Actors Roundtables | Tom Hanks- Robert De Niro- Jamie Foxx and others- motivational speakers.

[Music] [Applause] hi and welcome to close up with The Hollywood Reporter actus I'm Stephen Galloway and I'd like to welcome Adam Sandler yes sir Robert De Niro Adam Driver Tom Hanks present Jamie Foxx and Shia LaBeouf thanks so much for being here um I'm sure you know this anecdote dying is easy comedy is hard true or false comedy is more difficult yes I can't do what Billy Crystal does Eddie Murphy you Adam but I can do other things I mean I like to think that I work in say in Marty's movies just situations that are funny in and of themselves which is like life you know there are so many situations we see we we're in a we're in a situation all of a sudden you say I wish we could have filmed this or this situation is so crazy you know but it's real is there anything in real life you wish you could have filmed or that you've then brought into a role no I mean the the only thing say would Marty Scorsese working with him is that you get closer to saying that whatever you want to do you can actually try and do it and and maybe it'll happen maybe it'll work so if you had an idea or something said let me let me just try that and say Marty let me let's just try you never know and and so you you see it's something with some directors you don't even go there you don't even you say it's it's too much work to even attempt to bring it up to them to do that with Marty it's this is probably we'll do it if it doesn't work it doesn't work so that's a great feeling of freedom and it's just great Adam you come from comedy comedy or dying yes which one's easier uh you know if you have something that you either way something you're confident with something that seems like uh you believe in it I think it's the same feeling if you believe in a joke if you believe in a a dramatic scene you go in there with the same approach I I would think right here's the thing comedy is a is a natural thing like I've just told him I was watching him in a comedy store when I was 18 years old sneaking in The Comedy Store yeah watching him go up when it was like Titans it was rock it was Eddie working out you know [ __ ] with it I remember Eddie had on like a like this yellow [ __ ] Century 21 jacket he's working on these adults you know what's up with that sister 21 jacket and then you watched Eddie like he said oh whatever I'll Crush you with my wallet so it's interesting when I look at everybody here you know it's this it's this it's respected and then I look at Anna I'm like oh [ __ ] before he even said anything I'm already laughing so that's one of the first ingredients is that when you have this natural thing of watching him on his guitar in at 1 30 in the morning doing a bit that he's so dedicated to it [ __ ] is like oh he's you know [ __ ] so that's the first ingredient right that oh that's correct and then the second ingredient is as comedians you get a light like you get that liftoff that launch where everything that you're saying it's funny it's hilarious like people are giving you that light I think it only becomes difficult once you reach that type of comedic level now people are expecting you know the world you know when I when I go talk to Eddie I was at Eddie's house uh and he's talking about getting back in the uh and to come into stand up yeah but he's like how do you know I said well I said well Ed if you want to get into it I could I could help you the first thing I do you got to fix your house he's like what you mean I said your house is too too perfect you got the candles scented and all that [ __ ] I said Eddie in my crib I have [ __ ] at my house that doesn't work on purpose so I stay funny I got this little carpet that's in the in the in the kitchen that sort of ruffled up and I got a bathroom where you turn on the faucet and it sprays out and my daughter's like why don't you think I said I feel like if I fix all this [ __ ] I won't be funny so it's like you have to have that and then when he talked about the situation like when we're watching you know Robert De Niro the situation that you provide for him makes it all the way uh uh funny does that make sense yes because now once you have the ability to be funny you need the situation in order for it to make sense because if not like this is the worst thing in the world when the director goes like okay now just do your thing yeah yeah and now you you know yeah yeah you're doing your [ __ ] and then when you watch it like I'm doing my [ __ ] but it doesn't make sense so that's the part what he says they only say that in comedy or do they say it in drama too they all say have fun with it commit to it you know can can you be funny if you grew up with a built-in swimming pool in your backyard I don't think you can if you grew up being able to swim anytime you wanted to right you experienced none of the shortcomings of a life that you that you'd turn into self-defense that's right you can't do it it's tough because you play tragedy though if you grow up if you have it easy doesn't it all come from some inner pain angst everybody's yeah sure you bet the the look it's like bird told brechman the whole thing is a struggle and there's where you where there's where you find a Triumph they hear the thing about it that will kill us all at some point is it's three o'clock in the morning and you have something very specifically that you know you've known for months you're going to act this beat with this scene and it's three o'clock in the morning and it could be anything from rain Birds going off to you know uh taxi cab drivers or something like that honking horns and it's like all right the movie is now upon your shoulders don't [ __ ] this up and then they sit back and you're waiting you gotta go there man you just gotta tragedy comedy is there a moment you can think of where that's it's just it happens ten times a 10 times a week sometimes you know where it's uh everybody is kind of every everybody's making the same movie you are you know the crew the teamsters everybody knows that oh today's the scene you're gonna you know oh wow there's gonna be a bill look we shut down the whole street you know all right 11 o'clock okay they're ready we're gonna we're ready for a rehearsal hi please give me a gun so I can shoot myself in a hip and not have to do this movie anymore you played a comedian is that right they love they watch punchline a lot playing a guy who's supposed to be funny the only way to do that was to go out and develop funny material and I probably did six you know appearances of something where all I really did was jump up and down on a trampoline I had no sense of anything but you you were because I got it I saw you put a training I saw you training I was a young comedian at the