Hollywood’s Nice Guy Steve Guttenberg Talks Turning Nasty And Tackling Horror In ‘Heckle’

Steve Guttenberg is a legend. The actor’s body of work spans movies and TV with a resume that contains such seminal gems as Cocoon, Police Academy, Three Men and a Baby, Diner, Cocoon, and Short Circuit. We know this.

He’s also a cinephile with a love of horror. For a guy best known for his comedic work and cherubic, heartwarming smile, Guttenberg’s got a deep and impressive knowledge of the genre, and he talks about it with real passion.

It’s something Guttenberg dug into for a pivotal role in Heckle, the story of a British stand-up comedian being tormented by a rowdy audience member turned stalker who picks off those around him one by one.

I caught up with the actor to discuss the project, his films that influenced his performance, his incredible career, and, most importantly, his future.

Simon Thompson: I told a few people that I would be talking to you, and nobody has anything but the nicest things to say about you.

Steve Guttenberg: Sometimes that’s good, and sometimes it’s not so good because it’s good to be a little controversial. I don’t have much controversy in the business, so actually, I don’t know how good it is to be so nice (laughs). That’s the way it goes.

Thompson: How did you find Heckle? Around the time you were making Heckle, you were doing several projects in the UK.

Guttenberg: I was looking for a role that would be a little bit out of my wheelhouse. I did a few films in London that gave me that opportunity, and this was one of them. I’m very good at comedy, in my work, and life. My wife and I have a very funny house. My family is funny and not without complications, but we’re funny, and I’m always looking for the joke. That’s my nature. I think that comes with good things and not-so-good things, so I started looking around, and I believe that you always find what you’re looking for in life. If you think you want something, you’ll probably find it, whether that’s a good or bad thing. Basically, I started thinking I’d like to do a part of a real a-hole. I like Dice Clay, and I knew him years ago when he was Andy Clay and playing places like The Comedy Store, and he was great. When he came out with Dice, I thought he was such a great character, and I wanted to do somebody like that, but I wanted to be really mean, somebody with triple the acid. So I found Heckle and the character of Ray Kelly.

Thompson: There’s a scene towards the end of the movie where Ray is going off with real vitriol, and that reminded me of movies like Network, There Will Be Blood, American Psycho, and Falling Down where there are outbursts that are so passionate, dark, and sharp. Were any of those an inspiration to you?

Guttenberg: Yeah, There Will Be Blood, definitely. I’ve watched it several times. There was also The King of Comedy, the Scorsese picture with De Niro and Jerry Lewis. I watched that several times. I saw most of the films you mentioned, and I thought about what happens when you lose control. I did a little digging and interviewing psychologists, and it’s really about not only losing control but also giving up your desire for the future. You don’t care what your actions will bring, and that’s what happened to this character. He didn’t care what happened to him. I think he felt that he had nothing to lose and was quite disappointed in himself as a person. I don’t think he lost his self-respect, but I think he lost his belief that there was more in life for him. We even saw that in the way that he treated his wife.

Thompson: Britain has a great heritage of horror. There’s been a new wave of talent, but you can also look back to the work of Hammer. How familiar are you with that and the dark humor that can come with that?

Guttenberg: For years, the UK has put out incredible horror pictures, and there’s a nobility that comes along with the British people that the Americans don’t have. I remember Oliver Reed in a movie with Karen Black called Burnt Offerings, and he brought such gravitas to the role of the husband. There was a brilliant pool scene where he started to lose his mind, and I watched that movie for Heckle. There’s a great history of horror overseas, period. There’s a great history of horror from Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and then there are Italian films, so Americans aren’t the only ones with a license for horror. If you have ever watched Japanese horror, you know how fantastic it is.

Thompson: There were moments in Heckle that certainly felt inspired by Italian and Spanish horror.

Guttenberg: There’s a terrific Mexican movie that I saw (The Exterminating Angel). It’s about these very wealthy people who are absolute pigs. They’re invited to a house for dinner, and they’re awful to the help, then all of a sudden, they find themselves that the help is gone and they can’t leave the house. It’s a brilliant horror movie that I took a look at for another picture that I did. Across the pond, multiple ponds, there are a lot of terrific horror aficionados shooting new great stuff right now.

Thompson: I had no idea you were such a fan of horror. Most people know you mainly for your lighter, comedic work. However, there’s a thriller that you did several years ago called The Bedroom Window. There seem to be a lot of people watching it for the first time and talking about it on social media. Are you aware of that?

