{"id":277178,"date":"2021-06-17T18:00:29","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T15:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/billy-campbell-30-years-later-film\/"},"modified":"2021-06-17T18:00:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T15:00:29","slug":"billy-campbell-30-years-later-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/billy-campbell-30-years-later-film\/","title":{"rendered":"#Billy Campbell 30 Years Later \u2013 \/Film"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#Billy Campbell 30 Years Later \u2013 \/Film<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-366300 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/the-rocketeer-sequel-700x300.jpg\" alt=\"the rocketeer sequel\" width=\"700\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/the-rocketeer-sequel.jpg 700w, https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/the-rocketeer-sequel-360x154.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This month marks a milestone for one of the most underrated Disney films. <strong><i>The Rocketeer<\/i><\/strong> arrived in theaters in the summer of 1991, delivering a 1930s-era adventure of a pilot who stumbles upon a jetpack being sought after by gangsters, FBI agents, Nazis, and millionaire industrialist Howard Hughes. Though the film failed to take off at the box office, its fans are legion (and this writer counts himself among them).<\/p>\n<p>As the film turns 30, \/Film sat down virtually with <strong>Billy Campbell<\/strong>, the actor who made his debut as Cliff Secord, the Rocketeer himself. Talking from his home of Norway, Campbell discussed the experience of making the film, conquering his fear of flying, his love of <i>Master and Commander<\/i>, and much more.<\/p>\n<p><!-- SlashFilm_300x250_In_Post --><i>This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>First of all, describe the process of auditioning to play Cliff Secord.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>That was funny because [when] the audition came up, I was working at the Southern California Renaissance Faire doing <i>Taming of the Shrew<\/i>. So I had long hair and a beard. This was pretty much my natural state of being. I sort of skimmed the <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a>. I went to the meeting, and I think they wondered what the hell I was doing in the room. It was like I was a feral animal.<\/p>\n<p>I never heard back from them, and I didn\u2019t think any more about the movie. Some months later, the Faire was over and they called and said they wanted to see me again for this movie. I took my head out of my ass and I actually read the script. And I [said], \u201cWait a minute. This is pretty cool!\u201d At some point, I realized there was a graphic novel. I went to Golden Apple Comics in L.A., and I picked up the graphic novel and started thumbing through it.<\/p>\n<p>I think I cursed out loud in the store because I was like, \u201cHoly shit, I could actually <i>get <\/i>this movie.\u201d At the time, I looked very much like the character. That\u2019s because Dave Stevens based the character on himself, and we might\u2019ve been brothers. I got all excited. I went away to shave my beard and cut my hair. They\u2019d seen everybody in town. I mean people that you wouldn\u2019t [think]. They couldn\u2019t find their person. They were doing screen tests and I guess they had to hire a crew to do a screen test and they didn\u2019t have enough screen tests to fill out the day.<br \/>\n<!-- SlashFilm_300x250_In_Post_2 -->So Joe [Johnston, the film\u2019s director] just put his finger down the list and said, \u201cWhat about Billy Campbell? We haven\u2019t seen him in a few months.\u201d I walked in the soundstage, and one of the first people I saw when I walked through the door was Joe. He did a double-take when he saw me, and my heart leapet. I was like, \u201cI really have a chance of getting this.\u201d I screen-tested and they loved me. And then they offered the part to Johnny Depp.<\/p>\n<p>Everybody was hot and bothered about him. Johnny always wanted an offbeat career. So when they offered the movie to Johnny, my agent had his office right next door to Johnny\u2019s agent at ICM. My agent called me and said that Johnny\u2019s agent was about to have a meeting with him about whether he should do <i>The Rocketeer<\/i> or not. And he said, \u201cShe invited me in the room!\u201d If anybody could talk anyone into or out of anything, it was my agent. He talked Johnny out of doing the movie. He argued that <i>The Rocketeer<\/i> was a standard studio hero movie, blah blah blah. So I got the movie.<\/p>\n<p><b>Aside from looking like Cliff, what else appealed to you about playing the character?