~ Inside The Heart & Soles Of The Ramones Number 1 Fan! - Actress P.J. Soles On Her 
Roles In Carrie, Halloween & Rocking & Rolling With The Ramones At The Hollywood 
High School Of Roger Corman. ~ Interview Conducted By Terry DuFoe Reporting From 
Hollywood's, Egyptian Theatre With Exclusive Event Photos By Tiffany M. DuFoe~

Hollywood is known for glitz, glamour and unfortunately renovation. While there are many 
historic landmarks in la la land intact, many icons of bygone eras have given way to the 
bulldozer and the fast food chain.  In this day of the cinema multiplex the classic EGYPTIAN 
THEATRE is operated by a non-profit film restoration group called the American Cinematheque. 
The film buff mecca screens rare, classic, and seldom seen films on the big screen daily as 
it was meant to be at 6712 Hollywood Blvd. They honor reel Hollywood with film festivals and 
in person question and answer sessions, screening everything from films like West Side Story 
to the obscure Coffin Joe films! The American Cinematheque celebrated the 80th anniversary 
of the Egyptian Theatre on Thursday, October 17, 2002 with a presentation of ROBIN HOOD 
(1922), the film that originally opened the theatre in 1922. The Hollywood event featured 
live organ accompaniment with the original score and an appearance by JOSEPH NEWMAN who was 
in Grauman's pre-show, the night the theatre opened in 1922. Newman went on to become the 
director of films such as THIS ISLAND EARTH. Future events by the American Cinematheque 
include an upcoming Anime Festival and a gala benefit honoring actor Denzel Washington. 
(www.egyptiantheatre.com) 

Ironically while the Cinematheque is all about restoration, they recently honored an actress 
better known for her cult film role as Riff Randell where rather then restore, she blew up a 
Hollywood landmark! None other then actress P.J. Soles who starred in Carrie, Halloween and 
among others, Rock N Roll High School, a 1979 homage to teen angst, rock n roll and 
exploding high schools! The American Cinematheque presented a rare screening of Carrie and 
featured in person Q&A sessions with the stars of the film Nancy Allen & P.J. Soles. We 
were the only journalists to be invited by the Cinematheque that night and we were welcomed 
by P.J. Soles addressing the audience with the words, "Gabba, Gabba, Hey", to the delight 
of punkers and film fans attending. 

P.J. Soles is still beautiful with a sharp wit and is the mother of two with son, Sky Holm 
18, a sophomore on the basketball team at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, 
New York and her daughter, Ashley Holm 14, a freshman and a cheerleader at her high school 
who was present at the interview. P.J. added that Ashley plays the piano, and will only 
play her own material -so P.J. declares that, "Riff Jr. is alive and well"! Riff Jr., (as 
Ashley's mom calls her) and friend Lauren Takemoto 14, also a freshman and cheerleader both 
had to agree that P.J. was very cool even if she was just, well, Ashley's mom. P.J. confided 
in us that her daughter was hesitant to come to the screening that night but after 
overhearing a fan confess to P.J. that her mom got him through puberty, Ashley told me she 
was glad she came. P.J introduced us to her boyfriend Rob Best, from the band UNCLE TOM 
(www.uncletomscabin.com) and as we might expect he was wearing a Ramones T shirt and is a 
true Ramones fan. I will also add that he is one lucky guy! 

P.J. Soles is a down to earth intelligent artist who surrounds herself with real people and 
reel fans that become good friends like Dave Aretsky - website creator and computer genius 
and Jim Jensvold - who she claims is my number one fan in the entire world (and one of my 
best friends), although I claim in print that I do challenge that fan position. Madison and 
Alexis Li, who are her business partner's kids rounded out her entourage that night. P.J. 
Soles is currently producing a fighter pilot film with their father Jerry Li, for Paramount 
with Martin Campbell as the director and David Ward, screenwriter. It is yet unnamed. With 
her hair in the same style as Riff Randell and wearing clothes mirroring her famous movie 
character, P.J. gave us the following answers:

 Terry:  (Shows P.J. an original album cover of the soundtrack from "Rock N' Roll High 
School")

P.J.:  Awww.  I have one of those, signed by all of the Ramones!

Terry:  I kind of figured that you did.

P.J.:  I can't believe that I did that because I don't ever do autographs.

Terry:  How does it feel to be a cartoon character on the album cover?  (Laughs)

P.J.:  I know, huh?  (Laughs)  I love that!  I love the way I look there.

Terry:  That would've made a great animated series, you know?

P.J.:  Oh, it would've been great.

Terry:  I just wanted to start out by basically getting your comments about tonight.  It 
had to be a great honor.

P.J.:  Oh it was fun!  It was, definitely and the movie is just so great.  I enjoyed every 
minute of it.  Every minute I was watching it, I remembered something from the making 
of it which made me laugh.  It was so much fun having Nancy sitting at my side.

Terry:  It's been a long time since you've seen her, hasn't it?

P.J.:  Oh, that was the one question I was going to ask her, "When was the last time we 
saw each other."  I can't remember.  It was so long ago.  I think she had just come back 
from New York right after the filming.

Terry:  I noticed the audience was pretty vocal tonight.  What do you think about that?  
Was that fun for you?

P.J.:  Yeah.  Of course, yeah.

Terry:  Do you like an audience to react like that?

P.J.:  You mean during the watching of movie?

Terry:  Yes.

P.J.:  Oh absolutely!  The applause... and they seemed to be very courteous.  When Piper 
Laurie came on the screen they applauded... and I thought it was just for Nancy and I, but 
then when they did it for Piper I thought, "Well that's very respectful."

Terry:  Now this isn't the first time you've been here either, is it?  You were here for the 
"Halloween" screening?

P.J.:  I was here for "Halloween", for the release of the dvd.  Yeah, so... (Laughs)

Terry:  So you like doing these 'greet the fans', 'answer questions' type things?

P.J.:  Well, it's not my favorite thing, but I think the fans deserve it because they're the 
reason that films have lived on this long, so you know, if I get invited, I try to come if I 
can.

Terry:  After seeing the film, and knowing that it was made so long ago, do you think 
that it's held up over all of these years?

P.J.:  Absolutely.  I was wondering... my daughter and her friend watched it and they're 
14.  I could tell that they were watching it intently.  Even though they'd seen it on TV, 
they'd never seen it on the big screen.  I was curious to see what they thought and if they 
enjoyed it.  As for me, you know, I watch a lot of films and there were a lot of things I 
noticed for probably the first time.  I just thought that the editing was incredible and the 
way that he told the story without words, not to mention.  It just blew me away.  Now that 
I'm trying to produce films, I realize more of the work of the director versus just my part 
as the actress or even the writer.  I was very impressed with it.

Terry:  I've talked to many people that have been in horror and B films.  Surprisingly 
enough, many of them don't even like the genre.  What about you?

P.J.:  Um, I like any film that's well made.  And I like any film where they can really 
suspend my belief that a movie's being made, or to say, "Oh, I see the camera and crew."  
No matter what film.  So if it can do that for me.  "What Lies Beneath" was one of the 
few films that actually did that for me.  I mean, I was actually scared by it and it was 
just wonderful.

