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THR's Actor Roundtable brings together Tom Hanks, Sam Rockwell, John Boyega, James Franco, Gary Oldman and Willem Dafoe. THR Roundtables air every Sunday on SundanceTV.
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00:08Let's start with a simple question, what's most surprised you about the actual profession of being an actor?
00:18James, it's an interesting profession where I remember it was around, it was like a year that
00:27I was actually doing Spider-Man, Willem Dafoe was playing my dad, Robert De Niro had just
00:31played my father in a different movie, and it was like, this is one of the only professions
00:37I think where it's like, you get to work with all your heroes, and in such an intimate
00:43way.
00:44I mean, even other artistic practices, you don't work with your actual heroes in that kind
00:52of intimate relationship in quite the same way.
00:55As an equal, as a peer, you can be an assistant to Annie Leibovitz, but, you know.
01:01What surprised you, Tom?
01:02I think that it's still just as much fun as it was from the first time I figured out that
01:07people took it seriously.
01:09I mean, at whatever level you're at, when I was in high school, and I found out, this
01:14is a class you can take?
01:15Are you kidding me?
01:16As opposed to drafting, or sociology, or accounting?
01:19You get credit for this?
01:20Well, first of all, that's the greatest racket I've ever heard of.
01:23But then the amount of fun that it was, I still feel the same excitement knowing that
01:30we're going to perform this kind of like student one-act play, you know, next week,
01:34as I do when I get a job now.
01:36It's still this intense excitement of, oh, we're going to get there to take a whack at
01:41this thing.
01:41And they take us seriously as they do it.
01:43Each time you do something, it's always different, because there's so many moving parts, what
01:50you're working on, the people you're working with in terms of film, the configuration is
01:56always different.
01:57One of the first things I find that you have to do is kind of sort of figure out what
02:02you're
02:03doing, or at least know where to start from.
02:05Because it's different every time.
02:07It's not like you can figure out a way to approach things and then use that.
02:12Because it changes.
02:13Even as a template.
02:14It always changes.
02:15It changes every single time.
02:15The target's always moving.
02:17And how do you go about figuring it out?
02:20You know, I like that.
02:23I like that not knowing, going to that place of not knowing, going towards something.
02:27And if you've done it enough times, you know, the fear that a lot of actors feel, including
02:32myself, when you start something, it's nice to get comfortable with fear.
02:38If you're really conscientious and you really tap into a certain kind of wonder and a certain
02:43kind of process of creating something rather than just interpreting something, once you get
02:48in that place of not knowing, you've been there before and it kind of gives you this kind
02:54of courage that you wouldn't normally have, that you don't normally have in life.
02:59And I think...
03:00Has this ever overwhelmed you?
03:02Yes.
03:02Yeah, sure.
03:03It was just before Tinker Tailor Soldier's Spy.
03:08And I'm not really sure what happened.
03:12Two or three weeks before we started, I froze and had bone-crushing stage fright.
03:25And I'd never experienced it before and I really just sort of didn't know what was going
03:32on.
03:32I'm not sure what you call it.
03:34It was anxiety or panic attack or...
03:38You hadn't done a lead in a while, right?
03:39Was that part of it?
03:41Yeah, perhaps.
03:43I'm glad to say I have worked with people in the theater who vomit and, you know, I lag
03:49every night and they...
03:51I heard Pacino did that with American Buffalo.
03:53You just get some pea soup just so you can have something to vomit.
03:56Yeah.
03:57That's true.
03:57But you, you know, are shaking in the wings.
04:00Yeah.
04:00And I would sometimes look at that and I was always...
04:03Yeah, of course we all have a first preview or a first night.
04:07But I was always relatively a relaxed performer.
04:11I looked forward to going out there and wasn't that sort of person who was terrified in the
04:19wings.
04:20And I would look at these people and think, oh God, if I had to do that every night, if
04:24I felt like that every night, I don't know how I would carry on.
04:27And so it wasn't something that I'd had or experienced before.
04:33It was really debilitating.
04:36It was...
04:37Sounds like it was a pressure of the role.