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Oh, easy. The time period. I\u2019ve always been a sucker for period <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movies<\/a>. If I had my choice, I\u2019d never do anything but period pieces.<\/p>\n<p><b>I was going to ask about that, knowing you\u2019ve been in shows like <\/b><b><i>Crime Story<\/i><\/b><b> and films like <\/b><b><i>Gettysburg<\/i><\/b><b>. I assumed there had to be some appeal for you in period pieces.<\/b><br \/>\n<!-- SlashFilm_300x250_In_Post_3 -->Before I ever became an actor, I grew up in Virginia. So running around on battlefields and stuff. For my 17th or 18th birthday, my mom took me to a Civil War reenactment. I was blown away. I was like, \u201cOh my God, it\u2019s life-size playing with soldiers.\u201d Except you get to actually <i>be<\/i> the soldier. I remember standing behind the rope next to the battlefield back on one side next to an artillery piece. The guys who were working the artillery piece were, between shots, having conversations about their farms back in Georgia. They were totally in the roles and I found it so exciting. So I started reenacting. That\u2019s some of my first times enjoying acting. And then I got into the theater program in my high school.<\/p>\n<p><b>You had a fear of flying going into this film. What was it like having to deal with that head-on as part of the production?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>That was really something. I inherited a fear of flying from my mom. When it came time to do the movie, I had no thought of it. I thought it was going to be green-screen. And most of the stuff where the Rocketeer is flying was. But when we were in pre-production, Joe came to me and said, \u201cHow would you feel about doing the flying stuff in the beginning of the movie, in the Gee Bee [plane], for real?\u201d Of course, my insides turned to water, but I stayed calm on the outside and I told him, \u201cOh yeah, sure, that\u2019d be great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They tricked out a three-cockpit biplane. They painted everything from the back, the rear cockpit yellow, and tricked it out to look like the Gee Bee, put a canopy over it and everything. They stuck a camera in the middle cockpit facing backwards. Craig Hosking [aerial coordinator] was in the front cockpit, flying the plane and operating the camera. The nerve-wracking thing was that the plane is typically flown from the rear cockpit. So there are some non-redundant controls that are only in the rear cockpit. And these are things that they coached me on. But if they don\u2019t happen properly in the proper sequence, things go pear-shaped.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019d sewn a little receiver into my headpiece, my leather helmet. We tested it and I could hear him fine, but we tested it when the plane was not running. And then we went for our first flight, and I couldn\u2019t hear a bloody thing. I was super-nervous, if I was going to remember to do all the things I was supposed to do, in the proper sequence. But I did, and we survived.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-468551 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/The-Rocketeer-animated-700x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Rocketeer animated\" width=\"700\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/The-Rocketeer-animated.jpg 700w, https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/The-Rocketeer-animated-360x154.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><br \/>\n<!-- SlashFilm_300x250_In_Post_4 --><b>So, you got over that fear?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Yeah. After that, I was almost completely over it. I still don\u2019t like to fly on a big commercial airplane, but I used to be a sweaty-palm flier. Now, it\u2019s whatever. I would prefer not to fly at all in an airplane. But I get on them whenever I need to. I don\u2019t mind heights or flying per se. In fact, after the film, I did a pseudo-documentary \u2013 it really was like an advertisement for <i>The Rocketeer<\/i>\u00a0\u2013 on flying. One of the segments was on hang-gliding, so I went down to Torrey Pines in San Diego and went tandem hang-gliding with a guy off the cliffs. I was instantly hooked. I bought myself a hang glider, and I\u2019ve been hang-gliding off and on ever since. I have no problem walking off a mountain with a hang glider on my back. I just don\u2019t like being in a big airplane with an engine running and me not at the controls.<\/p>\n<p><b>That\u2019s understandable. Regarding the stunt work, how much of that was you as opposed to stunt teams?