Speaker 1: All right, everybody, welcome back to the Shirley You Can't
Be Serious podcast. We are here today to talk about
two iconic movies from the eighties, one of which is
celebrating its fortieth anniversary just a couple of months ago,
the other of which is celebrating its thirty fifth anniversary
in a month or so right around this time. And
they are both cult classics.
Speaker 2: Okay, today we're going to be discussing Flash Gordon nineteen
eighty and Highlander nineteen eighty six. We are going to
have so much freaking fun talking about these movies.
Speaker 1: Okay, Jason, our executive producer for this episode is your
dear friend, mister Dale Selby. I want to give a
big shout out to him. Thank you very much. Dale.
He joined our Patreon page. I am sending him our prizes,
which are headphones and a cool custom engraved coffee mug
or you know what beverage he wants to put in there.
Speaker 2: Dale is one of my great college buddies. Thank you
so much. He actually texts me and we talked about
the episode, and he follows it gives a feedback, and
I really appreciate you. Thanks Dale, You're awesome.
Speaker 1: Okay, So with most movies that we compare, we save
final judgment for the end, and in this particular scenario,
we have an unfair comparison. Right, there's one obvious movie
that is better than the other movie in this comparison,
and that movie is Highlight. Shut your dirty mouth.
Speaker 2: Flash Gordon. It's Highlander, Flash Gordon is. It's clearly the winner.
I love both. I can't believe we decided this already.
Speaker 3: What.
Speaker 1: Okay, so Flash Gordon is like an over budgeted high
school musical. What are you talking about?
Speaker 2: We're comparing it to the movie where the leads can't
even speak English.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, I guess we need to jump into tho
the discussion now, because.
Speaker 3: There's the only one to the kids.
Speaker 1: Dad Gum, that song kicks so much. But I mean,
I don't care which movie you're picking. That is the
song of all of the songs on both of these soundtracks,
that is the most awesome.
Speaker 2: It's awesome. It gets my you know what, it.
Speaker 1: Does, get your you know what, It gets my you
know what too, it gets me going man, make that
feel like a man.
Speaker 2: That might be my favorite Queen song of all time.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, I mean that is.
Speaker 2: Up there with the big boys, you know, Bohemian Rhapsody
and I Want It All and.
Speaker 1: We Will Rock You.
Speaker 2: It's up there, Princes of the Universe. Freaking awesome.
Speaker 1: Wow. Well, So, as we mentioned before, these are two
cult classics. They were not super popular movies. They were
not in the US when they first came out, but
thanks to Queen and thanks to a following that developed
over time for both of them, they have become iconic
movies that have stood the test of time.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think HBO and VHS were vital to these two.
Speaker 1: Both of my experiences were with a video, although I
think with Flashboard and I actually got to see that
one in the night.
Speaker 2: I saw that in the theater as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I didn't see Highlander until I was in college.
This is the honest truth on both of these movies.
Each time I watch them, I like them a little
bit better every time I watch. Yeah, they are so
much fun.
Speaker 1: And I'll say this, There's a documentary that came out
about four years ago called Life After flash It's largely
involved Sam Jones, but it has everybody in there. Surprisingly,
almost all of them are still alive as old as
that movie is. But It's a fantastic documentary that I
encourage anybody to check out, very good quality stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I watched it too, and it made me love
Sam Jones even more.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, what's a super guy? Yeah. I kind
of wish that I had seen the documentary before I
rewatched Flash Gordon. I think I may have enjoyed it more.
But yeah, you really, he was a guy who screwed up,
owned it and has done everything he can to change
his life to make about it.
Speaker 2: All Right, we're going to dive in.
Speaker 5: Let's talk about Flash Gordon first.
Speaker 1: We're going to jump into the history, all right.
Speaker 2: Flash Gordon was released December fifth, nineteen eighty, with a
budget of twenty seven million dollars, and it made about
twenty seven million dollars.
Speaker 1: Right, Okay, so it came Flash Gordon was born in
the nineteen thirties. I mean, the character was created in
the nineteen thirties. The King Features Syndicate was looking for
a character that it could use to compete with this
new character that had come out called buck Rogers. All Right,
so buck Rogers was a space adventure. They're like, we
need a space adventure of our own. They actually had
an artist working for them who came up with this
fantastic idea of a polo player from Yale that saved
the universe. A polo player, a polo player because that was,
you know, kind of the tough guy sport of the thirties. Yep.
And so Flash Gordon was immediately successful, had the toys,
had the comic strips, and then of course it started
having cereals, you know, and we had Buster Crabb, who
was an Olympic athlete, picturesque godlike you know, physique guy.
Speaker 2: He was a stud of the thirties.
Speaker 1: He absolutely was. And he played Flash Gordon in the movies,
and he played Flash Gordon in the serials, and then
a little later on he played Buck Rogers really also
in the thirties. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. He was
also in Buck Rogers of the twenty fourth century.
Speaker 2: But Drudgers in the twenty fourth and I have.
Speaker 1: Twenty fifth century. It's the twenty fifth centad right, Okay.
His character's name was Commandeer Gordon Nice.
Speaker 2: Nice is cool.
