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This article was originally published on July 26, 2021.
It was republished on April 1, 2024, to coincide with the 30th anniversary ofCliffords theatrical release.
What we have here is a suitable case for deep cinematic analysis, Ebert concluded.
Short was 40 when he starred inClifford, playing the titular ten-year-old character.
The effect is unsettling.
Clifford is neither boy nor man.
Hes a raging storm of desire, chocolate cravings, and Ethel Merman impressions that has assumed human form.
Suffice it to say you dont watchCliffordto go on the heros journey.
But sure, theres plot.
Moviegoing audiences didnt take to it.
But thanks topersistent airings on basic cable,Cliffordbuilt a small, devoted following.
Which, surprisingly, predated even the involvement of Martin Short.
Steven Kampmann (co-writer,Clifford):Youre the first person Ive talked to about this at all.
And not because Im sensitive.
Its just … theres no reason to discuss it.
No ones ever approached me about the making of the movie.
I dont even know the movie, frankly.
The character wasnt at all based on Clifford.
I think Will Aldis just found that to be a funny name for a boy.
I dont even know if my son saw it.
Clifford Cliff Olin (Kens son):Ive seen it.
Oh, Ive seen it.
I have always checked with my parents: That is a fact, right?
That movie was named after me?
Kampmann:I came in [to Orion], and I acted out every scene of the movie.
Will and I loved to do the pitches.
Wed basically outline where we wanted it to go.
They got the comedy of it.
We pitched the idea that I would direct and we would write it.
Will and I had been partners onstage at Second City in Chicago.
I would say, in general, in my career, Ive been considered the structure person.
Will had a great strength for dialogue.
And together, we both had a good sense of building the character.
What was remarkable about our process was the quantity of work we could do.
We generally would go to Taos, New Mexico, for a week at the most.
We always returned with a script of at least 120 pages.
And that was the process onClifford.
I believe they were Martys managers.
They had a deal with us at Orion.
They produced a couple of films, like the [Danny] DeVito movieThrow Momma from the Train.
Larry developed this script, and he invited me in as his co-producing partner.
I became aware of the script and I thought it was hilarious.
I had knowledge about movie making and putting a film together.
Kampmann:Larry was funny, and he got the idea, and so he got attached to it.
We messed around with it some more.
Then we got actually greenlit by Orion to make it.
What happens if we dont?
He had decent concerns about it.
It was my understanding Larry put a halt to it.
We actually had a greenlit movie that got a halt, which you dont see every day.
It was suddenly going to be shelved.
And I had the idea … of Marty.
That was pretty much the measurement.
It is Marty Short, in shorts, being called Clifford.
And probably if they called the movieBill, it wouldnt be as funny.
But maybe it would have been.
Kampmann:Id been in the Chicago company [of Second City] for two years.
I found all the people in Canada very funny.
Thats where our friendship began.
Marty was a fan ofThe Bad Seed.
Short:Id seen that film a million times.
That was one of the most perverse films in the world.
Kampmann:He would pretend to be the star, Patty McCormack.
And we used to laugh at the idea of a child being evil.
So I would go, Oooh.
Oooh, I like that.
Kampmann:So I said, Why not try Marty?
But if anyone could pull it off, he could pull it off.
It was a way to really give a platform to Martys genius.
Short:I wasnt sure if this was just too insane an idea.
And nor was my manager, who produced it.
I tend to be very pragmatic.
To me, it was like,Lets do a screen test; well have an answer.
Kampmann:I played Charles Grodins role.
Thats where we improvised the world of Steffen, the dinosaur.
Platt:I remember being convinced in the test that this could work.
Short:Everyone found the screen test improbable and hilarious.
Kampmann:We made the screen test and showed it to Orion.
Thats what he said.
I said, Okay, great.
Platt:I dont remember that.
I dont remember those being the days when many films did $100 million.
I know there was excitement at the company after the test.
Short:And from that, Orion greenlit the movie.
AndCliffordfell into a genre of films that were being done in those days with some regularity.
It wasnt an anomaly.
The anomaly was:Lets put a concept on top of the concept.
Its not just aBad Seedcomedy, its aBad Seedcomedy where the kid is played by a grown-up genius comedian.
So the idea of doing something like this …
I didnt really sit back and say,This is gonna make a fortune.
I didnt think that way.
But you put Martin Short in that role, and where do I get my tickets?
From the beginning, the filmmakers had only one person in mind.
Kampmann:I was always a huge fan of Charles Grodin.
