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The Z Review - Excellent Spy Kids 2 coverage

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THE MYSTERIOUS ROMERO: Mastermind behind island of wild inventions and weird mutations; afraid of own shadow

Katie Couric: A veteran of stand-up comedy and experimental theater, Steve Buscemi has built a career on playing unique and memorable characters. Recently, he was seen in the action thriller Domestic Disturbance and heard in the box office smash, Monsters Inc. Now, in his latest project, Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, Buscemi plays Romero, a mad scientist living on a remote island populated by his own genetic experiments gone terribly wrong.

(Film clip)

KC: (Screams) Ahhhhhh! Steve Buscemi, good morning, nice to see you! I must say you clean up very well because in most of your movies, you're looking a bit ratty, don't you think?

Steve Buscemi: Oh well, you know, it's part of the job.

KC: Now, you're all clean shaven and nice. Tell me, I know you've got an 11 year old son, we were just talking about our kids, and is that one of the reasons you were more than willing to do this movie? For him, or...?

SB: Yeah. It's nice to have some films he can see because most of them he can't.

KC: Right. Like when you're put in a woodchipper, I guess...in Fargo.

SB: He knows about that movie, but I won't let him watch it.

KC: So, obviously, he was one reason. Why else? I would imagine the director was another reason.

SB: Yeah. Robert Rodriguez...um, I me him when he showed El Mariachi at the Sundance Film Festival, and then he wrote a part for me in Desperado. I just love his work and love working with him, so when he called me and said he had a part for me in Spy Kids 2, I said "Sure!"

KC: Now he seems very interesting. He lives in Austin Texas, right?

SB: Yeah.

KC: And he seems to do everything. He produces. He writes. He does a lot of the special effects, doesn't he? I mean, he's sort of a one-man travelling show, right?

SB: Yeah, he does. I mean, he literally did everything on El Mariachi. Now, he has a lot more help. But he still... He edits. He supervises the special effects. He's the cinematographer. He does a lot.

KC: Now tell me about this character you play. He's basically your average Steve Buscemi demented weirdo, right?

SB: Uh, yeah, but he's smart. (Laughs & looks around) Who's laughing over there?

KC: That's our resident laugher, our laugh track, Mark (inaudible), but anyway...

SB: He works for an evil guy, but he doesn't know he's working for an evil guy. And he wants to create these miniature zoos for kids, and then he crosses the species, and then he wants to make them bigger, and that's where it goes wrong.

KC: And the imagination required to come up with these species is another hats off to Robert because they have Slizzards, Flying Pigs, Spider Monkeys, and at the same time, though, you pretty much had to work like all the actors with a green screen most of the time, right?

SB: Yeah. I mean Robert showed us drawings of what the creatures were going to look like, but you still feel a little foolish when you're...

KC: When you're going, "AHHHhhh!" (Screams and flails)

SB: Yeah.

KC: And there's nothing there?

SB: Yeah.

KC: How'd I do?

SB: That was great!

KC: (laughing) Thank you. Thank you very much! Was it fun for you working with the kids? They're pretty much the stars of the movie, right?

SB: Yeah, Alexa and Daryl. I really loved their work in the first film, so it was exciting to work with them. Matt, I had worked with on Domestic Disturbance, so it was fun to see him again.

KC: Has your son seen this one yet?

SB: Um, no. He was not able to make it to the premiere in L.A., but it opens today, so we'll go.

KC: Oh that sounds great. Meanwhile, you directed an episode of The Sopranos, right?

SB: Yeah. I did one in the 3rd season, and I have one coming out in the 4th season.

KC: And you have a couple movies coming out as well? What are those?

SB: One is called The Grey Zone by Tim Blake Nelson. And the other is called Love in the Time of Money by Peter Mattei.

KC: So, you're keeping busy, right?

SB: I try.

KC: I'm ready for you to play the part of the romantic lead.

SB: Well, when I look in the mirror, I see a romantic lead.

KC: I think you can do anything. I think you're an incredible actor. I really do.

SB: Well, thanks.

KC: Steve Buscemi, Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, as you mentioned, opens today. Thanks for coming by. It's nice to see you.

SB: Thanks.

The adventurous journey to the ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS, brings the Cortez family face-to-face with a madder-than-most-mad-geniuses mastermind: Romero. Once a brilliant genetic scientist, Romero’s experiments to create Zoo Too --a collection of unique household pets made up of miniaturized, hybridized, exotic animals -- have gotten way out of control. His zoo has trapped its own keeper, and Romero lives in fear of the odd and outrageous assortment of creatures he has created, creatures such as the Slizzard, a bizarre mixture of lizard and snake. Playing Romero is Steve Buscemi, breaking away from his reputation for complex adult roles to bring a whole new sensibility to a family film villain.

“He’s a scientist who is absolutely paranoid and crazy afraid of his own creations,” explains Buscemi. “But luckily, I didn’t have to work with the creatures, because they were all added in later as special effects. I only had to imagine them, which was pretty exciting, because Robert explained them all to me and I realized just why Romero is so worried.”

For Buscemi, working with Rodriguez , for whom he previously starred in “Desperado,” on a family film was an exciting process. “It’s just fun watching Robert do what he does,” he says. “And because this is a kid’s film, he can be even cooler and more imaginative, knowing that they really appreciate that sort of thing. It’s hard to imagine that one person has so much talent and can come up with so many ideas, but that’s Robert.” Says Antonio Banderas of Buscemi: “He’s perfect for Romero because he can have this kind of romantic soul and at the same be very funny in that special way that kids really like."

Production started on October 22nd, 2001 in Austin, Texas. Like the first Spy Kids film, the shoot (on digital video) will take place in Austin, Texas (probably with some shots in other locations around the world). This time around, it's likely that Rodriguez will get a little more than the first film's $36 million, but the budget isn't announced.

Following the further adventures of Carmen and Juni Cortez, the children of super-spies Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez, this movie sees them challenged by another pair of spy siblings, Gary (O'Leary) and Gerti Giggles.

When the adult spies are taken out of commission (again), the two teams are all that's left to save the world. Steve Buscemi plays mysterious scientist Romero who lives inside a volcano on the Island of Lost Dreams in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. The island is populated by a variety of genetically cross-bred animals that Romero has created. With Romero's help, the kids uncover a plot that could put the entire planet in danger.