1
00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:05,080
Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing.

2
00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:10,240
Speaker 1: Today's program was recorded live at the Two River Theater

3
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:16,680
Speaker 1: in Red Bank, New Jersey. People always ask me, especially

4
00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:20,400
Speaker 1: at my age, I get a lot of age related comments. Now.

5
00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:23,960
Speaker 1: They always asked me who would you like to work with?

6
00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,880
Speaker 1: It you didn't get to work with? And I always say, oh,

7
00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:33,640
Speaker 1: you know, William Holden and Barbara Stanwick and uh Carrie

8
00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:37,839
Speaker 1: Grant and uh, you know, people like that and and

9
00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:40,840
Speaker 1: people who are of my own generation, give or take.

10
00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:43,360
Speaker 1: I don't really, I mean I admire some of them,

11
00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:44,919
Speaker 1: and I don't They've done a lot of them who

12
00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:48,680
Speaker 1: I think I'd crawl over broken glass to work with,

13
00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:52,000
Speaker 1: you know. But there are a few. There are a

14
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,560
Speaker 1: couple of people who their career and the work they've

15
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,240
Speaker 1: done and the way they've lived their lives in addition

16
00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:03,240
Speaker 1: to the to their careers has always been so um

17
00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,800
Speaker 1: just inspiring is the word. You know. There's there's not

18
00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:09,640
Speaker 1: many of them, you know, and uh, and one of

19
00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,600
Speaker 1: them is the gentleman I'm gonna introduce, so someone I've

20
00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:15,959
Speaker 1: admired my entire life. When I first came to New

21
00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:18,760
Speaker 1: York to go to school in nineteen seventy nine. Soon thereafter,

22
00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:21,600
Speaker 1: you know there's the Paul Davis posters of this guy

23
00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:24,520
Speaker 1: playing Hamlet in New York. This was that you were

24
00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:27,120
Speaker 1: told was you know you wanted to be this guy.

25
00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:29,000
Speaker 1: You know he was like one of four or five

26
00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,000
Speaker 1: people this is you wanted to have a career like

27
00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:53,040
Speaker 1: so please welcome Kevin Klein. M What was it that

28
00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:54,840
Speaker 1: was in the an interview? I read that you said

29
00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,320
Speaker 1: there was the guy from Juilliards and we taught you

30
00:01:57,800 --> 00:01:59,600
Speaker 1: the guy that taught you this the fencing, he taught

31
00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:01,320
Speaker 1: you how do you is a walking stick? And they

32
00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,760
Speaker 1: told you when elizabethan bow? And what's the other kind

33
00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:07,080
Speaker 1: of bow? He taught you, jackolbe any kind of about

34
00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:13,480
Speaker 1: We learned to bow in every single period, restoration, restation, restoration, bow,

35
00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:17,640
Speaker 1: give pick one that's your favorite. Let me see restoration.

36
00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:20,080
Speaker 1: I'd have to go back to my notebook. Let's have

37
00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:32,480
Speaker 1: you appause again, and I remember this bow. This was

38
00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:35,760
Speaker 1: like I don't remember the period, but I thought it

39
00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:39,160
Speaker 1: must have been very silly. My favorite. Someone told me

40
00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,000
Speaker 1: that Olivier had a bow where he'd come in and

41
00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,480
Speaker 1: he'd taken the house right and then he come over

42
00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:46,800
Speaker 1: and taken the house left, and then he had what

43
00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:53,120
Speaker 1: he called the crush of humility, the crush of humility,

44
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:57,800
Speaker 1: um in your voice, training and so forth at school

45
00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:00,560
Speaker 1: and beyond what is the St. Louis accident that you've

46
00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:02,040
Speaker 1: got rid of? How do people and saying there was

47
00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,120
Speaker 1: talk oh uh, you know I I thought I didn't

48
00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:08,600
Speaker 1: have an accent. I thought, well St. Louis is very

49
00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,640
Speaker 1: neutral it And but what they do with Juliard is

50
00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,200
Speaker 1: when you get there the day you arrive, as they

51
00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:16,320
Speaker 1: tape you saying a bunch of sentences and then at

52
00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:17,920
Speaker 1: the end of the first year and they play it

53
00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,560
Speaker 1: back to you and you do and you start screaming

54
00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:26,720
Speaker 1: in horror at how regional you sound. And Edith Skinner,

55
00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:29,959
Speaker 1: who was who wrote the book, which is the the

56
00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:33,600
Speaker 1: textbook used by every everyone that I know, every every

57
00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,720
Speaker 1: drama school. And one of the one of the students

58
00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:39,880
Speaker 1: said Edith, when I went home at Christmas, all my

59
00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,320
Speaker 1: friends said I sound affected and phony, and she said,

60
00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:52,960
Speaker 1: change your friends. Now. When you grew up, your dad,

61
00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:55,440
Speaker 1: I mean all the bio was there and there and

62
00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:59,280
Speaker 1: they enter webs everywhere. Um that your dad owned a

63
00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,160
Speaker 1: music store and he was an opera singer. He's a

64
00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:04,600
Speaker 1: trained singer. And you describe your mother as being a

65
00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:09,200
Speaker 1: very theatrical character quote unquote. Was she an actress? Never?

66
00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:12,840
Speaker 1: Never know? She was very colorful, she was very dramatic

67
00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:21,800
Speaker 1: of Irish descent. And yeah, and you were went to

68
00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:24,440
Speaker 1: Indiana from music. Yeah. I went there to study music

69
00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:28,400
Speaker 1: two years, and then I realized the degree of mediocrity

70
00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:30,520
Speaker 1: I had achieved. What you were more like your mother

71
00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,680
Speaker 1: than your father. You're more actor than a musician. No, no,

72
00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,800
Speaker 1: I was a terrible actor. But I thought, this is hopeless.

73
00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,640
Speaker 1: I could see my whole future before me, and it

74
00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:45,800
Speaker 1: was utterly mediocre musically. Musically, I said, you'll be a band. Oh.

75
00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:47,520
Speaker 1: In high school, I was playing rock and roll, which

76
00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:49,680
Speaker 1: is part of the problem. When I went to study

77
00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,520
Speaker 1: serious music, I had spent too much time, uh playing

78
00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:58,839
Speaker 1: sock hops and bar Mitzvah's Um so yeah, rock and

79
00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:03,880
Speaker 1: roll was my was my demise. But um no, I

80
00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:06,839
Speaker 1: just I could see that I wasn't. I started too late,

81
00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,760
Speaker 1: and I didn't have the discipline. And I thought, well,

82
00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,000
Speaker 1: what's did someone tell you you were talented as an actor?

83
00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:15,920
Speaker 1: When I started doing plays in the theater department, all

84
00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:17,920
Speaker 1: my musician friends would say, I saw you in the play.

85
00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,039
Speaker 1: You should that's really good. You should do more of that.

86
00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:22,400
Speaker 1: And when I would play the piano for my theater friends,

87
00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:24,919
Speaker 1: they say, you really good. You should really stick with that.

88
00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:32,200
Speaker 1: So I actually had to decide myself. And and they're

89
00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,360
Speaker 1: from very humble beginnings, you know. I started doing small

90
00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,240
Speaker 1: parts and worked my way up. Uh in the theater.

91
00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,599
Speaker 1: What was theater and film in your childhood? Meaning were you,

92
00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,000
Speaker 1: you know, writing poetry and you were very sophisticated when

93
00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,520
Speaker 1: you were young, or were you watching mcchale's Navy like

94
00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:52,360
Speaker 1: the rest of us on TV? The latter I'd say, yeah, No,

95
00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:54,760
Speaker 1: I wasn't. I went to movies. I did not go

96
00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:58,360
Speaker 1: to the theater much until I was in it. Huh.

97
00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,279
Speaker 1: Really in college a lot of theater, but um, it

98
00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:07,080
Speaker 1: was movies. I always wanted to I remember, not always,

99
00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:10,480
Speaker 1: but maybe towards the end of my high school thinking, yeah,

100
00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:12,360
Speaker 1: I'd like to do that. That looks Did you really

101
00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:17,760
Speaker 1: think that he wanted to do because you know, this

102
00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:21,360
Speaker 1: was in the sixties when being cool was everything. You know,

103
00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:24,320
Speaker 1: he had to be like Paul Newman in hud He

104
00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:28,400
Speaker 1: had to be cool and heartless, and and I had

105
00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:34,440
Speaker 1: massed heartless, heartless? Did you see hud I saw, yeah, heartless?

106
00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,880
Speaker 1: Roll down the windowhood? Where was it melt? Melvin Douglas?

