(Jan. 2006) David Faustino
was kind enough to spend a few minutes with Pop Culture
Madness to talk about his current release, National Lampoon's
Pucked (also starring Jon Bon Jovi), his rap career, his
upcoming projects and his life as one of America's favorite
underwhelming kids, Bud Bundy. Once we fix a technical glitch,
we'll have the audio portion in its entirety.
David Faustino: Joe?
Joe: (shuffling papers, obviously unprepared
for the call) Hi David! Thanks you very much for taking
the time to call!
(a few formalities take place and...)
** originally planned as an audio/text interview,
a technical snafu has made the audio unavailable as of now
(sorry about that) **
J: We did some research, and we found a
picture of you when you were about 12 in a leather jacket.
DF: That's on the website?
J: No, we would not do that to you!
DF; Oh, hahahah. Yes I do remember that picture.
J: When they make young actors do things...
DF: Yeah, isn't that funny?
J: Your first gig was when you were three
months old, with Lily Tomlin?
DF: Yea, basically that was the first role
I did. I came from a show business family. My father was
a wardrobe man for years and years, and worked with everybody,
you name it, and some point my older brother was on set
with him, and they wanted to use him in a commercial and
next thing you know, all the kids started doing commercials
and getting into acting. So I just fell into it and at three
months old they had the Lily Tomlin audition and I went
in, and the part was actually for her daughter, and she
held me and I was one of the only babies that didn't cry,
so she said "This is the one." Basically, my first
role, I played a girl. Big stretch.
J: You've had over 60 roles. You're a busy
guy!
DF: I've been really, really, really lucky
and blessed in my career. I've been doing it a long time
and its been really good to me. I enjoy what I do and I
love working in this business.
J: I see that you have a highly collectable
and out-of-print CD.
DF: The highly collectable and what, out of
print CD? The Balystix album? Yes, that was an album that
we cut back in, I'm guessing '93, but we ran a Hip-Hop club
out here in L.A. It was the first Hip Hop club on the Sunset
Strip, back when it was like, you know, noone even knew
about it. It very like on the east side of town. We discovered
some bands and some talent there. Actually, that's where
the Black Eyed Peas met. They all basically met there and
joined forces. We just tried to put some of the talent that
we saw there together on a compilation album and of course
I had to put myself on it. It was a pretty good E.P., with
I guess, 4-6 songs on there.
J: What do you think of rap today versus
back then? It's a different animal.
DF: Yes it is. I'm not one of those guys who's
gonna say, oh my God back ion the day it was so much better,
but it kind of was. But there still great things today,
but I find them to be few and far between. It's like I turn
on the radio and I'll hear some really great stuff, but
then I have to weed through so much, in my opinion, garbage
that it's hard for me to listen.
J: They say that out of everything, it
doesn't matter what the subject is, 95% of it is crap, and
5% is excellent.
DF: Yeah! I guess that's the case, eh? I really
think, how do these guys work, I mean somebody's buying
this stuff. I'm just a fan of the east coast nice regular
rhymes, I'm not really a big I don't know, booty shaker!
hahaha
J: Actually, I like Eminem. Probably, in
my opinion, the most talented guy in the field.
DF: I love Eminem. He is absolutely without
a doubt a talented rapper. There's no question about that.
I'm a huge fan of his. Matter of fact I just set my Tivo
for his concert coming on MTV2. Live from Madison Square
Garden, I got that Tivoed so I can bang, play that really
loud.
J: As a side note, my partner in this Pop
Culture venture is Anna, and she moved here from Russia
and the first show that helped her family learn English
was Married With Children.
DF: Oh that's cool.
J: We wanted you to know that.
DF: That's very cool, I've actually heard
that from an amazing amount of people who've actually stopped
me in the street and told me that. That they learned English
from watching the show.
J: Funny, the critics hated the show, as
you know, and they hated Gilligan's Island. These are two
shows that, everybody and their mom, watched, and watch
the reruns.
