December 19, 2024 • 19 mins
Can you smell what the Costa is cooking?
In this episode of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, host Costa Dillon interviews Alex Stang, the lucky contest winner from Wilmington, Delaware, who scored the exclusive Killer Tomatoes signature perfume and candle! But Alex isn’t just a fan of the iconic franchise—he’s been a lifelong admirer, with a deep connection to the Killer Tomatoes cartoon his dad introduced him to as a child.
Join Costa and Alex as they dive into the tomato-tastic world of Killer Tomatoes fan culture, uncovering the movie’s impact on pop culture, rare collectibles, and even the quirky merchandise that has become a fan favorite. From a special review of the Killer Tomatoes perfume to a look into the franchise’s future, this episode is packed with insights for die-hard fans and newcomers alike.
Discover the insider perspective of a true fan who’s not just part of the Killer Tomatoes legacy, but also looking to break into the film industry himself!
Don’t miss out on this saucy conversation! Tune in now for a unique blend of nostalgia, fandom, and exclusive behind-the-scenes stories from one of the Killer Tomatoes’ biggest fans.
#KillerTomatoes #CultClassics #PopCulture #FanCulture #Podcast #FilmIndustry #KillerTomatoesPerfume #CultCinema
Don’t forget to follow and subscribe at OlasMedia.com
The key moments in this episode are:
00:00:01 - Introduction to Killer Tomatoes
00:01:38 - Favorite Killer Tomatoes Movies
00:03:51 - Killer Tomatoes Perfume Review
00:10:06 - John Astin and Killer Tomatoes Universe
00:14:35 - The Unique Use of Tomatoes
00:15:25 - The Special Perfume
00:15:58 - Factors Leading to Resurgence
00:17:29 - Following the Money
00:18:22 - Closing Remarks
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:01):
Oh Lost Media.
S2 (00:04):
Attacking the podcast world and based on the true legendary
cult classic. All US media presents.
S3 (00:14):
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Somebody mentioned biscuits. Attack of
the Killer Tomatoes. They'll beat you, bash you, squish you,
mash you up for brunch. How bad is it? Finish
you off. Also, I definitely don't think it'll fly again.
I'm not talking about that, you Weiner. What about the tomatoes?
S4 (00:31):
This is the attack of the Killer Tomatoes podcast this
week from Wilmington, Delaware. We catch up with Alex Stang.
Last spring, he won the Killer Tomatoes prize pack, including
the signature perfume and candle. Now, here's your host. Causing
a stink of his own. Costa Dillon.
S5 (00:47):
Hi, this is Costa Dillon with the Killer Tomatoes podcast,
and my guest today is Alex Stang, who is a
contest winner. Um, he won the contest a few months ago,
but we're finally able to have him on. So. Hi, Alex. Well,
where do you. Where do you live, Alex?
S6 (01:03):
I live in, uh, Wilmington, Delaware. Currently.
S5 (01:06):
Okay. And, um. Uh, what what brought you to the
Killer Tomatoes podcast?
S6 (01:14):
Um, I've just kind of been a lifelong Killer Tomatoes fan.
My dad put me onto it. I used to watch
the cartoon when I was a kid, so I think
because I watched the cartoon first, he said, hey, you know,
there's actually a movie for it. And and that movie
blew me away when I was like ten, nine, ten. Mhm.
(01:35):
And just, just been a fan ever since. And I
love all four movies and I love the cartoon. It's uh.
S5 (01:43):
It's great. You seen all four movies? Yeah. I, uh,
a lot of people I talk to, um, uh, we'll
talk about the cartoon show, and a lot of them
don't know there were any movies, the ones that saw
the cartoon show. And if they do, they're surprised when
I say there are four of them. Yeah. And especially,
I think the fourth one is the best one, if
you ask me. No insult to George Clooney, but yeah.
(02:06):
There you go. Killer tomatoes eat France.
S6 (02:08):
It's the only.
S5 (02:09):
Physical copy.
S6 (02:10):
I have. And it's the fourth one.
S5 (02:12):
It's not easy to find. Yeah, it's actually not easy
to find, but there was. You know, I've recounted on this,
I think I've recounted on this show before. The way
that came about was at the end of, uh, return
of the Killer Tomatoes. There's always at the end of
the James Bond movies, there's always James Bond will return in.
(02:34):
So I put in, you know, killer tomatoes were returning.
Killer tomatoes go to France, basically, because at the time,
I'd never been to France. And, uh, a few years later,
we had to write a script to go with my joke, so. Well,
I guess.
S6 (02:49):
It worked out. That's how it came about.
