Ep32 - Sam Elliott / "The Hero"

show today. Thanks for being here, sir, Thanks for having me on. Chris pure to be here. I want to start by saying, I hope course pays you handsomely because I bought my share because of you. Oh good. I'm gonna pass that on to him. You've got a good relationship. You know, They've been good to me over the years. And just to start off somewhat irreverently before we get to the to the meat of this, uh, you are responsible for uttering probably my favorite line in movie history

from Roadhouse. Uh. That place has a sign hanging over the year and all that is don't eat the big white man. Don't eat the big white man that kills me. Yeah, me as well. I enjoyed that one. What was that? What was that? Shoot? Like, let's start? It was fun, you know, I think it's it was mindless on some level. I think on some level it was like the ultimate

male fantasy, you know, a thing, you know. But working with Patrick and working with Ben Gazzara and working with Joel Silver, who was the producer who's kind of one of those old throwbacks from the old days of Hollywood, was quite a joy. Beat the ship out of each other on the thing and happened. That part was also fun. I was young enough at that point where my body could withstand it. We had a good time, you know.

It's it's always fun to play those characters that are albeit not very well drawn, they're still fun to try to breathe life into them, you know. And when you have enough good one liners here and there, then that's a good time. I don't eat the Big White Man the Hero. This is your second film with Brett Haley. Um. You know, as I said at the top, I've known Brett for a number of years now, going back to film school. He must have impressed you enough with his

second film. I'll see you in my dreams. I don't know even think it was a matter of Brett impressing me. I just you know, maybe if you know, I don't know. I just don't think it in terms of that with Brett. But Dreams was such, you know, it was a short lived two week experience. But I hadn't had an opportunity to play a character like that and a lot a long time, you know, kind of the leading man, kind of a character piece. This came out of the journey that Bred and I went on after we made Dreams.

When we went on the road to do the promotion for it. We traveled a bunch together back and forth across the country and ate a lot of meals together, logged a lot of miles together, had a few drinks together, and had a lot of dialogue, a lot of talking together. And he got to know me, and I got to know him, and you know, we I think dug up

a pretty close relationship. And he said I want to write something for you, and I said, yeah, right man, He said, no bashing, all right, something And so he and he went home and he and Mark Bash came

up with this concept for something called the Iceberg. Actually it was called Iceberg in the beginning when Brett gave me it in treatment form, and it was really the whole theory was on that piece that's on Nick's screensaver in the film about how an actor's career, you know, comparison to an Iceberg, like what you see on the top of the water isn't necessarily what it's all about below the surface, which to me is it's an interesting comparison,

you know. But the marketing people the people, and then then they developed a script and it was still called Iceberg for a moment, but then they got funding for it, and the people that came up with the money didn't think that Iceberg was going to be a marketable name, so they changed it to a zero hero works. Yeah, I guess it does. It's an overused term, boy, I think at this point, and there's nothing heroic about Lee

Hidden well. It's an interesting juxtaposition with today's uh zeitgeist in the industry, superior Rose flying around and it's a very different story. Is there anything particularly exciting striking to you about working with up and coming talent versus you know, a veteran filmmaker. Oh, absolutely, I mean, it gives you hope for where the game's going, for where the business is gone. And you know, I've been in this business a long time, almost fifty years, you know, and wanted

to do it since I was a kid. I have seen a number of changes. I think mark most prominently by you know, the introduction of the chip so to speak. It's really kind of revolutionized the business. And here comes this kid. It's comes from that side of it. That's a filmmaker, you know. I mean, I think a brilliant filmmaker. I think Brett has an opportunity to do some really important work over the years, over the long haul, and I think if he wants it, he will have a

long haul career. It will be there a long time because he has things to say and he knows how to go about putting it together. Does he communicate with you differently on the set in a way that's notable for you? Uh? You know, he communicates period period, Like he just knows how to talk to people, and it's not like to hear himself talk. You know. He comes in, he knows clearly what it is he wants to do.

He certainly has his vision, but he's also smart enough to get out of the actor's way on a certain level. But if you kind of stray too far one way or another, you need to be brought in or he wants to talk. He just comes in says a few words. You know. That to me is just you know, a director that knows what he wants, but at the same time as willing to kind of keep an open mind or he's going to come up with something really good

in the end. The other thing about Bread is he always he's always open to doing one kind of an option piece. It's like he gets what he wants, gets the takes that he wants, and then he just kind of throws it up and said, you know, maybe it's like just as simple as not do whatever you want a little fun. Yeah, you didn't ever know what's going to come out of one of those. Yeah, indeed, something might spark in the moment. This is one of the

most intimate formances I think you've given. And you probably get asked this a lot, but at least one wondering did you put a lot of yourself into this? And I think by virtue of the fact that I'm an actor and I'm of Lee's age, that probably there is a certain amount of myself in there, and the fact that it was born out of a you know, long

extended conversation with the guy that wrote the screenplay. I think there's no question on some level it's me, but it's you know, it's not like it's a documentary about Sam Eliott. There's a couple of glaring differences right off the top. I'm happily married to Catherine still for thirty three years. We've been together for thirty nine years. I love my daughter more than anything. I see her all the time. I don't have cancer and I don't smoke dope.

