Spaceballs: The Interviews
The Character Shop
Here are a couple of anecdotal stories from someone who worked in the make-up department on Spaceballs.
For "Spaceballs", I had a "cameo" as an ape in a scene shot at Zuma Beach. Rick Stratton (a makeup artist of some fame himself - "Alien Nation" is one of his big credits) came to the location to apply my prosthetic, but when he tried to park next to the makeup trailer some transpo dude gave him a hard time. Rick was forced to park far away and walk all the way back.Later in the day, the same Transpo Guy showed up at the makeup trailer asking if we had any hand lotion; his hands were chapped. Rick, without missing a beat, handed him a bottle of white liquid. The Transpo Guy drizzled it over his hands, started to work it in. "Hey, this is kinda sticky!" the guy exclaimed. "Here," said Rick, handing him a box of Kleenex. The Guy dabbed and wiped and discovered the tissues were sticking to his hands! "What IS this crap?" he demanded, picking at the solidly glued-on shreds of Kleenex.
"It's Pros-Aide; it's a makeup adhesive. It's really strong," Rick said, totally straight-faced. "Well, what the hell did you do THAT for?" said Mr. Transpo, incredulous, his hands now a mummified, clotted, gummy mess. "You made me walk." said Stratton. "Now I suggest you walk on outta here."
And he did!
Ken Diaz hired me to work on "Spaceballs" and do John Candy's animatronic ears. John, bless his heart, was the sweetest, funniest, kindest guy. He could just look at you and smile and you'd feel warm and happy and giggly all over.While working on the show, I was trying to land this Dian Fossey rip-off project (some producers wanted to "beat" Gorillas in the Mist to the theaters.) John set it up so that it would seem like I was the big cheese on "Spaceballs." (I wasn't; Ben Nye Jr., Ken, and a couple of other makeup and hair people were senior to me on the project. But they all thought it would help my chances if they played along like I was in charge.)
So I had these people come in to our makeup room for a meeting. They were greasy, sleazy looking. And they completely ignored John, like they didn't know who he was (or were too dense to recognize him in his minimal makeup!) So John started to give them a hard time. He interrupted them, was short with them. "What the hell is he doing?", I thought to myself. "After all this major set-up?" As a result, the meeting didn't go very well at all.
When they left, John said, "Rick, you don't wanna work for those guys. They're bums." He had been trying to protect me. Rather than being disappointed, I was touched.
John also hated his agent at the time - a stereotypical "Hollywood" type who wore thousand-dollar pairs of shoes. John told Ken and I how much he loathed him, and asked what could we do to the guy? So the idea was hit upon; the man's shoes were fair game. So every time he would come to the makeup room to schmooze with Candy, John'd give us the high sign. Ken would be making up John and "accidentally" step on the guy's shoes. I would be mixing some makeup, and "Oops! Spilled a little there! Sorry!" Finally, one day, the agent said "Jesus Christ! Why is it everytime I come in here I get my feet stepped on!" We held it in until he'd stamped out the door and then broke up laughing. He never bothered John on set after that.
John had me over to his office one day. He was having a little Christmas party. He'd gotten a very cool John Deere riding tractor for his little boy, Chris. I put it together for him while we drank eggnog and cracked jokes, laughing. Just laughing. Not long after that, John had gotten sent a crate of lobsters, and was giving away the extras. He invited me to his house to pick a couple up. I'll never forget the last time I saw him, standing at the door of his house, beaming at me. Beaming. Feeling good about having been a kind soul yet again, happy to see me happy, yet not knowing how much he'd really given me. Filling me with his warmth and charm and generosity.
I miss him.
These were taken from http://www.character-shop.com/anecdote.html