He Ain’t Heavy, He’s Ron’s Brother! A Coffee House - Cinema Chat With Film Auteur Clint Howard! By: Terry L. DuFoe - Photos & Transcription By: Tiffany M. DuFoe One would never expect to find Clint Howard emoting in a trendy Los Angeles coffee house, but then again, the name of the popular caffeine chain does start with the word “Star”, and that is exactly what Clint Howard is! My daughter Tiffany DuFoe attempted to contact Clint Howard through our usual sources only to fear that the interview would soon, “Eat My Dust”, as our phone calls were not returned. This could not be! Our beloved Videoscope readers needed to know and would “The Ice Cream Man” himself cause our proposed Q&A to suffer an interview meltdown? Absolutely not! The first lesson I learned as a journalist is to never use conventional methods to secure a non-conventional icon. No, I didn’t wait in line to hire the services of “Eaglebauer” from “Rock “n” Roll High School". Instead, we contacted actor Clint Howard directly. Faster then you can say, “Ping”, Tiffany DuFoe was awakened by a phone call from a very recognizable voice. No, not “Gentle Ben“, but from Ron Howard’s younger brother, Clint. Clint Howard told us that he was very “up” to doing our interview, but asked if we could delay it for a few weeks because he was suffering from a bizarre plastic device placed in his mouth by “The Dentist” due to recent oral surgery. He was also recovering from what was formally, “The House Of The Dead”, as he was in charge of building contractors remodeling his home. Of course we were willing to wait! After all, we didn’t want to be a “Grinch” about “That Thing You Do”, when we had a chance to interview the most famous Howard brother since Moe, Shemp or Curley! We soon got the call as Clint expressed a sigh of relief that all was well, as he was in the position to tell Scope readers everything, promising not to delay us further with “Evil Speak”. So we jumped in the car and drove to the “Blackwoods” of L.A. where Clint arrived and ordered a pound bag of over priced caffeine. We offered to buy him an eye opening round but he told us he wouldn’t hear of it because the bag of coffee he bought was an offering to his lovely wife, assuring no “Backdraft” if he returned home late from the interview. Winner of the MTV Movie Award for Lifetime Achievement, Clint Howard made my wife Becky “Get Crazy” by personally buying her coffee, while Tiffany and I paid for our own, like coffee crazed “Humanoids From The Deep”! Oh well, I wouldn’t have expected the star of countless TV shows and films to spring for our tab because after all, he has to maintain a budget of fresh turkeys that he hands out to guests like Ron Howard and Judge Reinhold in on-line episodes of “The Clint Howard Variety Show” at clinthoward.com online. In what is some-what of a Hollywood production of their own, the Howard family gave us an Academy Award winning director and of course his actor brother Clint who starred in over 97 feature films and appeared in 45 TV shows. This included the first filmed episode of the original “Star Trek”. Raised well with love and discipline by actor/parents, Rance and Jean Speegle Howard, Clint Howard talks about his past and present roles from his peanut butter eating days as a 2 year old on “The Andy Griffith Show”, to his new role in brother Ron’s western revival, “The Missing” to be released in 2004. Terry: What can you tell us about the rumor of Ron Howard making a western, which will also have you in it? Or is this a secret? Clint: Oh, no no no no. If we would've met last night, I would've had a goatee. But now what you see is this funky kind of Fu Man Chu thing going. (Laughs.) Terry: (Laughs.) Yeah, I didn't recognize you. Clint: (Laughs.) Well, thank you. That's good. I'm playing a sheriff in a film that my brother is getting ready to direct. In fact, they just started in Santa Fe, New Mexico with Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett called "The Missing". I'm playing a sheriff and Ron and I had talked about... we always try to... he's always looking out for me! We're always trying to figure out something that'll be kind of cool and different for me. Ron has worked with Wilford Brimley. I've worked with Wilford Brimley a few times. He's always left an impression with Ron and I, and we thought, "Well, how about one of those Wilford Brimley mustaches?" So, for the last month I've been growing this, and I don't think it's going to get long enough to really work, but I'm continuing to grow it. I still have about a month before I go to Santa Fe to start working. The Fu Man Chu thing was boredom. That was boredom! I was shaving in the shower, and I thought, "Well, let's just leave this for now." You know? Terry: Are you used to it? Does it itch a lot? Clint: No. Terry: Not really? Do you think the goatee helps or hinders you getting jobs? Clint: I don't know. Out of boredom I change. I don't have a grand plan for my career. We'll get into that later, but I just don't! So, I kind of go with the flow, and what started about two months ago... I worked on a thing for Showtime where I played a homeless bum. It was called "The Great Commission". It was made by the same people that do this program called "Soul Food". I played a bum, and I let my beard grow bum-like. Just scraggly rough. Then, after that was over, of course my wife didn't.. nah no no, so I shaved and left a goatee. I immediately picked up an episode of "Crossing Jordan" with the goatee. I went on the audition and got the job. So, I'm like a fisherman. I'm trolling with some fresh bait here. Now, I have since gone on two auditions and haven't gotten the jobs. I know my days are numbered with having this because of Ron's movie.. the goatee. Terry: Right. Clint: So, I just decided to shave this morning. Terry: So this western movie, would it be for Universal? I know that Ron works with Universal a lot. Clint: No. This is Revolution, which is a studio. Independent. They don't have any sound stages, basically, compared to you know.. but Revolution is the one making this one. Terry: So if it's independent, would you say it's pretty low budget? Clint: Oh no. No, no, no! Independent meaning it's not a studio that traditionally has sound stage space. Terry: Everybody always thinks independent is low budget. It's not always. Clint: No, this is... you know, Ron is attempting to do it as economically as possible, but it's a big studio movie. Ok, I just said independent and now I just said studio! It's a big movie to me... Ron, and Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones. I don't imagine anyone's taking a discount, you know what I mean? Terry: Yeah. Clint: So, I've kind of known about this for a while, and I've been looking forward to working with Ron again. I wasn't in "A Beautiful Mind" and I worked in "The Grinch" but that almost didn't feel like work. It was such a spectacle, and so bizarre. It was a wonderful experience, but it was almost like not making a movie. Terry: Yeah? Clint: The process was so different. This is just more of a traditional movie. In fact today I began kind of learning the lines. I'm going to have to do a character. I mean, this guy is going to have to have an accent, and I'm going to have to... I mean, he's the sheriff! Terry: I imagine after all of these years... you started out when you were three years old right? Clint: Two actually. Terry: Actually two! I imagine it's pretty easy to learn the lines now, isn't it, or is it still pretty hard? Clint: No... well, you know, remembering lines is not so much memorizing as it's going through the scene and figuring out how the character is thinking. Figuring out the track the character is... his motivation of why he's thinking the way he's thinking. Now, I say that, and I don't want to be really koo-kooing on. It's not as if I break down every single moment, but you have a general idea of why a guy is saying this. Then as you begin to look at the words, they start to make sense. That is, if it's well written. It starts to make sense on why he would say this. It's remembering the pattern of thought more than it is the words. The words end up coming pretty naturally, although I'll tell you, there is a... for me, there's always a moment where I'm not quite prepared and it's called 'the moment you get off the page'. Terry: Right. Clint: Right now it's easy because I'm just reading the words that are in the script. But, there will be that day and it'll come probably about two weeks before we start shooting, or maybe less where I'll go, "Eee! Uh, gah! Am I ever going to remember this?!?" Terry: Yeah. Clint: And I do. Part of it is the training. It's in my blood. Terry: Do you consider yourself to be a character actor then? Clint: Well, yeah. I'm certainly not a leading man! Terry: Well, you have been a few times. Clint: Well, yeah. No, no, no. Character actor. I'm having a wonderful career being a character actor. If I can just keep kind of fooling them, and keep entertaining folks for another... I'm going to turn 44... if I can just do it for about another 20 years hopefully. Hopefully by that point I can say to myself, "I've done enough. I've made