I knew he would bring out the anger that I wanted.
I remember Chuck questioned, like everyone questioned, Can Marty play a 10-year-old?
You know, one, hes, what was he, in his 30s?
And two, hes not five feet tall.
Those were the two things.
But that really wasnt a concern for Chuck.
That was a concern for the producers and the movie makers.
Short:I fell in love with Charles Grodin inThe Heartbreak Kid.
I thought it was the funniest performance.
One of the top five great performances.
The commitment to this rogue was so brilliant.
He always played the kind of sarcastic antihero.
He was a genius, Charles.
Richard Kind (actor, Julian Daniels):Chuck is so brilliant.
When he gets excited, it doesnt get to a loud volume.
Hes so brilliant; he underplays when he goes over the top.
Flaherty:He was one of the most obsessive-compulsive people youll ever meet.
He fiddled with the thermostat about 30 times.
That really tells you something, right?
Dettmer:Chuck was very affable.
You go to dinner with him, it was an hour full of entertainment.
But he wanted out after an hour.
I dont want anyone to leave.
But Ill be in the car.
Flaherty:Grodin is from Pittsburgh, where Im from.
He took it as an insult, and he disowned Pittsburgh.
So he became a New York Mets fan afanaticNew York Mets fan.
Dettmer:Chucks reputation was for being …
I dont want to say difficult, but maybe fastidious, right?
And I would always go, How is he difficult?
He only has two requests: Can I get the Mets in my trailer?
and Diet Coke, and it never changes.
I said, Have you ever seen him throw a tantrum?
Have you ever seen him blame a PA for anything?
He was the nicest, sweetest,most generous person that you might imagine.
Thats the end of the scene.
Charles would just go along with it.
He never at any time tried to be funny.
He knew the attitude to play and went with that attitude.
He didnt care if he was unlikable.
He found unlikability hysterical.
Of course, thats not true.
He careddeeplywhat they thought.
But if he thought it was funny, he was going to go there.
Short:When there were critics ofClifford, he was the first one to shut them down.
He adored that movie.
And he loved his own performance.
One of Those Quote Artistic Differences Things
Once the leads were cast, the film entered pre-production.
But disagreements emerged between director Steve Kampmann and other members of the creative team.
I think it took a lot out of me to get it to the point that it got to.
Because it was really discouraging.
You had to come back and resell it.
And then there had to be a screen test.
And you never know how thats going to go.
Getting it just to the point of getting it made was a lot of work.
Platt:I have a vague recollection of sitting with Steve Kampmann and talking it through with him.
Kampmann:Remember, it was [originally] going to be a real child.
I didnt think about audiences.
With Marty, it just skews bizarre.
Thats like the big shift, I guess.
Kind:Iwould have been much different if I had been with a real kid.
And I could have done it, but I would not have approached it that way.
It was Richard Kind getting mad at Marty Short for making me laugh.
I would never have been that angry and seething [with a kid].
So its an over-the-top performance without being cartoonish.
Marty was over the top and cartoonish.
It really is a genre decision.
Kampmann:With a real child, you have as many scenes as you want.
What is it is it more of a sketch movie?
How do you play it?
Short:Brezner and Steven [Kampmann] had creative differences.
Flaherty:It was a terrible situation.
One of those quote artistic differences things between Steven and Orion.
And they parted ways.
Im not busting him, because I liked him.
But I think we did see it in a different way.
And hes the manager of Marty.
Hes looking after Marty.
Short:Now Paul Flahertys in.
Flaherty:Marty called me and told me what the situation was that Steven was being replaced.
To be honest with you, at the beginning, I was hedging.
I was leaning toward not wanting to do it.
It was an icky situation.
I knew Steve not well, but I knew him.
Very funny guy, very bright guy.
He said, Hi.
And it was obvious that it was not the friendliest of His, you know?
I thought,Shit.
Steve probably thinks that I was part of it and I wasnt.
Kampmann:If you ever speak with him again, tell him I never looked at it that way.
Because I know he was put in a position.
Someone was going to direct it.
Hes close with Marty.
Thats the reality of the business.
Brugge:Paul Flaherty knew Marty fromSCTV,and I think that Marty was seeking that level of trust.
It wasnt very consequential.
I never really got to know him until they hired him forSCTV.
He shot a scene wherehe played Mr. Rogers in a boxing ring with Julia Child.
Can I yo have another take?
One more, just?
They go, Oh, Marty!
Should we give Marty another?
I did everything I had the power to do.
Steve and Orion have parted ways.
