Interview with Dean Cameron

Fast Times, the TV series, debuted in 1986, four years after the movie was released. Any idea why there was a four year delay?

Not really. I do know that there was a movie that Sean Penn wanted to do and in exchange said that he would do a sequel to Fast Times. I don't think the movie ever got made; hence no sequel to Fast Times. Perhaps waiting for the sequel issue to get resolved contributed to the delay.

Another thing that may have played a role was the issue of casting. I originally auditioned for the part during the summer of '85. Fast Times was Amy Heckerling's baby and she wanted to do it right. She was willing to spend whatever time was necessary to get the correct cast.

All that being said, I think that the main reason for the delay may have been the sex and drugs content of the movie. CBS is primarily known as an "Adult" network. 60 minutes, Murder She Wrote... That kinda stuff. I remember that the "tag line" in all the publicity photos, etc. was something along the lines of: "Fast Times - A half hour comedy about teenagers and the adults in their lives." Making sure that people knew that there were adults in the show and it wasn't a bunch of kids fucking and smoking dope. It probably took a while for CBS to be convinced a way could be found to preserve what was entertaining about the movie, while staying within the limits of network TV standards.

I believe the Fast Times series ran for only one season. Is that correct?

Nope. Seven episodes, including the pilot. That comes out to about one third of a season. At the time, it was one of the most expensive shows on television... Something like a million bucks an episode, I think. Which is, perhaps, one of the reasons it was cancelled.

Was Cameron Crowe or any of the other off-screen principals involved in the movie's making also involved in the making of the series?

Amy Heckerling was an executive producer and directed a couple of episodes. We called her "Mom". Every Sunday morning, the cast of the show would go over to Amy's house and eat bagels and lox and read through the script. I love her. Really.

Cameron Crowe was around during the pilot. He was really supportive of me. I had known him from before anyway (I'm recalling a very funny episode involving bowling and Demi Moore) and it was nice to have his blessing. I don't think he was really very pleased with the restrictions that CBS put on the show...But who was, really?

The Fast Times series included a couple of veterans from the movie. Are you aware of any others who were asked but refused to participate in the series?

Everyone from the movie was asked to be in it. Everyone except for Ray Walston and Vincent Schiavelli refused/declined/abstained courteously.

Where was the series shot? On a set or at Van Nuys High School like the movie?

Not a set and not Van Nuys High. It was some school out in the hills of Glendale; I don't remember the name of it. It was a school that had been closed for a while and a couple of other things were shot there as well.

The Spicoli character in Crowe's book is somewhat less confident and more into drugs than the character played by Sean Penn in the movie. How was the Spicoli you played different from the one played by Penn in the movie?

I had read the book years before and referred to it throughout the audition process for inspiration. Jeff seemed to be pretty much of a loser. I think there's a line in the book where someone says "you know he's gonna end up working at 7-11 for the rest of his life". That's how I felt about him. But I enjoyed the happiness of his ignorance. Boy do I sound like a pretentious shit!

Well, obviously, pot was a huge no-no back then on TV. It may be now, too, I don't know, but I chose to go the "tired/on another planet" route. I studied with the same teacher as Penn and a lot of the training is based on sensory work. So I generally approached a scene as if I was either one, naked, or two, I was taking a nice warm shower after sex. I was the "naked, freshly-fucked, shower-taking Spicoli".

So there were no allusions to Spicoli's drug use in the Fast Times series?

There's one scene that's in the last episode (I think) where Brad (James Nardini) and I are in the back of a van listening to Free Bird, and it's pretty obvious that Brad and Jeffrey have been getting high. Other than that, no drugs.

A lot of the negative press for the TV show focused on the lack of drug use. Right or wrong, I don't think the movie was really based on drug use either. It was more about sex and growing up too fast.

The Spicoli character is one that has had lasting appeal over the years. To what do you attribute this phenomenon?

I think that's a testament to Sean Penn. He made it legendary, one of the great film performances.

You have described your involvement playing Jeff Spicoli as an unpleasant experience. Why is that?

I had a great time actually shooting the show and playing Jeffrey. All of the shit that went along with it was a drag... Trying to flesh out a character that, previously, had been played PERFECTLY, in a medium that isn't know for it's nurturing of creativity and freedom: Television.

It's not fun being compared to Sean Penn, believe me. Although most reviews of me, personally, were good, Time Magazine enlarged my anus quite a bit.

As I mentioned before, Sean Penn and I studied with the same acting coach, Peggy Feury. I was never in class with him, however, as he had long since "graduated" and would just show up and watch occasionally, intimidating the bejesus out of everyone. Eric Stoltz studied there, too, by the way.