Speaker 1: So he's in those serials in the thirties and forties.
And then there's a guy named Steve Holland who's in
a TV show about Flash Gordon in the fifties, which
is a very important TV show for one reason. There's
this kid in the nineteen fifties watching TV named George
who decides that he wants to grow up to be
a movie director, and he wants to direct a movie
about Flashcourt Little George, Little Georgie Lucas, Little Georgie Lucas.
In the meantime. Unfortunately for him, this guy named Dino
de la Reentes obtains the screen rights to Flash Gordon.
It gets stuck in development. Hell Dyala Rennis has Frederic
Fellini is the guy he wants to direct it. Have
you seen any of Fellini's stuff?
Speaker 2: No, but I know he's revered.
Speaker 1: He's bizarre. Okay, it is. It's weird. Now. Dino had
had some success with some comic adaptations. He had done Barbarella,
and he had done this thing called Danger Diabolic. But
for some reason, Flash Gordon couldn't get off the ground.
Space Adventures had kind of fallen out of favor in
the seventies. You had more it was more like sci
fi dystopia type of stuff. When he goes to get
to the see if he can direct the movie from
King Syndicate features. They say, no, Dala Rennis already has
it and he doesn't want you to direct. I guess
I'll go direct my own space opera.
Speaker 2: Oh, this movie called Star Wars.
Speaker 1: It had just a smidgeon of success, just a teeny
bit of success, And so suddenly Flash Gordon was moving
on up out of development hell and into production.
Speaker 2: It's really it's incredible how these movies are so intertwined.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and Lucas totally stole. Like the scrolling
credits at the beginning of Star Wars totally comes from
the Flashboard and Cereals the buns in her hair comes
from the Flashcoordon comic books. I mean, he took all
kinds of liberties, but you know, shame on them for
turning him down when he asked to come direct it.
Speaker 2: Hey, Darth Vader and Ming the Merciless similar I mean, yeah,
the two biggest batties in the universe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all of a sudden, everybody's making space movies. Right,
So at this point Fellini has moved on, He's not
in it anymore.
Speaker 2: So he taps Nicholas Rogue.
Speaker 1: Yes, Nick Rogue is also kind strange.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he does this movie called The Man Who Fell
to Earth.
Speaker 1: Yeah, had David Bowie in it. So he goes with
the guy who wrote Enter the Dragon that edbrus Lee
in it. He goes with that guy. I don't remember
where the guy's name is. They go and work on
the script together, and they come up with a really good, deep, meaningful,
symbol great script, and Dino dy Lorente says, no, this
is this is not what I want. I want a
comic book, and this is going to cost me way
too much money. Yes, you're out. Let me find somebody else.
And so he picks up Mike Hodges, who he had
already slated to direct flashcoord in Part two.
Speaker 2: Really okay, well optimism, you know, yeah, sure, Mike Hodges
did the Terminal Man get Carter?
Speaker 1: Yeah, in Flash Cord right, Terminal Man was the only
sci fi experience that he had.
Speaker 2: Well at this point, Dino has worked with this screenwriter
named Lorenzo Simple.
Speaker 1: Yes, and we've talked about Lorenzo Simple before.
Speaker 2: Yes. He wrote Never Say Never Again exactly. He also
wrote Three Days of the Condor Papion King Kong and
was known to be the main guy who wrote the
Batman series from the sixties.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Adam West series.
Speaker 2: Yes, he's the guy who came up with Bam, Pale, crash, right,
all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Right, and say they went they went to him specifically
and said we want a comic book movie like your
comic book series. He said, this movie was just supposed
to be fine.
Speaker 2: Okay, so stop right there. Yeah, Flash Gordon. Yeah, if
you take Star Wars, yes, and mash it up with Batman,
the sixties series flash Cord, it gives birth to this
wonderful thing we called Flashboard.
Speaker 1: Yes, this colorful thing that we.
Speaker 2: Call it fun awesome, goofy, this campy, fun thing we
called flash book.
Speaker 1: It is perfect for kids. Keep going, let's see. But
the guy who ultimately is responsible for the way that
the whole movie works is this guy called Donna Elodnardi. Yes,
he had more influence over the way the thing looked
than anybody else, which is a little bit of a
problem because he didn't speak English. A number one and
number two he refused to read the script.
Speaker 2: He would make stuff and the director's like, what the crap.
Speaker 1: Is this pink trees?
Speaker 2: He had pink a boria was pink, and it was.
Speaker 1: And he would build these sets and it was there
was so much stuff on the set that they didn't
know where to set up the camera. There was no
place they couldn't move around. It was just like Mike
Hodges said, I think he was just out there just
having fun. He didn't really care that we were making
a movie.
Speaker 2: Mike Hodges needs a round of applause and a pat
on the back for stealing this great movie out of
the depths of this craziness.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the crew was Italian. Yeah, the cast was English.
Speaker 1: Mostly an American. Yep.
Speaker 2: They couldn't talk to each other. Dina d Lerenz just
barely speaks English.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sam J.
Speaker 2: Jones has never been in a movie before. I mean
he'd been in one or two things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he been to Blake Edwards, he was Playgirl, and
he had been in Hollywood Squares.
