Conversations with Ray Liotta

hi everyone [Applause] like I really need to introduce them I'm Stacy Wilson hunt from the Holland Road it's not The Hollywood Reporter I know where he's Omni all he messed up my flow Stacy Wilden home from New York Magazine and vulture very nice to be here thank you sir for being here obviously there's a swell of interest and fandom in the room so I think we're all feeling honored on a Monday getting back into the week to be able to talk to you about your credible career first I wanted to know what was your life like growing up in New Jersey um just typical suburbs sports sports sports that's all we did it was uh was football season we play soccer because I was too way too skinny for football basketball was I was a gym rat for years from seventh grade up through high school baseball until I got hit a couple times with the baseball then I gave up that but it was just you know swim clubs in the in the summertime school sports we're your parents artistic at all do they have interest in Hollywood or acting or the arts no but my sister's very dramatic but now that my parents were involved in politics and so they look around for office yes yeah I'm kind of what did you learn about the world from them were they optimistic people about politics were they did they want to come in and help people were they humanitarians yeah they were they were Democrats who believed in helping and and uh it's just a brutal brutal business almost as bad as this one great similar in a lot of ways I just mean I saw my mother's heart get broken a few times you know people say that they're going to they want to help her run for office and then they turn and they go to somebody else so to this day I'm still a little hesitant of it and when was the first time you performed or felt artistic as as an actor or maybe you wrote something or you felt fresh yourself well in sixth grade Alan Rowland got sick so so I had to take over his part in the music that we were we were seeing we're singing a bunch of songs and camp I played Fagin and Oliver and then my Empire high school year I quit basketball and the drama teacher I took drama as an elective asked me to be to be in the play to audition for it was Sunday in New York and I hated it I hated everything about it and then it came time to go to college and I didn't know what I wanted to do and my dad said go wherever you want take whatever you want so I walk out of my SATs I'm 62 so I walked out on my SATs but I got into the University of Miami because at that time in 1973 you just needed a pulse to get in so I got in and I was just going to take liberal arts so I'm in line for liberal arts and and I got up the front of the line isn't yet to take math and history is exactly that was my reaction what I find us right right next to it was for the drama department so I took a step over and said I'd be a drama major my dad said take whatever you want and and then this girl she said you going out for the plate tonight it was it I didn't even know there was a play I didn't even want to be an actor I just didn't want to take math or history and and I said no and she berated me I mean she was really upset with the fact that I wasn't going to do it so I went and and had the audition and I was for cabaret sorry so just a quick stir so what you had to do is you have to tell a sad story so I was on the phone in sixth grade with Bobby Zimbardo because we had we had a little a band that that we sang like one song don't walk away Renee we had a Dalmatian that was just a pain I opened the door I didn't feel like walking them out all of a sudden I hear screeching and noise and then the dog yelping she said story and so I got a call back then I then had to sing advance and now like I'm a jock from Jersey and I remember my parents they uh they took us to see the original Pippin and I remember this one song magic to do which was just a really great song but for somebody else to sing it not me but so I went and and then the girl Valerie she held me she got the sheet music and and okay I think I know this and then I went to give it to the the very piano player and and and I took it from him he says what are you doing I says well I have to say it don't I didn't know you have to have a memorize so he said why I got to play it I don't know it just do whatever you can so so all I remembered was the refrain we got magic to do we got imagine this thing you're supposed to be singing with it so all I remembered like I don't know well remember Freddie in the dreamer hears that group what will they have the song so I'm singing they got magic to do and then I'm doing the Freddie which is this and that that's that was the Freddy because it was like it was a more of a kid group and and I got the part Wow auspicious beginning so so after college he moved to New York right away it sounds like yeah what once there was an acting teacher name was buckets they called him that because he played basketball put the ball in the bucket so I can relate to him and I was different for him because I wasn't somebody who was you know wanted to do this since they were little I just had a different personality being more aggressive and and jockey and he liked that so he kind of took me under his wing and I started getting really nice parts and I said well I think I'm going to stay and do this a little more and I ended up staying for the for the four years and then I moved to New York and the third day I was in New York I got a commercial and it was potato records love songs of the fifty and all really they just was me and a girl walking in the park and it was stills and then they were supposed to play the love