Speaker 1: If you're listening to playback a Variety podcast, I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Variety Awards Editor Chris Tapley. We have a legend here today,
Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen. He's the Emmy and Golden Globe winning
Speaker 1: star of films like Mash Don't Look Now, Invasion of
Speaker 1: the Body Snatchers, Ordinary People, Citizen X, The Hunger Games.
Speaker 1: I could go on and on, and now he'll have
Speaker 1: his Oscar. Thank you. Donald Sutherland is one of this
Speaker 1: year's honorary Oscar recipients, receiving his accolade at the Academy's
Speaker 1: Governor's Awards this weekend. He's also the star of the
Speaker 1: new film The Leisure Seeker, which will dive into as well. Donald,
Speaker 1: thanks for coming on the show, sir. You appreciate it. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, I put out a feeler to my Twitter
Speaker 1: followers a couple of weeks back before they had decided
Speaker 1: the rare Oscar recipients, and I was just like, you know,
Speaker 1: who should be honored, who deserves it, And your name
Speaker 1: came up more than anyone else. So I hope you
Speaker 1: know there's a very strong sentiment that you've been overdue
Speaker 1: for this recognition for a long time. So that's lovely,
Speaker 1: That's really lovely. Um, I don't think I'm overdue, but
Speaker 1: I certainly were running out of time at two. Um,
Speaker 1: you know it was it was a huge surprise I had,
Speaker 1: but I didn't. I wasn't really aware of honorary oscars,
Speaker 1: and I've seen them on the Oscar Show itself. But
Speaker 1: I was stunned, you know, stunned when they told me,
Speaker 1: and and did you have any kind of a reaction, like,
Speaker 1: you know, Peteral Tool. I don't know if you remember that,
Speaker 1: like fifteen years ago, they were going to honor him
Speaker 1: in two thousand three, I think, and he declined it.
Speaker 1: He said, you know, I'm still in the game. I
Speaker 1: might win it outright, let's wait. Did you have any
Speaker 1: kind of reaction like that? No, no, no, no, but
Speaker 1: Peter had been nominated. Peter, but a part of that
Speaker 1: I've I've I've not been in any way a part
Speaker 1: of you know, except once I gave one away. Um no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I didn't think anything like that. And Peter was younger
Speaker 1: than I am too, I'm I'm ady two. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he actually at the time said let's wait
Speaker 1: until I'm eighty at least Yeah, well it's it's well deserved.
Speaker 1: And so you've never been to the Governor's Awards, then
Speaker 1: it's a lovely night. I think you'll enjoy it. And
Speaker 1: that's what I've been told. They it's just, you know,
Speaker 1: it's so relaxed and it's so easy, and it's not
Speaker 1: not not disciplined by time constraints, and you know, and
Speaker 1: it's not televised either, so you don't have to feel
Speaker 1: like you're putting on a show for somebody and you're
Speaker 1: giving your speech or anything like that. And you're in
Speaker 1: such a great company this year too, obviously, with Charles
Speaker 1: Burnett and Agnes Varda and Owen Roisman. Yeah, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: are you fans of their work? Are you? What do
Speaker 1: you think about being in this? I never worked with
Speaker 1: with Roisman at all. I looked, Yeah, I know, because
Speaker 1: I've shot so many, so many movies, but you know,
Speaker 1: and Charles Burnette's work, I am from jar more with
Speaker 1: his interviews actually thin in his movies. And Agnes Varda
Speaker 1: I've had met a couple of times, uh in Europe
Speaker 1: years ago. Yeah, well, I think you'll enjoy it. So again,
Speaker 1: congratulations on that, and uh, you know, let's let's dive
Speaker 1: into your career a little bit here, if you don't mind,
Speaker 1: And I'd like to start a little bit off kilter. Actually,
Speaker 1: you worked with Michael Crichton on The Great Train Robbert.
Speaker 1: That's really off yeah, and uh later starting the adaptation
Speaker 1: of Disclosure. I was just such a fan of his
Speaker 1: work and I'm just curious what he was like as
Speaker 1: a person to work with on that film as a director.
Speaker 1: What what comes to mind about my correct, cold, ruthless um.
