Christopher Lloyd has enjoyed a career that has spanned over thirty years and included some of cinema’s most memorable role, in particular Doc Brown in Back To The Future in the eighties.
And at the age of seventy one his career is still in full swing and showing no sign of slowing down. He returns with a festive family movie Santa Buddies and I caught up with him to talk about his new movie as well as looking back over his achievements.
- Santa Buddies is about to be released on DVD here in the UK so can you tell me a little bit about the movie?
Well it’s a Christmas story; I would say that the overall theme is reviving Christmas spirit so that Santa can continue making toys. Santa has his workshop in the North Pole and it’s filled with puppies who come down and try to spread the spirit of Christmas.
- And the movie is very family friendly so what drew you to the project?
I just liked the character that I play, I’m a dog catcher, I go catching dogs and they mean nothing to me, I don’t treat them badly I just catch them and sell them on to whoever will pay the price. I have no Christmas spirit and the dogs revive my love of Christmas, so all is recovered.
The dogs speak among themselves and at a certain point they start talking to me and the shock of hearing a dog talk to me in plain English shocks me back into reality and makes me see the cold heartless person that I am and I suddenly see that I have to change my ways and become more human.
- You have enjoyed a career that has spanned over thirty five years and a hundred movies so how do you sum it up when you look back over it?
I feel that I have been very fortunate and had the opportunity to play some wonderful roles and movies and worked with some great talent. But I’m happy that I’m still doing it.
- Your first movie was One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, talk about a great start?
I lived near New York and I started going to acting classes and getting established in the theatre, that didn’t happen overnight. But I also wanted to work in film and I went to many interviews and audiences and I had no luck no second call backs, no interest some stage actor don’t make the transition to film well and I thought that I was going to be one of those.
And then they came to cast Cuckoo’s Nest and asked me to be in it and I was absolutely thrilled. Jack Nicholson has been an idol of mine from Easy Rider and Carnal Knowledge and to have my first film working with him knowing could have been better.
- I was reading that Uncle Fester was one of your favourite characters so how did Addams Family came about and how excited were you to play that role?
When I was a kid growing up the New Yorker Magazine would come by every week and there was this cartoon in there and Uncle Fester became a favourite of mine growing up.
Years later and out of the blue they called me to be Uncle Fester and it was just an amazing thing to happen and to be able to bring that character to life, even though I didn’t know how it was going to happen because I look nothing like Uncle Fester whatsoever but we worked that all out. But that was a thrill for me.
- Obviously you are best know for your role as Doc in Back To The Future how surprised are you that these movies, and this character in particular, has endured?
It’s just an enormous privilege and I get kids all the time who have just seen Back To The Future for the first time and it just endures and keeps on going and it’s a very good feeling and I have been very fortunate that way.
- Is it frustrating at all to always be linked to a particular role or seen in a particular way or does it not bother you at all?
I’m delighted, I mean it does stereotype me in a way and I get asked to do parts that are similar to Doc Brown or Reverend Jim and that does handicap you a little bit but I have no regrets it’s just something that you have to deal with it’s part of the business.
- Throughout your career you have worked in film and TV and well as in the theatre so how do you find working in all three and how easy was it to movie between them?
I have never thought of it as moving from one to the other theatre, as I said, is where I started and it’s home to me and maybe where I feel most comfortable. I really enjoy the rehearsal and going through the whole process of performing in front of an audience in a theatre every night.
I didn’t start doing film until my early thirties but I love doing film it’s a completely different thing. I like television but there’s not as much freedom as there is in film or theatre and I always felt that there is a certain pressure in being bale to put out a product, but it’s ok.
- How have you seen movies and Hollywood alter throughout your career?
I don’t think I have seen it alter so much that it affects me it’s still a matter of reading a script and deciding whether I want to do it or not so that remains the same process. But I know that money is tough to come by these days and that affects the kind of movies that people are willing to invest in.
