Vanilla Ice and Neo-Futurists' Dina Connolly on Cool As Ice

There's an odd alignment of the planets this week: Spunky theater troupe the Neo-Futurists kick off Film Fest VIII (featuring their interpretations of "the best worst films ever made") with Cool As Ice on Thursday, June 25—and the film's original star, Vanilla Ice, coincidentally headlines the Cans Outdoor Music Fest on Saturday, June 27. The A.V. Club seized the opportunity to introduce Vanilla Ice to Dina Connolly, who directs and plays his role in the Neo-Futurists' rendition of the 1991 feature film. To help get Connolly up to speed on her role, Vanilla shared his insights into his cinematic debut, his rapping, and how Family Ties' Michael Gross taught him to be a better actor.

The A.V. Club: Since Cool As Ice is hard to find on DVD and there's no commentary track, what do you want people to take away from this movie?

Vanilla Ice: That they enjoy the hell out of it. That they want to see the movie and appreciate Vanilla Ice and want to buy all of his records. It's awesome. How about that? [Laughs.]

AVC: How did you prepare for your role?

VI: Well, I had acting classes because I wasn’t an actor before that. Michael Gross helped me out a lot in the movie, as far as the acting and doing lines. How to not act like you’re reading the damn thing. How to mean it. He would get into character so much that even after the script was down, he would still be that character. We would have a meal, and even though he wasn’t in the role—we weren’t acting or anything—he was kind of upset at me. [Laughs.] He was really, really into it. I was laughing about it. I was like, “Shit, he’s a good actor.” I leaned right toward him just because of that. I always pick up on the most talented person there and try to go, “Okay, you gotta guide me through this.”

AVC: What tips from that experience do you think Dina would benefit from in portraying your character?

VI: Who? A girl’s playing me?

Dina Connolly: [Laughs.] Yeah. I was going to have another actor play you, but I just selfishly wanted to play it myself because I, I [stammers] just love you.

VI: Aww. I don’t know what I can give you as far as tips. I don’t really know how it translates into a play. I don’t understand all that. I’m trying to visualize it in my head. I mean, I know what a play is. [Laughs.] Just have fun with it. The more fun you have, the more entertaining it is. Just enjoy yourself and be yourself in the movie. Well, be me. [Laughs.] Enjoy!

AVC: Dina, are there any parts of Cool As Ice that are particularly challenging to recreate?

DC: The rapping.

VI: Well, I don’t know what to say. Do you got the dance moves down? Are you a good dancer?

DC: I’m an okay dancer.

VI: You should just lip-sync it, man, so you don’t have to stress on it.

AVC: Are you saying she has no chance of getting down your approach?

VI: [Laughs.] Oh, I’m not saying that. I’m just saying make it easier on her. You really have to absorb it all and then have to throw rapper singing, the beat, and the dance moves and everything [together]. It could turn out to be a disaster. [Laughs.]

AVC: Was Cool As Ice's script or music written first?

VI: The movie deal came first and we did all the music for the movie.

DC: Was there already a script for this film, and they just decided to cast it with you in it and make some changes?

VI: You hit it on the nail. They already had a script, and they did make some changes to put me in. But you know, a lot of the one-liners I came up with, like, “Drop that zero and get with the hero.”

AVC: What one-liners of yours are you especially proud of?

VI: “Lookie, lookie, lookie—it's Cat's black bookie!” A lot of the script changed due to me. That whole part about, “Be true to yourself”? That was all stuff I wanted to throw in because I didn’t want it to [seem] like it was a story of my life. It’s definitely not. I wanted to make sure people knew that, so I added a lot of stuff to the script with the writers. Went back over it for hours and hours and hours.

D: There's speculation on the Internet that the movie was intended as a Rebel Without A Cause remake. Was it?

VI: You would think that, but I never even knew what that was until years after. It seems like they took elements out of my life. You know, I was gonna ride the stunts in there, but they didn’t want me to do that. I’ve raced in professional motocross. I saw this guy in there that was doing the jumps and stuff, and I go, “My little motocross friends are gonna know that ain’t me, and they’re gonna know that guy can’t ride very well.” So I took off and, oh, the producers and everybody were so nervous. They were like, “If he wrecks this, our show’s over. The budget’s over, and we’ve spent millions and millions of dollars on this thing!” And I just tear down this street, and they were trying to stop me. I hit that ramp so frickin' hard and jumped over that it was just perfect, and they were like, “That’s awesome!” So I got to do all the motorcycle stunts in the movie myself, which was really cool. Because you know I can’t sit around watching someone else trying to be me on the motorcycle.

D: Dina, will the reading include any stunts?

DC: Well, we don’t have a very big budget. For the motorbike, I’m actually going to be on a children’s Big Wheel.

VI: Children’s Big Wheel?!

DC: It’s just something to ride around on to give people an idea of what’s happening in the film.

VI: Oh, I see how this is going now. Okay. Not even a bicycle—a Big Wheel.

D: What were you trying to achieve with this movie that you weren’t able to with your records?

VI: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It wasn’t anything other than another payday for me. I went into Charles Kaplan’s office, and he was like, “Hey, how do you feel about making a movie?” I go, “I’m not an actor. I don’t know about movies.” He was like, “Here’s a couple million dollars. What do you think now?” I said, “I’ll make myself an actor.” [Laughs.]

It was funny, though, man. The movie’s comedy. It’s got a little storyline to it. Even I can sit back and go, “That’s not a bad movie.” It’s entertaining. I just sit back and have a laugh.

D: Dina, the cast, and I watched Cool As Ice the other week, and afterward, someone mentioned how they were glad this movie was made because it's a document of a very specific time period.

VI: That is really cool, and I’m glad you said it. [Laughs.] But you know, the Vanilla Ice thing had a huge impact, bigger than anything. The movie is part of it. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is part of it, the most extreme part of it. It’s almost like I own a space in time. He’ll be remembered long after I’m dead. It’s just there: ’91. It was my year. Frick, man. I never predicted it. I never expected it. It just happened.