"Right now on "Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter,"" "we'll hear from the season's most intriguing actors." "I-I just couldn't connect to violence being the answer." "Love had to be the answer." "I became an actor because I noticed-- I was in the youth club, and I noticed all the pretty girls were in the-- were in the drama class, so I thought, "I join that and I'll get a kiss from 'em."" "(laughter)" "I can't watch anything that I do without sitting there and tearing it apart." "Do you know, one of-one of the first things that they said to me when I-when I came here was "Change your name."" ""So, you really want me to be" ""the most despicable Negro in the history of cinema."" "And he's like, "Yeah, pretty much."" "I was like, "Okay, let's do it."" "(Stephen Galloway) Michael Caine, "Youth."" "Samuel L. Jackson, "The Hateful Eight."" "Mark Ruffalo, "Spotlight" and "Infinitely Polar Bear."" "Benicio Del Toro, "Sicario."" "Joel Edgerton, "Black Mass."" "Will Smith, "Concussion."" "♪" "Hello and welcome to "Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter."" "I'm Stephen Galloway, executor editor of features." "And I'm Matthew Belloni, executive editor." "And let's get started with the first question." "Sam, you work with Tarantino a lot." "When he has a new film, do you just automatically say yes?" "Yeah." "Or does he send you a script, and you read it and then you say yes?" "Well, he calls me first and says," ""I wrote a new script, and I wrote a part for you."" "And I go, "Okay... uh, which one is it?"" "And he'll give me a character name, and then he'll say, "I'll send you the script."" "I do that with Chris Nolan." "I pretty much know I'm gonna do it." "I mean, there's no question." "He's not calling me to say, "Will you be in my movie?"" "He's just calling me to say," ""This is the part that I just wrote for you,"" "and I'm like, "Okay, great."" ""See you in a couple of months."" "Yeah, 'cause when he called me about "Django,"" "I knew I wasn't gonna be Django, 'cause he started talking about it," "I go, "Okay, I'm 15 years too late for Django."" "(laughter) "Who am I playing?"" "He said, "Stephen." "Who is he?"" ""Read the script."" "Great, great." "So, I read it." "Yeah, I read it." "I called him back and said, "So, you really want me to be" ""the most despicable Negro in the history of cinema."" "And he was like, "Yeah, pretty much."" "I was like, "Okay, let's do it."" "How has Tarantino changed from when you first worked with him to now in "Hateful Eight"?" "Well, he got more money to work with." "They're giving him bigger films." "(Galloway) Has he changed?" "Not really." "Uh, Quentin-Quentin loves movies." "He loves the process." "He loves the process." "He loves actors." "He loves crew members." "He loves everything about making movies." "And when you do it, you get infused with that joy." "What most surprised you about your "Hateful Eight" character when you did read it?" "That he was the smartest person in the movie." "And he is, you know?" "It's very" " I mean, people say a lot of things about Quentin" "He's racist, he's this, he's like da-da-da, but, you know, every character that he's ever written for me has been a very intelligent, very driven person." "Got room for one more?" "(latch clicks)" "♪" "They call him The Hangman." "When the handbill says "Dead or Alive,"" "the rest of us just shoot you in the back from up on top a perch somewhere and bring you in dead over a saddle." "But when John Ruth, The Hangman, catches you, you hang." "Michael, you semi-retired from acting, but you came back to do "Youth."" "Yeah." "Why?" "And do you miss it when you're not doing it?" "No, I don't miss it when I'm not doing it, but I-I keep retiring, and then something comes up." "This "Youth" is by a man called Paolo Sorrentino, who-who, a year before I got the script, had won Best Foreign Film for a movie called "Great Beauty," which I loved." "And I'd seen all his work without realizing I'd seen it." "You know, once I looked him up," "I-I-I-I'd seen all the movies." "And then I'd got the script." "Paolo seemed to me to be on a-on a-on a plane where he wouldn't have heard of anyone like me." "You know what I mean?" "A-a-and then my agent said-- said, "He's written it for you, and if you don't do it, he's not doing it."" "And I-and I-- I felt like saying," ""Well, don't bother to send a script." "I'll do it." "It's okay."" "Did you say Michael's semi-retired?" "So that means he's, like, doing only three movies a year." "(laughter)" "Yeah, exactly." "I'm sorry, I" "I just do not understand." "What exactly is the problem?" "The problem is that I composed the simple songs for my wife, and only she has ever performed them, and only she has recorded them." "And as long as I live, she will be the only one to sing them." "The problem is, dear sir... my wife can't sing anymore." "The doctor you play took on the NFL." "NFL, yep." "How much did the NFL take you on with the movie?" "You know, it-it was-- it's interesting." "I didn't have any contact with the-the NFL." "All-all of the-- the contact was Legal." "Um, and because the director, Peter Landesman, was-was an investigative reporter, he was bulletproof, you know." "He had-he had worked the story and done the research, and many of the scenes in the movie we did from transcripts." "It-it-it was not-not easy, but it was-- We felt comfortable in saying and doing the things that we were-- we were saying and doing." "And also, we focused more on the doctor's story, so Dr.