Terry:  What about your children?  I don't know if they saw it at an early age or what but 
did "Carrie" scare them?

P.J.:  I didn't let them see it until they were a lot older, around 13 or 14, for the most 
part because there's the TV versions and then you know, but certainly not with my role.  

Terry:  You've had a pretty full life...

P.J.:  I got killed and everything!  (Laughs)

Terry:  Oh yes.  (Laughs)  That's got to be a major effect to just see your mother 
slaughtered on film.  

P.J.:  (Laughs)  I know!  Well you can interview her after.  (Laughs)  (P.J.'s daughter 
Ashley talks in background about crying when she saw her mom killed on screen.)  But 
yeah, she did!

Terry:  (Turns to P.J.'s daughter Ashley)  So just real quick, what did you think?

Ashley:  When I saw "Halloween" I cried when I was seven.

Terry:  Really?

Ashley:  I really did.

P.J.:  We went down to Orange County but actually she was upset by it.  And they had a 
guy dressed like Michael Myers walking around the audience.

Terry:  Oh that's nice!  

P.J.:  Even my son and I were scared.

Terry:  (Laughs)

P.J.:  I was scared!  But the bonus for that was the next day they gave us tickets to 
Disneyland so that made up for her seeing her mother getting killed on the screen!  
(Chuckles)

Terry:  Oh there you go.

P.J.:  But that wasn't me.  That was my character.  You have to remember that.

Terry:  Yeah there's a separation there.  "I'm still here.." you know?  (Laughs)  
Before you became an actress, you pretty much traveled all over the world, didn't you?

P.J.:  Well, my dad was from Holland and met my mom in Germany after the war.  She 
was from New Jersey.  He worked for an insurance company, because he spoke so many 
languages, he traveled all over the world to other branch offices.  I was born in 
Germany, then I lived in Morocco, then Venezuela, then Brussels and then all the way 
to New York.

Terry:  You're multilingual?

P.J.:  I speak French and Spanish... a little.  French not as good but Spanish... I lived 
there six years in Venezuela and learned the language.  So I interpret for a lot of people 
now!  (Laughs)

Terry:  So how did...

P.J.:  (Interrupts) I always press, you know, one.  If you want to hear this in Spanish 
press one.  (Laughs)

Terry:  (Laughs)  Really?

P.J.:  (Laughs) No, I was just kidding.

Terry:  So how did your name go from Pamela to P.J.?

P.J.:  In high school I was always known as P.J. because my name was Pamela Jayne and 
I just never liked the name Pam, so during elementary school I guess I was known as Pam 
and it just kind of always irritated me.  So when I got to high school and someone asked 
me my name, I said, "Pamela Jayne" and they said, "Oh well how about P.J.?" and it 
stuck.

Terry:  Now when you were first starting out and you did "Break Away", I believe you 
were credited as Pamela there right?

P.J.:  Yes, that I did just for my parents because my mother always hated the name P.J. 
and I didn't really want to be known.  That was actually my second... second or third film 
and I was only in it because I was married to Dennis (Quaid) and we were on location 
and they just needed one more body.  So I said, "Ok, but put Pamela Jayne and it'll be 
kind of a gift to my mom."  

Terry:  So you started out as a model?

P.J.:  Mmmhmmm.

Terry:  And when did that career goal change?

P.J.:  Well actually the first thing I ever was a commercial.  I actually...

Terry:  Do you remember what it was for?

P.J.:  Mmmhmm.  Crisco Oil was my first commercial.  I came in the summer... I was 
going to arrive for college at New York State and I think my roommate... I was walking 
with her.  We were going by the Actor's Studio.  I read this thing that if you got a job 
there during the summer you could audit.  I got a job running spot light Scott Glenn and 
Joanna Miles in "Seagull".  I had to put the spot light on Scott Glenn and then I met 
Joshua White and did a Joshua White Show and he introduced me to agent Michael 
Lewis and he said, "You know, you could make money doing commercials.  You could 
really make a living."  That summer, the first commercial I went up for was Crisco Oil.  
I was a housewife for my first time!

Terry:  You were way before Florence Henderson then!  (Laughs)

P.J.:  (Laughs)  I did about six commercials before my agent said, "You know, you could 
try modeling to make some extra money."  So I really started acting first, then modeling.  
Back then models didn't really act.  So and then I was in a soap opera for a while.

Terry:  Oh really?  I didn't know that.  Fantastic.

P.J.:  Yeah.  And then I kind of had a choice.  I could continue living in Manhattan.  I 
was going up for Broadway shows, you know, just for smaller parts, but it was just not 
the style of life... it just wasn't my kind of life style, so I thought, "Eh.. I'll go to 
LA."

Terry:  So what really made you want to become an actress?

P.J.:  You know what, since I grew up in Venezuela and Africa and all of these strange 
places, and Brussels... it didn't occur to me that that was the occupation that I was going 
to end up doing.  I really thought I was going to be an interpreter for the U.N. or I was 
going have a political career.  Try being an ambassador somewhere because I loved 
traveling, and meeting people, and being in foreign countries, but I was always in the 
school play.  Always had the lead role.  Always helped with behind the scenes since 
fourth in Venezuela.  And always sang in front of people.  So a lot of that... and even in 
high school I was in a lot plays.  And I was editor of the newspaper for two years.  Never 
occurred to me that it was something that you did for a living because I never really got 
to watch a lot of movies!  I wasn't your typical movie-going person... teenager!  But 
when I went to the Actor's Studio and Josh suggested that I got involved with it... for me 
it was a summer time thing.  "Oh this is for fun."  But once I started making money and 
realized that oh... this is something.  Yeah, I kind of did that along my whole life 
anyways.  I think I will give this a try.  And since it sort of happened so easily for me, 
I think.  I mean the path was so layed for me.  I didn't pursue it.

Terry:  When you were in a soap opera, did you always kind of have it in your mind that 
you were going to make it to film and branch out to all this?

P.J.:  No.  I mean it was commercials, modeling, and then I did the soap opera.  I learned 
blocking.  I learned how to memorize.  I learned how to work in front of the camera.  I... 
because, like I said, in Manhattan when you're there as an actress, the most logical place 
to go is Broadway.  That didn't appeal to me.  Someone said, "Hey, go out to La."  It was 
sort of... it was as casual as that.  Today things are different, but it really was time for 
me to move on.  I was used to living in countries for no longer than five to six years.  I 
had lived in Manhattan for five years.  I was ready to move on and I had an agent who was 
going to turn me onto another branch so I already had a modeling agency.  That was the 
first thing I did when I came here actually was some modeling gigs for catalogs.  And 
then, the big casting session for George Lucas and Brian De Palma.  I was only here for 
two weeks when I went to that session.  And I only knew a couple of people here when I 
moved here.  But you know, when you're young and you don't have any other 
responsibilities, it's easier to do.

Terry:  Now you mentioned of course that "Carrie" was your first movie and it was a 
wonderful experience, but you weren't aware of 'the horrors ahead'.  Could you elaborate 
on that?

P.J.:  (Laughs)

Terry:  (Laughs)  We want to know!

