Master Class - A Man Called Otto w/ Tom Hanks, Rolf Lassgård, Rita Wilson

hey hello everyone so great to see so many people here and welcome to the SF Studios Master Class with you know it Tom Hanks and Royal flascore as well as Rita Wilson and friedrichlixture Nick Castro my name is Mikhail poshrid and I'm the CEO of SF Studios for a Nordic major like SF Studios it is indeed a dream coming true to work with not only amazing individual talent but also with some of the leading companies in our business globally and I'm talking about Plato a co-producer of a man called Otto and a big producer of film and television in the US and Sony Pictures one of the so-called U.S majors and that combination is making us much better more experienced and that is something that we really want to share with all of you and colleagues maybe competitors in the nordics to develop and fully Finance an English language film on this level is groundbreaking in the nordics and we hope that this will help us all to find more projects where European and U.S or european and international projects become true it's not always an easy decision and I think you all understand that that's because the resource is needed to pull a project like this off are substantial on the other hand to be able to work with the Tom Hanks Rita Wilson Mark Forrester Plato and Sony Pictures on a project like this gives so much energy and as a sad experience and I think hope for all of us for the future so I feel it was definitely the right decision out of my perspective before I hand over to the more interesting people that we have here today I just want to say that we are extremely proud Partners to all of the Fantastic talent that you will meet very soon but also of course Sony Pictures so with that I would like to introduce the moderator of today a very experienced journalist and producer and with her own podcast pop culture confidential ladies and gentlemen this is Christina aguiling Bureau thank you the honor and privilege is mine to be able to do something so unique as to meet two legends here it's like a homecoming when Otto is off into the world here they come to Stockholm or get to meet Tom Hanks and Ro flask code here tonight it's incredible so and I also want to thank you because I know that in the audience there is a lot of people who have worked on these movies for decades even I'd like to call out Frederick Bachmann without you nothing right 42 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and here we are but uh now please let me introduce our first guests who really made this happen um producers Rita Wilson and Frederick vikstrom nicastro [Music] Rita you're pretty much an industry onto yourself now we know you as an actor Sleepless in Seattle you're a singer songwriter you have a wonderful song in Auto um and but as a producer for movies like My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Mamma Mia you have 1.5 billion gross box office for your movie so that's pretty good so obviously you know what resonates um but I learned something from you a few years ago um your Greek background and you were saying that there is no word for privacy in Greek um which is completely the opposite of uve and Otto and Sweden and what resonated for you with that well first of all I couldn't believe that I did not believe that there was not a word for privacy in uh Greek and I was trying I was asking friends how do you say I need my privacy and they would always look like hmm and they couldn't there's a word for private property or that's private don't go there but there wasn't a word for privacy there was things like I need my space things like that and so I I realize that's exactly how my childhood was you know there was never any privacy everybody was always on top of everybody I'm a first generation American my father was Bulgarian my mother was Greek and so I I think culturally I was very used to that sort of let's call it loving involvement I know that one but um so what was it with uvale oh well I mean because because in in the Swedish film which is what I saw first and then I read the book I thought oh my gosh this is a person who doesn't want to be bothered by anyone he wants to be left alone and I remember feeling that as a kid in a way you know can I just have my space and um and yet his life is transformed because of these people that he encounters these new neighbors that move into the neighborhood and make him uh open up a bit Frederick you're behind some of the biggest International successes that we have over here it's not about cash Boy versus Mcenroe and monster over of course um this book and this story when you found it it was kind of defying expectations the whole way talk a little bit about your journey with that I thought about this a long because I've lived with with this book in in 10 years in different ways that I think there are so many things Universal themes with this book that goes so deep that has made it into this big big success because the book has sold almost 10 million copies and it's huge in China right now which is kind of crazy and of course in America it's huge I think it's something with the humanity of the story that is very Universal because there is this saying that you can't judge a book by its cover or another saying that a love is um that is almost impossible to hate someone when you heard that person's story right and I think uh Bachmann's book incorporates that so beautifully because you present this character and you look at him from the outside and you have a certain yeah he's that kind of a character and then you get to know him and you see another version of him you see the real one and he does the same Journey with the neighbors he sees this new family moving in or other people in the neighborhood so while we as an audience see him a new light he also sees characters in the neighborhood in a new light so I think the audience of the reader really incorporates that Humanity I also think there's something