1
00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,240
Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing.

2
00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:06,920
Speaker 1: A couple of months ago, I sat down with actor

3
00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,000
Speaker 1: John Tuturo in front of a live audience at the

4
00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:13,720
Speaker 1: Jerome L. Green Performance Space at New York Public Radio.

5
00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:21,720
Speaker 1: I've done a couple of these live interviews, and uh,

6
00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,320
Speaker 1: this is someone who in this business, somebody who I've

7
00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,960
Speaker 1: admired for so many years as an actor, who has

8
00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:33,159
Speaker 1: appeared in so many great films and rich films and

9
00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,760
Speaker 1: diverse films. And I worked with so many incredible directors,

10
00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:41,680
Speaker 1: and there's so many indelible images from the Cone Brothers

11
00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:46,400
Speaker 1: and Woody Allen and Scorsese and of course Spike Lee.

12
00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,599
Speaker 1: There's so many roles worked in the theater. And and

13
00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:54,880
Speaker 1: for anybody who is like me, who is always desperate,

14
00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,320
Speaker 1: and that is the word, desperate to find my next

15
00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:03,680
Speaker 1: binge viewing source on TV. The night of the program

16
00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:08,440
Speaker 1: on HBO, remember writing to him and to Steve Zali

17
00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:12,280
Speaker 1: and the producer and director and creator, and to Richard Price.

18
00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:14,480
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, how are you going to

19
00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:16,640
Speaker 1: wrap this up in the final episode. It was just

20
00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,560
Speaker 1: like the most incredibly nugety thing that was happening in

21
00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:22,520
Speaker 1: that show, and I love that show The Night Of,

22
00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:25,280
Speaker 1: and I hope they do more of it. But but again,

23
00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,800
Speaker 1: I love doing this program because I get to pick

24
00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,800
Speaker 1: people that I want to talk to. I'm very grateful

25
00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,000
Speaker 1: to our guests this evening for agreeing to do this.

26
00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:36,360
Speaker 1: I don't think he has a lot of this stuff.

27
00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:39,240
Speaker 1: I don't think he has been the spare time. But

28
00:01:39,280 --> 00:02:01,240
Speaker 1: please join me and welcoming our very special guest, John Taturo. Now,

29
00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:03,560
Speaker 1: all of the things we're going to talk about, he

30
00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:07,040
Speaker 1: and I unfortunately already covered backstage. We try to avoid that.

31
00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,160
Speaker 1: We try to avoid getting too cozy backstage. But I

32
00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:17,080
Speaker 1: remember um we were talking about and I was just

33
00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,560
Speaker 1: briefly touching on what it's like for you to produce

34
00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:23,120
Speaker 1: and write and direct your own films, because you've had

35
00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:27,079
Speaker 1: this incredible career as a film actor, and you've made

36
00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:29,760
Speaker 1: so many great films that are other people's projects, and

37
00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,400
Speaker 1: you're an actor for higher But when you do your

38
00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:34,760
Speaker 1: own thing, described me, for example, the one you just finished.

39
00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:40,519
Speaker 1: I just finished the film called Going Places. It's a

40
00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 1: adaptation or reimagining of a French film called la vel SEUs,

41
00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:50,040
Speaker 1: which is from the from the seventies, and it was

42
00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:55,160
Speaker 1: also a book by buttomb Lier level suss it means

43
00:02:55,200 --> 00:03:00,800
Speaker 1: the waltzers or the testicles. Uh. It was a film

44
00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,959
Speaker 1: that made Gerard Depardu a star actually, uh, and it's

45
00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:09,000
Speaker 1: a really trans aggressive sort of It's considered kind of

46
00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:13,880
Speaker 1: a classic in France. Pauline Kole was a big champion

47
00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:15,440
Speaker 1: of the film, and it was a film that kind

48
00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:17,959
Speaker 1: of blew my mind when I was a kid, and uh,

49
00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:20,200
Speaker 1: I was rewatching it and I wrote to a Bilie

50
00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:22,320
Speaker 1: and I asked him, as it, would you ever think

51
00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:24,880
Speaker 1: that someone could make a you know, an American version

52
00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:27,600
Speaker 1: of it? And uh he said, yeah, I've seen your

53
00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:32,000
Speaker 1: films and you're crazy enough, and here's the rights. So anyway,

54
00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,000
Speaker 1: it took me a long time to do that, and uh,

55
00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:37,600
Speaker 1: you know, to to to adapt it and get the

56
00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,480
Speaker 1: money to do it, and uh, that's why my hair

57
00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,560
Speaker 1: is this way. Uh. And I actually, during the course

58
00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,720
Speaker 1: of it, uh was doing readings of it and I

59
00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:51,480
Speaker 1: was kind of unhappy with what I was doing. And

60
00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:53,240
Speaker 1: then I thought of, well, you know, there's a character

61
00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:55,760
Speaker 1: I've done in a play and I think I and

62
00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,320
Speaker 1: also in a movie and it would kind of maybe

63
00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:01,080
Speaker 1: work and I tried it and it did and so

64
00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:05,200
Speaker 1: I'm going to uh reprise, Wow, I am. I have

65
00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:11,800
Speaker 1: reprised the character of Jesus Quintana. So he's he's going

66
00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:13,960
Speaker 1: to be in this film. He is in the film.

67
00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:18,720
Speaker 1: So I took this French movie and a character that

68
00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:20,880
Speaker 1: I had created at the public theater and then in

69
00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,599
Speaker 1: another movie, and I kind of pushed them all together

70
00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,200
Speaker 1: and it kind of worked out, at least in my mind.

71
00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:28,560
Speaker 1: It's interesting how someone said that once about Berto Lucci

72
00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,719
Speaker 1: and Last Tango, how he picked two actors h and

73
00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:35,960
Speaker 1: he wanted he he identified an actor and an actress

74
00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,280
Speaker 1: and he went into their filmography to figure out who

75
00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,080
Speaker 1: through a character they had played, that character would have

76
00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,320
Speaker 1: grown to become the character in my film right now.

77
00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:48,239
Speaker 1: It's it's the truth. Sometimes you want to revisit somebody

78
00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:51,080
Speaker 1: years later and uh, but you know, you have to

79
00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,080
Speaker 1: be kind of a little crazy to attempt to do

80
00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:57,080
Speaker 1: one of these things. I started out the first movie

81
00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,520
Speaker 1: I made Mac that was a play and it took me.

82
00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,360
Speaker 1: I worked on it for like ten years, and uh,

83
00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:06,280
Speaker 1: it was my first movie. And after I did that,

84
00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:08,920
Speaker 1: many people asked me to direct other movies. But I

85
00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,119
Speaker 1: kind of knew that I wasn't really a director for hire.

86
00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,840
Speaker 1: And I did my film because I did that film

87
00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,080
Speaker 1: because I understood that world. I grew up in it.

88
00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:21,680
Speaker 1: My father was a builder, and there were no films

89
00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,680
Speaker 1: ever made about builders. You know, It's always about you know,

90
00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:29,359
Speaker 1: gangsters or criminals or lawyers, but you never see a

91
00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,680
Speaker 1: film about you know, bricklayers or builders or bridge builders.

92
00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,000
Speaker 1: And uh, I wanted to make a film about that

93
00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:39,800
Speaker 1: because it's a very uh challenging and dramatic business. You know,

94
00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:42,400
Speaker 1: it can be a very dangerous business. Also, your father

95
00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:44,680
Speaker 1: was in construction. My father was a building a builder. Yeah,

96
00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:46,719
Speaker 1: and your mother was a housewifether she had. My mother

97
00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,200
Speaker 1: was a person. She was a musician and then she

98
00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,320
Speaker 1: kind of gave it up. Her brothers were professional musicians,

99
00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,240
Speaker 1: but she wanted to be like a designer. But she

100
00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:58,080
Speaker 1: was a very talented person, probably the most talented person

101
00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,240
Speaker 1: in our family. But uh, she didn't really get a

102
00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:03,360
Speaker 1: chance to do all of that, but she certainly made

103
00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:05,200
Speaker 1: sure that. You know, we had that. How many kids

104
00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:07,680
Speaker 1: in your family, you and your brother, three boys. I'm

105
00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,320
Speaker 1: the middle child. And what did your family think about

106
00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,720
Speaker 1: when you wanted to go to New Paul's and then

107
00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:17,080
Speaker 1: Yale Drama School. And my father wanted me to have

108
00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:20,440
Speaker 1: a backup plan, you know. You wanted me to be

109
00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,360
Speaker 1: a lawyer or a doctor, and I was pretty good

110
00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:26,560
Speaker 1: in school. He didn't want me to be a carpentery.

111
00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:28,560
Speaker 1: He wanted me to be an architect, you know, he

112
00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,880
Speaker 1: he thought, but I wasn't really good enough and math

113
00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,560
Speaker 1: to do that. But he wanted me to be professional man,

114
00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:38,040
Speaker 1: you know, like a lot of immigrant. My father was

115
00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:41,200
Speaker 1: wasn't born here. He was born in Italy and he

116
00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,800
Speaker 1: came here and then he wound up being you know,

117
00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:48,000
Speaker 1: in the service. He was in World War Two, he

118
00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,400
Speaker 1: was in invasion of D Day, and uh, you know,

119
00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,560
Speaker 1: so he was a real kind of American guy. You know.

120
00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,960
Speaker 1: He wanted me to to reap all those rewards. So

121
00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:00,200
Speaker 1: when you are a child, I mean, because you and

122
00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:02,360
Speaker 1: I are roughly the same age, when you were young,

123
00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:06,040
Speaker 1: what was film and theater in your life? As a child?

124
00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:10,120
Speaker 1: Was your house a lot of music and uh, I

125
00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:12,000
Speaker 1: guess film. I mean we would go to the movies

126
00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,480
Speaker 1: all the time. But obviously probably like you, we watched

127
00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:16,640
Speaker 1: million Dollar movie, you know what I mean. And the

128
00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,600
Speaker 1: Honeymooners and all those classic things that really influenced us.