P.J.:  (Laughs)  No.  I was just kidding.  That was sort of a joke.  It's just that really 
"Carrie" was... because we were all the same age... there was a competition.  That's why 
I thought the baseball hat was great.  I didn't really have to compete to be the pretty girl 
on screen.  I could be the tomboy one.  We really just had such a good time and you 
know, Brian was sort of the God of the set.  He would speak and we would do, you 
know?  It was just an incredible working experience.  And because it was an ensemble... 
it was a group of actors, the pressure wasn't on any one of us, except of course when the 
camera was rolling and it was our turn to speak!  You know, and then after that I realized 
that some actors or some directors don't really like certain actors.  Some producers aren't 
crazy about their directors.  And as you get older you get more into the politics of how a 
film all comes together and that's really when things aren't so well.

Terry:  People forget sometimes that it's show business.

P.J.:  But... yeah!  But.. right, exactly.  But I was lucky.  I mean, working with John 
Carpenter on "Halloween" was an incredible experience.  Allan Arkush and the Ramones 
with "Rock N' Roll High School" was great.  "Stripes" was... you know, like I said, Bill 
(Murray) was a funny guy.  Hard to get along with off the set but, still, I had fun 
wherever I went.  (Laughs)

Terry:  I heard that John Travolta actually recommended you for "Carrie"?

P.J.:  Um, no.  I met him when we were auditioning.  He actually pulled me into "The 
Boy in the Plastic Bubble" because we had such a good time, you know, making "Carrie" 
and he really is just a great guy.  He's very nice.  Very... he didn't come onto any of the 
girls, you know.... didn't do anything like that.  I mean, at the time, I'm not sure what 
was going on in his personal life or anything like that, but he didn't seem to be 
interested in any of us in a dating kind of way so we all felt very comfortable.

Terry:  I don't know if you want to answer this or not... you can say no if you don't...

P.J.:  O.k...

Terry:  ...but you said something on the internet about how you're still looking for 
Quentin Tarantino for what he did to John?  What do you mean by that?

P.J.:  Oh... (Laughs)  He revived his career!

Terry:  Oh ok...

P.J.:  That's all...

Terry:  So it was meant in a good way!

P.J.:  Absolutely!

Terry:  I took it like maybe you were wanting to hunt him down or something.  (Laughs)

P.J.:  Noooo!  Oh no no no.  I'm looking for someone like a Quentin Tarantino to do for 
me what he did for John Travolta because if you remember John's career was really 
nowhere before that movie so he really resurrected him.

Terry:  Did you read the book of "Carrie" before you did the movie?

P.J.:  No.

Terry:  Not at all?

P.J.:  Nope.

Terry:  So you couldn't say that you were a Stephen King fan?

P.J.:  Oh no, no.  That wouldn't have been my genre to read.  (Laughs)  I was into 
reading... let's see... T.S. Elliot at the time.  I liked poetry.  I was an Ann Rand fan.  
James Mitcher.  I was definitely not a Stephen King reader.  (Laughs)

Terry:  In knowing that you're now a producer, and you have filmmaking in mind, was 
there any parts of "Carrie" that dissatisfied you today?  That perhaps you would've done 
differently if you were the producer, director, or even writer?  

P.J.:  You mean in actually having watched the movie or do you mean in making the 
movie?  Or in the actual film itself you mean?

Terry:  Well, in the making of the film, or maybe even screening it today, if you could 
do it over again, what would you change, as a movie maker yourself?

P.J.:  Well that's a pretty hard question...

Terry:  Yes it is... (Chuckles)

P.J.:  (Laughs)  

Terry:  You said to ask you questions you'd never been asked before!  (Laughs)

P.J.:  (Laughs) Oh alright!  (Laughs)  That's a good one.  Gee, you know, I would 
probably make it a little longer and I'd probably definitely, since we're talking about 
2002, I'd take out the slapping and that... that scene... that seemed very jarring.  To watch 
the teacher slapping her, to smoking in the office, to... that was... that was kind of weird.  
So probably just the violent elements and the crudeness between Nancy Allen and John 
Travolta in the car scene.  And I never understood why Travolta had that weird, southern, 
kind of hick-ey accent.  That's not really...

Terry:  I always thought he was doing Vinny Barbarino!  (Laughs)

P.J.:  Why did he do that!?!?!  (Laughs)  

Terry:  Now some of these questions were already asked during the question and answer 
session during the screening, but I don't want to steal what was going on up there so if 
you don't mind, I'll ask them again here for the readers.  Tell about how the water hose 
broke your ear drum during the filming of the prom scene in "Carrie".

P.J.:  Well Dick Ziker was the stunt coordinator... in fact, he did the car flip.  He was 
terrific, but when they had the fire hose, they actually had the fire department and 
firemen were manning those hoses.  And then, Brian explained what he wanted the 
fireman to do, he said, "You know what, I don't want to hurt that little girl and I'm not 
going to do it because the pressure of the water is too great."  Then Dick Ziker stepped in 
and said, "Well I'll do it.  I don't care." and I don't think he had ever manned a fire hose 
before because that thing just got away from him and he put it on my face and it just went 
WHACK!  I mean, it hurt SO badly, and I actually... it hit my ear and I felt this horrible 
knife-like pain and I actually fainted because when you break your ear drum you lose 
your equilibrium and your balance.  I just fell right over.  They used that shot!  After that 
close up, I'm down on the floor and the gaffer came in and picked me up, and carried me 
to my dressing room.  And I was seriously hurt.  Brian De Palma came into my dressing 
room and asked how I was.  They called an ambulance and brought me the hospital in 
Culver City... where I later gave birth to both of my kids, which is ironic!  (Chuckles)  
And you know, I had to... I stayed in the hospital probably for a half a day and they sent 
me home with drops and I had to come back for shots... and you know, it was a big deal.  
But Brian never really acknowledged that it had happened and was so serious.

Terry:  Did that hurt you?

P.J.:  Well of course.  

Terry:  Did any of the other costars come to your aid when that happened?

P.J.:  Mostly the crew.  Because, you know, the crew adored us.  These were guys that 
were probably in their late 20s, early 30s and we were young anxious girls giggling all of 
the time, and they'd just watch us and laugh and think that we were just so cute.  And the 
fact that something happened to one of us and the fact that Brian just completely ignored 
it... they were just like, "Oh my gosh!", you know?

Terry:  Was there anyone in real life that you based Norma on?

P.J.:  (Thinks)  I don't think so...

Terry:  They asked you in the audience how you could be such a good 'bitch', ya know?

P.J.:  Yeah, but everybody has fun being a bitchy girl!  It's just something... I don't think 
I really based it on anyone I knew but that probably was my idea and my vision of the 
naughty girl that I was just never able to be because I lived in all of these different 
countries and I had seen...  And my dad was with an insurance company but everyone 
else who lived in a foreign country was either a military brat or they were part of a 
caterpillar, of which there were at least 20 families in a caterpillar, or something like that, 
but I was with my dad with AIU.  There was no other AIU kids so... and they... most of 
the time they had just recently come from Illinois or Texas and they had lived there their 
whole lives and they were spending just two years in a foreign country.  So these were 
the American kids that I knew.  So it was impossible to be the naughty girl.  (Laughs)

Terry:  And the baseball cap came from you?

