WEBVTT - Julianne Moore 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.080 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing, 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:10.400 My chance to talk with artists, policymakers and performers, to 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:14.600 hear their stories. What inspired their creations, what decisions change 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:21.759 their careers, what relationships influenced their work. My guest today 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:25.680 is Julianne Moore. She's been nominated for an Academy Award 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.760 four times for Boogie Nights, The End of the Affair, 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:33.559 Far From Heaven, and The Hours. David Cronenberg, who directed 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:36.600 her recently and Maps to the Stars, said More is 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:41.160 her sweet, approachable self up until the moment the camera 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:45.040 starts rolling. Then she becomes quote this character that you 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:48.320 wouldn't want to spend any time with. Unquote. I have 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:55.400 a flu I need cigarettes American spirit and I needed 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:59.640 to pick up some prescriptions Avian Viking and say Alex 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:07.160 it's a lot. More plays troubled women with a complicated 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:13.440 mix of fierceness and vulnerability. I've had the pleasure of 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:17.760 working with her on two different projects recently, Instill Alice 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:22.680 More plays a linguistics professor diagnosed with Alzheimer's have good days, 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:27.800 bad days, and on my good days, I can you 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:31.920 know almost pass for a normal person on thirty Rock 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.560 More was my character's high school crush, Boston native Nancy Donovan. 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:45.199 I'll give you two words, four final offer. I'll wait, 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:54.640 not forever, I'll try wicked hard. Julianne Moore's resume is 0:01:54.680 --> 0:02:00.320 an actor's wish list, with films in every genre horror, suspense, roman, ants, 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.960 and comedy. Her acting range more than demonstrates that she's 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:08.840 comfortable with change. That flexibility springs in part from her childhood. 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:13.760 You'd be somewhere a year, maybe two, sometimes three, but Germany, 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.920 we were in Panama, we were in Alabama. That worked 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:18.640 for you. When you look back on it now, you 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:22.560 know it's weird. Yeah, it's weirdness so good but not 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:25.120 so bad either, you know. I mean you can't at 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.280 least your father had a job exactly looking on the broadside. 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:30.720 But it's true. Yeah, you know. So we're all kind 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:33.320 of a collection of our experiences. And in the sense 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:35.600 it really gave me something. I had an understanding of 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.280 where I wanted to be. You in terms of what 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:40.240 you do for a living, I think so you were 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.120 never there long enough to connect to people. Did you 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:44.440 get into some kind of I didn't get into any trouble. 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:48.320 I was, I'm a very good girl, Like very good, Yeah, 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:51.000 you only played bad people in movies. That's how you 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:54.160 get that real if you're very sweet, good girl. But no, 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:56.400 I think I think it's pretty common that actors come 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.639 from an itinerant background, you know, creatures kids and IBM 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.280 kids to military kids and um. For some reason, I 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:06.160 think it teaches you that behavior is mutable, that behavior 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:08.760 is not character, and once you figure that out, you're like, well, 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.079 that means that I can behave anyway. I want that 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.799 people are choosing to behave certain ways. Its speech is 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:17.080 a choice, and movement is a choice, and accents are 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:19.360 all choices. So it's an interesting thing to understand. I 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:21.760 think at a very young age, I lived in the 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:25.200 same town my entire life. Why are you an enctor them? 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.720 That's interesting. It just had to do with having to 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:29.760 entertain your stuff. I grew up in an era where 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.959 there was no iPads, and there was no HBO, and 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.320 there was no storytelling, and no one would let you 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:38.920 watch television. We had a television, but it was when 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:40.960 I grew up with the age of like Fantasy Island 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:44.200 and Love Bow Show. They were okay, But my point 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:50.040 being is that that idea of storytelling, playing voices, dialects, 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:52.120 watching movies and remembering every line in the movie and 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:53.800 acting out the movies. That kind of think that was 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:55.880 really a big part of my cho That's interesting, but 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:57.400 we didn't know I lived in the same time my 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.200 whole life. Well, you know, it's interesting what you say 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.400 about narrative. That's what it is for me too. I 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:03.280 was a big reader, you know, and that's what I 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:04.800 did from a really early age. And I was that 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.320 kid who won the library contest every summer. You know, 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:09.520 how many books can you read the library? And would 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:11.720 say to me, you know, you can't take out twelve 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:14.960 books at a time. And I was like, why not, 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.680 why not? I'll read them. I've probably known so I 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:19.479 would do. I just read them, read and read and read. 