WEBVTT - Photojournalist Brian Hamill Always Gets His Shot 0:00:02.320 --> 0:00:05.240 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:10.720 Thing from iHeart Radio. My guest Today is a photojournalist 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:14.960 whose five decades of work have truly run the gamut, 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:21.160 covering politics, sports, travel, music, and entertainment. His wide ranging 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:27.040 career includes conflict of journalism, celebrity portraiture, and travel photography. 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:33.040 It's Brooklyn's Own Brian hammil hammil rose to prominence as 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.320 the on set still photographer for movies like Annie Hall, 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:41.440 Raging Bull, Manhattan, Tutsi, Bullets Over Broadway, and You've Got Mail. 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.559 The list goes on and on. He has photographed the 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:49.640 most famous personalities of our time, from Mohammad Ali to 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:54.200 Frank Sinatra and Barbara streisand he's even captured some of 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:57.880 the most iconic images ever taken of John Lennon and 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:00.920 Yoko Ono, which were compiled in to his recent book 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:05.440 Dream Lovers, John and Yoko in New York City. Brian 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:08.720 Hamil is a lifelong New Yorker who comes from an 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.240 incredibly talented stock He's the child of Irish immigrants, one 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:16.440 of seven. His brothers, Dennis and the late Pete Hamil, 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:22.399 both became acclaimed columnists journalists, authors, and screenwriters. Hamil and 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:26.119 I have been friends for decades. I began our conversation 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:31.040 by sharing one of my favorite memories of him. There's 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.760 a story I tell I want to take a woman 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:35.280 on a date, and I want to go to have 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:37.280 dinner with you. And you go, and I'll never forget this. 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:38.960 You go, what day of the week is the date? 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.440 I go, what's on a Monday? And you go, Monday, Monday, Monday. 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:45.840 You'll take her to this restaurant I think maybe like 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:48.320 Eel Tray mayor Lee or some Italian place in the Vos. 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:50.960 And then after that, you said, go to Tayo Mina 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:51.560 for dessert. 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.400 And I go, really, I mean, you were that specific. 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:55.080 I said, why you go? 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:57.760 Because God he comes there for coffee every Monday night 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.600 after Monday evening at like ten o'clock. And my mouth 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:04.040 fell open. So I take the girl to the restaurant, 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.360 We have dinner, then we walk down the block, we 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:09.079 go down Houston, we go to Tayo Mina and we're 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:12.600 sitting there. It's us and another couple. Eventually, I hit 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:15.639 a Tayomna many times, but you turned me onto it, 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.639 and sure enough the car pulls up, four guys get out, 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.799 they look around, they walk in, they look around, they 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.360 snap their fingers. The other car pulls up. The guys 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.120 get out, you know, like but eventually twelve fourteen guys 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:29.639 get out with gotty and they come in there and 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.480 sit down at these tables and have coffee and pastry. 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:33.480 You know. 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.560 And you were the one that said to me, I know, 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:38.519 I got it. Now. 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:44.560 You are, of course renowned, legendary in one area. But 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.359 what I want to talk about first is your family. 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.080 And all three are you and your two brothers? You 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:53.200 only have the two brothers, You had other brothers as well. 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:57.000 Well, there was six boys, one or seven kids. 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.640 What kind of childhood did you have? What kind of 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:01.640 work did your dad do? What kind of a home 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.600 did you have? Were you going to become probably the 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.480 most famous still photographer in the business. Then your brother 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:10.800 goes on to become a reporter for the Daily News, 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.000 big paper. And your brother, Pete is Pete. He's this 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.440 legendary novelist, this legendary writer. What kind of household did 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:16.960 you grow up in? 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:25.359 We were lower middle class, no money, seven kids, Parkslope, Brooklyn, 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:29.480 back when it was a rough and tumble neighborhood. Now 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.840 it's a yupper Fid neighborhood. Yeah, there were seven kids 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:37.600 in two bedrooms. We were poor, but we weren't impoverished. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.520 We had We had a richness because my mom and dad. 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:44.520 Even though my dad was a drinker, my mother what 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:46.840 do you do for a living? He worked as an 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.960 electrical wire which put fixtures in lights. 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:53.240 Sure he was head of trade, Yeah, and it was. 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:57.160 He was in Local three. I didn't realize how poor 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:59.360 I was until I went away to college up in 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:05.600 Rochester lri T Rochester Institute of Technology Grade School, and 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.760 I met people from all over the country who had 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:13.480 money and we had a struggle. I had to work 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:16.520 up there in Rochester at a drug store, at a 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.800 you know, as a cashier just to make the dough. 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:22.800 And I had to take student loans, of course. 