Macy, Martin Lawrence and Tim Allen star as middle-aged men on a road trip by motorcycle. Their misadventures include a series of run-ins with the Del Fuegos gang. Schmidt got a kick out of the patch: He lives in south Ontario and graduated from Chino High.
Filmmakers wanted to use the Hells Angels name but couldn't get the bikers' permission, Schmidt told me Tuesday. "So they came up with `The Del Fuegos, Chino Valley, California,"' Schmidt said with a chuckle. "I couldn't believe it when I went into Wardrobe and they gave me a jacket with that patch.
I said, `I live out that way!"' Schmidt, 49, lives on a south Ontario dairy farm started by his grandparents, both Swiss immigrants, in 1927. He makes his living as a stuntman, with driving trucks - a skill learned on the farm - one of his specialties.
"Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a stuntman," Schmidt said. "I'd jump off bales of hay or jump off a horse or do saddle falls." He "fell into" stunt work - I swear, that's how he put it - in 1985 when a TV producer spotted the 6-foot-5 Schmidt working as a ski instructor.
Schmidt was recommended to play, of all things, a furry, oversized Ewok in an oddball "Star Wars" TV special, "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor." The Internet Movie Database lists 44 stunt credits for Schmidt, from big hits like "Rambo II" and "Bruce Almighty" to lesser efforts like "Freaked" and something called (urp) "Cold Dog Soup." He occasionally gets an acting job, usually as a menacing figure.
In "Wild Hogs," he has two roles, both nonspeaking, as a truck driver and as a biker. He was on location in Santa Fe, N.M.
, for two months last summer and said he had a blast. I admit I missed the movie, but Schmidt assured me the "Del Fuegos, Chino Valley" patch is clearly visible at a couple of points. Could fear of a visit by the Del Fuegos explain why the Chino Hills City Council now has a metal detector at the door?
POMONA IS everywhere (a continuing series): On vacation in Paris, my former colleague Mason Stockstill was startled to see, at the Louvre, a cafe named Chalet de Pomone. ONE OF my favorite local events, Pomone, er, Pomona's Summer Concert Series, returns Thursday to the bandshell in Ganesha Park. The Pomona Concert Band, a fixture for 60 years, will perform outdoor shows each Thursday at 8 p.
m.
News RSS