Does it still amaze you that people can fail to dedicate themselves as much as asked sometimes?
He cares more about his movies than other directors care about their movies.
Billy Friedkins the same way.
Ive never seen him yell at anybody.
If you were an actor, you could act it, but you cant!
You have to show me what you want me to do!
You wanna give me a line reading?
Give me a line reading!
Show me what you want, Ill do it!
And hes cool, yknow?
Now, Friedkins another story.
But like me, I dont remember people getting fired.
Lets make this fucking prop work!
Give me a fucking prop that works!
But as a director, [its worse], because youre responsible for everything thats on the screen.
Now,Timebomb(1991) I dont know if you have good or bad memories about it?
Well, I have pretty good memories about it.
[Both laugh] And I thought, thats strange casting!
But what ended up being the movie itself was not, was far… Its like, Okay,Jewel Of The Nile.Well then, let him doNavy Seals.
How long did it take to shoot your scene?
Id been through all of Jims like… marriages!
I remember in particular it was the day George Bush Senior started the war on Iraq.
I can tell you the truth none of it is very physical.
K2was an interesting movie for me to do, because Im just terrified of heights.
What happens if I just jumped over.
Which is really bad.
So any time you saw someone hanging off the side of the mountain, that wasnt me!
So Jims used me three or four times, and almost used me inAvatar.
I wouldnt have been as free to maybe make some choices and take some chances.
Going on toTombstone, Ive never forgiven Val Kilmer for shooting you!
I wanted him to shoot me!
Well, I always thought Johnny Ringo had a little bit of a suicide by police mentality.
I have the line, Alright, lunger.
You think about all the saloons and the all the warm beers, no air conditioning.
But Johnny Ringos probably, along with Kyle Reese, my two favourite characters.
Awesome movie, awesome cast.
I just sat with Jim Jacks [Tombstones producer] two nights ago, and talked aboutTombstonea little bit.
I gave him my movieThe Victim,as Im trying to get it to Harry Knowles at AICN.
Well I dont know aboutCherry Falls,to tell you the truth.
I moved off that movie and moved on.
And the story isnt based around me [as an actor].
Neither one of them are really good roles, theyre just fillers, supporting players.
I got paid nicely for both of them…
But I knew bothCherry FallsandBereavement, I was basically drawing the water, getting paid, getting to work.
[The script just goes] she comes in, Where have you been?
Oh, theres a dying girl, theres an argument, Where are you going?
No, youre not.
Is that how he approached you?
I got the job.
[It was] shot in Austin, and Id heard a lot of fun stories about Robert.
Robert said to me, You were cast before I fucking ever had you in the office, dude.
Thats what I want, and I knew that by casting you, thats what would happen.
Theres not a lot of improvisation with him, because he knows what he wants.
He was very, very, very inspiring towards me, and we used to talk a lot.
Dont be afraid to fail, just go do it!
One was I was watching Xavier Gens movieFrontier(s),and loved it.
So I said, Okay, heres my formula.
And were done with it now, I am completely finished with the movie.
Well, you only spent that much money on it.
Well just give you this much and youll double the amount!
We had one camera, and its got great performances in it.
Its beautifully lit and shot nicely.
[There are] some great twists and turns, and Im just very proud of it.
Its an exploitation movie, its my take on an exploitation movie.
Id love to do a romantic comedy.
I would love to do a psychological thriller.
[he laughs in a slightly mischievous fashion] Correct!
[laughs]
And have you now caught the bug for directing?
Call me when my scenes are ready.
Michael Biehn, thank you very much!
you’ve got the option to readpart one of our Michael Biehn interview here.
you’re free to follow Duncan on Twitterhere.
