WEBVTT - Ep47 - Donald Sutherland / Honorary Oscar Recipient 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:22.040 If you're listening to playback a Variety podcast, I'm your host, 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.400 Variety Awards Editor Chris Tapley. We have a legend here today, 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.080 ladies and gentlemen. He's the Emmy and Golden Globe winning 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:30.880 star of films like Mash Don't Look Now, Invasion of 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:34.840 the Body Snatchers, Ordinary People, Citizen X, The Hunger Games. 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:37.120 I could go on and on, and now he'll have 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:39.600 his Oscar. Thank you. Donald Sutherland is one of this 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:43.680 year's honorary Oscar recipients, receiving his accolade at the Academy's 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:46.519 Governor's Awards this weekend. He's also the star of the 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.080 new film The Leisure Seeker, which will dive into as well. Donald, 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:54.040 thanks for coming on the show, sir. You appreciate it. Uh. 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:56.880 You know, I put out a feeler to my Twitter 0:00:56.960 --> 0:00:59.760 followers a couple of weeks back before they had decided 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.280 the rare Oscar recipients, and I was just like, you know, 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:05.440 who should be honored, who deserves it, And your name 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.840 came up more than anyone else. So I hope you 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:11.040 know there's a very strong sentiment that you've been overdue 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.399 for this recognition for a long time. So that's lovely, 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:20.760 That's really lovely. Um, I don't think I'm overdue, but 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:26.000 I certainly were running out of time at two. Um, 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:31.440 you know it was it was a huge surprise I had, 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.920 but I didn't. I wasn't really aware of honorary oscars, 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:40.120 and I've seen them on the Oscar Show itself. But 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:45.640 I was stunned, you know, stunned when they told me, 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:49.760 and and did you have any kind of a reaction, like, 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.040 you know, Peteral Tool. I don't know if you remember that, 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.800 like fifteen years ago, they were going to honor him 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.400 in two thousand three, I think, and he declined it. 0:01:57.520 --> 0:01:59.320 He said, you know, I'm still in the game. I 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:02.240 might win it outright, let's wait. Did you have any 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:04.960 kind of reaction like that? No, no, no, no, but 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.600 Peter had been nominated. Peter, but a part of that 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.160 I've I've I've not been in any way a part 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:18.440 of you know, except once I gave one away. Um no, no, no, no, 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:22.280 I didn't think anything like that. And Peter was younger 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:26.959 than I am too, I'm I'm ady two. So yeah, 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:28.440 I think he actually at the time said let's wait 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:33.040 until I'm eighty at least Yeah, well it's it's well deserved. 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:35.120 And so you've never been to the Governor's Awards, then 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.080 it's a lovely night. I think you'll enjoy it. And 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.240 that's what I've been told. They it's just, you know, 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.720 it's so relaxed and it's so easy, and it's not 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:50.760 not not disciplined by time constraints, and you know, and 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:52.960 it's not televised either, so you don't have to feel 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:54.480 like you're putting on a show for somebody and you're 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.080 giving your speech or anything like that. And you're in 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:59.480 such a great company this year too, obviously, with Charles 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:03.639 Burnett and Agnes Varda and Owen Roisman. Yeah, uh, you know, 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.040 are you fans of their work? Are you? What do 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:09.440 you think about being in this? I never worked with 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:15.320 with Roisman at all. I looked, Yeah, I know, because 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:19.000 I've shot so many, so many movies, but you know, 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:23.160 and Charles Burnette's work, I am from jar more with 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:27.519 his interviews actually thin in his movies. And Agnes Varda 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.800 I've had met a couple of times, uh in Europe 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:35.280 years ago. Yeah, well, I think you'll enjoy it. So again, 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:38.600 congratulations on that, and uh, you know, let's let's dive 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:40.400 into your career a little bit here, if you don't mind, 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.200 And I'd like to start a little bit off kilter. Actually, 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:46.880 you worked with Michael Crichton on The Great Train Robbert. 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.960 That's really off yeah, and uh later starting the adaptation 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:52.840 of Disclosure. I was just such a fan of his 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:55.720 work and I'm just curious what he was like as 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.320 a person to work with on that film as a director. 