107
00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:43,359
Speaker 1: Melvin Douglass? But he was an idol. But anyway, I

108
00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:45,440
Speaker 1: was so cool, and I thought I could never be

109
00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:50,960
Speaker 1: an actor because I I feel nothing. I remember my

110
00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:55,360
Speaker 1: first acting class at at at Juilliard. I mean, I

111
00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:57,720
Speaker 1: had taken some acting classes in college. But I remember you.

112
00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,000
Speaker 1: Did you ever do those emotional re holes? Of course?

113
00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,480
Speaker 1: And I want you to recreate a time when you

114
00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:10,520
Speaker 1: were really, really angry, and I said, I've never been angry.

115
00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:15,680
Speaker 1: I've never been angry. That's the first year. You're gonna

116
00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:21,280
Speaker 1: have to give me a minute here the fact angry? Now? Now?

117
00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,280
Speaker 1: Did you? But but how did you go? I mean

118
00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,200
Speaker 1: because obviously people as to this day think of Juilliard

119
00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:31,160
Speaker 1: is this great temple of arts education. And when you

120
00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:33,720
Speaker 1: how do you go from Indiana and you're not sure

121
00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:36,080
Speaker 1: you're an actor? How the hell did you get into Juilliard?

122
00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:40,760
Speaker 1: I asked myself the same question, because a career a

123
00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,440
Speaker 1: huge accident. Is it like it's pretty much? But no,

124
00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:47,360
Speaker 1: it is. I think I think chance comes into it

125
00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:50,480
Speaker 1: quite a bit and being at the right place at

126
00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:54,120
Speaker 1: the right time, because I joined Juilliard in the third

127
00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:57,640
Speaker 1: year of the four year program. That year they decided,

128
00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:01,280
Speaker 1: we need so we have thrown so many students out

129
00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:04,480
Speaker 1: and so many have left in desperation. Did we now

130
00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:08,200
Speaker 1: have like twelve actors left out of the original thirty five.

131
00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,720
Speaker 1: We need to fill out the class. So they brought

132
00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:16,000
Speaker 1: in David Ogden Styres and me and Mary Joan Negro

133
00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:20,920
Speaker 1: to fill it in. And they brought me in because

134
00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:22,600
Speaker 1: they and they told me that we need a leading

135
00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:25,840
Speaker 1: man because we have all these character actors. And then

136
00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:30,240
Speaker 1: they gave me character parts really because that was the

137
00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:32,080
Speaker 1: whole the part of the training was to be the

138
00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:36,800
Speaker 1: complete actor and to play character roles. And were you

139
00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:38,800
Speaker 1: frightened when you were there? Did it scare you at all?

140
00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:45,760
Speaker 1: Was it intimidating? Yes? And yes and no. I I

141
00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:47,719
Speaker 1: had sort of. I've done it for two years. Well

142
00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:49,440
Speaker 1: I did while I was in music school. That was

143
00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:53,000
Speaker 1: part of the problem. But I did it heavily my

144
00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,400
Speaker 1: last two years of college and was actually part of

145
00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:58,679
Speaker 1: a group that we formed our own company off campus

146
00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:04,000
Speaker 1: and had our own theater and it's night and day.

147
00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:05,400
Speaker 1: I was always I was doing a play in the

148
00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:07,920
Speaker 1: main stage at the University Theater and also working at

149
00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:14,560
Speaker 1: the in this little coffeehouse theater, doing satirical political reviews

150
00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:18,440
Speaker 1: every week and improv. And we had a playwright and

151
00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:23,920
Speaker 1: we started doing his plays. Um and so I had confidence.

152
00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:26,240
Speaker 1: I didn't didn't really deserve it. You didn't come from nowhere.

153
00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:29,400
Speaker 1: I mean when you got to Juliard, you've done some theater. Yeah,

154
00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:32,280
Speaker 1: and so and so were you in Juilliard? What do

155
00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:34,720
Speaker 1: you I mean, this is a kind of a you know,

156
00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:38,400
Speaker 1: a lazy question, but what what did you take away

157
00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:40,160
Speaker 1: from that? What are your memories of what it did

158
00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,599
Speaker 1: for you? What did it do for you? Well, it

159
00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:48,200
Speaker 1: certainly polished me. I mean you asked me what my St.

160
00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:50,560
Speaker 1: Louis accident was. St. Louis has a kind of lateral.

161
00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:56,840
Speaker 1: You know, those are fantastic pants you're wearing, man um

162
00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:03,040
Speaker 1: now with those are fantastic pants. Those official the trousers

163
00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:06,280
Speaker 1: and other pants. You learn not only how to pronounce

164
00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,920
Speaker 1: the words correctly, but what are the correct It was

165
00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:16,360
Speaker 1: a brilliant trousers, It's wonderful, but they but the verse,

166
00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:20,560
Speaker 1: how to how to parse verse and break a breakdown

167
00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:25,640
Speaker 1: of Shakespeare scene before it breaks you down, and and

168
00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,199
Speaker 1: a lot of movement. I was very very very tight.

169
00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:33,240
Speaker 1: I was an athlete in high school. UM, and I could,

170
00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:35,720
Speaker 1: you know, catch balls and things like that, but I

171
00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:38,240
Speaker 1: couldn't when I was acting. I was very stiff all

172
00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:41,200
Speaker 1: through college. And I was said, you know, I said,

173
00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:42,600
Speaker 1: I don't know what to do with my hands. You

174
00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:46,480
Speaker 1: know all that you know? Um and Juilliard suddenly they said,

175
00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:49,280
Speaker 1: we're now come first thing in the morning with leotard

176
00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:54,840
Speaker 1: and tights. Oh no, no, I I don't do leotards

177
00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:58,520
Speaker 1: and tights. I don't know what sort of modern dances,

178
00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,600
Speaker 1: kind of movement with an a Socolo who was a

179
00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:07,199
Speaker 1: student of Martha Graham's brilliant UM choreographer. And I'm an

180
00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:13,840
Speaker 1: amazing teacher. UM. And so anyway, the short answer is, Um,

181
00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:19,120
Speaker 1: I learned to loosen up physically and disinhibited, become more

182
00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:25,880
Speaker 1: disinhibited physically. And now people people say, you really move

183
00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:32,880
Speaker 1: your hands a lot like a European actor. Um. But anyway,

184
00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:35,440
Speaker 1: that's beside the point. But but but but it loosened me up,

185
00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:39,840
Speaker 1: and it polished my speech, and it made me appreciate Um,

186
00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:44,880
Speaker 1: Shakespeare much more. And listen any great conservatory, whether it's

187
00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:49,880
Speaker 1: music or drama or dance. It gives you a protected

188
00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,760
Speaker 1: place to practice your craft. And protected. When I say protected,

189
00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:58,280
Speaker 1: I mean it's never more competitive. Once you get out

190
00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:00,559
Speaker 1: as it was then and get up in front of

191
00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:03,000
Speaker 1: the class to do a scene is much scarier than

192
00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:09,840
Speaker 1: an opening night on Broadway. Uh, but um, it is

193
00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:12,800
Speaker 1: protected and you get to you learn by doing it.

194
00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,120
Speaker 1: Is for how many people here clap if you're studying

195
00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:20,440
Speaker 1: acting now or you had studied acting to the few

196
00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:23,400
Speaker 1: people when you were there? Did you? Uh? Was it

197
00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:26,360
Speaker 1: very production oriented? Did you do shows? Is? When I

198
00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:28,920
Speaker 1: went to n y U for the Little for the

199
00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:30,600
Speaker 1: brief time I was there, like a year and a half,

200
00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:32,040
Speaker 1: it was the opposite. They were like, you know, you

201
00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,960
Speaker 1: are nothing and you don't get the show to the

202
00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:40,080
Speaker 1: Foy and you are nothing, lay on the floor and

203
00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:45,800
Speaker 1: just breathe for three years, practice breathing. You know, not

204
00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:49,959
Speaker 1: very production But was it? Juilliard is exactly the same.

