Samuel L. Jackson & Michael Keaton | Actors on Actors – Full Conversation

do you think that there's a certain point when we've done all this work and then all of a sudden it gets to this time of year are you anxious for the P for people to go out and see your film it depends on the movie but this movie yeah I am anxious for people to go out see this movie Spotlight yes cuz uh you know how often do we get to do a film and you've been great in a lot of great films but how often do you get to be or I get to be in a film that is really a good film and it's really good film making happens to be about something and handled in a way that probably is going to I would say arguably but I don't even think it's an argument change change things uh you know that doesn't that doesn't happen so for me to come around this time of year and start talking about this it just made it easy all of a sudden well the thing that makes it easy is you know you're in a good film yeah and it's easy to talk about that film it's easy to talk about the people that you did that film with yes because that part of the process was awesome I mean it's like it's it's it's it's easy for me to talk about hateful eight because when I was in the room with those eight people people it was amazing day even if it was miserable cuz it was cold it was amazing to be in there and when you finished the scene you looked at each other and you were like oh my God yeah we just do that and I'm sure watching you and those guys especially because you had Mr teddy bear Ruffalo with you yeah yeah Mark Ruffalo Mr cuddley Mr everybody loves him you can't hate Mark Ruffalo because he's unable Mark Ruffalo yeah he's unable in fact if he was in the hateful eight it would say the hateful eight with the exception of Mark Ruffalo and Mark Ruffalo not of time Jim we're going to cover up stories on 70 priests but the bus isn't going to run it unless I get confirmation from your side are you out of your mind come on this is our town Jimmy everybody knew something was going on and no one did a thing we got to put an end to it don't tell me what I got to do yeah I help defend these scumbags but that's my job Robbie I was doing my job yeah you and everyone else your film like mine when you guys spend so much time in The Newsroom together yeah it's almost like an ensemble piece or doing a play yeah it is a lot we got in there and it was like doing a play every day because it was us yeah we're there maybe somebody gets knocked off but I mean we even had people you know when people got knocked off they stayed in there and played dead cuz they wanted to be there it's kind of like awesome well Quenton Tarantino creates a good environment I mean um you're so good in Jackie Brown and I'm not saying this because I happen to be in that one Quinton Tarantino movie but I love Jackie Brown I mean I I I love that movie uh and I'm not sure if that's I think that's the first time you and I work together but Quenton is such a great filmmaker and he's so specific specific in so many things and so unbelievably original in certain things you kind of do want to be on hang around as the Dead Guy and lay around you know and you can go home you kind of want to hang in that in his Vibe you know well there there there there are there are no sets that compare the quinton's sets I've been on you know like you I've been over a 100 movie sets yeah but none of them compared to Quinton Tarantino set it's like okay there's no cell phones there's no iPads there's no anything with an onoff switch so when he says cut you talk to each other yeah or you talk to a crew member that's passing by or you start singing a song that the sound guy puts through the speakers or you start dancing and hanging around or Quinton starts talking about some historical film moment that relates to what you're doing and you listen to that or some great story of of from the past about somebody who wrote something that's like this and usually it's a really really really obscure film reference yeah one that you have no idea you just why does he even know that oh man when I see his movies I wonder what is he doing at night how many movies is he going through at night you know clicking through at night his references are I mean off the charts yeah there's nobody even close yeah so you you have that aspect of this copil who's got all this information that's factual and then he's got all these stories that go along with making all that stuff up so you feel like you're in this Hollywood experience that you don't have on a lot of film sets um because he's original because he's that yeah he's that guy he's that guy he's that guy that he's referencing he he is that he is one of those I mean yeah I mean he's that guy that says okay this line actually came from this movie and this shot came from this movie yeah so he references things that you don't normally get from your average director when you're onset you know I mean do you get stuff like that when you're with Mr McCarthy Tom's Tom yeah McCarthy Tom for those of you who don't know Tom McCarthy is uh kind of a qu he's in a lot of ways 180 from Quenton uh and he's the set is really fun because he's one of the the quickest guys I know in the entire cast was like that you you know people throwing fast balls man and curve balls every day it's kind of like when we did the other guys you know I hadn't been in a big when you and I were in the other guys together with Adam Kay that environment was fun because I hadn't been in a big kind of quote unquote silly comedy for a while and I thought Whoa