Rodney Eastman on Nightmare on Elm Street

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Thank you, JFRocks.com and Jeff Fiorentino for our great theme music. I'm joined here by BeyondTheMarquee.com's John Donahue. Thanks for coming back, John. What are you born? I'm born a really tall one right there. Is that booze? It tastes like Arnold Palmer's armpit. Oh. It's pretty bad. Does it give you some sort of energy? Zero, no calories. What's the point of drinking? Oh, I see lemonade. I see. Zero calories, all shit. That's very nice. Do you play golf at all? No. This is the closest I get to golf is drinking Arnold Palmer. This won't improve your game at all. And we have a special guest tonight. We have a gentleman who's been in the business. For 26 years, probably longer than that. A lot of times before people officially come into the business, there's a lot of work that goes into it. So we're joined here tonight by Rodney Eastman, best known for Nightmare on Elm Street 3, and I think they finally finish you off in 4. They do indeed. You managed to live only like, did Patricia Arquette live through the first one? She did, but she wasn't in part 4. They couldn't afford her. No, they're like Heather Langenkamp is cheap. We're keeping her. No, no. They killed off Heather in part 3. It was a shame. Man. Well, what an honor. What a great horror film. What a great film. Totally pop culture. I think Freddie, people have to mention Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger as the top villains of really our whole generation. Another phase. I think Freddie tops them all completely objectively. Not because I'm connected to the films. Oh, no, not that you get paid by New Line for it. I don't get a kickback at all. They get the box set out with like all 19 of them. It's like you don't get too much. Yeah, but the residual for the box set was pretty impressive. I got to tell you. Nice. It's not even on Blu-ray in the States yet. So you still, I mean. Oh, is that true? You know more about it than I do. I do. There's not a box. So you can get 1 and 2 and 3 come boxed together. You can't get 4, the Rennie Harlan version. Right. You can't get that. You can't get 5. That's a bird. But you can get 4. That's a bird, man. Freddy versus Chase. That is such a bird. It is a bird. Yeah, the New Line family was fun to be in, in the 80s, early 90s. Oh, yeah? Yeah, it was good. Working for New Line, you like that? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they were a really bargain basement little studio. But they were putting out great films. Ninja Turtles. They promote, because I know they didn't have the kind of studio cash. They were a distributor originally that went into self-production, financed their own things. Right. Truly an independent studio. And that's really rare even today. Absolutely. Bob Shay started the company. And he was selling films out of his trunk, driving around the southeast of the United States. And I think the Nightmare films really, just really word of mouth. In the industry, and Bob, you know, you're right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think they've been sold to Warner Brothers now. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think by the time they got to part three, they'd established a pretty good base, a pretty huge fan base. And it's really interesting. I only realized how massive those films were in retrospect. When I was 19, 20, 21, I was blissfully unaware. I wasn't really... And it wasn't... There was no computers. You were that young. It was 86. Oh, okay. I was 19 years old when I did Nightmare on Elm Street 3. You looked like a baby. Yeah. Still. Little, little baby Joey. Wow. I'd really like to start looking my age eventually. Any special challenges to being mute? Were you deaf and mute? Or just... Just deaf? Or how did that work? No, just mute. Just mute. Okay. Yeah. Never really explained either. Also, it's really funny. The opening scene, you see me, I have like a teardrop tattoo on my face. I saw that. And then it's never to be seen again throughout the entire film. I didn't even realize that. Pretty hilarious. Yeah. In the script, it was like, there's Joey. He's crying. And the makeup was like, we just put this tear on. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. They just put the tear on. I wasn't... At the acting level, I didn't have the chops yet to cry on cue. So they just drew it on. It was broke out fucking glycerin on my ass when I couldn't, you know. Or how about the menthol blowers? Sure. Sure. Let's blow some glass right in your eye. Yeah. That works for me. You, one of the first thing I see is, it says CBS school break special, after school specials were always part of, you know, your repertoire as a kid. Oh my God. And the sitcoms and stuff as you started to get in, they were always part of your repertoire as a kid. Tell us how you first got into the business and how you first started and how you first actually got on into showbiz. Well, it's really interesting that, you know, you said earlier that, you know, having been in the business for 26 years, but you're sure that I had probably done, you know, a lot of footwork before that. That really wasn't the case with me. When kids today ask me how to get into the business, I tell them, well, first of all, I tell them, if they're not willing to starve and sacrifice everything in their life to do this, to just turn around right now and, you know, get a real career, you know, because the competition is hellacious nowadays. I mean, it was rough 25 years ago, but now, especially with the advent of all this reality television, there's 50% of the projects even available. Well, it was rough, but fair. Yeah, completely. It was a very incular, insular, closed-off system. There was definitely a lot of competition, but when it came right down to your type and your part and your age, you're like, I could name the two other guys that I'm going to see in this audition. Absolutely. Period. Every time. But how I got into the business, I always wanted to be an actor, and I grew up in Los Angeles. I grew up in East L.A. You know, 12 miles from Hollywood, but it was, you know, another world away. I never, I didn't have any family in the business. I didn't have any