- 12 hours ago
The legendary actress sat down with The Hollywood Reporter In Studio to discuss her new film 'Being Rose.'
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Hey there, welcome to another episode of In Studio. I'm Chris Gardner and I'm joined today
00:08by the lovely Sybil Shepard. Sybil, thank you for being here.
00:12It's my pleasure.
00:13And thank you for being Rose.
00:16Yes, that was the part that I attached myself to about 10 years ago.
00:20Oh, wow.
00:21And I had seen all of Rod McCall's films, and he hasn't made a lot of films,
00:25but I recognize he was a great director. And he wrote the script as well,
00:29which is always good that the director writes a script, because there won't be any arguments over dialogue.
00:33Well, and for people who might not know, Being Rose is Sybil's new movie,
00:37and it's available now on VOD and other platforms.
00:42Rather than me explain who you play, since you've been attached to it for so long,
00:45tell me in your own words who you play and what drew you to this story.
00:50Well, it's about a woman who gets a diagnosis that she knows she's going to die.
00:55Her husband had died a year before the diagnosis,
00:58so she decides instead of sitting around waiting to die,
01:02she's going to hit the road, and it just happens to be in a wheelchair.
01:06And also, she has to use a cane, and that was really a challenge,
01:10because it's very easy to end up needing a cane if you don't learn how to use the cane.
01:16And I was also worried with the motorized wheelchair,
01:19I was going to run over to the crew or push them off the canyon.
01:22Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
01:23It's funny you say that, because I was watching those scenes,
01:27and I felt there's something really poetic about it,
01:31about watching you, watching Rose sort of just take off on her own
01:37in this motorized wheelchair to think that behind the scenes
01:39you were worried that you might actually hurt somebody.
01:42Because I was like, oh, this is really profound.
01:45Meanwhile, people could have been harmed.
01:47But no, but tell me about that, because it is, you know,
01:52there is something sort of profound about this woman
01:54leaving everything that she had at home and just taking off
01:56and not really telling anyone that she was going to actually
01:59drive part of it herself on this wheelchair.
02:02Well, I think everybody would like to leave something behind.
02:06And I don't want to give away what Rose leaves behind,
02:10but we certainly all want that to a certain extent.
02:13And she does have a transformation with a member of her family,
02:19who her son, she's very close to, but has a lot of problems,
02:23and it turns out okay.
02:26And James Brolin, first of all, I knew Barbara Streisand had married him.
02:31He must be the greatest man in the world, and truly he is, and so is she.
02:34She was very kind to me early on in my career.
02:37She invited me to her house to have lunch, wanted to know how I did my hair,
02:40and then told me all of the vegetables were grown in her garden were organic,
02:44and I didn't know what organic meant.
02:45Wow.
02:46I was from Memphis, I think everything was organic back then.
02:49Yeah, and so, wait, so how did you come across meeting Barbara Streisand
02:53in the first place?
02:55She invited me to her house for lunch.
02:56She did? Oh, wow, that was it?
02:57Yes.
02:58Oh, wow.
02:58And so it was, and I didn't know what organic meant, as I said,
03:02but it was just a thrill, and I kept apologizing to James Brolin
03:05because I'm a singer, too, and I'd be singing along, like,
03:08oh, I'm so sorry, you're married to the greatest singer I ever lived.
03:11Yeah.
03:12Well, so when this part, you know, you were attached to this for a long time,
03:15and there was this part of a romantic interest for Rose.
03:19Were you the one that suggested James Brolin, or how did his involvement come about?
03:23Well, he'd worked with Rod McCall, the director, before on films,
03:27and it's a very unusual film in that it's a love story later in life
03:33for two people that finally find their matches, which is kind of thrilling.
03:38I'm still looking for that, my final match.
03:40Oh, I don't want it to be final.
03:41Wait a minute.
03:42How did I say that?
03:43Just another temporary match, maybe?
03:46Oh, I don't know.
03:47My grandchildren are my valentines now.
03:50You know what it is?
03:51What struck me, too, was that it is a relationship with a couple later in life,
03:56but also, you know, seeing Rose's group of friends in that one scene
04:02was also something that caused me a little bit of pause to think about.
04:05That's just not something we see often.
04:08They were out bowling, but also contemplating life and one's journey,
04:14and we don't see that very often on screen.
04:16I imagine that.
04:17I'm not sure you've ever seen that on screen.
04:19This might be unique for this film, or certainly the way the approach was made to it.
04:24I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
04:26And I think of what I may leave behind,
04:30and I'm very proud to say that this film, Rose,
04:33of being Rose, is part of something I got to leave behind.
