in BIG BUSINESS (Dir. Jim Abrahams, 1988) with Bette Midler playing her own twin sister as well. Also since I made the exception with the Pythons on sketch films and live performance movies - Tomlin's THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE (Dir. John Bailey, 1991) has her performing 5 different character pieces. So I believe she fully qualifies. Happy Birthday Lily!

5. Mike Myers - The shadow of Peter Sellers hangs over just about everybody on this list. But it practically burns through the work of Mike Myers. Especially in the AUSTIN POWERS trilogy (AUSTIN POWERS - INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY ('97), THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME ('99), and GOLDMEMBER ('02) which all echo with swinging Sellers as much as they do the swinging '60's London scene. The obvious concept of playing the hero and the villain (Dr. Evil) as well as the bumbling demeanor also present in supporting characters Goldmember and Fat Bastard (also played by Myers) is pure Sellers derived through and through. From the springboard of early 90's SNL Myers has been blending Sellers methods with his own 2nd generation slacker stoner charm in his movie material and has pulled off some tricky double and triple duty so he slides right in at #5.

Honorable Mention :

Mel Brooks - Throughout the movies he directed and starred in that were mostly genre spoofs (BLAZING SADDLES, HIGH ANXIETY, HISTORY OF THE WORLD PART I, SPACEBALLS, ETC.) Brooks usually played 2-3 characters each time out. They weren't truly different from one another and that was precisely the joke - maybe not the greatest joke but hey - what can you do?

Meg Ryan - Okay so this violates the rule * that it can't just be somebody playing their sibling (which I know already got broken with Lily Tomlin above) but in addition to sisters Angelica and Patricia Graynamore, Ryan also plays Tom Hanks' office co-worker Dede in the 1990 surreal comedy JOE VS. THE VOLCANO. In his entry on this film Case File #40 of My Year Of Flops Nathan Rabin of the Onion AV Club writes "now normally the phrase 'Meg Ryan in multiple roles' is enough to send shivers down the spine or suggest a fate worse than death. And while it pains me deeply to write this, Meg Ryan is adorable!" I concur so let nobody ever say film babble never gave a shout out to Meg Ryan! Now let's move on.

* Also the rule that the actor needs to have been in more that one film playing multiple parts but ah...sue me!

The Kids In The Hall : BRAIN CANDY (Dir. Kelly Makin, 1996) Not quite up to Python standards, oh Hell not even up to SCTV standards the Canadian comedy quintet (Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson) had a good run on TV so why not a full fledged feature with each member playing multiple parts? Sounds great! Wait - key member Dave Foley doesn't really want to take part? Oh okay, he'll do a few bits but won't contribute to the writing? Hmmmm, maybe the whole project should be scrapped - what everybody wants to do it anyway? Okay, It might work. What? It didn't? Damn. Kind of like the last season of Flying Circus in which John Cleese didn't participate, BRAIN CANDY has some good bits but nothing classic. The Pythons though regrouped with HOLY GRAIL - doubt the Kids will ever pull off something like that.

Also according to Wikipedia : "Lon Chaney played dual roles in several films, using the elaborate makeup that became his trademark." I'll take your word for it Wikipedia!

Okay, so that's all I got for now. So before you say Martin Short - I know there are lots and lots of multiple part players I missed so shoot 'em on over!

More later...

10 Movie Moments That Broke The 4th Wall

“What a pisser” - Ted Striker (Robert Hays) turning to the camera after being told off by girlfriend Elaine (Julie Hagerty) in AIRPLANE! (Dirs. Jim Abraham, David & Jerry Zucker 1980)

Here I go again with another meta-movie list! The phrase “breaking the fourth wall” has been around for over a century. Though as a concept it's been around since before Shakespeare the phrase itself originates from the theater of Bertolt Brecht. It simply meant that a character makes an aside to the audience. Through the invisible wall those watching are addressed, acknowledged and made to feel a little more “in on the joke” so to speak. It’s a device used a lot more in television than on film.


