 Hello, and welcome to Release Date Rewind. My name is Marc J. Parker, and I am a film lover, filmmaker, film celebrator. And normally this is an audio podcast, wherever you get your podcasts on your favorite apps. But thanks to Portland Media Center, you are about to watch the video component of this show where I celebrate movie anniversaries with my friends. Each month I usually talk about two different movies that I love with different friends, and we talk about the making of the movies, trivia, any fun memories associated with them. So I hope you enjoy, because now it's time to rewind. I'm the leprechaun! I'm the leprechaun! I'm the leprechaun! Love it. That's Mike Myers from Wayne's World on SNL when he's doing the I'm the leprechaun with Bart. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, totally, yes. Absolutely. All right, everybody. Well, we've started, and as you can tell, hopefully you can remember his voice, because he's been on this show a few times. Always in the winter, Jeff. You are like my winter expert, because you were on last December for Scream and for Hook. The December before that. Now he's here in January for a guilty pleasure. Please welcome everybody. My friend, filmmaker, podcaster, does a whole bunch of really cool stuff, and we're going to chat for a second about it before we get into leprechaun. Welcome back, Jeff Frommis. Jeff, thank you so much. I want to know about your latest movie. Tell everyone, tell everyone about it. I'm so curious. I know it premiered your film Galjaway. Which you also had a hand in. A little one, yeah, a long time ago. A long time ago, but listen, you know, Candy and I, I owe Candy a phone call. Boy, do I owe her a phone call. Candy is in the movie, and she is awesome in her role, which like went from like being kind of small to being slightly bigger than what was intended. Galjaway started off life as another script called Wash Away that ultimately, you know, I was trying to make something really, you know, grotesque and crazy and psychologically, you know. It's good. It was a great script. Yeah, it was, but you know, ultimately, I'm really glad that I didn't finish that script because or that it didn't, I'm kind of happy that things turned out the way they did because they're just, it just were required the actors to do a lot of, you know, very heavy things that, you know, maybe, I don't know, like you have to handle these things with such care. And there's just a lot of, there was a lot of like trauma based stuff in there that, you know, was, you know, it serviced the story, but it was also just, it was really heavy. It was heavy handed. You read the script, you know. Oh, yeah. It was, I mean, that ending was, wow, I remember it very well. Yeah. And, you know, the script is, Galjaway ended up being very dark as well, but like it was basically what Galjaway is is it's the sequel to a movie that never actually existed because it was the only way to finish the movie was to actually make a sequel to the movie using the footage that would have been in the first movie. And so that's kind of how I did it. And I basically was shooting and writing and editing all at the same time. And it was very confusing. And I'm not even sure if it makes sense. I think it makes sense. Did I send you the screener? I don't know if I did. If I didn't send you this. Oh my God. Let me send you. I'm going to send it to you. If you want to, I'd love to see it. Yeah. Or is it going to play at any more festivals? I know it premiered at Warner Blast, which I'd love to go to someday. Yes. I know that's a big one. The main goal here was to complete the movie. I wasn't so concerned with any kind of festival run to begin with, because I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to complete this thing. And I, I made a promise to myself that I had to see this thing through. I started it. I had to finish it. And so for me, it was about finishing something that, that really hurt that it wasn't, that it was left unfinished. And, you know, partially it was my fault and partially it was just circumstance and, you know, it was, it was a battle. It was a battle to get everything together. We did it. It came out. I mean, I made that money. I made that movie for even less money than what I made my first movie for somehow. Wow. Amazing. It's crazy, but it exists. And yes, I will send it to you. And actually I would love to actually hear what, because you would, I'd want you to watch it blind. I want to hear if you, I want to know if you understand what's going on. So do you think you'll self-distribute in the coming hundred percent? Yes. Cool. So one of the things about making micro-budget feature-length films, I've made two now, is I own them. I own the movies in the entirety. I did not crowdfund these movies. I don't have to do