P.J.:  I always wore the baseball hat when I first came to LA because I didn't want the 
sun in my face.  I wore it to that first audition with Brian De Palma, and when he said he 
was going to put me on his list, he said, "And bring the hat with you." and that was 
when... this was for "Carrie" and he said "And bring the hat with you." and it just stayed.  
(Laughs)

Terry:  I noticed the patches on your hat.  Did they have any significance?

P.J.:  No... no.  There was a cloud patch and a rainbow patch.  I was very into rainbows.  
Living in New York I had a rainbow scarf.  Because it was just a dreary city, in the 
winter I had a bright yellow coat, I had buttons from China, I wore a rainbow scarf and 
hat and I had three little buttons that was, you know... rainbows.  Hippie days.  I don't 
really know where I got them but I put them on my hat, and ultimately those three pins 
though are on my... my older brother was a pilot and he died in a plane crash in 1978 and 
my mother was really upset, obviously, and she was just crying and crying.  And he was 
married to a Catholic girl who was taking care of the funeral and he had this open coffin 
thing, and my mother was just crying hysterically, actually trying to wake him up, and I 
went over and said, you know, "Come on mom." and I pinned these pins that were my 
favorite pins in life on his jacket and I said, "You know what?  If you could just give me 
any kind of sign that you're ok, I would feel better." because he was my older brother.  
He was only a couple of years older and I was very upset.  It had been pouring rain, 
Tucson Arizona, and I had just pinned these pins on, rainbow pins... I go outside, pouring 
rain and I open the door and I just asked him for some kind of sign, and the sky cleared 
and a HUGE rainbow came out.

Terry:  There you go...

P.J.:  So it just made me feel that there was something... you know?

Terry:  That's great.  I've heard so many stories of things like that happening.  Even to 
myself.

P.J.:  Yeah.

Terry:  "Carrie" had a very violent scene in it with the killing of the pigs...

P.J.:  Yeah...

Terry:  Back in days of the 70s, did you get any backlash from that scene?  I mean, it 
wasn't you in that scene, but did you still get any backlash from it?

P.J.:  No, but Michael Talbott, who was one of my best friends for years, has.  
(Chuckles)  He works with Brian Dennehey... he was in that scene.  No, I mean, again, 
that question that you asked about as a producer today, I would probably take that out, 
because that was kind of weird.  You know, you don't see anything... but they actually 
chose one and says, "There, I'll get that one!  Come here piggy piggy!"  WHACK!  
(Laughs)  Well that probably couldn't even be filmed today, could it?  

Terry:  No, not with PETA.  I doubt it.

P.J.:  Animal rights would REALLY be upset!

Terry:  The special effects in "Carrie", were they pretty simple?

P.J.:  Well, I mean the car role and explosion, that was all done with real stunts, you 
know, and no special effects.  And they always had that fire going, especially, you know, 
when she walks out... all that was... those were the days when they had to do a lot of real 
special effects.  Nothing like they do with computers.

Terry:  In high school...

P.J.:  The biggest special effect I think was that twirling... (speaking of the scene in 
"Carrie" where Sissy Spacek and William Katt are dancing at the prom)

Terry:  Oh yeah... (Laughs)

P.J.:  (Laughs)  That was a special effect!

Terry:  That's one thing I couldn't do... too dizzy!  (Laughs)  In high school, how were 
you treated by other students?  Were you picked on?  Were you popular?

P.J.:  (Laughs)  I was always being told that I never... I was a naive, innocent girl 
growing up because I... you know, I grew up... my high school was the International 
School of Brussels, so it was all diplomats, and army brats, and people from all over.  I 
was also in a class of maybe 21 people so, it was very... You know, I was very bright.  I 
was editor of the school paper.  I was in the plays.  I wasn't the popular popular girls, 
because they were the ones that smoked and drank but I was serious.  I was... I loved my 
poetry and my writing class and you know, I was there to learn.  I wasn't really popular.  
I didn't really do that.

Terry:  Let me ask you a really strange question... I tend to do this.  If you had the 
powers of "Carrie", do you think it would change you any?

P.J.:  (Laughs)  Well there was nothing I lacked when I went to high school.  I wasn't 
thinking, "Gee I wish I was..."... although there was this one girl who had a pair of shoes 
for every outfit, so that probably could've come in handy!  (Laughs)

Terry:  (Laughs)

P.J.:  Would I have gotten rid of somebody?  There were a few teachers I didn't like, and 
I didn't like the headmaster of the school but probably, I wasn't the type of person to seek 
vengeance.  I probably wouldn't have done anything, but I might've used those powers 
for good.  (Chuckles)

Terry:  How did you meet John Carpenter?

P.J.:  At an audition.  I mean, he actually called me in and later when he sent me a copy 
of the dvd... the laser version or something... and they made a vhs copy of it and he said 
on the track that he actually wrote the part for me, I was stunned because he never told 
me.  Now it was the first time I'd ever gone in for an audition, and at the reading he said, 
"You have the part if you want it.  Do you want it?"  (Laughs)  And that had never 
happened.  Usually you have to go home and you call your agent and you wait a week 
and they make you sweat, and then you have to come in again, but on the spot and then 
later he said that I was the only one that read 'totally' the right way.  And I thought, 
"How in the heck did everybody else read it except that way, you know?"  I would've 
loved to have sat in on the auditions!

Terry:  Now you were talking about how the towels got a little smaller and smaller in the 
locker room scene in "Carrie"...

P.J.:  ...Well, Nancy (Allan) was, yeah.

Terry:  Yeah, were you nervous about doing that scene?

P.J.:  I always kept a big towel.  (Laughs)

Terry:  You did?  (Laughs)

P.J.:  I knew my parents were going to see that, and that was going to be the first movie... 
and they were not happy when I quit college to become an actress, until my mother saw 
the Crisco Oil commercial and I started sending them presents from New York.  But, they 
moved to Turkey the whole time I was in college and they didn't know what was going 
on at that time and they were upset.  In fact, I was transferring to Georgetown University 
from my old college and they were all happy about that, but they were very upset.  So I 
knew I had to, you know, break it to them slowly.  Not that I knew that I was going to do 
that scene in "Halloween", but John Carpenter said, "If there's any way that we can get 
any kind of little bit of nudity in here, it would really be great."  So I thought, "Ok, well 
we'll just do this little sheet drop thing real fast, and that'll be ok." but I have to say 
that upset my parents.  (Laughs)

Terry:  As a producer, do you think that just a little bit of exploitation helps or hurts a 
film?

P.J.:  Well, the movie I'm making now, with female fighter pilots, I suppose it would 
probably help.  I don't think it should be the guiding force in a movie, but, you know... 
everybody wants to see beautiful girls naked so, you know, in terms of that.  In terms of 
"Halloween", I think it added something because it... especially since people try to 
psychoanalyze and say, "Well the bad girls always gets caught.  Or the bad girls are the 
ones who have sex with their boyfriends and that's why they always get axed."  I mean, I 
think it was ok.  It was just a quick scene in the film.

Terry:  Yeah.  How the scene filmed were Michael Myers finally offs you?  Did that 
scene take a long time?

P.J.:  It took a long time only because we were laughing so much when we shot it.

Terry:  Really?

