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Tetro.
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[music] Unlike a lot of entertainers, [sighs] my dad encouraged all his kids to go into showbiz.
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[gasps] And so when I was about eight years old, he say, "Hey, come on.
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You're gonna come to work with dad.
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You You get to get out of school, make some bucks, you know, buy some toys or whatever you want. Come on."
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You know, I said, "Oh, okay."
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And so I looked at it as basically pretend.
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Remember being a kid and pretending?
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And so, you know, it's always, you know, nowadays it's like advanced pretend basically.
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you know, you getting to play with all the cool kids, you get the cool gear.
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You know, that's basically what it is.
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And uh something else that hasn't changed is my anxiety about it all.
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You know, I'm always quite anxious, you know.
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>> What do you attribute that to? >> Just the unknown.
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You know, you don't know what's going to happen, you know. And and you never know. >> You never know, man.
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And you know, [clears throat] but we have this imagination that we can jam, man.
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We can ruminate our asses off, man.
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And so, uh, and that's what, you know, acting is all about that.
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A story just popped into my head.
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We go string of consciousness in this case. Yeah. Yeah.
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>> So, I'm about 16 years old and uh I go with a bunch of my dear friends and we go to my parents' beach house down here and uh now it's time to leave.
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I'm turning out the lights, right, to leave them lock up.
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And that little feeling of fear of the dark. Remember that feeling? The fear of the dark.
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I said, "Let me see what happens if I invite invite that in and let it engulf me."
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And [clears throat] boom, it drove me to my knees. I went fetal, man.
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I just was shaking like this. >> When was this?
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>> Just like 16, you know. So what how many years? I don't know.
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You know, I'm 76 now, you know, so I don't know >> what year it was.
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>> And my friends came in.
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I said, "What's wrong, man? What's wrong? Are you okay?" I said, "Yeah, man.
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That's something amazing just happened." They said, "What?"
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I said, "I can be afraid of anything I want to be afraid of." >> Yeah.
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>> It was really quite remarkable.
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And so that you carry that into into the acting, too.
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But, you know, remember pretending, you know, when you were a kid, you know, you know, the better you can, you know, the more real you can take the shot or the more real you can do anything, the better.
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Like, you know, there's a lot of different approaches to acting, but that's kind of my approach.
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>> Tell me about your dad.
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>> Oh, well, like I said, my dad loved acting, man.
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You know, his father didn't want him to be in acting at all.
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you know, wanted to study law or something like that, but my dad wanted to act and he became the the head of the drama department in UCLA.
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This is, you know, I in the 20s or early 30s.
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That's where he met my mom and uh he just, you know, loved acting and struggled his ass off.
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Went to New York, you know.
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And here's an interesting little tidbit.
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So, this is like I don't know what year, maybe 60.
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Meredith Wilson wanted my dad to be the music man cuz my dad sings.
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And I one of my earliest memories is Meredith Wilson and Reinie Wilson, his wife, coming over to our house and playing the whole score. The music. What a score. >> Yeah. Amazing.
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And one of my earliest memories is Meredith Wilson coming up to me as a kid and say, "You got trouble right here in River City and, you know, doing that whole song to me as a kid." >> Wow. So cool.
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>> And uh then Teague Dosta, the director, wanted Robert Preston, who just kicked ass in that role.
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I mean, he was remarkable.
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And my dad got Sea Hunt that same year.
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So, it worked out well for him.
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And then uh my acting career kind of, you know, took off.
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I was doing stuff in high school, you know, different things.
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I had an agent and all of that, but I resisted acting quite a bit >> really >> because I had other things I wanted to do, music, painting, art.
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I had a bunch of other stuff.
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And I didn't want to compete with my brother who was all Bo, who was also an actor, and my dad.
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And I didn't like that whole uh what's the word? Um, >> nepotism. >> Nepotism. Thanks, man.
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You know, that whole thing.
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So, I said, "Dad, you know, I don't know."
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He said, "Jeff, don't be ridiculous.
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That's the wonderful thing about acting is that you're going to be called upon to do all of these things that you're interested in.
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You know, look at Crazy Heart, you know, win [laughter] that award that came out of listening to my dad and the music, you know, came around, you know, >> amazing."
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So that gives a hit of my dad.
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Then when we were doing Sea Hunt, he would teach me all the basics.
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You know, he I remember sitting on his bed and running lines.
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So you got to, you know, learn your line so you're not thinking about it, thinking about what you're going to say, but also listen to what the other guy is saying.
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You don't just say your line when that guy stops talking.
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You got to let what he said inform what you're saying.
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So that kind of basic he's now go out of the room. come back in.
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Do it completely different.
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I don't care how you do it, just do it completely different. >> Great advice. >> Yeah. Yeah.
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>> And do it different each time. >> Yeah. Just try new ways. >> Yeah. Yeah.
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New ways and mess around like that.
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>> So, he taught me all the basics.
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But as a little kid, though, >> as a little kid, but the main thing >> doing Sea Hunt, >> now I'm about 8 years old.
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And I remember at the time this kind of embarrassed me, but looking back I say, "Oh, I'm so proud of my dad."
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You know, that's another thing I love about making movies.
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It's all kinds of people, different points of view, philosophies, politics, all of that, you know.
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So, you're working with all different kinds of people.
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And uh there's some directors, many different approaches, and a lot of them work a lot of different ways.
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One way that my dad did not abide by was cruelty or meanness.
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And there was some director that was being sharp with a PA and you know embarrassing this young woman and my dad who was the star of the show in Sea Hunt.
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He said like, "Excuse me, I'm gonna be in my trailer and after you've apologized to the crew in front of, you know, what you did to this woman, you can come and get me."
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But until that time, I'm just going to be in my trailer, so let me know.
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You know, as a kid, I said, "Oh, you know, but looking back, you know, I said, "Yeah, that's that's the kind of guy he was." That's great.
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And then another example of what he was like was probably the most important thing I ever learned from him.
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Although it wasn't in the form of words, it was just his behavior was the joy in which he approached the work.
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You know, they call it a play. You know, it's play.
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It's like this is cool what we're doing. We're playing, man.
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And he would come in with this attitude and that would go through the whole cast and crew this sense of joy.
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>> And of course when you're joyful you you get relaxed, right?
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And out of that relaxation comes the good shed, right? Or that's what I found. >> No, for sure.
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>> And so as uh then as an adult I got to work with him twice.
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first time was in Tucker with Francis Copala and talk about pretending and you know like he's got a great child quality to him as well as being a you know incredible artist on many levels and one of the things Francis would do is that he storyboarded quite heavily and then he would shoot with the film camera his story board and then we had a twoe rehearsal.
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The first week was just hanging out, getting to know each other, and the second week he got the cast and crew together, and he said, "All right, guys.
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Now, this week, we are going to shoot the entire movie.
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Victoria Skaro here, he's going to use this little um new fancy digital camera and that wheelchair, that's going to be his dolly."
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And you wardrobe people, look at these curtains.
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These would make good wedding dress.
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And um you actors get off book if you can because we're only going to do each scene one time and we're going to do it in order.
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It was like little rascals, you know, come on, let's make a movie, you know, we're having fun, you know, and he shot the entire thing, filmed it like this.
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And then what we didn't know was to and fro from work he sat in the back of his black citroen and edited this thing at the end of that week he gave each of us the movie said look we here you just got to polish it up. >> Amazing.
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And then what he would do, he had that storyboard.
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As he completed those scenes, he replaced the story board with those scenes.
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And then as we shot the movie, he replaced it. He replaced that.
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So the movie was always in existence. >> That's unbelievable.
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>> Isn't that a wild technique?
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I've never heard of anything like that. >> I know. It's so incredible.
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And then for an actor because you shoot out a sequence to have the whole story there was really >> Yeah.
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you can understand the emotional arc in a way that you never could. >> Yeah.
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And that brings to mind Sydney Lamemed, who my dad worked with in Tragedy in a Temporary Town.
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I worked with him uh in a movie called The Morning After with James Fonda.
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And Sydney, who was an actor.
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>> I didn't know he was an actor. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah.
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He knew about rehearsing and what that's all about.
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And so we rehearsed our ass off in that movie.
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I don't know if you've ever seen that movie, but we would run the whole movie twice.
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He taped out a gym, like a play, basically taped out a gymnasium, all the the right size of the sets that have been chosen.
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And his main direction is, I don't want any indication here when we do this.
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Every time you do the scene, I want full-blown performance level [ __ ] and get off the book as soon as you can.
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But it's interesting all these different approaches.
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You know, some directors say, "No, we don't want to rehearse.
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You're going to leave it."
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But acting, you're going to do take after take and you know this thing.
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I didn't read all the books that my dad read.
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But so I got a lot of it from just him talking to me and my mom.
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He said, "When you're working on a a scene, work on it in three different ways.
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One way is how you would do it and what's happening to you.
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So really, you know, look into yourself, you know, and and use how you would be a viewer of the character and then do it from the character's point of view and work on the scene in that way.
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And in other words, if the guy's got a limp or an accent or, you know, a twitch or whatever, start to work on it that way.
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And then the third way and and I remember him saying probably the most important way is uh architecturally in a way like think of each scene as a building blocks.
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You're building a building you know a sto this story that you're telling and each scene has a a purpose in this story you know and you can do it very many ways. you can hold back.
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You how does that story look?
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You know, how does that brick in that building look?
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That's why it was so helpful to bathe in the story that way.
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You know, get familiar with what are we telling? What are we saying here?
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You know that, you know, some of the actors that I admire.
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I was just watching Philip Seymour Hoffman in a Sydney Lamett movie. Wow. What is it?
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Before the devil knows you're dead. Have you seen that? Oh god.
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You get the Criterion Channel. Yeah. >> Yeah.
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It's on that Ethan Hawk who's, you know, another and those guys cooked man.
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Tommy Lee Jones is another guy like So there's an opakqueness.
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You're not he's not showing you.
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He's just don't It's that sort of the thing. It's not indicating. >> Yeah.
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>> It also lets you >> get more involved as a viewer because it's like there's more to discover. >> That's right.
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They feel like >> they're not telling you what to think.
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>> It's like musically it'd be violins, you know, that like >> it's open to interpretation, >> right?
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>> And all the best stuff is open to interpretation.
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>> I think of radio, what radio is like my dad, I remember he did radio before TV. >> Really? I didn't know that.
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>> Oh, and I think that might be coming back and T-Bone and I are doing a I guess they're called podcasts now. Great.
