Tom Hanks & Viola Davis | Actors on Actors - Full Conversation

Celebrity
5 followers
Tom Hanks and Viola Davis chatted during a taping of Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” on a range of topics, including sex scenes and diversity on TV vs film.
Watch every Actors on Actors episode: • Actors on Actors | Variety
#actor #actress #interview
All right, I guess my, here's the first question I have. Is the perfect preparation for shooting a
movie to have done the same exact text for 800 performances already before you get there?
I would say, Tom, that that probably is not. I think that when you do and you have done the text,
yes, you have done the prep work, but you, what you have to be is still surprised
by the text. You cannot do it by rote. So, you know, with Fences, I did it for 13 weeks
and we rehearsed for what, four weeks. We did what, four weeks of previews. And so,
there was a knee-jerk. So, you've done about 150 performances.
Yeah, there's a knee-jerk response of, oh, I already know it. You know, I'm going to come
in and I already know it. And then something surprises you. It's like Lloyd Richards,
a great director, you know, out of Yale, once said, I worked with him my first August Wilson
show. He said, the worst thing for an actor is when you're doing something by rote and then you
wake up. Someone throws you a line in a different way and you're like, oh, wait a minute. This is
my response. This is, you know, it's not alive anymore. So, it is a great preparation
and it isn't a great preparation. But you have to be so surprised in Fences.
Yes. Because you get some huge news there.
Yeah, I get some huge news. And you have already responded to that huge news,
I'm going to say a thousand times, you know, between rehearsals and the performances.
And it's life-changing news.
Yeah, it's big news.
So, what about you? What is your preparation? What do you do? Especially because you do so much.
It's funny because my question is because I find that when you no longer are thinking about
the dialogue is dialogue, meaning something that you had to memorize. When you know it,
as well as you know the Pledge of Allegiance or your favorite song that you've been singing
since you were 13, there is a freedom of just starting and it takes you wherever it is that you
go.
Absolutely.
But, so if you've done the play for 150 performances, you don't have to think about
the dialogue is dialogue.
You don't have to think about the dialogue, but you still have to think about the character. It's
like, how many years have you spent in your body? And at certain points, I'm sure in your life,
you've surprised yourself. What does that mean? Do you actually really know who you are?
So, you have a character that you've played for, what, 150 performances?
You don't feel like you quite really even know them, even when the play is over.
So, you're still discovering yourself as that character on the set with Denzel directing and
acting in it, with August Wilson right there?
Well, you know, August Wilson.
In spirit, if not, you know.
Absolutely. And a different actor playing my son, you know, who's coming at me in a
whole different way and actually having to go in a kitchen. And actually, here's the thing
that no actor is willing to admit. Maybe you are willing to admit this.
I admit nothing.
The parts of the play that I did not hit, that I felt like I never discovered on stage.
So now, it's a chance to now, I don't want to use the word correct because that's,
you know, a bad word in acting, but it's a chance to discover it.
And that would be the last moment in the play for me. I never hit it on the stage. Never, never.
And yet, if you would probably ask any member of the audience who saw one of those 160
performances you did, they will say that that was the ultimate moment for them and their character
on stage. That fabulous pretense.
I wouldn't believe them.
Do you believe people when they say that was a fantastic performance? Do you ever
actually look at a performance of yourself, seriously, and say,
that moment, that performance, or that moment was pretty close to perfect?
That's the bad thing, quite frankly, about doing things on film that live forever,
that if you're going through the grid, you know, seven years after you've made the movie,
and boom, there it is on HBO or Showtime or something,
and you end up catching seven or eight minutes, that's all I can stand of any one of my movies.
Oh, you got a lot of time.
You just pray that I have no memory of doing it.
Yeah.
Because if you do have a memory of doing it, it's a painful one.
Absolutely.
Here's a moment that I didn't land it. Here's a moment that I never thought was great.
Absolutely.
But every night in the play, you react to it, you react to the moment, one time,
and then it's gone. The great thing about doing plays, I thought, was they're gossamer things,
and in the wink of an eye, they disappear, and all they are are memories. But every film
you've ever made is going to live forever, and it doesn't change.
Yep, and it's over, yeah. But you know what? I did a play, Seven Guitars,
Lloyd Richards directed me for that first play, and I did it for over a year, and I didn't feel
like I ever got it. It's kind of the imposter syndrome that is always coursing through our DNA
as actors.
We're all frauds.
We're frauds. We're frauds. This moment is a fraud. It's like David Mamet says,
if there's an actor on the stage, and there's a cat on the stage, who are you going to watch?