enough money. I can retire." Because it's really just a job! I know there are people.. there are fans. There are people that look at actors and go, "Oh, this..." No. It's a job. I have a job. They pay me, and I give them my social security number, and they make me sign a contract. I have to do an I-9 form which proves I'm an American citizen. You know? I mean, I go to work. I got to go to work and I've got to do a good job. I don't get the greater glory of it. There is no greater glory of it. Terry: Try being an extra, that's what we do! (Laughs.) Clint: (Laughs.) Yeah! Terry: Yeah. (Laughs.) I know all about how much hard work it is! Clint: Yeah. I've had the opportunity to become friends with the fellow that I played in "Apollo 13", Sy Liebergot... Terry: Oh really? Clint: And Sy has since, in fact, just recently finished writing a book, and he asked me to write a foreword... (Pronounced it forward)... as my dad likes to say, "It's FORE -- WORD." I tend to say forward. (Chuckles.) But anyway, he asked me to write the foreword, which is kind of an honor. I've never written a foreword before. Reading Sy's book, he is someone I so admire. He's an engineer at NASA. He had a job. He overcame a tremendous, tremendous bad childhood and he talks about it in the book. His perseverance... and he rose to a position of responsibility in the space program which, you know, in the 60s was a heavy responsibility writing... they don't call them programs, but the flight procedures. Writing the procedures the astronauts and the whole program would follow to make these untried journeys possible... now I call that wonderful! That's something to be admired. And, that's something that... to me, that falls in line with what a doctor does, because first of all these guys... I mean, Sy Liebergot on his own did not save the lives of the astronauts but, you're talking about real heroic stuff! He's just an engineer, but... I'm thinking a lot about Sy because I'm trying to formulate what I'm going to say in the foreword. I consider what doctors do heroic. Teachers can be heros. What Sy did, and what those engineers did and continue to do, and NASA... that's heroic! Terry: When we recently had the shuttle catastrophe, I bet that made you think a lot about the role you played in "Apollo 13", didn't it? Clint: Yeah. You know, what I would encourage everybody to remember is flying into space is dangerous, and by nature of the job, there is an inherent risk of death. Like working on a high rise construction building; there is an inherent risk of death. So, I felt bad. They had an accident. Their spacecraft lost it's integrity for some reason. Sy is close to it. He still works at NASA. He's not working on that part of the shuttle program. He questions whether they'll ever really truly figure out exactly what happened. They can have a good idea of what happened, but they can never exactly know what happened. It's just dangerous, and it's a bad thing that people die in a situation like that, but they all knew the risks. Terry: Would you ever take the risk? Would you go into space? Clint: Yeah. Probably. If I felt like I had a good reason to. I don't think I'd just joy ride into space, but if I felt like there was a really good reason for me to go, and a purpose, and that purpose would be beneficial to everybody, including myself, I'd do it. I had the opportunity if I would've pressed it a little bit to ride the KC-135 Vomit Commit, which was the parabolic.. they did the parabolic flights to achieve weightlessness. The astronauts use it for training, and NASA agreed to allow Universal and Ron's company to build the spacecraft, place it inside the KC-135 and do the parabolic flights achieving weightlessness so "Apollo 13" could shoot for a couple of weeks in a weightless environment. I had the opportunity to go, but at that point, I wouldn't. I could've gone. I wouldn't of had anything to do, and I wouldn't of had a reason to go outside of just the general thrill of going on a gigantic roller coaster, and at that point I said, "No, there's no reason to go. I don't think I feel like going. I don't want to." Terry: Let me ask you, being in Ron's movies.. as you said, your brother looks out for you, I take it he doesn't make you audition? Is that right? Or does he? Clint: Well, no. I haven't auditioned for one of his features in a while. As a director, he knows me so well, and as a brother, an older brother, who pays attention and looks out for his little brother. He's paid attention to my career, and he's seen my work, and we've talked about it. So, he knows what I can do. It's been a long time since I had to audition for him on a film. Although, for Imagine projects.. other Imagine projects, I audition. I just auditioned and didn't get a part in a pilot that they're making, that Ron is an executive producer on. Which, you know, if you think about it, a pilot is a much better financial opportunity for an actor than a movie. They're getting ready to do a thing called "Arrested Development", and it's very funny. And I felt like I was very right to be a part of this cast. I went in, and I auditioned, and they thought I was wonderful, but they didn't think I was right. Terry: So, basically, you're wanting to let people know that you don't get roles just because you're Ron's brother. You do the work, and you do audition sometimes! Clint: Well, yeah! Listen, I love being Ron's brother. He's a wonderful man and it's the hand that I was deal. It's a heck of a hand! I would imagine that at times, it's hurt me. Terry: How so? Clint: Ron's had to say no to a lot of people, as a director, as a movie producer. He's a business man. There are people that have come to him with movie projects that they've wanted to do, and Ron says no about 95 times out of 100. You know, their company can only do so many films a year, so he says no a lot. Well those same people that go somewhere else and get their movie made, when it comes back to the casting sessions, and my name crosses their desk whether I'm going in on an audition or whether I'm even being considered to go in for an audition, what are they gonna say? Terry: Yeah. Clint: "Oh yeah! Bring in the brother of the guy that screwed me!" (Laughs.) Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: (Laughs.) "Yeah, sure! Bring him in! We'd love to hire him!" (Laughs.) So, I'm not paranoid, I just know humanity, and I know business. If I was in the same position... if I got screwed or I got rejected in a business deal, I would think twice about going to lengths to hire the guy's brother. It's a factor. It's probably not an exclusive, sole determining issue, but I'm sure it's there. There's also another issue that I've actually run into, and that is on films where Ron has had something to do with the film, a long distance producer relationship where he's been attached to the movie in some way but he's really not involved. There's been times I've auditioned for jobs. Been considered for jobs, and the director says, "I really would feel uncomfortable about having Ron around." See, because when I'm there on the set, I would almost be like a scout, or a spy for Ron. Terry: Oh yeah! Clint: I would be! If Ron called me up and said, "Hey, how's it going? How's the director doing?" Terry: Yeah. Clint: I've actually literally experienced this where the director just felt like he was... he would be uncomfortable having me around, and God bless him. There's a lot of work out there. Terry: You know, a lot of people have a great misconception that you do just Ron's films. You do many films through many directors. Clint: Yeah. Terry: You've done so much work. Do you.... Clint: Hold on a second. You know, I don't spend a lot time concerning myself about people's conceptions. There are people to this day that still think that Elvis is alive. Terry: Yeah. Clint: And there are people to this day that think that I own the bear. Terry: (Laughs.) Oh really? Clint: Or question, sincerely question, whether the bear was real or not! Terry: I actually read on the internet yesterday that you had committed suicide. This is how things are miscommunicated. Clint: Really!?! Where? I'd like to see that! (Chuckles.) Terry: I'll send you the thing if you give me an e-mail address. Clint: Yeah. I will! I will! That's great! I committed suicide. Well, you know, there was an FBI agent spokesman named Clint Howard. Terry: Really? Clint: We all love to see our names in the paper, and at some point years and years ago a good friend of mine, Mike Bauer Spooner and I were living together. There was a guy named Mike Bauer or Michael Bauer. His name would show up in the newspaper every once in a while, and we busted Mike's chops, you know. "Hey Mike, you got your name in the paper!" Then one day he was reading the paper and "FBI Spokesman Clint Howard stated that..." (Laughs.) Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: "OH! I didn't know I was an FBI Agent!" (Laughs.) So you know... but the real Clint Howard committed suicide? Terry: Well it could be like a Chuck Barris thing where they don't know that you have a double life as an FBI agent! (Laughs.) Clint: (Chuckles.) My double life is actually relatively mundane! Although, it's not mundane if you're a golfer. I'm... Terry: I understand you like playing golf? Clint: I love... I LOVE playing golf! I do it for several reasons, and they're all healthy. Terry: How good are you? Clint: I'm a 10 or 11 handicap. Last summer I could comfortably say I was a 10 and for some reason, I don't know whether it's age or... I've slipped a little bit. Now I'm playing to about a 12. Terry: One of the actors I really admire is your father. He, to me, is one of the most natural actors I've ever seen. Clint: Yeah? Terry: Was he in the business before you started? I take it he probably was. Clint: Yeah. Terry: And your mother was in the business too, right? Clint: My dad and my mom who met at the University of Oklahoma, they met, in fact, through Dennis Weaver. Dennis Weaver actually introduced them. Dennis Weaver was an older student at University of Oklahoma when dad and mom were freshman. So, he kind of matched them together, somehow. Anyway, they met at University of Oklahoma and then they independently went to New York to begin their lives as actors and an actress in the motion picture and television business, or stage. This was back in early 50s I guess or mid 50s, so they met. They fell in love. They got married. My dad continuing to act. My mom, once... mom had a couple of bad things happen to her. She got hit by a truck in New York City. She had a couple of, kind of bad turns in health back before she had Ron, and she also always said at that time in her life my mom did not like the competition of the business. Terry: Oh yeah. Clint: She was in there competing and auditioning with other actresses in her category. She just didn't like it. She didn't like that fact. The fact that every day virtually was a scramble for work. She married dad. They settled down and had a family. First came Ron and dad was a struggling actor working. He had a nice little run of stuff as a character actor prior to Ron's involvement in the business. But yes, dad was an actor first and he continues to maintain. In fact, he's got a great commercial that's on right now. A Disney commercial... Terry: I've seen it! Clint: A Disney Land commercial. He's got a Disney Land commercial out and he's in three films. He's booked to do three films. One right after the other here, working more than me! So, people forget that Rance Howard is a wonderful, solid, veteran, journeyman, character actor. He's done real well for himself. Besides writing, my dad got remarried to a wonderful lady named Judy. Judy and dad have kind of collaborated on stuff together because she's a writer. Side note here, if you wanted to talk to dad, I'm sure he would be more than happy at some point here in the next few weeks to set up an interview. Terry: Sure! Great! Clint: He lives about 300 yards from here. Literally, I'm probably pointing right at the house. I grew up around here. I grew up... Terry: Always in Burbank? Clint: ...in that house. Yeah. That's why I picked this place. Terry: So do you think it was different for you growing up in a showbiz family, compared to what they call normal... such as others who didn't? Clint: Well... sure. Terry: All child actors that are now adult actors get asked that question. Clint: Yeah, sure it's different. I started working a little earlier than most kids, but you know, your daughter has a job right? Terry: Yeah, she's an extra! (Laughs.) Clint: Yeah, and she also handles the duties here with your magazine and setting up... Terry: Yeah, she does. Clint: So, she works. I had a buddy of mine, when he was about eight or nine years old, he had a job. Another friend of mine, who about as soon as he could handle anything of any sort of responsibility, he was down at his dad's restaurant working. You know, acting is just a job, and that's one thing that dad has always always stressed to us. And that, now being recognized is part of the job description, but being recognized is just part of what you do. You need to be gracious doing it. It doesn't mean anything. It makes me know better, the fact that more people know who I am than know who you are makes me in not one single area more important than you, better than you, more whatever, you know? I mean there's just no... so I get recognized. Whoopty. Now, the notoriety that comes along with being an actor can be wonderful and if you learn to play it right, it can be really nice. Baseball tickets. Kind of knowing how to put yourself in the right place at the right time. Occasionally the perks are really nice, and occasionally the perks are just very subtle, and then occasionally it's a pain. Terry: Yeah. Clint: But then, you know, listen, I'll take this part of the job description. I'll even take the part of the job description where the drunk who's had four too many comes up, "HEY! Clint Howard! How you doing man? Dude! DUDE! You were... you were.. you were in "Star Trek"! Dude you were so funny!" First of all, 99% of those people do that for about 30 seconds, and if you engage them in chit chat for a moment they will go away. Now, one out of 500 of them try to stick around and at that point you've to just know how to say, "Hey dude, hit the highway." But, that's fine. You just learn to go with it and also it's a measure. When people recognize me it's a measure that I have been effective in what I do, and thank you. You guys called for an aud... an interview (Audition! Auditions are on my mind!). You guys called for an interview.. thank you! I appreciate it because you know what? Terry: Well we appreciate it! Clint: I mean, in an incremental way, it's part of my business, on the positive side. Terry: I heard, Ron was saying on an interview show one time that in putting his kids in his movies, that if their grades were not up, they would not be in the movie, like a punishment. Is that pretty much how you were raised with Rance and your mom? Clint: Nooo. No. Terry: I thought maybe Ron got that from him. Clint: No. Dad never held grades over us. He expected us to do well. Dad was a strong disciplinarian. He wasn't an idiot, and he wasn't crazy about it at all. But, I was raised in a family where there were things that were expected of us, and one of those was being good boys. Pay attention in school. Learn what you can learn because that's what was expected of us. In terms of a threat, no. Dad would always ask me, "You want to do this job?" We would go in on an audition.. first of all he'd always ask me, "There's an audition for you Clint. You want to go in?" I always enjoyed it, you know? I always knew that dad did it. Dad was a wonderful role model. It's like when a son sees their father writing newspaper articles. Or sees their father... whatever job. Whatever kind of interest. First of all, acting is fun! So, it was like, "Hey, you want to go do this?" "Yeah, sure dad, let's go." Then when I would get the audition, dad would say, "Now Clint, do you want to do this part?" And shoot, why not? It's fun! It's fun and it's kind of like what I do! Terry: Do you think he was probably more understanding because he was an actor himself? Clint: Yeah. Terry: And he knew he didn't want to pressure you. Clint: Ron, for his reasons, and I think they're very valid, did not at all want to thrust his children when they were children into the entertainment business. His number one reason for doing that is he knows how time consuming it is. And he knows exactly the sacrifice time wise the parents need to make to do it, because the only way a person should have their child in the film and television business is if they can be there with them everyday. It takes an extraordinary amount of parenting to place a child in an adult world, and still raise them as a child. Ron... not that he didn't love his children, because he does, he loves them dearly, and they're turning out wonderful.. they're wonderful kids. Well, a couple of them are grown now.. frightening! (Chuckles.) But, he just couldn't, in the position that he placed himself in as an adult, he just didn't have the time. He didn't have the time to guide and nurture a child in the entertainment business the way Ron knew it needed to be done. Also, being Ron Howard's daughter, or Ron Howard's son would be a two edged sword that these children were always going to be leaning on and could fall off of. As adults, when they're more mature and ready to handle it, that's fine. He has not discouraged his children. In fact, Bryce, his oldest is now a professional stage actress in New York. Terry: Yeah, we saw her in the Internet Movie Database. Clint: Yeah, yeah! Bryce Dallas Howard! She's working. She's now booked another play. "Prestigious" at the Joe Pack Theatre and Bryce has done it the old fashioned way. She started in high school drama. She took every workshop she could take. Now granted, Ron and Cheryl had the financial resources to place her in some wonderful theatre programs, but they are all theatre programs that the general public... this was not any kind of private thing. These are all programs that a go-getting high school student could apply to get in. She just has worked at it. Starting at the high school level, now granted when she