songs of the 50s but I think nobody really fell in love in the 50s because the commercials just disappeared so nothing happened to it look at what point were you at what point were you captain another world that was how long into your tenure six months from graduating college a big deal it was really the first month I was flown out here because Robert Zemeckis was doing I think it was called Beatles forever or something about what group of kids trying to get into the plaza when the Beatles were there but I didn't get in there but I got into the soap and when I started into the acting in the 70s the only movies I ever saw were Clint Eastwood movies The Beatles movies or whatever my parents took me to when movies were movies when there were intermissions and the movies were huge and just and the screens and everything but I still didn't want to do it I was so naive I really thought they were killing people on screen it was so real to me that but I never thought like about that that that you could do an intense fan more so than someone so yeah I was impressed so but I got the soul oh hey Joey Perini I assumed he was a bad boy Italian guy oh no no no the nicest character and oh really oh yeah mirre odd myself I've never been in a fight in my life so my friends laugh at the parts that I do because they see they nothing but I'm not you know anything close to and did you find a lot of great actors started on soaps Alec follow and Julianne Moore it was a great vehicle back then for for people who really wanted to do good work not to say it's not today it's just a different business now what kind of exposure did you get from that arc I think was eight episodes is that true on the soap nine to three and a half years eastern half years okay my information yeah you did you find yourself getting auditions for movies from the exposure there was one thing if the story is true Sondra Locke who would used to go with Clint Eastwood watch the soap and they came and they were interested in me for I forgot the name of the movie but it didn't work out because of scheduling and I got a movie of the week movie of the weeks were big back then and I did a movie of the week with Michael Perret and David Caruso and amy madigan and then went back to the soap then when I was 25 26 I quit the soap because I wanted to come out and I wanted to try to get into movies because like when I first started like I said I didn't used to go to movies in the 70s I graduated graduated high school 73 and the 70s as you all know was a great great period of moviemaking and that's what that's what my influences were so that's what I wanted to be like that's that's who I wanted to work with and I've been lucky enough to work with a lot of those people that I that I just would would drool over like Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall Pacino De Niro all these people I've been really lucky you come so the silk filmed in New York and so then you moved to LA after right I moved to LA and right into a struggling actors box so the soap really didn't necessarily negate you having to go through the struggles of the LA actor and oh no no no I went through the struggles luckily my parents uh my dad was good with handling money so he made my soap money last for five years but again I was still in like pretty much decides my my apartment had brown shag carpeting and SS it was horrible was I was on beechwood but it was five buildings up from the school on beechwood 1970 beechwood Drive and when you audition did you find yourself getting consistent feedback from casting directors about you know certain roles they saw you as certain roles they didn't see you playing did you have to fight against more mostly her no okay it was you know there was a few I got a series but the series that David Wolper produced it but it was it was based off of Casablanca so they had David soul from Starsky and Hutch as the Humphrey Bogart part Scatman Crothers was that was Sam and I was Sascha the bartender who just served the drink every time so the first and then I did a guest shot on a show called the Mississippi that Ralph Waite had had done and then my money started running out and then I got something wild through Melanie who was married to Steven Bauer who was it Al Pacino's best friend in Scarface and it was my parents involvement in politics that made me called they said just call Melanie up maybe she'll help you get in you know and I said no I got to do it I'm going to audition and I'm going to get it my way and I'm sitting there saying I always not working you're trying to be a good guy about so I called up Melanie and and Jonathan god rest his soul he just passed away I said Melanie please I have it down to three people it's been a really really tough process and and she said Jonathan you told me that I had a bad experience with an actor so she wanted some say-so on who was going to play her husband my channels already attached at that point with Jeff was yeah Jeff was attached and and Melanie was attached well Jonathan did you know had was down two three three guys prefer the part that I eventually played so she got me in just because I think she just wanted to let Jonathan know that you gave her that power and she was going to take it I don't know post belief in me I think she just wanted to use her our so on Monday I met the I think I don't know if I met Jonathan I think I maybe just met Jonathan I said all right if I'm going to get turned down now after five years I get turned down but at least I met the director let him say it Tuesday I get a call they say they wanted me to come in and read with another actor so they hired an actor or ask some