You're going to watch the cat, because the cat is just being the cat.
This is true.
And so you're always just trying to be. You're always trying to think, okay,
I'm not going to think about what I just ate for lunch in this moment. I'm not going to think
about the fact that this actor is giving me something so crappy that I can't use it. I'm
not going to think about the fact that I'm just scared right now, and I don't really even know
what this moment is. Who knows what it is?
You've touched on something that is undeniable in the process of making films, of how important it
is to be getting something from the people that you're in. The ensemble moment. You actually are
playing catch with someone, and if they are not putting anything on the ball, you're in trouble.
Denzel, I must say, he's a king of sandbagging, man. He's an absolute man of mystery when he's
off camera and you're on, and even when you're inside, you're working with him. He's like,
you're trying to water ski behind a boat that Denzel's driving. He's going like this and
slowing down and speeding up. He's going to try to shake you off your skis.
And you've got to catch up and keep up. Absolutely.
In some ways, it's like, thank God I'm alone in this moment now,
because I can take as much time as I want. I can slowly get there because...
But it's all the elements of acting, which is what truly makes it a collaborative process, right?
It's having a terrific script, because if you don't, you're working against it. You have to
problem solve up your behind. You have to sit down and go, okay, how am I going to make this work?
Because it's not there. You have to problem solve with a bad director.
You have to problem solve with other actors. You have to problem solve with the lighting
and the wardrobe. All of it has to work. I always say a great performance doesn't happen by accident.
A great performance is a lot of elements that come and they culminate together
and they make a perfect storm. That's why I always feel like the people who should
get nominated for awards are people in crappy narratives, crappy directors,
and they can still make it work. That's a good actor.
Those directors who you come up to them and say, in that moment where I'm reacting,
would you like me to... I think what I can find is just a sense of self-loathing to the person
that will come out. And they are looking at you like, you don't understand. Just please say the
words. Just please say the words. Just please say the words that don't fall down and I'll be fine,
because I have so many shots we have to get today that I'm not even paying attention to it.
Arnie. The union is pulling out all the big guns today, huh? Talk to Dan Brizzoli.
Got a count? 155.
With August Wilson, you have a language that is, you know, let's call it Shakespearean. It's
incredibly well crafted. It's tiny little phrases pay massive dividends both in the moment and then
later on in the story, in the movie as well. Absolutely.
With a guy like Clint Eastwood, I'm supposed to say Clint Eastwood,
there is absolutely no rehearsal and absolutely no preparation whatsoever.
And yet, look what you get.
Well, there is. What he has is, it's odd. It's strangely enough, it's the same alchemy.
It comes down to, you must inhabit the space and you must display the behavior.
Absolutely.
And if you don't, it's horrible.
Absolutely.
And it's like, is it better? It's never easy because we all lose sleep over this all night
long. Is it better to be able to have this great verbiage, you know, this great prose
that you get to use to carry you into the moment? Or is it better to have nothing,
no nothing to say and only have the procedure of the job you're playing, the pilot or what have you?
The minimum of this is who you are and this is who you have to believe yourself to be.
But listen, I'd rather have the great narrative because I've had both.
And I always find, I always, this is a really crappy analogy, but you know,
it's the first thing that comes to mind.
This is our job to develop crappy analogies. We're happy to do it.
It would be like having a great body and wanting to showcase it in a burlap sack.
You know, it's, you, I don't feel like your, your work can come through in a bad narrative.
I think that you're always kind of like going to be the third girl from the left
who maybe has Meryl Streep, Titanic sized talent that nobody sees. And you know, as actors,
you just don't want to be invisible. And for me, that's what a great narrative does.
It just makes you shine your light.
The thing that I feel that is really difficult about August Wilson is,
and I've been saying this a lot, it's big, but it's honest.
Yeah.
And a lot of times with actors, this is, I find that acting on screen is small,
you know, because the camera's there. They say, you just don't need much
to be honest, understated. People say that a lot, right?
Less.
And then when you see that person who's a great actor, who's understated
and you throw high stakes at them, you see how a lot of actors crumble.
And there is a fear, I think, of fighting for your life.
That's how I call it. And you know, when a parent dies, I don't know, divorce,
whenever you've been in those moments in life where you feel like the next stop is death,
that's a frightening place to be. The only time you could go there
is if someone has a boot up your behind and they're actually kicking you into that place.
There are times and moments, moments in film, like the greatest example of this is on the waterfront
when Marla Brown, who was Terry Molloy, has to tell Eva Marie Saint
that he was responsible for her brother's death.
