MICHELLE CARUSO
actress
The Phantom Movie (1999) - Smee/Bea the Bartender/Coruscant Tourist
Excaliburger (2000) - Arthur
Michelle was an accomplished stage actress in high school and later choreographed shows like "A Chorus Line" and "West Side Story." She originated the lead role of "Teal" in readings of Garrett's unproduced play "Easier Than Thinking." In her supporting roles in "The Phantom Movie" and her leading role in "Excaliburger," Michelle proved herself to be, basically, a better comedic actress than Dr. Fred really deserved. In "Excaliburger," Michelle plays Arthur, an heir to the throne masquerading as an ass-kicking, quest-solving, wandering boy squire.
Garrett says: "We told her to come in costume. Michelle came to Dave Ashe's house first day of shooting in a white shirt and I think jeans, and it looked fine to me. I said 'great, let's shoot.' She just looked at me funny and pulled out the real costume. That was how she went to work. Heck, she just was the character. Or I'm an idiot, or both. Michelle's 'Excaliburger' scenes, taking up a huge chunk of the movie, were shot in a single week or so, because she had to go. With any other actress it might not have worked. Michelle could nail the part, do it right on take one. We'd shoot a lot of takes anyway, and she'd come up with something different, better, great. Michelle, I trust. On 'Phantom Movie' we retroactively made her part of the Dr. Fred cast, had her play a bunch of little parts like we all used to do, it was a weird sort of gesture of respect! She's damn good in 'Excaliburger' and I understand she didn't like the part because it wasn't a fun part, she had to move the plot along, say the boring lines ... Well, somebody has to carry the film! I certainly wasn't doing it! [laughs]"
Did you know? Smee had a VERY small part in the original "Phantom Movie" script. Feeling bad about this and not wanting to let an actress like Michelle go to waste, Garrett and Dave came up with more material for Smee and added her to the car race scene, in which the dialogue was almost all improvised (including the interviews at the end). Smee's classic line "I knew we were destined for Vicki ... I mean, victory" was inspired by a flub-up in which Michelle said "Vickity" instead of "victory."
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