Apex Mountain on The Rewatchables
12:34 – 15:22… the musical numbers drive different story points. And to me, that makes it a musical. Well, we got to talk about Michael Perret. Okay. This was literally the apex mountain for him. And he had a couple other at-bats, but Eddie became his signature guy. He's lip syncing everything. Yes. And it's one of the best... I'm trying to think of a better lip syncing where it really seems like he's singing. The voice of the band sounds like his voice. He's got the charisma of a leading guy. The way he moves around the stage. Really convincing. The only other one I can really think of is Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in …
The whole segment, as transcribed
So if the music in the movie drives story, a lot of people think that it's a musical if the dialogue is sung at some point. But if the music, like in this movie, the musical numbers drive different story points. And to me, that makes it a musical. Well, we got to talk about Michael Perret. Okay. This was literally the apex mountain for him. And he had a couple other at-bats, but Eddie became his signature guy. He's lip syncing everything. Yes. And it's one of the best... I'm trying to think of a better lip syncing where it really seems like he's singing. The voice of the band sounds like his voice. He's got the charisma of a leading guy. The way he moves around the stage. Really convincing. The only other one I can really think of is Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Which won him the Oscar. I think Chalamet's pretty good as Dylan doing like when they were recording. I thought he was actually singing though. I thought he was actually singing though, wouldn't he? Yeah, I just mean like the way he moves around with a guitar and like... But I'm saying Michael Perret never sings in this. Right. Like Chalamet's saying Val Kilmer, who we talked about in The Doors, was incredible, but he's actually singing. This is him lip syncing the whole time and it actually works. It shouldn't work. He also pulls off Mysterious Rockstar, super awesome. The whole movie is based around this mystery that there was just more going on with Eddie than we thought there was. Right? And even in death. And for your first role, this is his first big deal, right? Yeah. For your first role... They found him. Yeah, for him to be like brooding, rock star, mysterious guy, he really sells that really well. And if he doesn't work, then obviously the whole movie is fine. Being an actor in a band is probably like being an actor in a basketball movie. Like you can either choose to get the guy who looks right playing music or the guy who's like the good actor who you can like cut around. Like I don't think... I know Behringer like learned a bunch about like playing keyboards. But they are cutting around Behringer's... They never show Behringer's hands really. Yeah. They are... They got Eddie like in full wide shots like walking around with the guitar. His guitar moves. Going into the crowd at one point. Kind of mimic. Like they're pretty close. Like I don't know whether he learned to play guitar for this, but it looks pretty good to me. I mean... He also carries himself like the leader of a band. Like you actually buy that he's in charge of the band. He's ordering these guys around. And the movie taps into... I don't know. There's some pretty cool themes in this that I don't even really fully know if they... What they were getting into when they wrote this. I don't know how much thought they put into the script, but about the concept of like how great can somebody be. Right. You know, like they're making these... They're selling out this club every night. Everyone in the band is delighted to be there. And Eddie's like pursuing something that's a little higher than everybody else that he's with. And that's really all he cares about. And the other guys don't see it.
81:50 – 85:38… Salamato? The Eddie with Salamato. Played by Joey Balin. Who put out an album in 1994 if you want to download it on your way home. The Joey Balin's solo work. Apex Mountain. Michael Perret. Definitely. Oh wait, I had one more half-assed internet research. In that same Washington Post article that I mentioned, Berenger claims that they filmed a scene in a roadhouse with the cruisers watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and making fun of it. And he has like a whole thing he talks about. And then after this quote, Martin Davidson's like, we never shot that. That's Berenger's bullshit. But I really like the idea …
The whole segment, as transcribed
Fake Eddie. Did some research on him. John Cafferty or the Eddie that was with Salamato? The Eddie with Salamato. Played by Joey Balin. Who put out an album in 1994 if you want to download it on your way home. The Joey Balin's solo work. Apex Mountain. Michael Perret. Definitely. Oh wait, I had one more half-assed internet research. In that same Washington Post article that I mentioned, Berenger claims that they filmed a scene in a roadhouse with the cruisers watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and making fun of it. And he has like a whole thing he talks about. And then after this quote, Martin Davidson's like, we never shot that. That's Berenger's bullshit. But I really like the idea that they at least thought about the Beatles in this movie. Yeah. I love when there's like violent disagreements like that. Yeah. It just goes to show you like people were probably using substances while making it. Like they were fucking high as shit. Yeah. I mean, it was 1983. Apex. That's why the Grantland oral history will never happen. Because of the amount of drugs we're going? No, because of 20 years later, people can just start making up shit. Right. Like Bill came back from the All-Star game and he got in this huge fist fight with CR. Just like after 20 years. You overrate submarine movies, dickhead. Apex Mountain. Michael Perey, yes. Tom Berenger, no. Ellen Barkin, no. Matthew Lawrence. I'm going to say David Silver's dad. Probably. That show's pretty big. Beaver Brown Band, yes. Jersey Shore movies, no. But I also can't come up with a better one. I'm going to get killed for this for not knowing. Do you claim the Jersey Shore? What's your relationship with the Jersey Shore? It's like the summer destination for most of Philadelphia. But I don't know of a better Jersey Shore movie than this. They've really figured it out as a great location. Not a movie, obviously, but the Jersey Shore. Yeah, yes. The show is probably. Oh, the show. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously. Did you like that show? No, of course not. Did you ever hang out with those people during your early Hollywood days? I saw a couple of them. I think, I think. Do you in this situation ever go party with them? No, no. I'll see a couple of them. No, I never liked that show. As a matter of fact, that show to me is when I realized, oh, you know, I don't have to fucking fucking like what everybody else likes. It never made it just grotesque in a way. Wow. That got dark. No, no. I just, I never understood it. I get it. Everybody was so into it. I never liked it either. No, everybody was so into it. I loved it for two years. See, I just never, everything else that had come from MTV, like fucking Road Rules, Real World Challenge, all of that stuff into it. For some reason, Jersey Shore just never fucking. Arthur Rimbaud. I think that he's had bigger moments than this, yeah. Helen Schneider. Sounds like Germany was pretty hopping. Yeah. What happened? You would have thought that she'd have been around. She was like, what? Went back to Germany. Interesting. 1957 Chevy's probably not. Cruz or Hanks? What about Hanks as Word Man? I had Cruz as Eddie. Because Cruz has priors of doing the Outsiders. Do you have Cruz as Eddie? Cruz as Eddie. He basically played a greaser in the Outsiders, and that's kind of the way Eddie dresses. Like, Eddie is just full Outsider. Oh, Craig's all in on this one. Eddie and the Cruisers. Come on. Oh, come on! What are you doing? Okay. That makes a lot of sense. And I think you could actually, this is one of the rare times where you could do Cruz as Eddie and Hanks as Frank. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Scorsese or Spielberg? Yeah. I have Scorsese. Scorsese. Tri-state area. Yeah. Best hang, worst hang. Best hang, Sal. You know who he has pizza, fun dressing room. Best hang is absolutely Maggie. Like, I got Ellen Barkin as the best hang. Good point. Yeah.
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