Collider: And so, and I ask this to a lot of people, are you one of these people…have you ever gone through the eBay addiction phase?

Mike De Luca: No, I’ve gone through…for comic books I go to this site Comic Link which is an auction web site and I’ve bought some stuff off there, but I haven’t gone through eBay.

Collider: I’ve spoken to a number of people who have gone through the 3 or 6 month addiction.

Mike De Luca: Right.

Collider: So it’s always interesting.  So getting on to as a producer, I often ask about test screenings.  How do you view test screenings and do you get nervous about with the way the Internet is with how everything gets out there the minute you show it, how do you balance that?

Mike De Luca: I don’t sweat the Internet, you know it’s still something I enjoy as a movie geek myself to get on and like look at all the websites, however when it comes to marketing a movie the Internet is still not the thing that gets people to the theatre.  It’s still—maybe it will change in the future—but it’s still TV spots or whatever, so I think even though nobody wants bad buzz I think it’s always something you try to avoid but if it happens on the Internet—I’ve seen movies survive it.  You know, “Batman & Robin” probably had some of the worst advance buzz on the Internet but still opened to $42 million for that weekend.  So I don’t sweat it too much but it’s nice when you have something that can get good buzz on the Internet and you can build from it as opposed to having to downplay something.  I think the worst thing you can do on the Internet is try to spin anything because then it’s like a double-story like you made a crappy movie and they’re trying to spin it and lie about it and then it becomes a story that feeds itself until you open and then I think that’s worse than just dealing with honest bad buzz if that’s truly what it is.

Collider: So do you, but getting back to the test screenings, do you believe in the test screening process? 

Mike De Luca: I do for certain kinds of pictures.  For straight down the middle movies I think they can be instructional.  For curve ball movies or movies that disturb you, I don’t think they serve a big purpose.  You know, shocking people or disturbing people and handing out a pencil to fill out a form 10 minutes after the lights come up…. I don’t think its going to do you a lot of good, so I don’t think they’re good for art films, specialized films, anything truly disturbing, but for down the middle mainstream movies you know where you’re seeking a mainstream audience I think they can help you kind of see where the movie spikes with people or where the movie has some values.  You know, they’re really good for comedies, they can be good for action films, you know they can be good for mainstream thrillers or even mainstream dramas but once you get into more of an artsy area or a specialized film area or curve ball movies or you know truly disturbing films, to chase numbers on movies like that is silly.

Collider: Okay, so now I’m going to ask you the big question.  The most important thing ever.  You were involved in an episode of “Star Trek Voyager”.  So, how did the come about?

Mike De Luca: Well, I’m a huge Trekie and Brannon Braga and Ron Moore took pity on me.  Really Brannon Braga who’s become a friend of mine, but they took pity on me that I was such a unrequited Trekie and they let me go into “Voyager” and pitch ideas and I think I came up with one that they kind of liked: this idea of what happens when you go warp 11 and it sounds really geeky.

Collider: No, no, no.  Believe me, I can geek out with you on Trek.

Mike De Luca: I think my pitch was if you break the warp 10 barrier you…at warp 11 you’re in touch with every molecule in the universe at the same time and it has a bad effect on that character on the show that played the test pilot.  I think it was Lt. Paris or something. So, they bought the story and I got to have my name on that episode of the Star Trek series and it made me really happy.

Collider: Let’s geek out a little bit over the new J.J. movie then.

Mike De Luca: Right.

Collider: So are you like as a fan are you just incredibly excited.

Mike De Luca: Not only am I incredibly excited, I actually asked Kurtzman and Orci who were writing to see if I could come on set and be an extra and wear the outfit, but I was away shooting so I missed my window of opportunity.

Collider: That I would not have been happy.  Not at all. 

Mike De Luca: Right.

Collider: So I ask since you’re a Trekie and if you don’t mind doing it, a favorite of the 4 or 5 shows.  How do you rank them?

Mike De Luca: You know it’s a tough one.  I’d have rank the original first just because it’s the original and the “Next Generation” and then “Voyager” and then “Enterprise”.

Collider: So where do you put “Deep Space Nine”?

Mike De Luca: Sorry, sorry.  I forgot about “Deep Space Nine”.  I’d have to go “Next Generation”, “Deep Space Nine”, “Voyager”, “Enterprise”.

Collider: So, okay now I’m really going to geek out with you and the people who are reading this are going to if you’re a big fan of “Trek” you’re going to probably just want to forward down a little bit—I mean not a fan of “Trek”, you’re going to want to forward down.  Do you think that “Enterprise” got a bad rap because the 3^rd and 4^th season really kicked it up?  But the first 2 were  not that good.

Mike De Luca: I think it didn’t get a chance to get into its groove.  I do agree with you there.  And I’m not…if I was producing the show and I am a fan of this actor but there was something un-Treklike about Scott Bakula just for me personally.

Collider: Did you enjoy the way the storyline though in the 3^rd and 4^th season they way they pulled all the episodes together for one long story?

Mike De Luca: I did enjoy that.

Collider: Because I gave them a lot of credit for that.  It was unfortunate that it…

Mike De Luca: It was an ambitious arc and I did enjoy that.  I enjoyed the last 2 seasons quite a bit and the last one especially.

