Actor Billy Crystal is back playing a one-eyed green monster – and his grandkids love it.
The Hollywood legend is the voice of Mike Wazowski in the new Disney + series Monsters at Work.
And it brings back happy memories of the 2001 movie smash hit Monsters, Inc. and the 2013 prequel Monsters University – when Billy’s grandchildren thought he really WAS Mike.
The actor, 73, explains: “My grandchildren didn’t really know what I did and, frankly, I was a little confused myself.
“Then one day we were walking in a mall and paparazzi came out and were taking pictures.
“They were freaked out so I had to explain to them what I did and the first movie of mine that they could see [because of their age] was Monsters, Inc.”
Billy says that after the children realised Mike was voiced by their grandad, they “would call the house looking for Mike”.
He adds: “They didn’t want to talk to me, but they kept saying, ‘Hello? Is Mike there?’ And I’d say, ‘oh, hold on, I’ll get him’. And then I had to talk to them like Mike for like, eight months.”
The first two movies really were monster hits – grossing more than £1billion at the box office.
The latest Monsters venture is a series for TV channel Disney+ and sees Billy reunited with the likes of fellow acting veteran John Goodman – the voice of Sulley.
He goes on: “It’s so great to be able to revisit it. “Now the grandkids are older, their friends will watch it. And kids who are now adults will have their kids watching it. That’s a great feeling.
“I loved getting back into Mike. I don’t think he ever left me. He’s pretty much my favour- ite character I’ve ever played.”
In the two movies, the monsters got their energy by scaring kids. But all that changes in the new series, which sees the creatures become jokers.
Billy admits he got off lightly because his grandkids only wanted him to recreate his Monsters role.
His most famous scene is the clip in 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally – where co-star Meg Ryan famously fakes an orgasm while sitting in a deli.
It is one of the most mimicked movie clips of all time. Billy jokes: “You know, with When Harry Met Sally, I could not really ex- plain to them why she was screaming in the deli.”
Billy’s daughters – actress Jennifer Crystal Foley, 48, and producer Lindsay Crystal, 43 – each have two kids. He has been married to wife Janice for 50 years.
And in Hollywood marriage terms, as Mike Wazowski might say, that’s a scarily long time.
