Hey folks, Harry here... On my way to Seattle last Thursday I had to go through Chicago's O'Hare Airport and live there for about 3 hours. Sigh. As is always the case with arriving at O'Hare I land in one gate and must make my way to the gate on the exact opposite side of creation, so I flagged one of those electrical cart thingamagigs and Father Geek and I hopped on. What does this have to do with Quint's interview with Mike Binder? Well... We're making our way through mobs of security exhausted travelers, at a near dead stop. Think about the evacuation of Shanghai in EMPIRE OF THE SUN... The crowds of stopped the bird chirpping vehicle - and I turn to my right and I'm face to face with the child molesting victim of a future homicide of one fella named Tom Cruise... I also noticed that this was that guy that was constantly being screwed over by Alan Rickman, but was able to... nah, can't tell ya that... in THE SEARCH FOR JOHN GISSING, a film that no bleeding studios are smart enough to pick up yet. Very fun movie. Well long story short, turns out that Quint had done an interview with this Mike Binder fella and that Mike was a huge AICN junkie. And he then spent about an hour going into the various minutae of TalkBacker ettiquette and comedic brilliance. I also found out that this Binder chap is another of that brood that grew up in and around a child-version of Sam Raimi. He told me stories of drawing SPIDER-MAN on Sam's bedroom walls as kids, reading Stan's Soapbox outloud and... basically folks... Mike Binder is a geek, one of us, google goggle, we accept him, one of us! Here's Quint with the interview...
Ahoy, squirts. 'Tis I, everybody's favorite crusty ol' seaman, Quint, here with an interview with this summer's best, sleazy child molester this side of Michael Jackson... Well, kind of. This here is an interview with Mike Binder, who played Leo Crow, the man Tom Cruise is supposed to murder in Spielberg's Minority Report. He's also the writer/director/star of HBO's popular show, Mind of A Married Man.
I first heard of Mike Binder at the last South By Southwest Film Festival. He directed a film starring himself, Janeane Garofalo and none other than Hans Gruber himself, Alan Rickman. It's a great indie comedy called The Search For John Gissing. The movie's about an American couple (Binder and Garofalo) who move to London after the husband gets transferred. The second they step off the plane, their journey is rocky. Accident after accident, misfortune after misfortune befall the likeable couple. Of course, this shit is funny to us because we're not the ones stuck in a foreign land, almost literally up shit creek without a paddle. During the "adventure" they're always trying to get in touch with John Gissing (Rickman), a co-worker who may have a hand in making Binder and Garaffalo's life a living hell.
Unfortunately, this great indie flick isn't a trendy indie dark comedy, dark for the sake of being dark, but follows in the tradition of those great comedies of the '70s, like (the original, not the shitty remake) The Out-of-Towners, so of course it's having trouble finding distribution. Here's hoping someday you folks will get to enjoy this flick... BUT you didn't come here to read my review of an obscure indie flick, you came here to read what Mr. Binder has to say.
Without any further adieu, here's the interview. I'll meet back up with you folks at the end of the interview.
QUINT: I HAVE TO START THIS THING BY TALKING ABOUT MINORITY REPORT. THAT'S QUITE A BIG DEAL. YOU PLAY A RATHER CRUCIAL ROLE IN THE FILM. HOW DID YOU LAND THAT GIG?
MIKE BINDER: Well, I was in THE CONTENDER, with Rod Lurie, who's a friend of mine, who wrote and directed. Did you ever see THE CONTENDER?
QUINT: YES, I DID.
MIKE BINDER: Spielberg watched THE CONTENDER and went nuts for it and bought it for Dreamworks to distribute. Rod and I were at a poker game and he's like, "Hey, I got this shooting deal with Dreamworks and I'm gonna do another movie for them and by the way Spielberg likes you, too. He mentioned you." I went, "Yeah, sure he did, Rod." Then he says, "Yeah, Spielberg's editing the movie with me and he actually singled you out on the AVID and said, 'I really like this actor.'" I go, "I'm sure he did, Rod. Thanks, but you don't have to say that."
Then the next week he goes, "Hey, Spielberg asked for your name. He said he's gonna call you and put you in a movie." And I said, "You know, Rod... You don't have to do that. We're friends. I'm happy for you. Don't give me that Hollywood bullshit." He said, "OK." The next day, my sister said, "Steven Spielberg is calling you." I said, "It's Rod Lurie." I get on and it's Spielberg and he says, "Can you come to the office and talk?" I go into his office the next day and we sit there for, like, an hour. He says, "I wanna offer you this role in Minority Report. It's not a big role, but it's the McGuffin. You're the Maltese Falcon of this movie. Tom Cruise has 36 hours to find you." He was great. He didn't make me read or anything. I said, "Look, I'd do one line for you." I ended up working for a few weeks and I had a great time, you know. I really had a great time.