very powerful about hope you know this character has given up and he doesn't want to live and finds a new meaning in life about helping other people and that comes to the the third thing which I think is is very powerful which is the theme we've discussed so much about Unity which we feel strongly that the world needs more of that which is that this character finds a new family basically across the street people that were strangers and that's something that we also just from when we made the Swedish film 2015 and now I think the need for that message is much much more important both here in Europe and in America I just got lucky yeah um I got lucky but you haven't like Swedish things well yeah Sweden's been very good to me um well uh I had seen the Swedish film it came to me in a packet that the academy sends to you the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences the Oscars for your consideration and I pulled out a film called a man called UVA and you read a little synopsis and you say this sounds interesting right so I we pulled it out and we put it in the DVD player and we were watching it and immediately I was taken by the humor the depth surprising me how aware this story was going and the amazing character of UVA that Ralph created and I was thinking to myself oh my God I I got to get the rights to this movie and I turned to Tom who was next to me and I said we've got to get the rights to this movie and you have to play this character and he said the other day he said he was his cynical self would not allow him to say exactly what that he was thinking that God I'd love to play this character this guy's really good though I don't know if I could top this this I don't know this and I just like spoke it for him so he didn't say no and the next day we called uh to explore getting the rights to the film or who who then I got the call from Richard Lovett who is the president of CAA and said yeah I hear you're trying to put together an American version of a man called over yeah yeah that's right I have an actor here who's interested in in playing in the movie yeah who's that Tom Hanks I'd like that happens every day like a normal phone call exactly and then I was in town and we met the day after he was in now we hit it off yeah and then we we developed it together from that was five years ago that was yeah five years and from that meeting till when we started filming exactly and it's it is a from you and Tom have worked together as producers you've worked together as actors but not as producer actor did he have to audition I mean no and it makes it very easy to get a movie made when you have Thomas your star so everybody should be so lucky to to have him he's been an amazing person to work with and um I I know that but you also don't know what the dynamic is going to be in that way because you know we were producers and he was very very easy going I have to say I can imagine one of the things that you had to do with this was to really make an American version of this story what were the challenges with that really yeah I mean first of all we we didn't want to produce this in a way if you look at Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or Let the Right One win Let the Right One In which are best-selling novels and there were Swedish books uh adaptations that we are sold the rights and we weren't really involved what our idea was to be actively involved and actually our company SF also financed the film so we were really in the driving seat all along but we also knew that we wanted the film to have a very American tone so that was why we love the idea of partnering with read template on because having them to really help us to make sure we had that in the presentation some of the challenges were that we don't have socialized we don't have socialized medicine in the U.S so that and we had to come up with a way that we could make it believable that someone was trying to take Reuben and Anita's House from them that was something that we had to create it was challenging to find the name neighborhood that is so described in in the book and also in the movie it those neighborhoods don't really exist in America there's newer very new versions of that but there wasn't anything that was in that old fashioned sort of neighborhood that could have been created in the 60s and 70s and we got lucky with finding that in Pittsburgh what about the balancing of comedy and drama there's some dark themes as well as comedy you know suicide how how did that did it differ at all in the American version and the Swedish version what you would think yeah actually and so much of it was already in Frederick backman's book you know so that was one of the things that was so compelling is all of it was there and it was more to stay out of the way as opposed to trying to make it into something new and Dave McGee our screenwriter who wrote Finding Neverland in Life of Pi I felt that he was person who could get comedy and also get the poignancy and the um pathos of a story and his first draft that came in was next to perfect and he was amazing when when he wanted to when he pitched himself his vision for the script to us he said I know this character because Otto is my Dad yeah and I was like okay this guy is the right writer for this yeah Rita there is no color in the world without you is a lyric in the song that you have written um for this movie till you're home tell us a little bit about that lyric and why um thank you that's great that you pointed that out I love that that that story about that because Otto says in the movie oh my world was very black and white uh Sonia was the color and I loved that idea that somebody's life could be transformed by another person that they can bring to you your deficits that you have or that you need and complete you and I was also um inspired by a conversation that I had with a friend of mine that said when my father died and I was obviously very sad and grieving he said the