actress to come in to read some of the parts that were Melanie's I was right now if I'm going to get turned down at least like I got up and I talked and acted and let that happen Thursday comes around and they say they want you to come in tomorrow to read with Jeff Daniels so I'm so excited that our member was watching Johnny Carson and who's on Johnny Carson talking about Woody Allen because he just did the Purple Rose of Cairo and Jack Nicholson because he just in terms of endearment but Jeff Daniels and I'm like oh my god I got to work with this guy tomorrow so I started doing push-ups I'm like looking at the script and I'm doing push-ups oh and what he did this and all Jack was this and Shirley MacLaine oh man so if you say I was Joey pray me on another world I mean no that doesn't work but I went and and I had throughout when I shoot as I moved to LA Stephen and Melanie turned me on to this acting teacher Harry master George who I stayed with for 12 years even when I started making movies I would go right back to class to work with them to Goodfellas to feel the dreams back to class and uh and so I I did the scene with Jeff and then I get another call Jonathan wants to meet with you before he goes back to New York so we met at Hugo's on Santa Monica Boulevard and I went and he said look you know as you know you know you've been coming here now for a while I got to go back there were three other people who were in the mix and I'm going to go and and and I'll know by the middle of the week so the middle of weeks of me is Monday and Tuesday came and there's nothing and literally the middle of the week Wednesday came and there was nothing to miss at all man and then Thursday can again I can get emotional now I remember he couldn't ray would you like to be ray and I broke down I just got really I could get emotional now thinking about it it really really no after struggling and you know whenever I talk or do these things I really do it for the people who break hasn't come or who hasn't gotten there they're shot that it might not happen at the time you want it to happen but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's not going to happen it's just it's just a matter of you know when it does but that's what dad that's how the first was it that dad nothing to do it with jazz hey this is your ego this is this is your day and we're honored for you to share those moments with us because I'm sure everyone has room can relate to what you just said so a couple years after something wild with Field of Dreams which it said I did a movie Dominik in Eugene in between which was really really a Tom house was unbelievable he was even credible and that was shortly after on the dance yeah yeah but that was with I just looked bad luck and that was with Orion - so was something wild but they put together great movies and stuff it's the marketing was a little and then we were also we faced at the same time that Rain Man came out so that was you know but hard to beat that one and so when you first read the script for Field of Dreams was just such an odd sweet little movie we think about what a big deal this moving became but at the time I imagine was kind of a hard sell on the directors part just like it's his field and there's just like dead baseball player living and then it comes out and I mean it's a really dreamy sort of it wasn't on the script or ever I did I could I just I couldn't understand why this guy would plow up his cornfield for life this ghost because I wasn't movie savvy and hadn't seen really a lot of movies up to that point the ones I did were in the 70s they would have shot up the cornfield but not made it into a baseball field so I thought it looked more sentimental in the movie who you were well what sold you on wanting to play is Shoeless Joe Jackson they asked me so you're able to set aside your feelings about this story - for the alcohol I said it's as if they'll plow it up I'll play and the climate is one of not line if they plow it you will come alright you're gonna have a lot of danger my parents watch things you guys know so that offers a perfect segue to Goodfellas Scorsese said that he loved your quote explosive energy from something wild and that's what really caught his notice with you do you member your first meeting with him did you have a long audition process for oh hell yeah the very first I had then III was I've been with every alphabet agent there is I see em and the CAA and and at that time I was with CAA and I think marty was there too and I've heard varying stories about how I got it but but I heard that Bob had mentioned me at a party too Marty and that's actually how it happened but I took my dad Dominic and Eugene was at the Venice Film Festival and we were at the Excelsior Hotel on the on the on the second floor looking down at just all the like people and you know the film festivals are there are some characters so you're just I was just watching everything that was going on and all of a sudden there was this big commotion and I look in the middle of it is is Marty and I saw that I hadn't talked to him in like like two or three months because he we went and did Last Temptation of Christ and that was there but he was getting a lot of threats because of the subject matter so there were a lot of bodyguards so I said dad I got I just got to put my face in front of him so he doesn't so he remembers me so I ran down and I'm starting running towards Marty and luckily there was a space and the bodyguards they came after me and I said no no no no no no no I just I just want to say hi to Marty that's all I wanted to do and he said it was then that he decided that he was going