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00:01I was surprised he wanted to do this film, to tell you the truth.
00:05He was reluctant.
00:05He's a private guy.
00:07Yes, he is, and he was reluctant to do it,
00:09and a lot of people were doing this kind of thing,
00:12but I talked him into it.
00:22Why? Why do you continue to push yourself?
00:26Well, I don't know.
00:27I think I just love the sound of applause.
00:30I have a different question.
00:32Yeah.
00:32Why do you continue?
00:36I just think it's important to share that gift with people, I don't know, like you.
00:47And we're grateful.
00:48Welcome to Behind the Lens, and today I actually called up and asked,
00:52would he do an interview?
00:53Because when I saw that he had this new documentary, I go like, wow,
00:58I want to talk to Lawrence Kasdan, and with good reason.
01:01When you look at his filmography, Body Heat, The Big Chill,
01:06Silverado, Accidental Tourist, I Love You to Death, Grand Canyon,
01:10Wyatt Earp, French Kiss, Mumford.
01:13I could go on in A Darling Companion.
01:15So many great films, so many classics, which he does.
01:19He looks at the old classics and finds a new way to bring these genres
01:23and different kinds of movies to life.
01:25I just mentioned the ones you've directed.
01:28Not even the ones you wrote, Raiders of the Lost Ark,
01:31many Star Wars films, Continental Divide, it's extraordinary.
01:35And now Marty, Life is Short, which is up for three Emmys,
01:40including Outstanding Documentary, our non-fiction film,
01:43and for directing for Lawrence Kasdan, as well as film editing.
01:47Welcome, Lawrence Kasdan.
01:49Thank you, Pete.
01:50I'm happy to be here.
01:52As we mentioned just before we started this, I haven't seen many TV credits
01:56when I look at IMDB.
01:58Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:00No, I haven't done much.
02:02Is that on purpose?
02:03Because so many of your colleagues and other people on your level
02:07have turned to television.
02:09Yeah, and I like it, and it's a new world to me,
02:15and it seems like a great place.
02:17All the stuff I watch is on television.
02:19And I'm not behind the movies that much.
02:21Yeah.
02:22So I think it's a wonderful opportunity to do a million different things,
02:26which you can't say about feature films anymore.
02:29No, it's very difficult to get the kind of movies, the list I read off,
02:36those kinds of movies made in Hollywood by studios in particular.
02:39Yeah, it's become really rugged.
02:41And it was never easy, as you know.
02:43Right.
02:44But it's just become really hard.
02:47Yeah.
02:48You know, it's a lot of algorithm stuff, and that was never the world I was interested in.
02:54Right.
02:54And so it's hard to run the numbers in feature films, you know, and have it work out.
03:02There's just so few that make their money back.
03:04Yeah, which is sad, of course, unless you're Spider-Man.
03:08Yeah.
03:09You're doing all right.
03:10Or Christopher Nolan, apparently.
03:12Yes.
03:14Yeah.
03:15He's figured out the magic formula.
03:18Yeah.
03:18But, yeah, very, very few.
03:21And actually very few in the documentary world here, too.
03:25You did a docu-series on ILM, the first season of that.
03:30Yes.
03:31And pretty much that's been it.
03:34That's it, yeah.
03:35That was a very good experience.
03:37I had just started to be interested in documentaries.
03:40And this, I was talking to Imagine, and we talked about what we had in common,
03:47what we were interested in in common.
03:48And I had spent a lot of time around the ILM world making the Star Wars movies and things.
03:55But I had never really spent time with the people who are an amazing group of geniuses,
04:02you know.
04:03Yeah.
04:03And I thought, that's really interesting.
04:06I'd like to see how all this happened.
04:08Yeah.
04:08And it's a great docu-series.
04:10And they did a second season, too.
04:12Yes, they did.
04:13Joe Johnson directed it.
04:14Yeah.
04:14It's really great.
04:15On Disney+, you can still see that.
04:17Yeah.
04:19When you mentioned you hung around there, you know, yeah.
04:22The Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, which many people say the best of all the Star Wars
04:28movies, even to this day.
04:30That's nice.
04:32That is absolutely true.
04:34And others that you did in The Force Awakens, and even later on, Solo, that you wrote.
04:40Yeah.
04:40Yeah.
04:41And then, of course, Raiders of the Lost Ark in that Lucas world.
04:45Yes.
04:45Yeah.
04:46So, somebody that would know what's going on with ILM.
04:49Yeah.
04:50And right from the beginning, because when we were doing those movies, they hadn't been
04:54in business very long.
04:55Right.
04:56ILM.
04:56And it just became the top effects house in the world.
05:00Yeah.
05:00I don't know.
05:01What do you like about this non-fiction world?