Speaker 1: He's a he was a medical doctor. Michael and I
Speaker 1: contracted double pneumonia just before we or maybe we'd already
Speaker 1: started shooting, and Michael wanted to replace me because I
Speaker 1: was going to be in the hospital for a week
Speaker 1: or two, and and he was he was educated as
Speaker 1: a as a doctor at Harvard um and but the
Speaker 1: producers said no, they didn't they wanted me to play
Speaker 1: that character. So I was sick. I got out of
Speaker 1: hospital and I came back to work. But the day
Speaker 1: I came back to work, what they how they had
Speaker 1: scheduled it was to shoot a night in the Dublin Station,
Speaker 1: the abandoned old Dublin station. It was colder than you
Speaker 1: could believe unbelievably cold. And what Michael had me doing
Speaker 1: was run from one end of the station to the
Speaker 1: other all night long. And I had just come out
Speaker 1: of hospital, and I said to Michael, why did you
Speaker 1: do that? Um? And and he said, well, I wanted
Speaker 1: to see if you could make it. In other words,
Speaker 1: I wanted to know if your health was going to
Speaker 1: survive that, and if it didn't, then we would be
Speaker 1: rid of you and onto somewhere else. Um. And I
Speaker 1: am personally I didn't appreciate that risk being taken. Um.
Speaker 1: But I complied with it, and I did the running,
Speaker 1: and I did it well. But but it left a
Speaker 1: taste in my mouth, and there there are so few
Speaker 1: tastes in my mouth. Whatever it is a hundred and
Speaker 1: eighties something films I have, I can name maybe three,
Speaker 1: and Michael's there big time. I started off with a
Speaker 1: sour note. Then no, no, no, it's not a surd note.
Speaker 1: It's it's the it's true, you know, and he wrote, uh, disclosure.
Speaker 1: Barry was the key to that, the directors the key,
Speaker 1: and Barry Levinson was wonderful, Michael Douglas was wonderful, DEMI
Speaker 1: was wonderful. So I didn't have anything to do with
Speaker 1: Michael Crotton there, but but everybody else is wonderful. It Uh,
Speaker 1: Mash is probably where most people start. Let's go back
Speaker 1: to Mash. That's obviously a huge moment in your career
Speaker 1: working with Robert Altman. And the fascinating thing about that is, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the movie is wonderful, one of the great
Speaker 1: war films. But then the material went on to have
Speaker 1: such a life beyond the movie as one of the
Speaker 1: most successful TV shows of all time. What was it
Speaker 1: like to see that happened after your work on the
Speaker 1: film was completing, to see it take on that life.
Speaker 1: I didn't see it, but I was aware of it.
Speaker 1: And years later I was in a lineup for the
Speaker 1: Queen Mother and Prince Philip. They were going to screen
Speaker 1: a film that I was not involved with, but I
Speaker 1: was there, um, you know, and and the man standing
Speaker 1: beside me kind of elbowed me and the ribs as
Speaker 1: we were lined up in front of the Queenland and
Speaker 1: he said, my name is Allen Holder, and I would
Speaker 1: like to thank you for my life. And I thought
Speaker 1: that's about as charming and as lovely and as generous
Speaker 1: as you can be. I just you know it was.
Speaker 1: It was, It was brilliant, It was wonderful though, so
Speaker 1: I have the fondest memories of that series, even though
Speaker 1: I'm not very familiar with it. How about working when
Speaker 1: st Altman obviously one of the great filmmakers of all time,
Speaker 1: and such a tour and how he uh made films
Speaker 1: and in his stamp was such a personal one and
Speaker 1: no one made films like Robert Altman. Now they didn't
Speaker 1: know that's true. What was it? What was it like
Speaker 1: working with him? For you? Ingle Primatur cast me in
Speaker 1: that he was the man who bought the book and
Speaker 1: created the project, and and then he cast Eliott, and
Speaker 1: then he went looking for a director and finally he
Speaker 1: found one who had made a television series called Worthy Birds,
Speaker 1: and he I think, probably mistakenly, I would have been
Speaker 1: better off not knowing, but he he did tell me,
Speaker 1: uh that when Robert Altman and he sat down to
Speaker 1: negotiate whatever, the first thing he said was, I don't
Speaker 1: want that fellow sabol in the movie. And Ingle said, no,
Speaker 1: he was my first choice. And then apparently Bob said
Speaker 1: to the boat and I don't want him to have
Speaker 1: top billing. And Bob said, and Ingo said no, he
Speaker 1: has stop billing. So um that kind of So you've
Speaker 1: hit Michael Prison, you've hit my book riding. There's only
Speaker 1: one more and his name is Richard Mark Bond. That
Speaker 1: the eye needle, I uh in the eye the needle.
