David Rappaport's 1985 Interview from
Starlog #96 (Part 2)
"Creature Comforts"
Rappaport enjoyed working with Roddam. "I like him a lot. He has done so much, other than directing. I learned this by chatting: he has been on the road, he has been to India, he has had fights in the docks at Newcastle: he's a real hard diamond. The crew, like the sparks [electricians] and the chippers [carpenters], are all tough nuts themselves, and to them, most directors are wimps-but not Franc Roddam. One thing happened that really made all the crew go (Rappaport whistles), 'This man's hundred carat.'
"Clancy and I were doing this scene in the water, "Rappaport recalls, "freezing cold-even though it was June in France, the water was still frezing. We've been thrown off a bridge because we got pissed [drunk] in the inn, and we were just drifting, going, 'Help, help,' and then coming out of the water. And Franc had us do the scene about 20 times. We had to get in the water in all our clothes, and then drift along the river, and then come out saying, 'Oh why did they do that?' 20 times. It was for technical reasons, the light. But we thought, 'They MUST have one or two good takes.' We really got pissed off.
""Clancy keeps very cool, but underneath, he COULD get violent. After awhile, I was saying, 'Oh come on, Franc, you've got it twice at least, you don't need anymore.' Franc said, 'Just one more time.' And suddenly, Clancy got out of the water, and I thought, 'Hey, this isn't in the scene.' And he just walked up to Franc-a six foot bloke, looks just like the monster, wearing all that makeup, I don't know what he's going to do.
"Franc DIDN'T run away: he ran up to
Clancy and hugged him, really tight. And he said, 'OK,
Clancy, OK, cool down, cool down. Just one more time.'
And you saw Clancy go, 'Phew! Don't you ask me to do it
one more time after this one!'-'OK, that's all.' "And the
crew went, 'My god.' "You know, because the instinct
would have been to get out of there. If he had wanted to,
Clancy could have lifted Franc up and done anything. He
was not in full control, because, at times, he got like
that, in character. Because he's a Method actor, there's
a fine line between average day and the part. He would
have regretted it afterwards, and he probably wouldn't
have even known he had done it. But Franc ran up to him
and hugged him tight. Most directors would go, 'Erm, erm,
get me, erm, an assistant!-Yes, yes, will you calm this
man down?"
"Casting Conflicts"
Sitting in a coffee bar in the middle of a sunny London park, Rappaport is garrulous and witty. His conversation is highlighted with comedy and irony, testifying to his success as an occasional TV talk show host, and as a stand-up comic.
Facing Rappaport head-to-head across a table, only his slightly stubby hands betray his small stature. But when he stands up to get a light for his long, thin cigar, the height handicap is noticeable-he's not much taller than the table. Nevertheless, despite the opportunities offered by the often caricatured representation of little people in the media, the 33-year old English actor has devoted his career to exploiting his 'talents', not his height.
"It has taken a long time-I've got a good agent, David Wilkinson," he notes. "When I started off, I did everything: to meet people, to work, to be seen, to get experiance. AND I've done that. Now I choose-which is very fortunate. I'm getting roles which are wonderful, and I have done several parts that don't call for small people. Some do: 'The Bride' called for a small person but a brilliant character, and I loved doing it. If it's a dwarf who is a regular person, I love to do it. I'm not against doing dwarf parts, it's only if it's a [he puts on a silly face and talks gibberish] dwarf, who falls over and has a long beard, I say, 'No, forget it.'
I ALWAYS see scripts now and if I like it, I do it. If I don't, I don't say,'Yeah, I'll do it.' I NEVER do it. I must be extra careful, because as soon as I do a part which is a bit tacky or a bit dwarfy, then I feel that I've gone back a year or two. I'm not at all adverse to doing small characters, as long as they're characters, not 'Oh, wouldn't it be funny if we had a dwarf walking in the background.' I WONT do that."
In his determination to advance his acting experiance and credits, Rappaport has declined several roles which would have been financially rewarding while increasing his visibility in the movie industry. R2-D2 (actually portrayed by Kenny Baker) was one such instance. "I got offered that part when I first started becoming an actor, had my very first agent, a wonderfu lady named Adza Vincent," Rappaport reveals. "Star Wars, just imagine: no one had heard of it-it wasn't even called Star Wars. We got approached: 'There's this film that some small company is doing in the desert, in Tunisia. You'll spend six months inside a tin can in the baking heat.' And you think, 'Yeah? The money must be good, if it's that bad. What's the money like?' 'Abyssmal. But you get a percentage.' 'A percentage of what?' How do you know what it's going to do? Some tinpot film, acting in the desert for six months: sounds like a no-no! So, I said, naturally, 'No.'