Speaker 2: Now the Dame. The dating game.
Speaker 1: That's what it was, the dating game. So that's we
should We should go there in just a second when
we start talking about the actors. But before we do that,
let's talk about the beginning of Highlight.
Speaker 2: Let's it's a kind of magic.
Speaker 1: It's a got.
Speaker 2: So. Highlander was released March seventh, nineteen eighty six. This
had a budget of nineteen million dollars. In its box
office was thirteen million dollars. This was originally titled The
Dark Knight.
Speaker 1: Yes. The idea for the story was born from the
imagination of the writer Gregory Whiton. Gregory when he was
about nineteen years old, he went to the Tower of
London and down in the basement of the Tower of
London they have like the largest armory museum in the world, right, right,
And so he's looking at all of these suits of
armor and other war battle increment weapon things, swords and
about armor and shields, and he's like, what if there
was a guy who's in a bunch of these things,
like he had worn these things throughout history. And that
was the spark that led to the idea of the
immortal man who has worn all of these battle uniforms
throughout history.
Speaker 2: It's such a simple idea, but it's such a good hook, right, Oh,
it's fantastic. What if there was a guy hook who
didn't die and this was his armor?
Speaker 1: Right? So Gregory white and he went to UCLA to
get his film degree. He had actually planned initially he
had planned to be a doctor. Really yeah, okay, And
so while he was still just out of high school.
He had gotten his paramedic certificate because he thought that's
a good way to get familiar with the medical field. Right.
And so when he goes out to UCLA to go
to film school there, he gets a job as a firefighter,
which is why later on he goes on to write
the script for the movie Backdraft.
Speaker 2: This guy is taking the most of his opportunities, right, Hey,
I'm here at Tower of London. Boom script, my part
time job, fireman, boom script.
Speaker 1: He wrote and directed this series called The Prophecy. I
haven't seen it. I don't know if it's any good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Christopher Walking, Yeah yeah, Christopher Waltkins like Gabriel the Archangel. Yeah,
and he's like pissed, so oh wow, okay, yeah I
like it. So he has this grad project of writing
a script. He uses the idea that he came up
with from his strip to the Tower of London to
write this script. And congratulations to his professor. I don't
remember his professor's name, but he said, instead of saying
things like professors say sometimes to their students, so this
is scrap and here's all the thing's wrong with.
Speaker 1: It, he said, this is a really good script. As
a matter of fact, this is so good, I'm going
to put you in contact with this guy that I
know that's an agent. We're going to see if we
can option it off for you. And that's what they did,
and the script got picked up. Grad student gets paid
two hundred thousand dollars for the script. Yeah, I mean
it was.
Speaker 2: Two hundred grand a lot of money.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of money.
Speaker 2: But yeah, he could have done what miss what's her
face did and Christmas story and said c plus you
know plus. But yeah, he told me this is good
enough to turn into an agent. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so the guys that pick up his script are
called William Panzer and Peter Davis. Okay, and so they've
got this script that they like a lot, they do
decide they're going to make some changes to it.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: The original script was a good deal darker, not as funny,
and didn't have a romance story to it.
Speaker 2: That's a good move. Yeah, some other changes that it had.
The immortals could have children, right, so like McLeod had
like thirty seven thirty seven children, right, Why.
Speaker 1: Did you have thirty seven children? Because we didn't want
to have thirty.
Speaker 2: The Kurgan was a little different too. He had been
over time, he had been cut up and beat up
and burned, and he was much more grotesque character.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he also was a more sympathetic villain.
Speaker 2: The only thing he had was the prize, like that
was the only thing he was going.
Speaker 1: For, right, He had lost everything over his centuries of living.
He had lost all meaning to life except for this
one thing, the prize at the end, to finish this competition,
and that was what got him up out of bed.
Speaker 6: Everything we got, we got Joker from the Dark Night.
Speaker 2: We got Clancy Brown full on Psycho. It's better to
burn out than fade away.
Speaker 1: I gotta say for Clancy Brown. I mean he Clancy
Brown wanted it to be more like the character was written.
He had this idea that he was going to be
in a bowler hat and like a nice suit instead
of dressed like a punk rocker rest of the time,
and was into this idea of there being an intellectual
motivation behind the darkness that he had. But he did
Psycho real well.
Speaker 2: He did Psycho really well.
Speaker 1: It kind of made the movie.
Speaker 2: Absolutely This guy's awesome. So Clancy Brown, you probably recognize
him as the bad cop Captain Hadley from The Shawshank Redemption.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the unbelievable prick actually had the audacity act magnanimous
about it, right. He was also in Starship Troopers and
he was also I didn't know this. He's done a
lot of voice work, but he was Curterer in Thor Ragnarok,
the big horned villain at the beginning the fights at
the end. That's Brown doing that part.
Speaker 2: He's got a great voice, which is huge.
Speaker 1: Later on, I got a little secret thing that I'm
going to talk about with Thor Ragnarok and Flashboard a
little bit later on. But there's connection. There's always these connections,
and I got it coming up. Okay, awesome, awesome. So
William Panzer and Peter Davis have the script, they decide
they want to make some changes to it, and then
they decide, okay, now we've got to get a director
to direct it, right, And so they've got a list
of like twenty directors to look at, and somehow somebody
gives them this movie called Razorback, Razorback, Razorback, which is
an Australian movie that is basically Jaws in the Outback
with a giant Pig as the Shark.
