London Premiere of "Starsky and Hutch"

 

JUDY: Now, they were THE cult icons on TV during the 70's.  Starsky & Hutch had all the right lines, all the most beautiful girls and the groovy car that was every young man's dream.  It was just a shame about the cardies (cardigans) really.  Now as everyone knows the series has been turned into a tribute film starring Ben Stiller& Owen Wilson.  Before we meet the guys who inspired it, here's the original title sequence from the very first ever S & H.

JUDY (looking at Paul): And Paul and David join us now and great to meet you for the first time

PAUL: Thank you.  Glad to see you.

JUDY (looking at David): Nice to see you again.

DAVID: Thank You

JUDY: Actually we've already seen Huggy Bear Haven't we..

RICH:Sure, yeah

JUDY: ...so that makes the full trio.

RICH: That's the hat trick.

PAUL / DAVID (in unison) : Cool

JUDY: When you look back at that, I mean, do you have very strong, affectionate memories of it.

PAUL: Glad to be alive!
  (Paul laughs)

JUDY: Meaning what? That sounds a bit ambivalent.

DAVID: No, no.

RICH: I think what Judy means is that.........

DAVID: No I think the further we get away from it, of course, the more nostalgic or more fond we become of the memories. The closer you are to it the more you want to get away from it and now, you know, and now it's.. I look at it kind of philosophical in a way, but circumspectically (looks at Paul) ...Nice word eh?

PAUL (laughing) - Doing great! (coughs to clear his throat! great smirk here)

DAVID: Shut up!

PAUL: Got a pillow?

DAVID: I'm going to sort this out.

 

JUDY: We should explain.....just off the plane....

DAVID: If you can do one thing in your career, in your life, that really it brings that much joy to people over the years....

RICH: Well that's the point, we were all talking about it this morning, and even the young members of the team remember watching, being allowed to stay up to watch it.  I was a young man and (looks over at Judy) you were a young woman when it started and ah.. we just remember it, not just with huge affection and with respect...

DAVID: Right!

RICH: ...and that's not to creep and crawl to you at all, but because we kind of sensed at the time, and everything I've ever read about it since, a huge amount of effort went into it. I mean you both, you both took the acting very, very seriously  In fact, the 1st series, you (first looking at Paul) were very concerned that he (looking at David) wouldn't act you off the screen.  You pulled out every stop, so that you, so that Hutch wouldn't overshadow Starsky.

PAUL: I was, I was....

DAVID: (smiling at Paul) You pulled out every stop?

PAUL: (smiles back) I certainly wasn't concerned that he was going to act me off the screen...

DAVID: What's the point, really, what would I do, what would I have done if he was gone?

(laughs and grabs Paul's leg)

RICH: Of course, of course, .....

PAUL: Jesus.....Give me a break here..  (smiling)..that was the plan actually, you know, one hand clapping

 

RICH: I'll put it another way.  You took it very seriously, you took the script seriously, you gave, quite rightly, you gave the writers hell if they came up with what you thought was a second rate script, um, you know, you were legendary for that and good for you, you know - took it seriously is all I'm saying.

PAUL: Right well we both did, ah, we both were, you know, young actors who, ah, you know, found ourselves doing a series when we didn't really think it was going to be a series, and ah, we were told that ah, in that day and age you were lucky if you made (looks over at David) 2 good shows out of 23 and we looked at each other and said "That's not going to fly".  We're not going to work this hard and do something that doesn't feel right, so yeah we ah, yeah, we tried to within a formula, tried to do as much as we could, you know, and Davey was far more tactful that I was but ah...

DAVID: (smiles and laughs a bit)

JUDY: You were both theatre actors and initially you didn't want to do it, did you?

DAVID: Yeah, I mean we didn't figure it was going to work anyway but it is strange to say now, but 'television was beneath us' (speaking in a sophisticated snobby tone of voice)

JUDY: Oh God, did people have that attitude even then?  I mean, I know they have now.