comics trip and you used to come in and go up there with so and Parry Sobel used to yeah yeah Barry Barry and I we we and I ended up after a while not that night not if you saw me but no no I saw you a couple times and you were good you came up right away where the comedians were mad that you were calm on stage the best I can describe it is you just have to you just have to go there when I was in when I was in junior college taking acting classes and there's 10 of them there and we're all we've all been to the American Conservatory theater performances of certain things and we usually look at comedies going oh yes that's very funny oh I appreciate the work behind that joke but the the assignment the assignment for one day was okay on Wednesday everybody's going to come and you're going to be funny and you're going to make each other laugh and it was Stone nothing no one could do anything funny because that was the task at hand so comedy is hard because you know instantaneously whether or not your you know your soup is good food Adam you were in the military they seem trivial in comparison well I mean one of the stakes you're pretending or life and death in the other they kind of are but the way the process in which you work on them is the exact same it's you know a group of people trying to accomplish a mission that's bigger than any one person and you have a role and you have to know your role within a gun team and you you're only as good as the people that are are there with you there's someone leading it and when they know what they're doing what you're doing feels active and relevant and exciting and when they don't it feels like a waste of resources and dangerous and you're just so aware that you're one part of a of a bigger picture how did you switch from being a marine to being an actor I I was interested in it before uh being in the military then when you get in the military you get out you kind of have all this false confidence that civilian problems will be small in comparison which is an illusion but then I was lucky enough to get into an acting school and learned about acting and plays in a process and then I was lucky enough to work have you ever felt Charlotte that act there's a life and death moment in acting where your whole life depends on you pulling this off yes which one uh every time it feels like you're next on The Chopping Block every time how do you get past that anxiety uh prep hard yeah just like boxing it's just like boxing guys train really hard to go put their neck on the line uh never been in the military but it feels life and death to me yeah so prep hard determination I went um last year to the Harry Ransom Center I don't know what that is but it's the archive of the University of Texas which has great papers and there are Bob's papers and to actually see your handwriting on you know the Raging Bull script and it was amazing because your scripts are covered with notes what was the toughest character actually had to prepare for they're all different depends some some are harder or in some ways than others and Raging Bull because of the weight and all that and the mission just the physical stuff Awakenings there's a lot of physical stuff too and studying how my character behaved and what what his Affliction was and then Raging Bull I read the book somebody handed me the book one of the authors and and I read it while I was doing once um the 1900 with Bertolucci and I and I and I called Marty from Italy and I said you gotta you know the book's not great literature but it's got a lot of heart and I kind of want to do certain things I remember I used to see um Jake LaMotta he'd work in a kind of a strip place right on 7th Avenue in the 40s he'd be standing right out there near the sidewalk and he was overweight and this and that I said Jesus look at look what happened to him from there then and I thought just a graphic difference of being out of shape and then being a young fighter really that was interesting to me I thought you know I'd like to see if I could really just gain that weight actually and and do it so that was my the interest in it Marty had his reasons and both of us just come together on the the project and um yeah so have any of you had a dream project when you've taken to a director or another act and said I you must do this honey boy was your project you wrote it yeah but if you haven't seen it it's terrific it's unbelievable and so uh who did you want to do it with you uh my back was against the wall I was nuclear at this point so it wasn't like a dream project it felt like um like survival like there was no other way to go I didn't have a lot of people talking to me yeah I was in a mental institution so it wasn't like oh this is my dream project I'd like to explore this it was like my back's against the wall uh this is the craft that I love and I can't do it anymore and I also had a doctor who was pushing me to explore these dirty parts and write it down and yeah so it wasn't like a dream project thing more more it felt more like necessity like survival like uh something different you said you're in a mental institution I don't I'll see two personal questions but is there anything you discovered there that's been helpful for your acting um yeah empathy for my father you know who was always the biggest villain in my life you know and I think if you can empathize with the biggest villain in your life and sort of scrape some of these shadows and it makes you lighter and Freer I don't think I was leading with love and my life has changed you may or may not attest but I feel like when you when you lead with lightness and love you can get to the heavy easier you know it's much it's much easier it's much more accessible like anger and the rough [ __ ] is very easy you know it's the other stuff that feels quite difficult you know get an honest laugh is very hard I tell you when I have to laugh in a movie I can't do that it really is tough like laugh if my character is supposed to have a genuine laughing moment I'd rather do it get genuine anything else is it easy for you to cry you have that big moment um in uncut gems where you're really emotional was that easy than laughing uh maybe maybe not I'm not great at crying what do you think I'm not sure yet I don't um yeah crying when I when it's written in a script and then he breaks down and this that kind of that really gets me transfer for a while you you had a massive one in the marriage story every time I see that performance of somebody breaking down I'm like oh man that that's incredible how should you get to that point it's not something you push for you don't push for emotion it just it either happens or it doesn't you know you can't like anticipate it or or nothing happens but you know there's a lot of things