Speaker 2: Sounds great, sounds great.
Speaker 1: I've heard that it's one of those movies that you
just think this sounds like the biggest pilot crap, but
it is actually really pretty good. I want to go
see it. I've watched the trailer and I'm like, this
is actually interesting enough that I would go watch it.
I haven't seen it, but I can tell you also
the interviews that I heard, they said they watched the
first ten minutes of this movie and they said, that's
our guy.
Speaker 2: This guy's name is Russell mckahey.
Speaker 1: Then they watched Deryan Duran's Hungry Like a Wolf and
they said, that is definitely our guy.
Speaker 2: This guy's known for music videos.
Speaker 1: Right, and some that we've talked about in the past,
including Bonnie.
Speaker 2: Tyler totally Clips of the Heart, Totally Clips of the Heart.
Speaker 1: But he also did the very first video that appeared
on MTV by the Buggles. He's the one who directed
video Killed the Radio Star.
Speaker 3: That is awesome.
Speaker 1: The third installment that we've talked about that he directed, yes,
was from our def Leppard episode Okay. He directed the
Pour Some Sugar on Me video.
Speaker 2: The Pour Some Sugar On Me video.
Speaker 1: No, not that one, not that one. No, the first one,
the horrible was the one that directed that one where
they're in the old lady's house and you have the
random crowd of people I don't know, the wrecking ball
and the manly women.
Speaker 2: Yes, go back, flashback our Death Lepard Hysteria episode. Go
listen to us talk about that crazy, crappy video. And
then they said put that one in the trash, and
they made the one that we all know and.
Speaker 1: Love right that. He did not direct that one, but
he did direct Hungary Like the Wolf, and that was
enough to get him this job.
Speaker 2: I mean, Hungry Like the Wolf was a great video. Yes,
did Betty Davis eyes, He did Wild Boys by director a.
Speaker 1: Ton of Billy Joel videos, he was. And he did
some queen stuff too.
Speaker 2: He did Princess of the Universe. Yeah, I might as
well just go direct the music video myself.
Speaker 1: Right, and let's go ahead and have Freddie Mercury fights
with swords. Christopher Lambert, are you ready to jump into casting?
Speaker 2: Let's go into casting, all right, back to flashboard. There
is some connective tissue between these two movies. Okay, casting wise, Okay,
the number one draft choice to play the lead character
in Flashboard.
Speaker 1: Number one draft choice for the quarterback for the New
York Jets.
Speaker 2: That's right, and the number one draft choice to play
the Highlander in Highlander.
Speaker 1: Yes, it was Kurt Russell. Both movies, both movies, both movies.
He was number one choice.
Speaker 2: He was the number one choice. They offered him Flash Gordon,
and he turned it down. Yes, they offered him Highlander.
Speaker 1: He accepted, and then Goldie Hahn said, your Scottish accent sucks.
Speaker 2: No, I don't know what she said. Let's go make Overboard.
Speaker 1: Oh is that what happened?
Speaker 2: That's what happened.
Speaker 1: She talked him out of it.
Speaker 2: Well, you know Goldiehan in nineteen eighty seven had some pool.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that bikini in Overboard.
Speaker 2: Yes, Hello, Arnold Schwarzenegger almost got the part as Splash Gordon.
Speaker 1: Can I just say something real quick? Yes on this topic.
In the movie Overboard, you have the perfect connection between
Fright Night and the Lost Boys because you have ed Herman,
who played Max and the Lost Boys on the same
ship with Roddy McDowell, who played.
Speaker 2: Mister Vincent Vincent in Fright Night. That is incredible. I
did not make that connection until just now. All right,
So Kurt Russell was supposed to be Flash Gordon. Sam J.
Jones got this because Dino de la Renzez's mom was
watching the dating game and there's this guy she thought
was really good looking. Sam J. Jones.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, how does that conversation go. We're having trouble
finding an actor to play this part. Oh, you know what,
I saw a very handsome boy game.
Speaker 2: You should give him a call. He's a very wholesome
American boy. How does a guy who's produced multiple movies go? Yeah, okay,
that's a good good idea, mom, good idea. So listen
to this. Arne Schwarzenegger, Uh huh didn't get the part
because he had an accent.
Speaker 1: Yes, so let's just wait until he's a barbarian mister
Dino de la Reentez and make his accent part of
the character. I guess.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So he brought him back for Conan, right, and then
off he goes.
Speaker 1: Flash Gordon has to be an all American guy.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Jeff Bridges and Harvey Kaitel were considered for the
role of Flashes.
Speaker 1: See that's fascinating because Highlander is largely influenced by the Duelists,
which is Ridley Scott's first movie about this continuing battle
of swords that happens, and Harvey Kaitel is one of
the main guys in them.
