It really feels like a game. Even people who haven't seen it know Madeline Kahn's “flame on my face.” speech. What was your experience with her?
I loved her. We got along very well, probably because I was a pathetic admirer and sat at her feet a lot. She just improvised this line, and it's iconic. She was great.
Let's move on to Home Alone 2. It came out in 1992 and you play a concierge at the Plaza Hotel where it was filmed. At the time, the Plaza belonged to our future President Donald Trump, who also had cameo. Can you describe your interactions with the Trumps?
When Donald bought the Plaza, he hired his then-wife Ivana to renovate the hotel, and she had, shall we say, vague taste. For example, I remember the Plaza's lobby had a beautiful black and white terrazzo floor that she covered with a rather cheap-looking Persian rug. Very bright colors. When I moved in—I was living there for the duration of filming—she knocked on my door and said, “I just wanted to know how you like your room.” I said, “I feel very good here, thank you.” She said, “I'm so glad because I completely redid it.” And I was happy there – not particularly happy in appearance. You could use sunglasses. And I had a view of a brick wall, which was not very glamorous.
Donald has a new lady named Marla Maples, who was once an actress, to put it politely. If you remember, these two were constantly in the tabloids. And Donald told me [imitates Trump]“I want Marla to meet the director because she is a very talented actress.” I said, “Well, then she should.” I don't think that happened, but they may have met. He didn't know much about acting, that's for sure.
Director Chris Columbus said he made it into the film because of bullying as part of an arrangement to use the Plaza. [Trump has denied this.]
I think he was determined to improve relations with the hotel, like the Grand Vizier.
You write that playing opposite Macaulay Culkin was “tedious because he had a tendency to talk.”
His father trained him very carefully to learn his lines and he would just say them at high speed. Chris edited next to him and sometimes played his part for me when he took my close-ups. He was a good kid though. He usually arrived at the dressing room trailer quite dazed and confused because he was tired from watching TV all night.
You say that you and Joe Pesci were like “oil and water.” What was the problem with Joe Pesci?
I'm not entirely sure, but I think he thought I wasn't big enough to be in a movie with him.
A few years after that you did “Muppet Treasure Island” Have you had any conflict with any of the Muppets?
I didn't do it. They're actually my favorite. One of the great things about working with them is that you start to see them as characters rather than puppets, and that ties into the brilliance of The Muppeters. I loved Miss Piggy. We got along great.
It's hard to share everyone's attention with her.
She. She's a greedy girl. The script established that we may have had some kind of affair at some point in the past. And I improvised a line that never made it into the film: “Once you eat pork, you never look back.” [Deep laugh.]
I want to ask you about your life lately. In 2012, you had a stroke while receiving a massage. I think the months and years of recovery were a very difficult time.
It was a difficult time and still is. I'm still recovering, partly because I have difficulty getting around in a wheelchair. I still can't walk, which is terrible because I love walking long distances. I grew up with my father and his father, going on long walks through the countryside. My grandfather used a wooden cane and drove away nettles – he was simply brutal. More than anything, it gave me an appreciation for the British countryside.
Given that your movement is so limited, what keeps you moving forward? It must have taken a lot of willpower.
I think that's how it was. But I live quite happily in my mind. And I, according to my mother, just dealt with it.
You've always been incredibly physically fit, whether it's the way you walk during the song “Sweet Transvestite” in Rocky Horror or the way you run. revealing the secret at the end of the Hint. Do you still feel it in your body? Does it still live somewhere in you?
I think so, but it makes me angry. My mobility is angry to get out. But this has not happened yet. I do a certain amount of physical therapy. I've done this many times at Cedars-Sinai and I think I came very close to walking. It was tempting. For insurance reasons I had to decline. And now I have a visiting physiotherapist, but I can only do exercises lying down, which is quite pathetic. I don't believe that this won't help me go.
I guess I'm asking what it's like to think of my younger self doing these incredibly exciting, physical, dynamic roles that still live on screen today. Do they live in you the same way, even without that freedom of movement?
They do. They are part of me. I think we all probably have our own connection to our history, and I cherish mine. ♦