And there was no dialogue that could do that moment justice.
Absolutely.
So they played it against nothing. They played it against sounds of
whistles in the wind and whatnot. And you just saw them communicating
and then you know what was being said. I've made movies where I said,
can we just do this with a look, please? Because whatever is written here,
it can embody the moment better than simple behavior can.
Oh, absolutely. Oh, long time companion. I always say,
use that example of Bruce Davidson and the actor sitting at the bedside of his dying
partner and just holding his hand. That's it.
And most deathbed scenes are like that. But here's the thing.
It's the actor who actually embodies that and the actor who just does it.
And there ain't nothing happening.
How are you going to play ball when you were over 40?
Sometimes I can't get no sense out of you.
I got good sense, woman. I got sense enough not to let that boy get hurt playing those sports.
Your mother and the boy too much worrying about whether people like him or not.
Everything that boy do, he do for you.
Let's talk about fences specifically. You got the play that is all, I mean,
theater is about language. Then you have the film in which a lot of times the best,
the best moment is one that is silent without, that is not played without words.
Did August Wilson and Denzel, did they rip stuff out of there and just say,
we're going to play this with a look and a moment and a beat? Or was it, was it?
There were some moments, there were some moments like that in the film.
That's important.
There were some moments that had to be played like that in the film. There is,
you know, a moment where, you know, he leaves the house, he's frustrated. There's a lot of
things internally that's going on that I don't even know about with, you know, the woman that
he's, you know, having an affair with and all of that. But he's also-
A woman we never see, by the way.
Exactly. Which I love because, but because, and she still has power. It's still another character
and still, and, and the frustration with his brother who is disabled, who, you know,
he feels like he's failed.
Fabulous Michael T. Williams.
Michael T. Williamson is awesome. And, and so he's frustrated. He throws something, he leaves,
you know, the house and then I'm left alone.
Yeah. The dignity of that woman. I'm sorry. The dignity of that woman who has made that home
and has kept that house and has, what's the, what's the word I'm looking for?
Bid in union with, with her man is, I'm sorry, it's a tower of strength. And it's one of the
other things that can come along with these types of films is that you say there's an awful lot of
people out there that says, I'm playing no housewife. I'm not going to play some lady
who says, oh honey, you'll figure it out. What time are you coming home? Which is what an awful
lot of, you know, roles for women are. When are you coming home, honey? When are you going to
come home? I know, I know you have a big trial that you're trying to put the bad guys in jail,
but when are you coming home? That woman you created, that, that, that what's, what's the
homemaker doesn't do it right, but that protectoress of her, of her castle and her,
and her, her life ends up surpassing everybody else in the play at that moment, particularly
when, by the time you get to the end, when you find out the news that you find out.
But I was about to ask you that because in Sully, you are playing a man who is labeled a hero.
A lifesaver. And you know, as an actor, at least, you know, in my neck of the woods,
when you're playing someone heroic and strong, how much of that do you play against?
Do you know what I'm saying? Because it's your job as an actor to humanize. It's almost your
job as an actor to fly, to find the mess, but you're finding the mess in someone.
There is, there is literally a specific moment in when Clint Eastwood, the boss,
came up to me and said, all right, papi, he was doing a John Wayne imitation. You know,
this is the Duke coming into town, you know, make sure, make sure that everybody knows that you're
the man in charge. And he was joking, but it was the moment where I'm just walking down the jetway
onto the plane for the first time. And what he was commenting on is like, there's a way in order
to do this, in which you're going to telegraph everything that's going to come off for the rest
of the movie. And you're going to tell everybody, I'm the big guy, I'm the big cheese, I'm the hero,
and I'm ready for this. Well, that's one way of doing it. The other thing is just to be the
guy walking on the plane. You know, this is my job. I'm going to walk on the plane. I've done
this 6,000 times. This is a routine thing. This was dual engine loss at 2,800 feet,
followed by an immediate water landing with 155 souls on board. No one has ever trained for an
incident like that. No one. Sully himself, the man was, was fascinating because, to talk to,
because number one, we're making a movie of his life. Yes. And not only of his life, but the
defining moment of all of his, of all of his life as an aviator and as a man and as a husband.
And he had, he had long ago made his piece with a great paradox of his heroic status, which is,
the only thing I did was my job to the best of my abilities. Absolutely. That's it. That's it.