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>> We're doing something, you know, a a movie like that. >> A recorded story. >> Yeah.
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Because then the audience supplies all of the special effects, all of the sets, everything.
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>> And there's a technique on how you draw that out just the right amount.
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You know, both my mom and my dad, my mom was probably the best actor of the whole family.
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And I could tell you stories about >> you know uh she would have this thing that she did with all her kids called time and that was every day each kid would get an hour with mom doing whatever that kid wanted to do.
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Could be I want to go I go into your makeup.
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I want to make you up like a clown and I want to you know make me up like a clown and >> you know. Okay.
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Now this is the spaceship. You get under there.
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you're the astronaut and I'm going to be a a Martian coming after you and like that the phone would ring.
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No, I'm having my time with Jeff. I'll call Betty back. >> Amazing.
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>> You know, an hour a day and there was no sense of duty.
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It was she was getting off.
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I mean, she was playing with her kid that she just loved.
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So now we cut, you know, 30 years later, I'd call her up.
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I'd say, "Mom, need some time.
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What are you doing for dinner?" you know, it' be great.
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You know, now she's about, you know, 90 years old or something.
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Do you ever eat at a restaurant called the Palamino in Westwood?
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It's a, you know, nice restaurant.
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And we'd finish our dinner.
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And now we'd be walking back to get our car.
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The valet would be there and my mom would say, "Be mean to me.
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>> Oh, he means be mean to me."
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And I say, "Oh, and I knew and I didn't have to I didn't have to ask her, "What are you doing?
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I just knew exactly what she was doing."
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And I say, "Get to the car."
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And I say, "Get in the [ __ ] car."
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>> And she goes, she looks at me, she goes, "Why are you so I" I said, "Don't talk back to me, [ __ ] Get in the car."
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[laughter] >> This is, you know, fourth of Ballet, man.
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man. as they you know just and we never you know and we just look we never broke character and we just enjoyed the guy's face you know >> unbelievable >> and that was her sense of humor and she would just love to do that kind of thing
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you know >> so funny >> I just thought of another you know something my mother talk about my mother and this is such a deep uh mantra really that she gave me as a young kid, you know, acting, you being, you know, in high school going off to a gig. And my mom could tell me, "Oh,
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And my mom could tell me, "Oh, you're he's anxious."
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You know, and she would say, "Jeff, Jeff, come here. Come here."
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Remember, have fun and don't take it too seriously. >> Yeah.
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>> [ __ ] >> Great advice.
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>> And now my wife when I cuz I You would think you would learn that lesson.
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No, I never learned it, man.
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My wife >> How did your mom know it?
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>> Well, she's married to my dad, man.
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I mean, the actor and she, you know, she knows it herself.
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She was an actress is an actor.
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She knows the anxiety, performance anxiety, man.
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That's a tough thing, you know.
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So, a few years ago, three years ago now, it goes fast, but I was at death's door.
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I had terrible health problems. >> Really? >> I had cancer. Had a tumor in my body. Wow.
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>> 9 by 12 in in my stomach that I had no idea was there.
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[laughter] And you know, I was doing some situps and I talked to Sue, my wife.
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I said, "Something feels funny there.
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Just feels like it's a bone where a bone shouldn't be." I said, "Feel it?"
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She Yeah, you ought to see a doctor.
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I said, "No, no, it doesn't hurt.
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We're going to Montana, you know."
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>> So, I went to Montana for 2 or 3 months and had a great time.
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My shins itched and I had night sweats, but I thought it's summer, you know, those were all symptoms of lymphoma, man. Wow.
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>> So, I had this giant thing in my stomach >> and I was just about to go back to do the second season of The Old Man, this TV show, and I said, I better get it checked out.
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So, I go there and uh yeah, you you have lymphoma.
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has a giant lymphoma there.
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So, they put me in the hospital and they did all these tests and stuff and it was an unusual form of lymphoma.
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They finally found the right cocktail for it.
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Now, I'm in chemo doing the chemo sessions and it seemed to be working.
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I said, "Oh, that's great."
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And then I get a letter from the chemo place.
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You may have been exposed to CO.
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And that proved to be true.
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And the COVID made the cancer look like nothing, man.
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Cuz I had no immune system.
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You know, the chemo stripped my immune system.
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And the CO just kicked my ass, man. Wow.
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>> So, I was on death door, you know, >> and what I found sitting at the doorstep there where you pull out all your tricks, man.
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All your spiritual philosophic, you know, tools that you can.
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And the one that gave me the most sooker was remember have fun and don't take it too seriously. >> Amazing.
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>> I just thought that's why everybody's dying. This is me doing that.
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>> Feel all the love that's coming from all those nurses, from your family, all your friends.
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How much love you feel coursing through your body. >> Yeah.
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>> That attitude probably had as much to do with you being well now as anything the doctors did. >> Maybe. Maybe.
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So >> that sounds like healing medicine.
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>> Oh gosh, isn't that wild?
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So my mom, I mean, I could go on and on about both my parents.
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They were quite remarkable.
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>> Did going through that health trauma change anything in your life after it?
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>> When you go through something like that, it's a big hit.
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Not a hit like this, but like a hit of, you know, some kind of drug, you know, it it takes you to a certain place. Yeah.
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>> And that lasts for a while and then it starts to dissipate and you kind of get back to so-called normal, you know, >> and you feel like yourself now. >> And now you say that. Of course not.
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You know, it's like yeah, it's like take you I'm developing this camera uh with my wife now and I take these wide lux pictures and you know, photography was a big thing for me growing up.
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That's the thing about photography, you know, this miracle, taking pictures, capturing light and shadows, >> like a magic trick.
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>> Yeah, like a magic trick.
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It's funny, making movies, I always thought there's magic tricks and then there's real magic or I guess you could call them miracles. >> Yeah.
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>> But then when you look around, miracle, that's kind of a normal thing, man.
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I mean, if this is all miraculous. >> Yeah. Every day. >> Every day.
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23:54
>> Tell me how the camera came to be.
23:56
Well, I first uh came in contact with the Welocks and maybe you had this experience too in high school.
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There was a rumor going around that the guy was going to take the class picture had this camera that panned and if you ran around real quick, you could be in the picture twice.
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Do you remember anything?
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>> No, I don't I don't remember this at all.
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>> So, uh and that rumor proved to be true.
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>> It was a It's a It's a still camera.
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It's a still camera >> that pans. >> That pans. So, it's like >> inside. >> Yeah. Yeah. Inside. >> It doesn't move. >> No, it's not.
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The shutter isn't The shutter is a a slit that pans across and exposes the film. >> I see.
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>> And uh then when I got married in uh 77, this guy Mark Hanau came to our wedding.
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you're here just in the Malibu Hills up here of uh Los Flores and Ramble Pacifica, you know, and he took these pictures with this widelex camera. I saw those pictures.
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I said, "Oh my god, what is this? This is remarkable."
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And then my wife gave me one and that's the only camera I used from then on. Wow.
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And uh you know back in high school I had a dark room.
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you know, turn my bathroom, you put tin foil and got the red light and the tunes, you know, you'd listen, you know, all the Beatles and Dylan and all and Bach and all the Miles, all the great jazz, you know, music was a big part of uh the dark room experience.
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You'd be in there what you thought was an hour, but it turned out to be 6 hours cuz you're so det, you know, so focused.
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My wife became a professional photographer and we had this built a dark room up in Malibu. Really into it.
25:48
And then I started uh making these little books for the cast and crew.
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Karen Allen was her idea when we were doing Starman and she said, "Let's make a book."
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So, uh, Charlie Martin Smith and Karen and I, uh, made this book for the cast and crew with my photographs and also Sid Baldwin, who was the still photographer on the show.
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And, uh, everybody seemed to like it and I loved it because I was talking about that miracle.
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You know, I look at these pictures and I'm transported right back to those times, you know.
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So, as much as it was a gift to them, it was a gift to myself.
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And I started making these books.
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I think I made about 30 of these books now. >> Wow.
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>> I just had a did an exhibit of photo of my photographs up in Santa Barbara, the Tamson Gallery, and my daughter Jesse was the host.
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And you know, >> so we uh we jammed on that.
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And one of her questions, she says, "Yeah, Dad.
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And there's a guy who shows up in every book."
26:53
And I I said, "It's not me."
26:53
You know, I I would take some selfies with it.
26:57
is a great camera for selfies because well, you know, I like to take selfies where I'm not looking at the camera.
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So, you know, I mean, if we took one here, it' be I'd be like this and I'd position it so you can't even see my arm.
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You know, like like that.
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This is before selfies kind of became a thing.
27:14
She says, "It's not you, Dad. Who is it?"
27:16
And of course, I know who it is. It's Lloyd Catlet. Who's that?
27:18
Lloyd Catlet is this guy.
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We've made over 70 films together. I met him in 1969.
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He was this young 16-year-old kid who was in The Last Picture Show and he was hired as an actor.
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He had a good part in the movie, but also to teach us California kids how to be Texas, you know, how to be Texans.
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And he fell in love with the circus.
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You know, when we left [clears throat] town, he was right on our heels. >> Yeah.
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And then he became my standin and acted in movies with me and standing.
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But I have this thread through all of the movies.
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All can you imagine, man? >> So cool.
28:04
>> And you know, like we were talking about our memory, how shitty our memory is.
28:08
He's got a much better memory than I have.
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>> So he can I said, "What's that guy's name?" Boom. He's got it.
28:12
You know, I say, "Remember that?" Yeah.
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We laugh, you know, together.
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So that has been just a real gift.
28:18
Do you photograph out in the world as well?
28:24
>> I've got quite a few photographs you that aren't on movie sets, but I that's kind of my specialty.
28:29
You know, I one of the things I think is valuable about my photographs that I'm in a unique position right in the center of making movies. >> Yeah.
28:42
>> The latter part of the 20th century, early part of the 21st century with this weird camera, this unique camera.
28:47
So that's kind of makes the and there's a historical aspect to it because everything is changing so fast, man, with all this AI.
28:59
>> Walk me through from the beginning to now [snorts] all of the changes that you saw happen in making films. [laughter] >> Oh man.
29:08
Well, so my first movie was a movie called Halls of Anger.
29:14
It might have been Rob Reiner's first movie, too. He was in it.
29:20
>> How old were you at the time? >> Maybe 19.
29:22
And it was all about busing white kids into a black school, which was pretty interesting subject, you know.