-- Dr. Bennet Omalu was completely available to us." "I spent two or three weeks with him and with his family just taking in the story and his mannerisms and-- and all of that." "So, for-- Uncanny resemblance." "(laughter)" "Sam-Sam-- We saw 'em together last night." "Sam met him." "But did the NFL not put any pressure on you to modify that movie?" "There wasn't real pressure that they could put to modify the movie because we were at Sony." "Uh, Sony has no affiliation with the NFL." "Fox and Warner Brothers both have affiliations with the NFL." "Sony has, you know, no-no connective tissue." "We use real footage, we use the NFL logo, all of that, and it came down to" "Sony said, "Just use it." "They'll have to sue us."" "You know?" "You said the other night that you were conflicted about taking the role because you're a football dad." "Yeah, yeah." "So, what pushed you over the edge to do it?" "Uh, it was just meeting-- meeting with-with Dr. Omalu so that, you know" "My son was a football player for four years, and I loved it." "The last thing I wanted to do was be the guy who was doing the "Football is not good" movie." "If you continue to deny my work, the world will deny my work." "But men... your men... will continue to die." "Their families left in ruins." "Tell the truth." "Tell the truth." "Have you had a lull in your interest in acting and had to revive it?" "No, I had a brief period of probably about, uh, four years ago." "And in retrospect," "I realize I had hit a ceiling in my talent." "I had a great run that I thought was fantastic, and I realized that I had done everything that I could do with the me that I had." "And I didn't work for about two years." "Marriage counseling, 50 parenting books, all of that type of stuff, and I just really" "I just dived into me." "And then all of a sudden, it was like, "Oh."" "And I found the connection between-- like, you really, you can't-- your work can never really be better than you are." "Your work can't be deeper than you are." "So what was the moment that brought you out of it and changed" "I've always been really product-oriented, you know?" "It's like, I wanna win." "When I do something, I wanna win." "I want it to be number one." "And I wanna smash it." "And I had a period" " I-- you know, I have a daughter now." "I have a 15-year-old daughter, and she really-- she got me and shifted my focus from product to people." "It took a couple of years, but as soon as I got knocked off of product and started shifting to people, the whole world opened up for me again, and acting opened up in a whole new way." "To not go into day one of a movie trying to figure out what everybody has to do so we win." "It just opened up a whole new world for me, and I fell in love, and then I couldn't imagine what else I could do in acting that could add so much to my life other than acting." "Stay tuned for more surprises from the leading men in Hollywood." "Welcome back to "Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter."" "We're with the actors behind the most applauded performances of the year." "Benicio, did you have conversations with the director of "Sicario" about the violence that they were gonna show?" "Well, um, um, yeah." "No-no-no, we" "I knew that Denis was very elegant with his violence, in a very elegant way." "But, you know, the-- the thing of the matter is, like, whether you play a character that you-- that you agree with or not, do you understand the character?" "Absolutely." "So I understand that character." "The character in "Sicario," I understand him." "Do I agree with him?" "At the end of the day, no." "And that's part of acting." "I-I need to understand the-the-- Absolutely." "the character, I don't need to agree with him." "And if you are in a good team with a good director, a good-- and actors that you respect, then I will highly consider that film." "Get out of the car." "Jesus... (bleep)" "(helicopter rotors whirring)" "(speaking Spanish)" "Don't move!" "(speaking Spanish)" "No-no-no-no-no no no no." "(speaking Spanish)" "How did you go about understanding that character?" "Um, well, first of all, I understand the frustration of a-- of a-- and-and the-the frustration of what happened to his family." "Uh, his family was killed, and, uh, so I understand that anger." "I understand that this man, being Mexican, would go and join, a semi-covert, um, American group that will invade its own country." "Uh, also because that anger that he feels resonates around his country." "It's-- many other people have fallen victim, like him, to this drug problem in Mexico, so I would understand him going to-to-to the United States and then coming back with a group of Americans and breaking every law in Mexico." "I would understand him being part of that." "It's