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The lunatic world of Edison as portrayed by Carrot Top
They say that the key to American corpo- rate success has always been inventive- ness. But usually the real inventors - tradi- tionally mad-eyed, static-haired, whacked out creative geniuses - are hidden away in the lab while button-down suits run the world.
In Chairman Of The Board, top American stand-up comic Carrot Top stars as an off-the-wall surf bum-turned-inventor called Edison who is suddenly and, to almost everyone including the deeply miffed rightful heir, inexplicably given the top job in one of America’s biggest corporations. After all, what can a zany, joke-telling, idea-spew- ing, bizarre clown of a human being possibly bring to the workplace?
Carrot Top, the most popular performer on US college campuses, has built his reputation on a prop-heavy stage act including high-heeled pumps with training wheels and a party horn with built-in asthma inhaler. “Edison is a lot like me,” says the red-haired comedian. “He’s an inventor which I am in my comedy act. I build all these props so I brought that side of my character and all of these kooky inventions into the movie.”
For director Alex Zamm, translating that sort of live comedy into a big-screen debut for the odd- ball funnyman, was just one of many challenges on his feature debut. Alongside Carrot Top are a group of altogether more experienced on-camera performers like Courtney Thorne-Smith, Larry Miller, Estelle Harris, Jack Warden and one-time sex bomb Raquel Welch, as a powerful and shape- ly corporate raider.
Zamm also worked closely with British-born DP David Lewis - who moved to the States in 1975 after working for both the BBC and ITV - and pro- duction designer Aaron Osborne to create Edison’s non-stop fun world of gizmos, gadgetry and psychedelic colours.
Explained Zamm: “Our beach house set was particularly incredible, filled with zany colours and wild inventions. We wanted outra- geous visuals to hook into the story ... and we got them.” ■ QUENTIN FALK
Chairman Of The Board was originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative
Chairman
Of The Board
Photos from top: Chairman Of The Board starring Carrot Top with Cindy Margolis; director Alex Zamm; Courtney Thorne-Smith; Carrot Top as the wild inventor Edison.
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