DAVE JONE'S THIRTY QUESTION INTERVIEW WITH LOU FERRIGNO.

The questions below are from the interview that I (David Jones) conducted with Lou Ferrigno on April 9, 1999 (around 4:00pm Eastern time).  The interview lasted about 15 minutes.  This is not a word-for-word interview.  I had this conversation at work and unfortunately, I did not have access to any recording devices.  So, all of Lou's comments and answers are a
summary of my notes.

First of all, I must say that all the stories you hear about Lou being a nice person are all true.  The interview went very, very, well.  I started by introducing myself and telling Lou the reason why I was calling.  I told him that I was representing certain Incredible Hulk Web pages, and I wanted to interview him for those web sites.  He granted me the interview, so I proceeded to ask him the questions below.

The first set of questions I asked him were mostly non-Hulk related questions because I needed to make him comfortable first.   However, the last set of questions were all questions pertaining to the show.

QUESTION #1:

Dave:  Did you know that through the efforts of Bryan and Mark’s web pages and Peter David, the writer of the Incredible Hulk comic Columbia House will finally be releasing 20 episodes of the Incredible Hulk series on video?  The fans started a petition, and through all of their efforts, we’re finally getting episodes on tape. 

Lou:  He was very excited to hear news about the show being released on video.  It was the first time he had heard about this or about the petition to get the show on video tape. 

Dave:  I proceeded to also tell him that they would only be releasing 20 episodes of the series, and depending on the number of sales, we might be able to get more episodes on tape.  I told him that it was a start.
 

QUESTION #2:

Dave:  Has anyone ever approached you on doing a Lou Ferrigno or Bill Bixby biography for A&E? 

Lou:  He said that he has never been approached about doing a Biography, but he had just finished being interviewed for an E! True Hollywood Story  on E! (Entertainment Television).  However, he said that the interview was for a life story on Bill Bixby, not him.  He did say that they SHOULD be doing a biography on him though. 

Dave:  I agreed.
 

QUESTION #3:

Dave:  What projects, film, television, or theater, are you working on right now, what projects are you planning for the future, and when can we expect to see them? 

Lou:  He said that he was in a recent film called The God Son (note: I believe it’s a comedy about the Mafia).  Also, a film called Stand Tall would be coming out soon.  This picture documents his bodybuilding comeback a few years ago in the Mr. Olympia contest. 

Dave:  I asked him if this was Pumping Iron 4, but he corrected me and said, “No, It’s called Stand Tall”.
 

QUESTION #4:

Dave:  Other than the Hulk, what has been your favorite film project? 

Lou:  It didn’t take Lou too long to think about this one.  He said that Cage was his favorite film project and that it was very close to his heart. 

Dave:  I asked him if he meant both Cage movies, but from what I could tell, part one was closest to his heart.
 

QUESTION #5:

Dave:  When is the last time that you’ve heard from your former co-star Jack Colvin? 

Lou:  He said that he and Jack were very good friends, but he hasn’t spoken to him in almost 20 years.  He said that Jack was doing theatre up in the mountains somewhere. 

Dave:  I told him that I heard Jack had been teaching theatre out there somewhere.  I then asked Lou, “You didn’t even speak to him in the Return of the Incredible Hulk movie. 

Lou:  He said nope, 20 years. 

Dave:  I then realized that they never had any scenes together in the Return… movie, so they probably never saw each other during the taping.  Also, Jack had a very small role in that movie also.
 

QUESTION #6:

Dave:  Do any of your children have aspirations of going into bodybuilding or acting? 

Lou:  He said that his oldest, his daughter, has some aspirations of acting, but his 2 younger boys are more interested in playing sports like baseball and football.
 

QUESTION #7:

Dave:  A lot of the fans want to know how much you weigh today and if you are actually 6’5. 

Lou:  He said he’s in the best shape of his life at 285 pounds (note:  he was 275 during the series, except in the reunion movies). 

Dave:  I re-asked the question about how tall he is.  I told him some people say you are 6’5, some say you are 6’4 ½, which one is it. 

Lou:  He said that he’s about 6’4 ½.
 

QUESTION #8:

Dave:  How much do you enjoy doing the voice for the cartoon Hulk? 

Lou:  He LOVES doing the voice of the cartoon Hulk.  Because of the fact that he does the speaking voice so well for the cartoon, he never could understand why they wouldn’t let him talk or do his own growls in the series. 