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It was a great experience. They ended up letting me do a lot of my own stunt work on the ground. There was some magnificent stunt work in the air with people sliding off the ends of wings and that stuff. Early on, one night we were shooting the sequence at the top of the [Nazi] zeppelin. It was when I was fighting with Lothar on top of the zeppelin, before it starts exploding. He hits me in the head with a pipe wrench, and I go sliding off the end of the zeppelin. And then I come around the other side.<\/p>\n<p>So when we were rehearsing that piece, we were doing it half-speed. He hit me and I did a little somersault, and we\u2019re on the top of this zeppelin piece, which is shaped like a Quonset hut. The apex of it is about, I want to say, 50 feet off the ground or something. So when I do my little roll-away from Lothar at half-speed, no big deal. I ended up sitting on my butt. Then we got up and we\u2019re going to shoot it. So then we do it full speed, and I do my roll and it takes me further because it\u2019s a full-speed roll. I start sliding down the side. There was nothing there for me except some dolly tracks at the bottom of where I was sliding. I instinctively got to my feet and ran diagonally as I was going down the Quonset hut, because there was a half-deflated crash pad. Not in my trajectory, but I could, by running diagonally, sort of make my way over. I turned and fell backward into the crash pad, and removed my helmet so I could see what I was doing. The first person by my side was Jim Arnett, our stunt coordinator, and his eyes were big as dinner plates. You know, there was the lead of the movie sliding off the Quonset hut 50 feet high onto dolly tracks. If I didn\u2019t break my leg or legs, I was for sure going to sprain something. I\u2019d be surprised if he didn\u2019t soil his underwear.<\/p>\n<p>I was full of adrenaline. I turned to him and I said, \u201cScared the shit out of you, didn\u2019t I, Jimbo?\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cYou sure did!\u201d But everything was fine. After that, he started letting me down all my own stunts, because he felt he could trust me. And the fellow they had for me was fine, but we didn\u2019t match very well physically. It\u2019s always better to have the real person doing them if you can. So I got to do a lot of the rest of this stuff. And that was great. It was like an old-fashioned movie. I have to say, my first two films \u2013\u00a0<i>The Rocketeer<\/i> and <i>Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/i>\u00a0\u2013 both very old-fashioned movies, doing most of our own stunt work. I felt like an old-time movie actor.<\/p>\n<p><b>Overall, what was it like for your first film to involve action sequences, some with green-screen effects, with a special effects craftsman like Joe Johnston as director?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I enjoyed it. I love Joe. I had to get a little used to Joe, because Joe is a technical director. I didn\u2019t have a lot of films under my belt. I had some TV under my belt, and that was more like a sausage factory. This was my first time doing something where you had multiple takes and things were done at a more relaxed pace. I\u2019ve never been one that needed coddling of any kind. If things are going along fine, you don\u2019t hear too much from Joe. You know, Alan [Arkin, who plays Peevy] helped me get used to that. He was like, \u201cYou\u2019re doing great. Joe doesn\u2019t need to be reassuring. Take it from me, when you don\u2019t hear anything from Joe, that <em>is<\/em> him reassuring you. Because you\u2019re doing things right.\u201d And I was like, \u201cOK, that\u2019s fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But when you ask Joe something, when you do need help, he\u2019s right there. He doesn\u2019t give a lot of hoity-toity direction. He\u2019s to the point. \u201cThis is what I\u2019d like to see.\u201d I tell you something, there have been many times since when I have prayed or wished that it could be Joe. He\u2019s just my cup of tea, against which I have measured many lesser cups of tea over the years.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-616712 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/the-rocketeer-the-quarantine-stream-700x321.jpg\" alt=\"the rocketeer the quarantine stream\" width=\"700\" height=\"321\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/the-rocketeer-the-quarantine-stream-700x321.jpg 700w, https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/the-rocketeer-the-quarantine-stream-360x165.jpg 360w, https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/the-rocketeer-the-quarantine-stream-768x352.