(upbeat music)
- Hi this is Marya Gullo, from the Hollywood Reporter,
and I'm in studio today with Burt Reynolds and Adam Rifkin.
Hi gentleman how are you today?
- We're better now.
- [Marya] Yeah?
- Yeah.
- Doing good, thank you.
- We are here to talk about your movie, The Last Movie Star.
This was a role that was specifically
written for you, Mr. Reynolds.
- Well, that's what he told me.
- [Adam] It's true.
- If it's true, I'm very flattered,
because it's a terrific script.
- Thank you Burt. Well I'll tell you,
Burt Reynolds, is my hero and has been
my hero since I was 10 years old.
I always loved his movies, I always loved
his appearances on talk shows.
I just thought he was the coolest,
funniest guy, and my fantasy when I was a kid
was getting to know him and getting to be friends with him.
So cut to 30 some odd years later,
I thought to myself, "I need to give something
back to Burt for all of the years of joy
he's given me and so many other people."
So I just rolled the dice and I wrote a role for him
that I hoped he would want to play,
and I submitted the script to his manager,
and I said, "Please tell Burt, if Burt doesn't
want to play this film, I'm not making it.
I only wrote it for Burt," and I meant it.
And the next day Burt called me up
and he blew my mind, he told me he was in.
- And what was your first reaction when you got the script?
- I liked it a lot, and I was doubly flattered
when I met my friend here, who is directing it.
I mean, he said all the right things
like, "I want you and nobody else."
I thought, "Man, he lies great, or he's very flattering,"
and I was good either way.
- And you said this was a tough script,
there's some tough physical work in this as well,
were you tempted to do your own stunts?
- Well, I've always done them, that's why I have this.
(laughter)
- You were talking about how you feel about the script
that it's a script that has a lot of humility in it.
What do you want people to feel when they see this movie?
- Well, no matter what we say we want, it's to entertain.
And this is a very entertaining film I think,
if we can touch all the bases.
We've been doing that good, and he's casted beautifully,
and the people that are in it,
I'm in love with Chevy Chase, I hate to
admit it on national television.
- And did you know Chevy before this movie?
- No, I'd never met him.
- You'd never met him?
- No.
- And now he's planting big kisses
on you at the movie premiere?
- Well, he kissed me on the mouth and
I don't want to say this out loud, I liked it.
(laughter)
- Well it was a very convincing performance as a friendship,
so maybe there's a friendship waiting to happen there.
- The two of them on the set together, it was magic.
Once they met, once they started joking
around with each other, they went off script,
had hilarious ad libs, it was gold.
I just let the cameras roll and everything
you see just came up naturally, it was beautiful.
- That's country music town, that's not a film town.
- No, no, no, no, Nashville has become very hip, very hip.
- Well that's what I'm worried about, my hip.
- Now you had another very difficult
scene partner, and that was yourself.
- Yeah, I thought he was the best actor I worked with.
- Really?
- Yeah, he just knew what I was gonna to do,
and I knew what he was gonna do, and that's perfect.
- [Marya] What was it like to film those scenes?
- It was difficult if you don't
believe and trust your director.
Then, you gotta go with it, and once you go with it,
I've seen the cut footage and it's amazing,
it absolutely looks like I'm talking to me.
Which I've done many times, but never on film.
- I also heard that you were, Adam, you were
asking Burt for some directing cues as well.
- Well, Burt, in addition to being
a fabulous actor, is a fabulous film director.
He's directed some great movies, big-hit movies.
And so occasionally, I would go up to Burt
and I'd say, "Look, I know this isn't
your job on this movie, but what would you do
if you were directing this scene?"
And he'd look around the room,
and he'd see where the cameras were,
and he'd say, "Try this, try that, put the camera here."
Boom, every time it was fantastic.
- You have some great chemistry with
your co-star, Ariel Winter.
Is there a possibility for an action movie,
a buddy cop movie, maybe in the future?
- We have to let her get a couple years older.