29:31
So, white people could kind of feel what prejudice feels like. That was the idea.
29:39
And I played the white kid who was trying to integrate and the black kids kept beating the [ __ ] out of me.
29:42
And there was this scene where I've been trying to do it and the kids keep beating me up and then the boy's vice principal who was played by Calvin Lockard, he says, "You've got to go back, you know, you got to keep going on this."
30:00
And I it was a very emotional scene, you know, for me.
30:03
I had just ended a love affair.
30:06
Do you remember your first what that feels like your heart breaking? It was terrible feeling.
30:11
It lasted for years and I was able to do some thespian judo with that feeling. >> Yeah.
30:20
>> And take it for this thing.
30:20
And I I kicked ass in the sea.
30:24
I remember they shot everyone's else's and then they got to my thing and it made me think I told you about talking to my dad saying I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this.
30:33
I said I was like [ __ ] I think I could do this. This is pretty wild.
30:38
And I got very emotional and cried and all this stuff.
30:42
get a an applaud from the the crew, you know, and that's always hot.
30:47
>> And now I now we're the premiere of the show in Watts, I think.
30:50
My dad's on my right, Bose's on my left. And it was sitting back.
30:56
I said, "Okay, now wait till you see this [ __ ] scene." And here it comes.
31:02
And the way they cut it, they cut to my face.
31:05
And I'm like, you know, some and audience, you didn't see the buildup. There was no build.
31:12
The audience burst out laughing.
31:16
>> I think I might have [ __ ] a little bit, you know.
31:19
I just, you know, it laid a little I was so, you know, it was just so terrible. >> Yeah.
31:27
>> And that was a interesting lesson, man.
31:29
That was like, so what do you do about that?
31:30
How do you do you protect yourself? Do you give it up?
31:32
You know, >> what do you do?
31:35
And uh my choice was no, you got to give it up and you got to you got you can't be worried about it.
31:44
That's one of the elements of making movies.
31:46
It's a collage and the collage ain't up to you.
31:48
It's up who's ever cutting the film.
31:50
Hopefully, it's the director.
31:52
And every once in a while, you had high expectations going in and now it's even better what they do. You know, that happens.
31:59
And sometimes it don't, man.
32:02
man. And so you can't but you can't protect yourself you know you can't >> so how do you control >> you can control it in certain ways but it it's self-defeating because it dampens the whole energy of creativity you know
32:17
>> so that was a big thing for me that really about editing you know now I'm getting off track a little bit more but I'm going to go with the editing aspect Bose's first movie was with Hal Ashby >> Wow >> Hal's last movie was my moviec 8 million ways to die. Hal was an editor. You Hal was an editor.
32:34
You know, think of his films being there, coming home, Last Detail, these masterpieces.
32:45
>> And he worked through improvisation.
32:48
It's interesting where the directors come from.
32:50
You know, some are actors like Sydney Lamett, >> some are, you know, writers, some are editors. Mhm.
32:57
>> So Hal said, "Just bring it up, you know, give me all your [ __ ] you know, and and >> and then he'd figure out how to make it into something."
33:04
>> He would make it into something. >> That's great.
33:06
>> I remember asking him, I said, "Are we going to have to do much looping, you know, much ADR stuff?" And he goes, "No."
33:12
I said, "What do you mean?"
33:12
He says, "I'm an editor, Jeff."
33:14
I said, "What do you mean?"
33:16
He says, "Man, I get in there with a little razor blade and I can on the This is on the t old school [ __ ] you know."
33:22
And he, you know, he Yeah.
33:24
He was a master at this stuff.
33:28
I remember him saying the key to editing is just bathing in the film.
33:31
He would sleep in the editing room, you know, and just look at it over and over and over again.
33:39
But you think of like that monologue that John Voit gives in Coming Home, you know, that's improv, man.
33:46
That's that's you and I think I have a feeling that you might work the same way and uh T-Bone does well creating the space.
33:52
It's hard for people to understand what that is, but that's my favorite kind of directors.
34:00
And you guys are directors, too.
34:02
>> We have no idea when we're going in what it's going to be. No clue.
34:04
And there's a lot of different versions of good, you know. >> Oh, yeah.
34:09
>> And you don't know until you're discovering it. It's a funny talent.
34:13
When you have a visitor come in and watch you at work, they say, "But he's not doing anything. What is he doing?"
34:19
It's space creation, you know?
34:19
It's just safety, vibe, >> playfulness, joy, humor, love, and let it do us. >> Yeah. Watch it unfold. >> Yeah. It's a miracle, man.
34:30
It means, you know, uh my task as a creative person is getting out of the way, right?
34:37
How do you practice doing that?
34:38
How do you get in that spot?
34:40
You know, that's a an interesting, you know, practice to to mess with. But how?
34:46
So Bo did his first movie, Landlord. I did his second. 8 Million Ways to Die.
34:52
I think it was Andy Garcia's first film.
34:54
We had a ball working together.
34:58
There was a guy uh Mark Damon was the producer and Hal had a bad rep right around that time, you know, doing Coke and it was, you know, I think he had done that Stone documentary or something.
35:12
It was he just, you know, had a bad reputation [snorts] and so the script was just a basic outlining.
35:21
We would never shoot the script.
35:23
We would just jam on the the essence of the scene.
35:26
And this guy had no faith in Hal's process.
35:30
I mean, look at the pudding that's coming out of Hal's oven.
35:34
You know, these are masterpieces.
35:35
So, he bitched and bitched.
35:37
I can understand how it would frustrate the financeers to say, "That's not that's not the script, man.
35:41
You know, where are you going to go with this thing?"
35:45
You know, so he comes in, we got, you know, about two weeks to go. Shoot.
35:51
He comes in and he says, "We're pulling the plug today. This is your last day."
35:55
Hal says, "What are you talking about? We've got major stuff."
36:00
Hal went into his trailer, burned a dupe, I think, came out and said, "All right, I've got here's how we're going to we're going to do a phone call.
36:06
Andy, you're going to have this big long phone call."
36:12
You know, he didn't let it crush him, you know.
36:13
I mean, you know, he didn't say, "Oh, you know, >> he solved the problem." >> He just Yeah.
36:16
Because that's basically what movies it's all about.
36:18
these little, you know, trying to figure out how we navigate these challenges, you know, so there is a challenge.
36:24
So he came up with this long monologue and he created the kind of space of such safety and inclusion that I saw Andy, you know, doing the scene and I had an idea about what would make it better for Andy.
36:40
And I went up there, I said, "Hell, what if Andy, you know, did this instead of that?"
36:43
And he goes, "That's a really good idea, but let Andy cross the bridge.
36:48
Let him let him find that out.
36:51
My idea came from the idea we're we got time we got a time crunch here.
36:55
We got a lot of stuff and he said we got all the time in the you know God the vibe he created.
37:02
>> So we actually shot the movie with all that hindrance.
37:05
We shot the movie Hell in mind. Then the guy fired Hal.
37:08
Didn't let him edit the film man and just cut it against the grain. >> Unbelievable. And then hell died.
37:17
I mean it he broke his heart, man. >> God.
37:25
Now I remember your your question was how is how has it changed over the years >> that kind of has remained the same.
37:32
These stories that you know it's a communal art form.
37:35
You know you're working with other guys that you know can shut you down and you know it's so it's up for grabs.
37:41
You know how it's going to turn out. I love this thing.
37:45
And this is what keeps me coming back is that when it transcends your high expectations and it does that every once in a while.
37:52
Isn't it a great feeling?
37:52
I was going with and God look what happened. That is so amazing.
38:00
So that kind of stuff those first those editing stories that still happens the good and the bad of that.
38:06
But when when you ask me what's changed a great example of that is Strong.
38:10
I've had great luck with firsttime directors. Just wonderful.
38:16
You know, some of my best movies have been firsttime guys.
38:21
But this was Stephen Lisberger who came up with this idea of Tron.
38:24
You know, we shot it in black and white, 70 mm black and white, all hand titted by these Korean women.
38:31
All our costumes were in black and white.
38:34
We would go into this black and white box, you know, this sound stage. the special effect.
38:39
Everything was black duvatine with white adhesive tape.
38:41
That was our That [laughter] was our special effects, you know.
38:47
Then they did it all in post, you know, coloring stuff and made it glow and [ __ ] And then you'd go outside after being in that black and white and color. Oh my gosh.
38:58
Color would be hit you like a ton of bricks.
39:01
>> So now we Now the second one I'm scanned.
39:05
You know, they they do a scan.
39:07
so I can they can jack with me, you know, digitally. And they did that.
39:13
And so I was that's basically what the first movie was all about, getting scanned into a computer.
39:20
Now it was happening in real time.
39:20
And uh so I could be a play a younger version of myself, but it was kind of primitive.
39:27
I thought I looked more like Bill Maher than I did myself.
39:29
You know, it was just it didn't matter that much.
39:34
Now the whole AI stuff is so much more advanced.
39:37
you in the sequel to Toronto, we had all these dots on our faces and now they don't do any of that. Now it's here.
39:44
So just that leaps and bounds, you know what that AI does and um it's amazing how just the whole AI idea because in movies, you know, I remember seeing Jurassic Park for the first time.
39:59
uh you see look what they can do or or see in the Hobbit movies you look at all the people and then finally it loses its punchity. Yeah.
40:08
Cuz it's just you know and you say oh >> uh still it's an interesting tool that you know you can use >> but it loses something you know I mean pretty soon I'll be out of gig man.
40:19
I mean that you know what you know those you I'll probably lease my image you know say we want to combo Diro Bridges and uh let's put some Andy Garcia in there see what happens you know a little more Garcia a little more you know >> you know I mean that's you know not too far off I mean they can do it already you know [music] [music] >> L M NT element electrolytes.
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42:08
LM NT How did you meet Bernie Glassman?
42:18
[laughter] >> I'm I I'm at uh Ramdas's birthday party.
42:24
I make these little ceramic heads, you know, and I do this thing where, you know, I'll make a pot or a vase or something and then I'll have a hunk of clay left over and I'll let my hands make a head out of it and they're like aspects of myself.
42:42
This is something I I do and I've got, you know, hundreds of these [ __ ] So, I went up to Rahm Doss and I said, "I always wanted to give you a little head.
42:52
[laughter] you happy birthday.
42:54
You give the And then we sit down there and there's this kind of tubby Jewish guy over on the left.
