‘Mythbuster’ talks explosions, busts hit show’s myths

When Tori Belleci was 19, he wanted to blow stuff up.

So, Belleci and his friends decided to ignite a pipe bomb in his backyard.

“We’re lucky we didn’t get killed,” Belleci said.

After the explosion sent shrapnel into a neighbor’s lot, Belleci found himself
on the run from police, who wanted to charge him with a felony. The next day,
after Belleci returned home, the chief of police confronted him for putting his life
and the lives of others in danger.

“It was one of those moments in my life where this guy had the opportunity
to ruin my life,” Belleci said.

But after the police chief learned Belleci was a good student who wanted to
work in special effects, he let him off the hook.

More than a decade later, Belleci is paid to blow stuff up. As a cast member on
Discovery Channel show “Mythbusters,” Belleci’s job is to conduct experiments
involving models and explosions to determine whether popular myths are grounded
in truth.

When Belleci spoke to a crowd of more than 250 at the University Student
Commons Saturday, he said he still can’t believe he gets paid to do something
he loves.

“If I don’t do this, I’ll starve,” Belleci said. “Believing in your dream, and if you
keep going for it, it will come true.”

In addition to discussing his experiences on the show, Belleci also busted show myths,
such as the rumor that the show’s main co-hosts, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman,
are gay and speculation that he and cast member Kari Byron are dating.

Belleci also showed the crowd a blooper reel from the show’s production and
answered fans’ questions about what to expect next season.

One of next season’s new episodes is James Bond-themed, he said. In an
as-yet-unaired segment, the crew shoots at a propane tank to test the feasibility
of a moment in “Casino Royale” in which Bond shoots a propane tank, and its
explosion kills a group of nearby villains, he said.

“I always wanted to shoot a propane tank,” Belleci said.
The crew also tested whether it is possible to cut down a tree by shooting at it
with a machine gun, he said.

Before joining the “Mythbusters” cast, Belleci received a degree in writing and
directing from San Francisco State University. At Saturday’s event, he showed a
short film, “Sandtrooper,” which he made as a student.

Belleci also showed a short film he made as an audition tape for “Mythbusters,”
which features him testing the myth that women do not fart. In the film, he installs
a “fart-detector” under a booth at a Mexican restaurant and secretly observes its
readings from an adjacent booth.

Before Savage invited Belleci to audition for a spot on his show, Belleci worked
at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic. There, he made models for films,
such as the latest Star Wars trilogy, the Matrix trilogy, “Van Helsing” and “Peter
Pan.”

“It was cool working with all these people I had idolized,” he said. “When I
was in high school, I had done a book report on special effects. I remember seeing
a guy standing in front of the Millennium Falcon in front of a blue screen, and I
was just thinking to myself, ‘That’s what I want to do one day.’ “

Years later, when Belleci flipped through the pages of a magazine, he said, he
saw a picture of himself in front of a Star Wars federation battle ship and an ILM
blue screen.

“I flashed back to when I was a kid, looking at a magazine, in the library, and
I was like, ‘Whoa, it happened. That dream happened.’ “