TVâthat was total Emilio. Another time when Two-Bit, Johnny, and Ponyboy were walking home from the movies, a hat blew by, and Emilio grabbed it and put it on. It had blown off the head of a cameraman. Emilio just used it as an opportunity.
You mentioned how closely you collaborated with Matt on
Tex.
How closely did you work with the actors on
The Outsiders
to give them new insight into the characters
?
I worked with the actors quite a bit. They were turned loose here in Tulsa with no adult supervision, and I immediately took it upon myself to be their mother. Rob Lowe even called me âMomâ half the time. Iâd run lines with the boys. They were really sweet kids. I tried not to go to the hotel where they were staying very often, because I knew, even as a mother, there would be only so much that I could do, and I really didnât want to know what was going on. The night the Socs were drowning Ponyboy in the movie, the other cast members, in a show of camaraderie, were pretending to drown each other in the hotel fountain. A few years later, I went back to the hotel and the fountain was gone. I think I know why.
C.
Thomas Howell played Ponyboy, the character you say is most like you
.
Yes, and he had the fluâbadâthe night we were drowning him in the fountain. It was in the upper thirties. We did have heaters around, but by the time you were dragged out of that fountain and put in front of a heater, you could get pretty cold. Tommy toughed it out, though. Nobody whined.
Have you stayed in touch with the cast
?
Iâve stayed in contact with Matt more than the others. He lives in New York, and I visit the city a lot. As for the rest of us, we can go years without getting together, but when we do, we pick up where we left off, so thatâs nice. Emilio and I e-mail once in a very great while. Tommy Howell and Ralph Macchio came back to Tulsa in 2006 for the premier of
The Outsiders: The Complete Novel
, the new DVD edition of the movie. And that was so much fun. They hadnât changed a bit. Between interviews we took the limo that was at our disposal and visited our old haunts where weâd shot the filmâthe park, the Curtis house. Johnnyâs house had a pig on the porch, which was kind of startling. The same man who lived in the Curtis brothersâ house during the shoot is still living there. He came out on the porch and talked to us. He said people from all over the world come to take pictures of that house.
How important was it to you for the movie to be shot in Tulsa
?
It was great for me, because I got to go home at the end of the day instead of having to head back to a hotel. And the movie really looks like Tulsa, not L.A. One night when I was fourteen, a girlfriend and I were watching a movie at the Admiral Twin Drive-In and saw some âhoodieâ guys trying to pick up these Soc girls. A few years later, I wrote that incident into the
The Outsiders
. When Francis came into town, the Admiral Twin was one of the first places I showed him.
Didnât you once drive past the Admiral Twin Drive-In at Tulsa and catch a glimpse of your Outsiders characters at the drive-in themselves, watching a movie within a movie
?
Many years later, as I was driving home from the airport, I looked over toward the Admiral Twin and saw the drive-in scene from
The Outsiders
playing on the screen. It was like looking into mirror, into mirror, into mirrorâway back to that time when I was fourteen.
Your talent brought all of this wonderful artistry to your hometown, but after the films were over, your new colleagues moved on to other projects, other cities. Have you ever considered relocating
?
No, Iâve never considered relocating. In fact, halfway through
The Outsiders
, Francis said we worked well together, and he liked Tulsa, did I have anything else we could shoot while he was in town? I told him I had this weird book,
Rumble Fish
, but nobody got it. One day he
You mentioned how closely you collaborated with Matt on
Tex.
How closely did you work with the actors on
The Outsiders
to give them new insight into the characters
?
I worked with the actors quite a bit. They were turned loose here in Tulsa with no adult supervision, and I immediately took it upon myself to be their mother. Rob Lowe even called me âMomâ half the time. Iâd run lines with the boys. They were really sweet kids. I tried not to go to the hotel where they were staying very often, because I knew, even as a mother, there would be only so much that I could do, and I really didnât want to know what was going on. The night the Socs were drowning Ponyboy in the movie, the other cast members, in a show of camaraderie, were pretending to drown each other in the hotel fountain. A few years later, I went back to the hotel and the fountain was gone. I think I know why.
C.
Thomas Howell played Ponyboy, the character you say is most like you
.
Yes, and he had the fluâbadâthe night we were drowning him in the fountain. It was in the upper thirties. We did have heaters around, but by the time you were dragged out of that fountain and put in front of a heater, you could get pretty cold. Tommy toughed it out, though. Nobody whined.
Have you stayed in touch with the cast
?
Iâve stayed in contact with Matt more than the others. He lives in New York, and I visit the city a lot. As for the rest of us, we can go years without getting together, but when we do, we pick up where we left off, so thatâs nice. Emilio and I e-mail once in a very great while. Tommy Howell and Ralph Macchio came back to Tulsa in 2006 for the premier of
The Outsiders: The Complete Novel
, the new DVD edition of the movie. And that was so much fun. They hadnât changed a bit. Between interviews we took the limo that was at our disposal and visited our old haunts where weâd shot the filmâthe park, the Curtis house. Johnnyâs house had a pig on the porch, which was kind of startling. The same man who lived in the Curtis brothersâ house during the shoot is still living there. He came out on the porch and talked to us. He said people from all over the world come to take pictures of that house.
How important was it to you for the movie to be shot in Tulsa
?
It was great for me, because I got to go home at the end of the day instead of having to head back to a hotel. And the movie really looks like Tulsa, not L.A. One night when I was fourteen, a girlfriend and I were watching a movie at the Admiral Twin Drive-In and saw some âhoodieâ guys trying to pick up these Soc girls. A few years later, I wrote that incident into the
The Outsiders
. When Francis came into town, the Admiral Twin was one of the first places I showed him.
Didnât you once drive past the Admiral Twin Drive-In at Tulsa and catch a glimpse of your Outsiders characters at the drive-in themselves, watching a movie within a movie
?
Many years later, as I was driving home from the airport, I looked over toward the Admiral Twin and saw the drive-in scene from
The Outsiders
playing on the screen. It was like looking into mirror, into mirror, into mirrorâway back to that time when I was fourteen.
Your talent brought all of this wonderful artistry to your hometown, but after the films were over, your new colleagues moved on to other projects, other cities. Have you ever considered relocating
?
No, Iâve never considered relocating. In fact, halfway through
The Outsiders
, Francis said we worked well together, and he liked Tulsa, did I have anything else we could shoot while he was in town? I told him I had this weird book,
Rumble Fish
, but nobody got it. One day he
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