to cast me in it because if you see something wild you see that I'm just nuts but but Henry Hill was was he was more no quiet the only way Henry got to do everything that he did was because he was just a good soldier kept his mouth shut did whatever they asked so my no no no don't hurt me was really what Henry would have been and he said it was then Betty that he realized that's incredible and how much improv do you remember being able to do on on the set like the seamy just obviously the very the clown scene was there any improv and not seen and how many takes that did it take to get to what we ended up seeing on screen a great thing like what you're Martin Scorsese is you get to rehearse and we had two weeks of rehearsal and sitting around we her soul with Joe Pesci is fun because he's got lots of stories and one of the stories that he that he was telling us was the how he was at a restaurant and that happened to him but you know true to life real wiseguy uh made him laugh and he said you know that's really funny and the guys had just turned on him and it was like whoa so Marty said Wow wait wait wait we could use that because he's always thinking it's just there's nothing more exhilarating than to be around somebody who is that passionate about playing make-believe and and originally the scene would of in the script the scene would have been when when the guy comes over and says it's Joe ask for Tommy asked for a drink and the guys say you haven't paid me in a while and he takes it at your mutton hits on the head with the glass but but before so Marty thought we'll put it there well what we did was so he said that's a really interesting idea let's work something else so Marty and I I mean uh Joe and I just started you know from scratch just you know he was telling the story and then I said you're you know you're I just can't you know this you're a funny guy and like he turned on me and then and then we did it a few more times and Marty had some suggestions and Joe had some suggestions and then Marty's assistant then wrote it all down because the Riddler is improving but because of the way moves the camera it moves at certain places it's like a dance with with what you're saying and how the cameras moving so it has to be at a certain point when you're saying the certain thing and I'll never forget that our first take of doing it Joe improv during it I remember Marty likes to gun she got really upset and he said he said let's stick to what we wrote this is you know this is a scene now so it wasn't so we improv but it was now a scene but so we did it once and then we did it again and then then we just showed that one right so what that when I say he said something and I said you know you really are funny that that was improving within the scripted improv and then he said if you're ever ending in court you're going to crack and that that just made me laugh and you know a lot of people say about the laugh but I'm sure everybody here's had a few laughs and your laugh is a lot different than your drunk oh you know great menacing laugh though it's funny but it's also kind of scary words you could something could switch very quickly and that's why you're Garrett a jolly know why you're here today funny guy you're a very funny guy and what did you learn about acting from working with Scorsese that you've carried with you who season you're trying to make me cry during the filming of this of my mom had cancer during the filming of Goodfellas so it just made me see this is this that this is life and death and I'm you know who like Marty and Bob who like this is my mother's like dying and died in the middle of it so the biggest thing that it got me is like they're just I remember I did a movie with with Gene Hackman and I never had any scenes with them but I would go down and sneak and watch him the same thing with Robert Duvall and they make mistakes they flub their lines they met you know it's like the legends all of a sudden became actors and the biggest thing during that is I remember when we were doing the two week rehearsal with Bob you know he would come up with an idea and I would are you serious really you know Bob came up with I don't think that's going to work buddy but wasn't it that you have a job of freedom to try and do whatever so the biggest thing with that was one the excitement just the sheer excitement that Marty had the environment he created for you to be able to oh yeah you didn't like you did climb to the tallest building and falling you knew he was going to catch you it's a great feeling to have and its really exhilarating like I said to be and to work with somebody who is so passionate about make-believe and about acting to specifically yeah yeah all of it yeah and how did your life change when the movie came out at first not at all because it really wasn't a big blockbuster Hollywood thing blockbusters were invented until Jaws really jaws was the first hundred million dollar movie and that's when that became the magic right isn't that right and that's when they all started reaching for that ring and that's changed things at the time it was shorts Negra movies it was Bruce Willis I mean you were you know yeah that is always hard when compared to a lot of what we were seeing in theaters right and people didn't know what to make of it it's just been over the past 25 years that is taken on like I'll have like 13 14 year-old kids coming up to me you know saying oh my gosh I just saw a Goodfellas I'm saying what kind of parents like it's true young like there's being 14 years all that like Merida fibbing but it doesn't taken on the life of its own and and you knew the real Henry Hill