Jason Priestley (11 page)

If you've ever wondered how actors manage to transform their bodies the way they do, it's because they go on diets like that and follow them to the letter. They do their workout every day, giving 110 percent effort, and follow their trainer's direction exactly. Actors can do it, in short, because they're getting paid to do it and it's their job. Part of being an actor is dedication to your craft, and your craft might include physical transformation to inhabit a character. It's that simple . . . not easy, but simple.

We shot the film in Perris (just outside Los Angeles) and in Los Angeles, California, and wrapped it up in six weeks. Jerry, Gabriel Olds, and I got along fine as the three friends, and I felt that we played off one another quite convincingly. If this was shooting a major motion picture, I was all for it. There was absolutely nothing about the process that I didn't like.

Of course, once the movie wrapped, I had to jump right back into season three of
90210
with barely a breather. For the rest of the year, however, I knew in the back of my mind I had a movie coming. It premiered the following March in a blaze of Columbia Studios publicity. I flew to New York to do a press junket, donated the shoes I wore in the film to Planet Hollywood, the cool place at the time, and did a ton of press. Then the reviews started rolling in. They were not kind. Brutal, in fact. Again . . . just like
90210
.

When the film opened, the returns were not great, and the movie quickly vanished. It was disappointing at the time, of course, but I certainly did not realize the repercussions this one project would have on the rest of my career.
Calendar Girl
did not perform, and I had no idea that in “the industry” it had been my one big chance. In the eyes of the major Hollywood studios, this was my chance to show whether or not I had what it took to be a movie star, and I had failed the test. Utterly.

I was still in my early twenties, starring in one of the most popular shows on TV. I would not have believed that my one and only shot at movie stardom had come and gone. It was probably a good thing for my morale that it took years to realize that such a major career crossroads had come and gone in the blink of an eye without my having even realized it.

To this day, I think I made the right choice as, fortunately, the other two scripts I turned down were never made. It's not like I turned down the lead in
A River Runs Through It
for
Calendar Girl
. As disappointed as everyone associated with the film was by the box office performance of
Calendar Girl,
it does seem, many years later, that it struck a chord with at least a couple of filmgoers. I know this because I still have people tweeting me about that movie, and quoting lines from it, so I know somebody saw it! “I just want to lay on top of you and see where it goes from there,” anyone?

F
ans develop a very intimate relationship with the characters in their favorite TV shows. Perhaps it is because the time spent together occurs in your home, with our images beamed directly into your room. Whatever the reason,
90210
fans across the world felt they had a real relationship with me . . . or nice guy Brandon Walsh, anyway. That's the only way I can account for the insane level of fame I achieved playing Brandon. My sister, Justine, was living in London as the show really heated up, and Eddie Michaels and I were planning a trip to the United Kingdom to do press.
90210
was wildly popular there, as it had been pretty much from the start.

My sister was worried. “It's going to be nuts here for you, JP. The British fans are psychotic. I'm seriously concerned for your safety.” We went back and forth a bit, and then she had an idea. “You've got to do something. Just give Ayrton twenty pounds a day to act as security,” she advised. Ayrton was my sister's Brazilian boyfriend. He was a big, ripped guy—perfect for the job.

All was well during our visit—Ayrton stuck close, and there were no incidents. Until one afternoon the four of us were wandering through Piccadilly Circus and ran smack into a girls' soccer team. They appeared to be fourteen or so, a very dangerous age. I cringed as they spotted me and began squealing. I knew an attack was imminent. They pointed at me and started running as a pack directly toward us. There were probably twenty-five of them, all wearing matching uniforms. In their blue zip-up jackets, they looked like an army of Smurfs coming at us.