Speaker 2: There you go. So when Dino brought in Sam J. Jones,
so before we get off of Sam J. Jones, he
brought him in, he didn't talk directly to him. He
just tucked around him. So it's like it was literally
like a model. Oh yes, turn around please, oh yes, okay,
And he was talking to his producer. He's like, yes,
I think this is our flesh. And let's face the
Sam J. Jones, big strong, athletic looking dude. Yeah, I
mean he had he was a model.
Speaker 1: He was a model. And and it's funny that you
say that because, like Mike Hodges, after the animosity that
developed over the shooting of this movie, at some point
it said to Dino de learned is why did you
why did you pick me to direct this? Like, you
know what what about my past made you? And he
and Dina de larn says, I like your face.
Speaker 2: Well, oddly enough, that was not the worst choice or
the weirdest choice that Dino Da LaRence has made while
casting Flash Gordon. Okay, okay, So while he is looking
for doctor Zarkoff, it came down to two guys. Topel, who.
Speaker 1: Is this the Little Girl Life?
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, Fiddler on the Roof to me? He is
also Colombo from forty Your Eyes Only. He is James
Bond guy, right, But he also wanted this guy named
Warren Oates.
Speaker 1: You know him a wild bunch?
Speaker 2: Well yeah, but you probably know him better as Sergeant
Hulkin from Stripes.
Speaker 1: Yes, uh, lighting up Francis.
Speaker 2: And so they couldn't decide between Warren Oates and Topal. Yeah,
so they flipped a coin, like legitimately, Like he said,
I've made some of my best decisions by doing this flip. Topel,
You're in all right? Max von Sideal got the part
of ming the Merciless.
Speaker 1: Yes, because he was a big fan of the comic
books growing up and he was excited to play this villain.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah. He had played Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: Most people probably know hi from The Exorcist, right, he
was the priest and the Exorcist. Yeah, he actually plays
the devil in Needful Things. Oh yeah, he's one of
the few guys who's played Jesus and the devil in his.
Speaker 1: Acting Chris interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so he's being the merciless. One of the
guys that they had originally looked at was Keith Carrodin.
Speaker 1: So Keith Carrodine was the other guy in the duelist
with Harvey Kitel.
Speaker 2: There you go, good job. Also considered for the role
of doctor Zarkov was Dennis Hopper kind of interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, that had been weird.
Speaker 2: This is the one that blows me away. Okay, now
before I say this, I believe that they really knocked
it out of the park with casting on Flash Courton, Okay, Okay.
Sam J. Jones and Melody Anderson were if he leads yeah,
Topel home Run.
Speaker 1: Well, Melody Anderson got the part, like she didn't even
get the part. Initially it went to some sort of
swimsuit model, and then Dino de la Reentis, in his
normal style, was like, Nope, I changed my mind. Let's
get this other girl. And she literally they called her
and said can you come to London tonight.
Speaker 2: She says she felt like she was kidnapped.
Speaker 1: Yes, Like She's like, I've got a v show phone
call and now I'm on a plane and now my
hair is getting dyed and we're starting production.
Speaker 2: Which we got to talk about that real quick. Sam J.
Jones has brown hair. They bleached it blonde. Melody Anderson
has blonde hair. Yep, they colored it brown.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: Continuing on with that thought, Max fun Side Ol awesome.
Speaker 1: Yes. Peter Wininguard Wineguard was played.
Speaker 2: He was awesome.
Speaker 1: Yes, had to learn how to throw his voice like
a ventriloquist because the mask was so heavy that that
set designer decided to make he choose.
Speaker 2: The scenery like crazy Clitus does.
Speaker 1: Awesome, he really does.
Speaker 2: Timothy Dalton future James Bond Oh, Yeah, playing an Errol
Flynn like character. Yes, Prince Baron, he was amazing.
Speaker 1: Yes, but the best has to be Yes.
Speaker 2: Brian Blessed as Prince Bultan.
Speaker 4: Gordon's Live Gordon's.
Speaker 2: Flying Blind on a rocket cycle. Everything he says is
over the top and amazing.
Speaker 1: Okay, so I gotta say something about that, right. So
he said, when he was a kid, this is the
character that he would play as a kid when they
played Flash Gordon out in the Field or whatever. He
would always be this guy. And so whenever he found
out they were making the movie, he went to them
and said, you are going to cast me in this part.
He said, I will break your back, I will break
your butt, I will cut off your you will put
me in this movie.
Speaker 2: And it worked.
Speaker 1: They put him in the movie.
Speaker 2: Oh well, who wants to live forever? Even like when
he's like muted, like like Volta and we're gonna kill
your daughter if you don't bow to me, He's like,
hell I Ming, like okay, fine. You know who else
was freaking amazing in her role? Or Nella Muti as
Ming's daughter, Princess Aura. Yes, and I don't know if I'm
even saying her name right.
Speaker 1: She is.
Speaker 2: Literally she's playing the sexiest person in the universe.
Speaker 1: And she was appropriately.
Speaker 2: She is the sexiest person in the verse. I was
seven years old and I.
Speaker 1: Was like a very very high and speaking of kids
and their reaction, we we talked to Caleb, like Caleb
my eleven year old, Yes, and he had watched both
of these movies with me, and you get and so
you're talking to him and you said, what was your
favorite part? And he goes, I think it was when
he was communicating telepathically, and then all of a sudden,
he went, Wow, this girl's really turning me on.
