R. Lee Ermey
Interview by: Rocco Passafuime
R. Lee Ermey isn't the most high-profile or consistently most publicly-known actor in American film. But he is the kind of actor that every time you see him perform in a film, you never forget him. A veteran character actor of about 70 films, Ermey is one of Hollywood's lesser-known true career-spanning talents.
A former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant and later drill instructor, R. Lee Ermey did small roles in several films, starting with his debut as a helicopter pilot in the Francis Ford Coppola classic Apocalypse Now in 1979. Lee was also sometimes sought after by filmmakers as a technical advisor due to his extensive Marine experience.
After giving a memorably frightening and realistic performance as Sergeant Gunnery Hartman in 1987's Full Metal Jacket, R. Lee Ermey showed cinema what would soon become his gift for intense and emotionally-charged performances that would spawn numerous films, animation, and even video games. 'Every character, I always try to take them to the top,' he notes, 'Push them as far as I can without falling over the edge into ridiculousness.'
Even today, at the age of 62, he continues to perform at this level. He definitely had a hand in the success of 2003's remake/sequel of the horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, playing the psychotic sheriff Hoyt. Lee had no reservation about being called back to reprise his memorable character in the new prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning,, which opens in theaters October 6, 2006.
'The character was a breath of fresh air to play,' Ermey exclaims. 'When they asked me to come back to do it the second time, I was anxious and more than ready. The character is such a phenomenal character. This character is actually a perverted homicidal maniac. There is no top. How can you go over-the-top and for me, when the director says, 'Less is more,' I say, 'And you're full of'you know. I don't believe in that.' This character, they just let me go crazy with every scene and its fun to do that. I enjoyed it. Sheriff Hoyt, what a piece of work he is. How in the hell did this kind of lunatic ever get to be a sheriff''
As in with Full Metal Jacket, R. Lee Ermey was given some leeway by the directors to often ad-lib his character's lines. For the veteran actor, he points out that being an actor in a movie is much more than simply reading your script, knowing your cues, and hitting your marks.
'I look at a script as a guideline,' says Lee, 'It's just a guideline that tells you where you're going from point A to point B and how you get there. As far as the word goes, what's the difference if my character wouldn't say this word, he would use this word instead' There's not a big difference. We adjusted the script a lot.
Ermey adds that he takes these liberties this not for simply himself, but because he knows it eventually work into a synthetic creative whole that draws strengths from all its participants.
'It's a joint venture,' Lee explains, 'It's not just some actor that gets up there, does his thing, and says the words that are programmed into him. It's the director and the producers and the actors have input. If you put all those heads together, you are bound to come up with better ideas, adjustments to be made, and it worked out beautifully.'
Lee, who's infamous for playing such hilariously foul-mouthed blowhards, says that playing antagonists is something he takes with great revelry.
'I ask any actor in Hollywood and they'll tell you that the greatest, most fun characters to play are the bad guys, because you just get by literally with murder. It's tough to make people like you, but it's really simple to make people not like you. If you don't believe me, go kick someone in the knee when you walk out.'
In some truly morbid sense, Ermey has developed a lot of affection through his character, working with the movie's iconic maniacal killer. 'Leatherface, I call him Tommy, he's my prot'g'e,' he gushes, 'I worked hard with Tommy. Tommy and I have a relationship that is second to none.'
In an age where prequels and sequels seem to literally fly out of nowhere other than cold, hard commerce, Lee pointed out the importance of the sequel/remake and its prequel in the Leatherface, err..I mean Tommy saga.
'The very first one, I thought it was a masterpiece,' he says, 'I really enjoyed that show. I sat down and watched that again for the first time in twenty years. It doesn't really hold a damn candle to what we've done in the remake and this one. There's so much more going on in the remake and the beginning and I think it ties up all the loose ends.
We show where Tommy came from. He really wasn't crapped out on a rock by a crow and the sun didn't hatch him. He actually was born. A woman gave birth and here was Tommy. And then, there was leadership and guidance that took over on Hoyt's part and Tommy evolved into the fine, upstanding citizen that he is today. It didn't just happen overnight.'
Even in a genre often criticized for lack of believable acting performances, Lee still is unwavering in his level of commitment after 30 years in film and notes that every actor on board gave their all.
'Every actor in the show gave 100%. They came in, they knew their dialogue, they worked very hard,' he says, 'I suffered from subderal hepotoma from the show. Four months later, I had to go to the hospital because I was paralyzed on the left side. I had gotten a blood clot'in the brain and paralyzed me. They had to cut me open'and flush out my coconut. So you can't say that we didn't put our heart and souls and everything we had into the show, because we did. There's not a bad performance in this film, period.'
In closing, R. Lee Ermey points out that he's not ready to stop being Sheriff Hoyt just yet, for the right story, not the right price.
'Anytime that Hollywood has a hit show and throws together a sequel that you can hardly stand to sit through, but it rides on the coattails of the previous one'I won't be involved with anything like that,' he firmly states, 'I can say no. I'm real particular about what I do. As long as the prequel or the sequel is better than the original show, I'll go through with it. It was nice when they came up to me to ask if I'd do the prequel to the sequel. I'm looking forward to doing the sequel to the prequel to the sequel.'