P.J.:  Well because he was just tickling me with the phone cord and I just kept breaking 
up hysterically, so I said, "This is not really gonna work because you have to do it a little 
tighter!  I can't fake it that badly!"  (Laughs)  He'd be going... (Makes tickling motion 
with her hands)

Terry:  (Laughs)  Oh my.

P.J.:  And he was just making me laugh.  I'm glad it turned out ok.  (Chuckles)

Terry:  Was the set at a studio?

P.J.:  ...Nothing took a long time with John though...

Terry:  Oh really?

P.J.:  ....because he always had to do everything in one or two takes, because, you know, 
that film was shot in 21 days.

Terry:  God, he did the music and everything, didn't he?

P.J.:  He did everything, yeah.

Terry:  Cut the holes in the side of the film, and everything himself.  (Laughs)

P.J.:  That's what I meant!  (Laughs)  He did!  He made the film!  Film stock by John 
Carpenter!  (Laughs)

Terry:  Do you have any funny stories about Jamie Lee Curtis?  You've got to have 
some!

P.J.:  Ummm, funny stories?  Not really.

Terry:  Or embarrassing stories or whatever?

P.J.:  Not really.  Only that she kept telling me that she wished she had my part because 
she had the boring character and, you know, at the time, I didn't really realize that her 
dad was Tony Curtis and her mom was Janet Leigh.  She never talked about them.  She 
was a cool chick, you know?  She was very interesting and very gutsy.  She really wanted 
to do a good job, but she wasn't funny or anything like that.  I mean, we had a good time, 
but she was very serious.  

Terry:  Really?

P.J.:  She was carrying the lead and she had a lot on her shoulders and her character was 
very serious.

Terry:  You talked about, or maybe it was Nancy Allan that talked about this, but there 
were a lot of scenes in "Carrie" that we don't even know about.

P.J.:  Yeah, I don't know.

Terry:  Can you tell us about those mysterious scenes that we've never seen maybe in 
"Carrie", or even if there were any in "Halloween"?

P.J.:  No, in "Halloween" they didn't waste any film.  There was probably nothing that 
ended up on the cutting room floor, not that I know of.  In terms of "Carrie", maybe she's 
talking about some scenes that she (Nancy Allan) had with John (Travolta).  I know that 
there were no other scenes that... she was probably joking about it, but I think there were 
probably some other scenes with her and John, if I remember the script.

Terry:  Did you see any of the many "Halloween" sequels?

P.J.:  No.

Terry:  Is that true or do you just not want to say anything about them?  (Chuckles)

P.J.:  Have I seen any of the "Halloween" sequels?  No.  H2O was the only one because 
Jamie invited me to the premiere.

Terry:  So you haven't seen "Halloween Resurrection"?

P.J.:  And then I got mad at her for not including me in the opening credits, at least a 
flashback or something.  (Laughs)

Terry:  (Laughs)  So you didn't have any aspirations about doing yet another horror film 
after "Carrie" then?

P.J.:  Well, it wasn't right after because then I did, let's see... I did "Carrie", and then I 
did "Our Winning Season" in Georgia which is a great movie by Joe Ruben.  I don't 
know if you've ever heard of that movie.  It's about coping with a death in the family.  
It's a really really sweet movie.  And I did something else after that, before... It didn't 
seem like it was right after though.  I mean I know it was in the same genre but for me, 
after I met John Carpenter and read the script, I mean, that was like... in "Carrie" I was 
one of eight and then in "Halloween" I was one of three.  So that's how I kind of looked 
at it, and it was so kind of fun to be the bad girl.

Terry:  And what was this about how he liked the way you said "Totally"?

P.J.:  He said that I was the only one that read totally right when I did the audition and I 
added a few more totally's when I read the script, so... he liked that.

Terry:  And you weren't even from California!  (Chuckles)

P.J.:  No!  (Chuckles)  I wasn't even an American type girl.

Terry:  Shows what a great actress you were!

P.J.:  But then it confused me because when I saw the dvd and he said he wrote the part 
for me in "Carrie", I thought, "Well, he never told me that."  (Chuckles)

Terry:  How about meeting Allan Arkush?  How did that come about for "Rock N' Roll 
High School"?

P.J.:  Well, I think they had an open casting for that, but not as many girls.  But I 
remember meeting him and reading the script right away and I don't know why.  Roger 
Coreman wanted me to have blonder hair, and I don't know what he thought, but I never 
thought he was as crazy about me as Allan was.  I heard later that Rosanna Arquette was 
up for the part too, but I'm glad that they chose me.

Terry:  I'm very glad!  That is my utmost favorite movie!  I've been fighting for a couple 
of days trying to find the dvd, but that's another story.  (Laughs)

P.J.:  No, you can get it.  There's a tribute to Joey Ramone on the back, and... Fry's has 
it!

Tiffany:  Well, we did find it because we called and asked if the store had it since we 
couldn't find it anywhere.  So there were holding it for us and when we went down to 
pick it up they said, "Oh, we don't have it.  We don't hold stuff for people."

P.J.:  Oh... aww.

Terry:  So they put it back somewhere in the store so we were looking through the whole 
store.

P.J.: Oh my god... they put it back!

Tiffany:  So we were there looking for like three hours and we still couldn't find it.

P.J.:   Well I know Fry's has a big supply because I always go down there and buy it for 
however says they can't find it or whatever.

Terry:  Before the film, were you aware of who Roger Coreman was?

P.J.:  Yes, but not to the extent that I do now.

Terry:  Really?

P.J.:  Yeah.  I mean, I knew Jack Nicholson started with him.  I heard all of these stories, 
but I never... I mean, not as much as now because I'm older and know more about 
movies.

Terry:  Do you think because you were in "Carrie" and "Halloween" that it may have 
caused you not to have any ill thoughts about working with who known as 'king of the 
cheapies'?

P.J.:  I didn't even think of that.

Terry:  Did you have any say in Riff Randell's clothes or was that all designed by 
wardrobe?

P.J.:  No, I bought all of the clothes for her.

Terry:  You bought all of the clothes?

P.J.:  I literally spent my salary and went out and Fiorucci's at the time was still in 
Beverly Hills and I bought everything.  The original Fiorucci's was in New York. It had a 
short life span here, not sure of the fate of the New York store, but it had better clothes 
than Fred Segal's and for a better price, although I did buy the red satin jacket with the 
musical notes (which I still cherish) at Fred Segal's because the salesgirl said that Rod 
Stewart had tried it on. The store used to be where TIFFANY'S is today - quite ironic! 
That was all my wardrobe, though.  Linda Bass, assistant to wardrobe designer Jack 
Beuhler, was the wardrobe girl and she just... I just kept showing her, "And this is what 
I'm gonna wear..."... "Ok, that's good."  "And this is what I'm going to wear for this 
scene..." so... (Chuckles)

Terry:  So this was by choice, or Corman said, "We don't have the money, you have to 
buy your own wardrobe."?

P.J.:  That was MY character so...  There was $150 in the budget for my wardrobe.

Terry:  Really?

P.J.:  I said, "Alright, then I'm buying my own because this is how I see this character."  
And I went out and I loved all the clothes.  You know, that striped thing, and then my 
sneakers had a little pocket with a comb in it.  And a few things that people had given me 
like the scarf, a knitted scarf when I'm setting up the chair in front of the theater, and 
some things I wear just to say hi to people.  (Laughs)

Terry:  Now Riff was supposed to be a punk rocker, right?