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/the-rocketeer-the-quarantine-stream.jpg 948w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>What\u2019s it actually like to wear the Rocketeer outfit? In terms of moving around on the set and visibility for you during the sequences.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It was quite comfortable. I mean, the whole costume was very comfortable except running in the rocket pack. The rocket had a tendency to jiggle on the back. They tried to tighten it up, but there was no way it wasn\u2019t going to jiggle. So that wasn\u2019t the most comfortable thing. And the helmet had a tendency to get a little moist inside. And I could not see a lot while I was wearing the helmet. At almost every opportunity, the helmet came off when it could. And they want to see your face, not the helmet. The helmet is great for disguising the fact that it wasn\u2019t me at various times. But overall, the costume was much more comfortable than you would imagine. And I would imagine more than many modern superhero costumes are.<\/p>\n<p><b>You mentioned Alan Arkin. One of the many joys of the film is its cast \u2013 Arkin, Timothy Dalton, Paul Sorvino, etc. What was it like to work with such a stacked cast?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Oh, it was a complete headspin. It was fantastic. I enjoyed working with all of them, some for different reasons. Alan is one of the sweetest people you\u2019d ever want to meet on this earth. We\u2019re still fast friends. We don\u2019t get to see each other very often, but in the summer of 2019, I was in Canada with my wife and kids, and we drove up to Cape Breton to spend some time with Alan and his partner. It was just head-spinning. It was amazing. There was Timothy Dalton, just a perfect gentleman and a lovely person to work with. I didn\u2019t get to work with him nearly as much as I would\u2019ve wanted to. Paul Sorvino is a strong cup of tea and, I\u2019ll say, highly entertaining. And all the character actors \u2013 I mean, Margo Martindale! It was just fantastic.<\/p>\n<p><b>I\u2019ve seen the film many times, but my favorite scene is \u2013 speaking of Paul Sorvino \u2013 the scene where Cliff reveals to his character that Neville Sinclair is a Nazi, causing the mobster to shift allegiances. That scene\u2019s grown more resonant over time. In the moment, making that scene, was there any sense of how that would play?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It is one of the best little moments, out of many in the film. Just that look they [Sorvino and a federal agent played by Ed Lauter] share when they\u2019re firing their machine guns in the same direction. And \u201cYou know, I may be a crook, but I\u2019m a hundred percent American.\u201d It\u2019s just fantastic. I love it. But I can\u2019t remember that there was\u2026when you get down to it, they\u2019re all just actors. And there\u2019s so many logistics and the clock is ticking. You know, shooting time is running out. It was thrilling, of course. But I can\u2019t say that element in particular was at the top of my thrill list. Just by virtue of the fact that I was starring in this amazing film, my first film, and we were at Griffith Park Observatory at night, shooting with all these lights. The whole thing was just amazing.<\/p>\n<p><b>Was there a favorite scene for you in the making of the film?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Honestly, I can\u2019t say that there is. I might as well start at the beginning of the film. I just love the amazing score, and the way the film starts with the hangar doors being pushed open, the silhouettes of the guys pushing the doors open. The plane coming out of it. Of all the things in the film, I think that it has maybe one of the best beginnings to a film I\u2019ve ever seen. It builds so wonderfully and the action starts right away. And it\u2019s very obvious that the planes are actually flying and it\u2019s not computer-generated imagery. 30 years later, it just holds up so bloody well.<\/p>\n<p>If I had to pick something, I think the first 10 minutes of <i>The Rocketeer<\/i> is akin to the first 10 minutes of <i>Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/i>, which Joe also worked on. I remember when I first saw <i>Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/i>, from the very beginning to the point when he rolls out of the cave and then suddenly it\u2019s quiet and all those spears are pointed towards his face\u2026just the best 10 minutes of film time. I remember I was whooping when I first saw it. To me, the first 10 minutes of <i>The Rocketeer<\/i> feels the same way.<\/p>\n<p><b>I can\u2019t argue that. You mentioned Coppola\u2019s <\/b><b><i>Dracula<\/i><\/b><b> was your next film. What other impact was there on your career of having starred in this?