And everybody was calling him a hero and everybody was saying, let me touch your cape. You know,
he had almost like an, I credit like he had an out of body perspective of it is that he says,
I know I'm this guy that is being, having projected upon him, this great super power
of heroism. And, and, but what he knew he went through was a lifetime of his body experiencing,
when am I going up? When am I going down? When am I turning left? He said, when he, when he talked
about his, he didn't need to look at any of the instruments on the plane because he felt in his,
literally in his, in his sinews, the rate of descent of the plane, the angle of the flight
of the plane. So it was all, you know, it was, it was this manifestation of everything he'd ever
known on. Then after that, he, he had made the piece with that paradox that he didn't feel like
a hero for a moment, but he understood why everybody considered him. And if you ask him,
the real heroes were those, the people who showed up to save everybody off the plane. I actually
met the fellow who was the very first person out on the far end of the left hand wing. He stood out
there and I said, what was it like? What was it? He says, it was really cold. Cause you know,
they were up in their ankles into, you know, Hudson river in January. And it was really slick
and they did not want to fall off. And they were all sort of holding on to each other. I said,
how long were you out there for? He said, if you would ask me, I would have said I was out there
for half an hour, but he had gone back and looked at the actual real time footage of the rescue.
And he was only on that wing for seven minutes, seven minutes between getting out there and
everybody else coming out and then being in the safety of a boat. So Sully himself would say
the fact that everybody, those first responders who all showed up on their tugboats and the police
boats and what have you, getting everybody out of the water, they really did save anybody from
falling in, getting hypothermia, possibly drowning or whatever. So Sully's position of this was...
Humble. Humble is probably...
I'm trying to find actually the words in order to... Practical?
Yeah, exactly.
I think he understands human behavior and he knows that there were people out there that were
specifically looking for the narrative fiction or the fictional narrative of it all would have
been different had it not been you. There is truth to that, of course. And yet he just, he was not
thinking about how do I be a hero. And you know, what's really interesting as an actor too, it's
what therapists say, that they say that you have to have a healthy image of yourself internally,
how you see yourself, but also how other people see you. But as an actor, oftentimes, especially
if you're playing a real person, the first kind of thing that you get is how other people see you.
But you can't build a character on that, right? You can't.
No, you have to voluntarily put on some sort of like ninja cloak of invisibility.
And I think that's the trap of biopics is that sometimes that's what you play. You play the
hero, you play the person, and then you can't stain them in any way. You can't reduce them in
any way. So the audience can't say, oh yeah, but you know, I don't want her to do that.
Oh, I don't want him to do that. I don't want, oh no, uh-uh, you're ruining my image, you know?
But then your job as an actor is almost to ruin the image because truth is, in fact, is stranger
than fiction. Yeah, I always made, I've played other people, you know, who I've met them before.
I've, you know, played them in movies, you know, Charlie Wilson, the politician. Yes, yes. Jim Lovell
and Richard Phillips. Yep. And I always said, look, I'm going to say things you never said.
I'm going to do things you never did. I'm going to be places you never were in this movie.
But in spite of that, I want to make this as realistic, you know, as possible. I want it to
be as accurate as possible. But what that really is, you're trying to, you're trying to lay clay
to an authenticity. Yes. That is belied by the fact that everybody knows how the story ended.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You have to, like, bring into those moments of just pure human behavior
by way of their expertise without putting a hat on a hat or gilding a lily or, you know,
stirring a pot that doesn't need to be stirred. And that is, a lot of times, that's contrary to
cinematic narrative. It is. You know, let's raise the stakes here. Oh yeah, absolutely. Let's make
it a bigger moment than it needs to be. I don't think we need to raise the stakes. I don't think
we need to raise the stakes. Let's just try to find it and make it real. Working with
Clint Eastwood, that was kind of great. By the way, this is how Clint Eastwood directs.
You know how, I don't know how it is, but, you know, everybody's, all right, we're ready and
we're rolling. Everybody stand by. Here we go. And action. That's the way that Clint Eastwood,
you hear a voice over your shoulder behind the camera just, okay, go ahead.
And it's like, all right. And then when it's done, it does work. And I said, what's that about? He
said, on Rawhide, these old movie directors, his TV show, Rawhide, would make a big deal about
screaming, action, because that was their job. And it would always scare the horses. You know,
they'd be on horses and somebody, action, and they'd have to like bring it back. And I said,
thank you, Clint, for treating us as horses. I think that's very, very, better than cattle.
