WEBVTT - Ep68 - Jason Clarke / "Chappaquiddick" 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:18.040 M M. You're listening to playback a Variety I Heart 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:22.239 Radio podcast. I'm your host, Variety Awards editor Chris Tapley. 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:25.640 I'm talking to actor Jason Clark today, who you may 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.240 have just seen in mud Bound if you caught that 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.880 Oscar nominated film last year. He's starring as Ted Kennedy 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.000 this year in Chap a Quittic, a story of the 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:38.199 late politician's fateful nineteen nine car accident on Martha's Vineyard. 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:41.400 We talked about that and preparing for such a psychologically 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.720 complex role on today's show. So sit tight. This is 0:00:44.760 --> 0:01:01.040 playback mentioned. Oh there was one. Oh go, thank you, 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:03.000 So if you want to sit over here, you can 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:06.479 sit out. No, actually we don't have yet back. Thank you, 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:12.039 thank you, Joe, Thanks thanks Dan, all right, all right, 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:18.120 oh wait, where's my computer? Dad? Thank you to what's 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:25.640 your name? What's his name? Names? Foster? Sorry, Foster? Nice? Yeah, 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:30.640 like the beer like Kim a shoemaker in London. It's uh, 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:35.039 kind of a Charles Foster Kane thing in Kane deal. 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:39.520 So you enjoying it? You can't not enjoy it. That's awesome. 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:43.160 I mean, you know it's exhausting at times, obviously, but 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.320 full on weekend this weekend with dude, which is my wife. 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:49.280 She's about to get birth and she's a little bit six, 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.000 so it's like she did some rest and he was 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.160 just you know, he's just up and at it, and 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.600 he's just he's also a bit, you know, because another 0:01:57.640 --> 0:01:59.480 baby coming along. He feels a bit you know, he 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:01.360 can't stantly with mom or mom can't sleep in his 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:04.160 bed or should put a bed sometimes and her wakemes 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:05.960 he's not there, it's me there, you know. And yeah, 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:08.000 so he's find it a bit strange like that. So 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:10.760 it's just been if if he can't sit on anymore 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:12.800 that there's another bait. You know, you can feel it something. 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.360 Oh yeah, yeah, he's a little special time. That's the 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.120 way our cat was. The cat could tell there was 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:27.040 this go on. All right. Uh So with these mikes, 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:28.280 if you can, if you're able to lean in a 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:32.040 little bit like this, that'd be great. Yeah, and we're 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:36.280 up and running. So let's go. We've got Jason Clark 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:40.120 here today. Jason is the you've seen him and stuff 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:41.680 like Everest, which, by the way, I want to talk 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.079 to you about Everest in a minute. That movie was 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:45.720 great because it made me feel like I didn't have 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.360 to go climb Everest like I did him, As Climb 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:50.680 has actually said, it was the most realistic that scene 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.320 of you know, their expedition to Everest in terms of 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.080 being on the mountain. Yeah, I felt, you know, satisfied. 0:02:56.120 --> 0:03:01.320 I don't have to go do that now, Terminator. I 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:02.640 don't need to go to Evers to know that. It's 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:06.320 called the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Great 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:09.359 Gas zero Dark thirty mud Bound last year, and we're 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:11.359 talking to him today because the chap of Quittic, which 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:14.040 is a great film which we're going to dive into 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:15.880 in just a moment. But I actually wanted to start 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.040 by wrapping up last year for you a little bit. 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:19.679 When the mud Bound, I mean that was a long 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:22.560 haul from sun Dance January all the way through the 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:26.440 Awards season. D gave that impassioned speech at the Spirit 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:29.760 Awards and then of course the Oscars. Did you go 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.320 to the Oscars? Went to the Oscars? Okay, uh, you 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:33.760 know what was that night? Like? What was it like 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.640 wrapping up that long haul for that movie and particularly 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.680 just that speech that you were there for when I 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:41.560 when when I went up to give that speech. Behind 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:43.880 the mic, you can't hear what's going on. So I'm 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:47.240 standing there and I can see D's getting into it. 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:48.800 I want you, i know, or a bit too to 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:53.280 know when she's actually switched right on, and um, I 0:03:53.280 --> 0:03:55.160 can hear bits some pieces of it. And then it 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:59.240 wasn't too afterwards that I actually went through and read 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:00.960 it on a piece of paper, and then you know, 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:02.520 people were talking about it. We came off stage, I 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:04.680 knew that she said something. And then and then I actually, 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:06.920 you know, I watched it on a video that you 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.000 know that the following day. I mean, you know, I 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:12.480 always expect D too come up with something intelligent and 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:16.479 from the heart and that is relevant, and so I was. 