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m pretty sure I got <i>Dracula<\/i> because of <i>The Rocketeer<\/i>. Because the film had not opened when I got <i>Dracula<\/i>. I\u2019m sure they were banking on <i>Rocketeer<\/i> being bigger than it was. I don\u2019t think I would have got to <i>Dracula<\/i> otherwise. But then <i>Rocketeer<\/i> opened and it didn\u2019t do the business that Disney had wanted. You know how it is in the business. You\u2019re only as hot as the last thing you did. But the impact on my life was maximal. I fell in love with JC [Jennifer Connelly, who played Cliff\u2019s girlfriend Jenny Blake], and we were together for five years after that. That was life-changing.<\/p>\n<p>I have a couple lifelong friendships out of it. Alan Arkin and a couple of others. It\u2019s funny \u2013 I was saying this to somebody the other day. Films are like a living, breathing yearbook in a way. Do you know what I mean? You can open your old high school yearbooks and memories come flooding back. When you put in a movie and it was a whole section of your life, it\u2019s pretty amazing. It was a huge, formative thing for me. To have that be my first film and to be such a wonderful experience, it\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, my first film was almost <i>Die Hard 2<\/i>. I was almost one of the terrorists. In fact, I was cast and I was at the studio doing wardrobe fittings. My agents pulled me out of the film because they thought the TV season was going to be much better for me. That didn\u2019t turn out to be the case, but if that had not happened, I may not have been part of <i>The Rocketeer<\/i>. And then my first film would\u2019ve just been some tiny bit part as a terrorist in <i>Die Hard 2<\/i>, [and] I don\u2019t even really care that much for <i>Die Hard 2<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-490632 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/Rocketeer-animated-series-700x300.jpg\" alt=\"Rocketeer animated series\" width=\"700\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/Rocketeer-animated-series.jpg 700w, https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/Rocketeer-animated-series-360x154.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>You alluded to the film not doing as well as Disney wanted. When did you get that sense of the film not being the success they were hoping for?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I guess I understood that to be the case within the first several days of the film opening. I didn\u2019t pay all that much attention to it, because I was going onto <i>Dracula<\/i> and other stuff. I\u2019m sure I was a bit disappointed at the time. There had been other offers on other films which I had decided not to do. I was a little surprised by it, though not in retrospect.<\/p>\n<p>There were a few things that happened. One, we didn\u2019t get our <i>Roger Rabbit <\/i>opening, which we were supposed to have. A <i>Roger Rabbit<\/i> short where Roger Rabbit goes off to World War I or something like that. And we opened in the two weeks between <i>Terminator 2<\/i> and <i>Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves<\/i>. There were no box office draws in the leading roles, and it\u2019s a period film.<\/p>\n<p>Several months after, I ran into a guy working at Disney in the advertising department. And he took me aside and said, \u201cI really got to tell you, we dropped the ball.\u201d He went on for a couple of minutes to tell me how he thought that the whole advertising was misconceived. Jeffrey Katzenberg had this notion of the film being kind of adult or something. In the beginning of the campaign, there was this Art Deco poster, which is a beautiful poster, but\u2026who under the age of 35 gives a shit about Art Deco? It wasn\u2019t until too late that they started coming up with other posters. Anyway, it was a perfect storm of circumstances that conspired to make the movie not as profitable as Disney would have hoped. From what I heard, it wasn\u2019t even a box office failure. It just was not as profitable as they hoped. And they decided to call it a loss.<\/p>\n<p><b>Maybe I\u2019m a rare case \u2013 I\u2019m 36 and that poster has always been burned in my brain<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>I love that poster!<\/p>\n<p><b>When did you get the sense that, even if it wasn\u2019t a smash, <\/b><b><i>The Rocketeer<\/i><\/b><b> was inspiring passion among its fans?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It would\u2019ve been years afterwards. And collectively over the years. It has been a steady dribble of people saying how their parents had taken them to see <i>The Rocketeer<\/i> when they were 10 years old and how much they loved it. That happens to this day.