Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Bronson Pinchot Talks Smack About A Listers


This is one of those articles that I thought I would get around to reading at some point today, but didn't have it as a priority. Then DNfromMN sent me a link and said I had to read it. I'm glad I did. If you love gossip and dirt and the juiciest juice, this is the article for you. It is from A.V Club and it is the best gossip of the month. I'm giving you excerpts but there is so much more to read and lots more he said about Tom Cruise. I think Tom Cruise might be Bronson's least favorite person in the world. No, actually Denzel Washington probably is. Read the article here.

Bronson Pinchot on Tom Cruise - Tom had picked up this knack of calling everyone by their character names, because that would probably make your performance better, and I don’t agree with that. I think that acting is acting, and the rest of the time, you should be you, but he called us all by our character names. He was tense and made constant, constant unrelated homophobic comments, like, “You want some ice cream, in case there are no gay people there?” I mean, his lingo was larded with the most… There was no basis for it. It was like, “It’s a nice day, I’m glad there are no gay people standing here.” Very, very strange.

Bronson Pinchot on Eddie Murphy - I remember somebody calling and saying, “You’ll never guess who was just caught with a transvestite!” [Laughs.] And I remember thinking that seemed fitting, because there are certain people in showbiz who make it an agenda, every third sentence has to have something knocking that life choice, and you think, “What are you doing?”

Bronson Pinchot on Tom Hanks - He’s always been a delightful person, so it’s not really true that big stars need to be driven and repulsive, because he’s anything but.

Bronson Pinchot on Denzel Washington - That was a low point, because Denzel Washington was behind the incredibly cowardly bullshit of “This is my character, not me.” He was really abusive to me and everybody on that movie, and his official explanation was that his character didn’t like me, but it was a dreadful experience. Denzel Washington cured me forever of thinking that there is any amount of money or anything that could ever, ever make it okay to be abused. The script supervisor on that movie said it’s like watching somebody kick a puppy. He was so vile. And after that, I just would never endure it again.

Bronson Pinchot on Bette Midler - (talking about First Wives Club and how she treated the director) Yes, because Bette Midler was such a bitch to him. While he was directing, she would be rolling her eyes, pantomiming with her favorite actors, and she made it very difficult. And he was at his wit’s end.

Then to top things off, Bronson actually made me feel very sorry for Mischa Barton. Bronson was talking about how his character had to make Mischa cry. Mischa was playing a model and so she told Bronson to talk about her hips and ass and that would make her cry. She said, “If you talk about my ass, it’ll make me cry.” So I did, and I wasn’t loving it—I don’t love that stuff—but she felt that it was important for me, so we did like 20 takes where I made comments about her ass, and then she cried, and then we all went home. It wasn’t my favorite day in filmmaking. I felt a little dirty, but that’s what was asked of me. She was a very sweet kid, actually. Rather brave in a way, because I asked her what she wanted me to do, and she said, “Talk about my hips and my ass, that’ll make me cry.” And it’s like, “Yikes. Well, at least I have it from the horse’s mouth.”

45 comments:

MontanaMarriott said...

OOOHHHH GOOD DISH, I can't wait to read some more....

ItsJustMe said...

Man, I am LOVING some Balki right now (and DNfromMN for digging this up!).

Karmen said...

Yeah, nicely done, DNfromMN!

This is awesome. I love when actors are completely honest about the other people they've worked with. Since Bronson was in Risky Business, I'm assuming Tom Cruise was saying homophobic stuff all the way back then? Jeebus. Total cover-up.

Sue Ellen Mishkey said...

I love when people just say it like it is and don't sugar coat it and turn it into a bullshit sandwhich.

Enny said...

Balki! Love him!

jax said...

Balki RULES!

thanks DN!

Anonymous said...

gotta give credit where it's due, someone posted it over on ONTD this morning.

I did think it was straight up Enty's and my CDAN family's alley though.

I won't talk smack about Mischa's body anymore. Clothing choices, yes. Body, no.

BigMama said...

wow, this might be one of my favorite articles by a celeb ever. I appreciate that he isn't spending his time trying to make himself sound great.

Oh, I always knew Tom Hanks was a great guy. ;)

Jeannies Bottle said...

Bronson is now my new favourite actor for being a straight talking no bullshit kind of guy who doesn't suck up to the rich and powerful!

Chrissy Buns said...

i think he needs to write a book FULL of this stuff...you know he has more!

Babs said...

GREAT article! Thanks for the post and the link, Enty!
(And DNfromMN!)

RocketQueen said...

