David Letterman may be one of the most iconic late-night hosts of all time, but he admits he’s not cut out for the big screen.
The 76-year-old comedian and talk show host gave details about the audition Aeroplane! Ted Striker’s role in the new book about the 1980 disaster hoax with Leslie Nelson, in an excerpt published by weekly entertainment.
Book, Of Course You Can’t Be Serious: The Real History of Aircraft!, Written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker (aka ZAZ), the film chronicles Letterman’s screen test for the role (which ultimately went to Robert Hays) and director Jim Abrahams’ prank of auditioning. Late Night with David Letterman.
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“When I got up there, they had set up a cockpit with chairs for the plane,” Letterman recalled in the book. weekly entertainment. “I had a chair, and there was another chair where the co-pilot would be. We did the scene once, and then they came and gave me some notes, and then we did it maybe two more times. So I kept saying, ‘I can’t act, I can’t act, I can’t act.’ I can’t do it’ and after the audition one of them came up to me and said ‘You’re right: you can’t act!’ said.”
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It comes out on October 3 You Absolutely Can’t Be Serious It will feature conversations with the film’s stars, including Hays and Julie Hagerty. It will also feature interesting stories about the casting process for Sigourney Weaver and Caitlyn Jenner.
“It was really nice that they thought of me for a movie, because people were like, ‘Oh, we have a project where we’re opening an Alfa Beta (supermarket); Can you go out and talk to the bag boys?” Letterman said in the book: E.W.Quote from. “That made sense. But a movie? And the person who produced the film was Howard Koch, who has a legitimate film career and significant credits. “He was someone even I knew, and I thought, God, he won’t want anything to do with me!”
Letterman added: “When I saw the movie, it was so enjoyable and I was so happy to see it knowing that I didn’t have to take care of myself. Because it would destroy him. “It would have been absolutely ruined for me if it wasn’t for the entire movie.”