205
00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:54,319
Speaker 1: But I missed those first two years they missed the

206
00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:57,000
Speaker 1: lion on the floor here by by no by going

207
00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:01,120
Speaker 1: into the third year, it became really production oriented. Costumes,

208
00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:06,520
Speaker 1: makeup sets, Yeah, the whole plate. You were assigned a

209
00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,079
Speaker 1: role and you did it. I missed those days. Um

210
00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:14,720
Speaker 1: but um yeah, before then you did something in a

211
00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:18,320
Speaker 1: studio with maybe a prop, but it was just about acting,

212
00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:21,240
Speaker 1: pure acting. And I missed all that. And when you

213
00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:24,120
Speaker 1: got out of there, what was the gap between that

214
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:26,599
Speaker 1: and doing the soap opera? You left Juilliard and you

215
00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:29,560
Speaker 1: were on the soap opera? How long? Three or four years? Oh? God, no, no,

216
00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:30,840
Speaker 1: no no. I was in the I was in the

217
00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:33,320
Speaker 1: acting company for four years, which was a company. I

218
00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,760
Speaker 1: was in the first graduating class of Julliard. John Houseman said,

219
00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:39,600
Speaker 1: I just can't bear the idea, with all this training

220
00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:41,320
Speaker 1: that we've given you, that you're gonna go off all

221
00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:42,959
Speaker 1: of you are going to go out and do soap

222
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:54,560
Speaker 1: operas or sitcoms or movies, credit card commercial credit card commercials, podcasts,

223
00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:58,640
Speaker 1: so whatever. Um so, I'm going to form you into

224
00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,880
Speaker 1: a company. And he formed us into the actor We

225
00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:04,040
Speaker 1: were handed equity cars and put on a bus and

226
00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:06,160
Speaker 1: we went and did the four plays that we had

227
00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:11,319
Speaker 1: done in rep in our senior year and towards the country.

228
00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:14,880
Speaker 1: I did that for four years, during which John Houseman

229
00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:17,440
Speaker 1: won an oscar for the paper Chase and then started

230
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:24,280
Speaker 1: doing sitcoms and commercials and all the things he forbad

231
00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,040
Speaker 1: us to do. So anyway, and so I got out

232
00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:31,520
Speaker 1: of the I forced myself out of the acting company

233
00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:33,920
Speaker 1: that I've got to face reality and learn how to

234
00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,520
Speaker 1: really wait tables, you know, and do what actors do,

235
00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:43,920
Speaker 1: and pay my dues tables I never did. UM. It

236
00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:48,720
Speaker 1: was such a rare and wonderful gift to have here.

237
00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:50,040
Speaker 1: What what it used to be in the days of

238
00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:52,760
Speaker 1: Olivier and Gilgood and those guys. You'd finished drama school

239
00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:56,120
Speaker 1: and you'd go off to a rep company to Birmingham

240
00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:00,880
Speaker 1: or wherever, and you would learn, you would do rep.

241
00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,040
Speaker 1: You would do a lot of plays. And that's what

242
00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:08,000
Speaker 1: we did. UM and I did four years of UH play.

243
00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:09,880
Speaker 1: We do a little season in New York and spend

244
00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:13,920
Speaker 1: the rest of the year touring and UH. There's just

245
00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:17,600
Speaker 1: no experience like it. You just really learn stuff, whether

246
00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:20,400
Speaker 1: you whether you like it or not. But I finally

247
00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:25,080
Speaker 1: had to leave that sort of take on the responsibility

248
00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:31,920
Speaker 1: of a proper career outside the acting company. So UM,

249
00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:36,880
Speaker 1: I did nothing for nine months. I was starving. UM.

250
00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:44,160
Speaker 1: I was doing awful Broadway UM and they would pay

251
00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:49,760
Speaker 1: me subway fair. You know this, they pay for my subway. Um,

252
00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:51,920
Speaker 1: but in those days, you would invite an agent to

253
00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:59,160
Speaker 1: come and see you in your showcase production. That that's

254
00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:02,040
Speaker 1: why I would showcase. Then damn Street, I can't evenmber.

255
00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:03,560
Speaker 1: I don't think the street had a name where I was,

256
00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:09,320
Speaker 1: but I did. I did a bunch of I got

257
00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:12,600
Speaker 1: a job standing by for Raoul Julia and Free Penny Opera,

258
00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,520
Speaker 1: which was fantastic because I got I got to I

259
00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:19,200
Speaker 1: had to watch the watch it every night. It was

260
00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:23,440
Speaker 1: a wonderful production, directed by Richard Foreman, and I loved

261
00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:25,960
Speaker 1: Raoul anyway. He never got sick, I never went on.

262
00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:38,080
Speaker 1: But um, my point is that I also, having sworn

263
00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,200
Speaker 1: never do a commercial or a soap opera, I got

264
00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:44,680
Speaker 1: a part in a soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, Search

265
00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:48,280
Speaker 1: for Tomorrow, and you played? I played, Would you read?

266
00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:56,640
Speaker 1: And I owned a modeling agency for only the most

267
00:16:56,720 --> 00:17:02,080
Speaker 1: ulterior of motives, surrounded by beautiful and they needed your guidance,

268
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:05,560
Speaker 1: so I took them under my wing, as it were

269
00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,000
Speaker 1: Haines's character. But I remember saying the first I say, please,

270
00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:14,080
Speaker 1: can we come up with another name? Because I have

271
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,480
Speaker 1: to say my name, and to say, would you read

272
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:23,560
Speaker 1: it's going to come out ready wood or woodwind, flatulent

273
00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:26,480
Speaker 1: or what what do you read? It's just as hideous name. No,

274
00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:29,520
Speaker 1: that's your name. Okay. So I did that for one

275
00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:31,920
Speaker 1: year and it was great because I worked out once

276
00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:35,600
Speaker 1: a week and I could continue doing my off of

277
00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:40,640
Speaker 1: Broadways and standing by for Raoule and that kind of thing.

278
00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:43,679
Speaker 1: And then I got a part in a musical and

279
00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,560
Speaker 1: the rest is History, and the rest is history, which

280
00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,760
Speaker 1: a hecked m well yeah, and a bunch of people.

281
00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,280
Speaker 1: It was a musical based on a play that you

282
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:57,400
Speaker 1: did magnificently. I closed the Iron Door on I Closed

283
00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:01,159
Speaker 1: the Iron Door and John Barramore did played this character

284
00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:05,600
Speaker 1: on film with Carol Lombard. It was called twentieth Century,

285
00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:11,440
Speaker 1: A brilliant film, Thank you and um. This was a

286
00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,560
Speaker 1: musical version that help Prince directed. Comden and Green wrote

287
00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:17,360
Speaker 1: the book and lyrics like Coleman wrote the music, and

288
00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,800
Speaker 1: Madeline con and John Column I did a little little

289
00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:25,639
Speaker 1: nothing in the play that the Oscar and uh and

290
00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,560
Speaker 1: Lily Garland. Lily Garland, Uh, they are in the musical

291
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,600
Speaker 1: more featured than her young Lotharia and in the musical,

292
00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:35,720
Speaker 1: it's different. In the musical, your part is a big

293
00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:38,119
Speaker 1: the part you played the young boyfriend, and that was

294
00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:40,119
Speaker 1: a huge part of the music. No, it wasn't. It

295
00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:46,679
Speaker 1: wasn't it became a huge part. Do tell well it

296
00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:49,800
Speaker 1: was a nothing part that I a friend of mine

297
00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,680
Speaker 1: who turned down. My agent told me to turn it down.

298
00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:55,600
Speaker 1: I turned it down. But when I was delivering the

299
00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,680
Speaker 1: script back, Joanna Merlin, who was helped Princess was wonderful

300
00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,000
Speaker 1: actress and a brilliant casting director, said, oh, are you

301
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:03,520
Speaker 1: sure you don't want to do this, because it's you know,

302
00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:05,719
Speaker 1: it would be a great You'd be part of the family,

303
00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,040
Speaker 1: and the part could grow in rehearsals. You know, you

304
00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:13,480
Speaker 1: never know. Well, okay, I'll try it, and uh And

305
00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:15,679
Speaker 1: I did it and the part did grow, and thanks

306
00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:19,879
Speaker 1: to Madeline Cohn, who another action went He said, um,

307
00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,840
Speaker 1: the guy who's doing all the stick and bouncing off

308
00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:24,919
Speaker 1: the walls and doing all this stuff that's not written,

309
00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,760
Speaker 1: could you fire him please? She didn't. In fact, she said,

310
00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:31,439
Speaker 1: let's develop this, and we developed all this stuff and

311
00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:33,520
Speaker 1: then we took the show out of town on thes like.

312
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,399
Speaker 1: Coleman wrote a song for me to do a duet.

313
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:39,840
Speaker 1: It grew and grew and grew, and I won a

314
00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:51,919
Speaker 1: Tony award. Um, no, no, And it was who was

315
00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:54,320
Speaker 1: Oscar and that John call Um? Come on, come on,

316
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,000
Speaker 1: come on, come brilliant? Yeah, And you did that for

317
00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,879
Speaker 1: how long? One year? One year? And right for the

318
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:02,919
Speaker 1: I won the Tony. I left. I said, are you crazy?