man I wonder if I can still get around get the bat around fast enough to hit these things because these guys throw all the time every movie they're throwing 98 and you and it was fun to have to come up to that Tom McCarthy's Vibe is uh that cast was really smart every day was a topical a discussion about uh something that was either in the news or about the subject matter because there was no getting around that it was one of the most enjoyable ensembles I've ever been a part of but Tom Works in a way where he's kind of one of you because he is an actor also he does direct specifically in terms of you know I don't know what your experiences have been exactly but when people say can direct actors some can some can't but some do it like you don't know what's happening yeah and that can be a really good thing especially for someone like like you I think but Tom is maybe the 180 from Quint Tarantino in that it's a it's not a hush hush set in fact it's kind of there's a lot of reparte going around and he kind of will be very direct with you and go that you know let you know that's not working or that's not what I think we need to do or he's made the mistake he said I'm totally wrong now that I see it let's go here and let's do that and sometimes he'll he'll do it over and over and over again where you think he maybe approaching the point of indulgence and then you see it and you go no he was right he was right but after I had done Birdman which was there will never be an experience like that I can't imagine I'll ever have an experience like that because of how Alejandro directed that particular film and probably how he directs generally so but having that knowledge of you had to be Word Perfect you had to be right on physically every move everywhere and still stay spontaneous is invaluable so so when Tom wants to go more and more more farther and sometimes that changes that much you think is he being indulgent and then you go no this isn't indulgent at all because because Alejandro does the same thing there's more more they drill down and and what was interesting about doing Spotlight is because it's about journalists and these particular journalists pardon me they're all about drilling down drilling down drilling down drilling down get to the truth the truth to the truth and as an actor that's all you really want to do is tell the truth real okay so did you guys rehears more than just when you got in the moment to set up the cameras or did you rehearse rehearse on Spotlight yeah we rehearsed we all got together and the and the and the cast was I think was Mark was first and then I don't I guess it was me uh and then the other guys were people were all falling in and it was all taking shape and then because was you know not not a ton of money and when you don't have a ton of money to make a movie you don't have a ton of time and people had different schedules here and there finishing a movie up or play in Brian Darcy's case I think and so we would grab people when we could but there were several times you do the spig sit around at the table read through the scenes read them again talk about them and then Tom had been on this and and Josh the writer had been on this for so long and they knew everything and they knew the legalities of everything they knew what the real truth was with everything they knew the back behind the scenes stories behind how they got to certain aspects of the stories so a lot of it was us discussing it or our own experiences you know being raised Catholic I mean all of us had almost all of us leab didn't have the experience but we all had a lot of us had the experience of being raised Catholic so you know there's 25 minutes right there easy talking about the story but I don't know how you feel about rehearsal I used to and I think it depends on the movie but nine times out of 10 some version of rehearsal really helps a lot always yeah yeah even though you don't want to do it sometimes you're so glad you did it well I never don't want to do it because I came from the theater right and that's what we do we we rehearse so people always go oh you know I like the spontaneous improv thing I said you know what you you can't be that because the cameras got to be there and they got to light it and you got to do this and if I decide to run across the room you can't shoot that plus don't you think there's always a little room that you keep in your your back pocket to be spontaneous or well something always happens in the moment that that Foundation it's like being a carpenter you know if you don't know how to measure a piece of wood and cut it in the moment you know they might change the wood on you it might be softer it might be harder but you still got to know how to cut it how to measure it and how to make it fit in this thing so even with us as long as you have a firm foundation you're not going to go that far off the Raad yeah and you know I think don't you think that people would not get would think if you don't know they would think Quinton isn't like that they would think well quinton's got such a big personality quinton's very specific about what yall are going to do oh yeah and when you're going to do and how you're going to do it that that kind of surprised me when I and I didn't I didn't have a big many that many days you know my role is not not yeah but Jackie Brown's about grown people doing grown people stuff it's grownup movie you know and it's really you know people people get to take their time I was always shoted by that he would let sit and be quiet that long before we