BILL GOLDBERG ('Mr Smith'):
What was it like working with classic Looney Tunes characters?
First of all, as a kid who doesn’t watch Looney Tunes? And who ever would have thought they would have been involved later in life in a movie produced by Warner Bros. It’s a huge production. You’ve got Jenna Elfman, you’ve got Steve Martin, you’ve got Heather Locklear, and you’ve got Brendan Fraser. It was a huge honor for someone like me – or anybody – to be involved in. It’s awesome and kind of surreal.
What was the most difficult sequence to shoot?
Just about anything I did with blue screen. It’s really different. It’s really strange to act with someone who isn’t there, to act with an inanimate object. I’m not the best actor in the world as it is. It was difficult, but it’s not like I had many bad habits to break because it was the first time that I ever did it.
Can you tell me what it was like working with Steve Martin?
It was a little intimidating at the beginning. He’s awesome and he’s unbelievable. He’s an icon and it was surreal being in this [with him]. My first scene was with him [and] it was a huge honor. At the beginning, he’s kind of weary of people, like everybody in Hollywood, then he warmed up to me a little bit I think. He’s just a terrific guy, a great guy. He’s a lot of fun and he helped me out a lot.
Brendan Fraser talked about throwing a punch at you. Can you talk about filming that scene?
I think that everyone in the world knows that I’m never scared to get hurt. I think Brendan was afraid to hit me. Everything I do I want to make it as realistic as humanly possible. Nine times out of 10 that means hurting myself in the process. If I can do that to provide a good movie scene, then my job is done. I’ll wake up tomorrow and hurt a little bit but it’s no big deal. It’s called sacrificing and taking one for the team.
I got him to nail me a couple of times but I just wanted to make it look good. I wanted to make him look good and I wanted to make me look good, and I wanted to make the production look good.
Interview with Brendan Fraser / Interview with Steve Martin
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