129
00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:22,760
Speaker 1: And uh, I mean, I think what a lot of

130
00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,680
Speaker 1: those Warner Brothers films, because they would always be on

131
00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:29,240
Speaker 1: over and over again with Edward g and Robinson and

132
00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:34,920
Speaker 1: James Cagney, and you know, oh I loved I loved

133
00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,040
Speaker 1: so many of them, you know, and uh, you know,

134
00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:39,720
Speaker 1: uh one time I would want to be Bert Lancaster,

135
00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:41,480
Speaker 1: and then I would want to be James Cagney, and

136
00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:43,640
Speaker 1: then uh, I mean, I still love those actors. And

137
00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:47,560
Speaker 1: I love those actors because they're really physical and you

138
00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,400
Speaker 1: really see their whole performance, and uh, they're still you know,

139
00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:54,680
Speaker 1: Barbara Stanwick. You know, I just you know, just crazy

140
00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,520
Speaker 1: about them, and I still have remained. So I remember

141
00:07:57,560 --> 00:07:59,440
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, my favorite death scene was

142
00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:04,120
Speaker 1: in a city for Conquest. Kazan gets shot by the

143
00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:06,280
Speaker 1: river and they dumped the body in the river and

144
00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:08,160
Speaker 1: the guys dropped the gun and the guy picks up

145
00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:09,560
Speaker 1: the gun and they piste a whoop. The guy who

146
00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:11,640
Speaker 1: wakes up picks up the gun, he shoots Kazan and

147
00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:14,600
Speaker 1: Kazan's get shoty as my favorite definitely goes ah jeez.

148
00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:18,840
Speaker 1: I never figured on that at all. That's good. That's

149
00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:21,160
Speaker 1: a great one. And that's a real tier Jericho at

150
00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,200
Speaker 1: the end because he goes he goes blind at the

151
00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:27,800
Speaker 1: end with Anne Jaran and so you know you always

152
00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:30,840
Speaker 1: my girl, you know, at the end he's selling newspapers,

153
00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:33,520
Speaker 1: you know, and it's like, you know, James, you know

154
00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,360
Speaker 1: that's uh so those that was an inspiration. And then

155
00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,160
Speaker 1: when I was introduced when I saw a theater when

156
00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:41,760
Speaker 1: I was a teenager, my mother would take me to

157
00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:44,120
Speaker 1: some place and I did get a chance to see

158
00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:48,280
Speaker 1: al Pacino do the tiger wear necktie. Yeah, I didn't

159
00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:50,040
Speaker 1: you know who he was, but my mother and I

160
00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:52,079
Speaker 1: were like, wow, who's that guy? You know in that play?

161
00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:55,720
Speaker 1: And uh we saw some musicals ben Verene, you know,

162
00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:59,320
Speaker 1: and uh it was like just watching live performers. I was.

163
00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:02,680
Speaker 1: I thought, Wow, maybe that's something I could do because

164
00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:06,400
Speaker 1: I never knew anyone. And what made you think from

165
00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,800
Speaker 1: It's interesting because for me, I never dreamed of that.

166
00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:11,880
Speaker 1: Like I thought I thought movie stars were like, you know,

167
00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:15,360
Speaker 1: hatched and pods on some other planets and I flew

168
00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:18,520
Speaker 1: them here in a spaceship and like nobody really went

169
00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:20,800
Speaker 1: and did that from no, I mean we knew a

170
00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,520
Speaker 1: prop man. He lived across the street from us, and

171
00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:25,520
Speaker 1: that was like as close as I was to the movies.

172
00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:29,720
Speaker 1: So theater was the first entree about maybe trying to

173
00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:33,040
Speaker 1: do that, you know, in college. You know. It wasn't

174
00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,040
Speaker 1: until I saw Dustin Hoffman actually, which when I saw

175
00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:39,240
Speaker 1: clips for the Academy Award, I was too young to

176
00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:42,280
Speaker 1: see Midnight Cowboy. I was shocked, I was. I remember

177
00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:44,240
Speaker 1: seeing it. I say like, wow, this guy looks like

178
00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:46,400
Speaker 1: someone in our family, you know what, you know, what's

179
00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,040
Speaker 1: he doing in the movie? How can he be in

180
00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:51,720
Speaker 1: a movie? You know? And I was like kind of

181
00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,480
Speaker 1: shocked to see him. And it was kind of shocking

182
00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,200
Speaker 1: because he sort of opened the doors for these other

183
00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:02,120
Speaker 1: Pacino and de Niro and all those guys. And but

184
00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:04,880
Speaker 1: that was really I never forget seeing those clips of

185
00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:07,800
Speaker 1: you know, for the Academy Awards. And then when you

186
00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,880
Speaker 1: went to New Paul, she went for drama and I

187
00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:12,320
Speaker 1: had him, Yeah, and I had him. I did a

188
00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:14,400
Speaker 1: minor in English and yes, and I was in there

189
00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:16,880
Speaker 1: for four years. Yes, My first play I did was

190
00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:20,240
Speaker 1: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I played Chief Browndon

191
00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,480
Speaker 1: because this Italian teacher said, you know, listen, you probably

192
00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:27,680
Speaker 1: could play an Indian, so you should audition for you know,

193
00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,000
Speaker 1: And I was like, all right, different times, different times,

194
00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:35,560
Speaker 1: I can't do that. Now. If you see a lot

195
00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:37,240
Speaker 1: of those guys you know who were in these like

196
00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:41,160
Speaker 1: Anthony Quinn, he played Indians, you know originally you know, Uh,

197
00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:50,320
Speaker 1: Jeff Chandler, Jeff Chandler, Yeah, Burt Lancaster Apache. So yeah,

198
00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,200
Speaker 1: and when you were there, what evolved like when you

199
00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:56,720
Speaker 1: were at New Paulse what do you remember propelled you

200
00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,520
Speaker 1: want to keep going? Well, I did a few plays

201
00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:02,920
Speaker 1: of you from the Bridge Cuckoo's Nest. Uh. Later on

202
00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:07,040
Speaker 1: I didn't so I I I felt like, Uh, I

203
00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:10,600
Speaker 1: found something that I really I was very raw and

204
00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:13,640
Speaker 1: I was I was not that you know skilled. I

205
00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:16,600
Speaker 1: remember one teacher thought I was. But I wasn't afraid,

206
00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:20,280
Speaker 1: you know, to try things. And uh, I had a

207
00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:22,920
Speaker 1: few teachers who took me under their wing, and uh

208
00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:27,839
Speaker 1: they had a major influence on Beverly Brown. She passed away,

209
00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:29,319
Speaker 1: but she what did she gave you? What did she

210
00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:33,560
Speaker 1: do for you? She she basically educated me in many

211
00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:35,880
Speaker 1: different ways and you know, taught me how to break

212
00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:38,560
Speaker 1: down a script, how to you know, play an objective,

213
00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:40,800
Speaker 1: you know how to listen to the other actor, you

214
00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:45,560
Speaker 1: know how to work physically. And she spent so much

215
00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:49,200
Speaker 1: time with me, you know, out of the classroom too

216
00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:51,480
Speaker 1: that I had. I had a bunch of teachers. They

217
00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:53,640
Speaker 1: really cared about me, and they cared about other schools.

218
00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,840
Speaker 1: And I, you know, I'm still friends with I never,

219
00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:00,440
Speaker 1: you know, cut off my relationship with those people. It's

220
00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,800
Speaker 1: interesting because like I think about people who and it

221
00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:06,840
Speaker 1: is kind of a latent learning, Like they say things

222
00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:09,120
Speaker 1: to you when it comes back to you even years later,

223
00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:11,400
Speaker 1: what they said to you. You know, I remember I

224
00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:14,679
Speaker 1: did a I had a woman, Mia Rostova. She's a

225
00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:16,920
Speaker 1: wonderful Stova was my teacher for a year. She taught

226
00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:18,600
Speaker 1: her in an apartment that she borrowed from a friend

227
00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:20,800
Speaker 1: of hers, her by the old Barneys. But she was

228
00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:23,160
Speaker 1: my teacher. And she passed away a few years or

229
00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:26,160
Speaker 1: she was ninety nine years old. And uh, we did

230
00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,520
Speaker 1: a scene once. I'll never forget this incredible lesson she

231
00:12:28,559 --> 00:12:30,800
Speaker 1: gave me of not playing everything at the expense of

232
00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:33,439
Speaker 1: the other actor. Because you're a very warm and very

233
00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:35,200
Speaker 1: generous actor. You know, you have a you have a

234
00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:39,400
Speaker 1: great passion, but you're not selfish. And that's such an

235
00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:41,520
Speaker 1: incredible thing I see and people. I'm always drawn to

236
00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:44,200
Speaker 1: actors like that because Rostova would be there and the

237
00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:47,079
Speaker 1: actors would do the scene and the guys at the table,

238
00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:48,559
Speaker 1: and the woman comes in in her trench coat and

239
00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:50,959
Speaker 1: she has her pocketbook and her back bags of groceries

240
00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,200
Speaker 1: or whatever, and the guy goes, what time is it? Says,

241
00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:58,400
Speaker 1: she goes at six o'clock. He says, where are you been?

242
00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:03,280
Speaker 1: Rostova literally goes, okay, let's stop. That's right, that's right,

243
00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:05,640
Speaker 1: and she goes. She was obviously had a very heavy accent.

244
00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:08,319
Speaker 1: She says, why you talk to her like this? What?

245
00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:13,920
Speaker 1: Because he prepared it. That's why he went to show,

246
00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:15,840
Speaker 1: he said. He says, why don't you not say what

247
00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:19,480
Speaker 1: time is it? Where you've been? He's the where you

248
00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:21,320
Speaker 1: were going. We have plenty of time to get there,

249
00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:23,760
Speaker 1: you know, because I worked on in daytime a lot

250
00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:25,679
Speaker 1: to the soap and there were guys we used to

251
00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:27,920
Speaker 1: joke about who They always were going to lay into

252
00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:30,640
Speaker 1: you in the scene, even when they said they loved you.

