Tremors: Shrieker Island lead Burt Gummer has had it with our current political landscape. Michael Gross appeared as the iconic Gummer in a video to promote the upcoming movie’s release. In the new video, Gummer says he intends to start his own political party and is running for President because, “Politicians are for the most part a group of abject, craven, opportunistic, mentally-challenged invertebrates.” Gummer is not a fan of President Donald Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden or anyone else who is running for president in 2020.
Burt Gummer is an important piece of the Tremors franchise. He was not the main character in the first installment, as Kevin Bacon’s Valentine McKee was. However, that has changed over the years as Michael Gross continues to keep the franchise alive and well. Tremors: Shrieker Island takes place in a nature preserve in the Solomon Islands, which has been infiltrated by Graboids, Ass Blasters, and Shriekers. Two of the preserve’s top scientists recruit Burt Gummer (Michael Gross), monster hunter extraordinaire, to eradicate the infestation. While there, Burt picks up a potential new prot&ég&é and encounters lost love.
Michael Gross still enjoys playing Burt Gummer after all of these years. “For over four decades, what I do for a living is pretend. Is there a part of me that exists from which I borrow Burt? Yes, there’s a part of me, a certain obsessive compulsiveness about little things,” said Gross in an interview last year. “I’m a compulsive recycler, and stuff like this; I have a little OCD in me. Burt is comically obsessive compulsive. Burt goes to the extremes. I’ve taken a little bit of who I am for Burt Gummer; I have my bizarre parts.” It sounds like there’s plenty of Gross in Gummer and vice versa.
Michael Gross went on to say, “What you do is you take these little things that you know about yourself and take them to extremes. But I feel entirely comfortable playing Burt, just because he’s comic gold.” Tremors fans all know that Burt Gummer is the comedic gold, but would he make a good president? “Comedy is about imbalance, people who are out of balance. Literally, when they lose their balance and fall on a banana peel, but also out of balance just personally and psychologically. Burt is nothing if not out of balance, and that’s what I love about him,” said Gross.
Tremors: Shrieker Island will be available to stream and purchase on October 20th. In addition to Michael Gross, the cast also includes Richard Brake, Jon Heder, Caroline Langrishe, Jackie Cruz, Cassie Clare, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Matthew Douglas, Randy Kalsi, Bear Williams, David Assavanon, Boonma Lamphon, Aukrawut Rojaunawat, Owen Macrae, Iris Park, and Mikey Black. You can check out Burt Gummer’s presidential announcement above, thanks to the official Tremors YouTube channel.
