SPOILERS FOR BAD BOYS FOR LIFE below. Note that if you haven't seen the film there is another Spoiler Notice below to give you advance notice of when to stop reading if you want to avoid spoilers. I'd also advise staying out of the comments as there's always someone…
You've seen him everywhere. You know his laugh, you know his smile, you know his manic intensity. In fact, you probably know him as Joey Pants, but regardless, you've most certainly seen Joe Pantoliano in a variety of different films, TV shows, video games and even voice-over in animated films. From RISKY BUSINESS to MIDNIGHT RUN to EMPIRE OF THE SUN to THE MATRIX to MEMENTO to U.S. MARSHALS to DAREDEVIL to The Sopranos and yes, to the BAD BOYS franchise, Joey Pants has been everywhere. And, the truth is, we've been lucky to have him. We chatted with Pantoliano over the phone to discuss his latest return to the BAD BOYS franchise as the high-strung, yet "wusa" Captain Howard in BAD BOYS FOR LIFE and even dipped into some of his older films where he gave some terrific stories about his time in the trenches.
First off, I want to say it’s an honor to talk to you. In many ways I feel like I grew up with you on the big screen and it’s always a welcome addition to see Joey Pants show up in anything and looking over your filmography, you’ve never stopped working since 1977, be it for film, television, video games and voice over. What keeps you so busy?
JP: Y’know, I guess, of course I’ve been lucky. I’ve had a goal, something I wanted to do and I always try to find different forms and different genres so that I wouldn’t get pigeon-holed by a certain type-we all do anyway-but, I tried very hard. I had an agent, one of my first agents when I was a kid, who said that I would find more work as I got older, cause I was 19-20, but then he said the most important thing is if you can make a living. Anything over that, every year is gravy. And so my goal was to be able to make a living at it and provide for my family. Anything better, more valuable that came out of that, that was a good thing. But, it’s something that I’ve worked hard at and I’m just fortunate that people didn’t tire of me. I owe it to you, I owe it to fans, people that enjoy seeing me.
My first introduction to you was in 1983 as Guido The Killer Pimp in Risky Business. You worked with Tom Cruise on that when he was as fresh-faced as they come. What’s your memory of making that film?
JP: Well, y’know, everyone was really young. We had Jon Avnet, Steve Tisch, who went on to be very prolific filmmakers and producers. You know Jon [Avnet] had a directing career of his own and he actually shot some of the second unit stuff that we did [on Risky Business]. [Director] Paul Brickman was amazing and had an idea of a clear passage of the story he wanted to tell and how he wanted to tell it. And, everybody was brand new. Rebecca DeMornay was brand new, Tom [Cruise] was brand new. I had a couple of jobs under my belt, but it was a big opportunity for everybody. It was shot low budget and we were all in honey wagons in Chicago during the summer. It was just a fantastic, fantastic job.
A lot of people are catching The Sopranos for the first time while we’re all in isolation for Covid-19. Your character Ralph Cifaretto was particularly nasty one on that show. What was it like being a part of that series and working with the late James Gandolfini?
JP: Jimmy [Gandolfini] was wonderfully…he was the most generous person I’d ever known, really. And he was a tremendous, giving actor. Everybody on that job, being in New York on an extended run, y’know, I was on that job for two years, and working with New Yorkers in an area that I grew up in was a lot of fun. And, that’s all I can remember is how much fun we had. I knew [show creator] David Chase from years earlier through Larry Conner and so we had a friendship and he asked me to join the show. And, he just surrounded himself with these extraordinarily gifted actors and writers and guys like Henry Bronstein and a bunch of guys that were below the line that I worked with below the line on Eddie and the Cruisers. So, just this whole New York flair and feel was always a lot of fun.
You’ve worked with a bevy of amazing filmmakers. To name a few: Richard Donner on The Goonies, Steven Spielberg on Empire of the Sun, The Wachowski’s on Bound, Sens8 and The Matrix, Michael Bay on Bad Boys 1 & 2, Christopher Nolan on Memento. As a seasoned actor that’s worked with these people and many more, what do you think makes a great director?
JP: Y’know, Dick Donner brought a sense of play and fun to the table that was extraordinary. I worked with him on a couple of things. Same thing with Steven [Speilberg], he was the second unit director on THE GOONIES and producer and they-all of these filmmakers-have a clear idea-or sometimes they don’t. I remember being on EMPIRE OF THE SUN, y’know day 35 or 40 and Steven Spielberg was setting up a shot and he was looking into the camera lens and I heard him say “Shit!”. And, I was like, “What’s up Steven, what’s the matter?” And he goes, “Ah, I just wish it was the first day of shooting, because now I know what this movie’s about.” And, y’know, these guys are searchers. They’re searching to tell a story, they’re determining what’s in that lens frame when they size up a situation and they decide with their DP what lens they’re gonna put in and what story they’re telling within that frame line and all of those bits get put together. And the magic and blessing of storytelling comes into play. But, these guys, they’re just trying to get their day. You’ve got a schedule and you want to keep to the schedule and you want to get the shots necessary and it’s like, when the whistle blows it’s every man for himself and you better be ready.
You’ve played a lot of villains or shady characters in your day, but with Captain Howard in the Bad Boys films, you’re more of a father figure that tends to yell a lot (and with good reason, really). What was it that made you agree to the part for the first film?
JP: Oh, boy, y’know we’re just celebrating the 25th anniversary of Bad Boys, I think this week, and I could make something up if you wanted me to, but I have no idea. I can’t even remember. I see scenes in the first movie and others that I don’t even remember shooting. It’s the most extraordinary thing when you’re seeing film work that you did thirty years ago and you don’t recall being there on the day, no memory in your brain pan. It blows my mind.
I remember you yelling in the trailer “Just get the dope back and do it quietly” and I assumed you were a villain, but it turns out you’re a good guy that’s more of a father figure to Mike and Marcus-
JP: That evolved, maybe. I don’t know if it was written that way. A lot of the stuff we did we had from [directors] [Arbi] Adil and Bilall [Fallah]. [Jerry] Bruckheimer had a big, big, big part in this. I’ve been quoted as saying that Bruckheimer’s the best creative producer I’ve ever worked with. He’s got a fantastic eye. I mean, he’s the father figure of this franchise and we would work on stuff or improvise stuff the day before and that’s kind of the tradition that we continued. A day or two before we would shoot stuff, we would go into Will’s [Smith] trailer and we would work on it, talk it through. They would rewrite it sometimes. It was really enjoyable to work that way. You feel like you’re really truly a part of it; an invited participant.
You’ve got great chemistry with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence and the three of you seem to feed off of each other really well. What was it like getting the team back together 17 years later? Was it easy to pick things back up after so long?
JP: What I noticed how evolved and grown-up we’d become. I’m a grandfather for crying out loud now. And what was really cool was to see Will [Smith] and Martin’s [Lawrence] family and, Martin’s sister and Will and his kids and Martin’s kids and Bilall's [Fallah] brothers-it was a family affair. And the last couple of nights that we shot in South Beach [Miami] was fantastic cause it was just everybody taking photographs with each other’s families and we shot that at night. We owned South Beach, Ocean Avenue between 4th and 11th Street for two nights and the way that the DP lit it, it was kinda like magical, it was like being in Disneyland. So, I really enjoyed it, the whole experience, and so did my family, cause my kids grew up on movie sets, but this was special even for them.
SPOILERS FOR BAD BOYS FOR LIFE
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Captain Howard in Bad Boys For Life-
JP: Most sad for me than anybody [laughs]
It’s a tremendous loss and I have to admit that it shocked me. Was that something that was in the script or did it come about later on?
JP: It was definitely in the script. And that last scene that I have at the basketball court went through different changes and we rewrote it a couple of days before with the monk metaphor that I like very much. It was a sad moment. It was a nice moment. And, hopefully they flourish without me.
BAD BOYS FOR LIFE is now on 4K, Blu-Ray/DVD and Digital. Purchase HERE!