S5 (02:52):
Well, it was fun. I mean, we actually. Yeah, as
we say in the credits, the entire movie was filmed
in France, except the parts that were filmed elsewhere. So, uh, it, uh,
It was fun parts that.
S6 (03:02):
You play in the fourth one because I love the
fourth one a lot. I love the second one. I
love all of them, but the fourth one and the
second one are probably my favorite ones.
S5 (03:10):
Yeah, we're like Star Trek. The even numbered ones are
the good ones.
S6 (03:14):
Well, the first one put me on to all of them,
so you can't. That's okay.
S5 (03:17):
Man.
S6 (03:19):
But I love the parts when you pop in, when
you're the street vendor and stuff like that. I love that.
S5 (03:25):
Yeah, that was fun. I can't even remember what parts
I did. I remember I had a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball
cap on, but, uh. Um. Yeah. Well, so have you.
Have you actually, um, tried the perfume?
S6 (03:39):
I opened it up, and I've squirted it one time.
S5 (03:43):
He smelled it.
S6 (03:44):
Yeah.
S5 (03:45):
Tell me, tell me what you tell me what your
reaction is to it. And keep in mind, I don't
make the perfume.
S6 (03:51):
Well, it's interesting, but there you go. It's. It's different also.
I guess that's my review.
S5 (04:00):
Yeah. It's It. Um. It smells. The best way I
could describe it was it smells like you would expect
a killer tomato to smell like. I guess it does
actually smell like some sort of vegetable garden. That smell.
That's how I.
S6 (04:18):
Said it smells like the ground outside.
S5 (04:20):
And. Yes. Right. Exactly. And I had the guy from
the perfume company on a few podcasts ago and asked
them how they did that, and he said he doesn't
know he's not the scientist, he just runs the company.
It is unique because I do wonder, how do you
do that? Have you shared it with other people, or
(04:41):
is it like embarrassing to let other people know that
you're a Killer Tomatoes fan?
S6 (04:45):
Oh no, I, I everybody knows I love well, anybody
in my general vicinity knows how much I love him
since I was a kid. I go around and I
make everybody smell the perfume and, uh, or whatever it
is who's ever around. Yeah. They know just a passion
of mine. I love film, so I went to school
(05:06):
for a little bit for it, but I never finished. Nice.
S5 (05:10):
Well that's nice. Yeah. I mean, I didn't go to
film school at all, so. Yeah. You've got more film
school experience than me. Uh, what? So what? What you
say you like the second and fourth films, which, as
do I. And you already mentioned you like the parts
where I pop up in the fourth film. Is there
(05:32):
other parts of the either of the films? Any of
the four films that most strike you, that you, you?
S6 (05:39):
Well, my favorite, the.
S5 (05:40):
Most enjoyment out of.
S6 (05:41):
My favorite character in the series in general. I love Finletter.
He's my favorite. He's just cool. But I think in
the second one and George Clooney is pretty great in it.
S5 (05:52):
I think. Well, he is, you know, um, he gets
a lot of guff for that. And and sometimes he's
not too complimentary, which kind of bothers me because I
think most of the people, when they criticize the film,
it's pretty obvious to me they've never seen it. They
just heard heard the title, and they assume it must
(06:15):
be something, you know, schlocky and that George had to
do it because it was early in his career. And
how could you do such a thing? And it's obvious
to me they haven't seen the film because of the
way they talk about it. Uh, and, and, uh, you know,
George George was a professional. We I didn't really know
him when we hired him because I hadn't seen them,
(06:38):
the TV shows he was on. So I didn't know
who he was. We hired him from his audition. Um, and, uh,
we didn't even know he was, you know, Rosemary Clooney's
nephew until he was on the set. And I was
talking to him one day, and, um, he said he
didn't really get into business because of Rosemary Clooney. He
didn't really know his aunt that well. He just both
(07:00):
ended up in show business. Yeah, I don't know. I
don't think George ever done any singing, but yeah, he was.
You know, I think that's what makes the movie work.
And the same thing with Tony Stark. Um, the guy
who played Chad is they. They played it for real.
You know, that's what makes the story work, is you
(07:20):
have to suspend disbelief that tomatoes are actually dangerous. And
once you do that, the humor follows after it. Uh,
if the if you I think if they had done
the film as in the terms of, you know, I
can't believe I'm doing this sort of thing, they wouldn't
have been as good. And uh, uh, George was uh,
(07:41):
and Tony were both, you know, that's what their role was.
And they were going to play it to their best
of their ability. And I think they both did.
S6 (07:48):
I think that's a that's exactly how I think. It's
just right there on the line where it, it just
it just works perfectly. I guess that's why I enjoy
it so much. But.
