Tonight, an 80s all over, Patreon exclusive interview with the star of Red Dog, some kind of wonderful and back to the future, Leia Thompson, and now, your hosts, Drew McLeodey, and Scott Weinberg. What are you guys going to do with this? Where's it going? I can't remember why I'm doing it. We have a Patreon page where people can pledge support for the podcast every month. And so we wanted those to be interviews with people who are in the films and primary to the films that we're talking about, with actors especially. It's a great way to talk about the whole decade and a wide range of topics. Okay. I'm going to kick off with the first one and chronologically your feature film debut was of course the illustrious, Jo's three. Oh, Jo's three D. Thank you very much. You're welcome. The Banston is terror. Okay. No, that was my first movie. I had wide and said I'd done I'd done other movies, but I hadn't. And so it was a little bit of an interesting thing. But the great thing about it was my first day, you know, people always talking about the, you know, standing on their marks and having to figure that out. Because that's actually hard hitting the marks because you have to look in your peripheral vision and stuff. And so my first mark was actually standing on a metal thing and having the shark come out and bite me. Did we like jaws three back then? Well I remember 3d was that huge that was the push. You guys were part of that initial push and there was so much development on the film. Did you read any of the earlier versions layer like like when Like when Joe Dante was going to do JAWS 3, people zero and was more the comedy version? Yeah, I mean, that was a nobody. So I think my first thought, or my only audition, I think might have been an improv. I remember doing a really long improv because I don't know if they really had side. But that was a long time ago, and and I don't remember yesterday. You know I didn't really know anything so luckily they were really nice best Armstrong who I was lucky enough to get to work with on Switched at Birth was was really helpful to me and really sweet and helped helped guide me through it and so was Dennis Quaid who I've then started dating and so you know they helped me through it because I didn't really know anything. It's a very good movie. It's funny because there's I always think of that that time frame and there's so many young actors who you guys were all sort of in that same group of people auditioning and there were the ensemble films. For all the right moves, you were in one of the first movies

where Tom Cruise kind of became Tom Cruise. And that was the year of that where the outsiders and risky business and all the right moves came out. And so shooting any of that was there's a sense that there was heat around him or was all the right moves. It's such a small film in a lot of ways. And an intimate film, did you just were you just making that not focused on any of the outside stuff.

Well, I remember our, again, I remember the screen test.

I remember our i i again i remember the screen test i remember our uh... test at at the in at box i remember the office i remember that he was just as nervous as i was you know the outside is which he you know he wasn't very sexy and he's also really too short to play quarterback i mean he he's not very tall. That was a big deal and he was really nervous. He had already shot risky business but it hadn't come out and I'm not sure there was any heat on that but I remember they were really excited about his future you know like what he would turn into to being but I remember being just as confident as he was. We're actually helping him with his lines. Did he seem kind of green or was he confident at the time? No, I mean he's always been and I think he still is. You know, he lives in a very, whether it's real or imagined, a real polite space. He's very polite and gentlemanly and... Was it easy working against him? Was he like generous with it was far as because you were a newbie to so i mean was he very very very generous very kind i mean he was so generous that i had the uh... i remember i was very uncomfortable because it was required nudity in the in the movie is the time girls always had to take out their shirt and um... i i want to do that. And so I had to actually audition for a different part. And when I, the smaller girl part, it said I would have to take off my shirt. And when I got the part, I was still kind of uncomfortable. And there were two times when I was supposed to take off my shirt. And he talked them into not having me take off the shirt the first time. And then then the second time he said look what's both be naked. I mean that's how generous he was. I mean honestly that's kind of cool and so he's completely naked and I'm completely naked and I think that's an interesting point because that is it's very memorable because it is equal in that scene and at the time there was that sense that it was almost always there was an excuse to get girls naked in movies, but that scene was played between the two of you. And it felt like in a lot of ways, it's more honest about that experience of in high school and you had that big moment and you crossed that line. I think that because both of you are very vulnerable in that scene, it feels like it lands more. more. Yeah, and that was the goal and that was his help. You know, he really he helped me. He stood up for me. I was a good guy and I think he still is.

That that It feels like it lands more. Yeah, and that was the goal and that was his help. You know, he really he helped

me. He stood up for me.

I was a good guy and I think he still is. That that film must have come as a big relief to you after it came out because not only now is Josh three in the in the rearview mirror, but now you have a real film and a good film under your belt that got a lot of buzz at the end of the year in 83. I was curious, when you signed on for Red Dawn, was that like an attempt

to go completely against the girlfriend grain? Yeah, I mean, Red Dawn was just a, it was a great script, a great idea and it was just an opportunity to like be a cowboy, which was really a fun idea. And you know, even though i didn't have very many words in that i just that was really fun you know i think that people they actually kind of all thought that they found me in like john's town in saline that i wasn't even really an actress which is kind of a compliment but also uh... no i mean it was uh... it was just it's still remains the most fun i ever had making a movie red dot You talk again about, I mean, it was, it was just, it still remains the most fun I ever had making movie red on. You talk again about, I mean, like the outsiders, that ensemble with Patrick Swayzing, C. Thomas Allen, Charlie Sheen in Jennifer Gray, and then the adults in it who are just such a great line of character guys, it seems like that's a great environment. And then they have John Millius, who I love him as a storyteller in person. I love him as a personality. But on that film, you want to talk about the perfect mix of personal politics and sort of pop culture. That was the moment for Millius to make that film. Yeah. And if you think of that film now and what's going on in the political world right now, it's so weird know. So freaked out I know Jennifer Ray and I because we're so liberal and we were in the middle of this kind of crazy right wing movie but like how do you like now like how do you how do you like put it all together you know because it was so you know Russia was the total enemy and that's what me think. And now it's like flipped like all the conservatives are like, yeah, it's fine that everybody's talking about Russia. I don't know how to make Red Dawn work, you know, at this moment. And I think also some of my fans brains explode because they don't know how to like, you know, the super conservative gun owners that love Roddon now are like defending all this other stuff. So it's all so confusing and red don's in the middle of all that. And I always like to look at it like a high, very broad fiction, you know, I never looked at it like a political film. I just looked at it like a comic book action movie. And I remember, because we're all about the same age, I remember when I first saw that red Dawn trailer and the parachute popped open, we all knew that movie was going to be a big hit. We just knew it. Everybody knew it because that like, oh my God, what if what if paratroopers really did land in mid, you know, middle America? It was such a cool concept. And that cast like Drew Stead, that cast is great. you did some nice work in that movie and you said you don't have a lot to say but you are good in that movie uh... but you know it also i was also i watched a movie uh... i went to see log i was horrified by the amount of violent and i remember that at the time redon was considered the most violent movie ever made. Well, you guys, it's interesting because you were right at that moment where the PG-13 came into being. And I remember, I think DreamScape got the rating first, but you guys were in theaters first. So technically, you're, you're it. You're the ground zero for the PG-13 where they were trying to figure out is violence its own category? Why do we give a film an R? What is in R anymore? It was such a, and to be part of it, to see that conversation unfold as a film fan right at that moment and to be sort of on the forefront of it where our audience, my, as an audience member, I wanted movies to treat me like an adult and to treat things frankly and not to be restricted from being able to see that stuff. So this movie sort of landed at the perfect time and not only that, but it then it taps that nuclear fear that we had in the Russian fear. I can't think of a movie that embodies the 80s in many ways more than Red Dawn. It's a really interesting movie. And when you watch it again, Patrick's waysy and he tells us how he'll cry a lot.

Oh yeah.

They cry.

They cry about their dad, they cry about the people they killed, they're affected by

the death, which is really interesting and this is what really upset me about a lot of

