He memorably only had 14 hours to save the Earth, but 40 years on he’s still the saviour of the universe. And Flash Gordon marks his landmark birthday by returning to the big screen this week in a new 4k restoration.
The film made a star of Sam J Jones, who reputedly got the role because producer Dino De Laurentiis’s mother in law saw him in a TV show. Regular appearances at Comic Cons and cameos in Seth MacFarlane’s Ted and Ted 2 mean he’s hardly stopped playing the blonde super hero. Meeting fans and attending special screenings with them are all part of the job, one that he loves doing.
Growing up in the late 50s, he remembers the Flash Gordon comics of the day but admits he wasn’t into super heroes that much. He was more interested in the plastic toys advertised on the back cover. Little did he know …..
You’re one of the original superheroes, if not THE original one. How does that feel?
It feels wonderful! Flash Gordon was created in 1934 as a comic strip in a newspaper and it was the mould for all the other super heroes to follow.
Were you into super heroes when you were growing up? Did you read the Flash Gordon comics?
As a little boy in the late 50s and early 60s, I remember the comic books and they were cool, but I wasn’t that into them at 4 or 5 years old. I remember turning the comic over and wanting to buy all the little things that were advertised on the back cover, like the little plastic soldiers. That was all I wanted and I kept telling my dad they were only 50 cents! And he said that was too much!
What do you think of the film now, with the benefit of hindsight?
I love it. I think that any actor who was part of that particular movie and now sits down to watch it, you’re expected to be objective about it but it’s very hard. So when I sat and watched it for the first time, I thought, well, if I’m thinking like a first time spectator, am I supposed to laugh? Is that real? Is it camp? Is it comedic? Are they serious? I learned as the years went on that you can brainstorm any film over and over again in your head and drive yourself crazy. I think for Flash Gordon you just sit back and enjoy the adventure.
For me personally, I have five words for Flash Gordon if I was to describe it. It is a visual masterpiece. It really is. The costumes, the sets – are you kidding me? Show me something else like this! A lot of people forget that Danilo Donati, who did all the Fellini, movies was the production designer and there’s very few movies in the world that have that richness, that vibrant colour. It’s hard to get that now – unless you use CGI – but who else wears a costume with 30,000 hand sewn beads on? Red, yellow, gold, silver, black. It’s a spectacular image, it really is. It’s hard to duplicate now.
When you came to make the film, you didn’t have CGI, so what are your memories of some of the scenes, for instance when you were flying through the air. How did you do that?
We were doing blue screen back then, so it was a gigantic, blue backdrop – it must have been 30 feet high by 30 feet wide and that’s probably too small, it might have been 40 feet. They put me up on a walking cycle and I’d sit there and do my scenes with nobody there! But, as you saw in the film, there were hundreds of Hawkmen, the intergalactic space, planets, all that good stuff.
So when was the last time you saw the film?
I saw it last year. Sometimes when I do personal appearances, I will do a private screening with the fans and I love doing that. I love watching the film with the fans – it’s wonderful, absolutely wonderful.
You do a lot of Comic Cons, both in America and this country, and the film has so many fans. Do you ever worry that you might disappoint them when they meet you? There’s that whole thing about never meeting your heroes ….
Some people will take this as arrogance, but just telling you how I am as a person. When a fan walks up to my table, they are going to be greeted just like I would greet any friend or family member, and my job – as a human being, not so much as an iconic hero – is to serve their needs when they meet me. So that means a conversation, answering a few questions and if it means autographs and a picture, then so be it. If they’re going through tough time and they need a little bit of encouragement or a big hug, they’re going to get that. So when you meet Sam J Jones, it’s going to be a very inspiring, positive encounter and that’s what I want to give them. That’s what they deserve.
We’re all going through tough times, especially now, whether it’s the virus or societal unrest around the world. Our hearts are either full of love or they’re full of hate so my job, especially now, is to be the guy I’ve always been, either Sam J Jones or Flash Gordon, to inspire them and let them know how much value they have. For every storm that starts in this world – a physical storm or a mental one – it’s always going to end. So my job is to pick people up and build them up.
And what’s cool is that the people who come to my booth because of Ted and Ted 2 are younger, so I’ll get grandfathers, sons and grandsons, I’ll get grandmothers, daughters and granddaughters. And that triple generation is the most unique experience anybody can ever have.
Flash Gordon 4k restoration is in selected cinemas from Friday, 31 July and released on DVD and BluRay on 10 August.
