Back in 2001, one of the first interviews I ever managed was this doozy with one of the stars of Peter Jacksons legendary debut feature, ‘Bad Taste’, Mike Minnet. Here it is in all its gory glory…
How did you come to be involved with ‘Bad Taste’?
I started working at Wellington Newspapers way back in the early “80’s.Pete Jackson was there and so was Terry Potter….. we soon learnt that Pete was into making movies…….RIGHT INTO IT!. He would bring stuff that he was making into work….and Terry and I were impressed.He talked a lot about making this movie (which went on to become BadTaste) so we started going along on the weekends to “help out”. Because noone would go outta there way to help him it was allways Pete, Pete O, Craig, Terry, Dean, Ken and me ….so Pete built the movie up around us guys because we were……THERE!!!!
The character of Frank is very much a pastiche on the traditional action hero, all chomping cigars, and steely stares. How much of this character was your creation? Did Peter allow you that much imput, or was it all there from his original idea?
PASTICHE!!!! AAAARRGGG!!! hehe!.. because none of us were actors we were VERY much ourselves….thats all we could be…Pete gave us a lot of direction but we just did what we felt right, I think i got the cigar idea off of Clint Eastwood 🙂 i kept losing it so i had to buy new ones and cut them down all the time.The “steely stares” were only to stop meself bursting out laughing haha!!! working with that lot was like “a planet full of…….Monty Pythons!!!!!!!) I think once Terry and I came along Pete just “winged
it” as far as ideas went……
Just how many parts did you play in the finished
film?
Basically only Frank, but i died a few times.Sometimes we needed an alien to die and there was only 2 or 3 of> us there so we would “get the blue shirt on” and get shot…….I think i was lucky in that i can only remember two shots of me……..1 was terry and me playing “patter cake” in the room in the house where we got blown away and the other was me falling out from behind the barrell ….so i shot myself that time!!!
I was’nt crazy enough to fall out of a tree 10 times like Terry and Ken……
Ok, this is a standard question, but I gotta ask:
What is your favorite story from the filming of Bad Taste?
awwww thats a hard one cos they were all good fun…watching the car blow up was a lot of fun…if i remember rightly Pete O and i wernt really needed so we were just watching all these guys set up the explosion…and it took like all day so we’d had a few bevvies and were having a good old laugh…..when the bang came we all hid behind whatever cover there was..but dumb me stuck my head up at the last moment (to see better) and the explosion nearly blew me hair off!!!! HA!!!
Recording the theme song was good too!!! Dave and I had hardly played live so we were nervous as hell!!!!> i think i did the bass in one take and Dave did the guitar in two or three then i did the vocals which was a nightmare cos i cant really sing ….i was used to “drowning” my vocals in reverb but in the studio they put things like that on AFTER so i sounded terrible….and i felt NAKED up there whooo!!! the girls backing vocals saved the day tho they were SO good PLUS John from Madlight did a GREAT job over dubbing the drums…..
How involved were you in the behind the camera side of the production?
Well depending on who was there on the day determined who would get to hold the camera sometimes.If it was only Pete and one other guy and they were filming a “Dereck” scene then ……….well what could they
do. We all helped out in many ways for instance setting off the SQUIBS in the ground to get the BULLET shots…..blowing the “blood” through hoses to get gunshot wounds you name it we all did it…it was no big deal to us, we didnt think of ourselves as “gaffers, grips etc etc” we just did what was needed on any particular day…we were a TEAM!!
How hard was it to maintain your enthusiasm over the films 4 year gestation?
Well i suppose it was hard to keep things going but we did.It was like a…..job.Every weekend we’d be out there making that film.Terry and i played soccer for a work team in the morning and would then dash over to where they were filming for the day.We had wives and kids to juggle as well and a couple of the guys went overseas for a while…but hey! we had so much FUN it was good to get with those guys and have a laugh….and laugh we did LOTS HA HA!!!
Did you ever think of quitting the production at any point?
Not that I can remember, there must have been days when we thought “oh is this ever gonna end” …most of
the time it was FUN!!!!!Once we got going we just wanted to finish it I think our EGO’s carried us through 🙂
How did you feel when the New Zealand film commission stepped in to pay for the finishing up of the film? Did this surprise you?
We did’nt understand the “process” back then so we did’nt know what Pete needed to do or not to do…..It
was all NEW to us??? We knew that Pete was trying to get funding but we did’nt believe ANYONE would give him money for a “movie” like that haha!!! how wrong we all were……..
What were your feelings when you saw the finished product?
Well that was a blast!!!! We turned up at the premier at the theatre and it was like…. a packed house so
we mingle in the foyer (no one knew us) one guy spewed up on the carpet and i thought “oh ok Badtaste
hahaha” so we watch the movie and I’m like WOW!!! cos i hadnt seen a lot of the scenes…..it was amazing
when it all ran together with full sound and wot not 🙂 I was rapt
Whos idea was it for the Remnantz to write and perform the theme tune to Bad Taste?
That was a bonus!!!!!! I think PJ wanted to have Beatles music through out the sound track but for some
reason they would’nt let him. So i said to PJ and Tony Hiles “hey if i can write a theme song would you use it” they went uhhh ohhhh ahhhh ok. So i rushed home and mucked around on my 4 track and came up with the music and words very quickly……recorded it with Dave on gat on we took it to them and they liked it YAY!!!! Michele Scullion did a brilliant job with the rest…it wasnt till years later that i found out that she had based a lot of it on my chord structure …..It was PJ’s movie but we all chipped in with little bits of talent occasionally 🙂
Were you surprised at the massive success of the film?
It was a slow build up really….as each year passed more ppl found out about it and sales took off round the world. We all just carried on with our lives and it didnt really affect us. Now we are happy that so many ppl liked it but you know we aint “stars” or anything i am amused when someone writes me and goes WOW Mike u a legend hahahahahahahah!!! and i’m doing the dishes you know HA! I was NEVER surprised that Jackson went on to be such a success.
If you had to do it all over again, what would you change?
I Would’nt change a thing, the way we made that movie was unique and probably could not be done again…
Part 2’s of movies never really capture the magic of the first one do they?
IF i had to do it again the TIME we spent would have too change …………like 4 weeks instead of years tee!!!
Were you surprised when Peter was given the job on Lord of The Rings?
NO i was’nt…i truely believe from having know him that he was the ONLY one that could have pulled that off! I think he was BORN to make that BIBLE of movies… what a HUGE success it is.
He has such GREAT insight and scope and his attention to detail and to make it REAL is unbelievable
And finally, would you be up for a sequel?
when I first got asked that I said YEAH but I think now it is too late for a sequel 🙁
What a BUM note too finish on eh!!! HAHA!
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