that in that instance are supporting you your the script is so good and it's well written if it was badly written there's only one way to do it if it's well written you know the language is so rich that every time you say it it opens up an idea for something else and because Noah has structured and Adam knows this from working with Noah meyerowitz the text is the text and I find that incredibly freeing because your intention could be anything and if you're with another actor as Scarlet in that instance in the you know the the set Noah's giving you another piece of information that maybe even thought of before or the line or you've gotten a fight with your wife before the scene starts or or maybe nothing maybe you're having a good moment before this scene starts it just opens up your imagination of a different way of of reading it you know he's taken basically a four-month run of a play and condensed it to two days you know so that I think that's easier if it's just have an emotion I don't think I can do that do you take that emotion home with you I don't I don't think so I mean I release after it's done no yeah no so I mean it's a release it's like you did that that's there take a break come back sometimes though there is a residual something that you have to be aware of um there is a it's a physiological process that incorporates your emotions in your the sinews of your body it's funny laughing and weeping are two very physical acts you know they're not they're they're not up here I mean when I cry man my face turns into rubber you know you bend over into some kind of thing um and you can only you can only get there if literally the text takes you there and there's this great commonality of of moments like that in which like I said earlier everybody's making the movie and everybody knows it tonight or this day is going to be an emotional thing and your job is to forget that it's on a schedule and just live it and be it and don't don't you can't you can't push it it actually has to it has to come out well I'm just I'm just emotional yeah I'm always crying I'm just really oh I just I cry for everything that's great I don't know but I'll be crying about stuff that really my accountant just called me said you know you don't have you tried to buy a private play in your shoes [ __ ] is going on in my life so I'm easy I cry what's been your toughest moment I think the toughest thing being a comedian is watching other comedians blow like Eddie blue oh [ __ ] you know and then uh Martin and so I'm like okay where's my where's my thing but then you see that they've touched all of the comic bases I remember going into reading for Russell Simmons uh-huh for some for some comedy and I was doing my thing and he was going oh that's that's Eddie oh that's my that's Martin That's Martin that's my man no no that's Rock that's right and I'm like what the [ __ ] is going on and even though I was just saying you you sound like Chris Rock you sound like Eddie so that was tough because I was like damn I don't have nowhere to go right and then like you know this cool thing with all of a stone opened up it was you know this Any Given Sunday thing which is more dramatic and and so I don't know if that's a tough thing but it was just like man let me let me go get with him open up a whole nother thing and then the tough part was getting back to being funny yeah yeah yeah because like you know like the Young Folks they see me like oh here's this dude using Django right right right now I'm doing jokes and man why Django being funny like that so it's like so now I have to try to get back to um what about you do you find that hard too often I've done so many comedies also I have so many comedies on on TV I don't have a hard time getting back into that people are just when I get to do something like this like uncut gems and I I haven't done that many uh dramas maybe I've done like six or seven or over 30 years worth I'm always excited doing them it's a different excitement for me because I'm not sure of myself yeah I get you know when you do comedies you kind of I mean you grew up doing them so I grew up as a kid being in in comedies it's a different lighter feel on the set it's exciting there's nothing better for a comedian than going home and go oh I think we killed that scene that's going to be funny is how audience is going to like that but this um a drama man getting it right and feeling like you gave it your all and that excitement of reading uh script and going oh that scene's going to be incredible then actually shooting it and it comes out the way you wanted to or maybe not exactly the way you wanted to but something happened big for you that's that's as good are you hard on yourself when it doesn't come out that way do you go ahead and torch yourself oh my God if I if there's something great written that that that uh I don't think I get I got to where I was supposed to get really mad at myself yeah yeah you're disappointed the only thing is that you to like like you were saying you don't push for anything I mean I know if you push you're not going to get it so you just have to take what comes and try and find ways to get there but you just can't be anxious about it you know it's like the thing you know the active you can't remember is the lines we can't act anymore so he's working in a garage and somebody uh an actor the director comes over says listen I just want you to say Hawk I hear the cat and roll on the third third act you know so I said okay so I'll go do it until he rehearse rehearse and then at home you know he's working Hawkeye here the cannon Roar Hawk I hear the cannon more hockey the cannon Roar every variation every race ready to third act ready to go after five weeks rehearsal he goes backstage he's ready you know the First Act goes no problem he's waiting Hawkeye the camera second act everything fine third act he's there backstage that stage magic comes okay ready and he's here in the play out there boom yeah karate he's going to say okay then you hear a bang turns around what the [ __ ] was that laughs [Music] [Applause] are you self-critical but yeah yeah yeah I mean I don't I don't think that you ever get over because in a way you kind of know what your potential is more than anybody else in a sense I have a lot of regret often when you leave said you can't help but you know think about it and you know obviously it's film so film is forever so you never get a chance to go back and do it again I feel like that's that's the thing about acting is that you regardless of how often you do it or how long you do it you never figure it out that even do you prefer theater because of that or I've learned from theater in that you know always at the end of a four-month run of a play you're always the last performance it's