conversation continues and I couldn't really understand what he meant by it at that point but as I got further and further away from my dad dying and then of course my mom and other friends that I understood that you do keep talking to the people that you love even though they've passed on and so we were trying my co-writer David Hodges and myself were trying to create a story about oh I can't wait to tell you know them this this bit of my day when they come home and so that was one of the the lines in in the song that was meaningful but um also very thankful to Mark Forrester our director for asking me to write a song because as a songwriter you you know you're jumping up and down you're so excited you're like yes I can't I'd love to do this but the producer of me was like simmer down lady because what if he doesn't like the song and then I I'm the producer and I've got to say of course we're not going to use that song so I said to Mark I will do this and I'm very honored to but if anything happens and you don't like it we have to be very honest about each other because we were he asked me to write the song before we started filming because he knew where he wanted to place the song and he wanted to use that during production so thankfully he liked it he told me later that he had asked somebody a very well-known person to write a song for one of his movies and the person wrote the song and he didn't like the song at all and did not use the song and had to call up this person and tell them and that did not go well he's like I'm glad I didn't know it then it would have been intimidating I don't know if Truman came out or if he still I just wanted to see her yeah somewhere shout out to your son Truman who is plays young Otto he's amazing I understand that the acting was not something he wanted to do at all how did this happen well well this is again Mark Forster in his very kind and influential way he said to us one day oh it's I hate I hate it when you're when you go to a movie and there's a younger person playing the the older person and they never look like that person and he said it's too bad your other sons who are both actors are too old for the role I said yeah I know that's a shame and I said it's too bad that Truman's not an actor because he's the one that people say look the most like Tom and he goes what let me see a picture and I'm like no no he he's not an actor well let me just see him so I show him a picture and he's like oh my gosh he looks like Tom in the 80s you know so he said well what does he want to do unless he wants to be a cinematographer which he does and he would he was already pursuing that after University so Mark said well let me just go meet with him I mean we'll have a coffee what could it what could go wrong and I said you can do that but nothing's gonna happen however her Mark is very persuasive and he's worked with people who are non-actors he's worked with a lot of children and he was able to convince him that he'd be in good hands and I'm so glad that he was he's so good and it really is um Frederick the industry is in disarray I mean if you read the trades Hollywood is burning and there's a lot of things happening layoffs and things that are what worries you and and Productions going forward as a producer yeah I mean I I would say that there is a discussion or a question both here in Europe and also in America if the adult audience that we are aiming to with this film if they're really ready to go back to the theaters um we were producing this film during the height of the pandemic but we still decided to set it up as a theatrical film that was something we decided in February when we sold it to Sony and uh still in America I would say that adult audiences aren't really back in theaters but I also think that there could be us that the industry doesn't really provide interesting content for them because so it's kind of a bad spiral so I think that's a worry but I also feel confident that we're giving them them a very heartfelt and life-affirming film hopefully they will will get as we've been able to screen it and screen it in movie theaters with people it's exactly what Frederick and I Our intention was always to have it be a theatrical release never to be a streamer um because we we I'm totally moved and and and it's such a wonderful experience to see people again having a communal experience of watching a movie because you can watch things at home and that's great but when you feel that there's a theater full of people that are responding uh that's that's why we go to the movies and it's one of our greatest exports As Americans finally what kind of neighbors are you into I think we're pretty good neighbors and we have a new neighbor and uh the night we were flying to come here he called and invited us he said I know it's very very last minute but my family's coming over we've just put up the tree do you want to stop by for a bite to eat and I said we're leaving in 90 minutes but I think we could do it so we went over but I did have a bad neighbor once I had a bad neighbor and um it was a female Otto and it was a Brit Marie and uh this woman had a parrot and I would I was nursing a newborn at the time Truman and our houses were very very close together and so I every day I'd be trying to sleep when he had a nap and I'd hear this you know constantly and so I very politely said to her do you mind if during this time when my baby is sleeping and I'm trying to take a nap that you could put your parrot inside and she said oh I'm sorry no I can't do that that's the parrot's time to be outside all right I was like okay just earplugs very good foreign I think I can work to be become a better neighbor but I have become a better neighbor you know I heard something at a podcast that I thought was really interesting that in disasters when you have earthquakes or natural disasters the people that survive are not the one who has prepared or you know stored food but are the ones who are good