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:21.800 And so with that sense of narrative, did you know 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:23.560 then you were going to end up doing what you're doing. No, 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.760 I thought it'd be a librarian, you did, Yeah, well, 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.000 I thought did that to change? You know? I thought 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.599 I would be a doctor, a lawyer. I thought I 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:33.719 would go to graduate school because my parents wanted that 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:37.520 for us. Um I started doing plays after school in 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:39.479 the sixth grade, because I couldn't do anything else. I 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:41.440 tried out for drill team. I didn't make it. I 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:44.479 didn't ever make cheerleading. I couldn't do sts. I just 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:49.840 wasn't me, You're too good. And I couldn't dance. I 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.320 couldn't do any of that stuff. So I went out 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.719 for the play and I got parts in the place 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:57.479 and I was like, oh, this is fun, you know, 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.200 And and that was my after school thing. And then 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.040 I had a teacher when we moved to Germany so 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:04.440 named Roby Taylor, who said, you know, you can do 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:06.920 this for a living. And I was like, oh, well, 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:08.760 I didn't know anybody who did. I never been to 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.680 a play except for high school players or community theater. 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:14.440 The people in the movies and on TV didn't seem real. 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:16.680 So she hand to me a copy of Dramatics magazine 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:18.479 and said, you can choose a school. And I came 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:20.680 home to my parents, and you know, it was seventeen, 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:25.000 and said, I'm going to be an actor. Who would 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:26.800 you tell? My mom and my dad at dinner, and 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.360 my brother and my sister were there too. My mother said, oh, Julie, 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:32.680 did everybody in the family look at you like that 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:37.200 was like, yeah, oh no, Well, my sister was so supportive. 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.520 She she's a year and three days younger than I am, 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:41.880 and she what does she do. She's a lawyer, but 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.880 she actually works in real estate. And my brother is 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:47.600 in advertising. Yeah, he's a writer. He's a novelist and 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:49.840 he works in advertising. But you know, my sister used 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:51.839 to help me with all my lines and stuff. She'd 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:53.920 run lines with me, and so she kind of always knew. 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:55.680 I think that it was a possibility. One of your 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:59.560 parents more supportive than the other. They were equally aghast 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:05.560 and yet equally supportive because we lived was in a 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.560 gas phase, and then they were like when you're a 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.400 couple of Golden globes. We're living in Germany. And I 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:13.440 filled out all these applications. These are the days too, 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.039 when you filled out your own college application. So I 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:20.080 applied it with the pen Yeah, Carnegie Mellon, Boston University, 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.520 and by accident, the graduate program at m y U. 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:25.200 Because I didn't read the paper, I guess. So my 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.240 mother and I flew to New York City where I 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:29.360 auditioned for those schools. And when I went to my 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:31.680 U one they were like, how old are you? Eighteen? 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:34.719 And they said, you know, this is a graduate program. 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:39.760 We don't accept people out of high school. So they's 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:41.920 try and then so I, you know, I just for 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:43.599 the other two schools and got into both of them 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.760 and chose Boston because I wanted to go to Boston 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:51.159 rather than lived there before. So you don't have roots 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:55.120 in an even though people think you don't. Think yeah, yeah, 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:56.880 because I think you could be up and Up lounge 0:06:56.880 --> 0:06:59.400 in Kemall Square. That's where you worked when you with school. 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:04.320 You went to be you did four years for solid years. Yeah, 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:06.800 that was the program. It was good. You know, it 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:10.000 was an undergraduate theater program. When you were done with it, 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:12.400 did you feel that you that it helped you that 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:15.320 you needed or could you have bypassed those four years, 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:17.400 you know, and still ended up where you are. That's 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:19.720 a very interesting question because I was for some reason 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:21.360 thinking about a friend of mine who didn't go to 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:23.320 drama school in the car on the way here, and 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.000 I wonder what it was like for her, because she 0:07:26.720 --> 0:07:28.720 hasn't seemed to need it, And there are a lot 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.280 of things that I didn't drama school that I think 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:33.480 I didn't need either. But then in retrospect, I'm like, 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.520 you know, it's helpful. Did you go drama school? Where'd 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.720 you go? And you? Okay? Did you go straight on 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.680 to search for tomorrow? Then the doctors? I can't believe 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.560 you just said that. I can't believe why because I 0:07:45.640 --> 0:07:47.200 have in front of me. I wasn't going to go there. 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:52.760 Right off that window. You were Fanny and Sabrina Hughes. Franny, 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:56.600 not Fanny, Franny and Sabrina. Someone else was Fanny Hughes. 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:00.600 You were Franny, Yeah, exactly, I know. I mean, couldn't 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:05.280 have been Fancy or for dirt was Fanny's you were? 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:08.320 You were Fanny and Sabini used on World Turns and 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.400 before that you did Edge. I did Edge? Were you 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:12.480 on Edge? See if you're on soaps only when you're 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:18.400 on soap? Can you say Edge, World Turns days days? 