For Steve Martin, the elder (if not yet elderly) statesman of comedy, returning to the role of Inspector Jacques Clouseau in The Pink Panther 2 was inevitable. “With such a great part like Clouseau, you’re constantly wanting to come up with funnier and funnier bits to do,” the stand-up comedian, actor, writer and banjoist admits. “You can go anywhere with a character like this. That’s why he has lasted so long.”
The still wild-and-crazy Martin, who has hosted Saturday Night Live a record number of times, talks to Earl Dittman about returning the role of Clouseau, finding a love interest in PP2, doing his own stunts in the comedy sequel and working with Jean Reno and old friend Lilly Tomlin. Additionally, Steve gives his views on comedy, banjo music, Charle Chaplin and the challenges of writing one’s life story. All this plus this week’s DVDs and Blu-Rays, after the jump.
You seem so humble for being such a legendary comic and actor.
“Comedy makes you humble, because there are so many opportunities to miss and strike out.”
What’s the big thrill of comedy?
“In any other profession you end up wearing a suit and sitting behind a desk. But if you make it in show business, you end up in a clown suit riding on an elephant.”
Do you think there’s something about acting that keeps you young?
“Yeah, acting keeps me alert to people — and life. I don’t know, there’s something about going to work early in the morning, and having to stay alert and concentrated. Maybe that keeps your mind alive. And of course, there’s makeup.”
To portray Inspector Clouseau for a second time in Pink Panther 2, did you by any chance channel Charlie Chaplin in your performance — with a dash of Harold Lloyd?
“I was just watching Charlie Chaplin the other night and I felt, ‘What a pretender I am.’ But it’s just something I do. I didn’t really study up on anything. But I do appreciate those films. Sorry, if I’m longwinded.”
Why do you think Inspector Clouseau is such a beloved character?
“Because I’m playing him.”
You take jabs at the media in the Pink Panther 2. How sick of journalists and the press are you?
“Well, we did use a Norman Mailer line, it’s when he said, ‘If I made a comment after I said “No comment,” I’d look like an ass, wouldn’t I!’ But I don’t have a problem with the press. I have a problem with negative press. You know, we’re all sensitive. But I know you would never do that.”
Do you think that getting the girl at the end of Pink Panther 2 is going to change Clouseau in some fundamental way?
“Ha! I have to tell you that every movie I’ve done that ends with me at a wedding or holding a baby has been a hit! But I think it’s a great thing to use. It’s happy and nice. And if we ever do a third, it would obviously open with our honeymoon. You know, I try to take her across the threshold, and she’s wearing arm pads and a helmet.”
The scenes with both you and Lily Tomlin are hilarious. What’s it like to get together again after being away from her for so long?
“It’s like you’re finishing a sentence you started 20 years ago. You know, life is like that. So it was very easy to work with her.”
Was it all improvised?
“It was written, and then improvised around.”
Can you talk about the male bonding or the bromance between you and Jean Reno’s character?
“These are two lonely guys in Paris and they’re like, ‘Let’s go out on the town.’ But then they end up staying home and washing each other’s hair.”
With all those impressive stunts you did in Pink Panther 2, do you think action movies are in your future?
“Ha! You know, I’ve always dreamed of doing an action movie, because I imagine they’d be shooting a car chase for days while I’d be sitting at home relaxing. Then, I’d come in and get behind the wheel, and go, ‘What?!’ Then, I’d go home and have dinner and go to plays, and come back two days later to say, ‘I told you so!’ It doesn’t work out that way, actually. But the hardest thing for me in this movie was acting like you’re running when you’re really running in place on a board attached to that moving car. But don’t tell anybody.”
How tough was it walking on the giant globe in a harness?
“Actually, they’ve improved harnesses over the years.” [Laughs]
Did you get hurt at all doing the stunts?
“I only got hurt emotionally.”
What was it like to being in the film’s love triangle with two gorgeous women?
“Well, Emily Mortimer is such a delight. She’s real — candy. She’s also funny in life, she has a great sense of humor. And, Aishwarya Rai, I didn’t know her when I came in, and that she’s a big star back home who can’t walk down the street — which I’m jealous of.”