253
00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:35,160
Speaker 1: They were like, I love you, Mary, Yeah, I love you.

254
00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,360
Speaker 1: You know. They was really like all attention you did

255
00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:41,599
Speaker 1: you did you feel that you had that innately, that

256
00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:45,000
Speaker 1: kind of general spirit you have. I think, you know,

257
00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:47,199
Speaker 1: I was a pretty good listener, but I think I

258
00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:50,480
Speaker 1: refined it when I studied the Sandy Meisner technique at

259
00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:53,960
Speaker 1: Carnegy Hall with Robert X Motika. He really that's what

260
00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:57,120
Speaker 1: it's all about, you know, listening and responding and letting

261
00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:00,680
Speaker 1: your partner affect you and doing out of that. And uh,

262
00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:03,360
Speaker 1: I thought that was very very good training and it's essential.

263
00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:05,640
Speaker 1: But when this is then you decided to go to Yale,

264
00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:07,200
Speaker 1: why did you want to dive in and go right

265
00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:09,200
Speaker 1: to work? I did. I tried to go to work.

266
00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,680
Speaker 1: I was very shy about going out there and hustling.

267
00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,120
Speaker 1: I was a school teacher for a while. I taught

268
00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,600
Speaker 1: at UH, I was a substitute. I taught at Rice

269
00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:21,600
Speaker 1: High School in Harlem to teach American history. And I

270
00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,480
Speaker 1: also taught at a Catholic school called Our Lady Queen

271
00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:28,320
Speaker 1: of Martyr UH fifth and sixth graders. And I and

272
00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:30,680
Speaker 1: I got invited back to both of these things, but

273
00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:34,720
Speaker 1: I was doing showcases, and I and my teacher, Beverly Broum,

274
00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:36,840
Speaker 1: had gone to Yale, and I thought, you know what,

275
00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,240
Speaker 1: I don't know really how to hustle that much, you know,

276
00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:42,920
Speaker 1: I was I was kind of shy. So I applied

277
00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:45,360
Speaker 1: to n y U and to Yale, and I got

278
00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,600
Speaker 1: into both programs and I got a scholarship to Yale,

279
00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,000
Speaker 1: and uh, I thought, well, you know, I'll give it

280
00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:54,320
Speaker 1: a shot. And uh, you know, my father was overjoyed

281
00:14:54,320 --> 00:15:00,400
Speaker 1: because he loved the masonry work I kept. When he

282
00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:02,440
Speaker 1: was like he didn't care. He was like, oh my god,

283
00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:05,280
Speaker 1: look at the buildings, you know, and he was like,

284
00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:09,120
Speaker 1: oh my god. So uh uh And then you know

285
00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:11,880
Speaker 1: I did. I worked a lot there and uh and

286
00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,520
Speaker 1: I you know, I did a little new plays, got

287
00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:18,280
Speaker 1: classical plays. Uh. You know, so when you get out

288
00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:21,880
Speaker 1: of Yale and what do you do? Then Lloyd Richards

289
00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:24,640
Speaker 1: gave me a job. I mean I auditioned and I

290
00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,000
Speaker 1: did two plays, one by Keith ra Dean who was

291
00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,480
Speaker 1: a friend of mine, and one by John Patrick Shanlon.

292
00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:32,480
Speaker 1: And uh that's how I met John and I did

293
00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:35,160
Speaker 1: uh the Light, the Light version of Danny in a

294
00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:39,640
Speaker 1: Deep Blue cy Uh. And then eventually John, you know,

295
00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:43,360
Speaker 1: brought me back to do a workshop at Circle Rep.

296
00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:46,440
Speaker 1: And then I did it later on at the Actors

297
00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,400
Speaker 1: Theater of Louisville, and then we brought it to New York.

298
00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:53,560
Speaker 1: And really that was my entree, you know, people seeing

299
00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,640
Speaker 1: me on stage, and and I got other work, you

300
00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:00,080
Speaker 1: know from that play, you know. And John really a

301
00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,400
Speaker 1: big effect on me, you know, he you know, he

302
00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:04,840
Speaker 1: wanted me to be in like everything he wrote at

303
00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,760
Speaker 1: that time, and I did every reading and but he

304
00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,200
Speaker 1: was really supportive of me. And uh, you know, he's

305
00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:13,600
Speaker 1: the one who really fought for me to be in

306
00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,000
Speaker 1: Five Corners and uh, you know, I really owe a

307
00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:19,920
Speaker 1: lot to John. Uh And uh the Five Corners was

308
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:24,080
Speaker 1: the movie with Jodie Foster and Tim Robbins. That was

309
00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:26,400
Speaker 1: the beginning, really, and then I started getting in some

310
00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:30,240
Speaker 1: movies and I did. I work with Billy Freakin and uh,

311
00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,680
Speaker 1: I've lived to talk about it. Uh, And I worked

312
00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:36,280
Speaker 1: with Michael Tremino and lived to talk about talk about that.

313
00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:38,880
Speaker 1: You did you did to live in l A? Yeah,

314
00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:41,360
Speaker 1: freaking yeah. And that was a pretty wild movie. Was

315
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:45,200
Speaker 1: with Bill Peterson and uh, Willem Dafoe and Johnny pack

316
00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:46,680
Speaker 1: Out and none of us, I don't think I had

317
00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:49,600
Speaker 1: been maybe Willem had been in the movie and he

318
00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:52,440
Speaker 1: was pretty out there guy, and uh, you had to

319
00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:54,400
Speaker 1: be careful physically. You don't know what he was gonna

320
00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:57,120
Speaker 1: do to you. And uh we worked in a in

321
00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:01,520
Speaker 1: a prison, uh which with prisoners, with guys on towers

322
00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:05,520
Speaker 1: with machine guns, and uh we we all had altercations

323
00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,040
Speaker 1: with him on the film. And I didn't know, you know,

324
00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:11,280
Speaker 1: this is what moviemaking is like that maybe the director

325
00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:13,600
Speaker 1: will jump on top of you, you know. Uh, but

326
00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:16,760
Speaker 1: he did and uh and I think I learned a

327
00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,240
Speaker 1: lot from working with him and working with Amino because

328
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:21,480
Speaker 1: you didn't know what was going to happen. I mean,

329
00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:25,280
Speaker 1: it's kind of the cocaine eighties, you know. But there

330
00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:27,439
Speaker 1: were directors that, you know, tell the other actor, you know,

331
00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:29,480
Speaker 1: hit him in the face, stop him in the face.

332
00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:31,919
Speaker 1: Even if we were doing a scene like this, you

333
00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:37,760
Speaker 1: know how right, I'm a doctor. Hit him in the face,

334
00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:39,359
Speaker 1: hit him in the face, put him in a face.

335
00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:42,480
Speaker 1: So it was like the deer Hunter scene, the Russian

336
00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:47,440
Speaker 1: Roulette scene applied to every other scene. And you know, uh,

337
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:49,359
Speaker 1: but I I you know, I learned to ride a

338
00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:51,840
Speaker 1: horse on the film. I worked with min know, and

339
00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,880
Speaker 1: I think I learned. Yeah, And it was really I

340
00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:59,280
Speaker 1: was like the only Italian person in the entire movie,

341
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:01,399
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I was Italian American at

342
00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,399
Speaker 1: half Sicilian, and everyone else was from all over the world.

343
00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:08,440
Speaker 1: And but I think those move those movies really helped

344
00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:10,679
Speaker 1: me for later on to be able to stand up

345
00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,320
Speaker 1: for myself and say, you know, no, I don't agree,

346
00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:15,080
Speaker 1: I'm not going to do that. But it is that

347
00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,800
Speaker 1: a part of it meaning because for me, you know,

348
00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:21,120
Speaker 1: I remember the beginning of my career, and you might

349
00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:24,439
Speaker 1: find this hard to believe. I was actually very guileless

350
00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:30,960
Speaker 1: and I was very tender and uh, and I get

351
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:32,760
Speaker 1: to work and I didn't want to piss anybody off.

352
00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,600
Speaker 1: And so you're you're you're you're the guest in their house,

353
00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:39,680
Speaker 1: and you want to be professional, and you confuse professionalism

354
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:42,320
Speaker 1: what's kind of laying down and just done, just laying

355
00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,200
Speaker 1: down and not having an opinion. And the minute you

356
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:46,840
Speaker 1: start to have an opinion about anything, people are like,

357
00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:49,040
Speaker 1: you know, oh Jesus Christ, you know you know that

358
00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:52,120
Speaker 1: you're difficult, and uh, it's very interesting that you say

359
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,800
Speaker 1: that that you remember. On a couple of occasions, I

360
00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:57,159
Speaker 1: sit there and I say, you know, I know this

361
00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:59,239
Speaker 1: doesn't really make sense to me. And I wound up

362
00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:02,280
Speaker 1: where like the Rector, I wouldn't even speak for like

363
00:19:02,359 --> 00:19:06,240
Speaker 1: three months. It's a very difficult process. No, it's hard

364
00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:08,600
Speaker 1: to speak, not speaking for three months because I think

365
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:10,800
Speaker 1: the fear of being fired. If you're an actor, it's

366
00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,800
Speaker 1: so hard to get hired. The fear of being fired

367
00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:17,320
Speaker 1: is held over your head and you have to get

368
00:19:17,359 --> 00:19:19,879
Speaker 1: to the point where you don't care if you'll be fired,

369
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,040
Speaker 1: you know, to say I don't I'm not going to

370
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,679
Speaker 1: do that. And uh. I did that on Five Corners

371
00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,040
Speaker 1: the first day and the guy tried to block a

372
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,399
Speaker 1: scene and Bill and I said I don't want to

373
00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:33,000
Speaker 1: do it, and he said what I said, and I

374
00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:35,560
Speaker 1: wanted to be sitting against the wall because the guy

375
00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:37,760
Speaker 1: had gotten out of prison, and I kind of laid

376
00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,000
Speaker 1: it down and that was the beginning. And then I

377
00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:42,440
Speaker 1: had a very good collaboration during that movie. And that's

378
00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:44,800
Speaker 1: the first movie I felt like I was doing what

379
00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:48,800
Speaker 1: I could do on stage, but in a movie. And

380
00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:52,040
Speaker 1: then what happens after you do uh? And I started

381
00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:56,000
Speaker 1: getting you know different. Uh. Spike Lee, you know, called

382
00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:58,560
Speaker 1: me up. The Cohen Brothers knew me because I went

383
00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,080
Speaker 1: to school with Frances mcdorman's, so they saw all the

384
00:20:01,119 --> 00:20:03,480
Speaker 1: plays I was I was in, so they would see

385
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:06,040
Speaker 1: me all the time. I come kind of friends with them.