43:04
He doesn't look like I said, "What is he doing here in this spirit?"
43:06
And he turns out to be the real thing.
43:08
This guy's a Zen master big time. >> Yeah.
43:12
And he says, "Uh, hey, I really dig uh Labowski, man." I said, "Really, Burm?"
43:24
You signed Breed last meeting.
43:24
I say, "Oh, well, tell me, you know, what do you Well, I'm all about bringing Buddhism into current times and Labowski is just chalk full of all these modern-day coons or coons that can apply to modern day."
43:43
I said, "What are you talking about?"
43:43
He says, "Well, look who wrote and directed Labowski. The Cohan brothers." I say, "Okay, good. Very good. Okay.
43:56
He says, "The dude abides."
43:56
That's very Buddhistic right there. I say, "Yeah."
44:03
He says, "My favorite coan in Big Labowski is well, that's just like your opinion, man."
44:10
I say, "Oh, I'm getting it now."
44:10
You know, a coan you Well, you know what a coan with the sound of one hand clapping these questions that really don't have traditional answers to them.
44:24
Uh, I said, "Give me another one."
44:24
He says, "Well, shut the [ __ ] up, Donnie.
44:28
There's there's another co-."
44:28
So, he starts to list these things.
44:31
And he says, "Hey, let's write a book."
44:32
I say, "What do you mean?"
44:34
He says, "Yeah, let's write a book about uh Labowski and how it, you know, might have some of these ideas, these Buddhist ideas in."
44:44
And I'm, you know, kind of Buddhistly bent myself.
44:46
You know, I'm big fan of Allan Watts.
44:48
You know, you must be is Yeah, he is probably the best. Isn't he so great? I mean, God. >> Yeah.
44:55
He's my wife's favorite, too, because he's got a sense of humor about the whole thing.
45:01
>> He says, "Yeah, let's do this."
45:01
I said, "Well, I've got a ranch up in Montana.
45:05
Let's go up there for a couple of weeks and just hang."
45:07
You know, I you know how you hit it off with somebody very quickly and you say, "Wow."
45:11
And so, I hit it off with him just immediately.
45:17
So, we went up there and um we just had two weeks of conversation and then his wife Eve Marco edited it and uh Bernie was, you know, my dear friend and um teacher and God what a guy, man.
45:37
I mean, >> do you remember when you first read the script for Labowski? >> Mhm.
45:43
>> Tell me what you remember.
45:43
Yeah, I remember bumping into uh the Cohen brothers.
45:50
Maybe it was at a party or something. I can't remember.
45:51
And they say, "Yeah, we've written something for you."
45:54
I said, "Oh, you're kidding. Great." No, I was a big fan.
45:57
>> I know they wrote it for you.
45:58
>> Yeah, I was a big fan of Blood Simple.
46:00
You know, >> and then I read the script and I said, "Wow, this is not like anything I've ever done before.
46:05
Why did you think of me?"
46:08
You know, it's like something from my past kind of weird vibe.
46:13
Did you laugh out loud when you read the script? >> Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
46:15
I mean, I thought it I was I was uh amazed that when it first came out, it didn't do anything.
46:20
You know, it was not successful when it came out.
46:24
It had to get, you know, came back from Europe and, you know, was successful over there and then splashed back here. >> Mhm.
46:33
>> How much of what you read in the script is what the movie is and how much did it evolve through making it?
46:41
Well, they write so well that it feels like improvisation, but it's not.
46:46
And you know, uh, Walter John Goodman and I, you know, we were very precise, you know, about uh, where each [ __ ] was, each man was. Uh, I I I love pot.
47:01
I'm a, you know, was a pthead.
47:01
I'm not doing it these days, but uh, I didn't smoke any pot on that movie.
47:10
wanted cuz I it really I really wanted to be as clear and not you know you know you know what are the what's the acting term sense memory I had done a lot of pot I knew what that you know I could get there without you know having to smoke it you know now we would do improvisation
47:29
John and I remember doing this uh to feel the vibe of the the scene and then we would always go back and the script It was almost like m, you know, like music, you know, you want the right melody, you want the notes, and each man >> was there for, >> but you would jam to better get into the script. >> Yes. Right. Right. And oh man, it was a >> Yes. Right. Right.
47:50
And oh man, it was a oh man I one of you know I was talking about my photography and I made a book for Labowski you know and I look through that book and I get boom I get right back to each of those scenes you know the day Turo comes you know he's going to do this one little scene kissing the ball you know and oh god he was just so incredible when you were young in addition to working with your dad you got to work with a lot of the great actors.
48:21
Do you remember any things that they directly told you that [snorts] were helpful going forward?
48:30
>> Well, don't you love it when you've got these heroes of yours, you know, and you put them on a pedestal and when you meet them, they let you know I'm just one of you guys. People love that. I just love that, man.
48:46
So, uh, my second film was a movie called The Yin and Yang of Mr.
48:49
Go written by Burgess Meredith.
48:54
>> Had he ever directed or written before?
48:56
>> Oh, he there's, you know, people are most familiar with him playing the Penguin in the original Batman TV series. >> Yeah.
49:04
>> But he was a classical, you know, I just watched >> and then Rocky as well.
49:08
>> And Rocky, that's another Yeah.
49:08
But yeah, he was a wonderful actor.
49:10
And uh James Mason was also in that film and he was you know so down to earth and uh I you know Lolita you know I just remember you know all his great movie and another story with James just popped into my mind uh working with John Houston and I worked with him as an actor and as a director.
49:36
I was in a movie that he directed called Fat City.
49:41
My big brother Bo did some agenting for me.
49:44
He went up for the part and he was a little too old.
49:47
He's eight years older than me.
49:48
He says, "But you ought to check out my brother."
49:52
So I went in to, you know, see the casting guy and they like me and then they got a call from my agent that John Houston wanted to meet me. Oh, great. Where? Uh, Madrid. Madrid. Yeah.
50:10
So, I get on a plane and where he wants to where the meeting wants to be is at the Praau.
50:17
So, I get there and I'm again I'm about, you know, early 20s and I'm checking into the hotel and there's this beautiful girl there.
50:29
We start to talk and she says, "I think you're out to dinner. Let's go out. Beautiful food, fish."
50:36
So I I got say, "Well, I got to get home fairly early cuz I got this interview."
50:41
So I go out with this beautiful girl and have a wonderful meal.
50:46
I get home, get into bed, and I wake up with food poisoning.
50:52
Man, it's just puking and [ __ ] and just the worst.
50:57
>> And I've got to meet John Houston at the Prao.
51:03
So there I looking at the Goyas and the, you know, all of these great, you know, painters, Velasquez and so forth, trying my best not to puke on the paintings, man.
51:15
I mean, I'm literally puking in my mouth and swallowing my, you know, >> yeah, it's the worst feeling.
51:20
>> And John doesn't talk about the movie at all.
51:22
He's just pointing out art to me and I'm saying, "Well, that I've lost that part. Oh, God, help me. I hope I don't die.
51:31
I was just feeling just terrible.
51:36
And I'm in bed and I don't speak Spanish and I can't talk on the phone to the desk and everything.
51:44
I said, "What am I going to do?"
51:45
And I get a knock on the door and I crawl my hands and knees at the door and open the door. Who's standing there?
51:53
James Mason, what are you doing on the floor?
51:58
[laughter] and he saved my life.
51:59
He, you know, got me, you know, a doctor, got the right shot and stuff, had a little cast you for the movie.
52:09
>> I got the I got the part.
52:09
Yeah, I got the part, man.
52:15
>> And uh it was with Stacy Keats, a wonderful actor. >> Yeah, great.
52:20
>> Susan Terrell and and Candy Clark, who I fell in love with, and we became a, you know, we lived together for many years.
52:28
And John, you know, he was kind of, you know, not feeling well.
52:31
Actually, he was with, you know, would have these, you know, on oxygen all the time.
52:34
There was a scene, it was my favorite scene in the movie where I'm having a dream and I wake up in the middle of the dream having dreamt that my wife Candy was holding the hand of my best friend.
52:52
And so I I said, "Don't touch, you know, I'm pissed off.
52:55
I'm still in the dream, but I'm awake.
52:57
And there was a certain comedic element to this whole thing.
53:00
And my approach was the more serious I could play it, the funnier it would be.
53:05
And John had some other ideas and I was trying to do it with him.
53:10
And we saw dailies the next day.
53:12
And Ray Stark, who the producer was in there, and after the dailies, he was walking with me.
53:23
He said, "What do you think?"
53:23
I said, "No, I I didn't really like it." He goes, "Yeah, I know."
53:28
He says, "But don't worry.
53:32
Uh when we through shooting, I'm going to have you and Candy take acting lessons and then we'll come back and reshoot the scene."
53:41
And that kind of hit me weird cuz I had already been nominated for an Academy Award. >> Yeah. >> But I said, "Okay." So that's what happened.
53:51
And we Jeff Corey was an acting teacher.
53:54
Pretty tough acting teacher, you know, having to, you know, really get the emotion out of me.
54:03
I was living with Candy at the time and we would go like twice a week to this acting teacher and Candy would say, you know, she had to cry and say, "I don't want to go, Jeff.
54:15
I don't I don't want to cry." I said, "Come on, Ken.
54:18
You know, this is what acting is all about.
54:20
you got to, you know, do the hard.
54:21
So, we would go and he'd make her cry [laughter] every time, you know, and now, now we're kind of come back to reshoot the thing, you know, she we were instructed by Ray, don't tell anything to John about taking any lessons or anything.
54:36
And Candy goes to John says, "I'm not supposed to say this, but we've been taking these acne lessons [laughter] and I don't know how to play the part.
54:46
I don't know how to do it."
54:50
John said, "Just do it the way you did it before.
54:52
Just do it the way you did it before." Great.
54:56
Knowing full well that we'd never be in the movie anyway.
55:01
>> And we shot the scene and it was, you know, never in the movie.
55:05
>> But now years later, >> I'm doing a movie called Winter Kills and John Houston's playing my father. Directed.
55:15
Again, I mentioned having great luck with first time directors. This was Bill Richard.
55:23
The cast of this movie, John Houston, Elizabeth Taylor to Shiro Muffi. Wow.
55:29
>> Sterling Hayden, >> Richard Boon, >> it's amazing.
55:33
And he and he just he got this cast together just through his his sheer charisma. He was a wonderful guy.
