HOWARD THE DUCK 35th anniversary recognition 0

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Howard the Duck is more fondly embraced now. And as the film turns 35 on Aug. 1, Thompson and Zien share new stories about making the wacky title (the legendary Robin Williams quit after a few days; Zien asked patrons to leave the theater during a showing; and Lucas, believing he had another huge hit on his hands, threw a monster bash) as THR reexamines the venomous reaction to the film in an attempt to discern whether Howard the Duck was truly an abomination or merely a misunderstood punching bag.

 

At the end of a lengthy bicoastal audition process, Zien learned Robin Williams had been cast as the voice of Howard. But that would not last long, as Zien reveals the late actor-comedian left the project within the first week out of frustration over syncing his voice to the duck’s animatronic bill. An actor to voice Howard had not been cast during production, so all of Howard’s lines were read on set by the puppeteers, and the bill moved to fit their bland delivery, rendering Williams’ wild improvisational style moot in postproduction.

 

“What I was told was by the third day, Robin said, ‘I can’t do this. It is insane. I can’t get the rhythm of this. I am being confined. I am being handcuffed in order to match the flapping duck’s bill.'” Zien reminisces. “So, on Memorial Day 1985, I got a call from my agent who said, ‘You have to get right to the airport! Robin Williams just quit and you’re now Howard the Duck. You need to get there tonight. There is a ticket waiting for you at the counter.’ I was incredibly excited.” 

Thompson recalls a similar feeling of exhilaration when she was offered the juicy lead in a large production that had a lot of buzz around town. “I read all the comic books,” she boasts. “I loved how insane it was. I loved that I was a girl in love with a duck! I thought that was hilarious; everything about subversive humor and puns. I was hopeful because it was George Lucas and such a great part for me. I even got to do the singing.”

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Executive producer Lucas was positive he had another mega-franchise on his hands like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, with Zien revealing that he signed on for a total of three films. “I was supposed to be Howard the Duck as a fill-in host on Entertainment Tonight,” discloses the actor. “I signed a contract to be the voice of AT&T. And I had ancillary rights for talking Howard the Duck dolls. It was overwhelming.”

 

Lucas threw a massive postproduction bash at his sprawling Northern California estate, with festivities that included a full circus, Zien says. And for a moment, the actor didn’t have a care in the world as he marveled at the grand spectacle, believing he was on the cusp of great wealth and film stardom. That would quickly change.

 

“As the film got closer to opening, I noticed that no one is calling me,” Zien remembers. “I wasn’t invited to the premiere. It was alarming and disappointing. I didn’t know what was happening. I was totally cut out of the loop. Little by little I heard horror stories about what a difficult shoot it [had been].”

 

There was a Hollywood premiere, and Thompson attended. What was meant to be a celebratory evening instead reinforced all her fears during production. “I was like, ‘Oh, no.  I don’t think this is going to go.’ People didn’t laugh a lot,” she says. “They spent a lot of money on the afterparty. They even had ducks walking around.” 

 

Having been inexplicably shunned, Zien saw the film on opening day at his neighborhood theater at 83rd and Broadway on the Upper West Side. “There were maybe 12 people there,” he recalls. “And most were young women with babies who came to see a movie about a duck. I was running around to them and saying, ‘You know, this is not that good of a movie for your child’s age. It gets kind of scary.’ And they would look at me like, ‘Who the hell is the weird guy running around in the theater trying to get people to leave?'”

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Despite the initial tidal wave of venom, the ensuing decades have been kind to Howard the Duck. Thompson, who now does most of her work behind the camera as an accomplished director of films and shows such as DC’s Stargirl, The Goldbergs and the upcoming second season of Star Trek: Picard, credits VHS for helping build the Howard the Duck cult, which is mighty these days.

 

“People now appreciate the movie in the spirit in which it was made,” Thompson says. “It was an iconoclastic movie. It is for little rebels. And I love that fans had to be brave when they said, ‘I like that movie!’ It was so easy to make fun of it. And that is why I often say my Howard the Duck fans are my favorite fans because they had to earn it! It was not jumping on the bandwagon.”

 

Thompson is adamant she was never ashamed of Howard the Duck. What’s more, she has for some time wanted to be involved with another project featuring the character. In fact, Thompson even pitched her version of a new film, which she would have helmed, to Marvel.

 

“Joe Quinones did some of the art for the pitch because he and Chip Zdarsky did the last run of Howard the Duck comic books,” Thompson explains. “Chip and I worked together and came up with a really great pitch. Marvel liked the pitch, but they have different plans for the different characters. I still think I could do a really good job because I feel like I am the one who really understands the fans, both of the movie and the cartoon.”

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Green landing the role of Howard the Duck was a months-long process, he jokes. “I got a call from James Gunn, who I worked with on Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. He said, ‘I’ve already shot the colored animation for the Howard cameo but the lip assignment is pretty loose. Do you wan to come in and loop these two lines for this tag on Guardians of the Galaxy?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.'”

 

Not thinking it would lead to more, Green was pleasantly surprised when he got another call to play the character, again from Gunn. “He made the second Guardians and was like, ‘I threw Howard into this seedy place,’ told me the line was, ‘You’re out of luck, until you’ve gone duck,’ and I said, ‘OK, let’s try that.'”

 

Green has since reprised the role a number of times, including for the upcoming, highly anticipated What If …? Disney+ series, “which is really cool because it resulted in a scene between T’Challa and Howard.” What If …? marks the late, beloved Chadwick Boseman’s final time playing the character.

 

“I like the character in the comics, and I like subversive stuff,” Green says of his take on Howard the Duck. “He’s a punk rock noir detective, at least that’s the way I play it.”