Vintage "Making-of Tank Girl" featurette. All quotes from interviewees, selected quote from narrator.
- Petty: [On relationship between Tank Girl and Keslee] We have this wonderful love-hate relationship, he hates me and I love that.
- McDowell: My characters a pretty powerful man. Ambitious, deadly, charming perhaps, everything that Hitler was.
- Watts: [On Jet Girl] She’s very shy. When tank girl comes along, she sort of like, teams up her and gradually her character escalates more and more and she becomes the person that she truly is.
- Ice-T: Everyone in this movie is extremely frightened or Rippers. [What is a Ripper] DNA, umm, splice mutant that’s part kangaroo and part human being.
- Talalay: We had to take the sort of concept of a half man half kangaroo and give each of them an individual character, umm which I think we’ve accomplished really well. They’re very funny, very charming and they’re all completely different.
- Winston: They’re really an amazing creature, i’m very excited for people to see what we’ve done with them, we wanted to be dramatic, and we want theses characters to be something you’ve never seen before and at the same time, we want to allow the actor to come through that make-up and for you to read the emotion that is coming from within that actor.
- Narrator: Each actor face had to be covered in surgical glue when the foam rubber pieces were applied.
- Ice-T (in make-up): Right now i’m trying to itch my ear, my real ear is way down here (points to several inches below prosthetic ear).
- Cathey: Can I say hellish? It itches and it’s hot.
- Coffey: I wanna pick my nose, and be able to scratch my face and I can’t. It drives me crazy.
- Ice-T: You guys are gonna enjoy it, cause everyones gonna see the characters but be aware people are dying inside those suits, no joke.
- Unidentified crew member: [on challenges of shooting the action sequences in full make-up and customers] I think we worked very hard to surround ourselves with the right crew so no-one gets hurt. I think it’s going to be a major charge for you and hopefully it’s a great joyride.
- Talalay: The whole film is an incredible challenge. We tried to bring surprises all the way through.
- Petty: Flame-throwers, missiles, bow and arrow, Tank Girl comes in pow pow pow.
Baseballs, Tanks and Bad Tattoos: An interview with Actress Lori Petty. Questions not about the film omitted.
- How’d you first hear about Tank Girl: I don’t remember when I first heard about Tank Girl, I don’t know it was just an audition then when I read it I went [laughs] well i’m gonna get this [laughs] I was like well here’s my new job. And I was so happy, i went in there I had my walkman and I was listening to music and I was just thrilled I remember I was laying on this couch and I was just like well this is so fun, and uh they ended up casting another girl at first, and she was really hot and she was English, but uh she didn’t work out and so they called me and I was on set like two days later.
- How would you describe Tank Girl: She’s every woman, she don’t give a fuck, she’s just really funny and sexy. If I knew Tank Girl was gonna be rated R, I would have just done the whole movie naked, because I was so mad when they rated that movie R, because there’s nothing R in the movie, nothing! The only reason it’s R is because it was a woman pulling that madness, and nowadays they get away with it, but you know, one of my plights in life is always to be about ten years ahead of myself and others, which is OK, some of us have to do it we gotta open the door so that other people can walk through I don’t have a problem with that at all but if we got to do that again if we just like went back in time I would just be butt-naked murdering people. It would really be fun.
- What was your first impression of Rachel Talalay: When I first met Rachel I noticed she was very short. She’s a very small person [laughs]. She’s very very passionate. Rachel was very into it, it took her years to get the rights to the movie, and they finally said yes and let her do it and she was just on it 24/7. She lived it she breathed it. She got pregnant during the movie; she still just fought on fought on fought on. She was Tank Girl’s champion, for sure.
- What’d you get from the comic: Well there’s a plethora of comic books. I mean I just wallpapered my trailer with them. I read everything I could. The boys were on the set all the time. I just wanted to do service to their vision more than be Lori Petty’s Tank Girl because i’m not, it’s their movie their vision. But I loved every second of it, it was such a great team experience, the hair the make-up the costumes the director the produce the writers the comic book writers, you know I had so much to draw from. I was very thankful to have all that.
- How’d you like those costumes: Well what was great about the costumes and what was great about Arion (spelling?) who, i’m pretty sure she won an academy award I may be wrong I know she’s been nominated, but she also designs for everyone. We had such a great working relationship the costumer and I because I said yes to everything. What was there to say no to? It was just so inventive .I had these kneepads that had smashed baby doll faces on them. Like smashed babies! [Laughs] So much fun. And tube socks on the elbows. I was thankful I had nothing to say no to.
