Papajohn shares a fight scene with Moon Bloodgood and Sam Worthington in Terminator Salvation and he plays an astronaut in the campy comedy Land of the Lost. But it's his role in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that has men around the world green with envy. Papajohn landed the prime role of Megan Fox's dad in the second Transformers film directed by Michael Bay and starring Fox and Shia LaBeouf. Not bad for a guy who got his start playing Dennis Quaid's stunt double in Everybody's All-American.
Taking time out from his busy schedule, Papajohn talked about his batch of upcoming films - and True Blood.
Michael Papajohn Interview
The set of Terminator Salvation was pretty incredible. What was it like walking onto that set as an actor?Michael Papajohn: "When I showed up to the set, being in the desert with the wardrobe and everything, it was really exciting because also it was my second time to work with McG and I know how he likes to play the game. A lot of the scenes I've done in movies, I've never had that wide open range of being outside, like a desert where you could look one way and see forever and look the other way and see forever. So it kind of gave me even more freedom of where I was coming from and where I was going with the scene where I come up on a woman [played by Moon Bloodgood] in a desert. I probably haven't seen a woman in three years, probably have a little radiation in my brain. It was just a really, really cool location."
McG is an interesting filmmaker and he can sell a picture like no one else. Is he that talky when he’s directing?
Michael Papajohn: "Yes, he is. When I worked with him on Charlie’s Angels, right before I did a scene with Cameron Diaz, he came up to me and said, 'Hey Papajohn, have fun. Film lasts forever.' And I bring that story up again because that's what we talked about when I showed up on the set again and saw him in New Mexico. I told him that I always remembered what he told me. He's just passionate and it rubs off on not only just the actors, but the whole crew. Like he yelled out when we were doing out scene, 'Isn't it cool to know your scene's going to be in the trailer!''
When I was on the set he yelled "I love this sh-t” as he was directing.
Michael Papajohn: "He yells out to everybody. It's two in the morning and he goes, 'This is a trailer shot. This is cool!' He's very passionate and as an actor going into it, you know you're going to have freedom to play and have fun."
How much were you into the Terminator franchise before getting a part in Terminator Salvation?
Michael Papajohn: "You know what? I've always loved them. You know, I just remember when I first got into the business, I was doing stunts and I just remember seeing the action and going, 'How did they pull all this off?', trying to figure it out. I'm a huge fan. I remember I worked on Terminator 3 and Arnold Schwarzenegger already killed me in Eraser so I walked in - and I actually worked on Predator 2 when I first got in the business so this is like my, what is it? I've got to count how many Arnold films I've been in. That's so funny - I've got to count up how many Arnold films. But the Governor's killed me twice already. Like I walked in for Terminator 3 and he goes, 'Hey Papajohn, I killed you once, I'll kill you again.'"
How many people can actually say Arnold has said that to them?
Michael Papajohn: "Not too many. And I'm still alive to pay taxes... It's like he could cut me a break, you know, where I wouldn't have to pay maybe State taxes because he's killed me two times."
Where was the leap from stunts to actually being an actor? How did that come about?
Michael Papajohn: "Ridley Scott one time and I didn't have any acting experience. I read for Thelma and Louise and I remember I bombed it so bad and didn't know what I was doing. I walked down the stairs and I go, 'I have to train.' I have an athletic background so I know what it's like to do the fundamentals, and I got really put in a situation where I wasn't prepared and didn’t know how to do it. And from that embarrassment of walking down the stairs in West Hollywood after the reading, I was just shaking my head and saying, 'I have to change this.' When I was doubling Adam Sandler in Waterboy, I knew in my heart when I was doing that - it was a fun job and Adam was great and I’ve worked for him again - but I knew I didn't want to double actors anymore. I was done."
That makes sense. So after you decided to do that and after you went through the training, then it was just a matter of hitting the streets and getting these parts?
Michael Papajohn: "I went and really wanted to make that transition from a stuntman to actor and I knew that wasn't an easy transition in our business. People say, 'How do you actually do that?' and I always fell back on coaching. I kept hearing Larry Moss' name so when I went and met with Larry Moss I went and met with him privately. He's an acting teacher and his name kept coming up, so I actually told his assistant that I had a movie, because it was hard to get in his class at the time and I wanted to meet with him. I called his assistant up and said, 'Hey, it's Mike Papajohn and I've got a really, really nice role in a film with Denzel Washington and I was wanting to meet with Larry privately.' They called me right back. 'Yes, Michael, Larry will meet with you.'"