You’re such a popular entertainer. But what entertains you?
“Obviously, I like to listen to a lot of banjo music. But I joke with my wife, because the shows we fall asleep to on TV are like Forensic Files. You know, ‘The head was cut off and buried.’ But the guy has such a soothing voice, that he puts you to sleep.”
What was your worst experience as a musical performer?
“We opened up in Greenwich Village in New York, and nobody came. And I told the owner, ‘You don’t have to pay me.’ He said, ‘No, no. Let’s try another night.’ The next night, nobody came either. And, I left.”
At what point did you decide you were ready to put out an album?
“It was when I realized I had enough songs. I had 15 songs, and that’s enough for a record. And I thought, ‘If I don’t do it now, my fingers might slow down, and I might forget the songs. So we quickly got some people together to do the record. It was really fun.”
Earlier this year, you hosted Saturday Night Live — again. Are you now the official record holder for hosting SNL the most times?
“Yes!”
So is it old hat for you by now?
“No, it’s still live. So it never gets to be old hat. You know, there’s still that surge of energy before you go out there.”
What’s the worst part of being famous?
“I want celebrity when I want it, and I don’t want celebrity when I don’t want it. It’s absolutely true. And that should have been funny.”
What was the challenge of writing an autobiography?
“The biggest challenge was remembering.”
Will you write another volume for your autobiography?
“No! By now it’s all just anecdotal, and there’s no story. You could replace my name with anybody else’s in the movie business.”
The Pink Panther 2 BD + DVD: 27 Pink Panther cartoons. BD Only: A Digital Copy, a gag reel and exclusive behind-the-scenes featurettes.
ON DVD THIS WEEK:
Waltz With Bashir
An official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival, Waltz With Bashir – which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards and was the recipient of a Golden Globe — is the tale of one man’s fight with his past. Inspired by actual events, the animated Waltz With Bashir chronicles the voyage of filmmaker Ari Folman, an Israeli veteran of 1982’s First Lebanon War, as he meets up with an old friend suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome caused by the horrifying events he witnessed during the Middle East conflict. As the former men-in-arms talk about their past, Ari starts to realizes there are numerous gaps in his own memories of the war. Desperate to unearth the truth and fill in the holes in his memory, Ari reconnects with former friends and associates in order to confront the horrors of war that he once faced. The DVD and Blu-ray for Waltz With Bashir contain the foreign-language and English-language version of the film, commentary, featurettes and an interview with Ari Folman.
Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music: 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s
Edition
Can you believe it’s been four decades since the flower-power generation celebrated three days of love, sex, peace, drugs and the most psychedelic music on the planet — then and now? It’s true, it’s been that long, but on this hip and groovy four-hour Director’s Cut of the documentary Woodstock, you’ll feel like happened just this past weekend. Complete with two extra hours of rare performance footage — some of it newly-discovered — of 18 songs from 13 artists including Santana, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Paul Butterfield, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead, Johnny Winter, Mountain and many more. In addition to the music, there are segments that include interviews with everybody from Hugh Hefner to Michael Wadleigh, the organizer of the festival, as they reminisce about the three-day concert festival. The Blu-ray of the Ultimate Collector’s Edition allows viewers to customize their own Woodstock playlist, and both the DVD and BD come packaged in a unique giftbox, numbered as part of a limited run with an array of collectibles that include a 60+ page reprint of a Life magazine commemorative issue, a lucite lenticular display of vintage festival photos, festival memorabilia and an iron-on patch with the classic dove and guitar Woodstock emblem. GROOVY!
Mistresses: Volume One
One of the highest-rated series from across the pond and a hit on BBC Canada and BBC America, Mistresses: Volume One reintroduces North Americans to the four seductive “other” women that have taken the airwaves by storm. Mistresses, another British hit series from the creator of the sci-fi/cop drama Life On Mars, follows the lives of four modern-day women — Siobhan (Orla Brady), Trudi (Sharon Small), Jessica (Shelley Conn) and Katie (Sarah Parish) — beginning with their days at university to their ten-year reunion. In the decade since their graduation, however, their lives are still as sex-filled and dramatic as they were when they were young co-eds. Mistresses: Volume One includes all of the first and second season’s 12 episodes, cast interviews, commentary and the bonus featurette “Making of Mistresses.”
