Whoa, whoa, whoa. There’s still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato. Baby, you’ve got a stew going.
I was a teen in the 1980s and that was a time of action films. I think I like Weathers' role in Arrested Development the best I liked the dry deadpan humour his character was so great.
His handshake with Arnold Schwarzenegger is the most iconic and wholesome ever put to camera. The macho version of "The Creation of Adam" if Michelangelo had been a bodybuilding.com forum user.
Not exactly a great piece of cinema, but a veru enjoyable one. Not exactly a parody of an action movie, but one that took itself only as seriously as necessary.
Carl Weathers was great in everything he did, and being a football star/action hero type made his surprising sense of humor and egolessness that much more effective. He was the anti-Steven Seagal, in a way.
I was talking to a guy years and years back and my dad said to ask him about when he played in the NFL. Older guy. He lights up and says: “now this was back before anyone got paid anything to play football. We weren’t making anything but it was fun and we were allowed to hit real hard. I had a friend on the team who said ‘man I’m getting out of here… I’m gonna be an actor.’ Well, we’re all just a bunch meatheads but he was the only good looking guy… couple of years later I’m watching some boxing movie and there he is as Apollo Creed in Rocky”
I didn't know much of him apart from his Arrested Development cameo, but my partner told me about this anecdote about him today and I think it's brilliant:
Hurwitz recounted how, when he actually got in touch with Weathers, the actor immediately dismissed the exact type of joke Hurwitz and the writing staff were envisioning. And not only that, but it was actually Weathers himself who came up with the running bit for his character:
"So I called Carl, and said, 'Hey, I don't know if you've seen the show but we wanna use you for it, and you'd be working with David Cross.' And he goes, 'Great, but let me ask you something. It's not going to be just a bunch of Rocky jokes is it?' I laughed, 'No! No! Give me a little credit, Carl. Of course not! It's a multidimensional character.' And he was like, 'Because I direct and I'm a funny guy and I don't wanna just do a bunch of Rocky jokes. Nobody wants that. Maybe I could be really cheap or something?' And I said, 'Whaaaat?' 'Maybe I could be really cheap?' 'Really? You'd like to do that?' 'Oh, absolutely, that's what I'm saying. I want to play someone funny, not just be a sight gag.' It was so much better. I went back to the writers room and said, 'You're not going to believe this. Carl Weathers wants to be incredibly cheap.' All credit to Carl on that."
For those that don't know he played himself in the show as an acting coach, but all of his advice was related to how to get multiple meals from the catering at filmings.
How can we forget him as Chubbs Peterson in Happy Gilmore as well? What an outstanding life lived. Admirably, he wasn't just some athlete trying to find a fallback gig if football didn't work out. He also attained a masters in theatre arts in college.
> With that wise suggestion, Weathers skyrocketed into the pantheon of the best "actors playing a version of themselves" in 21st century TV history, up there with Larry David in "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and Adam West in "Family Guy."
One that always gets overlooked is Ron Silver playing himself in Heat Vision and Jack. It’s an unaired pilot for a spoof of 80s “man on the run” series like the Incredible Hulk. It starred Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Ron Silver, Christine Taylor, and Vincent Schiavelli, made by Rob Schrab and Dan Harmon, directed by Ben Stiller. Ron Silver is an assassin working for (evil) NASA to hunt down the smartest man on Earth (Jack Black) and his talking motorbike (Owen Wilson). However Ron Silver plays himself – the assassin stars in Hollywood films as a part-time hobby (when he isn’t murdering people).
Was it stupidly brilliant, or brilliantly stupid? I can’t decide. But I think it works best as a unaired pilot that just about no one has ever seen. Because I am sure no one believes you when you tell them this existed.
I met him once when I was stuck in Baltimore trying to get a flight out before Thanksgiving in the late 90's. He was a proper gentleman, and a funny guy, cracking jokes with a couple of us kids who recognized him.
My daily meditation: “Now when we fought you had the eye of the tiger, man—the edge—and now you’ve got to get it back, and the way to get it back is to go back to the beginning, you know what I mean?”
Someone I know dressed up as Drago (Dolph Lundgren), boxing shorts and gloves and all. He's blonde, too, so there's no mistaking who he was dressed as.
He is, however, like 30cm shorter. Dolph is tall.
So at the con he goes to Carl Weathers for a photo and autograph. Weathers immediately lights up, smiles, extends his arms, and exclaims "you've shrunk!!".
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 148 ms ] threadRIP Carl.
I'm going to miss that man.
https://youtu.be/txuWGoZF3ew?si=ygVfLFiMyEKraMd6
Now that's staying power...
mildly NSFW, obviously -
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/epic-handshake
"You broke that guy's arm!"
"He had a spare."
Carl Weathers was great in everything he did, and being a football star/action hero type made his surprising sense of humor and egolessness that much more effective. He was the anti-Steven Seagal, in a way.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/carl-weathers-dead-1.7...
Hurwitz recounted how, when he actually got in touch with Weathers, the actor immediately dismissed the exact type of joke Hurwitz and the writing staff were envisioning. And not only that, but it was actually Weathers himself who came up with the running bit for his character:
"So I called Carl, and said, 'Hey, I don't know if you've seen the show but we wanna use you for it, and you'd be working with David Cross.' And he goes, 'Great, but let me ask you something. It's not going to be just a bunch of Rocky jokes is it?' I laughed, 'No! No! Give me a little credit, Carl. Of course not! It's a multidimensional character.' And he was like, 'Because I direct and I'm a funny guy and I don't wanna just do a bunch of Rocky jokes. Nobody wants that. Maybe I could be really cheap or something?' And I said, 'Whaaaat?' 'Maybe I could be really cheap?' 'Really? You'd like to do that?' 'Oh, absolutely, that's what I'm saying. I want to play someone funny, not just be a sight gag.' It was so much better. I went back to the writers room and said, 'You're not going to believe this. Carl Weathers wants to be incredibly cheap.' All credit to Carl on that."
https://www.slashfilm.com/1508464/carl-weathers-idea-for-hil...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkjXcRLNZHQ
Loved him in Predator! Watching the scene where he arm wrestles Arnold boosts a man's testosterone by 20%. The ultimate action movie for guys.
RIP Carl.
If you're looking for a testosterone boost, I can recommend you Dinesh's Maximizing Alphaness video[1]. Just don't show it to Gilfoyle.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An21fXqyqM0
One that always gets overlooked is Ron Silver playing himself in Heat Vision and Jack. It’s an unaired pilot for a spoof of 80s “man on the run” series like the Incredible Hulk. It starred Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Ron Silver, Christine Taylor, and Vincent Schiavelli, made by Rob Schrab and Dan Harmon, directed by Ben Stiller. Ron Silver is an assassin working for (evil) NASA to hunt down the smartest man on Earth (Jack Black) and his talking motorbike (Owen Wilson). However Ron Silver plays himself – the assassin stars in Hollywood films as a part-time hobby (when he isn’t murdering people).
Oh but how can we forget Being John Malkovich?
Its all in the hips.
- Maybe I can get even
RIP Carl.
He is, however, like 30cm shorter. Dolph is tall.
So at the con he goes to Carl Weathers for a photo and autograph. Weathers immediately lights up, smiles, extends his arms, and exclaims "you've shrunk!!".
Seems like a great guy.
I'll try to find the photo.
Edit: https://fnalbum-cf.habets.se/bucket/2k.webp/FC9D1104-62DA-47...