319
00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:04,760
Speaker 1: You just want to Tony? How can you leave? I said, well,

320
00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:07,080
Speaker 1: is this a great part of this wonderful Michael Weller

321
00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:10,160
Speaker 1: play they're doing down at the Arena stage in Washington waiting.

322
00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:14,719
Speaker 1: You're leaving New York to go to and to go

323
00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:19,520
Speaker 1: to Loose Ends. It was a play called Loose Ends. Um,

324
00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,000
Speaker 1: and I love the play and Alan Schneider directed it,

325
00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:24,040
Speaker 1: and then it moved to Broadway and I did it

326
00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,720
Speaker 1: for nine months. But um, I was told I was

327
00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:29,720
Speaker 1: crazy to do that. But does that become a guiding

328
00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:31,760
Speaker 1: principle for you that you want to go do what

329
00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:33,679
Speaker 1: you want to do that excites you, and you know,

330
00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,480
Speaker 1: after you win the Tony, it's like we're done. Yeah. Either,

331
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:39,480
Speaker 1: I'd say it's a combination of doing what I want

332
00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:48,439
Speaker 1: and being talked into things, Um, I don't want it,

333
00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,360
Speaker 1: but then making the most of them. Have you ever

334
00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,240
Speaker 1: been talked to I can pour and talk at the

335
00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:59,960
Speaker 1: same time. Have you ever been talked into things? Many things? Yeah,

336
00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,560
Speaker 1: something you were talked into well where people would say, oh, no,

337
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:06,760
Speaker 1: you've got to do that, You've got to it's only

338
00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:15,400
Speaker 1: four weeks. And like Pirates Appenzance, I had done. I've

339
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:19,560
Speaker 1: done this very physical comedy in on the twentieth Century,

340
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:23,840
Speaker 1: and then I went off into this serious Michael Weller

341
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 1: played for a year and then oh that was offered

342
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:30,760
Speaker 1: this silly Gilbert and Sullivan. I wasn't a huge Gilbert

343
00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:33,760
Speaker 1: and Soul and Sullivan fan. And I was riding through

344
00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:37,119
Speaker 1: the park on my girlfriend then girlfriend's bicycle and it

345
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,040
Speaker 1: was a beautiful day and four weeks in the park.

346
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:45,160
Speaker 1: What you know, how bad can it be? Um? And

347
00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:46,480
Speaker 1: um I was. So I was riding my bike to

348
00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:51,359
Speaker 1: my agents in order to turn it down. Um. The

349
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:55,159
Speaker 1: party had originally been offered to Raoul Julia and Raoul

350
00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:59,959
Speaker 1: had to leave to go to Francis Coppola's Zootrope. Come.

351
00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:01,840
Speaker 1: But he had a rep company and when you've had that,

352
00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:04,919
Speaker 1: we first started the Zoo Trope and he had this

353
00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:10,080
Speaker 1: literally repertory company. So Raoul had to bow out, so

354
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,200
Speaker 1: suddenly the part was open and anyway, I said, okay,

355
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:14,920
Speaker 1: I'll do it four weeks with the hell and then

356
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:16,520
Speaker 1: it moved to Broadway for a year, and then we

357
00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:20,560
Speaker 1: made a movie of it and did you win another Tony?

358
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:30,040
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. But it was a combination of it being

359
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:32,280
Speaker 1: a beautiful day and my agents ayn't come on, it's

360
00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:34,840
Speaker 1: four weeks, Well why not? It won't won't kill you.

361
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:39,520
Speaker 1: At the beginning of a relationship with Joe, yes, well,

362
00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:41,760
Speaker 1: I admit him because I carried his spear one summer

363
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:46,560
Speaker 1: before I ever started Juilliard. Um, it came came up

364
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:50,919
Speaker 1: early before September and got a job carrying a spear

365
00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:57,400
Speaker 1: and other items and actors carried Charles Derning once with

366
00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:03,960
Speaker 1: seven other guys. M on a beer anyway, several beers.

367
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:09,080
Speaker 1: Any case, Um, long story short, it's too late for that. Um,

368
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:15,280
Speaker 1: never mind what Joe Joe? Yeah, I met him, but

369
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:17,520
Speaker 1: I and then I met him. I met him when

370
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:19,560
Speaker 1: I was standing by for Rold Julia. I met him,

371
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:21,760
Speaker 1: but then when I did Pirates, then I met him

372
00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:23,159
Speaker 1: and he kept saying nice to meet you, and I

373
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:24,679
Speaker 1: was like, you know, I didn't want to tell him

374
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:26,200
Speaker 1: that I had met it. Sure, but yeah, that's when

375
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:28,399
Speaker 1: I started. That was when he really met you and

376
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:34,760
Speaker 1: really I know you. Yeah, Oh, Joe Pap Joe Pap

377
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,000
Speaker 1: and describe what he was like when he first worked

378
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:46,600
Speaker 1: with him. Well, uh, I love Joe. I missed him

379
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:49,720
Speaker 1: every day. He became a mentor and a kind of

380
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 1: strict but loving father guide mentor um, and I'm very

381
00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,480
Speaker 1: He came to the dress rehearsal and Wilfred Leach, the durgor, said,

382
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,280
Speaker 1: now Joe is probably gonna give you all notes. Be

383
00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:11,679
Speaker 1: sure to ignore them. And uh, and Joe said to

384
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,800
Speaker 1: me after the brother he said, you know, uh, the pirates,

385
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:17,760
Speaker 1: these are all gentlemen, their peers of the realm, you know,

386
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 1: so it's all. They're very sophisticate, there's not They're not goofballs,

387
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:25,840
Speaker 1: you know. I went, That's that's all I'm doing is

388
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:30,400
Speaker 1: goofball you know. Um, that's all I got. So I went.

389
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,359
Speaker 1: I went to the director and to Grazilla Danielle de Carrever.

390
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:37,200
Speaker 1: I said, Joe says that the should be gentlemanly and dignified.

391
00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:39,600
Speaker 1: They said, I told you not to listen to Joe

392
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:47,200
Speaker 1: because Joe he was right, um, but we had sort

393
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,040
Speaker 1: of gone another direction. Joe was Joe was great. The

394
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:54,760
Speaker 1: one thing that sometimes the notes you had to take.

395
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:59,360
Speaker 1: But but you know, any actor who's had enough experience

396
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:02,360
Speaker 1: knows to take any note from your director, from your

397
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:05,920
Speaker 1: best friend, from your wife, from your fellow actor, take

398
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 1: it all with a grain of salt. I remember John

399
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 1: Travolta called when they announced we're gonna make a movie

400
00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 1: of Pirates. Depend sense John Travolta apparently I heard called

401
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,440
Speaker 1: Joe and said I want to play the pirate king.

402
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:21,720
Speaker 1: And Joe said, we have our pirate king. That was Joe.

403
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:26,840
Speaker 1: Joe was utterly loyal and um and demanded loyalty and

404
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:32,119
Speaker 1: got it. And I would whether it was whatever, whatever

405
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,600
Speaker 1: play opening night, you'd come back and say, you say, okay,

406
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,119
Speaker 1: so next next year, what's it going to be? What

407
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 1: are you ready to do Richard to or Hamlet or

408
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 1: what do you want to do next? And he sort

409
00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:49,320
Speaker 1: of exact a commitment and I needed that. And how

410
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,560
Speaker 1: soon after you do Pirates do you go to make

411
00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 1: your first films right after that? Right? Yes, it was

412
00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 1: right during Pirates of Penzance we were still running it

413
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,840
Speaker 1: on Broadway and Alan Pacola offered me the part in

414
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:16,680
Speaker 1: Sophie's Choice, and and and he said it was something

415
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,359
Speaker 1: he saw in Pirates of Penzance that made him want

416
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:22,760
Speaker 1: to cast me. And I wasn't about to talk him

417
00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:27,560
Speaker 1: out of it, but I thought, what an imagination. And

418
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:30,720
Speaker 1: he was all, I couldn't have had a better first

419
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:34,480
Speaker 1: director for a movie. He totally indulged the actors. It

420
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:37,359
Speaker 1: was all, oh, yeah, the actors. We came on the

421
00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:39,400
Speaker 1: set first thing in the morning. There's no crew, there's

422
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: no shot that's been designed. It's like, what do you

423
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,800
Speaker 1: want to do? Shows where it shows? Show me where

424
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 1: you want to go. And then he'd bring Nestor Elmendro

425
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,800
Speaker 1: is one of the great cinematographers, and the rest of

426
00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:53,040
Speaker 1: the coup. Okay, watch this, and then we do what

427
00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:56,800
Speaker 1: we wanted. Did you know Merril before the No, you've

428
00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:00,960
Speaker 1: met her on that time? No, I met her once. Uh.