connections to the business. My mom had a friend who was a publicist manager, and he, through this weird circumstances, friend of a friend, friend of my mom's, he knew that I wanted to be an actor, and he asked me, if I wanted to do some extra work. And I said, yeah, for sure. And so I went down, and his friend was first AD on the film, so every scene that there were extras, he would put me up in the front of the crowd, and what ended up happening is I met an actress on the set. Not an extra, but one of the real actresses. And we started. We started hanging out, and, you know, I don't know if people know it, but when you're an extra on films, they keep you far away from the action. You know, if you're on location, wherever the location is, they keep the extras three blocks away in a tent. In a dark, cold dungeon. Watered down Kool-Aid. Yeah, really sad. Stale Ritz crackers. Stale pretzels. Hey there. Yeah. But because I was hanging out with this actress, I got to hang out with her and stay close to the action. And I watched the actors, and I thought, you know, as any great egotistical 18-year-old, I thought, I can do that better. Now, was she just hot for you? And she's like, come on, spend some time. She's got to sit there all day in the same place shooting this scene, right? She's like, wants to spend time with little Rodney. Yeah, she was an older woman, and she took advantage of me. My first Hollywood love affair. It was pretty incredible. It was pretty incredible. But after that, I told this friend of the family's, I said, I want to pursue this. And he said, all right, well, I'm going to get you into a class. And I went to Joanne Harden's Young Actor Space out in the Valley. And, you know, it just came really natural to me. And, you know, he told me, when you feel like you're ready, give me a call, and I'll try and set you up with an agent. And so after about a month, I called and told him I was ready. And he said, well, you know, don't you think you should take a little more time? I said, no, let's do it. So he got me an interview with a little agency called Kelman Arletta. And I walked in. I read a couple of pages for them. Tony Kelman. Tony Kelman. And I don't even remember Arletta. Yeah, but, you know. Wow. You know. And a little tiny agency like that could exist. If people can imagine how they take beef that they raise on, like, rainforest land in Brazil, they pack these beef, and then they bring them through a slaughterhouse, and they grind them through loud, noisy, and efficiently. That's a kid's agency. Right. That's horrible. It is. There's, like, 20 desks. Right. There's, like, two main big agents, but there's tons of, like, the people that do that. They do all the legwork, and they're just sitting there submitting. And you're, you know, John is naturally tall and good-looking. And he just winds up on the greatest. I'm probably for the radio. And through, you know, yeah, yeah. Through both talent and just great connections and the ability to walk up and seem very charming. And you do. You charmed me. I don't really know you. I don't know who you are. Who are you, John? Well, that and 20 bucks. I got a bunch of friends. And you're a great host on Beyond the Marquee. Thank you. Tough to be an on-air camera host. Well, are you guys going to kiss? That's tough. No, that's after the show. The radio's easy. You can come in wearing your, like, workout clothes. Yeah, I love it. I didn't have to get ready or anything. Pretty great. You're wearing your Freddy slippers in Rome. That's right. I have to admit, you've changed your appearance several times throughout. You had a kid look, an adolescent, you know. And also, we were talking before the show. You wish people would see you. Or none of the wish people, they don't see you as your age. No, not at all. I don't know if you talk about it. I used to hide it, but I really don't care anymore. And you really can't hide anything now with the internet, you know. And IMDb, especially, it's really, it's terrible. Actress sued. Once you give them your actual birth date on IMDb, you can never take it off. They will not allow it. They won't. There was an effort taken by you to take off the... There was. I tried to get rid of some credit, and they were like, why? Why do you want to take this off? And I was like, I guess I want, you know, and they left it on. Yeah, crafty. Yeah, once it's up... Yeah, I was trying to get rid of crafty. This is the episode you directed, John. Me too. Once it's up there, it's up there. So... You did a Warnowski movie. How did that... Was this also the... Okay, so, Chopping Mall. It says you were a shoplifter. Is this true? I love Chopping Mall. I was an extra. Okay, so this is the first AD placement. No, no, the actual, the first AD, the project where I met the girl and figured out I could be an actor, that was called Have You Tried Talking to Patty? It was a... It's my other favorite movie. After School Special. There it is. Oh, my God. About a deaf girl at public high school. And you tried talking to Patty? Oh, you're brutal. So, wait a minute. You were an extra. You couldn't talk. Not PC. It was a show about a girl who was deaf, and then you went on to... It was a Freddie movie where you didn't talk. That's right. It's a theme in my life. I love it. And also, funnily enough, Mark... Think it up there, John. Thanks. Mark... John Palmer. I don't know his last name, but the lead from Nightmare on Elm Street 2, Mark... We can Google it. He was the lead in Have You Tried Talking to Patty? Any connection with any managers or public? Publicists or agents or anything? No, no, no. I know this clan. Purely coincidental. Why am I showing up at the same sets with the same people? No, no. Purely. Did you... And it's not only in this, and I really can't go through piece by piece because I have to honestly say, you have more motherfucking credits than I do. A lot of credits. Yeah. So, there's no way to go through them. I just want to pick out... And we're talking some recent great shows like Bones, Breakout Kings. Wait, wait. Can I finish my little story? No. I thought you were done. Monk, all of these, The Mentalist. The point is, how did you... How... Okay. Well, no. Keep going. Finish your story. Okay. It's getting there. I'll shorten it up. He's going to answer it anyway. Kalmanar let us sign me. A week later, they sent me out on my first audition, and I got the part and got Taft Hartley and got into the Screen Actors Guild. My first audition. Wow. So, it really... You know, the decision to become an actor and my first job on a SAG project... I was really lucky. It really fell into my lap, which kind of worked against me. You know, I've never... I'm making a confession. I've never really had to work that hard to get work, especially when I was younger. And it's kind of come back to bite me in the ass because... Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, they all felt that this wasn't really work either. Right. And they fell into... They fell into it, too. And we're very grateful to do it. I think the key is... And this is the point about all the shows after shows after shows. And like, whether it's a connection for the first 80-year producers or director, how is you... It seemed to have been kept building bridges your whole time. And everyone kept... You just... And burning them. And burning them. Yeah. Give me an opportunity. I'll piss all over it. Yeah. No, but you kept... Oh, it's so great. All of the... Who's the boss? You always got to wind up on who's the boss, right? Absolutely. He's an 80s actor. Did you do that, Keith? Yeah. You... No. No, I did not. I'm just pissed. Yeah, and I had a scene with Alyssa Milano. It was so great. Oh, that's great. I got to, like, razz Alyssa Milano about her horrible car in high school. So great. So, the order sometimes on IMDb is all funny. Uh-huh. Highway to Heaven, was that before or after the Nightmare on Elm Street? That was after. I mean, Nightmare on Elm Street 3 was my third job ever. As an actor. Wow. Yeah. And from there, it was just, were you on fire? Pretty consistent, yeah. But, you know, I was... Like I say, it came really easy to me. I didn't realize what I had when I had it. I didn't realize... I didn't even realize that the Nightmare movies were... I was a huge fan of slasher films and great 80s horror. And I knew they were successful. But I just wasn't really... I didn't understand how the business worked. It was my third job. I didn't understand that you work hard to get a film at a certain level. And then you... From that level, you springboard to the next level and so on and so on. You're just doing this kind of job, then this kind of job. Right. And, you know, doing Nightmare on Elm Street 3... Lawrence Fishburne tucked him into bed in Nightmare on Elm Street. So great. Did you know he was in Apocalypse Now or anything like that? I did. I was staggered. That he was in this movie. And that's the thing. In 1987, Nightmare on Elm Street was not iconic. It was popular, but it was not what it has become now. It was part two. I mean, I don't remember what the reaction was at the time. Horrible. I know it was a horrible film. Right. But part three, I remember everybody was jazzed about it. We all went to see it with my friends. We loved the skeletons. You know, Freddy's skeleton walking around with a shovel. I mean, all that stop motion stuff. I mean, the movie was just awesome. It was great. Well, who did it? Who did it? Who did it? Who did the soundtrack to that? They were... Dawkin. Dawkin. Yeah. Yeah. So they had a screening, a 25th anniversary screening on Monday at Chinese Theater. And it was sold out. It was really incredible. But Badalamente, is that how you... Badalamente. Whatever. You know. He did Cousins. He did the soundtrack to Isabella Rossellini and the music for her commercials, the perfume commercials and stuff. It was... All of a sudden, it was like... I was like, God, this is like a spaghetti Western horror film. It's pretty great. But yeah, it wasn't an iconic film back then. And I just saw it as doing a low-budget horror film. You know, that's really what it was. And then, you know, the phenomenal success, you know, came after the fact. And, you know, I was just an actor, you know, beating the pavement, trying to get my next job. And then part four was the highest grossing independent film to ever come out at that point. It got knocked off. Only beat by Ninja Turtles. It got... Actually got knocked off by Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Oh, really? Yeah. I didn't even see that. Both films were top grocers in the years that they came out. Top 10 grocers. Pretty incredible. Pretty incredible. For little movies made for, you know, I think, you know, Nightmare on Elm Street. Part three was probably at a $3 million budget, $4 million budget. Pretty crazy. That is crazy. And so creative. So inventive. And not only the merchandising and the, you know, going to see the film, but it was... It wound into your psyche. Yeah. You would be up at night and not want to sleep or afraid if there was bad dreams. Yeah, absolutely. That they could hurt you. Part three is really well-written. You know, they really hit... It's a cult of kids that aren't understood by adults and don't give a fuck. I love how the parents are so disconnected from the kids. Right. They really don't give a fuck. Yeah. Especially the mothers. So great. They're the ones that did it. I mean, that's the great thing is the kids paying for this mistake that the parents' generation had made. Yeah. I mean, it's really, you know, there's so many little analogies in the film. You know, commenting on culture at the time. You know, every character in that movie is such an archetype, you know. And Wes Craven came back for that film and co-wrote it. And, you know, he's a strange duck, but a brilliant creative mind, you know. And he really... If you watch the film, you know, I loved watching it. I hadn't seen it on a big screen in so long. And it was so great. It's fun. Didn't it play almost like it had the scream self-aware mentality already built in? Absolutely. It felt like it was already riffing on... And it was a great thing about Nightmare on Elm Street as a series is within each dream, within each issue, each personal psychological, there could be addiction, whatever, there was an attempt to go for a genre. And they could play on other films, music, music videos. We have a caller. We have a caller from the 801. Thank you for calling the call