- What do you think about Catherine Hardwick [production designer]: As i’ve said before the people just gave a million percent and Catherine Hardwick was one of those people. She collaborated with Alan and Jamie and the producers but it was her taking something one-dimensional and making it three-dimensional, making it liveable making it workable. It actually turns on it actually turns off. Things like that. It wasn’t like ‘don’t touch anything’ it was like ‘beat the shit out of it Lori you can do anything you want to this’. And Catherine is a genius, the medium for her was just ridiculous. And she always wore a bird on her head, ask her about the bird on her head, everyday she had a bird on her head.
- What was it like to work with Malcolm McDowell: He’s a living legend. Period. And I loved his professionalism, his kindness, his attention to detail. He’s someone you want to emulate. He’s very serious about his work. Hit it, quit it. You know, have a drink, go home. I loved looking in those big blue eyes and it was just a blast having Malcolm around. I don’t remember Malcolm being silly, I really don’t. I don’t mean that in a bad way, we had to work hard it was long, hot, miserable, sandy, sweaty, and all the costumes and the make-up, we had a lot of work to do, so we didn’t really fuck around [laughs] that much.
- How about Naomi Watts: I don’t know if she was being that character or if she was truly that shy, cause like I said I was really busy, everybody was really busy, and I loved working with her she [is] super-talented, just gorgeous on screen, super professional, but she was very very quiet and shy and I would say ‘Naomi you have to come to the light, see the light, you have to stand in front of the lights come here come here, and she was just very shy and reserved. Like I said I don’t know if that was part of her character, work, or if that’s how she was, but she was not world famous diva she is now, in a good way! In a good way a world famous diva, we all want to be world famous divas.
- What about Ice-T: Well here’s the thing I would come to work like 3 hours early they’d come to work 4 hours early, the Rippers, so I never saw these people without their costumes on. I mean never! So it was pretty funny when i’d see Ice-T 3 months later where he’d be like ‘Hi Lori’ and o’d be like ‘oh hi [confused look], oh right we worked together every day for months [laughs]. I was just so used to him and his costume. But you know he didn’t know he had a costume on, all the time. So then at the end of the shooting day they would go and take their costumes off and I would be taking my hair out and my make-up off and my tattoos off and then we’d go home and come back and do it again, so it was pretty funny that I really only knew them as kangaroos. Like I didn’t know them as human beings, but we would sit around and talk, and Ice-T’s an actor he’s a very good actor, we’d talk about ‘How’s your apple stock doing’ [laughs] he’s not like a cop killer, he’s a very cool, sweet professional dude.
- Can you talk about Jeff Kober as Booga: He has a big heart. And the fact that they have all this accoutrement and still he has to show all this love and empathy and passion through Stan costumes. I just love him, I saw him the movies a couple months ago on an escalator, and again I was like I know that guy, let’s see [moves hands placed above and below eyes] I know this part Oh that’s Booga! [Laughs] But I just never, like I said it was hard for me to hang out with them without their costumes.
- The Tank!: The Tank was awesome, I mean the tank was remarkable it was really fun to play on until they made it go [laughs] you know it’s ok until it actually moves. Cause that will squash you in a minute. Whenever you say action boys do things like 10 times harder and faster, I mean i’ve had my nose broken in fights and on screen because you’re supposed to pretend and then they go action and then they go BAM [swings fist] you know stuff like that. So I was on the tank and we were supposed to go like this fast [moves hand slowly] well they coaction he goes VROOM [moves hand fast] and i fell off the turret onto the wheel row, like on it, and i could watch the wheel just going around. It was like a movie within movie and somehow I lived, and I rolled like that for a minute and after I said to them ‘Why didn’t you stop!’ and he said ‘Well I couldn’t see anything’, because I was laying over the hole. And I was like well you should stop if you can’t see! But they moved on to another scene and I was alive so they could keep filming.
- What were the shooting conditions like in White sands, NM: [Story about another filming experience omitted] Yeah it’s hot, it’s filthy, it’s sandy, but you know what ‘would you rather be home?’ No, so.. I was like a mole on Marilyn Monroe’s face. I was just happy to be there.
- What was it like shooting Liquid Silver: Liquid Silver was shot in an abandoned Phenix mall, they just didn’t have enough money to finish the mall, so it was just there. So we had the run of the mall and I couldn’t go back to my trailer to change my costume, so they were like Lori just find some spot to change your clothes and get back and I was like OK! So I just found some like closed Baby Gap or something and went in there and changed my clothes; couldn’t get out the door was locked. I was locked inside of the Baby Gap for like half an hour and none could find me and no one knew where I was. And I just though well they’ll find my bones one day [laughs] cause it really took a long time for them to find me. But that bit was super fun. I loved the singing and the dancing.
