Michael Keaton Interview - Cinequest Film Festival 2008

please rise and bring a cquest welcome to Maverick Spirit award recipient Michael [Applause] Keaton what an actor what a talent let's start at the very beginning um some of you may already know some of this but I'd love to hear it from you Michael you're the youngest of seven yes you grew up in Pennsylvania how and when did this acting bug come about I was a a big reader as a kid and I distinctly remember um reading um stories especially anything that was very exciting that had to do with the west or um um um War Stories or you know guys breaking out of prison or P camps anything that was like really really really thrilling and exciting to me as a little kid and I distinctly remember not once not twice often closing my eyes and trying to imagine what it truly truly felt like to be there like it didn't I I couldn't get satisfied just reading it I had to go like to the next level and see what it was like and I remember thinking I was a even I was weird for I as a kid I thought well this is I mean I know you're a little weird but you're really weird but I was going to do it but I did it anyway you had um about with standup correct I did about yes it's like pneumonia you had a Le about with uh the goal it was an outlet you know that that's a very good case of um um I was really smart about that as a as a kid or as a young guy because I I thought I'm not GNA sit around and wait you know first of all nobody was calling me anyway for a job so I thought well you know I kind of can't stand this and I'm the master of my own destiny and I'm just going to go and I'm going to start writing like a maniac and I'm just going to go and get it out somewhere and the beauty of standup for me then was it was my stage it was my movie it was my play it was anything I wanted it to be so I just went and performed I never had to ask permission which you know for anything who were the mentors and supporters who you think helped you to succeed I don't know that I ever had a mentor as as such but I I know I always took note of uh people who just kind of knocked me out and that's a lot of people examples that come to mind are Robert Duval who's a friend we were just talking about Robert or Bobby and I I've worked with them twice and um and Nicole kinman and Glenn Close I mean it's interesting that two people that stick out or women but those three people what I would learn from them was was really extraordinary because their discipline and their focus and their work ethic and and their um um attention to detail Jack Nicholson was you know uh you know I think at the time or even now there's a a type a kind of image that is not as accurate as people think because um I mean he was somebody I always admired and then when I got to meet him and act with him I was very nervous but his uh his professionalism was pretty extraordinary you know and and you know he was so committed to you know he just the thing about him is you know that he just just goes right after it you know I mean this is a guy who played all the great R and then he was going to play The Joker and just you know never made a comment about it never was too cute about it totally committed to to the idea as we all were you know there's no getting around that you know you're in a big rubber suit you better commit to it what are some of the most enjoyable and most memorable experiences you've had in the business Beetle Juice was just fun because you know I I I remember once I pulled the trigger you know it's like it's like the way I look at it you know once you pull the trigger and the bullet leaves the barrel a no bringing that guy back you know so so that one you know that was once I went and showed up I showed up uh almost I knew what I was doing and and Tim still hadn't expressed what he wanted didn't it still was kind of trying to find it he he knew it but but couldn't quite put it to words so finally after turning it down several times and finally saying okay you know leave me alone for a couple days I'm going to go think about what I'm going to do and then I decided okay let's do this I just started assembling the guy and the thing and the idea and the energy of it in my head and then next thing I know in makeup and I started talking to her about ideas and I walked on the set and I remember thinking man there ain't no coming back from what I'm about to do you know and and there's and there's only one way to do it at this point and if it was wrong well then we had a whole do a big because they had started shooting the film they already shot a good bit of it and um then I showed up and he just like hooked in do it and said yes that's it and he said okay let me follow that and and that was just fun your directorial debut the mared gentleman yes I know that yes thank you it just screened at Sundance originally you were attached to act only and not to direct your directorial um involvement came about through a circuitous way if you want to tell us a little bit about that and also how you balanced acting and directing turns out that the the guy the writer was supposed to direct and then couldn't direct it and um uh I threw my hat in the ring what I did was actually I I I said uh I called the producers and said are you guys going to be around on whatever date and I said yeah and I said let's I'm GNA I'm G to fly in Chicago they said really they go and they had met me or didn't know anything about me I said yeah I said uh you know just let's let's be between one and two or somewhere or something so I showed up sat down talked to them hung out just talked asked a lot of questions and then left and then I got to uh the airport I called him and said uh hey I think I might want to direct this