sheet. You're on the air. How can we help you? Can we take your order? Hello? All right. Was it something you said? 801? Hello? Where's 801? And you're gone. All right. We had a caller. Where's that? Wow, I was so excited. This is my first radio show. I can call. You're totally breaking your cherry. Yeah, you are. Be gentle with me. We haven't talked that much yet, but we can say what we like. 801. We're talking, ooh, the North American Numbering Plan in Wasatch Front, northern Utah. Thank you, Utah, for calling in. All of Utah. Is that 801? Yeah. Yeah. Utah is an interesting state. I've spent some time in Utah. You have. I have. You have some friends in Utah that want to contact you. This is nice. Really? Maybe I know them. This is some old pal. Utah is a very interesting state. So controlled by the church. The Mormon church. And to be a freak in Utah, you really have to go for it. You know, there's no sort of gray area. No half-mast with the freak flag? No, absolutely not. You know, you're either on the right or on the left. There's no moderates in Utah. So I have a question. Please. What was your favorite experience, Elm Street 3 or 4? I mean, I'm sure. They were both great. Do you have a preference? Nightmare on Elm Street 3, for sure. Just because it was your big breakout? Yeah. I had done. The first job I did was a movie called Children of Times Square with Lou Gossett Jr. And my friend Danny Nucci was in it. Yeah. And then it was about eight months of auditioning and not booking anything. And I was really. Before I became an actor. I was going to be an architect. I really focused on that in high school and got accepted to a great school. And I figured I'd take a year and try the acting thing and see what happened. And after about, it was eight months. And I thought, you know, I gave it a go. And I got to do something. And, you know, I got to do something that probably that very few people ever get to actually do. But I was ready to hang it up. And then I got an audition. And for a TV show called The Judge, which was, you know, pre People's Court. It was a fake, you know, a fake courtroom drama shot on video. And I auditioned for it and got the part. And that was really exciting. And about a week after I did that job, I got the audition for Nightmare on Elm Street 3. So it really was my third real job. It was pretty incredible. So I had such a good time. And at the time doing it, it was really my introduction to filmmaking. And working with Ira Hyden, Patricia Arquette, Bradley Gregg, Ken Sagos, Jennifer Rubin. It really was, it was a six-week shoot. And it was, it really felt like a great little family, you know. It wasn't like I was the one kid on the set. With no connection to anybody. It was, it was like camp, you know. So yeah, I had a great time. There's a great documentary called Never Sleep Again. Oh, that's a good one. The Elm Street Legacy. And it's like a three-hour long documentary. And they go through every episode of the Nightmare franchise in great detail. And, you know, it's been sort of touted. It is, you know, the greatest horror documentary ever made. And it's really good and really interesting and really compelling. You can, elmstreetlegacy.com. You can get some more information about it. But I don't know why I brought that up. But it just really, you know, it just sums up, you know, what the experience was like in a real authentic way, you know. I had a great time doing it. And then part four felt, you know, very... Well, first of all, Patricia Arquette didn't come back. And I really think that it was a financial issue. And I don't think she was asking for a ton of money. And they didn't want to pay it. And so they... They're saving up for Jim Carrey in a few years. Call her from the 213. Yo, what's up? Thanks for calling. Old school. Call Sheedy. How you doing? I'm doing good. Is Rodney Eastman actually there? Ira. Ira Heiden. How do you just pull me out of the bag just like that? Come on. I mean, I thought I could fool you for a second. This is Ira Heiden, the wizard master. Hi, Ira. It's Keith. This is John Donahue. Hey, Ira. Hey, there. Good old friend. Good to talk to you again, Ira. Good to hear you. Good to talk to you. Are you back in Los Angeles yet? No, I'm actually still in Clay Alum, Seattle right now at a family reunion. But I knew that you were going to be on the radio tonight on Skid Row. And I had to call in and say that, one, I am a huge, huge Rodney Eastman fan. And second of all, please stop kicking my butt in Words with Friends because I'm kind of getting tired of it. Yeah, well, you know, if you want to play, you got to pay. You know. I'm not just another pretty face, Ira. You know. I like that. Okay. But, you know, keep at it. You're getting better. You know. Thank you. I'll try and go easy on you. I know. And I appreciate that, Rodney. Listen, I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say that Rodney is one of my favorite dream warriors and one of my really good friends. And I'm proud to have had this friendship. And I'm proud to have been with him for so long. Yeah. Likewise. It's, you know, I think that I was just talking about the film feeling like a little family and really sort of feeling like camp. And I think the fact that we're still friends is sort of a testament to that. I mean, every project you do, you always tell your fellow actors, oh, let's stay in touch and let's get together. And honestly, that quite seldom happens. But Ira and I have remained friends for many, many years. Hey, Ira. Are you going to Orlando in October? I would love to. Let's try and make that happen. You want horror nights? Universal? Because I'm going to go. Spooky Empire. Never mind. Spooky Empire is a convention in Orlando, Florida, October 26th through the 28th. And they're having a giant Nightmare on Elm Street three and four reunion. Rennie Harlan's going to be there. Robert England. Bradley Gregg. And like everybody that was involved in the film, it's going to be a really good time. I'm really excited. We need to make that. We need to make that happen. Definitely. That would be a lot of fun. And yes, you know, who knew when we made this film Nightmare on Elm Street three, who knew what we were actually doing? I mean, we were just young, struggling actors that were very happy to be working for Scale Plus 10. And it just, it blossomed into something that we're doing now. And I think that's what we're doing now. I think that's what we're doing now. I think that's what we're doing now. I think that's what we're doing now. I think that's what we're doing now. I think that's what we're doing now. I think that's what we're doing now. I think that's what we're doing now. I think that's what we're doing now. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. I think that's what we were doing. Jennifer and Bradley. Yeah, we missed you at the screening on Monday. I know. Well, you knew that I was leaving for Seattle. I did. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing. Yeah, I would love to do October. That would be a lot of fun. All right, well, let's talk about it later. Hey, let's do that. Enter your play. Ira, I have a question for you. Actually, I don't have a question. I want a comment. And if you want more information on that, it's SpookyEmpire, one word, .com. SpookyEmpire.com. Check it out. And I just want to say, love your character in Elm Street 3, The Wizard. I appreciate it. And Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Love that movie. It's one of my favorites. Thank you for pulling that out instead of Zapped again. All right, guys, I got to go. Thank you for doing it so I didn't have to. Appreciate that. All right, Rodney, I'll see you back in L.A. Take care, buddy. Okay, bye, guys. Good night. Oh, that's sweet. Good night. Last time I saw Ira, he was taking money from me at a poker game. Those were fun times. God, you guys, that's so great that you guys remained close all these years. Yeah. He recognized the voice like right away. I did. It's crazy. He still has that same voice you remember from the movie. And he still looks exactly the same. I'm pissed about that. What's that? That low Peter Bogdanovich picture. Illegally yours? Yeah, Ira got that. I was so fucking pissed. Ira, if you're still listening, I don't get you. Back to me. It's kind of Freddy right there. It was. That was kind of evil. Freddy was great. He scared the fuck out of me. I was probably 16, I think, when it came out. It came out in like 86, 88 was the... What year was three? I think it came out in 87, 88. It is the 25th, so it's 87. I was working at a movie theater, a single screen theater I was telling you earlier in upstate New York. February. I was a teenager. I think it was 89, Elm Street 4 came out. Right. And we had this little tiny old projectionist. Picture Mr. Magoo. He's like 80 years old. He always used to mark up the films because it was reel to reel changeover. Right. He used to mark them up like with razors. So you'd be watching them all of a sudden, you'd be blinded by this big white X. So he'd know when to change the reel over. Well, every night we realized we're getting out five minutes early every night. And people were coming out into the lobby going, geez, whatever happened to Kincaid? He just didn't die. He just didn't come back. Right. And he was changing the reel over before Freddie had a chance to kill him Nice. to the next scene. So it was Kincaid, right? He just never died. Right. At this theater. Jennifer Rubin had a nice little, literally a mini horror career with Nine Mile Street 3 and Bad Dreams. Right. And what a sweetheart from Bad Dreams. I mean, I had such a crush on this poor girl. She was great. Yeah. I played in my theater too. Confession, I've never seen it. Are you serious? No. It's fun. It's a great 80s movie, man. I got to put it on my Netflix list. She's phenomenal in it. She really is. Survivor of this cult that all immolated themselves, set themselves on fire. Right. She's the only survivor. And the cult leader years later calls to her in her dreams. And it's not Freddie like at all. It's way more like Lord of Illusions or Mouth of Madness or something. It's a little, and she, Jennifer's just very- She really does make the movie. Really does make the movie. Lawrence motherfucking Fishburne. Yeah. Pretty unbelievable. Yeah. And he was, yeah, he rocked it too. I'm waiting for him to call tonight. I double-taked it. I went, is that really Larry Fishburne? Yeah. So cool. And so cool that you knew at the time too. And Robert Englund. Now at this point, Robert, I got to do this snake movie with Robert and he was so fun and had fun doing it. He's an amazing guy. By the third movie, was he done with the makeup? Had they figured it out and made it easy on him? Was he great? Was he tough or what? Did you see Freddie run around? I mean, he tortured you a couple of times. Part three was, he was spending, it was taking six hours every day to do his makeup. Unbelievable. And he was a character. I mean, again, I was 19 years old, sort of really wet behind the ears. And we didn't have much connection. I really didn't have anything to talk about with the older types, but again- Had you seen V? Had you seen him in the New Zealand movie? I had, I had, absolutely. You're like, yeah, I knew who he was. I mean, I was a huge, like I said before, I was a huge horror fan. So I had seen Nightmare on Elm Street, the first one, probably four times in the theater. So I was, I was a huge fan of it, which was amazing to me, which was amazing to me, was at that point in my life and career where I wasn't jaded at all. So, you know, I was, I was going to work, you know, working with Lawrence Fishburne and, and, and Robert England. So I was a fellow actor, but I was also still very much a fan, you know, so I would get sort of starstruck every day on the set. But now, you know, 25 years later, I see Robert, you know, once or twice a year at these horror conventions and the guy has the most sparkling wit imaginable, really intelligent, probably one of the greatest conversationalists I've ever sat down with. And now all these years later, we really connect. And, you know, whenever we meet up in these cities around the States, you know, there's always some sort of big group dinner that, that occurs. And and I think Robert and I have this sort of, sort of love hate relationship because I, I'd love the art of conversation, the lost art of conversation. And, and, you know, when that guy's at a table, he usually holds