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:20.880 That's so funny because I was on Edge when they 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:24.000 were on East forty nine Street and that really really 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:28.720 tiny studio. Remember now, Rachel Ray shoots there really are gone. 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.280 I know they're gone, They're gone gone. This is a 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.760 couple of his four soaps left, and I worked with people. 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.640 The guy that played my dad, Um Don Hastings was 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.240 he was from there. He started that show. He started 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:43.679 on that show two months before I was born, so 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:45.839 he had been on that show my entire lifetime when 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:47.959 I got on, and he when the show was gone, 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:49.280 he was still on it too. He was the most 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.320 wonderful guy. So funny. But do you feel in some ways? 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:54.199 I mean, in some ways, I don't want to be exaggerate, 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:56.320 but I wasn't doing a soap like some of the 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.320 most honest work you've ever done. Absolutely, because you have 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:03.520 nothing to help you. No. No, there's no dialogue. I 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:07.920 mean the dialogue is so rough, so basic. All you're 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:11.320 doing is is establishing story. I used to do what 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:13.760 they called emotional I called it in any emotional applicate, 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:17.319 where if I had to say something that was really 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:20.240 just plot oriented, I try to like cry on top 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.199 of it or laugh on top of it or anything 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.120 just to make it mean something. Right, Yeah, because it's 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.880 all exposition. Well, I read somewhere where you said that 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:33.320 doing the soap gave you experience and confidence discipline. It 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.320 was disciplined and confidence because I loved that. Yeah, because 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:38.680 no one, no one has time to help you. You know, 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:41.200 the directors are working really fast, the writers are working fast, 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.760 the other actors are working really quickly. You're just on 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:47.800 your own. Remember Marissa Tommy, she played my best friend Marcy. 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.760 She said, we got into the we got into the 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:53.040 elevator and she looked at me and she goes, Remember 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.720 l is for lunch because that was where the lobby was, 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.320 and so in that cafeteria and that was like the 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:03.439 best piece of rise because it was remember hell is 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:05.720 for Lunch. And then we did a scene together and 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:07.839 it went by so quickly. You know, we didn't want 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.040 wanted the have takes sort and because you feel terrible, 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:14.000 don't you, I said, She goes, it happens all the time. 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:16.680 You'll get used to it. Yeah, you're gonna walk ahead 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:19.400 from the crappy two out of five days of the week. 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:21.960 I just remember when I did that show. You had 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.680 to show up on time. I had to know your dialogue, 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:27.880 and no matter how excruciating it was, if you didn't, 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:29.319 they fired you. You had to be there at seven 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:31.240 o'clock in the morning and rehearse you were on camera. 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.320 I would have sometimes thirty pages of dialogue a day 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:35.079 for three it was like, you know, for three years. 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.160 So it was like a boom boom boom, boom boom, 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.520 and then you finished maybe seven thirty eight nine. If 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.160 you go late, you know, it was how long did 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:45.480 you do this? So for the World Turns was your contract? 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:47.760 By contract? It was a three year contract for three years. 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:51.400 CBS they gave they would do three years, the ABC 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:53.559 once would do two years and stuff. But they never 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:55.280 gave me an option, although they had the option to 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:59.760 fire me at any time. And when you finished what 0:10:59.880 --> 0:11:03.280 you you? I went to the Guthrie Theater actually and 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:08.400 I did Hamlet with Hamlet. I saw you. You did 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:11.480 not I saw you. Come on. I want to know something? Yeah, 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:14.240 I can tell you right now. I did Loot with 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.640 him on Broadway in six You did it with Jelco. 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:22.120 You did the show the following year, in eight seven seven. 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:26.000 I flew to Minneapolis to see I saw you do. 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:28.600 I saw you do Hamlet at the at the Gut 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.480 three Well. I was in the Hamlet. I was a feeling. 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:33.319 I saw you. What did you think? I thought it 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.120 was fantastic. Do you'll remember me? Do you want to 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:39.600 know something? I do? And gelko Evonick you were very young, 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:44.000 you were child and Shelkovoni. He was probably one of 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.000 the best Hamlets I've ever seen because you didn't have 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:49.040 to push. He seems like a very dark, kind of complicted, 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.679 seemed like a very young man, you know. I think 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:53.520 that was interesting that both Jelco and I are very 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.880 very small, very slender and tiny, and we looked like 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.840 teenagers kind of, you know. So who directed Garland Wright, 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.160 who I adored. He passed away, but boy, I loved Garland. 