Gary Busey Calls Out Audience, Makes PERFECT CRIME Part His Own

Gary Busey's two-week stage appearance earlier this fall - joining the cast of the longest running Off-Broadway play in NYC history, Perfect Crime - gave the murder mystery another layer of intrigue.

The Los Angeles Times revealed in an interview with the actor that one condition of his contract was "that he be allowed to mold the part in his image."

With this caveat in his back pocket, Busey, as the brilliant, charismatic serial killer 'Lionel McAuley', dropped some of the original dialogue in favor of lines such as, "Tragedy is not death - it's being dead when you're living."

During one performance, the star turned, stared at two less-than-attentive young audience members in the front row, and said, "Now pay attention to the play."

And in another unprecedented move, Busey's 6-year-old son Luke stood outside Times Square's TKTS booth and handed out flyers to potential theatergoers.

To each his own, n'est-ce pas?

When Busey was chosen for the role, Armand Hyatt, executive producer of Perfect Crime, said: "Our Playwright Warren Manzi who died earlier this year would have been so thrilled that Gary is playing Lionel McAuley - it's perfect casting."

Busey starred opposite Catherine Russell, a Guinness Book World Record holder for having never missed a performance in the show's 30-year history. Since Perfect Crime opened in 1987, Russell has spent over 2.7 years of her life (nearly 24,000 hours) onstage. She has shot 93 different men and kissed 62 others. Nearly 108,000 bullets have been fired onstage and over 6,000 prop coffee cakes have been eaten. The show has employed 245 actors during its three decades long existence.

The perfect show for Law & Order and CSI fans, Perfect Crime is a funny, romantic thriller about a psychiatrist who seems to have killed her rich husband (until he shows up very much alive); the detective who is trying to solve the supposed murder while falling in love with the primary suspect and psychiatrist's charming but troubled patient who seems to have killed a few people himself. There are Agatha Christie-like twists and turns in the plot and there's an "answer key" for audience members to review after the show if they are still trying to figure out what happened and how.

Most recently seen in Sharknado, From Dusk Till Dawn, the television show and Dancing With the Stars, Busey is famously known for the lead role in The Buddy Holly Story, which garnered him critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1978. Busey was also the last player to die on Gunsmoke when the show ended its 18-year run. His pivotal performance as the villain in Lethal Weapon earned him the attention of a new generation. In December 1988, he suffered a near fatal motorcycle accident which left him comatose for one and a half months. After regaining consciousness and with the help of his family, he re-learned how to eat, walk and speak. Immediately after his recovery, he began working again, on the cult classic Point Break - a testament to his tenacity, passion, and love of his craft. In the 1990s, he worked closely with then President Bill Clinton, in creating language for the "Traumatic Brain Injury Act." This significant Act was instrumental in passing the Helmet Law in California. He has appeared in over 150 films spanning four decades, including the memorable iconic classics Under Siege and The Firm and the upcoming film Candiland to be released in December. In 2012 after his son Luke was afflicted with Kawasaki Disease, he started the Busey Foundation.Org for children's Kawasaki Disease to raise awareness of this rare and dangerous ailment, with the goal of helping families in need.