- Dennis Hopper, Mad Dog Morgan, 1976. “Everybody actually wanted to do it,” said Australian director Philippe Mora – playwright Miller, Alan Bates, Stacy Keach, Malcolm McDowell and Martin Sheen were all keen on titular Daniel Morgan, chief inspiration of Australia’s most famous bushranger, Ned Kelly. Then, he met a real insane canine (Mora’s suggested title) at his spread in Taos, New Mexico. “You better be in your hotel when the sun goes down,” he said, “that’s when the shootings starts. Ha, ha, ha!’ And sure enough, when the sun went down, the shooting started…. He brought an insanity to the role and an intensity that most actors would have found impossible to create.” A comeback was born and one of my most memorable Cannes festival interviews on a rainy May 26, 1976. At one point, he and Michael Douglas split for the men’s room, when they returned I’d swear their feet weren’t touching the floor…
- Tom Savini, Maniac, 1980. Actors came and went – even those as prestigious as New York playwright Jason Miller – as the budget was raised…. slowly. And so Savini, the ace special effects make-up man for this mother of all slasher movies took, over Disco Boy.
- André Gregory, The Last Temptation of Christ, 1988. The playwright-actor was seen for St John The Baptist inthe gospel according to Paramount – cancelled in 1983.
Birth year: 1939Death year: 2001Other name: Casting Calls: 3