neighbors because they help each other and when when disaster strikes there is a community yeah I thought that was really something that I took towards so I think we can all improve on that thank you so much let's bring your boys in thank you good luck with the film thank you all right are we ready thank you [Music] without further Ado they have Oscars and Swedish film Awards between them and Forrest Gump and valander and Otto and UVA and everything welcome to the stage Tom Hanks and roll flaskord [Applause] here hello look at you down there front row [Applause] thank you thank you thank you very much welcome hello boys so while we were working were you talking hockey no we were we were talking we were talking false staff yeah we're comparing all the roles we played and we we both played false staff at some point how about that two rolls okay well because I was thinking I've seen you in your Pittsburgh Penguins do you know that what is your team yeah it's called brina's you know Barry salmon that's so sad I passed away from Toronto Maple Leaves oh okay all right yeah he was in my team a couple of years you know that Rolf was like you I mean how good were you you were like I mean when I reached the guys and get them into the the wall it was okay I mean and it's pretty slow I could have been really a great hockey player and I showed great promise but I could never learn how to skate well you need that it like took me out of the game but I think I could have been a good one I think so roll for on pins and needles everyone here how did this guy do how was he Innova fantastic of course right okay I was such a newcomer great big fan I mean this this meeting is so so fantastic I mean the telling was that we should let Auto and over meet and I'm so glad that we make it made it out of character yeah yeah yeah although I think they would have gotten along how stupid are your neighbors my neighbors so stupid mine is stupid too yeah um I know that there's a course a private thing but I know that you wrote wrongful letter um is there anything you can tell us about what was in that well it's it's look I felt as though I was writing the first actor who ever played Hamlet and now I'm playing Hamlet as well I just you know we uh but when we were uh when we saw it for the first time uh I am a I am a selfish competitive actor everybody this guy had this fabulous role that he was killing it he was crushing it and I'm in the audience thinking like how come I don't this is this is really a good role um and I don't speak Swedish that's the only thing that is in the way let me uh me being able to do it but I I I I just wanted we were if we had never met we would share this thing between us for the rest of our days and there would be just enough differences and there'll be just enough similarities you know Sweden is not America vice versa and I think I probably yell a lot more than OVA does you know because Americans yell a lot um but I I just wanted to be able to touch base and say I am I am surfing behind you I'm on the next wave you were out in front of me and I I just want to live up to it as much as possible but I was a fan letter it was a fan letter to to roll and did you answer absolutely I was so so surprised and so on all of this generosity I mean it's I mean the first letter I got from a colleague is from [Laughter] oh yes I think you would very much like enjoy to get the letter from you and I said well can you yes I will get you the email list I had to ask him like four times oh yes I'm sorry I have to give you that email address I will get it to you so funny I have to say and this I learned afterwards that that because it's such a beautiful letter in in brown paper and it's typed on the real typing machine and somebody sent then told me you are a collector I collect type would you like one I have waited too much I don't want to burden my kids with those regarding your process you have talked about that when you are preparing for a role you pack a backpack for the character oh what a great idea yeah yeah oh and I'm good I'm not going to credit you at all I'll say things like no I heard an actor I can't remember what a great idea but I want to know what was an ubis backpack yeah it was some movements it was some lines the the book was with me the the thing is when you start a shoot when you come from the theater it's of course you have eight seven or eight weeks of rehearsals when you start to shoot you start to shoot and and and therefore I like this with the with the backpack because and hopefully you got the right things with you you don't know because it's like a trip that grows every day what is what is your first day day of shooting on a movie very first what is that like if I could decide like you didn't know that I I did the first day was to shuffle a little bit snow move don't say too much walk around that that I think it's my what was our first day do you remember oh that's right so I had a ton of dials and everybody's sure we're going to be fired at the end of the day yeah and no matter how many times you've gone over it you think did I say that right what is it again when do I say this I felt like an idiot you between the backpack and just shoveling on yourself I'm stealing all of this I'm gonna go next time I say I'm not shooting that on the first day yeah I'm gonna get in and out of a car on the first day that's all I'm doing but then that maybe explains because your first day is in the movie my first day is not in the movie that's another thing I can always do part of creating the character with some oscar-nominated Prosthetics yeah talk about that yeah of course it it I mean when I mean me to makeup designers they told me we have to get rid of this it's it's I mean take it away and not so computer-built the picture and and I said this is it that I have to do it so we tried it first and I felt immediately this is the guy and it forced me a mask I had a film crits once said is it to sheet to have a mask and