Check out part 1 from yesterday.

After speaking about the first Gremlins, Joe began to speak about Gremlins 2. Joe said that Gremlins 2 is what Gremlins 1 was trying to be. He said Part 2 had way more of himself in it.

They were trying to get Rick Baker to do the Gremlins puppets for the second film but he didn’t want to because someone else had already done the first. Rick didn’t feel like there was an opportunity for him to create anything new. So Dante came up with the science lab story point about all the mutated Gremlins. Baker then agreed.

Dante pointed out that Gremlins 2 bombed because Warner Brothers waited too long to make it. It came out 6 years after the first one.

They other reason it bombed was because it was advertised to be released in May but Warner Brothers ended up delaying it till July. They wanted it to compete with Dick Tracy. Because of this, neither movie made much money.

Joe spoke of his next film. It is called The Hole. It is a 3D film shot on the RED camera. That’s kind of cool that one of my heroes is now shooting on the RED. Though kind of sad too.

Joe talked about why all of his films are ensemble films rather than films about one lead character. He said, “I like to work with lots of actors. The more actors the better.”

Someone asked about Dick Miller who played Mr. Futterman in Gremlins and has a small part in just about every film Dante has made. Joe said Dick is fine. He is semi-retired but did a cameo in The Hole. That makes me happy.

Joe was asked about working with Jerry Goldsmith, the composer of just about all of his films. He said Jerry was a genius. He initially worked with him on Twilight Zone: The Movie because Jerry had been hired before Joe came on the project. He liked Jerry so much, he used him until Jerry’s death. For his new film, he had trouble finding a composer. He ended up using the composer who worked on Pan’s Labyrinth. Joe worked with Jerry Goldsmith on more movies than any other director. (Jerry Goldsmith is my favorite composer, FYI.)

Joe mentioned a Youtube clip that he really enjoyed. Apparently some guy made his own Gremlins and put them into a series of famous movies like Batman and Raiders of the Lost Ark. I checked it out. Amazing –

He also brought up a really clever British Telecom commercial that used Gremlins.

To finish the Q and A, he talked about the possibility of a 3rd movie. He said without a doubt there will be another movie – though it may just be a remake of the first one. He doesn’t know this for sure but said they are remaking everything now so its makes sense. He also said there is no way they’d ask him to make it. Unlike Zemeckis and Spielberg, he doesn’t command as much respect in the industry at the moment. Maybe his new film will put him where he belongs.

He did say it would be a shame to make Gremlins with CG. He pointed out that part of the charm of the first two was they were made primitively with puppets. I agree- CG gremlins would be awful.

His final comment was that he prefers the second film but he does like the first one. It was the only film he made any money on.
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After the Q and A, Joe was mobbed by a dozen fan-boys with several more waiting to pounce on him as he left the theater. I really wanted to meet him and talk to him one-on-one but I didn’t want to be just another fan-boy talking about how much his films meant to me. So, I stayed away.

I’m hoping that one day, Josh and I will be at a point in our career that we can call up these directors that have meant so much to us and schedule some time to learn from them. And possibly develop a friendship.

So that’s my Gremlins/Joe Dante experience. I hope you enjoyed it.