Panicked, I looked over at Ayrton, who was watching the girls approach with wide eyes. He looked back at me and said, “I'd run if I was you, dude.” Some security. So that's exactly what we did. We took off and the pack of soccer girls chased us all the way through Piccadilly Circus, screeching the whole way. A couple of quick rights and lefts and into an alleyway, and we lost them. It's not that I was in mortal danger—nothing of the kind—but for some reason, since watching
A Hard Day's Night
when I was a kid, I just always thought it wise that when screaming teenage girls are chasing you, you run.

S
ince the first episode of the show I had been bugging Aaron to give me a shot to direct. It was something I was very interested in exploring, and I knew that this show might be my best chance. I also understood that learning television, and the television business from Aaron Spelling, was an opportunity that I needed to maximize.

So much of the entertainment business is having the ability to recognize opportunities and capitalize on them. You have to be able to keep building on your successes. And I have found, you have to do these things for yourself, regardless of how many people you employ to help you. You always have to stay on top of your career, your finances, everything. Always keep your eye on the prize. Every time in my life that I let my focus waver, it has led to disaster.

Toward the end of the third season of the show, Aaron gave me my shot at directing. When I think back on it, I have to wonder exactly what Aaron was thinking, handing the reins of his hit show, his baby, to a twenty-four-year-old punkass actor kid. It happened to be a very complicated episode titled “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.” We shot on location at Magic Mountain. I had hundreds of extras, cameras mounted on roller coasters, and car chases . . . plus, I had
Burt Reynolds
in my episode. It was awesome!

Burt was the man. At the time he was starring in
Evening Shade
and had been a big star forever. When he strolled up to me in his cowboy boots and leather-sleeved jacket to say hello, I was thrilled!

“Mr. Reynolds. This is the very first television episode I'm directing and I can't tell you what an honor it is to have you here. Thank you so much. It's so great to have you.”

“Yeah . . . I've done some directing here and there myself,” he drawled. “Let me give you some advice.”

I was all ears. “What's that?”

“You do a first take, right? And it looks okay?”

“Right,” I said, not sure where this was going.

“Wanna do another take? Just tighten up a little bit. That way, you'll have something to play with in the editing room.”

“All right, Burt. Thanks!” What Burt was telling me was how he would like to be shot. And that is exactly how I shot him. But in a way, he was absolutely right, and it's a piece of advice I carry with me to this day. The more pieces of coverage you have in the editing room, the better. Burt was a smart guy, a real professional. Later on, his good buddy Dom DeLuise would show up on
90210
as well.

Seven shooting days later, my first episode was complete. I've got to hand it to the crew and rest of the cast . . . every one of them was totally supportive, professional. Ultimately, they wanted me to succeed and for my episode to do well, so they helped me out, and it all came together very well.

Aaron liked it, too. The next season he gave me two episodes to direct, and three in season five. Then I directed five episodes in seasons six and seven. By the time it was all said and done, only one other director had directed more episodes of
Beverly Hills 90210
than I had. I also produced the show in seasons six and seven and executive produced the show in seasons eight and nine. Once again, I was looking to maximize my opportunity with Aaron and learn as much as I could from him.

AFTER MUCH DELIBERATION
,
it was decided that the cast would all graduate at the end of the third season. Of course, that meant a two-hour “Graduation” episode and the infamous “Donna Martin Graduates” episode, which, to this day, is a huge fan favorite. In the show, Brandon leads a triumphant march across the football field. We were all supposed to be chanting, “Donna Martin graduates.” Of course, it took less than thirty seconds for me to change it to “Donna Martin masturbates.” Everyone else immediately picked up on it, and suddenly everyone was chanting along with me . . . “Donna Martin masturbates . . . Donna Martin masturbates. . . .” There were several other iterations as well, but I'll leave those up to your imagination. I knew they were going to go back and reloop this dialogue anyway, so it was pretty irresistible. I mean, the writers had to know that would happen, right? It was one of the funniest moments we all ever shared, and I led the charge . . . Donna Martin masturbates! Pure comedy!