Guttenberg: Wow. Really? Thank you for telling me. I didn’t know that. That was a great movie. I had a great agent named Toni Howard, who was looking for something special for me. I was able to do comedy all the time, and I was getting offered three pictures every week, so she found this great movie being produced by Dino De Laurentiis starring Isabelle Huppert and directed by Curtis Hanson who was unknown. That was The Bedroom Window. I saw this one movie he did with Roger Corman, and I had a meeting with him, and I thought he could do this movie well. He was a big Hitchcock fan. We went to Baltimore, and the film was tough to do. At one point, the crew quit. He had to replace his cinematographer with an Italian cinematographer who didn’t speak English. It was a challenging shoot but beautiful, and the movie came out absolutely exquisitely. That fact that it’s still around, as you’re telling me, that’s an homage to the picture, which had a great foundation. I’m thrilled, which makes me feel really good for many reasons, especially my art and ego.

Thompson: Why do you think you didn’t get more roles like that after The Bedroom Window came out?

Guttenberg: Well, I think it was commerce. The people who represented me would make a lot more money if we did comedy. The numbers were high. It’s show business. I’m the show, and they’re the business. Then I lost my agent, Toni, an incredibly talented lady, and I was talked into going to a different agency. Once I went to that agency, I lost my momentum, so I couldn’t get more pictures like The Bedroom Window when I should have.

Thompson: A few years back, I spotted you walking along the red carpet at the premiere of the Clint Eastwood movie, The Mule. You seemed to be there with a group of friends. Since then, I have been waiting for an announcement that you would do something with Clint, perhaps a studio movie, something dramatic, gritty, and dark.

Guttenberg: Thank you. I had a personal relationship with Clint a long time ago where I spent some time with him, and he greatly affected me. He’s a pretty solid guy, so I wanted to go to the premiere and see him. I had a few moments with him, and I told him how much I appreciated the conversations and the time he spent with me. But yeah, man, I really would like to get back into the game. I’ve chosen to move away because I’ve taken care of my family for the last 20 years and looked in on my mom and dad, who’ve had health issues, but I really would like to get back in the game.

Thompson: People consistently want to know about the futures of Police Academy, Three Men, which I know you had a plan for, and Short Circuit, which is currently in the hands of the Project X guys. They’re all projects that are eagerly anticipated by audiences. Do you know what the future holds with those projects as far as you’re concerned?

Guttenberg: I pitched all three of those pictures a few years ago, and I didn’t get much traction. I do know that Short Circuit is being written. For Three Men, we wrote a script, which was sort of like Fathers of the Bride and was fantastic. Police Academy is something we’ve taken to Warner Bros. several times. These pictures, all three of them, were phenomenons, so you really have to catch lightning in a bottle, or you’re just going to cruise off some old sweat that was made. I don’t think it’s that hard to do some sequels because the audience goes, ‘Oh, I’d like to see that,’ but those three pictures that you mentioned, we’ll see. Three Men was the number one movie of the year around the world. Short Circuit was a huge hit. Of course, Police Academy was made millions for Warner Bros. It’s a pretty high bar to jump at. You use those titles to get in and see where you land. I would love to be invited to play with those pictures because they were so good for me, but we’ll see. The business is a bunch of rough guys. It’s tough.

Thompson: Disney is remaking another of your movies, Tower of Terror. That was a TV movie. Has anybody spoken to you about making a cameo in the new version?

Guttenberg: They have not, but I don’t really want to do cameos.

Thompson: I don’t know how you feel about this, but I have a big soft spot for Can’t Stop the Music. Anyone I have ever recommended that too, as soon as they watch it, they are instantly like, ‘Is that Steve Guttenberg rollerskating?’ The burning question is, Steve, do you have those short shorts from that scene?

Guttenberg: I do. I have most of the wardrobes that I’ve had. I haven’t thought about that in years, but yes, I do. Is that crazy? I’ve got the white corduroy jeans and the green Lacoste shirt. I’ve got the white overalls. I’ve got a ton of wardrobe from most of the movies I’ve done. It’s pretty cool.

Thompson: Have you ever considered doing a one-person show?

Guttenberg: I wrote a terrific play, and Julian Schlossberg will produce it. It has actually turned into a three-character play because he thought there would be too much for me to do, and maybe we’ll get that on the boards. It’s pretty good.

Thompson: Would you do a tour where you tell stories from your career? It could be like a live version of your memoir, The Guttenberg Bible. It’s something others such as Al Pacino and Sylvester Stallone have done, and they have proved popular.

Guttenberg: I’d love that. I love communicating, touching people, making people smile and laugh, and having a connection to the inside of the honeycomb. That’s what we all want to hear. What’s the inside of the honeycomb? I’d love that, for sure.

Heckle is out now on VOD.