Fan Expo Q&A: UNT alumnus Peter Weller reflects on his creativity, accomplishments

More than just the strong jaw and quotable voice of the titular 1987 RoboCop, a poster of which hung in the dining room of Denton’s Whataburger on Fort Worth Drive for many years, Weller has appeared in over 70 films and television series. In addition to starring in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Naked Lunch and Star Trek Into Darkness, the once Dentonite is a director, lecturer and trumpeter. In fact, Weller studied at North Texas in 1966 as a trumpeter and was a member of the Four O’Clock and Five O’Clock lab bands. Soon after, he took theater classes and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1970. 

So, it’s difficult to shake the warm and fuzzy feelings whenever Weller gets remotely close to the Denton area, especially considering he’s a proud UNT grad. You might hear him mention his Denton days during his Fan Expo discussion panel this Friday at 5 p.m. or spot him sporting a UNT hat while signing autographs. Either way, Fan Expo should prove to be a treat for fans.

Q&A

Ahead of Fan Expo Dallas, the Denton Record-Chronicle rang up Weller to discuss his appearance at this weekend’s event. We also chat about his proudest creative achievements as an actor and director. Enjoy the transcribed conversation below and know that some questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Preston Barta: Since you’ve lived in Italy for 35 years, would you say you’re more artistically motivated and creative there compared to other places you’ve lived like New York and Los Angeles - whether it’s absorbing music, film, or literature to teach and tell stories cinematically?

Peter Weller: I am more awed by the arts but not any more motivated. One must be motivated in the middle of one’s own marketplace. I’m not motivated in Italy to do anything except look at the art or teach the art. Italy is a place where I regas.

Where would you say you do your best creative thinking then? Do you have a particular ritual, like warming up with a Miles Davis song or having a cup of coffee or cigar, or is it more organic for you?

For instance, right now, I’m editing a book for Cambridge University Press, and it’s on a very famous Italian polymath and an argument about how much of his inspiration came from Florence, Italy, and how much didn’t. Florence is the center of the Renaissance; they claim but not really. But they have the Ninja Turtles.

There’s a great book, titled Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day, by Joan Bolker. There’s a process for those who are prolific writers – or musicians, songwriters or poets – which is that they usually commit to a small window, and they do it immediately when they wake up in the morning. Fifteen minutes will turn into an hour and a half sometimes, or sometimes not. I get up and immediately work. I certainly don’t make any phone calls or look at the internet. I would have never got my Ph. D., finished any papers, or came nowhere near writing this book had I not done it the second I got up, where there's no interference from market life.

So, that’s one creative process I have. As far as making a movie or doing a play goes, it’s basically the same process. Movies start off early in the morning, right away you’re into it.

What about musically?

I mean, I play the trumpet all the time. I just took a week off to play in San Antonio to continue raising money for an educational fund I have with some high school buddies. Basically, as soon as I hang up this phone. I got to play the trumpet every day. 

So, when an idea hits you, do you have to deal with it right then and there, or do you have the capacity to store it away for later?

No, you have to write it down. I have a notepad. Sometimes inspiration will pop up at inconvenient times. Anything can happen anywhere, but this is not the motif I go to Italy for. 

What would say have been the five or so most creatively satisfying projects as an actor and director?

Well, I certainly think I’ve been in enough films that are mediocre. But, let’s see. For instance, there are two episodes of Hawaii Five-O (2012-2020) that I directed. It’s the first one I directed (“Hookman” – season three, episode 15) and the last I directed (“I ho’olulu, ho’ohulei ‘ia e ka makani” – season ten, episode 14). One of them was a shot-for-shot remake of the original episode of Hawaii Five-O (1973), titled “Hookman” (season six, episode one), with Jack Lord. I directed it almost as a complete replication. It was a visual challenge, and the trust that CBS, creators and producers Peter M. Lenkov, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. I was doing Star Trek Into Darkness, which [Orci and Kurtzman] co-wrote together with Damon Lindelof. [Orci] turned me onto [Lenkov], and then they asked me to direct. It was really thrilling to do that. 

On the other hand, the last Hawaii Five-O episode I did… You may think, “How can an episode of TV be more thrilling than a movie?” Well, you have eight or nine days to invent something. Some episodes were good and fun, but the last one, with Scott Caan and this astounding actress named Kate Siegel. They cast her 48 hours before we had to shoot. I called her and told her about the episode. It’s a moving story about a guy who falls in love with a woman and she dies by the afternoon. The great thing about [Caan] is to do something like this, you have to have chemistry. You can’t direct chemistry. [Siegel] has so much music in her, and [Caan] has to receive it and bounce off of it. An actor of lesser talent than [Caan] would have tried to macho his way through the scenes with her, especially when he meets her. She has to knock him off his feet. Marlon Brando said this about Cary Grant: It’s rare to see anybody that good looking who’s also that vulnerable and willing to be bowled over. Most guys that are good looking have to win. They just can’t fall down and roll with a punch. All drama is about winning and losing, every scene is a conflict. Whether you’re doing comedy or not, somebody wins and somebody loses. The actor who is willing to lose in the scene - Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, or Brando - are the ones I respect, and [Caan] has that. So, that episode, about love, survival and death was one of the greatest things I’ve done. Those two episodes there.