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:07.200 What what comes to mind about my correct, cold, ruthless um. 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:11.600 He's a he was a medical doctor. Michael and I 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:16.960 contracted double pneumonia just before we or maybe we'd already 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:22.880 started shooting, and Michael wanted to replace me because I 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:24.719 was going to be in the hospital for a week 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:29.640 or two, and and he was he was educated as 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:37.400 a as a doctor at Harvard um and but the 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:42.080 producers said no, they didn't they wanted me to play 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:46.760 that character. So I was sick. I got out of 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:48.920 hospital and I came back to work. But the day 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.320 I came back to work, what they how they had 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:56.080 scheduled it was to shoot a night in the Dublin Station, 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:02.279 the abandoned old Dublin station. It was colder than you 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:06.679 could believe unbelievably cold. And what Michael had me doing 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:10.720 was run from one end of the station to the 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:15.760 other all night long. And I had just come out 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:18.560 of hospital, and I said to Michael, why did you 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:25.360 do that? Um? And and he said, well, I wanted 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.800 to see if you could make it. In other words, 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:31.560 I wanted to know if your health was going to 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:33.920 survive that, and if it didn't, then we would be 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:39.320 rid of you and onto somewhere else. Um. And I 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:46.920 am personally I didn't appreciate that risk being taken. Um. 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.640 But I complied with it, and I did the running, 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:54.320 and I did it well. But but it left a 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.320 taste in my mouth, and there there are so few 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:01.359 tastes in my mouth. Whatever it is a hundred and 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:06.799 eighties something films I have, I can name maybe three, 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:12.280 and Michael's there big time. I started off with a 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:14.640 sour note. Then no, no, no, it's not a surd note. 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:22.880 It's it's the it's true, you know, and he wrote, uh, disclosure. 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.159 Barry was the key to that, the directors the key, 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:30.120 and Barry Levinson was wonderful, Michael Douglas was wonderful, DEMI 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:33.880 was wonderful. So I didn't have anything to do with 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:42.240 Michael Crotton there, but but everybody else is wonderful. It Uh, 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:45.360 Mash is probably where most people start. Let's go back 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.520 to Mash. That's obviously a huge moment in your career 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:53.880 working with Robert Altman. And the fascinating thing about that is, uh, 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:55.479 you know, the movie is wonderful, one of the great 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.400 war films. But then the material went on to have 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:00.719 such a life beyond the movie as one of the 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:02.800 most successful TV shows of all time. What was it 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:05.160 like to see that happened after your work on the 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.200 film was completing, to see it take on that life. 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.600 I didn't see it, but I was aware of it. 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.720 And years later I was in a lineup for the 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.560 Queen Mother and Prince Philip. They were going to screen 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.520 a film that I was not involved with, but I 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:25.320 was there, um, you know, and and the man standing 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:30.320 beside me kind of elbowed me and the ribs as 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:33.160 we were lined up in front of the Queenland and 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:37.400 he said, my name is Allen Holder, and I would 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.400 like to thank you for my life. And I thought 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:45.200 that's about as charming and as lovely and as generous 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.640 as you can be. I just you know it was. 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:53.160 It was, It was brilliant, It was wonderful though, so 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.600 I have the fondest memories of that series, even though 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.960 I'm not very familiar with it. How about working when 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.800 st Altman obviously one of the great filmmakers of all time, 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:09.600 and such a tour and how he uh made films 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.520 and in his stamp was such a personal one and 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.280 no one made films like Robert Altman. Now they didn't 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:17.480 know that's true. What was it? What was it like 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:20.400 working with him? For you? Ingle Primatur cast me in 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.920 that he was the man who bought the book and 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:31.600 