Speaker 2: She's a smart boy. So that's the cast. I mean,
we're talking Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Mary Angela Mulatto
as General Kalla. Yes, she everything she says is over
the top, like Brian, she said, what do you mean
Flash Gordon approaching open fire?
Speaker 1: And we had Richard O'Brien, the guy who played riff
Raff in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which he wrote,
Yeah is and by the way, teaser for upcoming episodes.
We will be covering the Rocky Horror Picture Show this
season or next.
Speaker 2: Yes, we can't wait for that. That's gonna be awesome.
He plays a character called Fiico.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: And actually in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I believe
it's the opening song they mentioned Flash Gordon in the lyrics.
Speaker 1: There was another guy this is. This is kind of
an interesting, interesting one. Philip Stone played the High Priest.
He was also the guy in the shining that was terrifying.
Speaker 2: Yes, he was the guy that was encouraging Jet to discipline.
Speaker 4: Yes man.
Speaker 2: By the way, just as a side note, there's a
lot of Bond connections here.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's do Sean Connery connections because we're about
to talk to Sean Connery getting cast in Highlander in
just a second. Yes, So Timothy Dalton auditioned to play
the part of James Bond replacing Sean Connery. He just
didn't get it.
Speaker 2: George Lazimbie got it. Timothy Dalton was like twenty three
to twenty four. Yeah, they decided maybe a little too young. Yeah,
So they came back to him in eighty seven and
he was a great Bond right, hit some less than
stellar scripts to deal with, but I thought he was
really good.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Okay, so here you go, here's some Bond connections for you.
Flash Gordon Wise all right, Max vun side Al plays
Blofeld and Never Say Never Again. Timothy Dalton, of course
plays James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licensed to Kill.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: Okay, look very closely, you gotta look super quick. Okay,
there's a guy loading Flash and Dale Arden's luggage on
the playing at the very beginning of the movie. Okay,
do you know what I'm talking about. There is a
guy who's loading their luggage and literally he's.
Speaker 4: Like, here you go, sir, uh huh.
Speaker 1: You know it's his whole line?
Speaker 2: Yes, A j Mister Hermann all he does is load luggage.
That's Robbie Coltrane. He ends up playing Hagrid in the
Harry Potter movies. Okay, and he plays he plays Valentine
and the World Is Not Enough and GoldenEye. He's like
a James Bond bad guy and he's in the freaking
Harry Potter movies. Hey, Topel plays Colombo in For Your
Eys Only. Yeah, so there you go.
Speaker 1: So moving on to casting of Highlander. Okay, so we've
got Russell mckahey directing. They can't get Kurt Russell to
be the part, right, they have some other ideas. Do
you can you tell me who? They said, yes, go.
Speaker 4: Ahead, yes.
Speaker 2: So the person who nearly got the part was Mel Gibson.
Speaker 1: Yes, which has been very interesting given this the Scottish Highlands.
Speaker 2: If mel Gibson had done, would we have got Braveheart?
Speaker 1: Probably not?
Speaker 2: No way, right, right? Mark Singer remember him the beast
Master himself? Oh right, They wanted him. They also asked
or thought about Michael Douglas, Ed Harris, Sam Shephard, David Keith,
Kevin Costner, Scott Glenn and Sting.
Speaker 1: Right Sting, who had just a little while before done
the movie The Bride, which had a Clancy Brown. They
also wanted Sting to do music too.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, so the Queen wasn't their first choice for Highlander.
They wanted either Duran Duran Russell McKay, right, Duran Duran
Sting or David Bowie.
Speaker 1: Right. Well, we'll talk more about that in a minute
when we get to the soundtrack. Yes, right, okay, So
they can't get any of those guys, right. Russell McKay
is sitting there flipping through a magazine and he comes
across a picture of Christopher Lambert. I asked my we
were talking about this because he was Christopher Lambert, right
for me? Right? But then you were like, I think
it's Christopher Lambert. And so I asked my neighbor, who's French.
I was like, how do you pronounce this name? And
he's like Lombert. I was like, long, Lombert, Lombert, and
he's like, yes, Lombert. And I was like, okay, yeah,
nobody's pronouncing that.
Speaker 2: Right, Christopher Lombard.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna call him Christopher Lambert. I call him
Christopher Lambert. So he had been in his first English
speaking movie just recently, called Gray Stoke, which was about Tarzan.
Speaker 2: He plays.
Speaker 1: He plays Tarzan, right, and in the movie they picked
him this is surprising because of his myopia, not because
they wanted a guy who couldn't see, but the fact
that he couldn't see caused him to have this like
a thousand yard very deep intense stare, like through the
top of his eyes. And they just thought it looked cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he had this piercing stare. Yeah, because he can't
see anything.
Speaker 1: Right, So Russell mkay. He sees him in this magazine
doing this intense stare that is really just a result
of his almost blindness, and decides, hey, this should be
our guy.
Speaker 2: That's hilarious. You know. You mentioned that. And one of
the things that they talked about during the filming. They
would have these long battle scenes in Scotland. They would
press the hill and they'd be like, cut, tell Christopher
to take his freaking glasses off. He couldn't see anything.
