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Veteran actor Robert Culp is damned funny in the independently made film THE ALMOST GUYS. His character the Colonel stumbles his way through a madcap adventure shaking and complaining bitterly to his partner in crime, fellow car repossession expert Rick (played by writer/director Eric Fleming). Mr. Culp sat down with EI by telephone to talk with us about how he created his character the Colonel and about his upcoming Christmas 2004 film SANTA'S SLAY.

"The role of the Colonel was not exactly written for me or the role that I wanted to play, but he was written like an imbecile or kind of foolish." Culp told me. "But Eric [Eric Flemming] gave me some really terrific thoughts and it was the combination of the two that intrigued me and this thing wouldn't have come off as it did in terms of the playing of the role if he hadn't written it the way he had written it. He is really a wonderful writer."

"So, you stuck to the script then?" I asked.

"No that is not really quite true, as we were working together and as an outgrowth of some improv we were doing together, and while I was interviewing him and he was interviewing me, in other words, when you go to read for an independent film written by someone you've never heard of and directed by someone you've never heard of and produced by someone you've never heard of, you go into it with a certain amount of trepidation. And rightfully so because this could be anything and you have no idea, the actor has no idea going in the door if it is even real--whether it's a real picture, just a lot of hooey and talk.

I've had it happen to me before where it turns out that they never had the money and couldn't have made the movie in the first place. And these are the things you have to look for when trying to read the behavior of the people you sit down with." Culp observed.

"In talking with Eric, the writer and director, he said that when he first met you that you were perhaps too spry for the role." I said.

"Spry is not a look, spry is behavior. And when I came in the door, I came in as I usually do with a good deal of energy. And what he had written was [laughter], was literally a guy on his last legs and dotering, and I don't doter. I knew what I wanted to do I thought after I first met him [Fleming], but by the time I met him the second time, I was really interviewing him because I wanted to know if this guy could direct. There is no sense in doing a wonderful script with somebody who can't direct because that is a disaster. And by the time we finished improvising, I gave him a green light and he gave me a green light and we decided that we really liked each other and we were going to have fun and that was everything."

"Did you then take the improv and create your transformation into the Colonel?" I asked.

"Oh, it's simpler than that Jonathan, after you fool around with it a little while, you come up with signposts, and the signposts literally are the names of other actors or characters that you've seen somebody play. In other words, something clear cut to go for like an accent that you try to imitate that adds authenticity to the role. But in this case, it's behavior, for example, what I wound up with or tried to wind up with in this role was a combination of the two Walters that I have always worshipped-Walter Brennan physically, and intellectually, if you will, Walter Huston. These two Walters formed this character, the Colonel."

"Any particular performances?" Brennan and Huston created some of the most memorable characters ever to grace the screen, I thought.

"Sure, you will recall Walter Brennan in two pictures, THE WESTERNER and in the Hemingway piece, well, it was supposed to be Hemingway they just jacked up the title and wrote a new story underneath it, Howard Hawks' TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT.

He [Brennan] walked with that peculiar limp and I loved it when I was a kid and adopted it for this role." Culp continued. "And it happened to fit because I was having a problem with my right foot at that time, so, that part was terrific and it was automatically going to work. The other side, the Walter Huston side of it, really comes from TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE in which he is the wisest of the wise but he doesn't always show it."

"There is a scene in THE ALMOST GUYS where your character is asked why, at his age, he would get back into the repossession biz. And his response is the best writing in the movie, something about reaching a certain age and doing nothing but looking back at the past and trying to recapture some of that past magic. Is this something that keeps you acting, or are you still future looking in your career?"

"Jonathan, I'm certainly forward looking in my career, but the point is that is what happens to every single solitary human being on earth. It is the natural process of life and that is why it rings the bell with anyone who hears it."

"Yeah, I'm 33 and it rang my bell."

"It applies to you, but you're much younger, so, it hasn't really applied to you to the heart yet, but it will, if you survive that long."

"THE ALMOST GUYS is or appeared to be very personal like there was a lot of you in the role. Is that often the case?" I asked as I contemplated living long enough to understand the depth of past focus versus future think.

"Yes."

"I noticed that your present project is something called SANTA'S SLAY, and it is starring the professional wrestler Goldberg." SLAY is also starring James Caan, Fran Drescher, Chris Kattan, and Saul Rubinek among others.

"Yeah, he has a fan base among young people that is just gigantic." Culp said. "They had the horse sense of casting him as Santa gone mad which is what I thought to be the best piece of casting I've seen in a long time. He happens to be the nicest guy you ever want to meet, a real sweetheart, but he is Goldberg the professional wrestler. He showed me his scars, the stuff they do to themselves to make blood flow. He told me that he swore he would never do it but then somebody did it to me and he said, oh, what the Hell, when in Rome. He is a really nice guy and I enjoyed working with him enormously.

SANTA'S SLAY will be a theatrical release that will get a big hard push this coming Christmas." Culp continued. "It has to be this Christmas because it has to be Christmas 2004 for the story to work." THE ALMOST GUYS is currently making its rounds at film festivals and is in search of the right distributor. You can read more about the film by visiting its website: http://thealmostguys.com/ Look for SANTA'S SLAY in theatres this Christmas season.

Listen to the interview in streaming audio (requires Apple Quicktime)

Jonathan W. Hickman