04:38Like you really, to you, those roles were like...
04:41I think also it was trying to slay the dragon.
04:47I've since spoken with other actors.
04:50Ken Branagh, who said he was on a set in a scene and it started to come upon him and
04:56he went through it and I realized that I was not alone.
05:00You know, it was like, you know, like an AA meeting or something.
05:03You go, yeah, I've experienced this.
05:05Yes.
05:05You know, my name's Colin Firth and I've experienced this.
05:10How did you get over that?
05:13The doctor prescribed me something to just calm me down, to give me a ceiling, you know,
05:19just to sort of take the edge off.
05:22And you know what?
05:23I got to the set, walked onto the set and went, oh yeah, I know.
05:29I know where I am.
05:31Yeah, this is okay.
05:32There you go.
05:33Yeah.
05:33And it was...
05:34It's just a high wire, 3,000 feet above the floor.
05:37It's on a hard surface floor and you have a bar to keep your balance.
05:40Have you experienced anything like that?
05:42I was competing with Jason Robards in The Post because he played Ben Bradley and so was I.
05:48It's like, as Ben Bradley, I mean, he owns that role from all the president's men.
05:56So here we're doing it.
05:56And I was actually given permission to forget about it by Ben Bradley himself because I was
06:02lucky.
06:02I watched all the video that I could have got and he gave quite a number of interviews.
06:06And Bradley, he talked about, well, you know, and then they made that movie, you know, and
06:13every day someone comes up to me and says, well, you don't look like Jason Robards.
06:20And that's, well, then you know what?
06:22It's all, you know, there's been a lot of Hamlets.
06:25There's been a lot of Richard III's.
06:26I wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of Ben Bradleys.
06:29Oh, dear, I don't like hypothetical questions.
06:33Well, I don't think you're going to like the real one either.
06:38Do you have the papers?
06:41Not yet.
06:46Oh, gosh.
06:47Oh, gosh.
06:47Because, you know, the position that would put me in, you know, we have language in the
06:55prospectus.
06:55Yeah, I know.
06:56I know that the Banjas can change their mind.
06:58And I know what is at stake.
07:00You met him?
07:01Oh, yeah.
07:02I had dinner with him a number of times.
07:04What was that like?
07:04He was exactly, he was the most confident man on the planet Earth.
07:08Loved his job, knew that he was crackerjack at it.
07:12And Anne Roth, anybody work with Anne Roth?
07:15Yeah, oh, yeah.
07:16Anne Roth, the costumer, she's really particular about building the character along with you.
07:20And we were shooting it, and I'm trying all these shirts that I would never wear in a million
07:25years.
07:26And she said to me, do you know why Ben Bradley walked into a room and owned it?
07:32Do you know why?
07:33And I said, because he knew.
07:36And she said, because he knew.
07:39So you end up just building this kind of, you couldn't explain it, you couldn't write
07:43it down for a million years.
07:45But you take it from whatever source you can, and you think, hey, I'm safe here.
07:48I'll be all right.
07:49Were you ever intimidated when you work on something?
07:52Were you intimidated if you worked with Meryl Streep?
07:55I don't know.
07:58Yeah.
07:59No, there's an intimidation.
08:01I don't feel like we're really making the movie until about three days in.
08:06Because you've got to meet everybody, and you're trying to get it, and you probably haven't
08:10rehearsed, but you are saying, you know, I know your movies, and I know, you know, we
08:14know everybody.
08:14You're just some degree of fan.
08:17And until you get to that place where you're just in the slog of things, then you're making
08:22the same movie.
08:23But I will tell you, I don't know if you've found this, but the legends, the heroes that
08:27you get to work with, they all do it the same exact way.
08:29They want to run the lines, they want to get it down, they try it a million different
08:33ways.
08:33They start, they stop, they feel confident, they don't.
08:36And that also was a liberating process to witness.
08:39I felt like that with John Hurt, having, on Tinker, and the first day of working with
08:46him.
08:46I couldn't wait to get there.
08:48And there he was, smoking a cigarette, standing there outside his trailer.
08:52And I was absolute, I was fanboy.
