The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987)

Welcome, everyone, to the commentary track for Garbage Pail Kids. My name is William Morris. I'm a film programmer out of Chicago, Illinois, and I am very excited, and all of you will be as well, because today with me we have Katie Barberi and Mackenzie Astin to join us to talk about this, in my opinion, absolutely wonderful film. And I can't wait to dig in. How are you both today? I'm so good. I'm so excited. Hi, everybody. I'm Katie Barberi. I play Tangerine. And William, thank you for being so sweet and such a fan. And you are not alone. And that's very exciting for us because this is a cult classic, which is a lovely payoff. And I'm going to turn this over to my dear, dear, dear Mackenzie Aske. Buckle aboard, everyone. Buckle up. Spark them up. Drain the glass. Buckle in. Here we go. There are cards. Mm-hmm. On the way. Oh, go ahead. Katie, do you... Go ahead. Katie, do you remember the spaceship in the script? Cause I feel like when the movie came out, like suddenly there was a spaceship, a Garbage Pail spaceship. And I was like, what is that? I actually don't remember. I'm gonna have a lot to say about the script versus what came on the screen throughout this process. Like I feel kind of bad for Will because I feel like we're just gonna like take off and he's gonna be trying to get a word in edgewise. But I do not remember a spaceship. And that is not how the script, the script was written by Melinda Palmer. And the script was actually, yes, it was about the Garbage Pail Kids and these very, very famous tops-chewing dumb cards that just became like this phenomenon. But it was a very sweet story, actually. And that is what we both signed on to. And there are some parts of that script that unfortunately didn't make it into the final edit, but also didn't make it into the filming process. And I remember that that was a big concern for us at the time. So, you know how the book is always better than the movie? Yeah. My contention is that that's because the human imagination is the most powerful supercomputer that exists. And... when the imagination fills in the gaps as you're reading the script, you know what I mean? Like you see the screen direction, you know, about the antique store or something. And your imagination of that is so much better than anything that could be captured on film. And then a thousand levels below that is the motion picture you're watching right now. Correct. And now here's the thing, but it's important to say this. they actually were able to build this studio in a warehouse this was a warehouse in north hollywood and like you just saw those two extras walk in front of of manzini captain manzini's um antique store that dodger lives in well that was just one part of that warehouse like there were all these different the entire all four sides of the warehouse were used The exteriors and then the interiors were the sets. It was really, it was not what our imagination probably took us to in the script, but it was extraordinary what the art department managed to do. It was very impressive. Oh, yeah. Art department is the MVP of this motion picture. Absolutely. For as much guff as people give for how things appeared, there's some sleeper, sneaky, beautiful art department stuff. Yeah. throughout that ever i'm sure you know garbage bill kids movie aficionados are well aware absolutely i mean it was it was amazing what they were able to do and they created this little world within this uh this warehouse okay here comes trouble garbage garbage everywhere garbage everywhere so this is this is where we begin to see these little guys um So this was the genesis of animatronics for our little dudes. It was unbelievable. I called myself the Snow White of the 80s because I was with the Garbage Pail Kids, and they were all played by the most extraordinary little people actors. Yeah, the other MVPs of the film. The MVPs. Those guys endured. It's just unbelievable what they put themselves through in order to play these characters. and they did it so beautifully. And we had, this was the genesis of animatronics. Like it was not what we now know of to be, I don't even know if they still use animatronics. Like they use CGI, they use a series of things. No, these were dudes that were behind the furniture, scenery, moving like wires to get their mouths to be open and their eyes to be. Here we go. There's a cutie on the screen. I'm trying to remember if it was hot that day. It looks like it would be. It was the summer. It was the summer. In San Fernando Valley. We were in Studio City about five minutes from my apartment. That's Marjorie Dlaw and JP Amato. And here comes Ron McLaughlin. Oh, yeah. There it is. That's one heck of a gang right there. It sure is. That is one scary-looking 80s gang. I don't have any money. He ain't got money. He ain't got money. Yeah, that's a lie. I have money. It's in my back pocket. I'm running out of time. Where we all carry our carefully folded up 10 single dollar bills. OK, now this was just incredibly abusive behavior. Yeah, that's showbiz. I was trying to act tough. Andrew was tough. He was a little bit tougher than I was. Dude, you look exactly the same, though. That's what's crazy. I mean, the hair is different, but you look the same. There it is. That's the money right there. Back left pocket, which is where I still keep all my folded signals. I remember this. It's so sad, but you love doing this. You love doing this. Are you kidding? I thought I was Harrison Ford. You did. You were all over this. I thought I was one of the Duke boys. He was doing stunts. Mac was doing stunts. He was very into this. That's the thing that's funny. This was all fun to do for the most part. You know, it was a movie. We were both working on a movie. We were both working on a major motion picture produced by, you know, a big company. That, by the way, everyone auditioned for. Everyone? All of the young actors and all of the young actresses from the 80s that became, some of them became A-listers and some of them didn't. They saw them all. And we wanted the choices. No kidding. Lucky or not, we were the ones that were chosen. Once again, how many golden raspberries was the film nominated for? Three. And how many golden raspberries did the film win? We didn't win any, but that's OK. We can enter again and see if we have a shot. They got to make Leonard part eight. That was the big winner at the Golden Raspberries the year that we were nominated, was Leonard Part 6. Leonard Part 6. The Bill Cosby vehicle. I am so, well, see, and that writes its own movie now. We'll leave it right there. Yeah, we'll leave it right there. On the screen is the extraordinary. He's wonderful. Can I tell a quick story about Tony Newley? Oh, I've got it. Anybody who's followed the Garbage Pail Kids movie, you know, stuff since its release knows. So I think it was the Orange County Register or the Los Angeles Daily News had a lot of fun with their review of the film. Anthony Newley is a world-renowned, gifted recording artist, singer, and dancer. He wrote the musical Stop the World, I Want to Get Off. And what many people don't know is, you know that song? Who can make the sunshine? The Candyman, maybe y'all have heard of it once or twice. He wrote it. Anthony Newley. Anthony Newley. There's also a song that I think is titled, What Kind of Fool Am I? That is correct. So the Los Angeles Daily News said, when this movie came out, its lead paragraph was something like, now I know what kind of fool Anthony Newley is. Oh, come on. My dad is 95 years old, right? So this is 40 years ago. So this happened in his 50s. Maybe he was... Yeah, 57 or so when the movie came out. It is still one of his favorite bits of newspaper reporting. He found the film abhorrent, but he appreciated the Daily News for that article. Well, see, the thing is, Mac was stubborn. Mac wanted to do this film, and that was the end of the story. He didn't care what the rest of the family had in the family. I think I'd already signed a contract. Well, you had always. See, that was a convenient thing. You'd already signed the contract, and John said, I want to read the script. And Mac's like, no, I'm in North Hollywood as of May. And that was it. That was the end of the story. That's how the Darbyshire Kids movie became what it is. A child of divorce, you see. There's two separate households. That's true. That's true. So we are right now at Captain Manzini's uh antique shop which is again the gorgeous set decoration of this film and anthony here it goes yeah real trouble yep when we found out anthony newly was playing captain manson that was it You know who was really excited about that was Scotty Grimes. Because I think he and Scott had actually worked together, maybe? I think he knew Scott. Scott had done Nine on Broadway. Yeah. And that's how that had come about. I got to say, that dashiki looks fantastic on you. I know you're not supposed to talk like that about yourself. But that's a good look. Oh, he was super cute. Super, super cute. Okay, we are now at my first scene in this film. Here she is, ladies and gentlemen. Now, there are some important pieces of information here. First of all, I was running 102 fever the day we shot this. And the doctor said... Yeah, you look hot. Thank you, darling. We can either put her in the hospital... Oh, you meant it the other way. We can either put her in the hospital... or we can, or she can, or she can do. Wow, wow, we, wow. You're looking a little thrown off. I mean, honestly, Katie, even though, how long have we been dating at this point? We had, okay, now's when we get into the good stuff, William. You haven't had, say, a word yet. We had been together for four months. Mac and I were boyfriend and girlfriend when we started this film. How did that start? How did we get together? So was this when Sean was dating Heather? This was when Sean was dating Heather, and it was probably Heather Brimes' fault, I think. that you and I met. Right, we were all hanging out in the same crowd, the same crew. Yeah, we were all in the same crowd. It was Grimes, it was Alyssa, Milano, it was obviously your brother. It was, yeah. And you and I looked at each other across the room and thought, oh, I'd like to make the worst movie ever made with him. And have that be our history forever and ever and ever. Okay, so I want to