S5 (07:58):
Well, great. I'm glad to hear that because, you know,
I talked to a film class at San Diego State
University a few weeks ago, and they all had to
make a short film. They're like 30 kids in class,
and they, um, the the professor said, well, they already
all had to do a two minute film. I said, oh, okay.
(08:19):
How many of you did a comedy? No one raised
their hand. Not one. And is it because comedy is
hard and comedy is scary, and because you're afraid that
people won't get it or they'll think it's stupid or
whatever it is? And so a lot of, especially aspiring
filmmakers won't touch comedy. And that was true of this class.
They they wouldn't even they didn't even attempt it. And, uh,
(08:41):
if if you're going to make comedy work, you have
to the actors have to believe in what they're doing. Uh,
you know, the the whole, the whole idea is that you,
as the audience are watching it, and you have to
believe what they're believing in order for it to work.
And and I think they they did. So I'm glad
to hear that. Well, of.
S6 (09:04):
Course, you know, Professor Green is awesome. I love green. Yeah,
who could not?
S5 (09:10):
Yeah. John Aston, I talked to him every few weeks.
He's 94, 95 now, I can't remember. Um, he's still sharp. Um, and, uh,
we had him on the podcast earlier, and he lives in, uh, Baltimore.
So I don't see him because I live in San Diego. Yeah,
I live in San Diego. He's in Baltimore, so I
haven't seen him for years, but I do. We do
(09:30):
talk on the phone, and, um. And he's always. He's
always interesting. I mean, I can't believe you know how
interesting he is, uh, and and how much he knows
and how sharp he still is and how funny he is. He's.
And if you if you go on IMDb and look
at his body of work, it's more than you think.
You know, it's just like, oh, yeah, he was in
West Side Story, for heaven's sakes. And that's how long
(09:53):
he's been around. Uh, there aren't too many people left
that were in that movie, and so it's great. He
was great to work with.
S6 (10:01):
Oh, yeah. He just he he seems great.
S5 (10:04):
Yes, he's a lot of fun. When I first met him, um, uh,
he came onto the set. He had a briefcase with him.
I don't know if I told the story. And, uh,
he sits down and I introduce myself. He introduces himself,
and he opens up the briefcase and says, which hair
should I wear? Because he was already bald. And he
(10:25):
pulled out. He pulled out a few kinds of hair,
and we ended up, you know, with the with the
raggedy professor looking here. And then I said, uh, he
I said, I asked him, you know, what kind of
I needed to know his sizes for a suit and stuff.
And he said his size six shoes and and John's like,
six feet tall. And I said, oh, wow. Six. You
have six size six shoes and six feet tall. It
(10:46):
seems like you'd fall over. So I asked him how
he handled the scenes with Carolyn Jones and The Addams
Family because she's so short. And he said he often
had to just scrunch down or she would be on
a box because their height difference was was so great,
it was hard for the camera to get them both
in the shot at the same time, so I didn't
(11:07):
know that. Um, so if there's going to be more
killer tomatoes, let's say, let's say the Killer Tomato universe
lives on, what would you want to see?
S6 (11:17):
I got to go with I'm going to go with
the easy. They got to go to Space Killer.
S5 (11:24):
I wrote killer tomatoes in space, like, 20 years ago. Oh, yeah. Um, yeah,
it's the scripts just sitting there. It's probably no good anymore.
You know, Jason went to space.
S6 (11:32):
The leprechaun went to space. The the teams got to
go to space.
S5 (11:36):
Yeah, I did write killer tomatoes in space. I wrote
it before Spaceballs, actually. Um, yeah, but it's not, uh,
we never made it. Mostly because filming in space is
really expensive. Well, yeah. You hitch a ride with Elon
Musk rocket or something and do it. Do it that way.
That's that's. What do you think you would rather see
(11:58):
another live action movie or, uh, new cartoon show?
S6 (12:03):
So I personally, now that I'm older, I really enjoy
the movies a lot more. I love the cartoon that's
near and dear to my heart, but I think it'd
be great to have a live action one again, but
I they gotta be puppets though. I don't know CGI
to me.
S5 (12:21):
Oh, you mean the tomatoes themselves? Did you like the
the you know, the tomatoes with the faces in that
we used in the. I did three and four.
S6 (12:29):
I, I like both of them. Um, they're kind of
fun because like I said, I grew up, I watched
the cartoon more. So actually, I was kind of shocked
in the, the first two movies they didn't have. Well,
I guess the feet kind of I mean, he didn't
have a face, kind of. But he was from the feet.
