I love Crispin Glover, hes been in Willard, Back to the Future, Whats Eating Gilbert Grape?, Friday the 13^th the Final Chapter, and many others.  He is thought to be insane, due to music, his guest show on Letterman when he tried to attack him, his roles, his books, etc.  I think he is genius, on his album, his songs range from demented poetry,, sings a song written by Charles Manson, raps about jacking off, and remakes These Boots are Made for Walking.  I havent exactly heard his full album yet but I have heard sound clips and I am hoping to try and find it.  I love music like his.  Once again, like on my Stanhope page this has reviews of his cd, and Q&A sessions with him and a little fact list.  So enjoy the world of Crispin Hellion Glover..

Birth Name: Crispin Helion Glover
Birthdate: April 20, 1964
Birthplace: New York, New York
Occupations: Actor, Writer, Musician
Quote: "A geek by definition is somebody who eats live animals. I've never eaten live animals." -- Details, June, 1992
Claim to Fame: Breakthrough performance as the speedy, whacked-out Layne in River's Edge (1986)

Family:
Father: Bruce Glover, actor

Factoids:
Settled a lawsuit against Steven Spielberg and the producers of Back to the Future II after they illegally incorporated footage from Glover's performance in the first film for use in the sequel

Education:
Trained in acting with Peggy Feury and Dan Mason
Beverly Hills High School, Berverly Hills, California; graduated 1982

Crispin Hellion Glover (yes, his real name) is a strange guy, and everything he does smacks of that weirdness. You've seen him in "River's Edge," "Wild at Heart," and most recently, "The People vs. Larry Flynt," although he's made dozens of other movies, written books and even put out a spoken-word album. Yessir,Glover spread his strangeness around. The Wildcat was lucky enough to score an interview with him, since he's going to be doing a slide show and film screening in town this weekend.

Wildcat: How do you see your image? Does it bother you to know that people see you as odd or weird?

Crispin Glover: Well, no, it doesn't bother me as long as it doesn't interfere with my work, and so far, it hasn't.

WC: What is your latest project? What will you be showing us in Tucson?

CG: I'll be screening my movie and doing some readings as well, probably. The film is called "What Is It," being the adventures of a young man who's principal interests are snails, salt, a pipe and how to get home as told through the eyes of an hub ristic, racist monarchy.

WC: I see.

CG: It's 65 minutes. It's not a short film, and yet it's not like a 90-minute.

WC: Who did you work with on this one?

CG: Well, most of the actors in it have Down's syndrome. It started out to be a shorter film, but it did turn out to be a feature film and I'm in it as well. This fellow named Steve Stewart with cerebral palsy and I are in this other portion of the film. It's a kind of movie within a film. And I wrote it and directed it and I'm in, but most of the cast had Down's syndrome. And yet, it's not a film about Down's syndrome. Part of it is, well, I don't really want to get into it.

WC: Sooooo, it's not a documentary about Down 's syndrome.

CG: No, it's more of a live-action story-driven film.

WC: Even with this new project, you seem to take a lot of risks - do you see it that way? Or do you see them as little adventures?

CG: Yes, well, I try to do things that genuinely interest me and if there is something about going to places that are not necessarily the places that you are seen in all the time, I find that interesting. I suppose it's considered a risk, to go to somewhere that is unusual, but I just find that more fun.

WC: How do you keep yourself inspired? Is it a drain to be so weird all the time?

CG: I find it very difficult to find things that interest me, that's why I'm making my own movies, because I find that a lot of the things that are occurring in films that are being made don't genuinely interest me. I like these things that people call unusual, or whatever, they appeal to me.

WC: You were in "The People vs. Larry Flynt." Do you have any particular feelings about pornography?

CG: The reason why I did that movie, well, I've always loved Milos Forman's films, and I admire him as a director. I think he's one of the best ones around. And when I heard that he was doing the story of Larry Flynt, I've always quite admired the Larry Flynt story, what I knew of it, and I thought it was a good story.