So apart from that, you know, there's some stuff that I identify with. I know, characters that had a you know, had a good run at it, a short run actors, and then nothing happened after that, and I watched those guys dry on the vine, waiting for it to turn around. There's certainly guys there that, you know, his business is not easy on its actors. I don't think so. My friend Bill Paxton told me and Catherine one time, standing

in our kitchen women right after we'd done Tombstone. He said, we're all just grisped for the mill, you know, And I just fun man, that's the truth of it. That's

the truth. That had a way of putting things in words. Uh, you know, that idea of putting a lot of yourself into a role and if it cuts close to the bone, not saying this necessarily did, but if it did, is that kind of thing scary or exciting as an actor when you when you cut that close to the bone of who you I don't know that I've ever had an opportunity to do this before, to go that close to the bone, as you say, And I just looked at it as an opportunity, a gift, if you want

to call it that. I've called it that a bunch of times. You know, I'm seventy two years old. I'm doing what I wanted to do since I was a little kid. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be around or how much more I'm gonna be offered to work things that i want to do. And this opportunity came, and you know, there was really a chance to bear my soul in some ways. And because I have understand this guy, I understand what he's given

up in pursuit of a career. I understand it. He's totally fucked it up on by the choices that he's made. And you know, it just seemed the right time. It seemed the right time to let it go and do the best I could with this material. As you say, nearly fifty years into a career, and you said, you say you wanted to do whatever since you were a kid. What what What was the early hook that got you?

I think I'm sure going to too many Saturday matinees in Sacramento where I grew up, the Sequoya Theater, which I'm sure is at the bottom of some mini mall by now. It's just you know, I read there was this really kind of alarming piece, not alarming, but I don't know, off putting peace to me in the l A Times last Sunday. But all the exhibitors are all trying to figure out how to bring the audience back

into the fold, so to speak. You know, all the bells and whistles that they're offering, you know, the food, the reclining chairs. You know, it doesn't sound like they really enforced the rule of no cell phones anymore. The blean seats and the spray depending on where you are, you know, but it's like, what the funk man. I mean, for me, going to a film is about going into a dark in theater, and it's a relationship you have with what's going on on the screen. It's not about

all the distractions that are going on around you. It's not about trying to have to focus and like block things out. That's why you would go in there. That's why I went in there as a kid, and I was like mesmerized, remb We're going in there just watching Flash Gordon cereals, you know, or I'm not even sure whether I'm not even in a ventuary. I guess maybe some of those Westerns back. Yeah, there's no doubt that there were Westerns. I think I saw red River very

early on. I know I saw The Searchers Barrier early on. But there were Western series, and I guess it was Tom Mix and I'm trying to think of and that they were like cereals as well. But it was that exchange, that audience exchanged with those lights flickering on the screen. It just I thought, Wow, it's incredible to make somebody feel like I'm feeling that. That's what I want to do.

We talked about the chip. I mean, I guess that's what we're that that's what we're losing it to, is the ease of viewing things on the laptop or a phone or what have you been A lot of that's going to TV, which is something I wanted to talk about as well. A lot of great stuff being done on TV these days. And you've had a unique perch. You've been involved with TV much of your entire career, so you've seen that shift in that platform. So what do you what do you think about how TV has

changed over the years and where it is now. I think, like film, TV has changed radically. I mean, if you look at the number of platforms and the number of content that's been generated today and developed this today, I mean, it's mind boggling wonderful for an actor, you know, because there's work out there, and good work, and the work that's being done today. I think on some level it's like the golden age of television. That's said. I think there's,

you know, all this stuff with cable television. It's like, I don't know, you know, there's this big rub as to whether all of that stuff should be competing on equal ground with the movies that are getting generated out there and you know, I don't know. You may be asking the wrong fellow for you know that kind of I'm I'm really pretty much of a techno peasant by choice and hope to remain so I don't email, and I don't Facebook and tweet and all that other business.

