John Wayne made an unconventional cameo in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, which has been largely lost to time. Gremlins became an instant Christmas-time classic, and following its success in 1984, Warner Bros immediately wanted a sequel to the Joe Dante movie. The issue was that Dante wasn’t interested.
Instead, he moved on to other projects like The ‘Burbs. Despite developing other scripts with different filmmakers, Gremlins 2 stalled, so the studio came back to Dante with the offer of a healthy budget and total creative control. Having received a blank check to make whatever crazy passion project he wanted with the sequel, Dante set to work.
Key & Peele fans will remember their hilarious Gremlins 2 sketch, where Jordan Peele’s “sequel doctor” helps Dante (Keegan-Michael Key) brainstorm various wacky concepts for the film. These include adding a brainy gremlin, a sexy female gremlin and a cameo by Hulk Hogan.
The big punchline of this skit is that, despite all the outlandish pitches, all of them appear in the final version of Gremlins 2. This includes Hogan’s fourth-wall breaking appearance, where after the titular creatures disrupt the movie itself, the Hulkster threatens them into starting it up again.
John Wayne Replaced Hulk Hogan For Gremlins 2’s VHS Release
Gremlins 2’s meta humor was way ahead of its time, and largely left audiences confused back in 1990. It’s aged incredibly well though, with the Hulk Hogan cameo becoming a classic gag in itself. Dante had some extra fun with the sequel’s VHS release, where he added a whole new sequence.
Dante swapped out Hogan’s Gremlins 2 cameo with a scene where the gremlins disrupt the VHS playing the movie. After some fun and games, they wind up in a John Wayne Western, where “The Duke” threatens the creatures to stop messing around.
This leads to a shootout between Wayne and the gremlins, and after he kills them all, the VHS goes back to the main story. It’s a bizarre, funny little scene, and it would have been a nice surprise for those who saw Gremlins 2 in the theater and were expecting the Hogan scene again.
John Wayne’s Gremlins 2 Cameo Comes From Chisum
Given that he fronted over 80 Westerns, even fans of Wayne might find it tough to identify where Gremlins 2 took its footage from. The sequel uses scenes from Wayne’s 1970 banger Chisum, where Wayne plays the titular, real-life cattle baron.
This told the story of the bloody Lincoln County War from Chisum’s perspective, with Billy the Kid playing a supporting role. Chisum was one of Wayne’s more entertaining latter-day Westerns and his follow-up to True Grit, the movie that won him his sole Academy Award.
John Wayne is voiced by an uncredited Chad Everett (Mulholland Drive) during his Gremlins 2 appearance.
Of course, Wayne had passed away a solid decade before Gremlins 2 hit screens, but his “cameo” had the blessing of his family. It likely helped that this scene showed “The Duke” in a heroic light and that he won his raging gunfight against the gunslinging gremlins.
Why John Wayne’s Gremlins 2 Scene Has Become Obscure
John Wayne’s Gremlins 2 appearance was specifically tailored for the VHS release, so when it came time for the movie’s DVD and Blu-ray releases, the original Hulk Hogan sequence was used instead. That said, some of these home media releases added the Chisum sequence as a bonus feature.
Over time, the VHS version became more and more obscure, and it’s entirely possible younger fans of Gremlins 2 don’t even know this alternate scene exists. In truth, the Hogan cameo is the funnier of the two, though the John Wayne scene is still worth seeking out.
It’s too bad Dante didn’t keep this “film break” gag going for future releases, like playing with the DVD or streaming formats. It’s unlikely Warner Bros would have been willing to pay to add new versions, though in 2008, a YouTube user named batgremlin uploaded his take on what the Gremlins 2 DVD version of this gag might look like.
After decades of being stranded in development hell, it appears Gremlins 3 might finally happen – pending producer Steven Spielberg’s script approval. Dante probably won’t be directing this belated threequel, though it would be nice if the film kept some of his meta playfulness.
John Wayne Passed On Working With Steven Spielberg Years Before Gremlins 2
Spielberg produced both Gremlins and even made a tiny cameo in the original. Spielberg was a Wayne fan growing up too, with The Searchers being one of his favorite films. Spielberg also offered Wayne a role in his World War 2 comedy 1941, but Wayne swiftly passed on it.
Wayne had been offered the supporting role of Major General Stilwell and was initially interested in the project. That was until he got his hands on 1941’s screenplay, and found himself offended at the way it made fun of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Spielberg recalled Wayne’s reaction in an EW chat.
He called me the next day and said he felt it was a very un-American movie, and I shouldn’t waste my time making it. ‘You know, that was an important war, and you’re making fun of a war that cost thousands of lives at Pearl Harbor.’
Wayne famously regretted never serving during World War 2, and passed on movies he felt were disrespectful to veterans. In addition to finding 1941’s comedy distasteful, it’s possible Wayne’s ill health during this time played a role in his decision to pass.
Had Wayne signed on, 1941 probably would have been his final credit before his passing in 1979. In a way, Gremlins 2 is the closest Spielberg ever came to working with John Wayne, but at least it was a memorable one.
Source: YouTube, EW