S5 (12:47):
He was just. Yeah, feet was just an E.T. rip off. Yeah. The, um. Well, the. Yeah,
because the original concept was, um. How could you be
afraid of a tomato? It's stupid. Um, and it was
Fox after the cartoon show that, you know, made them
into characters because otherwise it wouldn't work for a cartoon show.
(13:08):
So that's because Fox, um, was the studio that that, uh,
produced three and four. They wanted the characters in the film, and,
and I had mixed feelings about it because now the
tomatoes were actually dangerous, you know, um, they weren't just,
you know, tomato off the shelf. They could attack you
in the grocery store. So that's interesting that you would
(13:31):
say that because we have had that. I've talked to
people at Comic Con and other places and asked them
the same. They come from the same range as you.
They they initially were introduced to the cartoon show and
what they would like. And a lot of them say they, they,
they like the characters. Um, the character tomatoes and, and they,
(13:53):
they would look favorably on seeing more of the character tomatoes,
not just plain ordinary tomatoes, which.
S6 (14:00):
Is even a mix, which is cool.
S5 (14:03):
Yeah, there's a way to do that. Um, and, uh,
and I think if we do something else, um, we'll
probably will find a way that both of those things
can work. Uh, because I have an idea. Um, well,
I suggested, uh, to a toy manufacturer that we should
(14:23):
make masks. And the tomatoes just wear masks. You can
have the lone tomato and the bat tomato and so forth,
and and you could just put put the mask on
the tomato. You can't. Tomatoes don't work like Mr. Potato Head,
because once you punch a hole in the tomato, you've
had it.
S6 (14:40):
Yeah.
S5 (14:41):
Right. Yeah. But you could put a mask on them.
And if you get if you get bored, you can
just use the mask and put it on your zucchini
and your refrigerator and just have a final time. So
we'll see. He's already made the he made one. Uh, Jason, uh,
kind of a Jason, uh, ski mask.
S6 (14:59):
Yeah. And, uh.
S5 (15:00):
Tomato. Yeah. He did that for for, uh, Comic Con. Comic-Con.
He sold them out, so they, uh. I think there
might be a market there. Um, so, um. So you
don't have anybody that you plan to, you know, gift
the perfume to?
S6 (15:17):
No, I'm selfish with that one.
S5 (15:19):
Yeah, I can understand. And also, there's, uh. I'll say
this politely as I can. You really have to be
a special person to carry off that aroma. So that scent. Uh, that.
That's all I'll say about that. Uh, well, anything else
you want to add to our podcast today? It's been
(15:40):
great to have you.
S6 (15:41):
Yeah. Uh. Nothing really. I mean, do you remember anything? Um.
You know, I know the big thing with, uh, like,
the Muppet Babies because I'm a big Muppets fan, too. Yeah.
And the Muppet Babies kind of. Wasn't that the resurgence?
It was of the tomatoes.
S5 (15:58):
It was the Muppet. It was a combination of three things. Um.
Muppet babies. Um, and that's what got Fox Television a
children's network in interested um, because of the, uh, appearing
on Muppet Babies, uh, the Medved Brothers worst World's worst
film festival that they toured the country with. And we
(16:20):
were one of the films in it. And, and I've
mentioned this on the podcast previously because we made a
deal with them that we they could only put our
film in it if we won and which we did. And, uh,
the third thing was, uh, videotape. Um, when videotape had
just come out and, uh, they were they were rental
(16:40):
because they cost they were expensive. Um, most of the
studios in those days didn't want their films on videotape
because they thought it would cut into their market. But
we when we were approached and we said, sure. So you. Yeah,
when you went to, went into a video store back
in the 1980s and there were maybe 100 titles in there,
and Killer Tomatoes was one of them. And so suddenly
(17:02):
people discovered the film that had never seen it in
the theater. And so those, those three things kind of
came together to, uh, cause the killer tomatoes to make
a resurgence. And which led to the cartoon show and
the second film, which at the time we had said,
I don't want to do any more Killer Tomato films, but,
you know, and you follow the money in this business,
(17:24):
and that's where it was.
S6 (17:26):
You gotta follow it. Yeah.
S5 (17:29):
Well, it's been a pleasure to have you on, Alex. Um,
and congratulations on winning the contest. And I hope, um,
stay tuned to Killer Tomatoes. Com. Because we may have
some news there about, uh, a resurgence of the killer
tomatoes before too long.
S6 (17:46):
So keep an eye.
S5 (17:47):
On killer tomatoes. Com. Because if something happens, that's where
we're going to announce it.
S6 (17:52):
That's awesome. The pleasure is all mine. Really? It's it's
a big thing. Your childhood to me.
S5 (18:00):
Well, well, thanks. If if you if you want anything, uh,
you know, autographed. You can send it to me. And
I'd be happy to see if any of us here
can autograph it for you. Just let me.
