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- Bob, when you were playing a guy who's killed people,
as you just did, and it's based on a real-life man,
is it good for you personally to find the goodness in him,
or is that a dangerous proposition?
- He was a guy who happened
to have seen a lot of combat in the Second World War,
so he was inured to killing
more than someone else,
and he found himself in this world
that was not what he was from,
and it fit, and he was loyal to the people
that gave him the love and support and respected him.
And then he had a big conflict,
which, later on, not to give it away,
but (clears throat) that was the whole thing.
But I think the story's very simple.
You could find that kind of situation in any culture.
Loyalty, betrayal, love.
All those things are there.
The price in this world is a little more harsh.
And maybe not so,
in certain parts of the world this is what happens.
So we have it in this country, in America,
that milieu, that culture,
it's what it is.
- So your loyalty in the movie to your work,
it was very interesting to see how it affected
your home life and your daughter in the movie,
and that was what was very interesting and different
to the fact that a person would love you
for what you do and how much you believed
in doing the right thing for the guys
you were employed by.
But at home it was affecting the family,
it's heartbreaking.
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- I went last year to the Harry Ransom Center.
I don't know if you know what it is, but it's the archive
at the University of Texas, which has great papers.
And there are Bob's papers.
And to actually see your handwriting
on the "Raging Bull" script.
And it was amazing, because your scripts
are covered with notes.
What was the toughest character you actually had to
prepare for?
- They're all different, depends.
Some are harder in some ways than others.
"Raging Bull", because of the weight, and all that,
"The Mission", just the physical stuff,
"Awakenings", there was a lot of physical stuff, too,
and studying how my character behaved,
and what his affliction was.
And then "Raging Bull", I read the book,
somebody handed me the book, one of the authors,
and I read it while I was doing "1900" with Bertolucci,
and I called Marty from Italy - (scoffs) Really?
And I said, "The book's not great literature,
but it's got a lotta heart."
And I kinda want to do certain things, I remember
I used to see Jake LaMotta, he'd work in a strip place,
right on 7th Avenue in the '40s.
He'd be standing right out there near the sidewalk,
and he was overweight, and this and that.
I said, "Jesus, look what happened to him from that."
And I thought, just the graphic difference
of being out of shape, and then being a young fighter.
That was interesting to me, I thought,
"Yeah, I'd like to see if I could really just
gain that weight actually, and do it."
So that was my interest in it.
Marty had his reasons, and both of us just come together
on the project.
- If you could go back to your younger self,
what piece of advice would you give him?
- Well, I was saying something to my grandson the other day
because that things, just be calm.
When things are going well, be calm.
Don't think you're on top of the world, in a sense.
You always gotta be wary, because I've seen it,
I've seen people come, I've seen people go,
I've seen them come, I've seen them go,
You gotta be chill, you gotta just take what's good
in your life and move forward, cautiously and carefully.
And thank God that you have that.
It's very, very important not to overextend yourself
when you think you've got it.
That's, no such thing.
Everybody's dispensable.
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- I'm sure you know this anecdote:
"Dying is easy, comedy is hard."
(laughs)
True or false?
- Comedy's more difficult, yes.
I can't do what Billy Crystal does, Eddie Murphy,
you, Adam.
But I can do other things.
I like to think that I work in Marty's movies,
just, situations that are funny, in and of themselves.
Which is like life.
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