Chevy Chase embraces family comedy in 'Snow Day'

Jeff Howard, along with David Neil, writes the Movie Guys column, which appears Fridays in the Sun.

After sinking a hole-in-one with the success of "Caddyshack" and taking us on several unforgettable "Vacations," Chevy Chase is as cool as ever as frigidly funny weatherman Tom Brandston in the new film "Snow Day." Brandston is a meteorologist at a third-ranked television station and is forced to wear outrageous outfits in order to boost sagging ratings.

The Sun sat down with Chase recently to talk about more than just the weather:

Question: During the filming of "Snow Day," did you finally surrender to the cold?

Answer: Oh, yeah. My toes and fingers were really numb by the end of the shoot -- by the end of any given scene. Because I played the weatherman with the lowest ratings of the three-station city, I had to wear these clown-like get-ups as a court jester, and they weren't made for warmth. They were made for their look, and so I wasn't very warm.

Q: Was it a conscious decision that your last few movies have all been PG, and family friendly?

A: I think, yeah, there's no question in this case that's the choice, but I haven't really done anything in four or five years. I moved my family to the Northeast. I have three daughters, 17, 15, and 11, and I wanted them to be able to subliminally feel the sense of renewal that seasons give you and I wanted them to have a good education, and I just felt it was a smart thing to do as a dad. I also felt, and still feel, that there just aren't enough films -- and I don't mean to call it simply benign or over-sentimental -- but films that don't have a 14-inch sword going through a bed and through somebody's chest while they are making love. You know, inappropriate violence and inappropriate sexual situations and language (when) kids 10 years old are watching.

I don't see pictures out there that families can go to, that a mom can take a 6-year-old and a 16-year-old to at the same time. And so I felt, you know, it's a small part, but my name will help, and it's fun to work, and I haven't worked in a long time.

Q: Well, we know quite a few young kids who have gone to see "There's Something About Mary," a fact that shocked your "Snow Day" co-star, Chris Elliott.

A: My children have seen it, and I saw it, and it is very hard to get me to laugh. I mean, I've got to see a good joke. But I laughed on a number of occasions. I didn't think it was necessary to see a testicle caught in a zipper. ... I'm not for censorship at all, but I just don't think you need to do that. "Something About Mary" should be R-rated, which maybe it was (the movie carried an R rating). I don't really know. But you have to remember that "Vacation," the very first one, is R-rated.

Q: That R rating for "Vacation" -- has home video changed that meaning by now?

A: Yes, I think so, and I think an R means a different thing nowadays than it used to. ... But, again, I mean, who's going to understand what that meant (in "There's Something About Mary"), the masturbation scene in the bathroom and the rubbing in her hair? Even at our age, the specter of that is already something that you cringe at a little bit. But at the age where a kid has to ask, "Why is that funny?" That's a tough answer. And, "Why did you take me to that movie? Why should I see that?" That's a tough answer, you know, to give to a child.

I felt that it was important to be involved in a picture ("Snow Day") that had all the elements of a family picture and dealt with the wishes and dreams and also the problems of kids who were 11 and kids who were 18. And, metaphorically, each snowflake represented a story, all of them being symmetrically the same, but different, each one being its own. And I have my place as a weatherman who has to prove that he was a good meteorologist, and that there was a love story of the teenagers that was good for them.

Q: You mentioned your "Vacation" films. Is there still one more left in you?

A: I don't know. I would assume we're done. I went to Warner Bros. and the powers that be said, "They are getting a little long in the tooth, Chev," and you know, we've had four of them." At which point I said, "Every one of them has made you a lot of money." And they had to double-check on that afterward and they said, "You're right, they all made money." So I said, "Give that a second thought." And they said, "Well, pitch one to me." So I might do that, so I'll have to find new people over there and maybe pitch.

And I am thinking about doing "Fletch" (again). I have a very good idea for that, but, again, the same people are not over there who were over there (when "Fletch" was first released). And "Fletch" is a character somewhat in the way that Ty Webb in "Caddyshack" was, it was very much like me. It was extemporaneous so much of the time, I winged so much of that movie, that I feel very comfortable doing it, and people really like "Fletch." I thought the second one stank, but we had the writers' strike in the middle of it and it was never fully written by the time I had to shoot it, and I just thought it was awful.

