CASPER VAN DIEN
Johnny Rico in Starship Troopers
Clad in a leopard-print suit, Casper is flamboyant and chatty when he meets Red Alert at the For Love of Sci-Fi con – worlds away from the surly Johnny Rico he played in Starship Troopers (1997). More recently, Van Dien has starred in All About The Money (2017), The Last Bid (2016) and Alan Tudyk’s sitcom Con Man.
Would you like to play Johnny on screen again?
Absolutely! I loved being Johnny Rico, it‘s been the role of a lifetime for me. No matter where I go somebody will yell at me “Johnny Rico!” or “You know what to do!” or, “What are you doing here, Rico?” and I’ll be like, “Just getting toilet paper, it happens!”
So not killing bugs?
I try to capture bugs now not kill them. Unless it’s a black widow, because they scare me for my kids, so I kill those – only if they’re in the house!
What would Johnny Rico be up to now?
We just did an animated movie called Starship Troopers: Traitor Of Mars, and it’s 20 years later in the film, so he’s a little more battle-scarred. He’s missing an eye and I don’t know which ex-wife of his got that eye but I’m pretty sure one of them did!
Did you get any set souvenirs?
I didn’t, except for my daughter Grace was born during Starship Troopers. I had been [working] in the water tank at the time, so I felt like I was in utero at the same time as her, it was cool.
What would it say on Johnny Rico’s gravestone?
“I want to live forever!” TP