Speaker 1: You're listening to play back a Variety podcast. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Variety of Awards Editor, Chris Tapley. Icon is a word
Speaker 1: that gets thrown around a lot, but I think my
Speaker 1: guest today qualifies. Even the man's voice is iconic, which
Speaker 1: should make for some great radio today. But that's also
Speaker 1: the entry point for his character and Brett Haley's new film,
Speaker 1: The Hero, and which he starts as a voice actor
Speaker 1: searching for that next gear in life. His name is
Speaker 1: Sam Elliott and we're excited to have him on the
Speaker 1: show today. Thanks for being here, sir, Thanks for having
Speaker 1: me on. Chris pure to be here. I want to
Speaker 1: start by saying, I hope course pays you handsomely because
Speaker 1: I bought my share because of you. Oh good. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna pass that on to him. You've got a good relationship.
Speaker 1: You know, They've been good to me over the years.
Speaker 1: And just to start off somewhat irreverently before we get
Speaker 1: to the to the meat of this, uh, you are
Speaker 1: responsible for uttering probably my favorite line in movie history
Speaker 1: from Roadhouse. Uh. That place has a sign hanging over
Speaker 1: the year and all that is don't eat the big
Speaker 1: white man. Don't eat the big white man that kills me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: me as well. I enjoyed that one. What was that?
Speaker 1: What was that? Shoot? Like, let's start? It was fun,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's it was mindless on some level.
Speaker 1: I think on some level it was like the ultimate
Speaker 1: male fantasy, you know, a thing, you know. But working
Speaker 1: with Patrick and working with Ben Gazzara and working with
Speaker 1: Joel Silver, who was the producer who's kind of one
Speaker 1: of those old throwbacks from the old days of Hollywood,
Speaker 1: was quite a joy. Beat the ship out of each
Speaker 1: other on the thing and happened. That part was also fun.
Speaker 1: I was young enough at that point where my body
Speaker 1: could withstand it. We had a good time, you know.
Speaker 1: It's it's always fun to play those characters that are
Speaker 1: albeit not very well drawn, they're still fun to try
Speaker 1: to breathe life into them, you know. And when you
Speaker 1: have enough good one liners here and there, then that's
Speaker 1: a good time. I don't eat the Big White Man
Speaker 1: the Hero. This is your second film with Brett Haley. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, as I said at the top, I've known
Speaker 1: Brett for a number of years now, going back to
Speaker 1: film school. He must have impressed you enough with his
Speaker 1: second film. I'll see you in my dreams. I don't
Speaker 1: know even think it was a matter of Brett impressing me.
Speaker 1: I just you know, maybe if you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I just don't think it in terms of that with Brett.
Speaker 1: But Dreams was such, you know, it was a short
Speaker 1: lived two week experience. But I hadn't had an opportunity
Speaker 1: to play a character like that and a lot a
Speaker 1: long time, you know, kind of the leading man, kind
Speaker 1: of a character piece. This came out of the journey
Speaker 1: that Bred and I went on after we made Dreams.
Speaker 1: When we went on the road to do the promotion
Speaker 1: for it. We traveled a bunch together back and forth
Speaker 1: across the country and ate a lot of meals together,
Speaker 1: logged a lot of miles together, had a few drinks together,
Speaker 1: and had a lot of dialogue, a lot of talking together.
