were released early on in the war,
when the war was going against us.
In conclusion, Craig Baxley:
McTiernan's a really passionate
guy and a great filmmaker.
But Al Di Sarro has had as much
to do with his success as anybody.
If the director is smart enough,
he'll learn to trust Al.
Because Al will always give him
something that elevates the material.
He's a very unique special-effects man.
Usually they're journeyman-like,
they'll just twist the wires, etc,
and make sure everybody's
clear when they hit the button.
Al's not like that, though he won't admit it.
He's an effects man who reads
the material and understands it.
Al Di Sarro, who chose not to return
to Mexico after production resumed:
That's sweet of him to say,
but you know how it is in this business.
Everybody wants to say
something nice about everybody.
You see, it's easy for Al Di Sarro
to walk into the encampment
and blow off five gallons of gas into the air.
But you need a Craig Baxley
who choreographs
everything happening around it
that makes those five gallons look so great.
It's a combined effort.
It starts at the top with Joel Silver
and works itself down in a proper order.
Joel is one of the most incredible
people you'll ever work with in your life.
There is no bigger than Joel.
Know that now.
Know it, live it, breathe it.
Because if you try to treat it
any other way, you will be crushed. (laughs)
(in falsetto) "Because I'll tell you
right now, if they made fucking killing legal,
you'd be the first one I'd kill!"
"They didn't have to leave
the fucking planet to make Star Wars!"
"You want snow in the movie?
When you think of snow, think no. "
I punched him in the shoulder one day.
He turned to me and said "That shoulder
is not for punching. It's for thinking. "
But I've always seen Joel
back his whole crew.
Right down to the craft services man.
Joel Silver stands strong behind his people.
Di Sarro remembers
his first reaction to the script:
Excitement. Absolute excitement.
I was getting a chance.
I read that script ten times.
I thought through those gags.
They were rigged in my head
while I slept. I lived it.
I had a high confidence level, but also
respect for what I was walking in to do.
I was more concerned with conducting
myself in a politically correct manner
than I was about actually doing the work.
I was in another world. I was in
the world of motion picture feature film.
Fox Studios.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Joel Silver.
Big names for a little TV effects guy.
I was intimidated by that to a degree.
But what a place to start a feature career.
How lucky is that?
Michael Wilmington quote,
copyright 1987, "Los Angeles Times".
Reprinted with permission.