Speaker 1: I had to punch my hand through my glass right
Speaker 1: at sugar glass. You just punched your hand through and
Speaker 1: nothing happens. I punched my hand through the window and
Speaker 1: suddenly my hand started bursting, blood literally spurting out of it,
Speaker 1: and I had this huge scar and they couldn't stop
Speaker 1: the blood. And finally they got a stop. I said,
Speaker 1: let's go going on that. That wasn't sugar last and
Speaker 1: the prompt man said, uh no, that was real glass.
Speaker 1: I said it was real glass. And you didn't tell me.
Speaker 1: He said, no, we weren't allowed to tell me. Richard
Speaker 1: didn't like the look of the sugar glass. He put
Speaker 1: the real glass in there, and he told us if
Speaker 1: we told you, we would be fired. So that you
Speaker 1: got that out of it. Okay, we can talk about
Speaker 1: Federico and Lucci and Nick Rogue and and uh Robert Redford. Anybody.
Speaker 1: Everybody thought Oliver Stone might be one of those. Oh no,
Speaker 1: all of her. She was He was a pure delight.
Speaker 1: He was just is one of my favorite films and
Speaker 1: that scene, he's brilliant, Oliver brilliant. That scene is just
Speaker 1: you know, I had Kevin cost In here last year.
Speaker 1: I was grilling him about it as well, that that
Speaker 1: scene you chaired together. It's such a It's like one
Speaker 1: of the great hair raised sequences in cinema. It's like
Speaker 1: a fifteen minute just like amazing feed of editing and
Speaker 1: cinematography and and just the construction. But in the performance
Speaker 1: you're giving and Kevin, I remember in the director's commentary,
Speaker 1: Oliver said that Kevin is one of the great listening
Speaker 1: actors and it's crucial in that scene obviously. But yeah,
Speaker 1: talk about working on that scene and without I didn't
Speaker 1: work on that scene with Oliver. I worked in that
Speaker 1: scene with my wife. We were in France, and we
Speaker 1: spent probably three months walking up and down in the
Speaker 1: in the bodybood where I would be saying the text
Speaker 1: and she would be hearing it. And because it was
Speaker 1: essential from me that it wasn't memorized material, that it
Speaker 1: was stuff coming out of the gut of Fletcher Prouty,
Speaker 1: who was the the real life source of that material
Speaker 1: um and that if if I needed to, I could
Speaker 1: have picked up a telephone and spoken to somebody and
Speaker 1: said okay, and then gone right back to where I
Speaker 1: had been, speaking like you, like you do in real life,
Speaker 1: you know, unless you're eighty two and you forgot where
Speaker 1: you were. But and it's uh. And so when I
Speaker 1: came to New Orleans because Oliver had I can't remember
Speaker 1: exactly the circumstances, but he wanted to speak to me
Speaker 1: about it. And we were sitting at a bar, not
Speaker 1: a you know, just a situation kind of like this,
Speaker 1: but higher. I think they must have used it as
Speaker 1: a bar um. And Oliver said, well, let me talk
Speaker 1: about it. And I said, but why don't I just
Speaker 1: do it? And I did it, and Kevin was sitting
Speaker 1: beside me, and I did it for Oliver and he
Speaker 1: he said, wow, that's acting. And he turned to Kevin
Speaker 1: and Kevin said, that's what we all do. That's what
Speaker 1: it's called. It's called acting. I loved him. He was
Speaker 1: just great, he was terrific. And then we uh, I
Speaker 1: came in for one night to Washington and we did
Speaker 1: it the stuff, the preassassination stuff the night before and
Speaker 1: then we did that speech in the morning. They shot
Speaker 1: it with six hundred three hundred millimeter lenses. It was
Speaker 1: the last day Oliver and Kevin were on their way
Speaker 1: on a trip to the Far East or the Mideast
Speaker 1: or somewhere, and and we shot it in the morning,
Speaker 1: you know. And then there was then the focus pullers
Speaker 1: were the most nervous people I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 1: Looked like potential for Parkinson's Bob Richardson's a friend. He
Speaker 1: sorry Robert Richardson the DP of that amazing VP and
Speaker 1: some of the best work I've seen in a film. Frankly, Um,
Speaker 1: what did that film feel like? Like? You know the
Speaker 1: the did it strike he was just fantasy or you know,
Speaker 1: just what it's about in the premise that it's putting forth,
Speaker 1: or you know, did you kind of bog down in
Speaker 1: that at all? Because your scene is such a dense
Speaker 1: information scene in those terms. So just curious how that
Speaker 1: struck you. I'd a't really made a film about it.