- Were there boundaries imposed on the film: There were no boundaries on Tank Girl because it’s a comic book, so that’s how you can always get out of it. No one can say to me ‘You can’t do that!’ Because it’s a comic book! I can do it if you drew it [laughs] you know what I mean. There was no ‘A cop wouldn’t say that’ well Tank Girl would do anything so it doesn’t apply. The being “in character” is your wildest imagination, so whatever you can think up you can do. I could do.
- Did you improvise a lot as Tank Girl: I wasn't aware of how much I ad-libbed. As I watched it I went 'I just made shit up' [laughs] Like 'The super has left the model' all these silly things i know I made those things up i'm insane. And the fact that they allowed me to do that, I was very thankful for. I think once you get the ok like, get an inch take a mile kind of thing, I was pretty good with that, with just going for it. And when we did the changing the costumes Rachel's just like ' Just do, just whatever' and we did it was fun.
- What about the reaction from Hewlett and Martin: Tank Girl was their baby. The guys who made the comic book, so to see me walking around in these costumes i'm sure was a bit off-putting, and they were lovely to me just wonderful sweet guys, but I can imagine if I wrote a book and then you're gonna make a movie out of it and i'm watching this shit going 'are you kidding me', you know so I don't know I was never involved in any 'we like this we hate this', they were there and they were just loving it, they were taking the piss really cause they were like can you believe they're fucking making this movie.
- Do people still bring up the movie to you: I get every story imaginable about how Tank Girl has affected people. I've been in the car and the guys biked up next to me and there was like me tattood on the side of his leg and i'm just staring at him like, wow! I don't think i'm going to tell him that i'm sitting here right now. I think i'm going to let him keep biking by [laughs]. Sometimes I go to different ComicCons and whatever and the girls have the bullet-bras and they've made up entire costumes out of things they found in their house, you know, 'Tank Girl got me through my parents divorce', i mean just all kinds of, I'm just very happy that she made so many people happy. I love that. I don't go to Mr Chow's and call the paparazzi to come take my picture stuff like that, but what's great about being "famous" I guess or making movies is when people see me and they think of Tank Girl or Point Break [...] they see me and they go [pointing in excitement]. C'mon, they point and smile, it's not like they're going boo and throwing rocks [laughs] it's not like i'm the devil, so it's lovely to have people go [really excited gesture] 'I was 14' and they tell you the story about Tank Girl and they show you some crappy tattoo they have of Tank Girl [shrugs] what's so bad, it's great.
- Why do you think "Tank Girl" still resonates with fans: I don't know, I mean if people knew what made movies classic or what made movies live so long they'd make more of them, you know so you can't define it. There's no formula as to why Tank Girl was so fabulous and why people love it so much, they're really isn't. It was unique it was new it was fresh, it was way ahead of its time and i'm happy that I got to do it and that i'll always have her.
- What would Tank Girl say to her fans today: Yo bitches we still here [laughs]. Thank you I love you I love you.
Too Hip For Spielberg: An interview with Director Rachel Talalay. No direct quotes (took way too long lol), summary only.
- Last day of shooting - September 27, 1994. Last take - scene 200 Take 6. There were 300 camera rolls total.
- Rachel "fought very hard" to keep the 'rocket bra' from the comics in the film. An atomic symbol on the Tank is based on Rachel's only tattoo.
- Scenes were filmed in a closed down copper mine in Tucson. They were evacuated every week or two due to chemical spills. There was a lot of machinery that was still working, there were areas of the mine still active but they filmed in closed down sections. They had to be careful of mining trucks so they always drove on the left, which was confusing for North Americans so they made signs reminding people.
- Rachel found out about Tank Girl when her step-daughter gave her a black and white Tank Girl graphic novel as a Xmas present. She decided she had to get the rights to the film, which took about a year; there was a lot of competition. Tom Astor called and said they'd decided to go with Rachel, just as she'd hit the point where she had given up on getting the rights. The success of Freddy's Dead allowed her to be able to pitch the film, but she'd never pitched her own project before. James Cameron's company turned it down on the grounds they already had a project with a female lead - Joan of Arc. Spielberg's company Amblin said they were pleased Rachel thought their company was hip enough to do the project, but that they weren't. Jamie Hewlett was so amused by this that he designed a Tank Girl t-shirt that said 'too hip for Spielberg'. A Disney representative wanted to take on the project, but Rachel turned it down as they didn't think Disney would give them the R film they wanted.