sway over, you know, he's usually holding court over the entire, you know, situation. And I'm just always sort of chipping in my two cents and, and sort of challenging him and, and sort of, you know, trying to keep pace with him. And, and, you know, on one hand, I, I think he, you know, doesn't enjoy sharing the spotlight. But on the other hand, I think he really likes the sort of, you know, you know, sort of the competition for that spotlight, you know, pretty, I love hanging out. His sword and duel. Yeah, absolutely. He reminds me of like a Broadway actor or something. Some classically trained theater actor that's done every show, every part in every show. Absolutely. The King and the Son. And he seems like he'd have a lot of great stories. And I think that he really, because of sort of the lowbrow appeal of the Freddy character, I think he's sort of worked double time at letting people know that he is a real actor and a real wit. And that's what I really, really appreciated was I felt that he would have been bitter or taken it too seriously when we were doing our 130 foot snake movie for Ken Olant's company and had Will Wheaton, Billy Zabka and fun, fun, fun, fun. He had, he, just the table reading, we sat down and we're like, oh my God, he came to the table reading. We were very impressed. He was a doctor that was like in the third act, mostly like the specialist that had kind of a, you didn't know whether we wanted to fuck the snake or like, you know, help us kill it or whatever. He was like in love with his own creation. Yeah. He's like, it's beautiful. Like that scientist that stares too long into the sun. So he, he chewed it up. He chewed it up and had such a ball. And I respected that. He was like, I'll go low right now. Let's go. Let's do it. Let's have fun. Right. And let's shoot this thing in 16 days or whatever it was. Now you on, when you get to something and years and years, and like I'd mentioned, like the mentalist or monk or, you know, you kept working in a TV and film. And even. You did a great remake in 2010. You did. I spit on your grave. Yes. Did, were you the Robert Englund at that point? Were you the one with the stories on the set? Were you the one with the experience? When you do the blood gag, you got to turn that that way. And I mean, how did that, we were like, dude. Actually, I worked with, that was one of the greatest experiences I've had making a movie. Tracy Walter. Yeah. Amazing. And, and, you know, the state of the industry right now, you know, five years ago, a movie like that, you know, probably $1.5 million budget would have had trouble getting quality actors. But there's so little work going around right now that really great actors are willing to work for really no money. And so I was surrounded by a real quality ensemble of actors. And. The director and the DP. It's the Walmartization. They are doing a price war and saying we've dropped production values down with no budget, low budget, no union, non-union, some union. Right. Scale. Fuck it. Deferred, maybe a hundred bucks a day if you're lucky. Right. Or you're working more than a few days in the week. 75 a day, you fucker. Okay. And that's on the ones that will pay you cash, you know, within two weeks of your first day of shooting. Right. You know, that's what's interesting though. Is big brands, are they going to allow the little low producers to fill those shelves while the price war is coming down to nothing? No. Kellogg's and Tide and Coca-Cola are going to undersell themselves to keep their brand on the fucking shelf. So when the price wars come back up again, people remember their brands. That's why big stars and people that do get used to get 10 grand a week will go 600 a day. I'm totally down. Right. But I think that. You know, there's two sides of every coin. I mean, you know, on one hand, you know, the budgets have gone so far down and, you know, the further down they go, producers realize that people are willing to work for no money. So, you know, they're running with it. And, you know, on one hand, it's. And work harder. Yeah. You're in character all day. You're always rolling. No standing. No fucking rehearsals. There's no. No retake. It's run and gun shooting 15 pages a day. Right. And you can actually do it because you're not moving around as many lights. Right. And also now with, you know, the real revolution is digital. You know. Always in character. And now. I swear. And I don't know whether you like it or not. Well, I think I had a revelation. I did a movie called Rule of Three. 2009, I think I did it. And it's the first movie I did. Where I great script. I auditioned. I got the offer and they were going to pay me $150 a day. The entire movie shot in nine days. They made it for $60,000. I was working three days on it. And when I first got the offer, I thought, you got to be kidding me. $150 a day. Don't you know who I am? And but I thought about it. I thought, well, God, it's shooting on the weekend. It's a great script. I'm not doing anything else. So I took the job and it was one of, if not the greatest acting experience I ever had. There was 13, 15 page scenes. The entire movie took place in one room and the director wanted to shoot it like a play. So and again, with digital, you don't have the the additional cost of 35 millimeter, even 16 millimeter film, which is incredibly expensive. So they can run a camera all day long and, you know, you know, worry about it in editing. But I did this film and it just completely opened my mind to working on projects like that with production costs coming down so much. Really great stories are now being shot that probably wouldn't have been shot. I have had a chance five, six, seven years ago. You know, this movie I did, Rule of Three being a perfect example. And I just had a blast. And also, if I'm working for one hundred and fifty dollars a day, I feel like I have the right to speak up and I feel like I'm more a part of the process. You know, you're nuts in this. Yeah. If I'm getting if you're paying me, I'm just paying me off to shut up and stand on my mark, right, if I'm doing a TV show and I'm getting eight thousand dollars for a week of work, it's kind of like shut up, hit your mark, get in your light and say your lines. It also