Exclusive interview with Ric Groenendal, Assistant Director (AD) on all the episodes of Fantasy Island after the pilot.

Ric: Aloha.

Thrawn: Mahalo!

R: Hehehe.

T: I see you live in Hawaii, have you always lived there?

R: I’ve been here 23 years off and on, mostly on.

T: Was this the reason you were hired for FI?

R: Lol. I’m 1 of 2 Directors’ guild of America members in Hawaii who get most of the work that comes thru the islands.

T: What is your resume?

R: I actually started on camera with a couple roles on Magnum PI. Then got into production when roles became hard to come by. I worked on series called Tour of Duty, a mega series called War & Remembrance, a series called Island Son and 1 West Waikiki. Also lots of commercials, music videos, etc.

T: What does an AD do?

R: AD's are the set managers. We're responsible for all phases of the production, to insure that the episode comes in on time and on budget. On FI my title was 2nd assistant director. My main responsibilities besides accounting is the actors and all their concerns as far as hair, makeup, wardrobe, props, etc. Coordinating schedules so that all departments ready at same time plus tons & tons of paperwork. I would also handle background direction for all the extras used in every scene. I was always there for the 1st AD who is the right hand man of the director.

T: What did you think of the idea of remaking the original FI series?

R: During the last 5 or more years, as you probably know, remakes have been a predominate theme in Hollywood. The minute I heard I was working with Malcolm I was real excited. I thought the format had a huge potential, especially with Malcolm and a dark side concept. As well as the fact that everything wouldn’t always turn out happy ending.

T: You were familiar with Malcolm from Clockwork Orange, Caligula, etc?

R: Oh yeah!!! I was actually a fan myself! So imagine my thrill to meet him.

T: Is ACO your favorite of his or...?

R: Everything actually…he's such a great actor.

T: When did you first meet Malcolm?

R: When I came in on the series. I didn’t work on the pilot in Maui.

T: How did that work - they did they pilot, then had to wait if there was interest from the big shots?

R: Once the pilot aired the feedback was good from the start. Not that it aired per say, it was studio feedback.

T: How close did you work with Malcolm?

R: Very, very close! He’s my hero!!

T: How often was he there? The whole shoot or just his scenes?

R: Only for his scenes. We would schedule him accordingly so that he would get time off when possible, but FI was definitely a rigorous schedule and THE most difficult show I’ve ever been involved in.

T: Because of the island hopping?

R: No, because after the pilot all work was done in or around Honolulu. It was the politics and network screw-ups which killed a great show. The producers were pretty inept!!

T: Could you give a walk through of a typical days’ shoot?

R: Much pre-production work. First you take the script and break it down into a schedule so that all departments are ready, locations are all scouted and locked in. The schedule goes out so that all are on the same page...HOPEFULLY. On a shooting day the first thing is getting all trailers, trucks, support vehicles in usually at 3 AM or some ridiculous hour. The caterer comes in to set up breakfast. Hair, makeup and wardrobe come in to set up so that when the actors arrive all are ready and open for business. All other crew arrive and the camera starts setting up for when actors are ready.  Timing on everything is crucial. My priority was to accommodate Malcolm at every possible juncture when possible. A typical work day for me lasted 16 to 20 hours. We had quite a few days when camera rolled for 18 hours, which meant two hours sleep before we start up the next days shoot...NUTS huh?

T: Beats working at McDonalds though!

R: People think we're way overpaid, but we work our butts off. I love it though.

T: So you filmed one episode every 8 days?

R: Yes, shooting days. You know Malcolm actually saved my job!

T: How did he do that?