I feel that it is absolutely May sometimes the opposite because it forced you to change your body your movements that it go together with with your face so so that was excellent experience from the first shooting day because there was snow in the small houses and I went out for the first day in my mask and the guys who was working hey from the set so movies are all the same you know um before we before we started shooting um we had Rita was actually watching it because we were comparing pallets and things like that from the colors literally the cinematographer and she said do you want to watch this I said I do want to watch it but I don't want to hear it so we turn the sound down so I just watched your face and your body and your emotions like that so I was only watching your the physicality of it because I you know I didn't want to have to read the the the the the the subtitles in order to get it I just wanted to see how you how you carried yourself and all that because he's a big intimidating guy uh but along with that there there Comes This there was a stoic if you have the word stoicness stoicism to a surety you know he's a very self-assured man UVA was and so I just wanted to I wanted to pick up that scary Visage of yours you know the the way uh the way your your hawk-like face was concentrating on people because as Otto I think I I did we screamed a lot more you know like oh I had all these things in your auto backpack you made some other choices in terms of uh well like for example the hair and I had worked with our hair people with Hot Pants Tony uh Tony that was uh okay I'd worked with him before he's a great guy from from Marlins well I just got to tell you I I'm just so hot I just wish I could wear hot pads to work I'm gonna call you hot pants Tony um uh we were talking about the hair and I and uh it's it's funny as soon as you start you have a logical explanation for every everything and so with the with the hair I said Otto gets his hair cut from the same exact Barber he it costs twenty dollars and he gives a two dollar tip and that is what he's been doing for the last 17 years so it's not a great haircut you know what is what is what what's it what's a good price for a Swedish haircut how many Kroner would that be you know the cheap Supercuts you know the cheapest haircut barber that you could have that's where that's where Otto goes and when it came down to the close um we'll talk with uh Frank our our costume uh uh designer who who brought it all together I said look I'd I make everything at least at least one size too large if not two sizes because I think when he was married he ate very well and he ate regularly and as a single man a widower he does not eat nearly he doesn't have the appetite and he doesn't have the time so he lost 30 or 40 pounds I mean so if you look at it all of his clothes are really quite hanging off of him but and that's that's that's where you end up no one can answer that question except for you and you have those you have those answers for everything um but you've had some in your career some big Transformations I'm thinking about Castaway and and Colonel Parker now where you've really I feel for Castaway you gained 50 pounds and then lost 50 pounds I mean is that something is how different is that how do you work with that as well uh that can kill you uh if you try to do it too often you know I'm gonna gain 50 pounds and then I'm gonna lose now you can't do that uh there was there was Malibu I mean we literally the first half of Castaway um I I literally ate everything I could it was very unhealthy and then we took a year to lose all the weight and then we went back and shot the second half of the movie financially no Studio wants to do that anymore you know they don't want to carry the cash flow and Colonel Tom Parker well that was Prosthetics you know and it would and it was first class award-winning all the way um and you're right what it does it Alters your center of gravity you walk differently yeah you you sit differently you cannot be comfortable at all at any time during the day but um the uh it ends up being a bit of a suit of armor you know it it ends you you you come into work every day and literally the character is layered upon you and you cannot you cannot be yourself you end up becoming a different human being from Terry when you when you drowned yeah we started with this round to walk and I was thinking in one way of course it has his sickness and so on but I mean it takes it's like a an old man walking with his dog every day he gets his exercise this every day in the morning so so so I I when I did the military we had these guys who was walking around in the evenings though and and looking at everything was calm and everything should be like this you know so so yeah a little bit it I I thought also because this mask also made me look a little bit too old in one way and and and I wanted to that he was kind of in in the bodies still fit as I can be fit you have to give me some Diet sometimes you know develop some real you know some some real narcissistic self-loathing I think that's the best way to lose weight you know don't you think good to know work on it you know Tom and you have the most iconic eye roll I think I have seen in a movie that you know that's going to be a meme for the rest of 2023 yeah can you I don't know if they can see it but can you yeah that's the way I live my life I picked it up for most of them all four of my kids because that's all they give me yeah hey can you can can you can you guys what is what is what is the password for Netflix oh Jesus I mean is there an oven what pisses you off in day-to-day life oh dear yeah all right we have time okay um we had to come up but we you had a great routine your morning routine over did yeah you had many things you needed to check because the nature of the complex that you lived in we needed to I there was a gate you could check and there's of course the cat who puts the cans with the