He was totally blind.
Speaker 3: And they did all of the sword fights. They did
all of the sword fights, and he didn't get hurt
until part two. Right, that's amazing. Yeah, I mean that's
amazing himself. But he had been trained. I got this
a little bit for you, right.
Speaker 1: Yes, he had been trained by this guy named Bob Anderson,
who was a Canadian Olympic gold medalist in fencing. He
did the sword work for The Princess Bride, which is
the best sword fight in cinema history in my opinion.
He did the Mask of Zoro, he did the Lord
of the Rings. And here's your here's another James Bond connection.
He did Die another Day. Okay, but you're ready for this. Yeah,
he's got a small speaking part in Empire Strikes Back.
But that isn't the coolest thing. The coolest thing is
he was Darth Vader during all of the lightsaber fights
in Empire strikes Back. Yes, of the Jedi, that is awesome.
This is the guy that trained Christopher Lambert how a
sword fight. So the small speaking part that he had
in Empire Strikes Back, he is the guy at Echo Station.
His character's name is Trey Callum and he says, we've
spotted the Imperial Walkers. All right, that's Bob Anderson. Sweet.
I think playing Darth Vader is way sweeter though. Yes, yes,
So they call up Christopher Lambert's agent, who says, yes,
he's six to two and of course he speaks English, right,
he does, right, And so they go to meet him
and she's doing all the interpretation for him at the table,
like they're like, oh crap, we are screwed. This guy
doesn't speak like when he said when he says hello,
how are you are? You know, it's very very heavy
French yes accent, which to me it never bothered me
a bit. It's kind of like it's kind of like
Mel Gibson in Brave Heart. The fact that his accent
wasn't spot on is okay because he lived in a
bunch of different places. You talk, funny, Nash, where are
you from? Lots of different places? Yeah, yeah, okay, he's
been a live for four hundred years. He's going to
have a weird way of talking.
Speaker 2: Yeah. But here's my problem. Okay, I mean I love Highlander,
don't get me wrong. But the actors who played the policeman,
they auditioned American actors who are living in England, and
they rejected them because they had acquired too much of
an English accent. And McLeod had lived in the United
States for four hundred years and he still can't be understood.
Speaker 3: That can be only one he I understood him perfectly.
Speaker 2: So Ramirez. They land Sean Connery himself as here is
the Egyptian Spaniard. Yes, he is the world's most famous
scott just making a Highlander.
Speaker 1: Yes right, yep, but that wasn't now the script was written,
but his sp his Spanish accent was on perfectly. He
worked so well, yeah, you give him my God because
it's wrong. Right. So here's a guy we're talking about,
Sean Connery, who when's the last time he lived in Scotland? Right,
he does it. He still has a Scottish accent, so
don't give me this. Well, he's been he's been in
America all this time. He's going to have an American
accent by now. Well, Sean Connery didn't.
Speaker 2: Okay, fair, fair, right, And by the way, the only
reason he took this is because they air shooting schedule
was in Scotland. Where are we going Scotland.
Speaker 1: I'm in the million dollar paycheck for one week's worth
of seven probably days.
Speaker 2: Isn't hurt seven days?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so he was at the end of that
seven days like if they went over, they had to
pay him extra bill and he's like, you're not going
to make the cut to Russell and like, Russell McKay
ten minutes before his time, ran out said it's a
rap for you.
Speaker 2: This is what he did. So he's like, oh crap,
we'll right out of time. He's like, all right, Sean,
look to your left, all right, look pissed, all right,
now look up now, look down now, look happy? Now
looks sad. It's a rap, and he goes you bost it.
So here's a couple other names I got for you. Okay,
these are the names that were considered for Ramirez. Okay,
they got Sean Connery.
Speaker 1: I mean it was written for Sean Connery. Yeah, it
was written with him in mind. Yes, the Egyptian spaniard.
Let's get the world's most famous scott Okay.
Speaker 2: But they looked at Lee Van Cleeve, Clint Eastwood, Clint Eastwood,
are you kidding me? Malcolm McDowell, Gene Hackman, Michael.
Speaker 1: Cain, and Peter O'Toole. Malcolm McDowell I think would have
been probably my favorite of those that.
Speaker 2: Would pretty good.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: All right, here's the other thing. Heather McLeod, who is
his love interest in Scotland, and his wife fifteen yeah,
his wife, yes, right, Virginia Madison auditioned for that role.
Speaker 1: Okay, she didn't, right.
Speaker 2: She shows up later in Highlander two the Quickening.
Speaker 1: Right right, Yeah, you told me about her. I forgot
about that.
Speaker 2: She's the best part of Highlander to the quick Is
there a part of that movie? That's it. That's the
that's the end of it.
Speaker 1: Right there. You haven't watched that movie.
Speaker 2: I did watch the movie for this podcast. I watched
Highlander two.
Speaker 1: You're not getting paid enough money.
Speaker 2: All right, listen, let's just talk honestly about Highlander two
for a second. Okay, in all honesty, I told you
I saw Highlander two first in the theater.
Speaker 1: This is why you don't like Highlander one as much
as you should.