is that true you know oh yeah I met him after he met him after yeah and he called me up he called me up and he literally said on the phone I said I'd like to meet you I said okay so we met at Jerry's deli where the bowling alley is on Ventura Boulevard and he was there with his brother who just looked menacing but the first the thing that that that Henry said was was like thanks for not making me look like a scumbag and I said did you see the movie every everything that is that he did was you know not hearing about his wife selling drugs abusing drugs the end people up is what stung me in my neighborhood well you play it in with heart I guess it's probably what he was anything yeah no he did yeah he was he was actually really sweet about it and did you see shift in your career after Goodfellas did you start to get different roles did you feel like there were you had heightened exposure well I I was you know you do a few I was like the guy for a second but I was a guy and even in the 90s it was different and I thought it was about acting and not like branding and there really is a band and the actors now are smarter about their branding because the first thing I I wanted to do something totally different than and then Goodfellas and so I I got a movie where I played a heart surgeon it was about the VA system but as luck would have it Orion went bankrupt just as they were will that just as that the movie was getting ready to come out but I wanted to try to do as many different parts as I could that now I'll play killer after killer after game but back then I really thought it was important because you know you really heard about typecasting that's why I waited a year after something wild to do Dominic in Eugene because it was such a sweet nice nice movie so one of my favorite movies is Copland you're in 1997 and it's I went back and research in the budget with only 15 million I didn't realize it was that small of a budget to have all those incredible actors in one movie what do you remember about making that movie that that's has stuck with you biggest thing I remember is a story that Jim mangle told me and it was the first time that Bob and Harvey had worked together since taxi-driver and he said they spent all days Bob would say well I think I would go over to the window over here and and then Harvey would say I'm the captain I really think I would get to the window first and they spent the whole day like jockeying for who would do what or who would drink the water first and they said he they didn't stay didn't shoot one one one one frame of film this is 20 years after taxi driver at this point yeah well yeah they were they were competitive I guess so you're not I said I remember the most aside from that it was working with these guys it was really becoming friendly with with with sli's like he's a really really funny guy and and he and he would lead as soon as people saw him he would right away say I'm fact as I'm doing a movie he just couldn't allow him says is his good for yeah come here yes and that was a big comeback vehicle for him because he hadn't really done anything kind of smaller and now he was really good and I thought I thought he's really good in it I agree so I watched a clip from this next film I want to talk about recently and I don't know why I put myself through a wash it late at night but the scene at the dinner table in Hannibal with your brain exposed the most disturbing things I've ever seen in my life and yet I force myself to watch it what was it like to work with Ridley Scott on that he was good I mean it was great he's another one who had such passion about playing make-believe I remember asking him saying how we gonna do this like how like he said I don't know but so I'm not sure myself so I just figured I did some research and didn't realize that when you do brain surgery you're awake because I guess they have to touch certain areas and your response is is what it's supposed to be or hope word not what it's supposed to be and so I just figured the drug that that Anthony gave me just made me silly and goofy and that's how we did it but I remember when I saw it like I got sick it was like I can't imagine seen it's been ruined if you generally watch your movies do you no I haven't seen over 3/4 of them really that you just don't enjoy seeing yourself on screen that I don't for me in particular god bless you someone just sneeze I I I'm not I'm not sure I could be objective enough to you know the experience is supposed to be the experience you're having not the experience you're watching as an actor so I didn't want because there's some actors you know that they watch themselves because when they're on on screen their their head is tilted just the way they like it and they're already thinking about and I I don't want I don't want to have any preconceived anything's we're you know so that he'll head to look familiar but I won't I won't guess who might be one of my favorite performances was on ER 2004 for which she won an Emmy plane Charlie Metcalf do you guys remember that that is so just just grueling very beautiful what would they like to to inhabit that character I know it was you weren't on the show for very long but it was really wrenching especially someone who's at the end of his life what was it like to to to envelop that must have been tough it was brutal because I like many people I'm scared shitless of dying and the whole thing was dealing with I know I'm dying so and then to be to have a relationship or not a relationship with my child uh which is like kind of the same thing in and shades it just really just puts you in a weird head it wasn't it wasn't a pleasant