Speaker 1: And he got to know me, and I got to
Speaker 1: know him, and you know, we I think dug up
Speaker 1: a pretty close relationship. And he said I want to
Speaker 1: write something for you, and I said, yeah, right man,
Speaker 1: He said, no bashing, all right, something And so he
Speaker 1: and he went home and he and Mark Bash came
Speaker 1: up with this concept for something called the Iceberg. Actually
Speaker 1: it was called Iceberg in the beginning when Brett gave
Speaker 1: me it in treatment form, and it was really the
Speaker 1: whole theory was on that piece that's on Nick's screensaver
Speaker 1: in the film about how an actor's career, you know,
Speaker 1: comparison to an Iceberg, like what you see on the
Speaker 1: top of the water isn't necessarily what it's all about
Speaker 1: below the surface, which to me is it's an interesting comparison,
Speaker 1: you know. But the marketing people the people, and then
Speaker 1: then they developed a script and it was still called
Speaker 1: Iceberg for a moment, but then they got funding for it,
Speaker 1: and the people that came up with the money didn't
Speaker 1: think that Iceberg was going to be a marketable name,
Speaker 1: so they changed it to a zero hero works. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess it does. It's an overused term, boy, I
Speaker 1: think at this point, and there's nothing heroic about Lee
Speaker 1: Hidden well. It's an interesting juxtaposition with today's uh zeitgeist
Speaker 1: in the industry, superior Rose flying around and it's a
Speaker 1: very different story. Is there anything particularly exciting striking to
Speaker 1: you about working with up and coming talent versus you know,
Speaker 1: a veteran filmmaker. Oh, absolutely, I mean, it gives you
Speaker 1: hope for where the game's going, for where the business
Speaker 1: is gone. And you know, I've been in this business
Speaker 1: a long time, almost fifty years, you know, and wanted
Speaker 1: to do it since I was a kid. I have
Speaker 1: seen a number of changes. I think mark most prominently
Speaker 1: by you know, the introduction of the chip so to speak.
Speaker 1: It's really kind of revolutionized the business. And here comes
Speaker 1: this kid. It's comes from that side of it. That's
Speaker 1: a filmmaker, you know. I mean, I think a brilliant filmmaker.
Speaker 1: I think Brett has an opportunity to do some really
Speaker 1: important work over the years, over the long haul, and
Speaker 1: I think if he wants it, he will have a
Speaker 1: long haul career. It will be there a long time
Speaker 1: because he has things to say and he knows how
Speaker 1: to go about putting it together. Does he communicate with
Speaker 1: you differently on the set in a way that's notable
Speaker 1: for you? Uh? You know, he communicates period period, Like
Speaker 1: he just knows how to talk to people, and it's
Speaker 1: not like to hear himself talk. You know. He comes in,
Speaker 1: he knows clearly what it is he wants to do.
Speaker 1: He certainly has his vision, but he's also smart enough
Speaker 1: to get out of the actor's way on a certain level.
Speaker 1: But if you kind of stray too far one way
Speaker 1: or another, you need to be brought in or he
Speaker 1: wants to talk. He just comes in says a few words.
Speaker 1: You know. That to me is just you know, a
Speaker 1: director that knows what he wants, but at the same
Speaker 1: time as willing to kind of keep an open mind
Speaker 1: or he's going to come up with something really good
Speaker 1: in the end. The other thing about Bread is he
Speaker 1: always he's always open to doing one kind of an
Speaker 1: option piece. It's like he gets what he wants, gets
Speaker 1: the takes that he wants, and then he just kind
Speaker 1: of throws it up and said, you know, maybe it's
Speaker 1: like just as simple as not do whatever you want
Speaker 1: a little fun. Yeah, you didn't ever know what's going
Speaker 1: to come out of one of those. Yeah, indeed, something
Speaker 1: might spark in the moment. This is one of the
Speaker 1: most intimate formances I think you've given. And you probably
Speaker 1: get asked this a lot, but at least one wondering
Speaker 1: did you put a lot of yourself into this? And
Speaker 1: I think by virtue of the fact that I'm an
Speaker 1: actor and I'm of Lee's age, that probably there is
Speaker 1: a certain amount of myself in there, and the fact
Speaker 1: that it was born out of a you know, long
Speaker 1: extended conversation with the guy that wrote the screenplay. I
Speaker 1: think there's no question on some level it's me, but
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's not like it's a documentary about
Speaker 1: Sam Eliott. There's a couple of glaring differences right off
Speaker 1: the top. I'm happily married to Catherine still for thirty
Speaker 1: three years. We've been together for thirty nine years. I
Speaker 1: love my daughter more than anything. I see her all
Speaker 1: the time. I don't have cancer and I don't smoke dope.