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:26.800 So when you're growing up and it's tough you talk 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.520 about describing, I mean I had a similar situation in 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:31.880 my family. We had a two bedroom apartment and by 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:35.279 the time we left in nineteen sixty six sixty seven, 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.719 and we had six kids, we had my older sister 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:43.040 and three boys on bunk beds. She slept in the 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.640 same room with us, so I'm very familiar when you're 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:48.599 living arrangements, you know. 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:49.600 One bathroom. 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:52.920 I mean this insanity, but my point is when did 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:54.480 you first hold a camera? 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.240 And people didn't have cameras back then they were expensive. 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.160 I first held the camera in nineteen six where who 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.359 had a camera. It was a little brownie camera that 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:08.040 either my sister got us, my sister Kathleen. But I 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:11.880 took pictures of my my homeboys, all my friends hanging 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:15.320 at them park benches. And when I showed them to Pete, 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.279 he said, hey, is it good? You want to think 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:22.120 about being a photographer. And Pete was an art director 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:26.560 then for a Greek magazine called Atlantis. You know, because 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.200 he was an artist, he had gone to Pratt. That's 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:33.120 where he met Redford. At Pratt, he read for my buddies. 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:38.200 So he actually ended up buying my first good camera, 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:42.720 which was like one hundred dollars camera called Miranda. Then 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:45.640 of course all the rich kids at RIT had nikons. 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.680 So eventually I put together enough bread to get an icon. 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.400 And RIT was just a great school. 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:55.320 Did you stay there and graduate from arit? 0:05:55.800 --> 0:06:00.040 No? After two years I couldn't afford the tuition for 0:05:59.880 --> 0:06:02.480 the third year with none of us had. You know, 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:05.600 I took the student loans. So I said, well, what 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.200 I'll do is I'll take off for a year and 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.480 come back. But in that year that I took off, 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.479 I got drafted and I had to win the army. 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:16.640 So I was in the army from sixty six to 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:17.440 sixty eight. 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:19.360 And where'd you go? Actually? 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:24.520 I ended up going to Fort twelve Wall, Virginia, which 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.920 is right outside of DC. I did volunteer to go 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:35.120 to Vietnam because I wanted to shoot photographs. I said, 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.040 let me cover the war, you know. But my kid 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:42.920 brother John, mayhe rest in peace. He joined the army 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:46.520 when he was seventeen, became a paratrooper one hundred and 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:51.920 seventy third airborn, and went to Vietnam. So when I volunteered, 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.919 because he joined before I got drafted, I put in 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.400 the orders to transfer everything and I went before the 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:03.480 colonel in the section I was in, and he said, 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:04.960 why do you want to go to Vietnam. I said, 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.279 I'm a photographer. I was in RI two and blah 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.360 blah blah. I gave him the whole spiel and he said, 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.240 do you have any relatives there? I said, yeah, my 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:18.760 kid brother's there. He said, oh, okay, well let us 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:21.560 digest all that and then we'll give you an answer. 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:25.200 And I got turned down with the colonel. I did 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.840 never ended up going to Vietnam. And I thought later, gee, 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:30.440 I wonder if it was the guy I'm not going 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.400 to say his name because he might have kids and grandkids, 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.280 who was a civilian who ran the museum. He was 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:41.200 very attached to me. He liked me, and he knew 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:43.560 that I did a good job because I went to 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.640 the Pentagon and I got pictures from one hundred and 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:50.000 seventy third ab on, thinking I'd run into pictures of 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:54.440 my kid brother, and I designed an exhibit in my 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.640 brain was kind of an anti war exhibit because they 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.480 were very graphic, and so that was up in the 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:05.320 thing and it became a popular exhibit in the museum there. 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:06.360 At the Ford. Yeah. 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:10.920 Now, when you're doing this, Dennis was working in the trade, 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:12.920 like you're old man. He didn't emerge as a writer 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:13.480 to win. 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:20.840 Dennis started writing for the Village Voice, and an editor 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:23.800 who read the Voice liked his pieces. 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:24.640 News. 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:28.200 No, No, it was for the La Herald Examiner in 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:33.120 La you know, and Dennis had to learn how to drive, 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:35.760 to be able to take the gig because they didn't 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:36.360 have to drive. 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:37.880 How long was he out there? 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.040 He was out there for a few years, and then 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.960 the editor took over the Herald in Boston. But I 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:47.840 got a backtrack. You know who Dennis's landlord was at 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:52.280 the time, in La Schwartzenegger in La. Yeah. So later 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:54.760 on when I met Schwarzenegger, I said, hey, my kid 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:56.840 brother told me we were a good landlord. He said, 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:00.320 how does he know. I said, well, he than the 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.480 building that you own. He said, what was his name? 