S6 (18:11):
Know. Oh, cool. Thanks so much.
S5 (18:14):
You bet. My pleasure.
S6 (18:15):
All right. Have a good one.
S5 (18:16):
This has been the Killer Tomatoes podcast for this week.
I hope you join us next time. This is Costa
Dillon saying, uh, eat your vegetables before they eat you.
S2 (18:29):
Thanks for listening to attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Be
sure to follow and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.
To read the blog associated with this episode, visit media.com.
This episode was produced in studios located in San Diego,
California and Tijuana, Baja California. Creative director Ulises Breton. Sound
engineer Alan Glasper. Lina Alvarez is co-producer, serving as executive
(18:52):
producer and co-founder is Jake Pope, and Chad Pease is
president and co-founder. Olas media is an IVC media company.
S1 (19:03):
Lost media.
Oh Lost Media.
S2 (00:04):
Attacking the podcast world and based on the true legendary
cult classic. All US media presents.
S3 (00:14):
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Somebody mentioned biscuits. Attack of
the Killer Tomatoes. They'll beat you, bash you, squish you,
mash you up for brunch. How bad is it? Finish
you off. Also, I definitely don't think it'll fly again.
I'm not talking about that, you Weiner. What about the tomatoes?
S4 (00:31):
This is the attack of the Killer Tomatoes podcast this
week from Wilmington, Delaware. We catch up with Alex Stang.
Last spring, he won the Killer Tomatoes prize pack, including
the signature perfume and candle. Now, here's your host. Causing
a stink of his own. Costa Dillon.
S5 (00:47):
Hi, this is Costa Dillon with the Killer Tomatoes podcast,
and my guest today is Alex Stang, who is a
contest winner. Um, he won the contest a few months ago,
but we're finally able to have him on. So. Hi, Alex. Well,
where do you. Where do you live, Alex?
S6 (01:03):
I live in, uh, Wilmington, Delaware. Currently.
S5 (01:06):
Okay. And, um. Uh, what what brought you to the
Killer Tomatoes podcast?
S6 (01:14):
Um, I've just kind of been a lifelong Killer Tomatoes fan.
My dad put me onto it. I used to watch
the cartoon when I was a kid, so I think
because I watched the cartoon first, he said, hey, you know,
there's actually a movie for it. And and that movie
blew me away when I was like ten, nine, ten. Mhm.
(01:35):
And just, just been a fan ever since. And I
love all four movies and I love the cartoon. It's uh.
S5 (01:43):
It's great. You seen all four movies? Yeah. I, uh,
a lot of people I talk to, um, uh, we'll
talk about the cartoon show, and a lot of them
don't know there were any movies, the ones that saw
the cartoon show. And if they do, they're surprised when
I say there are four of them. Yeah. And especially,
I think the fourth one is the best one, if
you ask me. No insult to George Clooney, but yeah.
(02:06):
There you go. Killer tomatoes eat France.
S6 (02:08):
It's the only.
S5 (02:09):
Physical copy.
S6 (02:10):
I have. And it's the fourth one.
S5 (02:12):
It's not easy to find. Yeah, it's actually not easy
to find, but there was. You know, I've recounted on this,
I think I've recounted on this show before. The way
that came about was at the end of, uh, return
of the Killer Tomatoes. There's always at the end of
the James Bond movies, there's always James Bond will return in.
(02:34):
So I put in, you know, killer tomatoes were returning.
Killer tomatoes go to France, basically, because at the time,
I'd never been to France. And, uh, a few years later,
we had to write a script to go with my joke, so. Well,
I guess.
S6 (02:49):
It worked out. That's how it came about.
S5 (02:52):
Well, it was fun. I mean, we actually. Yeah, as
we say in the credits, the entire movie was filmed
in France, except the parts that were filmed elsewhere. So, uh, it, uh,
It was fun parts that.
S6 (03:02):
You play in the fourth one because I love the
fourth one a lot. I love the second one. I
love all of them, but the fourth one and the
second one are probably my favorite ones.
S5 (03:10):
Yeah, we're like Star Trek. The even numbered ones are
the good ones.
S6 (03:14):
Well, the first one put me on to all of them,
so you can't. That's okay.
S5 (03:17):
Man.
S6 (03:19):
But I love the parts when you pop in, when
you're the street vendor and stuff like that. I love that.
S5 (03:25):
Yeah, that was fun. I can't even remember what parts
I did. I remember I had a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball
cap on, but, uh. Um. Yeah. Well, so have you.
Have you actually, um, tried the perfume?
S6 (03:39):
I opened it up, and I've squirted it one time.
