To our friends across the pond today is July 4th. A time where Americans celebrate the fact that they managed to push out the British Aristocracy and become an independent country with all the advantages and disadvantages independence brings. It is also a celebration of heroes, so we here at SciFiPulse would like to tip our hat to one of Americas most unlikeliest fictional television heroes who is refereed to as The Greatest American Hero.
A few weeks ago the radio arm of SciFiPulse managed to secure an interview with William Katt who played the title role in Greatest American Hero. Katt was more than happy to talk about the role, and even talked a little about the movie, which is currently in development.
When asked about getting the role in Greatest American Hero. Katt admitted that he was a little dubious about taking on the role at first, feeling that as a stage actor he was above such things.
“Stephen sent me this script, it was laugh out loud funny. I wasn’t really excited about doing television at the time, I was pretty snobbish about it… But I laughed out loud from the script, so I agreed to a meeting, Stephen flew to New York, and he sat through the play, and he took me out to dinner at the Russian Tea Room. We shook hands, and I said I’d come and do the part. The night we closed the show in NYC, I was then on a plane, bound for Los Angeles. That morning, when the reality struck me that I had to wear that spandex suit and wear it in public, it was just a frightening proposition. You gotta remember, today it’s a coveted place to be to be asked to do one of these high concept, science fiction or comic book characters, back then at the time, there wasn’t many… it came with a double edged sword, I would be relegated to those parts, and it doesn’t have the cool cachet it does today.”
Over the last couple of years there’s been much speculation about a Greatest American Feature Film. At present the film is still pretty much in development, and Katt who has read the script has every confidence that we’ll see the movie at some future date.
“I think we’ll see the movie. I read a very good script, that Stephen gave to me, and I told him it was very funny. A few years ago, I heard Owen Wilson’s name was bantered about… although I think Owen is a little, with no discredit to him, nor disrespect, but he’s a bit long in the tooth for that role maybe now. I know from visiting Stephen about a month ago, that the script is still very much alive, I think the film director who originally did the big movie Scooby Doo, may be attached. I thought the first Scooby Doo movie was a fun, clever script with great FX work. I think offers are going out to a few really big young stars, and honestly, I’m sworn not to say anything, so I’m not at liberty to discuss it, but I feel fairly certain that the movie will get made. It deserves to be seen.”
You can listen to the whole of this interview with William Katt in which he talks about his Greatest American Hero comic and Sparks at the link provided below.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/SciFiPulse/2009/06/09/Episode-15-Featuring-William-Katt-Interview
By Ian M. Cullen
Share this:
