Kathy Bates Breaks Down Her Career, from 'Titanic' to 'American Horror Story' | Vanity Fair

people say well how do you do what you do I mean it's in all of us you know the most fun we had as kids was when we played dress-up and pretended and we could be anything we wanted they call it a play they call it a screenplay you say I play a role it's always play and it's that little kid inside of you only now you have the best costume designers in the best makeup and the best scripts and and it's all like but at a huge heightened reality that's what I love about it hi this is Kathy Bates and this is the timeline of my career I was born into a world full of Angels and Kings the first film role that I had was with Mila schwarmann his first american film called taking off and i taught myself how to play the guitar when I was 12 my mom bought me an old silvertone for 20 bucks at Sears and I ended up writing a song about loss of innocence when I was around 16 and then when I got to New York through friends I met Melosh my song was featured Carly Simon's song was featured it was really cool we got paid $5.00 a day and I don't think SAG knew about any of that I loved acting in high school and I was very serious about acting on stage I wasn't particularly focused on being in film the whole working with Melosh was a real accident for me Oh max you didn't bring any beer did you warren beatty saw vanities which was a play we did off-broadway and he told his buddy Dustin Hoffman about me we were all at Dustin's house there was a scene where we were supposed to talk through a screen door I don't know where he got the screen door but he was holding this screen door in between us and we did the scene together and he really liked some of the things that I did and he cast me in the role right then and there and I remember saying to him can I call my mother you know is this really happening and he said yeah and I'll always be so fond of Dustin because he's just an actor's actor he literally took me by the hand and walked me across this empty soundstage and said that's the camera he was totally serious about it he was so excited I think for me as an actor having this first speaking role I learned so much from him I had followed his movies he was so passionate and so excited still to be an actor I feel so fortunate that that was my first speaking role working with someone as talented and and as committed as Dustin but the other really cool thing was is that they were trying to cast a kid to play our son and Gary Busey's kid Jake decided they you know they asked him if he would consider doing it and he was five he said he had to think about it and so the next day Gary came in with Jake and he said Jake had said to him well I guess acting is like pretending but making believe like you're not pretending we all thought that's it that's the bottom line you know all the actor classes can just learn this one thing [Music] so it's still very much involved in theater when I moved out to LA and I did a production of ant dan and lemon but Rob Reiner was dating Elizabeth McGovern who is in the play and he would come almost every night then bring her roses and he saw me playing this fanatic and I think he had seen me in plays in New York too so when it came time to cast misery I think they were interested in Bette Midler and certain names you know to play this character and then they decided maybe it was better to go with somebody who was really unknown so I went in and it was similar to being cast in straight time in that you know I came into Rob's office and sat down read a scene or two with him and then he he cast me and I said can I call my mother you know it's like he said yeah you can call your mother and it was really hard to find a guy who wanted to be in that vulnerable position but he tried everybody he tried Redford he tried you know Beatty at one time was gonna do it finally Jimmy said yeah it was the worst thing you could have asked Jimmy Caan to do because he hates not moving he knows every sport in the world you know he hated being in bed also I have to confess you know sometimes you have to look really really close to the lens and the other actor can't see you and I had a crush on the operator so sometimes Jimmy was like is this okay Jimmy you know you can wait this one out and you know I love you looking at Todd beautiful blue eyes and I could play a knee and stuff with it with him the other great thing about doing misery was I got a really beautiful trailer it was powder blue inside and I got in and I sat there for about 20 minutes and I thought well this is really lonely why am i you know what am I going to do in here by myself so I hung out on set with everybody and by then Rob had fantastic crew of people people he'd work with for years who were creme de la creme I learned so much just hanging out and besides flirting with Todd I remember working with Tony Serrano he was the man's customers working with Jimmy and we were just passing each other on the soundstage and he just threw over his shoulder he said get your Oscar dress ready I was like you know because again I wasn't thinking I just wanted to be the best I could be I'd like to thank the Academy I've been waiting a long time to say that what often happens after someone wins an Academy Award is you never work again because I guess they feel like you're terrific stamp of approval now we can move on to somebody else so it was hard for me for a while to find roles that weren't horror roles and just what was I gonna do next and so it took me a while I was in Japan I was publicizing misery and getting over jetlag and all that and I got this script fried green tomatoes to read I read it and I thought it was great I had read Fanny Flagg's book it was very brave of Fanny to write bright green tomatoes way back then because of the prejudice against lesbians I think even in the film it's more suggested it's not really spelled out so that drew me to it that kind of bravery and the relationship between those two lovely women how fierce edgy was in in fighting for her friend I'd like to go back and do some of those early scenes it was hard for me to get a hold of the kind of I don't know the naivete and and the southern woman who's grown up in the South that I grew up but the South that I ran away from thank God I was working with Jessica Tandy working with her was amazing because you could see how her craft was a life force in her she it was 84 at the time and I felt like my own light was kind of going out inside and I don't know why but her knocking on her trailer one day and she opened it and she said oh you've come to see the wise woman I spent the day with the people at the bank turns out you weren't supposed to do that lie to him they can break their rules what are you gonna do I got all that money given right back to me in cash Delores Clayburn was a novella by Stephen King the Taylor Hackford directed I loved working on that film because Taylor gave me every tool that I needed to create that character you see her when she's in her 40s and then later on when she's at the end of this very hard life in her 60s I had a fantastic movement coach because we wanted to figure out the difference in the spine the difference in the hands the difference in the movement and a younger woman and a woman who's been on her knees taking care of things and also I know from getting older that because you're used to doing things you have a shorthand when you're cooking or doing well I don't cook but we wanted that we wanted the difference in the hands it was what I had studied to do was create a whole character like that it was an amazing experience to work together on all this and we had a good long time to do it and in Nova Scotia so beautiful we were so cold when we got there and then it just this incredible spring and summer it was just it was just an amazing time that I'll just never forget I don't understand no one of you what's the matter with you it's your man out there the role in Titanic was just a gift once again we had training we we had a woman who literally taught us how to use our silverware and how to move as the ladies and how to put our napkins on our laps Jim Cameron he's a genius he had gone down in this submersible I think he'd been down to the Titanic the real Titanic three times and it takes about two and a half hours to really sink all the way down there which would he also created the Snoop Dogg that went in through the different holes in the ship and a lot of what you see in the film the doll the glasses is what he photographed I remember going down to Baja he built a studio he built a 7/8 replica of the Titanic I remember because we'd have to go up inside the ship to do the promenade so that was on the other side because they wanted to see the ocean in the background so I went up in this elevator walked across some planks and I opened this door and I saw people strolling and it was suddenly 1912 everybody was in Debra Scott's amazing costumes she got costumes from all over the world like 4000 vintage costumes and I couldn't see anything else but these people who were the background who were walking up and down and I thought holy crap I feel like I've just walked into another time another place it was on hydraulics so he flooded the whole damn thing it was just astounding what he did and it was also maddening because the ship went down at night so it was all night shoots so you'd get there at 5:00 and get all suited up and then you'd sit there in your dressing room until they called you it like 3:00 in the morning and I don't know how Kate and Leo did that they were working so hard and they were pushing their calls they were working in cold water and it was it was an amazing experience paramount and Fox had to come together to create this magnificent opus and there were a lot of us who felt like you know I don't know if this is going to work and he ended up winning all of those Academy Awards and I feel very honored to have been in that that film I will not let you up this campaign to I will not let it happen that was 20 years ago yes I was thinner than I had a waist in 1998 Mike Nichols cast me in primary colors with John Travolta Emma Thompson Billy Bob Thornton amazing group of people that was really based on Bill Clinton I couldn't believe I was working with him he would tell us stories um the first time we got around the table because he wanted to tell us what it was like to be part of that group and that you know that kind of political group and he had some amazing stories to tell us like he was there the night that Marilyn Monroe was in the garden and sang happy birthday to JFK and hearing Bobby Kennedy and Marilyn talking to each other as they were dancing later and hearing Marilyn say I really like you Bobby and hearing Bobby say I really like you too Marilyn and he would just have all these amazing stories and there was just nobody like him I think the best directors are the ones who can play all of the characters deep down to their that's how they help you if you're not there yet or you haven't thought of it he knew everything about Libby Holden he was so loving I remember we were just about to finish and I was getting an opportunity to direct my first time and so I was very shy I said so uh you know what kind of advice can you give me Mike and he said I said I didn't you know I even though I'm an actor I'm kind of nervous about directing other actors because you know when you work with other actors were never supposed to say anything about what they're doing that's the director's job and he said love him just love him and he was right foosball you playing a foosball behind my back the only reason I'm doing it so so I can go to school school I remember picking up this script the waterboy and I read the first 12 pages it was really silly it was a football move and I threw it in the trash and my niece who worked with me and still does came in and said what is this and I said I don't know it's some movie by some kid Adam Sandler and she just exploded and she said Adam Sandler you don't know about Hanukkah song you don't know sad you know so she said you've got to do this you've got to do this and I said okay let me read it again and I still was kind of doubtful I didn't know what to expect and then suddenly Homer town shooting in Orlando at Sandler and his crew and Henry Winkler it was just suddenly it's that play again it was just um I don't know how to explain it it's just somewhere character just comes out and she was such a fun person to play because one of the things that I think is my Achilles heel both as a person and as an actor I take things way too seriously this was an opportunity to just let it all hang out and just play and be silly and it turned out to be one of the most wonderful experiences of my whole life I felt so free I could do anything I looked at a couple of Clips the other day and I thought oh my god Oh God those gel alligators you know that firoozeh had to had to eat oh my god and it was just it it was so much fun it really was it have very very fond memories and I remember they made 34 million the first weekend and that was way back then and and and Adam said what happened I I can't believe this is amazing you know in it it was he's a good he's a good egg I never stressed it but they were often very trying people to deal with in many ways another role that came my way it was revolutionary rode an incredible book which I recommend and it was exciting for me to reunite with Kate and Leo I think it's been ten years since I'd seen them after Titanic I remember we were all at the table and Sam Mendes magnificent director so excited I had met with him at this hotel and I kept asking me it's the part mine really I mean yeah I couldn't you know grasp that we were in New York who rehearsing and I said who's playing my son this is this guy who's this psychotic you know crazy guy they said this guy named Michael Shannon and he said you want to see his audition tape and we all said yeah yeah we want to see it we went on sat down to sofa and he brand this tape we were like I just said yikes this guy and from behind me Kate said something like okay we're all gonna have to work a lot harder the other thing that I loved about meeting Michael and working with him another very different kind of actor in terms of his approach was seeing how leo had he had come into his power as an actor and there was one scene where he's really attacking us in and he filled that whole room with his rage and I thought wow to see an actor go from this boy innocent to this powerful man this powerful actor was just astounding and I was so thrilled for him and to be able to be there to witness it and working with Kate and shooting in Connecticut and it was wonderful it was one of those those special times in my career that that I'll always again you know they're just a handful that that you feel and and I don't want to cast aspersions on anybody else I've had a half a century a wonderful career but there's a handful of films that if you're lucky are the ones that you feel most proud of in 2012 I was doing a television show named Harry slaw and we were canceled that was a real sock in the gut and I wasn't physically in good shape I let myself go I had been in an unhappy relationship and I just didn't care anymore so it was an emotionally difficult time for me I had been getting pains in my abdomen and I'd had ovarian cancer in 2003 so I was always worried that maybe that would come back and I had a scan and they discovered I had breast cancer I developed lymphedema right away which means that you don't have enough lymph nodes in the affected limb and lymph fluid can back up in your arms so it was really really a bad time and recovering from the surgery was bad I just didn't think I would ever work again I just thought this is it I'm tired I'm exhausted I'm fed up with everything I was pissed off angry at everybody I didn't even know where to go to get the treatment from and one of my surgeons looked up and found a woman named dr. Emily Iker and I and I went to her and told her this sad story and she's this very charming very petite Czechoslovakian woman and she said in this accent which I will attempt badly she said darling that's all in the past now you will have a glass of champagne and you would begin the rest of your life and she had that thing that some doctors had which is just their vibe is healing and it felt like all of that negativity just fell away so I wouldn't met with with Ryan Murphy and in that meeting it's like that little kid that I talked about before suddenly little kid woke up the one that had been beat over the head with the cancellation and the cancer it just jumped up inside and like ran around the room and I got so excited about it and and that was the beginning of coven that was Madame LaLaurie and she was a real person so I loved studying her and at that time I didn't know what the premise of the story was I didn't know they were going to be kind of like a rep company and you got to play different parts every season I got to work with Gabby Sidibe and Jessica and Sarah Paulson and Franny Conroy and just these amazing gals and then I got to guilt the next season and the season after that and Ryan really brought my career into my third act with a bang so I I owe him a lot I really do I always will and I will regret too my living days that I was so nervous at the Emmys when I won that I neglected to thank him I was all about the crew you know thank you all so very much just forgot to thank Ryan and he was very upset and he was right to be upset and he's gotten over it now but I don't know if I ever will yes we're thanking Ryan Murphy Thank You Ryan my son is innocent mr. president please clear must I didn't know much about the bombing of the Olympics in 1996 when I read the script and I started to do the research I was horrified at what had happened to Richard Jewell they made fun of him horrible headlines horrible I mean as an actor even a sentence in a in a review can just go right to my heart and I'll never forget it but I would never imagine being the subject of these horrible headlines i sat with Bobby and researched with her for a long time and taped her voice and she got very emotional several times it's still very raw in her I'm not always able to choose something that's gonna fill me with joy and you know I think it's gonna be this magnificent film and in a lot of ways with with Richard Jewell I told Clinton it's been an incredible honor to work with and he's 89 he's so damn sexy and just great to work with you have a real freedom with him on set and I won the National Board of Review and this is all happening so fast and I told Clint I said you know I've been in this business 50 years but I finally feel like I hit the big time my goal was to tell people that he was a hero to be able to have that part in such something you can do for somebody a real person to change is hopefully change something in their lives it's just such a gift you don't get the opportunity to do that as an actor everything you do you want it to be just great and you want it to be the best you can be you know I always reach for the best I can do and I guess is that elusive carrot that hangs in front of all of us as we're trying to pursue that passion and that goal

Channel: Vanity Fair

Views: 2,476,720

Keywords: kathy bates, career timeline, kathy bates career, kathy bathes career timeline, kathy bates richard jewell, kathy bates interview, kathy bates taking off, kathy bates misery, fried green tomatoes, kathy bates dolores claiborne, titanic, kathy bates titanic, kathy bates primary colors, the waterboy, revolutionary road, american horror story, kathy bates breaks down, richard jewell, kathy bates movies, kathy bates 2019, vanity fair, kathy bates oscars, oscars 2020

Id: 31FH1qmtbZY

Length: 23min 48sec (1428 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 18 2019