always the best one and you're like okay now I have a better sense of what I want to do and go back so I know that there's no right answer there's no right way to play a scene that's my part of it I like the making of it and it's someone else's responsibility to make the choice of what is the best version of it but I know that there's no right way and I you would just have to feel comfortable with with failing and you either get easier on yourself I think about like okay then I'll just I'll let it go or or you don't but I don't think you'll you'll ever figure that out why so I think people keep doing it I think but I don't know are you self-critical do you go home there have been too many times where I thought I really crack something over the fence and then I saw it and I said well that that is yes closing door yeah and there's other times all I could do was stumble around today I and it's fantastic and you there's no con it's odd this you almost have no control yeah for me it has come down to whether or not the the procedure and the behavior that was asked of you is authentic and if it is then you got to leave it up to Serendipity and those that those fabulous people that are willing to look at your you know every eyebrow and pour on your face and decide what's going to be the best take or what what what's going to end up being in the movie do you know when it died in a way it's not even your job really I mean I I think it's um it's not your job to feel and anything it's the audience's job so I obviously been thinking about something for a long time and you finally get there and do it you want to feel something just because you feel like you put the effort in but it's it's not really my responsibility to feel something it's to Telegraph that something is being felt you know but it's hard to reconcile that to not feel like you got there and you actually it's it feels like it's going to be more authentic but I mean to your point you could be having all the feeling you want but no one is feeling anything and your job is to tell the story not have a feeling in front of people when we were doing Captain Phillips we were in this Lifeboat the script had all these Great Moments where rich Phillips looked through the porthole at the Lifeboat as the sun was going down and was thinking of his family at home and whether or not he's going to see them so you could sit around and malted you know where we were shooting oh that's going to be a powerful moment I'm going to line up in the porthole and just going to be like this you know it's going to be really great then you go to work and there is no porthole in the Lifeboat it's on you can only just be there the movie process it's a little bit different if you know what I mean it's it's like it means in theater just not even that just like when I was on Any Given Sunday I remember Oliver Stone when I first auditioned was like you're horrible when I audition and I was like what because I was a television actor so everything I did was loud yeah so you better understand this with the football in the air man [Music] [Laughter] no but it was but I learned from that toughness meaning like when he finally decided to you know make the decision for me to be the lead he still would Grill me he said that's not it that's not it that's not it like working with Quentin Tarantino and I watched an actor struggle because the the set was like it was Heavy I mean you had you had Samuel Jackson here you had Leo I mean it was some juggernauts you know what I'm saying come on [ __ ] say that [ __ ] the dude was trying to say come on come on get it oh yeah and the guy was trying to get his line and I watched Clinton Tarantino go to him oh tonight everything's fine just fine right yeah and I was like damn this [ __ ] ain't gonna work out right but then you see the movie I said God damn and Quentin said all I need is one sure even working with Kristoff Chris Christoph wasp watching him work I learned a little bit more about movie I watched him fold a paper [ __ ] wrote on the thing and was just supposed to put it in his pocket it seemed like it took him forever to do it and he had it was nothing else existed but that moment right Christoph wasp's process wasn't that I'm going to have all of these things memorized and do all of these things at once he would give you these and calm yourselves gentlemen one more time what [Music] and we were watching it and Leo was like I said Leo you think you got it he's got it just keep watching some [ __ ] and you see all these little bits of things and then all of a sudden in the movie boom calm yourself gentlemen I was like oh [ __ ] and then I'd like to thank the academy I like about all of it because you hear so many stories about people who work with him who shy us most intimidated you that you've worked with and who've you learned from the most everyone's intimidated by Oliver right yeah different not intimidating he would never looked me in the eyes he always looked just above my eyes it's just his way uh maybe just for me but um probably probably being around Hardy Hardy's a bit of a gorilla on the set yeah probably uh I was most intimidated by him yeah what do you mean a bit of a gorilla well he runs to say you know he pee in the corners it's his set you know it when you get there yeah yeah don't feel like a shared space it feels like his face and and you know and he's a very good actor and also super loving but on a set is you're in his church you know who is taught you the most Bob really yeah definitely I really like that I'm not surprised we can all just be quiet we have some great actors around this table let's let's face it and what did he teach you uh well uh through the performances I watched him reveal himself and be a presenter of a soul and explore who he was through the work and uh I've always just uh he made it feel sacred to me so I so it felt like like he lifted the craft into something that felt like a it's wild to hear you say you're not religious but I know you're spiritual and I don't have to ask you because I watch the work and I can feel it so I'd say and not to you know kiss ass but uh through the work uh having a guy to look towards are you intimidated by anyone um well there's always somebody I guess I don't know but um I I as you get older you don't want to be intimidated by anybody who shouldn't intimidate you if you uh you know we're in a political situation now we have the best example of that where I feel that you must stand up to this kind of person not to make a speech about this here but it's it's necessary to stand up and not because people are non-plussed it's like they say did this guy just do that he did it I I don't even know how to react to that because I'm like that's not within my world of common sense or or right and