08:55You know, it was like, oh my God.
08:58He happened to be a really wonderful, wonderful human being, too, as well as a great actor.
09:06But it was just such a thrill to meet him and to play some scenes with him.
09:12You know, I admired him, his work so much over the years.
09:15You shot a scene as dolls with Prince William and Prince Harry.
09:18Was that intimidating?
09:19Yeah, and Tom Hardy.
09:21It was a strange contrast of a weird family.
09:24But it wasn't intimidating.
09:25It was fun to me.
09:26I thought it was like, of course, it's Star Wars.
09:28They're going to bring the royal family.
09:29And it felt fun.
09:31Were they Stormtrooper costumes?
09:33Yeah, they were wrapped in Stormtrooper costumes.
09:37And so that was just, for me, it's the best of both worlds for me.
09:41But it was a great experience seeing it.
09:42When you make the Star Wars movies, is it hard not to go when you're firing the things by yourself?
09:49I'm doing it all the damn time, Tom.
09:50Yeah, all the time.
09:50All the time.
09:51All the time.
09:51It's just one of the, you're a child.
09:55There's a new planet every day and a new scene to play.
09:59It just makes you feel as if you're a part of history, in a sense, and a part of something
10:03that you grew up knowing.
10:04But now it's your reality.
10:06And it's just, it's strange on a day-to-day basis.
10:09Well, that's the surprising thing again about what we do.
10:11There you were, you know, you're watching these films as a kid, and then suddenly you're in one.
10:17Yeah, yeah.
10:18And as everyone says, like, I'm, you know, literally.
10:20Is it different when you're in a real-life story like Detroit?
10:23And how do you go about researching that?
10:26It's definitely different.
10:27It's the importance that this true story is going to be seen by so many people.
10:31And the world is tainted right now.
10:33And this story is sensitive to the issues that we have.
10:37And you're basically creatively commenting on something.
10:40It puts you in a position of some form of responsibility.
10:43So on set, there is much more of a level of seriousness.
10:47But it's shared in unity.
10:50But it's still, there's a much more of a serious tone that's required on a set like Detroit.
10:55Whereas in Star Wars, you know, you've got J.J. Abrams, you know,
10:57popping every cashew you can find in his mouth.
11:00And, you know, everyone's having much more of a lighter time.
11:02Because it's like, ooh, it's Chewbacca getting his hair just brushed.
11:06You know, it's like...
11:06What do you mean the world is tainted now?
11:08I mean, Detroit is a reflection.
11:10Even though it's set, you know, enough 50 years ago,
11:13it's a reflection of what's going on now in terms of race relations.
11:15And it's strange.
11:17You know, you watch a movie like Detroit
11:18and expect it to be based in, you know, 2017.
11:21And the lines are blurred in terms of how far we've come.
11:25Ellis, you know,
11:27sometimes when a black guy is put in a position of authority,
11:31other black guys, they like to single you out.
11:34Okay?
11:35Because I'm not supposed to tell them what to do.
11:39When we have these conversations,
11:41we do them in stages.
11:43Okay?
11:45Stage one, witnesses.
11:49Stage two, suspects.
11:51Do you ever feel that as actors,
11:52you're not doing something meaningful enough?
11:54Or do you feel that there is a purpose to it?
11:58Oh, I think we...
11:59I just want to entertain and make people laugh.
12:03Because I just want to get that chick.
12:04I just want to get the chick.
12:06I mean, you know, it's always...
12:07That Broadway chick.
12:08Just the Broadway chick.
12:09You're making those big money choices, Sam.
12:11Without a...
12:11Yeah.
12:12I mean, you always kind of think you're doing Citizen Kane, you know.
12:16And nobody sees the movie, or sometimes people do see the movie.
12:19But I think you think you're doing Hamlet every time,
12:23and then sometimes it turns out that way, sometimes it doesn't.
12:26I think you're trying to do the best thing ever.
12:28The same commitment and energy goes into making a bad movie.
12:33No one sets out...
12:34Exactly.
12:34That's the story of my movie.
12:37Which brings us to...