DF: Well I tend to think the critics were
right about Gilligan's Island. hahaha. Sorta. You know,
they did attack us at first, and I think that was the thing
that bothered the creators the most. The show was never
really respected by its peers. The fans loved it, people
watched it. I go out in the street and... I was in Vegas
yesterday. Everybody, from all walks, rich, poor, it doesn't
matter. Most people really liked the show, except for the
people within the Hollywood community. Those were the only
people who just didn't get it, didn't respect it and didn't
really watch it.
J: I remember the first time my dad watched
the show. He sat down, said "I hate shows like this"
and Ed O'Neil (father Al Bundy) was carrying a big box from
the basement, it was way too heavy for him and he said "I'm
alright... I don't need any help", while you kids sat
watching Tv or something, and my dad just broke out laughing.
It was real to him. My dad had four sons and he really did
do all the hard word.
DF: hahaha! Right! Because people can relate,
you know?
J: In the weeks after Married With Children
you went into a mall with a MWC T-Shirt on, you went into
the mall and nobody recognized you?
DF: Yeah, I did. I was really excited because
when they first aired the show they did the back to back
Sunday night. It was Fox's creative way of blasting off
the new network. They did Tracy Ullmann, Married With Children
and another show (Duet) and they played them three times
on Sundays, by which they tried to force-feed people. So
they did that for 2-3 weeks in a row, so I thought "OK,
I've got my little Married With Children shirt, I'm going
to the mall, I'm gonna wear this thing and someone is gonna
recognize me, for the first time", and IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!
hahaha!
J: Now, I guess its just the opposite...
DF: It's pretty crazy now. It's crazy how
many people still watch it and recognize me. But I have
ways where I don't. You can call attention to yourself or
not call attention, depending on what mood you're in. Then
again, you can try to hide and someone will spot you.
J: Well, Michael Jackson can't.
DF: Yes, this is true. Yes, I'm very grateful
that I don't have his problem.
J; Or any of them.
DF: yeah, ANY of them. Absolutely.
J: May I ask you a couple of "acting
type" questions?
DF: Sure.
J: When you are preparing for a role, how
do you approach it?
DF: First of all I just read and see if I
can do it, if it's something I vibe with. I've learned the
lesson that if you read something and you try and try, and
you feel like you're forcing yourself to go into an audition,
I find I don't necessarily get those jobs, so first I just
try to see if I can even vibe with it, and if I do, then
I just do the work. I get into it. I get out my notepad,
and write down all the givens, everything I can, and I do
the lessons that I basically learned from acting class.
What does the director need? What does he want? And I just
go about it. It's not hard work, if it's a great character
that you like and you can relate to, it shouldn't really
be hard, it should be fun work.
J: While you are on a set, can you just
flick out back of character or are you stuck in character
for a while?
DF: I don't do the stay in character thing,
but obviously if it's a heavy duty scene you're not gonna
sit there and joke around, talk to people, although I do
respect people like Renée Zellweger for instance,
who had the guts to keep her English accent during the whole
time she shot Briget Jones' Diary. She had the guts to literally,
the entire time she shot that, speak in the accent, when
she went out, on set, everywhere. That takes guts, and she
said that she had to work through some issues, because she
was embarrassed and stuff, but her coach said to her, that
at the end of the day, that don't you think it's easier
just to stay in that, instead of hopping in and hopping
out the whole time? So if I had an accent, I would absolutely
try that. But as far as "character" character,
I'm on when they say action.
J: Do you have a routine or any kind of
superstition, if you are going to get a role or hoping to
get a role.
DF: No I don't, I don't believe in superstition.
Not at all.
J: What was your greatest fame moment?