created the project, and and then he cast Eliott, and 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:35.760 then he went looking for a director and finally he 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:40.120 found one who had made a television series called Worthy Birds, 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:45.520 and he I think, probably mistakenly, I would have been 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.480 better off not knowing, but he he did tell me, 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:54.760 uh that when Robert Altman and he sat down to 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.000 negotiate whatever, the first thing he said was, I don't 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:04.079 want that fellow sabol in the movie. And Ingle said, no, 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:09.240 he was my first choice. And then apparently Bob said 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.319 to the boat and I don't want him to have 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:17.439 top billing. And Bob said, and Ingo said no, he 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:22.600 has stop billing. So um that kind of So you've 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.880 hit Michael Prison, you've hit my book riding. There's only 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:32.800 one more and his name is Richard Mark Bond. That 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:35.960 the eye needle, I uh in the eye the needle. 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:38.840 I had to punch my hand through my glass right 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.960 at sugar glass. You just punched your hand through and 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:46.959 nothing happens. I punched my hand through the window and 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:52.960 suddenly my hand started bursting, blood literally spurting out of it, 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:57.400 and I had this huge scar and they couldn't stop 0:09:57.440 --> 0:09:59.600 the blood. And finally they got a stop. I said, 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.560 let's go going on that. That wasn't sugar last and 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:06.480 the prompt man said, uh no, that was real glass. 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.920 I said it was real glass. And you didn't tell me. 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.680 He said, no, we weren't allowed to tell me. Richard 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:16.640 didn't like the look of the sugar glass. He put 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.600 the real glass in there, and he told us if 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:25.000 we told you, we would be fired. So that you 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:27.080 got that out of it. Okay, we can talk about 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:35.680 Federico and Lucci and Nick Rogue and and uh Robert Redford. Anybody. 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.840 Everybody thought Oliver Stone might be one of those. Oh no, 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:43.520 all of her. She was He was a pure delight. 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:49.200 He was just is one of my favorite films and 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:52.800 that scene, he's brilliant, Oliver brilliant. That scene is just 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:54.800 you know, I had Kevin cost In here last year. 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:56.800 I was grilling him about it as well, that that 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.000 scene you chaired together. It's such a It's like one 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.760 of the great hair raised sequences in cinema. It's like 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:05.960 a fifteen minute just like amazing feed of editing and 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:10.040 cinematography and and just the construction. But in the performance 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:14.319 you're giving and Kevin, I remember in the director's commentary, 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:16.480 Oliver said that Kevin is one of the great listening 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:20.560 actors and it's crucial in that scene obviously. But yeah, 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:24.160 talk about working on that scene and without I didn't 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:26.000 work on that scene with Oliver. I worked in that 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:30.920 scene with my wife. We were in France, and we 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:35.000 spent probably three months walking up and down in the 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.640 in the bodybood where I would be saying the text 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:41.679 and she would be hearing it. And because it was 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:48.600 essential from me that it wasn't memorized material, that it 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:52.679 was stuff coming out of the gut of Fletcher Prouty, 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:56.280 who was the the real life source of that material 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:00.000 um and that if if I needed to, I could 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.560 have picked up a telephone and spoken to somebody and 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:05.480 said okay, and then gone right back to where I 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:08.000 had been, speaking like you, like you do in real life, 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:11.200 you know, unless you're eighty two and you forgot where 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:17.600 you were. But and it's uh. And so when I 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:22.840 came to New Orleans because Oliver had I can't remember 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:26.320 exactly the circumstances, but he wanted to speak to me 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:29.680 about it. And we were sitting at a bar, not 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.079 a you know, just a situation kind of like this, 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.160 but higher. I think they must have used it as 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:39.680 a bar um. And Oliver said, well, let me talk 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.000 about it. And I said, but why don't I just 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:47.200 do it? And I did it, and Kevin was