thing I'm going to be in LA in a few hours and think about that then started happening and it came together and and uh came together too fast but but but you know there was no turning back on that either so we were into it and I was fully committed and uh it was extremely satisfying and um directing myself was I I I got to tell you I really like tror myself I'd work with me anytime I did I did I I thought yeah man I know how you know that's a good idea this guy's great well what for one thing the reason I liked it was it saved us a lot of time I what's that expression the uh the shoemaker's daughter you know or or you know the shoe markers da has bad shoes or something like that that that's the problem you know you kind of you know watch the scene and and we didn't have time for many takes for anybody because a very low budget and very few days to shoot so but you know you manage your time and i' I'd work and and you know like Kelly or one of the other actors that you know and some of them had done very very little so you really work with them and work with them and work with them and then then then Europe up and it's like you know I do a take and then go what do you think and they said I really love the the way you're you didn't really hit the mark and so I go okay go do another one and I i' go you know was I in Focus I go yeah go let's go you know it was just kind of it was just kind of you don't take good enough care of yourself that's the one thing you have to watch after you have to really keep forgetting you go wait a minute wait a minute you're in this thing you know you're actually GNA be on the screen a lot of people are going to see it but um I I kind of already I could short I could uh shortcut everything I could uh what's it shorthand everything with myself because I kind of knew what I was going to do anyway and as long as I wasn't too far off course you know um I think certain things have a thing now that I'm looking at to do and I'm not sure I'm going to I'm in every I'm in every bit of it and that might be a that might be a heavy load so I don't know about that one but I I like that experience what about writing you've written a lot in the past but will you actually write something for you know the way I wrote was I wrote mostly comedy uh for a group of us that was a comedy group and then I submitted things to because I thought I could work in television working you know writing and I was I was knew I had to have something going on you know I had to have another thing going on it's actually how Jack Nicholson started Jack was basically a writer but I I I really love directing because you know it's just you can kind of control the situation and uh and it's such it's the ultimate team sport I mean it's the ultimate team sport yeah there is no greater team sport than that and I love teams I was always I I I wish I was on a team now because you were an athlete it's the greatest feeling you know and and and I always liked clubs I must say and I was never and clubs are different than teams right in fact some kind in some way diametrically opposed and I was never good club guy in fact they very nicely told my mother that it would be really okay if I never came back to Cub Scout I was not a good Cub Scout I swear to God I wasn't and I dug everything the idea of it knives and go in the woods and camp and go after animals and stuff like that make stuff you know I was so bad at it I was just horrible every project I was terrible everything I was bad also we had a very frightening Den mother really oh and it smelled the basement smelled a little bit that was bad and also the idea of a den mother is so frightening isn't it Den mother denm mother Den father is even better than Dan mother sounds like a Stephen King book this is why I'm friends with him because he entertains all the time you said you haven't watched many of the Final Cut cuts of the movies that you've been in I know as an actress producer it can be uncomfortable having to watch yourself over and over again I had to leave just now I well I did because I thought I can't hear if I hear something I know what's G well Marne and I were talking and and she said what I had never seen Dream Team what is what is Dream Team what's that about and I started talking about it and I said oh it's this movie and Pete Bo was in it and Chris Lloyd and I'm talking about it I'm not making this up and I'm and I'm not really I'm I'm I'm pretty stable but in the in the middle in in in the in the middle of it I was explaining to her and I went I swear to God I went I played that character totally wrong I did it in 88 or something and it hit me I went I up that character totally like oh and I'm not kidding you I can tell you now I could look at it now and go what was I thinking you know so that's why you go I don't need that in my life I don't need to make myself that crazy except for as a director on the married gentleman you spent hours and hours in the editing room how did you I know I know it's really that's a good that's that's a very I was wondering how I was going to do that uh it's very different for some reason because you really look at yourself as part of the thing in a way and then that's another case where you have to stop and go hey wait a minute like I was the I went through my takes last and uh you have to go back and go wait wait wait wait I gotta make sure I'm you know picking my best takes and I'm good in this thing you know it's like a you know so so um but it it is different for some reason and and I I wondered how that was going to be and it wasn't that painful you you kind of look at uh I I think it's because I knew what I had to do to get done to get to make it fit to make the play the the the the screenplay