WC: You've been in a lot of movies , and you usually have the oddest parts, like Dell in "Wild at Heart" (Glover plays Laura Dern's disturbed cousin who shoves cockroaches in his rectum). Do you prefer these strange parts over more normal ones?

CG: I don't really think of them as odd. They just draw my interest.

WC: Think you'll ever work with Spielberg again?

CG: (Laughs) Well, I'm not sure. I sued him over that whole "Back to the Future" thing, where they made up some other actor to look like me to play my character in the sequel.

WC: How did it feel to see someone pretend to be you?

CG: Well, I would not have minded so much if it had only been that. What I did mind is that they interspliced it with original footage of me and that it seemed to me that they were fooling audiences into believing that that actor was me, and that w as infuriating. I might have even gone over what I'm supposed to say about this. Ultimately, what I'm supposed to say is that this case was settled with "mutual consent." I really don't want to open myself to legal problems.

WC: What about the Letterman incident? (Glover appeared as a guest on David Letterman's show, and after a few minutes of uneasy banter, stood up and proceeded to kick his legs up into the air saying "I'm strong! Look, I can kick!" The show then c ut into a commercial break, after which Letterman explained Glover's absence form the stage by saying that Glover had to catch a cab. You can check out the transcripts of the show at http://www. icaen.uiowa.edu/~idonovan/.glover.html)

CG: Oh yes, people find that interesting.

WC: Well, so were you aiming for Letterman's head? Are you sad that you missed?

CG: I could give two answers to that. I could say "yes, I was aiming for his head," or "no, I didn't want to hit him," but I think that either way, I'd much rather not say. People just wouldn't find it as interesting if they knew.

WC: How are you going to celebrate the year of the ox?

CG: Is that what it is? Well, I guess I'll just be promoting this movie and working.

http://wildcat.arizona.edu//papers/90/101/23_1_m.html  

http://www.eonline.com/Celebs/Qa/Glover/index.html?fresh  

For his latest role, Crispin Glover didn't have to rehearse with his diminutive costar so much as let the little guy get used to his smell.

No, he's not working with Michael J. Fox again. Glover, who has appeared in such films as Back to the Future, The River's Edge and What's Eating Gilbert Grape, plays the title role in Willard, a remake of the 1971 creature feature about a lonely man who communicates with some vindictive rats. It's the sort of role that will secure his status as a cult superstar.

Not that the prolific Glover needs much help with that. He has self-published three unusual books, including one titled Rat Catching. He puts out albums, like 1989's The Big Problem Does Not Equal the Solution. The Solution=Let It Be and has recorded a version of "Ben," Michael Jackson's hit about a boy and his rat from Willard's 1972 sequel.

And then there are Glover's movies. He has directed, financed and nearly completed two of his own films, both of which star a man with advanced cerebral palsy. And somehow he found the time to return as the silent but deadly Thin Man in this summer's Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle.

Here, Glover talks about living and working with rats and why it's good to fly the freak flag.

When I mention to people that you're starring in the remake of Willard, they invariably say it's perfect casting. Do you agree?
I actually think it's good casting as well. I think I'm really right for this role. I had never seen Willard, but I was aware of the film. It sounded initially interesting to me, and then I really liked the script--it is a great part, really well written.

Do you like rats?
I've always thought they were nice animals. I did have a rat infestation at my house once. They are terrible pests. I felt bad about it, but you have to get rid of them. When they're trained animals and very clean, they're pretty nice to work with.

You actually published a book called Rat Catching, in which you added images and text to a Victorian book on rats. Is this a theme in your life?
I published it in 1987. I made it in 1984, so it's almost 20 years old now. It was the first book I published. It is a funny coincidence that I did that book so long ago and now I'm in this movie.