Speaker 1: I had my commissioned the writers. It was called Executive Action.
Speaker 1: I was supposed to play in it, but I couldn't.
Speaker 1: Burnt Lancaster did, Dalton Trumbull rewrote the script, and Dalton
Speaker 1: was so so damaged by Bye Bye The by the Blacklist,
Speaker 1: that his rewriting softened it. The original script by Mark
Speaker 1: Lane and Donald Freed was tough and hard, and I
Speaker 1: believed every minute of it, you know, and I still do.
Speaker 1: I always ask actors who have worked with Anthony mcnguela
Speaker 1: for some observations you were in. I had very little
Speaker 1: to do. I mean, the most charming, lovely man and
Speaker 1: the and Tim brittnal The, the producer of of Danny
Speaker 1: Boyle's project trust Um was working for him and so
Speaker 1: we speak about him a lot um, but I was.
Speaker 1: I was devastated by the loss of him, and it
Speaker 1: was incomprehensible to me. He he was such a meditative,
Speaker 1: so you, so deliberate, so generous, so um. It was
Speaker 1: like working with James Gray. James Gray is It's just
Speaker 1: plain delicious, you know. You know, he's fantastic. Something he
Speaker 1: said to me because one of the actors was going
Speaker 1: to get shot and I was sitting beside him, and
Speaker 1: he said, I think you should as soon as shot happens,
Speaker 1: you should react. I said, let me tell you something.
Speaker 1: U goosecon stage was throwing a baseball and it hit
Speaker 1: Ron say it was the third basement of the duchess. Ron, say,
Speaker 1: who's the right handed batter? It hit him on his
Speaker 1: left temple and knocked him straight down. So the ball
Speaker 1: is coming in, the ball hits him, he falls to
Speaker 1: the ground, and the umpire heels watch out. I said,
Speaker 1: nothing happens now quickly, you know, you know, even when
Speaker 1: you get shot yourself, you say, what was that? The so?
Speaker 1: And then the point about this is that as soon
Speaker 1: as I said it, he went through. James did every inning,
Speaker 1: every player of that game. I always took my breath
Speaker 1: way all the time. I just love him. Are you
Speaker 1: a Dodgers fan? By the way, by which way, by
Speaker 1: the way, are you a Dodgers fan? Rick Monday ruined
Speaker 1: my life? I was a Montreal Expos fan. Got it.
Speaker 1: Rick Monday hit a ball over the Steve Rodgers. No no, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no no no. Steve Rodgers was the picture. And
Speaker 1: they had, oh, Jim Fanning. They'd fired Dick Williams, who
Speaker 1: was a wonderful manager, and they'd fired him. That the
Speaker 1: hit off asit fired him because they didn't think he
Speaker 1: was nice enough to the players. I'm sorry, who cares
Speaker 1: about nice enough? How about winning a ball game? Anyway?
Speaker 1: And they brought Jim Fanning up from from the minor
Speaker 1: leagues because he was a scout, him in a brilliant scout,
Speaker 1: but he was not a manager. And but for me,
Speaker 1: I kept saying, how can you have a manager whose
Speaker 1: name is synonymous was swinging at a pitch and mitting missing,
Speaker 1: you know. Uh. But anyway, Steve Rogers, who was he was,
Speaker 1: he was our lead race pitcher, but he had he
Speaker 1: had psychological problems. He just it was difficult for him.
Speaker 1: And he threw a ball. I'm sam sitting right there.
Speaker 1: He threw a ball to Rick Monday because what Fanning
Speaker 1: had done. Ray Burrows was was our pitcher, and Ray
Speaker 1: was a terrific batter. And it was the bottom of
Speaker 1: the eight, tied at home, and we were playing in Montreal.
Speaker 1: It was the last game of the league championship series.
