It was autumn of 1994, and I was working on Tank Girl at the time, with my kangaroo bits created and applied by the Stan Winston wizards.

Well, during one of my breaks from filming in Tuscon Arizona (HOT!!!!), I was home in L.A. and got a call from Stan's shop. They were doing some pick-up shots for "Interview" and needed a skinny hand to be Tom Cruise's hand in the final scene of the movie when he reaches from the back seat of Christian Slater's convertable Mustang, grabs him around the neck and sucks blood for the first time in decades while the car is speeding across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Tom's Lestat character was sickly and quite thin leading up to this final point in the film, so of course who did they call for the hand shot?

I love the guys at the shop, and it was a great chance to meet Tom, Christian, and Brad Pitt over those next 2 days. Brad and I especially hit it off, and he was a good audience for my foolery. I was also impressed with Tom for pulling me aside in private to apologize for making a skinny joke earlier in the day. That was large of him, as he didn't even need to do that. Like I said to him, "Thank you Tom, but really, I have a mirror at home ... I know what I look like. If you hadn't make the joke first, I would have." Very sweet guy.

And to bring this tale full circle, who do you suppose was at the "Hellboy" premiere after party on March 31st [2004]? Christian Slater! I walked over to him, re-introduced myself to him as the guy who kept grabbing his neck 10 years ago in a Mustang, and that he just watched me as Abe in our film. His face was priceless as that information hit him. He totally remembered me from "Interview" and fawned all over me regarding my portrayal of Abe. a lovely moment for me, indeed.

 

Doug Jones,
Los Angeles, C.A., September 4th, 2004