Published:

07/09/2011 04:24pm

Raechel Leigh Carter Interviews Actor/Writer Barry James Hickey

QUESTION: When you went to the audition for RotSS, did you know that you'd be starring alongisde Klaus Kinski?

BARRY: No. The director said it was going to be Tony Curtis, but weeks later, after returning from the Phillipines, when we came to my "uncle" scenes Tony had checked himself into the Betty Ford clinic I believe and the search was on for his replacement.

QUESTION: Prior to working on the film, were you aware of Klaus Kinski's previous work and reputation?

BARRY: Very much so. One of my favorite films in college was Fitzgeraldo directed by Werner Herzog. I'd heard a story about Klaus I can't verify... That he performed in an enormous soccer stadium in Berlin, I believe. Just him on a stage with a small piano for a packed crowd. He came onstage, took his seat and waited and waited and waited until you could hear a pin drop. Then he played a few notes from Mary Had A Little Lamb or its German equivalent. He thinks he hears someone in the audience make a sound. Stops his performance and waits for dead silence again before continuing. I'm told his attempt to play the one short song took several hours. But such was his control and mastery of the crowd as a performance artist.

QUESTION: Is it true that he would not shake hands with you when you introduced yourself to him?

BARRY: No, he would not. He tried to avoid any kind of conversation with me since he would be playing my dead uncle and I was not supposed to discover his presence until the scene we'd shoot the following day.

QUESTION: I hear rumours that Klaus used to try and sell other actors his lines (presumably the ones he refused to say himself), did he try and sell you any of his lines?

BARRY: No, no lines. And the lines he kept I couldn't hear anyway.

QUESTION: Joycelyne Lew (a co-star)told us about how Klaus, ahem!, made a nuisance of himself when she was around - are there any other fun stories about Klaus on or off set?

BARRY: He was enamored by women. I did hear a hilarious episode from an actress who co-starred with him in Crawlspace and what he attempted to do to her under the covers. I'll leave the rest to your readers' imaginations.

QUESTION: I understand that because Klaus refused to do so many things (he didn't want to sit down anymore, he didn't want the boom near him, he didn't want to talk loud, he didn't want to say certain lines, etc) the storyline had to be changed somewhat - what was the original story supposed to be before they made Klaus into a ghost?

BARRY: Ulli Lommel always intended the uncle as a ghost. But he was also supposed to be a guy with a great sense of Irish humor. Comical almost. Ulli has a great sense of humor and he really wanted to lean towards slapstick comedy in the picture. Originally the film was supposed to be an upbeat adventure yarn. But Klaus' take on my uncle totally turned the mood of the picture, unbalanced it. With our budget and deadline to deliver we were sort of stuck.

QUESTION: I understand that aside from the problems with Klaus there were other problems on the film - the guy demanding money to use his property when he had previously said it was free of charge, all the different shooting locations, etc - did it feel chaotic working on the film?

BARRY: It was my first feature, my first starring role. Chaotic? Not really. Ulli is very low key. Our crew the same. We had a lot of fun on the sets in the United States. Ulli's wife at the time was Suzannah Love. She co-starred in the film with me. She had a young Katherine Hepburn air about her. They told me stories of their adventures in New Yourk with Andy Warhol and Jackie Onassis... Ulli isn't impressed by celebrity. He loves to be around genuine articles. Tom Jones who was an associate producer on Revenge also played the film's butler. He's Australian with a fantastic checkered past. Ulli loved being around him. Tom walked with a limp from being speared in New Guinea years earlier. Very colorful and a great friend. Ullli too, I might add. He is devlish, really. We did shoot a ton of locations. When Ulli signed