A New Interview With The Immortal Living Legend Stan Lee

[Stephen of Borg 2]

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Stan Lee, at 83, is as tireless as ever. Not only is he doing cameos in film versions of Marvel Comics characters that he helped create, but he's creating more superheroes and delving into all kinds of new technology. The mastermind behind Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the X-Men and others is now looking forward to Ultimo, Foreverman and a new superhero reality show.

 

He took some time from his busy schedule to talk to Science Fiction Weekly. We were supposed to talk about the Fantastic Four special-edition DVD release, but he has yet to watch any of the hours of bonus extras—and he doesn't know if he ever will. So we talked about everything else.

 

 

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Do you ever get tired of being called a legend?

 

Lee: I don't get tired of it as long as they say "living legend." I love it; gush all you want. I don't get tired of it when people say nice things.

 

 

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Are you aware of the impact that you've had on the world of entertainment?

 

Lee: I didn't for a long time. But right now I meet people now in the movie or television business who all they want to do is talk about these old comics. That's refreshing; that's incredible.

 

 

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What's incredible is that you're still going after all these years.

 

Lee: Well, 83. Most guys my age aren't around anymore. Not being able to work would be punishment, I think. I don't really see a need to retire as long as I am having fun. Yeah, I'm keeping busy.

 

 

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Let's talk about that. You have something for the SCI FI Channel [which owns SCIFI.com] called Who Wants to Be a Superhero?

 

Lee: Tentatively titled. It really is a funny idea for a show, and I'm looking forward to it. ... I really want to find a phrase that is going to be as popular as "You're fired!"

 

 

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How very Donald Trump of you.

 

Lee: We will test people in the show, and have people judge the contestants. It should be fun. ... I've got to come up with something. Maybe I'll just say, "Excelsior!"

 

 

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That seems very appropriate. And then there's the new superhero you're working on called Lightspeed?

 

Lee: [Laughs.] I decided to do something for the SCI FI Channel to put them on the map. I will be working on a few movies for them, but it looks like Lightspeed will be the first.

 

 

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Jason Connery was just named as the lead for that character. What do you think of that?

 

Lee: I like him. I didn't have a sense of the cast or the directors for any of the shows, and they don't ask me for them until the last minute. But I have seen some of the dailies of this guy, and he looks great. I like him. We also have a great villain called Python, and I can't wait to see it. I just wrote the story and someone else wrote the ... He looks like the kind of villain [an action illustrator] Jack Kirby could easily have come up with. He's an average-looking guy who faces extraordinary circumstances. That's what audiences like.

 

 

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I know your company is breaking into all sorts of new ground. Can you talk about some of the new technology you're going into?

 

Lee: Yeah, the next step is probably doing mobi-sodes—episodes for mobile phones. We'll do those.

 

 

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How about video games?

 

Lee: As far as breaking into the video-game market, I'm doing something called Ultimo and doing one with Ringo Starr, and a lot of stuff. The video-game stuff is easy for me because I do not have to do the actual script. I just have to come up with the idea of the game and who the character is and the setting. Another guy sits down for a year and [writes the] script and all the things that happen. I'm not technically adept at that. Everything has to do with original work and nothing to do with Marvel characters or what I've done before in any way.

 

 

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I guess Foreverman is an example of that?

 

Lee: Foreverman is happening! Foreverman I'm producing for Paramount, producing with Bob Evans, and I get to work with a lot of great directors and writers nowadays. Peter Briggs is coming in from England soon. [He] sent me the first draft and we will be working on a rewrite together. He did the first draft and will have a rewrite. We're going to work on that.

 

 

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What do you think makes a successful superhero? Pamela [Anderson] in Stripperella as a stripper superhero lasted one season on Spike TV, and it was a great idea. Why do some work and others don't?

 

Lee: Comics are not for kids and shouldn't be written that way. In the past I had a publisher who felt comics were just for little kiddies, so he never wanted me to use words of more than two syllables. I wanted to keep my job, and when my wife suggested I write comics my own way, that's when I came up with Fantastic Four. ... You have to be interested in the character, you have to feel he's vulnerable. I felt that way about Superman. He can't be hurt, he can't be killed, he can do anything. So where's the suspense?

 

 

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And your most successful characters all seem human-based.

 

Lee: After [Fantastic Four] for the first time, we actually started getting fan mail. We never used to get fan mail.

 

 

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Is it true that you still haven't seen all the extras of the Fantastic Four DVD?

 

Lee: Look, I'm older than Methuselah, and I'm working harder than I ever have. When I get a DVD of any movie, I'm just so glad to see the movie, and even when I have the best intentions, I don't get to the extras—no matter what the movie. ... I don't have time to watch all the other stuff on those DVDs; I barely have time to watch the movie. I really have nothing to do with planning the extras for the DVD, and when I get a movie I don't go through the featurettes or anything like that. I'm not sure who has time for it all; there's a lot on them.

 

 

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Did you like what they did with FF?