was in high school I went to a play, not her first play, but I went to a play when she was early in high school, and this is not proud Uncle speaking.. I'm a fairly straight shooter when it comes to this stuff... she was the all star of the team! I mean, to make a sports analogy, when you see a bunch of kids out on the field it takes about three innings to determine who's the best player on the field. Now, that doesn't mean that other kids can't grow and there's a leveling out process as human beings grow up, but you can see who's the best player. Terry: Sure. Clint: Who's the best journalist. It's pretty easy to determine in a class of journalism students who the best journalist is. It doesn't take long. Well, Bryce was the best drama student at her school. Maybe it's in the blood lines. Maybe it was by osmosis. But anyway, she's continued to take that. She went to NYU for a few years. She's continued just to work her ass off. She really has applied herself. I think she takes after... you know, Cheryl is wonderful and very determined, and I think that Bryce has ended up getting some of that from her, and then, Ron's determination too. And now, you know Ron has four children. One of his twin girls, Paige, has shown an aptitude at this point that... not following in Bryce's footsteps, but she seems to have kind of a gift at entertaining. And Jocelyn... Jocelyn is wonderful wonderful young woman. She is the other twin, and she's got a lot going for her. She probably is going to end up somewhere writing... thinking. She may not get in the entertainment business, but she's going to be... I love Jocelyn. She's not showbiz. And Reed's a golfer. The son, Reed is 15 years old, and now he can beat me like a drum! He's gone from being 12 to a 5 handicap in a matter of about a year, which is pretty phenomenal. Terry: So, with your dad working with you on the set of "Gentle Ben"... Clint: Uh huh... Terry: Was there any times when you were really mischievous or whatever, and maybe your dad wouldn't let you get away with it? Or maybe you were a little more well behaved because dad was there as part of the cast, and there all the time? Clint: What I've been told is I was generally a really well behaved child. Mom confirmed that. Others have confirmed it. Dad confirmed it. Dad said I was never much of a problem. Ron actually... the story is, I wasn't really aware of this, but Ron seemed to be a little more precocious than me at first around a movie set. Don't quite know why. Maybe it's just his personality. I remember an instance... first of all dad kept.. and I keep saying dad. I mean, mom was involved in the picture intimately, but in the dynamics of our family, dad kind of took care of the boys. And dad was the man. Mom would look after us and mom would study our lines with us and stuff too, but primarily it was a dad thing. So, I always say dad, dad, dad.. and also, I had that extra experience on "Gentle Ben" when we were living down there in Florida that I was with dad. Mom was back here with Ron on "The Andy Griffith Show". Terry: Right. Clint: But anyway, there was a time on "Gentle Ben" where there was... one of the crew members one day had come up with the late afternoon expression "It's a wrap. It's a wrap. It's a wrap in the mouth!" This happens in the business around children. Adults will sometimes tease and play with the kid. Dad always says probably the most important thing a parent can do on a movie set is keep the children from getting caught up in the adult attitudes and the adult behaviors, because see, it's easier for an adult to snap out of those behaviors and do what he has to do. Adults love to get kids wound up. I don't quite know why. They love to get... especially kids on a set because most kids on a movie set probably have an attitude and have a certain personality that's interesting. There they are, and you start to kind of mess with them, and you start to get them wound up. Then if it's time to go back to work and you've got this kid that's spun like a top because he's been playing these adults, it can be a bad thing. Anyway, it was late afternoon, and I remember this. I started going along with the crew guys and going, "It's a wrap. It's a wrap. It's a wrap in the mouth! It's a wrap. It's a wrap. It's a wrap in the mouth!" And dad finally, and this was dad's bit of punishment, he would take his index finger and kind of bow it back behind his thumb, and give me a little thump on the noggin. You know, and just that boom! Trust me! Dad was an old farm boy. When he bowed his finger behind his thumb and let it go, there was a little force there! He could probably knock a golf ball 10 yards with that action! (Laughs.) Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: But anyway, you know, that was a "Knock it off!" He had heard, "It's a wrap. It's a wrap. It's a wrap in the mouth!" three or four too many times, so he would keep in that regard, discipline. He so infrequently would show us some sort of a physical line of discipline... I mean he would spank us occasionally. I got spanked handfuls of times in my life, and thumped numerous times in my life, but when he did it, it was a thing of, "Hey, you have crossed the line here. I've told you here and you've continued to do this and this is..." He would never explain it like this, but it was inappropriate behavior for you at this particular time, and now you were getting thumped. At that point, I stopped. So... geez, you know, I have my mom's gift of gab, you had asked me a question and I gave a big long story here. Terry: Hey, that's ok. I've interviewed people you give you two word answers and that just don't work! Clint: Yeah, yeah. Well, you guys, however you chose to carve through this, or whether you just pull it line for line... Terry: I understand, and I can imagine that you were probably hit a little harder than by your dad, but you were thumped a few times by the bear? Clint: Oh.. (Chuckles.)... let's see. These are my animal accidents on "Gentle Ben"... Terry: Ok.. Clint: The bear gummed me one time. See, the bear did not have any front teeth. He had chewing molars. His fangs and his front teeth were removed for safety, and he didn't really need them. They were vegetarian. He could eat. The kind of food that he really ate, he didn't need his teeth. So, I was pulling on his chain one day... and you've got to remember, down in Florida it was really hot. Terry: Oh, we lived there for a while, we know! Clint: Yeah, yeah and that's a California bear. A California black bear, and so his fur, and his weight... it was not conducive to Florida. Anyway, I'm jerking on his chain, getting him to hit his mark, and he just quickly... you don't realize bears are quick! He just arched his neck around and just snapped me. He clamped ahold of, I believe it was my left hand, and gummed me pretty good right here. A nice bruise rose pretty quickly and they took me to the hospital to get it x-rayed. There was nothing broken or anything, but that hurt. Another time... Terry: And you still wanted to work with the bear after that? You weren't nervous about it? Clint: Oh yeah. Sure, I knew it was an animal. Dogs snap and bite and then they're cool. It wasn't.... you know, it was just a moment. If a dog snaps, you don't go out and shoot the dog. I don't recall the moment... there was no traumatic moment of getting back into the scene with the bear. Another time, I was pulling on the bear's chain again. I did that a lot... (Laughs.) Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: They had hooked up this cute little wagon behind him and made like a harness thing, where the bear was pulling junk in a little red wagon. It was pretty uncomfortable, and the bear wasn't a plow horse, you know, but the bear seemed to be putting up with it pretty well. We were doing this scene, and you've got to remember, this bear isn't used to having this wagon strapped behind him. So, he was probably a little edgy anyway. The next thing I knew, the bear had kind of flipped the wagon over, and had stopped everything by sitting on me! Literally! The bear probably weighed 400 pounds or so, and the bear just literally smothered me. The animal trainers and stuff were standing by, and also, this bear was a vegetarian. This bear wasn't like a cat. The cats we had to worry about because the cats are carnivorous, and they're also very unpredictable. The bear was pretty predictable. They got him off me, and that was a no harm, no foul. Terry: What would you say was the worst animal accident? Clint: The worst I ever got injured was by the raccoon, Charlie. Terry: Really? Clint: It was one of the first times I had worked with the raccoon on the TV series and... very friendly animals! Raccoons are very cute and very friendly. These were very docile creatures. They were handled since birth and they were very used to humans. They loved to climb on you and they didn't mind being held. The scene was Charlie kind of comes up to me, and I pick him up and hold him. Charlie would come to me because I had grapes or cookies in my pocket. That's how all the animals... I mean, everything was food trained. Terry: Yeah. Clint: So, I had grapes in