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.279 I was very happy for her that she decided to, 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.000 you know, put words to her thoughts and tell a 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:24.599 whole bunch of people. We had her on the show 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:27.400 last year actually, or last year earlier in the year 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:32.080 January or so. She's great. She really had strong really 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:36.280 just you know what was just that full experience of mud, 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.400 because it is a full experience that's like you know, 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:42.280 you've made it well, it even goes back to really 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.680 before when it started, when you know, I mean a 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.000 lot of these independent films now, and that was a 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:49.640 big film, big cast in terms of just numbers and 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:52.440 all that locations and shooting days in war War War 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:56.960 two and spent ten years or fifteen years, um. So 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:59.320 it was touch and go right to the very very 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:01.320 end in term so trying to make that budget work, 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.920 the pages work. It was stressful, particularly for the producers, 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:09.880 you know, for the actors involved, and everybody really did 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:13.160 literally and figuratively have to come together to to to 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:15.359 be able to shoot that film to begin with, you know. 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:18.839 So that was the lead up to it, um before 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:20.479 we shipped out to New Orleans and the shoot was 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.520 you know, it's brutal in in New Orleans that time 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.520 of the year, particularly on the cruise. I mean, you 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:28.200 know you're out there and we were out there and 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.320 there was no where. There was no shade, you know, 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:33.400 for the for the grips, the gaffers, know, the prop department, everyone, 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:36.800 everyone was working very very hard time. It was summer. 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:39.560 It was like it was a bit of something, you know, 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:41.200 and then you get the big reins. I mean sometimes 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.040 you's got to shut down because as an electrical storm 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:47.400 coming in. But but the heat was was was intense. Yeah, 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.640 well the Oscars, you know the Oscars. Yet I still 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.560 from still Mary seeing that song, Yeah, I went. I 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.080 actually else for two reasons. But I want to see 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:57.719 Mary sing that live because I love that song. And 0:05:57.720 --> 0:05:59.600 I thought such a you know, like an old, good, 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.039 old an acting theater ensemble that you know, one of 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:05.839 our main actresses had written and performed so just happened 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:08.039 to be one of the great checkers ever. So I 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:09.880 loved seeing that. I thought, she just I mean, you 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.640 can see what that woman can do. I mean, my god, 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:14.760 she can sing. And whether you were there now I 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:16.719 wasn't there actually was. And I went to see Gary 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:20.560 oldman when you know, he was my drama school and 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:22.279 you know, and going into drums where he was the 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:25.400 guy that we all used to you know, that's the 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.600 man that was the guy that was you know. We 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:34.840 watch his performances performance, I mean the first movement Gary 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.200 on playing of the Apes. I insisted that we that 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.000 we do the photo of him with Joel d and 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:46.359 as as um what's his namese other character's name, the 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:48.560 one Alfred Molina. I come from with a character's name, 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:50.800 but you know I was Alfred and Gary was it. 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:52.240 And I just sitting out to three or four my 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.880 friends from drama school. You know you heard that. It 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:57.080 was just it was one of those wonderful, funny things. 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:58.680 I loved him and he was I was very happy 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:00.480 to be there when he won. He's of the greatest 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:03.839 actors I've ever seen on Sally Lloyd. Yeah, absolutely truly. 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.800 Uh speaking of that actually, uh you know, also from 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:09.400 last year was War for the Planet of the Apes. 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.000 What do you think of where Matt took that final 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:15.360 chapter of the of his trilogy where I guess it 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:17.520 became his trilogy and started with Rupert But you know, 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.400 it really did. I mean he made three films. I 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.800 mean he made but there was three, and I thought 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:27.400 it was I thought it was wonderful. I mean it 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.920 felt like, you know, the Sopranos. I love the ending 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.120 of the Sopranos. I love the ending of of what 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:36.120 Matt did. You know He's um, you know, and then 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:37.960 he's doing Batman. I mean, he's the right guy for it. 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.280 He's he has a depth in his simplicity at the 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.520 same time, and that's exactly what it went. I mean, 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:49.840 it moved you as well as it felt like the 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.200 ending of something. It completed it in some kind of way, 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:55.800 you know, did did as he reached out to you 0:07:55.840 --> 0:08:00.560 to play Batman. Yet let's break is getting ready to 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.960 knock on my door. I love Matt. We had him 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:06.400 on the show, on the show. All these people we've 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:08.960 had on the show. It's kind of awesome. Yeah, let's 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:11.559 talk about some great people. You really are. It's awesome, dude, 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:16.320 Like my job is ridiculous, so chap Aquittic. This movie 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:19.080 premiered at Toronto right last year, trying to film festivals 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:20.920 about the time I saw it. I think this movie 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:25.520 is great. You play Ted Kennedy and and obviously the 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.720 episode with the car and the chap Equittic bridge and 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.400 all of that. And before we get into the kind 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:34.160 of the serious matters, this Massachusetts accent you always have 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.520 to talk to actors about that. Is it Is it 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:38.360 as tricky as they say? I mean, is it a 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:42.200 weird place to get into? Yeah, but it's one of 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.360 the great accents, Like it's a clear cut, yeah, you 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:47.560 know sound. I mean, Kennedy is in a different sound 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:48.720 of that. But you've got to be able to do 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:53.160 Massachusetts in New England for starters, and and it's anytime 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:57.680 you get a wonderful, strong voice. It adds to the character. 