JESSICA-FREAKIN-TANDY.
SO DO YOU ENVY DENZEL HIS DENZELNESS?
NoI
did a love scene in Moll Flanders, and it was cold so we were, like,
pants down, dress up. (laughs) So, really, its not all thatyouve
gotta WORK at it.
YEAH,
BUT WORKING AT IT DOESNT SEEM TO BE A PROBLEM: BESIDES DREAMCATCHER,
YOUVE GOT TWO MORE FILMS COMING OUT [LEVITY AND BRUCE ALMIGHTY]
IN THE NEXT TWO MONTHS. WHERE, AT 65, DO YOU GET THE ENERGY?
Three
pictures a year doesnt really TAKE any energy, because acting itself
is not workits more fun than anything else.
YEAH,
YOUVE EVEN COMPARED IT TO A CHILD MAKING MUD PIES.
And
a lot of actors hate me for that because its like youre not taking
the profession seriously enough. But acting is not digging ditchesand
the bucks are gooood. Those who complain are really struggling to find something
to complain about.
HOW
UN-HOLLYWOOD OF YOUREMINDS ME OF ANTHONY HOPKINS,
WHO ALSO SEEMS ADAMANTLY ABOVE IT ALL.
Or
somewhere to the side of it, maybe, because its hard to think of yourself
as being above something that you really, seriously ASPIRE to.
AS
A KID IN GREENWOOD, MISSISSIPPI, YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO ACT?
Alwayssometimes,
I was at the movies every day. So the most fantastic thing in the world is
to BE up there after spending your life dreaming about it.
AND
WHEN THE GREAT MORGAN FREEMAN NOW SEES HIMSELF UP THERE, DOES HE
Nosee, in my 20 years in the theater I never got to see
myself except through the reaction of audience, so I was under the impression
that I was really hot shit. But the minute you actually SEE yourself, the
bubble is burst forever. (laughs)
PLEASETHOUGH
HOLLYWOODS NEVER GIVEN YOU THAT OSCAR, YOURE CONSIDERED ONE OF
THE PEERLESS. BUT DO YOU THINKSINCE YOURE
SO INSANELY CONSISTENTTHAT YOURE A TAD BIT
TAKEN FOR GRANTED?
Maybelike Meryl Streep. So I think that COULD become a
syndromebut there are worse things in life.
SO
WHATS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT FILM?
[The
Civil War epic] Glory. Its history that no one knew anything
at all about.
AND
YOURE NOT JUST A MOVIE ICON, YOURE A BLACK MOVIE ICONTHOUGH
FOR THE MOST PART, YOUVE TURNED THE NEAT TRICK OF BEING AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN
STAR WHOSE ROLES ARE NOT DEFINED BY COLOR.
Yeah, you know why? Im just not professional blackI
dont need to advertise it, to gild the lily. I mean, there are
things in Driving Miss Daisy, where theres a subservient black
man
AND
FOR WHICH YOU RECEIVED GRIEF. DID YOU CARE?
No. It was a great role and a great story, and I think most of the country
knew men [just like that]he wasnt somebody I wanted
to forget.
SO
DO YOU HAVE ANY BEEFS AT ALL WITH YOUR CAREER?
How could I possibly have a beef? Its been a nice ride, and Ill
keep going until I just cant get out of bed.
FABULOUSTHATS
A WRAP.
Okaybut how much FUN you are.
GOD,
YOU ARE, TOOI WAS EXPECTING A LOT MORE
.
Gravitas, maybe?
©
2015 Brantley Bardin. All Rights Reserved.
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