<\/p>\n<p>I think the most amusing story happened to me 7 or 8 years ago. I was in San Diego, doing a play at the Old Globe. I was out at a pub one evening with some old rugby enemies. We\u2019re all fairly long in the tooth and we\u2019re in this big, boisterous pub. And there\u2019s a table with pretty beefy, young, rowdy guys. You keep them on your radar, right? If for no other reason than you want to know when and which direction to run away if something happens.<\/p>\n<p>I remember going to the restroom and noticing one or two of them looking in my direction with what I thought were antagonistic looks. But nothing happened. I went back to my group and after another beer or two, they fall off the radar. Then my buddy is looking past me with big eyes. And a hand comes on my shoulder. I look up and it\u2019s one of these guys. And he says with the sweetest voice, \u201cExcuse me, but are you the Rocketeer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And I say, \u201cWhy yes, I am!\u201d I was so relieved. He said, I shit you not, \u201cThis is my platoon. I just want to say that <em>you<\/em> are the reason I\u2019m a Navy SEAL.\u201d His father had taken him to see <i>The Rocketeer<\/i> when he was 10 years old. And it was during that movie that he had the feeling that he wanted to be a hero of some sort. And that led directly to him joining the Navy and becoming a Navy SEAL. We sent them drinks, they sent us drinks. I\u2019m still friendly with a couple of them all these years later. I kept a single souvenir from the movie, a menu from the Bulldog Cafe with a call sheet stuffed in the back of it. I wish I had hung onto at least the call sheet. But I gave it to that Navy SEAL for his birthday. To see a Navy SEAL shed tears was pretty fun.<\/p>\n<p><b>That sounds like a great present. Aside from fan encounters, there was the animated <\/b><b><i>Rocketeer<\/i><\/b><b> show on Disney Junior on which you appeared, and rumors of a possible live-action revival. Why do you think the film endures still?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>As of yet, nothing\u2019s happened. To be honest, I don\u2019t know if anything <i>will<\/i> happen. What I do know is that the film endures, and the reason it has such a long-lasting appeal, I think, is its spirit. It has a really sweet spirit. That more than anything is the reason for its longevity. I hope they do another <i>something<\/i> but I also hope they respect the spirit of the original. I can only imagine that unless you get the right people involved and do it properly, that it\u2019s almost bound to be a disappointment.<\/p>\n<p><b>I agree. I love the movie, and have read the graphic novels, so I know there\u2019s other stories that could be told. But I think of current blockbusters using CGI so often, and I worry. One of the best parts of <\/b><b><i>The Rocketeer<\/i><\/b><b> are the practical effects.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I hate CGI. I mean, I can\u2019t say I hate CGI with a blanket. There are times when CGI is brilliant, but that\u2019s mainly when you don\u2019t know it\u2019s there. It\u2019s wonderful for erasing wires and stuff like that. Take <i>Master and Commander<\/i>, right? What a fricking wonderful film that is. The boat is in the middle of the ocean in that fantastic storm sequence, where they have to cut away the mizzenmast. I mean, you believe that ship is out there in the middle of the storming ocean. And that\u2019s CGI. You can\u2019t tell where the real stuff ends and the CGI begins. When the ship shoots at them from the fog bank and they\u2019re all on deck, and Russell Crowe shouts \u201cGet down!\u201d Everybody dives to the deck and shit is flying all over the place. A lot of that is practical, but then they\u2019ve put in some extra stuff flying that you don\u2019t know where it is. That is maybe the best example I have ever seen of CGI done well and done properly.<\/p>\n<p>But take <i>Pearl Harbor<\/i>, for instance. Michael Bay thinks, \u201cAll right, let\u2019s have this piece of metal from an explosion come towards the camera, and six inches past the camera.\u201d And you\u2019re like, \u201cFuck off.\u201d You know for a fact that\u2019s a CGI piece of metal, because they\u2019re never going to pass a piece of metal, nor can they figure out how to, that close to a camera crew. But no, it\u2019s \u201ccool\u201d because it passes close to the camera. It\u2019s just bullshit.