S5 (03:43):
He smelled it.
S6 (03:44):
Yeah.
S5 (03:45):
Tell me, tell me what you tell me what your
reaction is to it. And keep in mind, I don't
make the perfume.
S6 (03:51):
Well, it's interesting, but there you go. It's. It's different also.
I guess that's my review.
S5 (04:00):
Yeah. It's It. Um. It smells. The best way I
could describe it was it smells like you would expect
a killer tomato to smell like. I guess it does
actually smell like some sort of vegetable garden. That smell.
That's how I.
S6 (04:18):
Said it smells like the ground outside.
S5 (04:20):
And. Yes. Right. Exactly. And I had the guy from
the perfume company on a few podcasts ago and asked
them how they did that, and he said he doesn't
know he's not the scientist, he just runs the company.
It is unique because I do wonder, how do you
do that? Have you shared it with other people, or
(04:41):
is it like embarrassing to let other people know that
you're a Killer Tomatoes fan?
S6 (04:45):
Oh no, I, I everybody knows I love well, anybody
in my general vicinity knows how much I love him
since I was a kid. I go around and I
make everybody smell the perfume and, uh, or whatever it
is who's ever around. Yeah. They know just a passion
of mine. I love film, so I went to school
(05:06):
for a little bit for it, but I never finished. Nice.
S5 (05:10):
Well that's nice. Yeah. I mean, I didn't go to
film school at all, so. Yeah. You've got more film
school experience than me. Uh, what? So what? What you
say you like the second and fourth films, which, as
do I. And you already mentioned you like the parts
where I pop up in the fourth film. Is there
(05:32):
other parts of the either of the films? Any of
the four films that most strike you, that you, you?
S6 (05:39):
Well, my favorite, the.
S5 (05:40):
Most enjoyment out of.
S6 (05:41):
My favorite character in the series in general. I love Finletter.
He's my favorite. He's just cool. But I think in
the second one and George Clooney is pretty great in it.
S5 (05:52):
I think. Well, he is, you know, um, he gets
a lot of guff for that. And and sometimes he's
not too complimentary, which kind of bothers me because I
think most of the people, when they criticize the film,
it's pretty obvious to me they've never seen it. They
just heard heard the title, and they assume it must
(06:15):
be something, you know, schlocky and that George had to
do it because it was early in his career. And
how could you do such a thing? And it's obvious
to me they haven't seen the film because of the
way they talk about it. Uh, and, and, uh, you know,
George George was a professional. We I didn't really know
him when we hired him because I hadn't seen them,
(06:38):
the TV shows he was on. So I didn't know
who he was. We hired him from his audition. Um, and, uh,
we didn't even know he was, you know, Rosemary Clooney's
nephew until he was on the set. And I was
talking to him one day, and, um, he said he
didn't really get into business because of Rosemary Clooney. He
didn't really know his aunt that well. He just both
(07:00):
ended up in show business. Yeah, I don't know. I
don't think George ever done any singing, but yeah, he was.
You know, I think that's what makes the movie work.
And the same thing with Tony Stark. Um, the guy
who played Chad is they. They played it for real.
You know, that's what makes the story work, is you
(07:20):
have to suspend disbelief that tomatoes are actually dangerous. And
once you do that, the humor follows after it. Uh,
if the if you I think if they had done
the film as in the terms of, you know, I
can't believe I'm doing this sort of thing, they wouldn't
have been as good. And uh, uh, George was uh,
(07:41):
and Tony were both, you know, that's what their role was.
And they were going to play it to their best
of their ability. And I think they both did.
S6 (07:48):
I think that's a that's exactly how I think. It's
just right there on the line where it, it just
it just works perfectly. I guess that's why I enjoy
it so much. But.
S5 (07:58):
Well, great. I'm glad to hear that because, you know,
I talked to a film class at San Diego State
University a few weeks ago, and they all had to
make a short film. They're like 30 kids in class,
and they, um, the the professor said, well, they already
all had to do a two minute film. I said, oh, okay.
(08:19):
How many of you did a comedy? No one raised
their hand. Not one. And is it because comedy is
hard and comedy is scary, and because you're afraid that
people won't get it or they'll think it's stupid or
whatever it is? And so a lot of, especially aspiring
filmmakers won't touch comedy. And that was true of this class.
They they wouldn't even they didn't even attempt it. And, uh,
(08:41):
if if you're going to make comedy work, you have
to the actors have to believe in what they're doing. Uh,
you know, the the whole, the whole idea is that you,
as the audience are watching it, and you have to
believe what they're believing in order for it to work.
And and I think they they did. So I'm glad
to hear that. Well, of.