work and the movie work so I looked to me I think like more part of the part of the puzzle and putting it together I I don't know it wasn't wasn't that bad can't quite put my finger on you have a long history of interesting choices in terms of the roles that you choose Harrison Ford once told me that if he actually finishes a script yeah then that means he'll probably do the movie right I would love to be I would love to be like that but but honestly what is the gem or the thing you look for in terms of character or story um that compels you to accept an offer um I don't know that I'm always this is always the wisest thing to do but uh if it interests me or I mean I mean I mean it won't lie there there have been times where I thought uh that's probably a smart thing to do right now where you are uh in terms of you know awareness like this movie will probably be popular it's not going to hurt you the do's good just go do that you're going to be okay I definitely have done those I don't ever want to act like I've never done those I'm usually not very good in those um and sometimes I'm okay or I escape them um and I still think they're they were wise to do in a couple of occasions so sometimes it's like that you know it's your it's my business so sometimes it's business and then most of the time it's does this really make me think like I don't want to say abject like All Out full out fear but does this make me go whoa you know yikes this is a little spooky I don't know if I can pull this one off that that will usually wake me up otherwise I tend to get bored and kind of you know and they weren't always right the right thing to do that's for sure I've made you know choices that were I I really don't think about about the much afterwards I just kind of go in my gut and you know like I always wanted to you know Alan Arc and I were talking one day and and he said what I always kind of felt but I guess I never wanted to say which is you know if it's like have a big career and you know a life or have a big life and a career I always wanted to have a life um basically uh he she really liked him in Pacific Heights and it was a dark role does he prefer comedy or the more dark material um no I I like I like it both I just got done doing a a comedy and it was really fun just to be back out there you know you know it really the great thing about comedy is your brain just doesn't stop because just when you think of something you think oh I got a better idea in the next take and it's really stimulating I I it's like a nice glass of cold water on a brain that's been kind of atrophied for a while so that was really fun to do has he had an experience of life that's really had a great impact on his work um when I did uh Batman the first Batman um I'm uh I'm clust claustrophobic you know I was I was always uh my brother would wrestle and fight in my house all the time like all the time because somebody was always like getting yelled at for like fighting or wrestling around and stuff and my brothers I'm the youngest and my brothers would very often get me put me holds and hold me down and I was always like a little squirmer it would drive me crazy when I couldn't move like crazy crazy crazy and then it made me very I mean I don't want to pin it on them but I will and they're not here because that still hit me now so I'm don't want to say anything um that but um I so I was claustrophobic right okay now they're making the suit production's going it's a huge production and and and and we're trying to Tim's running over London trying to figure things out and it it it it was was just an enormous thing and at those in those days not everything came together you didn't have all the the the technological advances to do stuff and fix it and Di later or to you didn't have any of that it had to work there so they didn't even know if the suit worked literally and it and but for the first few weeks it didn't totally we were always improvising that's why a lot of the shots were dictated on I mean this stuff makes me laugh a lot but but but you know like you turn a certain way and all of a sudden the thing would like pop you know and you have like a big you're looking like a real badass you know something oh man I laughed a lot on that movie there are so many things that were so demeaning so so so we get there and we're ready to shoot like the next day so they go suit no Su no it's not R Su now's the day literally had to get into it and like I had to like squeeze up like into it like I don't think honestly I don't think I've ever been the same since and I had to do it all day and you couldn't get out you couldn't get out to the second one they made like a way that if I really really really really had to get out I could get out there in urine for the day like that's it so you had to be committed so I kept thinking about this I thought oh man I don't know how I'm going to do this so what what I did was I thought there's no getting out of this one there's no turning back on this thing so what I did was I took all that all of it and it ended up working really really great for the character because it really I always wanted them to be internalized anyway and then I really wanted them to be internalized so it just took me really deep you know where I had to go into kind of like a state where I thought I'll go crazy if I have to be wrapped in this thing all day so what I did I started to go really really deep into find kind of place where I could just be in it and like just be right sit right down in it and just kind of be there for the whole time then it worked then not only then it was like a bonus then then every time I get into it I kind of started like it it it started to take me into that kind of really