R: The show had started slipping in ratings and Malcolm was upset with the writing. The stories were becoming redundant and the show was going way over budget. FI was one of most expensive TV shows ever made! Some episodes were upwards of $3 million which is astronomical even by today's standards. So there was a lot of pressure and when things go wrong, they start looking for scapegoats…for some way to shake things up. Assistant directors seem to end up as the 1st heads on the chopping block. There was a big meeting in LA to do some re vamping. The writers were fired and the producer said there would be some A.D. changes also. Malcolm said, "Yeah? Well I don’t know what kind of changes you’re planning on making, but Ric STAYS.” The producer was so pissed because now he’s lost his edge over me. This put me in a very precarious position with all my producers because they always need the upper hand. You know what I mean?

T: You were now the golden child.

R: Hehehe exactly. If I wasn’t working with Malcolm I would have quit so fast because in my opinion they let a great show go down the toilet.

T: Let me give you some quotes by Malcolm about the series. "We finally got it down. I loved doing the last three episodes. And they were very good." Do you agree with that?

R: YES!! It’s true, but by the time they started listening to him it was too late!! They didn’t let him DO HIS THING!

T: I thought it was up and down - great stories and boring stories. Going from 3 to 2 stories per episode helped. Was that Malcolm's idea?

R: I don’t know all the inside details, but he definitely was pushing for what he felt his character should play! Also keep in mind the episodes didn’t air in chronological order.

T: Bob Guccione said Malcolm was the "cheapest man he ever met", but it doesn't sound like that if he went to bat for you - he didn't really owe you anything...?

R: FUCK BOB. You can quote me on that!! I found Malcolm one of the most generous people I ever met. I definitely bonded with him and Kelley. I love them both. I’ve even been invited to come stay with him for a visit. I have also become really good friends with Louis Lombardi.

T: Cal.

R: Yes. His career starting to take off, he did the Sopranos after FI. I even did some photo double work on the show. ME as Mr. Roarke! I did have a good time because of Malcolm and all the other great actors I got to meet and work with. Alyssa Milano, Dean Cain, Lenox Lewis, etc.

T: Don’t forget Madchen.

R: Madchen!! I absolutely fell in love with her. She is so cool and her husband was too. The whole cast was a lot of fun. I’ll never forget one day in make up trailer. Madchen knew I loved her and I’m such a flirt, she definitely shocked me that day by mooning me. She's a character, but Malcolm is the KING!! Do you  remember episode with Alyssa?

T: Yes, the 1st regular episode, “Superfriends”.

R: Remember when he talks to her thru TV?

T: In her hotel room?

R: Right. She’s in the room and Malcolm appears on the tube. He’s actually in next room with a remote camera so he can’t really see her. While we're rolling Malcolm says, "Alyssa, you’ve got REALLY nice titties, are they REAL???" in his classic voice and she being such a good sport stands in front of the TV and exposes them to the screen! Of course no one can see, but it was classic comedy the way they adlibbed together. Of course you know they worked together in a movie before. I forget the name offhand, but I liked it.

T: Hugo Pool.

R: Yes! A good movie I thought.

T: The coolest part was the Malcolm Puppet!

R: Lol.

T: I guess she did the show to pay him back for doing her movie?

R: A lot of people showed up to pay Malcolm back.

T: You mentioned Louis, Cal, the last we see of him he was freed from the island - then the series was cancelled - what was going to happen next?

R: Well, one of the reasons I thought the producers were such jerks was because we were awaiting news about being picked up for more episodes, but then they went ahead and informed Louis he was being let go. Eddie too. That was low class.

T: So Harry was going to be freed from the island too?

T: So who would’ve been Roarke's assistants?

R: I don’t know. We all thought it was a very bad move, they were good frick & frack team who played well off each other, sort of like the “Odd Couple.”

T: Oscar + Felix...

R: hehe exactly.

T: Then I guess you would agree with Malcolm when he said "The show deserved to be canned. We deserved it. I was happy. To be honest with you, I was thrilled."

R: Yes, I would agree. I think at the end he was upset about why it took so long to get it right, and god knows everyone on the show was beat. An interesting statistic is that 50% of crew was fired or quit during its’ run, a phenomenal number by any account. Sometimes I wonder why someone didn’t realize that maybe the problem was in the higher echelons?

