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Interview with Joe Krieg
The interview was conducted by Barbara Nelson in the early 2000s for Terence Hill's official website, which no longer exists in this version. We thank the team of https://terencehill.com for the permission of taking over the interview.

Terence Hill und Joe Krieg in Aktion

Who doesn't remember Chickadee, the boss of the bikers from the movie They Call Me Renegade, who had a big fight with Luke in a parking lot? The actor Joe Krieg, who played Chickadee, talks about his memories of the filming in Phoenix/Arizona:

Where to begin? I remember that the summer of '87 was extremely hot, average temperatures hovered around 118°F (47°C). While we did several takes of the fight scene between Terence and me, one of my companions noted that I was sweating profusely! I looked around me at the cast of extras, the camera crew, even the director, and noticed that we were all sweating. Everyone, except Terence! He was calm and collected, like he had just showered and was off for a leisurely walk in the country. Not a drop! All around him, extras were dropping like flies, his own film crew was nearly collapsing under the relentless heat, but not Terence. I never saw him lose his poise or seem unnerved by our horrendously hot climate.

As an added note, I had, at that moment, lived in Arizona for 5 years, and during the fight scenes we did, I still passed out... not once, but twice!

Filming Renegade was a wonderful experience. For instance, while shooting the scene where I am bashing Terence’s head into the hood of his Jeep, he took me aside and joked: "You don’t have to worry about hurting me, I am well insured!" I couldn't help but burst out laughing. We shot the scene in one take, and as you might have seen, he finally bashed my head into the same hood!

Chickadee and Luke at the parking lot

How did you get the part of Chickadee?

There was a casting call for the part and I was called for a tryout. Terence chose me, the rest is history!

The fight scene looked great, did you have to practice?

We had a stunt coach who showed me how to throw a punch and how to react to punches thrown at me. We filmed in a parking lot, it used to be the parking lot of a supermarket in Phoenix, but that's gone now. The whole scene was shot in just one day.

You turn up again at the end of the movie, when you and the bikers come to Luke's rescue.

Yes, this was filmed near Chandler/Arizona, in an area that use to be called 'The Chandler Proving Grounds'. The area has changed completely, there are many apartment buildings now...

125 Harley riding bikers were needed for the scene when we all come riding down the hill on our bikes, remember? A big trailer full of ice and sodas was supplied for the bikers, so they could sit in the cool of the trailer and sip soda while the crew set up different camera angles. During the day, local TV station crews arrived to report the event and to escape the heat, we shot the final 'hill' scene as quickly as possible!

Greetings to the German fans, as you can see from my last name, my ancestors were from Germany too!

The great final


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