00:03Hi, this is Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter, and I'm in studio today with Burt
00:08Reynolds and Adam Rifkin. Hi gentlemen, how are you today? We're better now. Yeah? Yeah. Doing good,
00:15thank you. We are here to talk about your movie, The Last Movie Star. I mean, this is a role
00:20that
00:20was specifically written for you, Mr. Reynolds. Well, that's what he told me. It's true. If it's
00:27true, I'm very flattered. It's a terrific script. Thank you, Burt. Well, I'll tell you, Burt Reynolds
00:35is my hero and has been my hero since I was 10 years old. I always loved his movies. I
00:41always
00:41loved his appearances on talk shows. I just thought he was the coolest, funniest guy, and my fantasy when
00:46I was a kid was getting to know him and getting to be friends with him. So cut to 30
00:51some odd years
00:52later, I thought to myself, I need to give something back to Burt for all of the years
00:59of joy he's given me and so many other people. So I just rolled the dice, and I wrote a
01:04role
01:04for him that I hoped he would want to play. And I submitted the script to his manager, and
01:12I said, please tell Burt if Burt doesn't want to play this film, I'm not making it. I only
01:17wrote it for Burt, and I meant it. And the next day Burt called me up, and he blew my
01:23mind.
01:23He told me he was in. What was your first reaction when you got the script? I liked it a
01:31lot.
01:32And I was doubly flattered when I met my friend here who is directing it. I mean, he said all
01:42the right things. Like I want, I want you and nobody else. I thought, man, he lies great.
01:51Or he's very flattering. And I was, I was good either way.
01:58And you said this was a tough script. There's some tough physical work in this as well. Were you tempted
02:05to do your own stunts? Well, I've always done them. That's why I have this.
02:11You were talking about how you feel about the script, that it's a script that has a lot of
02:16humility in it. What do you want people to feel when they see this movie? Well, you know,
02:24no matter what we say we want, it's to entertain. And this is a very entertaining film, I think,
02:32if we touch all the bases. We've been doing that good. And he's cast it beautifully. The people
02:39that are in it. I'm in love with Chevy Chase. I hate to admit it on national television.
02:45And did you know Chevy before this movie? No, I'd never met him. You'd never met him? No. And now
02:52he's
02:52planting big kisses on you at the movie premiere? Well, he kissed me on the mouth. And I don't want
02:59to
02:59say this out loud. I liked it. Well, it was a very convincing performance as a friendship,
03:09so maybe there's a friendship waiting to happen there. The two of them on the set together,
03:14it was magic. Once they met, once they started joking around with each other, they just made,
03:20they went off script, had hilarious ad-libs. It was gold. I just let the cameras roll,
03:27and everything you see just came up naturally. It was beautiful.
03:31Hmm. That's country music town. That's not a film town. No, no, no, no. Nashville has become very hip,
03:38very hip. Well, that's what I'm worried about, my hip. Now, you had another very difficult scene
03:45partner, and that was yourself. Yeah. I thought he was the best actor I'd worked with. Really?
03:52Yeah. Well, he just knew what I was going to do, and I knew what he was going to do,
03:57and that's perfect.
03:58What was it like to film those scenes? It was difficult if you don't
04:05believe and trust your director. Then you go, you got to go with it. And once you go with it,
04:11and I've seen the cut footage, and it's amazing. It absolutely looks like I'm talking to me,
04:19which I've done many times, but never on film.
04:24I also heard that you were, Adam, you were asking Burt for some directing cues as well.
04:32Well, Burt, in addition to being a fabulous actor, is a fabulous film director. He's directed some great
04:38movies, big hit movies. And so occasionally I would go up to Burt, and I'd say, look, I know this
04:44isn't
04:45your job on this movie, but what would you do if you were directing this scene? And he'd look around
04:49the room, and he'd see where the cameras were, and he'd say, well, try this, try that, put the camera
04:53here. Boom. Every time, it was fantastic. You have some great chemistry with your co-star,
04:59Ariel Winter. Is there a possibility for an action movie, a buddy cop movie, maybe in the future?
