JL: That they were unique, transcendent talents. And certainly, of their generations, they were the most impressive. Q: From all the guests you've ever had on the show, is there a particular moment that stands out to you as the most surprising?
JL: The most surprising was, doubtless, the moment when Jack Lemmon and I were talking about Days of Wine and Roses . I was trying to demonstrate to our students that you don't have to push to be a good actor. Talking about the scene in which he was in a straitjacket, the scene in which he destroyed the green room.
That led to a 15-second pause that was the longest pause I've ever had on the show. We didn't speak to each other, then he went on and I went on. His wife said to me, afterwards in the green room, "He's never said that in public before.
" Q: What was happening in your head when he said that? How did you know how to react or how not to react? JL: I was impressed with his honesty, of course.
So were the students. I thought it was a moment of extraordinary honesty. Q: Do you see connections today between actors today and those from the so-called "Golden Age" of Hollywood?
JL: People like Bogart and Gable were products of the studio system. They, generally speaking, played the same persona. The actors today are more character actors.
They are different from role to role. They don't have that marked persona that the studio system dictated. I prefer that.
I find it's more interesting to watch a Sean Penn, a Dustin Hoffman, a Jack Nicholson, a De Niro or Pacino. From role to role, they're so radically different from the previous part. Q: Three of the actors you just mentioned -- Nicholson, De Niro and Pacino -- were just in the news because legendary director Francis Ford Coppola essentially called them lazy.
Is there ever a time when you see a big star like one of those three actors, and you ask, "Why did he take on that role or that movie?" when it might not live up to their previous standards? JL: I have no idea what Coppola was talking about, because I don't agree with it at all about those people.
He took three of the most remarkable actors of their generation, without question. They've done great work. They don't write the films, they don't direct the films, they don't produce the films.
They appear in them. So they're not responsible, I don't think, for the ultimate quality of those movies. Maybe their choices are not good, according to Coppola, but I have no idea what he said or on what he based it, so I have no opinion on that except to say that I disagree with it.
Q: You reference a lot of movies in your interviews. Have you seen every movie that you talk about on your show?
News RSS