"Wild Hogs' actors enjoyed the ride
In the new film "Wild Hogs," William H. Macy - Oscar nominee and multiple Emmy-winner - plays a sad-sack straight man in a quartet of frustrated suburbanites. He is the butt of many jokes: He falls off his motorcycle a lot, he is wrongly considered an Internet perv and, thinking he's one bad mamma-jamma, he gets a tattoo shaped like the Apple computer logo.
Macy clearly loves that gag and, in particular, the feedback from diehard Apple people.
"It's pretty funny," he said last week via phone from Los Angeles. "It just shows you how specific and how complicated our society has gotten. A lot of people laugh at that gag, but all the Apple people go, 'Why did you get the old logo? That's so interesting, man . . .' I didn't know there was an old Apple logo."
Macy spoke in between press junkets and publicity stops for "Wild Hogs," the big-budget, Touchstone Pictures (Disney) comedy about men, motorcycles and a mid-life adventure. It is an ensemble comedy also starring Martin Lawrence, Tim Allen and John Travolta, who will celebrate the film in his home county tonight with an Ocala party to benefit tornado victims, the Marion Theatre renovation and efforts to attract more movie-making to Marion County.
The publicity machine has been in full throttle since the Super Bowl. The cast was cutting up recently on "Oprah," and, days after Macy's interview with the Star-Banner, he chatted it up on "Regis and Kelly" and other national NYC outlets. Travolta did the same, and one thing was clear: This looks like a funny movie made by four funny actors who had one helluva time.
But, Macy will tell you, there were few laughs when the four stars sat down to read the script-in-progress.
"The first table read was not successful," Macy said. "We were all a little horrified. There were great blocks of it that just didn't work, and there were great blocks of it where everyone realized, 'Well, this isn't what we're going to do. But what ARE we going to do?' "
Macy discussed these details freely and succinctly. This is notable; after all, he was speaking to the press as part of a routine pre-movie publicity blitz. He knew the tape recorder was rolling, and he spoke with that unmistakable diction that prompts listeners to proclaim "Hey, that's Williams H. Macy" or, at the very least, "Isn't that the 'Fargo' guy?"
But, make no mistake, the acclaimed actor whose Emmy Award collection includes one for writing ("Door to Door") is a master storyteller. So you know his detailed account of the "first table read" will have a surprise ending, a plot twist that pats the listener on the back and assures him things will be OK - just like his comforting narrations on the animated PBS series "Curious George."
That shift, that plot twist that transcends into a promotional happy stamp before the next interview, is what Macy called "the second" significant thing that happened at the reading. The first, he recalled, was when Tim Allen broke the tension in a roomful of very nervous A-listers.
"Tim said, 'You know, I have to be honest, I don't get it. I don't know who these (characters) are. I don't know what they mean to each other. I don't know why they're going on this trip, and I don't know what they're looking for.' There was a pause, and then I said, 'By God, Tim. I think you just solved our problem. That's it. That's what the movie is about. We don't know what we mean to each other, we don't know what we're looking for. But we do know we've got to get out. That's the theme: What's missing in our lives?' And that's exactly what the movie's about."
There it was. On the table. Mingling with the unfinished script.
"It got a little tense," Macy recalled. "We thought, 'Oh Crikey. This script is lame and there is a lot of work to be done.' But, right after that table read, they said, 'OK, you're going out for a training ride.' "
That, of course, is the "second thing."
There, on gloriously, deliciously open roads carved into breathtaking slices of the Southwest, the epiphany that ultimately fueled "Wild Hogs" evolved to the beat of Harley-Davidson's beloved engine rhythm: "potata-potata-potata-potata-potata . . ."
"Martin had never ridden, I hadn't ridden for 20 years, Tim was new to Harleys and John had not had a bike in a while," Macy said. "So we go out with Jack Gill the stunt coordinator, we get on these spiffy motorcycles and off we go up into the hills above Santa Fe, N.M., which is just fall-down-dead beautiful.
"We rode all afternoon, and we had such a good time. We got back, we all had dinner together, we talked bikes forever and we were completely bonded and the script took a backseat. And we realized it was all going to be OK."
From there, things just clicked. Especially the cast, whom Macy calls his "fellow Hogs." Macy is quick to note that making a comedy does not guarantee a good time on the set - "I have heard tell of ones that were incredibly painful to make, really wrought with all kinds of distress."
"But this one was fun, top to bottom," he said.
In "Wild Hogs," Macy plays Dudley Frank, a computer geek whose life is one embarrassing cheek burner after another. He tag-teams with his fellow, frustrated suburbanites for a life-affirming motorcycle adventure that results in prat falls, biker fights, explosions and at least one wacky Tim Allen groin injury.
Macy readily admits the plot is a little thin, but the film's strength rumbles in the undeniable on-set chemistry between Macy, Travolta, Lawrence and Allen.
"It was serendipity," he said. "From that first week on, it was just hysterical. Tim was always first out of the gate. He's very loud. If it comes into his mind, he says it at 18 decibels. And it is hysterical. There's no filter. He has no social skills whatsoever when he's on a set."
The icing on the cake, perhaps, is Macy's renewed love of motorcycles - now Harleys.
"There's this rumor out that Disney's gonna let us keep our bikes," he said. "I am absolutely going to get one. I doubt that I'll ride here in L.A. It's too crowded, too many cars, too dangerous. I'm very, very aware of the danger factor. But I'm convinced of this: If you go to school, if you wear all the proper gear - helmet, leathers, all of that stuff - if you drive as if everyone's trying to kill you and you can make it through the first year, it's relatively safe."
Is there a difference between Harleys and other motorcycles?
"Night and day," Macy answered without hesitation. "Harley-Davidson is really a primitive machine . . . It has that signature four-stroke engine with that very distinctive - it's because of the camshaft - 'potata-potata-potata' sound. And they vibrate a lot. It's thrilling . . . A Harley's made for riding all day. A Harley, above all other bikes, is sort of associated with the outlaw notion, which most of the guys who ride Harleys really like. They like to look bad. They like to look feared.
"In the film, all those extras, some of them look very scary. It took me a day or so to sort of warm up to them, to walk up to them and say hello. But a lot of them are lawyers, accountants, doctors, dentists - well spoken with two or three degrees. They just look like killers. It's an alter-ego they just love."
In Marion County anyway, where Travolta and his family reside and where many weekend warriors know potata-potata-potata quite well, many people are anxious to see this film, said Becky Phebus, who sells motorclothes at Ocala Harley-Davidson, where a "Wild Hogs" poster now decorates the door.
"There's been a lot of talk about it here," she said.
"This film will do well everywhere," Macy said. "The motorcycle culture is huge. There are legions of them. My brother is completely gaga. He's on his third Harley in three years."
"Wild Hogs" opens nationally on today, with Travolta's benefit party/screening running at Club Blue and neighboring Hollywood 16, respectively. Tickets are $200 each, but, if you are reading this and do not have a ticket, save your energy. They were invitation-only.
Macy, who said he is very interested in Travolta's party and the causes it will benefit, will be in New York City for more publicity today.
What: Four friends set out for adventure on two wheels. Starring John Travolta, William H. Macy, Tim Allen and Martin Lawrence.
When: Opens today Where: Butler Plaza