place to to think of and to be to not not have a relationship with with somebody because of some stupid ego reason that someone couldn't throw away and it's your kid and then here you are dying and they don't care it's like it just makes you think twice like wouldn't wait don't take it so serious much a couple Muppet movies which is actually more difficult than you think okay yeah well let's see if you have to sing and dance with it right I need to re-watch those another one of my favorite performances of yours then favorite films actually in a long time is the place beyond the pines in 2012 so I just adore this movie I think I've seen at some time the structure of the movie it was of course sort of a triptych you know there's three pieces to the narrative shop or low budget Derek Spain France was the director did you have a sense of what that movie would look like that the end result because it is such an odd construct but and you know Brian gothic dies at the be game it's just really nothing that you think it's going to be what would they like to make that movie and did you have a sense of his artistic vision while you were working no not really and I was I was pissed off because they cut out a lot of my good scenes but that's partly joking - no but it was a whole different thing that you know that it is three separate stories so it's just a matter if that is your flavor or or or not or like which plate you know that that one when I think I saw one so I don't remember a lot of it but yeah it was a whole different that was a rubbing everyone was really really good it was just an odd structure right maybe he didn't know what it was going to be until the end himself yeah it is very awesome and that brings us to shades of blue 2016 obviously premiered last year did you have any reservations about jumping into a series regular job it's a lot of work we were talking backstage about your compressed schedule and the amount of dialogue you're learning under short periods of time what went into your decision to say yes to this I saw how the business was changing and how the independent movies that I was doing a lot of were becoming less and less and the tentpole movies were getting there was more and more of that and my age was getting more more of that so I thought they were they were picking a lot of people when I started in the 70s if you were do if you were on a television show you were kind of like out the past you know it was like towards the end and now the whole thing is changed where if you're doing a television show with with the right people it's exhilarating and and fun so I definitely was leaning towards wanting to do a 13-episode not it's not a 22 or 26 because I still wanted to try to do movies and this came along really the biggest thing that Batman told me was that Barry Levinson was going to shoot the pilot Jennifer I didn't know anything about aside from who she went out with and I didn't see that not mean that as a put I just didn't know immune or more yeah as an accurate and she was more romantic comedies with what she was doing so that was iffy but it was also she was the whole reason why the thing happened we were 13 episodes right out there right away right from the start it turns out she's great in it she's great and she's one of the most disciplined and literally one of the hardest working people in showbiz she's got her fingers in a lot of things so I'm really glad that I made the decision to do it but yeah it's it's work and we shoot two shows at once which is ridiculous what you're doing it I'll call the matter and it looks like you have embraced social media you're on Twitter is exciting really well I like you posted a photo recently of you sitting in the Goodfellas diner and you just shot a scene four shades there which I thought was cool you looking out the window and that must have been a strange full-circle moment to find yourself shooting in the same location but all these aren't very different show what happens though is there's somebody who takes the pictures and then I'll just say something and and I'm of the school that I don't think the least unless you know about an actor the better I think and now there's just too much Oh what there Figgins just too much but I've also read articles that a lot of the studios sometimes if it's between a couple people and somebody has a you know a lot of looks or likes or whatever it is then that you know they they could lean that way so sometimes you've got to play the game to beat them at the game and so I'll do it in my way in my sarcastic way and also it also what I like doing best is is is is celebrating the crew who go unrecognized and on our show in particular they're just great every camera guy the DP everybody is just really dedicated so somebody will take a picture and it'll be with with with with Stefan or our DP or whatever and then I'll go on and talk about them and let them get and so their family sees or or whatever so I found a way to do [Applause] not a lot of actors take the time to do that what's been your favorite day of shooting on shades favorite scene or favorite location or favorite sequence favorite day I don't know about favorite day but I think one of the most important days is what I think you show and then I really based a character because all they tell you at first because they don't know is that I said something that set my daughter to the point of killing herself so the confettis they showed you show the confessional right that to me was the most important and I didn't think it was going to hit me Azzam like I don't go into a scene saying all right I'm doing I got a cry today or something I just kind