DF: Man, I've had some good ones. No one's
ever asked me my greatest fame moment but it probably really
boils down to the people that I got to meet, people that
I've been a fan of. I remember when Eminem, when I was the
source awards a few years back, when he had just dropped
the Marshall Mathers LP, it was huge and and he was going
down, on his way to accept his award and I happened to be
sitting in the aisle row and I reached out to shake his
hand, and he looked at me and he's like "Woah! Man!
<Heck!> I grew up with you, man!" And this was
on his way to get an award, so that was kind of cool. But,
I've had a lot of moments like that with people that I didn't
know knew I existed, and you're in these people's consciousness,
and they are aware of you, so it's interesting. And not
only that, the places I've been able to travel, the perks
that come along are just amazing.
J: You sound very down to Earth.
DF: Thank you. Well, I try.
J: Are there any roles that you've turned
down that you later regretted?
DF: Yeah, not many but there is one actually
that I wish I had done and I don't know why I turned it
down. Aerosmith did a video a number of years back where
there was a guy who was basically calling a phone sex line
and in his fantasy, she was this beautiful woman, and at
the end of the phone call, the lady hangs up and the reality
was that it was this fat woman ironing, and it was a famous
video, they played it all the time (Sweet Emotion). They
requested me to do the video, they wanted me to play the
guy in the video, in the fantasy. It was great little role,
and for some reason I turned it down. When I saw the video
I thought it was so cool and I wish I had done it. I never
got the chance, but if I could, I'd like to tell them at
some point that I wish I had done the video.
J: Your birthday is in a few weeks. Hoping
for anything special?
DF: No, it's one of those ones, I'm turning
32... no, I just want to have a decent, fun evening, just
have a good time and nothing to spectacular. I just want
to be mellow.
J: You've been married two years, any kids
or plans for kids?
DF: We both want them, we're sort of career
oriented right now. We have a lot going on. We like to have
a good time and enjoy our freedom, so we're putting that
off for a little while, but we both want them.
J: Let's talk a little bit about your movie,
Pucked. It looks like it was fun to make.
DF: Yeah, we did. We had a good time, we were
down in Greensboro, North Carolina, a lot of down home folks
were very nice and very accommodating. We met some good
people.
J: In message boards and chatrooms I've
seen, where people talking about the movie, everyone had
nothing but nice things to say about everybody from the
cast.
DF: Oh, that's cool. Even Jon, huh?
J: Even Jon.
DF & J:- laughing
J: Which leads to another question. What
are five things, given that most of Pop Culture Madness
is music oriented, tell me five things about Jon Bon Jovi
that his fans might not know.
DF: Well, he loves white wine, not to a fault,
but loves his white wine. What else? As rich as you think
he is, he's richer. He smokes lots of cigarettes, but his
fans probably know that already.
J: I didn't know that.
DF: He's very direct with people. If he likes
you, he lets you know right away and if he doesn't, he lets
you know also. He doesn't put up any fronts whatsoever.
He doesn't try to be nice, and I respect that. That's the
way he is. And fifth? Hehehe.
J: Uh oh a laugh, will that have to be
edited?
DF: No no, I'm trying to think... The fifth
is, that, if you give him enough white wine at a bar, he'll
get up and rock one of his hits
J: So Jon can be bribed to sing, for a
few drinks.
DF: Yes. Exactly.
J: When I watched Pucked, it looked like
the girls kind of knew what they were doing on the ice.
They didn't just get a couple of girls who skated around.
They didn't have live action shots like the olympics would
have, did they have girls who actually knew how to skate
a bit?
DF: Yeah, they had like half real hockey players
from the area we were shooting in. There was a real women's
federation or league there locally. Those girls did the
real action stuff, and there were actresses and some extras
peppered throughout.
J: They didn't do a lot of hype for this
movie.
DF: No, because it's opening in very select
(locations) It's only in 6-7 cities. Those cities are the
"guinea pigs", and if it does well then hopefully
it will go wider. It's a smaller movie, and I think they
just want to test out the waters.