bottles what how is this difficult they're different colors they're different colored bands and the cans go here how who can't do this right if there's Otto a little bit right there but we also they said well what about the parking permits and so even though Otto recognizes the car it's always the same car you still have to check to make sure that okay that's hanging there all right wait a minute it's not a he would literally go up and say look I know you I know you live here I know that's your car but you need to have your parking permit hanging from the mirror otherwise I'm going to call the cotton so uh my problem is driving uh in Los Angeles particular if a car in front of me start slowing down for no reason and goes even slower and making me slow down too and it stopped almost comes to a stop and then slowly makes a right turn without using a right turn blinker you do not want to be in the car with me I go off on a Jag of swearing and salty language that you know and there's other anytime in an honorable day well thank you very much for the use of your turn signal because it's just so great for me to know which way you're going because you know which way you're going and I don't thank you honey wasn't that Tom Hanks what was that guy that saw screaming in that old car what pisses you up I love it you say what pisses you yeah yeah it's very nice I mean mean it was a very good routine for me when we started to shoot every shooting morning because I had to get up 4 15 in the morning and I'll have the three minutes walk to the makeup everybody was leaving in small houses and the I I saw everybody was sleeping yeah I I know that the director he he he he he he's sleeping at least one and a half hour more so not to stand outside and scream and try to wake up I had to go up every morning everybody's sleeping I I I I I I made small films do you remember my walk to the makeup Department you know this male kicking everywhere you have to check with your food on flat tires and I made a small movie that I sent to him that his main character was really working but uh maybe what pieces me off is when when I'm trying to do something practical and somebody tells me how it should be done hey you know uh yeah you're not doing that right yeah yeah oh really okay really I'm not doing it why don't you come show me how to do it thank you very much like in the gym like if you go to the gym yeah you know you know you really should keep your shoulders back shut up a little bit Tom do you know what the word is no but please tell me so I can steal it well it's it's you beloved that a you're beloved through a big broad audience it's like when you and Rita got covered in the beginning of when we were all freaking out and you were tweeting you're welcome you were yes you're quite welcome you were tweeting dad jokes and and just making us all feel better celebrity canaries in the coal mine but I was wondering if it's been a hindrance Rolf you said that for a while in in Sweden when you got really big that they were seeing you in certain roles and like in Denmark they were offering you other things talk a little bit about what that it's very easy that you you it was mostly in the beginning I think I I played a lot of policemans I mean yeah and um and always a policeman and you you get into that box in one way and then but the only reason the only way you can do it is to keep on working I I because this was different different characters and and they were very popular in Sweden but uh then it comes to to Something's positive because they were different and I tried to play them different and that made me to go to other kinds of roles but but still you can see I I've been always been the good guy even with a big heart yeah yeah and and Tom I mean is it true that like zemeckis when you were doing the Vietnam scenes in Gump and um and Spielberg and Ryan that there was discussions like we don't want to see Tom Hanks shooting oh yeah and it drove me nuts yeah let me get this straight we're going to bring all these helicopters and all these guys and all these explosions going on you know in time to shoot a gun because he's such a nice guy we don't want you to kill Nazis and I said listen I'm going to tell you right now I didn't take this job to not kill Nazis I have a machine gun and when I see him I'm going to shoot as simple as that you can keep it or not but I'm not gonna say oh no on on tonight well it's funny because in the in all the discussions of that we the the Vietnam secret understand Vietnam was a Breaking Point in the United States of America that was when when I was growing up I was in junior high in high school and Vietnam divided America more or less straight down the metal people who accepted the need for going to war in Vietnam and the other half the country was saying why in the world are we going to Vietnam in order to fight this this war over what this tiny sliver of a country and to go and do that um we were talking about uh how how forest forest is really good at doing one speci he's the best at doing one specific thing which is what he is told to do so I said what when that when that Ambush goes on he's going to hit the ground and he's going to fire his full magazine in the in the literally in the fields of fire in order to guarantee that he could either pull back or whatever it is and uh Bob said [Music] so I wasn't about to not fire my weapon if I was going to be in Vietnam Rolf is there a villain that you would like to play if you're only playing I'm just I'm not longing after the play a billion I mean I I like even if people could act bad there is a light in the heart in every human being so I'm satisfied with that I'd like to play a cop in Denmark [Applause] contacts right yeah but what is the deal with that not to sound like Jerry Seinfeld but Sweden and all these cops and detectives and I think about very good novels it started there very good novels that it started there creating a character both valander that you