<\/p>\n<p>One of the smartest things Peter Weir did in <i>Master and Commander<\/i> was, when the two ships come and start shooting at each other \u2013 he pops way, way out and you see them both. The noise is diminished because you\u2019re so far away. It subliminally tells you that what you\u2019re seeing is dangerous because we\u2019ve taken you away from it. As opposed to having cannonballs pass right by the camera, which is not as dangerous. You know damn well that real cannonballs are not passing close to the camera. Sorry, that\u2019s my soapbox. I can\u2019t stand CGI. I love old movies with practical effects and handmade cityscapes and rocket ships made out of who knows what. I love it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-490632 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/Rocketeer-animated-series-700x300.jpg\" alt=\"Rocketeer animated series\" width=\"700\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/Rocketeer-animated-series.jpg 700w, https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/Rocketeer-animated-series-360x154.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>I\u2019m right there with you. 30 years later, looking back on its legacy, how does <\/b><b><i>The Rocketeer <\/i><\/b><b>stand out for you?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Well, really in all the ways that we talked about. It was this wonderful, seminal moment in my career and in my life. It\u2019s immensely gratifying that something so seminal in my life is also something that is so well-loved by so many people.<\/p>\n<p>Really, that\u2019s it. I\u2019m happy that so many people love it and it means so much. But that\u2019s kind of an abstract thing for me until it becomes real when people tell me about it. The main feeling that I have about it is personal. It was just a wonderful moment in my life that led to so many things.<\/p>\n<p><b>Last question. You mentioned opening right after <\/b><b><i>Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves<\/i><\/b><b>. It feels like things are full circle now, as you\u2019re starring in a pilot, <\/b><b><i>National Parks<\/i><\/b><b>, at ABC that Kevin Costner co-wrote and produced. What can you tell readers about this role?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Kevin is producing it through his company and he also co-wrote the script. It\u2019s set in the National Parks Service in the U.S. The national parks have rangers who keep things in order. But you also have the ISB, the Investigative Services Branch. They\u2019re federal agents. There\u2019s an awful lot of actual crime that goes on in the national parks. All that wilderness is very attractive to people who want to do things away from the prying eyes of the law. So when bad things happen and park rangers are not quite qualified to completely deal with it, they call in the ISB.<\/p>\n<p><b>Hopefully that becomes more than just a pilot.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re still waiting to hear. And I think they have to tell us something by the end of this month.<\/p>\n<p><b>Well, this has been an absolute joy. <\/b><b><i>The Rocketeer<\/i><\/b><b> is one of my favorite movies. I can\u2019t claim to have as meaningful a story as the Navy SEAL you met, but it\u2019s been a big touchstone for me since I was a kid so this means a lot talking with you.<br \/><\/b><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been my pleasure. It\u2019s a never-ending pleasure to talk about it. I\u2019m actually going to write it [the June 21st anniversary] down in my notebook so that I can send a couple of people, Alan and Joe and some other people, a note to thank them for all the years of joy.<\/p>\n<p>                            <strong>Cool Posts From Around the Web:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>                            <!-- \/post -->\n                        <\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.slashfilm.com\/the-rocketeer-interview\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#Billy Campbell 30 Years Later \u2013 \/Film&#8221; This month marks a milestone for one of the most underrated Disney films. The Rocketeer arrived in theaters in the summer of 1991, delivering a 1930s-era adventure of a pilot who stumbles upon a jetpack being sought after by gangsters, FBI agents, Nazis, and millionaire industrialist Howard Hughes&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":277179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/the-rocketeer-sequel.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1568,1513,5827,71363,109694,1498,1569,1570,23147,10294,109695,57836,31702,28735,59650,11979],"class_list":["post-277178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-featured-stories-sidebar","tag-action-adventure","tag-alan-arkin","tag-anniversary","tag-billy-campbell","tag-disney-pixar","tag-disney","tag-features","tag-interview","tag-interviews","tag-joe-johnston","tag-master-and-commander","tag-peter-weir","tag-russell-crowe","tag-the-rocketeer","tag-timothy-dalton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}