happened in history." "Do you talk to people who've gone through that to prepare..." "Yeah, yup-- yeah, yeah, yeah." "Joel, who did you talk to for "Black Mass"?" "Well, I had a bit of a problem with, you know, whether I could have access to John Connolly or not." "You know, John's in federal prison for 40 years for crimes that you could argue in-in-in the smorgasborg of, like, m-madmen that were operating at that time." "You know, John Ma-- uh, Martorano, the hitman, killed 20 people." "Admitted to it in-- in court and is" "Was having a drink at the bar behind my house one night, and John's still wearing orange overalls for forging some papers and, you know, for being involved with what would be second degree murder." "But whether I had access to him or not," "I don't know, but to go and visit a guy in prison and then say, "Hey, I know you have one version of events," ""but I'm actually gonna go over here" ""and make a movie and say that you're a bad guy"" "feels like a dishonest..." "Did you have contact with him?" "...thing to do." "No, not at all." "Did you try?" "Uh, no, because of that-- because of that very reason that-- that, he-- like, he... he's very vocal." "He was very vocal about his opinion of those events that he was sanctioned under the FBI." "That he was scapegoated, and the movie was saying something completely different." "So I would" " I talked to a lot of his colleagues, and I had tons of footage of him, and I just felt like it was the wrong idea for me to go and, y'know, milk him and then say, "All right, you stay here in prison." "I'm gonna go over here and be, you know, on a movie set and..."" "John, do you know what I do to rats?" "It ain't rattin' Jimmy." "It's an alliance." "An alliance between me and the FBI?" "No, no." "Between you and me." "I can help you, Jimmy, and you can help me." "I'm not trying to clean up Southy." "I love this place." "I'm interested in the North End." "I'm interested in the mafia, and I bet you are, too." "Did you spend time with the" "With the journalist that you play?" "Yeah, I did." "I, uh, I spent a lot of time with him, actually." "And it-- it was, you know, because-because of the nature of the story, because it's a journalism story and because we're talking about real people's lives, and the stakes are very high." "Uh, there's-- there's victims and-and... and you have to get that story right, otherwise it's just gonna be picked apart like a hunk of bread in a koi pond, you know?" "It's just-- it's just gonna be eaten alive." "Great metaphor." "(all talking)" "(Jackson) I've felt like that before." "(Mark Ruffalo) Yeah, you know what I'm saying?" "What-- what surprised you about the-- the-- jour-- world of journalism?" "Um, I mean, what I... what I was impressed by was-was how, um, how dedicated these people are." "And-and how-- how much of it" "Their lives it actually, uh, consumes." "Specifically Mike Rezendes." "'Cause he'd get on the side of a story" "I mean, you're-- you're-- you're going after priests who are raping kids, you know." "So-so, like, that-that" "That can really get you passionate, you know?" "But, to always, uh, just go for the truth and not make these leaps and to not let your passion overcome your-your reason or your sensibility." "That's-that's journalistic integrity, and-and a discipline that is-- was awesome to-to watch in action." "'Cause I also watched him work a story, too." "And-and-and what he always did is he always left space for someone, even if they're a bad guy, to do the right thing, you know?" "That's the only thing that will put an end to this." "Then let's take it up to Ben, let him decide." "We'll take it to Ben when I say it's time." "It's time, Robby!" "It's time!" "They knew, and they let it happen to kids." "Okay?" "It could have been you!" "It could have been me." "It could have been any of us." "We gotta nail these scumbags!" "We gotta show people that nobody can get away with this." "Not a priest or a cardinal or a freakin' pope!" "More with the industry's most captivating talent when we come back." "Welcome back to "Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter."" "We're talking to the actors behind the year's most buzzed-about performances." "How much do you think prejudice, um, has affected your-- your career, your-- many of your here careers-- has it?" "History will inform everything, really?" "I mean, if you read the history of the United States, you'd know there's a prejudice, and it's evolving, it's changing." "That's a great thing, it's evolving." "And-and-and-- yeah, that is a great thing." "You've gone from me to Idris." "That is a great thing." "But, uh, you know, it's a... it's a-- it's a-- we could talk about it for-- for a long time, but, uh, but I think" "I've definitely felt, you know, one-- one of the first things that they said to me when I-- when I came here was change your name." "Uh..." "And Michael did change his name." "I changed mine, but I-I-- but mine was Maurice Micklewhite, which is an awkward name." "Maybe-maybe that's one of the biggest mistakes" "I've ever done, you know?" "Not changing my name." "(Mark Ruffalo) No, you've got a great