any fulfillment or anything. I just simply own the movie. And when it's time to distribute and I have a self-distribution plan for the digital stuff, I probably will just do Film Hub. But at the end of the day, if someone's going to be distributing the movie and making money, it might as well be me and not giving my movie to someone else. And now it's like everybody's focused on 2BTV, which is where I think that's really my primary goal. And then to do a really solid physical release. And then really, not to put so much emphasis, man. It's like, look, it's just like doing the live shows, man. You finish a film, move on to the next one. So I'm actually already writing my next film. It's called My Shadow. My Shadow. I'm at page 50. Ooh, look at you. Halfway. It is going to be the most challenging film I've ever made because it involves a lot. But it's like, it's a type of movie. It's a movie where if I can pull it off, like really pull it off as the full vision that I have in my head. And I've never made a movie to this day. I've not made a movie that completely executes the vision that I initially had for it. Oh yeah, I hear you. But if I can, I think this is a movie that like, I could sell the shutter. I really do. I really think it's like that kind of thing. Love that. Let's see. Let's see. I just, I really, I feel very strongly about this idea. And the only thing I will say about it, and guess this is really the first time I'm publicly talking about it. Ooh, tell me. Give me the exclusive. I'm Gail Leather. Well, actually it's Frankenstein needs Frankenweenie needs pet cemetery needs little shop of ours needs edit and his dead mother. If it all took place in the world of a racer head directed by David Lynch. Wow. Oh my God. That is yeah. And so that is quite a cocktail. That is a cocktail man that with a little bit of reanimation. I don't know if I got some reanimation in there too. So it's yeah, I'm really, I'm really happy with how it's coming out too. It's really quirky, really weird. It really is the voice that I've been cultivating over these last two movies. I feel like this is a voice that I've now found. That's the next one. So we'll say cool Jeff. Good for you. Yeah. All right. I love that. I anytime I hear someone is writing even 50 pages, like that's amazing. Good for you. Cause I've only been focusing on shorts. I'm going to work on a feature just kind of for fun of it. You know, Yeah, but wow, anything over like 20 pages. I'm like, what? You know, I'm in shorts world. It's just, it's just exercising a muscle man. You get to a point. You already know what it is to write a script and you've written a bunch of them. All you got to do is when you push the envelope and you just keep going and going and going. And then once you've done it, once you've gotten to that point, you see it. You go, oh, that's what this is. And you'll be able to do it even easier the next time and the next time and the next time. That's great. Good for you. Keep the creative flow. I'm sending good vibes your way. But now, Jeff, let's talk about a whole different movie. Let's rewind. We're going to talk about a guilty pleasure called leprechaun that came out 30 years ago this month. I'm so happy you're here to talk about this because you and I, we like our horror. We like our weird stuff, but also it's just fun because I know that, you know, this movie, it's not a good movie, but I have to tell you after rewatching it, this movie gives me such comfort, maybe because it's that thing that happens to us when we watch movies that we watched as a kid. So we're watching them. You just immediately kind of feel like that warm blanket, which is funny to say. Comfy blanket. Yeah, it's a comfy blanket. Yeah, like leprechaun is a comfy blanket for me, you know. Well, before I set the scene and tell you what was going on at this time 30 years ago, tell me, Jeff, when did you first see leprechaun? Did you see, do you remember how old you were? Do you have any memories of that first time? I was young and I saw it on TV and I still remember the opening very well. And as a young person, this latest with a lot of horror movies, even when the tone doesn't match that, it doesn't match what you are experiencing. It was a very serious movie to me when I first saw it. That opening scene was super serious. And then when I watched it again as an adult, and I've seen it as an adult several times, a bunch of times, obviously it's very schlocky. It's very goofy, but like as a kid, you take it. And it was the same thing. I remember Troll 2. I remember thinking Troll 2, like the ending. You watch some Joshua at the very end when they're eating the mom. I was like, holy shit, this is so serious. And I was like, it's just not serious at all. Oh my God. That's how you, that's what happens. You are so right. I