‘Tommy Boy’ Turns 30! Director Peter Segal on David Spade and Chris Farley’s Bond, and Why Rob Lowe Didn’t Want His Name On It (Exclusive)
The Chris Farley/David Spade buddy road trip movie Tommy Boy, released on March 31, 1995, today stands in the pantheon of SNL-related movies that have stood the test of time. The tale of kind-but-dim human tornado Tommy Callahan (Farley) and smug-jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold Richard Hayden (Spade), who must put aside their differences to save Tommy’s family’s auto parts plant from the sinister machinations of Beverly (Bo Derek) and Paul (Rob Lowe), a pair of married con artists posing as mother and son, Tommy Boy still regularly gains new legions of fans — as director Peter Segal tells ReMIND, the film’s original fans are showing it to their children, and “now there are young kids who are doing TikToks as Farley from the movie.”
But pop culture longevity wasn’t always assumed for the film — in fact, Segal says, the film began shooting with only two-thirds of script written, and a terror among the cast and crew that the movie might not pan out. Except for Spade and Farley; “I think they had more guts than me,” says Segal.
How Tom Arnold helped give birth to Tommy Boy
Segal got his start directing TV comedy and connected with Tom Arnold; the pair collaborated on three HBO comedy specials in the early ’90s. So when Arnold got his own sitcom, The Jackie Thomas Show, in late 1992, he brought Segal aboard to direct.
That’s where Segal first crossed paths with Farley, who had begun appearing on SNL two years earlier. “Chris did an episode of that [show] playing Tom’s brother,” said Segal, “and I knew that he was incredibly funny, very special, and I thought, my gosh, if I was ever fortunate enough to direct a movie, I wanted to direct him in a starring role, and that wish came true.”
How Tommy Boy began shooting without a finished script
A year later, Segal received the script for the movie that would evolve into Tommy Boy, then called Billy the Third: A Midwestern. Segal, who by then had made his film directing debut with 1994’s Naked Gun 33 1⁄3: The Final Insult, liked the script but wanted to take it in a different direction — which ended up not being what original writers had in mind.
“[The original writers] went off, it was too big an assignment for them,” said Segal. “They had actually sold another show and they went off to do that, and I was sort of left there.”
You may have read online that Tommy Boy began shooting with only 66 script pages written (a finished screenplay would have closer to 100 pages). According to Segal, this isn’t internet myth; it’s absolutely true. “Fred Wolf came in to help me and just the way it worked, we only had that number of pages by the time we started filming,” recalls Segal. “I said, ‘This is insane. We’re going to be making this up.’ It’s like laying out train tracks in front of the locomotive every day, but that was the challenge.”
Surprisingly, the fact that pre-production took too long and Farley and Spade had to return to New York City to shoot SNL was a “blessing in disguise” for the production: “The guys had to fly back and forth [from New York City to the film’s set] and when they were in New York, that gave me and Fred a couple of extra days that week to write. So by the time they would come back on Wednesday, [Fred and] I might have Monday and Tuesday to ourselves, so also with the weekend, there’s four days right there [to write]. That’s how we inched forward making this.”
Unsurprisingly, Segal remembers this way of working as “absolutely exhausting,” with many late nights and cram sessions; Wolfe wrote the film’s crash dummy factory climax in one night.
Farley and Spade: “Like an old married couple”
(c) Paramount Pictures/ Courtesy: Everett Collection.
Perhaps the only people on set who weren’t worried about how the film would play out were stars Farley and Spade. “I think they had more guts than me because every week at SNL, you’re starting with a blank page, and by Saturday, you have 90 minutes of live television,” said Segal. “So not having a complete script I don’t think phased them that much, because Spade is such a great engine of ideas and improv, and he would serve up a pitch to Chris and Chris would knock it out of the park.”
Today, Farley and Spade are remembered as the biggest comedy duo of the ’90s, largely because of the comedic connection on display in Tommy Boy. “Their chemistry, you could feel it was palpable,” recalls Segal. “They adored each other, but they were also kind of like an old married couple. They would get into arguments. I remember one time, Spade went out to dinner with Rob Lowe, and Farley got jealous. He was a jilted lover, [saying] ‘How was your date with Rob?’ And they argued about it the next day, and I’m like, ‘Guys, let’s get back to work. What’s going on here?’ But they absolutely adored each other. I think this was their best work together.”
Why isn’t Rob Lowe credited in the movie?
Paramount Pictures/Everett Collection
One of the film’s most enduring mysteries is the uncredited presence of Rob Lowe as Paul, Tommy’s sneaky stepbrother and primary nemesis. Lowe is easily the character with the third or fourth most screen time in the film — yet his name is mysteriously absent from the credits. Why would Lowe, who had emerged as a sharp comedic actor in 1992’s Wayne’s World, not want to be officially associated with the film?
“I’ve been asked this a couple of times. I don’t really know,” said Segal. “It was his choice and I thought, I don’t know. Maybe he thought the movie was going to tank and wanted to distance himself. I don’t know. But he is now haunted by that same question. A lot of people say, well, why did you not have your name on it? Everyone knows he was in it. But no, I think that’s the best answer I can give you. Maybe it was just out of self-preservation.”
Tommy Boy is now available for the first time ever on 4K Ultra HD™ from Paramount Home Entertainment. Available in a 4K/Blu-ray™ Combo or in a Limited-Edition SteelBook®, both contain hours of bonus content, including commentary by director Peter Segal, storyboard comparisons, deleted and extended scenes, alternate takes, gag reel, and four featurettes, including Tommy Boy: Behind the Laughter.
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