- The tank got stuck in the sand. It couldn't reverse, which made getting it into position difficult. Jamie Hewlett worked hand in hand with Catherine Hardwick. He designed props, the tank, rooms, set dress, costumes. The tank Jamie designed would have had to have been built from scratch, which was not in their budget. Art director
Simon Murton was given the job of taking Jamie's design and make them workable.
- There were no digital effects in the film, they were all optical effects, which are much more expensive.
- The comic doesn't have a strong sense of storyline, which left it a pretty open idea for what the film would actually be about. Rachel said she didn't really care what the story was, which she admitted may have been a problem. Rachel's least favourite question was "how did [tank girl] become tank girl?"; she wasn't concerned with background story. Rachel said she was trying to make a film that people would either "get" and love or hate; she didn't want anyone to give the film 5 out of 10, either 1 or 10
- The studio decided they could get a lot of publicity by holding the open-casting sessions. The line-up in London, where TG was most well known, was between 3 and 4 hours long. People were sceptical that is was just a publicity stunt, which Rachel says to a degree it was, as she was asking the studio for a name actor. There was a lot of interest; Madonna wanted the role. Courtenay Love originally wanted to play Sub-Girl though Kurt Kobain's death occurred which made her unavailable. She later came back to be the "music advisor"; there was a separate music supervisor. The original person hired to play TG refused to cut her hair, which led to her losing the role.
- Petty did a lot of improv, particularly in the clothes changing scene at Liquid Silver. There was never any question that Watts would play JG; she was very easy to cast. Watts was too shy; she tried to stand behind Petty in some scenes. The shyness fit into the character of JG but Rachel told her she needed to be shy AND on camera. Otherwise Rachel had strong praise for Watts.
- Rachel hired Catherine Hardwick because she loved the project as much as she did. She identified with the uniqueness and opportunities of the project, and was very passionate and had hundreds of ideas. The producers was very insulted that Rachel chose Catherine over more established designers; Catherine has only done small films at that time. Rachel convinced the producer to meet Catherine; meeting with her and the fact Catherine had an article in the LA Times that week convinced them.
- Rachel states there's been a lot said about her relationship with Alan and Jamie. She worked with them directly through the entire process. She worked very strongly with them during the writing process though Alan was not allowed to write the script due to his lack of script writing experience, though they did make a lot of notes on the script. The scriptwriter had TG riding a horse, though they stated that was too conventional and instead suggested the water buffalo. Jamie did hundreds of pieces of artwork for the film, and gave one to Rachel during production strongly praising her. Rachel states Alan and Jamie were "in sync" with her up until the point where the studio recut the film, which Rachel had no control over; she couldn't control what the final film was.
- What does TG mean to you: Rachel believed she could "break through the argument that female action movie didn't work." She felt like it was "her mission as a woman break through as a female director and to break through with a female action hero. She and Petty felt that this was the film that would get the box office to believe in female action heroes. They scared the studio so much that they pulled back so much on what the film was they they did not succeed.
Creative Chaos: Designing the World of Tank Girl with Production Designer Catherine Hardwicke. Summary only.
- Catherine found out about TG when they were in pre-production looking for a production designer. Upon reading the script she thought it would be the must fun project ever. She drew a lot of designs and met Rachel at the first interview.
- Catherine wasn't able to work with Jamie in person much, but she was pleased with all the designs he gave her.
- To prepare for the film they had a traditional union art department, one or two art directors, a set decorator and her team, construction co-ordinator
Lars Petersen; many of the production staff she had worked with before. Illustrator was
Chris Gorak.
- At the abandoned copper mine they found a 3 acre room full of machines, they built a set in the middle of the room, and the construction co-ordinator decided to go to the mammoth task of getting all the surrounding machines to work.
- TG's house from the beginning of the film was built in White Sands New Mexico. It was extremely hot; the rangers thermometer stopped working after it reached 127 degrees fahrenheit.
Adam Shankman choreographed the Liquid Silver dance number.
- Evertime they needed a new set they just looked around the abandoned mine.
- Outside the copper mine there was the
Titan Missile Museum. They has permission to film the water pipe scene at the museum; an acrylic tube for the scene was built. The day before they were to film the scene permission to film there was withdrawn. After a last minute rush to find a new location, a mining tunnel back at the copper mine was instead used to film the scene.
- Catherine praises working with both Petty and Watts. She said she knew Watts would become a superstar in time.