In November of '85, Peggy was killed in a car accident. It was a really sad week. She had been a mentor to many really talented young actors and left behind her husband and two daughters. The day I went to network (a truly horrific, grueling process where actors are approved by the network as fit to appear on television) was the day of Peggy's memorial service.

That morning I spoke at her service and rushed off to CBS to do the final audition. Sean Penn was one of the other speakers at the service. I heard years afterwards that he said something like "I think Dean Cameron is the only actor who should do the part; I'm glad he got it..." Something like that... So, in other words, I had his blessing. At the premiere of "At Close Range." Sean Penn was walking into the theatre with you know who and I nodded to him and said "Hey Jeff"! He grinned back and said "Hey Jeff"! Madonna just looked at me funny.

All in all, playing Jeff Spicoli was a huge task. I decided to do it because I liked the challenge of it... Plus, I lived on the money for a year!

Describe the plot of your favorite episode from Fast Times. Describe the plot of your least favorite episode.

My favorite episode was the one where there's a rumor going around school that Mister Hand has a glass eye.

My least favorite was where Mr. Hand quit teaching and became an administrator. I also hated the pilot episode.

My truly favorite episode was one that was never shot. In it, Jeff Spicoli sees the movie "Damn Yankees" on TV. (Ray Walston played a singing Satan in the movie for those of you who don't know your old musicals.) and is convinced that Mister Hand is the devil.

Ray Walston played Mr. Hand in both the movie and the TV series. Over the years Ray has played crusty, no-nonsense characters in other roles as well. What is Ray like when the camera isn't rolling? Does he share any personality traits with Mr. Hand?

God yes. I learned several new cuss words from him, my favorite being "Cockenlocker!!!" whatever the hell that means. But, on the other hand, he's a really sweet guy.

Here's a funny Ray Walston story. When the series debuted, Walston, Claudia Wells (Linda) and I were flown to NYC to do P.R for a few days. The studios/networks are bound contractually to fly actors first class. It's a common practice for actors to then turn around and cash in their first class tickets for a coach ticket and pocket the cash, which is exactly what Walston did.

In addition to our show, there were at least three other CBS shows being flown to NYC to do PR. So the plane was full of "Famous People" (and me). Walston gets on the plane and the stewardess ushers him to First Class where there aren't enough seats. They didn't know he had cashed in his ticket and had a coach seat so they kicked some poor sap out of first class for Walston, incorrectly assuming he had a first class seat.

You were roommates with Eric Stoltz during the time when the movie was made and in fact drove him to the audition. Did Eric tell you any interesting stories that you can repeat here about events that took place off-camera during the shoot?

Hmmmm. I just remember that we would get calls from "Jeff" at the house. I'd ask "who is Jeff?" and Stoltz would roll his eyes and tell me that it's a guy in the movie. I was actually present the day they shot the scene where they fall out of the smoke-filled VW van. It took about 3 hours... Boring.

The best stories he related to me were the stories Cameron Crowe told about his days as a Rolling Stone correspondent on a Led Zeppelin tour.

You read for the part of Mike Damone, a role that was eventually given to Robert Romanus. What scene did Amy Heckerling have you read for the part? How did you play Damone differently than what ultimately ended up on the screen?

The scene I read was the one where Damone explains the "Five Point Plan" to Ratner. How did I play it differently? I played it much worse that Robert Romanus played it. That cast was absolutely perfect.

Any other interesting tidbits about the show that you think would be of interest to our web audience of Fast Times afficianodos?

Oh yeah... I'm a brunette.. Well actually now, I'm bald, but *then* I had long brown hair. I went through the entire, 6 month audition process as a brunette. So, I got the gig and after a nightmarish experience where my hair was "Bozo Orange" for a day, my hair was dyed blonde.

The first day of shooting on the pilot, I had one scene where I stumble into the teacher's lounge, look around and say "Hey, this isn't the bathroom!" and split.

So the next day at dailies, the execs from the network start freaking out. "Who the fuck is *that*!?!?!" "Where's the guy we cast?" "Who's the blonde?!?!?!"

Apparently, they were set on having a brunette play the part. I got very close to getting fired. Amy Heckerling had a lot of arguments with CBS.

A number of people would be interested in seeing some of the old Fast Times episodes. Are they being shown anywhere on cable? Are they available through some other means?

I've heard that they show up from time to time on reruns. I have copies, too. But I'm not sending them to anyone (sorry). Other than coming over to my place and convincing me to dust off the videos, I don't know how one could see an episode.

Thanks for the interview, Dean! I would very much like to interview others involved in the making of the TV series and/or movie. If you are (or can put me in touch with) such a person, please contact me via e-mail. I will handle the interview in a professional manner and allow all interviewees final approval of the resulting document prior to posting on the WWW.

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