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.439 He was great. It was a really interesting production. Was 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:08.640 the thing that people strained for when they play Hammot 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.920 that he has and she did the Gut three and 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:13.960 then and I went to the I'm going to Actors 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.760 Theater of Louisville and did some plays there and Arthur 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.559 Coppet play and and then there wasn't an idea that 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:21.400 you want to kind of strap yourself into the rocket 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:25.000 sled here and get going l A TV movies now now, 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.120 I mean I just did also worked, I worked at 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:28.600 the Public, I did some place, and then I met 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.360 Andrei Gregory and I did Vanya and all along though 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.240 I was I was auditioning for stuff, and I got 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.199 TV movies and things, and but it wasn't until I 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.920 was twenty nine that I got my first movie, which 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.320 was an HBO movie called Cast a Deadly Spell. And 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.240 then I did Hand the Rucks the Cradle, and then 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:47.120 I did Shortcuts, and I did Safe and then and 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.200 then my movie career didn't really start happening till I 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.439 was thirty, So for it was just theater. Shortcuts was 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:54.320 the biggest break you out at that time. Well, what 0:12:54.440 --> 0:13:00.720 happened was I did Shortcuts, Bonnie and forty seconds Reason Safe. 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.200 So it's kind of the beginning of the independent theater movement, 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.280 if you will. And they all came out within the 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:09.559 same year. And I went from being an actress who 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.240 had no profile at all in film, none because I 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:14.320 couldn't I couldn't get arrested doing movies. I mean, I 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:18.800 would never get cast. I don't know, you know, honestly, 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.320 I would just didn't get him. I didn't get him. 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:23.760 And in the eighties I can remember, I mean, I 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:25.520 just for a ton of things. Remember audition for the 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:27.480 lists of merchant Ivory movies. I always wanted to get 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:29.120 one of those because those were such a big deal. 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:33.320 I would action for big comedies. I just didn't get them. 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.160 And I was like, you know, I remember the same thing. 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:37.920 You'd be sitting there going, man, I want to give 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:40.400 me one of them John Sales movies. Why I need 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:42.880 to be one of those auditioned for him constantly. I 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:46.000 never bought them. I actually got really close to a 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:48.960 few things, but I never got anything. Where I did 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.200 really well was in television. I kept like booking TV things, 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:54.480 but they would put you on hold, and then they 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:56.800 do do pilots for them, And that's the other thing 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.880 to my pilots holding deals, they would wouldn't get picked up. 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.800 Whenever anybody says how do you plan your career? You know, 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:05.959 I mean you left because we don't have any control. 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.559 There's the thing about it is you seem like somebody 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.199 who's had a plan. Once you started making films, where 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:13.880 the things you just didn't do anymore. Did you try 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:15.480 to say, I'm going to put all my eggs in 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:18.120 this basket. No. Most of the time we just do 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:21.560 with what you're offered. You do the best of what 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.240 you're what you're offered. You know. I think after I 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:26.960 was on the soap, I did you know, I didn't 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:28.280 spend a lot of money. I kept my money in 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:30.000 the banks, so then I spent some time doing theater 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:31.840 because I really felt like I wanted to do that, 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:33.840 you know, to comparing yourself. Yeah, I wanted to do 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:35.840 that kind of stuff. And then I would do some 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:37.640 TV movies and try to get you know, and then 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:39.720 the holding deals to that. You make money doing that, 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:44.240 But in between short cuts and playing Sarah Palin, it's 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:46.000 not a lot of TV in between there. Once you 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.440 start making movies big time, you're making movies. Yes, that's 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.280 you don't go back to TV very much at all. No, No, 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.160 because also it's kind of it changed, you know, because 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:56.280 there was a period to where because now now it's 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:57.680 sort of like called you know, now it's the golden 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.240 needs with television. Now there there's such kind of um 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.720 interesting quality stuff until you know, great writing, great acting, 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.000 and you know. So I think things have changed, But 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:08.680 there was a period when TV was very basic. Network 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.160 stuff was not terribly interesting. What was it like when 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:15.000 you met Altman? Oh Man, he came to see Vanya, 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:16.720 you know, when we were doing Uncle Vanya, and he 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:18.600 sat there and I couldn't believe he was there. I 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.600 don't even know if I said anything to him that day, 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:23.680 because he was He's the reason that I feel like 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.160 I'm a film actor because when I went to school 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:28.360 in Boston, they were all the revival houses. To remember 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:33.400 revival houses. This is like Grandpa, Grandma remember that, remember 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:38.680 take your walk? Where would you? I went to the 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:42.920 Brittle Theodore in Harvard Square, Hard Square. So the Brittle 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:44.640 was a revival house and used to have all these 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:49.040 different weird double bills and stuff. And I saw Three 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:52.960 Women Altman's Three Women. And somehow I made it through 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:56.920 the seventies without seeing Nashville or or Bruster McCloud or 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.400 Came Mrs Miller any of those movies. So I watching 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:02.840 mash So I'm watching this movie and I was like, 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.680 who's this? Who made this movie? This movie is incredible. 