sitting 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:55.000 beside me, and I did it for Oliver and he 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:58.280 he said, wow, that's acting. And he turned to Kevin 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.320 and Kevin said, that's what we all do. That's what 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:02.600 it's called. It's called acting. I loved him. He was 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:07.520 just great, he was terrific. And then we uh, I 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.160 came in for one night to Washington and we did 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:16.920 it the stuff, the preassassination stuff the night before and 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.079 then we did that speech in the morning. They shot 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.319 it with six hundred three hundred millimeter lenses. It was 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:26.800 the last day Oliver and Kevin were on their way 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.880 on a trip to the Far East or the Mideast 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.600 or somewhere, and and we shot it in the morning, 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.480 you know. And then there was then the focus pullers 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:40.000 were the most nervous people I've ever seen in my life. 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:46.120 Looked like potential for Parkinson's Bob Richardson's a friend. He 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.920 sorry Robert Richardson the DP of that amazing VP and 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:55.960 some of the best work I've seen in a film. Frankly, Um, 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.600 what did that film feel like? Like? You know the 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.240 the did it strike he was just fantasy or you know, 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:05.280 just what it's about in the premise that it's putting forth, 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:08.160 or you know, did you kind of bog down in 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.720 that at all? Because your scene is such a dense 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:15.920 information scene in those terms. So just curious how that 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:19.360 struck you. I'd a't really made a film about it. 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:24.960 I had my commissioned the writers. It was called Executive Action. 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.440 I was supposed to play in it, but I couldn't. 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:32.720 Burnt Lancaster did, Dalton Trumbull rewrote the script, and Dalton 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:43.480 was so so damaged by Bye Bye The by the Blacklist, 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:50.120 that his rewriting softened it. The original script by Mark 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:55.400 Lane and Donald Freed was tough and hard, and I 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:59.400 believed every minute of it, you know, and I still do. 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.720 I always ask actors who have worked with Anthony mcnguela 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:09.360 for some observations you were in. I had very little 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:13.520 to do. I mean, the most charming, lovely man and 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:18.240 the and Tim brittnal The, the producer of of Danny 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:23.840 Boyle's project trust Um was working for him and so 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:30.080 we speak about him a lot um, but I was. 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:34.680 I was devastated by the loss of him, and it 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:42.040 was incomprehensible to me. He he was such a meditative, 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:50.240 so you, so deliberate, so generous, so um. It was 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.440 like working with James Gray. James Gray is It's just 0:15:55.360 --> 0:16:00.360 plain delicious, you know. You know, he's fantastic. Something he 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:04.040 said to me because one of the actors was going 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.400 to get shot and I was sitting beside him, and 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:09.280 he said, I think you should as soon as shot happens, 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:11.880 you should react. I said, let me tell you something. 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:18.800 U goosecon stage was throwing a baseball and it hit 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:23.080 Ron say it was the third basement of the duchess. Ron, say, 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:25.520 who's the right handed batter? It hit him on his 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:30.400 left temple and knocked him straight down. So the ball 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:32.880 is coming in, the ball hits him, he falls to 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:37.640 the ground, and the umpire heels watch out. I said, 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:42.200 nothing happens now quickly, you know, you know, even when 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:46.440 you get shot yourself, you say, what was that? The so? 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.880 And then the point about this is that as soon 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:54.640 as I said it, he went through. James did every inning, 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:59.840 every player of that game. I always took my breath 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.720 way all the time. I just love him. Are you 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.560 a Dodgers fan? By the way, by which way, by 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:10.560 the way, are you a Dodgers fan? Rick Monday ruined 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:15.919 my life? I was a Montreal Expos fan. Got it. 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:24.720 Rick Monday hit a ball over the Steve Rodgers. No no, no, no, no, no, no, 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:28.600 no no no no. Steve Rodgers was the picture. And 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:38.800 they had, oh, Jim Fanning. They'd fired Dick Williams, who 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:42.520 was a wonderful manager, and they'd fired him. That the 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:45.280 hit off asit fired him because they didn't think he 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:49.240 was nice enough to the players. I'm sorry, who cares 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:52.400 about nice enough? How about winning a ball game? Anyway? 