386
00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:07,960
Speaker 1: So then I eventually told me they were writing apart

387
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,080
Speaker 1: from me. But it took them all such a long

388
00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:12,560
Speaker 1: time to write because this crossing because they had writer's block,

389
00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:14,520
Speaker 1: and in the middle of it, they wrote Barton Fink.

390
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,520
Speaker 1: That's how they wrote Barton Fink. And Uh. So then

391
00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:21,480
Speaker 1: I did, Uh. I did. Spike asked me to come

392
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,800
Speaker 1: in and and I read Do the Right Thing and

393
00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:28,399
Speaker 1: uh because he saw five Corners and you know, I

394
00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:30,800
Speaker 1: was excited when I read it. I said, well, this

395
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,000
Speaker 1: is about what's going on. And I grew up in

396
00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:35,200
Speaker 1: a you know, I grew up in a black neighborhood.

397
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:37,040
Speaker 1: I moved to a white neighborhood. I was bust out

398
00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:40,679
Speaker 1: to all black school, so a lot of you know,

399
00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:45,280
Speaker 1: the issues were issues that I grew up with. And uh,

400
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,639
Speaker 1: and Spike and I really became very, very close friends.

401
00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,080
Speaker 1: The film came out of ninety it's a last year

402
00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:55,200
Speaker 1: you had. When did they screen there in the city.

403
00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:56,880
Speaker 1: What was that like for you to go back? And well,

404
00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:59,159
Speaker 1: it was weird because you know, I was the I

405
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:02,680
Speaker 1: played the racist sky. So when we would go to Daily's,

406
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:06,480
Speaker 1: which Spike invited everyone to at l i uh Long

407
00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:11,240
Speaker 1: Island University in on Flatbush and Brooklyn, you'd see that,

408
00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:13,480
Speaker 1: you know, the five takes of me saying all these

409
00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:16,800
Speaker 1: racist things. And sometimes there were people and the crew

410
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:18,639
Speaker 1: you know, had never worked on a movie before, like

411
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,000
Speaker 1: the lady and craft services, and she was a black lady,

412
00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:23,240
Speaker 1: and she wouldn't she wouldn't talk to me, you know

413
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,159
Speaker 1: what I mean. She actually told me, she said, you know,

414
00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,639
Speaker 1: I hate you. You know, she's amazing. I hate you

415
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:31,040
Speaker 1: so much. And I told Spikes advanced, you can tell

416
00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:34,240
Speaker 1: us I'm doing a podcast, and you know, he was

417
00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:36,800
Speaker 1: laughing and stuff like that. So I was kind of

418
00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,240
Speaker 1: you know, uh, you know, worried about, you know, what

419
00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:44,320
Speaker 1: would happen. But it was only really positive to response.

420
00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:49,280
Speaker 1: But when we saw the Anniversary, Michael Jackson had just died,

421
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:52,040
Speaker 1: and I have a line in the movie, we goes

422
00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:54,320
Speaker 1: fuck you, fuck Frank Sanatra, I say, how fuck you

423
00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:56,960
Speaker 1: and fuck Michael Jackson too, and he was right after

424
00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,199
Speaker 1: he died, and once again the audience led out this

425
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,640
Speaker 1: big spots. I was like, oh, my god, I can

426
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,520
Speaker 1: never get away and go back to zero again, you know,

427
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:10,959
Speaker 1: but you know, it was, it was. It was an

428
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,680
Speaker 1: exciting movie, and lots of people had different opinions about

429
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:16,679
Speaker 1: the movie, even in the people in the movie and

430
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,439
Speaker 1: you were shooting Yeah. Well, we had a long rehearsal process.

431
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,400
Speaker 1: Described that we had a real great group there because

432
00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,080
Speaker 1: we all worked together for ten weeks. We were on

433
00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:29,280
Speaker 1: the set every day together with rehearsal for Yeah. And Danny,

434
00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:31,000
Speaker 1: of course was I just saw him the other day

435
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,040
Speaker 1: on the street by Lincoln Center. I got I mean,

436
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,679
Speaker 1: you know, so he was, you know, flying high and

437
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,439
Speaker 1: Ascie Davis and Ruby d and uh. It was really

438
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,879
Speaker 1: it was very upsetting to do the end of the movie.

439
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:46,080
Speaker 1: It was very upsetting to do the end of it

440
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,760
Speaker 1: was really and there was a lot of tension on

441
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:51,879
Speaker 1: the set between Danny and Spike about doing the scene

442
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 1: the way Spike wanted, did this way Spike wanted to prevail.

443
00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,560
Speaker 1: Eventually it did, it did, but it got really heated

444
00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,280
Speaker 1: and it actually came close to things getting a little

445
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 1: out of control. Uh and uh, but we managed, you know,

446
00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,480
Speaker 1: through it and everything. But I remember, I just didn't

447
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,399
Speaker 1: it was it was sickening, you know, to do some

448
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:15,280
Speaker 1: of that part. I remember me with Junk, all of

449
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:17,240
Speaker 1: us posito, and we had our hands around each other's

450
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,920
Speaker 1: throats and you could just feel like, you know, because

451
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:23,840
Speaker 1: we were all really, you know, so close. And then

452
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:26,359
Speaker 1: we worked together a lot of movies after that and stuff,

453
00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:31,320
Speaker 1: But that was a really special experience. Coming up, John

454
00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:34,879
Speaker 1: Taturo talks about the crisis but almost convinced him to

455
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:41,400
Speaker 1: go to medical school at age fifty. Like Taturo, who

456
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:45,120
Speaker 1: once loved film, canisters around the country looking for funding,

457
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:49,320
Speaker 1: writer director James Toback is committed to making films on

458
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 1: his own terms. You need a heavy dose of megalomania

459
00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:56,840
Speaker 1: and a heavy dose of humility. It's a combination of

460
00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:00,400
Speaker 1: the two. Where does your humility come from? From access

461
00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:04,080
Speaker 1: to your humility. The humility is that you say to

462
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:09,080
Speaker 1: your collaborators, you can either enable me to achieve what

463
00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:11,359
Speaker 1: I know I can do with this movie, or you

464
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,640
Speaker 1: can prevent me from achieving it. I am at your mercy.

465
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,280
Speaker 1: If you can give me what I know, you can

466
00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 1: give me humility or manipulation. No, it's humility because I

467
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 1: know that if they're not all there for me, and

468
00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:28,120
Speaker 1: if I've made a wrong selection. I'm gonna I'm doomed

469
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,800
Speaker 1: to hear more about James Toback story. Go to Here's

470
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:48,520
Speaker 1: the Thing dot Org. This is Alec Baldwin and you're

471
00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:51,800
Speaker 1: listening to Here's the Thing. My guest today is actor

472
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 1: John taturo To Touro captivated the nation as Pino and

473
00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:00,440
Speaker 1: Do the Right Thing, and hasn't stopped mesmerizing audiences. iNTS

474
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,040
Speaker 1: Most recently, we've seen him in HBO's mini series The

475
00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:08,480
Speaker 1: Night Of. Like his other roles, this one is raw, wholehearted,

476
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:12,919
Speaker 1: vulnerable and brilliant. Tuturo says his work on screen is

477
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:16,439
Speaker 1: helped by his experience on stage, and in his early

478
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,560
Speaker 1: years he was back and forth between the two. I

479
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:23,240
Speaker 1: did A Chanley's play Italian American Reconciliation, and then I

480
00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:27,240
Speaker 1: did Milliss Crossing, and I did Millis Crossing. Barton think

481
00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:31,080
Speaker 1: that was aft of Miller's Crossing. Was a Miller's Crossing

482
00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 1: was was first? And and did that and then they

483
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:37,119
Speaker 1: told me that they had written this movie for me,

484
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:40,960
Speaker 1: And I thought, they said bart and think and uh

485
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,159
Speaker 1: uh and then you know, and I I mean, and

486
00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:46,080
Speaker 1: out of that movie, I got a lot of work

487
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 1: and stuff, but I always went back to the theater

488
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,640
Speaker 1: and and uh, you know, and continued to do theater. Now,

489
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:56,520
Speaker 1: you met your wife at Yale and she was studying

490
00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:58,920
Speaker 1: acting obviously as well. And we've worked together many times,

491
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:00,800
Speaker 1: and you've directed her with that of you did Max.

492
00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:02,240
Speaker 1: She was the star of the film, and she was

493
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:05,000
Speaker 1: a star of Illuminata, and I've done a theater with her.

494
00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:08,360
Speaker 1: Master builders that. Like to direct your wife in the film. Well,

495
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 1: if I was married to an actress once, I'm not

496
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:13,200
Speaker 1: quite sure how that would have gone. At first. It's

497
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:17,679
Speaker 1: not good because you know, like your brother, I've directed that.