wrong of what's being fair so I have to find a way I just have to you gotta you gotta push him back you gotta you gotta snuff them out you gotta get rid of them he's a he's you know it's it's you got to deal with it because but people are so so non-plussed by this Behavior and that's how crazy people like him can get even further imagine him getting a second term he'll one he's been said I want to be president for life he choked about him and so then he'll he'll go for that he'll pardon himself he'll do anything I thought in the beginning you know well you know he's a New Yorker maybe he's got Common Sense somewhere in there he's a liberal actually supposedly but then you know after he you know he just got worse and worse and worse and worse and we we've got to get rid of him Adam should access be political uh I'm not great at that I I said I I listen to Bob talk and I I go okay I listen to I I have I when I when I my conviction is not great I do I do believe in uh I my my way of being uh I just try to be uh as good of a person I can be and try to conduct myself a certain way I don't think I always do that right but when it comes to me discussing politics I don't think I'm I don't think I'm knowledgeable enough to to go at it it's an interesting thing because it's actually not politics what he's talking about is me letting my kids watch someone who is supposed to be from mayor whatever they're supposed to be different he's not talking about policy he's talking about the human nature of things and so we should all have an opportunity to say or not say but I got kids so I got to tell my kids I said Hey listen this is not the way things are supposed to be when it comes to the human nature of it because when you do Ascend to these levels of of running things we look to that look all of what we what we've gone through in our lives as as American and politics we were always able to look at that office and say that's something to Aspire to be and to be like if I can't let my kids listen to that person talk then that's where we're off so it's not actually polish there's nothing wrong with saying hey I'm like this you can have a different you can have a disagreement with me about policy we can both do that because I got good old boyfriends that are that are red State guys and I got Democrat friend I'm a Democrat but I'm in all of those circles because I'm always performing you know what I'm saying and quietly even if we disagree there's always that point of being a man being being nice being kind and so to his point when you see something where a person is bless you when a person is just yo you don't have to dance in the end zone with everything God bless you again but but I think that's that's what it is and then we all get nervous you know we get nervous because well what's what's what are people going to say about me but then if we don't have someone saying something I don't know where that came from but if you don't have someone no I don't got it but you know what I'm saying so it's like um it's it's it's not politics it's human beings it's like I know I I look i i s I could share this story I did a gig for Jerry Jones who's I'm a cowboy huge Cowboy fan and I had to perform for the uh for the owners in the NFL and Jerry Jones's uh son-in-law said what are you gonna do here I have to perform for you know you know some good old boys and I said don't worry about it I'm good I'm from Texas I I think I'll be good so the first thing I sung was George Strait now at all next thing you know by the end of the night I had everybody singing Gold Digger and blame it on colon polishing it but I got a chance to speak with George Bush I'm this close and I was like we spoke and of course we all had our differences but I asked him something I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this story I said would you ever say anything disheartening about President Obama you know what he said no I wouldn't it's too hard of a job I learned so much I would never knock his legs out from under him because I know what it is and I watched him and his kids played with Obama's kids that's what it's about you know if we're being if we're taking it there that's what it said so it's just a it's a matter of everybody has something that they want to say but we shouldn't be afraid to say it you're not going to be we should just say hey man so when Ellen DeGeneres went to the game with George W bush do you think that's okay listen it's bigger than that when we're in I've seen I've been in football games where Jesse Jackson George Bush everybody we're still humans but what happens is it's an interesting thing when you see what media does they always separate and make it something bigger Ellen is sitting was George Bush who she's known for for years that's it's not a big thing still doesn't still doesn't mean she's going to compromise what she believes in and you don't have to do that I think I think um it's always been that way only now it's just different because you do go like wow that ain't cool even if you felt that way that part ain't cool you know what I'm saying so it's like um we shouldn't be we shouldn't be afraid we look look and like people say like oh he's a snobby actor man I came from Terrell Texas no money no nothing I said nothing snobby about me I'm happy that I'm making my money I said but for me to get to a position of where I'm at right now and not say nothing like what you know so I'm like I said I'm not running for office but damn we should be able to say whatever we want to say when we want to say it does that make sense yes tell them you had a little Freudian cough going on there uh it was disagree you know where that came from I it was a cough up agreement what was going on we all um [Laughter] um not everybody should be political but everybody must be principled and we carry our principles with us in 24 hours a day it's part of the countenance it's a part of part of why we do what we do in the first place and it's in our it's in our choices and I I have to say one of the things I learned from the get-go uh as an actor in a Repertory company of people you worked with you didn't have to like those people and you did not have to agree with those people you didn't have to hang with those people but you had to respect those people you had to respect their process and you had to respect um their opinions and the default setting I think for so much of everything is conflict and and uh uh uh what's the word I'm looking for cynicism that's the first place I think everybody can go so so if if Ellen is at a football at a game with George W bush what's the cynical take on what that is as opposed to is what is the respectful take on that you know I'm not going to assume anybody automatically did agrees with each other because