429
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:03,640
Speaker 1: She came back to stage after Pirates of Penzance. In fact,

430
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,080
Speaker 1: I think that's right, bet her. And did you I mean,

431
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 1: you've done the soap, You've done no TV, other TV,

432
00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:14,120
Speaker 1: you'd only done the soap and uh, and so when

433
00:27:14,119 --> 00:27:18,840
Speaker 1: you're on the set a coola Nestor Admiral been making

434
00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:20,560
Speaker 1: a lot of films by then. She's just done The

435
00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:24,720
Speaker 1: French Woman and Cramer Versus Creamer, a couple of others,

436
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,480
Speaker 1: but she's that was her first, big, big, her most

437
00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,879
Speaker 1: recent in Manhattan. Yeah. Yeah, And so when you do

438
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,200
Speaker 1: this film, do you like, are you sitting there saying

439
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,679
Speaker 1: to yourself, I wanna I'm gonna learn how to act

440
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:42,200
Speaker 1: differently in front of a camera. I remember Gracila Danielle,

441
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:45,359
Speaker 1: the choreographer for Pirates, because when we were as I

442
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 1: said that the show was still going on Pirates, she said,

443
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,240
Speaker 1: you know, you can't do that, all that face stuff

444
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:55,880
Speaker 1: you do on film. You can't make those faces, okay.

445
00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:58,399
Speaker 1: And other people have said, you know, it's film. Acting

446
00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:03,920
Speaker 1: is completely different from age. Acting is say oh no, oh, dear, well, okay,

447
00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 1: I'll just give it a shot. Um. But I learned

448
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 1: after a while that acting is acting. The audience is

449
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:15,920
Speaker 1: much closer on film, and in fact, you can do more,

450
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,480
Speaker 1: uh in some ways on film that you can't do

451
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 1: in the in the theater because the first row wouldn't

452
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:28,920
Speaker 1: even hear you. Um but um, but it wasn't adjustment

453
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,199
Speaker 1: fear ye, well because but I'm saying this to be

454
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,480
Speaker 1: just flattering. I mean, you are someone who's done both

455
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:39,320
Speaker 1: at the highest level. You've given great, great performances in

456
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,520
Speaker 1: films and you've given great, great performances in the theater.

457
00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:46,040
Speaker 1: But was it tough for you? Was it difficult fear? No? No,

458
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 1: I didn't know. No, I mean it was scary because

459
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,560
Speaker 1: I thought, what if everything I've learned in the last

460
00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:55,160
Speaker 1: whatever ten years of acting professionally on stage, if it's

461
00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:58,880
Speaker 1: not applicable itself as a whole new skill set and

462
00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:01,480
Speaker 1: I have to learn, it's going to be pretty daunting.

463
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 1: But no, it was. And Pecula said, think of filmmaking

464
00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 1: as rehearsal, where you try at a bunch of different

465
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,040
Speaker 1: times and then I'm going to pick the best one.

466
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,080
Speaker 1: But that's what rehearsing is. And each day you work

467
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:18,320
Speaker 1: on a scene or two of the play in the film,

468
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,920
Speaker 1: you shoot a scene or two of of the thing,

469
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:22,520
Speaker 1: and you work on it and do it a few times,

470
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:26,520
Speaker 1: and you trust the director. And also he invited me

471
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:31,560
Speaker 1: to dailies. Did you find that helpful? Totally? And I

472
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:35,800
Speaker 1: am always taken aback when certain insecure directors don't want

473
00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:39,600
Speaker 1: the actors to come to dailies because the first day

474
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,080
Speaker 1: I went, I saw, oh, the first of all, the

475
00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:45,240
Speaker 1: way I was being lit was brilliant. Um, I mean

476
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:49,080
Speaker 1: that's the character, I thought. And then I would go

477
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:52,320
Speaker 1: to Pocula and I'd say, okay, the it was the

478
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:57,040
Speaker 1: the first take of the first take, the for the

479
00:29:57,080 --> 00:29:59,280
Speaker 1: beginning was good, and then right in the middle it

480
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 1: was like taking why did you say that take three?

481
00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:05,000
Speaker 1: Right for for for the middle part and the ending

482
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 1: I thought worked best in take four, and he said,

483
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,760
Speaker 1: I totally agree. And then I knew that we were

484
00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:14,880
Speaker 1: on the same page as it were, and the what

485
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:16,960
Speaker 1: I was seeing and what he was seeing, that we

486
00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 1: were all in sync, that we were it was great. Actually,

487
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:26,600
Speaker 1: Meryl was a tremendous help. She remember once I was

488
00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:30,600
Speaker 1: making a huge meal out of just me doing had

489
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:33,320
Speaker 1: to give Stingo, the character's name. I had to give

490
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,040
Speaker 1: him some money because he had been robbed, and I

491
00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 1: was doing, you know, you're a writer, you need this

492
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 1: money in Biliba and I was just emoting, and she said,

493
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:51,920
Speaker 1: just just give him money and just or you can

494
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,680
Speaker 1: just say it, you know, just say it. You don't

495
00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,959
Speaker 1: have to and and so yeah, probably, I guess I

496
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:01,080
Speaker 1: was doing too much. I know, I certainly was, but

497
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:04,160
Speaker 1: but I was helped by Pecula and U and Meryl.

498
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:06,120
Speaker 1: And what a great thing to have your first movie

499
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 1: with a great director like Pecola. God, he was so

500
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:13,040
Speaker 1: such a spoiler. Who were some of the other directors

501
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:15,960
Speaker 1: even in the theater that helped you well. Jerry Friedman

502
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:20,120
Speaker 1: directed my class in school for Scandal when we were

503
00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,920
Speaker 1: still at Juilliard, and then we went into our repertory,

504
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,320
Speaker 1: and then years later he directed to Live Danner and

505
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 1: me in What You Do About Nothing in the Park.

506
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:34,200
Speaker 1: He was a wonderful director. Um and uh, I learned

507
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:39,960
Speaker 1: he was the first one like Pecula. Pecula did the

508
00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 1: same thing in terms of empowering the actor. Pecola would

509
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:48,200
Speaker 1: say to me, look, whatever we've talked about in this scene,

510
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:50,400
Speaker 1: what we think it's about, or what you know, what

511
00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:56,560
Speaker 1: could happen if you get a different impulse during that scene.

512
00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 1: Forget what I said, forge at what we plan. You

513
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:06,480
Speaker 1: follow your impulses. The character was this psychopath and had

514
00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 1: to be unpredictable, and he wanted it to be as

515
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:12,680
Speaker 1: spontaneous as possible. And then again I was blessed with Meryl,

516
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:16,080
Speaker 1: who Meryl's. Meryl said don't don't. Don't be afraid you're

517
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:17,960
Speaker 1: gonna hurt me, because a lot of it was very physical.

518
00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:21,680
Speaker 1: She said, you can't, which I took us a challenge,

519
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:27,560
Speaker 1: of course, but she was right. And and Picola said

520
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,560
Speaker 1: do what you want. And the same way Jerry Friedman

521
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:36,160
Speaker 1: on in the theater was the first director to say, Okay,

522
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 1: we're just gonna sit around the table and read it,

523
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,120
Speaker 1: and when you feel like moving, get up and move.

524
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 1: And pretty soon the tables are cleared away and we're

525
00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,440
Speaker 1: moving around, and we're moving when we want to move.

526
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:47,719
Speaker 1: We're not waiting for the director to say you can

527
00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:50,680
Speaker 1: now walk over there, now, put your hand in your pocket,

528
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:54,040
Speaker 1: now say it this way. Now, that's what And he

529
00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:56,800
Speaker 1: was the and it was that empowerments like you decide

530
00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 1: what does this mean to you? What? What? How do

531
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:02,280
Speaker 1: you want to do this? And that that was the

532
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:07,280
Speaker 1: that was the key to for me, both on stage

533
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:12,080
Speaker 1: and film, and those directors, the directors I love. Larry

534
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:14,440
Speaker 1: Kastin is the same way Larry's how many movies have

535
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 1: you made with Casson? Why what about him? He lets

536
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:21,800
Speaker 1: you contribute, He doesn't tell you what to do. He

537
00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:24,320
Speaker 1: wants to see what you're gonna do, and he'll guide

538
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:28,320
Speaker 1: you back to the road if you've strayed too far

539
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:33,480
Speaker 1: afield and make a suggestion. But he loves actors. Peter

540
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:36,880
Speaker 1: Bogdanovitch told me a story about was it Howard Hawks

541
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 1: or John Ford who directed Big River? Whoever did john

542
00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:45,200
Speaker 1: Wayne was saying, Hey, this guy in Montgomery, Cliff, this

543
00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:48,400
Speaker 1: new kid, he's got these big emotional scenes and I

544
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:50,560
Speaker 1: I've only got a you know, a couple of lines here,

545
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:54,200
Speaker 1: and I need I need some other big scenes. And

546
00:33:54,240 --> 00:34:00,200
Speaker 1: he said, Duke, you need three good moments in the film.