Speaker 1: And and he pinched hit for Ray Burrows and we
Speaker 1: didn't have a reliever all. The only person in the
Speaker 1: bullpen was Steve Rodgers, and uh and he pinched hit
Speaker 1: and he um, oh gosh, yeah, anyway, he did. He
Speaker 1: brought in a player whose name Shelby I'm not going
Speaker 1: to name him, who swung of the first three pitches
Speaker 1: and was out. Uh. And then Rick Monday came up uh,
Speaker 1: and Steve Rogers was pitching, and Steve Rogers pitched the
Speaker 1: ball right across his chest. I mean it was. It
Speaker 1: was the sweetest ball you've ever seen for anybody to
Speaker 1: hit over the fence. And and Rick Monday didn't swing
Speaker 1: at it. I thought, oh my God, thank Heavens. And
Speaker 1: then he pitched the same ball again and Rick Mondy
Speaker 1: put it over the right field fence and I had
Speaker 1: a minor heart attack or whatever it is, or a
Speaker 1: brain tumor everything. I mean, I just but in the
Speaker 1: interview afterwards, Jim Fanning and h and Steve Rogers are
Speaker 1: there together and the the interviewers saying, but, um, Steve
Speaker 1: is not a relief picture. And Jim Fanning mumbled something
Speaker 1: and Steve Rogers said to him, but I have told
Speaker 1: you my first inning is always the worst inning. And
Speaker 1: Jim Fanning said, but this was the ninth. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: try to find a fifth one. No no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no no no no no no no. That's but
Speaker 1: you know about Rick Monday. Rick Monday They had a
Speaker 1: book on on baseball superstitions, and they went to Rick
Speaker 1: Monday and they said, what is your superstition? And he said,
Speaker 1: I don't have one. And they said, you don't have one.
Speaker 1: Every baseball player as they have as a superstition. Why
Speaker 1: don't you have one? He said, I think they're bad luck.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, do you have one? Do I have one?
Speaker 1: I have so many. My hat was buried under the
Speaker 1: mound at at Expo Stadium, So yes, the answer is yes.
Speaker 1: Um not at tour. I was expecting not not the detour.
Speaker 1: I was expecting talking to you today. Well, why would
Speaker 1: you expect anything? I guess you're right. I should come
Speaker 1: in here open and not expect that. I didn't expect
Speaker 1: you to wear on phones, for instance, but it's radio
Speaker 1: it is. You're right, concentrate shoe. I should probably do it.
Speaker 1: Actually I would have thought so. Maybe I look I'm professional. Now, gosh,
Speaker 1: you got me on edge. Let's talk about some of
Speaker 1: the other filmmakers. Yeah, it's kind of like a lightning
Speaker 1: round at this point. But Robert Redford, let's start their
Speaker 1: ordinary people. His big debut, such a huge hit at
Speaker 1: the Academy Awards. What was it like working with Robert
Speaker 1: Referent as a director? Perfect, wonderful objective, a brilliant vision,
Speaker 1: very pure um. Great respect for Alvin Sargent's script. The
Speaker 1: the There's a scene in the movie where Um, the
Speaker 1: character that I play, was downstairs and Mary came down,
Speaker 1: my wife, uh, and said, Calvin, WoT what's going on?
Speaker 1: And I said, I don't know whether I love you anymore?
Speaker 1: And I was weeping. And she turned around and walked
Speaker 1: up and we looked at Russia's because we looked at
Speaker 1: Russia's and I'll tell you story about John Shuck and
Speaker 1: Bob alten Um, but we looked at Russia's. And I said,
Speaker 1: I've really missed you. I've really screwed you. I've done
Speaker 1: the worst possible thing. I've done this actor's thing of weeping.
Speaker 1: And I should not have been weeping. I should have
Speaker 1: been finished with my remorse and my grief. And now
Speaker 1: I was just sitting there, vacant and empty and with
Speaker 1: a bowl of salt water, swilling tears in my in
Speaker 1: my belly. And everybody said, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: this is perfect, this is so dramatic, it's lovely. Three
Speaker 1: months after we wrapped Robert Redford phoned me and said, listen,
Speaker 1: I think you were right. I think we should reshoot that.
Speaker 1: But I don't have the set. John Bailey is not available.
Speaker 1: Mary Toner Moore is in New York doing Whose Life
Speaker 1: Is It? Anyway? And so I would have to play Mary,
Speaker 1: and we just have a window with a curtain. Will
Speaker 1: you redo it? So that's what you see in the movie.
Speaker 1: That's all you needed. That's all you needed anyway, right,
Speaker 1: you didn't need to bring the set back together. And
Speaker 1: but but can you imagine the cuts that man, the
Speaker 1: brilliance of him being able to see through all of
Speaker 1: that so precisely and pulling it back and knowing what
Speaker 1: he needed and getting it. And it's his first film,
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I imagine his career as an
Speaker 1: actor informed so much of that. And for you, you know,
Speaker 1: when actors are directors, they tend to anticipate the needs
Speaker 1: of their cast. I guess a little bit better. So
Speaker 1: did you get any feeling just the empathy, anticipate the
Speaker 1: needs of the just empathy, knowing what you're going through,
Speaker 1: knowing what you might need to get through a scene.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm speaking as I'm speaking as a Layman.