these now is just so much violence and take one mind to the heads and

no one you know all these people die and no one seems to care it's just terrible and all these guns shooting I mean you know red dot red dot is just complicated it's a very interesting movie also you don't see anything you never see the towns that are getting exploded you never you only experience this in Calium or Riverdale. I still have a t-shirt. The fake town that they created, you only see that these kids perspective of the violence. And it makes it, it's like an indie movie now, you know, the way it was made. It's like a tiny little movie, really. How was Millius? Because he's legendary for and he'll tell you these stories, like, you know, staring down studio executives with a shotgun that he brings down from the office and getting into a huge arguments about the things that are important to him. And I love that about Millius, but that larger than life persona. I always wonder how that then translates to him as a director, especially working with a largely young cast in this movie. Was oddly, you know, super respectful of us. And I liked him, but, you know, it was a different time. I mean, there was a lot of time we just sat around waiting for him to, I don't know what he was doing, but he was wacky. That's for sure. But I really liked him. He was always nice to me. He called me Beast Woman. He never tried anything weird with the girls around that we're acting and everything. So, you know, he was a character. We had fun. The cast had a lot of fun. You know, it was just good to be like in boy in camp, movie camp. Well, move from one ensemble to another. One of the things that Drew and I have discovered covering only a couple of years so far is that sometimes good movies just disappear and it's not because they're bad. A lot of times it's because of rights or music rights and that brings us to your next ensemble movie Cameron Crowe's The Wildlife. You got to share some stories with us about Cameron Crowe. I haven't seen the movie in 20 some years and I'd love to see it again, but just just give us some anecdotes or some memories about Cameron Crowe in early 80s. And I'm fascinating also by art linson who we've talked about where the Buffalo Rome already on the podcast because I it's so strange to see a guy who is such a strong producer and then as a director his films are much more I think interesting and not even you would expect there he's not the guy that necessarily you would think he is just from his films as a producer heartlinson yes I mean I'm not sure that art linson was you know like he he's not a never really went on too much to do more directing I'm not sure that was real house but I liked I mean mean oddly enough, you know, it's weird because this is what sticks out in my mind about the wildlife is two things, back to boobs. They cut my boobs out of it. They made me take a flip-off and that movie in a scene with Hart-Vockner. And so I was like, okay, if I have to do this, let me make it really sexy. So we made the scene really, really sexy, and that was stupid. It was like, I think it was written on the script, like, for boobs, pop out, like, don't have to do it. Oh. So I was like, this sucks. And hard-bockner was my neighbor. He lived literally next door to me. And so we were like, if we had to do this stupid scene, let's make it sexy. So we did. And during the preview of the movie, I was sitting next to my boyfriend, Dennis Quaid, and Sean Penn, whose brother was in the movie. And we got there and the whole audience was like, oh, and they got to that scene and that was dead silence. You get your pin drop. And so the scene just stopped the movie from its yuck, yuck, yuck, and it's, and they cut it out. They cut my boobs out of a teen exploitation movie, which was a great, great victory of mine. I don't know. I also remember that in that movie, I was supposed to cry in this scene with heart crock, when he broke my heart. And for some reason, it was the only time in my 35 years of crying in every movie I've ever done that I couldn't cry. And I remember Art Lynn's screaming at me, cry. Oh, that was a... I know! So I was like, art is not the best direction, honey. Is it weird to enact her though? How sometimes some movies get brought up over and over? And then other ones that are just as good just kind of disappear? Not very good. It is interesting how they disappear and how some of them stay like, did my next movie? No, my next movie is back to the future, right? Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, some other movies that I thought were bombs have become classics that people love. A number of the cast members in the wildlife are people who I'm fascinated by because they didn't go on to larger careers and they were so interesting and vivid. I'm fascinated by Ellen Mitchell Smith on screen. Weird science in this. He is such a unique presence. And Jenny Wright remains just a unicorn from the 80s. She's this fascinating actor who we saw in so much and was so great. And then of course Rick Moranis famously kind of Step back from the business to raise his family which I have nothing but respect for but man do we miss Rick Moranis as a result? Can you talk about some of these actors and just your memories of them? I'm not sure I was really Good friends with Jenny. She was a little tough like a little, you know, she wasn't she that nice. Yeah. At the time. You know we didn't I she I remember that that she was a very very um aloof you know kind of person and very beautiful and you know I was always in I've always been a feminist so I've always been like I don't want to be that person that doesn't support other actresses

even if they're direct competition with me. You know, so I was I was misdivided by that. You know, like with Jennifer Gray and I were still friends. I still love her. We were like, go girl, you know, the whole time. You know, we tried to be like that. And I don't remember if I'm Jenny, right? I love seeing that where there's long term friendships that are born at the beginning careers