498
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:20,880
Speaker 1: I've had my mother, my brother, and if they all

499
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,159
Speaker 1: first and then go no, like you tell him, can

500
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:25,240
Speaker 1: you do this? No? You know, that's like that's the

501
00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:28,399
Speaker 1: first and then eventually you have to learn, like to

502
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,280
Speaker 1: respect each other. And she's the actress, I'm the director,

503
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,880
Speaker 1: and we have to kind of draw lines and separate that,

504
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:37,120
Speaker 1: and it's not easy to do. I've talked to even

505
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,240
Speaker 1: people like Joe Cohen, you know, and he's like, I

506
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:40,919
Speaker 1: let my brother direct friend, you know what I mean.

507
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,800
Speaker 1: He says, you know, it's it's it can be, but

508
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:46,679
Speaker 1: it can be great. Once you get you know, past that.

509
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:49,880
Speaker 1: So uh. And I think I've had really good collaborations

510
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,200
Speaker 1: with with Kathy, and I think she's done some wonderful

511
00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,560
Speaker 1: work in and she doesn't want to act anymore. No,

512
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,879
Speaker 1: she's now studying social work. And what do you observe

513
00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:01,959
Speaker 1: a about that where it just kind of goes out

514
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:05,119
Speaker 1: to just leave somebody's body she doesn't want to. I

515
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:07,119
Speaker 1: think it happens. I'm sure it's probably happened to you.

516
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:08,679
Speaker 1: You think at one time of your life, you know,

517
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:10,960
Speaker 1: maybe that's something I want to do different. It's happened

518
00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:13,120
Speaker 1: to me. Sometimes while I'm on the set shooting a film,

519
00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:18,320
Speaker 1: I'll be like, yeah, yeah, I go home. I mean

520
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:21,880
Speaker 1: I I had a sort of crisis maybe eight nine,

521
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 1: ten years ago and told my doctor, I said, you know,

522
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,200
Speaker 1: I'm done with this business. I've got to do something

523
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:28,879
Speaker 1: really important, like what you do. I said, I want

524
00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 1: to go to medical school. I was like fifty years old.

525
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,960
Speaker 1: And he was like, John, you're crazy. It was like,

526
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:38,080
Speaker 1: you know, you know how long medical school takes, you know?

527
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,000
Speaker 1: And he said, think what you do is there's a

528
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:41,600
Speaker 1: value to what you do? And I was like, no,

529
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,400
Speaker 1: there's not, you know, uh, And he talked me out

530
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,000
Speaker 1: of it, and uh, but you know it's everyone hits that.

531
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:50,760
Speaker 1: I guess it's sometimes it's interesting how And I'd love

532
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:52,080
Speaker 1: to hear this in your own words, you know, the

533
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 1: acting experience, and a lot of it has to do

534
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:56,199
Speaker 1: with the people that I'm working with, like if they

535
00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:57,639
Speaker 1: can hit the ball back, you know what I mean,

536
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,119
Speaker 1: Like if I really like somebody. I did this over

537
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 1: the edge with Tony Hopkins, I'll never thinket They called

538
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,920
Speaker 1: me and they said, oh, de Niro was supposed to

539
00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:06,399
Speaker 1: play the lead, and he dropped out to say we

540
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,119
Speaker 1: got to Anthony Hopkins and I started to cry. I mean,

541
00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:11,320
Speaker 1: I forgot on vacation with my ex wife and where

542
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,200
Speaker 1: her family were on Carolina at the beach house. And

543
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:16,600
Speaker 1: I sat there and started getting like these chess palpitations

544
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,440
Speaker 1: because I worshiped Tony so much. I just loved Tony.

545
00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 1: I thought, how gonna get to go make a movie?

546
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 1: It's me and him? Right. Harold Perrino, who was on

547
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:30,080
Speaker 1: the show Lost African American guy for a young, very

548
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:32,159
Speaker 1: good looking He had the funniest line because the three

549
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:34,400
Speaker 1: of us are lost in the woods, and he said,

550
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,840
Speaker 1: Alec Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins and Harold Perrino. I wonder which

551
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,800
Speaker 1: one the bear is going to eat the first? And

552
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,720
Speaker 1: so he dies in the film, Um, you know, page forty,

553
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:50,360
Speaker 1: page thirty, he gets chewed on and he was very

554
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 1: funny Harold. But but but but we do the movie

555
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,320
Speaker 1: and there's Tony and I in the woods for like

556
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,920
Speaker 1: four or five six weeks there in Canada, and it

557
00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 1: was just such a great I mean, I loved it.

558
00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:02,040
Speaker 1: And he's a one. He's a wonderful person. Yeah. I

559
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,200
Speaker 1: actually did a movie that he directed me and that

560
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:10,480
Speaker 1: he wrote, which I've never seen actually Slipstream. It's called

561
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 1: And I had so much fun working with him. I

562
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:18,480
Speaker 1: play someone who's like a figment of his imagination. And

563
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:21,200
Speaker 1: he said to me once, he said, uh, Jones, Jones,

564
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,600
Speaker 1: I'd like you to do this scene. He said, um,

565
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:31,440
Speaker 1: excuse metaphorice and like a cock roage on fire. I said,

566
00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,959
Speaker 1: you know, Mr Hopkins, you were speaking my language. So

567
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:38,520
Speaker 1: we laughed. So we had so much fun. He's such

568
00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:42,160
Speaker 1: an open guy. He's such a wonderful, attractive guy. And

569
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:44,640
Speaker 1: I was like, like you, I've always loved his work

570
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,720
Speaker 1: from Equis and QB seven. You know, when I first

571
00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:51,240
Speaker 1: saw him. Yeah. I mean it was my mother who

572
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 1: told me to watch him on that. Uh, but he's

573
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,880
Speaker 1: a wonderful person. He said, we we do the film.

574
00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,480
Speaker 1: And I said to him, my god, you worked with

575
00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,640
Speaker 1: Olivi And I said, and you did all these plays

576
00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:05,040
Speaker 1: and they're from this great tradition. And I said, you

577
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,200
Speaker 1: from ms the theater and plays. He was like, no,

578
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:11,640
Speaker 1: I hate the theater, my love, and to test the theater,

579
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: really you do? I said, you never want to go

580
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,160
Speaker 1: back into a place, and no, I only want my life.

581
00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:20,360
Speaker 1: I wanted to move to California, didn't become an American

582
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,840
Speaker 1: film star, didn't drive my car with the top down,

583
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 1: the sun in my face, the wind in my head.

584
00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,840
Speaker 1: And he wasn't kidding. Does now this was his dream,

585
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:33,600
Speaker 1: was to be a movie star. Yeah, but he doesn't

586
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:38,160
Speaker 1: give a about or a pinter or none of it.

587
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 1: This great tradition. He will ask you, why do you

588
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 1: like to do theater? He said, well, I like the

589
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:46,960
Speaker 1: rehearsal process, you know, uh, you know, yeah, But what's

590
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,320
Speaker 1: the pick a pick a film? I mean, obviously there's many,

591
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 1: because you're you've got so many great films and in

592
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:53,880
Speaker 1: so much great war. Well, you're doing it and you're

593
00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:55,760
Speaker 1: in it, and you're like, man, this is just bliss

594
00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 1: to me making this film play well some of the

595
00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:01,840
Speaker 1: movies that we talked about. When I worked with Robert

596
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,840
Speaker 1: Redford when I did Questions, Yeah, I was, I really,

597
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:07,719
Speaker 1: I mean I gained a lot of weight and everything

598
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,240
Speaker 1: to do it, and uh, but uh that was a

599
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:13,280
Speaker 1: really that was a really fun experience. And I loved

600
00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:18,520
Speaker 1: working with him and he was He's just like multifaceted,

601
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:22,600
Speaker 1: kind of eccentric guy, you know, and uh he just

602
00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 1: was so uh good in specific details, physical details to

603
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:33,240
Speaker 1: help free you. And uh we got along just incredibly well.

604
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:36,680
Speaker 1: And I think probably shows maybe in my performance. I

605
00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:39,160
Speaker 1: really was very free, you know with him, and I

606
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,760
Speaker 1: really wanted to please him. I really did, because he

607
00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:47,400
Speaker 1: he was so good looking, he is uh and uh

608
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:50,960
Speaker 1: he's very you know, he's really seductive, you know in

609
00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:54,160
Speaker 1: getting you to to be relaxed and everything. But he

610
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 1: was a real consummate craftsman. You know, he's from the theater.

611
00:31:57,480 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 1: And I loved working with him, and uh that was

612
00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:03,800
Speaker 1: a real joy. And also a movie I've made, uh

613
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,640
Speaker 1: with a great Italian director, Francisco Rosie, which I was

614
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:11,400
Speaker 1: a adaptation of a Primo Levee book, and I was

615
00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 1: involved with that for about five years, and I think

616
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 1: that's one of the best things I've ever done. I

617
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:19,120
Speaker 1: don't really talk a lot in film, uh, but I

618
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:24,280
Speaker 1: also got a real education with him in in Italian filmmaking.

619
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,960
Speaker 1: And also I got to study everything about Primo Levia

620
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:30,360
Speaker 1: for like four or five years. And uh, I really

621
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,160
Speaker 1: I think I really changed my life. So I don't

622
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,480
Speaker 1: like the word foodie, but you're somebody who you appreciate,

623
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 1: You into cooking, you and your boyfriend of cooking. Is

624
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 1: it true? You guys, sit down, you have to like

625
00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:43,560
Speaker 1: these meals. And my wife's a really good cook, and

626
00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 1: I helped prepare and clean, yeah and eat U. But yeah,

627
00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 1: but I think you know my mother was Yeah, my

628
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 1: mother could. She was a world class Yeah, that's right.