P.J.:  Mmmmhmmm.

Terry:  Yet, she wasn't really dressed like what you would call a punk rocker would be?

P.J.:  Well she was a songwriter.  She wasn't really a punk rocker, she was a songwriter.  
And my interpretation of that was somebody who was very serious about their craft with 
writing songs and she just happened to pick the Ramones because she wrote this great 
song, and she thought they could do it.  And she was the ultimate Ramones fan, but 
herself, I don't think of as a punk rocker.

Terry:  And I understand you actually met the Ramones and performed on stage with 
them prior to the movie, is that right?

P.J.:  No, no, this was after the movie.

Terry:  Oh, I thought that was wrong.

P.J.:  Yeah.  Yeah.  No they played at the Roxy one night and I went up on stage with 
them.

Terry:  What was that like?

P.J.:  Oh it was great.  It was like in "Rock N' Roll High School".  (Laughs)  It was 
great!

Terry:  You weren't nervous about singing in front of an audience?

P.J.:  No.  No.

Terry:  How does it feel to be on a record album?

P.J.:  Aw, it's great.

Terry:  All of a sudden you're a pop star.

P.J.:  Hey, I get, four times a year, from Warner Brothers I get $36.25...

Terry:  Really?  You still get...

P.J.:  I still get royalties.

Terry:  Far out.

P.J.:  And it's great because they list all the countries and how many units they've sold 
so I can always tell which countries...  Brazil and Germany, man they love the Ramones 
the most!  (Laughs)  They send a break down of how many units are sold all around the 
world.

Terry:  And what do your children think about your song?

P.J.:  "Rock N' Roll High School"?

Terry:  I don't know what their taste in music is....

P.J.:  I don't think they think too much about that song.  You can ask my daughter that.

Ashley:  "Rock N' Roll High School" is my favorite movie in the world.

Terry:  There you go... good kids!

P.J.:  (Laughs)  They like "Grease" and "Rock N' Roll High School".

Terry:  And the concert scenes, that was done at the Roxy as well, right?

P.J.:  Right.  Yeah.

Terry:  What was that like?  Was that like a long shoot to do that?

P.J.:  No, it was.. I think it was like three days.  It was long and it was hard for them 
because a lot of the times when they would do the shooting of them actually performing, 
it was in the day and they're not really day people so it was a little hard.  And the crowd 
was raucous.  You know, they had to keep... they kept inviting in people that weren't 
necessarily extras, but people that wanted to see the Ramones, and they were a pretty 
wild bunch.

Terry:  In the scene where you're smoking a joint and the Ramones are appearing 
everywhere...

P.J.:  Yeah, (Chuckles) in my bedroom!

Terry:  Can I ask you, if that was a real joint?

P.J.:  No.

Terry:  It wasn't?

P.J.:  It wasn't.  It was rosemary.

Terry:  Ahhh.

P.J.:  It stunk.  It was terrible.  And I smoked about four of those and I got pretty sick.

Terry:  That's pretty bad when you have to do multi-takes.

P.J.:  Yeah!  (Laughs)

Terry:  You're like, "Oh please!"  (Laughs)  But there wasn't any pot smoking going on, 
on the set?

P.J.:  Noooo.  Oh no no no.  Allan Arkush wasn't like that at all, and the Ramones I 
don't remember.  No, I didn't notice any drug taking either from them.  Like I said, they 
were so shy and you know, tried to blend into the woodwork.

Terry:  And they didn't even want to eat food from the Kraft services table, they just 
ordered pizza?

P.J.:  Well, you know, every movie is catered and they have these incredible catering 
wagons and banquet tables, and they would just go over there and just kind of peek like, 
"Are we allowed to take something?"  And we'd be like, "Sure, help yourself." and they 
just like take one thing and then scurry off, and it was just so funny that they thought they 
were beneath this movie making machine, you know.  Because they were Roger Corman 
fanatics.  They loved "Halloween".  So, you know, and "Carrie", so they were suddenly 
on the set with people they'd been looking at going, "Oh wow, they're really great."  So, 
it was cute.  I mean, I just thought it was so cute.

Terry:  And you weren't really a Ramones fan... you liked Jackson Browne, is that right?

P.J.:  That's right.  Yeah.  I couldn't believe when Allan gave me the cassette and said, 
"Go home and listen to these people, you're their number one fan." and I just thought, "I 
don't think I can do this."  (Laughs)  I couldn't even listen to the whole record!

Terry:  So what about now, do you think you're a fan now?

P.J.:  Now, I'm definitely a fan.  Yeah!

Terry:  Oh that's cool.  So can I have your comments on how you felt when you heard 
about Joey and Dee Dee Ramone passing?

P.J.:  Oh, very very upset about Joey.  In fact, that day I wrote something for the website 
for Joey.  Did I write it for his website or did I write it for mine?... oh yeah, I wrote just 
a long thing just about my reflections of working with him and what kind of man he 
personally was and then his brother read it and corresponded with me through e-mail and 
said that, that was really beautiful.  And everything that he wrote to me was that it was so 
nice, the words that I wrote, because in "Rock N' Roll High School" I was the type of girl 
that his brother really would've liked to have gone out with and it was nice to know that 
me as a real person was saying nice things about him.  And I've talked to his family ever 
since then.  I've talked to his brother and his mother, and they invited me to 
Thanksgiving last year because I was in the New York area, and they invited me to be a 
part of the annual Joey Ramone birthday bash.  

Terry:  That's great.

P.J.:  But I couldn't go because it was the last minute and they can't really afford to send 
people tickets, and they really couldn't afford to spend money... and the hotels.  So it was 
ok, but one of these days make it to it.

Terry:  Well, this is really refreshing to me because one of the downfalls of my job is 
when I interview people, you expect them to be like they were on the screen or they 
really like this or that, but they're so different.  And to really know that you like cult 
films and you thought the Ramones were great and all that is fantastic.

P.J.:   Oh yeah.  Oh yeah.  I've very sad about Dee Dee.

Terry:  Sure.

P.J.:  I mean, I didn't really know him.  I probably knew Johnny the most because he was 
the one that talked the most on the set.  Joey hardly said anything and Dee Dee really 
didn't talk at all but Johnny, you know, liked film and liked to talk about film and I'd 
seen him a couple of times since the film.  But Dee Dee I didn't know at all and I just felt 
very sad because.... when they did that Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame, and he was all patting 
himself on the back.  

Terry:  Yeah, "I'd like to congratulate myself!"

P.J.:  I thought, what was that?  (Laughs)  That was so weird.  But I had no idea he was 
still addicted to drugs.  That was very sad.

Terry:  Yeah.  Now you were injured on that movie too?

P.J.:  Yeah, but that... I can't remember.  I don't even remember ever talking about that.  
I don't remember... Oh!  Except maybe it was at the Roxy.  Maybe that was it.  I don't 
remember.

Terry:  Do you get injured a lot on sets?

P.J.:  No.  No.  (Laughs)

Terry:  I don't want to come of like your accident prone or anything.  (Laughs)

P.J.:  (Laughs)  It's not a reoccurring thing!

