Source: Talk Is Jericho — Stay Gold - C. Thomas Howell's 50 Years In Hollywood
Duration: 54 min
Back to the Future casting
I was Marty McFly for two weeks. I thought I had it sewn up. Mask came out, was a big hit, Universal gave me the boot and went with Eric Stoltz.
I was sitting in a little pancake house off of Sunset Boulevard... Johnny comes walking in with Eric Stoltz in tow. Johnny says, 'You're not going to believe what happened. Eric just got fired this morning.' I sprinted out of the restaurant and got on the pay phone. I was like, 'Stoltz just got fired, man. When do I start?'
Acting philosophy / The Hitcher
I learned something from the late, great Rutger Hauer on a movie I did called The Hitcher. I looked at him and was like, 'Rutger, everybody says you're such an amazing villain, what's your secret?' He took a long drag off his cigarette, leaned in, and hissed, 'I don't play bad guys.'
The Outsiders production
Francis [Ford Coppola] said, 'I never want you to cut. I worked with Marlon Brando and a herd of wild buffalo could run through the middle of the set, and he would just turn and say, "Look at the pretty buffalo," and he would keep going.'
I remember I watched Mickey Rourke do a scene [for The Outsiders] and he started improv-ing with Francis [Ford Coppola] and my brain just had a meltdown. I didn't understand at 14 years old that you could do that—that you could make stuff up.
The director says action, [the stuntman's] foot crashes through the floor... I turned to Ralph [Macchio] and said, 'Hey Johnny,' and the greatest line I could come up with at 15 years old was, 'I think there's a monster.' I was so embarrassed, but as you know, it's in the movie.
Acting philosophy
One of my least favorite things to see in film is when the bad guy knows he's not going to die until page 90 and he'll run through a hail of bullets laughing maniacally. If you're getting shot at, you're not laughing.
Backstage etiquette
It frustrates me to hell when I'm doing a guest spot and the lead shows up two hours late and he's walking around with a Starbucks cup. You don't even have the decency to leave the freaking cup in the car. There's 70 of us waiting around for you.
Career disappointments
I played Arturo Toscanini... I spent 11 months on that movie all over Italy, Portugal, North Africa, working with Elizabeth Taylor. The movie went into arbitration and it never was distributed in the United States. It broke my heart.
Career reflection
I've been in some great movies with some great directors, and I've been in some disasters as well and probably learned more from the crappy ones, to be honest with you.