629
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:56,480
Speaker 1: And uh, you know a lot of my friends would

630
00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:59,200
Speaker 1: come over my house to eat, so, you know, because

631
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:01,520
Speaker 1: and they also liked to talk to my father, who

632
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 1: was a very good storyteller. So you know. Uh, my

633
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:07,800
Speaker 1: father was like very childlike in his you know, like

634
00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:10,600
Speaker 1: if he'd watched movies with him, he was like he

635
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 1: was in the movie. You know, there's a movie that

636
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:17,200
Speaker 1: we used to watch together, Brute Force that burnt Lancasters.

637
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:19,680
Speaker 1: Have you seen that with you and Crone? My father

638
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 1: was like he was like in the movie. You know,

639
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:23,680
Speaker 1: So that's how it wasn't my house like you were

640
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 1: in it. My dad was the same way, yeah, you know,

641
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 1: my dad was my My dad would come home from

642
00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:29,600
Speaker 1: work and we lay there and my mother was kind

643
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:32,920
Speaker 1: of with six children and no money to help her

644
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 1: raise her children. My mother was completely you know, blotto

645
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:38,479
Speaker 1: at the end of the night of sleep in her

646
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:40,920
Speaker 1: bed at like ten o'clock and I'd say, who's gonna

647
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,280
Speaker 1: let Dad in the house. I literally had a run

648
00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:45,920
Speaker 1: of time probably last about two or three years where

649
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:48,200
Speaker 1: I got away with us. I said, I'm gonna stay

650
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:50,120
Speaker 1: up and make sure Dad's okay when he gets home.

651
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:54,600
Speaker 1: My mother will be like and I go in the

652
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:56,040
Speaker 1: living room and wait for my father to come home,

653
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,800
Speaker 1: and I greet my father. Everybody else is asleep, and

654
00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,400
Speaker 1: my father would be like a very you know, taciturn,

655
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,480
Speaker 1: what are you doing up whatever? And I'd say, uh,

656
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:07,600
Speaker 1: we sit down on the couch and he broke it

657
00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:09,520
Speaker 1: up The New York Times and he's had those really

658
00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 1: pithy little capsule reviews in the times of movies on

659
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,480
Speaker 1: the Late Show, and he'd say, that's a good one.

660
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,960
Speaker 1: I said, what's that? It's a How Green Was My Valley?

661
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:23,440
Speaker 1: It's a great movie. I maybe we watched like fifteen

662
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:25,800
Speaker 1: minutes of all right, fifteen minutes, we're gonna watch fifteen

663
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:28,640
Speaker 1: minutes this movie. Get to bed, you're gonna go to

664
00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 1: school tomorrow. And I sit there and within fifteen minutes

665
00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:32,640
Speaker 1: it worked like a trump. He'd passed out of sleep,

666
00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:35,279
Speaker 1: and I watched all of How Green Was My Valley

667
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:38,000
Speaker 1: one o'clock in the morning on the Late Show. And

668
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:39,880
Speaker 1: at times that we would watch the movies together, he

669
00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:42,120
Speaker 1: would like put his hand out during the moment, you know,

670
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:44,440
Speaker 1: you know, he wishes to be a quarter of the

671
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:46,440
Speaker 1: same rights as a sponge. And my father would go,

672
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:50,080
Speaker 1: he wishes to think, you know, like uh, Spencer, Tracy

673
00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:52,040
Speaker 1: and some with you. My father would quote all the lines.

674
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 1: You know, maybe it was the same for you, man.

675
00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,200
Speaker 1: It was a real kind of sharing experience. Your wife's

676
00:34:59,239 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 1: a great cook. She comes from an Italian householdier. No,

677
00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:08,279
Speaker 1: my wife's Russian Jewish. She learned to know. She learned

678
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 1: to cook. Does she learned to cook from your family.

679
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:16,000
Speaker 1: How does she learns? Has increased her repertoire over the years? Yes,

680
00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:18,200
Speaker 1: she's now she's a very good cook. And you made

681
00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:20,960
Speaker 1: movies where this is the central Well, I've made movies

682
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:24,000
Speaker 1: I made. I made a documentary Co Passoni, which is

683
00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:27,680
Speaker 1: all about Neapolitan music, because I was introduced to Neapolitan

684
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:31,000
Speaker 1: culture by Francisco Rosie. I've actually performed in the theater

685
00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:35,640
Speaker 1: in in Italy twice. That's an interesting experience performing in

686
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:39,839
Speaker 1: the theater in Italy. It's very interesting. Well, I did

687
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:41,920
Speaker 1: this one play. It's a it's a play. It's like

688
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,080
Speaker 1: a neo realist play. It's a play about poor people

689
00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:47,240
Speaker 1: and the guy and the guy who's married to this woman.

690
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 1: She has a lover, but he either imagines or he

691
00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:55,440
Speaker 1: just makes him into a ghost because the guy leaves money,

692
00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:57,319
Speaker 1: you know, for the whole thing. And at the end

693
00:35:57,360 --> 00:35:59,880
Speaker 1: of the play, the guy goes away he doesn't want

694
00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:02,279
Speaker 1: to be the lover of his wife anymore, and the

695
00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:04,640
Speaker 1: money drives up and he sees the guy and he

696
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,000
Speaker 1: thinks he's a ghost, or maybe he's made himself think

697
00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 1: he's a ghost, and he explains to him, you know,

698
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:11,919
Speaker 1: it's it's hard to be in love when you don't

699
00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:13,759
Speaker 1: have money. You know, if you if you don't have

700
00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:16,720
Speaker 1: if you can't buy someone apparent air rings or or

701
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:19,440
Speaker 1: a nice handkerchief, you know, the love can die, you know,

702
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:22,200
Speaker 1: if you're poor and you're starving. It's a beautiful speech

703
00:36:22,640 --> 00:36:27,000
Speaker 1: and it was written in by Donald Felippo. So I

704
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 1: came out to do it in Naples in English mostly

705
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,480
Speaker 1: we did a little bit of Neapolitan. And when I

706
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:35,759
Speaker 1: came out to do the speech and I said the

707
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,439
Speaker 1: first line, and I saw rows of handkerchiefs come out

708
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:43,839
Speaker 1: of people's jackets rose and I was like, whoa, yeah,

709
00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:46,480
Speaker 1: because it distracts here, right, it's the white in the audience.

710
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:50,279
Speaker 1: And then I said a couple more lines and then

711
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:53,560
Speaker 1: they were all, you know, working themselves up. They were

712
00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:55,840
Speaker 1: doing this basically the speech for me, you know, it

713
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:58,400
Speaker 1: was like I was surfing on their emotion. So I

714
00:36:58,440 --> 00:36:59,840
Speaker 1: just had to say the line and then you're her,

715
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:03,920
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And I was like, I

716
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:07,120
Speaker 1: can't believe this, I said, I haven't even done the

717
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:10,680
Speaker 1: speech and there so I was just kind of floating

718
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:14,640
Speaker 1: on this sea of white handkerchiefs. I never had experience

719
00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:17,239
Speaker 1: like that ever in my life. You know, I see

720
00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:20,279
Speaker 1: people now and in my own work, in my own

721
00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:24,600
Speaker 1: life where you are pitching and trying to make films

722
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:27,640
Speaker 1: and television shows and what have you, and it's so

723
00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:30,600
Speaker 1: difficult to raise money now it's it's, it's, it's, it's, it's.

724
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:35,840
Speaker 1: It's this almost mind bendingly difficult prospect. And this idea

725
00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:38,279
Speaker 1: that the business was run years ago by people who

726
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:44,640
Speaker 1: were filmmakers. They had money, Uh, studios were banks with

727
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,680
Speaker 1: billions of dollars and lines of credit up through the eighties.

728
00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:51,560
Speaker 1: And then at some point um that change and now

729
00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:55,160
Speaker 1: that people we were, that whole spiel about the corportization

730
00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:57,479
Speaker 1: of the media and so forth, how was it changed

731
00:37:57,480 --> 00:37:59,839
Speaker 1: in your mind? And it's much harder business, much harder.

732
00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:03,640
Speaker 1: In the first movie I made was Columbia Try Start Home.

733
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:07,480
Speaker 1: Video was Larry Estes, who gave money to a lot

734
00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 1: of small films, including sex Lives and Videotape One False Move.

735
00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:15,080
Speaker 1: He must have done like forty five movies he financed,

736
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:18,280
Speaker 1: and I think we had a little over two million dollars.

737
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,720
Speaker 1: But I had forty three days to shoot my first

738
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:24,239
Speaker 1: film and my second film, I had forty days, and

739
00:38:24,239 --> 00:38:26,759
Speaker 1: and you know the film I did with then I

740
00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:30,360
Speaker 1: had my forty five days, and then I had thirty days.

741
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,520
Speaker 1: With the movie made with Woody and his last film,

742
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:36,520
Speaker 1: I had twenty eight days. And you know it's you're

743
00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:40,400
Speaker 1: not twenty five, and you know it's hard to light someone,

744
00:38:40,560 --> 00:38:44,000
Speaker 1: you know, beautifully in that amount of time, So you

745
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:48,279
Speaker 1: have to cobble it together if you're lucky enough. But

746
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:51,680
Speaker 1: I feel like people don't always bet on the person.

747
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,680
Speaker 1: And when I first started making movies, there were a

748
00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:56,680
Speaker 1: few people I would talk to and they would they

749
00:38:56,680 --> 00:38:59,160
Speaker 1: would bet on me. They would say, okay, I trust you.

