Short Circuit's mad scientist talks to us about Lost and Walken impressions
You might know Fisher Stevens from his stints as the creator of Johnny Five (Short Circuit), a skateboarding villain (Hackers), or that guy from Lost who got a nosebleed, and then things only got worse. But most recently, he directed Christopher Walken, Al Pacino, and Alan Arkin in the movie Stand Up Guys, which just arrived on DVD.
We snagged a few minutes with Stevens to talk about his experience directing the movie, plus whether or not Johnny Five was ACTUALLY alive. So if you want to know what really happened on that Lost finale, you better check this out.
You got to work with three legendary actors on Stand Up Guys: Walken, Arkin, and Pacino. Be honest: who was the coolest?They’re all cool in different ways. Arkin is cool because he has great style and he’s very quick. He just makes you laugh. Walken makes you laugh in a whole ‘nother way. He’s an eccentric with an incredible grace. He’s an oddball in the most wonderful way. Al is just cool, he just epitomizes cool. He’s kinda just a ball of energy. Full of energy and life and fire. They are three of the coolest dudes I’ve ever met and they really enjoyed working together. I remember I was waiting for them on set one day and Walken and Pacino had tears in their eyes because Arkin was making them laugh so hard. Of course they wouldn’t tell me the joke
Do people dare do Walken impressions in front of Walken?[In Walken voice.] You keep it to yourself. [Breaking.] No, he knows. But you can’t help it, he’s infectious. And everybody does it. Except for Pacino and Arkin. They never did it once
You played an Indian scientist in Short Circuit, even though you’re from Chicago. Do people still expect that you’re going to speak in the Ben Jahrvi voice?Oh yeah. First of all, every day someone talks to me about Short Circuit. Some of the more obnoxious people ask for lines. It’s funny, I just went to India again -- the first time, I went to learn to be Ben, because I was very method -- but I went back 25 years later and my accent’s really shitty now. Can you print that
Was Johnny Five actually alive? Or just confused?It was the same guy who was the Wizard of Oz, still behind the curtain. No, I have no idea. I wonder if they do it again if the robot should have a deeper voice. He was kinda prepubescent in the original. Maybe he can come back as a man this time. Or as a woman! Who knows
You also guested on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as the newspaper critic the gang kidnaps. What was it like working with that cast for a few days?They were wonderful. I’d never seen them before and I never saw them again. But they were great. They’re kind of inspiring, how they started that all on their own
Does Charlie Day only speak in yells in real life?I didn’t really work with him enough to know. But probably
*The afterlife is really just a big church with evil fugitives, washed-up rockers, and some dude who's damned for eternity to only say "brotha". You're welcome.