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:07.240 I said, Dennis Hemmelt goes Dennis hammel Man. Could that 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:08.880 guy drink a lot of beer? 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.000 And what about Pete? When did he start his career? 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:19.360 Well, he was at Atlantis, the graphic designer, and he 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.640 wrote a letter to the editor of the New York 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:24.960 Post back when it was a very left wing paper, 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:29.960 not how it is now. And the guy called them 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.640 the editor James Wexel was his name, and said, how 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:37.200 would you like to be a reporter? He said, oh, 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:40.599 I love it, because I said, because your letter was fabulous. 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:42.920 I don't know what the content. I never saw the 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:46.480 original letter, but he went in they gave him a tryout, 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:50.520 and he had never typed before, so he gave him 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.480 a one week or two week tryout, and he did, 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.760 you know, hunt and Peck to write his news story. 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:00.920 So he he actually covered hard news story. But he 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.560 quickly caught the eye of Paul Sand, who was the 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:09.760 famous editor in Pete's friend and just a terrific guy 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:15.000 and a good writer himself. He decided to think about 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.720 having Pete be a columnist, and he actually and James 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:22.679 Weschler was, you know, with Dorothy Schiff, who wonted the 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:26.400 paper that time, was in the hierarchy. Paul Sand was 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:31.400 the day to day, day side editor, and he gave 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:35.200 Peter tryout as a columnist, and he became the youngest 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.720 columnist of that paper. He was twenty four and that's 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:39.520 where he started. 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:44.880 Now, for you, I don't want to overemphasize in this 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.160 discussion because you're from such a famous family, but I 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:53.320 of course can't be remiss and underemphasize what you eventually 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:56.720 become and how you wind up working with the biggest 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.880 people in the business, the greatest film directors. The beginnings 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.280 of your role in the movie industry, how does that start. 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.640 I was doing a lot of journalism, you know, for 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.720 different magazines, you know, all the famous magazine and working 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:17.280 a lot, yeah, freelance. But I you know, as somebody 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:21.040 said to me, Pete wrote a film which didn't end 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:23.520 up being very good. It was directed by Frank Perry 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:28.720 about doc Holiday. So Pete got me to do stills 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.520 on that movie, which was shot in al Maria, Spain. 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.000 And while I was there, I met Jerry Herschel was 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.920 the cameraman and his son was the assistant, Alec, and 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:43.319 Alec said you should get in the Union. So I said, 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:45.920 I'd love to get in the Union so I could 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.160 do both the journalism, because it's always in my blood journalism. 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.720 But I ended up getting into the Union. But I 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:54.800 had to take a test first, and one of the 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:58.880 questions on the test, after I feel out the application, 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:03.400 was how do you photograph a man with a bald head? 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:09.160 So I told about it. This is so like random, yeah, random, 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.400 and it depends on your taste. So I just the answer. 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:14.080 I put it, and you put a hat on him, 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:15.319 put a hat on. 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:16.840 His head, and they gave you a scholarship. 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:19.920 And the guy guy who the things said, that's the 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:23.080 funniest answer I've ever heard. That's not what we meant. 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.679 I said, well, it's you know, it depends. You could 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:27.480 shoot it with available light. You can shoot it with 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.319 a strob, you could shoot it by a window, doesn't matter. 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:32.319 You know. It was the kind of lame thing to 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:35.440 keep people out of the Union. No, everybody gets into 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:37.199 the Union, right, which is a good. 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:38.520 Thing your career. 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:41.400 The movies you were did stills on because I want 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.360 to explain to people. When I was younger, there was 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.359 a still man or woman on the set a lot. 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:52.040 The stills photography was something where. 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:53.360 It was cast specific. 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:55.199 So let's say you're doing a movie and Hackman's only 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.240 in for two weeks, you get the still unit in 0:12:57.280 --> 0:12:59.040 there to shoot the stills because he's only there for 0:12:59.040 --> 0:12:59.600 two weeks. 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:01.240 But there were stills. 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:05.360 Around a lot a lot and some movies, the big 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:07.559 movies when you had the biggest stars. If you're doing 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.319 something with Leo or someone, then the stills are there 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:12.800 every day. It's worth it. I mean, you want great 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:16.600 still photography. And nowadays I just did a film. I 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:20.360 went to go finish this film in Montana and we 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:21.720 had stills there for two days. 