Terry:  What about any bloopers during "Rock N' Roll High School"?  I imagine it was 
just crazy all of the time.  Anything happen that was funny, and might end up on Dick 
Clark's blooper show someday?  (Laughs)

P.J.:  Probably, anything with the Ramones because they had a hard time with their lines.  
In fact, the Ramones probably had about ten more pages of dialogue but they didn't... you 
know, after the first day of shooting, it was evident that we weren't going to be able to 
pull it out of them.  I actually worked with them sometimes before we would go on set 
but they... Allan just said, "You know what?  We don't have the time to work with it.  If 
they can't do it, it just has to go."  They would've had a lot more dialogue but they just 
couldn't do it.

Terry:  Can you give us any insight on the filming of the famous "Rock N' Roll High 
School" gym scene?

P.J.:  As for the gym scene, I sang to playback.  Ed Stasium, engineer and producer of 
the record had to play the guitar and bass, because Johnny and Dee Dee couldn't change 
to my key!  The most notable event was that it was the last day of filming, and Allan 
Arkush, the director, was so stressed that he had an anxiety attack, and as I drove to the 
set, he was leaving in an ambulance!  Joe Dante was called in to direct, so it was weird 
and sad having someone else finish the last day, especially since we were worried about
Allan. 

Terry:  And it's true that you guys got an abandoned high school and actually blew it 
up?  Is that right?  I read that the blast was a lot more than it was supposed to be and 
people were running out of their houses and wondering what was going on.  Was that 
true?

P.J.:  That we actually what?  Got in a van?

Terry:  That you actually blew up a high school.  That you got an abandoned high 
school.

P.J.:  Oh, yeah.  Yeah, down in Watts.  Yeah, it was set to be demolished anyway, and 
they... set it on fire!  (Laughs)  I don't remember the people running out of their houses, 
but...

Terry:  Well the internet embellishes a little...

P.J.:  There were a few people toasting marshmallows... (Laughs)

Terry:  Yeah.... (Laughs)  So what was it like working with some of these people, just 
maybe some brief descriptions:  Vincent Van Patton?

P.J.:  Great!  Funny guy.  Nice guy.

Terry:  Clint Howard?

P.J.:  Crazy guy!  (Laughs)

Terry:  He is so cool...

P.J.:  He is very cool!  I worked with him in another movie called "Merchants of Death", 
now it's called "B.O.R.N." but... 

Terry:  Not everybody can have a brother that puts you in his movies.

P.J.:  Right!  

Terry:  Dey Young?

P.J.:  Dey (pronounced DAY) Young.

Terry:  Dey Young?

P.J.:  D-E-Y.  Yeah.  Dey Young.  She was great.  I loved her as Kate, and we became 
really good friends after the film.  She's a really nice girl.

Terry:  Mary (Woronov) and Paul (Bartel)?

P.J.:  Great.  Paul was great... and Mary Woronov was soooo great!

Terry:  Cult movie gods!

P.J.:  And a really talented artist!  I had no idea!  It's really incredible.  We did... Allan 
Arkush did a T.V. movie for Showtime called "Shake, Rattle, & Rock"...

Terry:  Right...

P.J.:  ....that Renee Zellweger... it was her first movie!

Terry:  Right... I have that on dvd!  

P.J.:  She was adorable in that, and it was so great seeing Mary and Dey again.  It was a 
nice reunion.

Terry:  It's strange, because in "Shake, Rattle, & Rock", your name was almost reversed.  
It was a combination of your name and Principal Togar's name.  Was that done on 
purpose?

P.J.:  I don't even remember that really.

Terry:  Really?

P.J.:  But I think Mary was more of a really good friend of Allan's so...

Terry:  Now in this movie, you were anti-rock n' roll.  Was it kind of strange being 
reversed?

P.J.:  No well that's what...

Terry:  All of a sudden you're establishment!

P.J.:  That's what Allan, you know, thought was so funny.  Here I was now one of the 
mothers.

Terry:  You've played like cops, and everything in movies.  Do you think now you're 
playing more establishment, whereas before you were playing more anti-establishment 
characters?

P.J.:  Well, I don't know.  When you're younger you can play more wilder roles I guess!  
(Laughs)

Terry:  (Laughs)

P.J.:  I'd like to play a part like Piper Laurie now though in "Carrie"!  (Laughs)

Terry:  And the film "Rock N' Roll High School" was originally going to be called 
"Disco High"?

P.J.:  Yes.  Well that was the only way I guess Allan could sell it to Roger Coreman.

Terry:  Glad they changed it.  (Laughs)

P.J.:  Yeah, well he knew all along, but he was just pitching it to him.

Terry:  And what about "Rock N' Roll High School Forever"?

P.J.:  In fact it was going to be "Disco High with Naked Girls".  (Laughs)

Terry:  Oh, that'd do well!  (Laughs)  That would play in the south!  (Laughs)

P.J.:  (Laughs)

Terry:  What about "Rock N' Roll High School Forever"... the very crappy sequel?  Did 
you see it?

P.J.:  (Makes a painful hissing noise)

Terry:  It's very bad.  I'm ashamed to admit that we have a copy of it.

P.J.:  I can't believe that Mary was in it.

Terry:  Yeah.

P.J.:  I can't believe it.

Terry:  Did they offer it to you at all?

P.J.:  They never... no.  They... I did have one interview with the female director, 
Deborah something... I can't remember her name, but... (referring to director Deborah 
Brock)... and I had all these ideas or whatever, and she basically walked me to the door 
and said, "Thank you very much."  I got the feeling that she would never call again and I 
thought, "That's weird." but, I then wrote a treatment with my then agent's boyfriend and 
he actually got Roger to sign a deal with us.  And he got a deal with a company.  They 
wanted to do it and we got all the original people signed up.  They all agreed that they 
would do it.  The Ramones were going to come back together just for the movie.

Terry:  Oh wow!

P.J.:  And then Roger doubled his price, unless we had a deal with the company.  He 
said, "I didn't say 250, I said 500!" and we said, "But that's not our budget and that's not 
what you signed." and he said, "So sue me."

Terry:  I would've thought he would've understood that about having a low budget.

P.J.:  It was unbelievable.  Unbelievable!  It was a very mean thing.  It blew our deal.

Terry:  Let me ask you this, do you think in "Shake, Rattle, & Rock", your character was 
a pretty good representation of what Riff Randell would be like today at an older age?

P.J.:  NOOOO!

Terry:  No?  (Laughs)

P.J.:  (Laughs)  No!

Terry:  So Riff would still be rockin' then?

P.J.:  (Laughs)  Well hopefully she would've, you know, become as famous as Carole 
Bayer Sager or any of those women songwriters.  What's that other one?  Or Diane 
Warren!  She would become Diane Warren.

Rob Best:  Not writing that kind of stuff though.

P.J.:  No, not that kind of stuff, but that popular.

Terry:  Did you get any...

P.J.:  ...and a video, MTV video film director!

Terry:  There you go, there you go!

P.J.:  That's what Riff Randell would be.

Terry:  Did you get any backlash over the comment that was made about your former 
husband Dennis Quaid and why he divorced Meg Ryan?  Did you get any backlash about 
your comment over that?  Because you had said that you felt that Meg Ryan was a bigger 
star than he was, that's why he divorced?