750
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:01,719
Speaker 1: There was a man in a pan gave me money

751
00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:04,920
Speaker 1: for my second movie, and if that happen, well my

752
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,000
Speaker 1: you know, he was a distributor and he would look

753
00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:12,200
Speaker 1: at my presentation, so all the pictures and the artwork,

754
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:15,279
Speaker 1: but he was also looking at me and trying to

755
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:18,640
Speaker 1: judging me as a person, and he was you know,

756
00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:22,080
Speaker 1: he bet on me, not just all the people, all

757
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,759
Speaker 1: the names I have in it. So it's hard. You know,

758
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:26,680
Speaker 1: it's hard to make a movie because no one ever

759
00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:30,520
Speaker 1: thinks about chemistry. You know, that's like the last thing

760
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:34,360
Speaker 1: people ever think about. And that it can be essential

761
00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,040
Speaker 1: in a movie, whether you're playing your best friend or

762
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:41,920
Speaker 1: lovers or whatever. And uh, you know, it's almost everything

763
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:44,960
Speaker 1: is set up against you. So you have to be

764
00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:48,840
Speaker 1: a little crazy and really love the material to say

765
00:39:49,239 --> 00:39:51,560
Speaker 1: I'm going to do something that's different. But of course

766
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:53,600
Speaker 1: if you do that, then it's even harder, you know,

767
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:56,360
Speaker 1: because everybody is afraid. I mean I made that movie

768
00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 1: with Woody for example. I've always thought, well, maybe we

769
00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:01,719
Speaker 1: would be in this thing together. And the guy who

770
00:40:01,719 --> 00:40:04,760
Speaker 1: cuts my hair cuts wood He's hair, and I happened

771
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:07,879
Speaker 1: to mention it and he talks like this, you know,

772
00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:12,520
Speaker 1: And he told Woody this idea that I had. And

773
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:15,680
Speaker 1: what he was like, well, you have John Comy, so

774
00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:18,600
Speaker 1: you know. Uh and uh, I was like, what did

775
00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:21,320
Speaker 1: you say to wood He? I told him this idea.

776
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:25,000
Speaker 1: So I went to his office. I had no script, nothing,

777
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:28,400
Speaker 1: but I had directed some movies and would he you

778
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:30,560
Speaker 1: know you know what? He well, because you work with

779
00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:33,200
Speaker 1: him a lot. And I sat this close to him.

780
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:36,840
Speaker 1: He said, so you know we share a bob you know.

781
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:39,480
Speaker 1: I said yeah, I said yes, I said, I saw.

782
00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:41,279
Speaker 1: I told him the story. I said, you know, you

783
00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:43,640
Speaker 1: run a bookstore. You know, you know, you run out

784
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:46,160
Speaker 1: of money and then you know, you decide to pimp

785
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:49,000
Speaker 1: me out and blah blah bah. He goes funny. You know.

786
00:40:49,080 --> 00:40:51,799
Speaker 1: Then I said something else. He goes not funny. Then

787
00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:54,640
Speaker 1: I know something else could be funny, you know. So

788
00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:56,719
Speaker 1: then he said, you write it and then I'll give

789
00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:00,719
Speaker 1: you my criticism, you know. Of I didn't know how

790
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:04,040
Speaker 1: merciless his criticism could be, you know, I said, oh,

791
00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:07,000
Speaker 1: my God, was beyond merciless. And at the end of it,

792
00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:09,960
Speaker 1: of course, he said, well, I could be wrong, you know.

793
00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,080
Speaker 1: So anytime I I any time I would send him

794
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:17,000
Speaker 1: another draft, I would lay down and read his email.

795
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:19,919
Speaker 1: There he was just But during the course of it,

796
00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:22,920
Speaker 1: he asked me, you know, to he asked me to

797
00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:25,799
Speaker 1: direct these three one act one of them that he

798
00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:28,160
Speaker 1: had written, and I got to know him quite well.

799
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:32,200
Speaker 1: And from that I was able to rewrite it one

800
00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:36,440
Speaker 1: by Elaine Mane and uh and Ethan Cohen and I survived.

801
00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:39,880
Speaker 1: But you know, uh, I went to I did all

802
00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:43,279
Speaker 1: these auditions with Woody, which was fascinating, you know, I mean, God,

803
00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:45,799
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's a tough guy to audition for,

804
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:48,399
Speaker 1: you know. Uh, But I got to know him really well,

805
00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 1: and eventually, you know, he did sign off on the

806
00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:54,600
Speaker 1: script and she did a terrific job. And he was

807
00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:58,360
Speaker 1: a wonderful actor to work with. He's such a good actor.

808
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:02,160
Speaker 1: And I was like, wow, this guy's good, you know,

809
00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:05,640
Speaker 1: and uh so, but there was a great experience. But

810
00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:12,319
Speaker 1: I did fifteen drafts and he, you knoweth he was

811
00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:14,200
Speaker 1: just like, you know, and when I showed him the

812
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:17,399
Speaker 1: rough cut, he said, do you want my criticism? I

813
00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:20,960
Speaker 1: was like, I said, well, I said, of course I do,

814
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:23,080
Speaker 1: because well, you know, he said, you know, he was

815
00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:25,560
Speaker 1: sitting in the chap I'm gonna be brutal, you know.

816
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:28,560
Speaker 1: And he really liked it. He was so surprised, and

817
00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:31,520
Speaker 1: I was like, wow, you know, I was. But it

818
00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:34,759
Speaker 1: was a great, you know experience, and I telled it

819
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:37,920
Speaker 1: obviously to him. But my idea that we could be

820
00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:40,400
Speaker 1: good together what's true. But the thing is the funny

821
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:42,240
Speaker 1: thing when I worked with him was the difference between

822
00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:46,200
Speaker 1: that that chasm between comedy and draw. So we do

823
00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:50,320
Speaker 1: Blue Jasmine and Kate Blanche had his drinking diet cokes

824
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:51,880
Speaker 1: and chain smoking, and she's got to come in and

825
00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:53,480
Speaker 1: do this scene where she comes apart and we have

826
00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:56,520
Speaker 1: this physical altercation in this house. Kate comes in and

827
00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:58,560
Speaker 1: she does the scene and what he's like, you know,

828
00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:00,840
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be at you with end here in

829
00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:03,480
Speaker 1: the scene and I'm just not buying it. I mean,

830
00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:08,640
Speaker 1: you're supposed to be coming apot completely coming Apot can

831
00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:10,520
Speaker 1: do it at the take. And she does the take

832
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:12,960
Speaker 1: and she just rings herself out. He's like, I'm just

833
00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:17,120
Speaker 1: not buying it. I'm really have to be just shattered

834
00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:20,240
Speaker 1: and you're broken into a mess. You're just a puddle

835
00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:23,799
Speaker 1: of your own loss significing. And she had smoking and

836
00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:26,239
Speaker 1: drinking the coffee and she comes in, she blows it

837
00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:31,719
Speaker 1: and I hate to be the bearer of bad. Yeah

838
00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:35,520
Speaker 1: that he just rings her out, rings. We turn around,

839
00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:37,720
Speaker 1: we do a scene, and he goes in this scene

840
00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:40,239
Speaker 1: say to her that you want to go back to

841
00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:43,600
Speaker 1: seeing that therapist of hers, uh, and just see some

842
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:45,880
Speaker 1: doctor's name. And I go and he's looking down at

843
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:47,840
Speaker 1: the floor and she's here and you're me, and he

844
00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:50,560
Speaker 1: goes just she ed lips some doctor's name and I go,

845
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:54,880
Speaker 1: Dr Fetterman. He went nothing funny. Yeah, like that's funny,

846
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:58,680
Speaker 1: no funny, like a whole other thing with everything you

847
00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:01,520
Speaker 1: know he's he's tough man. He's a tough he's a

848
00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:03,719
Speaker 1: tough dude. Now in the time we have left because

849
00:44:03,719 --> 00:44:05,360
Speaker 1: we are going to run out of time unfortunately. So

850
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:07,320
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about the HBO series.

851
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:09,920
Speaker 1: So I've so, I'm and this is a this is

852
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:11,520
Speaker 1: a true story. I'll tell it quickly. I mention me

853
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:16,360
Speaker 1: Gandelpheny's memorial service, Jimmy passes away. I love Jimmy. Jimmy

854
00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:19,160
Speaker 1: was everybody who knew Jimmy loved Jimmy. He's a real

855
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:24,640
Speaker 1: great guy, sweetheart and so talented, and um, sure he

856
00:44:24,719 --> 00:44:28,239
Speaker 1: passes away. They're gonna shelve that project. And as I'm

857
00:44:28,239 --> 00:44:31,480
Speaker 1: sitting there in the memorial services, Alien is behind me,

858
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:34,000
Speaker 1: sitting behind me that we're waiting for everybody to file in,

859
00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:37,320
Speaker 1: and I'm, for about fifteen seconds, I'm on the verge

860
00:44:37,360 --> 00:44:42,080
Speaker 1: of pitching myself to Zalien for Jimmy's part at Jimmy's

861
00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:50,640
Speaker 1: memorial service. Exactly. You know, I didn't do that, but

862
00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:52,759
Speaker 1: but so the whole thing goes away and then it

863
00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:55,839
Speaker 1: comes back and you are the star of well, I mean,

864
00:44:56,120 --> 00:44:58,200
Speaker 1: how did that happen? Steve wanted me to be in

865
00:44:58,239 --> 00:45:02,279
Speaker 1: his first movie searching for Bobby Fisher. So we've always liked,

866
00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:03,880
Speaker 1: you know, I know he liked my work and I

867
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:06,839
Speaker 1: liked him a lot, and I guess my name came

868
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:09,640
Speaker 1: up and he really responded to it, and my agent

869
00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:12,279
Speaker 1: talked to him and then we met and then he

870
00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:15,319
Speaker 1: told me that it was James. And I didn't know

871
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:18,400
Speaker 1: it at that time. And James was the lead in

872
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:20,520
Speaker 1: my movie Romance and Cigarettes, so I worked with James

873
00:45:20,600 --> 00:45:23,200
Speaker 1: two years on it. I also know him from the

874
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:25,760
Speaker 1: time he did You a play because he's dear friends

875
00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:27,960
Speaker 1: with my cousin Aida, and he's the one who helped

876
00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:31,799
Speaker 1: Castor in the Sopranos, and uh, I was very close

877
00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:34,920
Speaker 1: to James, and uh I really had a lot of

878
00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:37,560
Speaker 1: trepidation about it. And then I saw the pilot, which

879
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:40,399
Speaker 1: was much much longer, and James was only in it

880
00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:43,360
Speaker 1: for one little scene. Of course, he's still interesting with

881
00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:46,120
Speaker 1: a big beard and everything, and but he never talks

882
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:48,279
Speaker 1: to the guy. He just talks to the cop. And

883
00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:50,680
Speaker 1: I said, Okay, there's not that much of James that

884
00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:53,360
Speaker 1: I have to kind of not think about. It was

885
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:58,640
Speaker 1: a really challenging experience, but I got to work with

886
00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:01,680
Speaker 1: go Camp, who he did his first job with me,

887
00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:06,600
Speaker 1: Jeannie Berlin and Riz Ahmed, who's wonderful in the show

888
00:46:06,640 --> 00:46:09,040
Speaker 1: as a wonderful guy, and I just happened to really

889
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:12,000
Speaker 1: hit it off with him as as like people. I

890
00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:15,400
Speaker 1: think it really helped us in the scenes. Uh. But

891
00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:20,080
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's about the system. It's about racism,

892
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:22,880
Speaker 1: it's about the city, it's about you know, the criminal

893
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:25,600
Speaker 1: justice system. And when you read that article in New

894
00:46:25,680 --> 00:46:29,680
Speaker 1: Yorker about Caliph Breweder, like the kid who was accused

895
00:46:29,719 --> 00:46:32,000
Speaker 1: of stealing a backpack, you know, it's right on the money.