- They could see jets flying over when filming in White Sands, which were apparently conducting bomb tests.
- They abandoned filming and evacuated the set one day due to a toxic smell that was coming out of the mine.
- A painter was trying to age a mobile-home for the film using a blow torch. The mobile home caught fire, but Catherine pitched to Rachel that they still use the burnt home in filming, and she agreed to.
Commentary with Rachel and Lori. I've omitted things mentioned already in the other special features.
- The first battle Rachel had with the studio was the opening song; they didn't want the song to have a female singer - Rachel won.
- Lori's double rode the water buffalo; Lori only sat on it once, though she did many of her own other stunts.
- Lori comments on the number of military planes that flew overhead in White Sands. Rachel states it was at least 104 degrees every day.
- Lori states she had 40 different hair pieces for the film.
- Rachel praises McDowell; states a lot of inspiration came from A Clockwork Orange - Lori wears a bowler hat in one scene in homage to the film. Malcolm loved his wardrobe so much he kept it all.
- Filming lasted 92 days; only one of those days at Liquid silver wasn't unbearably hot.
- Both state that 3 of the Spice Girls were standing in line for the open casting, got tired of waiting and decided to start a band instead. Apparently the Spice Girls have stated this several times.
- Both state the film received an R rating purely because it featured female innuendo, which made people feel uncomfortable; there is nothing in the film that would get an R rating today. Speculation that people were paying money to see Tommy Boy and then sneaking into Tank Girl because they couldn't get a ticket due to the R rating.
- The studio cut out a pre-credits scene explaining the comet. A bedroom set was cut out because TG's bedroom had been decorated with dildos. It was one guys job to go to a sex shop and buy 40 dildos; he needed two shopping carts to move them all.
- They used the music from Shaft when TG discovers the tank.
- Budget was around $25 million.
- The studio heavily cut the scene where TG is in the cold room; scenes of TG being deliberately infected with cholera were cut because TG appeared "too ugly".
- Lori almost had a panic attack in the pipe, as she is claustrophobic.
- When the Rippers first appear, Rachel wanted them to appear mainly on the computer monitors so as to not give to much away, however, the studio disagreed with her and showed a lot more of them than she would have liked.
- Ice-T was supposed to dance in the circle with the other Rippers, though he refused and it ended up working for his character anyway.
- Each Ripper had two people working on their animatronic movements - moving ears, tails and eyebrows.
- The first animated sequence was done due to budget constraints - they couldn't afford to do big action scenes, nor could the Tank go fast enough for the desired effects.
- The film premiered at the
Mann Chinese Theatre
- The scene where they meet Sub Girl is Rachel's least favoured - she admits in her failure that it was poorly shot.
- Second animated scene (where the Tank is redesigned) was done purely because it was more interesting that watching Lori modify the tank herself.
- The scenes when the finished Tank are revealed are intercut with images of Lori in a white T-shirt. Those shots were not done by Talalay - they were done by a un-named man and it was supposed to be promotional footage only, though the studio cut it into the final film which Rachel is bitter about.
- Sharon Stone visited the Liquid Silver set as she was dating a crew member.
Dawn Robinson is the model in the instruction video.
- Rachel states there was no justification to do the dance number, she just wanted to do one. Lori cut her finger really badly during the initial scene where she cuts the Madam's hair with a razor blade, and had to go to hospital. They made up new lyrics to the Cole Porter song but nobody seemed to notice. The studio tried to heavily cut the dance number, but the music supervisors convinced them not to.
- When TG attacks the semi trailer she ad-libbed putting a condom on a banana and throwing it at the soldiers; the studio cut the scene out as it was "offensive". The stunt girl who stood on the tank barrel and leaped to the semi did so without any safety equipment.
- Stan winston built a completely naked Booga suit complete with a penis for a post sex scene between him and TG. Rachel didn't actually want to keep the full naked shot of the penis, but the studio wouldn't let them keep the scene in at all.
- Keslee's head was supposed to be made out of television screens (one screen showing an eye etc, kind of picasso looking), but they couldn't afford it, so they chose a hologram that looked just like his original head to save money.
- Rachel was happy with the soundtrack, though wished there could have been more original punk music in it. They were however aiming for a contemporary look, and had originally lined up Green Day to appear on the album, though Green Day ended up becoming famous before it was finished and they could not longer afford them.
- They wrote a "really funny" ending that finished with it raining and TG burping, but the studio cut it. Rachel does like the animated ending, though thinks they could have easily had both.
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