Were looking for a director.
So then that changes things.
I thought,Well, if Steve is definitely gone, theyre going to be hiring somebody else.
This is definitely something to consider working with Marty on.Although I still had that fear about the 10-year-old-kid thing.
So I came aboard.
Short:It was not my intention to jump into the screenwriting of this.
You go,Were fine.
This was an eccentric idea to begin with.
Flaherty:The [rewriting] was mostly Marty.
It was mostly Marty going in the direction he wanted to go in, with me adding whatever.
I jumped aboard a moving train.
Preproduction had already been well underway.
Theyd hiredJohn Alonzoand a bunch of other people.
A lot of important crew.
Steenburgen:John Alonzo was really brilliant.
Probably one of the most underrated DPs Ive worked with.
And it was every bit as effective and steady as a Steadicam.
John had a real skill of making actors at ease.
So it was a set that was really pleasant and enjoyable to be on.
But a larger challenge lay ahead: how to make 40-year-old Martin Short look like a 10-year-old boy.
I was at Second City, and this role came up.
He was a fan of mine.
I think Paul Flaherty was a fan of mine from Second City.
Jennifer Savidge (actress, Theodora Daniels):I got a call for it.
I read what the character was, and I thought,Well, I could be drunk.
Steenburgen:I like things that are kind of off a little bit.
So there would be no way in which I wouldve doubted his ability to pull off something magical.
Whether or not it felt like a 10-year-old, I knew it would be hilarious and fascinating.
Flaherty:It was a real pain in the ass, Ill tell you that.
It was a constant, constant pain to keep up that illusion.
I couldnt just shoot a scene.
Brugge:There were long conversations about it.
I think you either accept the concept, or you dont.
Even in the clothes that they would make for me, everything was oversized.
They probably used the same thing forThe Incredible Shrinking Man.
And when Grodin could be on a box, he would be.
Id be in a chair, and the chair would be designed to be a little bigger.
Theyd angle it down.
They just had a whole bunch of tricks.
Steenburgen:I had heels on certain times.
Or he was in a trench.
Flaherty:I dont recall us building anything oversize.
Usually, we accomplished it by raising the other actors up.
Thats a little boy.
And then when I cut around to the front, Grodin is standing on a box.
You know what those are?
And so it would pull your face and defy gravity.
Steenburgen:They were these weird things old movie stars had worn.
I dont know what the official term for them is.
So hes wearing these, and Im standing there talking.
The strap had snapped.
But it was really funny to me.
You just aged several years.
Short:Id like to think there were hours and hours of Brando-esque preparation for it.
It was just from that screen test, we thought,Okay, now we have something.
I dont know if it will work.
Kind:I wasnt used to working single-camera at all.
And Marty just made me laugh.
He knows how to make people giggle.
So he would make me laugh by the way that he would climb over me.
Because although hes playing a 10-year-old boy, hes a 150- or 160-pound man.
And he would climb over me, knee in the crotch, rubbing his face against mine.
It got to the point where Paul would say, Marty, hey dont do that.
Hes gonna laugh.
It didnt stop him.
He would do it over and over and over again, and it just killed me.
And Im getting so angry, and Im acting angry because Clifford is a pain in the neck.
However, if you have that core anger, it just turns into laughter.
And he would just do it time and time and time again.
Savidge:I dont recall treating him like a 10-year-old.
I treated him as a brat, you know?
There are a lot of adults who are brats.
Kind:IS THERE NO END TO YOUR MADNESS?
Its a plea, and its angry.
And those are words you dont say to a child.
You say that to an adult whos playing a child.
To a child, you would say, Stop it.
I have had enough out of you.
And no adult would ever say that to their child.
Steenburgen:I think one of the most interesting things about being an actor is the intuition of tone.
Its a hard thing to teach that ability.
Its not something Ive ever heard taught in acting schools.
Kind:Mary Steenburgen is a woman who is incapable of lying.
Every word out of her mouth, no matter what it is, is sincere.
Take a look at her inStep Brothers.
Its sincere; she doesnt know how to lie.
I know how to lie.
Im not that good.
My performance is over the top.
Shes never over the top.
Every line she ever commits to has only reality to it.
She plays inside the scene and lets it be funny.
But its not that its funny; its funny in the context of the scene.
Thats how good she is.
And because Sarah is supposed to represent the opposite of what Charles Grodin is doing.
It was just sort of delicious, being enchanted by Marty, because I am enchanted by Marty.
That wasnt really hard to do.
Marty is also just a really good actor.
