Where does “The Blues Brothers” stand when you reflect back on your career?
“Oh gosh, I haven’t a clue. It’s certainly bigger than my other projects. I don’t know. You know, it was a unique situation where we had a lot of power based on the fact that John and Danny were the stars of the hottest TV show. They had the hottest album, and John and I had made the hottest movie. They were very anxious to get the picture in theaters so we had a lot more power than usual. And it was, you know, we were able to make certain demands and get them. The studio certainly didn’t want James [Brown] and Aretha [Franklin] and those guys. We just said, ‘But that’s who we want.’”
And you were able to get them to sign on because there wasn’t much happening with their careers at that time?
“Well the truth is Ray Charles was doing fine but the others were not.”
Were they ready and willing to come onboard?
“They were delighted to be asked. They were very enthusiastic and they all did great. If you talk to James or Aretha they’ll tell you. The most enthusiastic was the guy who wasn’t in the movie – BB King. He talks about it. He said it changed everything.”
Because it opened up the blues to a wider audience?
“Exactly.”
Do you think “The Blues Brothers” is the film most people associate you with as a director?
“I don’t know. Honestly, at this point it’s been very interesting for me the last couple of years. When people approach me, I’ve made enough movies now that I never know really which picture it is that, you know, you see that light in their eyes. Very often it’s ‘Animal House,’ but equally often it’s ‘The Blues Brothers.’ And depending on what country I’m in it’s often ‘Three Amigos.’ It’s very often ‘Thriller’ – the Michael Jackson thing. It’s very often ‘Trading Places.’ In England, it’s almost always ‘An American Werewolf in London.’”
That’s mine. “An American Werewolf in London” does it for me.
“See, it depends. I don’t know what I’ll be remembered for.
You know there’s finally a good DVD of [‘An American Werewolf in London’]. An excellent, superb DVD. I completely remastered it. We did a 5.1 DTS stereo mix. We did all these extra features. We really did a beautiful DVD. Unfortunately for not just us but the world, the big event to launch the DVD was September 11th in New York and so obviously the event didn’t happen. So there was no way you could promote a DVD for the next 6 months. But if you like that movie, there’s an excellent DVD of that right now.”
Have you done upgraded DVDs for most of your films?
“For a lot of them. But no… In fact, ‘Trading Places’ they finally fixed it up so it looks and sounds good but there’s no additional anything. ‘Coming to America’ they’ve never done anything with. ‘Three Amigos’ they’ve never done anything with. ‘Spies Like Us,’ ‘Innocent Blood’… But those movies just keep on selling so I think they’re not motivated to do something.”
But are you motivated? Do you want to go back and add deleted scenes and other material?
“Sure. If they’d let me. It depends. On ‘Coming to America’ they came to me – Paramount Home Video came and said, ‘What would you like to do?’ I said, ‘I’d like to cut it. I’d like to make it shorter.’ (Laughing) They were very upset with me. They didn’t let me.”
I read that you’ll be directing “Bat Boy.” What the status of that film?
“That’s very much in the works. We’re fighting over the rating right now. Did you ever see ‘Bat Boy?’”
No…
“Oh, it’s wonderful. It’s really good. It was done off-Broadway and then in the West End in London. The British production was actually better (laughing). But it’s a wonderful show. It’s very dark. It’s very funny. It’s a real horror show but it’s also very funny and quite romantic and ultimately it’s a Greek Tragedy. It’s wacky and unlike anything else, which is what attracts me to it.”
And you want an R rating?
“Well I don’t want it. I don’t want an R rating. It’s just that I’m afraid that in order to guarantee a PG, we would have to water it down in ways I think are… Artistically, I just think it’s a bad idea. We’ll see. Who knows? But I’m waiting to get the money for that. We’re in the process of budgeting it now.
That’s a very exciting movie. I would love to do that. That’s one of those movies that… you talk about ‘American Werewolf in London’ – I wrote that in 1969. I made it in 1981 because of ‘Animal House’ and ‘Blues Brothers’ and ‘Kentucky Fried Movie’ being so successful I got to finally make it. [‘Bat Boy’] is one of those movies where I know if they’d let me make it, I know it would be very successful – just like ‘Werewolf.’ But people have difficulty wrapping their brains around it because it’s so different.“
