Dean Cain on WGRP of www.grapejam.com
I=interviewer
I2=another interviewer
D=Dean Cain
This was a telephone interview
I: Hello Dean?
D: Yeah.
I: You're on the air with WGRP
D: Alright!
I: How are you doing there?
D: I'm doin' okay
I: Yeah?
D: I've been very sick as of late with the flu. I'm feeling a lot better
now.
I: Does this, is this a cold type of flu or is this a stomach kind of flu?
D: This was the cold type of flu, you know, coughing and sneezing.
I: The cold variety
D: The whole thing--coughing like crazy. I lost like eleven pounds. The
whole situation.
I: It's the Dean Cain diet.
D: Yeah
I: You coughed up eleven pounds
D: I didn't cough it all up, but I wasn't eating and I had a really
high fever, anyway, I'm better.
I: So it was, so you're on the new PhlegmSlim diet?
D: The what?
I: Nevermind
D: Well I feel better. I'm going back to work on Monday. I
missed 7 days of work.
I: So this week it's just Lois: The Adventures of Lois
D: Yeah well we shut down the show. Otherwise it would have just been The
Adventures of Lois
I: Wow, you wield power. You shut down production.
D: It's tough when you have two people who star in the show and one gets
sick. You have to shut it down.
I: Yeah, huh, pretty brutal
D: I know
I: Dean, did you know that colds and flus are only passed through the eyes
and nose?
D: I heard this!
I: Did you hear that?
D: I heard this. Actually my assistant was telling me about it, so that's
why you have to keep washing your hands every time you talk to somebody or
anything like that. Someone sneezes at you, you got to turn away.
I: Yeah
I2: How do you catch it through your eyes?
I: Eye contact.
D: No, no, no!
I: Rubbing your eyes
D: Rubbing your eyes with your hands
I: Rubbing your eyes after grabbing somebody's nose.
D:
I: Generally how it works.
D: Everybody here in Southern California is so sick with the flu it's
ridiculous.
I: Yeah, really. But it's a beautiful out. Have you been able to go
outside today?
D: Yeah, well, I'm with my family right now, um, I had to go out because
my family, I have relatives here from South Dakota. So I had to go out.
And, uh, I'm calling you from a bathroom, in a restaurant.
I: I just, I just thought your voice had that usual resonance.
D: I'm standing inside a bathroom in Malibu.
I: Wow, everyone at the restaurant will be sick
D:
I: Well lets have a couple questions here. You, uh, just finished a
feature film. Is that right?
D: Yeah, uh, it's called, uh, Best Men. Originally it was called
Independence, but someone else kinda took that name and made it sort of
famous.
I: Independence Day, really
D: Yes, so they changed the name to Best Men, and it's gonna be out, uh,
they moved the release date to September. They decided to release it in
the fall.
I: Uh-huh
D: Which is too bad cause I was hoping they'd release it in the spring.
But it was a lot of fun and I'm gonna look forward to seeing it.
I: Well, what's it about?
D: It's about, uh, 5 buddies who get back together after 3 years they
haven't seen each other. They're getting together. The one guy's gonna get
married on the day he gets out of jail. So everybody's gonna get back
together and they end up in a bank robbery and a hostage situation, and they
all bond together. It's an ensemble piece. It's a lot of fun.
I: So who all is in it?
D: Um, the girl is played by Drew Berrimore. And the guys are myself, uh,
Sean Patrick Flannery, uh, Luke Wilson from a film called Bottle Rocket,
Mitchell Whitfield, uh, Andy Dick.
I: Oh, he's very funny.
D: He's very funny. He's hysterical! Uh, and then there's people like
Fred Ward, Ray Berry, and, uh, Brad {something} our outside supporting
actors.
I: Very cool. Sounds good.
D: I'm excited. It's a good film. It was a good first film to do.
I2: What kind of character are you playing?
D: What's that?
I2: What kind of character are you playing?
D: What kind of character? My character is a green beret, uh, who's like
the tough guy of the bunch.
I: No tights involved?
D: Tights? No tights involved, no.
I: That's good to know.
D: I'm getting away from the tights on this particular one. I had to stay
away from the tights.
I: Is this a comedy of a drama or--
D: It's a drama, but there's a lot of comedy in it. There's a lot of
action--
I: {something} is a character, comedy, practical kind of guy.
D: Well my particular character in this piece is a pretty serious
fellow. Andy Dick's character is understandably a funny character. It's a
good, good combination. It's a good picture.