Speaker 2: Okay, well maybe so. But I remember sitting in a theater.
I'm like, man, this is crap. This this just sucks.
But my wife, who had watched Highlander and loved it
because it's this action packed love story, she was like hurt,
like cut to the bone, because this movie sucks so bad. Yeah,
and then I was like, well, this stupid sci fi
movie is just dumb.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: Well, then I watched the original Highlander. I'm like, okay,
I get it. They undercut it. They absolutely undercut it.
Speaker 1: I have never seen it. I will never see it.
When I heard that it was coming out, I was excited. Yes,
and then somebody I knew went and saw it and
they said and they came and they told me. They're like, yeah,
they're supposed to be Aliens. And I was like, I
will never see that movie.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: It ruins everything good about Highlander. It ruins it.
Speaker 2: Yes, it does.
Speaker 1: And the ideally apparently number three like just acts like
number two didn't exist, right, smart move.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, and then I want to talk about the
role of Brenda for a second.
Speaker 4: Okay, okay.
Speaker 2: Brenda was played by this actress named Roxanne Heart. Yes,
I don't recognize her from anything. I think she's been
in Chicago Hope or she.
Speaker 1: Was in The Verdict with Paul Newman, which was a
big court drama in the early eighties.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's been in some stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah. They actually got her because she was a stage
actress and so they saw her in a play that
she was in.
Speaker 2: I thought she was fantastic.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, great.
Speaker 2: Her character is a little bit goofy to me. That's
one of the flaws that the New York Police department
has a sword expert at their beck and call, ready
to handle all sword forensic problems.
Speaker 1: Forensic scientist.
Speaker 2: She is a sword expert.
Speaker 1: She's both.
Speaker 2: Because there are such things.
Speaker 1: I'm an attorney, I'm a guitarist. I'm a podcaster. You
can't put me in a box.
Speaker 2: Bro She's a forensic genius and super sworded expert. Yes, okay, fine, fine, but.
Speaker 1: She was a She was a perfect casting because she
could play intelligent. Yes, she is pretty without being overwhelmingly so.
Speaker 2: I thought she was very attractive.
Speaker 1: By the way. Speaking of super sexy attractive women, us
back to flashborn Christopher Lambert's love interest for several years
like twenty Sophie Marceau, who of course was the princess
in Braveheart. Sorry yes, and also.
Speaker 2: A bonder heck yeah, the world is not enough.
Speaker 1: Speaking of other hot girls, Dino Dealer Entis's granddaughter.
Speaker 2: Freaking Jiatta Oh my gosh, majors. Yeah, and she can cook.
Speaker 1: That makes her major majors.
Speaker 2: All right, so we've cover Oh no, no, no, So Roxanne
Heart was chosen over Brook Adams, Rosanna Arquette Jennifer Beals.
Speaker 1: Brook Adams had gotten the part. Brook Adams got the
part and fell through.
Speaker 4: Is that right?
Speaker 1: Yeah? And Roxanne Hart was there to jump into the place.
Speaker 2: And I told you Brook Adams is a whole lot
on for me. Also, they wanted Tanya Roberts okay, and
she passed to do of you do kill?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: How about that?
Speaker 1: Nice?
Speaker 2: All right? That's casting for Highlander.
Speaker 1: Okay, So just another quick character. So Lieutenant Frank Moran,
the kind of chief inspector, is played by Alan North,
who was Dreben's partner in the Police Squad series that
led to.
Speaker 2: Nake a Gun. Yep, Wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: One of the things you mentioned was some of the
deleted scenes, but there are a bunch of scenes that
were filmed for Highlander, including I think one major scene
with castigear. Yeah, like McLeod's friend. Yes, all those were
filmed and then lost in a warehouse fire.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they cut them. They were supposed to be I
believe it is a Japanese immortal and he was working
in some office complex and there were supposed to be
and there was this big fight that they filmed between
him and the Kurgan but he was using two swords.
He was using the two sword samurai technique. Look like
it might have been good, but all we have left
is photographs.
Speaker 2: That's too bad.
Speaker 4: It's too bad.
Speaker 2: Here's the last bit of information I'm want to give
to you. Okay, you ready for this?
Speaker 1: Yes, this is going to blow your mind. You're ready
for this. Yes.
Speaker 2: According to this particular actor, he was offered the part
of Connor McLeod okay, but he turned it down to
focus on his wrestling career. Hulk Hogan, Ladies and Gentlemen
says that he was offered the part of Connor McLoud.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with that. That's
not possible. He might have been the Kergan.
Speaker 3: He might.
Speaker 1: Oh, he'd have been in the wrestling scene at the beginning.
That's what they offered him. He was gonna fight the
fabulous free bird.
Speaker 2: Hulk Hogan, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Speaker 1: No, I don't know that. I'm not going for that.
I don't think I'm gonna buy that. Okay, Okay, all right,
so we don't.
Speaker 2: Cast, don't casting?
Speaker 1: All right, both movies?
Speaker 2: All right, now we're onto the movie movie ready for production. Yes, okay, guys,
that is the end of part one.
Speaker 1: Join us next week. We will be back for part two.
Until then, be sure and hit us up on Twitter
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