But you know what? No, no, absolutely. I get it. Because then it's like, you're ready. I remember,
you know, in acting school, they always said, we always know when an actor is getting ready to talk,
because you could see the breathing, breathing, breathing, they're totally relaxed. And then it
stops. And then you take a deep breath and they go, you know, and. It's that moment where you've
got to walk on stage, you know, and do you walk on stage, you know, with a swagger, you're just
kind of like slink on. But when you're doing that, OK, so your television show, however,
this is all about this is that, you know, it's the writers meeting and it's the producers meeting
and it's this constant, constant pages coming in. Do you do you find that the TV show has that
balance of of the words as well as just the cinematic narrative? No, I don't. I don't think
that TV has that balance, at least network TV. I think you're fighting a huge beast, which is
way bigger than narrative and words and being cinematic. You're fighting ratings.
You're fighting censors. The stories have to be told in broad strokes. I mean, do you get to be
as subtle? You don't with non-subtle material, I guess, kind of. I feel I feel more in television.
People have a problem with silence. Yeah, because then you don't feel like the audience is going to
get what's going on in that silence and they have to know what's going on. And also, you know, it's
I'm one of those actors. If I'm in a scene, I'm not a woman who's a size two.
If I'm in a sex scene, I want to play the sex scene. I want to say this is why I'm attracted
to you. This is why it's gotten to this point. You know, this is what my body looks like.
And then all of a sudden on TV, you could be doing all that work as an actor.
And then the actor that you're playing with, who's wonderful, by the way, could be is wonderful,
will get out of bed and look like they've been in the gym for the last year.
That's yeah. And then finally, you're in the scene and then you're on TV.
They never show characters at the gym working out. You know, they always just they all just
have a great body. That's why I hate nude scenes, even on stage. Oh, yeah. I look at them. I'm like,
OK, you've been in the gym. Yes. You know, and turn those lights down so I don't actually have
to see the stretch marks. Yeah, I mean, come on. I just like all those sags that are really,
you know, where that's taking. I feel that I've earned those. Yeah, exactly. There's the there's
one thing about all the a lot of times the men and women are in far too good a shape.
And the problem I also have is the women's lip gloss is always just perfectly applied.
Does everybody I don't know if you're if you're working hard in a legal office,
sometimes don't you think your clothes should be wrinkled and your hair should be askew?
Well, I have made I made it a point when I got that role because I saw it as an opportunity
that was way bigger than doing really good work. I saw it as an opportunity for a dark skin actress
of 50 to be in a role that sexualized, not sexy. Yeah, there's a difference between sexualized and
sexy and messy and maybe sociopathic when I used to, you know, I'm used to playing housewives and
maids and crackheads. And I saw it as an opportunity. Yeah. A blank palette or a blank canvas
to put my mark on. I was not interested in boundaries. I was not interested in saying
this is who she is. This is how she acts. This is I wasn't interested in any of that.
I was just interested in just taking the ball and running with it, even if I took it in the
wrong direction. That's why I took my wig off. I, I, I, I take my makeup off. I mean, this year,
she's an alcoholic, which, you know, but which is kind of like a crackhead face. Then you've got to
be careful. Oh, you know, but television for all the, the righteous and, and, and, and honest
criticism of films, lack of diversity or fighting in order to get some degree of diversity.
Television is almost a bonanza when it comes down to absolutely people of color, both genders.