I: Dean, I want you to know if you have to flush at any time we won't be
embarrassed.
D: Someone just did. It's rather hysterical. Tryin to keep the
{something} calm.
I: So Dean, uh, you've, uh, written and directed some episodes of Lois and
Clark?
D: I haven't directed any episodes of Lois and Clark. I've only written
two, I've written two of them. Uh, I haven't directed any as of yet. Um,
whether or not I do, I guess is, um, is the time issue. Uh, it'd be a lot
of fun to do. Um, it's something that keeps you interested, you know.
After 4 years you get tired of playing the same role over and over and over
so it's nice if you can get challenged in other creative ways, and that
would be a lot of fun, and I would enjoy that. My father's a director, so
it's a very, very, very, uh, natural progression for me.
I: What kind of stuff does you dad direct?
D: Uh, feature films. He produced and directed Young Guns and--
I: Uh, cool.
D: He just did a picture called Gone Fishin' with Joe Peschi and Danny
Glover, uh--
I: So how come you weren't one of the Young Guns?
D: Uh, I was in college. I was a student.
I: Oh come on.
D: I couldn't be in it. I wasn't even an actor at the time.
I: So, wait a minute. You could have conceivably not gone to college,
really. I mean it's not like you studied acting in college.
D: I could have not gone, but then I would not be very prepared
for life, I have to say. A lot of those guys didn't go to college and I
think that, for the most part, it affected them that way, you know.
I: They're all in jail now aren't they?
D: Pardon me?
I: Aren't they all in jail now?
D: None of them are in jail, but, uh, but, well, um, Robert Downey got a
little close to going to jail, I guess he was in jail for a while, but, uh
{something}. Had they gone to college I think it would have been for them.
But they started acting at a much younger age.
I: Right, well wait, who were the Young Guns? We got Charlie Sheen? Is he
in there?
D: Pardon me?
I: Who were the Young Guns?
D: Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Keifer Sutherland--
I: Virtually all trouble
D: {something listing the actors}
I: They're all trouble. All those guys are trouble.
D: Not really.
I: I don't know, buddy.
D: They're good guys. {someone} is doing real well. He's doing
that picture with Julia Roberts, Best Friend's Wedding. Um, he's a very
good actor. Casey {something}'s got a picture with my dad again. Uh,
Hallmark Hall of Fame.
I: You know what you've got over those guys besides that college education?
D: I'm taller!
I: You're taller, yes. And probably this had something to do with what you
got. You get to work with Teri Hatcher all the time.
D: Yes I do. This is true.
I: Now what's that all about?
D: She's a damn good actress. She really is.
I: Yeah...
D: Um, she and I, you know, every day all day long, 5 days a week, 15 hours
a day. Four years now we've been doing it.
I: So that must be really, really tough for you.
D: It's nice to have a very good actress in a partner, you know.
It's important. I mean 'cause you're depending on her every, every scene,
everything. Uh, it's an awful lot of work and it's good when you have a
good professional who can really do their thing.
I: Now what happens when you're both working on an episode that you wrote?
Do you get like all of the good lines? Does she get annoyed about what she
has to say?
D: No. You have, uh, you have an, you have a, there's a time when you can
change things before you actually, um, before you actually shoot things you
can change lines, change--and you should do that before you actually sit
down and shoot.
I: So what were the kinds of storylines that you were writing for yourself?
D: Well I wrote two. One episode was a Christmas episode.
I: Oh.
D: It was very, very cute Christmas episode. Actually Sherman Helmsly and
Isabelle Sanford, uh, they got back together and, uh, they were the bad guys.
I: Were you watching the Jeffersons while you were writing?
D: No, you never know who they're gonna cast, you know. You have
particular characters and, uh, {something} takes on a whole different life.
The whole thing is a, it's a collaborative medium. No matter what you
create, you can't create everything. And, you know, if you have someone in
mind that you want to write for, very often they'll change that and then the
whole project will take on a whole new meaning.
I: That’s why you should do more work with this on the Internet cause we do,
we do everything whether we want to or not
D: That's good! Don't get used to that kind of control because
it doesn't exist outside of that.
I: That's true
D: Not at all!
I: Was, uh, was Isabelle Sanford's character named wheezy?
D: No. Her character's name was, uh, God, what was it, Mrs.
Something. I can't remember. See I wrote it and can't remember. You know
what. The second episode I wrote was called, I think, Virtually Destroyed
where Lois and Clark got caught inside a virtual world. They got trapped
inside a virtual world.
