Monday night a near sell-out crowd filled the El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard to see The Rocketeer on its 25th anniversary along with three of its principal creators: director Joe Johnston, production designer Jim Bissell, and executive producer Larry Franco. I was lucky enough to be asked to host a panel with this trio onstage, and each participant had warm feelings toward the movie—if not the conditions in which they had to work (cold, sometimes rainy night shoots).
The panelists all have truly impressive credentials. Jim Bissell is a founder of the Art Directors Guild who could dine out on one credit alone: E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. But he doesn’t have to lean on that indelible achievement; he’s also responsible for 300, Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, and a handful of George Clooney movies including Good Night and Good Luck. He also reunited with director Joe Johnston for Jumanji.
Larry Franco started out as an assistant director; he’s the guy who runs the set and keeps the machinery of filmmaking moving on a daily basis. Since becoming a producer he’s made such films as Batman Returns, Batman Begins, Mars Attacks!, and most recently Happy Gilmore 2, and two more with Joe Johnston directing, October Sky and Jumanji.
Backstage we also said hello to Nancy Foy, a top casting director who worked on The Rocketeer and other films with all three Rocketeer panelists. Not incidentally, she is also the daughter of fabled radio and tv announcer Fred Foy, who urged us to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear on The Lone Ranger.
This was only Johnston’s second film as director, following a smash debut with Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. He started in the art department at LucasFilm and was largely responsible for the design of the Millennium Falcon and (wait for it)…Yoda! After ten years working on the Star Wars trilogy George Lucas paid for him to attend film school. Obviously, it was time well spent, because since then he’s directed such memorable films as Hidalgo (a personal favorite of mine), October Sky (ditto), Jumanji, and Captain America: The First Avenger).
You may find mention of a tantalizing movie yet to come called Shrunk online, with Rick Moranis and Josh Gad attached, but Joe confirmed that it’s not going to happen. He blames Covid more than any other factor for the project’s demise. Onstage, he beamed with pride that both Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and The Rocketeer made no use of CGI, which was just on the cusp of becoming a reality. He also read an email greeting from the Rocketeer himself, Bill Campbell. There were also cheers when I mentioned the man who devised the character, comic book auteur Dave Stevens
Joe also remarked that the diehard fans at the El Cap was constituted the largest audience that ever saw the movie when it was new. That’s the very definition of a cult movie, it seems to me.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the El Capitan is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. There are historical displays on the upper and lower levels that are well worth checking out, and if you’re lucky, you’ll be there when the great Rob Richards performs on the theater’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ, as he did Monday night. It’s always a pleasure and privilege to hear him.