J: I had mixed feelings about it. I had
no problems with anybody's performance in the movie, but
I didn't love it. It seemed to be aimed halfway between
older kids and halfway an afternoon special.
DF: Yeah, it sort of doesn't know what it
wants to be in ways.. I mean Arthur Hiller directed...
J: He's been around, he knows his stuff.
DF: Yeah, he's been around, he's a classic
director and I'm a huge fan of his, however, it is a National
Lampoon movie, it is supposed to be edgy. It is supposed
to be hip. It is supposed to be fresh. I think that there
were some crossed visions here and there.
J: I agree with you. It could have been
really good on any of several levels if they had stuck with
it.
DF: Exactly.
J: The target market just didn't seem consistant.
DF: I agree and I think that may be an issue
for them when it comes to an audience. That's why, in this
case, unless I'm producing on something, I just show up
and I do the best job that I possibly can. I do the job
I do. You can pray and hope for the best...
J: It looked like you and Curtis Armstrong
had the right kind of chemistry between the two of you.
I liked the scenes, the talks between the two of you, with
everything going on around you.
DF: Curtis is a great guy. It's funny, we
had just worked for the first time together, two weeks before
that on a guest spot on UPN, and then all of a sudden we
got this together which is kind of funny. Yeah he's a cool
guy and I think he's a good actor.
J: He started with the Revenge of the Nerds
movies...
DF:- Exactly, and what a great role he had
in Ray.
J: I didn't see Ray yet...
DF: Oh man, you gotta see it. He's got a great
role, in the first half of the movie, he's in a lot of it
and he plays a great character.
J: It makes me want to see it even more.
It's on my "to see" list, but I just haven't gotten
to. He had the role in Moonlighting too, he seems like a
guy who's consistently getting work, and that's a good thing.
DF: Exactly, he's one of those guys like me,
he's very blessed in that he always works and he may not
be at the top at some points, but he's always around.
J: Upcoming, you're doing a movie with
Jason Mewes, I guess it's finished filming by now?
DF: We shot that, it's called Nice Guys, with
Corin Nemic, who's a great actor who played Parker of Parker
Lewis Can't Lose (1990, Fox).
J: Another under-rated show.
DF: And Corin Nemic is an under rated actor.
He's a good friend of mine and we're actually in production
now, we have a team together now where we're creating projects,
finding projects and putting them together. We're actually
in talks with Lampoon on some other stuff right now. We
have exciting stuff happening.
J: And you're part owner of a restaurant...
DF: I'm not any more.
J: No more washing dishes?
DF: I got out of that business, and I don't
know that I'll return to the restaurant business any time
soon. Not my cup of tea.
J: I remember, where I got married, a place
called The Eagle's Nest, a place owned by retired Eagle's
quarterback Ron Jawarski, it stuck me, while we were making
final arrangements that he was actually busing tables. Not
at the wedding, obviously, but he there a few days before.
I'm not sure it was part of his job description, but he
was there, carrying dirty dishes.
DF: That's hilarious, it just wasn't for me.
There was a lot to know, and a lot to watch. I'm busy doing
other things, and it's an eyes-on business, and a difficult
one.
J: There's cash involved...
DF: And you have to trust, and out here, and
in any big city, there's a lot of uh, interesting folks,
you know what I mean? I wanted to get out without getting
hurt.
J: I guess you're sticking mainly in the
entertainment business, looking at producing and acting...
DF: Yeah, we're looking at a slate of reality
shows with a company that we've teamed up with and taking
them out to networks. One is a scripted reality that Corin
and I would actually be in together, basically a ruse on
ourselves. Other ones we've created would not for us to
be in at all, but actual shows that we just came up with
that we thought people would actually want to see, reality
based. Mostly all in entertainment though.
J: A few questions left. Anna suggested
that we should go for a Barbara Walters moment and try to
make you cry.
DF: hahaha! Good Luck!
J: Did you ever have a pet that disappeared?
