Half-Assed Internet Research
Kid Rock based 'American Badass' on Cameron Poe; Cage did most of his own stunts; Wendover Airport in Utah stood in for Lerner Airfield; the crash was originally set at the White House; the TV version adds a prison-riot rescue scene; the Sands Hotel was filmed before its November 1996 demolition; a crew member was crushed by a static C-123 model; Trisha Yearwood's version of the song was chosen over 14-year-old LeAnn Rimes'; Malkovich was unhappy with daily rewrites; Cusack reportedly refuses interviews about it yet told the BBC he would do a sequel; Simon West wanted a sequel in space; Chappelle improvised most of his lines
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:44:30Read transcript
- Kid Rock based 'American Badass' on Cameron Poe, who is the human version of that song; Cage did most of his own stunts and spoke of explosions five feet behind him, flaming helicopters dropping behind him and ball-bearing bullets over his head, 'a level of intensity, fear, you might say', which a host delivers in a voice halfway between Andrew Luck and Nick Cage.
- Asked how many people died in the movie, answers of 24 and 43 are offered, since all those guys died at the boneyard, plus a case for another 500 in Vegas; fist-bumping on the Vegas Strip over a body shop for Colm Meaney's convertible is absurd after losing some 50 American soldiers in the desert. Wendover Airport in Utah stood in for the fictional Lerner Airfield, a fictional airfield with a lot of propane.
- The climactic plane crash was originally intended to take place at the White House, which could have gone right into Olympus Has Fallen; Bruckheimer eventually decided Las Vegas was more in keeping with the spirit of the film, which the hosts sarcastically salute as a good call, Jerry.
- The TV version includes an opening-credits scene in which a prison riot breaks out while Cage writes letters to his daughter and his diabetic friend saves him from the burning cell, which explains his loyalty; the hosts would have included it, trading fewer letters and less insulin for more prison riots, since the two-hour movie is a little fat at the end.
- The hosts want a Cameron Poe prequel set in his eight years in prison, and before that a prequel to the prequel with Poe in the Army Rangers at war, perhaps narrated by Powers Boothe (transcribed 'Powers Booth'), who they think does the opening voiceover about the Rangers.
- The crash site was filmed at the Sands Hotel before its demolition in November 1996, the production asking the hotel to wait a couple of weeks for the action scene; somebody was crushed to death at Wendover when a static model of the C-123 fell on him, which is why the credits end 'In Memory of Phil Schwartz'; Trisha Yearwood's version of the song was chosen over 14-year-old Leanne Rimes' original and became a massive hit.
- True or false: Malkovich was unhappy during production because the script was being rewritten virtually every day and he had no idea how his character would turn out; the hosts believe it and think it shows in a performance that seems disturbed and angry, imagining him being handed the 'Cy... anara' exchange on set.
- Two contradictory internet tidbits: Cusack allegedly dislikes the film so much he refuses to be interviewed about it, which would be odd given his many bad movies, versus Cusack telling the BBC News website in 2012 that a second Con Air 'would be fun' and he would do it if offered. Simon West thought another Con Air should be set in space, which the hosts greenlight as Con Shuttle with prisoners on Mars; on the DVD commentary of Chappelle's Show, Chappelle revealed that he improvised most of his lines on Con Air.