you know that because it was all in here you know and um the key to the thing that nobody got from that was the the key to that was Bruce Wayne not Batman I always knew it was never it was never Batman it was Bruce Wayne he's a interesting cat if they were to make another Beetle Juice would he consider it yeah it's the one thing I thought would be fun to do again but but but no one's ever come up with a good enough idea you know who would I rather work with in the future Tarantino or cber and I played the same character in two different movies um and how' that come about right this is great because um the first one was Jackie Brown which is a really really good movie and he's absolutely original Tarantino and absolutely unique and and really fun to work with and great and like a lot of things I do I didn't I turned it down many times and uh I don't I turn I don't know why that is but I do almost everything no I don't think so and then they come go well I think you shouldn't no and it goes on for weeks and then finally I go okay so that was one of those and mostly that happened under the influence Bo I hate to say this young guy here this is not a good idea but under the influence of a lot of Jagger meister and by the way that's the stupidest liquid there's no reason for it it's like Jager Meister you know even if I was in a fraternity I wouldn't drink Jager Meister it's like stupid but what happened was he gets me into this place he goes come on man maybe okay right right leave you D thing Clinton Tarantino I go okay and I you know I loved what he did so we go and you know now I go whoa how did this happen you know and like hours now in this bar with them and uh by that time I kind of thought I'd do it anyway because I thought yeah I probably shouldn't turn work it down with turno so I did that and I really liked it and liked the character and like the like the role a lot that's it story ends and movies over and all that and uh some time goes by and Soderberg who I'd known before who I always loved in fact if you've never seen King of the Hill you should get King of the Hill which is maybe sod one of soderberg's great greatest movies um he he uh he starts talking to me calls me and asks me about doing uh uh uh Ray Nicolet who is the character from Jackie Brown who is an Elmore Leonard character right shows up in some of his book so I go I was immediately intrigued because I like uh Stephen a lot I think he's tremendous and um I just the conditions were okay here if we do it here's how we do it I have to look a little bit enough like the other guy recreate the look enough that you you kind of identify just go boom there's that guy that's that's him that's him because what I liked the the idea and and that it it wasn't a joke it wasn't like I didn't look stupid and the character didn't look those are the only conditions besides that you know where do you want me to show up let's go do this this will be fun so he said right no no no no it's going to be cool it's going to be like and what I thought was cool was and no one's ever done this and it's what made me do it I thought I don't think anybody's ever done this and actual you get the feeling the guy's out there walking around in the world like he exists you know what I mean because he just shows up in another movie another Studio another you know like a whole other story and all a sudden he was like you know he could show up like next week and something he's in a will farell movie you know it's like he exists he's out there I just thought that was so cool such a cool idea and i' never seen it done before for so I thought I should do it for that reason alone and and Ray Nicolet is actually a pretty interesting character and I was told whether it's true or not that Elmer Leonard really liked that I what I did with with with it but um that's that's how that happened the uh are there I play comedy and drama are there any similarities in play you know the similarity is you just tell the truth you just tell the truth you know like like you know no one tells the truth better than guys like Allen AR and you know when you think about what he's doing or like will phoh is so committed to but if you listen read the words it says one thing but he is so committed to what he does the insanity of it and takes it out there but he never backs off the truth of it which I really like so like that you know you just always have to tell the truth thank you Michael thanks thanks a lot and now we're going to present the award that represents the spirit of syquest the Maverick Spirit which is what we serve the Artis and innovators who are original who do something that comes from the heart from the soul from their identity not from a marketing plan or a formula and now the award was created by artist Carlos Perez and it is a bronze film canister and a hand blown glass lightning bolt representing Innovation striking film and I'm very honored on behalf of the board of directors and the staff and the many filmmakers of syquest this year and before to present this award to Michael Keaton thank you than

Channel: Cinequest

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Keywords: Cinequest, Cinequest Film Festival, Cinequest Maverick, Maverick film maker, Film Festival, Movie Technology, Award winning movies, Movies award winning, Award winning films, Movies film festival, Award winning film, Feature film festival, Online film festivals, Film Financing, Competition film, halfdan hussey, michael keaton, batman, actor, birdman, legend, artist, art, create, innovation, inspiration, film, movie, maverick, spirit, conversation, family, siblings

Id: 3oxeodxW2TQ

Length: 23min 8sec (1388 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 14 2008