547
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:02,360
Speaker 1: The rest of the time you just try not to

548
00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:11,399
Speaker 1: annoy the audience. Kevin Klein has nailed that advice. Coming up,

549
00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 1: how we almost missed his surprise oscar Win and why

550
00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:19,880
Speaker 1: his mom wasn't going to let that happen. Explore the

551
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:24,239
Speaker 1: here's the thing archives. I speak with Julianne Moore, who

552
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:27,600
Speaker 1: also spent some of her early years working on a

553
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:30,520
Speaker 1: soap opera. I used to do what they called emotional applicate,

554
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:34,080
Speaker 1: where if I had to say something that was really

555
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:37,040
Speaker 1: just plot oriented, I try to like cry on top

556
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:38,960
Speaker 1: of it or laugh on top of it. Or anything,

557
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:43,719
Speaker 1: just to make it mean something. Take a listen that

558
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:58,880
Speaker 1: here's the thing, dot Org. This is Alec Baldwin and

559
00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:02,439
Speaker 1: you're listening to hear is the thing. A few big

560
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:07,320
Speaker 1: name actors managed to avoid Hollywood typecasting, but my guest today,

561
00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:11,640
Speaker 1: Kevin Klein has that rare power to reinvent himself and

562
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:16,239
Speaker 1: delight audiences in the process. Compare his early role in

563
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:20,120
Speaker 1: Sophie's Choice with a later one like a fish cold Wanda.

564
00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 1: You know, once you start making movies or become a

565
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:26,279
Speaker 1: big star on Broadway or whatever it is, and you're

566
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:28,719
Speaker 1: offered things, you don't have to audition anymore, it's a

567
00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:38,400
Speaker 1: terrible burden. Well it's it's it's a great, great it

568
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:41,640
Speaker 1: really is. No. But in in drama school, you're you're

569
00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:44,520
Speaker 1: assigned or in the old meal days of the early

570
00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:46,919
Speaker 1: days of movies, you were assigned a role. You're gonna

571
00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:51,360
Speaker 1: play Red Butler and gone into it. Well all right, um,

572
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:53,719
Speaker 1: you know, and you just did it and did what

573
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,400
Speaker 1: you were told. But now you want to do this,

574
00:35:57,480 --> 00:35:58,680
Speaker 1: so you want to do that, You want to do this,

575
00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:01,360
Speaker 1: you want to do that. Uh, I don't know. You

576
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:03,640
Speaker 1: have to choose your you know, and you have to

577
00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:06,640
Speaker 1: have people that can counsel you, was going to advise you.

578
00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:10,320
Speaker 1: What's the movie like? Did you start to get excited

579
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,760
Speaker 1: about being in movies? And oh, god, I'm so excited.

580
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:15,520
Speaker 1: What's the one that you just said? God, I'm so

581
00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:19,040
Speaker 1: excited I'm doing this movie Sophie's Choice. Yeah, it was

582
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:21,080
Speaker 1: my first one. It was like insane. I was like,

583
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:25,360
Speaker 1: I can't believe this is unbelievable. I didn't I didn't

584
00:36:25,520 --> 00:36:28,759
Speaker 1: have to start being the pizza delivery guy with one

585
00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 1: line and work my way up. I just was hit

586
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:36,160
Speaker 1: the ground running. I mean, I've been toiling desperately in

587
00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:40,680
Speaker 1: the theater for ten years. And God rest his soul,

588
00:36:40,719 --> 00:36:44,000
Speaker 1: and God love him, wanted an unknown. He didn't want

589
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:47,960
Speaker 1: any baggage. You wanted someone that you couldn't predict what

590
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:52,520
Speaker 1: they were going to do. And that's me. No one

591
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:55,480
Speaker 1: knows who the hell I am. What What do you

592
00:36:55,560 --> 00:37:01,800
Speaker 1: think people hire you for. It's very tricky that sometimes

593
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:05,120
Speaker 1: you you you you become suspicious that it's for the

594
00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:08,160
Speaker 1: wrong reasons. Because now the way the movie business works,

595
00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:11,480
Speaker 1: a lot of times they would like can we use

596
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:15,640
Speaker 1: your name? Will you attach yourself to this movie? In

597
00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:18,760
Speaker 1: the old days, like the movies green Lit, it's happening,

598
00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:22,640
Speaker 1: you're offered a part. Yes, no, okay, Now it's will

599
00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:25,160
Speaker 1: you attach yourself to this movie? And then if we

600
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:28,319
Speaker 1: get another a few people to attach themselves and they

601
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:31,920
Speaker 1: have a certain amount of guaranteed box office revenue in

602
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:34,800
Speaker 1: foreign sales, blah blah blah, we will be able to

603
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 1: raise the money to make this movie. Okay. So a

604
00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:41,719
Speaker 1: lot of times I think, well, they obviously just need

605
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:45,319
Speaker 1: some they just name for that. I'm not right for

606
00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:48,400
Speaker 1: this part. They don't like my work, they hate me,

607
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:52,840
Speaker 1: they don't care about me, they don't love me. But

608
00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:55,520
Speaker 1: it's like that with those you're in meetings now because

609
00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:58,560
Speaker 1: the business is completely overtaken now by non creative people.

610
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,560
Speaker 1: They don't have any back on as writers or you

611
00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:06,319
Speaker 1: know whatever, as producers. So everything is about gaming at me.

612
00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:08,239
Speaker 1: I mean, the joke in Hollywood is you're having a

613
00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:10,960
Speaker 1: meeting with him about, you know, the biography of Thomas Jefferson,

614
00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:13,880
Speaker 1: and they said, who's gonna play Sally Hemmings And they're like, well,

615
00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:22,080
Speaker 1: Sandra Bullick is gonna play how Sally Hemmings? I who

616
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:24,000
Speaker 1: else could they be? They complain, you know, I I mean

617
00:38:24,160 --> 00:38:29,120
Speaker 1: it's so it's so cynical that way. When um, when

618
00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:38,280
Speaker 1: I did the movie, Dave uh, I love that movie,

619
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,160
Speaker 1: me too. I love that movie, and I of course

620
00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:43,120
Speaker 1: I turned it down first, but I was I was

621
00:38:44,600 --> 00:38:48,360
Speaker 1: talked into it, and I'm glad I was. But Ivan

622
00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:51,520
Speaker 1: Rightman told me, said, the studio is pressuring me to

623
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:58,120
Speaker 1: use Arnold Schwarzenegger. And I tried to explain to them

624
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:01,160
Speaker 1: that if you're Austrian, you cannot be President of the West.

625
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:05,400
Speaker 1: Of course, the irony is years later he became governor

626
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,080
Speaker 1: of California and probably could have run for president and

627
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:11,560
Speaker 1: may still who knows, But he just thought it was

628
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:14,720
Speaker 1: he had to kind of force me on the studio.

629
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:19,920
Speaker 1: And I'm glad he did. Now a movie, so I'm sorry.

630
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:24,879
Speaker 1: It's actually it's actually a fish cold wander, right, because

631
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:30,399
Speaker 1: the British, the British British, you shout out when you're

632
00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:36,280
Speaker 1: expressing love and admiration. For Mr knew exactly a fish

633
00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: cold Wanda, which to an American here sounds like, well,

634
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:42,040
Speaker 1: how did the fish know how to use a telephone?

635
00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:46,440
Speaker 1: Why would they you know? But that's the British, you

636
00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:50,279
Speaker 1: know locution. Anyway, A fish cold Wanda. That part was

637
00:39:50,880 --> 00:40:02,360
Speaker 1: written for me by John Clees. He wrote it. Have

638
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:07,239
Speaker 1: you known him before him? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I knew him. Um.