name." "Do you still feel that pressure today?" "You do, to an extent." "You do, you do, you do to an extent." "You know, I think that-- I think that, like he says, it's somewhere-- like Will was saying, you know, this is a great country that allows for things to happen." "(Michael Caine) Well, it's the accent thing again, like me." "I had a cockney accent so I couldn't play" "Shakespeare and all that, but when they say your name, they think that you speak like a-- a Mexican or a Spanish, you know, and-and so" "Which I do." "(laughter)" "Has that affected-- you've been such a big star for so long." "Have you felt prejudice in any way?" "Well, well, prejudice, uh, my-my wife and I were just having this conversation, and we were going to the dictionary for-for prejudice versus racism." "There's a connotation in racism of superiority." "I live with constant prejudice." "But racism is actually rare." "Right, for someone that actually thinks their race is superior to you" "I don't wanna work for them." "I don't wanna work at that company, and the times that I have come in contact with them, you get away from those people." "When you first move into social media, because back in the day when there weren't such a thing as Twitter, the commentators were just the media, and you weren't really coming up against public opinion on a constant basis," "but, you know, like, what happened recently with Michael B. Jordan in "Fantastic Four"" "and that kind of like... people, you know, actively being racist, making those sort of comments..." "Absolutely." "about "Star Wars"" "and all sorts of-- on Twitter." "Could you as actors do anything to combat that?" "Or do you feel that you're-- you're passive in that area?" "No!" "When I'm-- when I'm choosing a movie," "I understand the global power of being able to send imagery around the world." "Am-America is viewed-- the way that America is viewed globally, a large part is from the historical imagery that we've sent around the world through cinema." "Um, have you turned down roles because they-- or movies because you felt they conveyed a message that you... didn't believe in?" "Yeah, especial-- you know." "L-lots of things, I've been, uh, offered that didn't really speak to me." "I'm trying to think of one." "Weren't you offered "Django"?" ""Django Unchained." Oh, hey, but-- you know-- but, see, that was-- that was different, I was trying to avoid that." "(Mark Ruffalo) That was the one I was trying..." "But, no, no, no, it wasn't-- to-to me, it was-it was more that I had to said yes to "Django,"" "um, but it was more about the creative direction of thetory." "To me, it's as perfect a story as you could ever want." "A guy that learns how to kill to retrieve his wife that has been taken, uh, you know, as a slave." "Like, to me, that's a-- when I-- when I choose movies, I'm choosing the arc." "I read the first 35 pages, and I read the ending, all right, and, to me, that idea is perfect." "And it was just that Quentin and I couldn't see" "I wanted to make the greatest love story that African Americans had ever seen from American cinema." "They did that already, it was "Love Jones."" "Right-- (laughter)" "How-how did you say "no" to Quentin?" "Did you pick up the phone and call him?" "No, you just have your people ca" "No, I'm joking." "But we talked, we met." "We came, we talked, we sat for hours and hours and hours about it, I loved it." "I wanted to make that movie so badly, but with that story," "I felt the-the only way I could make that movie is it had to be a love story, not a vengeance story." "For me, I just couldn't connect to violence being the answer." "Love had to be the answer." "It would have balanced out that "Wild, Wild West" scale." "Yeah, right, exactly." "Sam, in Quentin's movies, the" " I mean, the-- the N-word is everywhere." "Does that ever give you pause in-- how the impact of that might be on the audience?" "No." "No?" "It's a movie, but, I mean, life is what life is, and, you know, in my world, it's a..." "pretty common word." "What about the amount of violence?" "Does it-- has it bothered you?" "No, man." "(laughter)" "I don't have-- I don't have issues with violence in movies." "I love" " I mean, it's a movie." "It's not life, you know?" "I..." "I like those stories." "I watch Hong Kong movies all the time." "I spend a third of my life in Asian film, you know, just sittin' around watching Asian film." "I read violent novels, I read spy novels and mysteries and murders and horror stories." "I've always liked that stuff." "Yeah." "I grew up watching Westerns on television, you know." "It used to bother me that when guys got shot on TV, they just grabbed their chest and fell down." "(Will Smith) Yeah." "You know, or, if you're playing cowboys with your friends, you shoot 'em, they go, "You missed."" "You know, I shoot people in movies, their chest explodes." "I love that." "(laughter)" "I was really disappointed, when I was sitting there watching "Sicario," I wanted to see those kids' heads explode." "(laughter) I was sittin' there like, okay, we killed all these people early in the movie-- early in the-- oh, I'm sorry, spoiler