Speaker 1: So apart from that, you know, there's some stuff that
Speaker 1: I identify with. I know, characters that had a you know,
Speaker 1: had a good run at it, a short run actors,
Speaker 1: and then nothing happened after that, and I watched those
Speaker 1: guys dry on the vine, waiting for it to turn around.
Speaker 1: There's certainly guys there that, you know, his business is
Speaker 1: not easy on its actors. I don't think so. My
Speaker 1: friend Bill Paxton told me and Catherine one time, standing
Speaker 1: in our kitchen women right after we'd done Tombstone. He said,
Speaker 1: we're all just grisped for the mill, you know, And
Speaker 1: I just fun man, that's the truth of it. That's
Speaker 1: the truth. That had a way of putting things in words. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, that idea of putting a lot of yourself
Speaker 1: into a role and if it cuts close to the bone,
Speaker 1: not saying this necessarily did, but if it did, is
Speaker 1: that kind of thing scary or exciting as an actor
Speaker 1: when you when you cut that close to the bone
Speaker 1: of who you I don't know that I've ever had
Speaker 1: an opportunity to do this before, to go that close
Speaker 1: to the bone, as you say, And I just looked
Speaker 1: at it as an opportunity, a gift, if you want
Speaker 1: to call it that. I've called it that a bunch
Speaker 1: of times. You know, I'm seventy two years old. I'm
Speaker 1: doing what I wanted to do since I was a
Speaker 1: little kid. I don't know how much longer I'm going
Speaker 1: to be around or how much more I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: offered to work things that i want to do. And
Speaker 1: this opportunity came, and you know, there was really a
Speaker 1: chance to bear my soul in some ways. And because
Speaker 1: I have understand this guy, I understand what he's given
Speaker 1: up in pursuit of a career. I understand it. He's
Speaker 1: totally fucked it up on by the choices that he's made.
Speaker 1: And you know, it just seemed the right time. It
Speaker 1: seemed the right time to let it go and do
Speaker 1: the best I could with this material. As you say,
Speaker 1: nearly fifty years into a career, and you said, you
Speaker 1: say you wanted to do whatever since you were a kid.
Speaker 1: What what What was the early hook that got you?
Speaker 1: I think I'm sure going to too many Saturday matinees
Speaker 1: in Sacramento where I grew up, the Sequoya Theater, which
Speaker 1: I'm sure is at the bottom of some mini mall
Speaker 1: by now. It's just you know, I read there was
Speaker 1: this really kind of alarming piece, not alarming, but I
Speaker 1: don't know, off putting peace to me in the l
Speaker 1: A Times last Sunday. But all the exhibitors are all
Speaker 1: trying to figure out how to bring the audience back
Speaker 1: into the fold, so to speak. You know, all the
Speaker 1: bells and whistles that they're offering, you know, the food,
Speaker 1: the reclining chairs. You know, it doesn't sound like they
Speaker 1: really enforced the rule of no cell phones anymore. The
Speaker 1: blean seats and the spray depending on where you are,
Speaker 1: you know, but it's like, what the funk man. I mean,
Speaker 1: for me, going to a film is about going into
Speaker 1: a dark in theater, and it's a relationship you have
Speaker 1: with what's going on on the screen. It's not about
Speaker 1: all the distractions that are going on around you. It's
Speaker 1: not about trying to have to focus and like block
Speaker 1: things out. That's why you would go in there. That's
Speaker 1: why I went in there as a kid, and I
Speaker 1: was like mesmerized, remb We're going in there just watching
Speaker 1: Flash Gordon cereals, you know, or I'm not even sure
Speaker 1: whether I'm not even in a ventuary. I guess maybe
Speaker 1: some of those Westerns back. Yeah, there's no doubt that
Speaker 1: there were Westerns. I think I saw red River very
Speaker 1: early on. I know I saw The Searchers Barrier early on.
Speaker 1: But there were Western series, and I guess it was
Speaker 1: Tom Mix and I'm trying to think of and that
Speaker 1: they were like cereals as well. But it was that exchange,
Speaker 1: that audience exchanged with those lights flickering on the screen.