DAVID: Television was not as passive then as it is now, you know, and certainly the idea of they, you know, a lot of the actors today, saying what do you want to do ... I want to be famous ....well we didn't want to be famous, we just wanted to do good work, you know, we came out of that kinda...

PAUL:(looks over at David) Well that's what we thought...

DAVID:Then, then of course....

PAUL: I'm speaking for myself...

DAVID: we... in 6 weeks....we thought we didn't want to be famous.

PAUL: Can I speak now?

DAVID: There you go (waves Paul off),... go on now, go ahead now, I'll sit hear and be bored, it's ok (leans back)

RICH: (laughing) You should do this show, you know, if we go on holiday and you've got the time, it's just the same...

DAVID: (speaking to Paul) go ahead, go ahead, please before you forget what you were going to say.

PAUL: I won't forget it.

 

RICH: The fame thing, I think

PAUL: (big smirky smile) Oh thank you.

RICH: Pleasure.

PAUL: (coughs, looks at David while resting his head in his hand) Have a glass of water

DAVID: Thank You.

PAUL: No I, you know, I ,ah, I don't think, ah, I for myself, ever admitted that I wanted to be famous amongst the actors in New York we said I'll go to Hollywood for a gig, I'll do a job,  you know if I become famous, but you know I wanted to be a good actor, you know.  When the celebrity happened it was, ah, 'What's this'

RICH: But you were pretty well known, I mean, you'd done Fiddler on the Roof?

PAUL: Yeah, I'd, ah, amongst some people I was known, you know, I wasn't yet, I wasn't yet a household word.

JUDY: When you do tell, like that, and it's a success like that, your life's no longer your own is it?

PAUL: No, no, no, no.

JUDY: When you think about the film then, the tribute film, because I remember reading that neither of you was particularly happy about it, when it was first mooted, but in the end you both appeared on it, didn't you?

DAVID: Yeah, yeah, but I think the context is wrong, I mean, they didn't know what they wanted to do with this film for a long, long time.  Paul and I had an idea of what we wanted to do and when you have an idea, you believe in it, you go for it; and then the rights went to a certain place and they got a vision for it and they wanted to do it a certain kind of way. You get on the boat, you on the horse, you get off one horse and you get on the other horse, but until that time we had an idea of what we wanted to do and it didn't work out.

PAUL: The bottom line, you have to .. the only healthy adjustment is that it is, and it is a compliment, a tip of the hat.

JUDY: Of course it is.

PAUL: And when we were doing the show and fighting our battles, we never thought the show would be a) as successful and b) have the longevity it's had and the worldwide acceptance  that it's had and for so long after only 4 years of filming. So it's quite a phenomenon and it's quite a generous compliment, that ah, you know,that the powers that be thought that it was commercially exploitable enough to go out there and try and do it.  I don't know that in fact they didn't, or weren't, aware of the degree to which the shows following existed - that there were so many people that really, as witnessed by the fact that, you know, we're coming on, doing publicity.

RICH: Exactly, well let's have a look at a clip from the..

JUDY: Well, let's first of all see you two on set...

RICH: Oh yes, you on set, you're just about to do your scene with Ben Stiller & Owen Wilson. (shows this photo)

PAUL: That's me on the left (pointing to Ben Stiller)

JUDY: Yeah (laughing)

DAVID: That's me on the  right there (points to Owen Wilson)

PAUL: That's right. I don't know who those 2 old farts are in the middle (pointing to himself and David!)

DAVID: I don't know who those 2 old guys are in the middle, I don't know. (everyone laughs)

JUDY: What do you think of the hairstyles of the new ones?

DAVID: That's fine, you know. Hair's hair, you know?