alert." "And we're sitting there with these dudes..." "I don't want to see blood on the wall," "I want to see people-- boom," "I wanna see people falling over from the dinner table." "(laughter)" "All right, I wanna open it up with a question for everybody." "Um, what would you like to have told yourself before you became an actor?" "Your today self, what would you have liked to have told yourself before you became an actor?" "Hmmm, I would have to tell myself that this... this job didn't work the way that I thought it did." "That's it's not a normal job." "I thought this was like every other job." "You know, you start in the mail room, and then you do something else, and you get higher and higher." "So, I thought, okay, I'm doing theater." "And... eventually somebody will see me, and I'll get a commercial." "And then, after that commercial," "I'll do a soap opera." "And then I'll do a regular TV show." "And then I'll become a movie star." "I thought that was the progression." "I had no clue." "Yeah." "And, after 25 or so years," "I finally figured it out." "That it works a whole 'nother way." "But I got used to it." "But I, you know, fell in love with the theater, which was the-the really wonderful thing." "That my love for audiences and performing in front of people live, um, gave me a deal of satisfaction that I don't get when I do this." "That's a very different thing." "You love theater, too." "Yeah, that's where I-I started there, too." "In-in a little, tiny 30 seat theater here in Los Angeles, of all places." "Do you get stage fright?" "Uh, I get nervous." "I definitely-- my hearts pounding before I go out there, yeah." "Uh... but it's more excitement, really, than fear, I think." "What about the rest of you, do you get nervous, afraid?" "Benicio?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "How do you get over it?" "Uh, how do I get pumped up?" "Um... you know, uh, you get over it, um, by doing it over and over." "Um, you get over it by practicing." "Um... y'know, get-- being prepared." "I think you get over that fear." "I think you get over that fear with music." "It helps me." "A little bit." "Yeah." "In-in those dressing-- little dressing rooms, like when you're starting, there's-there's no toilet." "So, the first thing you do is, when you get nervous, you want to pee, so the first thing you learn to do as an actor is learn to pee in the sink." "(laughter) It was-- it was tough for me, because-- because I have to poop before, yeah, so... (all talking)" "I guess it's probably American and British" "No, but I noticed, the first time I went on stage, just before I went on, there was a bucket there." "(Will Smith) Yeah." "I was like, "What's that bucket for?"" ""It's in case you wanna throw up."" "Yep, yep." "And a couple of times, I did, I threw up in the bucket, I was so nervous." "Do you still get nervous?" "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah... yeah." "What about you, Joel?" "I-I don't get nervous on a movie set so much unless I'm putting pressure on myself or what's needed on that day or that scene." "You know, those scenes where you start to put pressure on yourself." "Which is a shame, but theater," "I definitely get nervous, and it's mainly opening night or opening night in a new city or the first preview." "Those first few performances-- and I get terrified." "But it stops as soon as the play starts because you have something to concentrate on." "But that five or 10 minutes before stepping out on stage is like..." "I actually think I'm gonna have a little bit of a heart attack or something." "Will, theater." "No, never done, uh, theater." "What we did on "Fresh Prince" was a live audience every-- on-on Fridays, right?" "So we would bring-- it had that-that effect, but you could stop and go again, so it was a little different, but..." "Do you get nervous or afraid?" "Uh, I-I live in complete terror." "Like, you know, for-- it was like... everything for me, uh, about this business and a-- and a-- you know, about what I've been trying to build and what I've been" "trying do with my life keeps me in terror." "I'm" " I am deeply motivated by fear." "(laughter)" "So, was it easier to do what you and Jeff did, or is it easier to do this?" "Um, it was-- it was far easier, um, to do music." "To be on stage with a hit record, because you know what you have." "Mm-hmm?" "Right, I know when I drop "Summertime" or when I drop "Jiggy"" "anywhere in the world, it's" " I-I have, you know, it's like the ace of spades." "You can do the Frankie Beverly." "You can just say the first words" "Yeah, sing the first words and hold it out." "Yeah, you know, they sing everything" "They got it from him." "Whereas with a movie..." "We don't have that." "Uh, with-- with a movie, it-it's like..." "you never know." "You can love it." "You can have done what you think is the best work you've ever done, and you put it out on that Friday, and everybody hates it." "And you've taken a year, and people hate it, and they-they-they don't just dislike it." "Yeah." "You know, and then they wanna be really creative with how they let you know they hate it." "Like, ten years ago, they