film / tv / politics / social media / lists celeb / pajiba love / misc / about / cbr
film / tv / politics / web / celeb

better-of-dead-photo.jpg

Whatever Happened to the Paperboy from 'Better Off Dead'?

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity Facts | October 19, 2015 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity Facts | October 19, 2015 |


Seth turned me onto a new Wolfpop podcast this weekend called I Was There Too, in which Matt Gourley interviews the not-so-famous cast members of famous and/or cult films. Of all the choices in the archives,the one I had to hear immediately was the interview with Diane Franklin, John Cusack’s co-star in one of my favorite movies of the 1980s: Better Off Dead.

In fact, asked to rank the two funniest stand-alone scenes of the entire decade, this scene would place second, only behind Tom Hanks’ laugh in The Money Pit:

On the podcast, Diane Franklin was absolutely charming, and everything you’d might hope she’d be (also, not French). Here’s a recent photo:

Screen Shot 2015-10-19 at 10.19.24 AM.jpg

Still got it!

I tuned in hoping that Franklin might offer some insights into the controversy surrounding the rumor that Curtis “Booger” Armstrong floated a few years ago that John Cusack had disavowed Better Off Dead and refused to talk to the director Savage Steve Holland on the next movie they worked in together, One Crazy Summer (which Cusack was contractually obligated to do). Franklin didn’t offer much insight, except to say that she thinks she was there when Cusack walked out of the film. (Cusack actually addressed the controversy himself on the Nerdist earlier this year). Franklin did, however, say that she filmed a scene in One Crazy Summer, in which she walked by and waved at Cusack’s character in a kind of callback to Better Off Dead, but that the scene was cut.

Beyond that, Franklin didn’t offer any major revelations, but it did make me wonder: Whatever happened to the kid who played the paperboy? The guy who wanted his $2?

His name is Demian Slade. He’s 43 now, which seems insane.

What is Demian Slade up to now? He’s not on Twitter (that I could find), but according to his Facebook page, he was married in 2013. He’s worked at Professional Treatment at Promises (an addiction center), and now he’s the Principal COO of SMID, Inc. He also still lives in Los Angeles.

Relatively recently, he also gave a Facebook interview about Better off Dead, in support of a web series he was in about life inside a drug and alcohol addiction center (seemingly based on his experiences working at Promises).

Here’s what he looks like these days

Screen Shot 2015-10-19 at 10.34.26 AM.jpg

It’s good to see he seems to be doing well and that he doesn’t resemble the young version of himself so much that people would still yell, “I want my $2” at him every time they saw him on the street.

Related: The entire movie in all its 80’s hair glory is now on YouTube.