Could I hate Denzel any more? Apparently, yes I could. He has always seemed like the kind of guy to me who is nice when he needs to be and treats everyone else like shit. Suspicion confirmed.
The Eddie Murphy and Cruise bits were proof of the statement "Me thinks thou doth protest too much"

BlahFrickinBlah said...

Wait, wasn't Balki a total douchebag on the Surreal Life? I don't doubt any of his stories but I tend to remember him being quite the douche on the Surreal Life himself. I can't recall specifics but you just kinda remember, "oh yeah, he was the asshole of that season wasn't he?" memory.

Maja With a J said...

It' s all good, but you don't talk smack about Bette. She can do whatever she wants as far as I'm concerned. She has earned the right to be a difficult bitch if that's the case. *L*

And Bronson was in True Romance which is one of the awesomest movies ever made, so I guess he's forgiven. He was funny when he cried on the Surreal Life too.

Weezie said...

I love that feature section of avclub.com. It's called Random Roles (don't confuse it with Random Rules which is music-related), and they question actors about the stuff listed on their imdb page. Sometimes the responses are more earnest than I want to hear, or cringe-inducing...but, overall, it delivers great perspectives about great films. Ileanna Douglas dishes about Scorsese, and both Austin Pendleton and Wallace Shawn prove why I perk up when they come on screen.

One of my fave nuggets is Adam Baldwin on Jayne Cobb:

"And later I saw Alien again, and it turns out I was just doing Yaphet Kotto."

Most disappointing interview hands-down was Duchovny. Ugh.

And, if you want bat-shit crazy, read the Charles Napier session. The tag line is "Why is a man who worked with Hitchcock being killed by Ron Jeremy's dick?" Classic.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/charles-napier,28150/

figgy said...

Hahahaha on the Cruise and Murphy scoop!

Sad face though, about Denzel and Bette! :-( I liked them both.

Anonymous said...

Years ago while working a temp job in the planning and zoning department of the beach community where I lived, there were people in town filming a made-for-TV movie (Babysitter's Seduction or something like that, with Keri Russell and Stephen Collins) they had to pull a lot of permits for the sets, and some of the movie guys stood around chatting with me while the machine spewed them out, and they all agreed that Tom Hanks is the nicest guy in all of Hollywood. I've never seen any reason to disagree and am glad Bronson Pinchot backs them up.

I imagine Bette Midler could be a bitch, but I would never want to deny her the pleasure of being one, simply because she's brought so much pleasure to me with that voice of hers.

The other stuff, I have to agree.

figgy said...

btw, is Bronson gay?

figgy said...

btw, is Bronson gay?

califblondy said...

He makes mention of a girlfriend, but that doesn't mean anything.

Sorry to hear about Denzel.

Bette is a no bullshit kind of woman, but I'm a little disappointed in reading she was a bitch to the director. After her breakdown for being such a bitch to everyone in "Jinxed" (I think that was the title), she should have tried to be a little nicer to people.

I'm still a fan though.

ben46 said...

Not that it matters, but no, Bronson Pinchot is not gay.

Miranda said...

Oh goodness. This is a brilliant interview. I think I'm in love with Bronson Pinchot!

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed reading this it was intriguing to read about Gay Cruise and Gay Murphy LOL. Denzel I have stopped liking a long time ago. He always portray he is such a family man when I started to read that he likes screwing with his leading ladies.

Enty's Next Ex-Wife said...

Hi All...long time lurker-first time poster...anywho.

Tom Cruise- it is amazing that he thinks he still has people fooled.

Denzel- He looks like he can be a piece of work, but I didn't think it was this bad...not surprised though. After is 'alleged' affair with Sanaa Lathan, I am not impressed. She just sunk her hooks into another married man with a wife and 2 small children.

Mischa- I actually feel bad for her....I never thought I'd say that.

Anonymous said...

I love how honest he is in this interview. He's not being nasty about anyone, just stating facts and giving his reaction to them.

I hate to hear Bette was so nasty. I don't care how much talent you have, it doesn't earn you a special right to treat people badly - Pretty much what he says in the article - especially when you're supposed to be working as part of a team.
Denzel, no surprise.
Eddie and Tom, with the weird comments? Jagoffs. Definitely of the "he doth protest too much" school.

As for the gay rumors about Bronson himself, I'd say he pretty well covers it in the article.

childeroland said...

Maybe some of these actors have changed over the years (yeah, I don't think so either, but who knows?).

I always thought Mischa Barton quite pretty, notwithstanding some sartorial follies.

A Pimp Named DaveR said...