Speaker 1: It just I thought, Wow, it's incredible to make somebody
Speaker 1: feel like I'm feeling that. That's what I want to do.
Speaker 1: We talked about the chip. I mean, I guess that's
Speaker 1: what we're that that's what we're losing it to, is
Speaker 1: the ease of viewing things on the laptop or a
Speaker 1: phone or what have you been A lot of that's
Speaker 1: going to TV, which is something I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: about as well. A lot of great stuff being done
Speaker 1: on TV these days. And you've had a unique perch.
Speaker 1: You've been involved with TV much of your entire career,
Speaker 1: so you've seen that shift in that platform. So what
Speaker 1: do you what do you think about how TV has
Speaker 1: changed over the years and where it is now. I think,
Speaker 1: like film, TV has changed radically. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: look at the number of platforms and the number of
Speaker 1: content that's been generated today and developed this today, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's mind boggling wonderful for an actor, you know, because
Speaker 1: there's work out there, and good work, and the work
Speaker 1: that's being done today. I think on some level it's
Speaker 1: like the golden age of television. That's said. I think there's,
Speaker 1: you know, all this stuff with cable television. It's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, there's this big rub as
Speaker 1: to whether all of that stuff should be competing on
Speaker 1: equal ground with the movies that are getting generated out
Speaker 1: there and you know, I don't know. You may be
Speaker 1: asking the wrong fellow for you know that kind of
Speaker 1: I'm I'm really pretty much of a techno peasant by
Speaker 1: choice and hope to remain so I don't email, and
Speaker 1: I don't Facebook and tweet and all that other business.
Speaker 1: Can't imagine you on Twitter, nor can I, nor can I. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I guess said nearly fifty years into it,
Speaker 1: what's for you? Do you think the secret to the longevity?
Speaker 1: I think making the right choices in the long run
Speaker 1: and not having to take a job for money, which
Speaker 1: allowed me to make what I considered the right choice
Speaker 1: in terms of the material. You know, I because I
Speaker 1: wanted it early on, and I thought a lot about
Speaker 1: it when I started when I literally became an actor,
Speaker 1: and I've discovered earlier on for whatever reason, and I
Speaker 1: think a lot of it was I watched a lot
Speaker 1: of bad television back and then, like fifties and sixties.
Speaker 1: There was also a lot of great television in that
Speaker 1: period of time, but there was some pretty bad stuff
Speaker 1: as well. I think I decided then that if I
Speaker 1: wanted a long I wanted to go the distance I
Speaker 1: have longevity in my career. That I should be choose.
Speaker 1: You about what I did to maintained I just worked
Speaker 1: for money, but go for good stuff. What I thought
Speaker 1: was good stuff. I wanted to venture out a little
Speaker 1: bit and talk about we we just touched on the Westerns.
Speaker 1: I'm a huge fan of the genre. I'm always hoping
Speaker 1: it can have a huge, lively comeback. Obviously, you're one
Speaker 1: of the icons of that genre, with the Louis Lamore
Speaker 1: stuff and Tombstone Buffalo girls and whatnot. What do you
Speaker 1: think of that? This is maybe an unnecessarily heavy question,
Speaker 1: but it's something I think about just the genres viability,
Speaker 1: the contemporary viability like that. Do you think the genre
Speaker 1: still has something to say today? I think it's timeless
Speaker 1: on some level, you know. I mean, you know, the
Speaker 1: Western was Hollywood was bread and butter for quite a
Speaker 1: period of time. By the time I got to Hollywood,
Speaker 1: the Western was pretty much on its way out, falling
Speaker 1: out of favor. But there were still we still have
Speaker 1: capabilities in l A to mount or Western. Today, you
Speaker 1: couldn't mount a Western if you if your hat depended
Speaker 1: on it, you have to go to Texas or New Mexico.