rolls over you. They're incredibly prepared. This is the sixteenth episode out of the twenty four they're shooting. They've been back to back. They're about to go on a short three week hiatus. They're like, shoot this fucker. God, it's about to rain. Oh, great. Right. And it is rolling thunder. And on this, you're like, you do get especially if things start to boil down at the end of the day. And the over the page count to go is getting a little long. And we're but we're getting into it now. We're into the meat of this. You and you don't even help it. You wind up helping direct the damn thing. Yeah, absolutely. And then that's the thing about, you know, I spit on your grave. You know, I wasn't like the old pro on the set. I mean, I guess I was. But that's the amazing thing. I, you know, all these years down the line and especially. Like you just said, on these small films, my experience on so many productions really comes to the fore and I'm really able to contribute and, you know, sort of help. You know, I, I, I feel like on a lot of these smaller films, I've been on far more sets than the director, you know, and I'm able to chip in my two cents and if you're only paying me one hundred hundred and fifty dollars a day, I don't really have any filter. I don't feel. Bad about sort of crossing those lines, you know. Pretty great. I feel you're not going to go tell Schwarzenegger where to stop when he's walking away from camera to turn around and say, I'll be back, he'll know when to fucking do his shit. Right. Right. And also that's something, you know, in the downtime, I, I started going to film school and and I've directed a couple of little shorts. Uh, this past year. And I just love it. You know, I know it's such a cliche for an actor to say, well, I want to be a director. You got the T-shirt when you get your SAG card. They give you that. But what I really want to do is direct. Right. It comes with the card. But what I really want to do, what I really want to do is direct. Yeah, I know. And and I'm pretty damn good. Are you in your pieces or do you step back and. No, I'm I'm in my pieces because I'm too much of a control freak. You know, both both shorts I shot. No crew. Do you edit yourself? I from beginning to end total control, wrote it, directed it, shot it. No crew. But your own music in your band. No, no, no, no. I steal music from people. And my to the two shorts are you could see them on YouTube. My YouTube page is Rodney 67 ROT. Any why six seven. And I just love it. You know, doing a project from beginning to end, creating it, shooting it, editing it, sound design, all of it is such a gratifying experience. And, you know, these shorts that I did, obviously I didn't get paid any money. I had to pay to make them. And doing those projects gave me more satisfaction than any acting project I've ever done. So I'm kind of. I'm trying to bring up to make another one in these next couple of months. So you shorts, do you have any feature rhythm of stories? Do you have any of those stories? How long are the pieces that you're tackling? The well, the two that I've done were just really, you know, six and seven minutes, you know, which is a great challenge, you know, and that's why I like. That's why I like school. I just went to LACC, Los Angeles City College. They have a great little program over there. A lot of a lot of the professors actually teach at UCLA as well. And I didn't go because I felt like I had to learn how to make a film. But it's really great having getting assignments and having a deadline and being given sort of using them. Well, yeah, because I'm I'm a lazy, I'm a lazy deadline. So if I have some tools and some shit to you, that's right. If I have somebody who's. If somebody's pushing me and I've got to get a project in, you film boot camp, you did it and you did city college, so it was cheap as hell, right? You know, thirty dollars a class for a semester. Pretty great. And they have a great and then UCLA for those that have heard of USC film school and for those that have heard of UCLA film school, really, you see the writing program is pretty amazing. And UCLA for story for screenwriters, UCLA is the place to go for. And I think that's the best way to get a job. For being deeply entrenched in the business and connected and having the most amazing technical expertise, USC film school, I think. Have you ever dabbled? Have you ever gone to school? No. And I was thinking about this on the way over to because I was going to ask you about that. So I asked about film school is no. And I did. I was going to ask you, do you did you feel that you had learned like you said, you knew where to put the camera. Right. What what did you think? OK, so you were going to get motivated. You were going to be told here's an idea. You know, here's a beginning and an end to go shoot this. And here's a deadline. Right. Well, what else? What did you learn? What I did learn, what I did learn was the technical aspects. You know, I went to class and I sat in the front row and I took incredibly detailed notes and I still have that notebook. And it really is like a. Of films, you know, it's really everything that you need to know about the technical aspect of making a movie is in those 50 pages of notes. And that that was really beneficial for me because I don't want to end. You know, this is just the beginning. I really do want to direct real projects at some point. And I want to be able to say, you know. Uh, I. I want to know what I'm talking about technically when I'm running a set. So I'm not I, you know, you have the means to the end. Right. I don't want to be like, yeah, what kind of lens? You know, I want to know exactly. Actors often get just enough knowledge to be really dangerous on a set. Right. And and especially kid actor. I was I was a real kid, like kid, kid, kid. Right. Oh, God. How fucking obnoxious. I was on a set. People tell me now. Occasionally I have a guest on and I've worked with as a kid. They were like, boy, you were a brat. Oh, really? I thought I was a good kid. Fuck. I was a little, you know, eight year old jaded, eight going on 40. Utah rough weight that I said. I don't know. Did you have an arrested development? Did you have party time in the 80s after Elm