of let do the homework and then let whatever happens happens and so your answer was what was my fav memory Laura yeah I would have been that because it's really what I based from day one that that they finally let me verbalize and the character had never really said and we learned a lot about her and I and and why Jennifer became so important to me as a as like a daughter because she got in trouble at the same time that my daughter passed away and actually this year we had a flashback of my daughter and it's my daughter military and we have daughters oh well I was going to ask about her because she is now 18 she's wanting to become an actor or she is an actor and wanting to pursue it how does it feel to see her following in your footsteps oh my the same though it is she you know that's what she knew early on she used to love coming to the set she didn't care if she had to get up at 5:00 or stayed till well she loved staying late um she said she she did everything she showed that you really wanted to do it in high school she auditioned for every play she she just took it on herself like I didn't do anything in terms of introducing her to my agent but I it's really her wanting and her doing and and and taking the upper hand in it so you know I think she's doing it for all the right reasons yeah yeah yeah she likes to play pretend that's all she did when she was a kid and when you're out in the world and people recognize you what do people most frequently say to you or do they is there a piece of feedback you've gotten from a fan that's really stuck with you about something you've made oh a lot report with Field of Dreams and what it's meant to a father-son relationship that because usually it's kind of like a guy tearjerker you know um that they want me to say Karen just just one word that it was the funny guy thing but Karen's that seems to be the one and have you ever had a strange fan interaction where you've kind of had to be like well let us persona need to move along well some of the people that do it for a living right yeah they don't get there they're just yeah they get really nasty they can get really nasty so you get them that look that I just like you back and that ends up being like the best day of their life by the way and who are your heroes in the business either people you've worked with or people you grew up idolizing or even people today you look at what he or she does as a writer director producer and think wow I would love to collaborate with that person probably the ones who I mention what in the 70s when I when I that I was fortunate enough to work with and that inspired me to want to be that kind of actor to do like those kinds of movies like Gene Hackman or Duvall or Anthony Hopkins and Japan s already a I worked what that was unbelievable some of the newer directors I did this movie a narc with this guy joe carnahan and I really liked that was it's nice too because I got into a little producing with that was able to at that time like to work with him again there's so many people not enough time for everybody to work together what's your favorite way to spend time when you're not working watching family guy it's true my daughter and I love my family guys it's our bonding I'm a single dad so we do all the talking you know up till dinner so when we're at dinner its I'm sure it's definitely problem be very happy to hear that no you made fun of me twice he did yeah I said Seth I like the first season like nobody was watching your show I did a voice then like a couple years later you're making fun you're making fun of me and he says well see we're thinking about you that sounds like Seth we have quite a few good audience questions we're going to segue to that Joe would like to ask you what are your habits for preparing for a role are there types of methods or techniques that you have found work best for you it really depended on in the beginning of my career I was much much much more method and and I mean obviously to the point you're not going around killing people or but like if I was playing a surgeon like I would go to open-heart surgeries like to the point why I would go so much that the doctor asked me to scrub up then and then he asked me if I wanted to touch this woman's heart oh my god and I almost said I got I get to touch God and so I did I went out and touch this touch this woman's heart so I was like a big big gun on preparation and and knowing that it looks like it and then as you get older and the more that I I studied you realize it's pretend you just pretend that you're doing it and all the information that you need is in the script so you could you could be the best non butcher in the world it doesn't matter if you're not saying what you need to say so III mean I still do some of it if you technically need to know like fulfill the dreams with you know how to swing a bat even though there's a whole story about why didn't do it left even righty but that was on them and and then it's just your imagination and and and and then trusting yourself after doing it for like 35 40 years now you learn to trust what you've done because it's been proven in the past and the more you get rid of actors considerations you know saying other people's words on cue in front of people it's all unnatural but if you just put yourself in the head of just playing pretend that that set me free that that's what helped me and that's really what I got pumped from studying with hairy master George I think is it sauna or Sara excuse me I couldn't sauna and thank you she would like to know what feeds you as an artist what inspires you other artists good movies like typical almost silly they look