Speaker 1: So you tell me, I don't. I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I think like the best thing in the world was
Speaker 1: was James Gray sitting beside the camera, you know, like
Speaker 1: it used to be in the old days, because you're
Speaker 1: working for the director and it doesn't have so much
Speaker 1: to do with your needs as your ability to communicate
Speaker 1: the essential truth of the character with with that director. Um,
Speaker 1: and so the closer he can be, you know, video
Speaker 1: village is not my favorite thing, uh My, was the
Speaker 1: intimate relationship with the director, you know. Yeah. Uh And
Speaker 1: by the way, just so I can mention the film
Speaker 1: that you're talking about with James Gray, that's at astro
Speaker 1: what you're working on. Now, let's talk about Tommy Lee
Speaker 1: Jones and but but it stars Brad Pitt. I was wonderful. Gosh,
Speaker 1: he's great. And Tommy Lee I had dinner with him.
Speaker 1: He's gosh. He hasn't changed a bit because we flew
Speaker 1: into space together, yes, the Space Cowboys. Robert Towns a great,
Speaker 1: great scene writer, script writer, um. And he was wonderful
Speaker 1: and in his ability to to move that subjective process
Speaker 1: which is writing, into the objective process that was directing.
Speaker 1: And I thought his film was terrific, really terrific. It
Speaker 1: got sold incorrectly and that it was sold as a
Speaker 1: love story between the girl and Billy Crudup's character, when
Speaker 1: in fact it was really a love story between a
Speaker 1: mentor and the failure of that mentor and Billy Crudup's
Speaker 1: character Steve free Fontaine. But it was really really well done,
Speaker 1: and it's it's a piece of work I'm really proud of.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned Felini yourself. Let's talk about Let's let
Speaker 1: you mentioned Felini yourself. Let's talk about Federico Felini, Felini's Casanova.
Speaker 1: That must have been a pleasure to work with a
Speaker 1: guy like that. I loved him. I miss him terribly.
Speaker 1: The I don't know how you start, Federicoh, it was
Speaker 1: we worked together for thirteen months and everything you could
Speaker 1: dream of in the process of working, from looking across
Speaker 1: and saying to you, um, who know who know? Doing
Speaker 1: three increase although otto uh, These were lines that he
Speaker 1: would give me and I would say what am I doing?
Speaker 1: And he would say, you were talking to someone who's
Speaker 1: speaking on the on the internet. And I would say,
Speaker 1: and I say, he said, yet you say you know? Um.
Speaker 1: It was just Babs brilliant. It was a flight into
Speaker 1: the imagination of a genius, you know. And he didn't
Speaker 1: look at Russia's. I was going to talk to you
Speaker 1: about Bob, and Bob, I have to tell you I
Speaker 1: have I have a huge affection for him and and
Speaker 1: he he made my life, you know, or Ingle made
Speaker 1: my life really uh, and then you made Allen's and
Speaker 1: then you made Ellen Alders Yeah, and Bend Elliott, you know,
Speaker 1: because the relationship with Elliott was it's a love relationship.
Speaker 1: I don't think with any other man I have felt
Speaker 1: that closeness, that collaboration, that joy, that delight. Uh, I
Speaker 1: just grabbed but anybody, Um, John shook because we looked
Speaker 1: at Rushes every day and the whole company, everybody went
Speaker 1: into the theater and sat there and looked at Rushes
Speaker 1: and applauded and laughed or whatever. And John Schuck said, listen, tomorrow,
Speaker 1: I have a scene, Bob where I have to say
Speaker 1: to this San Francisco football player, I'm going to knock
Speaker 1: your block off. Can I, uh, just for the Rushes,
Speaker 1: say one take where I say I'm going to knock
Speaker 1: your fucking block off. And then I and so Bob
Speaker 1: said sure, so he did. And so it's shown in
Speaker 1: the rushes and it's hysterical and we all love it.
Speaker 1: And then Putney Smoke comes out Robert Downey's Seniors picture
Speaker 1: and that uses the word fucking it and uh so
Speaker 1: it was okay. It was suddenly okay, and John shots line,
Speaker 1: which was shot you know, months before it was legal,
Speaker 1: was suddenly there. But that's Bob too. That was the
Speaker 1: way he thought. I mean, he he was open to
Speaker 1: everything and making that film and I've not been in
Speaker 1: any film ever since. That was like it where we
Speaker 1: we said one thing for the master and another thing
Speaker 1: for the medium shot and something altogether different for the
Speaker 1: close up. The the sound, I don't know whether the audio,
Speaker 1: I don't don't know what which he was, but the
Speaker 1: audio audio edit, I'm not sure. But whoever it was
Speaker 1: for the sound, who put it all together received an
Speaker 1: Oscar for that and he deserved a Nobel Lapping dialogue. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's an intense uh thing to accomplish, to say the least.