thought the same thing and rewatching it. Like I said, like it's that warm blanket. I remember it so well. But as a kid, same thing, Jeff, especially the beginning, the beginning, not that it's scary at all, but I can remember feeling scared as a kid because it's so dark and now this, this gobliny leprechaun is now in this guy's house. And you know, at the top of the stairs after he pushes his wife down, like, you know, so I am right there with you that, yeah, it seems so serious, so, you know, intense. When actually it's, I know it's a horror comedy, but it's pretty much a comedy, you know, like, it's funny because just as you get older, you realize, oh wow, I was wrong about this. Like I am seeing this with fresh eyes, but as a kid, it's scary, right? So we'll get into it. We'll talk about our favorite scenes and all that good stuff in a second. The luck of the Irish is being packed and shipped to a little town in South Dakota whose luck may have just run out. Let me set the scene for you, Jeff. So this is what was going on in pop culture in the beginning of 93, 30 years ago. So you bring up Troll 2, love it? This is kind of, it's funny because leprechaun and its franchise is sort of what another franchise that you and I love that we were just talking about on your show, Scream would make fun of, right? The original Scream was talking about, like, oh, you know, all these lame, repetitive, bad, schlocky horror movies. This is what was out in the early 90s, horror, okay? We had Tremors. We had Child's Play 2, Gremlins 2, Troll 2, a movie called Frankenhooker and Arachnophobia. Oh, we talked a lot about Frankenhooker. Frankenhooker, right? It's playing at the Alamo, playing at the Alamo this month. That's awesome. And I was reading that the makeup artist for this film was the makeup artist for Frankenhooker. So there you go. That's a double feature right there, right? Oh, Gabe. What's his name? Gabe. Is it Bartolos? Something like that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? That's a lot of movies, man. He's, yeah. Oh, yeah. Totally. Really good stuff. So all of those movies were out in 1990. 1991 brought us Freddie's Dead, the final nightmare, a little schlocky, right? That was kind of Freddie at his most schlocky. Yes. We had Child's Play 3, Critters 3, Army of Darkness was then in 92. That was part of the Evil Dead franchise, which this film, we're watching a lot of the low angles and a lot of the running shots really make me think of, you know, running through the woods in Evil Dead, right? And then we had Critters 4. So a lot of these schlocky horror comedies, especially, right? They were very popular, not always that good. So In Comes Leprechaun, okay? So on the news side, we were just talking about how Scream 6 is set in New York City, a place where Jeff lives. I used to live there. I thought this was fun, Jeff. 30 years ago this month, cigarette advertisements were banned in New York City's MTA in the suburbs. Really? Starting in January 93. That was the beginning. That was the beginning of blocking those ads out. Right. Here you go. Yeah, the beginning of the end for Sigs. On the TV side, I thought this was so interesting and like, can you imagine if they did that today? Get this. So I didn't know this TV movie at all. I kind of needed a refresher on the true crime story of Amy Fisher. But ABC and CBS simultaneously broadcast their own individual movies about the Amy Fisher crime. She was having an affair with a married man. She was a minor. Yep, exactly. She didn't kill Joey's wife, but she shot him in the face. Shot Amy Fisher. Shot her in the face. The wife. Yes. So I had no idea, because we were pretty young. Early days of January, on the same night ABC aired their version with Drew Barrymore, which is so funny that that's where she was in her career. And CBS aired their version with Alyssa Milano, which is also funny, because Drew Barrymore was in Poison Ivy and Alyssa Milano was in Poison Ivy too. Right. So there you go. Weird. And then how funny, NBC had broadcast their own film a couple days earlier, so they beat these two. I didn't recognize any names in the NBC version, but whoa, like kind of funny how back then, obviously TV movies were all the rage. And honestly, they're kind of the rage now. Just we call them streaming movies, right? So it's funny when you see like, you know, things like The Dropout and all these, you know, the whole Adnan serial podcast, Adnan Syed a few years ago. You know, I just, I thought it was interesting how we see this example 30 years ago of these TV movies all talking about the same thing, but there was such a rush to make your own version and how that's kind of a thing still today, you know, with different streamers doing their thing. So. Yeah. Random fun fact. On the music side, Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You from the Bodyguard, a film I talked about not that long ago on the show. Yes, written by good old Dolly. That was number one for weeks and weeks and weeks. So that was having its moments. One of the most profitable and successful songs ever in the history of songs. Right. Bodyguard soundtrack is up there with one of the great, because of that song. Oh, yeah. It's amazing how many awesome singles came from that soundtrack. Totally. So she was the reigning music queen. Also a song that I forgot about, but love rhythm is a dance. I love that song. That was that was big in the day at 30 years ago. Popular movies, a few good men, Aladdin, Disney's Aladdin, Scent of a Woman, The Bodyguard, and Forever Young. Those were the top Jurassic Park came out later in 93. Yep. Exactly. So we weren't there yet, but I'm sure those trailers were playing. The Bodyguard was 93. I thought it was 91. No, the Bodyguard was 92. Thanksgiving 92. So that was still popular. Two months later. Yep. So those were the top five films at the box office. Most of them were all from, you know, the year prior, because this was the first weekend ish of the year back then. And so leprechaun, you know, you would think they would have released leprechaun, I don't know, in March, closer to St. Patty's Day, but you know, we're talking about a movie that was kind of dumped in the dumping grounds. You know, January, we know was sort of like for a long time. What do you think, Jeff? Because Scream 5 was in January. I feel like January now is no longer a dumping ground for movie releases. Or do you think it still is? Kind of depends. I don't think of it as a dumping ground, but I think of it as, I think of it as a way of leveling the playing field because a lot of the things that maybe would, like for instance, again to bring up Scream, since we love talking about Scream so much, you look at like Scream 1 and Scream 2 both came out in December. But Scream 3, I think came out in January. It was early February. Early February. And I don't know when Scream 4 came out, but Scream 5 came out in January. And I think, I think what that is all about is that, you know, Christmas time really became, or at least, I don't know how it was in the 90s as much as it is now, or at least in the last two decades where you release your big prestige Oscar film. People are watching Oscar. Right. Big Oscar films. Any film that's going to do big box office business is coming out around December. And you are not going to pit any movies that have potential at making box office bucks against something that's just super out of its league. You know, you could sit there and talk about how, oh, this movie just didn't do well at the box office. Or you could be like, hey, wait a minute, why are you releasing that now? And so give a movie a chance to spread its legs instead of pitting it against, you know, competition where it's not going to do well. So I don't think of January as a dumping ground anymore. I think of January is a very strategic sort of place. Like for instance, Megan is coming out now in January. And they could have released Megan. They started doing a campaign for Megan on TikTok with everybody doing the viral dance in October. I thought it was going to have an October release. I'm going, well, if you're not going to release in October, but you're doing this campaign, like my God, does that mean you're going to release it in December and November? They're like, or yeah, or November. And they're like, no, we're going to do it in January. Yeah. Old school. Which makes, it makes a lot of sense. And now it's been established. They've established it with this. Everybody knows who Megan is because that, that, that, that dance. So it's like, it was actually really smart marketing, marketing technique. I believe it was Blumhouse. I'm going to go see it. I'll probably go see it on a Saturday night. It looks fun. It looks totally fun. I don't know if I'll go to the theater, but I'm, I, I mean it looks fun. I, hey, I love a good killer doll robot. I mean, let's do it. Right. But yeah, you bring up a great point. Yeah. January could be a dumping ground for some bad movies or for movies like Megan, it clears the path. She's free. There's not much competition at all, especially right now. So leprechaun comes out January 8th, 1993. Jeff, I'm going to throw it over to you in your own words, some people listening might have never seen this. They're not as cool as us in your own words. Tell us what is leprechaun about leprechaun is about. It's, it's okay. So this family is moving, I guess from the big city or whatever, from what I remember, which features a Jennifer Anderson in her very first feature film as a star. And, you know, the funny thing too is like she was super embarrassed by this