Lucasfilm's infamous Howard the Duck film is approaching the 35th anniversary of its debut. But there was one notable cast member omitted from the invitation list for the film's official Hollywood premiere -- the actor who voiced Howard himself.
"As the film got closer to opening, I noticed that no one is calling me," actor Chip Zien told The Hollywood Reporter. "I wasn’t invited to the premiere."
"It was alarming and disappointing," Zien said. "I didn’t know what was happening. I was totally cut out of the loop. Little by little I heard horror stories about what a difficult shoot it [had been]."
Instead of being flown to Hollywood for the gala premiere, Zien saw the film at his local neighborhood theater in New York City on its public opening day. "There were maybe 12 people there," Zien recalls. "And most were young women with babies who came to see a movie about a duck."
"I was running around to them and saying, 'You know, this is not that good of a movie for your child’s age. It gets kind of scary.' And they would look at me like, 'Who the hell is the weird guy running around in the theater trying to get people to leave?'"
The movie turned out not to be good for ANY age, and the first theatrical release to feature a modern Marvel character became a notable flop. The film grossed $38 million dollars worldwide, barely making back its filming budget, and was widely panned by critics and audiences alike. The movie was criticized for the principal's character's wooden look, poor special effects, and a lackluster storyline that wasn't at all faithful to either co-creator Steve Gerber or follow-up writer Bill Mantlo's take on the character.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter