What MadeRocky Horror Picture ShowSo Epic? Original Star Barry Bostwick, a.k.a. Brad, Says It Was All Tim Curry (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon in ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ in 1975.Photo:Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Let’s do the time warp again!

Several decades have passed since the release of 1975’sThe Rocky Horror Picture Show,and original movie cast member Barry Bostwick is looking back on his experience as he nears the end of hisspecial 49th anniversary tour, which sees its final stops in Baltimore, Brooklyn, N.Y. and Augusta, Ga.

His costars Patricia Quinn and Nell Campbell also embarked on separate tours, which will conclude in Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas, respectively.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Bostwick, now 79, reflects on working with Curry, filming his character Brad Majors' dramatic transformation and the movie’s long-lasting legacy.

When asked about what keeps the movie timeless after nearly five decades, the actor gives Curry a lot of the credit, saying that “his performance is the backbone of the movie.”

Barry Bostwick and Tim Curry.Courtesy of Barry Bostwick, Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Courtesy of Barry Bostwick, Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

“Nobody can live up to Tim Curry’s genius,” he says. “I think that’s one of the reasons why people are flocking to the theaters.”

That said, there was still a scene he wasn’t “as comfortable” with as his colleagues.

Toward the end of the movie, Bostwick has to dance in high heels after his character’s transformation in the musical number “Rose Tint My World.”

He remembers the scene being quite difficult, but notes that the musical creator Richard O’Brien, who adapted the screenplay for the movie with director Jim Sharman and starred as Riff-Raff, gave him “many lessons on how to walk in six-inch stiletto heels and dance in them.”

Peter Hinwood, Nell Campbell, Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick in 1975’s ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’.Movie Poster Image Art/Getty Images

Movie Poster Image Art/Getty Images

Bostwick says that the scene’s setting posed another challenge as it takes place on a stage floor — and also a swimming pool.

“The hard part was we were dancing on a wet stage in high heels and I don’t think they put rubber on the bottom [of our shoes],” he explains. “So we weren’t dancing, we were just slipping and sliding.”

Bostwick continues, “I think at one point, somebody said that it looked like I stepped on Susan’s [Sarandon] toes and there was this grimace on her face. I can imagine that happened because we had just gotten out of the swimming pool, which had not been heated. We were freezing our butts off and then we had to get up and do this dance number.”

He adds, “But thank God the music was hot.”

Through it all, Bostwick found companionship with Curry, 78, who had first played his iconic character on stage in London before bringing the show to Los Angeles and later reprising the role in its short-lived original turn on Broadway.

Patricia Quinn, Tim Curry and Richard O’Brien in 1975’s ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’.Movie Poster Image Art/Getty

Movie Poster Image Art/Getty

Bostwick continues, “The magic of Tim Curry on stage was indelible. I mean it. I just wanted to be part of his world as much as I could because he was such a one off.”

As for their time together on the set of the classic flick, he says, “I would just sit and watch him in rehearsals and while we were filming. I just wish I had his talent and insight into how to act and just be someone else because [Dr. Frank-N-Furter] isn’t really who Tim Curry is.”

Bostwick adds, “His acting chops were at the forefront. If you have seen his career since then, he has played so many different characters brilliantly. I was just there for Tim.”

He notes that they had a “pretty close friendship” during production and says the other actor “accepted the Americans much more rapidly than the rest of the cast.”

“I think he was the only one of the group that probably didn’t think I was really Brad Majors at heart,” the actor says, in reference to his more conservative character.

As part of the anniversary tour, Bostwick is participating in screenings of the original unedited movie with a live shadow cast and audience participation.

The theatrical format traditionally sees audience members dressing up to go to late-night screenings of the movie where “actors” mime and lip-sync along to the movie as it plays behind them. There are also many rehearsed call-outs and participation moments with props.

Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Patricia Quinn and Jonathan Adams in 1975’s ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’.Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection/Getty Images

Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection/Getty Images

“I love visiting all these cities and meeting the shadow casts because they give their heart and soul to this,” Bostwick says. “Some of them have been around 20 or 30 years. Some of them have just formed a year or two ago and need the support, not only from us who are in the original movie, but [from] their communities. They have a quest and their quest is to keep this movie alive.”

Bostwick continues, “I can’t even say it is a movie anymore. It’s a movement. It’s a movement that is gathering followers. We are like the church ofRocky Horror– the church of liberation. The whole ‘Don’t dream it, be it’ syndrome and it just keeps on getting more important.”

Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Jonathan Adams, Peter Hinwood in 1975’s ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’.20th Century Fox/Michael White Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock

At this point, he feels that the original movie still has something to offer audiences and that it does not need to be replicated. He notes the failures of past attempts — particularlyFox’s 2016 remake.

“It was always just raucous and rowdy and naughty,” the actor says of the movie’s legacy. “And the one time they tried to redo it on Fox, they cleaned it up too much. They tried to make it a little too G-rated. It is a dark, dangerous little movie, besides it being funny and a callback to the sci-fi movies and the ’60s sexcapades and all of that. The themes of this movie are not something to aspire to.”

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Bostwick specifically thinks of the closing line of the movie: “And crawling on the planet’s face, some insects called the human race, lost in time and lost in space, and meaning.”

“That is a very important line,” he notes. “When it was first made, Fox wanted to cut that ending. I think they found it too dull, too controversial and not as much fun. They cut back to the ‘Time Warp’ and all of that, and then all of a sudden, ‘Oh, wait a minute, this movie’s really about something different than just having a good time and throwing rice and toilet paper around.’ "

To him, that line drives home the overall message of the movie. “It is a cautionary tale,” he says. “Susan [Sarandon] and I sing, ‘There’s a light over at the Frankenstein place’ and I think that light has become quite important over the years.”

“It has shown a space for people to explore who their authentic selves are, so we can embrace all of our differences. I think the light has given audience members alternate ways of seeing the world and something that hadn’t really been put on film before. So, if it is controversial, that is what it is. We presented to the world another way of potentially being in the world.”

Tickets forThe Rocky Horror Picture Show49th Anniversary Spectacular Tourare now on sale.

source: people.com