The movie is ridiculous. It's just insane. This is the pinnacle. This is the epitome. This is the acme, dude. This is everything, man. This is everything you could ever want. I'm just... I don't know what I'm supposed to do after this. I can't go no more. I can't go no more.
MM: Now when you signed on to this movie, did you do the speed dial to Kool Moe Dee and say --
WS:
Yeah. I was like, "Moe, me and you, baby." Nah, Moe and I have been friends for probably 12 years now, and soon as I heard the title, it just obviously had to be [Kool Moe Dee's "Wild Wild West"].
MM: Let's face it, you didn't leave Jive on the best of terms. You weren't so happy with them, and now you're coming back and doing an old Jive song.
WS:
You know, what I'm very thankful to Jive records for starting my career off. As in any relationship with anyone, there's gonna be ups and downs, but what they did with my career at a time when no one else would have done it or no one else could have done it, they made an amazing difference, and I thank them for that.
MM: But this isn't the old song. There's a whole bunch of fresh stuff on this track. How did you put it together?
WS:
You know what? When you work with smart people, great things are gonna happen. It's not something I could take credit for. It was a great idea, and people jumped on board and made things happen. A new young producer, Rob Fusari out of New York, hooked up the track, and of course Stevie Wonder hooked up the track. Moe Dee came, Dru Hill came in and just blessed the vocals. It's just blazin', man. It's one of those things that just all of the stars lined up and it happened.
MM: How'd you get Dru Hill in?
WS:
I played the track for Dru Hill, and they just, from the first second, they loved the track. [They were] really the only people that came to mind once I heard the track. So it was like, "I want Sisqo blessing this track," you know, that high voice... reminiscent of Stevie Wonder, a little bit. But they also understand the theatrics of the music. They understand, conceptually, capturing people with a vision, you know. Getting on to a vision, not just singing well.
MM: Now you haven't always wanted to do videos for songs connected with your movies, and at some point, it was the thing you said you wanted to avoid doing at the beginning of your career. Why
does this make sense for this movie?
WS:
Well, there's different types of movies... for example, "Enemy of the State" is a movie you don't do a track for. It's more of an acting piece, and it's more completely separate from my performing as a musical artist. Whereas [with] a film like "Wild Wild West," the hats and the garb really lend itself to a more youthful, exciting, musical escape from the movie... not that you need an escape from the movie.
MM: Right, right.
WS: Yeah. [I want] to take you out while you're leaving the theatre.
MM: Now can you dance in this stuff? Very fancy clothes here...
WS:
This is very hard to dance in. And then, you know, because I have the gun belt on, and it's weighted down, and these boots are like ice skating, so it's a little tough out there.
MM: In the wrong
hands, you'd look like a stripper.
WS:
I know, yeah. You know, you gotta watch the moves, you know. You hit one of those wrong moves [and] you look like one of the Village People in this stuff. [Laughs]
MM: So the video actually takes
place after the movie is over?
WS:
Yeah. Chronologically, the film would end, and a couple months later, I'm still having nightmares about Loveless. [That's] Kenneth Branagh, who plays the bad guy in the movie. I'm still having nightmares about him, and this would be "Wild Wild West 2," sort of.
MM: And did you have any tarantulas crawling all over you? [Salma Hayek] was kind of freaked out by all the tarantulas crawling all over her.
WS:
It was really nasty. And what I didn't even know about tarantulas: tarantulas jump. They, like, crawl really slow... really slow... and then they jump.
MM: And finally...
WS: Thank God!
MM: ...how about this dry toilet paper thing?
WS:
Oh, you heard about that. Man, I'm just... I'm just very... I'm... you know, 'cause I've always been a dry toilet paper guy, and on the film, [director] Barry Sonnenfeld turned me on, you know, to... medicated comfort pads. Man, it's like a... a shower in the middle of the day, man, you know? I'm telling you. It's like a naked jog through a nice field, man. You just feel fresh and refreshed and you feel... you're a new man. You're a new man, and I'm secure in my manhood, so I can say this to you, man. Stop it with the dry toilet paper, man.