0:08:57.720 --> 0:08:59.960 You know, it gives you some idea of where they're 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:02.320 energy lies, you know, you know, the different types of 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:04.800 people over that, you know. I mean, America's wonder what's 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.079 got so many different localizers. So it doesn't have many 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:10.160 different accents in England hundreds of them, but America's got 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.439 a bunch too. And and I've always loved that was 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:14.720 one of the first jobs in Rhode Island, and you know, providence, 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.680 and and and so to go back to it, but 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.120 to do it for a full fourteen hour or fifteen 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.480 now a day is yeah, it hurts. This movie is 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.600 it's it's about human frailty. You know, it's about like 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.360 the corruption of that moral compass. I mean, when you're 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:34.800 watching him try to salvage things, it makes you cringe. 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.520 I mean throughout really. I mean that talk about that 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.280 quality of the script when you read it, and that 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:41.880 quality in the making of the movie, because it's got 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.440 to be like a tight rope walk to pull that 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.320 kind of an atmosphere off but also not make you 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.320 hate the guy fully. You know. It's just it's just 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.360 this interesting balance, right, So it is I mean, that 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:56.440 was one of the toughest things, you know, when I 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:01.000 decided I wanted to do this was that. And for 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.040 every you know, the directors that we then talked to, 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.240 was that, how do you how do you follow a 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:10.760 lead character when he commits a heinous act or crime 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:15.000 very early on? And it is very because you don't 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.079 want to hate the person, but you don't always want 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:22.200 to you know, sentimentalize it or re rewrite in the script. 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:24.680 Stuck to the facts. And the more we went down 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.680 that road and examine them through books and publications and 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:29.400 court records, it was you know, they were pretty close, 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:34.960 and they didn't sensationalize, you know, the the sensational staff 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:40.320 of like the affair and that. But two you what 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:42.400 what you said is correct? The frailty, what's your man? 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:49.840 What's your man? Be responsible for his own moral corruption, 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.520 for his own moral destruction, almost you know, to save 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:55.040 him something. We all want to live. We want to 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.600 save ourselves. You know, it's natural for any man to 0:10:57.679 --> 0:10:59.920 kind of or any woman, any person to want to 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:03.680 come up and grab air and breathe and live and survive. Um, 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.720 he has many, many opportunities ted to be true to 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:10.080 the truth and his soul, and he keeps taking these 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:14.800 small little diversions, which then I think John is a filmmaker, 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:16.880 is shown lead to you know, even without giving away 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:18.960 too much, you know, it changes the way you feel 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.560 about the two thousand and eight speech at the Democratic Convention. 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:24.880 You know, there's no getting away from what Ted did, 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:28.880 there's no getting away from but you know, to sit 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:32.760 inside that week or ten days as he slowly goes 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:36.280 into this rabbit hole and takes so many different paths, 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:37.960 and to sit there, you know, we want to bring 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:40.520 an intimacy to that so that you could actually see 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:43.800 that there is not some great, big, powerful machinations. That's 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.960 not something it's it's it's personal responsibility. At the end 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:49.160 of the day, I think for anything and everyone, it 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:53.600 is personal responsibility. And to to understand that choice, you 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.440 have to be very close to Ted, you know. You know, 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:59.160 and that was the about Love Kennedy. So you're always 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:02.319 at a distance to Kennedy, you know, that's the Kennedy's 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:04.719 and you're never going to totally know anybody to be 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:06.760 walked a mile in their shoe, you know, And we 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:08.600 wanted to kind of give it a sense of that 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:12.280 of walking a mile intense shoes, so that you could 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:17.600 understand that how this happens and why it happens. You know, 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.040 it's very easy to dimiss, dismiss something very simple like 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:21.800 at the beginning and say, you know when he says 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:23.559 I'm not going to be president, and go, oh my god, 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:27.079 what a cheap, you know, bullshit line, and it is, 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.760 there's no denying that. But you also through this whole story, 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:32.160 and I think the world we live in now you 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.120 understand the magnitude of what that means, not just to you, 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.640 but to so many people, family, friends, history, past, the 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:42.160 world at large, even um. And so you know that 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.080 that moral journey is the heart of the fraility of 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:47.760 the human soul and spirit. I mean, there's nothing wrong 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:49.800 with wanting to live. We want to live, yeah, And 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.760 there's there's so I mean, there's so much complexity and 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.800 to mention even beneath that, because it's not just a 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.920 guy who did something horrible and tries to cover it up. 