04:36Hopefully I'm going to be around for a long time.
04:38You know, any luck?
04:40Yes, not finality yet.
04:41But I'm glad you said that, because I was actually,
04:44it was on my list of questions to ask you,
04:46because I know it's a story.
04:47I know it was a script.
04:49I know that you're acting.
04:50But sort of the beauty of these stories is sometimes they leave you with these questions about,
04:56the beauty of this story for me,
04:57it leaves you with questions about mortality and fate and legacy.
05:01And I was just going to ask you that same thing of,
05:05it obviously brought it up for you,
05:07but now that you have gone through this experience,
05:09what do you think about your legacy or your fate?
05:15Well, let's not talk about fate.
05:17Hopefully I'm around for a long time.
05:18Yeah.
05:18I'm very, very fortunate.
05:22And my blonde hair does not kind of disguise as how smart I am,
05:27because people look at a blonde and they think,
05:28how could she be smart?
05:29But I was pretty smart.
05:31My father taught me to play football in the front yard in first grade.
05:35That was because he was worried my older sister,
05:37who was very severely mentally ill,
05:41that there was going to be something happen between us.
05:43But it also taught me how to defend myself,
05:45and I'm built like my dad.
05:46And I could have gone in the Navy probably,
05:50you know, but broad shoulders and stuff like that.
05:53Plus my grandfather gave me my first shotgun when I was 12.
05:56Took me to the Memphis Gun Club,
05:58and there were no women there,
05:59and I shot trap and skeet.
06:02So, yeah, I took Uber one day,
06:05and the guy said,
06:05aren't you Sybil Shepard from Moonlighting?
06:07I was coming to my house,
06:08and I said, yes,
06:09and my grandfather gave me my first shotgun when I was 12.
06:11Because I just thought it was a good message to spread around.
06:14I still have it.
06:15And he let you finish the ride.
06:17Well, we were there.
06:18Oh, you weren't either.
06:20Well, that's great.
06:21And so I imagine Rose,
06:22to play Rose,
06:23you needed no additional handgun training for this movie.
06:26I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't seen it,
06:28but you do tote a gun through part of it.
06:31Oh, yeah.
06:33Absolutely.
06:33I'm a retired law enforcement officer.
06:35One of the great things about this part
06:37was it's about a woman who doesn't care what she looks like.
06:39I don't really wear makeup.
06:41I don't have my hair done.
06:42My hair color looks really weird.
06:44I'm not quite sure why.
06:46Hopefully nobody else notices that,
06:47now that I mentioned it.
06:49I might go back and watch it now.
06:51But I want to talk about one of the things
06:53that struck me the most about watching this film
06:55is your beautiful performance,
06:58which has already gotten really nice notice and great reviews.
07:01But it is not this sort of tour de force performance.
07:05It is incredible in its restraint
07:09and that's so much in your eyes and your physicality
07:12and in your being that you do take over the screen.
07:14And so in that way, it's a real tour de force.
07:16But tell me, where did you go to find Rose?
07:19Well, first of all, I didn't have any scenes with Jason Robards,
07:23but I was in a miniseries that he was in
07:25and he was standing across on the other side of a car
07:28and he said,
07:28Sybil, acting is in the eyes, not the face.
07:31And of course, Hitchcock said,
07:32don't put a lot of scribble on your face.
07:34What that does,
07:35and this director really believes in that,
07:37the less you do,
07:38the more you let the audience forget you are acting,
07:42they will bring the sweep of the drama to you.
07:46So that was a,
07:47Rod McCall's a great, one of the best directors,
07:49as good a director as I ever worked with.
07:51That's amazing.
07:52And great advice too.
07:53Yes.
07:54Now, walking away from this project,
07:55did it inform what you want to do next
07:58or do you know what you're doing next?
08:00No, I don't.
08:01But I'm ready for whatever it is.
08:03Yeah.
08:04Sure enough.
08:05As we say in Memphis,
08:06if you're from Alabama, you say show enough.
08:08Show enough.
08:09And I know we talked about this before we started rolling,
08:13but let's go back to the medical marijuana of it all
08:15because your character does smoke a lot throughout the film,
08:18but you're not a smoker,
08:19nor have you ever been, right?
08:21No, I couldn't.
08:21No?
08:22I was almost out of pneumonia at five and seven from pneumonia.
08:24Wow.
08:25I already said pneumonia.
08:26I can say it another time.
08:27Pneumonia, that's the third time.
08:29But so I was,
08:29my family sent me down to my grandparent.
08:32My grandfather had a condo in Fort Lauderdale.