 Dave: I agreed with him that he sounded pretty good in the cartoon and he probably could have done the growls in the show as well.  I then asked him, how many episodes do they do per season. 

Lou:  He said that they do 20 episodes per season. 

Dave:  I could see that this show gives him the gratification of doing the voice of the Hulk, since he wasn’t able to do it in the actual series.
 

QUESTION #9

Dave:  Have you ever visited Hulk web pages before (including Mark or Bryan’s Hulk pages)? 

Lou:  First he asked me if I meant on the internet.  He says he has never been to any Hulk web pages before.  However, he said once he learns how to use his computer (which will probably take about 6 months) he is going to start his own Incredible Hulk web page (Sorry Mark!!  I guess it was a hoax.) 

Dave:  I then plugged Mark and Bryan’s Hulk pages and then told him how much information about the show and how many pictures of him were in the pages.  Lou was very impressed.  I wanted to give him the web addresses, but that would have taken too long.  So, I told him to search for the pages in one of the computer search engines.  He also mentioned other web pages selling pictures of him as the Hulk (I think he might have been talking about E-Bay).  His web page is going to consist of many pictures of himself as well.
 

QUESTION #10:

Dave:  I’ve heard that if they make the Hulk motion picture, you wanted to be involved in the movie in some way.  What role would you want to play in the film, since they are going to computer animate the creature in this film. 

Lou:  He said that he would most definitely be involved in this movie in some way.  He said that he could either do a cameo or play the “in-between” Hulk.  He said that they were going to animate the Hulk so that he’s 12 feet tall and 1000 pounds, so he wouldn’t be able to play him.  Lou was very adamant that he would be in this movie in some way.
 

QUESTION #11:

Dave:  Tell me about your current body-building activities. 

Lou:  He said he trains 6 days a week for an hour an a half.  He also does one one-on-one personal training.  He’s also starting a protein drink called California Protein (don’t quote me on the name of the drink).
 

QUESTION #12:

Dave:  Is it true that you train Chuck Norris and Michael Jackson? 

Lou:  Yes.  He trains both of these guys. 

Dave:  I then asked him if Michael is trying to get big. 

Lou:   He said that Michael is just trying to tone his body.  He doesn’t want to become big.

QUESTION #13:

Dave:  Did you ever meet Richard Kiel (the man who played the first Hulk)? And if you did, did you ever see him in the Hulk makeup or talk to him about the show. 

Lou:  He met Richard Keil after he had already done the show.  Lou didn’t go into what they talked about, but he said they were looking for a more muscular Hulk and that’s why they picked him for the part. 

Dave:  I asked Lou that Keil was pretty tall, about 7’2 or 7’3. 

Lou:  He commented that Keil was a VERY tall man.  He was around that size.
 

QUESTION #14:

Dave:  Every fan wants to know what your top 5 favorite episodes are?  Before I let him answer, I already assumed for him (wasn’t that great of me) that King Of The Beach was his favorite episode, so I asked him what his other favorite episodes are. 

Lou:  He gave me his top three episodes 

Lou’s Favorite Episode #1- Jake was the first episode he mentioned.  I then asked him why this episode was one of his favorite episodes.  He said that he always liked the episodes where the Hulk can get back at the bully’s who have tormented Banner.  I then remembered that he got to drag those two cowboys in the water.  He said that he loved doing that scene.  I mentioned that that was the first time I can remember him visibly smiling in a scene (where he was supposed to be angry).  He said that scene was pretty hard to do, especially since he had to jump through the water and over a bunch of rocks. 

Lou’s Favorite Episode #2- His next favorite episode was The Quiet Room.  He called it the episode about mental illness.  I mentioned the exact name of the episode, and he complemented me saying, “Man, you know all of them.”  However, I forgot to ask him why he liked this episode so much.
Note:  I might have been wrong about which episode this was.  The episode about “mental illness” also might have been Ricky. or No Escape. 

Lou’s Favorite Episode #3-  The last episode he mentioned was Equinox.  He talked about the fact that the Hulk could walk straight into a masquerade party and not be recognized by anybody (since everyone else was in costumes).  I then asked him why that masquerade scene wasn’t longer, and he said that it was the producers that cut that scene, and didn’t want it to be that long.  Basically, he meant that it was the politics of the show. 