they're at a Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders football camp um and I I think that's that's a that's a dividend and also you know kind of like politics political views or Diamond does it you know they're absolutely everywhere [Music] [Applause] you just played the least cynical guy maybe in history uh is it actually called it to play some of that nice than to play a villain uh they're the same exact beasts you know that granted the Mr Rogers is not Iago but they have their principles and they have their they have their mission statement the the story in the movie is really about the journalist that is very cynical about who Mr Rogers is and finds out that he was wrong just and there's no nefarious motivation between what Fred Rogers did for a living he viewed it as his ministry and that's like kind of like looking at some combination of Mother Teresa or somebody this is hell-bent for doing just good in in the sphere of which they operate and the cynic walks into that and says what's your what's your what's your racket here what are you trying to pull here and if it's actually just what we're trying to feed homeless people some soup so they get some a hot meal once a day no there's got to be something more to that but it's not and the um Fred Rogers was an ordained minister and his principle was such that everything that guided him through his daily behavior and his creative output was based on making people feel safe and a part of something bigger than they actually were in this case two and three-year-old kids but he never ever said the word God not in not in hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours of of television when you explode that character was there a darker side in him that that actually pushed him in the other direction there was the same dark side in him that is in any cracked vessel and of humankind there is doubt there there is uh there was a sense of failure there is always a degree of self-loathing there was always a question of am I doing enough for the people that I love now is that a dark side I don't know that it's dark and look not everybody says I'm growing tired of this game Mr Bond perhaps you're like a tour of our installation before we feed you to the Sharks not every there that is that is I think that's a dynamic that comes about and that's you know Shakespeare wrote that kind of stuff left and right but the journalists who came and talked to Mr Rogers was paying that no no there's something in the past and you're doing this for some reason in the future and that's that's an artificial uh accounting that is required by somebody who is not the person themselves but when you're playing a guy who's killed people as you just did and it's surreal based on the real life man is it good for you personally to find the goodness in him or is that a dangerous proposition I mean he was a guy who happened to have seen a lot of combat in the second world war so he was a little he was a newer to killing more than anybody someone else and he found himself in this world that was not what he was from and it fit and he was loyal to the people that gave him the love and support and respected him and and um so that's how and then he was then he had a big conflict um which later on not to give it away but that was the whole thing but I I think the whole story the story is very simple uh you could find that kind of situation in any uh culture loyalty betrayal love uh all those things are there the price in this world is a little more harsh um but you know that that and maybe not so in certain parts of the world I mean this is this is what happens so we have it in this country in America and that that menu that culture it's it's it's what it is um so your loyalty in the in the movie two-year to your work it was very interesting to see how it affected your home life and your daughter and yes yeah that was what what was very interesting and different to the fact that you know a person would love you for what what you do and how much you believed in in doing the right thing for the guys you were employed by right and that but at home it was affecting the the family and it's heartbreaking heartbreak well your your movie does the same thing oh yeah right that relationship that you have with your two boys and and her wife man who is just so completely done with you yeah yeah yeah yeah and she in real life is a dominatrix I heard no um in the actors in the film that you play with oh yeah you have to ask her but uh yeah Adam Sandler how much research did you do for that part did you go how much is Jimmy's watch the gift that's a gift from no somebody just told me post and I'm like hey yeah oh there you go yeah that's a good one that's what you want to get did you spend all the time I spent a lot of time of course yes I will surprise you about that well I'll tell you like should I said when you're doing it and when you do the research and you come into a project and you know everything and what Mr De Niro was saying when you see when you walk onto a set and you know you've done the homework and you have no fears of like oh if this comes up I'm going to be I'm going to shut down it's just great to so of course I spent a lot of time on 47th Street I gamble in the movie A lot so I spend a lot of time with a lot of gamblers who had had problems and lost a lot of things and lost their lives because of it and uh who who most surprised you or well the safety Brothers the guys who did the movie they did the research and met a lot of guys who were willing to sit down with me and talk and there was nothing it's it's just their lives get thrown away and their family lives get thrown away and it's about where they are right now and they discussed what what the highs and lows were and and why they couldn't stop and that kind of feeling all these guys on the Block let me in in their shops and I got to sit with them and watch them and they taught me about the the jewelry and about selling and I watched them all day long and it was the it was a a lot of fun a lot a lot of it felt neat to learn this new it wasn't boring well no not at all it's good to learn something I walked away thinking I know everything right now it's a year later I'm like I I forgot so much I wish I didn't when you you played a real life character how when you're playing that role how much do you have to be faithful to him and how did you it's you know you think differently the the process of playing somebody real you have to sort of not do the impersonation because I'm like you know coming from like the 11 color background I learned not to do the impersonation and then also not to I didn't I didn't have a chance to see him actually alive but I had to sort of like piece things together through what people would say and then