Gary Coleman has been telling anyone who’ll listen — including us! — that he’s embarrassed by his new movie Midgets vs. Mascots and that he only did it for money. “Yeah, I’ve got to pay my bills, and I took this job. But I didn’t think that the film was going to be as coarse and embarrassing to small people as I think it is,†he told us at a Tribeca Film Festival screening on Saturday. So why did he bother coming to New York to promote it? “Because they’re paying me.â€
Coleman also claims the movie nearly cost him his relationship with his new wife: “We had just gotten married, and it was just hard on us,†he said. “I mean, I was gone six weeks, and that was miserable, on this production. And she was miserable because I was always complaining about it.â€
But director Ron Carlson says this is typical Coleman: “Gary’s typically unhappy a lot, but oddly enough, at the same time, that’s what makes him happy,†he told us. “He loves to complain, so this was the perfect role for him. He plays himself in this movie and he complains and gripes and bitches and punches and kicks and screams all the way through it. It’s the Gary Coleman that we always wanted to see.†So everybody’s happy!