just hated it, and they didn't go." "Now they're sittin' in the theater going," ""This piece of (bleep)."" "(laughter) "You gotta go see how bad this is."" ""Get out of line now." "Don't come."" ""I know you're on your way, but don't come."" ""Meet me at the mall." "Don't come to the theater."" "Will, what's been your biggest disappointment?" "It's funny, 'cause they-- there's-- there's been disappointments, but every time I was disappointed," "I came back with a newer, fresher attitude." "But the first time where, it... didn't work the way that I wanted was, uh, uh, "Wild, Wild West."" "You know, and I was coming off of "Men In Black,"" "with Barry Sonnenfeld, and everything is all," ""We can't lose!" "We can't lose!"" "You know, and it was like" ""Oh, tragedy."" "It's 'cause you didn't use "Kool Moe Dee."" "Right" " I know!" "Exactly." "I wanna go back to this." "I'm surprised you say your-- you live in fear." "How do you deal with that?" "Do you turn to somebody for advice?" "Do you meditate?" "How-how do you get over that?" "You know, I-I'm trying to-- to develop a more realistic perspective of what this business is." "You know." "For me-- f-from the" "I told my mother this the-the other day, and she thought it was hilarious." "I said when-- when I was 15 years old, my first girlfriend cheated on me." "And I remember making a decision that nobody would ever cheat on me again, and the way I was gonna do that is by being the biggest actor on Earth." "Right, so... it's-- there's-there's-there's been this weird psychology that I've always felt like if my movies are number one, my life is gonna work out great." "Ahh." "You know, and like" "(bleep) (laughter)" "Welcome back to "Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter."" "We're talking with the actors behind the year's most buzzed-about performances." "What work would you have done if you had not become actors?" "Well, I should have been a fish market porter, because for 300 years, that's what my family had been." "You know, and-and my-my mother was a cleaner." "You know, that woman you see in a hotel comes in after you go out." "And, so, I had no great ambitions." "I had a very good education for my class." "I went to grammar school and-and-and matriculated and all that, and I was quite smart and-and-and that sort of thing." "I became an actor-- a-a-an amateur actor because I noticed-- I was in a youth club, and I noticed all the pretty girls were in the drama class." "So I thought-- I-I was about 12." "I thought, I'd join that, and I'll get to kiss some of them." "(laughter)" "And that's why I became an actor." "Did you get to kiss them?" "First base." "First base." "What about you, Benicio, what would you have done?" "Well, um, um, I don't know." "It's a-- you know, one thing I was doing right before I-I turned to acting was painting, but" "(Michael Caine) Painting?" "Painting, yeah." "What, real painting or walls?" "Yeah-- uh, no." "I did some of that, too, but I did some painting on canvas, uh, imagery, uh, you know, and, but I was, uh, more of, um-- I wasn't that good." "If you liked mud, I was your man." "Oh, okay." "Uh, but, uh, but, you know," "I think I would have like, uh, try hard to be good." "What about you, Joel?" "Uh, I was almost gonna go after, uh, art school." "I mean, I would have been some kind of" "I don't know if I would have made a great artist." "I still paint, and I do it as a personal thing." "Um, I was really interested in doing that or becoming an actor." "The thing with me was my father had-- started very much working class when I was growing up." "Like, very, very... you know, came from a very poor family." "By the time I graduated high school, they were quite well off, he'd become a lawyer." "He'd been on his way to become a sheep farmer, and some guy said, "Oh, we're gonna go enroll in law,"" "and he just did that on a whim." "So, by the time I finished high school, he was quite wealthy." "And I felt this debt to him to-to make out like I was gonna do something responsible with my life, like something that-that would guarantee that I'd have an income." "And I was terrified to tell him that-that what I really wanted to do was either paint pictures or become an actor." "And he found out, and he dragged me out of this-- not drag me out of a room, but he took me aside one night, and he said, "Look, I know what you want to do," ""and I think you should follow your dreams," ""and then money and all that other stuff, it comes as a byproduct."" "And what I found out, really, is that deep down, he had wanted to be an actor." "(murmurs) And, very much," "I think the reason why I'm interested in storytelling is 'cause as-as a kid growing up, he made the most fantastic speeches." "And he told the most wonderful jokes and the most wonderful stories, and he knew how to tell those stories and capture people's imaginations." "But he never had that opportunity himself, because he-he felt this debt of responsibility to create a good life for my brother and I." "So, I think, in general, I would have told stories somehow." "And actor-- we're like one part of the watch." "You know, but as a director, I