55:43
John Houston was playing my father and John when we were doing Fat City, you know, I was always jealous of Stacy because John and Stacy were playing back gamut and so forth and I kind of felt left out and I think, you know, that was way he wanted to direct me, keep me on my heels kind of. >> Yeah.
56:06
And then doing this Winter Kills, he not only was very open and gregarious with me, but he was also to this first time director.
56:17
He was like showing how an actor should behave to a director.
56:20
He would say, "How was it, Bill?
56:22
What do you how was it for you?
56:23
Should I you like me to do differently?" >> Yeah. >> You know, >> amazing. >> Yeah.
56:31
So, that was, you know, great experience.
56:34
>> Wasn't Winter Kill's band or something?
56:36
Some something happened with Luc. >> Oh god.
56:38
Oh, another actor that was in it was was who played in Psycho, you know, Anthony Perkins. >> Yeah. >> He was in it.
56:46
He played the bad guy in it.
56:50
And this is such a weird weird story.
56:53
So Bo had done a movie with Anthony Perkins, a Larry McMerry story called Love and Molly directed by Sydney Lum.
57:08
Tony did acid every day, [laughter] you know.
57:13
And one of his acting techniques was what drug would be appropriate for this thing.
57:17
So, we're doing this scene at the climax of the movie where he's kidnapped my girlfriend and I've got take his arm and I have a blackjack in my I break his arm.
57:30
I say, "Tell me where she is.
57:33
I'm going to break your other arm. Tell me where she is."
57:37
So, he says, "For this scene, I think amal nitrate."
57:43
[laughter] So the director goes out and gets a box of amies and uh you know rolling first time, you know. All right, you ready? Okay, action. Yeah.
57:55
And he's got this [clears throat] long two-page monologue and he hits it and he does it beautifully.
58:02
Just does the whole thing.
58:04
[laughter] >> Now it gets to my side and I said, "I think I'll do a namy."
58:11
[laughter] And I hit that poor guy so [ __ ] hard with that fake blackjack >> that you know shut down the day's work, you know. >> That's crazy. God, it was terrible.
58:22
And I don't know if it was the same day or maybe it was the re-shot of that thing.
58:29
the stage doors, these big doors open to the sound stage and in come the union guys and shut us down because all the cast and crew wasn't being paid their union dues and they were all just there because of the love of this guy Bill Richard had >> Yeah.
58:48
>> And so they shut us down. >> Wow.
58:50
>> Wow. and we had major scenes to shoot and you know it kind of again broke all our hearts and a few weeks later I get a call from Bill I said I got this idea man I said what he says what we're going to do I've written this script it's a
59:09
great script and you'll be just so perfect at it we're going to shoot it in Germany I've got the money and then we're going to that's going to come out and then we'll get the money to Finnish winner kills and there's a great scene
59:22
with Sterling Hayden that you're going to and I said okay you and off we go to Germany shoot this other movie and his prophecy proved true we came in finish winter kills >> amazing >> I mean just all these adventures you know crazy >> so when Anthony Perkins does the anal
59:41
nitrate you didn't think this is crazy you think good idea I'll do it too >> oh well this is back in the day man you much younger and the things like that, you know, I thought of another I thought of another drug story. I must tell you
59:55
I must tell you >> doing Thunderbolt and Lightfoot >> with Clint Eastwood.
1:00:05
This is again another great example of first time directors.
1:00:07
This was Mike Chamino's first time directing.
1:00:13
>> This is the guy who directed The Deer Hunter and Heaven's Gate and so forth.
1:00:18
And uh Clint is famous for only wanting one or two takes. >> Really? I didn't know that. >> Yeah. Yeah.
1:00:24
And uh I was the young punk kid who said, you know, I'd go up to Mike.
1:00:30
I say, "I got an idea in mind."
1:00:32
And he said, "Well, you got to ask the boss, you know, and he would go over there and talk to Clint and Clint would say, "Yeah, give the cat a shot."
1:00:38
So, I really appreciate that what Clint did.
1:00:46
And then we're doing the scene. You ever see that movie?
1:00:51
>> But you've seen it at some point at the end of the movie.
1:00:53
I get kicked in the head by George Kennedy and I'm having a stroke and I die.
1:00:57
Basically, it's a death scene. I had this idea.
1:00:59
I said if did a dentist get some Novacane and shoot novacaane in my mouth and just, you know, go like that and it'll be a greater thing, you know. And he said, "Okay."
1:01:15
So we did it worked great. Lost the film.
1:01:19
We had to do it all over again and did the same thing again. Yeah. Lost >> physically lost.
1:01:25
It just, you know, like I can't remember.
1:01:27
It was either lost or was no good.
1:01:29
We just had to reshoot it again.
1:01:32
>> Now years later, we're doing Heaven's Gate.
1:01:36
He had just won the Academy Award for Deer Hunter.
1:01:39
He was the darling of Hollywood.
1:01:41
They said, "Do whatever you want, Mike."
1:01:45
He said, 'Well, I've got this epic western I want to do.
1:01:47
But he said, 'But I don't want any of the suits or any press to come cuz I it's going to be a challenging thing to do it.
1:01:55
And everybody who was in it, I can't remember.
1:02:01
I think it was maybe 6 months shooting.
1:02:03
That's where I met T-Bone on here.
1:02:05
T-Bone played my maid in the thing and William Defoe was his first movie.
1:02:12
He played my two my those were my housekeeping guys.
1:02:16
>> Will I think got fired for laughing inappropriately in a scene in one you just hanging out when Mike was directing and it was a very interesting experience because unlike what it was with Thunderbolt and Lightfoot was you know one or two takes Mike would do 60 takes. Wow.
1:02:37
I mean, it was like, "Let's show up. We'll be in costume. If we get it, we get it.
1:02:43
If we don't, we'll just come back and we'll do it again."
1:02:47
So, they never knew when it counted.
1:02:50
And I guess from his point of view, he's looking for that happy accident, you know, that one little thing.
1:02:55
But from the acting thing, it was kind of tough because you don't know when when does it count? You >> Yeah. >> When is it?
1:03:04
>> And it's hard to make it count 60 times. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
1:03:06
And everybody going to do it together, you know?
1:03:09
It was, >> you know, challenging that way.
1:03:14
>> Now we're doing this battle scene when I supposed to get shot and then I give a big speech and I go up to Mike and I say, "Mike, you know, I'm being shot here and there's a medic there. You know what?
1:03:30
if a manic shoots me up with some morphine and then I give my speech and he goes, "Yeah, yeah."
1:03:40
And I said, "But I I know he's got some morphine, but I want before we do it on film, I want to see if I can do that.
1:03:49
So, how do you feel about him shooting me up with the morph and then I'll try the do the scene?"
1:03:54
And he said, "You just want to get high on the morph."
1:03:58
I say, "Yeah, but I think, no, I really think it might be effective, you know, for the movie as well."
1:04:04
[laughter] And so I get the, you know, I get the real doctor there and he shoots me up with morphine and I do this thing and I I say, "Oh, this is great."
1:04:15
You know, this I can do this and it's a good effect. >> Yeah.
1:04:19
Now we're going to shoot it on film and now we're doing with the actor and he's got the, you know, he's talked to the medic and we're going to do it and we've practiced it and [ __ ] and he does it and it's just terrible, man. It's not morphine.
1:04:35
It's some other [ __ ] Some like methadone.
1:04:39
I don't know what he was shooting at me.
1:04:41
These are back in the days when we experimented with drugs, you know.
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1:06:19
I remember reading a story you told about if it's in church, you're not in the service. >> Oh yeah. >> Tell me about that. >> Uhhuh.
1:06:30
19 years old, you know, really ripe for Vietnam.
1:06:36
And I followed my brother's footsteps.
1:06:38
He enlisted in the Coast Guard Reserve.
1:06:41
And in the Coast Guard Reserve, you go to, you know, regular old boot camp. Boot camp is 10 weeks. Wow.
1:06:46
I can remember going there you in your civilian clothes on a bus arriving there.
1:06:57
We all get lined up and the uh the guy who is in charge of us, he's walking up and down the lines questioning us, you know, what's your name?
1:07:07
He goes up to one kid saying, "What's your name?" "My name is Joe Samuel.
1:07:14
Sir, quit moving your [ __ ] head.
1:07:19
Why are you moving your head like that? I don't know, sir.
1:07:22
I'm Don't [ __ ] move your head. Yes, sir.
1:07:25
Now, there's a guy in the line behind him who starts to laugh, you know, like this.
1:07:36
And the drill guy goes over to that guy and says, "You like laughing, [ __ ] I want you to continue to laugh until I tell you to stop.
1:07:44
You understand, asshole?" Yes, sir. Start laughing.
1:07:50
[laughter] Now we're This is now hours later and we're up in our racks, you know, >> 2:00 in the morning.
1:08:02
Still >> still, you know. Wow.
1:08:02
I mean, it was >> torture basically.
1:08:05
They strip you of your They give you a number, strip you from your identity, you know.
1:08:09
I guess that's effective for fighting battles and [ __ ] you know, working for the team, you know, get rid of your individuality.
1:08:20
And now where it's about the second week and we're all, you know, stripped down.
1:08:25
We're kind of been bashed around and uh the guy says to us, "All right, [ __ ] today's Sunday.
1:08:36
You have a choice to make.
1:08:36
You can go to church or you can hide poet rifles on the grounder.
1:08:43
How many people want to go to church?
1:08:43
So we often go to church.
1:08:48
And the guy in there, Don Harris, was the chaplain.
1:08:55
And he said, uh, I want to start uh today by telling you guys that when you're in here, you're not in the military.
1:09:03
You're in the house of the Lord. Praise God.
1:09:05
Hal [ __ ] you know, all his sermons were all about dealing with tough times and, you know, and and love and all these things.
1:09:17
He had me play my guitar and sing to the troops and he he would have discussions with all the guys and everything. Remarkable guy.
1:09:28
Turned me onto an incredible book.
1:09:31
Are you into Kazan Zakus at all? Do you know who he is?
1:09:34
His most famous book is Zorba the Greek, >> but he also wrote the last temptation of Christ.
1:09:41
He would write rewrite like the New Testament, you know, his version, you know, why not?
1:09:48
Why why can't I be tapped in like that and they're remarkable stories uh the last temptation of Christ? It's a big thick book.
1:09:55
The last half of it is a dream that Jesus has on the cross. >> Wow.
1:10:02
of being a normal person, have two wives, all these kids, and then he wakes up. Yeah.