film and sort of like downplayed it for a long time. It was so funny because literally next year she lands friends and then blows up and became not just Jennifer Anderson, but also Jennifer Anderson's hair, which was like the biggest thing in the world. Rachel. Yes. Especially like season, Rachel hair from season like two to four, two to three, every, that was like the hottest hair dude. Everybody wanted that hair. Every guy is in love with Rachel. You know, every girl wanted to be Rachel. You know, it was a, that was a big thing. I remember that man. I remember that. Well, even young, young, I remember that. Oh yeah. And so, and then she did something to her hair in season four where it was like her hair just like she went straight. It was very straight and long. Yeah. Right. But you know, what's kind of funny is that the Rachel is now really become the Karen, which is kind of sad. Yeah. It's so sad. It's like mom hair, but like man in the nineties, that was hot dude. Oh yeah. That was a fucking style. It had a bounce baby. But you're so right. And then we tell you something like that was like, like that was the look. Yeah. It's so funny how now it's like that's, that's the Karen look. That's the, that's the look you run away from. That's the look that you run away from. That's the, I want to talk to a manager. Yes. In any case, you have a young Jennifer Aniston. I believe that's also a pre-nosed job Jennifer Aniston. She looks like she's a little bit more beaky, which I don't care. I got a beak too. I'm sorry. You know, we don't have to, we don't have to, not to, not to, no shade. But it's like, I'm just saying it's like a very fresh Jennifer Aniston. It's TV and her and her dad, I think it is in her little brother, they, they moved to this house and the house used to belong to this old dude who we see at the opening and he has, his wife has died and he was quarreling with the leprechaun because he stole the leprechauns gold, a hundred pieces of gold. And the thing is, we don't really like, maybe they mentioned it. I don't know. I guess this would have benefited me for a revisit as to, as to how he found the leprechaun or why he found the leprechaun. Or whatever, but he seals away the leprechaun for some, some spell after his wife is killed. And, and I'll tell you, the leprechaun looks like a serious tour de force when he's, when the old man's dealing with it and you're like, Oh my God, this is really scary. I think he goes in a barrel. Right. Yes. He goes in this random big crate in the basement. Yeah. Yeah. And he's there for 10 years. It's 10 years. Okay. And I also, we need to take a moment. You've done a very good job of painting the picture, but you need to also highlight that this is the dawn of the Trimark age. Absolutely. Jeff. Tell us in the nineties, in the nineties, you had, this is sort of like the continuation of what the Canon films and Vestron video was in the eighties. I think Vestron video is eighties, not really nineties as much as Trump videos. I don't know. Something like something. Yeah. Vestron video was like late eighties. Yeah. That gave way to labels. You had a bunch of them, but the main one, the one that I remember was motherfucking Trimark, which was just like, they did a lot of straight to video stuff. They did a lot of low budget horror stuff. Here's some stuff that we got from Trimark. Oh yeah. Tell me. We got cyborg too with Angelina Jolie, which is a cyborg with Van Dam. Oh my God. Never seen a cyborg too. It is with Jack Palance and Angelina Jolie. You know, she gets fully naked and she is just like, does she really hot 20 something? Yeah. She's super hot in it. And she's just like, she's gorgeous man. And she's a robot. And it also has that dude. God, what was his, what's his name? He's in a lot of stuff. So you had cyborg too. You had what's it called? Not free Jack. It was free fall freeway. It was like a weird thriller with Eric Roberts. Oh, okay. I thought for a second, I thought it was, was it free? Not free Jack. That's with, that's with Mick Jagger. Now it's going to bother me. I got to look this up. I know. I'm looking up too. You also had the leprechaun movies. He had leprechaun. I believe one, two, three and four came out on Trimark. And then when leprechaun five in the hood and leprechaun back to the hood were not on Trimark. I believe that might have switched over to Liongate because Liongate absorbed Trimark. But you also had return a living dead part three. Yeah. Peter Jackson's dead alive. Which I still need to see. I haven't seen you. You never. Oh my God, dude. It's like never available. I it's like never streaming anywhere. I got to find it somewhere. You're going to watch dead alive. Oh, of course it's not available because mother fuckers out of print. Yeah. When, when that becomes available, you are going