It’s not that often when metal creeps its way into mainstream pop culture. So when metal/hard rock acts do actually pop up in beloved sitcoms, dramatic films, cartoons or even reality series, it’s kind of awesome. So in the weekly column Remember When, Metal Insider recalls the most random instances of metal’s elite appearing in front of the camera.
Anthrax is actually no stranger to the world of TV. Scott Ian alone was a fixture on VH1 programs throughout the 00s, while also popping up in “blink and you’ll miss it” type cameos in shows like The Walking Dead and Deadwood. And then there’s of course their legendary appearance on Married With Children… so basically I’m warning you that this is definitely NOT the last time Anthrax will be featured in this new column.
However, for the first edition of Remember When, I wanted to feature one of the Big 4 act’s most bizarre cinematic cameos. In other words, I wanted to remind everyone of the time Anthrax appeared in Calendar Girls. That’s right, the same 2003 film starring dame Helen Mirren about a group of middle-aged women who raise money by posing nude for a calendar.
Scott Ian, Frank Bello, and John Bush (who was still fronting the band back then) made a very short but random appearance in the film, seen hanging out with the calendar girls poolside in California. Apparently the DVD includes a deleted scene of the Anthrax crew playing piano with one of the middle-aged models.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a DVD copy of Calendar Girls (or at least no one at Metal Insider will admit to it). Also sadly the only clip of Anthrax’s scene we could find online (as seen below) is in Spanish. However, they literally appear in the film for less than 20 seconds, so there wasn’t much dialogue involved anyway. And simply the visual of Scott Ian and company making polite conversation with Helen Mirren (while enjoying a few cocktails poolside, nonetheless) is mind-blowing enough.
We caught up with Scott Ian to ask him directly about the band’s brief cameo. Check out what he had to tell us about his time on set with Helen Mirren and the gals:
How did your cameo in Calendar Girls come about?
From what I was told there was a scene in the script where the ladies come to LA to be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The ladies would be lounging around the pool at their hotel and Nigel Cole, the director of the film was looking for a band that would be the 180 degrees opposite of these ladies, putting them totally out of their element. Someone that worked for Nigel suggested Anthrax and we got the gig. We played ourselves, just off tour hanging at the hotel and we meet the ladies and end up partying with them.
Any funny memories from shooting?
We had a blast. We were in a film with Helen Mirren, how crazy is that? The ladies were super cool and we had a good time hanging with them. There was a scene where we end up back in this giant suite with them and get drunk and dance. I don’t think that scene made the cut. One of the women (who shall remain nameless) asked us if we could get her some weed. I think we did.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XeHSWjObew[/youtube]
