Sherrie LiSee also:
*The Five Most Culturally Significant Wayne's World Songs
Last night, the cast and crew of the SNL sketch-turned-feature Wayne's World gathered at the Academy — of all places — to celebrate the film's 21st anniversary. (It probably helped that host Hawk Koch, executive producer of Wayne's World, currently serves as Academy president.) There were no signs of any residual, alleged animosity between Mike Myers and co-star Dana Carvey or director Penelope Spheeris. But just in case, no interviews were allowed during the reception prior to the pre-screening panel and Koch kept his questions neutral during the Q&A.
It played more like a family reunion — a hugging fest with people who probably haven't seen or talked to each other in ages. Tia Carrere showed a photo of her daughter on her phone with co-stars Lowe, Myers and Carvey. Lowe jumped into Myers' individual photo op moment to kiss him on the cheek. Everyone simply seemed to want to celebrate the fruit of their labor from over two decades ago and rehash the good times had in the process — especially the fans, who, according to Koch, bought out all the tickets to this event within ninety seconds of it going on sale.
So for those of you who weren't as quick on the trigger, here are the highlights from the panel, which included Myers, Carvey, Lowe, Spheeris and producer Lorne Michaels:
10. Myers, who created the characters, was inspired by having been a “heavy metal kid in the suburbs of Toronto” who “got obsessed with cable access.”
9. For a while, he didn't know if the movie was even going to be made because they routinely didn't have his name at the Paramount gate and the note he'd gotten on the script was, “I didn't get it.” Myers admitted, “I didn't think they were going to release the movie.”
8. Lowe also didn't get Wayne's World when he hosted SNL. And when Myers asked him which sketch he'd like to be a part of, he opted for Sprockets. “That's when they dropped the cue cards,” Myers recalled, “[and were] furiously doing rewrites on air.”
7. When Michaels called Lowe to be a part of the film, Lowe was actually on the way to be married. “You still took the call,” Michaels joked.
6. Not only was this Myers' first movie and thus had to learn about being on set (and what a mark was), he actually didn't know how to drive at the time. So he was enrolled into Sears driving school, where the teacher apparently told him, “I'm praying for you, Mr. Myers.”
Lowe pops in for a quick smooch.; Credit: Ross Ching
5. Myers thanked Spheeris for letting them keep in some of their ad-libs. She only required that they do them quickly. Spheeris explained, “The message we learned from Lorne was faster and funnier.” Myers also praised Spheeris for making the script, which he co-wrote, better than written.
4. In reference to their use of Queen's “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Myers said, “I was afraid we were taking a whiz on a Picasso at the time.”
3. The movie was intended to be a Valentine's Day filler but ended up grossing over $180 million, which caused Barry London, former Paramount studio exec, to exclaim, “It's Ghostbusters numbers!”
2. During the filming of the film, Myers' father was dying. So, whenever the phone rang, he knew it was either going to be the best news or the worst news. (His father died shortly after they'd finished shooting.)
1. At the end of the panel, Michaels used a zoo metaphor to explain why comedy is never the audience's first choice (which he used before to describe Steven Martin): First, you want to see the lion because it's the king of the jungle. Then the bear for its strength. Only after that do you go see the monkeys “because they're funny and they occasionally jerk off.”
See also:
*The Five Most Culturally Significant Wayne's World Songs
Follow me on Twitter at @shli1117, and for more arts news follow us at @LAWeeklyArts and like us on Facebook.
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.