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.560 And it was the first time, as a young person 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.040 that I noticed directorial hand, you know where I was like, 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.360 this is a specific kind of storytelling and it's eliciting 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.720 specific kind of acting. I kind of walked out of 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:19.840 there and I thought I want to do that, And 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.080 of course it wasn't in the realm of possibility for 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:23.960 me the first ten years of my career. He came, 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:26.920 so he's Alvania and then he met me on the 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.600 player which I desperately wanted. I remember sitting there talking 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:31.600 to him. He said, I'm not going to give this 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:36.560 to you. It's like okay, and that was it. I 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:38.880 was devastated. And then I got this phone call out 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:43.480 of the blue for shortcuts. Hi, it's Bob Aaltman. Do 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:45.960 you remember me? Know who I am? And I was. 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:47.600 I thought was somebody playing a trick on me? I 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:49.160 really did. I didn't think it was possible that he 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.520 you know, that's when we had hard lines to pick 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:54.840 up your phone and he said, I have this movie 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.440 that I want you to do. I said, I'll do it. 0:16:57.800 --> 0:16:59.440 I'll do it because no, I want you to read 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:01.240 it first and then you can tell me if you 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:03.520 want to do it. You know. But it was really, 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:07.000 I mean really, really a dream come true to work 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.679 with him. What an amazing man. Did you make a 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.600 movie with him? No? You know, from what I could see, 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.399 he was someone who listen. It's no secret I think 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:17.800 when you're in the business that we're out of it, 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.520 but especially when you're in the business that casting and 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.560 effective casting is six or more of a director's job. 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:26.480 They want to just bring people to the party who 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.280 know how to hit the ball, and he was someone 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.719 who I'll never forget, someone said to me. They were 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:35.320 all gathered there in this air sense rehearsals. Some of 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.639 them were able to attend it somewhere, and Bob just 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.240 turned everybody and said, uh anooka May was in it 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.719 in Australiani and so Fielder. And he would looked at 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:45.280 them and he was like, now a nook, you just 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:47.280 go ahead and speak French. You speak French if you 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:51.720 want to, or English or Italian Marcello, say whatever you 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:54.480 want to say. Y'all, just say anything you want to say, 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:56.439 and speak in whatever language you want to speak in 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.639 and I'll fix it in the edit, sub titler or whatever. 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:05.280 He seems so uncontrolling he was. The thing about Bob 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.960 was that you couldn't do anything wrong, so it made 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:10.320 you feel like you could do anything, and you would 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:12.680 do anything for him. You'd be like, oh, what can 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:14.199 I do? What can I do? It's like whatever you 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:16.680 want to do. But it wasn't like it was chaos. 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:19.920 You know, he's set up. It was like there was 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.639 a corral that all the actors were in was his corral. 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:25.919 And even with an improv he'd say, okay, you know 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:27.640 improv this. He said that a let's do it again, 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:29.840 but this time you just say that part. So he 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:31.880 was in complete control of it. But he really made 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.680 you feel so free and so love non judgmental. Yeah, 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:38.600 there's a quote I read about you where someone says 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.239 they cast you in shortcuts and you were total unknown. Right, 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.679 She's a total unknown, they said casting. I thought, and 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:47.560 I think you've been working for most ten years. For 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:50.840 ten years. However, within that cast, I was the only 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:54.840 person with thirty people and who wasn't famous. So it 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:58.240 isn't amazing how in the movie business, if you haven't 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:01.399 done a movie, any of us have seen exactly what 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:05.679 changed if you did that film? Did you change personally? 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:11.360 Did I change? I'm ugly and I have no talents, right, 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.679 and now i'm and then I and then I was, 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:18.280 and then I became yeah, talented and I know everything 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:21.320 we know. It was interesting and I think this is 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:23.840 and it's actually very similar to what I felt growing 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.800 up as a kid. You would be in one situation. 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:28.680 You'd be at a school and maybe you would be 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:30.760 a kid who wasn't very popular and no one thought 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:32.880 you were very interesting or something, and then you'd moved 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.159 to another school. That's school everybody would think you were 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:38.400 interesting for some reason. It would just happen, and you think, like, well, 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:41.359 I was the same person. I haven't changed that much. 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.000