my pocket, and maybe a cookie or something. So the animal trainer set Charlie down, and Charlie comes scampering up to me, and I pick him up. We did that two or three times and by probably the fourth or fifth take Charlie had realized what he needed to do. And that was, he needed to climb me. He wasn't going to wait for me to pick him up! He was just going to go ahead and scurry... climb me like a tree! Well, raccoons have damn near razor sharp claws that they had trimmed, but they were still really sharp. This raccoon decided to do a preemptive climb as opposed to allowing me to pick him up. He climbed up on me and it hurt! "Ahhh! Ahhh!" They take him off of me, and my shirt is ribbons! Terry: Wow! Clint: I had, probably if you remember the show, I wore almost the same kind of flimsy cotton shirt... plaid... a lot of plaid in that if I remember correctly... Terry: I bet you don't wear those shirts to this day! Clint: No, I don't actually! I thought they were lame back then, and I think they're lame now. (Chuckles.) But anyway, so then the medic had to take the alcohol or whatever and clean up. Nothing.. I mean, there weren't any stitches or anything but it was just a serious of pretty vicious scratch marks on my arm. Then of course somebody got the bright idea... the wardrobe lady... I remember very vividly, the wardrobe lady got the idea. They huddled together and they built me a leather vest so when I was handling the raccoon, whenever they felt like there was going to be a danger of clawing, I would put on this leather vest and it would protect me. And I remember this. I go, "Man, thanks guys for thinking of this a little late here!" Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: "This is a great idea now, but I wish you would've thought of it before." Do you recall any other injuries that I haven't....? Terry: No, I think that's all I've heard of. Clint: Yeah. Yeah, and being around "Gentle Ben" was a blast. I mean, not the bear. The bear was o.k. but the whole series was a wonderful experience. Always working with animals. I was down there with my dad. I got a little homesick for my friends here in California, and I had started playing organized sports by then, so dad tried to get me... well he did. I participated in some organized sports down in Florida. Terry: What did you dislike about filming "Gentle Ben" in Florida, away from home, as a child? Clint: It wasn't... I didn't really have the same kind of friends in Florida that I had in California. I didn't have my brother, and I didn't see my mom much. My mom and Ron would come down and visit every month or two. They would come down for a week and visit. It was a contractual thing that we had arranged with Ivan Tors. Ivan Tors would fly my mom and Ron down to Florida. Ivan got the idea... Ron appears in a couple episodes of "Gentle Ben". Terry: Right. Clint: When Ron would come down on a vacation, they would hire him, and put him in "Gentle Ben". But, you see, the way "The Andy Griffith Show" worked is they would do about four or five episodes and then take a break. Then do four or five episodes and take a break. Andy felt like it was really important that the writing stays strong. That they had a chance to write... Terry: That was Paramount right? Clint: No... CBS Show... "Andy Griffith"... Desilu. Terry: Oh ok. Clint: That was Desi and Lucy's company in association with Andy. But, they shot near Paramount. They shot over on the Desilu lot. And a weird thing, just three days ago, I went and did "Dinner & A Movie", that TBS program. Terry: Right. Clint: They shoot "Dinner & A Movie" on the same sound stage that they shot "The Andy Griffith Show" on. Terry: Oh, well there you go! Wow. Deja vu, huh? Clint: It was weird. It was weird, because I remember. Terry: You were on "The Andy Griffith Show"... Clint: Yeah. Terry: You played a little boy that loved peanut butter, right? Clint: Mmmhmm! Terry: And I bet you hated peanut butter after that, didn't you? Clint: I love peanut butter! Terry: Really? Clint: No, no... I think that's part of the reason... Terry: After 75 takes you still love it? (Laughs.) Clint: (Chuckles.) That's one reason why they did the bit, because I like peanut butter. Listen, if you like something, and you get to do it in a movie, the more the better! Oh no, I love peanut butter! I'll eat the same peanut butter and jelly sandwich now that I ate back in 1961! Terry: (Laughs.) Alright! Clint: I don't have any memories or working on... I don't have any memories of working on "The Andy Griffith Show". Terry: Really? Clint: I've got memories of being around the set, but my memories of work really didn't kick in until I did an episode of "Bonanza" in 1965. I have.. like children have... you know, you have flashes of moments that you remember but the process of working on a show didn't really... I don't have consistent memories before '65. Terry: What about directing? Do you think you'll ever direct? Clint: Yeah. There's a one word answer! (Chuckles.) Terry: What kind of film would you like to direct, any particular genre? Clint: No. I'm going to have to, and I learned this from Ron, that whatever I chose to do as a director, if it happens... if it doesn't I'm fine, but if it happens, it'll be some story that I find that I love the characters. I'm a little more reality based. A little less romantic than Ron. Ron's a very... Ron's always been a traditionalist. Ron has always thought in Cappra-esc terms. It's the way he sees. Ron sees the sunny side of the street. Terry: Right. Clint: And I don't. I'm a lot more cynical than Ron. Terry: Well, you're in a lot stranger films than Ron too! Clint: Yeah. Ron's done some pretty weird ones! Ron did a movie called "Happy Mother's Day, Love George" which was pretty funky. Terry: Yeah, "American Graffiti". That was pretty strange! (Laughs.) Clint: (Laughs.) Yeah! Terry: Have you ever served as a stunt person? I heard your dad did. He was a pilot for "Terminal Velocity"? Clint: Oh, no no no! Terry: Is that wrong? Clint: Dad played a stunt flyer. Terry: Oh, ok. Clint: Dad doesn't know how to fly an airplane. God forbid they let him fly an airplane! Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: (Laughs.) Dad always encouraged us to get involved and do what was safe. If I can see that I can do something, I'll do it because, we're all flesh and blood. Unless it's a stunt that entails some sort of skill or thing like jumping or something like that. In terms of fighting and falling... Terry: Well, some of these cult films that you've done, the horror and so on and so forth.. Clint: Yeah... Terry: There had to have been some times you've gotten hurt. Was there? Special effects went wrong? Clint: Yeah. The only time I ever broke a bone in my life was on the set of "Far and Away". I fell back and landed... it was a stunt. I fell into this basket that was supposed to be full of feathers. It was full of feathers but it also had this wooden railing around it and I landed my elbow into the wooden railing. Just a very tiny little fracture of my elbow. It hardly constituted a break. I've been very lucky as far as broken bones. (Knocks on wood.) I did a movie... I'll think of it in a minute... It was a science fiction movie. It was really not very good. It's on the tip of my tongue... I played a robot, and I got shot and killed. They had me squibbed. Instead of bleed, I was squibbed to spark. The idea was when I got shot.. people thought I was human, as it turns out, I'm not. So I get shot, and then I'm laying there, and the effects guy had squibbed electrical explosions to go off on my chest. It was late at night, and these guys.. this was dubious. The explosions went off and a piece of the gun powder or a piece of the burning electrical wiring came down and hit me on the eye lid. I've been very lucky. That's a minor one, although when something comes close to your eye you go, "Oh! Close to the eye!" Otherwise the stuff I do... you know, fights and rolling around, falling and dying, and that kind of stuff; those are all things I can handle. Terry: Do you like doing special effects like what you went through in "Ticks"? Was that fun? Clint: Eh... fun? Terry: (Laughs.) How bad was that? What'd they do? Clint: (Laughs.) No! No! Terry: Tell us about that. Clint: Doing it isn't fun. The end result is kind of satisfying because it's unique. That prosthetic make-up... that was the first time in my life I had really done any sort of extensive prosthetic make-up. It was a couple of hours in the make-up chair while they put in this air bladder. They layered an air bladder under a piece of make-up and then blended it all together, so when I had that famous moment where I say, "I'm infested!!" and then the tick explodes out of my face, it all kind of comes off looking good. The end result's great. Doing it's not. I tell you, I really admire what Jim Carey did in "The Grinch"! Terry: Yeah! Clint: And, I have not seen "Cat In The Hat". I worked on it, but I haven't seen "Cat In The Hat". I hear it's good, and so I would say the same thing about Mike Myers although I had the experience of working with Jim on "The Grinch". To climb into all that make-up. To wear that heavy, hot suit, and all that rubber and plastic on your face, with all that paint, and then put contact lenses in your eyes. Then they have to lead you to the set, and then they tell you, "It's time to be funny!" Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: The last thing you want to do is be funny when you're in all that make-up! Terry: Yeah. So what do you play in "Cat In The Hat"? Clint: I play a character named 'Cate the Caterer'. Terry: 'Cate the Caterer'? Clint: No reason in the world why I'm Cate... Terry: Cate? As in... Clint: Cate! As in Catherine! Terry: Oh! You are a female? Clint: No... Terry: Oh, well why do you have a female name then? Clint: It's Dr. Seuss, obviously! (Laughs.) Terry: (Laughs.) Don't question it. It's Dr. Seuss! Clint: It always was just generally kind of a double take. The adults in the movie have a slightly difficult time referring to me as Cate and the children don't have a difficult time at all talking to me as Cate. Terry: Is this Ron's movie too? Clint: Yeah, Imagine's doing it. I believe in a business sense it was one of those deals where I think it was an Imagine movie, but for all intensive purposes Ron had nothing to do with it outside of just maybe overseeing it and getting it on it's feet. And, Mike Myers... Bo Welch is the director. A whole set of production people. Rick Baker did not do the make-up. Another set of people did the make-up for Mike. That'll be out this summer. Terry: I heard, when you were told about the original "The Grinch", that you had said to Ron, "Ron, we can't mess this up!" and you were a little nervous about handling a classic like that. Is that true? Clint: Well, yeah! I chime in from the cheap seats all the time! Everybody knew that it was going to be important and there was a certain responsibility. This was a classic! Ron loves it. Ron didn't want to mess it up! He knew how important it was. He knew, and it was hard because the story itself is pretty paper thin. They had to stretch and ad stuff to do a 20 minute cartoon for network television, so to build a feature around this premise was a challenge. Then the challenge I know Ron dealt with and the writers dealt with was making it multi- layered, and making it interesting, and yet not losing the basic premise and theme. However thin the theme was, they had a theme. Not lose what was there already and what people's perceptions of it were already. He had to ad stuff, but if you ad too much then all of a sudden you would lose sight of what people liked about "The Grinch". Terry: What do you think were some of the hardest decisions that had to be made concerning how to build the story up, but keep the loved theme of the classic story? Clint: Initially, there were other options other than Jim Carey, although when Jim Carey... when it was determined, or when it was understood that Jim Carey wanted to play the Grinch, pretty much at that time all the conversations about casting ended. But, there were other options that included other actors that were very interesting, and they were not comedic actors. Terry: Who were they? Clint: I don't want to say. Terry: O.k. Clint: I don't want to say. I mean, I don't know whether it's even really appropriate. I'd hate to... it's um... Terry: You can't really visualize anybody other than Jim doing it anyway. Clint: I know! Well, could you visualize Jack Nicholson playing the Grinch? There were other directions. When you look at the character of the Grinch, he really is an old, old man. That question of playing him a really dark curmudgeon of a man was out there on the table. Yeah, as a piece of business, when Jim became available there was no... Terry: Yeah. Clint: So, anyway, hey listen, I love being involved in show business, and it's also fun to be Ron's brother! I'm a fly on the wall in a lot of instances. I have one great instance that happened this past summer. Terry: Really? Want to tell us about it? Clint: I just happened to be back in New York visiting Ron. It was just a timing thing and Ron was having George Lucas over for lunch. George was going to have the woman... she's an infamous Iditarod champion. Her and her husband and her child, or couple of kids, were going to be at the house. Libby Riddles, I think is her name. If you could help me and find out the name. I should know her name, but she's now a circuit motivational speaker. She's a multi- time... she's the first woman to win the Iditarod. Maybe the only woman to win the Iditarod. Anyway, she was traveling with George Lucas. They were in New York. Ron was going to have them over for dinner. George called the day before and said, "Francis is in town. Francis Coppola is in town and he'd like to come over. Can Francis come along with us?" So all of a sudden, I'm in the presence of George Lucas and Francis Coppola, having lunch with Ron Howard, and I'm there! I'm there and I'm getting to be part of the conversations, but I'm also getting to be a fly on the wall. Sitting there and watching George and Francis and Ron break bread together was a wonderful experience, and one of those things where it's good to be Ron Howard's brother. Terry: So what do some of the bigwigs of the industry talk about over lunch? Clint: We all have the experience of working... I don't think George ever worked for Roger Corman, but Francis did. And you see, Francis was kind of George's mentor, and George was Ron's mentor. So, there it is, and they have the Roger Corman connection, and they all talked about how Roger ripped them off. Francis had stories that Roger owes Francis a lot of money. Ron has an incident where if he really went and forced a true accounting, Roger Corman would probably owe many thousands of dollars. So, they were kind of chuckling about that. Terry: You hear these Corman stories a lot. Clint: And then, the conversation ended up coming down to saying, "You know what? What we really ought to do is we ought to nominate Roger Corman for the Thalberg Award." which is the most prestigious producing award that they have at the Academy Awards. The Irving Thalberg Award is the award you can give a producer. So, in one hand they were talking about how Roger ripped them off and on the other hand they were trying to figure out a way to get him nominated for the Thalberg Award for what he's done for the business! (Laughs.) Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: So, anyway, just getting to be a part of that afternoon was wonderful! Terry: P.J. Soles... Clint: Yes... Terry: ...from "Rock N' Roll High School" told me that she was about to make "Rock N' Roll High School 2", a sequel, and she had everybody on board. I don't know if that included you or not, did she ask you? Clint: When was this? Terry: Well, she told me she had everyone on board. It was going to be done and she had Roger Corman's permission. It was supposed to be for 'X' amount of dollars and at the last minute, he pulled out and doubled the amount, and he said, "O.k., just sue me if you don't like it." You don't know anything about this then? Clint: Roger's Roger. I don't doubt that it happened. I don't know. "Rock N' Roll High School" was fun to work on, and fun to be a part of. It would've been fun to do another one, but... you know, what are you going to say? Terry: So, what did you base Eaglebauer on? Clint: I don't know. Base Eaglebauer on? It was a long time ago. Wheeler dealer... consummate wheeler dealer! Good time Charlie. Deep down we all knew how paper thin characters like that are. How insecure they can all be, but they end up attacking the world with kind of a false bravado and kind of a bullshit thing that happened. The whole.. you know... considering how long ago that was I still know most of the lines! Terry: Really? Clint: I don't know why. (Chuckles.) "The one handed approach to strap unfastening is a basic skill that must be mastered. Now watch closely as I demonstrate. There is the hook. There is the double hook. There is the dreaded mini-hook. There is the easy open frontal assault!" Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: I just, for some reason... and I don't see the movie at all. It's a weird thing. Some lines and volleys of dialogue I remember, some I don't. Have you guys ever seen... Michael Keaton did a short film and he did it for the David Letterman Film Festival one year that I was in. I was the lead of Keaton's short. Terry: No, I didn't see that. Clint: Very memorable! First of all, it's a really good little short film, and I'm really funny in it. I don't know a person can get ahold of it. I just finished working on this episode of "Crossing Jordan". Allan Arkush, the director of "Rock N' Roll High School" was one of the executive producers on "Crossing Jordan". Now, I didn't see him during the audition. I don't know. I've never worked for Allan since "Rock N' Roll High School", so I have no indication that he hired me, but anyway, it's a small world. But, there were people on the set of "Crossing Jordan" that remembered that short film that Keaton did. It was called "But I'm Happy" and it's really funny. Somebody ought to figure out a way to try and get that out into circulation because it's... Terry: Yeah. Clint: And, I remember lines from that. I play a crazy character in that. Very memorable. Terry: Were you approached for "Shake, Rattle, & Rock" because it had a lot of people from "Rock N' Roll High School" in there. It had Mary Woronov, and P.J. Soles, and Dey Young, and Paul. Clint: Paul Bartel? No. You know, you hear about things like, "Were you approached for this?" I may have been working. Terry: Yeah. Clint: They may very well have approached my agent and said, "Oh, well we're getting ready to do this movie. We have a week that we'd like to have Clint work on it." but if I'm somewhere working... It happened on "Anger Management". I was up in Canada. I've worked for Adam Sandler and Happy Madison a few times... a couple of times. Adam likes me. We're very friendly. He came on and did an interview in the "Clint Howard Variety Show" for me, that thing that's on the internet. Then, I was up in Canada, working on this movie "House of the Dead" that's going to come out pretty soon, a zombie movie. Kill the zombies. You know, a classic ode to the zombie genre movie. I'm up there working on it, and it was a good gig. They were paying me pretty well so I was going to do it. Then while I was up there, my manager called me and said, "They want you for 'Anger Management'! Can you come back?" I go, "No, man! I'm up here working!" "Well, what day.. when are you going to come back?!?" Well, lets see.. you know, they wanted me on "Anger Management" Friday, and I don't think technically I was working Friday, but I was working Saturday. Anyway, it was a thing where I just said, "Geez, tell them thank you. I just can't do it." That would've been a good one to be involved in, you know, with Adam and with Jack. I know all those guys that make those movies. It's always fun! That Happy Madison crew is a wonderful bunch of people to be associated with, but I was busy. Terry: Yeah. Clint: I heard about it, but I was busy. There's a lot of jobs that roll in that you wonder, "Well, why wasn't Clint Howard in that?" Well, Clint was probably working. Terry: Yeah. So, what do you play in "House of the Dead"? Clint: I play a character named Salish who is the deck mate of Jürgen Prochnow's character. Jürgen plays Captain Kirk. Captain Kirk owns this fishing boat, and charters it to these kids who are going out to this island for a rave party. Of course, the zombies have taken over the island, and it's all hitting the fan, you know? So, Jürgen and I are the two adults that are not zombies that are in the movie, and we get these kids to this island and all hell breaks loose. I probably over-plotted it in that brief description! Terry: Is this the only horror movie that you have coming out, or is there others that we don't know about? Clint: Let's see. Oh, that's interesting, because I lose track of what's been released and what hasn't. Terry: You've done so much! Clint: Yeah. Yeah, you know, I haven't really done a lot of horror recently. This company... this director Uwe Boll, he's a German. He raises his money in Germany and he gets a lot of German people involved. He ends up shooting most of the time in Canada. Terry: You did "Blackwoods" for him too, correct? Clint: "Blackwoods" and I did a movie called "Homeroom: Heart of America" or "Heart of America: Homeroom" which is a wonderful movie. It's not easy to watch, and it's an independent little low budget movie about the day of a high school massacre. It's all very sobering. All very real. I play the father of one of the killers, one of the assassins. It was fun because... in "Blackwoods" I played a real character. I mean, he's just a character, a real weird character. Then in "House of the Dead" I played this cartoonish type of character Salish, but then in "Homeroom" I got to do a real moment. Real moments in this relationship that I had with the son, my son, is sad, true, and then the results are very very sad, but true. Terry: Well this one movie, "Searching for Haizmann"... Clint: Oh, "Searching for Haizmann"... Terry: Is that for the same director? Clint: No, "House of the Dead" was the same director. "Searching for Haizmann" was a little independent thing that I did last year, real quick. It's shot on digital tape. I have seen it, and it's pretty good. It's kind of a hybrid "Blair Witch Project" docu-mocku-mentary horror movie. I like the guys. They seem like niches, and I was available. I love the work, and I was available. I literally, at that moment in my life, I was traveling to Scranton, Pennsylvania doing some work on this feature project that I'm working on as a producer. I literally did the job while in transit! I had to fly, and work, and fly the same day to get to Scranton, Pennsylvania to have these meetings on this movie that my partner and I are producing for Universal. Although, it was interesting. I've seen it and my work is really solid in it. I hope it gets released. I hope people see it because they see a side of me that I normally don't get hired for by studios. Terry: Does it bother you that you're usually hired for the same type of zany characters? Clint: If I had a bone to pick with the industry at all, and this is part of the business, people hire me for what they think I'm comfortable with. What they're comfortable watching me do. In the independent movie world, a lot of times I'll get to do things that I wouldn't get to do in the studio world, but the catch 22 is, then nobody sees the work that I do in these little tiny pictures like this "Homeroom" movie. I'm really proud of my work, and I want people to see "Homeroom", and I want people to see "Haizmann". People that are interested and people that give a shit about me. If they don't really care, whatever. Casting directors... I'd love to have casting directors see "Haizmann" and see "Homeroom". But, you know what? The sad part about it is they're going to see "House of the Dead" because it's going to get released. You know? (Chuckles.) It's not exactly one of the crowning achievements of my life. Terry: Let me ask you a question. You won the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award... Clint: Gave... they gave it to me. Terry: They gave it to you. Do you consider it basically a joke? Clint: Well, no. What happened was, and I know these guys, I've since become friends with them. Every year there they were looking for people or for things to honor, and then the year that they honored me, as it turned out, there was like four or five that were on the little committee that were Clint Howard fans. They just always thought I was cool, and always thought that it's great that I've done what I've done, and I've had the kind of career that I've had. So they all voted to ask me if I wanted to do the award deal. Listen, I know what it is. It's not the Thalberg Award. I know who they gave it to the year before. They gave it to Chewbacca! Terry: Chewbacca of "Star Wars"... Clint: They have since retired the award. Terry: Oh really? Clint: But, I had a wonderful thing happen at the Super Bowl. My wife and I have gone to a couple of Super Bowls, and we were at a party and it was the night before the Super Bowl. The fellow who was directing the half-time festivities at the Super Bowl, he came up and introduced himself to me. He was the producer of the MTV Movie Awards, and he marched up to me and thanked me. He had said to him that the highlight of all their MTV Movie Award experiences was having me pick up that award, and the way it all turned out. Everybody just thought it was wonderful. It was just such a nice moment that out of no where here I am at this little cocktail party, the last thing I was expecting is the producer of the MTV Movie Awards to come up and thank me for being a part of the awards. This falls back to my dad because when I got the phone call from my agent, and he had the excitable news that they were going to give me the MTV Movie Award, that day was April Fool's. I thought he was kidding. Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: No, he assured me that he wasn't kidding, and he had a letter. They had sent me a letter to his office. It was going to be a good piece of business for me to do. It's better then sending out post cards to casting directors. As a bit of self promotion, going and having that moment is going to be cool. So, o.k. "Yeah, I understand what it is, but yeah. Yeah, I'll do it. I'll do it" Then I started thinking about what I was going to do and what I was going to say. It was a four or five minute opportunity to tell a joke, to be funny, to do something catchy, to do something memorable, and I started playing around with things I could do. They were leaving it up to me. They didn't write me a script. My dad said, "You know Clint, you ought to take it real seriously, because this will be the great thing about it... if you take it seriously, and embrace the award, it will be memorable. If you do a joke, you may get a laugh, but you won't get a memory." And, you know, he was right! I went ahead and wrote a thank you speech. I know what that award was. We all know what that award was. It was a big part humor, but by playing it, by accepting it in the humble sort of a way, accepting the acknowledgment, accepting the award, and if you pay attention to the tape, I did slide a joke or two in there... Terry: Yeah, sure. Clint: But, the attitude that my dad suggested I have was a winner. My dad time and time again has given both Ron and I absolute gold advice. I got so much mileage. They still show that MTV Awards segment. They made a highlight clip out of it that they show. They had me back the next year to do an interview talking about collecting the MTV Movie Award. They actually strongly considered giving me the award again the year after. Terry: Why not? Clint: Then, of course, that would've been a bad idea. I never would've done that. Terry: If you had to take one piece of work, and put it in a vault, what is your lifetime achievement? I know that's an impossible question, but... Clint: Well, I'm very proud to be a part of "Apollo 13". It's a wonderful movie. Being a part of a team that made a film that actually achieved a significant thing. If you can do that in the world of making a movie, "Apollo 13" was important. Terry: Yeah. Clint: So, I'm very proud to be a part of "Apollo 13". Let's see, "Ice Cream Man" was a blast. "Evil Speak"... I have a lot of fond memories working on "Evil Speak". It was really the first time that I really stepped out as an adult and had to act, and had to make decisions on my own. So, "Evil Speak" has a lot of personal memories for me. Now, some of the decisions I made on "Evil Speak" was bad, but I was making them for the first time on my own. Terry: What type of choices? Clint: Acting choices. Decisions of how I was choosing to play my character. Do you know what I mean? I was young, and everybody's going to make mistakes. I make mistakes now as an actor, but it's a little more dangerous when you're the lead of a movie and make errors. It's easy to sit back and do an autopsy on a movie, "Oh, I should've done that different. I should've done that different." At the time there were, I think, a couple of big flaws in "Evil Speak" and I was a part of those flaws. But, for me "Evil Speak" was a very fond memory. I loved working on "Ice Cream Man". I've loved working on almost every movie that I've worked on, but to say one crowning achievement... not to B.S. about it, but the sum total of my work when you patch it all together, the patchwork kind of quilt that my career is, I think is pretty cool. I'm really proud of it. Terry: Do you miss the Roger Corman days a lot? Clint: Hey, if Corman's company called next week, the last time I checked, I'm unemployed. If I could squeeze one in before I went off to Santa Fe and worked on Ron's movie, I'd do it. Do I miss the days? No. You know, when I'm employed, I'd like to have days off so I can go play golf. When I'm unemployed, I'd like to have work. You know how the human brain is. You're never satisfied. Terry: I imagine things are a lot different now than they were back in those days too, aren't they? Clint: With Roger? Terry: Well, with Roger compared to the people you're working for now? Clint: It's all the same. Terry: All the same? Clint: I've produced stuff, and I have had these decisions to make. The bottom line is you try to hire who you want to hire for as little money as you can possibly pay. That's just the nature of our economy and the nature of free enterprise. So, what Roger did was Roger hired who he could hire for as little as he could pay, and God bless him. I've also come to realize, it all comes out in the wash. There are times I work for nothing. There are times I make just obscene amounts of money. It all works out. I just did my taxes. This last year was about like the year and about like the year before and about like the year before. I mean, I have a little bump here and a little shrinkage there, but it's all about the same. I'm not rich. I make a pretty good living. I'm sure there are lots of people sitting in this room that make more money than me, but it ain't about money. A lot of people have the misconception that I'm a rich guy. I'm not. Terry: With everything that's going on in the world today, the episode you did of "Night Gallery: 'The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes'"... Clint: Yeah... Terry: Do you find any comparison? Clint: No... Terry: I mean, the world could just blow up tomorrow, you know? Do you think about that? Clint: The world could blow up tomorrow, and the world could blow up in fifty or sixty thousand years, and the world might never blow up. So, I'm not a gloom and doom guy. My dad taught me, again, he goes, "You know, people started talking about the end of the world back in the late '40s. People sit around and worry about, you know..." Terry: Duck and cover... Clint: "Duck and cover... duck and cover! You know, if everybody spent all their days ducking and covering, we wouldn't get nothing done!" (Laughs.) Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: So, with what's recently happened, it reminds us all that hey, you know, potentially there is danger. But, you know what? Statistically speaking, you've got a long drive home. You are far far more likely to die today, doing what you're going to be doing than in any sort of a terrorist attack or any sort of act of war in the next five years. So good luck driving home! Drive safely! (Laughs.) Terry: (Laughs.) Clint: And have a good evening! As they used to say at Dodger Stadium, "Drive safely on your way home!" Terry: So, when you did the episode of "Night Gallery"... Clint: "Night Gallery", yeah... Terry: It never really bothered you, even when you were a kid? Clint: Nooo! It's play acting! It's a story. Fact and fiction are completely different. Occasionally fiction scrapes up against fact. Sometimes fact scrapes up against fiction. But, when you're in the story telling business, no. Terry: I want to end this by letting you put in a major plug for your web site "The Clint Howard Variety Show". I saw one episode. That was the episode with you and Ron. It was fantastic, and I kept my hands, you know, out of the way... Clint: (Laughs.) Terry: (Laughs.) And we were going to bring you a turkey but we could only afford a chicken and we forgot it. Clint: (Laughs.) Well, I'm glad that you caught an episode, and there five others to catch. Terry: I have just a dial up, so it'll take me a while! Clint: Oh, I see. Well, bum a buddy's DSL line or cable modem, or go somewhere where you can dial up "The Clint Howard Variety Show". Barry and I had a blast doing it. It was a fun experience. I would encourage people who have not found "The Clint Howard Variety Show" at clinthoward.com to go and check it out while it's still up! There is no, in the foreseeable future, there is no plans to do more, although, I keep thinking of bits, and saving bits, and putting bits in my pocket. Who knows. Maybe someday here soon Barry and I would gear back up and shoot some more. We've talked about some bits that we could do that would be an extension of "The Clint Howard Variety Show". The trouble is that, at this point, with no real business model to make money at it... It was fun to make, but last time I checked, I turned in my amateur status about 42 years ago, and I like to try and make money. So, until we can figure out a way to make enough money to at least go, "Well, it was worth it. I'm not being an idiot by doing this." Terry: Did you approach cable at all with doing it? Clint: I haven't. It's one of those things where... Terry: It's hilarious! It's great. I love it. Clint: Well, thank you! Yeah, I think that there'd be some value to it, but I'm a go with the flow kind of guy. I don't want to try to force myself down somebody's throat. Barry and I's attitude, and my take on doing something like "The Clint Howard Variety Show" is that it's important that you maintain the ability to drip humor on an audience, as opposed to hitting them in the face with a high pressure hose. I much prefer slow, odd drips, than Tom Green style humor. Terry: Right. Yeah! Clint: The approach that Barry and I took got laughs, and people said, "Oh, this is really great! You've got to do more of that!" See, people don't understand a big part of comedy is it's freshness, and it's timing. If you go full throttle, it ain't going to work for very long. That's why you've got to go with the flow and pick your spots. There's a time to be broad. I always fought big broad bits on that show, and yet I knew... I go, "Listen, we need to do a couple of big, broad bits here. This is comedy. We can afford... during six episodes, we can afford to go big and broad a couple of times." You know what? The big and broad chainsaw bit that we did probably is our most effective bit. So, I learned something on doing "The Clint Howard Variety Show". I'd love to do more. Terry: Yeah, I'd love you to do more! Clint: Well, you got about ten or twenty thousand dollars? (Laughs.) Terry: (Laughs. Checks coat pocket.) Uh, not doing extra work! Clint: (Laughs.) I appreciate the plug, and if you could figure out a way to wrap that in there... Terry: It will be in the article guaranteed. No, that's a guarantee, and I appreciate you talking to us. Clint: Oh, no. No problem! Well you guys have plenty of interview here!