at a sunset a beautiful view other actors other you know movies are like what you know or where people are extremely committed what was the last thing you watch that you thought was really great movie one I'm so bad at remembering names of movies or maybe from this past Oscar season was anything that I'll come back to that one I know there's one but I don't know there really is a few but I can't think of it right now okay we'll come back crystal would like to know when did you know that you had officially made it as an actor I still don't know I do there's a certain level that you want to get to and that level for me is to work with the most committed people that with the most committed writing with the with the best stories it's all about the story and and and who you're working with so you know when I first started like I said I wanted to to uh to do different parts but that didn't necessarily mean that was a good thing for my career and there's no question that I've been up and down I definitely had that career and it's starting to ignite a little more now so it's it's all relative but now it's to be like why aren't I in the irishman Marty you know you see yes mental have that no but everyone's here I would well there's also a lot of great material being made now - so maybe actors still may be a bizarre more inspired because there's just so much great stuff yeah that's and that's a good thing just so I would like to know which of your performances has left the most lasting mark on you and transformed you as a result oh you guys are deep we weed out the bad question these are only the good ones I I guess the ones like it like the the ER one with death as I'm getting older obviously my parents have passed and and you understand and you realize what friendships really mean as you get older you know your relationship with your your family how important that is so it would be something like like that even this is really about you think you're helping people but you're also hurting people and so that makes you think like why bolita yeah there's a there's a lot of different things in that that that give me pause for thought and Lauren would like to know switching gears a little bit what was it like to work on Kimmy Schmidt with talented comedians in Tina Fey specifically I wish I mention I host a Saturday Night Live and she wrote a great great sketch where I wanted to be like a Barney character Oh hair America but but but I wanted to be the guy that was underneath Barney so they so they had it where that rachel dread dread drachez I say last name and she's endowed and that is so hot so I'm Barney and they're dancing away and she's dancing away and going up and down and I take off the thing and said we can't do this it's anyhow Tina wrote back it was just really funny and Kimmy Schmidt was just I just did it because I had worked with Tina I worked with Tina on the Muppet movie so and Titus I'm Jimmy that's year that I don't I don't know I don't know what that show was about Harriet where is she very absurd Nicki would like to know do you take your dark characters home with you when every sort of touch them I like I did maybe more in the beginning but less so now all right Tom would like to know is there something specific you haven't done that you want to is there a role a character to play the director right I'd like to kiss the girl without having to choke her I would like to do something a bit more romantic and you know and uh that that maybe some something like I'm funny you're very funny were comedic Momentis untapped potential and Joey would like to know he says or she I know you act in commercials we shared an agent in New York years ago do you tweak your approach to a role according to the medium it's a good question like tweak your approach to a role according to the medium whether it's film TV commercials oh no it's it's it's all the same it's it's it's it's making an audience feel like what they're watching is is happening and hopefully forgetting their day for two hours and that they're absorbed in this story whether it's it's selling tequila for a minute or watching a show for an hour or Moo I mean that's the ideal doesn't happen much but but the ideal in what we do is is is to make the the beginning in the end did keep you just absorbed in that and finally this group always likes to have some partying wisdom from their from our guests do you have any advice to share people who are varying stages of acting careers but is there one piece of advice maybe you wish you had known before you started no I took my really when someone asked me to study I did what we use is our imagination the imagination is like a muscle the more you exercise it the stronger it's going to get and no matter what you're doing whether it's playing with your grain and kid your kid or going to class and doing it it's all about strengthening that muscle and it could be at any age you know if anything is better to strengthen it as you get older well we've seen the inside of your brain so we know it's functioning very properly thank you so much for being here thank you [Applause]

Channel: SAG-AFTRA Foundation

Views: 31,711

Rating: 4.8879309 out of 5

Keywords: SAG Foundation, SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Acting, Actors, Ray Liotta, Shades of Blue, Something Wild, Dominic and Eugene, Field of Dreams, Goodfellas, Copland, Hannibal, Heartbreakers, Blow, Narc, Place Beyond the Pines, The Iceman, Killing Them Softly, The Details, Wanderlust, ER, The Rat Pack, Q&A, Career, Retrospective, Interview

Id: o_ogekTBW7g

Length: 63min 47sec (3827 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 16 2017