I: That's pretty interesting.
D: Yeah, so the webheads would like that. Very timely.
I: Now, yes. Now Dean, do women expect a lot out of the man of steel in
bed?
D:
I: Is it hard to live up to those expectations?
D: How do you mean?
I: Come on Dean! Don't play dumb!
D: Anybody who thinks that, uh, that that character is real, has a little
bit of a mental problem to begin with. Uh, you know I get that, I get that
everywhere I go. If it's on the baseball field, football field, if I step
out to get a {something} or whatever it may be, it's that constantly. So,
it would be if I was trying to live up to that, to that, I suppose, but I
don't try too hard so it's not much of a problem.
I: I gotcha. You know one person, one person that, uh, on person that kind
of understands is I guess, what you're going through as an actor, would be
Stan Lee because he said that Spiderman could kick Superman's ass.
D: Oh, poor Stan.
I:
I2: Intellectually speaking, he said.
D: Intellectually speaking?
I: Oh my gosh.
D: No absolutely not. See, you know, Peter Parker, is that his name?
I: Yes, Peter Parker
I2: Yeah.
D: Okay, you know, Peter, poor Peter, so confused.
I: You know, when you think about it, Spiderman's whole setup, you know,
working for that newspaper.
D:
I: It's the same thing. It's Clark Kent.
D: It's exactly. You know he stole my, he stole my ruse. Can you believe
that?
I: Exactly.
D: I don't know who was created first, but something tells me it was
Superman.
I: It's unbelievable!
D: I don't know, I don't know, Stan. Let's ask Stan who was created first.
I: It's really an outrage!
D:
I: Dean can we ask you a couple of questions from the audience?
D: Sure! Absolutely!
I: We have a couple of email questions and they're very thought provoking.
The first one is from Christopher wants to know, "Do you think the show's
producers would ever consider casting the Grape Guy as a super villain on
Lois and Clark?"
D: Well, uh, I assume that he'd have to come in and read for them.
I:
D: Ya know, I don't think they'd, uh, I don't think just, you know, make
the cold casting or anything.
I: Well maybe as a writer, you could just, you could write a super villain
that happened to be a big purple guy with big round appendages. Things just
kinda fall into place that way.
D: Well he could exist in Virtual World, that's for sure.
I: That's true.
D: There is actually a lot of technology that would allow us to shoot some
stuff and we could shoot some stuff. there's a whole, you've seen that, uh,
that animated real time animation stuff that goes on.
I: Yeah, sure.
D: So there’s--
I: Actually Smitty--
D: Talk about us doing that at one point in time, but, uh, no I don't know
bout the grape guy. I don't now if he could make it on Lois and Clark.
I: I understand. Okay we have a question here from Scott wondering, "Do
you often feel awkward when you're spotted in public using a phone booth?
D:
I: Is that a weird kinda moment for you?
D: Right now.
I: Well the bathroom. Does superman ever change in the bathroom?
D: Uh, no I've never, actually only on the show once or twice have we done
that, that gag.
I:
D: Uh, it's just, it's amazing how famous that gag is. Uh, but we don't do
it very often.
I: Uh-huh
D: Um, and, um, no one ever gives me much of a hard time. See I forget
when I'm outside of playing the character, that I'm the kid they call
Superman, ya know. I forget it all the time. It's an easy thing to forget
because you're just an actor. You spend your time, and it's all make
believe, and then you go away.
I: Right.
D: No, I forget.
I: Sure. Dean, in the pilot episode, what did you think of the four guys
who spotted you?
D: What? Say it again?
I: The rednecks in the pilot--
D: Oh, yeah.
I: --that spotted you. What'd you think of those guys?
D: Oh, they were hysterical!
I3: Oh, good.
D: I thought the were hysterical.
I3: Oh, well one of him is a real, real close friend of mine.
D: Which guy?
I3: Uh, the guy, the guy who had the first line. He said "What the hell
is--
D: --hell is that?!
I: Oh, that was that guy Jim {something}. You know what? He's such a
hack. I've seen him sometimes. He's such a total hack.
I3: What are you kidding me?
I: I hate that guy. Me and Tim Conway, Jr. are gonna kick his ass sometime.
D:
I2: We have some more questions for Dean.
D: Oh my God, I think I ran into one of those guys!
I:
D: I'm not sure which guy it was. But that was, man that was a loooong
time ago.
I: That was a long time ago. What was that, four years ago?