the first thing that helped me was aesthetically we are part of the same tribe in a sense our cheekbones are the diamond shaped head that haircut that he had I had that in the 80s uh as well so aesthetically we were we were ahead of the game I didn't have a chance to see him actually alive but I had to sort of like piece things together through what people would say and then talking to Brian Stevenson and hearing him talk about who's the real life it does he's a real life is based on who you know goes and meets this this guy on death row and finds out all these incredible these horrible things that he's on death row without a trial they say he killed the white woman in the city they didn't ever been in and like he couldn't believe that this existed but he told me how Walter was he felt like you know since I'm in this situation um I might as well do everything I can to help so when you see in the movies talking to all the prisoners and everything like that trying to keep up their morale these guys on death row so I took that as the spirit of it and then it was a matter of the vernacular being in um you know Alabama and the way they taught like that I mean what they the way they say they things and you know and to make that not be caricature like I remember Michael B Jordan listen now don't do that because it started sounding like um something to do where we really couldn't understand me so we sort of dial that in so sometimes you have to rely on the people that are around you to say what what makes the most sense that in real experience to draw up on I mean you know I was ex my father came to the one of the screenings who you know he was educated for 25 years in the hood in in high school and everything he dedicated his life to saving black kids in the hood they end up putting him in jail for 25 worth of illegal substance for seven years wow so here he is in jail with kids that he had taught wow the very judge that he would bring into the school and say Hey I want you to shake these kids up tell them the repercussions of anything that judge a presided of his case put him in jail so when you have something like that the person that taught you how to throw a football the black man that taught you how to play tennis in Texas when we weren't allowed to go to the um uh the country club so I gotta learn tennis because you don't know all of this you don't know how to swim tennis all of the stuff that they say we can't do you do and so that was a that was a huge thing that I carried inside I didn't share it with a lot of people because when my Pops I wrote him one letter because I I was telling somebody I don't like to see people in jail I wrote in one letter you get out I saved your life he came to live with me when he went in I wasn't who I was when he comes at him and I got a chance to take him to the U.S open and have him watch Venus play you know and you know watch the tears you know down it so those types of things now I was lucky enough to be able to have that moment but in Walter McMillan situation you know it works out but it doesn't work out still an entertaining movie but you still sit with like wow Walter McMillan didn't didn't have a chance and there's a lot of Walter mcmillans you shot him the real life person yeah right because those present scenes are phenomenal and they're really incredible uh the one moment when the Cuffs was being put on me and they had a guy who was part of the prison system who wasn't part of the movie yeah yeah squeeze it tighter oh yeah squeeze it tighter because he's a he's a bigger one he doesn't know that he's saying something that is taking me to yeah I'll come out these cups but that's his everyday life so those moments when we were going into those prisons that was for a person who don't I don't know I don't do the jail [ __ ] you know it was a couple of times I'm like hey man don't squeeze them don't they're tight enough you know what I'm saying so he doesn't know that he's saying something that is taking me to yeah I'll come out these cups but that's his everyday life we become so used to it too because we're talking to Brian's Brian Stevens I'm talking about changing the perception because the perception kills us it's like the reason I don't want to go see somebody in jail is because I don't want to get used to that but so many people are just used to seeing their father their brother the who of their mothers in jail and the next day you know we start rapping about it we should rap about being in jail because we don't have we don't have any other thing this is all we see so it's it's a it's a you know it was a tough it's a tough thing you know it's such a wonderful film um you played your own father and he was I don't know if this is fair but it seems that in your real life he was the pretty villainous guy um oh I don't know is that true no he's sweetheart he's a teddy bear he's just a little crooked he's just a crack yes that's right but there's a lot of cracks there yeah did you um did you have to change how you saw him to play the role and did playing the role change the way you saw him yeah for sure yeah I hadn't talked to my dad for seven years before I uh started this up so I didn't really I didn't really know my dad too well and um didn't have a relationship with him at all and and uh my coming into this industry um you know my dad wanted to be in this industry sort of separated us you know there was like a lot of a lot of competitive uh me and my dad were quite competitive with each other and um yeah I guess I guess uh yeah I guess you always got to empathize with whoever you're playing but I wouldn't call him a villainous character in a way yeah and I hadn't really looked at him from that side you know I was young and and in a victim type of you know uh uh I was using my dad at work you know which was the wrong way to go about work but also the world well you know um uh I was working with material that wasn't necessarily you know bomb back and this material would ask of you things that you couldn't really get in the material so then you're left with and I didn't have any technique and I had read all these uh stories you know easy Riders Raging Bulls and you know you you kind of you come up with an amalgamation of a way to do something and for me it was a lot of transposing my pain from my father and it it would work in front of a camera for me for a long time and didn't have much more technique than that and I was scared to sort of clean it up because I thought well you know I don't want to I don't want to lose my only thing I got which was this pain that felt very real for me and so um yeah I had I had a whole mixed bag of I had a a strange way of viewing my pain with my father and I also used used it at work so didn't want to clean it up yeah has it changed