actually did something in that movie oh which which you love was awesome it's awesome because it it settles you into the right into the place you go yeah yeah I don't have to rush this got room for one more who the hell are you and what happened to them name's major marus Warren former US Cavalry currently a serving of of the Court trying to bring a couple no Goods in the market you taking them into Red Rock Niger that's where you H it right d that damn blasted blizzard has been on our ass for the last 3 hours so you hot tailing it halfway to minutes Abid daster you know I am may I come aboard well smoke is it up to me yes but it ain't up to me who's it up to fella in the wagon fell in the wagon a partial company fella in the wagon he paid for a private trip and I'm here to tell you he paid a pretty penny for privacy so if you want to go to minis with us you're going to have to talk to him well that's what I'll do what happened for us on hateful was we rehearsed this movie to hell I mean we really we had a whole Sound Stage just like this place that was taped off we had the tables min's habid dasri was set up so we ate store around the table we did that whole conversation we did the stuff in the room we did all this other stuff we did the stage coach outside in the parking lot but the character we didn't have was the cold right so when we finally got there and got outdoors and the snow whole other deal all the rehearsal was perfect but the snow added an urgency of I really don't want to be out here you know why Cold you know why nature doesn't give a [ __ ] no at all they don't care about all what your motivation is right and then when we finished doing the exteriors and got back Quinton kept the cold he actually refrigerated the St the whole stage was refrigerated so the cast was in there and coat it was like 30° in there really and we drank tea so you could see our breath when we talked yeah and we're in our costumes freezing yeah and we run out doors and stand out in the sun just be like but when you come back inside the cold is this character that's always there that's always kind of nudging you and doing stuff to you and in hateful eight he kind of maybe I'm reading too much in this but but that constant wind howling in the back becomes people always say it becomes a character I don't want to say that but it it's Omni present and it's a huge factor in the movie it makes the blizzard is what what's got us there coldheartedness and it's and it's that place too because you're inside yeah but it's just a log cabin got cracks in it Snow's blowing through the cracks there two heating elements the stove fireplace let me tell you man the the coldest I've ever been in a movie in an acting movie is in Spotlight in Spotlight there's a scene and I've been cold a lot I'm I'm outside all the time I'm I'm I'm I'm just a guy who loves doing stuff outside I'm I feel more comfortable on the outside than I do on the inside so I've been in circumstances where I've been I've lost feeling in my fingertips for a while so I've been cold cold cold that scene when I uh uh come down the steps after saying you know you got to give me the rest of the information man before I go with this story and and he comes down he calls me out he calls me out throws me out of his house and we're stand in the street it's the coldest in a movie I've ever been not even close and isn't it hard to act when you're cold because you go I got to stay truthful and I got to stay honest in this scene and I can't feel my mouth mov I cannot feel my mouth move and you got a lock in Boston in Boston in Boston what month oh like a cold month like February something like yeah but it was that and and I've been in C I've never acted in a cold and everybody talks about it was like cold down in past your bones into somebody else's bones standing next to you that cold what's the coldest that's the coldest you've been do you know what the temperature was that day no cuz I know what the temperature was to day the coldest day I've ever shot outside yeah during the day yeah it was 37 oh man and it was long kiss good night and ren said we found the perfect place for you and Gina to come out of the lake cuz there's this shot in the movie where she machine guns this water when we're jumping out of a train window a icy lake and we go into the lake yeah we thought we were shooting that in the studio when we got back here they said we found the perfect perfect spot it was- 37 we had to get in the lake climb out or crawl out across some ice and we did it five times yeah it might have been warmer in the lake than it was outside no no it was one of those you know you go underwater count to five you remember when you were a kid and you drank milk too fast and you got that ice cream that milk headache and did multiply times 20 I directed a little movie and I had a and I'm in it and I had to go into a and I into a river it was really cold outside of Chicago Chicago gets cold but I'm almost positive this has happened to me twice in my life uh probably three times but only once in a movie where I think I had the beginning of hypothermia and that is that usually doesn't come from cold cold that comes from when there's an imbalance in your body temperature and you know the outside temperature um or it starts to equal I think is what happens uh it's a crazy feeling CU you start to get really really Spacey and that's when they look at you and go come here and they wrap you in a tow and they walk you around until you kind of come around all I remember is after the fifth time when we