I think the mermaid in HOOK was one of your very first acting jobs. Had you done any acting before?
I had done a few small guest spots on TV shows but HOOK was my first movie, and Robin Williams was my first screen kiss.
So, how did you get cast in HOOK?
One of the casting directors came to my acting class and thought of me for the role. He brought me in to read. Then from that I got a meeting with Steven Spielberg and his people. We had a nice talk and he picked me from that. They read thousands of girls for that role. Several semi "big" actresses wanted to do it too.
Robin Williams and Regina Russell
What do you remember about the audition process for your role?
At first I didnt want to go because I had to wear a swim suit and I hated doing that at the time. The secretary at my agents office talked me into it. At my first reading I handed my headshot to the casting director and for some strange reason I said it was a birthday present... even stranger, it WAS his birthday! I was so nervous when I had to go to the final callbacks at Amblin and meet Steven Spielberg so I had a couple of drinks first and I listened to Marvin Gaye on my discman in the outer office. I got myself so relaxed and in a good mood so the meeting went really great. He said he thought I looked like a mermaid at the end of our meeting. I got the call two months later that I had the role. It was another eight months before we started.
Tell us about the mermaid costume and make-up...
The tail was made of rubber with a zipper down the back and a rubber piece that goes over the zipper. It had a few problems because in an effort to save money, the effects people made three tails from one mold, but they made the mold from the shortest girl with the smallest feet! They had to shave some of the rubber from the inside so my feet could go in. Even then my feet were smashed together all day.
How difficult was it getting into costume, tail, and make-up every day?
It took eight hours to put on so we had a 2am call time to hair and make up to start shooting at 10am. At least we raked it in on over time, and golden time.
Regina Russell in costume
What was the training/rehearsal process like?
We were trained to swim and scuba dive for a month or so before filming.
Did they ever mentioned or show you footage from other mermaid movie scenes (like maybe Daryl Hannah's SPLASH), to get some inspiration from?
Nah.
What was the filming process like?
It was fun but very hard. We couldn't talk under water so Steven would tell us direction through an underwater speaker but we couldn't ask questions or explain anything that was hindering us. I had to swim up to the camera but the camera man was on a riser that was tall. The higher up you are in the tank the more the air in your lungs is expanded so I kept floating up. He kept saying to not float but I couldn't tell him to have us go deeper. The only thing I could do is grab the camera man's legs to keep from floating when I got to the camera.
Do you you remember where exactly all your scenes were shot?
The underwater scenes were shot in a tank on the Sony lot. We shot one scene above water in one of the soundstages.
What was your favorite memory or moment from the making of HOOK?
Hanging out and singing with Dustin Hoffman in his trailer. He was so much fun. We drank and had a blast. He was my favorite person on the set. The other mermaids were really nice too. I expected them to be catty but they were not at all. Actually it was the hair and makeup department that were catty and mean. They truly made the job a nightmare. I was friends with Francis Coppola during that time and he was filming DRACULA on the lot at the same time and even he told me he heard how mean the hair and makeup people were, and to me especially. They would pull my hair on purpose and say mean things. I think most of them had crushes on Dustin and he was always play flirting with me. He didn't even mean anything by it, he is happily married, but man those old women did not like it at all.
Robin Williams and Regina Russell
Did anything funny happen on the set? Any good behind the scenes stories you would like to share with us fans?
Yeah. They took measurements of our heads to make the wigs and did not plan on doing a fitting before shooting. I knew that was a mistake. I got the other mermaids to go down to the set and we just said we wanted to drop in and say hi and "hey while we are here let's try those wigs on" sort of thing. The bitchy hair people were snotty and said to go watch dailys and maybe we could do that later. So we did. Afterwards Dustin offered us a ride on his golf cart back to the hair trailer, but when we got on he kidnapped us and we went to his trailer instead. We were talking and having fun and now all of the sudden the hair people who didn't care about doing a fitting are beating down his door because they need us so bad. Every move anyone makes on the lot gets reported over the walkie talkies. No doubt the fact that we were on his golf cart headed for his trailer made big news in the hair trailer. Anyway, he told them to go away. It was our day off after all. When he got called to set we went and tried on the wigs and what do you know, they didn't fit at all.
How different were the scenes you shot compared to the way they appeared in the original script? Were any scripted scenes cut and not filmed?
Yes, it was quite different. It's such a shame really. There were six different scenes with us in them and we all had tons of dialogue. When we arrived on set the first day of fittings we all thought we had these big parts. We were told that there would only be two scenes and no lines. It was pretty crushing.
In the version of the script that we have, there are names for three mermaids: Angelika, Babs and Una. So which one were you playing?
See, you have a script, you can see all the scenes we were supposed to do, and that we actually had names! I was Babs.
Do you remember filming any scenes that didn't make it into the final cut of the movie? If so, what were they?
Steven cut out most of our scenes before filming so when we started it was already a huge let down how much was gone. If we had learned all at once how much we were to be cut we might have hung ourselves on the spot. We did film one scene above water, in a rowboat with Bob Hoskins. That was a cute scene. It was to be the end comment on his character Smee. Smee rows away with the mermaids feeding him grapes. They decided later to end it another way and shot something else.
Thank you