Speaker 1: That's that's most of the livestock, and most of the wagons,
Speaker 1: most of the equipment is now. But there's also I
Speaker 1: think no desire in the business, and I think it's
Speaker 1: based upon you know, I'd say it's all so much
Speaker 1: of it now is based upon what the marketplace once
Speaker 1: or what we think the marketplace wants to see. And
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that anybody in Hollywood thinks that there's
Speaker 1: a market for a good Western anymore. You can take
Speaker 1: the Lone Ranger, for lack of a better example, cast
Speaker 1: a white man playing Tom too and have all that
Speaker 1: computer generated stuff in it, spend the kind of money waste,
Speaker 1: the kind of money that they made that they spent
Speaker 1: making that film, that has nothing to do with what
Speaker 1: I see is what is most interesting about that genre
Speaker 1: to me. It was always the simplicity of that genre,
Speaker 1: the clear delineation between good and bad. There wasn't a
Speaker 1: lot of gray area. The outdoors, the real outdoors, not
Speaker 1: something that's computer generated, was always a prime character in
Speaker 1: the piece, the classic struggles between man and man, man
Speaker 1: and the outdoors, man and nature. Call it what you want,
Speaker 1: you know, and a good story with good characters, believable characters,
Speaker 1: and an opportunity to tell the truth about a time
Speaker 1: when you know, life was a simpler thing. And there's
Speaker 1: nothing wrong with the vision of a man on horseback either,
Speaker 1: and particularly in beautiful country. What's your favorite Western? Do
Speaker 1: you have one? Oh? My god, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know how many times I watched The Searchers over
Speaker 1: the years. And actually one of the first film that
Speaker 1: I started in it was right after I left twentieth
Speaker 1: Century Fox as a contract player, and it was a
Speaker 1: movie called Cactus at the time, and a woman named
Speaker 1: Vera Miles started in it, and Vera was in The Searchers.
Speaker 1: You mentioned red River earlier. That's definitely a favorite of mine. Yeah,
Speaker 1: hard to beat. That's probably I've heard. I think that's
Speaker 1: his best performance. John Ford came to visit Vera on
Speaker 1: the set of Cactus, which later was called Molly and Law.
Speaker 1: Was John maybe repeating myself now, sorry if it was.
Speaker 1: I got to meet John Ford on that film. That
Speaker 1: was pretty incredible. I think he had a soft spot
Speaker 1: for very Miles but which comes as no surprise, which
Speaker 1: she was a beautiful woman. You have to meet John Ford.
Speaker 1: You got to be in Butch Cassidy and Barely I'm
Speaker 1: a shadow on the wall and that thing I'll take
Speaker 1: two is my line and it's off camera. I always
Speaker 1: know somebody that hadn't seen that film or is really
Speaker 1: asking me for something that they don't want. When I
Speaker 1: get a letter, I get a comments saying Hi, I
Speaker 1: love you and butch cast. You know, the only my
Speaker 1: only reason my name is in the credit is because
Speaker 1: I was in her contract to Fox where they made
Speaker 1: the film. Well, it's cool to be in that scene.
Speaker 1: Iconic scene. Yeah, that's a good one. It's fun and
Speaker 1: sit there watching Redford, you know, calling those guys and
Speaker 1: see Neuven come through the door and pretty cool. You
Speaker 1: got a more unique perspective on that scene than any
Speaker 1: of us do. Uh. Another TV project you were involved with.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to ask about because I love the
Speaker 1: original film was fail Safe. When Clini made Failsafe into
Speaker 1: the live thing, what was that set like, because that's
Speaker 1: obviously a unique, pretty incredible, and I remember it'd being
Speaker 1: pretty daunting at the same time. You know, we rehearsed
Speaker 1: for a few days. I got that call. I'd never
Speaker 1: worked with George before, did you see he just had twins.