Probably a little underrated, because people are so dazzled by his humor and also his extraordinary vocal talents.
He is his nemesis and adversary.
And hes so filled with hate for the kid.
Dettmer:It was a morning where Chuck was sick as a dog.
He could barely get out of the trailer, with a head cold and everything.
You cant do it.
Thatsthemoment from the movie that people remember.
He loved responding to the moment.
Flaherty:Grodin loves improvising.
We were gonna have a read through.
He said, Well, why do we need a read through?
I think we should just show up and be open to whatever happens.
Steenburgen:The combustion between the two of them was so intense.
With Charles Grodin, whats dangerous is you dont always see the explosion coming until its upon you.
I was an actor.
I mean, how did he do that?
No rehearsal, no practice.
He just had a complete trust when it came to it.
Where do you draw from?
Maybe he draws from Stanislavski.
It was a slow burn and looked real.
Platt:Watching it as they were shooting it, those scenes are unbelievable.
I havent seen the movie in many, many years; I have to tell you the truth.
I will never forget seeing those exchanges.
Just the two of them improvising.
It was special and kind of genius.
They fed off each other.
Flaherty:Marty is not a selfish performer.
Some actors are incapable of doing that, of being that unselfish.
I always admired that about him.
So many actors get competitive, especially in an improvisational situation.
The absolute best thing an improvising actor can do is listen.
And thats why Marty and Grodin are great improvisers.
I mean, isnt that a really indelible moment in the movie?
Flaherty:That was my idea.
It was so long ago, and I always hate saying it was my idea.
I could be wrong.
But it was Martys idea to sing San Francisco and sing it like Ethel Merman.
It was my idea to add the high note at the end.
I took his voice and raised it an octave in post.
And hes just doing what he wants to in that moment.
Taran Killam (actor,Cliffordfan):Its such a good performance.
There is an authentic nuance to it that speaks to me.
And its the key in of broad, intense commitment that only Martin Short could pull off.
Short:How does Joaquin Phoenix you know, everyone compares us how does he maintain the Joker?
Its just thats what your job is, and youre trying to modulate between.
Okay, that was really extreme.
Lets do a very odd, quiet one.
Lets reveal more and more about the complexity of this kid.
I dont analyze tremendously what I do.
I go to the dailies.
I say Oh, that.
But that seems like Im asking to get a laugh.
Letterman:Looking at it from a medical standpoint, clearly theres something wrong [with Clifford].
What would be the diagnosis of that human?
Because theres pathology going on here.
But what is it?
So thats what we would do.
With Clifford, we tried different things: Lets do one a little bigger.
Lets do one a little smaller.
Lets go very sincere.
Lets just try it.
We dont have to worry about that.
We just have to be sincere within the bizarreness.
The production designer designed the car.
And that dinosaur is there.
I mean, it all plays.
Flaherty:Steven Spielberg asked Marty, Where was that ride that you guys shot that on?
The actual ride that we constructed was about 20 feet worth of ride.
There is very, very little real ride in that movie.
Short:Stevens a very close friend of mine.
Flaherty:[Composer/former Oingo Boingo keyboardist Richard Gibbs] wrote the whole Larry the Scary Rex song.
Flaherty and Gibbs singing the Larry the Scary Rex song.
I had writtenthose main themes: the mainCliffordtheme,the mischief theme, and thelove theme for Miss Sarah.
Im guessing theres probably 70 minutes of music in that puppy.
We spent five days recording the orchestra.
I think we had a 75-piece orchestra for that particular score.
Very affable, funny, charming guy.
And whenCliffordcame out, apparently Marc went to see it.
Hes one of the few people who saw it.
He called up Richard and said, Hey, I just went to seeClifford.
It was him being kind of a smartass.
I was just flattered that he went and watched the movie and made note of the music at all.
I thought that was really sweet of him.
I didnt think anything more of it.
I really loved the movie.
Im talking to my thenmusic editor, a guy named Will Kaplan.
And he goes, Yeah, I really liked your theme in there.
I go, I didnt write that.
What are you talking about?
He goes, You didnt recognize it?
So I went and somehow gota copy of the love themeand listened to it.
And sure as shit, its the same phrase as the opening of the love theme forClifford.
Who the Fuck Do You Think You Are?
After the initial cut ofCliffordwas completed, the film was screened for test audiences.
The results were … not what was hoped for.
Its got the people you know and understand are talented and funny and should be in movies.
Flaherty:The goal was to make something that everybody loved.