Naturally, for high school graduation, we shot on location at Torrance High School. This particular show was a big deal, in part because we had to use hundreds of extras. The day before, production had brought in bleachers to use in the shoot. Our security team arrived early on the day of filming and swept the area. They found two homemade bombs hidden where we would all soon be sitting. That caused an uproar, and the team took them off and detonated them somewhere safe. The incident held up production for a few hours while authorities were notified and everyone ran around double-and triple-checking everything. Finally, they declared the area safe.

Apparently,
90210
had worn out its welcome at Torrance High.

A
ppearing in the movie
Tombstone
on my hiatus was a fantastic opportunity. I loved the script as soon as I read it, and I couldn't resist doing a western costume drama, which was so different from what I was doing at my day job on
90210
. The cast was all-star: everyone from Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp to Val Kilmer in an unforgettable portrayal of Doc Holliday, to the veteran of a hundred westerns, Sam Elliott himself.

I played the supporting role of Billy Breckinridge, a sweet and naive young man hopelessly out of place, tagging along with a gang of vicious bad guys known as the Cowboys, identifiable by their blood-red sashes. The movie shot on location around Tucson with a huge cast. Along with all the movie stars and “film” actors in the cast, there were a couple of other faces that were recognizable from television. Thomas Haden Church, playing his first role as a mechanic on
Wings
at the time, was there playing a Cowboy, as was John Corbett from
Northern Exposure
, almost unrecognizable behind his beard. The three of us were immediately tagged the “TV guys” and became fast friends.

On Friday, after only one week of shooting, the film's director, Kevin Jarre, was replaced. All the actors were informed that a new director, George Cosmatos, would be coming in on Monday. That weekend, the entire cast and crew speculated endlessly about this bombshell. What's going to become of this film? What about my role? What's going to happen to
me
? The first instinct of many of the actors was to quit, as they felt the film had been Kevin's baby. His brilliant script and the opportunity to work with him were the main reasons we were all there. There was such a hubbub over his firing that Sam Elliott called a meeting in his room for the actors to air their grievances.

Michael Biehn, who played the gunslinger Johnny Ringo, was particularly upset by the change; he was a close friend of Kevin's. During the meeting in Sam's room we were all drinking whiskey. After a few shots, Michael really let loose. “I'm not doing this fucking movie with anybody but Kevin,” he said, and “This is bullshit,” and on and on.

“Michael,” I said. “You don't know George. Why don't you wait and see what he's like on Monday? It might all work out.”

Michael stood up and walked across the room toward me. “What did you say . . . kid?”

Emotions were running high, and all his frustration and anger was suddenly redirected at me. The menace in the air was unmistakable, and the hair on the back of my neck literally stood up. I rose as he drew near, bracing for a fight.

“Whoa, whoa, hold on there, boys,” Sam Elliott jumped in. “There'll be no fighting in my room.” He soon got everyone sorted out and reseated. Thank God, because I didn't like where that confrontation was headed.

George Cosmatos, director of
Rambo
and
Cobra,
arrived and took the helm. All of the actors ultimately stayed on board. Production on what was destined to become a classic film moved ahead, and I had the time of my life. Tommy, Johnny, and I headed out on the weekends and just tore up the greater Tucson area. Maybe because we appeared in people's living rooms every week, the three of us were always the first to be recognized when a bunch of the cast was out together. Kurt Russell, a major star for most of his life, told me that growing his big mustache was the best disguise ever . . . he could walk around anywhere and no one paid him any attention. He was having a great time.

As for the TV guys, bad behavior abounded all around. We used to come staggering home in the early morning and grab a few hours of sleep, then drag ourselves out to the pool with a cooler full of beer on weekend mornings. The cast and crew hotel, where we all stayed, was an older three-story building, built around a central courtyard. The door to every room faced the courtyard, with the pool in the center. As the morning wore on, the three of us would observe numerous women doing the walk of shame out of various cast and crew members' rooms. We would wildly applaud them as they passed us, hungover and wearing last night's dress, on the way to their cars. The ladies did not appreciate it.