SSW: Tremors is very big in Japan. Tremors 1 was huge in Japan. When Ron went to open City Slickers there, he came out of the theatre where the premiere of City Slickers was and there was a line of people waiting for an autograph. He thought it was related to City Slickers but they were all holding Tremors memorabilia for him to sign. Tremors 2, I don't have any access directly to the numbers that Universal has. But from the point of view of the website, we get e-mail literally from all over the world.
BM: We're big in Mongolia. Probably.
MJS: What was the story behind the Tremors TV series? Was Tremors 2 a possible pilot for it?
BM: That was considered at one time.
SSW: We came very close to closing a deal on it and, for reasons to which we were not entirely privy, the deal fell apart. But yes, it came close to being a series.
BM: It's still a possibility.
MJS: Might it spin off from Tremors 3?
BM: Maybe. Anything's possible. We're certainly open to anything that we think would be something that we could do well. As long as we don't find ourselves in a situation where we would be forced to screw it up and kill it. That's really how we make our decisions.
SSW: For us, it's a matter of getting to do it properly. If it's not going to be done properly, then we don't want to do it.
MJS: If Tremors 2 had happened a year or so later, when The X-Files was huge, it could have been a comic version of The X-Files.
BM: It might have been. It's not sombre, it doesn't take itself seriously. I think that's one of the charms of it.
MJS: Gale Anne Hurd is credited as Executive Producer on the first film, Executive Consultant on the second. Did she have any direct input?
BM: Who is that? Gale Anne who? Gale was, I think, the insurance the studio needed on the first one to let us make the movie. She was very helpful in a number of instances.
SSW: She wasn't as involved in the second one. Because of her role, she has a contractual requirement to be credited in later projects. But in the first one she performed a relatively short but pivotal role, as Brett said. She stood behind Ron. Nancy, our Head of Stampede, was looking for ways to keep Ron attached to the movie. Brett and I had written it on spec because we wanted to control it; we wanted Ron to direct it. And we wanted to produce; we were sick of our movies not being made in ways that we liked. We wanted to get back to having more control over our projects. So Nancy worked for quite some time trying to figure out how to set the project up. She was the one who took it to Gale and asked Gale if she'd be interested in getting involved. Gale liked it, Gale saw immediately what it was, because that's her universe. Coming out of low-budget films herself, she was able to look at Ron's short films and confirm for the studio - who didn't have any way of knowing - 'Yes, the fellow can direct. Trust me on this.' And that was a crucial role. Then she came to the set; she gave notes, especially in post-production.
MJS: Of all the films you've worked on, I get the impression that Tremors is your special baby.
BM: I think so because it's the closest to what we intended. The frustration that's almost built into being a screenwriter is that there's always a gap between your vision and what the movie is. That's what prompted us to want to actually make the movie instead of handing it over to a bunch of strangers, which is the normal way things are done in Hollywood. It's the closest to what we intended, so it's very satisfying to have done that film. And then to see that people liked it is wonderful.
(MJ Simpson would like to thank Steve and Brent for taking the time to talk to him.)
