Lesley Ann Warren And Colleen Camp Talk ‘Clue’ At 40 And Careers Today

Based on the popular board game, when the live-action murder mystery Clue was released in movie theaters 40 years ago in December 1985, it received lukewarm reviews from critics and a less-than-memorable box office showing, with a total of just over $14 million during the entirety of its initial theatrical run. Fortunately however, as the years have gone by and with the many advancements in home video and video streaming accessibility of movies, Paramount Pictures’ Clue has grown quite the cult following, with fans of multiple generations hanging onto every word from this witty comedy.

Starring Lesley Ann Warren, Colleen Camp, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, Eileen Brennan and Tim Curry, Clue revolves around strangers that are invited to a mansion in the 1950s, only to realize they are being blackmailed for their secrets – which in turn, kicks off a whodunnit murder spree, as the guests strive to stay alive and uncover the perpetrator(s).

Directed by Jonathan Lynn and written by Lynn, John Landis and Anthony E. Pratt, Clue is ultimately a masterclass in comedic timing around a carefully-woven narrative that many films since have attempted to even graze in its clever nature and in the ways that its many sharp one-liners have become cemented within pop culture.

I sat down with Warren, who played Miss Scarlet, and Camp, who played Yvette, during this 40th anniversary celebration for a conversation at Steak 48 in Beverly Hills, California. Even though both of them have continued to expand on their careers in and around Hollywood over the years, they both are well-aware that their acting work in Clue remain standout performances to moviegoers, as the ladies continue to attend special screenings and other in-demand fan gatherings around the world.

During our casually playful discussion, Camp and Warren were able to properly reflect upon the late-blooming success of their fan-favorite comedy and the inner-workings from their time on-set those many decades ago, as well as to discuss each of their creative interests today.

Colleen Camp: The experience on this movie was one of the best experiences I ever had in my life because we all actually love working together.

Lesley Ann Warren: For real. I say that all the time because you hear people say that.

Jeff Conway: Everyone – like Eileen, Madeline?

Camp: Everybody! And the biggest regret I have is I didn’t take one of my costumes home.

Warren: Me too. That green dress. Are you kidding?

Camp: Look at the performances. Look at [Lesley]. She’s freaking brilliant. Eileen Brennan is brilliant. Madeline Kahn is brilliant. Everybody’s brilliant, and we’re watching everybody performing. What was so joyful is that you’re watching Lesley Ann do her big scene and then you’re watching Eileen do a big scene – and the feathers – and Madeline Kahn going – “The flames, the flames.” Tim Curry running around, and we would have lunch every day in that commissary.

Conway: How would each of you say that the ever-growing cult following of Clue has affected your life, both professionally and personally, up to now?

Warren: Hmm. I mean, for me, the effect of it personally is that it’s brought me a lot of joy. It makes me feel very proud to have been in something that – I always say that the advent of television is what pushed Clue into the minds and the hearts of people in a way that the movie, when it opened, didn’t do, really. It had this cult momentum that was astounding. People are so in love with it. It makes me so happy. Professionally, I’m not sure that it has actually affected my professional life. What do you think?

Camp: I think that at a time, because the movie did not have the following, because no one saw it, in the same way no one saw Greedy, or another movie I did called Smile, but then other movies like Wayne’s World or Police Academy or Valley Girl. It’s very interesting how movies hit and you don’t know. I never thought Wayne’s World was going to be a huge hit – it was a phenomenon.

Warren: You just don’t know. We all thought Clue was going to be a huge hit.

Camp: Huge hit. What I’m going to say about Clue, which is really rewarding to me, personally and professionally, is that every generation – as Lesley Ann said before – whether you’re a 10-year-old saying I love Clue, whether you’re an 80-year-old, whether you’re an actor. I mean, John Mayer came up to me. This guy’s gorgeous, and he comes up to me and goes, “When I was a kid, I saw Police Academy 56 times – and then I saw Clue.” What to me is the most rewarding, that a piece of work is forever, and that people will respond to that.

Conway: You bring up the costumes. It’s a film where you had to wear the same costume pretty much the entire time. Were there aspects of either of your costumes that you either really loved or despised having to wear?

Warren: My corset.

Camp: Oh, that corset. Oh my god.

Warren: It was gorgeous to look at.

Conway: Could you breathe?

Warren: Not really.

Camp: Well, that corset was so darn tight. During the lunch break, I had to loosen the corset.