clarify something. I was three years older than Mac when we started dating. And I received a bunch of flack about that at that time. Now, obviously, we're the same age. Now, it doesn't matter. But at that time, it was like a really big deal. I think he was 13 and I was 15, right? So I was- Yeah, but I was a very mature 13. Here's the thing. I want to make it very, very clear. Matt was the lead on a television series. Well, no, no, no, no, no. Now he's one of the ancillary characters. But still, working as a regular on a TV show. One of the leads on a television series. He was the young lead on a television series, which was not even a Nickelodeon show. Like, this was, we're talking about a primetime show. He was working with adults. He was making a handsome salary that he had no access to. That's right. $30 a week for allowance. I knew that, because I was his girlfriend. And this was a dude that, I mean, for me, somebody with his amount of responsibilities at 13... is to somebody who's 20 and doesn't have those responsibilities. You know what I'm saying? And I defend to this day my choice. As do I. I think you took a real risk dating such a... I mean, obviously there was some life experiences that neither one of us had had, which led to the demise of the relationship throughout the filming. because we had no communication skills and we were too young to be dealing. I mean, for two actors who were adults on a movie together, it would have been difficult, I think. And I'm very, very proud of the two of us that we were able to go through that and still show up at work and deal with the situation today. Oh, it looks like an elephant blew his nose. I mean, this is just like Liz and Bert breaking up during Cleopatra. You know, that's the thing. I'm still waiting for my barge. But, you know, absolutely. Wait, so seriously, though, and this is, I hope viewers aren't frustrated that we're not commenting on these spectacular stunts. Believe me, they're going to be much more into this. But wait, so we were about halfway through filming when... uh when our relationship ended yes and i think right about in this scene is when we started having problems oh my god really and i don't know what the problem was what happened i mean i'm a guy that's the problem what i'm a i'm a human man let's start there okay well here's what happened here was one of the problems matt got a crush on anthony moody's daughter shelby Ah. But we were actually technically already broken up there. I'm going to defend him. He wasn't cheating on me or anything. But he got a crush on Shelby. So, of course, I thought that the only way to deal with that situation was to become very dear friends with Shelby, which was easy, because she's a gorgeous human being, and then politely let her know I'd rather that didn't go anywhere. And some people said to me that they felt that that wasn't fair, and I was always okay with that. She still hasn't called me back, if anyone's... Keep it track. And she won't. So, okay, this right here, as I'm sure aficionados know, is one of those spots where the art department did a fantastic job dropping in a joke in the background of what is, you know, a plot-moving scene. Like, right there. Primetime TV? Come on. Yeah, he's surrounded by some tampons. Some tampons. Yeah, this was an interesting night of shooting. I know we were pushing the clock. Like, you know, I was only allowed to work eight hours because I was underage. Because you were a kid, right? Yeah, and the expression that they use is turn into a pumpkin. The kid turns into a pumpkin at midnight. And I know we didn't finish this scene until just a little bit after midnight. And I remember distinctly lying in that pile of what was just water and Froot Loops and Cocoa Puffs and the occasional tampon. The first AD asking the studio teacher, the social worker, hey, how much time we got left with it? And, you know, there was like two minutes to midnight. And the AD goes, I think it's two minutes. And the social worker goes, make it 10. Yeah. Which, in retrospect, I can appreciate. Because had we stopped shooting at exactly midnight, there would have been another night we had to go back out and line the Cocoa Puffs and tampons. Yeah, well, that was kind of them to actually have you wait 10 more minutes instead of having to do it again. I think he was being kind to all of us. I would concur with that. Yeah, absolutely. Sustained. So, yeah, I remember that Rod, our director, was freaking out at that point because you had a stunt woman, actually. Your stunt person was a woman, I think, in her 30s or 40s? Probably, yeah. And he was losing patience with her because she couldn't get down that manhole fast enough. And it was because we were losing the time. That was the problem. No kidding. Here they are. There's an alligator. There's some farts happening. There's some pimples. There's some vomit. There's some bad breath. There's a lot of stuff going on. I mean... Honestly, the fact that these actors were able to accomplish what's being accomplished in this footage is spectacular. Because they had absolutely no vision. They could not see. No, they could see through their mouths is what was happening. They could see through their mouths. And their eyes weren't real. They could see through their mouths. And that was the extent of their ability to walk from point A to point B. And they also couldn't hear us when we were talking to them because they got a giant foam head on them with all kinds of stuff happening. Terror and, you know, just... Right, so the animatronics, like, worked, you know, it was simple servos, pneumatic servos that, you know, like... What is it? The switch that you see thrown when the electric chair goes on in a movie. Like, that same size switch... that was, you know, moving water through a pump system to open the mouth and move the eyes left and right. Super simple, you know, mechanics. Tremendously rudimentary. Tremendously rudimentary for the time. But you've got a 35-pound, you know, foam latex and rubber head on top of your head. Yeah. It's the San Fernando Valley in the summer. Oh, my God. You know, they had big A.C. machines with hoses coming in to cool people off on the regular, but it's still pretty damn hot in there. I mean, they were the heroes. We've lost a couple of them. I know we've lost Debbie G. Carrington, who played Valerie Vomit. Yeah. We've lost a couple of them. I believe it was Natnerd. I'm not sure if Larry Green is still around or not. I know Susan Rosito passed away a couple years ago. That's correct. Who plays Messy Tessie. Who I actually had a wonderful relationship with. She was really, like, looked, you know, was sort of maternal toward me throughout the production. No, they were, these were the sweetest people you will ever meet in your life. Yeah, but still, with all the stuff on their head and all the, you know, All the, you know, their vision being completely... Vision and sound. Non-existent. And the screenplay and some of the production value. It really was the blind leading the blind. It really was. But yet, we could not see and we walked forward. Did you have... We could not see. Did you have a lot of rehearsal? Speaking of all these things with all the heads and not being able to see, did you run through a lot or was it kind of just going for it? Well, I mean, I believe we rehearsed and shot like pretty much anybody rehearses and shoots, you know, on a motion picture. I mean, they did cover us. You know, we had our masters and we had our tights and we had our medium shots and what have you. But there was not a lot. I remember the, I don't think there was a table read. Was there not? I don't remember. No, not that I can recall. Yeah. I don't remember a table read. So this was Alligator and he was played by a fantastic actor. Kevin Thompson. Kevin Thompson. Now, we should mention, we should mention, some of these guys, they were all hired to be inside these costumes, but they were not hired to have their voices on the film. And Kevin Thompson was one of the actors who was so great at creating this character, Alligator, that he did his own dubbing, his own shooting, I'm sorry, his own sound. Yeah. For Alligator. Yeah, Kevin... Yeah, Kevin and Arturo Hill, who plays Whitney Winston, it's his own voice. Phil Fonicaro's own voice is Grease or Greg. And I think Nessie Tessie was played by Rod Amato's daughter. No, I think Chloe ended up doing, oh yeah, that's right. That is, yeah, that is Nessie Tessie. It was. But she might have done another voice too. I forget who did Nat Nerd's voice. Now would be a good time to tell you this. This makeup knew that I was still, after we broke up, I was in my sadness. They got me the Polaroid of you in the tub. They snubbed that to me, and I still have it to this day. Incredible. Incredible. And I believe illegal if you carry it across state lines. I haven't, though. I mean, it's complicated. It's in a place that no one will ever find it. Oh, that's perfect. That's good. So, you know, I've seen people make comments about that particular scene right there where Dodger's getting out of the tub with the kids and all that stuff and how Dodger keeps taking a bath with the kids and all that stuff. Michael Jackson best. Go ahead. Sorry. Fabulous. Totally. I was totally into it. Absolutely. And also one of the quirkier aspects of the motion picture, I believe, is the well, first of all, the these people from outer space that are, you know, garbage pail kids. Well, we discovered they were from outer space because we didn't know that when we read the script. Right. But the fact that they happen to be, like, master seamstresses is, like, is pretty impressive. Yeah, they kicked ass. They really did. They were quite good at the 80s stud applications. Right. It was great. Tangerine was all over it. She was going to use the heck out of him. It was a bad, bad situation. Amazing. But they were good. I mean, they were supposed to be eight from outer space, eight years old from outer space, and fantastic at making 80s clothes. For some strange reason. Wait, say it again? They were supposed to be eight years old from outer space and fantastic at making 80s clothes for some odd reason. It's the space stuff. You get a lot of knowledge when you travel through the Van Allen Belt, allegedly. You sure do. You sure do. Here she is. Here's what's up. Here's what's up. We