Street? Was it just work, work, work? I mean, you work, I mean, forever and ever and ever in a day. 80, 80 titles, at least on IMDb, which is incredibly impressive. Yeah. And I, you know, and a resume actually used to mean something in the business. It's it's pretty sad nowadays. A resume just really doesn't mean that much. You know, I'm not bitter. No, they said that it's not a career index or a star index. It's a heat index now. Right. About who's hot and that there's absolutely no longevity. And the studios love it because there's no payment. They don't have to build up to twenty ten million dollars a picture. Right. There's no. Canning Tatum's the closest one that they're accepting into the A- list studio system right now. And Emma Stone's getting close to. But no one's at that an old star system. Twenty million. The studios are like, and the stars are plunking down the money, pulling to get the green go. Self distributing like Gibson's going to be back in the show, you know? Yeah. Making their own stuff. Ted Danson, I was admired for producing his own movies of the week and stuff outside of Cheers. Well, I think that's that's really, you know, that's a big reason why I'm interested in directing also because it's really come down. To that. No one is going to hand you anything in this business. And I really feel like the way to go is definitely to write your own ticket. You know, and I have some great, great, great feature ideas. And and, you know, I'm I'm really I'm I'm going back to school next week and working my way into the screenwriting class. That's the next sort of they're going to give you an assignment. Aren't they? I'm so excited about it. You're like, right. Great. I'm all set. It's like working in a little mini studio. You know, it's pretty great. Great idea. What do you like to write? Is it a horror comedy? You have a preference. I'm I'm pretty dramatic. You know, I I sort of lean towards darker subject matter, not horror, but sort of the darker side of life. And you asked if in the 80s, if there was, you know, party time. And yeah. I'm a little bit of a 90s, 90s, you know, 00s, aughts, whatever we call it now. What day is it? I'm you know, did you become a personal question and on the air? I don't want to I don't want to ambush you or anything. Right. Are you born again, recovered, 12 step or anything like that? Or you just you made it through? I, I, I made it through and. And that's just I'm taking care of myself and. You know, I've come out the other end and I, you know, I wouldn't change any of that. You know, it's given me an incredible wealth of experience and and and put me in a position to where, you know, I'm I'm getting older now. And and I mean, a lot of kids that are coming up that, you know, I see so much of myself in them. And it's kind of great to be able to be in a position to maybe be able to help some some kids coming up and, you know, good. To not make the same mistakes that you so totally deserve it. Because back in the day, with the kind of groups and circles that were in town and all the kids that were working, everybody had their kind of like, oh, project. Oh, that's the one that did the Twilight Zone movie. That's the one that did this. I had babysitter this and that. And you certainly you walked in the door with Elm Street and you fucking owned it. And and I think that you didn't you didn't piss all over it like some people have. Right. And you you certainly you you you kept at it. I mean, they brought you back for four. Right. Bob Shade didn't fucking like you. You won't go and be in four. Right. And, you know, you kept humble. You kept at it. Keep telling the stories. But you you didn't have to do the 10 years of work before in the summer camps and the interlock. And then, you know, right. And the theater training. I was on Broadway at seven. I took you. So you jumped right into the pool and you did just you did just cry. Just fine. Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. What an amazing very kind of you just to be in the Elm Street movies alone. I mean, it's pretty great. That's like a that's a huge thing. But then to get Fred here just shared credits. I'm just going to mention shows that we did not at the same time. But Starman was great show to be on. Right. Right. I didn't get the who's the boss thing, but you fucker. And no Jake and the fat man against the law. I actually did an against the law, which is never fucking hysterical. And you did the pilot. I did not do the pilot. Aha. Now I see what's happening. I can't believe you were in Hall High. And that just episode. I know. Yeah, I actually musical. Right. Kenny Ortega. Kenny Ortega's first foray into the musical. Kenny Ortega, who created created High School Musical and Hall High was High School Musical ten years before High School Musical came out. And I think it was totally ahead of its time. But, you know, the public was not ready for it. But, yeah, I did two episodes and somewhere on if you somewhere online, I think if you Google Rodney Eastman Hall High, I have a full singing and dancing number, it's pretty great, pretty amazing. I know we just have a minute left. What do we want to promote coming up? Oh, coming up this in Orlando, right? You're going to Orlando, Orlando, Florida. October 26th, 28th. Spooky Empire. Great horror convention. You can find more information at spooky Empire dot com. You know, I don't I have no stake in it, but Elm Street Legacy dot com. Never Sleep Again. Great horror documentary. I that's about it. I've been doing you so much for coming in and I want to see those shorts and tell us stories and get those out there. YouTube, Rodney 67, ROT, any 67. And I've got a fan page on Facebook, the Rodney Eastman page. Check it out. And also, the radio voice just popped up and I've got some music. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. John Donahue from Beyond the Marquee dot com. This was the call sheet. Rodney, appreciate it. Great time. Thank you. Thanks. Take care. Have a good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Let me in here. Get the wax out. Listen to Chicks Nest every Saturday at 11 a.m. Pacific Time. Tune in to Skid Row Studios dot com and hear the crazy Chicks in action. I'm insane in the membrane. I'm insane in.