I will tell you that his initial reaction to my bringing up the film was one of complete shock that I was even aware of it. But, then, that was his reaction a lot of times. I suspect anyone who's ever conducted a Random Roles interview quickly realizes just how rarely actors are asked about anything beyond their…

Finally got him on the phone, and I asked him how he felt to be the go-to guy for playing crazy for a few years there. He said, "Better crazy than boring."

Finally got him, did ask about Possession, hope to be able to get the piece posted before next week's Alcatraz, but we'll see how the scheduling falls out. But what a great interview it was. Totally worth the wait.

Friday night, to celebrate my third failed attempt to get Sam Neill on the phone for Random Roles, I watched Jurassic Park III on Blu-ray (I would've preferred to watch The Omen III, but I can't seem to lay my hands on my copy of it), then I spent much of Saturday and Sunday giddily devouring The Knights of Prosperity…

And, lo, the word did come down from on high: "If it's the will of
the people and a dream of yours, go for it." Paging Vernee Watson…

The most fascinating thing I learned from posting the link to this review on Facebook: a friend of mine responded…

I think the only real stumbling block is how many hits the interview would get…and given that I've watched her work for years, know her the second I see her, and still had to look up her name, I can't argue against the validity of that concern. But with that said, I'd like to think that there are enough people who…

As a father, I've learned to curtail my temper a bit. So I wasn't actually pissed. But I was certainly annoyed.

Yeah, yeah, I watch both shows, so I'm happy, too…

Which is funny, because I think the reason it felt thin to me was because it was such a basic kids vs. parents division rather than splitting the group into different "teams," if you will, i.e. Frankie and Sue, Brick and Axl, etc.

Lo and behold, I got a press release today for "That '70s Show: The Complete First Season" on Blu-ray. Seems like a reasonable excuse to see if he'd be willing to chat…

Aaron Paul has already hit his cinematic high: playing "Wasted Guy" in Van Wilder. He and I have already discussed the subtleties of his performance, which is sublime.

I would have, but as it was, we'd talked for 30 minutes, then she did another interview and called me back for another 15 minutes.

It was a phoner, but without Root's approval (which I don't have), I'm not really comfortable offering it up. Sorry about that.

Note to self: pursue interviews with James Karen, Kurtwood Smith, Bruce Davison, Clancy Brown, and Stephen Lang.

Kyle had already tackled Root's Coen collaborations when he did Random Roles, along with a bunch of other stuff, so I decided to go in different directions whenever possible. Plus, the last time I talked to Root (you'll see the link when we talk about Rango), I learned the hard way that his default response to just…

Thanks! I actually just posted on Facebook, "In a perfect world, this would have been a podcast rather than a print interview. What you read is almost precisely what you would have heard: it was about as perfect a back-and-forth conversation as I've had in a long time."

Yeah, I'd actually intended to ask a two-fer question about the Beverly Hillbillies and Little Rascals movies, but I ran out of time. But at least I asked Diedrich Bader about the Hillbillies in his Random Roles, for what it's worth.

From my 2009 interview with Ms. Thompson:

She in no way said that. And if she truly believed that he had been, I think it's fair to say that she would not have laughed after she made the comment that she did make.