Five Favorite Films with Starship Troopers' Casper Van Dien
Johnny Rico reveals himself to be...a Star Wars geek!
It's been eleven years since we last saw Casper Van Dien as Federation soldier Johnny Rico in Paul Verhoeven's sci-fi cult film, Starship Troopers. Two sequels later, Van Dien is back with a new crew, new weapons, new dangers, and the same familiar problems with authority figures and alien bugs. Van Dien spoke with Rotten Tomatoes to share his Five Favorite (Sci-Fi) Films of all time, discuss his longtime friendship with Starship Troopers: Marauder director Ed Neumeier, and reveal how the last decade and two sequels have changed Johnny Rico and the Starship Troopers franchise.
Starship Troopers: Marauder premieres on DVD Tuesday, August 5; click here to preview two exclusive behind-the-scenes clips for peeks of the new Marauder suit and weapons. Read on for Casper Van Dien's 5 Favorite (Sci-Fi) Films of all time!
First we have Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. That would be because of "Khaaaaaaaaaan!" "Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" That's number five.
Then I would have to go probably with T2. It was another great sequel to a great movie. I loved the humanity of Arnold Schwarzenegger. I loved the humanity in the cyborg, in the Terminator. I loved the fact that he was not human and he had more humanity than most humans do. And he was just cool.
Then I would go with the first Star Wars, which is actually the fourth episode, because I remember standing in line; I was one of those bazillion kids that were standing in line opening day. My poor mother and father had to do that with me. I remember my mom left, and came back a day later. So my dad stood there with me. I think that is one of the most incredible memories for me. It was an awesome film; I'll never take anything away from the film, but the fact that I had a father who was willing to stand in line with me all that while...let's see, I was born in '68, so I was 8 or 9. Eight or 9 and my dad stood in line for me. Yeah, I was there for like a day and a half!
And then I would put The Matrix. The first Matrix. Are there any others? [Because of] Neo. And it was just so cool. Everything in that movie made you see how we're all interconnected; I think that the internet is like a man-made version of, the closest we can come to conceptualizing God. It shows how we're all connected, and this Matrix is really that more defined. The Wachowskis were just a couple filmmakers who did an incredible job.
And my all-time favorite number one science fiction movie would be...Starship Troopers! Because I'm vain! And full of myself! No, actually I'm excluding me from this, but I would put that on the list. But I can't do myself, because it just isn't right. I would say Aliens. Because, as Jim Cameron himself said, "Why are they making Starship Troopers? I already did!" He was wrong, by the way!
Actually, I have to add one more in. I have to add RoboCop only because of the one line at the very end, when they go, "What's your name?" And he says, "Murphy." It's the greatest way to end any movie, ever. It's true, if you think about that. Everybody in the audience stood up and screamed. They went ballistic; I know, I was there. I'm probably revealing some geekdom here. I was there in the theater opening weekend! I remember everybody -- as soon as he said his name, he got his humanity back, and it was such a powerful moment. It was awe-inspiring.
Jim Huete
he may not be that good of an actor, but he sounds like a really cool guy
Aug 4 - 05:29 PM