feel like the watchmaker, and that felt pretty cool." "I'd like to do that again." "What did you learn about acting from the experience of directing?" "You wrote it, too." "Yeah." "Oh, I just realized how-how great a problem-solver an actor is." "And when you get two great actors together how great a team of problem-solving those two actors are." "So, when I would come to work," "I-I thought I had to do all the homework and have all the answers, which you do." "You want to have an answer for everyone." "Um, but to actually hand the floor over to-to actors who you've hired, who are incredibly smart." "And in my case we're talking about" "Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall." "And find out what solution they have first before I tell 'em what I think because then you steal a really good idea." "Mark, what do you think-- what do you think you might have done if you weren't an actor?" "I don't know." "I-I-I-I-I-I was well on my way to being a bartender." "Um..." "A mixologist." "A mixologist-- that's right." "I'll tell ya, the-- I don't know if you know this, but, uh, me and Benicio started acting school together." "And I-- and I watched him, and I-- and I saw him, and I-I-- ahh, you could see the performances-- Which acting school?" "Stella Adler." "Stella Adler." "Yes." "And I could see the talent flying off of him, and I said to myself, I'll never do" "I'll never be able to do th" "I'll never be able to do what that guy does." "You do pretty damn good, brother." "Let me tell you one thing." "One thing I remember about him is that, um, wa" " I was-- I came from San Diego, quit college and got this, uh, to go to Stella Adler, and-and one day-- Me too, by the way." "I asked him, "What are you doing tonight?"" "And he goes, uh, "I gotta go home."" "And I said, "Oh, why don't you come out?"" "And he goes, "Well, I gotta, like," "I-I gotta go to San Diego,"" "and I go, like, uh, well, "You said you gotta go home."" "And he was travelling two hours every day back and forth to go to school." "And I knew, I knew right away," "I went like, "This kid is strong."" "You know, and I-- and I-I always knew you were like-- you were like really someone that I just looked out-- up to." "Wow." "I-I-ahh, you were someone I looked up to." "You know that." "My era." "We-we can all leave if you want." "(laughter)" "Welcome back to "Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter."" "We're talking with film's most intriguing actors." "What do you think is the biggest mistake young actors or inexperienced actors make?" "The idea of trying not to fail." "That thing is-- like, that is-- that is the killer for an actor, trying not to fail." "Because the camera feels that thing." "Yeah." "It feels that you're uncertain and not sure." "And it's like, let it rip." "Like, fail hard, and fail loud." "Who has taught you the most, all of you, about acting?" "Or said something that changed your feelings about how to" "Marlon Brando." "I was a big fan of Marlon Brando's." "You know, and I-I loved" "What he used to do is always like this, and he'd be-- he'd be talking, and then suddenly he'd say the poignant bit, and he'd go like that." "And he'd just look at you, you'd go, "Oh, (bleep)."" "(Will Smith laughing)" "And I remember, my first movie," "I-I-I-I did a big movie where I had a part." "It was "Zulu," and I played a British officer who worn those white helmets, you know?" "And I had it on, and the cameraman kept saying," ""Push it further back, I can't" " I can't-- the light's not going in."" "And I said, "I'll hold it there, and I'll say when the light's going in."" "So I would say something, then I'd say," ""And what do you think of that?"" "(laughter)" "Did you ever meet Brando?" "Oh, yeah, I did, yeah." "What was he like?" "I didn't understand him at all." "I was like a young girl with Elvis Presley with Marlon Brando," "I was completely overwhelmed, y'know." "I sort of waited my turn to speak and everything and then said something wrong." "You know, but I was fascinated by Marlon." "Two days before 9/11," "Michael Jackson was having these concerts in New York." "For some reason, I was introducing" "Usher and Whitney Houston." "And I'm standing backstage, waiting to go and introduce 'em, and somebody comes up behind me and starts doing the "Ezekiel" speech." "And I turn around, and it's Marlon Brando." "I'm like, "Oh, my God."" "Marlon Brando is reciting me." "That's awesome." "We ended up having this conversation." "He gives me a phone number, he says, "Yeah, call me, we need to talk."" "So immediately, you know," "I go back, work, and I call that number, and I call the number, and somebody answers, says," ""So-and-so Chinese Restaurant."" "(laughter)" ""Uh, Mr. Brando there?"" ""Yeah, hold on, hold on."" "And then he comes to the phone." "Came to the phone?" "Oh, my goodness." "They went and got him, he came to the phone." "Next time I call, it was "Chinese Laundry."" "And I said, "Is Mr. Brando there?"" "Then I realized he just filtered his calls through people by doing that." "'Cause they would ask, "Who is it?" and I'd go," ""Sam Jackson," they go, "Oh, hold on."" "And