Dave:  I then told him that Mark (Rathwell) had interviewed Kenneth Johnson, and Kenneth spoke about the higher ups in CBS were also the reason that the show was cancelled.  He then asked me what Kenneth said about why the show was cancelled.  I told him that the new head of CBS didn’t want to continue with the show, even though it was getting decent ratings.
(Note:  See Mark’s interview with Kenneth Johnson for exact details) 

Lou:  He said the cancellation of the show was a BIG shock to everyone on the set.  Nobody saw it coming.  They were looking forward to going into the 6th season of the series.
 

QUESTION #15:

Dave:  Before you shot the pilot episode, did someone have to teach you how to be, and act, like the Hulk, or did they let you do what came natural on camera? 

Lou:  Kenneth Johnson took him into his trailer and gave him some pointers on how to play the creature.  Kenneth basically told him to be very emotional when he played the part.   Lou said he really wanted to do well with this character because this was his first acting role and he really wanted to do very well.  Richard Kiel was already an established actor, so Lou had a little bit more to prove. 

Dave:  I then mentioned how the finally scene at the end of the pilot always made me cry.  The scene where Elaina dies and then the Hulk belts out that tremendous roar. 

Lou:  He said he felt very embarrassed having to scream out loud like that, in that scene.  However, he said that he went for it and let it all out.  To his surprise, when the scene was over, he thought everyone would be laughing at him, but instead the crew was very moved by that emotional scene.
 

QUESTION #16:

Dave:  How was it working with Bill Bixby? 

Lou:  He said it was great working with Bill Bixby and then he mentioned how much of a shame it was that he had to die.  He mentioned that they were very close friends. 

Dave:  I almost got the impression that talking about Bixby was a very emotional subject for him because he didn’t expand too much on this question.
 

QUESTION #17:

Dave:  I heard that in the 2nd pilot episode (Death In The Family), the bear you were fighting knocked your wig off.  Now, how mad did that make you, and what did you do after that happened? 

Lou:  First he commented on “That poor bear”.  He said that after the wig was knocked off they had to re-shoot the scene again.  They were in water that wasn’t that deep, and they had to keep shooting that scene.  Because the wig got knocked off, they had to re-shoot the scene again.  Also, he said the bear was about 7 feet tall, 1000 pounds, and its weight kept pressing him back into the water.  Even though the bear was 1000 pounds, it was still very young.
 

QUESTION #18:

Dave:  We all know that the Hulk went through many stages of different makeup looks.  How much influence (if any) did you have on the way the Hulk looked, and which look of the Hulk did you like the best (which episode or which season)? 

Lou:  He said he liked the way the Hulk looked like in seasons 2 and 3, but ultimately season 2 was his favorite look.  He also said that the look of the first season was too scary and he wanted them to change that. 

Dave:   I told him that the first season look used to scare me as a child, and I agree with him about his second season choice.  I also told him that I used to be so scared of the Hulk, when Wonder Woman would go off on CBS, I would run and lock myself into my room until The Hulk went off on Friday nights.
 

QUESTION #19:

Dave:  I have read that you used to do your own stunts in the first season of the show.  Did you ever get hurt doing any of these stunts or were they pretty safe? 

Lou:  He said that he never got hurt doing any stunts because of his wonderful stunt coordinator, Frank Orsati.  Frank made stunt pretty safe on the set.  He said that the scariest stunt he did was in The Death Of The Incredible Hulk when he was in between the 2 bulldozers.  Lou said that was a pretty scary stunt.
 

QUESTION #20:

Dave:  Was there any point in the show where you were doing the actual growls of the creature, or was that added in on top of your voice later?  I know that they usually add someone’s voice along with some animal sounds. 

Lou:  He said that they never let him do the growls EVER in the show.  He didn’t understand why either because he felt that he could do a good voice. 

Dave:  I had always thought that it was his actual growling in Of Guilt Models and Murder.
 

QUESTION #21:

Dave:  I heard that in Terror In Times Square, some people reported being attacked by the Hulk while you were filming in New York.  Did you get a good laugh out of reports like that? 

Lou:  He talked about how cold it was that day.  It was only 10 degrees outside, and he had to spend his whole day running around New York City, dodging car, trucks, and people, from 8:00am to 6:00pm.  He said it was very difficult having to do that all day, especially since it was so cold.
 