climbed out because we would climb out of that and get in a hot tub and the EM EMS people or EMT people would come over and do our yeah checklist and whatever the fifth time I just remember climbing out of the lake and when I woke up I was in my trailer and I'd been in my trailer for like 3 hours really yeah wow you all I remember yeah it's kind of like oh really yeah and you can't go back to sleep because we got to check your make you don't exactly really yeah that's what you had but that's what we do for this thing we call Art okay so out of all this stuff so you've had this great career I've had what I think is a pretty great career you know I mean it's not that I mean getting getting an Academy Award would be great but it won't validate what we've already done or make people understand the oh my God he's so great he won an Academy Award cuz I mean your movies have made money people have seen them and there are things you know there are actors that go through their whole careers and nobody knows anything one thing they do or to it right they're awesome we know who they are whatever but we have these unique places in pop culture right so on an average week if you're walking around or you're do you do you walk around mhm well I live in Los Angeles so that's a legitimate question yeah well I mean when you're on location like I've been in I was in London for almost a year and a half last last year doing movies so I walked yeah and as you do every day you get a reference to some film that you're in or somebody quote something what is the what is the major thing you get from well what interesting I was just thinking man if I get that yours must be triple uh mine it it kind of changes sometimes it changes geographically generally speaking people will reference overseas or here especially overseas or in Europe or or you know not in America somewhere the international hits would be obvious OB on are Batman and and Beetle Juice slowly became one of those uh anything that has that the traveled you know what I mean things that didn't travel as much oddly I get a lot of and and I don't know if you've experienced this as years go by since you've done a particular movie all of a sudden a movie of like be in everyone's Consciousness like mult multiplicity mhm you know multiplicity in Europe I was getting a lot like many years ago now I get it in the states years ago so it's pretty spread out but usually it's the it's the big it's the ones that were huge worldwide worldwide and not not just in the states what about you um well pop fiction naturally but why do you say naturally well because people love it so much and every year I get like 10 to 12 million new fans because all these kids come of a and their parents let them watch it or you know they finally get to see it and all of a sudden they think it's the coolest thing they've ever seen in their lives I'm brand new again was the Hair Choice yours uh actually it became mine because Quinton actually wanted me to have an afro wig he wanted to be a big afro so the PA he sent out to buy the wig bought the wrong wig really he bought a Jerry girl withg and when she came back with it he was like no no I told you I was like no this is this is totally right I put it on and we had this whole thing and he started you know fussing about it I'm going look man NWA now which is US everybody in NWA had a Jerry curl at that time and this is perfect for jwes for that neighborhood we do that and he was like and do you do you let wardrobe determine a lot I I I often do and don't isn't it odd how once you put it on you go oh yeah I got it even though you had the character anyway basically once you put it on you go yeah you kind of know when you're in it I like to make choices not about you know the the clothes specifically but about how I want to look it's [ __ ] Jackie Brown Quint and I had a big argument about ordell's hair yeah because he was going through this whole thing about guys don't wear their hair like that anymore I'm go he's stuck on Superfly yeah he's stuck in this Super Fly Fly place and you know I want to do it and he's like no I don't know so I actually paid for the wig to be made and we put it on and they were having production meeting one day and I walked through the production meeting to get some coffee or something and they thought I somebody broken in and when I walked over to the table he just jaw dropped was like oh my God I'm like orale in Jackie Brown you're in and unbelievably great and honestly I think it's one of my favorite scenes in movies where you come to Chris and you have a conversation at the door Chris sucker's house yeah and you set him up and that long shot and the perfect tune the perfect tune he picked when you go and do the whole trunk scene and that car drives all the way out you fall all the way down oh man yeah that's like Strawberry Letter whatever it is I I actually wanted him to play love and happiness and he's like I used Al Green in the last movie I was like love and happiness yeah you can always use Al no you can always use Al Green thanks for watching actors on actors click to the left to watch our conversation with benio delto and Will Smith click to the right to watch our full conversation with Steve Carell and Rooney Mara and don't forget to subscribe to variety's channel [Music]

Channel: Variety

Views: 701,528

Keywords: Variety, Variety Studio, Samuel L. Jackson (Film Actor), Michael Keaton (Celebrity), Actors on Actors

Id: BmMoaayC9_s

Length: 23min 10sec (1390 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 12 2015