Collider: We’re on the same page.  I also re-watched “Deep Space Nine” not too long ago and was really blown away by the quality of that show from day one. 

Mike De Luca: Yeah, that’s a lot…I think that has a lot to do with Michael Piller—I forget how you pronounce his last name—Michael Pilar.

Collider: Yeah, its also unfortunate that he’s passed on.

Mike De Luca: Yeah. Yeah, but “Deep Space Nine” kind of reminds me… “Deep Space Nine” I feel had a little bit of the social relevance that “Battlestar Galactica” does now with such excellence.

Collider: And speaking of “Battlestar”, so as a fan because you really do come across as someone who like belongs…you’re a geek like all of us online.  You know, and pardon me for saying that, but you know, so what are you as a fan what do you watch?  What are you most excited by?  Do you watch “Lost”?

Mike De Luca: I watch “Lost”, “The Wire” which is now gone unfortunately.  I was a huge “Sopranos” fan obviously.  I miss “Deadwood” but I watch “Lost”.  I watch “Terminator—Sarah Connor Chronicles”.  I watch…

Collider: Are you a “Heroes” fan?

Mike De Luca: I’m a “Heroes” fan and I’m actually a big fan of “In Treatment”, HBO’s new drama series.

Collider: Yeah, I haven’t seen that yet.

Mike De Luca: You know I’ve probably watched all the genre stuff that you would imagine I would watch.  I’m a huge “Battlestar Galactica” fanatic I would say. 

Collider: So you’re just as excited as us for April 4^th?

Mike De Luca: Yes.

Collider: Okay, so I’ll also ask you, we’re nearing the end of our time together, I wanted to know—so you’re cutting “Love Guru” as we speak.

Mike De Luca: Yeah with Mike Myers and the director Marco Schnabel in New York.  Mike lives in New York so we do post production in New York. 

Collider: So what is that like working on a comedy in the editing room like that?  How does that go?

Mike De Luca: It’s great because we shot alternate jokes for almost every scene so in the editing room Mike mines for comedy and we go looking for jokes and we get to try out like 6 or 7 different versions of the scene with all kinds of different jokes and stuff and then pare it down and choose what’s going to be in a test screening.

Collider: And so have you guys tested the movie yet?

Mike De Luca: No, the first test is coming up.

Collider: And so is that always, you know, for a comedy like that where you do have so many other takes is it constantly trying to figure out which one is the best one?

Mike De Luca: Yeah, I think you test screen comedies more than other genres because you get to audition different jokes, but we had a fantastic time making it and you know, it feels really funny.  It feels good.  It feels like when I kind of …when he immersed me in the “Austin Powers” world, so I can’t wait to get this in front of a test audience.

Collider: And last question: 3D filmmaking.  It was the big thing at Show West and it really seems to be coming a huge part of the industry.  How are you as a producer—are you looking forward to doing 3D filmmaking and do you see it on any of your immediate future projects?

Mike De Luca: I don’t see it on any of my immediate future projects.  I don’t know enough about it but as a film-goer, I’m excited about going to see more films done in that format, especially in the IMAX format. 

Collider: Do you think, because what I’ve had a big debate with many people about is you see a movie like “Beowulf” which in IMAX 3D is jaw dropping.

Mike De Luca: Right.

Collider: But then you try to reproduce that at home on DVD and it’s just not the same movie at all. Do you think there is an inherent danger because Hollywood makes so much money from home video and to produce these 3D movies when a lot of the jokes or some of the visuals can’t be reproduced at home?

Mike De Luca: Well I think the bigger the event it is theatrically the more units it pushes on home video and DVD so it still has a life.  Some things are just not going to be replicatable at home but if the story is good enough I think people will still want the home version and then maybe someday they’re be a way for them to figure out how to reproduce the 3D at home. 

Collider: Yeah, I’m very curious how this is all…

Mike De Luca: It’s all new like we’re all in new territory so we’ll see.

Collider: And which movie—if you had a choice between “Iron Man” and “Incredible Hulk” the new films that are coming out this summer, just those 2, which one would you see.

Mike De Luca: Oh, “Iron Man”.

Collider: Not even a debate?

Mike De Luca: No, because I first of all I had “Iron Man” in development at New Line way back when.  I love the character.  I love Robert Downey Jr.  I worked with Jon Favreau on “Zathura”, so and the trailer just blew me away so I’ve only seen the “Hulk” trailer online.  I haven’t seen it in a theatre, but I’m just like a huge Iron Man fan, so I’m really excited about “Iron Man”.  And I’m very curious about “The Hulk” like I’m an Edward Norton fan, too, so I’m really curious to see “The Hulk” but “Iron Man” is the one for me. 

Collider: Yeah, I think you’re echoing the sentiment of many people online.  Personally I think the “Iron Man” stuff looks just incredible.

Mike De Luca: Also, like if there’s ever a character tailor-made for CGI it’s “Iron Man” because you can do metal so photo real, you know the Hulk still has to look human…not human but inhuman in an organic way.  “Iron Man” is tailor-made for CGI because you can do metallic surface so easy so it’s going to…it’s probably just unleashed Favreau’s imagination on screen which will be awesome.