went back to and over um what do you find in them I mean some actors said there's a novel and then we write the script and then this novel is going to be a film and you don't used to know because it could disturb you but I think for me it is like a it's the the raw material that you can use I mean small lines small thinking small physical movements like I've wrote you when all the point at somebody it's like a policeman that holding a fully flashlight how do we do that but it's very good inspired inspiration yeah I use the two yeah yeah I use the two fingers with the car yeah yeah yeah I hope they go did you go back to the book oh constantly um I will I will try to get material wherever I can uh I had a director when voice very I was 19 and he yelled at the entire cast of this one play uh because everybody got drunk the night before for that opening night and they we had it was rotating Repertory so we had to show up fresh and rehearse another play and everybody was listless and he yelled at us all and he said look your job as actors I can't do this by myself your job is to show up on time to know the text and have an idea and that I remember that that idea is a thing you keep in your pocket and you can wherever you can get that idea of something to do and the information that a novel will tell you is never going to come out in the text of what you're of uh of this what the screenwriter right but if you know that's part of the logic of the character that only the really the actor is the one that has to protect that because the director will say oh I need this shot you got to do this and I said well let me give me a second in order to wrap my head around that because any particularly the Frederick Bachmann novel uh there is so much in there that plays out in behind uh Otto's eyes and all of his eyes that you can't get anywhere else and it's there so why wouldn't you go when you go pick that cotton [Applause] the 90s weren't good for everyone but they were good for you guys um you I have to say I I there's there's yes but I mean there's few actors that I've researched that I mean your your both of your careers have blasted off at this point you had yes you are the same age A League of Their Own you had backed all the Sleepless in all the wonderful rom-coms you had back-to-back Oscars with Philadelphia and Forrest Gump yes you had your goodbye for mrisho kefarb the back movies the valander when did you either of you realize I'm a thing now don't you like as soon as soon as you get some sort of accolades I think all right that's it that's it I peeked yes all I'm going to do is uh you know do that again it's always constant constant struggle I will say there's a moment where you realize you can get your car fixed you know you have the money you know if you drop the transmission hey I'm rich I can get my car fixed now you know if something goes wrong I can afford cheap Chinese food twice a week and you know if I still smoke I could have I I could pour a carton of cigarettes every time I want to I don't smoke anymore but that's a sign of being well off I think uh wealthy yeah do you remember a moment yeah no I think to be the thing in Sweden and to be the thing in the United States you're two different things but [Applause] [Music] um how are you with Fame I mean that must have come crashing down was that difficult was it well there's no training for it you know but I get it you know I remember um seeing a famous movie star Robert Stack I don't know if you know who Robert Stack is Robert Stack was on a TV show called The Untouchables he's a very if you any American who saw a picture of Robert Stack you'd say oh that's Robert Stack I saw him once in baggage claim at LAX and it was like dude dude there's Robert Stack and so I I recognize that that goes with the territory I I was sort of fortunate that I was on television was sort of recognizable and just sort of like grew and grew and grew and you just you just have to understand that it's important and it's a it's a bit of a commodity and um you you can't sometimes you do find yourself that you are too some somebody who is might maybe meeting you for the first time on a bad day you might come off to that person as the biggest [ __ ] [ __ ] pardon my language but it's okay because if they're catching you at a bad time you know you're kid sick you're trying to buy shoes you're running out of money for the parking meter and you're late for something and someone makes a big deal you don't have time for them you've been maybe you feel bad after that but it's it's the territory and it's important and it's a thing and you know you know the you you want to give everybody in the theater you know the benefit of the doubt and you also get to host SNL else marvelously you know who SNL is here we know it SNL that's a good gig that's a good game Rolf you have gone back sorry gone back to characters many times you you've played them well under several times you've played has that been something you've enjoyed doing yeah really because I mean when this Syria industry started just a couple of years ago I was not so much in it because I have the privilege to work with daughters that was starting to write a book and then it took a couple of years and then a new book and you you made the film so so time went by so so so I mean to do one film and then wait 16 years to do the next ones that that's really interesting because I mean what what have you been doing all this time I mean at least they didn't say get me a young no no no no you want them to go up and get lost you don't want them to get the next one do you have a Truman who can play but you haven't done that all that's not we don't have a sequel if Grandpa Gump or anything like that Robert Langdon movies which I like to call The Da Vinci Code movies uh we did those but even those were spread out you know many years and that was really more about plot because the character didn't necessarily age or change very much and um I have