QUESTION #22:

Dave:  I saw you on Jenny Jones where you said one of your favorite scenes, when you broke something, was when you broke out of the phone booth in Never Give A Trucker An Even Break.  What was your second favorite thing that you got to break in the show? 

SORRY FANS!!!  I accidentally skipped over this question.
 

QUESTION #23:

Dave:  What was the most emotional episode to act in as the Hulk. 

Lou:  He had to think about this question for a while. 

Dave:  Since he had to try and recall 80+ episodes, I mentioned if the last scene in the pilot episode could have been the one (see QUESTION #15). 

Lou:  He agreed and said that the last scene in the pilot probably was his most emotional scene.
 

QUESTION #24:

Dave:  We all know that King of The Beach was your first speaking role.  How important to you was this episode and did you have any input on writing this episode? 

Lou:  This episode was very important to him because a lot of people didn’t know if he could act in a speaking role, or not.  However, when he finished this episode, he proved everyone wrong.
 

QUESTION #25:

Dave:  Before Bixby died, a lot of the fans wanted to see Rebirth of the Hulk filmed.  Were you ever told what this episode would be about, and what changes would have been made to the storyline?  Also, would you have done this forth installment of the return movies if Bixby had lived? 

Lou:  He heard that they would bring the Hulk back from the blood cells of Banner in this 4th movie.  He said that the name of the movie would have been called, Revenge Of The Incredible Hulk.  He then started talking about how he didn’t like the title of the last movie.  The word Death didn’t sit well with him.  He said Death means The End, and it wasn’t the end of the Hulk in his opinion.  He openly said he didn’t like the last movie because of the fact that they killed the Hulk.  (Note:  not saying that the movie was bad to him, he just didn’t like them killing the Hulk)
 

QUESTION #26:

Dave:  In the episode Dark Side, where Banner and the Hulk become evil, how did it feel to play a killer Hulk? 

Lou:  He said that he really liked filming this episode because he got to play the Hulk in a different way. 

Dave:  I then commented on how scary it was to see him trying to step on that guy’s face in the first Hulk scene..
 

QUESTION #27:

Dave:  In The First (my favorite episode), was Dick Durrock (the evil Hulk) actually taller than you or was he standing on something to make him look bigger?  Also, did you give him any pointers on playing another Hulk? 

Lou:  He said that Dick was actually standing on a block when they filmed some of their scenes together.  Also, he didn’t show Dick how to do anything.  Dick basically did his own thing when he played the evil Hulk. 

Dave:  I think Lou mistakenly thought that I asked him if Durrock showed him how to play the Hulk (but I didn’t). 

Lou:  Because of this, he commented on how he wouldn’t change anyway he would play the Hulk because he had been doing the part for years, and he didn’t need to change anything he was doing.
 

QUESTION #28:

Dave:  I read that Kenneth Johnson wanted there to be a final episode of the show before it was cancelled.  How would you have wanted the show to end?  I know that you always wanted the Hulk to talk, also.  Would the episode have involved that? 

Lou:  He said he didn’t know about a final episode because they didn’t even know the show was going to be taken off the air.  He was under the impression that they would be going into a sixth season.  I think the final episode was a Kenneth Johnson project, so I don’t think anyone else knew about it.
 

QUESTION #29:

Dave:  Did you ever consider leaving the series at any time? 

Lou:  No, never. 

Dave:  Lou loved doing the show.  He almost didn’t have a clue what I was talking about.
 

QUESTION #30:

Dave:  I asked him when was the next time he would be in the east coast (since I live in Maryland). 

Lou:  First he said he had just done an autograph signing 2 months ago in the east coast.  He said he will be at a Sci Fi convention in Boston signing autographs soon.

That’s it!!

DISCLAIMER:  Any false quotes in my interview with Lou Ferrigno were totally unintentional and accidental, and were not made on purpose of misquoting Lou Ferrigno in any way.

Plagiarism is illegal. Please do not take any pictures, videos, sound files or other content from this site and use them in any print, online web-sites or other forms of media with permission of the author. It's taken thousands of hours to create this site. Taking content without asking firs tis very rude.The Incredible Hulk is a trademark of the Marvel Comics Group . The Incredible Hulk live action television series is owned by Universal Pictures . THE INCREDIBLE HULK  television series page is an independent web-site by Mark Rathwell which is not authorized by, nor affiliated with, either company. The site was designed for entertainment purposes.