08:34They thought I'd get it well done there,
08:36but I ended up in the hospital.
08:37So the second time I had it,
08:38I got to stay home,
08:40and the doctor came by,
08:42Dr. Etter, I remember his name.
08:44He came by twice a day to give me the penicillin.
08:46Wow.
08:47So I owe a lot to hit Dr. Etter.
08:48I'll never forget his name.
08:49Wow.
08:50I hope he's watching.
08:52Is he, do you think?
08:53I doubt it.
08:53Do you think he ran now?
08:53Well, he's with us in some way.
08:55He's in my heart.
08:55Yeah, that's nice.
08:57Do you,
08:58have you ever had any friends
08:59that have sort of experienced
09:00what Rose has gone through in her life
09:02or friends that have gone through
09:03serious grave illnesses such as this?
09:05Well, I don't think so.
09:11I've been very fortunate that,
09:13well, I mean, I lost my mom,
09:15but I had her 82 years.
09:17My dad for 80.
09:19Wow.
09:19That's pretty great to have your parents.
09:21And my dad was sober
09:23the last 30 years of his life.
09:25Oh, wow.
09:25He became, he became a lovely person.
09:28Wow.
09:29That's amazing to have that support
09:31in one's life from children and a spouse.
09:35And you mentioned what you sort of,
09:37you're open to anything in your career.
09:39Yes.
09:39What about just the rest of 2019?
09:42Do you have anything on tap for this year?
09:46I might do another memoir.
09:48I've got the recorders to do it.
09:50I'm just going to read into them
09:51and then have somebody do the,
09:55you know, do the typing.
09:56Then I'll look through it.
09:57But it will be in my voice.
09:59Oh, wow.
10:00Yeah.
10:00Meaning you've already recorded.
10:02I haven't recorded it yet.
10:03I have three recorders.
10:04Oh, recorders to tape yourself.
10:05Ah, yes.
10:06I'm going to, yes, to tape it.
10:08Wow.
10:09In my words, yes.
10:10That's amazing.
10:11And what do you,
10:12when you think about that,
10:13what's the,
10:13what are the things that bubble up first
10:15that you know you want to get out?
10:16From your life and career.
10:18In the introduction,
10:18I want to say,
10:19please forgive me if I repeat myself.
10:21Because I know I'm going to.
10:23That's okay, too.
10:24That's okay, too.
10:25Yeah.
10:25That's great.
10:27Well, you know,
10:28one of the things that came up
10:29just about your career history
10:30also this year,
10:31which recently made headlines,
10:32is sort of looking back
10:33at the end of Sybil.
10:36Is it okay to talk about that?
10:38Yes, but I want to talk about the fact
10:40that during the filming of Rose,
10:42I had to go to the emergency room
10:43and have my gallbladder removed.
10:45You did?
10:46It was a Friday night.
10:47They said,
10:47the doctor said,
10:48don't go back to work
10:49for five weeks.
10:50And I said,
10:51you've got to be crazy.
10:52I did a 22-hour day on moonlighting
10:54and I was back at work on Tuesday
10:56to finish this film.
10:57Wow.
10:58How did you do that?
11:02I'm not sure how.
11:03Sometimes you just don't ask yourself how.
11:06Just say you're going to do it
11:07and I remember nobody expecting me back that soon
11:10and everybody was standing already
11:13so I can't say I got a standing ovation.
11:14But they were applauding.
11:17Wow.
11:18Yeah, and it all healed nicely in the end?
11:21Yes, yes.
11:21Wow.
11:21And your doctor, I assume,
11:22was not too pleased.
11:24No, he's a great,
11:26he's a really great doctor,
11:28my new doctor.
11:29He's not new.
11:30I've had him forever now.
11:31Wow.
11:32He's great.
11:32Well, I'm glad you're okay.
11:33Yeah, me too.
11:35So, should we go back to the question?
11:37Yes, let's go back to your question.
11:38Sorry.
11:38At the end of Sybil,
11:39you know, because that did make a lot of headlines
11:41when you talked to Michelle Collins
11:43on her radio show about these revelations
11:46about your time with Les Moonves.
11:48How are you feeling about that now
11:50and did you hear from anyone
11:52after you made an appearance on that show?
11:55Yes, I heard from a law firm.
11:57You did?
11:58Yes, but I don't want to be a part of the law firm thing.
12:01There's enough people involved in that.
12:02I think that that,
12:04I hope and pray that that era
12:06of somebody having that much power,
12:09a man or a woman,
12:12it seems like it's mostly men,
12:13but I'm sure there's some women
12:14mixed in there somewhere sometime,
12:17is hopefully over.