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.280 The one comes in for two days cast. 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.679 Specific stills for me were always this thing where I 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:31.120 only act for one camera. There's the movie camera. But 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:34.320 I did this thing where I'd almost look right into 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:38.520 the camera and position my body right toward the movie camera. 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:41.160 And when I would go off into that reverie of going, 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.760 oh Bob, you gotta remember when my dad was alive 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:45.199 and I go and I play it right into the 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.280 fucking camera. But that's not lookdown the barrel of the lens. 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.079 And my point is is that if there was another camera, 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.400 there were still camera, I go nuts. I'd say I 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:56.319 take the first a d I'd say, get them out 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:56.640 of here. 0:13:57.080 --> 0:13:57.680 I'll pose. 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.240 They can shoot the rehearsals later on when they cut 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:03.360 the camera, we'll pose and do it. But I don't 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.400 want that camera in my eye when I'm shooting. I'm 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:10.040 assuming for you there were rhythms you had to learn, 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.040 and there's things you had to learn about shooting because 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:16.400 you shot the biggest stars in movie history. What was 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:18.640 that like for you to learn how to do that properly? 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:22.560 Well, you have to be discreet, but you have to 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:26.360 get your work done. You can't tell the studio later 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.760 on when they get see you infurious out of stills. Hey, 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.600 the guy was tough, you know, the actor was a 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:34.920 pain in the ass. That's not an excuse. They just 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:38.760 want to see end results. For instance, when I worked 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:43.600 on Raging Bull, de Niro had an eyeline problem, but 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:47.400 he would always accommodate me. He was so sweet about it. 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.680 You know, he's of course up there near the top 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.600 of my favorite actors, and he's a good human being, 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:58.120 great guy. So he would always accommodate me. And then 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:02.280 sometimes i'd get away were just grabbing stuff and he 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:04.880 didn't mind. But he would always not make a big 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:06.720 deal at it. He'd just do it with a hand 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:11.880 gesture like you know, and then he'd say he'd nother, 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.520 I'll do it for you after him, which do it 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.840 for the cut. Yeah, And the same thing with Chris Walking. 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:22.240 Very sweet, very nice. He was in any Hall and 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.240 you know, an eye issue, the eye line thing, right, 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.160 But it's so funny when I work with the nero 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:34.640 again years later on Sleepers, the Barry Levinson movie, I said, Bob, 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.240 let me know, if you know, just do the same 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:38.960 thing he did last time. He said, no, I don't 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:43.400 have that problem anymore. You can just shoot away, and 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.040 some actors just let you shoot away, like Dustin Hoffman 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:49.760 and Jimmy Kahn. Never you know, I worked with him 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:54.000 and he's a character. I loved him. And you know, 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:55.480 Nicholson was great. 0:15:56.400 --> 0:16:00.800 No Eyeline without names though, because I'm you when you 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:02.720 said that before, but not one of the name names. 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:05.880 They have children or grandchildren. I'm not out to bury 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:06.960 anybody either. 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.520 But that was the guy who brought in whiskey and 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:11.480 listen of Rainbow. 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:15.600 Yeah, I remember other actors without naming names who that 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:17.600 you that you have some difficulty with the How do 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:19.480 you win them over? How do you get the job done? 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.320 As you said, the boss wants the pictures, what do 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:22.720 you do? 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.080 I tell them, this is this is my this is 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.440 my job, right, this is how I make my living. 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.080 I got I got a little rough with Sam Shephard 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:35.920 on what the Allen movie. He said, no stills. I said, well, 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:38.400 you'll do with it. He says, no, no stills. First 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:44.440 they shooting, and I walked up to him. At the 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.400 end of the day, I still kept trying to grab 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:50.800 stuff and I said, listen, you know, I don't want 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:52.720 to be forceful, but this is what I do for 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:54.720 a living. You know, if you're not going to do 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.240 it for me afterward, I can understand you don't want 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:00.440 me to shoot your in the take. But you know, 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:04.440 he said, I don't want to have this discussion. No stills. 