1999

Star Talk with Matthew Broderick

By Jeanne Wolf, TV Guide Online

Did you jump at the chance to be Inspector Gadget?
I was intrigued by the script when I read it. I didn't know the cartoon very well. I think I had seen a little of the cartoon, but I was a little old when it was popular. I grew up on Speed Racer and Scooby Doo. When I read through the script and I thought, this is such a crazy idea and it would be fun to do. I liked the idea of doing a kids movie. I didn't really understand how much molding there would be or how many casts they would have to make. It took a long time and a lot of patience.

Doing Inspector Gadget must be as far away from theater as you can get.
A movie like this is very different from the theater. You have to just enjoy the technical side of it, which I do. I loved watching them create the effects. Even the molding process, it was boring but [at the same time] it was pretty interesting. I went to Stan Winston's studio every day for two weeks and made ten molds of my hands, legs, arms, everything, face, ears. It's different than a theater experience, there's not as much emphasis on character or on pure acting. You are a little piece of a large thing. The acting is very important, but you have to realize that you are getting involved in a very technical, 800 crew thing. It's not something I would want to do forever or every time I work, but it's fun.

Everywhere you look there are sexy billboards of your wife, [Sarah Jessica Parker]. How are you taking that?
I am very happy for her. I like [Sex in the City] a lot and I am proud of it. She works incredibly hard on it. It's weird to see her leave the house at 6:30 in the morning and then get home at 11:00 at night and get up the next morning at 7:00 and then come home at 1:00. By the end of the week she starts work at about 2:00 in the afternoon and gets home at about 5:00 or 6:00. It's hard to see somebody work that hard but she enjoys it.

Do you still get response from fans who love Ferris Bueller?
Yeah, a lot. They are always a little embarrassed, "I hate to say this but I love Ferris." No, it's great. I am amazed at the legs that movie [has]. Legs means it lasts a long time. It's great that it affects a new generation like that. I am sick of people saying, "is this your day off?" That's a joke that I've just heard too many times. That's not funny. I hear, "Hey batter, batter swing batter" a lot. It's fine. People are strange. I go to a lot of baseball games and everybody likes Ferris Bueller who watches baseball games. I don't know why that is, but it's true.

People who think Election is just a high school movie may have missed it. How are you reacting to the response of Election?
I do wish that it [appealed] to more people [across] the country. It did very well in California, New York and the big cities but it never really translated to the smaller towns. I wish it had. I was sure happy with the great reviews everybody got. I love the movie. I am very proud of it. The few who did see it tell me how much they liked the movie. They seem to like it a lot. I hear [compliments about the film] all the time. It's very gratifying. I remember when I first read the script and I just thought it was bizarre but hilarious. I was immediately desperate to do it. Alexander Payne, who directed it, is a really funny person and very smart and just great to work with. I loved working with Reese [Witherspoon]. It was just one of those perfect experiences out there in Omaha.