 Letters From The Cast And Crew
Thomas Mitchell ("B.D.") wrote in not too long ago, and agreed to an interview. You can read the Thomas Mitchell Inquisition at MRFH.
Hey, I directed PCU and am flattered you guys put together a web site for the movie. I had no idea it had a cult following. Thanks,
Came across your site and thought I would drop you a line and let you know how great it is to see PCU live on in cyberspace. It was an amazing experience to work with such a talented cast and a secure producer and director that let us all just have fun and enjoy the process -- it was one huge Pit Party the entire time. It was a blast to make, and has only become more memorable for me as the years go by. My only regret is that I didn't have the perspective to know how special it was when we were actually making it. It's definitely a summer that I will never forget -- Thanks for trip down memory lane... Chris Young ["Tom"]
I couldn't believe it when I stumbled on this site. In Hollywood there's the perception that PCU was a failure, but it's nice to see it has finally come into its own. A lot of care went into making it, and it is flattering to see that it is appreciated. I met Jeremy and Alex on the film and have since worked with them both. I wrote a part for Alex in "Swingers", and Jeremy and I are both in the upcoming dark comedy "Very Bad Things". PCU was my second film (after "Rudy") and is still one of my favorites. People will no doubt look back at this movie and remark at the talented ensemble of fledgling actors that have since established themselves. Thank you all for supporting this bastard step-son of a movie. Jon Favreau ["Gutter"]
Wow! Who'd a thunk it... a movie we did in Canada for 2 months just for tha hell of it would get all these props. I thank you. My momma thanks you. The dread that John Favs and I ran into in the subway after watching "The Harder They Come" and "Rockers" that one time, THANKS YOU! Alex Désert AKA MOLES -- AKA "The Black Guy" [But NOT the Militant Black Guy, that would be Kevin Thigpen ("Another Girl on IRT"). Yet another fine actor] Peace, Guidance & Drive Recklessly.
Hi! My name is Valentina Cardinalli. I have a small part in PCU, I'm the sign language interpretor. In the credits I think they made a mistake and listed that I was a SINGER. (Actually I sing very badly!) Its funny how I actually got the part in PCU. My sister is deaf, and she got an extra role in the movie. For kicks I went to the set with her, because I adore being on film sets and I also thought she may need some help talking to people. Anyhow, spur the moment Hart suddenly got the idea that it would be funny to have a sign language interpretor interpreting the whole sequence they were filming. In a very loud voice I said "I can do that!" Before I knew it, I had myself a cameo! What a bit of luck! I'm glad you like the movie so much. I thought it was kinda fun too. Valentina Cardinalli ["Signer"]
Greetings: Glad to hear someone out there actually notices me. You may need to get out and grab some sun now and again, Justin. What am I saying? I watch far, far too many movies for my own good as well. [Do you have any stories, trivia, anectdotes to share about your PCU experiences? I'd be very interested if so.] Okay, but you asked for it; In the movie, Becky files a complaint with the principal. That was my scene, man, and I'm very bitter. Yes, I was supposed to file that complaint but, during the scene where I point and yell, "Meat-Tosser" before running out of the frame, I accidentally ran into the producer on one of the takes. Damn near knocked him right over. I suspect he was keen to rid me from the set as soon as possible after that. They gave the scene to Becky. Oh, well, that's show bizz. You might get a kick out of this. The true cause of the meat chaos was supposed to come as a result of an exploding meat loaf. Yes, that's right. They toss it out of the window and it lands with a thud in front of us protesters. We then crept up to the a fore mentioned loaf with trepidation when, boom. The loaf explodes covering us all and knocking us on our asses. I don't know why the footage was cut. It sure was a pain in the ass to shoot over and over again. The loaf kept landing funny. I wonder how it turned out. Maybe we'll see it in a director's cut one day. (The meat was a mixture of real meat and some rubber stuff. The local wasps seem to fancy feeding on the meat all day long. It was really screwed up.) (Feel for the cows, man. Those guys had to where those stupid cow heads all day long. They could only remove the heads for very long breaks in filming because it seemed to require a team of costume people to get the poor guys in and out of them. It was like a 1000 degrees inside those suits and the meat smell only added to the fun, as did the wasps. All that and you don't even see any of the guys faces. Although, one of the cows who was a buddy of mine, went on to do a lot of other scenes throughout the film in full cow regalia. He told me that in some party scene they let him hold his head instead of wearing it. Have you spotted him? If not, please don't bother trying.) Finally, When all us meat guys chase after Chris Young, we run through this kind of tunnel. You may notice that Chris runs by first, then me, then the pack. It took several takes, I was really tired, the path was made up of cobblestones and I was wearing sandals. The torment we suffer to make the high art known as PCU. You've got one hell of a site going here. I've loved this movie since I saw it at the theaters...and, just recently, I picked up a previously-viewed copy at Movie Warehouse. Hehehehehe...I suppose I'm one of the lucky ones. Well, just wanted to let you know that I love the page. Keep up the great work. Todd Rigney ["Cause Head"]
Hello there: My name is Russ Clayton. I'm writing to you because I was an Extra in PCU. I live in Toronto, Canada, where the movie was filmed. I was one of the Wildlife Handlers who delivered the Port Chester Whooping Crane to the Alumni Party. I'm the one on the right, just before Jessica Walter flings off the cover revealing the bird. We had to lift that heavy cage up and down a small flight of stairs several times during the whole sequence, while they were shooting. Boy it was heavy! But the worst thing of all was that later on in the film (during the Outdoor Scene on stage), we were supposed to have been hijacked by members of the pit, who steal our clothes and leave us tied up underneath the stage, being verbally abused by the Pigman. We actually shot this whole scene with Pigman, and I remember sitting under there in my underwear thinking "Wow, will this be my first big break into the acting world?" I also remember that Hart Bochner (the Director) decided to have the prop people tie a big red bow around my head for the close-up shots. The shot started on my face, and then panned over to the other Handler, and then over to Pigman, who then begins to terrify us with bad jokes and psychotic ramblings. This little scene ended up on the cutting room floor, and it wasn't until I recently watched the PCU DVD that I found out why. I had actually forgotten most of the dialogue that Pigman had in his little verbal tirade, but one of the lines was: "Did you ever see a mini-series that didn't have Jane Seymor in it?" Hart Bochner says in the DVD commentary that nobody laughed at the joke, so they pulled that scene from the film. All these years I wondered why the scene had been cut from the film, and I was so happy to hear that it wasn't something I did to screw up the shot. I kept thinking that maybe I'd looked into the camera during my close-up or something. And it's been bothering me all these years, especially since I dragged all of my best friends and family to the movie to see me in my first big close up scene on the big screen. But as it turned out, I'm only on the screen for about 2 whole seconds (don't blink!) in the whole movie. At the time, I was taking improv classes at the Toronto Second City, and a casting agent from PCU visited our class one Saturday and invited me to come out for the part of the Wildlife Handler. I certainly was excited. But I guess a life in the movies just wasn't meant to be. Nowadays, I'm a Kindergarten School Teacher and a Children's Performer/Songwriter. Feel free to check out my website: www.russmusic.com. I was kind of hoping that the DVD release of PCU might have included my deleted scene, but that wasn't the case. I'm glad I had the opportunity to shed some light on this missing peice of PCU history. By the way, this PCU Tribute site is fantastic. If you build it, we will come!!! And we did! Bye for now! © 1997-2003 Justin Olivetti |
Over the years, it's been exciting to receive mail from the cast & crew of PCU, and I've reprinted them here to share with you. If you were an actual cast or crew member of PCU, please drop me a line!