- And you have to give her some advice
about staying away from bad boys.
- Yeah, but I did that anyway.
(laughter)
- Let's talk a little bit about the movie's regrets.
There are a lot of regrets in this movie,
but is there something that, in your life,
that you would never regret?
- I married her.
(laughter)
- What does this movie say about the nature of fandom?
- Well, I'll tell you as a big Burt Reynold's fan,
fandom comes from a love of something, or someone,
and as a fan of Burt's, I wanted to have
characters in the film reflect that sentiment,
so that's why I have the character of Vic
go this very small, very grassroots film festival.
And they--
- Very cheap one.
- Right, but their hearts are in the right place,
they love Vic Edwards so much.
I didn't want to poke fun at them because
their film festival was low-rent.
I wanted it to be touching because they love him.
And of course, if you see the movie,
the character of Clark Duke is basically me.
I'm a Burt Reynold's fan boy, I'm not going
to apologize for it, and him coming to
my set and starring in this film is something I just will,
I can't believe it, that Burt Reynolds is in this film.
Just like Clark Duke's character can't believe
that Vic Edwards showed up to his film festival.
- Oh my gosh, Mr. Edwards, I can't believe it.
Oh my gosh, Vic Edwards!
Oh man, I can't tell you how excited
we are to have you here.
I'm Doug MacDougall, we spoke on the phone, remember?
- Yeah.
- And how do your fans react to you,
do you get a lot of appreciation and love from the world?
- Sometimes, yeah, and sometimes they go (hocks loogie).
(laughter)
- Well I will tell you, if I may butt in
for a moment on this, when I'm out and about
with Burt, and people see that it's him, they go crazy.
Obviously we've all encountered a famous
person here and there, we've seen how people
react to famous people, everybody knows how that works,
but when it's Burt, when people see that it's Burt,
I've never seen anything like it.
They go absolutely ape.
- Well, I react to them, I hope,
very thankful and grateful they feel that way.
I know as soon as I cross the street
they're gonna fall in love with Chevy Chase,
but in the meantime.
(laughter)
- Is there a moment in this movie that
you're particularly proud of, one scene or?
- I hope all of them because you don't have a movie,
you can't do a movie and, "Oh I can rest in these
next two scenes because," the movie gonna die.
And movies don't come to life again once they die.
- I have to say in terms of Burt's performance,
and I'm gonna embarrass him for a second,
just to talk about his performance for one second.
Burt gives such a brave performance in this film,
he shows himself to be so vulnerable,
and of course, he's very funny in it,
and of course, he's very charming in it,
but he digs deeps for this part, in ways that I think
are going to really touch people, and I know it touched me.
And there are some scenes that when we were
shooting them, the whole crew was crying.
And then to see the way audiences
are reacting to those scenes, and the audiences are crying,
it's because of his performance, and because of how
he goes there, he allows himself to be exposed and raw.
It's amazing to see.
- Mr. Reynold's I have two questions for you
before I let you go.
What was the fist job that made you think, "I've made it."?
- I've never had that job.
You can never think you've made it,
and if you think that then you're in deep quicksand.
But if you think you're on the way
to doing good things, that's a good thing.
I think I'm old enough now that I'm on the way
because I can't go back now, it's too late.
- And the last question to you is
do you have a worst audition story?
- Worst audition?
I have a lot of them.
I remember one particular test that I did.
I did all the wrong things, which is to try too hard,
and not to understand where the camera is,
and once you know that, and once you have a vulnerability,
you can't just be this macho, tough guy,
who's just a pain in the ass.
You gotta have what Mr. Eastwood has,
which is he's tough, but he's very sweet.
I loved seeing him yesterday because we laughed
and giggled about stuff we've done,
and things we shouldn't have done, and all that stuff.
- It sounds like a worst audition experience
is also a great life experience.
- That's right.
- Well thank you so much for being here gentleman,
the movie is, The Last Movie Star,
and it's in theaters now.