1:10:09
I mean, it's a great book.
1:10:12
Marty Scorsesei made a movie about and he turned me onto a wonderful book that I can't recommend high enough called The Saviors of God that if anybody's going to save anybody, we've got to save God.
1:10:26
And it's quite an amazing book.
1:10:32
And during that time, I got into a Christian phase in my spiritual journey.
1:10:38
And so I really appreciated all of that. >> Yeah.
1:10:42
>> Especially, you know, when you're in tough times, you pull out all your all your trick.
1:10:45
What am I what's going to help me, man? >> Yeah.
1:10:48
>> And that's, you know, what helped me? That kind of stuff.
1:10:50
So, I really appreciated that.
1:10:52
Then we got Honor Company about the ninth week we were there.
1:10:57
All the companies get it at some point.
1:10:59
We got honor company and that means we could we're on leave and going to San Francisco.
1:11:08
And he said, "I'm going to break the rules, Jeb." I said, "What?"
1:11:10
He says, "I want to take you somewhere." I said, "Where?"
1:11:15
He says, "Uh, I'm just going to I'm going to break the rules.
1:11:17
I'm going to give you some civvies so you won't pop out."
1:11:21
And he gave me these civilian clothes.
1:11:23
And he took me to the carousel ballroom to see Jefferson Airplane. >> Wow.
1:11:29
and Big Brother, [laughter] >> right?
1:11:32
>> And I and I just, >> you know, that was all fresh that was all fresh music at the time.
1:11:36
I just went, "Holy shit."
1:11:41
>> And then he ended up, you know, many, many years later, ended up marrying me and Sue.
1:11:46
So, Don Harris, wonderful, wonderful guy.
1:11:51
Uh, my wife, you know, I've been I'm going on 50 years, man.
1:11:53
And uh the love thing just gets stronger and stronger and we've been doing these movies together for so long.
1:12:02
So she knows what it takes and how to >> How do you guys me?
1:12:08
>> We met [clears throat] on a movie.
1:12:11
We met on a movie called Rancho Deluxe up in Montana.
1:12:16
I'm doing a scene in this dude ranch called Chico Hot Springs.
1:12:19
I'm in this big hot tub uh natural hotring.
1:12:25
Sam Watston on one side, Harry Dean Stanton on the other, and we're doing a scene, and I look over and I see this girl.
1:12:33
I cannot take my eyes off her. She is so gorgeous.
1:12:36
And she's got two black eyes and a broken nose.
1:12:40
So, this beauty japosed to this disfigurement.
1:12:44
Man, it was just so amazing, you know.
1:12:48
[laughter] And I finally get the nerve to ask her out.
1:12:52
And I don't know about you, but asking girls out, man, that was always a tough term. Huh. Terrifying. Yeah. You know, it's Yeah.
1:12:59
So, I was so attracted I couldn't help it.
1:13:02
And I said, you know, after we were shooting that, I said, "Would you like to go out with me?"
1:13:09
>> She says, "No, it's a small town.
1:13:11
Maybe I'll see you around." I say, "Okay."
1:13:14
And then her prophecy proved true.
1:13:16
And we had the rap party and she was there and we danced and felt boom. That was it.
1:13:23
got married, had, you know, had a bunch of kids.
1:13:25
Now, we cut 30 years later and I'm going through my mail and I get a letter from the makeup man on that show and he says, "I was going through my files and I found a picture of you asking a local girl out."
1:13:42
It's two pictures, a closeup and a twoot of the first words. >> It's unbelievable. ever spoke. >> Unbelievable.
1:13:53
>> Me asking her out and her saying no. Click. >> Unbelievable. >> Isn't that wild, man? >> That's great.
1:14:00
>> And so that's my prize possession.
1:14:00
After this thing, I can show you that maybe remember.
1:14:06
>> Have you ever done theater? >> Yeah. >> What's that like? >> With my dad. >> Oh, really? >> He did summer stock.
1:14:10
He did uh Guys and Dolls.
1:14:14
That was one of, you know, thing he would do in round. He do a lot.
1:14:19
remember I was on stage with this other woman.
1:14:22
My dad's entering the stage and I see him walking down the aisle and he's [ __ ] with his zipper, you know.
1:14:29
He comes on and I see his zipper is just totally off the track and it's just open like this, you know, and the people start laughing and [ __ ] and my dad, you know, breaks the fourth wall, says, "Okay, okay, okay.
1:14:43
I'm going to go up and change my pants.
1:14:45
Jeff, entertain the people.
1:14:48
And so I'm up there, you know, all alone.
1:14:53
And I said, "Well, I took some tap uh lessons.
1:14:56
I'm going to do a little tap routine for you now."
1:14:58
You know, you know, I mean, it was just It gets, you know, just so bizarre sometimes. >> Unbelievable story. >> Yeah.
1:15:07
>> Do you think your dad felt like you can handle this? >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't Yeah.
1:15:10
I don't I mean, I just had to, you know.
1:15:15
Is it like the show must go on?
1:15:17
>> Yeah, that's exactly it. The show must go on. Yeah.
1:15:23
Working with him on these two movies as an adult with blown away I got to work with him. It was quite a big part.
1:15:27
We had so much fun pretending, you know, with your dad on that level.
1:15:35
>> Did it tap into things from childhood?
1:15:37
Did you feel like you were reliving your childhood doing that with him? >> Huh?
1:15:41
Sort of like an extension.
1:15:41
It's not because it wasn't even reliving.
1:15:44
It was just like an extension because uh I'm thinking of a couple of things.
1:15:49
You know, coming from a show biz family, you know, we were encouraged as kids to perform, do you know, shows and plays and stuff, I remember I just saw this recently. So wild.
1:16:06
I did a movie called The Giver based on this book and I tried to get it made for oh easy 20 years and I just saw this a whole movie >> where I cast my dad as the giver.
1:16:20
I ended up playing the part 20 years later but I cast my dad as the giver.
1:16:25
Bose's kid was playing the the lead in it and it was shot in our house.
1:16:32
Bud court was narrating reading the book the whole book and we did the whole book and Casey Bose's son you know shot it.
1:16:46
Then another example is my folks had a place in Bear Valley up in central Northern California ski place and we were up there and my dad was you know pretty old you know in his 80s.
1:17:01
He didn't like getting old, man. It pissed him off. He was such a vital guy.
1:17:07
And to have his body breaking down like that, it's really annoying.
1:17:13
And uh he's locked himself in his room.
1:17:17
And we're saying, "Dad, come on. Are you okay?"
1:17:19
He says, "Leave me alone. I'm in here. I'm working." What are you working on? Leave me alone. Now hours pass.
1:17:28
He finally comes out and he says, "Bo's son Dylan gathered us all around a table and I have wide lux shots of this whole story I'm going to tell you."
1:17:40
He says, "Dylan has asked me to write a script based on Robin Hood.
1:17:47
I've called the story the Robin of Bear."
1:17:50
Says, "We're in Bear Valley.
1:17:52
I want you all to participate it.
1:17:54
I've cast it certain ways.
1:17:58
I'm going to direct this and I I want you to do this in a very professional way.
1:18:05
He's very serious about Casey. I want you to shoot it.
1:18:07
[snorts] And so we have this doc this document with special effects.
1:18:13
effects. I mean we you know you know this Robin Hood you know he was like pulled behind a snow machine just you know I mean it's you know fake fights very elaborate very elaborate and funny and oh we had such a great time my my
1:18:28
wife Sue got so pissed off at my dad because he had my daughters they were playing peasants out in the snow you know and they didn't have proper clothes on and Sue would say can't you put jackets no this is a period piece you No, no, no. Just, you know, and she So,
1:18:43
Just, you know, and she So, so real fights, you know, happen. Real family fights.
1:18:49
I'm trying to do something, you know, and then Bo and I, you know, would come in there and have ideas and, you know, try to direct it.
1:18:57
So, it was just hysterical, the combination of uh, you know, humor and seriousness.
1:19:04
And, >> you know, I love the fact that your dad took it serious. That's beautiful. >> Yeah.
1:19:09
But he was also I mean this is the guy who did Airplane.
1:19:11
You've seen the movie Airplane you know so he's an incredible I mentioned the movie Blown Away talking to the producers about the casting and I said you know who could play my uncle in this thing and he's a great actor and he looks a bit like me you know in a way is Lloyd Bridges.
1:19:31
Do you know Lloyd Bridges?
1:19:33
And the guy says, "Oh, your dad, that's funny, but he's really more of a comedic actor."
1:19:37
See, what the [ __ ] are you talking about? >> He saw Airplane. >> Yeah, he was.
1:19:43
Then this was coming out.
1:19:46
I said, "My dad is a an actor, man."
1:19:49
>> Yeah, >> that was an act.
1:19:49
Yeah, >> that's really >> And so I said, "You want him to come in and read?" >> Oh, would he do that? Oh, shoot. Okay.
1:19:58
So, my dad came in, of course. Yeah. Blew him away.
1:20:00
Yeah, >> that's something I learned from my dad too is uh these personas that you can develop, you know, like he had he did Sean.
1:20:11
He was so good in Sean playing this. >> You think that's him? >> You think that's him?
1:20:15
And he got casting >> hype casting and he got those kinds of parts over and over.
1:20:23
>> And so I thought when I started my acting career, I said, I'm going to really go about trying to shake up my characters and not duplicate.
1:20:32
>> So you didn't want to just do one thing. >> Yeah. Yeah.
1:20:34
And that served that served me well. >> That's great. >> Yeah.
1:20:43
>> There's a long tradition of reading sacred text slowly, allowing each word to settle, echo, and reveal meaning over time.
1:20:54
Rather than rushing to conclusions, this practice invites reflection, listening, and attention.
1:21:03
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1:21:09
Not by studying words as information, but by receiving them as something lived and experienced over and over again.
1:21:21
This tradition is known as lectio deina.
1:21:26
Emerging in early monastic life, it engages scripture through four gentle movements.
1:21:32
Reading, reflection, repetition and rest. A short passage is read. A single phrase is held.
1:21:43
Silence becomes part of the practice, creating space for insight to surface naturally.
1:21:52
Lectio 365 brings that ancient rhythm into the present moment.
1:21:57
Designed for modern life, it offers brief guided scriptural reflections throughout the day to begin with intention, pause at midday, and wind down at night.
1:22:14
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1:22:18
Letting familiar words meet new moments.
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A modern way to keep biblical wisdom close, quietly present, steady, and alive within everyday life.