Conway: Was no improv welcome? Was it by-the-script?

Warren: I don’t remember any improvisation, except for Madeline doing “flames.”

Conway: Everything else you stayed to the script?

Warren: Yeah, because the script was extraordinary.

Conway: If I may though, with Clue, I know you both say the script was great, which it was, but looking back on that film 40 years later, are there any personal creative decisions that you made with your performance, that you would have changed now looking back on that film in your performance?

Warren: Absolutely not! Not even a shred.

Conway: Same for you, Colleen? Would not change a hair?

Camp: One hundred percent.

Warren: It was a dream character and I am so utterly proud of it, and in love with the whole movie and everyone in it.

Conway: You both were very busy around 1985, including Clue. What are your thoughts on the ways of filmmaking back then, compared to now? Are there things you missed from yesteryear, or vice versa? Do you wish there were ways that we have now that would have been in place in 1985?

Warren: I personally miss everything from yesteryear.

Camp: I do, too. Everything. I think there was a level of passion and professionalism. Even though things might have been difficult, but there was a true love for what you were doing. I feel now things are very transactional. There was no social media then. You did not have fax machines. You did not have computers. I do not think I had a cell phone. I think that people are a lot of times very robotic. They are not even present.

Warren: There was so much love and care and appreciation. The way that the costumers, the designers would design the clothing. Every person was an artist, determined to create art.

Conway: Do you feel the mindset is a little bit different?

Warren: Are you kidding? No comparison.

Conway: Lesley, you have the Love, Danielle feature film and your short film, Olive. Colleen, you have your Colleen Camp Productions. With the work that you both are doing these days, what excites you professionally more today, than you maybe did in years past?

Warren: Honestly, I’m going to talk about Olive because it’s the most current. Love, Danielle – it’s a lovely movie and it’s an important subject. Home Delivery is just fun. It’s a great comedy and people will have a good time, but I wanted to make a personal transition in my career. It had to do with – for me, nobody else – with being willing to be an older woman on film. I started thinking about it in my late 40s: How am I going to do this? What do I want to do? How do I want to do this? I thought about it for a long time and looked at the people whose work I loved that were doing it in the way that I conceived of me doing. Then, this short [film, Olive,] came in and it was exactly what would allow me, if I was willing, to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. It was hard to see it initially because I didn’t think people would love me if I wasn’t young and fabulous. I was so wrong because the response has been more than I could dream of.

Conway: Is that comforting for you as a human and a performer?

Warren: Unbelievably so. I feel like I’ve crossed a threshold in my own being around what I was afraid of. That changed my life.

Conway: Colleen, with you and your production company, what do you enjoy most about your work lately?

Camp: I love the idea of producing. I love the idea of putting things together. I like having like a helicopter view of things, as opposed to just one piece of it. It’s like looking at the whole quilt, instead of a piece. I like the idea of putting elements together. I’ve done it for years, just automatically, and then now getting to enjoy the fruits of that. It’s also very challenging because movies are being financed differently now and put together so differently in an independent way. I also love being able to take a movie that I love and doing something to support it, whether it’s Parasite, because I did the campaign on that movie. I take a movie and I go – This is really brilliant. I believe that this is successful. Whether it’s The Pianist or whether it’s Lost in Translation or whether it’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, I love the idea of coming up with ideas on how to market it and have these movies realized because when you look back at Clue, and you look at how that movie was marketed, maybe had it been marketed differently at the time, it would have been different. So, I get very involved.

Conway: So, what do you want to say to these people that have really championed not only Clue, but have continued to follow your careers ever since because they love Clue and they want to see what you have to say?

Camp: I have tremendous gratitude for people that actually understand the intelligence of the movie. They’re stuck with the movie – and they weren’t like followers, they were leaders. Initially, the movie wasn’t a hit. The fact that it still gained an audience, it means that people had their own opinions about something.

Conway: My last question – my signature interview question – I think you are going to appreciate it. So if you, Lesley and Colleen, could speak to Miss Scarlet and Yvette after embodying them during this whole murder spree in Clue – obviously, not with the outcomes that happened, but in the midst of all this chaos, what would you have said to your character now, looking back on all this, if only you could? Whether it was a warning, a comforting message, advice – What do you feel they needed to hear, that you would have loved to have told them?

Warren: Oh my god.

Camp: Don’t trust anyone.

Warren: That’s good. And I would say – Don’t worry, you’re the one with the gun.

Camp: Oh, that’s good!