Jim Varney has been stuck in an "Ernest" rut for 13 years now, so it's no surprise that his current success as straight-man Jed Clampett in "The Beverly Hillbillies" brings a sigh of relief that he's been accepted by the moviegoing public in a very different role.
"Ernest," of course, is Ernest P. Worrell, the goofy character who spent seven years popping up in various 30-second television commercials (locally for Cream O' Weber products), using his signature line, "KnowwhatImean?" to drive the invisible "Vern" crazy before Hollywood beckoned."I've been waiting a long time for a breakaway character," Varney said in a telephone interview from his Nashville headquarters. "But, hey, that's Hollywood!"
Don't take that to mean that the actor-comedian is unhappy with his "Ernest" persona, however. After some 3,000 television commercials and four successful movies - "Ernest Goes to Camp," "Ernest Saves Christmas," "Ernest Goes to Jail" and "Ernest Scared Stupid" - Varney is understandably attached to the guy.
And Friday, Nov. 12, the fifth movie in the series, "Ernest Rides Again," opens nationally.
Varney speaks of Ernest with affection when he says that as long as there's an audience, the character will continue his big-screen misadventures. "The real challenge of playing Ernest is, what's he going to do next? Where are we going to put him next? What gag haven't we done yet? What else can we do to poor Ernest? As long as we can keep it fresh and funny, and you can always look for new avenues to take him into, I think it will go on awhile."
Varney acknowledges that his primary audience is children, but adds that, "Anybody 18 to 35 can identify with Ernest. He's the guy everybody can be friendly with. And there are some U.S. senators who are card-carrying members of the (fan) club."
The new film puts Varney in the unique position of competing with himself. While "Ernest Rides Again" opens on more than 1,500 screens across the country, "The Beverly Hillbillies" is still playing on more than 1,800 screens. The latter comedy is also still drawing large audiences, having earned nearly $31 million in four weeks.
"We were kind of hoping it would start strong," Varney says of "The Beverly Hillbillies," "and there wasn't a lot of strong competition when it opened." The entire cast was signed for the film with an option for a sequel, which means it's possible Varney has hitched himself to another franchise. "I'm sure they're going to want to do another one. It went on for 31 years on TV, so I guess so."
"The Beverly Hillbillies" was a gamble, Varney says, because audiences are so familiar with the TV characters. "It's pretty much sacred ground, you have to walk on it very lightly. We were all very scared. Everybody in the cast was scared because those characters are so strongly established that you could easily make a mistake people wouldn't like."
As for playing straight man for a change, Varney calls it a welcome change of pace. "I'm so used to playing everything bigger than life, and playing Jed was more pulling everything in, and more internalized."
Though the first four "Ernest" movies were made for Walt Disney Productions, "Ernest Rides Again" is being produced independently. And it was filmed back to back with the sixth in the series, "Ernest Goes to School." "We shot them over 10 weeks in Canada this year. `Ernest Goes to School' will be out next summer. Ernest almost loses his job because he doesn't have his high school diploma, so he has to go back and finish a semester of school, going back to high school with high school kids."
Varney admits that doing the films independently with his long-time partner and director, John R. Cherry III, is a risk. "We had a four-picture deal with Disney, and we finished the four pictures and John decided to go independent with this one. It's foolhardiness, of course. I think there was a leak in the gas pipe at the agency and gas filled the room and that's when we got this great idea. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
"It's tough, sure. When you have a major studio behind you, you have your guarantee of distribution. But we feel we have the market and the following, so we're going to try it."
If all of this isn't enough, Varney is also enjoying success with his first recording, a cover of "Hot Rod Lincoln" on the "The Beverly Hillbillies" soundtrack. (In the film, the tune cranks up immediately as the end credits begin to roll.) "It's been getting real good reaction, a lot of country stations are playing it. There's also a video.
"It was actually kind of a last-minute thing. Ricky Skaggs did the track and they hadn't chosen anybody to sing it. So, (20th Century) Fox asked me if I'd like to try it, and I said, `Sure!'
"And I headed to RCA before they changed their minds."