639
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:09,560
Speaker 1: We had met many times over the years and we'd

640
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:11,960
Speaker 1: always have dinner and we're talking. And then he did

641
00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:15,120
Speaker 1: a little part in Silverado and we actually shared a

642
00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:17,960
Speaker 1: house for a couple of weeks that he worked, and

643
00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:19,480
Speaker 1: it was there when he told me he said, I'm

644
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 1: thinking of a film, an idea, and I'll and he

645
00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,600
Speaker 1: he actually told me he said, I've you know, a

646
00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:29,600
Speaker 1: year or so later when he wrote the first draft,

647
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:34,840
Speaker 1: and he said, I've written something for you where you

648
00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:37,520
Speaker 1: were the most evil person in the world and you

649
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:40,800
Speaker 1: were run over by a steamroller and you eat Michael

650
00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:51,040
Speaker 1: Palin's Tropical Fish also sounds great. Um, let's do it, um,

651
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:53,440
Speaker 1: and never thinking it would ever get made or anything,

652
00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:55,800
Speaker 1: and you want an Oscar for that film? I did

653
00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:03,719
Speaker 1: you have an idea that you were going to win?

654
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 1: Pardon me? Did you think you were going to win? Oh? God, no,

655
00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:09,759
Speaker 1: you didn't. Not for a moment. I was actually rehearsing

656
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:16,600
Speaker 1: I Love You to Death in l A at the time. Yeah,

657
00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:24,279
Speaker 1: that's the problem. You see a smattering um, not that

658
00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:26,279
Speaker 1: big a hit, but a wonderful movie. And I was

659
00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:30,080
Speaker 1: working on my Italian accent for the role and UM,

660
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:32,560
Speaker 1: and the Oscars were coming up, and I was just

661
00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:37,640
Speaker 1: very ensconced in that, trying to master an Italian accent.

662
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:41,080
Speaker 1: And then I said, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna.

663
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:43,680
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna stay home and work on my accent

664
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:46,160
Speaker 1: because we start shooting in four days whatever. I'm not

665
00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:48,080
Speaker 1: going to go to the Oscars. Everyone tells me I'm

666
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 1: not gonna win, apparently people who were following the odds

667
00:41:51,600 --> 00:41:54,600
Speaker 1: makers or whatever. I said, you're not even a dark horse.

668
00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:58,000
Speaker 1: You're not like oh and chemic cut never mind and um.

669
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:02,080
Speaker 1: And I'm rehearsing with River Phoenix, who's nominated also for

670
00:42:02,239 --> 00:42:05,799
Speaker 1: UM Running on Empty. We're in the same category. And

671
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:08,719
Speaker 1: he's so sick. He was so sweet. I hope you win.

672
00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:10,520
Speaker 1: I hope you win. You're so great in this movie.

673
00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:13,719
Speaker 1: But anyway, so I'm nominated. I call my home and

674
00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:16,960
Speaker 1: my mother says, we're all gathered around the TV tomorrow

675
00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 1: night to watch. And I said, Mom, I'm I'm not going.

676
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:21,719
Speaker 1: I got I got a lot of work to do.

677
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,919
Speaker 1: I'm doing this and I'm not gonna win, and I don't.

678
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:29,239
Speaker 1: I just it's a long evening, so I'm not gonna go.

679
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:39,160
Speaker 1: She said, who do you think you are? You'll go

680
00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:43,400
Speaker 1: get right out there. You do exactly, and he went,

681
00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:47,320
Speaker 1: I'm not tupsy. Though that was like okay, okay, okay,

682
00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:52,440
Speaker 1: I'll go. Um and then went, I won. I really

683
00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:54,879
Speaker 1: I had. I was stunned when they said your name,

684
00:42:54,960 --> 00:43:04,600
Speaker 1: I was stunn went I was sorry. It's a strange thing.

685
00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:08,440
Speaker 1: Is a strange thing. I remember. I was presented the

686
00:43:08,480 --> 00:43:12,560
Speaker 1: award by Sean Connery, Michael Caine and um, there were

687
00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 1: three Brits and Roger Moore and they were they were

688
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:18,440
Speaker 1: all They're presenting and doing Britt Britt jokes, you know.

689
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:20,960
Speaker 1: And then they said and the winner is Kevin and

690
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,719
Speaker 1: then they kind of ushered me off stage, and I

691
00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 1: just said the F word about twenty times, and I thought,

692
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:35,320
Speaker 1: why am I cursing? This is like a I couldn't

693
00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:41,560
Speaker 1: believe it be it was. There was no contempt on camera, no, no, no,

694
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:44,960
Speaker 1: you know, as they but I thought they must like

695
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:51,319
Speaker 1: I'm completely insane, and I just kept saying it just

696
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:54,200
Speaker 1: was a catch all word that covered a myriad of

697
00:43:54,239 --> 00:44:00,759
Speaker 1: emotions from contempt to Disgraced and Rome as what's your head?

698
00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:06,479
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, a scream out fun. I didn't

699
00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:08,719
Speaker 1: know what it meant, and then I learned later on

700
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:14,520
Speaker 1: it meant nothing except that people Oscar and Kevin Klein

701
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:19,200
Speaker 1: um and that that was it. But but it didn't change.

702
00:44:19,680 --> 00:44:23,479
Speaker 1: Oh didn't you change your career? No? I was didn't.

703
00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:25,640
Speaker 1: Were you too offered more comedy rules? Yes? But I

704
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:27,840
Speaker 1: was being offered more comedy rules because I did a

705
00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:30,520
Speaker 1: fish called Wanda, not because I want an Oscar for it?

706
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:33,799
Speaker 1: What what? What did you go shoot right after that?

707
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:36,279
Speaker 1: What movies did you make? Right of the one that

708
00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:41,520
Speaker 1: I'd rather not discuss? Uh? But then I did? I

709
00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:44,360
Speaker 1: Love You to Death? And the one you read discuss

710
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:46,200
Speaker 1: because you just didn't like making the movie wasn't fun.

711
00:44:46,520 --> 00:44:50,000
Speaker 1: It was called The January Man it was it wasn't not. Yeah,

712
00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:52,600
Speaker 1: it wasn't fun because I thought it was a comedy

713
00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:54,640
Speaker 1: and they I don't think the director did. And I

714
00:44:54,640 --> 00:45:00,719
Speaker 1: didn't realize that until halfway through. No, it was a John.

715
00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:05,799
Speaker 1: So everyone's in an operating movement. You're going, yeah, what

716
00:45:05,840 --> 00:45:09,359
Speaker 1: are you doing? Oh I'm a doctor. But but any way,

717
00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:12,360
Speaker 1: you it was a John Patrick Shamley script, and Shamley

718
00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:16,719
Speaker 1: is ironic, and you know, funny, everything's and funny. So

719
00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:18,680
Speaker 1: I saw the whole thing as a satire. And the

720
00:45:18,719 --> 00:45:24,080
Speaker 1: director we talked about it before doing it, and I thought,

721
00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:30,160
Speaker 1: he but it is it didn't it didn't want you

722
00:45:30,160 --> 00:45:32,400
Speaker 1: to do after that, I Love you to death, yea,

723
00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:36,840
Speaker 1: which was the most fun maybe I've ever had. Oh

724
00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:39,600
Speaker 1: my god, it was brilliantly funny script based on the

725
00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:43,000
Speaker 1: true story of a guy who's white. He didn't see it,

726
00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:47,480
Speaker 1: and I've seen love definitely. Who directed the film, Lawrence,

727
00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 1: has have you ever written any films or written any scripts? No?

728
00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:57,560
Speaker 1: I rewrite. I do know, because we were talking earlier

729
00:45:57,600 --> 00:45:59,960
Speaker 1: about both of us having worked on a soap opera

730
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:03,399
Speaker 1: that someone told me about about the second week, said,

731
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:04,759
Speaker 1: you don't have to say the lines that are written.

732
00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:09,520
Speaker 1: You can rewrite any of this. No one cares, okay,

733
00:46:10,239 --> 00:46:12,320
Speaker 1: And I started to learn I would because these lines

734
00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:21,000
Speaker 1: were unutterably, inutterable, awful, horrible. So I did a lot

735
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:25,280
Speaker 1: of rewriting. I learned a lot about rewriting and now,

736
00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:28,399
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you feel the same way, not only

737
00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:32,040
Speaker 1: with comedies, but and it started with Sophie's choice. Meryl said,

738
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:35,960
Speaker 1: are you saying the lines has written? And I said, yeah,

739
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:38,000
Speaker 1: just you don't have to if it doesn't fit in

740
00:46:38,040 --> 00:46:40,640
Speaker 1: your mouth, you know, and if it's you can. She

741
00:46:40,719 --> 00:46:44,480
Speaker 1: saw me worrying about saying the line right, you know,

742
00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:49,600
Speaker 1: and getting into the word perfect. And I was used

743
00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:52,080
Speaker 1: to four or five weeks of rehearsal. We had three

744
00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:54,560
Speaker 1: weeks of rehearsal for Sophie's choice. But Meryl didn't want

745
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:56,960
Speaker 1: to rehearse we want She wanted to, well, let's just talk,

746
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:01,760
Speaker 1: let's have it happen while the camera's running. Well that's interesting.