It's crazy. There's this multiple choice and it goes on and on, which is fantastic. But the
economics of a movie coming along a movie that has to play in China or has to play, you know,
overseas simply in order to make its investment back. It, it ends up being one of those barriers
or let's not be one of the boundaries of being as, as, as diverse. You just said it. How many
times did you play a maid or a, or policeman number three? Yeah. And how many times have I,
I had moments, you know, that I could make my mark in, even in roles that were fabulous. I mean,
even in doubt, it was still one scene. Yes. Do you know what I'm saying? I would,
I would rather get a role that is, well, I shouldn't say I would rather get a role,
but playing a lead role. And I don't care. There's a part of me that literally you have to dare to
fail when you're an actor. If, if you, because otherwise you get way too precious. I just
saw it as an opportunity for redefinition. And what happens is your imagination is absolutely
the biggest tool you have as an actor and a writer. And I'm sorry, that is the one tool
that gets tossed out the window when it comes to people of color. You see them on screen,
even in fabulous roles, and they're still within the confines of being strong, a device,
um, funny. That's another one. Funny. Yeah. If it is a biopic or overtly earthy, you know,
and if it is a black movie at best, it's a biopic because it, it, it makes the audience
feel comfortable that I'm investing in this black person's humanity, who I already know
has made a mark in the world. It's not easy for me to admit that I've been standing in the same
place for 18 years. I've been standing with you. I've been right here with Detroit. I got a life
too. I get 18 years of my life to stand in the same spot as you. There is nothing more, more
true. What are the questions we're supposed to like ponder was what are your fears when you
come through this? And if you have any fear in this, get out, don't even show up. You, you,
you cannot be afraid of failing. You cannot be afraid of, of, of not getting, you have to just
give it some degree of a 100% of your behavior. And it, it, a lot of times it cannot, cannot be
overt. I've had conversations with the, with directors and it can, it go off into a theoretical
kind of like discussion about what you're going to try to do in the scene. And I would just say,
okay, I've got it. Just, just, just watch this because I can't talk about it anymore. If I talk
about it, I'm going to try, I'm sort of start rationalizing and meeting out these emotions and
moments of behavior that cannot, should not be censored because if you're going to censor them
in front of one of these cameras, it will be self-evident. You have to go in a hundred percent
and not care about failing. You will trust that the director is not going to use it,
you know, which is fine. But that's what I've always said. Look, don't worry about it. If it's
no good, it won't be used. But if you're going to approach it with any degree of hesitation,
you're doomed. Or maybe, maybe if you dare to do it, it could be perfect because here's the
bottom line is it's like a famous motivational speaker, Lisa Nichols said, if you're afraid to
die, just dive afraid. And I think that that is the bottom line for actors. You know, if I had
to do a nude scene, I would be absolutely petrified. But just jump afraid. Dare to do it.
And maybe you'll land. Maybe in it, there'll be five moments that are crappy that will be left
on the editing floor. But maybe there's going to be that one moment that's going to be the
defining moment in your career. And if you are trying to create a defining moment in your career,
you will fail. Oh, yeah, absolutely. If if you are just open to the needs of the moment,
being in the moment is like the it's the only true advice I think I could ever give any other actor.
It's like do learn everything you have to and forget everything you have to forget.
And they just get there. So all you are, you're not trying to do anything you're actually being.
And there's those there's moments in films in which is OK, we really got to establish this
moment here. So don't forget about this moment. Make sure you sell this because we really got
to clock this thing like this. Look, I'm just going to try to be in the moment as best you
turn it on. If it's any good. Well, we'll be. And you know what's interesting? I got to say this.
That's why I remember I was approached to write a book about my life. First of all, I said,
I'm not old enough to write a book about my life. We'll call it thus far. Yes. I don't want to call
it nothing. I didn't want to say anything because I wasn't ready to show people my mess. I wasn't
willing to share the bad, bad part of my story. And I feel like that really is another thing
that I want to say to actors, you know, because they feel that's what we do with the makeup.
Yeah. And, you know, putting ourselves in the right angle because we do a lot of this. Oh,
yeah, we do. We do a lot of this. So after a while you think this is what you do.
I have to confess, I'm so glad that I'm sitting here with my good side on camera talking to you
because I know the difference. One of the things that happens with people in our position because
we have to go off and talk about what we do is they ask us, like, how did you do that moment?
What was the secret of coming? And I have to say, I haven't the faintest idea. And if there was a
secret to it, do you think I'd share it with you? Coca-Cola has a formula that they don't share
with anybody. I'm not going to. Oh, here's exactly what I did. I thought of my dog that died when I
was eight years old. And I, you know, transpose that to the lonely feelings. I'm not going to
tell anybody how I got there. One is because I don't know. And if I if I was to think about how
I would get there, I would never be able to get there again. Absolutely. And I don't I feel like
when I start every job, I'm starting with a blank slate. Totally. It's just I'm like, I will tell
you this great thing. This it was one of the most empowering moments I've ever had on a set. I made
a movie called Sam Mendes Road to Perdition with Paul Newman, with Paul Newman, ladies and
gentlemen. And everybody in the world is intimidated with Paul Newman and everybody can't believe
they're in the same room with Paul Newman. It was it was truly it was it was it was a miracle every
step of the way. Sam Mendes directing and Paul Newman's first day was this. We were having this
wake and there was a lot of Irish people dancing and drinking and carrying on. And Paul Newman had
to get up and he had to give a toast and care. You know, that was that was a scene. And when he did
it, as soon as he cut, he turned to us all and said, it feels really self-conscious the first
day, doesn't it? I said, thank God Paul Newman feels the same thing that we all do. Exactly.
I always feel like we're not really making the movie until three days. Oh,
my goodness. Absolutely. Takes three days. Absolutely.