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.280 I said, all right, they wouldn't go outside and start 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:10.480 with these, And he looked at me, and there was 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.479 a pa. You know, they walked PA's walking back and 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:17.199 forth to the dressing room, and he ran upstairs to 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:21.840 the producer and the Lime producer Bobby Greenhot. Sweet man, Bobby, Yeah, 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:24.760 great guy, remember Bobby. And he told me the Stell 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:29.159 photographer just threatened me. And Bobby Greenho goes, what do 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.879 you mean? He goes, well, he wanted to take me outside, 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.639 and he's a tall guy. Sam Sheppard. Pete had written 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:39.000 a New York magazine article about him. So that night 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.480 I called Pete and I said, Pete, this guy gave 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:45.359 me a hard time. I think he's a prick. He goes, no, 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:48.800 he's probably just zero intimidated by Woody or whatever, and 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.920 you know, you know, just calmed down about it. I 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:54.439 didn't even tell Pete that I threatened the guy. But 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:59.800 what are you being? Woody? He said? Greenhot told me 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:06.200 what you did. I'm so happy you did that. Later 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:10.720 on I ran into Sam Shepard in the village and 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:12.960 he couldn't have been nicer and turned out to be 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.200 a nice guy, and we'd have coffee and a joint 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:16.919 in the village a lot together. 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:26.280 Photo journalist Brian Hammel. If you enjoy conversations with brilliant photographers, 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:30.400 check out my episode with Pete Souza, white House photographer 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.400 for both Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.160 The most interesting part of my job was that I 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.480 saw him and all these different compartments of his life. 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:43.080 I saw him as a dad. I saw how he 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.520 behaved with his children. I saw him when he was 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.879 on the basketball court. Most competitive guy I've ever met 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:51.760 in my life. The general public doesn't see that, but 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:55.320 I saw that part of him. One rule that everybody 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.720 at the White House staff knew was that six thirty 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:00.800 or seven o'clock he was in dinner with his family. 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:02.159 Full stop. 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:07.920 To hear more of my conversation with Pete Souza, go 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:12.520 to Hear's Thething dot org. After the break, Brian Hamill 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.359 shares the backstory of how some of the most memorable 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:33.240 images of John Lennon came to be I'm Alec Baldwin 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:37.159 and you're listening to Here's the thing. Brian Hamill is 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:40.880 known for his photos from some of the most significant 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.480 films in history. In fact, one of his early jobs 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.080 on set led to the iconic movie poster for Woody 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:51.960 Allen's film Manhattan. I wanted to know if Hamill set 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:54.320 out to take the one lucky frame that became the 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:57.480 poster or was it just another behind the scenes shots. 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:02.399 No, it was where Gordon Willis may rest in peace. 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:03.800 Phenomenal talent. 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:04.879 I worked with Gordy. 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:08.159 Yeah, phenomenal talent. He took a long time to light it. 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:13.360 But once stuff is lit by Gordon, it goes like clockwork. 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:17.439 When I saw how gorgeous it looked, I had one 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:19.440 of the grips, get me a ladder so I could 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.960 get up on the ladder and get a good conversation 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:29.440 that was close to Gordon's composition and bingo. I shot 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:33.399 about eight or nine frames, and Woody, who doesn't like 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:36.080 to do many takes, he said, let's move on. 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:38.760 You know, I'm gonna tell two quick stories. One time, 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:42.040 I do Malice, this very tepid thriller I did with 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:46.280 Nicole Kidman and Bill Pullman, and Gordy was the DP, 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.720 and Harold Becker was the director, and Harold who was 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:52.520 like a Jewish gangster at a book and with that 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:55.080 accent of his and that voice of his. Harold and 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.600 GORDI are there and when they're standing there together talking 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:00.560 Gordon I think it was day one and turns out 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:00.880 and he goes. 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:02.840 When everybody is shut up. 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.400 He screams at the crew and we all teach other like, wow, 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:08.800 this is not at all what I had in mind, 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:12.040 you know what I mean? And I realized I said 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:15.040 I needed to go the other way. I needed to 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:17.399 fight through the wall. So I go up to Gordie 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:19.840 the next day. I go, hey, I mean, I see 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:21.639 you're here at the crack of dawn and you're on 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:22.800 your feet getting everything set up. 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:24.399 I go, can I get you a cup of coffee? 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:28.159 He goes, yeah, sure, I'll take a cup of coffee. 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:29.840 How do you like it? And I'm like it with 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:31.719 milk and two sugars or whatever the fuck it was. 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:32.240 I go get it. 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:34.520 And I brought him his coffee every morning that I worked, 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:37.760 and he could not have been nicer to me. It's 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.719 like something simple like that. He could not have been 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:44.360 nicer to me. Now, all of Woody's movies, all of 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:47.520 his ouvra is just it saved my life. It saved 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:49.360 my because when I really needed to take my mind 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:53.400