- You have had a busy year with The Call of the Wild, Foodfight and now Santa Buddies so how would you sum up your 2009?
It was a very good year (laughs) I have made several independent films and I hope, like Santa Buddies, that they do well and find distributors and we will see how it works out. For myself I’ve done a lot of work and the way that thinks are today I feel very fortunate to be able to keep on going.
- And finally what’s next for you?
I’m doing a little film in December back in the States and there is another one that I hope will come up in the New Year, it’s been postponed a couple of times due to finance, but hopefully all that will work out.
Santa Buddies is out on DVD now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Christopher Lloyd has enjoyed a career that has spanned over thirty years and included some of cinema’s most memorable role, in particular Doc Brown in Back To The Future in the eighties.
And at the age of seventy one his career is still in full swing and showing no sign of slowing down. He returns with a festive family movie Santa Buddies and I caught up with him to talk about his new movie as well as looking back over his achievements.
- Santa Buddies is about to be released on DVD here in the UK so can you tell me a little bit about the movie?
Well it’s a Christmas story; I would say that the overall theme is reviving Christmas spirit so that Santa can continue making toys. Santa has his workshop in the North Pole and it’s filled with puppies who come down and try to spread the spirit of Christmas.
- And the movie is very family friendly so what drew you to the project?
I just liked the character that I play, I’m a dog catcher, I go catching dogs and they mean nothing to me, I don’t treat them badly I just catch them and sell them on to whoever will pay the price. I have no Christmas spirit and the dogs revive my love of Christmas, so all is recovered.
The dogs speak among themselves and at a certain point they start talking to me and the shock of hearing a dog talk to me in plain English shocks me back into reality and makes me see the cold heartless person that I am and I suddenly see that I have to change my ways and become more human.
- You have enjoyed a career that has spanned over thirty five years and a hundred movies so how do you sum it up when you look back over it?
I feel that I have been very fortunate and had the opportunity to play some wonderful roles and movies and worked with some great talent. But I’m happy that I’m still doing it.
- Your first movie was One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, talk about a great start?
I lived near New York and I started going to acting classes and getting established in the theatre, that didn’t happen overnight. But I also wanted to work in film and I went to many interviews and audiences and I had no luck no second call backs, no interest some stage actor don’t make the transition to film well and I thought that I was going to be one of those.
And then they came to cast Cuckoo’s Nest and asked me to be in it and I was absolutely thrilled. Jack Nicholson has been an idol of mine from Easy Rider and Carnal Knowledge and to have my first film working with him knowing could have been better.
- I was reading that Uncle Fester was one of your favourite characters so how did Addams Family came about and how excited were you to play that role?
When I was a kid growing up the New Yorker Magazine would come by every week and there was this cartoon in there and Uncle Fester became a favourite of mine growing up.
Years later and out of the blue they called me to be Uncle Fester and it was just an amazing thing to happen and to be able to bring that character to life, even though I didn’t know how it was going to happen because I look nothing like Uncle Fester whatsoever but we worked that all out. But that was a thrill for me.
- Obviously you are best know for your role as Doc in Back To The Future how surprised are you that these movies, and this character in particular, has endured?
It’s just an enormous privilege and I get kids all the time who have just seen Back To The Future for the first time and it just endures and keeps on going and it’s a very good feeling and I have been very fortunate that way.
- Is it frustrating at all to always be linked to a particular role or seen in a particular way or does it not bother you at all?
I’m delighted, I mean it does stereotype me in a way and I get asked to do parts that are similar to Doc Brown or Reverend Jim and that does handicap you a little bit but I have no regrets it’s just something that you have to deal with it’s part of the business.
- Throughout your career you have worked in film and TV and well as in the theatre so how do you find working in all three and how easy was it to movie between them?
I have never thought of it as moving from one to the other theatre, as I said, is where I started and it’s home to me and maybe where I feel most comfortable. I really enjoy the rehearsal and going through the whole process of performing in front of an audience in a theatre every night.
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