D: Four years ago.
I: Good Lord!
D: I know!
I: Well you're having great success, man.
D: So far so good. I'm not complaining too much. I do complain a little
bit because after four years, you get tired of doing the same old thing, and
putting on the tights and cape everyday. It kinda becomes a little much,
but, uh, it's, it's like anything else, you know. I spent four years in
college, and by the end of college, I was ready to be moving on. And I'm
gonna do at least 5 years of this, uh, in this getup, so, uh, I think by the
time it's over, I'll be ready to move on.
I: Okay.
I2: We have a trivia question, a Dean Cain trivia question for everybody
listening. Uh, for a prize. For a grape-jam-a-thon giveaway, uh, a,
actually we're giving away an autographed picture of Dean Cain.
D: Hey!
I2: The question is--
I: Signed in a bathroom, no less.
D: No, I don't think so.
I2: With toilet paper....Um, so the question is--What did Dean Cain study
in college?
D: I know this one!
I: Dean won an autographed picture of Dean Cain!
I2: If you know the answer to that, email us at wgrp@grapejam.com and
you've just won.
I: Okay, while we're waiting for people to email in, we'll do a couple
more emails to Dean. One is from Cookie. She says, or he says, "I have a
comment for Dean Cain. The president of his fan club, Karen Vigeland, if
I'm saying it right, is sorry she can't make it to his chat, she would
really have loved to go, but she says hello.
D: Hey!
I: Passing that along.
D: My fan club!
I: Okay, a question from uni, doesn't actually give the name. Um, "When
did you become net literate?" They had originally thought you weren't that
net literate, but we know that that is not true.
D: Well, I, uh, I started, uh, my first little delve with America
Online, oh about a year and a half ago, I guess, and, uh, unfortunately, see
the net takes a lot of time and I'm sure everyone knows this. Unfortunately
I don't have the time to like spend surfing, running around, seeing all the
fun things that it has to offer. But about a year and a half ago I started,
uh, popping into the net and doing things like that. Uh, I had always had
an interest in computers since, you know, eighth grade or something like
that. It was always something very easy and a lot of fun for me, but it
takes time and so without time I don't get a chance to get on the net very
often, but I do every now and again. But I've been on there about a year
and a half.
I: Okay we got another question here from Keely Sunshine who says, "Do you
think Lois and Clark will ever have children?"
D: Ah, yes, good question. Uh, if I have anything to say about it, then
we'll have children. Absolutely.
I: The consummation episode will carry a parental warning?
D: Well, you know, I don't think we're gonna actually see them
making children, but I think, uh, them have, um, having the children. I
think there are some really fun opportunities there for the characters to go
through and explore, you know. What happens if she gets pregnant with the
kid, you know. Is he gonna have super powers? I think that's the natural
progression of things. Um, I'd like to see some, there's some things I'm
very interested in seeing happen with the show because I, you want things
to progress. You want things to happen. No on wants to, uh, stay in the
same place all the time. I think audiences get bored with it and actors
get bored of it. Bur I think, uh, definitely want them to have kids and I
want something along with that, uh, in that whole reign.
I: Do you think Superman would be a good father?
D: I think he'd be a fantastic father!
I: You're grounded to the Fortress of Solitude!
D: The Fortress of Solitude the way we have it, is just a, uh, a
treehouse in Kansas.
I2: Here's an email from Kate. She's been looking forward to
talking to you all morning.
D: Oh!
I: Let's see, "Looking back an the first episode, how did you feel, and did
you expect the show to be as big a hit as it is?
D: Uh, it's funny, when I first did the show, I expected it to be a huge
hit. Uh, and then, uh, after we made the show, we were making it for a
little while, um, I, then I expected it to flop. It's a little strange
'cause the reality of creating a television show that millions of people
will watch is, is, it's a crap shoot. I mean you just don't know if people
are gonna be turned on to whatever you're doing, and, um, if they want to
tune in. You just have no idea, and you think it's a good project. I
thought it was a very good project when I got involved. I thought it'd be a
huge project, and then our response was good but not great, so I immediately
thought, Oh my God. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I've
got myself into. We are going to flop and it'll be all my fault. But then,
uh, as time has gone on it's gotten more successful, so I've been vindicated,
so to speak.
I: Good.
D: It's pretty surprising, pretty scary for a little while there. Thought
we were gonna get canceled, and I would never work again.
I: Uh, we got another question from GentMon who asks, "What's the biggest
dispute you've ever had with Teri Hatcher, and how was it resolved?"