T: It's like the old Dilbert saying, "You put the stupidest people where they can do the least harm - in management."

R: LOL! It was the first time I ever told off a producer to his face! It is amazing that I made it the whole way myself!! Because I had BACKING!!!

T: This quote from Malcolm sums up what you said, "I like working fast. I'm quick to do it. I get there fast and want to move on. Let's move. Let's go. Let's do it. So that to shoot an hour in eight days is perfect for me. I like that. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough control about scripts and things. When you are asked to do something, you're not given that control."

R: Exactly!! and he would be so upset when they bring him in and he waits for four hours....he doesn’t like to sit around doing  nothing!! Another big thing was a noticeable absence of Sonnenfeld (Executive Producer).

T: He just put his name on it and took off?

R: Yes, I believe so.

T: Here’s the last quote I have from Malcolm. "When it actually came to do the substance of the season, they didn't really have the scripts. It was supposed to be this dark thing and it never materialized."

R: Exactly. They had this husband wife team of writers who walked around the set with stoic smiles holding hands. The scripts were all to familiar - like a girl and her male buddy she wants to meet all over again so they can be romantic this time around. How many times can you do that?

T: Or the girl who wanted to be a virgin again so she had to NOT sleep with each guy this time.

R: Soooo bad!

T: I liked Estrogen - the female combat unit story.

R: Yes, good one! Dean Cain’s was pretty good too.  I also don’t want to forget to mention Fyvush Finkel…O my god, I forgot her name offhand, she just passed away recently.

T: Sylvia Sidney.

R: Yes, god rest her soul. Such a sweet and professional lady.

T: I didn't ask because I thought their scenes were done in LA separately.

R: Sort of. There was also one very strange occurrence. Remember the actor Gerry Wilson with the corvette?

T: “Let it go”. The guy who had the car that was stolen and it really was the girlfriend who stole it?

R: Yes, he died two weeks later. He had contacted spinal meningitis, but it went undetected. I had actually noticed him coughing and not looking well and urged him to see a doctor, but he thought it was just a cold. He went back to LA, returned to Maui with his girlfriend, and got so sick that he finally went to the hospital, but it was too late. Terrible tragedy, fine young man.

T: You have a favorite episode?

R: I still haven’t seen all the episodes believe it or not, but as shitty as some of the scripts were, I was surprised at how even a bad script was made good by great performance. You can probably tell I'm an actor friendly AD, it’s my roots. I have a philosophy about it, although I sometimes run into conflicts with producers. I like to become friends with the actors and it’s beneficial to my job, because when I really, really need an actor to hurry it up, say cameras are ready and waiting. A friend doesn’t want you to get in trouble by causing delays, so it helps, but that is just me.

T: No one wants to work in a hostile environment or with Hollywood phonies.

R: Unfortunately that is the very thing only too often that I’ve dealt with. It’s a very tough business with too many egos and too many chiefs, but I guess that’s why I like it so much. The challenge and feeling of accomplishment that something you've put so much of yourself into does last forever in celluloid.

T: So are you going to take Malcolm up on his offer to visit?

R: I haven’t talked to him, but Louis does and I always tell him to send an aloha to him and Kelley. The next time I’m in LA I'll definitely call and say hello. I will never forget what he did for me...extraordinary.

T: I read that on one shoot Malcolm kept the wardrobe and some consider that "cheap", but since the clothes only fit him isn’t that common on a set ?

R: That is such BS because EVERY show has clothes tailored for every actor and it is customary that some of the clothes they wear, especially if it’s something they actually LIKE are given to them. When a show is cancelled, it’s usually sell off time. Everything is for sale and it is sold cheap, so a lot of the crew make out. It has been done on every show I ever worked on!!!

T: Any other funny stories from the set?

R: I’ll think of some and maybe we can talk later.

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