Can't imagine you on Twitter, nor can I, nor can I. Uh, you know, I guess said nearly fifty years into it, what's for you? Do you think the secret to the longevity? I think making the right choices in the long run and not having to take a job for money, which allowed me to make what I considered the right choice

in terms of the material. You know, I because I wanted it early on, and I thought a lot about it when I started when I literally became an actor, and I've discovered earlier on for whatever reason, and I think a lot of it was I watched a lot of bad television back and then, like fifties and sixties. There was also a lot of great television in that period of time, but there was some pretty bad stuff as well. I think I decided then that if I wanted a long I wanted to go the distance I

have longevity in my career. That I should be choose. You about what I did to maintained I just worked for money, but go for good stuff. What I thought was good stuff. I wanted to venture out a little bit and talk about we we just touched on the Westerns. I'm a huge fan of the genre. I'm always hoping it can have a huge, lively comeback. Obviously, you're one of the icons of that genre, with the Louis Lamore stuff and Tombstone Buffalo girls and whatnot. What do you

think of that? This is maybe an unnecessarily heavy question, but it's something I think about just the genres viability, the contemporary viability like that. Do you think the genre still has something to say today? I think it's timeless on some level, you know. I mean, you know, the Western was Hollywood was bread and butter for quite a period of time. By the time I got to Hollywood, the Western was pretty much on its way out, falling out of favor. But there were still we still have

capabilities in l A to mount or Western. Today, you couldn't mount a Western if you if your hat depended on it, you have to go to Texas or New Mexico. That's that's most of the livestock, and most of the wagons, most of the equipment is now. But there's also I think no desire in the business, and I think it's based upon you know, I'd say it's all so much of it now is based upon what the marketplace once

or what we think the marketplace wants to see. And I'm not sure that anybody in Hollywood thinks that there's a market for a good Western anymore. You can take the Lone Ranger, for lack of a better example, cast a white man playing Tom too and have all that computer generated stuff in it, spend the kind of money waste, the kind of money that they made that they spent making that film, that has nothing to do with what I see is what is most interesting about that genre

to me. It was always the simplicity of that genre, the clear delineation between good and bad. There wasn't a lot of gray area. The outdoors, the real outdoors, not something that's computer generated, was always a prime character in the piece, the classic struggles between man and man, man and the outdoors, man and nature. Call it what you want, you know, and a good story with good characters, believable characters, and an opportunity to tell the truth about a time

when you know, life was a simpler thing. And there's nothing wrong with the vision of a man on horseback either, and particularly in beautiful country. What's your favorite Western? Do you have one? Oh? My god, I don't know. I don't know how many times I watched The Searchers over

the years. And actually one of the first film that I started in it was right after I left twentieth Century Fox as a contract player, and it was a movie called Cactus at the time, and a woman named Vera Miles started in it, and Vera was in The Searchers. You mentioned red River earlier. That's definitely a favorite of mine. Yeah, hard to beat. That's probably I've heard. I think that's his best performance. John Ford came to visit Vera on the set of Cactus, which later was called Molly and Law.

Was John maybe repeating myself now, sorry if it was. I got to meet John Ford on that film. That was pretty incredible. I think he had a soft spot for very Miles but which comes as no surprise, which she was a beautiful woman. You have to meet John Ford. You got to be in Butch Cassidy and Barely I'm a shadow on the wall and that thing I'll take two is my line and it's off camera. I always know somebody that hadn't seen that film or is really

asking me for something that they don't want. When I get a letter, I get a comments saying Hi, I love you and butch cast. You know, the only my only reason my name is in the credit is because I was in her contract to Fox where they made the film. Well, it's cool to be in that scene. Iconic scene. Yeah, that's a good one. It's fun and sit there watching Redford, you know, calling those guys and

see Neuven come through the door and pretty cool. You got a more unique perspective on that scene than any of us do. Uh. Another TV project you were involved with. I just wanted to ask about because I love the original film was fail Safe. When Clini made Failsafe into the live thing, what was that set like, because that's obviously a unique, pretty incredible, and I remember it'd being pretty daunting at the same time. You know, we rehearsed

for a few days. I got that call. I'd never worked with George before, did you see he just had twins. By the way, that a wonderful thing. One of each, I believe, yeah, and Stephen Frears was a director on that, and I had worked with Stephen on a picture called The High Low Country, and then you know, I was like, I don't know, I think it was maybe that same year I got a call to come and do this thing on fail Safe, and so I of course jumped

at it. I mean, number one, it was an opportunity to work with Stephen again and I loved him, but an opportunity to do live television. You know, at that period of time, it just and I never was one to do much theater, and I think that's why I was a little freaked up by it. That's the way I get every Friday night on the ranch when we do our taping in front of a live audience. I always get a little nervous, overly amped up for that. But it was great. It wasn't It was an incredible experience.

