Comedy Legend's Final Work in the Hands of Local Filmmaker

A little over a year ago, the entertainment industry lost one of its most beloved stars. Actor Leslie Nielsen died due to complications from pneumonia, and many of his fans and admirers began to grieve his passing. However, there were few people whose own lives were as affected by his death as Brookline’s Bryan Waterman.

“I took his death really, really hard” said Waterman. “We had talked a little over a week before he died. If you had talked to him, you would never guess he was eighty-four. He was as alive as ever.”

Waterman owns a small graphic-design and animation studio in Brookline, and had been working with Nielsen for a few years on "The Waterman Movie," which now stands to become Nielsen’s final work. Waterman’s own story starts back in 2003, when he put together a short, 2-½ minute flash cartoon and posted it to the internet.

“It was just something I wanted to do. I always wanted to see my voice come out of a cartoon character’s mouth. So I did the first episode and I was just going to show my friends. Within days, it got something like 200,000 views. It took off faster than I could’ve ever imagined.”

Waterman and his crew began creating more cartoons. The series followed Waterman, the idiotic protagonist, and his group of friends through a variety of wild scenarios. It began to attract some recognizable names as well, with the ska band Reel Big Fish making an appearance.

Eventually, Waterman wanted to bring the series to a close and move on to different projects. After the ninth episode ran about twenty minutes, he began writing the script for the tenth and final episode. But when he finished it, it was over sixty pages long. So he decided a full-length movie would be a fitting way to wrap up the series. And he knew exactly who he wanted to play the lead character.

“The two things I’d ever wanted to do were to see my voice come out of a cartoon character and work with Leslie Nielsen. So I made this character who was John Locke from 'LOST' and Frank Drebin from 'The Naked Gun.' I thought it was going to be impossible to get Leslie Nielsen, but I might as well try.”

After a bit of legwork, he was able to contact Nielsen’s agent. The two exchanged emails, and the agent indicated that she had been relaying the information to Nielsen. But when he didn’t get a response for almost two months, Waterman sent an email thanking her for her time. He then received an response from one of the agent’s co-workers saying that she had died not long after the two had last spoke. 

“So then I think that it’s over now. That was my one connection to Leslie Nielsen, so I should just forget about it. Out of respect, I’m not going to keep badgering these people about it.” Waterman sent along an email offering his condolences, and figured that was it. He would just have to voice the character himself. But then, out of the blue, Waterman received an email that would change everything.

“It was something to the effect of 'Hi Bryan. Love the script, love the idea, give me a call tomorrow. Leslie Nielsen' with his home phone number attached.” 

At first Waterman thought this was some sort of cruel joke that his friends might be playing on him. But at that point, he thought, what’s the worst that could happen? Sure enough, when he called the next morning, Nielsen was on the other end of the line.

“We talked for about three and a half hours, about the movie, about the series, about everything. It was the best conversation I’ve had in my entire life.” 

Nielsen revealed to Waterman that animation was one of the things he had regretted not doing more of in his career. He also loved the character that Waterman had written for him, so by the end of their conversation, he had agreed to lend his voice to the project, for free.

Not long after, Nielsen recorded the lines for his character, Ready Espanosa, described as a man who often crosses the line between adventurous and insanity. Waterman and Nielsen developed a friendship, talking to each other on the phone about once a week. But the project quickly went into limbo, due to a number of financial and logistical issues. The release date was pushed back, first from late 2007 to late 2008, then to “coming soon.”

“In terms of financing the film, it’s been an absolute nightmare. You can imagine the roadblocks, why its taken years to get off the ground. We’re not Pixar, we’re not Disney.”

Soon, Waterman began wondering if the movie would ever get done. He had other projects and ambitions he wanted to pursue that he really couldn’t until things wrapped up with the movie. But then, the death of his friend changed everything.

“It was Leslie’s passing, I think, that really did it. I thought that this has become something different, now. This kind of has to be done.

“I got phone calls from Entertainment Weekly, People Magazine, TMZ, all of these different people wondering what Leslie’s last movie was. They all said, “his last movie’s in limbo, we should all help,” but ultimately nothing came of that.”

But now, with the help of CJC Entertainment, an animation team from California, the end is in sight for "The Waterman Movie."

“It looks awesome right now, and it’s still just scraps. But when the [movie] is finished, the victory is going to be so sweet. It’s going to be a lot of relief and I’m going to be so proud of the team that we have. I think people will really enjoy it.”

Waterman is hoping to have the movie ready by December 2012, and wants to have the premiere at the . 

“If I make no money out of this, at all, I honestly do not care. I’m not looking for any type of profit other than people getting to see his final movie.

Waterman added, “He was the king of comedy. And he can make us laugh again, but we just have to get there.”