896
00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:35,520
Speaker 1: And uh, he was someone we actually wanted to meet

897
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:40,160
Speaker 1: and then he took his own life. Uh. But I

898
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:46,360
Speaker 1: was really, you know, deeply interested and affected by doing

899
00:46:46,400 --> 00:46:50,400
Speaker 1: something that I thought was a real fair representation. Uh.

900
00:46:50,440 --> 00:46:54,480
Speaker 1: And Steve was indefatigable in his pursuit of truth and

901
00:46:55,360 --> 00:46:59,360
Speaker 1: you know minutia in detail, and uh it was it

902
00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:02,000
Speaker 1: was a great you know, you know, you have to

903
00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:05,319
Speaker 1: be given an opportunity to do something, so I knew,

904
00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:08,440
Speaker 1: I said, this is a good opportunity, and uh, I

905
00:47:08,800 --> 00:47:11,839
Speaker 1: you know, I gave it, gave him my own What's

906
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:15,120
Speaker 1: funny how that, Jimmy, this is it's it's impossible to

907
00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:18,680
Speaker 1: compare people, and it's just it's it's a waste of time.

908
00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:20,920
Speaker 1: But you know, when he passed away, and Jimmy was

909
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:24,760
Speaker 1: somebody who had he had his signature, range and stamp

910
00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:26,759
Speaker 1: and persona and so so much of it obvious. He

911
00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:29,440
Speaker 1: dictated by one of the most successful TV shows ever.

912
00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:31,319
Speaker 1: I mean, you knew him right from the beginning, you know,

913
00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:33,120
Speaker 1: I mean you really remember, you get the show becomes

914
00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:34,719
Speaker 1: a hit and Greg Moser calls me on the phone.

915
00:47:34,719 --> 00:47:37,160
Speaker 1: I'm asleep. I flew in from l A and I'm

916
00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:40,000
Speaker 1: sound asleep and Moser calls me, and I asked at

917
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:42,319
Speaker 1: the phone. He literally goes, quick, who's the number one

918
00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:46,440
Speaker 1: actor on TV? And I literally go what? He goes,

919
00:47:46,440 --> 00:47:48,280
Speaker 1: who's the number one actor on television? Was the biggest

920
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:52,960
Speaker 1: star on television? I go Michael J. Fox and he

921
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:55,879
Speaker 1: has no You witty, and it's Jimmy Ken Delphini because

922
00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:57,839
Speaker 1: he just got nominated for an Emmy at that time,

923
00:47:57,840 --> 00:47:59,840
Speaker 1: and the show was really taken up. And here was

924
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:02,440
Speaker 1: of me, who had this small role in the play

925
00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:04,440
Speaker 1: and he went on to have this great, great where however,

926
00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:06,680
Speaker 1: and I want to just I'm gonna almost wrap it

927
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:08,960
Speaker 1: up here with saying this and that is what I

928
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:11,319
Speaker 1: love about that show and we're worked so great about

929
00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:16,319
Speaker 1: that show is that no one can replace someone. It's

930
00:48:16,320 --> 00:48:18,880
Speaker 1: not even about that, but when they look for somebody

931
00:48:18,920 --> 00:48:21,320
Speaker 1: who could create a character that could carry that show.

932
00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:25,759
Speaker 1: You did such a fantastic job and that show. I

933
00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:29,000
Speaker 1: loved watching you in that show. I'm so piste off

934
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:31,840
Speaker 1: and ended. I can't wait, I know. So the question obviously,

935
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:33,880
Speaker 1: is there a chance you might come back and do

936
00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:38,600
Speaker 1: another round? You know the potential. So the last thing

937
00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:41,239
Speaker 1: I want to ask you you you have such a

938
00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:44,840
Speaker 1: deep You're very soulful in the work you do. You're

939
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:48,880
Speaker 1: you're you're you're you're smart, and you're aware. You're so

940
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:51,200
Speaker 1: many things inside of your acting. There are so many

941
00:48:51,239 --> 00:48:53,880
Speaker 1: good things for people to be, And I'm wondering what

942
00:48:53,920 --> 00:48:55,680
Speaker 1: do you attribute that to? If you can say, are

943
00:48:55,680 --> 00:48:58,160
Speaker 1: you into meditation? Are you what do you like? How

944
00:48:58,160 --> 00:49:00,719
Speaker 1: do you how do you feed your health? I like

945
00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:03,680
Speaker 1: other people, you know, I mean like it's funny, you know,

946
00:49:03,719 --> 00:49:05,520
Speaker 1: when you asked me to do this, I was thinking,

947
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:07,840
Speaker 1: there's only a couple of people who've ever written me

948
00:49:08,040 --> 00:49:10,839
Speaker 1: a note as an actor and you're one of them,

949
00:49:11,239 --> 00:49:13,520
Speaker 1: like one of the three. You know, you wrote me

950
00:49:13,719 --> 00:49:16,319
Speaker 1: like a note after I did Quick Show. Yeah, and

951
00:49:16,560 --> 00:49:19,160
Speaker 1: you know, I like other people and I think I

952
00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:21,160
Speaker 1: think that's a good thing. I think, and that keeps

953
00:49:21,200 --> 00:49:23,839
Speaker 1: you fresh and alive. And if you're interested in other

954
00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:26,719
Speaker 1: people and working with other people, and I think you

955
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:29,279
Speaker 1: either you know, you know, curious about that or not,

956
00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:32,640
Speaker 1: because you know, sometimes one plus one can equal five,

957
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:35,680
Speaker 1: you know, you can, it can be a greater than

958
00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:38,920
Speaker 1: the sum of its parts. And that's what you know

959
00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:42,160
Speaker 1: interests me is to have encounters with people. And so

960
00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:44,759
Speaker 1: I don't know if I get that from my mom,

961
00:49:45,200 --> 00:49:48,239
Speaker 1: you know, my dad, you know. Uh, but I don't

962
00:49:48,239 --> 00:49:52,400
Speaker 1: take my opportunities lightly. I am very thankful when I

963
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:55,000
Speaker 1: get a really good opportunity. And I still am, I mean,

964
00:49:55,040 --> 00:49:58,920
Speaker 1: because I know how hard it is. You know, it's

965
00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:01,359
Speaker 1: a part of you. You feel like, yeah, I'm good,

966
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:02,960
Speaker 1: you know, when you're doing it. Then when it's over,

967
00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:05,160
Speaker 1: you're like, did I really do that? You know, did

968
00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:07,319
Speaker 1: I do okay? Or you know whatever. You know, it's

969
00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:09,440
Speaker 1: like and then it's kind of gone like you've never

970
00:50:09,480 --> 00:50:11,719
Speaker 1: done yeah, you know, it's like you're you're still in

971
00:50:11,760 --> 00:50:15,359
Speaker 1: the process of learning, and I think that's something that's good.

972
00:50:15,440 --> 00:50:20,200
Speaker 1: You know, an actor we can improve. Actually, you know

973
00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:25,440
Speaker 1: we're not like done when we're thirty out. I don't know.

974
00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:28,440
Speaker 1: I'm just beginning to edit it right now. And then

975
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:29,640
Speaker 1: what do you do? What do you do with the

976
00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:33,040
Speaker 1: film festivals? Well, you know, sometimes you can sell it

977
00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:35,440
Speaker 1: in advance. You know, there's people who want to see it,

978
00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:38,759
Speaker 1: and we've shown a little teaser and uh, you know,

979
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:43,080
Speaker 1: you go from down. Believe me, I've been down that road.

980
00:50:43,160 --> 00:50:48,320
Speaker 1: I have. I've lugged the film canisters around the country,

981
00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:50,680
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But that's okay. If there's

982
00:50:50,719 --> 00:50:53,640
Speaker 1: something that you really love, that's all right. I've done

983
00:50:53,640 --> 00:50:57,400
Speaker 1: it so uh but this case, I think we'll hopefully,

984
00:50:58,000 --> 00:51:01,319
Speaker 1: you know, make a nice cell litilm. We're looking forward

985
00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:03,040
Speaker 1: to see it. Thank you very much for thank you.

986
00:51:03,920 --> 00:51:15,560
Speaker 1: I think thank you want to thank you. Based on

987
00:51:15,719 --> 00:51:18,120
Speaker 1: his previous work, it seems safe to say John to

988
00:51:18,239 --> 00:51:22,720
Speaker 1: Touro is right. This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening

989
00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:23,600
Speaker 1: to here's the thing