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:56.119 And they brought Jim Fanning up from from the minor 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:59.119 leagues because he was a scout, him in a brilliant scout, 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.199 but he was not a manager. And but for me, 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:05.879 I kept saying, how can you have a manager whose 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:09.119 name is synonymous was swinging at a pitch and mitting missing, 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:18.280 you know. Uh. But anyway, Steve Rogers, who was he was, 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:22.040 he was our lead race pitcher, but he had he 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:27.240 had psychological problems. He just it was difficult for him. 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:31.080 And he threw a ball. I'm sam sitting right there. 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:34.719 He threw a ball to Rick Monday because what Fanning 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:39.160 had done. Ray Burrows was was our pitcher, and Ray 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.439 was a terrific batter. And it was the bottom of 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:45.840 the eight, tied at home, and we were playing in Montreal. 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:49.080 It was the last game of the league championship series. 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:54.520 And and he pinched hit for Ray Burrows and we 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:58.480 didn't have a reliever all. The only person in the 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:03.400 bullpen was Steve Rodgers, and uh and he pinched hit 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:07.919 and he um, oh gosh, yeah, anyway, he did. He 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.240 brought in a player whose name Shelby I'm not going 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:14.000 to name him, who swung of the first three pitches 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:18.520 and was out. Uh. And then Rick Monday came up uh, 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:22.000 and Steve Rogers was pitching, and Steve Rogers pitched the 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:26.120 ball right across his chest. I mean it was. It 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:29.000 was the sweetest ball you've ever seen for anybody to 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:32.200 hit over the fence. And and Rick Monday didn't swing 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.520 at it. I thought, oh my God, thank Heavens. And 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:37.679 then he pitched the same ball again and Rick Mondy 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:39.960 put it over the right field fence and I had 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:42.040 a minor heart attack or whatever it is, or a 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:45.119 brain tumor everything. I mean, I just but in the 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:51.440 interview afterwards, Jim Fanning and h and Steve Rogers are 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:57.679 there together and the the interviewers saying, but, um, Steve 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:03.040 is not a relief picture. And Jim Fanning mumbled something 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:05.840 and Steve Rogers said to him, but I have told 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:10.800 you my first inning is always the worst inning. And 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:17.280 Jim Fanning said, but this was the ninth. I'm gonna 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.560 try to find a fifth one. No no, no, no, 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:24.520 no no no no no no no no. That's but 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:26.800 you know about Rick Monday. Rick Monday They had a 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:30.480 book on on baseball superstitions, and they went to Rick 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.480 Monday and they said, what is your superstition? And he said, 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:37.120 I don't have one. And they said, you don't have one. 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:40.520 Every baseball player as they have as a superstition. Why 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:42.720 don't you have one? He said, I think they're bad luck. 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:47.080 Oh my gosh, do you have one? Do I have one? 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:51.119 I have so many. My hat was buried under the 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:56.960 mound at at Expo Stadium, So yes, the answer is yes. 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:02.399 Um not at tour. I was expecting not not the detour. 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:05.480 I was expecting talking to you today. Well, why would 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:08.359 you expect anything? I guess you're right. I should come 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.200 in here open and not expect that. I didn't expect 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.240 you to wear on phones, for instance, but it's radio 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:18.840 it is. You're right, concentrate shoe. I should probably do it. 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:22.680 Actually I would have thought so. Maybe I look I'm professional. Now, gosh, 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:26.399 you got me on edge. Let's talk about some of 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:28.919 the other filmmakers. Yeah, it's kind of like a lightning 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:31.159 round at this point. But Robert Redford, let's start their 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:36.320 ordinary people. His big debut, such a huge hit at 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:38.720 the Academy Awards. What was it like working with Robert 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:46.240 Referent as a director? Perfect, wonderful objective, a brilliant vision, 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:54.159 very pure um. Great respect for Alvin Sargent's script. The 0:21:54.160 --> 0:22:03.760 the There's a scene in the movie where Um, the 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:11.840 character that I play, was downstairs and Mary came down, 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:16.800 my wife, uh, and said, Calvin, WoT what's going on? 0:22:16.960 --> 0:22:19.480 And I said, I don't know whether I love you anymore? 