all want to know how old Tangerine is. I was 15 when I was shooting this film, right? How old is Tangerine? Why does she live in a basement? And as I... He's going to try to get her attention now. Okay, we were definitely not still together when we shot this scene. Are you sure? No. No, we were fighting. We were fighting. And it was hard. But we were professionals. We were professionals. Well, that's the thing that I was going to say about the bathtub stuff. Is that, like... Bottom line, everybody was there to do a job. Everybody was there to get the work day done. You know what I mean? I think at a certain point it became clear that we weren't making Dr. Zhivago. But we had a lot of stuff that was working against us. Do you want to talk about the car accident? Oh, we're absolutely going to. But first we're going to talk about... Oh, wait a minute. No, it's not here. Didn't we try to have you slide across the car? That's later. I think that's later. Oh, that is later. Oh, okay. So it had just happened. Right there, that wall. Bam. All right, so to clarify, that is absolutely not me driving right here. No, they were... Right. I'm being towed, and why am I being towed? Because I crashed Rod Amato's car just trying to get it around the corner because I couldn't drive a stick shift. I mean, I really couldn't drive a normal automatic vehicle either. I said I could drive, but I could not. 1969 Triumph in pretty good shape. It was a beautiful car. It was. It was a beautiful car. And so the shot that preceded this when it was still daytime, as we pull away from Tangerine's house, there's a cinder block wall that you catch on the far right side of frame. And... Because I think, you know, a couple of things, that you didn't drive stick, and also the steering is not a power steering, you know what I mean? No, I can barely see around there. And so you were so focused on the clutch and the shift and making sure that it didn't stall, that once you got it into gear and we were going forward, the idea of turning was just another... It was too challenging. So the 1969... It was worthy that I was staying in character in that. If I'd have given the 20 minutes of preparation that I asked for, dang it, this would not have happened. Fair. Okay. An amazing experience, though, except for J.P. Amato, whose 1969 triumph did not come through the filming prestige. It didn't make it to the end of the movie. But it was auctioned off, I think, for some sort of money. Okay, so I'm about to take my top off. You're taking it off right now. I'm taking my top off. Mackenzie's reaction is fantastic. Shock, awe, a curious feeling south of the navel. That was terrifying for a girl my age because the thing that concerned me was making sure the bra stayed on, of course. That was what was important to me. That was important to me too, but probably not in the same way you think. Exactly. Exactly. There you go. That's what I meant earlier when I said I'm a human man. Well, here's the thing. That whole confusion, that was going on the entire shoot. It wasn't William. It's not that he didn't think I was cute anymore. It's not that he didn't think I was pretty anymore. He was just irritated with me. So, no shit. I actually did fit in this duffel bag. You did? I spoke too soon. I forgot about this Yeah, there it is. Oh, no, no. But this was a pet. This was... Okay, so this is me doing comedy, which I enjoyed. I enjoyed. That was me doing comedy. And Juan... That's a good haul. He just played and... Hey! I mean, the clothes were cute. Aww. That's when she starts to... She starts to see how crafty he is. Oh, my God. He can fit the smallest of duffels. He can. And Mac, we were very excited as a production that he could fit in the duffel. He wasn't thrilled that he could fit in the duffel. They didn't know how to, like, where, we couldn't figure out where Dodger would hide. And I was like, well, I'll get in the bag. How about I get in the bag? And Rod Hamilton was like, you're going to get in the bag? He goes, yeah, watch this. I'll get in the bag. And I got in the bag. And he did. And he was able to close it entirely. Were you doing the work of a contortionist? I mean, I'm an actor. Well, that's great. That's great. I respected it then and I respect it now, darling. Oh, bless it. This is actually probably, I think, my favorite sequence in the movie. The getting out of the bag, folding it up, and walking dejectedly down the alleyway because the girl that I'm crazy about took off with her curiously named boyfriend in the cigar box full of money with her top back on. Am I allowed to say asshole in this commentary? William says yes. Yes, Cantorine was with an asshole. He was with an abusive asshole played by the sweetest guy in the world named Ron McLaughlin, who, before I forget, will tell you that he did an interview with a friend of mine who has a podcast. And he said that what was crazy for him shooting the kissing scenes with me was that my mother was always standing about 10 feet behind the camera. Oh, my goodness. That was a bit uncomfortable for him. But he thought that was really funny because he was in his 20s. And again, I'm 15, right? Yeah, that's, I mean, that's, again, that's showbiz. That's showbiz. But to my recollection, the guy was, Ron was an absolute gentleman to all of us. He was lovely. Those three horrible people. Marjorie and JP and Ron? Yeah, well, the characters that they played, they themselves were the biggest sweetheart. And just... They were so supportive of us, I think, because the whole cast, I think, just really felt very supportive of the young actors. You know, that was Mac and myself. Just like to point out, I think that's the first act of overt violence, the Garbage Pail Kids. Okay, now it's important to say this, and I'm going to say it. In the original script, all of this stuff that they do, like the violence and the tearing off the pants of and the and the running over things that happened at the end of the movie that was the garbage kids vengeance and it kind of made a little bit more sense that they would be angry with all with everything that had happened and want to get revenge in a comedic way with everything that had happened to them throughout the film. But in the editing, they decided to put these little pranks in the middle because they felt like the kids might get bored. And to this day, kids, I mean, child viewing audience. To this day, it concerns me when studios come in and the editing department or the marketing department says, no, the original story isn't going to fly. Well, we don't know that. You know, it's narrative. And when we sign on to a project... You know, the reason why characters do what they do is important, just generally as a statement. As an actor, I can say that. You know, it's frustrating when films are re-edited like that and the original story that you kind of fell in love with isn't there. And I'm going to say one more thing while I'm at it, while I'm on my Garbage Pail Kids soapbox. Go on. All right. Dodger was an orphan. Dodger was an orphan who had kind of an abusive, uncaring foster mother. And that was in the script as well. By the time we shot the scene, they were changing it to make it so that he wasn't as hurt by that because they were concerned that the children wouldn't understand, the child viewing audience wouldn't understand that sort of abusive parent situation. And then the scene eventually didn't make it into the film at all. It was important to understand that Dodger was abandoned in his life the dodger needed love he needed acceptance he needed understanding and he needed it from tangerine and he didn't get it but he did get it from captain manzini and that was an important arc in the story in my opinion that was not it that was a moonwalk right there i just moonwalked he did you were so proud of that moonwalk How could you not be? I interrupted to make my comment about the moonwalk, Katie, but I want to address what you just said because I have a firm belief that the Garbage Pail Kids movie, The Tangerine Cut, will sell like hotcakes. You know, and this may be a bad time to say this or to just throw it out there at you, but I'm going to go ahead and do it. I think we need a sequel. What do you think? Oh, yes. That's going to heal all the ills of the world. It is. It is. And I think we can do something different this time. Tangerine's in New York. She's a huge fashion designer. Where's Dodger? He's in Los Angeles rooting for the ball club. Well, there you go. As the movie stands in its current form, it has had a bit of a reclamation, I would say, by a lot of people. You know, similar to my age... people I think have really been drawn to it. And what I hear most from people is the subversive elements that they're drawn to, whether it's the anti-sweatshop things that are, you know, throughout all of this, or they're just anti-capitalist, the kind of anarchist energy, the fact that the movie doesn't really, you know, technically function by the normal rules of a movie, especially a studio film. How does that feel for you guys? You know, you've already talked about that things maybe changed a bit along the way. Wait, I got to interrupt you for one second. This is important. I'm so sorry. I got to clarify. This is one of the main reasons that I'm so excited about doing this commentary. So what I just did there, it's taken me 40 years to have an opportunity to clarify. When we were shooting this scene, I asked, see this medium shot right here? You see this? That's a medium shot. That's from the waist up or the chest up. That shot right there is what I thought we were shooting when I sat down in that chaise lounge. And I sat down awkwardly because I thought I was sitting into the shots and that we were not going to see below my waist. And I think Harvey just forgot to tell me that it wasn't Harvey Jenkins, who was our wonderful cinematographer, forgot to tell me that it was not a master shot. But there have been some very inappropriate memes, kind of disrespectful to the 15-year-old version of myself. suggesting that I, on purpose, kind of opened my legs to the camera. Now, I had on tights and underwear, so all the things that were said about somebody being able to see something inappropriate, not true. And we knew that to begin with. But I thought I was sitting down into a medium shot. So it was important for me to clarify that, because even though I was emancipated, legally 18 at that time, which is going to lead a lot into what you're talking about, William, I was still a child. And nobody had any ill intent there. I think they just forgot to tell me that it was a master. But I wasn't given the opportunity as a young actress because of it to kind of protect myself in that situation. And the memes, the tweets, the stuff, it's all still out there. No one can see anything. That's a bunch of BS. But I also was and am a lady and never intentionally did that to the camera, ever. Well said. So now, go ahead, Mac. Oh, you mean in answering Will's question? Yeah, in answering Will's question. Sorry. Yeah. No, it's fine. There's, you know, the imp in me wants to point out that if people don't know what Katie's talking about, they're going to go back and look, which is an action that has probably been repeated, you know, infinite times since this film came out. Yes. Because that's what people do. Oh, here. This... Oh, this is not the song that was nominated for Worst Original Song. This is the better song in the film. Is this We Can Do Anything by Working With Each Other? That's right. Yeah. Oh, it's great. This is a cool song. I still sing this song in the shower. What are you talking about? Well, this song also fits in perfectly to the things, the anti-capitalism, all of that. To the things, exactly. So I had a conversation with Kevin, actually. I had a conversation with Kevin Thompson not many years ago. It might have been three or four years ago. And for them, it was very confusing as the actors playing the Garbage Pail Kids because there was sort of a confusion about they wanted them to be eight years old and innocent, but at the same time, very mischievous and doing all these things that adults might do. you know, in that sort of situation. I think if all heads had prevailed at the same time, that we might have been a little bit more clear of a vision as to what we were making. The NRT point of view and sort of the anti-studio point of view was cool. I think if it had been a little bit more pinpointed and focused on we're just going rogue or... go the other way, more of the traditional children's film, either way, if they'd have gone one direction or the other, and really committed to it, and we'd have known about it as actors, I think it would have helped. There's still some things about that anarchist point of view that speak to the audience, and I think that's great, but I think we could have done more, is what I'm saying, if that's what the movie was about. Mac and I thought we were making a film for young adults and for children. You know what I mean? And it kind of wasn't that. From the minute I crossed my heart to, which we'll see in a little bit, I crossed my heart, which was actually much more my breast, in order to seduce this young man. It's not a children's movie anymore. You know what I mean? Well, I mean, that's where kids get their food to start off with. Well, and I believe that's what that was said on the set. But be that as it may. was not a children's film in in that you know at the time uh there were parents organizations up in arms there was all kinds of stuff that didn't need to happen we've known from the beginning look we're making an anarchist anti-children's film it could have been a smash hit actually well well i think i think the i think it's i think there's a sub of the subversive element is based in the anti-consumerism that the original cards stemmed from so so we all remember the cabbage patch kids being extraordinarily popular we all remember seeing newsreel or newsreel news footage of of parents clamoring past one another to try to get the last Garbage Pail Kid in the store because their kids desperately needed it for whatever the holiday or birthday was. And if I'm not mistaken, that's sort of what John Pound and Art Spiegelman were after. Or technically, from what I understand, if what I read on the internet is to be true, the Topps CEO, Arthur Shorin, had the original idea to create something that took the piss out of the Cabbage Patch Kids. And so I think that sort of counterculture subversive message that's inherent to the cards themselves, the cards that have artwork that is fantastic, artwork that vastly supersedes the execution you see in the film before you at present. Correct. Artwork that tickled the imagination and made people laugh in all different ways. For all different reasons. Yeah. But then, and no disrespect to capitalism because that's where we are, but the attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the cards by releasing a motion picture hastily put together, I think kind of undercuts the anti-consumerist message of the original artwork. But this is what happens with capitalism, with consumerism. The intention of the artist may be to have some sort of message deeply buried within, but the way for the artist to make the mainstream is through the capitalist medium. Correct. And so I think this movie is an interesting statement about... the aggressive desire to capitalize on the popularity on a zeitgeist moment, but with poor execution. And the cards, even though the cards were rushed out in a lot of ways, the artists were in complete control of what they put on the two-dimensional pieces of paper. and and and there's it's art i mean technically it's it's art yeah it may be i mean some of it may be uh shocking some of it may be offensive to some but it's art of course it's much easier to draw something and to and to create something in that way right or there are shall i say not easier but there are no limitations right within that medium that that there were limitations within within the production of this film but also this was not a i mean i don't know whether or not that's clear but This was done on quite a two-string budget. I mean, we really, and we were tight at 90 days. Yeah, and it's all on the screen, ladies and gentlemen. There it is. That real dearth of capital behind the film is right there in the picture. We can see it all. No, but so with the thing that I was saying in mind about this being kind of a reverse mirror image of the anti-consumer message inherent to the cards themselves to begin with, There is something that's kind of elegant about such an awkward and stilted and weird and strange and artistically macabre presentation like the Garbage Bill Kids movie being the natural consequence of trying to capitalize on something that is making a statement about consumerism. Now, this is a guy who wants to feel... good about what he did earlier in his life, but is continually stuck watching the fucking movie. Well, here's the thing. I've watched very little of the movie, actually. Here's the thing. That is why, and it's also a statement about Hollywood. It's also a statement specifically about marketing departments. Let the original story that the storytellers wanted to tell let it be let it happen trust your audience to be smart enough to understand it and perhaps an audience much like the audience you see before you in the film yes trust trust this audience trust this audience to be smarter yeah exactly to not notice the guy stealing the hot dog yeah i i here's the thing i i i mean i i think just generally as a statement William, to answer your question in many, many ways, which I think we've tried to do, we all needed to be more on the same page. And that's every aspect of the production as to what it was that we were making. Again, if we would have gone in that direction and if the studio had respected it, this is exactly, this is an anti-consumerism message. This is an anti-children's film. This is something to truly honor the concept and the reason for the Garbage Pail Kids parks to begin with. I think if we would have all known it, it could have been something, I think we would have felt safer in that process. I do think, as I've confessed, a big fan of this film, Obviously, I would love a world where exactly what the two of you wanted exists, but the tension that exists within this movie is very pleasurable, I think. What tension are you referring to? There is something elegant in how bad it is. Well, I think it becomes something outside of that conversation. You know what I mean? Because I think because of all the different aspects and the different voices and whether or not people are on the same page, we end up with something that you can't really say good or bad about because you can't check the boxes to prove that in either direction, I don't think. I think you end up with something, yeah, like it becomes undefinable. Like this scene that is about to happen. It becomes undefinable. Yeah, this scene that's happening, you know, doesn't exist elsewhere in movies. No. This is the only time you'll see a crocodile in a biker bar looking for flip-flops. The only time you'll see a crocodile in a children's film doing that. OK, we need to clarify something right now. Those were real Hells Angels. Really? Those were real Hells Angels that they got to shoot that scene. What? Wow. Yes. True, true, true. Absolutely true. They got Hells Angels. for this project, for the Garbage Pail Kids movie. Those were the real guys. They showed up in their motorcycles and everything. Amazing. That guy actually lost a toe during filming. He did, but in another part of the movie. Right. Not at the hand of Alligator. Yeah, no, these were real biker dudes. These were real tough dudes. These were not central casting experts. These were the real guys. Amazing. Was it, since it was, you know, there are extras like the Hells Angels here, but it seems it was a pretty tight crew. Was it predominantly just the core group of you that were there? Or were there very many other people involved coming in and out? What was interesting, we're going to see Tangerine's fashion show later on. What was interesting was trying to explain to the extras what the hell was going on in the scene. That was fun. Oh God, I just flashed on that. That's right. Like trying to explain, like how do you, because I feel like that fashion show was filmed towards the end of the movie, right? Yeah, well number one, it was so cute because Mac, he didn't see the fashion show until he saw a screening. We saw a private screening at Atlantic and he's like, when did this happen? He got kind of protective. He was like, Katie, I wasn't on the set when this happened. What was happening? Who are all these people? What happened? That's so funny. There were all these extras. And, of course, we know at the end of that scene, we're not there yet. But, you know, these guys in the movie theater, there's a series of very insane things that are going to happen with these little people with these heads on them. And, like, how do you explain that to people that have been brought onto the set for $50 a day, plus overtime, who shoot this movie? Like, what are they shooting? What is this? that they're experiencing. Can somebody please explain it? And it was really... I think Wad gave up kind of in the middle of shooting trying to explain it. You can feel that a bit. I think, again, in a good way towards what we're talking about, this unreality that this movie creates. Because the extras, like right there, especially truly look like they weren't told what was coming. They weren't. It just... It got to the point where Wad tells them it was more fun to watch the... Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, those are their bikes. Those are their motorcycles. There were a couple other people I wanted to mention. Especially, you know, we'll get to it with the fashion show and then with our warden later. But the fact that Leo Gordon and Lynn Cartwright are in this movie just adds to the insanity of, like, the... the Hollywood connections that can be made here because they're, you know, I mean, they're those kind of people that a lot of folks maybe wouldn't recognize by name, but by face they've seen them. So I worked with Lynn. That was a fashion show. She played the host of the fashion show. I didn't realize who I was working with at the time. What, like just for argument's sake, let's like just pretend for a second that I didn't realize even right now in this conversation. Who? So she was a member of the Cartwright family. I'm not sure if it was her or if it was her sister that was in the original Sound of Music. He was a member of the acting Cartwright dynasty, basically. No shit. Yes. No shit. I can tell you another piece of interesting information. The producer was looking at my mother to play that part. Oh my God, really? My mother, Audrey, they thought about it, but then they thought, no, they didn't want, they didn't want kind of that connection in the scene. They wanted me not to know this person. And because of that, I really didn't talk to Ms. Cartwright that much on the set. We didn't have that much interaction. And I later find out she's a member of, there were two members of Polywood Royalty on this film. I don't know if you've heard of a young man named Mackenzie. He's... His father is a guy named John Ashton. Don't know if you've heard of him and his mother. Yeah, Katie, I promise you nobody's heard of me. Patty Dean? Yeah, sure, sure, sure. Relatively famous. All my relatives are famous. Yeah. It's all right. It's all right. We'll carry on. We'll carry on. I'm not going to talk about anybody else, just the parents. But OK, so Lynn Cartwright at the fashion show. And then the other gentleman you named was the warden at the state home for the ugly. Leo Gordon is his name. Yep. right right who has a face that's recognizable from hundreds of films and a few uh post office walls right and i believe they're married correct i think leo i think leo gordon and lynn curry were married okay that's information i didn't have there you go that's how we can learn anything by working with each other no and here's the thing it was it was it was people coupled up coming onto this project now did their marriage end after this movie I think things got rocky periodically for both of them throughout their love lives. I can imagine. I can imagine so. And they only had to shoot a couple of days. That's showbiz. It was too much for them. So yeah, so I don't know. I mean, all the stuff that takes place, obviously, that you see that we're so like the the biker bar fight scene the fashion show those were days i think i had a couple of days off during production and so there's stuff that i don't remember taking place that uh that it wasn't until i saw the film uh for instance this i don't remember this being filmed yeah this is this is lovely this is lovely this is everyone's worst nightmare that this happened it probably wouldn't happen this way but it might happen another way and this is like just this is terrifying I don't get, I've not gotten in a hot tub since I saw this scene. I'm good. Just in case. Just in case. I'll do a sauna, no hot tub. Thanks. I'm good. Truly. That book is so, that's one of my favorite props in the movie. It just says really black magic underlined. Right. Really black magic. Again, art department. The art department had a lot of fun. They did. The art department was great. Now this is, I think we're about to see a wig happen. I think, is this a moment where he's going to flip over? Anthony's going to become, Tony's going to become an acrobat? Oh, right. Yes, that's right. That was pretty impressive. He did the stunt himself. He did. That is so not true. Oh, but I have a story. I have a story real quick, completely unrelated to the film. So I really did become very, very good friends with Shelby Newley. And I practically lived at the Newley's house. over a couple of summers. One time I came over and Tony was swimming out in the back with a dear friend of his. And Shelby and I started doing relay races under the water, like competitions. And the dear friend that was next to Tony, they came up and they said, wow, that was unbelievable because I was able to swim back and forth under the water without breathing. And as soon as that gentleman left, Shelby said, you know who that is, right? And I said... I know Tony's friend. And she said, that's Sidney Sheldon. No kidding. Sidney Sheldon was into my. There you go. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. Hey, it hasn't been boring. No, we cannot say that this business has been boring. Mackenzie asked. No, we can't. We can't. I mean, we, we, we can, but just not too loud. Or loudly. Now, Sidney Sheldon, of course, is responsible for half of the television shows that were on from 1955 to 1980, right? Right, right. Yeah. Right. That's a pretty big name to hold your breath for. Correct. I didn't realize I was holding my breath for Sidney Sheldon. In fact, I was. It was a very big deal. And also, while we're at it, Tony's first wife was Joan Collins. The Joan Collins? Yes. That was his first wife. Impressive. The wonderful Gareth, Sylvie's mom, who was like a mother to me. I still have articles of clothing that she gave me. Truly, yeah. Okay, this stuff just, I don't know if you experienced this, but I experienced kind of anxiety about sequences that were being shot that neither one of us were a part of. When I would find out that they were shooting, like, a movie without us there to kind of try to fix something, it was terrifying for me. So that sequence with the children until you get into it and all the stuff at the stay-at-home for the ugly, that was really scary. Yeah, brilliant. Our tax dollars at work. There you go. That's not my joke. I stole that from probably the How Did This Get Made podcast. There you go. There you go. Stay home for the others. Also, this is pretty fun. You know what I mean? A summer evening in the San Fernando Valley riding on the back of a state-owned car. Well, you got to do the stunts. I didn't get to do any stunts. I mean, Katie, arguably the film itself is a stunt. You know, here's the thing. We're not talking about bravery. That's a separate conversation. You were incredibly brave. On every front. I've seen a lot of people ask about this building. This building was, I think, a DWP building, right? I don't know. Like I said, I wasn't in that sequence. Okay, there's the damaged triangle. See that crash? Okay, that was not the art department. That was me. If you see, it's like the car at the beginning of the preview shot when we drive off was prior to that incident. Then I think we went and changed. They attached a rope to the front of the car. Or do you... Oh, here comes the Dukes of Hazzard slide. Oh, there it is. It's coming. Yeah, no, here's the thing. I felt as Tangerine that my character would not have a card. She wasn't that wealthy. So I went ahead and took care of that for the... Brilliant, brilliant. That was just character research and, you know, doing my job. Aw. There it is. Yes. Woohoo! That is 1,000% a child repeating what he sees on television. How many times did you have to do it? Look at Max's face. He's terrified. Oh, so you were driving. Okay, and you got the turn there. You made the turn. He was terrified. Yeah. I don't know. You know what? We probably didn't do that take too many times on account of the previously mentioned risks. Yeah, well, no. I believe that Max's entire management team insisted that he not get in a vehicle with me again after that happened. But he was a professional, so he did. Well, I think also there was a stipulation about making it so that the car was not driven. You know what I mean? So a variety of shots. So that's probably being pulled by a rope, right? Oh, OK. Wait, wait, wait. We got to talk about this. We got to talk about this. So Mac and I had broken up by this time. There was tension. We had a hard time communicating with each other. And Rod says, kiss his ear at the end of the scene. The director. Which Mac was not. She didn't know that. That's the realest moment in the whole movie right there. Like, when I go from what did she just do to looking at her in the face? The realest moment in the entire movie. That was, it looked like a performance. It was not. That's funny. OK. Katie, do we want to talk about the sign outfit? I've been through enough therapy by now that I think I can. Yeah, OK. Or you could just let the thing speak for itself, which it really does. Here's the thing. Her clothes were super cool. I mean, our stylist, she was rad. She was awesome. And I think there was more 80s design that was inspired by this designer than probably many designers would like to admit because the stuff they had tangerine in and that she was supposedly making, it was very cool. However, I couldn't eat anything. There was no food for Katie. Like I was on a starvation diet the entire production of the film because you really- That sounds healthy. That sounds real healthy. Yeah, it