your thinking about him or anything yeah and made me better at my craft and created a relationship and yeah did you ever think of not playing the pattern did you ever think of directing it never thought of directing it because that's just not my gig but um definitely didn't think I'd be able to play it you know I was not in a spot where people were like hey let's put some money on this kid's back and have him carry a movie so I thought my acting career was done I was going to join the Peace Corps I wasn't really trying to yeah I was out really yeah and um yeah sent it to Mel Gibson and yeah I thought he was the guy to play my dad and my dad was also thinking along the same lines it's one thing to want to play your dad it's another thing to go stand in front of your father after seven years and not talking and go hey man I'm gonna play you when there's contention already and we weren't on good terms so I lied to him and told him hey Mel Gibson is going to play you sign right here and my dad loves him yeah so my dad signed the paper under the auspices that he was going to be played by by Braveheart you know so um well you had to know about my script but this is an autobiography so in some ways were you playing Noah in the film I mean like all of these things they're Noah wrote a script he did that hat-trick that people I think tried to do of writing something that's incredibly specific but it reaches a broader audience I mean like like anything he like Meyer wits like you know the squid in the way of While We're Young they're all in a sense autobiographical and then but he wrote something that I think we all projected or our history or uh onto what was the toughest moment for you in that film it was the one that you really struggled with usually there's like one scene in the in a movie or maybe two that you're dreading with this one every scene felt like oh it's all too early in the schedule it's too early for Halloween it's too early to put it off for you yeah and like okay well then we can maybe put it to next week but then next week's was was worse you know so so and that again that's I think a testament to good writing every scene felt the stakes were incredibly high they all felt urgent they all felt necessary there wasn't a part that you could take out where the movie would survive without it and so that that I think it was our first sign of oh this felt like it always should be this urgent hopefully last question for all of you if you could go back to your younger selves well you in a way went back to a younger son younger than that what piece of advice would you give yourself well I was saying something to my grandson the other day because you know that things just be calm when things are going well become don't think you're on top of the world in the sense you always got to be wary because I've seen it I've seen people come I've seen people go I've seen them come I've seen them go you got to be chilled you got to like just take what's good in your life and move forward cautiously and carefully and and thank God that you that you have that just it's very very important not to to overextend yourself when you when you think you you know you've gotta that's no such thing everybody's dispensable I wish I had known that this too shall pass you feel bad right now you feel pissed off you feel angry yes this too shall pass oh great you feel great you feel like you know all the answers you feel like that everybody finally gets you yeah and uh there you are yeah time is your ally and if nothing else just wait just wait just wait it out right just I'll take time yeah being more economical I think I I would I wish I could be things that I think I need I don't whether it be acting or you know life economical artistically financially emotionally well we can say artistically I guess if you think that you need to uh certain things have to be in place for you to do your job but then actually none of that's true we were using the example earlier of a porthole having it worked up in your mind and then realize you're getting there you have no control over any of us you know so or doing homework and research and like you know losing weight and putting a bunch of weight and then feeling comfortable to let it all go because none of that is helpful because your scene partner is drunk that's not something that's happened to me you're just pulling something but but being more economical with you know okay well all that time I have to either get better about that I've wasted it or I shouldn't just waste that time and actually should prioritize in a different way so I think that's kind of the same thing Adam is that I felt as though that I was relatively common experienced enough that I didn't do this is there anybody who told me because someone had put in the script there was a lack of potholes and I said all right all right so there's no Lifeboat there's no uh there's no part you did have that extraordinary moment everybody talked about in the film where you cried I remember you set of lost round table that you'd had 10 minutes to prepare for it not even that we're just kind of like went down and having lost man city I was thinking because I I straight I should have stretched more stretched I have a very bad metaphorically no no no no no no no I'm fine with all that stuff but I really can't get out of my car when there's a loose ball in a basketball court I cannot get the ball ever everyone else grabs it before me because I can't bend so that and my coach is always growing up we're like they're always talking about stretching I never did it I never did I always jumped I just jump right into the game did you stretch before playing no not too much see no I don't that three ball was wet though I got the thing yeah thank you not as wet as it used to be yeah good but all of you thank you so much this was it's truly a terrific route I really appreciate it thank you very much hey I'm Shia LaBeouf hey I'm Jamie Foxx hi I'm Tom Hanks I'm Adam Sandler thank you for watching Hollywood Reporter round tables round tables on YouTube on YouTube I think that's the one right there

Channel: Motivation Vitamin

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Keywords: actors roundtables tom hanks robert de niro jamie foxx, actors roundtable, tom hanks, robert de niro, jamie foxx, motivation, motivational video, motivational quotes, motivational, close up, motivational speech, motivation videos, gym motivation, motivations, weight loss motivation, motivation video, study motivation, hindi motivation, motivation theory, motivation monday, motivation speech, the hollywood reporter, closeup, roundtable, thr, adam driver, adam sandler, film

Id: dbjL2evMA0M

Length: 58min 36sec (3516 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 02 2023