S6 (09:04):
Course, you know, Professor Green is awesome. I love green. Yeah,
who could not?
S5 (09:10):
Yeah. John Aston, I talked to him every few weeks.
He's 94, 95 now, I can't remember. Um, he's still sharp. Um, and, uh,
we had him on the podcast earlier, and he lives in, uh, Baltimore.
So I don't see him because I live in San Diego. Yeah,
I live in San Diego. He's in Baltimore, so I
haven't seen him for years, but I do. We do
(09:30):
talk on the phone, and, um. And he's always. He's
always interesting. I mean, I can't believe you know how
interesting he is, uh, and and how much he knows
and how sharp he still is and how funny he is. He's.
And if you if you go on IMDb and look
at his body of work, it's more than you think.
You know, it's just like, oh, yeah, he was in
West Side Story, for heaven's sakes. And that's how long
(09:53):
he's been around. Uh, there aren't too many people left
that were in that movie, and so it's great. He
was great to work with.
S6 (10:01):
Oh, yeah. He just he he seems great.
S5 (10:04):
Yes, he's a lot of fun. When I first met him, um, uh,
he came onto the set. He had a briefcase with him.
I don't know if I told the story. And, uh,
he sits down and I introduce myself. He introduces himself,
and he opens up the briefcase and says, which hair
should I wear? Because he was already bald. And he
(10:25):
pulled out. He pulled out a few kinds of hair,
and we ended up, you know, with the with the
raggedy professor looking here. And then I said, uh, he
I said, I asked him, you know, what kind of
I needed to know his sizes for a suit and stuff.
And he said his size six shoes and and John's like,
six feet tall. And I said, oh, wow. Six. You
have six size six shoes and six feet tall. It
(10:46):
seems like you'd fall over. So I asked him how
he handled the scenes with Carolyn Jones and The Addams
Family because she's so short. And he said he often
had to just scrunch down or she would be on
a box because their height difference was was so great,
it was hard for the camera to get them both
in the shot at the same time, so I didn't
(11:07):
know that. Um, so if there's going to be more
killer tomatoes, let's say, let's say the Killer Tomato universe
lives on, what would you want to see?
S6 (11:17):
I got to go with I'm going to go with
the easy. They got to go to Space Killer.
S5 (11:24):
I wrote killer tomatoes in space, like, 20 years ago. Oh, yeah. Um, yeah,
it's the scripts just sitting there. It's probably no good anymore.
You know, Jason went to space.
S6 (11:32):
The leprechaun went to space. The the teams got to
go to space.
S5 (11:36):
Yeah, I did write killer tomatoes in space. I wrote
it before Spaceballs, actually. Um, yeah, but it's not, uh,
we never made it. Mostly because filming in space is
really expensive. Well, yeah. You hitch a ride with Elon
Musk rocket or something and do it. Do it that way.
That's that's. What do you think you would rather see
(11:58):
another live action movie or, uh, new cartoon show?
S6 (12:03):
So I personally, now that I'm older, I really enjoy
the movies a lot more. I love the cartoon that's
near and dear to my heart, but I think it'd
be great to have a live action one again, but
I they gotta be puppets though. I don't know CGI
to me.
S5 (12:21):
Oh, you mean the tomatoes themselves? Did you like the
the you know, the tomatoes with the faces in that
we used in the. I did three and four.
S6 (12:29):
I, I like both of them. Um, they're kind of
fun because like I said, I grew up, I watched
the cartoon more. So actually, I was kind of shocked
in the, the first two movies they didn't have. Well,
I guess the feet kind of I mean, he didn't
have a face, kind of. But he was from the feet.
S5 (12:47):
He was just. Yeah, feet was just an E.T. rip off. Yeah. The, um. Well, the. Yeah,
because the original concept was, um. How could you be
afraid of a tomato? It's stupid. Um, and it was
Fox after the cartoon show that, you know, made them
into characters because otherwise it wouldn't work for a cartoon show.
(13:08):
So that's because Fox, um, was the studio that that, uh,
produced three and four. They wanted the characters in the film, and,
and I had mixed feelings about it because now the
tomatoes were actually dangerous, you know, um, they weren't just,
you know, tomato off the shelf. They could attack you
in the grocery store. So that's interesting that you would
(13:31):
say that because we have had that. I've talked to
people at Comic Con and other places and asked them
the same. They come from the same range as you.
They they initially were introduced to the cartoon show and
what they would like. And a lot of them say they, they,
they like the characters. Um, the character tomatoes and, and they,
(13:53):
they would look favorably on seeing more of the character tomatoes,
not just plain ordinary tomatoes, which.