Speaker 1: And now, leisure Seekers, the film you have this year,
Speaker 1: I wanted to jump ahead to that, make sure we
Speaker 1: talk about it. This is you and the great Helen
Speaker 1: Mirren and I Winna Bago driving on a road trip
Speaker 1: from Boston down to the Keys Lovely Mansion. Anything better
Speaker 1: I cannot honestly it was it? Uh filmed in such
Speaker 1: a way? I mean, or what did you kind of
Speaker 1: so you went? We didn't start in Boston, we started
Speaker 1: further out, but we went terrain. Oh boy did we ever? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And I drove the whole way and and that succer
Speaker 1: didn't it breaks? But but nobody else could drive it.
Speaker 1: It was just old days like in in Trust. I
Speaker 1: had to drive in nineteen six cattle convertible and nobody
Speaker 1: else can really drive it because they weren't familiar with
Speaker 1: steering wheels that had about half a wheel of play
Speaker 1: in them. And and and Paulo and what was he
Speaker 1: like to work with? Did you see his film Human Capital?
Speaker 1: H Stephen Amadon the writer wrote the novel and wrote
Speaker 1: that script and wrote a script. Um. He's terrific, you know,
Speaker 1: and Paolo has It's very hard for someone who doesn't
Speaker 1: really speak English to do something like a road crip
Speaker 1: road trip in the United States, And I thought he
Speaker 1: did it beautifully. Working with him was a delight. Did
Speaker 1: you go to Venice for the idea. Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: in that week, which is why I fell asleep in
Speaker 1: the dentist office yesterday. He was drilling, drilling my tooth
Speaker 1: and I I said, I think I fell asleep. He said,
Speaker 1: you were asleep for five minutes. You were snoring. My
Speaker 1: assistant had to hold your head so that I could
Speaker 1: continue drilling. And but I was. We were here doing that.
Speaker 1: We were in Quebec. And then we flew to Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: We as my wife and I. We flew to Los
Speaker 1: Angeles UH to do the week with James Graham Brad Pitt.
Speaker 1: I flew back to Canada to get my dress close together,
Speaker 1: flew to New York to get my hair cut, flew
Speaker 1: to London the next day to get it died um
Speaker 1: and and then flew to Aberdeen to shoot three days
Speaker 1: on an oil rig. Then flew back to London and
Speaker 1: shot half a day there, then caught up an evening
Speaker 1: flight to Venice and had the two days in Venice
Speaker 1: for the festival. Then flew that Monday to Rome for
Speaker 1: four days shooting in Italia and um for Trust, all
Speaker 1: of this for Trust, and then flew to Toronto for
Speaker 1: three days. There they went home to get rid of
Speaker 1: the dress close and flew back to Rome to finish
Speaker 1: the shooting there, and then flew from Rome the day
Speaker 1: I was finished back here to Los Angeles to shoot
Speaker 1: this week with James Gray. You get a vacation coming up. Well,
Speaker 1: I hope you found some downtime amid all of that
Speaker 1: on an airplane. Yeah, that that'll do it. I guess
Speaker 1: you get twelve hours on a flight or something. Uh.
Speaker 1: Once again, congratulations on the Academy on it. I do
Speaker 1: believe you're long overdue for that, and as others do
Speaker 1: as well, And I hope you enjoy yourself this weekend
Speaker 1: at the Done Governor's Awards. This is it man, thirty
Speaker 1: four minutes. We're a little bit over. Actually we could,
Speaker 1: we could keep going. I mean I never got to
Speaker 1: Alan Picola and Berta Lucci. I mean, maybe you'll come back.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you had. You can listen names
Speaker 1: and like Alan was, they were all perfect. Uh. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'd love to talk about stuff like Kelly's hero Kelly
Speaker 1: Heroes was the one that Uh, Brian, Brian G. Hutton,
Speaker 1: he was, he was great. There was another film where
Speaker 1: I I had gone there to Yugoslavia and I had
Speaker 1: a I had a six week hiatus simply because they
Speaker 1: didn't need my character in those six weeks. It was
Speaker 1: a six months shooting schedule, and I shot the first day,
Speaker 1: and then that night I had contracted because I had
Speaker 1: been swimming on the Danube. I contracted spinal energitis bacterial.
