THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 20, 1995 TAG: 9507200599
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 157 lines
GO, WILLY!'' 12-year-old Jason James Richter shouted in ``Free Willy'' two years ago.
And, indeed, Willy went.
When the three-ton orca whale leapt over a rocky barrier to gain his freedom, movie audiences all over the world responded with either a cheer or a tear. The surprise family-movie hit took in $153 million at the box office and sold more than 11 million copies on video.
A sequel was as inevitable as the flow of the tides Willy yearned for. Now, Jason, who stars in ``Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home,'' sits in a hotel suite in Beverly Hills and talks about his life with whales - both real and man-made.
Jason is now more interested in girls than whales and is featured in Tiger Beat and other teen magazines. His co-star, the hefty orca whale named Keiko, is ailing with a skin disease in a too-small tank in Mexico City. In fact, you won't see one glimpse of Keiko, the original Willy, in the new movie. All the close-up whales in the new film, including Willy's mom, sister and brother, are animatronic creations - plastic, steel and gushy-mush stuff.
``They're so real that I didn't have any difficulty playing to them,'' the young actor said. ``It was just like with the first film.''
Chosen from more than 4,000 candidates for the lead in the original ``Free Willy,'' Jason admits that he ``never actually swam with a real whale'' in either movie. As his publicists try to hush him, he recklessly explodes many Willy myths.
``I rode a whale machine and it was pretty tricky at times. I wiped out plenty of times. Once, I almost crashed into the side of the tank.''
He had a nodding acquaintance with Keiko, who was used for most of the close-ups in the original film. ``I spent seven weeks prior to filming - just feeding him and petting him,'' the young actor explained. ``We got to trust each other to the point that I could put my hand in his mouth.''
But let's get down to the real facts. In both films, he strokes the whale's tongue. How were they different? ``They weren't different at all. Both the real whale's and the mechanical whale's tongues feel like bubble gum.''
Which whale had the best breath, the real one or the mechanical one? ``The real one,'' he laughed. ``Keiko had a kind of minty breath.''
These are the facts of modern moviemaking.
Things have not gone so well for Keiko since his movie stardom. He is still confined in a cramped aquarium in Mexico City. He suffers from a skin condition and weight loss. An international effort to build a new pool for him in Newport, Ore., and to eventually release him back into the wild is under way.
Fans recognize Jason in malls, but their questions are always about Willy. ``They immediately ask about how Willy is doing. Willy is the real star. I just tell them `He'll be OK' and hope I'm telling the truth. I went back to see Keiko a year and a half ago. He was all right; not the best. I'm not sure he recognized me. He wouldn't take a fish from me.''
Since he played younger in the earlier film, he is actually age 15 now, and a fan of '60s rock, particulary The Doors, Iron Butterfly and Pink Floyd. He plays guitar in a five-member group that plans to tour California this summer. He isn't worried about being mobbed. ``I think the Willy fans probably wouldn't come to the clubs we play.''
The new movie is set in the Pacific Northwest and has Willy and his family reunited with his little buddy, only to be threatened by an oil slick. Willy's sister, Luna, is disabled by the oil. Efforts to rescue her are thwarted when a furious Willy circles about her, seemingly protecting her from humans. Helicopter rescues, fiery escapes and other daring stunts ensue.
Since it is much more action oriented than the emotional first film, it's not surprising that Dwight Little, an action director, was chosen to helm the sequel. Little's past experience is limited to directing Steven Seagal and the late Brandon Lee.
The director said he was worried about striking a balance, ``making the movie suspenseful but not frightening children. I learned that they really love Willy from the earlier film and we didn't want to go too far with the suspense.''
``The real concern,'' the director said, ``was in not picturing anything that a real whale couldn't do. Whales can do everything we show, but we'd have difficulty getting them to do them on cue and within camera range. That's why we called Walt Conti, the designer who created the humpback whales for `Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' to create animatronic whales for us. This film has more whales than the first one and was much more difficult. We had full-time underwater whale mechanics employed. The whales needed constant maintenance.''
The only real whales seen in ``Free Willy 2'' are those photographed by wildlife cinematographer Bob Talbot, who shot actual Orcas in their natural habitat.
Director Little was not taken aback by snickers from the premiere audience when Michael Jackson sings ``Childhood'' halfway through the film. ``Michael's contribution to the first film, by composing and singing a theme for the first movie, was tremendous. He did it for much less money just because he wanted to be a part of it. He wanted to be a part of this one too, and we were proud to use him.''
Even though the fiery oil in the movie was actually bone meal and molasses, young Jason claims there were real thrills during the filming. ``Most fun was crashing the boat,'' he admitted with glee. ``I was never in any real danger from the fire but it was exciting having to fall from the harness that was lifting me into the helicopter.''
His ``most embarrassing'' scene, though, was not stroking Willy's mechanical tongue, but the kissing scene he had with Mary Kate Schellhardt. ``It was my first screen kiss,'' he said, adding quickly, ``but not my first kiss. But all these guys were standing around - watching. Ugh!''
Jason doesn't think he's being unfaithful to Keiko when he suggests that ``for my next movie, I'd like, maybe Julia Roberts, or Kim Basinger.''
Other whale tales
WILLY, AS PLAYED by Keiko in the original ``Free Willy,'' may be the whale of the movie moment, but he's not the only mass of talented blubber to grace the silver screen. A whale of a time was had by movie fans at three other flicks of the past. Remember?
``Pinocchio'' (1940) - The wooden boy may have wished upon a star but what he really wanted was to get out of the belly of Monstro, a whale as ferocious as his name. When Pinocchio and his allies lit a fire, it made Monstro sneeze and unleashed one of the great movie chases.
``Moby Dick'' (1956) - John Huston's moody and arty version of the classic Herman Melville novel effectively re-created Captain Ahab's obsessive search for the great white whale. Gregory Peck had the role of Ahab. Seldom seen is an earlier (1930) version starring John Barrymore.
``Orca'' (1977) - This one may be a kins-whale of Willy, but he lives up to the tag of ``killer whale.'' But he does have the same sympathetic bent as King Kong. He gets revenge upon bounty hunter Richard Harris who killed his pregnant mate. Bo Derek is among the more grievously punished victims.
And then you could count the humpback whales in ``Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'' who, after all, were created by the same special effects wizard (Walt Conti) who did the two ``Free Willy'' flicks.
Then there was the tune ``A Whale of a Tale'' as sung by Kirk Douglas in the classic Disney film ``20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.''
In ``The Whales of August,'' the whales were at a distance, while Bette Davis and Lillian Gish got the close-ups.
William Shatner starred in 1976's little-seen ``Whale of a Tale'' in which a young boy trains a killer whale to appear in a Marineland show.
As a TV miniseries, ``Whale for the Killing,'' concerned an ecologist stranded in a remote Alaskan fishing village who battles to save a beached humpbacked whale from a malicious Russian fisherman. Peter Strauss and Richard Widmark starred.
These performers may have a lot of blubber, but they're never shallow. None of them, however, can match the stardom of the current Willy - champion whale at the box office.
- Mal Vincent MEMO: [Related sidebar follows story.]
ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
WARNER BROS.
Working with whales was a hands-on experience for Richter.
Fans always ask about Willy when they meet Jason James Richter.
Photo
WARNER BROS.
Jason James Richter as Jesse feeds his old friend Willy, who has
returned to his family, in ``Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home.''
by CNB