To create characters, one must build background. And one of the tools we use is improvisation.
You’re working on being a father, so that is something that when you experience it you’ll understand the profundity of wanting to protect something dear to you.
I’ve always found it not only easy, but enjoyable. It’s necessary for us to reach out and I’m speaking for myself here. I certainly have a sense of responsibility to reach out to these people in the theatre who might look to someone like me for some guidance.
I grew up with a lot of guys, some of them are dead, some of them are this and some of them that, and some of them very, very powerful, bright young men, who became this instead of that simply because of a lack of guidance – that’s all.
My advice to any actor who’s playing, quote, unquote, “extra” to think of it more like Stanislavski did. It’s not a small part. You are the lead in the movie, in your own movie.
That’s like asking a cobbler if he’s made too many pairs of shoes.
All actors do that. Should do that and do that. For the most part. I say all actors. I’m exaggerating, but you know who does and who doesn’t. Vince is a wonderful young actor who knows his work and did a beautiful job on this film.
I mean, you work and you try and find the work that suits you the best and you enjoy the most.
So there’s no such thing as one too many this, one too many that. I remember, you’re reminding me of early in my career, somebody said to me: why are you taking so many roles as a policeman.
Hardly any actor objects to press. It’s a question of it being done in the way they like to see it done, meaning to get down to the serious interview what the profession is so we can reach out to the people to help them get along.
What fascinated me mostly about Mickey Cohen was that he, in his later years, hired someone to help him to comprehend literature, to help him to read better, to understand words better.
Well, it’s such an intricate, beautiful script about eight professional robbers pulling a heist, and it deals with elements of betrayal, trust, instinct, and need for relationships.
The way I see things, the way I see life, I see it as a struggle. And there’s a great deal of reward I have gained coming to that understanding – that existence is a struggle.
You didn’t hear the angels singing. It was brought down to Mother Earth, which is where it should be. And that led me to a lot of other reading.
Uhm, I’m the one wanting the lessons! I don’t want to say too much about it because I’d rather have you see the movie, but he’s trying to find his music.
Then I heard this genius teacher Stella Adler – I recommend you read anything you might find about her and if you have anyone interested in theatre, you get them one of her books.
Well, you sort of get out of the pool room, you get out of the Marine Corps, you get out and read some literature, you become involved with people who also want to know and are ready to share some ideas about literature and thoughts, and it becomes nourished that way.
Well, we are not doing that film actually. At least I am not at the moment, but we are making an effort to get it done; I don’t know whether we’ll get the financing for it. The old story we had it, it fell out of place and this and that.
They have equal weight and you do the same work you’d do if you were playing a dramatic role.
She had said one time, make a choice and do it like Hercules. So if that is all of what is being offered, the idea is to always do it like Hercules and I always followed her advise and now I’m here talking to you.
But then again, you know, the pimp in TAXI DRIVER has this reason, given the environment he was living in.