 

Lee: It was the best time for Fantastic Four. Jack Kirby [who died in 1994] created the art, and his work was brought to the big screen with state-of-the-art computers, so now we can put things on the screen we could not do for years. I thought it was beautifully acted; I was very excited for it.

 

 

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What was your favorite moment in the movie?

 

Lee: My favorite moment is probably—like everyone else, it has to have something to do with The Thing. ... My favorite part would have to do with the most intimate moments for The Thing. ... As far as the drama goes, I love the part when he comes to see his old girlfriend and she runs away from him in horror. I'm very corny, but I like melodramatic things like that.

 

 

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What did you think of Michael Chiklis in the part?

 

Lee: Chiklis was a fan of the comic book, and I got friendly with him. He wanted to play the character since he was young kid. And to think one day he'd grow up and be The Thing. He's the nicest guy in the world, but it must have been torture for him to wear that outfit. It was made so they had to pump some stuff in, get air in, but the guy could have collapsed. This was the most difficult costume anyone could have worn. It was heavy as hell, and once they put it on he could not take it off, he had to wear it the whole time. ... He did a great job.

 

 

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What's going on with a Fantastic Four sequel?

 

Lee: There is some movement on perhaps doing another, but like this first one, I won't be asked much about it until after it's already cast. You can bet they're working on it. I imagine they want the movie to be good. I'm not involved with the storyline. What they've come up with until now, of course, is based on stories I've written, but I don't say what stories to take or what to do. I have nothing to do with casting. I don't get involved.

 

 

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Will you be doing a Willie Lumpkin cameo again?

 

Lee: I hope to do a cameo again, I love that, but I don't want to be typecast as Willie Lumpkin. In the eyes of the fans, I guess, that is who I am, but I don't want to be Willie again. Maybe a CIA operative or a Navy SEAL or something more glamorous.

 

 

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You and Reed Richards [actor Ioan Gruffudd] seemed to have fun playing off each other.

 

 

Lee: The cameo in the Fantastic Four was the funniest thing. I was standing at the doorway and I'm supposed to say, "Welcome back to the Baxter, Dr. Richards." And I wanted more screentime, and, as you know, when they do these scenes they shoot them like 20 times from different angles. So the next time I added, "Welcome back to the Baxter, Dr. Richards, we missed you." Then "Welcome back to the Baxter, Dr. Richards, we missed you, how have you been?" and each time it was a bit longer. Then he started adding more too, and he said, "Good to see you, Lumpy, how are you?" By the sixth or seventh take we were engaged in a long dialogue. ... It's something that people would buy the DVD for, they'd buy it just for that. Everyone loved it, it was the funniest thing.

 

 

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You've done a fair amount of cameos—a hot dog vendor in X-Men, a security guard in Hulk and a guy who saves a passerby from falling debris caused by the Green Goblin in Spider-Man. Why?

 

Lee: I'm a frustrated actor [laughs]. My next goal is to beat Alfred Hitchcock in the number of cameos. I'm going to try to break his record.

 

 

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So give us a hint about your X-Men 3 cameo.

 

Lee: Well, it's not one of my biggest roles. I'm a little embarrassed. I'm a guy in the suburbs watering the lawn with a hose, and the water is coming out of the hose and going down on the lawn. All of a sudden the water goes up instead of down, and then—remember Sunset Boulevard, where Gloria [swanson] says, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille?" Well, it's supposed to be on a big close-up of my face, and I say, "What the f---?" And every time Brett Ratner, the director, said to make it lower and softer, and suddenly I was saying it in a whisper, so I didn't know if it would come out at all. What bothers me is that if the movie is three seconds too long then that will be the part that's cut, I'm sure. And, I don't know if it could change the rating. My lips kind of move in that shape, and the sound came out.

 

 

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Will Brett Ratner blame you if the rating is an R?

 

Lee: He's the one who told me to say it. I do these cameos, I'm a slave, I do what they tell me.

 

 

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What do you think of the new Superman movie?

 

Lee: I'm so looking forward to Superman, it's got to be great.

 

 

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How about sequels for some of the other recent Marvel Comics movies?

 

Lee: I'm sure [they're] working on a Daredevil sequel, and they should be working on a Hulk. I don't know for sure if they are.

 

 

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Would you ever want to direct one of these?

 

Lee: Of course they say everyone wants to direct. I do not have the patience for directing, and all the waiting around when they change the set and change the cameras. I couldn't do it.

 

 

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What kind of super power would you want to have if you could pick one?

 

Lee: I used to say "immortality," because I have so many things I want to do, but now I keep forgetting people's names, so I'd like to say a super memory. When someone comes over and shakes my hand I used to say, "Pleasure to meet you," and they would tell me we just had lunch the day before, so now I say, "It's a pleasure to see you," just in case I forgot that I've seen them before. So I don't say "immortality" anymore.

 

 

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You don't need it, you're already immortal.

 

Lee: Why, thank you, I like your attitude. Call me!

 

I've been a fan of Marvel comics as far back as I can remember, so he is a personal hero of mine.

Edited February 2, 2006 by Gamera

[Kor37 9]

Stan Lee Rocks!...