QUINT: WELL, MY NAMESAKE ON THE SITE IS "QUINT," WHICH I TAKE FROM JAWS, MY FAVORITE MOVIE. SO, SINCE IT'S UNLIKELY THAT I'LL EVER TALK TO THE MAN HIMSELF, HOW WAS WORKING WITH SPIELBERG?
MIKE BINDER: He was fantastic. You know, I have to say... He really turned out to be such a real guy. Because the bulk of what I did was this one scene, the one hotel room... It was really just Spielberg, Cruise and I just hanging around for 5 or 6 days. Tom is a great guy and we hung out a lot, but a lot of times he was in his trailer. Steven was on the set and he was really talkative and we would just tell me great stories and anecdotes. Then one day he said, "I just love HBO shows." He was telling me that he thought CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM was his favorite show.
So, I told him I had a pilot I shot for a new series for HBO called MIND OF THE MARRIED MAN. So, he goes, "I wanna watch it. Can you get it over here by lunch? I wanna watch it at lunch." His assistant said, "Get it here, but he's editing at lunch. He's not gonna watch it." So, I had my editing room just break their neck to get it over to him. I'm sitting there with my brother, who's my partner and produces a lot of my stuff with me. We're sitting there in my trailer at lunch and Steven comes over and he goes, "I need to talk to you." I'm like, "Oh, man. I'm in trouble here." He said, "That's the best pilot I've seen since ER. I love your show."
He called the heads of HBO and he just went off. Right in front of my brother and I, he called the heads of HBO. Then, when the show would be on, like every couple of weeks, he'd call me and we would just talk about the show. He became the unofficial godfather of the show. He called HBO a bunch of times to say how good it is and how much he thought it should be picked up.
QUINT: IT MUST HAVE BEEN GREAT TO HAVE SUCH AN AWESOME CHEERLEADER.
MIKE BINDER: Yeah, it's amazing. He's just a really, really cool guy. He's so powerful and so successful that he's not in competition with anyone, so when he finds people who are talented, he just backs them so much.
QUINT: NOW YOU JUST NEED TO WORM YOUR WAY INTO THE NEXT INDIANA JONES MOVIE.
MIKE BINDER: Yeah, right! Actually, I don't really desire to have a career as a working actor. I mean, I've already worked with him and it was a great experience... If he asked me again, I'd do it again, but I don't really like being on other people's sets and hangin' out, you know?
QUINT: SO, YOUR PASSION IS IN DIRECTING, I TAKE IT?
MIKE BINDER: Yeah, directing and writing and doing my own stuff. I really like doing my show. I really love the show. I started as a stand-up comedian... I really liked doing GISSING. I loved it. It was a great experience. I'm really a control freak. (laughs) I really like to do my thing. I always rather have less money and more control, you know. But, it's really hard. I haven't been able to find a distributor for GISSING.
QUINT: YEAH, I WAS GONNA ASK YOU ABOUT THAT. I SAW THE SEARCH FOR JOHN GISSING AT SXSW. IT TOOK ME A LITTLE BY SURPRISE. HONESTLY, THE MAIN REASON I SAW THE FILM WAS BECAUSE I READ THAT HANS GRUBER WAS IN IT. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS EXPECTING, BUT I WENT IN JUST HOPING TO SEE ALAN RICKMAN KICK ASS. IT'S SUCH AN ENTERTAINING FLICK, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE HAVING TROUBLE GETTING IT PICKED UP.
MIKE BINDER: Um... I dunno, you know. I've gotten really good reviews... All these people say, you know...They distribute these independent movies and the whole thing is, "Well, will the press support this movie because we can't afford TV ads? We gotta find out if the press'll do the heavy lifting." Meaning, if we got a slew of good reviews to put in the newspaper ad, right... And we've gotten some really, really great reviews. What we did was whenever we show the film to a distributor we give them a sheet with all the clippings from really good sources, you know, really great papers and yourself and we won the critics award in Sarasota... It doesn't seem to be helping yet. (laughs) It doesn't deter me because that's what I want to do and the show, I think, is kinda melting that a little bit because we're following The Sopranos this year and it's out in re-runs now. It's a show that people either don't like it or love it, you know what I mean?
QUINT: YEAH, I'LL HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT. I WATCH REALLY LITTLE TV, BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE A REALLY FUN SHOW THERE.
MIKE BINDER: Are you married at all?
QUINT: NOPE.
MIKE BINDER: I like it. It's a married guy and he's got all this shit in his head about other women and stuff. His friend takes him to a massage parlor and he almost gets jerked off and he doesn't, but he keeps coming back. It's fun. The second season has been really good. The thing about HBO is I get the same budget for a half hour that I got for a whole movie. I write, act and direct in it and they let me do anything I wanna do. They're just so cool.
QUINT: HOW DID THE SEARCH FOR JOHN GISSING COME ABOUT?