They wanted the kid to die.
And that was not, of course, the desired result.
Flaherty:It showed up in the cards: Who the fuck do you think you are?!
Scrawled on the thing, you know?
And then two cards later, This is brilliant.
Going into detail about every character, every joke, every obscure reference that they got.
Then the next one: Yeah, right.
I dont buy a fucking 40-year-old guy as a kid.
Brugge:Test audiences are very useful to see where the humor is.
I dont think it ever tested as great as wed hoped it would.
Flaherty:There was a whole thing about Clifford having a girlfriend his own age.
We had to cut the scene for time I wish we had left it in.
Short:Im sure we shot endless footage.
EvenThe Irishmanwas longer at one point.
They have to cut things down.
Flaherty:The original ending was Clifford parachuting out of a plane to get back to Dinosaur World.
He went on to go to Hawaii with his parents.
And that was the last shot of the movie.
Gibbs:Thats when they realized theyve got to do these bookends.
Short:Obviously we didnt do it because we were testing through the roof.
Flaherty:I remember being so sick and tired after all these screenings.
And then he got around to saying, Weve got to make some changes.
I said, Well, how much do you want me to change?
And he said, I dont know, maybe 40 percent.
Because its now in storytelling as opposed to literal.
Flaherty:That was shot months after the first round.
We didnt have that whole cathartic thing with Uncle Martin.
You know how you’ve got the option to tell its a reshoot?
Because Marty is looking buff in it.
He went off and did another movie and was lifting weights.
And he came back, and I said, Wait a second.
How does this work?
Why is Clifford buff all of a sudden?
Marty kept denying that he had been working out, but he was!
All of a sudden, he didnt fit his Clifford costume anymore.
His biceps were bulging in the Clifford jacket.
If you watch it, you could see it in that scene.
Hes too big for that jacket.
Short:I had been working out.
I always worked out.
For the main shoot, I got really thin.
And its not that I got fat for the reshoots, I just didnt do my normal going-to-the-gym thing.
Enthusiasm for marketing it was as low as enthusiasm for seeing it.
Brugge:Orion was no longer the same company.
Flaherty:We were really in limbo.
We didnt know what the hell was going to happen.
And because of those original screenings, this wasnt No.
1 on their list.
Kampmann:It wasnt a perfect situation when we saw the movie.
I just didnt think it was great.
Orion themselves hadnt done anything with it.
So its just a way of keeping our hand in it but notinit.
Platt:Comedy is generally of its moment or wants to be of its moment.
The films that got delayed a couple of years, I dont think any of them fared that well.
And Im sure the robustness of the release and marketing probably wasnt as significant as it would have been.
We sent him a rough cut.
He just loved it.
He just kept saying, Its so original.
Then before it came out, we did a screening for friends.
I cant remember where it was.
Maybe the Directors Guild allowed us to use one of their screening rooms.
Harold Ramis, who was a friend of ours, came to see it.
And after it was over, he said A hundred million.
The movie is going to make a hundred million easily.
And I thought,Oooh, Harold is always right!He couldnt have been more wrong.
Steenburgen:That [ad] is just so bad.
Its like,Who are you trying to attract with this?
Savidge:Its pretty scary if you think its for kids.
Scharpling:Theposteris like the apex of bad photoshop.
But once its locked, no one needs to hear the truth.
No major publication gave it a positive review.
Itscurrent Rotten Tomatoes score is 13 percent.
And yet the reviews did not reflect that.
I read it for the first time just now, which is strange because we saw most films together.
He, of course, wanted to like all the movies he saw.
But when he didnt, he was painfully honest about his feelings, sometimes excruciatingly so for the filmmaker.
Steenburgen:I dont read reviews.
Savidge:Why read the reviews?
Everybody has an opinion.
Is that opinion going to affect you, or is it not going to affect you?
But I did read those reviews.
I was a little surprised by it.
You know, it was a quirky movie.
Im sure that Martin was really disappointed.
But no, I didnt care about Roger Ebert.
I didnt know him.
I didnt have particular regard for him either way, you know?
You dont hate them.
But you do realize that reviews will help maybe get more seats in the theater.
Platt:I cant imagine at the time that I wasnt aware.
We used to actually read reviews back in the 90s.
As opposed to, you know, a number on the Rotten Tomatoes scale.
Kind:Ill be damned if anybody knew that this would be popular the way that it is.
You want to make a really funny movie that gets an audience.
Nobody sets out to make a cult movie.
Kampmann:At the time we went through it, it was a disappointment.