Speaker 1: By the way, that a wonderful thing. One of each,
Speaker 1: I believe, yeah, and Stephen Frears was a director on that,
Speaker 1: and I had worked with Stephen on a picture called
Speaker 1: The High Low Country, and then you know, I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I think it was maybe that same
Speaker 1: year I got a call to come and do this
Speaker 1: thing on fail Safe, and so I of course jumped
Speaker 1: at it. I mean, number one, it was an opportunity
Speaker 1: to work with Stephen again and I loved him, but
Speaker 1: an opportunity to do live television. You know, at that
Speaker 1: period of time, it just and I never was one
Speaker 1: to do much theater, and I think that's why I
Speaker 1: was a little freaked up by it. That's the way
Speaker 1: I get every Friday night on the ranch when we
Speaker 1: do our taping in front of a live audience. I
Speaker 1: always get a little nervous, overly amped up for that.
Speaker 1: But it was great. It wasn't It was an incredible experience.
Speaker 1: You know, George is phenomenal on almost everything, and I
Speaker 1: can't even think about in terms of being a good man.
Speaker 1: And you know, somebody that survived this game and worked
Speaker 1: hard on it, and you know, I don't know how
Speaker 1: many pilots George did over the years before he had
Speaker 1: hit the brass ring and and I think that he's
Speaker 1: probably moved on from it. You know, I think we're
Speaker 1: going to see a lot were from Mr Clooney. Then
Speaker 1: being an actor, you sure isn't going to go the
Speaker 1: way of Lee Hayden, right, you know, I'm anxious to
Speaker 1: see when his next trick is going to be. And
Speaker 1: then just talking about the progression of the industry today,
Speaker 1: we find ourselves a wash and the Marvel properties. And
Speaker 1: you were part of Angley's Hulk and then Marvel moved
Speaker 1: on with with a different incarnation there. You know, what,
Speaker 1: did you feel like you wanted to be a part
Speaker 1: of that locomotive? I mean, I kind of feel like
Speaker 1: the answer is no, but I don't know. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: feel like the answer is no too. You know, there's
Speaker 1: there's very few things that I would like to have
Speaker 1: continued on with in terms of one of those blockbuster types.
Speaker 1: Number one, I do want to say in terms of
Speaker 1: The Hulk that the reason for doing that film was
Speaker 1: an opportunity to work with Angle and that was undeniable
Speaker 1: that that was the right choice. And working with Jennifer
Speaker 1: conny woodn't bad either. And I loved Jennifer since she
Speaker 1: was a child actress, and she's phenomenal. But the only
Speaker 1: thing that I think that I've ever wanted to see
Speaker 1: go on that didn't was a project called The Golden Compass,
Speaker 1: which was a trilogy in which we did the first
Speaker 1: one of and then that was the end of it.
Speaker 1: It basically sank New Line pictures or films. Whatever's got,
Speaker 1: there's pictures, I think cinema, Yeah, cinema, you know. And uh,
Speaker 1: the movie did really well overseas. I think it made
Speaker 1: like million, but it only made eighty million in the States,
Speaker 1: which is a little less than what it cost. And
Speaker 1: I think the way that New Line financed their films
Speaker 1: was by selling off all the foreign rights. So do
Speaker 1: we need any money to be made? But that character
Speaker 1: that I played, Lee Hayden Natallee Hayden, Lee scoresby how
Speaker 1: many played more than one. I just realized that it
Speaker 1: was something that fared much better in the second and
Speaker 1: third books. But you know, it wasn't in the cards. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a property that easily could sustain to number
Speaker 1: of films could have. Uh. And currently you're working on
Speaker 1: The Star is Born with Bradley Cooper directing. How's he
Speaker 1: striking you as a director. Pretty well, I'm I'm still
Speaker 1: a little I don't know, I'm not in awe of him,
Speaker 1: but but I am in some ways. I've never met
Speaker 1: Bradley before this, I've never met Stephanie before this, and uh,
Speaker 1: the opportunity to be on the set with both of them,
Speaker 1: let alone work with him, is a wonderful thing. Bradley
Speaker 1: has a awesome thought that one of my best characteristics
Speaker 1: was that I have a solid work ethic. I don't
Speaker 1: think it compares to Bradley's work ethic. I mean, his
Speaker 1: his tireless. I feel tireless at times, but I think
Speaker 1: he's just tireless all the time. He just he just
Speaker 1: seems like he's totally on top of it all the time.