The 1997 movie Gold Coast, with David Caruso and Marg Helgenberger, is another one. It was Showtime’s first feature release in Europe. Elmore Leonard co-wrote it, and it was a thrill to do. Then, there’s the Oscar-nominated short film I did, “Partners,” with Griffin Dunne, Marg Helgenberger and a host of comic actors. Right after that, I directed episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street. It was one of the first mainstream and popular projects, if not the first, that dealt with homosexual antagonism on television. That was amazing. So, those are five things I am really proud of. They won’t go away for me.

Acting-wise, people would probably say RoboCop, Buckaroo Banzai, and Naked Lunch. Yes, those are absolutely challenging, wonderful and thrilling films to have done. However, I have to say this thing I did with Guillermo del Toro and Panos Cosmatos, Cabinet of Curiosities (“The Viewing” - episode seven). That was one of the most challenging and wonderful things I have ever been a part of as an actor. An hour-long Netflix project can be just as challenging as Buckaroo. 

The writers and creators of Dexter and 24 allowed me to write my way into modern oblivion. They both were fun and creative, and the creators let me rock and roll. Dexter allowed me to play a cocaine cowboy from west Texas, and that was a ball. I remember ad-libbing a line, “What the **** kind of name is Dexter?” The person who owned the rights to the book was horrified that I said that, but those writers backed it. It’s creative fun when you have leeway like that. 

I did a small movie called Shadow Hours with Balthazar Getty, and I had a ball doing that. It really is a statement about the Age of Enlightenment. To give a context of this, Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe is a morality play about if you don’t mind your manners and you make a deal with the Devil then the Devil is going to eat you. And then Gertrude Stein comes along and takes the doom and gloom of God’s punishment out of it and makes the Devil your conscience. I got to say the line in the movie, “I am that which would do ever evil but does ever good,” because I’m the thing that slaps you in the face when you’re screwing up. It’s kind of an existential way of looking at the Devil.

“Streamers” with Mike Nichols and "The Woolgatherer." There are so many plays that were challenging. And then, most recently, I did Rabbit Hole. It was a gas doing that and working with Kiefer Sutherland. Who knows what you’ll be known for at the end of the game. Humphrey Bogart said you’re lucky if you make two projects that outlive you. I know I’ve made three that will definitely outlive me and I get asked about all the time. But if I got to program my own films somewhere, I would say watch Shadow Hours, Screamers and The New Age. I cannot tell you the pride I have for making The New Age with filmmaker Michael Tolkin and Judy Davis. Judy Davis is a force of nature. 

I want to make sure we talk about your upcoming Fan Expo appearance. You were at Fan Expo ten years ago at the Irving Convention Center, where you and I first met.

Ten years ago? Is that right?

Yep. In 2013.

Wow. Yeah, my son was about to turn two. That’s right.

Yeah. This year, it’s at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Downtown Dallas, and oddly enough, it’s right next to Dallas City Hall, a.k.a. OCP Headquarters from Robocop. So, that’ll be a treat for fans. But when it comes to conventions and fan events, what is the most valuable thing you mine from the experience? Do you ever make new discoveries about the art you have created over the years from the observations fans may have about your work, or is simply just an opportunity to connect?

I get mind-blowing information about the effect some of my films and television work has had on somebody’s life. It’s nice to connect with the fans. Most are so humble and grateful to say hello. Once and a while, you’ll have someone say the reason I became a police officer is because of RoboCop. One kid came up with his mother, and he’s a teacher, and he said that RoboCop saved his life. He was at a crossroads in his life between bad and good, and his life went the other way. You see and hear these things. It’s not frequent, but the searing reality of inspiration and someone becoming an artist, actor, teacher or police officer is icing on the cake. 

Do you converse much with the other talents at these events?

There are a couple of friends who have shown up at big ones. My dear friends Christopher Lloyd, Robert Patrick, and Danny Trejo. Of those who are attending, I know Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid. I haven’t seen them in 20 or 30 years. Beverly D’Angelo is an old-time buddy. So, I’m excited to see them again.

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For more information on Fan Expo - including tickets, all attending guests, autograph/photo details and the panel schedule - visit fanexpohq.com/fanexpodallas. Weller is appearing all days of the event, from Friday to Sunday.