then he'd come to the phone." "Who's taught you the most, both of you?" "Taught me the most, between, um..." "Lloyd Richards, who was director of the Yale Drama school, even though I didn't go to Yale Drama School, I did uh, two plays for him." "I was, um, the original" "Boy Willy in August Wilson's "Piano Lesson,"" "and I was the original Wolf in "Two Trains Running" at Yale while I was working in New York." "So I had Lloyd, and I had Douglas Turner Ward at the Negro Ensemble Company." "And they both taught me how to ask myself the right questions when I am preparing to do a role or how to sit down and read a script and figure out who that person is." "Write an autobiography, give him a complete life from birth, family, who they were, what economic status he is, educational background, my own-- do you have any service background?" "What kind of people do you like?" "What kind of food do you eat?" "Wow." "You know, what were you doing before you entered this scene?" "And where are you going when you leave there?" "So they taught me to ask myself the right questions and how to sit down and break down a scene or break down a script from beat to beat to beat to beat." "So would I be able to do that?" "Um, and those things have served me, and I continue to do 'em." "Because they work for me, and they help audiences." "Audiences are interested in particular people." "Uh, sometimes, you know, sometimes, you know, you're on screen, and you-you-you-- well, I actually go to movies and watch 'em with audiences." "So I spend money, go sit in the back." "And, you know, people wanna leave with certain people." "And certain people, you don't want to stay on-screen." ""Which one-- I wanna go with him."" "You know, where he's going," "And I want people to feel that way when they see me on-screen." "Mark, who taught you the most?" "My teacher at, uh, Stella Adler, her name was Joanne Linville." "And she was, uh, she was a great, um, live theater, uh, actress in the fifties." "But also did all the live television." "And, uh, she was that rare combination of an acting teacher who actually knew how to act." "And, um..." "That is rare, isn't it?" "It is rare." "That" " I mean, it's incredibly crazy." "Why?" "I don't know!" "'Cause..." "I had all this" "(all talking)" ""Who do you study with?" And I'd go, "Well," ""I actually work, I studied before I got here, and" da-da-da, but" "And what did she-- what did she really teach you?" "She taught me the truth and to... to feel what it was like to-to have the truth." "And, um, and to-to constantly strive for it." "Um, and then the other thing is that you're always working." "It-it-it's never done." "I can't watch anything that I do without sitting there and tearing it apart." "(laughter) And seeing everything that needs to be-- to be improved upon." "I can't watch anything you do without doing that, either." "(all laughing)" "Is there a role that one of you look backs-- looks back on and says," ""I would've done that completely differently"?" "Of Mark's?" "(laughter)" ""Of Mark's."" "How many actors does it take to screw in a light bulb?" "20, one to screw it in, and 19 to say how they could've done it better." "Yeah, exactly." "But that's what acting class is to me." "You know, when I see people going to acting class, it's like, "Well, I'm doing a scene today."" "I say, "What do you mean, 'you're doing a scene today'?"" "They say, "Well, me and this other person, we're getting to do a scene today."" "And I say, "So how long has it been since you did a scene?"" ""Well, other people are doing scenes, too, so it's been about 10 days, 12 days."" "I'm like, that's not acting class." "You're learning to be a critic." "Everybody sitting there, you know, breaking down what you do." "It's not-- that's not acting class." "Um, do you have-- do you have a lot of political leaders, presidents, past presidents, think one of these would make a great actor, and if so, which one?" "Reagan one of the great actors?" "(all laughing)" "(Will Smith) They're great actors, yeah." "They act one part." "Politicians are actors, but they're not very good." "All of 'em, they all act." "All-- their whole thing is an act." "Right, they're very poor actors." "My experience with that has been, um, 'cause there's a lot of things that are hard to do, but, you know, acting is excruciatingly difficult to deliver human emotion back to human beings who live emotion all day long," "and you're gonna try to-- you're gonna take a fake one, and you're gonna deliver it back to 'em." "And you're gonna try to have them have an emotional experience that's as real as the emotional experiences they're having in real life." "Like, when-when you see someone who can do that, it-it-it's, uh, it's a unicorn." "You know, you're-- you're looking at the Northern lights, you know?" "It's-- yeah, it's like, it's very" "That's a perfect last minute great way to end." "And I'd like to thank all of you for taking part in" ""Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter."" "Thank you so much." "(overlapping thank-you's)" "This was great, guys." "(overlapping thank-you's)" "Who won the game?" "(all laughing)"