Speaker 1: And everyone defers to him on the set, and I
Speaker 1: think that he's guiding Stephanie through this performance is just
Speaker 1: going to blow everybody's mind. You're shooting that here in town, right,
Speaker 1: We're shooting shooting that here in town. Yeah, it doesn't
Speaker 1: have got one more day. Pardon that doesn't have to
Speaker 1: happen to him. No, it doesn't happen very often. But
Speaker 1: you know, they've got a limited but some of the
Speaker 1: some of the scenes are set in other places, but
Speaker 1: we did them here. I think the Greek theater doubles
Speaker 1: for the Bay are. Yeah, you know, they shot out
Speaker 1: at Coachellah, and uh I went from the ranch. I
Speaker 1: finished up on the Ranch on a Friday and started
Speaker 1: shooting Stars Born in a Monday, and then in the
Speaker 1: middle of Stars Born started this press tour. So we
Speaker 1: got a vacation coming up. Hope, Yeah, you got a
Speaker 1: break coming up. I'm not sure about a vacation, but
Speaker 1: there's a there's a there's gonna be some breathing room
Speaker 1: in July and and I'm gonna go to work again
Speaker 1: and Massachusetts in the month of August. You just want
Speaker 1: to keep the pedal to the medal like that or not. Really,
Speaker 1: it's just kind of the way it all fell this year.
Speaker 1: You know, really a number of projects that you know,
Speaker 1: I can't say no when it's good stuff. It's harder
Speaker 1: to say no. And the timing factor just they just
Speaker 1: fell where they fell. And the thing with Bradley, it
Speaker 1: was like, you know, they wanted me to start before
Speaker 1: I finished the Ranch, like the last month we're in production,
Speaker 1: and they wanted me to go to Coachella for three
Speaker 1: days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and come back and shoot two
Speaker 1: days on a ranch, you know, the two performance days,
Speaker 1: which would have been impossible at least for me. So
Speaker 1: I couldn't do that, you know, and for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: you know, they held out and we worked it out.
Speaker 1: It's it's incredible to watch that whole fucking thing unfold,
Speaker 1: you know, all of a sudden. Bradley Cooper's a rock star,
Speaker 1: you know, and he plays a guitar and he sings. Man,
Speaker 1: he's got a beautiful voice, and he gets down on
Speaker 1: a guitar. It's incredible, all the while directing the filmy
Speaker 1: an answer, No, I'm sorry to say that. I wish
Speaker 1: I did me too. I've got a guitar. I can't
Speaker 1: play it, but I pick on it, you know. Last
Speaker 1: thing for you, uh, is there anything you know that
Speaker 1: you still want to do that you haven't done in
Speaker 1: the business? Is there an inch that you want to
Speaker 1: scratch still? Or feeling good? I think on some level,
Speaker 1: I'd love to do some more Western's, you know, that's
Speaker 1: always there. I hope everyone is listening to that. Sam
Speaker 1: Elliott wants to do more Westerns and I want to
Speaker 1: see them, so please finance them. Thank you. So it's like,
Speaker 1: please write them first, you know. I think a good
Speaker 1: Western can get made. I think there's I know how
Speaker 1: to get him made. It's like getting them on paper.
Speaker 1: That's the hardest part is to find one on paper somehow,
Speaker 1: you know. But I think, Chris, it's really just about
Speaker 1: trying to continue to do good work, you know, if
Speaker 1: it comes my way. You know. Yeah, I've been fortunate,
Speaker 1: the luckiest guy I know in terms of doing what
Speaker 1: I want to do, something I wanted to do when
Speaker 1: I was a kid, being able to make a living
Speaker 1: off of it, and at the same time you have
Speaker 1: a family life. I'm blessed on that level, there's no
Speaker 1: doubt about it. And being able to work with Catherine
Speaker 1: this movie, yeah it wasn't been either. Pretty cool. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: good luck. So far, so good with your career, sir.
Speaker 1: And the movie is called The Hero. It opens June nine.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being here today. I really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Christ appreciate it too.