BARRY BOSTWICK DOES THE TIME WARP AGAIN
BARRY BOSTWICK, LEFT, GIVES A SIGNED PAIR OF UNDERWEAR TO A “ROCKY HORROR” FAN.
Barry Bostwick struts across a stage in high heels at the end of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” just one of the many physical demands he says he endured as part of the 1975 camp classic.
“I was cold. Freezing!” recalls Bostwick, who played nerdy hunk Brad Majors in the film. “I hated it every time the makeup people came up with a spray gun (to douse us with water). I would say, ‘Can’t you get hot water in that damn thing?’ We were in this house that’s falling apart around us and leaking from the rain.
“It was a very low budget, wonderful time. You dealt with it, and you walked away with pneumonia like Susan (Sarandon) did.”
Bostwick, 73, will recount more memories Saturday as part of Society for the Performing Arts’ screening of the film at Wortham Center. He’ll judge a costume contest and answer fan questions. The screening will be accompanied by a live shadow cast, The Royal Mystic Orders of Chaos, known for their midnight performances at the River Oaks Theatre.
“I try to tell them the little that I remember from 43 years ago in making this film,” Bostwick says. “I’ve had to read an awful lot of books about the phenomenon of ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show.’ I get most of my information from other people.”
Just don’t ask him if he’s ever
slipped back into the heels.
“I’m not gonna say,” Bostwick says with a laugh. “That’s a bit of information that I will keep to myself.”
The film, based on a 1973 stage musical by Richard O’Brien, starred Bostwick and Susan Sarandon as a meek couple who seek shelter in the castle of alien transvestite Dr. Frank N. Furter, immortalized by Tim Curry, who creates the perfect male specimen in his laboratory. Chaos and camp ensue.
“Rocky Horror” was originally panned by critics and rejected by moviegoers. But it was resurrected via midnight screenings that still happen across the country. It is now the longestrunning theatrical release in movie history and part of the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
Bostwick says the film’s cult status came as a surprise to everyone.
“We just thought we were making another musical, a ‘Sound of Music’ for the mid ’70s,” he says. “Really, that’s all we thought the movie was gonna be, just a rock ’n’ roll show with some great music and outrageous performances and a real tongue-in-cheek atmosphere. Then, it became what it became.
“People, I don’t think, go to the theater to see us anymore. They go to see each other.”
Indeed, “Rocky Horror” has become a communal, even spiritual, experience for the weirdos, the outcasts, the freaks and geeks. Moviegoers don’t just show up. They wear costumes. They bring props. They interact with the film and each other. They come in groups and indulge their fetishes and fantasies.
Bostwick, for his part, thinks it’s “fabulous.”
“I’m so proud to be able to be in something that was not only entertaining but continues to be entertaining to the third generation and also is somewhat of a banner for the LGBT community,” he says. “When we first came out, being gay or being bisexual or just having any doubts or questions about your sexuality was something new to our society and the world. We were sort of there at the beginning, saying, ‘It’s OK. Don’t dream it, be it.’ ”
The film has gone on to inspire endless homages, from “The Simpsons” to “Glee” to work by Rob Zombie. Fox produced a poorly received TV reboot in 2016 that featured Laverne Cox, Adam Lambert and Ben Vereen — only proving that there’s still nothing that comes close to the wonderfully weird original.
“It’s what happens to it now, so many years later, when people go back and try to do it onstage. They make it so big and so cartoonish. I think that’s what happened to the Fox reboot of ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show.’ It just got too big, too flashy, too bright and lost some of the danger and seediness. That’s really what was part of its appeal. I think that we were able to bring some sincerity and reality to it. I think that’s why it’s lasted so long,” Bostwick says. “I think the tone of the movie, in terms of size of performances, was so beautifully orchestrated by Jim Sharman, who directed it, that I’m quite proud of what I see myself and all the other people do.”
As for the characters, Bostwick thinks present-day Brad would be a small-town city councilman in Texas, “struggling with his ambivalent sexual behavior and feelings. Janet would be a Broadway star.”