S6 (14:00):
Is even a mix, which is cool.
S5 (14:03):
Yeah, there's a way to do that. Um, and, uh,
and I think if we do something else, um, we'll
probably will find a way that both of those things
can work. Uh, because I have an idea. Um, well,
I suggested, uh, to a toy manufacturer that we should
(14:23):
make masks. And the tomatoes just wear masks. You can
have the lone tomato and the bat tomato and so forth,
and and you could just put put the mask on
the tomato. You can't. Tomatoes don't work like Mr. Potato Head,
because once you punch a hole in the tomato, you've
had it.
S6 (14:40):
Yeah.
S5 (14:41):
Right. Yeah. But you could put a mask on them.
And if you get if you get bored, you can
just use the mask and put it on your zucchini
and your refrigerator and just have a final time. So
we'll see. He's already made the he made one. Uh, Jason, uh,
kind of a Jason, uh, ski mask.
S6 (14:59):
Yeah. And, uh.
S5 (15:00):
Tomato. Yeah. He did that for for, uh, Comic Con. Comic-Con.
He sold them out, so they, uh. I think there
might be a market there. Um, so, um. So you
don't have anybody that you plan to, you know, gift
the perfume to?
S6 (15:17):
No, I'm selfish with that one.
S5 (15:19):
Yeah, I can understand. And also, there's, uh. I'll say
this politely as I can. You really have to be
a special person to carry off that aroma. So that scent. Uh, that.
That's all I'll say about that. Uh, well, anything else
you want to add to our podcast today? It's been
(15:40):
great to have you.
S6 (15:41):
Yeah. Uh. Nothing really. I mean, do you remember anything? Um.
You know, I know the big thing with, uh, like,
the Muppet Babies because I'm a big Muppets fan, too. Yeah.
And the Muppet Babies kind of. Wasn't that the resurgence?
It was of the tomatoes.
S5 (15:58):
It was the Muppet. It was a combination of three things. Um.
Muppet babies. Um, and that's what got Fox Television a
children's network in interested um, because of the, uh, appearing
on Muppet Babies, uh, the Medved Brothers worst World's worst
film festival that they toured the country with. And we
(16:20):
were one of the films in it. And, and I've
mentioned this on the podcast previously because we made a
deal with them that we they could only put our
film in it if we won and which we did. And, uh,
the third thing was, uh, videotape. Um, when videotape had
just come out and, uh, they were they were rental
(16:40):
because they cost they were expensive. Um, most of the
studios in those days didn't want their films on videotape
because they thought it would cut into their market. But
we when we were approached and we said, sure. So you. Yeah,
when you went to, went into a video store back
in the 1980s and there were maybe 100 titles in there,
and Killer Tomatoes was one of them. And so suddenly
(17:02):
people discovered the film that had never seen it in
the theater. And so those, those three things kind of
came together to, uh, cause the killer tomatoes to make
a resurgence. And which led to the cartoon show and
the second film, which at the time we had said,
I don't want to do any more Killer Tomato films, but,
you know, and you follow the money in this business,
(17:24):
and that's where it was.
S6 (17:26):
You gotta follow it. Yeah.
S5 (17:29):
Well, it's been a pleasure to have you on, Alex. Um,
and congratulations on winning the contest. And I hope, um,
stay tuned to Killer Tomatoes. Com. Because we may have
some news there about, uh, a resurgence of the killer
tomatoes before too long.
S6 (17:46):
So keep an eye.
S5 (17:47):
On killer tomatoes. Com. Because if something happens, that's where
we're going to announce it.
S6 (17:52):
That's awesome. The pleasure is all mine. Really? It's it's
a big thing. Your childhood to me.
S5 (18:00):
Well, well, thanks. If if you if you want anything, uh,
you know, autographed. You can send it to me. And
I'd be happy to see if any of us here
can autograph it for you. Just let me.
S6 (18:11):
Know. Oh, cool. Thanks so much.
S5 (18:14):
You bet. My pleasure.
S6 (18:15):
All right. Have a good one.
S5 (18:16):
This has been the Killer Tomatoes podcast for this week.
I hope you join us next time. This is Costa
Dillon saying, uh, eat your vegetables before they eat you.
S2 (18:29):
Thanks for listening to attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Be
sure to follow and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.
To read the blog associated with this episode, visit media.com.
This episode was produced in studios located in San Diego,
California and Tijuana, Baja California. Creative director Ulises Breton. Sound
engineer Alan Glasper. Lina Alvarez is co-producer, serving as executive
(18:52):
producer and co-founder is Jake Pope, and Chad Pease is
president and co-founder. Olas media is an IVC media company.
S1 (19:03):
Lost media.
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