05:05We have to let her get a couple years older. Right. And you have to give her some advice
05:11about staying away from bad boys. Yeah, but I did that anyway. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about
05:20the movie's regrets. There are a lot of regrets in this movie, but is there something that in your
05:26life that you would never regret? I married her. What does this movie say about the nature of fandom?
05:36Well, I'll tell you, as a big Burt Reynolds fan, fandom comes from a love of something or someone,
05:48and as a fan of Burt's, I wanted to have characters in the film reflect that sentiment. So that's why
05:56I
05:56have the character of Vic go to this very small, very grassroots film festival, and they...
06:06Very cheap one. Right. But their hearts are in the right place. They love Vic Edwards so much.
06:13I didn't want to poke fun at them because their film festival was low rent. I wanted it to be
06:19touching,
06:19because they love him. And of course, I mean, if you see the movie, the character of Clark Duke is
06:26basically me. I'm a Burt Reynolds fanboy. I'm not going to apologize for it. And him coming to
06:33my set and starring in this film is something I just will... I can't believe it. That Burt Reynolds
06:40is in this film, just like Clark Duke's character can't believe that Vic Edwards showed up to his
06:45film festival. I'm Doug McDougal. We spoke on the phone. Remember? Yeah. And how do Pete, how do your
07:04fans react to you? Do you get a lot of appreciation and love from the world? Sometimes. Yeah. Yeah.
07:11Sometimes. And sometimes they... they go... You know.
07:16Well, I will tell you, if I may butt in for a moment on this, when I'm out and about
07:21with Burt,
07:22and people see that it's him, they go crazy. Obviously, we've all encountered a famous person
07:31here and there. We've seen how people react to famous people. Everybody knows how that works. But when
07:37it's Burt, when people see that it's Burt, I've never seen anything like it. They go absolutely ape.
07:44Well, I react to them. I hope. Very thankful and grateful. They feel that way. I know as soon
07:54as I cross the street, they're going to fall in love with Chevy Chase. But in the meantime...
08:01Is there a moment in this movie that you're particularly proud of? One scene or...?
08:08I hope... I hope all of them. Because you don't have a movie. You can't do a movie and rest...
08:17Oh, I can rest in
08:18these next two scenes. Because the movie is going to die. And movies don't come to life again once they
08:27die.
08:28I have to say, in terms of Burt's performance, and I'm going to embarrass him for a second,
08:32and just to talk about his performance for one second. Burt gives such a brave performance in
08:37this film. He shows himself to be so vulnerable. And of course, he's very funny in it. And of course,
08:43he's very charming in it. But he digs deep for this part in ways that I think are going to
08:49really
08:49touch people. And I know it touched me. And there are some scenes that when we were shooting them,
08:53the whole crew was crying. And then to see the way audiences are reacting to those scenes,
08:58and the audiences are crying, it's because of his performance. And because of how he goes there.
09:03He allows himself to be exposed and raw. It's amazing to see. Mr. Reynolds, I have two questions for
09:10you before I let you go. What was the first job that made you think, I've made it? I've never
09:18had
09:18that job. You can never think you've made it. And if you think that, then you're indeed quicksand.
09:27But if you think you're on the way to doing good things, that's a good thing. I think I'm old
09:38enough
09:39now that I'm on the way. Because I can't go back now. It's too late.
09:46And the last question to you is, do you have a worst audition story?
09:51Worst audition? I have a lot of them. I remember one particular test that I did. I did all the
10:02wrong
10:02things, which is to try too hard and not to understand where the camera is. And once you know that,
10:14and once you have a vulnerability, you can't just be this macho, tough guy who's just a pain in the
10:24ass.
10:25You've got to have what Mr. Eastwood has, which is he's tough, but he's very sweet. And
10:33I loved seeing him yesterday because we laughed and giggled about stuff we've done and things we
10:41shouldn't have done and all that stuff. It sounds like a worst audition experience is also a great
10:46life experience. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for being here, gentlemen. The movie is
10:52the last movie star and it's in theaters now.
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