D: The biggest dispute?
I: Did it involve who wore the tights?
D: What!?
I: What was the biggest dispute you ever had with Teri?
D: Okay, um, now who asked this question?
I: This was GentMon.
D: Okay. I'm gonna teach you your first political lesson here.
I:
D: You NEVER discuss that sort of thing because all you're going to do is
create animosity or problems. As far as she's, as far as she should ever
be concerned, Teri and I have never had a disagreement.
I: That's good to know.
D:
I: We're gonna do the next trivia question? Okay then one more--
I2: We have a, we have a trivia winner? Is that--
I: Uh, yes. We have Carol Reeves has written in saying history.
D: That is it!
I: That is correct. What's your favorite part of history? Any specific
period?
D: You know, it's funny, um, I was gonna be, I was a couple courses short
of being an American History major, I was a couple short of being a Japanese
History major, and I ended up just being a general History major.
I: Just Pearl Harbor--that was pretty much it.
D: Pearl Harbor--that was it. December 7, 1941 I remember it well. But
you know, that's one thing in college that we didn't do is study dates. It
was certainly not a date thing---
I: You just had dates.
D: No one cared about dates something happened. It was more important the
causes and the effects and what brought it all on and social and economic
reasons that something was created. That's the kind of history we studied
which was really beneficial because, as you know, history definitely repeats
itself.
I: Yeah. Well congratulations to Carol. If you could email us later with
an email address that we can use to alert you and, uh, get you your prize,
that signed autograph. Another quick question from Jubie who asks, says
it's a little off topic, "What was it like filming 90120?
D: 210! That was, that was a very, uh, that was sorta my break, if you
will. Um, that was actually really good for me to shoot because that was
at the height of all the 90210 mania, and I was able to see the young people
who America and the world were so enamored with.
I: Uh-huh.
D: And I got to see them while I was shooting their show on, you know, in
their heyday. Um, and see how they conducted themselves and to see what
their life sort of was for them, and uh, to be in touch with that. That
was important for me. Uh, and it taught me some very valuable lessons and
I was actually really, it was really a lot of fun. And they were actually
very sweet. Everyone was very nice and it was very, very interesting, uh
to go and shoot that, and it was a lot of fun. It was also my biggest break
so it was fantastic.
I: You and Tori, nothing between you and Tori?
D: Tori Spelling?
I: Yep.
D: I don't think we had a single scene together. We had a couple scenes
where we were in the same scene, but we didn't, uh, actually talk to each
other.
I: Okay we're gonna take on last question from the audience. This comes
from Scott, Scott Unger{?} who asks, "Can Dean give any advice about making
the Grape Jam TV show?
D: Advice?
I: Yeah.
D: Well, you've heard my advice about how it was when the show, our show
was created, I mean you heard how I felt. I mean, it's a really difficult,
difficult, uh, thing to do. Um, we hope people like it.
I: Uh-huh.
D: I, what I find is, uh, you know things that tend to be fun to do, are
very often fun to see. So, um, I know you guys have a lot of fun, and, um,
my biggest advice is to let that carry over into the work that you do on a
television show, but there are so many, you all are used to being the ones
who create and do everything now. That's going to change!
I:
D: So have a thick skin.
I:
D: Yeah. You make a TV show, that's gonna change.
I: Right, okay, well Dean, we thank you so much for being on the show.
We'd like to--
D: My pleasure!
I: We'd like to close with at little, uh, well it's a little song that
we've worked up for you, Dean.
D: Okay.
I: If you don't mind.
I3: If you own a TV you could probably see Dean Cain,
D:
I3: He wears a cape and tights and hates kryptonite--Dean Cain,
Can't deny he's the guy who can fly--Dean Cain,
I should take this occasion to say he's on quarter Asian--Dean Cain,
He's a Princeton grad, and Teri Hatcher he's had--Dean Cain,
I: That's not true! You're lying!
I3: Lucky guy, oh my my, say goodbye to Dean Cain.
D: Thank you!
I2: Bye Dean! Thank you.
D: I think that was tremendous!
I: Thanks Dean.
I2: Also if anybody wants to chat on IRC with Dean Cain, we're doing a chat
on channel #grapejam at 1:45. It's 1:45 to 2:15.
I: Alright
I2: We'll see you there.
I: Have a good lunch!
D: Thanks! See you later!
I: See you guys later
I2: Thank you.
D: Alright.
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