From the archives: Alan Arkin on "Little Miss Sunshine"

[Music] these are busy times for 72 year old Alan Arkin a star in the offbeat independent film Little Miss Sunshine that caught Hollywood off guard we're going to California film about a dysfunctional family racing to get their daughter to a kitty beauty pageant has been nominated for four Academy Awards including best picture can I give you some advice and arkhan for best supporting actor as the heroin addicted grandfather who's not going anywhere quietly wait that's your name right Dwayne are you getting any yeah you can tell me Dwayne are you getting any how do I describe him he's uh irascible he's opinionated he holds back nothing I will pull this truck over right now so pull the truck over you're not gonna shut me up I can say what I want I still got Nazi bullets in my head the Nazi bullets trying to to uh maintain a life of debauchery and fun that he's had all his life but he's just a pain in the rear end when you're doing a character like this do you lose yourself in the character no I think that's exactly who I have it's a role arcan almost didn't get they thought I was too reverile for the part which is the best turndown I've ever had in my life that's a cut they our husband and wife directing team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Farris you know he's just a vital guy and and um I guess we weren't ready to see Alan Arkin as a grandpa you know when they heard Arkin loved the script they reconsidered he's a great dramatic actor and he can be very truthful in his performance but he's also obviously an incredibly funny person and we needed both those things yeah and and a warmth there's a warmth to him that was essential in terms of relating to his granddaughter I don't want to be a loser I'm not a loser where'd you get the idea you're a loser daddy hates losers back up a minute you know what a loser is a real loser is somebody that's so afraid of not winning they don't even try now you're trying right and then you know how to lose it when Little Miss Sunshine debuted at the Sundance Film Festival no one knew what to expect I thought it was going to tank I said oh God I said this is an intimate small wonderful little experience and they're not gonna it's just too big of a venue for it and then they they went crazy really crazy Fox Searchlight grabbed the distribution rights for a record ten and a half million dollars since its release Last Summer the movie has pulled in nearly 60 million at the box office the family road trip that is the story of Little Miss Sunshine starts here in New Mexico which is Alan arkin's real life home a refuge and getaway for the brooklyn-born boy who grew up in Los Angeles but is more comfortable here in the southwest far from either Coast and Arkansas says it isn't just the natural beauty that energizes him well I like to be in a place where there are different kinds of neuroses in La there's just one and uh in New Mexico there's a lot of different kinds so I get to I get to move around them more fluidly the airline Neurosis is look at me pay attention to me [Music] people first paid attention to arkhan not for his acting but for his singing with a folk group called The Terriers that's him in the middle just going to be a job that I did on weekends to earn some pocket money and within a couple of months after joining the group we had a hit record that took us around the world for a couple of years what was your hit song or hit song with oh God I'm so tired of talking about it our head was the Banana Boat Song [Applause] co-wrote the song and the group performed it in the movie Calypso Heatwave [Music] [Applause] Harry Belafonte's version came later for arkhan and the Terriers it seemed to be the ticket to the very good life and that was exciting until I got to the Olympia Theater in Paris and I was playing the guitar and singing my brains out and looked down at myself with my black satin pants on my my sports shirt opened in the Nave and I said what the hell am I doing who am I I said I gotta get back to acting and I I quit the next day and started for another couple years and then came the call to join Second City a bold new improvisational comedy group in Chicago I can't overemphasize how important it was it's it saved my life for one thing I I couldn't get arrested in New York Arkin says Second City a comedy institution now launched his acting career sketches like this one with Barbara Harris gave him a new confidence oh I'm going to have an experience look note his first film role brought him his first Oscar nomination best actor what is your name as the lead Russian in the Russians are coming the Russians are coming you help us get both quickly otherwise there is World War III and everybody is blaming you two years later a second best actor nomination as the deaf mute in the heart is a Lonely Hunter say please Arkham terrorized Audrey Hepburn in Wait Until Dark no that's not quite it please may I give you the doll and battle the military bureaucracy as Captain yosserian in catch-22 that's crazy but if I ask to be grounded that means I'm not crazy anymore and I have to keep flying you've got it that's catch 22. Parkin was on a roll and he was miserable it was the first I guess 30 years of my life 35 acting was my reason for living and uh if I wasn't acting or watching acting or or talking about it I felt like I didn't exist would you describe yourself as as driven no I was but I'm not anymore what happened well what's it started by going into therapy when I was in my late 30s I'd achieved everything I ever wanted to achieve as an actor when I was once I was office set I was just miserably unhappy and I realized that there was something wrong congratulations though acting no longer defines him it remains his passion I've always had a just a deep need to be with a group of people where everything is working and everybody's on the same page like what happened with Little Miss Sunshine everybody pushed when a movie has that kind of sense of community the audience knows it they always know it I'm putting it in gear Harkin has made acting a family affair working with all three of his sons including Adam playing the long-lost father to the surgeon's son in Adam's old TV series Chicago Hope says goodbye yeah no no no no no no not on the lips no no Europeans oh man not on I'm proud of you you are a good son Adam don't look for all the answers this is it and now after all these years Oscar has reared its golden head again what meaning would it have for you if you do win this award I have no idea I haven't got a clue uh I I don't know if anybody knows I mean I have fantasies about it I have and I take it home where am I going to put it I'm not going to put it in the living room I don't want to intimidate anybody everybody that comes to see me and I want to so winning the Oscar would be fantastic not winning the Oscar yeah I said I would be depressed a little bit I mean I'd be I'd be saddened for a little while but then my life would go back to being exactly what it is uh I I like my life I I love my wife I love my kids I love my grandchildren I have wonderful friends I get to see this every day

Channel: CBS Sunday Morning

Views: 38,809

Keywords: CBS Sunday Morning, CBS News, news, academy award, alan arkin, performance, cbs sunday morning, jerry bowen, sundance, little miss sunshine

Id: c2S1yxOIbck

Length: 8min 54sec (534 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 30 2023