returned to directors directors you've worked with I go back to them if you were the same directors many times because you don't have to get to know them you end up speaking a coded language already and uh if you've had a good experience you can just pick up right where you left off and continue along and move faster Phil of course how do you resonate now when you're letting him out into the world well I there is a there is a in the United States I think there is a default cynicism that by and large is is sort of like the natural order of things for when somebody moves into your neighborhood you're almost suspicious of who that is who is that who's moving in across the street are they good from the neighborhood or not what are they going to do to my property values oh it's a family of Mexicans this is not going to be good for my property values they're allowed they speak a different language the kids are going to like Drive they're going to leave their toys all over the front yard this is a disaster that the the if from if a movie can make understanding and being open and acceptance somehow glamorous enough to make you as an audience member want to be the same way I think movies can do that I think Cinema can do that to say that you know what there is maybe there is nothing to be afraid of by these new people that are moving and maybe just the opposite happens what I was knocked out by certainly the novel and what what Ralph did in the original film was starting at a place of uh loneliness and being alone and the last thing UVA and Otto wanted to hear was you know a knock on the front door leave me alone leave me alone I'm all done I'm all finished I don't need anything from anybody but that that uh that what that introduction that comes from new people that not only ask for favors that you don't want to give but they also come and they ask you are you okay do you need anything that's the opposite of of being lonely that's the opposite of being close it's the opposite of cynicism it is in fact it's an embracing of the possibility of I am going to my life is going to be made larger by knowing these people and if I go out of my way to ignore them then that's actually a bit of a tragedy and I think movies can can present that as hey just remember what is it Frederick said no one is a stranger once you know their story and all you have to do is be willing to listen to that story and guess what you end up having something in common yeah let's hope people want to listen I mean that's a beautiful thing about the story because in the real life all this autos and all this we just judge them and leave them alone but the in the world of Cinema it's so very nice because when they go into their houses in the real life we don't know anything but in cinema we suddenly follow them inside the house and see what it's it's like a small small Chinese box that you see one side of a person and then you see a complete different side of a person how how are you as Neighbors hey Mr Happy Swede do you have names tell them how you treat your neighbors first by the way do all swedes live 45 minutes outside of Stockholm I have yet to meet anybody who lives in stock 45 minutes very lovely house we come in of course we did the work and sometimes I drive and sometimes I take the ferry but by a lot I can't a little bit stock up I live about 45 minutes outside under the archipelago so what's your neighborhood like 45 minutes outside it's actually five hours no but I think I'm I'm rather okay neighbor but I I mean we have this and that that is nice in in your movie it's still there you know we don't open the doors directly for for strangers and the Scandinavian way stand in the door for a while and show me how you how which what which person you are then we can let you in there you go Tom [Laughter] we are we are exactly the same we have that we have this kind of we have this because Los Angeles is a I would my wife was born in Los Angeles her brother lives in the same house that she was brought home from the hospital in so this is her hometown she knows all the shortcuts but if if you're not it's not your hometown La is a is a place you came to and made your peace with you know it's the it's the it's a big town so we sort of had these this rule I do too there's there's three ways you can see your neighbors the first one is you know as you're pulling in hey how are you you know that's all you're getting from me just kind of yeah I know I see you you live there I get it you know you get that then there's the other which is uh hey how are you now bad neighbors think that hey how are you is uh an excuse to come over and start talking to it is not no it is like hey how are you stay right there hey how are you no no no stay right there no you stay there then the last thing is like you this is what is required get over here that's that's the good neighbor but you don't give that away uh not the first time you meet them you stand in the doorway for a while and you know like like like like check them out yeah so that's that's that's and also in Los Angeles every other house is being rebuilt so you actually know the construction Crews better than the Navy and every time you drive past what another two weeks guys another two weeks and you'll be done two weeks right okay great when do the cement mixers come two weeks from now that's the way that always goes guys I want to thank you both for your credible body of work that's really been part of our shared movie history and and I hope and I see Otto going just exploding all over the world and thank you so much for taking the time thank you so much [Applause] thank you that was my honor conversation thank you all right thank you everybody [Music] lovely theater by the way thank you [Music] [Applause] all right laughs

Channel: SF Studios

Views: 48,202

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Id: 60gIfau_S6A

Length: 59min 38sec (3578 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 13 2023