P.J.:  I said that?

Terry:  That's what it says... it's all over the internet in various places!

P.J.:  When did I say that?  I never said that.

Terry:  Let's see... do I have the exact quote here?  (Looks through notes)   

P.J.:  No wonder he's mad at me.  (Laughs)

Terry:  On the internet it said that you had recently talked with Dennis...

P.J.:  What is 'it'?  Where?

Terry:  Well, I'll have to send you the internet link.

P.J.:  Oh, o.k.

Terry:  But I swear to god, it's all over the internet, and it said that you recently talked 
with Dennis and he was very sad about his break up...

P.J.:  Right.  That I said in a magazine.

Terry:  ...and in your opinion, you felt that it was because Meg was a bigger star than he 
was, and his ego couldn't tolerate being married to her.

P.J.:  I never said that.

Terry:  That doesn't sound like you.  I didn't believe that for a second.

P.J.:  Never said that!  That's a lie!  That's not fair.

Terry:  Well, that's the internet for you.  No that's not fair.

P.J.:  That's stupid because Meg divorced Dennis anyway.  Meg divorced Dennis 
anyways so that wouldn't make sense.

Terry:  This movie you're making about the female aviators.  Is this going to be for 
theatrical release?

P.J.:  Mmmhmm.  Paramount Studios.

Terry:  Do you have a name?

P.J.:  "Untitled Female Fighter Pilots".  (Laughs jokingly)  So that's the name... UFFP.  
(Laughs)

Terry:  Are you going to be in this or are you just producing it?

P.J.:  No.  This is going to be younger girls who are into flying.  You know, girls who are 
in their 20s.  No, I'm going to give myself a role, but I'll probably have to be some army 
colonial or something.  Airforce colonial!

Terry:  Now this is not the first film you've produced, right?

P.J.:  Well, that movie "B.O.R.N." that I told you about...

Terry:  Yeah, and what was that like?

P.J.:  Uh, I was ok with it.  It was sort of a token credit, because I helped pull some 
people into it.  It wasn't really doing what I'm doing now.  Now I'm really working hard!  

Terry:  What was it like doing "Jawbreaker"?

P.J.:  That was fun because Darren Stein was so... he just idolized William Katt and I.  
He just had to have us in his movie.  He was what?... 28 years old and he loved "Carrie", 
"Rock N' Roll High School", and "Halloween" and so he just wanted to have me be the 
mom in his movie.  I always thought that that movie had some really good stylistic 
elements in it.  As a whole, I think the movie was just a little too rough for the kids today, 
but... so if it had just been a little less Rose McGowan and Marilyn Manson-ish, I think it 
probably would've been more successful.  It should've been a little lighter, like "Rock N' 
Roll High School" and that's what I thought it was going to be from the script but when I 
saw it and it just took this dark turn I went, "Ohh!"

Terry:  Marilyn is no Joey Ramone!  Let's put it that way.

P.J.:  Noooo way!  Especially with his disguise!  (Laughs)

Terry:  Everybody seems to center on basically the big three in your life, but you've 
done many many films.  What other films haven't we mentioned here that you think are 
just as good as "Carrie", "Halloween", and "Rock N' Roll High School"?

P.J.:  Well, let's see, I really liked "Private Benjamin".  It was a really cute movie.  I 
liked my part in that a lot.  And I liked... I didn't have a big part, but I am proud to have 
been in "Sweet Dreams"... but upon reflection, I think I would say, "Soggy Bottom, 
USA".  You have probably never heard or seen it, but it is really a cool film, with lots of 
stars: Ben Johnson, Dub Taylor, Jack Elam, Lois Nettleton, Ann Wedgeworth, Anthony 
Zerbe, Don Johnson and others.  I can't even think of them all!

Terry:  How do you want to be known as an actress?  Do you mind being called a 
scream queen?

P.J.:  Well, I don't feel that that's really fair because of "Rock N' Roll High School" and 
"Stripes".  I think that... I mean, I don't mind, but... and then they also classify me as 
queen of the B's or a cult movie person, but "Stripes" wasn't a cult movie.  So, I would 
like to be thought of as having done a wide variety in the range of movies that are still 
popular today.

Terry:  Now, you kind of went through the whole gamut between actress and movie 
maker, so what about your children?  Do they have any show biz aspirations, and do you 
want them to be in the business?

P.J.:  Oh, I really wouldn't like them to be kids in it.  My son's 18 so, he can't do that 
anymore.  (Laughs)  And they both... my son's into basketball and he's in the Merchant 
Marine Academy right now, so I'm very proud of what he's doing.  And my daughter is a 
wonderful piano player.  People ask me all the time, you know, why don't you get your 
daughter into modeling or acting, but you know, it really has to be something that you 
want to do and be when you get older because it's no life for kids.  
Terry:  Do you think it was easier to get into the business back when you started then it 
would be today?

P.J.:  Absolutely!  You know, today it's like the music business.  They're just looking for 
that one hit.  And I think it's turning though.  It seems to be turning where more and more 
they're wanting to go with the artists who are developing themselves and are singers and 
songwriters again versus the one hit.  But it's the same in Hollywood.  They're always 
looking for those young girls but if they get one or two movies, then they're set for life.  
Or with a sitcom like "Friends" and they get millions and millions and millions of dollars 
and it runs for seven years!  (Laughs)

Terry:  Now if you could do it all over, would you have done anything differently, or are 
you happy with the way you've done things in life?

P.J.:  You know, you can never have any regrets.  I probably would have liked to have 
kept working even though my kids were little.  Maybe one good movie a year.  If I 
could've stayed at the level after "Stripes" and gone on to the next level after "Stripes" 
and built from there, as opposed to now.  And I'm totally happy that I put in the time with 
my kids, but I think I probably could've done maybe one good movie a year, if my career 
would've allowed that to happen, but, you know, I was offered a lot of garbage.  I mean 
there was constantly garbage being sent to me so I'd have to say the scripts never really 
came my way or the roles that I really would've wanted to sacrifice my time with my 
kids to do.

Terry:  That's probably one of the downfalls of doing cult films...

P.J.:  Yeah.

Terry:  ...is you have to find the good ones and filter out all of the garbage.

P.J.:  And there's just, you know, when you're a young girl, in the business, there's just a 
whole other set of circumstances that you have to play.  Once you're married and you're 
pregnant, that shuts one door.  You know?  (Chuckles)  They go, "Ok, so much for her.  
Next?"  (Laughs)

Terry:  Ok, thank you very much.  I really appreciate all of this.

P.J.:  Ok, you're welcome!  Glad you drove into...

Terry:  I'm glad that we could rescue you from the fans outside.  (Chuckles)

P.J.:  Yeah really!  Well, they're always so nice.

Terry:  Oh that's the best part.

P.J.:  You know, and they say, "Oh, I've wanted you're autograph for years.  Will you 
take a picture?  Will you put your arm around them?", I'm like, "Seesh, it's ok.  I'm just 
a person."  (Laughs)  So Palmdale, eh?  You got to drive back now?

Terry:  Oh yeah... yeah... (Laughs)

-END-