"So, I'm famous now as the dwarf who turned down Star Wars-more famous than the dwarf who did it. Even though he got a quarter of a million in royalties, I'm pleased I didn't. I don't regret it at all, because I'm proud to be the one who didn't-the dwarf they can't get inside a puppet or a robot.
Rappaport also met with director Jim Henson (Starlog #85) about a role in Henson's upcoming 'Labyrinth': "That's another one I turned down," he exclaims. "This is a good interview: all the mega-films that Rappaport turned down!" The "Labyrinth" character requires an almost totally enveloping costume, and though it demands the lifelike quality that only the human body movement can provide, it wouldn't have utilized the actor's primary expressive capablities of voice and facial movements. Rappaport felt uninterested in a role which wouldn't employ the skills he has worked so hard to develop.
"Career Choices"
Acting has not always been his obvious career choice. After studying psychology for three years at England's Bristol University (where he also performed in humorous student revues), Rappaport spent six months hitchhiking throughout the U.S. On returning to England, a one-year teaching degree led to two year's teaching eight and nine year olds. Occasionally, he took performing jobs, but, married and with a recently born son, had initial doubts about depending on the financially insecure acting profession.
"The person who got me into acting was Ken Campbell: I give him all the credit," says Rappaport. Campbell, director and co-adaptor of the eight-hour SF stage play "Illuminatus," based on a trilogy of books by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, gave Rappaport the role of Markov Chaney, a part which included 30-minute monologue. Originally staged at the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool, the popular "Illuminatus" transferred to London to become the opening play in 1977 of the National Theatre of Great Britian's experimental Cottesloe Theatre.
Rappaport's subsequent stage roles included "Dr. Faustus" (as the Pope), "Volpone," "Exit the King," and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." He appeared in a Dutch film, "Mysteries," and director Richard (Superman 2) Lester's "Cuba."
His major film credit prior to "The Bride" was a starring role in the "Time Bandits" for writer/dirctor Terry Gilliam (Starlog #92). "I couldn't believe the script," says Rappaport. "It was all there, all the best things I has ever wanted to do. And one of my childhood dreams: to drive a tank-and there it was, on paper."
The tank scene wasn't the only memorable one. "Everytime I see that scene with the horse coming through the cupboard," Rappaport explains, "my back chills, and I can feel my hair, because there's something 'dark,' something Jungian, something subconscious about it.
"When we actually did it, my son, Joe, was on the set, he must have been five then. It took all day to do this scene, because it was very difficult: you have to ride a horse up a dark, totally black corridor, with some thin wooden doors-the cupboard doors-at the end, and then he has to push through them, not knowing what's there. Very hard to get a horse to do that; very good horse, very good trainer. All day rehearsing, and nothing happening,and everyone getting pissed off.
Then, finally, at four p.m., it's ready. And I said, 'Now look, Joe: there's a big horse. You're going to hear it coming up a long corridor, the hooves are going to come out the door, it's going to be frightening. You mustn't make a noise, it'll ruin the wole thing!' And he said, 'OK.'
"Everybody was lined up, tense, and you could hear the horse, 'Da-dum, da-dum'-'Action!'-da-dum, da-dum'-'Lights!'-da-dum, 'da-dum'-'Sound'-'da-dum, da-dum, da-dum, da-dum'-'CRASH!' And these hooves splintered through the door, and 'I' went, 'AAAAH!!!'
"And the whole day, Joe said, 'I didn't make a noise, my dad did.'" Rappaport laughs,recalling the incident, and he remembers working with Gilliam fondly. "I loved the film , really loved it. I'm very proud and privileged to have done 'Time Bandits." Rappaport isn't leaving his future to chance. In partnership with two other filmmakers, he has formed a production company to develop screenplays. And personally, there's one specific role Rappaport wants: "The character in Dune 2 (Dune Messiah) called Bijaz, who is about four foot tall and only talks in intergalactic metaphysical Socratean riddles. He's a brilliant character: slightly manic, very wise, and like all mystics, only a few people can understand what he says. I definatly want to play it, and David Lynch, I hope, will include it his screenplay."
It's clear that he has overcome his height handicap in his working life. But what daily disadvantages does he face as a small person? "There are none," David Rappaport asserts. "You can quote me on that."