JUDY: OK

PAUL: What there is of it. (laughing and looking over at David)

RICH: I remember from the title sequence, seeing you in mimer's gear, sort of ah, in white striped things and white face paint and there's a very nice nod to that in this very funny scene from the movie....have a look. (Clip shows Ben shooting the pony )

RICH: Oh that's great

PAUL: That's wonderful!

DAVID:One thing I said in the premiere, out in, ah, Los Angeles, we sat together and kept pointing at things that we had created.

PAUL: They did, they did such a good job.

RICH: Listen, we must talk about the documentary that's going out on Channel 4 at 9 O'clock on Sunday, about you guys, following you (talking to David) back out to America .  You meet up and there's this lovely touching scene there, the 2 of you get to meet up with the Gran Torino again. (Clip from Sunday special shown script below)

(Paul and David walk around the car) Paul :"Need help old man!"

PAUL:....and then they used to take the trunk and they used to put the sound man in there and then they stopped doing that.

DAVID: Well they used, the director used to ride with us in the back, remember?

PAUL: He stopped doing that too.

DAVID: He stopped doing that as well.

PAUL: Yeah, a lot of memories, lot of memories.

DAVID: (heads to the passenger door and get's in) See what it's like where you used to sit.

PAUL: Go ahead, I want to see what that looks like.

DAVID: Ah I'm starting to get the heebie-jeebies sitting here, where everything happened.  This is pretty scary. (has a hard time getting out of the car as Paul stands to the side, smiles keeping his hands in his pocket)

PAUL: You got out of it a lot faster and a lot better in the old days, baby - do you need a hand old man?

DAVID: ....I can't, I can't.... can you help me?

PAUL: (Paul holds his hand out and David takes it ) There you go.

(they head back into studio) END OF CLIP

RICH: You've still got the chemistry, haven't you, the chemistry without which the series, you know, scenes, some plots would have been a flop.  The chemistry's there..  have you ever analyzed it.. what works for you?

PAUL: (burst into laughter)No, no.

DAVID: No, to do that would really be to ruin it.

PAUL: (twiddles with his scarf) I hear it's being analyzed a lot..

RICH: They talked about a homophobic streak, didn't they, remember?

PAUL: (laughs and not surprised at that question) - That's where I thought you were going.
(everyone laughs)

DAVID: (laughing) I don't know what gave you that idea, huh Paulie?
(Looks at Paul and squeezes his thigh)

RICH:You used to get 25,000 fan letters a week apparently and did you get mine?

PAUL: Actually, I have that framed.....in the bathroom!

RICH: I was a serious fan, I can tell you.

DAVID: This is a guy I'm going to look up later (laughs)

RICH: So that's it, is it?  The chemistry, it's like a good comedian, you don't analyze it?

DAVID: You don't ... but I'll tell you one thing, we did, ah, that was trust (makes a hand gesture pointing to Paul), a lot of respect and a lot of trust, and I think you start with those 2 ingredients and I think you can go a long way.  You know, it's not petty, there was nothing petty about it.
(Paul is smiling and looking skeptical. I think he's trying not to laugh)

PAUL: There were a few other elements...

DAVID: Ah, shut up!

PAUL: There was......

DAVID: I'm trying to say something nice about it.

PAUL: There was a tolerance.

DAVID: Well there had to be, and patience...

PAUL: And patience

DAVID: God knows, I was patient, oh how patient.

PAUL: If I had a nickel for every time I counted to 10.

DAVID: (a lot of laughing) Tolerance, oh my, (shakes his head and rolls his eyes)

PAUL: We, ah, and what else?

RICH: Well, while you ponder that we'll have to say goodbye because this is live and we're coming to the end of the show.  It's the premiere in London tomorrow night and we hope you have a wonderful time. (speaking to Paul and David)

PAUL: Yes, it is.

PAUL: Well I hope everyone has a wonderful time, it is wonderful.

DAVID: It's good fun.. it really is, good fun.

RICH: I can't tell you how incredibly personally chuffed we are at meeting you both together.... (hand shakes and Thank you's.)