In the '80s it even became fairly fashionable on such shows like Moonlighting and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show – a show that had as its entire premise comedian Shandling talking directly to the studio audience and the viewers at home. The Marx Brothers may have pioneered the concept in cinema with Groucho’s many knowing winks but Bob Hope really nailed it in the seminal road movies he made with Bing Crosby which is where we’ll begin:

1. ROAD TO MOROCCO (Dir. David Butler, 1942) 

Bob Hope is the reigning king of breaking the 4th wall for this classic alone. His character Oliver ‘Turkey’ Jackson has an immortal momment when he loses his detached wiseacre demeanor when he desperately declares “I can't go on! No food, no water. It's all my fault. We're done for! It's got me. I can't stand it! No food, nothing! No food, no water! No food!” As the voice of reason his friend Jeff (Bing Crosby) says “What's the matter with you, anyway?…We'll be picked up in a few minutes.” Hope in all his irrefutable glory responds “you had to open your big mouth and ruin the only good scene I got in the picture. I might have won the Academy Award!” That’s par for the course in a movie that actually has a camel comment - "This is the screwiest picture I was ever in."

2. ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE

(Dir. Peter R. Hunt, 1969)

This is seriously significant because breaking the 4th wall was used to break in the new Bond. George Lazenby had one of the hardest jobs in cinema history – to be the first to fill the shoes of Sean Connery in the iconic role of 007. To make matters even more intimidating this was a Bond adventure with substance – one that he gets married in for Christ’s sake!

Bond's intro had to matter – it had to have him make a mark and it had to acknowledge the audience’s incoming notion that this guy wasn’t the guy they were used to.

So in what every Bond picture has - a cold opening - we see Bond tooling around Portugal in his classic Aston Martin having an instant of near road-rage (we don't see his face in close-up), parking to watch the driver (Diana Rigg) that cut him off attempting suicide by walking into the ocean. He watches through a gun sight mind you. He frantically pulls his car down and runs out to the beach to save her. He drags her out of the water and we get to see his face as he does the customary intro “Bond, James Bond” but immediately adversaries are on his back.

A moon-lit beach fight ensues and of course Bond defeats his attackers but Rigg departs eschewing all pleasantries. After picking up her discarded shoes Lazenby remarks “this never happened to the other fellow”. Priceless for many reasons but chiefly because it acknowledged that there was a much loved “other fellow” and while Lazenby didn’t look directly into the camera ‘til after he said the line – the self consciousness was reigned in. Didn’t save him from being a Bond one-termer but still.

3. ANIMAL HOUSE (Dir. John Landis, 1978)

According to IMDb this is a Landis trademark : “He often has his characters look into camera lens to make eye contact with the audience or 'break frame'". It’s true – it is all over his film work but most definitively when the late great John Belushi climbs up a ladder to view naked sorority girls and when getting what he thinks is a “money shot” turns to do his eye brow signature right at us.

Another trademark breaking the 4th came a few years later in SPIES LIKE US – this time Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase were trying to do their version of a Hope/Crosby road movie. During a stressful scene when our beloved SNL bumblers were pretending to be medical staff in Soviet Central Asia - the king of 4th wall demolition - Bob Hope himself appears as if in perpetual golfer mode - "Ah! Mind if I play through? (acknowledges Ackroyd and Chase) Doctor.. Doctor.. I'm glad I'm not sick." * While this is indeed a Landis trademark on the TRADING PLACES commentary Eddie Murphy says it came from being so used to mugging at the camera on Saturday Night Live.

4. FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF

(Dir. John Hughes, 1986) 

There are many instances of Hughes’s characters talking directly to the camera but Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) is purely definitive as a narrator, commentator, and chastizer – like Animal in THE MUPPET MOVIE he even tells the audience to go home at the end. Bueller's great moment in breaking the 4th walldom is when he informs us on the best methods of faking sick to get out of going to school (as if you didn't know the premise). I believe this is one of the reasons that this is former Vice President Dan Quayle’s favorite movie.

After his parents exit Ferris looks us in the eye and says “Incredible! One of the worst performances of my career and they never doubted it for a second.”

Special mention goes to PRETTY IN PINK (1986) At the prom conclusion Ducky (Jon Cryer) looks directly in the camera and knowingly nods after being given a come-on look by a girl on the dance floor.

5. JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK

(Dir. Kevin Smith, 2001) 

As a self pro-claimed Hughes disciple Smith has to work the ‘to camera asides’ but in this movie he may have overdone it a tad. For example – playing themselves Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have a fight on the set of the fictitious GOOD WILL HUNTING 2 : HUNTING SEASON (Yes I know, another film within a film) in which Affleck tries to school Damon : “You're like a child. What've I been telling you? You gotta do the safe picture. Then you can do the art picture. But then sometimes you gotta do the payback picture because your friend says you owe him.” They both turn and look at the camera for an obvious dig at Smith.

The overdoing it comes from this bit in the same film also involving Affleck who this time plays his CHASING AMY character Holden who warns - “I mean, I don't think I'm alone in the world in imagining this flick may be the worst idea since Greedo shooting first. You know it, but... a Jay and Silent Bob movie? Feature length? Who'd pay to see that?” Holden, Jay (Jason Mewes), and Silent Bob (Smith) all look right at us – and to really set things off - Silent Bob gives a smiling double thumbs-up.

6. TOP SECRET (Dir. Jerry Zucker, 1982) 

There are many audience acknowledging nods throughout the Zucker Brothers canon like the one quoted at the top of this blogpost but this Zucker scene really drives the point home: Val Kilmer’s Elvis derived '50s heart throb singer Nick Rivers pours his heart out: “Listen to me Hillary. I'm not the first guy who fell in love with a woman that he met at a restaurant who turned out to be the daughter of a kidnapped scientist only to lose her to her childhood lover who she last saw on a deserted island who then turned out fifteen years later to be the leader of the French underground." Hillary (Lucy Gutteridge) responds “I know. It all sounds like some bad movie.” They both recoil then look our way as if to say ‘did you get that?’ And speaking of 'getting that':

7. SPACEBALLS (Dir. Mel Brooks, 1987) 

After being given the plot synopsis Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) looks at the camera and says "Everybody got that?" but most notably is the scene in which he and his minions actually put in a videocasette of SPACEBALLS to see what happens next and see themselves looking at themselves onscreen. Dark Helmet says : “what the hell am I looking at? When does this happen in the movie?” Colonel Sandurz (George Wyner) responds : “now. You're looking at now sir. Everything that happens now, is happening now.” Too bad this didn’t help this decade too late STAR WARS satire to be more “in the moment.”

8. JFK (Dir. Oliver Stone, 1991) 

I know, I know – every list I make has this film on it. Not only because it’s one of my all time favorite films but it does hold the monopoly on movie extras – deleted scenes, cameos, edits, and cinema contrivances galore confirm that it’s forever bloggable. That aside I really couldn’t leave out the moment that Garrison (Costner) wraps up his lengthy court summation by saying : “We, the people, the jury system sitting in judgement on Clay Shaw represent the hope of humanity against government power. In discharging your duty to bring a first conviction in this house of cards against Clay Shaw ‘ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.’

Do not forget your dying king. Show this world that this is still a government ‘of the people, for the people and by the people’ Nothing as long as you live will ever be more important – it’s up to you.” As the camera goes upward but still holds Costner’s direct camera gaze we get a feeling that this breaking the 4th wall stuff isn’t just comedy kids stuff. Which brings us to:

9. WAYNE’S WORLD (Dir. Penelope Spheeris, 1992)

Like Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers has a SNL mugging at the camera background and the characters here come from a cable access show in which they talk directly to the camera so of course they would continue to bash holes in the ever so fraglie fourth wall. Funnily enough they use it to satirize product placement at the same time. Wayne tells sleazy TV exec Rob Lowe that he"will not bow to any sponsor" as he poses with a bag of Doritos, a piece of pizza from Pizza Hut, takes some Nuprin, and tops it all off with a swig of Pepsi. He grins at us and even says the slogan "it's the choice of a new generation."

10. THE MUPPET MOVIE (Dir. James Frawley, 1979)

Kermit and the other Muppets (my word program insists this should be capitalized) regularly consult the screenplay on their journey to stardom so it's unsurprising but still hilarious when Floyd Pepper (Jerry Nelson) says "well, if this were the movies..." and Dr. Teeth (Jim Henson) adds "which it is", Floyd continues "...we'd think of a clever plot device" then Scooter (Richard Hunt) energetically finishes "like disguising their car so they won't be recognized!"

Yep, when in doubt just think of how it would be done in the movies. It'll save you every time. Okay! That's enough meta-movie mania for right now - gotta go star in my own movie. Good luck with yours.

More later...