Okay, since you're the expert here: Do you think they'd eat you given the chance?
Rats will eat a lot. I think they eat meat. If there's a case where there's rats locked away and there's some dead flesh, human or not, I'm sure they'd go to it! Generally, they don't attack, but you never know.

Did you have to spend a lot time training and bonding with the rats?
I didn't have to train, but they wanted me to meet the lead rat, Socrates, and have it get used to my smell, so the rats would feel comfortable with me. They have a different kind of intelligence than a cat or a dog. Cats and dogs are used to getting fed for kind of just being there, but a rat has to find places where food is, so you can get them to do these specific motions by rewarding them with food.

Would you rank this as one of your more bizarre moviemaking experiences?
Not actually bizarre, but I would call it one of my favorite characters. I'm excited about this film. I don't know what the audience reaction will be at large, but I feel good about it.

I've always had the impression that you only work when something catches your fancy. Is that right?
If I need money, I spend a lot of time thinking about what my next job is and what I'm going to do. [Laughs.] And when I have a lot of money, I still think about it. I am career-minded, so I do think about it a fair amount. I am financially secure, but I need to work. If I'm forced to work, I work more, and there's something good about that. Making my films forced me to work more, because it's expensive to make [your own] movies--even independent things are expensive to do.

This role, Willard, is one of my favorite roles. I'm sure I was offered it because I've been doing more commercial films, particularly films that have had large box-office appeal. On one hand, I've been doing that to help finance my films, but it's interesting that it's been good for my acting career as well.

What can you tell us about the Charlie's Angels sequel? Does your character, the Thin Man, get more vocal this time out?
I still don't speak. I like that. When I first went in for the role, the character had lines. I didn't like the screenplay very much at the time. I didn't like the lines the Thin Man had, but they wanted to find out what my ideas were. And I thought it would just be better if this character--whoever played it--didn't talk and would be a silent combative element.

The director, McG, who's a very enthusiastic kind of person, immediately said, "Yeah, that's great!" Then I started thinking that if they really want to make it a completly silent character, he could be doing these martial arts, and that could really be interesting.

I hesitate to say what I do in the sequel, because you never know what's going to get cut out. I'm excited about certain things in it. There's still fighting going on in the film, definitely.

What's going on with your music? Will you release another album soon?
I have another album ready, but my films have kind of taken over. It may make sense right now, for me, because of the song being in the film [Glover has recorded a new version of "Ben," the original film's theme] and directing the video for it. Maybe it will make sense to put that out relatively soon, 'cause it has been a long time.

When I had the first record out, there were producers who approached me. It sounded like a lark, and then I realized they were serious. I didn't make them very happy, because I threw out a bunch of stuff after it didn't really fit the concept. This new one has a concept as well

The way things are, I don't like to say, "This is what's going to happen next." Because it's hard to know. I have a lot that needs to be done, particularly the films, but it makes sense to get this album out, too.

That's the difficulty of producing yourself. When somebody else is producing, they have a mandatory financial burden that's going to happen if this isn't done in time. I've gotten myself in the position of now I need to work as an actor in order to keep going [on my other projects]. It's weird.

Speaking of that, people describe you as eccentric. Does that bother you?
Eccentric doesn't bother me. "Eccentric" being a poetic interpretation of a mathematical term meaning something that doesn't follow the lines--that's okay. But I go on the Internet and look at things, and I can see this urban legend element that starts to become weird. I see things like, "That guy's nuts," "He's crazy--insane," and people will believe anything that's said.

So, if I see something that just kind of becomes simplistic, that's not as interesting to me. But by and large, I'm certainly not treated like that, and I don't feel badly about how people think of me.

Does all that speculation help or hurt your career?
There's no question that what people think of me does affect what I am career-wise, but that doesn't mean it's bad. [Laughs.] There is a point, before one is established, where one wants to establish [oneself as] some kind of something. So, once that something has been established, it's good. I don't have a problem with having a kind of...thing. Ultimately, I know it's a good thing.