was really strong and it wasn't gonna look right on camera. Right. It's showbiz. There you go. This scene, I think, made it into the preview. I was thrilled that I was in the preview of the movie. This was very exciting. How big was this? I know you talked about the set, how it's constructed. How big was that area, though? When you're running back and forth between these places, is it like a city block, or is it even smaller? So, no, that's what I'm talking about. That was the outside of the warehouse. That was one side of the warehouse. And Tangerine supposedly lived down the street from Manzini's. Yeah, I mean, you probably count the steps in one of those shots, even the one with the moonwalk. If I'm not mistaken, the math works out. Each moonwalk slide is approximately two and a half steps. Correct. Don't even listen to me, Will. No, there was not much distance, but I was impressed by how that looked on film, actually. It really was. The art department, they kicked the mask with what they were given to watch it, truly. It's so tough to introduce the girl that you care about to your friends, you know what I mean? And this is like a typical guy introducing his girl to the friends scenario, where she just doesn't approve. And this is... Again, do not listen to me. This is the guy who's going to do what he's told. This is the guy who's just going to say, yes, yes, dear, and end the conversation. That's how that's going to have to go. OK, this is an important thing. This is an important thing to point out. Rod Amato pulled me aside before this scene, because in this scene, I am supposed to seduce Dodger. And he pulled me aside with a very important and lovely and well-thought-out word. He pulled me aside and he said, Katie, pheromones. I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Oh, my God. He said, pheromones. It's not, I want it subtle. There it is. She's going to cross her heart. Good Lord. Yes. Um... There you go. And I didn't know how to seduce. I was 15. I didn't know what pheromones were. I was 15. But apparently Tangerine did. And somehow that managed to... And while I'm at it, I just want to take a second and pay homage to this character. We don't know where Tangerine comes from. She was from the wrong side of the tracks. She was on her own. She was a series of things. I was a young actress in Hollywood that it was just me and my mom kind of against the world. I loved my dad, but my dad was in Mexico. He had a wonderful position in hotel administration, but he made money in pesos. I mean, I was not a wealthy young girl. I was a young actress and trying to make it in this industry. And as I look back on the filming of this, I think I understood Tangerine better than I realized at that time that I did. And I honor her. I honor her because there were tough kind of parts of me that didn't necessarily come out in Katie, but that were able to come out in this character. And I honor her for that. And that's something that I hold in my heart. She didn't have an easy life. And I appreciate that character. With that in mind, did you, were the two of you, encouraged, allowed to improvise on a large scale at all? Or would it be, you know, just those moments, like you said, where, you know, Amato pulls you to the side and encourages something. But, you know, like you bringing up Tangerine, how much were you able to put things into that that were not necessarily in the script? I mean, I'm going to be very, very honest. I later became what's known as a telenovela star. Their turn, not mine. which is actually scripted improvisation, like most of the lines are not what's in the script, and you get one take and you move on. And so I became very good at improvisation, but I think at the time we were filming, I'm going to be very honest, I don't think I would have trusted myself to improvise that much. I was still too young to trust my instrument enough to improvise in scenes. Mac? Yeah, the moonwalk and the Dukes of Hazzard slide. That was it. That was the stuff he got to try. So also, we're kid actors. And so the structure of the screenplay is the Bible for us. And our job is to go know your lines, say them correctly, say them on time, be there on time, hit your mark, and provide the emotion that is called for by the screenplay. So the idea of improv, I think, gosh, in some ways, probably still to me, is something that you don't necessarily do because you stick to the script. So I think the only places for me where I felt comfortable enough to do that was with the couple physical moments that I mentioned where I thought it would be cool to moonwalk because I thought I could moonwalk. And who doesn't want to slide across the hood of a car carrying a bag of clothes made by space aliens to impress your girlfriend who goes out with a drug dealer? especially in a skirt I'm not interested in doing that but Mac was all over it that was a really really cool moment for him you know what I think also maybe halfway through the film we realized it probably wasn't a good idea to give her money yeah make the day there was already quite a bit of improvisation happening around us I just want to point out that's a beautiful car right there that's probably the nicest prop in the film oh come on That car, that's a great car. Manzini's car is a beautiful car. It is. It is. And the Triumph was a beautiful car at one time. No, that was your method acting. You were, like you said, you were making it correct for the scene. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. Right. And I, you know, if I could try to tie the room together. Wait, I got to interrupt. I got to interrupt. So I love needling back. Again, we were broken up. We were fighting. Any opportunity that I had. So he... So I was holding the signs at that moment when he was posting the sign on the tree. I was holding the signs and I turned to the director and I said, sir, and he was having to hammer the sign into the tree. I said, sir, I don't think she'd be holding her own signs. And Matt was like, give me those fucking things. So he's holding the signs and trying to hold the sign up with the tree and hammer it at the same time. He needed a third arm. Look, it's work. Anything for love. Anything for love. There you go. There you go. Aw. I liked these scenes in the sweatshop. I did. I liked these scenes in the sweatshop. Well, I do really like... I had someone... I read something recently online, too. Someone talking about truly being very genuine. They were like, hey, everything aside with all the talk around Garbage Pail, this movie is very body positive. You know? Like a truly... Like the things that do, again, the things that get through, whether they were there originally or not, but especially, you know, this scene on the surface, but the whole movie, it really is there. And this person was talking about how much it meant to them when they were a kid. Like seeing, yeah, yeah. That's great. Wow. That's huge. I might even call that a mangled triumph. Yeah, exactly. You just said... You just said the things that managed to get through, and I want to say intentionally, maybe not, but they managed to get through. I don't know if it was intentional. So that's the thing that I couldn't really quite put into words a little bit earlier, is that there is something about this time capsule moment. For as unconventionally enduring as this film is, it does speak... that moment in time very, very loudly and very, very clearly. This is the 1980s. Full haul. A full haul. You know, unequivocally. Full haul and full stop. Yeah. I mean, look at that. Where else are you going to see fur on a jacket like that? Stop it. And by the way, that bag, I didn't get that bag and I'm still angry about it. I do have the jacket back. You got to keep that jacket? Oh, of course. Oh my God, no kidding? Yeah. Does it exist somewhere? It does. I have it. That's a retirement right there. Absolutely. There you go. I don't have to do anything else again as long as I live. The beading on the back is no longer on it, obviously. All the beads fell off. Yes, yes. We all take a beading. We all. And that jacket took a beading. But I still have been known to wear it, honestly, and with pride. I don't know if I ended up with any keepsakes or memorabilia from this film other than the intense psychological damage. But the problem with psychological damage is you can't sell it online. You can't sell it online? I don't know that that's true. I think somebody would pay you to hear about it. Absolutely 100%. I think that's a business we can do. No, but, like, who's going to wear my psychological damage out to a party? The jacket. They're not going to wear the psychological damage out, but there may be something here. Like, we can charge for five minutes of what it is actually like. Oh, man. Here we go, ladies and gentlemen. The fashion show. One of the greatest sequences. This is one that I love to hear people talk about because they want... I absolutely love my driving here. Just pulled away. What's that? Oh, I was just going to say... I love when I read about people talking about this scene because for a lot, it's their favorite. And then for a lot, people say, I just wanted there to be more vomit in this scene. Oh. You know, I had a hand. Mac, did you? I wanted to ask you because I've never asked you this question. Did you help to make the vomit? Because I did. No, this is the, I did not help. How did we, we, we, we, we, maybe I did. Are we talking about plastic buckets and sort of a granular clear? stuff that gets scooped in there and then you add water and stir? Well, no, yeah, that was part of the process, but they also had, remember slime? Remember that toy slime? Yes, yes. My job was very specific, William. My job was to cut up the pieces of sponge, of sponges that they used on actors, like the makeup department, that had been colored with food coloring to resemble different pieces of semi-digested food. and cut them up into various size and shapes and throw them in the vomit. That was my job. And I loved that job. And where was I? Like studying trigonometry or something? You were in school. Yeah. You were in school. I wanted to be in school with you. But I was hired as an adult. I was emancipated so I could work any of the hours that an 18-year-old could work. That was a can of Dust-Off, in case anybody couldn't recognize it very clearly as a can of Dust-Off from the time. But they took that off the camera car, put some tape on it, and it became the knockout spray. There was zero product placement here. None. Everything was covered. I don't know why the companies didn't want to be a part of this. I think there's a couple of things. There's some Pepsi products in there. Are there? Yeah, that were pretty clear at some point. But, you know, I would imagine, like, you know, there was some connection that Topps was hoping to make with PepsiCo, and then PepsiCo maybe said, sure, go ahead, and then at a certain point maybe pulled that license. But I don't know. I'm talking out of my ass. You know, the thing is, it's, you know, what people get involved with in the beginning of the project may not be what they're involved with at the end of the project, and that's True of anything. That's true of any project ever. So this is actually an interior. This is the interior of the studio. This is not exterior. You can barely tell. There's Lynn Cartwright. No, you can't tell. You totally can't tell. There's Lynn Cartwright. She is Hollywood royalty, Matt Gaston. Very good. Very good. These were extras. These were models playing. These were extras playing models who were given very little information about what they were going to do. What was... Except just be mean to them. Well, here's the thing. No, but I mean, and also they had to, it turned out they had to go on runway. They did not know that they were going to be modeling. The less information they were given, the better. There you go. Candid camera style. Just throw it in and see what happens. Yeah. Yeah, throw it in and see what happens. It worked. So I've thought about wearing this for Halloween about 25 years off and on and never followed through on it. What are you talking about? The tank top, the bow tie, the tails. You know, there is still time. Again, I think somebody thinks that. There you go. Somebody like this. Somebody like this. Was this the guy you're talking about, William? Yeah. Dang. I'm pretty sure. Hopefully I didn't get my wires crossed, but I'm pretty sure. Was until they made that movie. There you go. Clutch right here. Too old as Einstein, too bald as Gandhi. Too weird. Well, that's just weird. That is horribly offensive. Horribly offensive. Too weird because... But at the time, a bunch of things that were okay in the 80s. I will say, though, as far as 80s films go, this one does not age very creakily with that kind of jokes. It doesn't really have that much where you're like, oof. No, you know, well, here's the thing. It's probably because it's so irreverent to begin with that maybe that it doesn't, it reaches beyond that ability. Yep. Those types of really offensive things that were okay in the 80s, that's like for more mainstream stuff. When you see that on like a series or a movie that everybody saw, it's like, oh my God, how could they have said that? Or how could they have done that? How could they have made fun of a full-bodied person? Not the Garbage Pail Kids movie. It is universally awful. Well, it's an equal opportunity offender, is the thing. Thousands of years from now, thousands of years, people will look at this film and still know how bad it is. I think thousands of years from now, those kids are going to be in another part of the galaxy saying, oh my God, how did they know we existed all the way back then? Yeah, the poor kids that they say just got squished by the truck. So many of them. That's the... Yeah, the explanation just being, ah, squished in the truck. Crushed. That's what happens. Their attempt at coming down to planet Earth. It does feel as though it pulls from a variety of different seminal plot points in different kinds of films. And sort of crams it in. Like, you know, suddenly... where they're trying to rescue their friends. This is the first we've heard of them. Right. Oh, here it is. I think here's the wig. I think, and I'm not positive, but it's when he's going to go into the garbage pile. Is that what it is? Or did that already happen? Anyway, Anthony was furious about that wig. He's enraged. Because the stuntman, they put a wig on him that he felt was not. What stuntman? The stuntman for Tony Newley that went into the garbage dump, remember? That rolled into the garbage dump? No, that was Anthony. No, it wasn't. Oh, my God. No, we're going to talk about another stuntman coming right up here. That double doctor. Man, oh, man. For this sequence. All five of us had to see ourselves in that moment. Like, that's... We did. Okay. That's some psyche fucking right there. All right. Now, I had to be mean to him in this scene. Really, really mean. Oh, man. And he cried, and he really did a beautiful job. The kid's really trying as hard as he can to serve up a good performance. Yep. And I asked him, and I wasn't really talking too much to him because we were in that space of trying to seem super tough and like nothing mattered and we were all cool. But I did ask him what his motivation was, and he said the idea of anything happening to his brother. To what? To your brother. That's what you answered. Oh, that old chestnut. There you go. Well, apparently it worked. It did work, and you did a fantastic job. Oh, no, no. I meant being worried about something happening to him. Look at how successful he became. You want him, Sean? Max? You know, here's the thing, man. You're the one that doesn't want to do the Comic-Cons. If you do the Comic-Cons, you're going to be right there. And we should be doing them all together. I think there's something left out. Well, no, it's just, you know, I don't know if I'm ready. You'll be ready. You'll be ready before this DVD is released. We'll talk about that right now. If I can find this outfit. I'm going to do some, I don't know if that's going to fit you any. We may have to look for a different pair of jeans. Yeah, if you start doing the con appearances, you have to wear a different one of the outfits every time. Yeah. Right. Now we're talking. And if the tank top fits you, I'm very concerned. Katie, you know what I have? You know what is crazy that I actually still have? I have eight original posters. like posters that we were given when the movie came out. So from 1987, full-size, you know, whatever that standard one-sheet poster size is. I have three of them. You have three? Yeah, but don't talk to me about the poster. I'm still angry about the poster. I was supposed to be in it. All right, I'm sorry. I brought it up. You know, they're getting... Mac is just trying to get a word in edgewise in the first time. See, some things never change. The first time we opened his mouth. So wait, you have three of them? Are the edges a little banged up? I have one that's pretty pristine and another two that have been through some wars, yeah. Yeah, yeah. All the ones that I have are a little dingy around the edges, but, you know, then again. That's right. Aren't we all? I just got a reel on Instagram that celebrates our 38th anniversary, by the way. I think, yeah. On our 38th anniversary. It was supposed to come out. It came out on the 23rd or something like that? 24th? Yeah. Wow. Good for us. 38. And we've survived it. We're here. That's right. Still here. We are here. There she is. No. Okay. For me, this was my moment. This was my Brooke Shields, Andy McDowell, Cindy Crawford. You're working it right there. Well, you know, I did what I could. But I felt like I was about eight feet tall. You look eight feet tall. At least eight feet. I don't. No, I mean, there was only 12 feet of Mylar strips. There you go. You look eight feet tall. Okay, so we talked about the extras earlier for the fashion show. Those poor souls, those are the ones that we're about to see experiencing very, very insane things. That, again, nobody bothered to tell them why it was happening. Like, no bother. There's a wind machine, and you're going to act like something smells very, very bad. And that's about it. We're not going to do any more. Why should we? You didn't sign an NDA. It's none of your business. I think you're both right as well. At some point, it's just going to take too long to try to explain what's actually going to happen, so you may as well just go for it. Yeah, no. No. Right, yeah. It would have required half of the day. Nobody got time for that. I'm very curious when, so you finish the film. You're done. It's pretty quick. Three months, right? Pretty tight turnaround. Three months done. Film comes out. Obviously, things didn't go, you know, necessarily the way you guys had hoped. But how... We knew... You knew that... So, was there a cast and crew screening? Okay. No. Well, it was really just... It was me and Mac and some of our very, very close friends. Oh, yeah. God, that's right. I sort of... I think I remember that. I think I remember my dad, like, driving us there, but we left late, and he's like... There was traffic on Sunset, and he's like... He's taking... What is he taking? He's on Oak, I think he's on Oakwood or something south of Santa Monica. And he's like blowing stop signs, which is not my dad's behavior. By which I mean, he was doing the California stop, like almost stopping and then going through. But I think I still ended up being late to that. No, we had, well, we, I didn't, I know we didn't stop before you got there. I don't remember whether or not we were late. This is like the small, the screening before the release of the film. Correct. It was just, it was inside the Atlantic building. When we saw it, we knew there were going to be people that really liked it, and we knew there were going to be people that really did not. And some of us were both of those. And some of us then developed some new personalities. That's it. No, I mean, you know, like, it's exciting to be in a movie. Of course. You know what I mean? Like, that's, you know, for all the shit-talking that I've done and will continue to do, like, it's still exciting to be in a movie. And so, you know, I'm sure I walked out of that screening, like... Mackenzie has gone on to do films like Iron Will. Mackenzie has gone on to have a fantastic career in... Can't hear you, Katie. There's Dobermans barking. A very well-respected actor, as well he should, because he's wonderful. Thank you, Katie. That's very kind of you. It's true. Just yank the bars right off the... Stay ugly of my soul. That's my job. This was fun. Counting three and having a bunch of, you know... He was such a badass. Look at your face. You're like, ah, you're like Rambo going in there. I'm not sure if that was me. It was you. No, that was your face. I'm not talking about going to the pinball. Yeah. Although you would have been after. I'm not sure it wasn't me either, but I doubt it was. No, you would have been after doing that stunt. They would have had to tell you no. Yeah. Mac wanted to do all his own stunts. Brilliant. Toulouse-Lautrec, brilliant. Who played Toulouse-Lautrec? I don't know. That's Phil, isn't it? No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't one of the kids. It wasn't one of ours? No. Okay. I'm sorry, not Phil. I was thinking that was Kevin. It looks a little bit like Kevin. No, but it looks a little bit like Phil. The guy that played to lose the track looked a little bit like Phil. Okay, but it wasn't. They hired... No, no. Okay, cool. Also, I should point out, they were a very... They were awesome. They were a very tight-knit group of actors, little people in Hollywood. Like, they had their network very, very well set up, and they always made sure that they were working. And they were very, very supportive of each other. Very supportive of each other. They were a great group of actors who knew about all of the projects that each other were going to be doing, and they were there for each other in a very supportive way. Very well organized. Very cool.