747
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:06,560
Speaker 1: But I didn't have that repetition that you get in rehearsals,

748
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:08,800
Speaker 1: so the lines. So she saw that I was struggling

749
00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:11,560
Speaker 1: to just say, you know what you're saying. You can

750
00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:14,480
Speaker 1: sprint in your own words. One of my favorite films

751
00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:16,160
Speaker 1: of yours, I mean one of them, I mean there's

752
00:47:16,160 --> 00:47:18,560
Speaker 1: a few, one of my favorite films. It was is

753
00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:24,279
Speaker 1: In and Out, I Love, I Love not Move. Thank you.

754
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:26,719
Speaker 1: Was that a good experience for you? Was that a

755
00:47:26,760 --> 00:47:28,960
Speaker 1: good experience for you? Yeah, it was a great experience.

756
00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:32,120
Speaker 1: He was, yeah, great fun. And I mean Frank Ozz

757
00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:39,439
Speaker 1: was terrific as a director, and Joan Cusack surprised. Yeah,

758
00:47:39,760 --> 00:47:43,360
Speaker 1: just amazing. Everyone and Tom Selick, everyone was a delight.

759
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:48,920
Speaker 1: It was. It was most fun and and except for

760
00:47:49,120 --> 00:47:52,560
Speaker 1: rare occasions, Frank ozz was that kind of my favorite

761
00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:54,640
Speaker 1: kind of director, like show me what you want to

762
00:47:54,640 --> 00:48:00,080
Speaker 1: do here he let us do your thing. Oh we

763
00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:02,320
Speaker 1: am I mistaken? I don't think we mistaken? Are we

764
00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:07,680
Speaker 1: going to take some questions? Here? Is that right? Do

765
00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:09,640
Speaker 1: we do we have Mike? Do we have Mike's repet?

766
00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:11,759
Speaker 1: Which one year? What's coming up? In your hand? If

767
00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:15,040
Speaker 1: you have a question, who said what's coming up next? Okay,

768
00:48:15,400 --> 00:48:17,600
Speaker 1: that's my stand un please, and you want to know

769
00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:19,560
Speaker 1: for what's coming up next? For Kevin? Here we go, Kevin,

770
00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:33,040
Speaker 1: what's coming up next? Did I say that right? Um? Nothing,

771
00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:37,640
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know. I'm I'll be reading

772
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:41,279
Speaker 1: a script on the car home and my agent wants

773
00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:44,560
Speaker 1: me to call right after I finish it because they're

774
00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:49,279
Speaker 1: offering me a huge pay day. Another question for Kevin,

775
00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:52,120
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Sat, thank you. Another question for

776
00:48:52,239 --> 00:49:14,520
Speaker 1: Kevin Martory? How you no? And I remember I had

777
00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:16,640
Speaker 1: a friend, a producer friend said, oh, you're gonna do

778
00:49:16,680 --> 00:49:19,680
Speaker 1: a movie with John Clees and Michael Palin. From the

779
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:22,160
Speaker 1: part I mean that that's very British humor. It's not

780
00:49:22,200 --> 00:49:25,560
Speaker 1: the same as our humor. And I said, I don't care.

781
00:49:26,200 --> 00:49:28,720
Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, I don't I don't believe

782
00:49:28,760 --> 00:49:32,920
Speaker 1: in I think humor is humor. What's funny is universally

783
00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:39,680
Speaker 1: funny if it's human um And I adored Monty Python

784
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:42,160
Speaker 1: for me the opportunity to work with Michael Palin and

785
00:49:42,280 --> 00:49:45,759
Speaker 1: John Clees. I don't care if anyone sees it or

786
00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:50,799
Speaker 1: any or if it sucks. I wanna. I want that experience.

787
00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:55,200
Speaker 1: There was no question about doing it. I didn't know

788
00:49:55,360 --> 00:49:57,600
Speaker 1: it was going to be a big hit. I didn't

789
00:49:57,600 --> 00:50:01,080
Speaker 1: know while making it it was going to be a

790
00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:03,000
Speaker 1: hit of any kind at All I knew was it

791
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:06,600
Speaker 1: was great fun to do. And my favorite day I

792
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:09,319
Speaker 1: think on this was one day when I was I

793
00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:12,080
Speaker 1: got to direct John and Michael in a scene. I

794
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,880
Speaker 1: wasn't even in the scene, but by directing, all I

795
00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:18,239
Speaker 1: did was remember in rehearsals you did this. It was

796
00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:21,279
Speaker 1: much slower and it was much more excruciating when you're

797
00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:27,040
Speaker 1: trying to get him to say cath Kart Towers and

798
00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:32,040
Speaker 1: I think you're rushing, but if you slow down and

799
00:50:32,280 --> 00:50:35,040
Speaker 1: and he did, and it it's in the movie. And

800
00:50:35,080 --> 00:50:39,560
Speaker 1: I directed John Please and Michael Palin in comedy acting

801
00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:52,760
Speaker 1: that was fun. Um uh. I wanted to say, um.

802
00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:55,080
Speaker 1: I wanted to say a couple of quick things because

803
00:50:55,080 --> 00:50:56,840
Speaker 1: we're out of time, and that is thank you to

804
00:50:56,920 --> 00:50:58,960
Speaker 1: Kevin for making the time. But I'm under the impression

805
00:50:58,960 --> 00:51:03,279
Speaker 1: you don't do a lot of this and U um no.

806
00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:04,879
Speaker 1: But I mean, like a lot of press, I don't.

807
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:07,040
Speaker 1: I hate I hate interviews. I don't like them at all.

808
00:51:08,400 --> 00:51:10,319
Speaker 1: And and but I want to say that, you know,

809
00:51:10,360 --> 00:51:13,359
Speaker 1: in my lifetime, it's it's always the same thing comes

810
00:51:13,360 --> 00:51:15,680
Speaker 1: back to me. And as that the people I've observed

811
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:21,200
Speaker 1: that I admire and you are, you know, surely one

812
00:51:21,239 --> 00:51:24,920
Speaker 1: of the most admired actors in my lifetime in this business.

813
00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:32,359
Speaker 1: And I want to say, but I want to say that,

814
00:51:32,520 --> 00:51:35,279
Speaker 1: um that the people who are great like you can't

815
00:51:35,320 --> 00:51:37,560
Speaker 1: be great, You just can't. You can be good if

816
00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:40,040
Speaker 1: you have two of these. You can't be great if

817
00:51:40,080 --> 00:51:42,600
Speaker 1: you have one of these. But if you have two

818
00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:44,879
Speaker 1: of these traits, you can be good. But you can't

819
00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:48,200
Speaker 1: be great. But you can really be great if you

820
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:51,120
Speaker 1: have all three of these traits for men, and that

821
00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:56,080
Speaker 1: is masculinity, intelligence, and sensitivity, and you exhibit all those

822
00:51:56,080 --> 00:51:57,680
Speaker 1: things in all the films that you've made, and you're

823
00:51:57,719 --> 00:52:01,000
Speaker 1: really great. They're really a pleasure to watch your career.

824
00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:04,439
Speaker 1: What was the middle thing? What was the middle thing?

825
00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:08,239
Speaker 1: What was the middle thing? Yeah, it was intelligence. What

826
00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:15,319
Speaker 1: I'm going to emasculated intelligence, sensitive, sensitivity. Ken. Thank you

827
00:52:15,400 --> 00:52:32,800
Speaker 1: so much, Alec, Thank you all very much. Kevin Klein.

828
00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:35,880
Speaker 1: We want more of you. Here's hoping that script you

829
00:52:35,960 --> 00:52:40,800
Speaker 1: read in the car will give us that opportunity. Thanks

830
00:52:40,840 --> 00:52:43,200
Speaker 1: to everyone at the Two River Theater in Red Bank,

831
00:52:43,239 --> 00:52:47,760
Speaker 1: New Jersey, from making this possible. This is Alec Baldwin

832
00:52:48,040 --> 00:53:01,080
Speaker 1: and you're listening to here's the thing two