I'm Chevy Chase ... and You're Not by Fruchter Rena

Author:Fruchter, Rena [Fruchter, Rena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2013-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

14. A FEW GOOD AMIGOS

CHEVY HAD TRULY become part of the Hollywood “in-crowd.” He had joined the elite celebrity group. He was respected and admired by actors who had been his idols, many of whom had complimentary things to say about Chevy’s willingness to speak out.

On one occasion, Chevy was a guest on the Johnny Carson show, and Carson did an impersonation of Sylvester Stallone. “I was fed up with the endless impersonations of him,” Chevy said, and he spoke up. After the broadcast, Stallone wrote to him, saying: “Dear Chevy, The world is littered with very small and often cruel inhabitants. Every now and then a man will defend an unpopular position. Some call it audacity. I prefer to call it class. Sincerely, Sylvester.”

On another occasion, Paul Newman wrote to him: “Dear Chevy, You are some special kick in the butt. You’ve had oral encomium enough but thought I’d put it in writing in case you wanted something to burn. You add luster and dimension to the word ‘class.’ Best, Paul.”

Chevy received the letter around the time he had offered to help Paul Newman with his summer camp for children. Newman also admired Chevy’s willingness to speak his mind on important subjects. Interestingly, both Newman and Stallone independently used the word ‘class’ to describe Chevy’s way of dealing with people and situations.

It was a big deal when Chevy and his Saturday Night Live colleague Dan Aykroyd made the film Spies Like Us in 1985 and an international group of reporters was brought to LA to help promote the film. The pair were committed to the project, which involved a screenplay written by Aykroyd and comedian Dave Thomas five years before the film became a reality. At that point, Dan’s successes had been Ghostbusters and Trading Places, and both Dan and Chevy were hoping Spies Like Us would be a hit.

Chevy’s strongest memories of Spies Like Us involve the process of filming and the striking contrasts of their locations. “The fjords of Norway, in eight-foot-deep snow, and the beauty of the Sahara Desert, when it could as easily have been done in Death Valley and Canada,” Chevy says, still a little amused by the choices that were made at the time. “But, hot as I was, the studio was gonna spend the money. It was either twenty below zero or a hundred and thirty degrees,” he added. The film script was written by Dan Aykroyd, Lowell Ganz, and Babaloo Mandel. John Landis directed.

“I imposed upon him to do Spies Like Us,” Dan Aykroyd said. And it was a whirlwind of a film. Chevy’s friendship with Dan was a major factor in agreeing to do the film. The actress Donna Dixon, Dan’s wife, was also in the cast, along with Bruce Davison, Steve Forrest, William Prince, and Vanessa Angel. Chevy was extremely fond of both Dan and Donna.

Some of the filming was also done at the Twickenham Studios in London, where Christopher Reeve and John Gielgud also happened to be working on separate projects.

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