:Q Would you share your idea for your next "Fletch" movie?

A: This one would be based on, without giving away the whole thing, an achievement where Fletch would become part of the investigative journalist world of television, but he would use that ambush world against that investigative journalist on television for his columns, thereby proving that it's really entertainment. It's not really investigative journalism at all when you are watching "60 Minutes" or "20/20" or anything else. It is heavily edited, and it's made to be whatever they want to make it.

Q: Do you have a favorite character or favorite movie?

A: That's hard to answer. The question is really, do I have a favorite one making or do I have a favorite one as it looks coming out? Making "The Three Amigos" was the most fun. "Funny Farm" is one of the best movies that I did that came out. I am attached strongly to "Fletch" and obviously you can feel that, and "Caddyshack," and to the first "Vacation" and to "Christmas Vacation," both of which I thought were pretty good. I have made about 28 pictures or something. There are some I have forgotten.

Q: Are you difficult to work with?

A: You would have to ask the people who work with me, but the fact is, I'm very easy.

Q: But you ad-lib a lot, don't you?

A: I do if it's allowed or called for without screwing up the other actor or the crew and the setup and everything else. The final draft is always when the camera rolls. It is not when you get in your trailer that morning and it's yellow pages. With me, particularly, I think that is important because I am extemporaneous a great deal of the time. With "Fletch," I wing so much of that -- I mean improvise.

Q: Is it just your personal style that some directors and actors find difficult to work with?

A: Yeah, there are very definitely directors. For instance, when I worked with Goldie (Hawn), our second picture ("Seems Like Old Times") was a Neil Simon picture, and Neil is one of my best friends. I said, "Can I do this or change that line?" "No!" Well, that is his way, and he's one of the greatest writers that America has had in this century. I'm not going to argue that. What I did convince him of was that I could go under the bed and do some funny things with my hand and Chuck Grodin's shoes, getting my fingers caught and doing basically some kind of cuteness, that type of thing. And he went for that, and he liked it, and I think I got, "You're dribbling or drooling on my briefs." I got that line in when this big dog came into the courtroom. But, beyond that, you know, Neil wanted it the way he wanted it, and it depends on the director and the writer.

Q: Have there been any scripts recently where you might be reuniting with Goldie Hawn?

A: No, no. There is a script that I can't wait to do with Blake Edwards that he wrote, that I think is his best yet called "It Never Rains" that I am looking very forward to doing. But I don't see Goldie doing that. You know, Goldie's had some real successes with other actors. When we did "Foul Play" we fell in love with each other. We almost got married. We were very much in love, and it showed on the screen, I think. By the time we did "It Seems Like Old Times," we had been through that part of our lives. We had been together for a short period and then realized that we were going to be very good, close friends for the rest of our lives. And I love her to death, but not to marry.

I have known my wife roughly for 20 years, and loved her very much, and Goldie's got Kurt (Russell). But I don't see a part for her, really, in this one by Blake, and she's been very successful with Steve Martin in a couple of pictures, or maybe not so successful, I don't know how they have done box office-wise. And (she's) with Kurt, and other actors. So I don't think Goldie needs me.

Q: Are you going to come back to Las Vegas soon?

A: You know, the last thing that happened in Vegas when we shot there for three months (for "Vegas Vacation") ... First of all, I drank, because you can't help it. You're gambling and drinking. I put on about 40 pounds. I lost it as soon as I quit drinking. I just looked at myself in the mirror and said, "Who is that guy?" And realized that must be vodka, and so I just stopped drinking and lost 40 pounds.

But one of the last things that happened, Beverly (D'Angelo) and I, who spent a great deal of time together, were walking by a slot machine, one of the ones with the 7s -- the three 7s, you get a lot of money. I hit three 7s after she played about three or four times, and, you know, it was a jackpot of something like 750 bucks, and she started arguing with me that she should have half of it, because she played the machine three or four times. And I said, "With that logic, I should say, give a dollar to everybody who played it the last 750 times."

We started this argument and realized that even though it was late at night that we were surrounded by people saying, "That's the Griswolds. That's Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo fighting over who should get this money." We didn't even care. We were just having our battle, you know. It was a very funny moment in time. I really had a great time in Vegas. ... I will go when there's a good fight or something.

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