I know last time when we talked in Ants Allen, she spoke so so glowingly about like Wendy Joseph Herbert and people she worked with at the beginning of her career who they stayed friends forever. And I think it's because you guys you made your bones together. There's there's that sense that you were learning your craft at the same time and you and there's that support that hopefully you threw behind one another as cast members and things. I think that it is important to try to support each other and I've tried to do that. Maybe some people don't think I have, but I've definitely tried to, especially with women, I've always just been really sensitive to women supporting each other because it is much harder to be a woman in Hollywood than a man a man. It's hard to be buddy in Hollywood but to be a woman is an actress is always hard so I know that Cameron was always really really great. I really loved Cameron. He was funny and humble and super interesting and I'm sorry that I never worked with him again. I think I would ju-touched on as part of the reason that the wildlife has become kind of a, and not even a popular cult, but sort of an underground cult film, because it has a lot of good actors who didn't go on to much other work. It has some other very good actors who we know from dozens of other things. It's got great music and it's got like, it's the cousin to Fast Times.

It's a really interesting movie that when we cover it, a couple of several episodes from now, we're hoping we turn some people on to it. And I think Drew agrees with me. We're going to save your chronologically next film for the very end when we do the trilogy altogether. I think that's such a, it's such a big thing to talk about that. We'll hold off back to the future and we'll come back to that in a few.

I would like to share a quick anecdote with you, if I could. We saw the challenger disaster happen in my school and we were shaken by it. And I know that it's been widely reported over the years that, of course, this tragedy had a really negative impact on the box office of space camp and it's a really fun family sci-fi adventure movie that deserved to make some money had really bad timing and I'll tell you the truth. I saw it and it made me feel better. It honestly did. Me and my cousin saw it opening night and space camp is exactly the kind of 80s movies that drew an eye are trying to applaud with our podcast. So kudos to you on space camp. It's kitschy and it's fun. It was really hard movie to make. Was it really? My favorite story about space camp which is true is the first day we were 10 days behind. Oh, they literally had no idea idea how to shoot it. So it became this epic disaster We're basically we get maybe one or two shots a day For months like we've come in we block and they build so it was a complete disaster We happy with the final product. When you saw it. Do you think it was a fun movie or I thought it was okay I did but I mean no I mean I was I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, no. It took six months. It was really, really, really hard to make. We had a lot of laughs, though. If I want to think about something that was positive, If I want to think about something that was positive, take Donovan, Kate Kapsha, Kelly

Preston, Larry Bees, and Leif, Yaki and Phoenix. We were stuck in these sets for hours and days, up on gimbals and stuff like that and wires, and we just laughed our heads off. I mean, I shuttered a think of the outtakes that they would have of us because, you know, those are two great, you know, great women. You know, three of us great women were like just hilarious. I mean, and Tay Donovan was really funny and we just had a lot of laughs. Yeah, Joaquin, at the beginning of his career, you know, River River was such a sensation. There was such a bright light around River when you saw him the first few times in films. And what I had found fascinating about leaf in his early movies is how utterly not like his brother he was like it wasn't a case of well, we'll just get his brother and it'll be a lot like that his energy was totally different and he's been very true to that throughout his career. Even as a kid, there was something complicated about him and that's I think it's always read on film.

He is a really great guy and he was a really great kid and we all felt very motherly towards him. This is parents are kind of hippies and we don't really know what was going on and all of that. And he was just this really sweet kid. And we, we adore him. I mean, I recently talked to him about it because I wanted to say like, you were a great kid. You were the best. And I hope that experience that we were helped you and that we were good for you, you know? I just really wanted to talk to him about it because it was so interesting. We spent so much time together locked up in that thing. And of course, we were swearing, but trying to be nice. You know, he was very patient with us. Drew, have you shown space camp to the boys yet? No, not yet. It's one of the ones. Toshi is now finally at the age where science has clicked as a thing that he loves and now he's interested in marine biology and outer space. And I think he's at the age now where it's the right kind of thing for him. Like he'll really enjoy that side of it that living out the actual physical dream. Yeah, and it really was, a lot of people have come up to me and said that they became physicists or scientists because of space camp.

I mean, those are incredibly important films for that because yeah, like Star Trek did that, but space camp is real world and I think it did for a lot of kids. Remind them that it's a job, that it's a thing you can do and that's crucial. But I just spent some time with the people. Do you remember when they just found this like Black holes colliding, the sound, you know, the whole science, this was a big deal, even

though it's really hard to comprehend. But the people, do you remember when they just found this like, black holes colliding, the sound, you know,

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