Bronson Pinchot: Bette Midler Is A B**ch, Denzel Is Cruel, Tom Cruise Homophobic
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Bronson Pinchot has been best known for his role as Balki on the sitcom "Perfect Strangers" and his role in the "Beverly Hills Cop" movies, until now.
Pinchot gives a lengthy interview to the AVClub (via DListed) in which he recounts his career and gives brutally honest memories of his costars. Some are kind, some are harsh, and the whole thing is worth reading. Some samples are below.
On working with Tom Cruise in "Risky Business":
We thought Tom [Cruise] was the biggest bore on the face of the Earth... He was tense and made constant, constant unrelated homophobic comments, like, "You want some ice cream, in case there are no gay people there?" I mean, his lingo was larded with the most... There was no basis for it. It was like, "It's a nice day, I'm glad there are no gay people standing here." Very, very strange.
Years and years later when people started to torment him with that, I used to think "God, that's really fitting, because he tormented a lot of people as a 20-year-old."
On working with Denzel Washington in "Courage Under Fire":
Denzel Washington was behind the incredibly cowardly bullshit of "This is my character, not me." He was really abusive to me and everybody on that movie, and his official explanation was that his character didn't like me, but it was a dreadful experience. I spent my salary on time with my shrink just for helping me get through it... The script supervisor on that movie said it's like watching somebody kick a puppy. He was so vile.
On Bette Midler's treatment of director Hugh Wilson during "The First Wives Club":
Bette Midler was such a bitch to him. While he was directing, she would be rolling her eyes, pantomiming with her favorite actors, and she made it very difficult. And he was at his wit's end. He was actually a very nice man, but she was very unkind to him on that movie.
But it's not all bad. Bronson adores Tom Hanks:
He is a wonderful and genuine and lovely and down-to-earth person. I don't know how he does that. I first met him when he was doing his spate of not-successful movies. There was a period in the '80s when he did The Man With One Red Shoe and Joe Versus The Volcano and all those movies that weren't doing well, and that's when I first met him, and I would run into him on and off over the years. Then two years ago, I did a play with his wife, and there he was at his absolute height. He's always been a delightful person, so it's not really true that big stars need to be driven and repulsive, because he's anything but.
Read the whole thing here, for Eddie Murphy, Mischa Barton and "Perfect Strangers" memories.
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First Posted: 3/18/10 Updated: 5/25/11