12:19That we now have a fresh place to start from us,
12:23for us, all of us,
12:25to do the work we want to do
12:27and to keep it simple sometimes.
12:30Simple can be, you know,
12:33less can be more, less.
12:35Yeah.
12:36Less was not more for me.
12:39And what do peers or friends say,
12:43what have they said to you
12:44after hearing about your situation with Les Moonves?
12:49I got a lot of wonderful calls
12:51from people applauding me
12:53and saying congratulations
12:55and a lot of people saying
12:57thank you for standing up
12:58and making, you know,
13:00I mean, I think my show could have lasted
13:02another five years,
13:03but, you know,
13:04he didn't make it easier.
13:06He made it so it wouldn't.
13:08And yeah,
13:09and you said that if you had made
13:10a different decision that night
13:12and things...
13:14Who knows?
13:14Yeah, things would have been different.
13:16I made the right decision.
13:17And, well,
13:18I think one of the things
13:20that's been really the tragedy
13:23of these types of situations
13:26across the board
13:27is the loss of the work
13:29and the talent pool,
13:31you know,
13:32just to think about your show
13:33could have, you know,
13:34saying that it could have existed longer
13:36or the women were pushed out of the business.
13:39And, you know,
13:39I went back and just read some more
13:41about the show's ending
13:42and it said to be continued.
13:44That's right.
13:44So, give it to me.
13:47What do you think
13:47would have happened for Sybil
13:49had her story been continued?
13:51Well, we would have got to meet Dr. Dick.
13:53If anybody remembers that character,
13:55we don't show him,
13:56but we were about to show him.
13:57Yeah.
13:58See, we got spared seeing Dr. Dick.
14:01Yeah.
14:01We should congratulate ourselves for that.
14:03Well, congratulations to you for that.
14:05And, you know,
14:06the good thing, too,
14:07about sort of going back into Sybil
14:09and also just your resume overall
14:11is all of the great work you've done.
14:14And I was just curious,
14:16looking at all the great people
14:17you've worked with,
14:18do you have a favorite collaborator,
14:20director, acting peer
14:22that you've worked with over the years?
14:25Well, Elaine May directed me
14:28in Neil Simon's screenplay
14:30where we could not change a word
14:31based on a Bruce J. Friedman short story.
14:35And Elaine said to me,
14:36that was only my second picture,
14:38she said, well, let's improvise.
14:39I said, what's that?
14:41But then I learned what improvisation was.
14:44And The Heartbreak Kid is a great film.
14:48I think they cast somebody else
14:49that didn't have blonde hair to begin with
14:52and they tried to make her blonde
14:53and her hair fell out.
14:54It's hard to get blonde if you're not blonde.
14:57Yeah.
14:58Somebody's flashing a sign.
15:00It's almost over.
15:01Our time together.
15:01How can it end so quickly?
15:02You know what?
15:03But it's time to get back in the chair,
15:05I guess, and get some more blonde,
15:06I think.
15:07That's what I'm thinking about.
15:08No, we can sit here all day
15:09if you want.
15:11Oh, well.
15:11And I didn't mean to cut you off.
15:13Was there something else?
15:14Another more...
15:14I mean, Elaine May is a pretty remarkable
15:16name to have worked with.
15:18Oh, yeah.
15:19I mean, that's something I think
15:21any actor even today would just
15:22pay lots of money for
15:24to share some time with her.
15:26Anyone else in your past that you...
15:28Well, Scorsese,
15:29I had seen Mean Streets
15:31with Scorsese and De Niro
15:32and I could tell
15:34that they were brilliant together
15:35and I first read the script,
15:37my character had no dialogue
15:39but I trusted
15:40that working with those guys
15:43we'd figure it out
15:44and we improvised in a hotel.
15:46De Niro and I
15:47improvised the dialogue
15:48I had in the movie
15:49and he had with me
15:50and Scorsese, I think,
15:52taped it or filmed it
15:53and then wrote the script
15:54based on the improvisation.
15:55Wow, wow.
15:57That's amazing.
15:58Back to those tapes.
16:00Well, listen,
16:01this has been lovely today.
16:02Thank you so much
16:03for coming in
16:04and talking to us
16:05in studio
16:05and good luck
16:07with the memoir
16:07and the recording.
16:09If you need an extra ear
16:10to listen to it,
16:10I'll lend mine
16:11and then you guys
16:12can check out
16:13Being Rose
16:13available on demand
16:15right now
16:16and stay tuned
16:17for that memoir.
16:18Thanks for watching.
Be the first to comment