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:00.720 I mean, there's a reason he's trying to deal with 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:02.920 it in that way. It's because of what ways on him. 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:06.440 It's because of the external forces and of time. Literally, 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:08.160 you know, you swim around and that in that pool, 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.480 you try and find her in the ocean, you can't. 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.520 Time passes, and you're exhausted your backs because you broke 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:16.160 your back from the plane crash. You're lying on the 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.000 grass all of a sudden, half an hour ago. And 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.599 then the mind kicks in, you know, And then and 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:23.240 then of course it's natural to go to whatever place. 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:24.720 I mean, these are things that when I was trying 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:26.640 to get ready for this role, I wanted to explore 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.520 that there's something you can see the exploration on screen, 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.360 so that you the audience, can explore it as well. 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.800 As time passes, your mind starts to think about it, 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:40.000 about the reality, you know. I mean, I always think, 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:43.600 no matter what happens, and I went down this road 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:46.320 with people and talking to them, no matter what happens, 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:48.319 you cannot justify And he says it in a speech, 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.120 and then you cannot justify the fact that he did 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:54.040 not report this immediately. I mean that is particularly when 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:57.360 you realize she asphyxiated or there's a very good chance 0:13:57.360 --> 0:13:59.720 that she did with lack of there before the water 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:05.160 draw under. Um, it's unforgivable, he says it. Um. You know, 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:09.120 whether he's stuck by it, though, but that you can't 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.880 get around, you know. I remember I was arguing. I 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.040 was trying to just I'd argue it out with with friends. 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:16.080 There was an old dramas of like trying to justify 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.040 my things. You know, they were both in the car, 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:19.840 they're both drunk, you know, somebody you know, why should 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:22.040 I give you know? Um? And you know, and one 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:23.680 of my very good friends sister and said, well, what 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:26.040 if it was his mother, would you have done the 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:27.720 same thing? I think, yeah, I mean it always comes 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:31.720 to that. You know, he should have gone straight to 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.200 Dyke house, got on the phone and got the diver 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:38.080 around there. But once you go past that and through that, 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:40.840 you can see how, you know, the mind will work it. 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:42.840 You know, Ted does so many wrong things. He picks 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:44.520 up the phone in the in the in the police 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:46.600 room and calls the mother because that is the right 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:48.760 thing to do. And you see that Ted is conscious, 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:50.960 so we you know he was conscious through these decisions. 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:53.960 He switches off at certain points, you know, the kite flying, 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:55.760 he just wants to fly his kite and wear his brother, 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.400 you know, his dead brother's jumpers, um, and just go 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.120 back to those you know, wonderful days in Hyannas where 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.040 they were a family and a group. You know, I mean, 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:07.000 there is a lot of complexity this when you go 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.440 down there's the historical side of the Kennedy's you know, 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:12.440 it's it's it's you know, man is about to land 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.800 on the moon, which Jack said in place, you know, 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:18.760 seventies something or eighty year old Joe sr. He's preparing 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:21.920 for a great weekend to watch, you know, the achievements 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.920 of his much loved son who was shot dead. You know, 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.560 he lost three kids, lost three boys to service of 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:33.120 his country, you know, and so on that on that day, 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:36.600 we'd expect this this whold man to have some joy 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.680 and some memories. Every had a stroke. He's you know, 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.120 he gets a phone call that he's youngest son's driven 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:43.920 from bridge and killed a woman. It's, you know, it's 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:47.840 a lot, there's a lot going on. Bruce Bruce amazing film. 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.760 You and Bruce was a scary dude, but in a 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:53.320 wonderful dude. It's it's like it's it's easy to sum 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:56.680 that up and go stern overriding father, but that's not 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:58.760 the point. You know that, you know, if you know 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:01.480 joking and I hope that this film encourages people to 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:03.280 learn more with this if you know he was he was. 