Dec 17, 2016
Movie Meltdown - Episode 375
This week we welcome back one of
our favorite special guest co-hosts - Hal Sparks.
We discuss everything from the basics of coordinating a busy and
multifaceted career to spending years working with the
Disney company, to one of his favorite movies... this
week's Sofa Theater feature: Conan the
Barbarian. From the Robert E. Howard pulp beginnings
to the black and white Marvel comics to Arnold
Schwarzenegger's interpretation in the film world... we discuss a
multitude of themes and aspects of Conan.
And as we realize we are effectively
just beloved, we also mention... James Earl Jones, The Princess
Bride, Talk Soup, First Blood, it takes a couple of whacks, a
modern studio system, Braveheart, directing the show, it's always
been about the hustle, wolf pelts, manipulation of the gods, such a
firewall between the organizations, homogenized network television,
going down through the red light district knocking on doors, a
great Wayne Newton-style villain, Andy Lau, Bill Burr, the biggest
bottlenecks in creativity, making a snake arrow, the three jobs at
one involved in stand-up, there's always a wild west aspect
whenever industry goes through a transition period, the worst book
that's ever happened to film, Cape Fear, Miller's Crossing, I think
we're changing how we deal with ageing, the first Disney show to
blind someone, cut someone's arm off, crush their leg... and kill
someone, the industry is finally catching up to people's actual
tastes, let a villain be a villain, doing Deniro, it's like living
on a tightrope, I don't do a single job that's one thing, Every
Which You Can, The Running Man, he's the Adam Sandler of action
movies, Jim Jones and the Manson family... meets Cyrus from The
Warriors, I find it a motivational... I find it very invigorating,
it's always somebody's fault, viking hair, nano-computers combing
your hair, it was a much more visceral reading experience, a
masculine romance, Rocky Balboa, Kylo Ren, playing hash, a very
Scandinavian way of doing it, the blood was in black ink, The Crow,
Kurt Russell, disappearing into music, I felt so manipulated by the
network, Chris Evans, muscle men and scantily clad women, The
Expendables, we actually sliced a woman in half, shred metal and
jazz, Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth, Dudley Moore, why some
actors are considered difficult, Excalibur, Mr. T, I now go in with
an assumption that whatever it is is doomed, no notes from the
network, an 80's stand-up comic in sneakers and a sport coat and an
iron age bank heist.
Spoiler Alert: Full spoilers
for John Milius' Conan the Barbarian. So go watch the
movie before you listen.
"I think the producers said, 'If
we didn't have Arnold Schwarzenegger to play Conan... we'd have to
build one.' "
To keep up with Hal and all of his projects, follow @HalSparks on
Twitter or go to: http://halsparks.com/