to come on my show and we're going to talk dead alive. And the reason why I love Trimark so much is because it just, it really, it really captures that. It really captures the nineties and like this whole like, I don't know, captures the video store for me and the nineties and just like simpler times and just like my youth. And so I love there's nothing like putting in return a living dead three the tape and like watching the trailers. And of course, one of the jokes is leprechaun two and dead alive. Just a bunch of a bunch of trailers to stuff that that I just love. I don't know. It's just like this perfect little time capsule. And so leprechaun is a part of that. And so to get back to the, the plot, basically a leprechaun, a leprechaun is basically trying to track down his hundred pieces of gold. He gets released from the barrel. New people moved in. The dude from Teen Wolf plays this like simpleton. It's the only way to describe it, right? Yeah. Mark something. I forgot his name. Mark. I forget his name as well, but I'll look it up. He's also in Pee Wee Herman, Pee Wee Herman's big adventure. Yes. And it's interesting, Jeff, did you know, because there are so many sequels and I've only seen the first couple. I never made it to leprechaun in space. And after that, Oh, you have to see leprechaun in space. Yeah. I remember. I remember two is in Vegas and three. Three is in Vegas. Three is in Vegas. Two is weird. Two is not in Vegas. It's sort of like, it starts off like a long time ago. It's like kind of like a fairy tale thing. Yes. Okay. That rings a bell. Yes. His name's Mark Holton. Mark Holton. What's the end? So yeah, you're right. He's in Teen Wolf one and two. The year prior to this, another film I talked about in this podcast, he has a very small little role in a league of their own. That was one of his bigger things. Right. He's still working because he's in the latest leprechaun reboot as his character Ozzy. I haven't seen that one yet. But now that you said that, now I have to rewatch it. Now I have to go and watch it. I mean, I'm curious, but apparently, I mean, it's on IMDb they listed as a comedy fantasy horror, but I have heard that it is pretty serious horror and not as comedic and it like really loses it. It was made by like WWF, like movie studio. I just didn't seem interesting to me. Right. No Warwick Davis. Yeah, exactly. Can't have a leprechaun movie without Warwick Davis, who was in, he was in all six leprechaun movies over a course of 10 years from 1993 to about 2003. And you know, and you know, I know he's had like mixed feelings about like, he loves leprechauns series, but he also kind of like hates it at the same time. Yeah, I saw that too. What do you think of that? Well, I think that it's weird. You know, it's a weird thing. I'll tell you from the Peter Dinklage POV and Peter Dinklage is a little person, actor who is you know, very sensitive about the stereotyping and pigeonholing of little people in these various sort of stereotypical roles that go to little people, like elves and you know, like all these sort of mystical creatures and things. And you know, that usually little people are portrayed. You don't have a lot of little people who are just like, like just happen to be a little person. Like there's very few movies where it's like, oh, like, and that's why the station agent is actually a really great film, starring Peter Dinklage. The point being is that there is a big stigma and sensitivity and there's like two sides to it. And the other side of it is, hey, we're actors and this is how we eat. Absolutely. And Warwick Davis especially has has been, obviously Willow and he was, you know, Ewoks and Star Trek and all that. So he, that's interesting. He's the opposite. Well, Willow was very, and that's what's, well, that's what's interesting too is that I feel like Willow is like a really sort of like positive sort of depiction of little people in cinematic roles as opposed to, hey, look, it's a, it's a, what's it called from the, from Wizard of Oz, the lollipop gang. The Munchkins. Munchkins. Munchkins. Like, hey, you know, like, like whatever, whatever the thing is, or you know, this idea of a little person playing a leprechaun, you know, on some level, it's like, hey, like what, what the eff man, like you're making us, you know, what are you doing? But then on the other hand, it's like, hey, I'm an actor. This is my profession. Here's a role. Yeah. There's a role that's kept me eating for the last 10 years. And I've been doing other stuff, but like that's, you know, it's good to get a movie every, you know, you know, seven movies in 10 years doing this stuff. Oh yeah. It's busy. Thanks so much for watching. Next week will be part two of this discussion. And in the meantime, please follow release date rewind on Instagram.