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:05.520 He was a big achiever, good and bad. But there 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.440 are a family of big achievers. Greatness is not just 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.560 you know, I'll never love you, it's it's some it's 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:15.480 this family expected greatness. He expected greatness on whether it's 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:18.440 manners or education, or learning or achievement or going to 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:22.520 work in service of your country. He was accustomed to 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:24.560 no less. He was accustomed to no less. And you 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:28.680 great great wealth comes great responsibility, you know, And and 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:31.480 I do believe that. You know that family did you 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.480 know believe that you know they might have abused it 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:36.640 news and you know there's not to argue, but but 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:39.480 you know, and that was the weight on Ted as 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:43.520 well of all of his brothers. And you can watch 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:45.760 all of their journeys, even you know, Jack from crippled boy, 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:49.600 sick boy to President of the United States, from you know, 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:54.560 Bobby from you know, right wing hatchetman for Senator McCarthy, 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:58.760 you know, to the great burning liberal of our times. 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.080 You know that that spired a lot of the you know, 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:04.560 the President Obama, President Clinton, a lot of people. You know, 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:07.720 he was a family of great journeys you know, and 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.800 and and even you know, you could even say, you 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:14.600 know Joe Senior himself to begin with, you know, from 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:18.160 you know, Boston boy to ambassador for England to billionaire 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.000 to Behemoth to re you doing the movie industry to 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.000 a lot of things. You know, was there any involvement 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:28.240 from the family, And I don't think you'd expect that, 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:30.840 of course, but I didn't know. I like you for 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:33.239 your performance if you wanted to. I met Ted very 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.720 quickly years ago at a boat race. But it's like, 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:38.880 there's so much to watch out there. There's so much 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.520 to listen to. And not just Ted, but you know 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:44.439 his brothers. I mean the speeches and the rhetoric and 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:46.480 what they wrote and the things that they did as well. 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:49.159 There's so much to watch that you can learn what 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:51.240 it's like to be the younger brother, you know. I 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:52.840 mean I read all of their books to go to 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:54.600 put it in an order, read about you know, the 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:57.159 father first, the patriarch, and then and then Jack and 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:58.920 then Bobby, and you go, you feel the weight, O, 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:02.199 my god, these men around me, this family, you know, 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:04.719 and here here I am and I've just driven off 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.480 a bridge. Um. But you know, with the with regards. 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:12.280 I met, you know, on Everest, I met Sarah and Jan, 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:14.600 you know, Sarah the unborn daughter at the time, and 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:18.120 Jan the wife, and I really enjoyed that and and 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.399 that really helped. But for this as an actor, I 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:22.760 don't think this would have helped. You didn't need any 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:27.480 you didn't I didn't need any personal connection to people. 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:29.960 I mean, we knew they have children, and you know, 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:31.560 I'd read a lot, you know, I know that that 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:34.600 Teddy's you know, Senator Kennedy's children still alive and have 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:37.600 been through a lot, a lot as a family post 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:39.360 way post this, you know, and you can say they've 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.040 got nothing to deserve it, but you know, this is 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:44.680 not a hatchet job on ted You know, you can 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:46.879 go and look at what he did after this, you know, 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.240 and there's it's a lot of it is unarguably some 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.280 of the some of the greatest senatorial achievement in this 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:55.960 country's history. I mean, we now understand how difficult it 0:18:56.119 --> 0:18:58.760 is to pass legislation, and what a great responsibility and 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:01.280 privilege that is to be and anitor, and how at 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:04.120 the moment the current bunch on both sides can't pass 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:08.400 anything of any great worth or lasting capacity, and Ted did, 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:12.159 what about you know, how do you go about avoiding 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.000 uh an impersonation? Like how do you find the essence 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:18.680 of someone when you're playing a real person? And particularly 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:21.040 it was important that was I mean, that was super 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:22.800 important not to mimic this, you know, not to be 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:27.440 you know it was. And I guess that started. I 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:29.560 guess let's started with my look. Even you know you 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:31.320 said you had Gary on here. We were never going 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.800 to do prosthetics and following, so it was always going 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:37.359 to be Angie Bremen, who worked with my hair and 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:39.320 other films. Let's do a wig and let's just give 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.760 that that classic line. And then we said, you know, 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:44.480 with John always, let's do some teeth, you know, because 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:46.800 my teeth are very small and crooked in my mouth, 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:49.240 whereas Ted's are a bit bigger than mine. You know, 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.760 he's got the Kennedy smile. And and so we went 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:53.760 down that that took months to get them right, I 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:56.440 mean months, just the thinness so that I can still 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.159 speak without a lisp, you know, dease and tease problems 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:01.399