The Girls Next Door Season 5
Holly, Bridget and Kendra are three blondes that certainly know how to have fun. In the latest private, behind-the-scenes look into the luxurious lives of these three notorious Playboy cover girls and Hugh Hefner’s three most favorite gal-pals. In Season 5, among other adventures, the three Bunnyteers hit the road for a nationwide search to finding the perfect girl to become the 55th Anniversary Playmate and land at run for the roses at Kentucky Derby. Featuring the season’s 16 episodes, the DVD is also filled with running commentary from Holly, Bridget and Kendra and over an hour of uncensored deleted and bonus scenes. But of course, you’ll only watch it for the articles.
Inkheart
Featuring Brendan Fraser (Gods and Monsters, Journey to the Center of the Earth) in the heroic lead role, the Iain Softley-directed Inkheart is a magical adventure in the same spirit as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. Also starring Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent, and based on the bestselling children’s book by Cornelia Funke, Inkheart is a modern-day action fantasy about a father and daughter searching for truth between two worlds. Inkheart is more than a simple fantasy fairy tale, and while it will likely thrill the young ‘uns in your life, there are enough chills and special effects to keep grown-up fans of the fantastical engaged. The Blu-ray of Inkheart includes three featurettes, additional scenes, BD-Live commentary by Softley and a Digital Copy.
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Isla Fisher, the Aussie actress who played Vince Vaughn’s unforgettable and adorably un-hinged love interest in Wedding Crashers has gone from memorable supporting parts to playing the comic lead. Sure, it’s the lead in the chicklit adaptation Confessions of a Shopaholic, but if you’re a Fisher fan, don’t let that scare you away. This story of a penniless, consumption-addicted airhead gives Fisher ample opportunity to display her comedic chops, and offers a touch of topical social satire when the fatuous fashionista finds herself offering up monetary advice to the big-wig billionaires of Madison Avenue. The P.J. Hogan-directed Confessions of a Shopaholic also features the acting talents of Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, John Goodman and Kristin Scott Thomas. The DVD and Blu-rayeditions include a Digital Copy, bloopers, deleted scenes and a music video.
NOW AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY
Inside Man
Filmmaker Spike Lee directs Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodi Foster in the quintessential heist picture. An exhilarating whodunit, Inside Man is one of the most explosive crime thrillers released this decade, while (this being one of Mr. Lee’s “joints,”) a look at a social cross-section of post-911 Manhattan. Special Features: Commentary with Spike, 20 minutes of deleted scenes, a discussion between Spike and Denzel and “The Making of Inside Man” featurette.
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
45th Anniversary Special Edition
This Stanley Kubrick directed classic, starring Peter Sellers as the titular doctor (and in several other roles), is easily one of the filmmaker’s best motion pictures. And, from the director behind 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange, that’s saying a whole lot! A political satire of the highest order, few films deserves the upgraded Blu-ray treatment as much as this one. Special Features: Advanced Picture-in-Picture, Graphic-in-Picture track, four documentaries, interviews with surviving cast and crew, featurettes, an inside look into Dr. Strangelove, an interview with former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (!?!) and a remembrance of Peter Sellers.
Field Of Dreams
Put it on Blu-ray and fans will want it. The ultimate baseball movie, starring Kevin Costner as the forgiving son who builds a baseball field in his Iowa cornfield for his long dead dad, still packs the emotional wallop that will have the most manliest man shedding a tear. Special Features: Deleted scenes with an intro from director Phil Alden Robinson, three featurettes, BD-LIVE!, a roundtable talk with Costner and baseball heroes, audio commentary and a Bravo special.
Nature’s Most Amazing Events
This amazing British documentary — which utilizies sophisticated high-definition cameras and cutting-edge aerial, underwater and ultra slow-motion filming techniques — captures the planet’s most dramatic and epic wildlife spectacles and the intimate stories of the animals caught up in them. Special Features: Six “Making-of” featurettes.