12:39He thought he was making a streetcar named Desire.
12:43Does he still think that?
12:44That's one of the crazy things about Tommy Wiseau.
12:48On the original poster, he had written the copy.
12:51He wrote Tennessee Williams-level drama.
12:53Shows what he thought he had made.
12:55He told people they would not be able to sleep for two weeks after watching a movie
12:59because they'd be so devastated.
13:01And then when it came out, people laughed.
13:06And he didn't take Tennessee Williams-level drama off the poster.
13:10He just added an enjoyable black comedy.
13:14So it's like he went into that trying to just make a movie that would move people,
13:20the best movie that he could.
13:22Is that how you approached the role as well?
13:24Being an actor, playing an actor?
13:26I tried to make the best movie I could.
13:28No, but it was about how I treated him.
13:32I treated him with respect, as somebody, as an outsider artist,
13:36just trying to do what we're all trying to do.
13:39You know, everybody that comes to Hollywood is on the outside and with a dream.
13:44It's all of us.
13:45And so if I treated it like that, it would become a much bigger story
13:48than just a spoof about a guy that made it.
13:50Do you all know what this is about?
13:51The film The Room, which may be the worst film ever made?
13:56I mean, there are...
13:57What film was this that I missed?
13:59The Room.
14:00My movie The Disaster Artist is about the making of an actual film called The Room.
14:05Now, not the great Brie Larson.
14:07Yes.
14:08That was Room.
14:10So you made it to the WGA with the initiative.
14:14Yeah, a couple years ago when G1, they had the screenings of The Room,
14:17they said, not the Brie Larson one, and it came out.
14:23He paid for everything.
14:25It was $6 million of his own money.
14:26It looks about like it was made for $6.
14:29He put it out for two weeks to qualify for the Academy Awards.
14:33Didn't qualify.
14:34And then it just became a cult hit, and it's been playing for 14 years
14:40every once a month in almost every major city.
14:43Wow.
14:44Yeah, it's a whole thing.
14:45Oh, yeah, Tommy Weird.
14:46Tommy like Frankenstein.
14:48He like, feel like vampire rapist.
14:51I hear everything.
14:53I have ears everywhere.
14:54I hear your whispers and your souls.
14:56You're on my planet.
14:58Okay?
14:58Wait, wait.
14:59So you've been spying on your entire production?
15:01Yeah, that's right.
15:02That's fucking crazy.
15:03That's how it is.
15:04So now you know.
15:05Next time you make laughter, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
15:08I don't care who you are.
15:10You're out on the street.
15:11What about me?
15:12Am I still fired?
15:15All right.
15:16I'll give you one more chance.
15:17Did he ever ask you if you liked his film?
15:20I love the film.
15:21I mean, no, I do.
15:23Like, I've watched that film almost as much as any of the James Dean films.
15:29I've watched that film about 50 times.
15:31And so have the fans.
15:34The room gives.
15:36It's like the gift that keeps on giving.
15:38People just keep coming back.
15:39So you have to sort of admit there's something there, you know?
15:44And I don't think it's just that he made strange, bizarre choices all the way through.
15:49I think it's partly the magic sauce is that there's so much passion underneath.
15:54I mean, there are thousands upon thousands of bad movies that we'll never watch again.
15:58But people watch this one over and over.
16:00And I think it's partly because of the heart and soul underneath.
16:15You said, Sonny, you said, you know, Obama would have been outsiders with a dream.
16:20Were you an outsider with a dream?
16:25Performing?
16:26Really, just to make.
16:30And I started out in the theater, in an unconventional theater, in New York.
16:36And was.
16:42And we'd open things in process.
16:46Once we made things, we'd keep them in repertory.
16:49And then after a while, we were pretty much reviled.
16:54Started to get some play with international tours.
16:58And we'd look.
16:59Sometimes it's probably going to be a taxi.
17:02Think about it.
17:06I find it right now.
17:06We do it.
17:06I see you.
17:14I should do it.
17:15It's備 stakes.
17:15Actually, I saw this.
17:15And then yeah, I saw it.
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53:24Thank you,
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