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:24.520 And I was weeping. And she turned around and walked 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:29.199 up and we looked at Russia's because we looked at 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:32.560 Russia's and I'll tell you story about John Shuck and 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:37.760 Bob alten Um, but we looked at Russia's. And I said, 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:40.200 I've really missed you. I've really screwed you. I've done 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:44.880 the worst possible thing. I've done this actor's thing of weeping. 0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:48.120 And I should not have been weeping. I should have 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:52.080 been finished with my remorse and my grief. And now 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:55.439 I was just sitting there, vacant and empty and with 0:22:55.520 --> 0:23:00.359 a bowl of salt water, swilling tears in my in 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:03.320 my belly. And everybody said, no, no, no, no, no, 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:07.000 this is perfect, this is so dramatic, it's lovely. Three 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:12.560 months after we wrapped Robert Redford phoned me and said, listen, 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:16.919 I think you were right. I think we should reshoot that. 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:21.399 But I don't have the set. John Bailey is not available. 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:24.720 Mary Toner Moore is in New York doing Whose Life 0:23:24.760 --> 0:23:28.880 Is It? Anyway? And so I would have to play Mary, 0:23:29.040 --> 0:23:31.840 and we just have a window with a curtain. Will 0:23:31.920 --> 0:23:35.320 you redo it? So that's what you see in the movie. 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:38.920 That's all you needed. That's all you needed anyway, right, 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:41.399 you didn't need to bring the set back together. And 0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:47.679 but but can you imagine the cuts that man, the 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:51.840 brilliance of him being able to see through all of 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:56.439 that so precisely and pulling it back and knowing what 0:23:56.600 --> 0:24:00.000 he needed and getting it. And it's his first film, 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:01.679 I mean, I mean, I imagine his career as an 0:24:01.680 --> 0:24:04.359 actor informed so much of that. And for you, you know, 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:08.800 when actors are directors, they tend to anticipate the needs 0:24:08.800 --> 0:24:10.640 of their cast. I guess a little bit better. So 0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:14.239 did you get any feeling just the empathy, anticipate the 0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:17.080 needs of the just empathy, knowing what you're going through, 0:24:17.119 --> 0:24:19.359 knowing what you might need to get through a scene. 0:24:20.480 --> 0:24:22.439 I mean, I'm speaking as I'm speaking as a Layman. 0:24:22.520 --> 0:24:24.480 So you tell me, I don't. I don't think so. 0:24:24.600 --> 0:24:27.840 I think like the best thing in the world was 0:24:27.840 --> 0:24:30.919 was James Gray sitting beside the camera, you know, like 0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:34.120 it used to be in the old days, because you're 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:38.920 working for the director and it doesn't have so much 0:24:38.960 --> 0:24:43.920 to do with your needs as your ability to communicate 0:24:45.040 --> 0:24:51.800 the essential truth of the character with with that director. Um, 0:24:52.440 --> 0:24:55.960 and so the closer he can be, you know, video 0:24:56.040 --> 0:25:00.359 village is not my favorite thing, uh My, was the 0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:06.040 intimate relationship with the director, you know. Yeah. Uh And 0:25:06.119 --> 0:25:07.440 by the way, just so I can mention the film 0:25:07.480 --> 0:25:09.480 that you're talking about with James Gray, that's at astro 0:25:09.640 --> 0:25:12.919 what you're working on. Now, let's talk about Tommy Lee 0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:19.440 Jones and but but it stars Brad Pitt. I was wonderful. Gosh, 0:25:19.480 --> 0:25:22.320 he's great. And Tommy Lee I had dinner with him. 0:25:22.520 --> 0:25:26.720 He's gosh. He hasn't changed a bit because we flew 0:25:26.760 --> 0:25:33.879 into space together, yes, the Space Cowboys. Robert Towns a great, 0:25:34.000 --> 0:25:40.200 great scene writer, script writer, um. And he was wonderful 0:25:40.280 --> 0:25:49.160 and in his ability to to move that subjective process 0:25:49.200 --> 0:25:53.040 which is writing, into the objective process that was directing. 0:25:53.720 --> 0:25:57.280 And I thought his film was terrific, really terrific. It 0:25:57.440 --> 0:26:00.560 got sold incorrectly and that it was sold as a 0:26:00.640 --> 0:26:05.520 love story between the girl and Billy Crudup's character, when 0:26:05.560 --> 0:26:08.879 in fact it was really a love story between a 0:26:09.000 --> 0:26:13.800 mentor and the failure of that mentor and Billy Crudup's 0:26:13.960 --> 0:26:20.000 character Steve free Fontaine. But it was really really well done, 0:26:20.760 --> 0:26:24.320 and it's it's a piece of work I'm really proud of. 0:26:25.119 --> 0:26:27.520 And you mentioned Felini yourself. Let's talk about Let's let 0:26:27.640 --> 0:26:31.760 you mentioned Felini yourself. Let's talk about Federico Felini, Felini's Casanova. 0:26:32.440 --> 0:26:35.560 That must have been a pleasure to work with a 0:26:35.560 --> 0:26:41.360 guy like that. I loved him. I miss him terribly. 0:26:42.680 --> 0:26:49.560 The I don't know how you start, Federicoh, it was 0:26:49.960 --> 0:26:56.760 we worked together for thirteen months and everything you could 0:26:56.840 --> 0:27:01.560 dream of in the process of working, from looking across 0:27:01.640 --> 0:27:06.320 and saying to you, um, who know who know? Doing 0:27:06.440 --> 0:27:16.480 three increase although otto uh, These were lines that he 0:27:16.480 --> 0:27:19.240 would give me and I would say what am I doing? 0:27:19.280 --> 0:27:21.680 And he would say, you were talking to someone who's 0:27:21.680 --> 0:27:24.680 speaking on the on the internet. And I would say, 0:27:24.960 --> 0:27:29.560