MIKE BINDER: I love London, you know? I spend a lot of time there. I write there. I did this little movie called THE SEX MONSTER, made it for nothing. Got a couple investors to give me the money to make it. I sold it and made some money on it. I went to London and made a movie called LONDINIUM with ColIn Firth and myself and Mariel Hemingway. HBO bought it. HBO had bought THE SEX MONSTER as well.
So, then I just said, "I wanna do it again, but I wanna do it in London." I always wanted to do THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS in London, but not quite. I wanted to give it a different twist. Really, I just wanted to work with a bunch of really good British actors, especially I wanted to work with Alan Rickman. I agree... I think he was brilliant in DIE HARD. I mean, maybe the best movie villain ever.
I just wrote it and I went to him. I'm friends with Janeane Garofalo and I went to her. I said, "Look... I have no money, but I'm gonna do it." All the people around him are all Alan Rickman's friends. Juliet Stevenson, Allan Corduner, Owen Teale... All the small parts are all these British actors who're buddies with Alan Rickman. The girl who played Alan's girlfriend... remember?
QUINT: YEAH, THE "NUN."
MIKE BINDER: Alan and I read her in an interview. She plays my wife on the series. You know, it was a good thing. We gotta sell it now. No one's bought it yet, but I have a feeling someone will.
QUINT: YOU AIMING FOR THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION OR ARE YOU CONTENT WITH DIRECT TO VIDEO OR CABLE?
MIKE BINDER: No, I'm hoping theatrical. I'm hoping IFC or one of those guy's will do it.
QUINT: ONE OF THE SHITTY THINGS ABOUT GOING TO THESE FILM FESTIVALS LIKE SXSW AND CINEVEGAS IS YOU SEE ALL THESE GREAT MOVIES THAT HAVE TO FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL TO EVEN GET A CRAPPY DIRECT TO VIDEO RELEASE. YOU WONDER WHAT HAPPENED TO STUDIOS LIKE MIRAMAX THAT'RE SUPPOSED TO BE OUT THERE PUTTING THESE GREAT INDIES INTO THEATERS.
MIKE BINDER: I feel like Adult Comedy is dead. The only comedies are like Adam Sandler movies or a teen... modern Porky's or maybe the rare kind when Tom Cruise will do a Jerry Maguire. On the other side, the independent comedy world is all kinda dark and twisted black comedy. Nobody has really taken up that middle ground. When I was a kid I'd go see a Woody Allen or a Gene Wilder movie. You know what I mean? It's really hard to break through with that kind of comedy. But by the same token, I really feel that if something like that was out there, the audience would go see it.
QUINT: I GOT A FEW MORE QUESTIONS BEFORE YOU RUN OFF. WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN THE WORKS? WHAT'RE YOU DOING NOW BESIDES SEASON II?
MIKE BINDER: Yeah, I'm developing a couple scripts. I wrote a script called THURSDAY NIGHT that Robert Zemeckis is producing, which is a really kinda cool project. I'm developing a few scripts for myself to direct. That's really it. I'm just hoping to start on Season III soon. I'm busy. I wrote this script called THE UPSIDE OF ANGER that I want to do with Joan Allen, so I'm working on that. I wrote another one called MUSCLE, a comedy. I keep real busy, actually. I got a wife who's always pissed off... That's how I got the idea for the show! (laughs)
I'm having fun. It's a tough business and I'm just glad to be working. The truth is... You know... I almost hate to say it, but HBO is the best place in the business right now to be working. It really is. I don't really sit around going, "I need to get a movie made!" I just want to do a third season. This is better than making a movie! More people see it and it's fun! I'm working at Culver Studios, I'm working on the set where they shot GONE WITH THE WIND. I got a full-ass 100 person crew. I'm in hog heaven here.
QUINT: I'VE GOT ONE LAST QUESTION FOR YOU. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DIRTY JOKE?
MIKE BINDER: Oh, man! Let me think. I usually only have one joke in my head at a time because I don't remember jokes, but someone just told me this really funny joke. A guy comes home, goes into his bedroom and says to his wife, "Before we get started, go get me a beer." She goes and gets him a beer. He drinks it down and goes, "Before we get started, go get me another beer." She goes and gets him another beer. He drinks it down and says, "Alright, before we get started go get me a sandwich." She says (in a high, obnoxious mocking voice) "Before we get started make me a sandwich!" He goes, "It's started..." (laughs) That's the best one I have.
--------------------------------
There you have it, squirts. Not a bad interview, eh? I'll keep my ear to the ground regarding JOHN GISSING. Hopefully some studio somewhere will realize what a gem it is and let you folks out there see it. Anyway, I'm gonna shove off. Got to prepare for the SAN DIEGO COMIC CON, which is shaping up to be one to remember. We got HULK stuff, X-Men 2 footage, Daredevil stuff, Richard Taylor doing a 2 hour movie make-up and weaponry demonstration... A movie geek's paradise! I've got a few more interviews, reviews and other coolness for you guys before I head out to San Diego, so keep your eye on the horizon, squirts. I'll be back shortly. 'Til that day, this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