DF: No, but my mom did run over my dog. The
thing was, in my mom's defense, my mom claims it was an
act of God because the dog was dying of cancer, which is
of course miserable, and she got behind the car and my mom
didn't see her, and she ran over it, which was a tragedy,
but again, it was dying so... It was kind of sad, but you're
not gonna get any tears out of me from that.
J: Here's a two part question. You're stuck
on a desert island. Who do you want to be with, Mary Ann
or Ginger?
DF: It's funny, pathetically enough, I was
never a fan of the show, I don't know which one's which!
J: Mary Ann is the farm girl, Ginger's
the actress.
DF: Farmgirl. I'm tired of actresses.
J: Part 2, Mary Ann or Jeannie, from I
Dream of Jeannie?
DF: (without hesitation) Jeannie!
J: Everybody chooses her.
DF: There's magical things that can happen
there!
J: Top 50, you made VH1's list of greatest
kid stars. You were # 48. Almost all of them were arrested
for something. Assuming the statute of limitations has passed,
what have you gotten away with?
DF: Oh, I've gotten away with an amazing amount.
The fact that I was never arrested is an amazing fact. I've
really gotten by the skin of my nose in this town. But then
again, I've been smart with myself. I know how to have a
good time, but I also know how to reel it in. That's the
difference. If you know when its time to play and when its
time to be real... There's a lot of people who get carried
away with the partying aspect of it. I always know when
its time to work and that's what kept me safe.
On that whole VH1 note, it's funny because
being number 48, they asked me to do the show, and I just
didn't feel like doing the interview, so they promised me
I'd be in the top 20 if I did the interview, and because
I refused they made me number 48! I Thought that was interesting.
J: I look at lists like that, and a few
years ago, Blender Magazine came out with a "Worst
Song List", everybody disagreed with it. We have a
worst song list on Pop Culture Madness and hundreds of radio
stations referred to our list as the correct one. We weren't
just a couple of editors looking for something to do. Our
list started out with ten songs, years ago, we had people
adding and suggesting, the list always changed.
DF: You didn't have corporate reasons...
J: Exactly. There's a good side and bad
side to that. The bad side is, we don't have the limos...
DF: Or the jets!
J: (sigh)
DF: I just flew on a G-2 yesterday. Came back
from Vegas, came back from the premiere of Hairspray at
the Luxor. I got to fly back with Alan Thicke and his lady,
it was cool. It was very exciting my wife had never been
on one before.
J: You've always been an L.A. kind of guy?
DF: I am, born and raised. Burbank, California.
J: Anna just slid me two more questions...
What do you do in your free time? Any hobbies?
DF: One of my things on my intention list
year is to start a new hobby. Hobbies are good, I think
in that we do a lot of things. We love to work-out, take
walks, we like to go out, we enjoy the city, go to museums,
we do all things we can to enjoy life as much as we can.
J: Quality time with a loved one, the best
hobby of all!
DF: Yes it is. We enjoy spending time together.
J: Do you go online very often?
DF: Not really. Yeah, I go to sites, but I'm
mostly a check the news kind of guy. Check the news, do
my e-mail. I find I get sucked in too quickly.
J: Do you read many books?
DF: I do, but I haven't lately because I've
busy. I have a stack of things I want to get to.
J: Grandmaster B. Explain? Anna wants to
know what made you want to try this rap thing?
DF: I was always a fan of the music, from
day one. We did that whole hip hop club thing, and that's
where we decided to do the album from. Grandmaster B was
basically the (MWC) writers attempt to just poking fun at
me really. They were good at poking fun at all of us. Everything
on the show was traits of our own personalities that they
ended up writing into it.
DF: What else? Are we a..
J: I think we're kind of done. You might be
free to go have breakfast or did you just roll out of bed?
DF: No, I've been up for a little while,
but I'm definitely ready for some food.
J: Thank you very much for taking time out
of your day to talk to us.
DF: Thank you.
