Lifetime Achievement Award: Al Lowe
Kirk: Okay, I think just one more topic, since most of my readers have probably already bailed out by now. Larry, I certainly thought, was an interesting enough character to extend beyond the computer game medium as Lara Croft is about to. Were there ever any plans or talk of making a Larry movie.
Al: There's been a lot of talk, starting back in 1990, the first time Ken and I were wooed by Hollywood. But it turned out that Hollywood--or at least the people we talked with--had the idea that they would take our characters and make all the money and keep it!
Kirk: That's a very interesting approach, isn't it?
Al: We didn't think that was the right idea. So, we ended up saying, "No." There have been several studios over the years that have optioned the rights for Larry. I think Touchstone got the farthest. They produced at least three or four scripts, perhaps five, but none came to fruition. I, myself, still believe that the character has enough legs to support even a series of movies because he's a type of character who's been around with us forever. I mean, if you look back at Buster Keaton -
Kirk: Oh, sure.
Al: - and those kind of "fish out of water" characters, Larry is the ultimate "fish out of water."
Kirk: Yeah, the lovable loser.
Al: Yeah! He's this guy that's completely out of it but in the current situation. You know, actually, I think Rob Schneider's movie, Deuce Bigelow...
Kirk: Yeah.
Al: Male Gigolo...
Kirk: Something like that.
Al: Whatever it was, it was a Larry movie. Boy, when I saw it, I thought, "These guys did Larry!" Of course, I didn't get paid on that one, either.
Kirk: Well, I doubt Rob Schneider did, either. So, okay, if they were to make a movie, who do you see playing the character of Larry? And Patti, for that matter, whom we've neglected to talk about, really...
Al: I don't know. I guess Lara Croft would have to play Patti.
Kirk: [Laughs] Can a computer game character play another computer game character?
Al: Why not? I saw Chinese swordsmen flying, so...
Kirk: Yeah, that's true. Anything can happen. And that was done without computers. They did all that with cranes.
Al: It's possible, yeah. And Patti's never been into heavy lifting, so...
Kirk: [Laughs]
Al: Who do I see as Larry? That's a difficult question. Actually, Rob Schneider did come pretty close to pulling it off. For a while, back, maybe ten years ago, I was thinking maybe Jon Lovitz, but his career did even worse than Larry's.
Kirk: Yeah, it kind of did.
Al: So, I don't know. It really depends, I think, on the script. Touchstone wrote one script particularly for Jim Carrey, back around the Cable Guy days.
Kirk: Yeah.
Al: He turned it down, I believe. But it was an odd script because it was so clean. It was weird. It was as if they were doing Dumb and Dumber called Larry. You know how Hollywood is.
Kirk: Yeah, it's a good thing that one didn't happen, I think.
Al: Yeah, but there were some clever ideas. The first thing they did was research all the 70s songs and make sure they could do a double album in conjunction with the record companies so the album that came from the movie would be a compilation like a K-Tel 70s hits.
Kirk: Right.
Al: Anyway, I think it would depend on who played Larry.
Kirk: Back to Patti, briefly, is there a reason you dropped her from the later games?
Al: Yeah. The idea I was going after was that you would play part of the time as Larry and part as Patti.
Kirk: Right.
Al: And the more I talked to people, it was, "Well, yeah, it was all right, but we'd rather see more of Larry."
Kirk: I guess I can see that.
Al: I was pleased (from a designer's perspective) that I came up with and entire suite of puzzles for Patti to solve, each one of which required her to remove part of her clothing.
Kirk: We were pleased, too.
Al: To me, that was the fun part of the whole thing; that the whole last part of the game was an extended strip tease that people weren't aware of until the end. But it turns out you had to use up her clothes to solve the puzzles.
Kirk: Right. Well, now that we're getting back to the naked computer characters, I think we should stop before Wal-Mart makes us get out the gauze. But I first have to ask; where do you see yourself in five years, Al?
Al: Polishing my Moofie, of course.
Kirk: Now, Al, what did I just say about Wal-Mart?
Al: [Laughs] Okay, well, retired, and splitting my time between someplace warm with beaches where I can SCUBA dive, and some other place cooler with culture where I can hear jazz and opera and classical music. Of course, I plan to still be maintaing my site, allowe.com, and writing my free daily joke e-mail, CyberJoke 3000™. Any of your readers that want a free subscription can just go to my site.
Kirk: Okay, well, where do you see me in five years?
Al: [Laughs] That's your interview!
Kirk: [Laughs] All right, I'll just fill that one in myself. And well, I think that's just about it.
Al: Well, it's about time! You promised me you'd keep this short!
Kirk: Call it revenge for all those lost days I spent playing your games.
Al: [Laughs] Okay. It's been fun talking to you, Kirk.
Kirk: You too, Al, and I certainly thank you for giving me your time.
But the "thank yous" don't end with the interview. We also thank Al for all the games he brought our way. It was a dark day when Sierra ended his tenure, and here's hoping that we soon get more material from this master of comedy. Whether it be in movie, book or computer game form, I'll be there in leisure suit.