So is it fair to say that that Garbage Pail Kids song is pretty close to this Murph's? Listen, what are you insinuating? What are you insinuating? I think this came first. You know, great pieces of art often resemble each other. That's what's important to keep in mind. Yeah. I'm just trying to keep Mac from going into shock. I'll make it. I'll make it. I still have tobacco. All right. You know, this is, okay. So now, now we're going to get into, so now Dodger has rescued the Garbage Pail Kids, who are the people that have been there for him in the right way. This is still, this is still that guy, Leo? That was him? Or that was another guy? Yeah, they pulled his pants down when they beat him up so he couldn't catch him. Wow. Okay. It's an actual sentence that just happened. Yes. And it's now been captured forever. So these were our girls. These were my models. And these girls were super sweet. They really tried. They had no idea they were going to be doing the runway that day. But they really tried. They were awesome. Production run out of wood? I mean, why not, like, you know, put that, make it, like, you know, keep that thing a nine inch, nine inches of platform, 10 inches off the ground. So it's a runway. I have that poster. See Tangerine's Fashion Show? You have that? I have it! That's mine! No kidding. I have it. That's, that's a second retirement. Well, here's the thing, no, and, and, and, and, you know, there, there are always, for any actor, Most, for the most part, there are lean times. I'm never getting near to that poster. Ever. I don't care how much they offer me, that's mine. Somewhere in Southeast Asia, a guy has just put down the pipe watching this and thought, checked his Bitcoin and thought, we all have our price, young lady. You know, exactly. We'll see. We'll see. Like, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to say, I can't give you the poster, but I could put myself online to talk about the making of this film for five minutes. And be honest. Can you take Ethereum? No. I have to be honest. I have to be honest. And I'm going to be. I was a young actress in Hollywood. I did not, like I said before, I was just trying to make it in the industry. And also... I'm Mexican-American. At that time, in the 80s, I was told by my management team, by my publicist, don't say that you're Mexican. Like, that was something that was really hard for me to understand at that time, probably just what we saw passing from the camera, also not something you normally see in a film, just a little ellipse. But I was a young actress trying to make it in this industry with all that confusion, Mexican-American, not able to talk about who I was, not able to talk about what I was about, confused, all that stuff, making a motion picture with Anthony Louie and Mackenzie Astley. And despite everything, I'm still very proud that I was a part of this project because of that. And because of the guys that played, the little people that did this film, I love each one of them. All of the cast members, all of the crew, they were awesome. And for me, it was still a really, really beautiful experience. It really was. It really was. And I'm sorry, like I say again, William, if everybody had been on the same page about what was supposed to happen, I think it could have been if it was anarchist and it was, see, this is where we had trouble. We didn't need to tell them what was going to happen. Like, why? There were fans behind him. Blowing air on them. Why tell them what was going on? What for? No reason. Don't tell them. Okay, just run. We're not going to tell you why. Just do it. I think if everybody had been on the same page, it would have been more common. Okay. Here comes a vomit. Here comes a vomit. This is my second job. Boom. See those little pieces? You're the chunks. I'll put it in my digestive food. All me, guys. Good work. Hey, that's nice work. Thank you. I can really see the chunks. It worked. There you go. Thank you. Okay. This absolutely positively is not Mackenzie Askin. That is... That is... This is absolutely without question not... Not... And here's the problem. Here's the problem. Because there's a thing called pause, you can pause it and see that it is not Mackenzie Astley. Not then, not now, not ever. And here's the problem. Mack went to the production that day. Now that's teamwork right there. The hair's different. The hair is very different on this guy than it was on me. Also, again, not Mackenzie Astley. That's him. This scene, honestly, though, Mackenzie, I won't lie, I watched this three more times again ahead of this just to, you know, reacquaint. And I got very emotional during this scene. Are you going to tell us about that? I just need to know because I'm already dealing with a budget on this. Just let us know. And if you're going to split the bill, absolutely 100%. You know... I think it's safe to say that with a whole bunch of physical activity right there, the somatic system gets pretty wound up. And seriousness, it's a weird period in my life. There was a lot of stuff going on at home and so forth. So I think the combination of sweat and violence made it a lot easier to access the rather uncomfortable emotions you may have seen displayed before you just a few moments ago. And he's a wonderful actor. Now, this is one of the final scenes that was shot. And this was, I'm going to be very honest, because why not? Who cares? This was my opportunity to kind of say to my dear Mac, who at the time, we were just coming out of this relationship, still working together. How I was feeling about that. And that was my way of saying that. That was my way of saying, I'm sorry. And I want you to know that I love that we have this history together that will never, ever go away. No matter what happens, it will always be there. I love you, Katie. I love you, too. That's sweet. That's sweet, sweet, sweet. We're in this garbage together. We are. Estamos metidos en la basura. So what happens? He figures out that if he plays the song backwards, the kids will go away? Yeah. Oh, here it is. Oh, yes. This was so cute. Max's reaction was so cute.

And Tony Lully was beautiful as Captain Manzini. Classy, sweet, loving, all of the things. It is. I do greatly admire him for giving it his all and going this hard when his career was at the point where he wasn't necessarily happy with where he was at. But he still turns in just as great of a performance as always. It's wonderful. I don't know if he signed on to make this movie thinking it was going to be OST. I don't know if he did. You know? Okay. This was the nominee for worst original song. The eighth annual Golden Raspberries. And it did not win. It lost to... I want your sex from Beverly Hills Cop 2, the George Michael song. Imagine that. It deserved to win because I want your sex is actually awesome. Right? What were they thinking? So are we saying we can't trust the Razzies? Well, you know, first of all, we deserve to win, all of them. Bye, guys. Bye, Valerie. Bye, Greaser Greg. Bye, Greaser Greg. Oh, there it is. There you go. And now we watch the guilty as charged. The guilty as charged. That's actually, I remember that being particularly interesting that Phil got a separate credit, which I think is rad. I mean, that guy's a talented actor with a long and distinguished career. Well, and the thing is, is that Phil also, he became kind of the ringleader. He was from the beginning, but he was a ringleader. He was casting. He was a lot of things for the little people on this movie. And that's what I'm talking about. Like they were very, they were very well organized. Phil was at the head of that. Everybody, all of the, all CG, I mean, I'm sorry, all animatronics, all art, all makeup, all wardrobe, they all kicked ass. They were all very good at their jobs. They all worked very hard on a very small budget. Everybody did their very, very level best on this project. Well, thank you both so much for joining us for this. Thank you, Vinegar Syndrome, for having us. But a pleasure to sit with you and talk and hear these stories. I know, again, all jokes aside, this will mean a lot to a lot of people like it does to me. So thank you both for being willing to talk about it, being so raw and so honest, and sharing the crazy journey that is life and the Garbage Pail Kids. Hey. Hey. Will, are you still recording? I think you may have. Well, I just wanted to say that we can do anything. We can. That's right. We literally can. We're that good. No, I honestly, I mean, there's things that I wanted to clarify all of these years. I want to thank you. I want to thank Vinegar. I want to thank Delia, our producer. I want to thank you, Will. And I especially want to thank you, my darling, Nepenzi. There's things that I've wanted to say for a long time. So thank you for being a part of this with me. And thank you to the audience for checking us out. And I hope you find all this stuff as entertaining as it is in our memory.