Exclusive Interview with Mark Pillow

[lotsaheight]

Please check out my exclusive phone interview with Mark Pillow (Nuclear Man in Superman IV) conducted on December 4, 2008. We discuss his role as Nuclear Man and his life during the 21 years since the movie's debut. Enjoy:

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6265117279011296741

[Legsy]

This is the biggest interview since God talked to Moses!

[Keith]

Any chance for a transcript of this interview for a hard of hearing guy? I'd love to read it and see what he has to say.

[Legsy]

At least he explained why he wore the costume to the premier.

[crazy_asian_man]

Awesome! Thanks for putting this up, lotsaheight!
The guy seems pretty down to earth. Great interview.

[MerM]

Great interview! Thanks a lot!

[Legsy]

Indeed!

Thank you lotsaheight!

[supes78]

I don't see why he didn't give an interview for the Superman DVDs in 2006 if he's willing to talk about his experiences on SIV now. I had assumed he never wanted to acknowledge the film again but he was pretty forthcoming in this phone interview. Although, no new revelations, just more of the same behind the scenes issues that we're all familiar with.

[Legsy]

Since he lives here in Houston (The Woodlands), I'm gonna have to track him down!

Kirok, are you game?

[Keith]

Dec 6, 2008 11:35:45 GMT -5 Legsy said:

At least he explained why he wore the costume to the premier.

What was his explanation on that?

Man I wish there was a transcript on this.

[supes78]

He said that the producers asked him to do so and that Reeve was supposed to be in costume too but he refused.

[Legsy]

Chris wasn't even at the premier. LOL!

[Metallo]

Is anyone surprised? The only reason he would wear his costume is if he was asked to by the suits. He gets a lot off flak but he wasn't exactly in the best position to say no. If I was Reeve I WOULD say no too.

Pillow seems like a decent enough guy. Not the best actor but he was just there to be muscle.

[ReeveIsSuperman]

Dec 6, 2008 12:44:25 GMT -5 Legsy said:

Since he lives here in Houston (The Woodlands), I'm gonna have to track him down!

Kirok, are you game?

Track down Lenny while your at it...

[Conor]

Lenny is in Two and a Half Men with Charlie Sheen! Great interview! Would love to hear his experiences on SIV also!

[lotsaheight]

Dec 6, 2008 11:03:13 GMT -5 Keith said:

Any chance for a transcript of this interview for a hard of hearing guy? I'd love to read it and see what he has to say.

I am currently working on the transcript for the interview. It's a little over 26 minutes long so it will be a little while before I have it completed.

Thank you everyone for the kind words. One bit of info we discussed after the interview was the possibility of him coming to the Metropolis Superman Celebration. He's never been to Metropolis but said he would be delighted to attend if they asked him. I plan to let the Metropolis Chamber know about his interest in attending and we'll see what happens from there...

By the way, this is his absolute, positively, 100% accurate mailing address:

Mark J Pillow
12103 Gray Oak Pl
Spring, TX 77380-3823

[crazy_asian_man]

One irony in the interview is that perhaps Mark Pillow may have had a richer life in devoting more of his time to family outside of the Hollywood race- post-Superman IV than Reeve had (in reading Reeve's autobiography), when Reeve seemed to be getting somewhat frustrated in Hollywood as time went on in between Superman movie roles--- of course, before the tragic accident that took Reeve on another path.

Too many times I read about this or that actor that couldn't adjust to not being in Hollywood's limelight and ending up in rehab or spiral downward in other ways: it was a joy to read that Pillow seemed to keep things steady in his life and raise a family. He seems like a good guy, with a nice sense of humor on things in the past.

[Keith]

Dec 6, 2008 19:37:51 GMT -5 lotsaheight said:

Dec 6, 2008 11:03:13 GMT -5 Keith said:

Any chance for a transcript of this interview for a hard of hearing guy? I'd love to read it and see what he has to say.

I am currently working on the transcript for the interview. It's a little over 26 minutes long so it will be a little while before I have it completed.

Thank you everyone for the kind words. One bit of info we discussed after the interview was the possibility of him coming to the Metropolis Superman Celebration. He's never been to Metropolis but said he would be delighted to attend if they asked him. I plan to let the Metropolis Chamber know about his interest in attending and we'll see what happens from there...

By the way, this is his absolute, positively, 100% accurate mailing address:

Mark J Pillow
12103 Gray Oak Pl
Spring, TX 77380-3823

Awesome, I appreciate it! I can't wait to read it

[atp]

I'm disappointed -- he doesn't sound like Gene Hackman at all!

Seriously, great work lotsaheight. Really interesting interview. And it sounds like you planned it well.

[Jimbo]

Wow, that was incredible. Thanks very much for that, Neil. I guess that rumor of him running a bar in Ireland was a load of bull. Where did that rumor come from?

I had read that the lines were pre-recorded by Hackman and he had to mime them. I guess that now confirms it. Jeez, what was Sidney thinking? Mark had pretty much no ability to act under those restrictions. I think I have a larger respect for his role now. It's all the director's fault. ;D

So the producers asked him to wear the suit to the premiere. Cannon, a chance for publicity, coupled with a stupid idea.....yup, we should have known. ;D

He sounds like an awesome guy. He was so peppy in that featurette shot around 1987. He still sounds the same, just a little deeper.

I wonder if I should send him a copy of my Superman IV cut. It does expand his role and also explains his character's feelings toward Lacy, which sounded pretty important to him.

[atp]

Dec 7, 2008 2:32:41 GMT -5 Jimbo said:

I wonder if I should send him a copy of my Superman IV cut. It does expand his role and also explains his character's feelings toward Lacy, which sounded pretty important to him.

Do it.

And perhaps invite him to register and post here.

He sounds like a very cool guy, down to earth and good sense of humour.

[Kirok]

Wonderful interview!

From the sound of it Pillow is a down to earth guy who's got his priorities in the right place and is quite content with life. It's a shame he fell off the radar for so long; surely you'd think someone would have tracked him down by now, especially with the DVDs coming out a couple of years ago. I suppose Nuclear Man being synonymous with the disaster that was SIV might have had something to do with it. Though after hearing his take on everything I sympathize with what he had to work with. Pre-recorded lines and a studio mandate to wear his costume to the premiere? Yikes.

But yeah, getting such a good vibe from Pillow may allow me to enjoy SIV more in the future. Too bad I just watched Jimbo's edit a couple of days ago or I'd put that to the test; one can only take so much SIV at a time.

Dec 6, 2008 12:44:25 GMT -5 Legsy said:

Since he lives here in Houston (The Woodlands), I'm gonna have to track him down!

Kirok, are you game?

Well...we do have his address now. ;D

[ye5man]

So many questions now answered, and nice to hear he's balanced and enjoys talking about the SIV experience. Lots of thanks for that. Would love to see a recent pic of him.

[matt]

What a great interview ;D Mark seems like a great guy, real nice.
He sure has traveled the world. Thanks for the interview!

[crazy_asian_man]

If he does attend a convention, ((if whoever is in charge of one he might attend is listening)), it might be fun to have Pillow do a 'live' feature audio commentary and have a screening of SIV there!