I stood behind Tom Hanks in a line for popcorn once. We were both seeing "The Opposite of Sex". It was (I think) during the period between initial filming on "Cast Away" and the later scraggly-on-the-island filming, so he was looking kind of un-Hanksian at the time. In fact, the only reason I identified him was because I said to myself "hey, I'm pretty sure that's Rita Wilson coming over to talk to this guy in front of me.... ohhhhhh!"

Nobody bugged him (including me), but he didn't seem like a jerk at all. Just waiting for popcorn with the rest of us...

Pinchot seems a bit rambly in the interview. I bet he's a fun drunk.

ben46 said...

Mischa Barton comes off as pretty shallow if contrived remarks about her butt and hips are sure to make her cry.

CDAN Mod said...

denzel gets a pass from me.

Sinjin said...

So....Bronson can come sit with us at our table at lunch, yes?

FrenchGirl said...

i don't care if actors are jerks in life because all i want is good movies with good acting!

but i love when actors trash other actors :it's too funny
who remember Tom Cruise was very friend with Sean Penn ? because now Penn likes to trash on Cruise

sunnyside1213 said...

Denzel has been doing his leading ladies for awhile. Wasn't there some big onset romance with Julia Roberts about 10 years ago? There was a BI about two actors who resumed their romance later and it was thought to be these two. What a piece of work.

Yeah to Bronson!

Majik said...

I will now do the Dance of Joy for the amazing Bronson Pinchot.

chcj4 said...

Like how he comes off just stating facts & his honest opinions. It doesn't sound like a d-lister wanting attention. Go Balky! i believe you.

TNS™ said...

I don't know about Bronson. He came off as a bitter cry baby on Surreal Life. How can you be jealous of other Z-listers? He acted like he was supposed to be living amongst Broadway greats.

As for Denzel, he gets a pass with his onset behavior. He has been interviewed many times and stated he gets so into his characters he DOES NOT deviate even when the camera stops rolling. He states that during the filming of The Hurricane he couldn't speak to his wife or see her the entire time because his emotions were too raw. He holed up in a hotel room during the entire filming and didn't communicate with anyone. If that's what it takes for him to produce such amazing performances, I'm not mad at him. At least he explained himself to Bronson, at that point I would've left him alone.

tflamb said...

Cool dirts, sounds authentic and doesn't contradict other rumors about any of these people.

Of course I am biased because I think any actor who uses method should be defined as a joke. Method is basically an excuse for bad behavior and hides a weakness of an actor.

If the person was truly skilled they could switch characters at will (once they have a handle on the character which shouldn't take months). If I was a casting director and I heard "i do method" that person would never get cast by me. They are just too limiting and would be too much hassle to fool with.

MadLyb said...

Sorry, Denzel isn't that great of an actor to justify him treating his co-workers like crap. I've seen a number of his movies he's pretty much the same character in every one. Tom Hanks is a much better actor.

Miss X said...

BlahFrickinBlah...yeah, I remember him being really creepy/sleazy on The Surreal Life. Like skin crawling creepy. Thanks for the good article, but, no, he may not sit at my lunch table! ;)

J-Mo said...

I can't place who he is yet, will definitely look him up. He seems like an *sshole, but an honest one so he earns my interest and money right there. I am going to make a point of seeing his stuff and will try to like him.

Tatyana said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tatyana said...

For all the (rather tame IMO) dirt he gishes, Pinchot comes off really dull personality-wise. And I tend to distrust gossip that plain confirms ongoing rumors just like cops suspect witnesses with perefectly dovetailing accounts.

Linnea said...

Thanks DNfromMN! Great stuff

JJ said...

That was an interesting read but I'm not a big Pinchot fan.

I saw him in SB right after Bev Hills Cop came out and he was a total ass. I also watched the Surreal Life and thought he was creepy.

Julie said...

@Syko I remember that movie lol. I watch way too many Lifetime movies!!!

and I loved this article. I went to Movie-oke last night and a couple of the scenes are from Norbit (I haven't seen it, but found out it was Eddie Murphy) and I was like "man, he was really depressed. that sucks."

I do blame Balki for Urkel though. Thanks, thanks a lot.

OmegaWolf747 said...

I thought this interview was funny and refreshingly honest. I have read and watched most of Bronson's older interviews and this is nothing new for him. He has always been very off-the-cuff and not afraid to criticize those he feels merit it.

As for SL, I thought Bronson was close to the only sane one there (along with Peppa and Caprice). I found Jose Canseco, swaggering around in negligee, and Janice and Omarosa going at each other like two alpha bitches, infinitely more creepy.

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