Bizarrely Guillermo’s a huge fan of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and he called me up and said he’d seen every episode. He said he had an idea for a role for me in this movie as long as I give him a cameo on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and I thought that was a fair trade.

When I first saw the movie I caught a glimpse in the race scene of a marquee that says, ‘Jack Slater in …’, a Last Action Hero reference [Schwarzenegger’s character in the film] that I had no idea about. I don’t think Steven did either. I saw the finished movie and I couldn’t believe they got it past because I’d seen every shot, so I just never caught it.

By treating his characters and the subject seriously it becomes his Empire Strikes Back ? a movie that in every way builds on and surpasses its formidable predecessor, revealing a filmmaker in full maturity.