1:22:35
Lectio 365 is a free resource.
1:22:40
Find inspiration there now and always. Learn more at lectio365. com.
1:22:58
So tell me about your relationship to music from your earliest memory of music.
1:23:04
>> So Bo, he's eight years older than I am.
1:23:08
Coming out of his bedroom was Chuck Barry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, the Platters, you know, all the bird groups.
1:23:18
I mean, that's what I was hearing. The Everly Brothers.
1:23:20
I'm thinking that was probably the first record that I ever read was, you know, wake up little Suzy, wake up. God, they were so great.
1:23:30
Weren't they >> incredible the tone harmony >> and the guitar sound like Claudette that guitar god so good >> and then he had a Dan Electro white Dan Electro that I kind of adopted and started to write tunes on.
1:23:46
And then in high school I was never in a band but I had these friends that were in bands and were all good musicians.
1:23:57
And the senior year of high school, my friend Steve Bame, who's a drummer, started to uh have these jams over at his house.
1:24:05
No songs allowed, but singing was encouraged and writing on the spot was encouraged.
1:24:14
>> So all it was a jam, all improv, and he recorded every session.
1:24:20
>> And that's the only music he listened to.
1:24:21
to. And we did that for maybe 20 years meeting over at his house with these jam sessions and they were you know parties and they were turn you know there each one had its own flavor but he recorded everything you know talking to my about my dad and acting and then sometimes I
1:24:40
thought I'm not sure if I want to do this acting thing maybe the music thing you know that kind of thing then I thought oh you know as I started the acting started to take off I said oh well maybe I can combine the two wouldn't it be wonderful to play a musician and to play music. Yeah, that would be great. And I'd think
1:24:55
Yeah, that would be great.
1:24:55
And I'd think about it and sure enough, the universe supplied this script by this young guy, uh, Scott Cooper, first time director, first time screenwriter called Crazy Hard.
1:25:12
And I read the script and it was good.
1:25:15
I said, "Oh, that's good."
1:25:17
But there's no music in it.
1:25:17
If there's music as loud as out a musician, but it's there's no music in it. >> No music. And I said, "Oh."
1:25:23
I said, "Well, that you know."
1:25:24
So I turned it down and he would keep coming at me years.
1:25:29
I'm talking two or three years.
1:25:33
Bob Dval was his champion.
1:25:33
So I'm walking down the street one day and I bump into my old buddy T-Bone who's walking down the street.
1:25:42
He says, "Uh, what do you think about this script, Crazy Heart?"
1:25:46
I said, "Well, there's no music to it, man."
1:25:49
And he says, "Oh, that's the easy part. Don't worry about that." I said, "Easy part? What are you talking?" He said, "Oh, yeah. We can figure that out."
1:25:56
And then he made a beautiful direction.
1:25:59
He said, "You know, it it's like uh you know, you're one of the outlaws, you know, like what Johnny Cash, Willie, and Chris and Whan, you know, but you don't have to copy those guys.
1:26:11
We're making a movie about an ulterior universe.
1:26:13
Isn't that a beautiful thought?"
1:26:15
You know, it's like it's not this planet.
1:26:17
It's like looks like here, but it's somewhere else.
1:26:20
I said, "Oh, that's interesting."
1:26:24
And then my heart started to beat.
1:26:24
I said, "Oh, [ __ ] This could actually happen."
1:26:30
And then I got in touch with the safety dreams have.
1:26:38
And when you bring your dream into real life, you can fail. Dreams, you can't fail. stream.
1:26:46
I said, "How can I can I pull this off?"
1:26:50
I was panicking, but the universe dealt me cards.
1:26:56
I said, "Here's my dear friend who's going to, you know, who's so talented." He says, "It's easy.
1:27:00
How can I turn this down?"
1:27:03
And you, "Yeah, but you're afraid."
1:27:05
Yeah, but [ __ ] What else is there to do?
1:27:08
How can I live with myself and turn?
1:27:10
So I went in with that spirit and uh I got my dear friend John Goodwin who is we go back to the fourth grade making music and painting and doing all kinds of art together.
1:27:27
And I said can I bring John on?
1:27:27
And people said yeah sure you know. So he came on.
1:27:31
He ended up writing a hold on you which was the opening song for that movie and then T-Bone brought Steven Brutin.
1:27:40
Did you ever meet Stephen or know about him at all?
1:27:45
>> Who was Kebon's best friend.
1:27:45
They go back as teenagers.
1:27:50
And Steven was my guide through the whole thing.
1:27:53
Every day he went too to work with us the the whole time.
1:28:02
T-Bone wasn't on the set so much, but Stephen was there teaching me, you know, more advanced guitar, what it was like being a traveling musician.
1:28:13
You know, that opening scene where I pull into the bowling lane to play a gig.
1:28:18
Steven said, "Now, when I'm traveling around like this, I don't pull off to the side of the road to piss.
1:28:23
I carry a sparkless bottle.
1:28:25
I just be in the sparkless bottle.
1:28:27
So, why don't you do that?"
1:28:29
And then you know so he was kept the authenticity he was our touch base.
1:28:34
>> We re we write scenes all kinds of things to get it >> as real as possible.
1:28:38
You know it's interesting that there many different kinds of directors but two major schools are hot directors and cool directors. Both are very effective.
1:28:50
Scott is a hot director in that he's very passionate and excited and enthusiastic. Great, man.
1:29:01
Oh, you know, you nailed it, man. You want one more? You want to do it again?
1:29:05
Okay, let's see what you can do. Come on. Come on.
1:29:06
You know, it's like that.
1:29:10
Example of the cooler directors would be the Cohen brothers, which is no big deal, you know. Oh, yeah.
1:29:17
That would you made me laugh. Yeah, that's good.
1:29:19
Okay, now we go over here and do, you know, no big deal, which is another powerful statement, you know, >> takes all the pressure off.
1:29:28
>> Yeah, this is no no big deal.
1:29:31
>> Uh, and both of them are very very effective.
1:29:33
So, Crazy Heart was great and it was one of those examples where you have high expectations going in and then they get transcended.
1:29:41
And Scott just did such an incredible job putting that film together. >> Yeah.
1:29:48
and Bobby Dval, you know, being that young guy's champion, you know. >> Yeah.
1:29:55
>> Uh that's so important, you know.
1:29:55
You think about, you know, people say, "What do what do executive producers really do?"
1:30:01
do?" you know what are they and there's all different kinds you know but to have a a a real producer behind you creating the space and the support you know Mark Rosenberg who championed Steve Clovis in the fabulous Baker boys Steve wrote that script I think when he was 24 25 you know it's a very very good script a lot of the major directors at the time
1:30:33
wanted to direct that and Mark Rosenberg said no this is the kids you know and he was there just doing that you know and uh I said to Steve I said you know let's let's jam a bit and so you can get your directing chops and I'll get my acting chops we met at my house oh for about a month where we would meet with my brother Bose, you know, playing my brother, which was so God, what a dream. You
1:31:02
You know, if if it was another actor, you'd figure out how do we create this illusion that no, that's handled, man.
1:31:11
You didn't have to do any of that, you know?
1:31:13
So, to jam with my brother, oh god, what a what a blessing it was and so much fun.
1:31:20
So, we'd meet over at my house and Steve would get to, you know, direct us, you know, and he would come up with different improvs.
1:31:27
And I remember one improv that was said, "Oh, this guy, he's good."
1:31:32
He said, "Okay, here's the deal. Here's our improv, Jeff.
1:31:39
It's 4 3:00 in the morning.
1:31:39
You've climbed out of your bedroom window.
1:31:44
You've gone to see Bill Evans who's playing at this club. I'll play Bill Evans.
1:31:50
I've come out of the bathroom here.
1:31:52
I'll just shot up in the bathroom.
1:31:55
I'm going to come to the bar and I'm going to bum a cigarette off you and Bo when I put my hand through my hair like this you're the big brother you're going to come and get Jeff out and we did that improv for long you know 15 20 minutes and Steve was so good you know committing to what the assignment was you know I said oh he gets the whole thing you know what this advanced pretend is all about.
1:32:29
>> And he did such a great job, man.
1:32:29
And Michelle, you know, >> I'm was disappointed that my favorite song of Michelle's, which was More Than You Know. Do you know that song?
1:32:39
It wasn't on the soundtrack album.
1:32:41
I don't know why, but she sang her ass off in that movie. >> So great.
1:32:46
So, uh, just finishing the music saga, you know. Okay.
1:32:53
So then after Crazy Heart, I was fired up on the music thing and I called up T-Bon.
1:32:58
I said, "Hey man, I got some tunes.
1:33:00
You want to go in and make an album, you know?" And he said, "Sure, man. Come on."
1:33:04
You know, so we went into an uh into a studio into the village there and we made an album with a lot of John Goodwin's songs, some of my songs. Had a great time.
1:33:18
And then uh a few years later I got a call from uh Squarespace website design company and they wanted me to do a commercial for uh Super Bowl and they didn't want hi Jeff Bridges for Squarespace.
1:33:35
They wanted me to come up with a bizarre product with the idea that no product was too weird to not make a website out of.
1:33:43
They gave me a list of things and one of the things on that list was sleeping tapes.
1:33:47
He said, "What are sleeping tapes? You know this tapes?
1:33:52
That's such an archaic word. What?"
1:33:54
And they said, "We don't know.
1:33:54
It can be whatever you want." Whatever I want. Yeah. Huh.
1:33:59
And then also, we're going to make this product.
1:34:03
We're going to release it.
1:34:05
And all the proceeds can go to share our strength in their no kid hungry campaign which is something I've been very involved with for you know 30 years.
1:34:17
So that was the clincher I said okay I meant how do we do he says however you want to do you know it was like this oh so I said okay I'm going to go into a studio with Keus and we're just going to jam see what happens.
1:34:34
So we go in there for a week.
1:34:37
I think I know it was more than a week and we just start to come up with ideas and we have no idea what this album but I figure sleep that implies being awake that implies dreams.
1:34:52
So it's very broad subject >> and during that time Kea says and why don't you bring all of your you know old any other old songs that we might work with.
1:35:04
So Keas and I did this album called Sleeping Tapes.
1:35:07
It went to number two in the ambient music charts.
1:35:09
Raised a quarter of a million bucks. >> Love it.
1:35:16
>> And uh it was just so wonderful.
1:35:16
Then Keus and I would go into the studio from time to time and just jam and do things. >> Yeah.
