‘Robot Chicken’ Creators Talk ‘Star Wars,’ Quentin Tarantino, and ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ at Hollywood Screening
When asked to choose a film as part of the Modern School of Film’s Film Masters screening and discussion series, “Robot Chicken” co-creator Matthew Senreich didn’t take long to choose. “I think I walked into Eric’s [Towner] office, and I was like, ‘We gotta pick a movie. How about “Big Trouble in Little China?”‘ And he threw out the other two, and I was like, ‘Let’s go with “Big Trouble in Little China.”‘
The “other two” to which Senreich was referring were “The Last Starfighter” and “The NeverEnding Story,” but those were quickly dismissed in favor of the 1986 fantasy action flick starring Kurt Russell. After screening to a nearly packed house at the Arclight Theater in Hollywood, CA, Senreich, writer Zeb Wells, co-founder of Stoopid Buddy Studios Eric Towner, and co-head writer Doug Goldstein took part in a lengthy question and answer session regarding the film they just watched as well as the past and future of “Robot Chicken.” Here are the highlights:
George R.R. Martin will guest with the nerd character on an upcoming episode of “Robot Chicken.”
Technical difficulties prevented the premiere of an upcoming episode featuring the vocal talents of “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin and the nerd character, but the guests made up for the snafu with news on more upcoming guest stars, including Kate Mara, Billy Bob Thornton, and a politically-placed Calista Flockhart.
“We ask Harrison Ford every season [to guest on the show],” Senreich said. “He’s said no so far. We’ll keep asking.” Wells then reminded him they got Flockhart, Ford’s wife, to lend her voice to the show, and Senreich gave a knowing nod. “If her role came out right, she’ll show Harrison and we’ll see what happens.”
“Big Trouble in Little China” did appear on “Robot Chicken” — twice.
The first was in a brief channel surfing moment referencing a scene in the film where Egg says China is always with him. In the “Robot Chicken” version, he points to china dishes and says, “China is always in there.” The clip was supposed to be shown, but the aforementioned technical difficulties prevented it from happening. The second reference to the film came in a show title from season five called “Big Trouble in Little Clerks 2.”
“We picked one of the best movies we could think of and one of the not best movies,” Senreich said.
They love Kurt Russell in “Big Trouble in Little China,” but have a unique perspective on his character in “Overboard.”
Moderator and Founder of the Modern School of Film Robert Milazzo asked the gang about a joke from the show about the Kurt Russell & Goldie Hawn comedy “Overboard,” saying, “there’s not a lot of ‘Overboard’ jokes out there, so I’m glad you put that in there.”
“One of the things we did in the first few seasons was get out of our system all of the things we noticed in movies growing up, one of which was in Kurt Russell’s ‘Overboard,’ where he’s basically spending the entire movie raping this poor woman, and we just kind of had to get it out of our system and say so,” said Doug Goldstein.
It’s not exactly how I remember the PG-rated family film, but the ’80s were a weird time. Take a look at the clip and judge for yourself.
George Lucas is “fully aware” of what the masses think of his body of work.
The “Star Wars” creator famously appeared on the “Robot Chicken” “Star Wars” special, lending his voice to the show after enthusiastically responding to the first jokes made about his movies on the show.
“You don’t realize he has a sense of humor,” Senreich said. “He’s always so straight-faced.”
“One of the saddest moments I’ve ever had in my life was when we met one morning, and it was years ago when the rumor broke one they were doing episodes VII, VIII, and IX. And we asked [Lucas] if there was any truth to that, and he said, ‘Well, I did the prequels and everybody hated me for it, so why would I do more?’ And I was like, ‘No, George, no. That’s exactly why you have to do more. It was only some people, I mean, yes, we all hated it, but you’ve got to do more.’ He is fully aware of what the mainstream thinks of him.”
“Robot Chicken” is currently airing its seventh season. New episodes can be seen Sunday nights on adult swim.