You know, George is phenomenal on almost everything, and I can't even think about in terms of being a good man. And you know, somebody that survived this game and worked hard on it, and you know, I don't know how many pilots George did over the years before he had hit the brass ring and and I think that he's probably moved on from it. You know, I think we're

going to see a lot were from Mr Clooney. Then being an actor, you sure isn't going to go the way of Lee Hayden, right, you know, I'm anxious to see when his next trick is going to be. And then just talking about the progression of the industry today, we find ourselves a wash and the Marvel properties. And you were part of Angley's Hulk and then Marvel moved on with with a different incarnation there. You know, what, did you feel like you wanted to be a part

of that locomotive? I mean, I kind of feel like the answer is no, but I don't know. Yeah, I feel like the answer is no too. You know, there's there's very few things that I would like to have continued on with in terms of one of those blockbuster types. Number one, I do want to say in terms of The Hulk that the reason for doing that film was an opportunity to work with Angle and that was undeniable that that was the right choice. And working with Jennifer

conny woodn't bad either. And I loved Jennifer since she was a child actress, and she's phenomenal. But the only thing that I think that I've ever wanted to see go on that didn't was a project called The Golden Compass, which was a trilogy in which we did the first one of and then that was the end of it. It basically sank New Line pictures or films. Whatever's got, there's pictures, I think cinema, Yeah, cinema, you know. And uh,

the movie did really well overseas. I think it made like million, but it only made eighty million in the States, which is a little less than what it cost. And I think the way that New Line financed their films was by selling off all the foreign rights. So do we need any money to be made? But that character that I played, Lee Hayden Natallee Hayden, Lee scoresby how many played more than one. I just realized that it was something that fared much better in the second and

third books. But you know, it wasn't in the cards. Yeah, that was a property that easily could sustain to number of films could have. Uh. And currently you're working on The Star is Born with Bradley Cooper directing. How's he striking you as a director. Pretty well, I'm I'm still a little I don't know, I'm not in awe of him, but but I am in some ways. I've never met Bradley before this, I've never met Stephanie before this, and uh, the opportunity to be on the set with both of them,

let alone work with him, is a wonderful thing. Bradley has a awesome thought that one of my best characteristics was that I have a solid work ethic. I don't think it compares to Bradley's work ethic. I mean, his his tireless. I feel tireless at times, but I think he's just tireless all the time. He just he just seems like he's totally on top of it all the time. And everyone defers to him on the set, and I think that he's guiding Stephanie through this performance is just

going to blow everybody's mind. You're shooting that here in town, right, We're shooting shooting that here in town. Yeah, it doesn't have got one more day. Pardon that doesn't have to happen to him. No, it doesn't happen very often. But you know, they've got a limited but some of the some of the scenes are set in other places, but we did them here. I think the Greek theater doubles for the Bay are. Yeah, you know, they shot out

at Coachellah, and uh I went from the ranch. I finished up on the Ranch on a Friday and started shooting Stars Born in a Monday, and then in the middle of Stars Born started this press tour. So we got a vacation coming up. Hope, Yeah, you got a break coming up. I'm not sure about a vacation, but there's a there's a there's gonna be some breathing room in July and and I'm gonna go to work again and Massachusetts in the month of August. You just want

to keep the pedal to the medal like that or not. Really, it's just kind of the way it all fell this year. You know, really a number of projects that you know, I can't say no when it's good stuff. It's harder to say no. And the timing factor just they just

fell where they fell. And the thing with Bradley, it was like, you know, they wanted me to start before I finished the Ranch, like the last month we're in production, and they wanted me to go to Coachella for three days Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and come back and shoot two days on a ranch, you know, the two performance days, which would have been impossible at least for me. So I couldn't do that, you know, and for whatever reason, you know, they held out and we worked it out.

It's it's incredible to watch that whole fucking thing unfold, you know, all of a sudden. Bradley Cooper's a rock star, you know, and he plays a guitar and he sings. Man, he's got a beautiful voice, and he gets down on a guitar. It's incredible, all the while directing the filmy an answer, No, I'm sorry to say that. I wish I did me too. I've got a guitar. I can't

play it, but I pick on it, you know. Last thing for you, uh, is there anything you know that you still want to do that you haven't done in the business? Is there an inch that you want to scratch still? Or feeling good? I think on some level, I'd love to do some more Western's, you know, that's always there. I hope everyone is listening to that. Sam Elliott wants to do more Westerns and I want to see them, so please finance them. Thank you. So it's like,

please write them first, you know. I think a good Western can get made. I think there's I know how to get him made. It's like getting them on paper. That's the hardest part is to find one on paper somehow, you know. But I think, Chris, it's really just about trying to continue to do good work, you know, if

it comes my way. You know. Yeah, I've been fortunate, the luckiest guy I know in terms of doing what I want to do, something I wanted to do when I was a kid, being able to make a living off of it, and at the same time you have a family life. I'm blessed on that level, there's no doubt about it. And being able to work with Catherine this movie, yeah it wasn't been either. Pretty cool. Yeah, well, good luck. So far, so good with your career, sir.

And the movie is called The Hero. It opens June nine. Thank you for being here today. I really appreciate your time. Christ appreciate it too.