1:35:25
And then during the COVID thing, I thought, God, I've got all of these half done songs, songs that aren't polished. I'm 76 years old, man.
1:35:35
I don't know if I got the poop to go into a studio and polish all these things up.
1:35:40
I'm just going to put these things out now.
1:35:42
This is what I got, you know, >> and uh I'm going to put a visual thing to them.
1:35:50
So, I, you know, shot stuff on my iPhone and looked at the internet and just built that and I started to release these, uh, I called it emergent behavior, these volumes.
1:36:01
I think I made five volumes with about, you know, three or four songs on each mo.
1:36:06
I enjoyed the [ __ ] out of that.
1:36:10
You know, >> it's so much fun to make stuff and share it. It's the best feeling. >> Exactly.
1:36:15
You know, rather than be tight about it.
1:36:16
And then also after uh Crazy Heart, I've always tried to have a little some kind of little studio wherever I wherever house I met.
1:36:23
So when I moved up to Santa Barbara, you know, 35 years ago, whatever, I wanted to build a studio and I looked around for a guy who could help me with that.
1:36:35
And this guy, Chris Palonus, he know he's an acoustician, you know, builds studios and stuff.
1:36:41
And I broke out my tunes and we played a little bit and he said, "Oh, this is good.
1:36:47
You got some good tunes here, man.
1:36:49
Do you know Michael McDonald?"
1:36:51
I said, "Are you kidding me?" "Sure."
1:36:53
He says, "Well, I'm friends with Michael.
1:36:55
I'd like to play him some of your songs."
1:36:56
him some of your songs." So Michael listens to him, starts to dig these songs, and the next thing I know, we're in the studio making an album, and I've got a band called The Abiders, you know, based on >> and we start to tour uh uh the music
1:37:16
dream, you know, the Beatle Music Dream is being realized at, you know, 65 years old or something, you know, play the Labowski fest, you know, have my Beetle moment, you know, YOU CAN IMAGINE AH You look play into a sea of dudes, man. Come Come on.
1:37:30
You know, it was really wild.
1:37:34
>> You said something earlier about dreams are safe. >> Yeah.
1:37:38
>> It makes me question, do you tend towards projects that are not dream projects because whatever happens is okay.
1:37:48
Whereas the dream projects are too dangerous to try because they could fail. >> Yeah.
1:37:55
But they're the but they that's got the most juice, man. It's wild.
1:37:57
I just bowed out of a movie that I went quite far down in development of it and I just said, "God, I don't have the the acting juice to do it, man.
1:38:13
I'm having other desires are being built into me that I want to do." >> Yeah.
1:38:21
You're listening to what's going on in you.
1:38:22
I started to listen to that and it's so different than my persona, how I'm conceived, not only from the outside, but how I conceive myself.
1:38:30
But it was like uh it made me think of, you know, Richard Drifus with uh what is the what's the the movie where he's building the big u close encounters or he's building that thing.
1:38:42
I don't know why, you know, I it's it's kind of has me like that.
1:38:46
you're driven towards something >> and I don't know what it is and so I'm following that and I'm getting off. That's great. >> I mean, it's wild.
1:38:56
>> In acting, when you're playing against another character, does the other character's performance influence what you do? >> Of course. Yeah. Big time. >> Is it like a dance?
1:39:09
>> Yeah, that's a very good way to put it.
1:39:12
I'll give you an example just popped into my head.
1:39:14
Every once in a while you'll get a real guy on the set.
1:39:18
Either a guy who has actually lived the story you're telling or a person who knows what that story is about, you know.
1:39:26
So, I made this movie called White Squall with Ridley Scott and it was about this wonderful floating university that this guy had in this ship, you know, a sailing ship where he would take a bunch of students out and >> Sounds amazing. >> Yeah.
1:39:49
You saw, did you see this?
1:39:50
>> No, the idea is amazing. >> True story. >> True story. Amazing. True story.
1:39:55
And in the middle of this, a white squall happened and I got to talk to the the real guy who was who I was playing, the skipper of the ship.
1:40:04
And he said, "It's not like the movies."
1:40:07
I said, "What do you mean?"
1:40:08
He said, "Well, it wasn't a storm. It wasn't like that."
1:40:09
I said, "Well, what was it like?"
1:40:12
He was says, "It was a calm and it was like God's hand came down, took the main mask, and just put it underwater." You know what I mean?
1:40:22
you know, like bunch of kids died. His wife died.
1:40:24
You know, it was a terrible tragedy.
1:40:27
He went around and spent time with each of the families after the incident.
1:40:36
But no one connected with each other after that.
1:40:39
They didn't want to relive that terrible incident.
1:40:40
So, they just avoided each other for many, many years. 25, 30 years.
1:40:45
I can't remember exactly what.
1:40:48
Now, we're making the movie.
1:40:48
And in the end of our movie, there's a courtroom drama kind of because it's like, you know, they're going to take my license away kind of thing.
1:40:59
But in real life, that didn't happen.
1:41:01
There it was international waters.
1:41:04
There was no threat of that.
1:41:05
But we're shooting this scene.
1:41:10
And we had two real guys who were on that ship.
1:41:13
One of them was actually at the helm.
1:41:15
The ship wasn't moving, but he was, you know, had wheel duty there.
1:41:21
We're doing the courtroom scene, and this fella, he comes up to me when we're shooting the courtroom scene, weeping, and he says, "Jap, I got something, Carol, to ask you." I say, "What?"
1:41:31
He says, "I want to do something."
1:41:34
I said, "What do you want to do?"
1:41:40
He says, "I want to hug myself."
1:41:44
"You want to hug yourself? What do you mean? Yeah.
1:41:45
He says, "I'm playing my father, and my father always blamed me for the ship going down."
1:41:50
He says, "No wonder the ship went down. You were at the wheel."
1:41:56
He says, "Can I hug myself?"
1:41:56
I said, "Well, go ask Ridley."
1:41:59
You know, he asked Ridley said, "Sure." Yeah.
1:42:07
So you're acting the the effect of not someone you're playing with but just in the space in the vibe in the room to have that going on the reality >> the reality of that another one comes to mind a movie called Fearless Peter Weir directed the story was loosely based on I think it was in Iowa plane crashing in a cornfield and Ridley invited a couple who actually went screen.
1:42:35
The guy was on the plane and his wife was down, you know, and Bridley invited them to talk to us about it and uh they they came and they talked and it was as if it happened yesterday.
1:42:51
It was so fresh in their mind, but it happened 10 years before.
1:42:53
And they were up there for 45 minutes knowing they were going to crash, you know, can you imagine?
1:43:02
And he said, "You you would think there's panic." He says, "Not at all."
1:43:06
He said, "Love just was in that fuselage." Wow. Everybody was together. We're in this. We're one here. That's wild.
1:43:18
>> He says, "I looked across the aisle and there was a woman, an old woman there who was frightened.
1:43:22
And I think this is what the guy said.
1:43:25
He said, I looked over at her.
1:43:27
He said that that woman, that could be my mother, you know."
1:43:30
And then he said, "No, that is my mother." Held her hand. >> Wow. Beautiful. >> They crashed.
1:43:40
And you'd think everybody panicking, no panic.
1:43:43
It was all just everyone working as one body.
1:43:45
What they had to do to get out of there alive. Isn't that wild? >> Yeah. >> Love.
1:43:55
That love having its way with us.
1:43:55
God, you know, we all affect each other.
1:43:58
And then and then with an actor you're working with. Wow. Of course.
1:44:05
>> You ever so in a scene that you forget it's a movie?
1:44:09
[laughter] >> I'm thinking of a shot.
1:44:12
[snorts] This, you know, it's a movie about the race cars.
1:44:17
I'm playing a guy named Junior Jackson who's based on Junior Johnson who's a famous stock car racer. >> Mhm.
1:44:26
We're doing this scene on the racetrack and we rehearsed it, you know, going, you know, 5 miles an hour and sped up.
1:44:36
We were finally going about 90 miles an hour, something like that, just under 100.
1:44:41
And uh the scene was me in the back of the pack.
1:44:44
I work my way up through the pack and I get up to the lead guy and I actually get, you know, metal to metal with him and I and I come and go ahead like that.
1:44:56
And we've rehearsed it for a long time, you know, weeks.
1:44:59
And towards the end of the rehearsal period, I realized that there's going to be a camera right [ __ ] in my right there, right in my line of sight of life.
1:45:09
So, I've got to not only do this thing, but I got to act like there's not a camera there that I'm not going, you know, looking kind of look around something. So, off we go. Action going again.
1:45:22
Get dice through the things.
1:45:24
Now, I'm up against the car like this and I get off the gas just a little bit and the thing goes crazy, you know, and the 360 after 360, you know, all these cars are kind coming up behind it, you know, just crazy.
1:45:39
All the wives are coming down.
1:45:42
Ah, you know, a giant crash.
1:45:46
The director comes up to me at the end of the You okay? Yeah. Can we do just one more?
1:45:53
We're losing We're losing the light.
1:45:55
Can you Are you Can you do another one? I say, "Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay." You do it again.
1:46:01
[laughter] And now I'm wanting to see what that closeup looked like, you know, because that was that was a moment when I was totally like you say, I wasn't acting.
1:46:11
I was just into this thing there, you know, beyond there.
1:46:16
I don't know where the [ __ ] where I was.
1:46:19
>> And you know, if you were to act that, you know, you would go, "Oh, you know what you would?
1:46:23
I don't know what you would do."
1:46:24
But here's what I did was just, you know, crash. >> Just nothing.
1:46:29
Everything just just my eyes going like this in the background. Wow. Wow. >> That's wild.
1:46:36
[laughter] >> That's so cool.
1:46:39
>> So, you got to experience a lot of things through making movies. >> Oh, god. All the time. Oh, it's so wild.
1:46:45
And these books, these photograph, I can relive those times.
1:46:48
Each one by just >> Have you had to learn any particular things like sword fighting or horseback riding or anything like that? >> Oh, yeah.
1:46:56
I had [ __ ] fighting camp.
1:46:56
I'd learned how to cockfight, how to speak Yugo Slavi, how to roller skate, how to ride horses, how to shoot, you know, all of those all of those things.
1:47:07
But this is all gets back to, you know, I keep thinking of being a kid and this is great stuff to get to play, you know, and so working with these stunt [music] guys, you know, it's a wonderful gaff fight. >> [music]