But as time goes by, everything seems to work out the way its meant to work out.
It was hilarious and fun to write.
I have good memories of it.
Marty and I are good friends.
So theres no issue there.
What was important to me was what my friends would think of it.
And in a way, thats how we didSCTV.
Gibbs:Thats kind of what Oingo Boingo was like when I was in the band.
It was always kind of a cult band.
I, personally, relish that.
Ive always found that if I start to chase what popular opinion is that its going to fail.
Thats not how to do it.
The audience has to come to you.
People Love an Underdog
Twenty-seven years after its release, the legacy ofCliffordlives on.
Steenburgen:What do people say about this movie?
]I dont know.
Nancy Meyers (writer/director,Cliffordfan):I absolutely loveClifford.
I just thought it was insanely brilliant.
Platt:Is it worth watching again?
Will I be horrified, or will I laugh?
Scharpling:What do I love about the movieClifford?
It should not exist, ultimately, because its the weirdest conceit for any movie ever.
And the movie is basically a horror movie.
Its just terrifying in spots.
And the two-hander aspect of it is just off-the-charts brilliant.
Like, youve never seen these guys just reset the deck and do their thing.
They just make room for these guys to go back and forth, back and forth.
Its likeWhos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Until adulthood, you could not have told me thatCliffordwas unsuccessful.
Id be like, Youre an idiot.
Its one of the greatest comedies of the early 90s.
Killam:One of the first things I asked [Short] about wasClifford.
I said that I love it so much: Its so funny to me.
Its one of my favorite things youve done.
Hes like, Oh, youre a dear boy!
And one of the films that they wanted me to watch and then come talk to them about wasClifford.
Im like, Are you serious?
and theyre like, Yeah!
Thats one of my favorite movies.
And I just would go, Well, you have horrible taste.
You know, that was my joke: Well, youre an idiot.
And then more and more and more people said it.
It was young people, 15 to 28.
They gloried in the stupidity of it and loved it.
To this day, do I see why it is?
Yeah, I guess I could justify it.
Its an anarchist comedy.
Flaherty:When I sawreenactments of iton the internet, I thought,Wait a second.
These people knew every line, every cut of the scenes.
Its usually the Grodin and Marty human boy scene.
So, you know, I just missed out on all of the cult part.
I would love to be part ofthe cult.
If its a 40-year-old woman, shes gonna talk aboutFather of the Bride.
If its a 40-year-old guy, hes gonna talk aboutThree Amigos.
If its a 55-year-old guy, he might talk about Ed Grimley.
But definitely, if it was a 29-year-old stoner, he would mentionClifford.
Because hed seen it 18 times in a row high in his dorm room.
I use the word stoner, and it probably is not fair.
And I think when a film is obscure enough, you feel its now yours.
Your parents dont know this film, but you do.
And then you get into the pace of it and the oddness of it.
Especially if youre high.
And it becomes more like its talking to you.
But I have had some women say they like it, and theyre usually kind of clearly unique themselves.
If that tells you anything.
Meyers:It deserves a following.
Not a weird one.
I had never met him.
I thought I must go over and congratulate him because hes so great in that movie.
Nicolas Cage (actor,Cliffordfan):Its true, but that wasnt the scene.
… to the Tabasco.
Its just the funniest thing Ive ever seen.
I did keep reviewing it, because I got so much joy out of rewatching it.
The more I would press play and rewind and play, the funnier it got.
He does these beautiful things with his hands.
Hes like, [High-pitched] And then you went … [makes hacking noise]!
I mean, you are a genius.
I really mean that.
I think hes as good as it gets, and theres nobody funnier.
So Im glad he remembers that moment.
Steenburgen:I do remember Elizabeth [Taylor] lovingClifford.
That woman hadtheworld-class sense of humor.
People talk about her in all different kinds of ways.
I think shed known a lot of pain in her life.
She wanted life to make her laugh.
She sought out laughter.
And she was ridiculous and hilarious.
And Steve said, Well, it depends how you use the word silly.
Here it is: Ive heard of it.
Scharpling:Did you ever see this movieAn Actors Revenge?
Early 60s Japanese movie.
And Criterion put that out.
Short:Youre doing a film that you hope will make people laugh.
Thats why; thats one thing.
Well, thats lovely.
Letterman:Every aspect of it defies what we know about the world, about life, about existence.
But yet there it is, brightly lit up.
Im just pleased for everybody who was in it.
I dont know what they thought when they were making it.
Its a piece of wonderment now.
