In 1984, Peter Weller starred in one of cinema’s definitive cult classics. He still has no idea what it’s about

Peter Weller says he still does not understand the story of *The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension*, the 1984 science-fiction film in which he played a physicist, rock star and test pilot. The film’s tangled premise and its failure at the box office contrast with its later status as a cult classic, and it came before Weller’s defining role in *RoboCop*.

Weller recalled in a 2013 interview that he and co-star John Lithgow admitted they had no idea what they were doing, though he enjoyed making the film. It reportedly lost more than $10 million against a $17 million budget, amid competition from hits including *Ghostbusters*, *The Terminator* and *Gremlins*. A proposed sequel was never made; Weller has expressed little interest in sequels.