Speaker 1: Spent a minute we were playing poker. I kept going
Speaker 1: under the table to rest because I was so tired.
Speaker 1: And then my assistant picked me up and walked me
Speaker 1: to the hospital UH, and I went into a coma. UM.
Speaker 1: I saw my body from over my right shoulder going
Speaker 1: down the blue tunnel to the light below, and I
Speaker 1: forced myself to stay alive. And but I was in
Speaker 1: a coma. And if you know anybody who's in a coma,
Speaker 1: talked to them, talk to them because they hear it.
Speaker 1: I heard the producer and his associate UH dictating the
Speaker 1: telegram to a secretary in my room, in my room
Speaker 1: explaining to my wife that she shouldn't fly over to Yugoslavia,
Speaker 1: that they would send the body home because I was
Speaker 1: going to die. But I didn't die, and they sent
Speaker 1: me to Charing to Charing Cross Hospital and I had
Speaker 1: six weeks. The six weeks that I had for a
Speaker 1: vacation I had in charing Cross Hospital. They brought me
Speaker 1: back when my six weeks was up, but it was
Speaker 1: still too soon, so my brain was fried and working
Speaker 1: with Brian. Brian came upstairs. It was Brian, Um Tara O'Connor, Tell, Li, Saibalice,
Speaker 1: Don Rickles and Clint and Brian came up my room
Speaker 1: and I was frantic with nerves. And Brian said, come
Speaker 1: on down. Everybody wants to welcome you. And I said,
Speaker 1: but I do, and he said, yes, you have to.
Speaker 1: And I said, okay, well should I wear a jacket
Speaker 1: or not? He said, I don't care whether you what,
Speaker 1: do you do whatever you want. I said, I think
Speaker 1: I'll wear a jacket. He said okay. So I had
Speaker 1: the jacket on and I went downstairs and tell he
Speaker 1: shook my hand, and no, Clint shook my hand, and
Speaker 1: and tell he hit it a crooked little finger, ran
Speaker 1: it across my cheek with a great big grin, and
Speaker 1: Carol O'Connor started to cry. And Don Rickles looked at
Speaker 1: me and said, what are you wearing the jacket for? Classic?
Speaker 1: Don Rickles, Uh, make sure you wear a jacket to
Speaker 1: the Governor's Awards. I wear a boat time might want
Speaker 1: to might want to do that? And again, congratulations and
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on the show. I really appreciate. Okay,
Speaker 1: prose that is poetry? Is Hemingway secret? People have confused
Speaker 1: your simplicity us for any special sauces for your burger. No, no,
Speaker 1: we'll be fine, Thank you, Santa, thank you. Check it
Speaker 1: out India. I named it the leisure Seeker. We've had
Speaker 1: a lot of wonderful trips in this old rust bucket.
Speaker 1: I'm finally taking down to see Hemingway's house in Key
Speaker 1: with kids. We won't be gone along, you know, the
Speaker 1: dad can't drive in this condition. Were not No this Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: the dickens? Are we doing in Pennsylvania? It's just something
Speaker 1: I really need to do with your father? Who is that?
Speaker 1: That's a little this one. He's got a name and
Speaker 1: it's will William. Who are these people? Your nephews, nieces,
Speaker 1: no new students. My husband's suffers from memory loss. And
Speaker 1: I'm afraid nam I just wander off and get hurt
Speaker 1: that well, what is ignoring all the motors like oh
Speaker 1: for dangerous? For god sex? I started a sentence by
Speaker 1: the time I get to the end of it, can't
Speaker 1: know it's strong. Where's I'm here? John? Is that really you?
Speaker 1: Who are you? John? My? John? Is charming? Educated? You
Speaker 1: stolen from me and I want you to give him back.
Speaker 1: There was stolen from you, stole from me to promise
Speaker 1: you something. You don't leave him. I can't believe I'm
Speaker 1: married to somebody as beautiful as you. Folks need trouble.
Speaker 1: A will be here in just a minute. Give me first.
Speaker 1: It's in the camp, just like eight bucks here. Make
Speaker 1: sure this safety's off before you start shooting them, sweetheart,
Speaker 1: already done it, han Ore all trips whenever this adventurous
Speaker 1: were they? I am so glad to be back on
Speaker 1: the road again. Is this heaven? Maybe? Do you think
Speaker 1: a guy can get a burger up here? M