Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 22, 1990 TAG: 9006220526
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB THOMAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
"What do you mean?" asked Weller.
"Well, you come from the theater, Actors Studio, [drama teacher] Uta Hagen, Shakespeare and what-have-you. Why do you always have a pistol in your hand? Why don't you re-create some strong human dilemma?"
"I'll let the chips fall where they may," Weller replied. "If I read a good script and I like it, I don't look at the label on it."
Weller recounted the exchange during an interview to promote "RoboCop 2," the R-rated movie opening today in Roanoke at Valley View 6 and Salem Valley 8 and in Christiansburg at New River Valley Movies.
Weller makes no excuses to his theater pals who deprecate his portrayal of a once-deceased cop who returns in an armored, automated body to avenge himself against the Detroit underworld.
"The first `RoboCop' was the best script I'd ever read," he declared. "Plus which I was a huge fan of [Dutch director] Paul Verhoeven. . . . I really, really wanted to do it."
Was he reluctant to attempt a sequel?
"Sure. Sure. You want to think that it would be good, but there's an apprehension about being stuck in a form with no content - stuck in the same can of beans with none of the charge that turned you on to the first one."
What convinced him was "a great script." In "RoboCop 2," directed by Irvin Kershner, Weller is fighting not only the crime barons but his own obsolescence. Omni Consumer Products, which created the original machine, has devised a new model without a human inside, and it is programmed to wipe out its predecessor.
The son of an Army helicopter pilot, Weller was born in Wisconsin and was repeatedly uprooted as his father changed stations.
"I'm sure it's a good background for an actor, makes you pretty resilient," said the slim, tall, 43-year-old actor whose bland face is dominated by intense blue eyes.
"Albert Camus said the only real existentialist is either the traveler or the actor, because they are constantly superimposing their existence moment-by-moment on other existences. Maybe they're hand-in-hand: the traveler and the actor. I don't think there's a lot of security in either - our notion of security; in the Zen sense, it's probably the most secure of all.
Moving from place to place "was a drag, man, just a drag," he continued. "It was a drag leaving people, too. It was sad. But the good news was that I learned to deal with loss and the moment of change with a little more facility than other people I know."
Weller attended North Texas State University but left for a scholarship at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Just before graduating, he drew his first professional acting job, playing the son in David Rabe's Vietnam play "Sticks and Bones" for Joe Papp's company. He'll return next year for a revival, this time as the father.
His film debut came in 1979 with "Butch and Sundance: The Early Years." After other undistinguished films, he finally registered in "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension," the eccentric fantasy that attracted a flock of cultists.
Weller's film and stage assignments continue the pattern of his youth: "Man, I haven't stayed in one place yet. I got an airline ticket in my hand right now. I used to like it that way. Now I don't. At this very moment in time I don't. Maybe tomorrow I will.
"I'd like to have a family, children, be in one place. Or be grounded in a series of places. Some day."
by CNB