05:04Yeah.
05:05In doing this?
05:06It differs from, you know, writing those scripts and everything.
05:09It is.
05:09It's very different.
05:10And the way I really got hooked by it was my wife and I used to go to a diner
05:16on Robertson
05:18once a week.
05:19And we're friendly with the owner, a woman who'd been there for years and years.
05:24And suddenly, she announced that she was going out of business.
05:28She couldn't keep the rent, pay the rent.
05:31And my wife, who was with me at this lunch, said, well, we were shocked, as were all her
05:37customers, because it was a real community place.
05:40Right.
05:40And she said, when are you selling it?
05:44And she said, next week.
05:46Oh, my God.
05:48And so in about four days, we put together a crew and made a doc about the last week at
05:58the restaurant.
05:59Oh.
05:59Yeah.
06:00Wow.
06:00And it's coming on YouTube, I think, pretty soon.
06:04We finished it right as the pandemic started.
06:08Oh, wow.
06:09And so it put some hesitation in the release, but it's coming now.
06:14But it was so much fun.
06:16And we were just doing it on the fly and very little preparation.
06:20And I realized what I had not realized about docs is, unlike scripted features that I had
06:27been writing and so on, directing, you don't know what's going to happen.
06:32It's absolutely fresh to you, too, as a filmmaker, you know?
06:36Oh, yeah.
06:37Yeah.
06:37Yeah.
06:38And it's very different from spending two years, three years writing something and making
06:42it, you know?
06:44Yeah.
06:44I found it very invigorating.
06:46And when I was done, that's when I started looking around at docs and met the people who
06:52imagined and did light magic.
06:54And I've just been happy since then.
06:56It's just been very pleasant.
06:57Imagine, of course, is Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's company, which launched into a whole documentary
07:05department.
07:07Yes.
07:07Ron really got interested in doing docs, too.
07:10Yes.
07:10Like you, you know, a director of fiction, suddenly found that whole world.
07:15Yeah.
07:16And he's done a lot of great ones.
07:17He has.
07:18They've done great work over there.
07:20Yeah.
07:20The company has been very good.
07:21Yeah.
07:22So, how did the idea, because I know you've known Martin Short, Marty, forever, I mean.
07:30Yeah.
07:30Yes.
07:30A long time.
07:32You produced Cross My Heart.
07:34Yes.
07:34Is that how you met him?
07:35Or?
07:37We've discussed that lately.
07:39I think it really was.
07:40I mean, when we, this is the first time we really got to know each other.
07:43I wanted him to be in the movie and we were trying to convince him to do it.
07:47And he did it.
07:51And we made a connection as friends.
07:54Mm-hmm.
07:54And Armion Bernstein directed it.
07:59Right.
07:59And I produced it.
08:00And it was, I just, the major thing that happened was I loved this guy.
08:07He was so quick and funny and kind.
08:11Yeah.
08:11And unlike a lot of, some entertainers, he really sees and hears the other person.
08:18He's actually interested in what they're saying.
08:21And we'll ask you the follow-up question, which almost no one does in life.
08:26As you probably know, Pete.
08:27Yeah.
08:27No one is.
08:28I know.
08:29That's the key, though, to being a good interviewer is to do the follow-up questions,
08:35to try to have a conversation.
08:37Don't just read off a card.
08:38Okay, and my next one.
08:39Yeah.
08:39You know, all of that.
08:40And what I noticed is you're a very good interviewer.
08:42Oh, thank you.
08:43Yeah.
08:43You don't get to do a documentary like this and get what you got out of the subjects.
08:47And you interviewed people like, you know, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw and Kurt
08:53and Goldie and Tom and Rita Hanks and Andrea Martin and John.
08:58I thought John Mulaney was really interesting.
09:00He's a really smart guy.
09:02Yeah, very smart.
09:03It was interesting.
09:03He loves his stuff.
09:04Yeah.
09:05But what I've just had a little contact with him outside of that and smart as hell.
09:11And, of course, hilarious.
09:13Yeah.
09:14But also incisive.
09:15You know, he just has this little appearance in the movie.
09:17But I think what he says is great.
09:19Yeah.
09:20He just, there's another person who sees people and actually hears what they're saying.
09:25Yeah.
09:25It's impressive.
09:26Yeah.
09:27He's great.
09:27He's smart.
09:28You know, a lot of comedians like that, you know, they have to be.
09:31Marty Short is certainly that.
09:34You know, he's, I will do full disclosure here.
09:37I worked with Martin Short.
09:38Oh, really?
09:39What was that?
09:39On the short-lived The Martin Short Show.
09:42I was on that show.
09:43Yes.
09:43And we only had like 68 episodes.
09:47It didn't last long, but it was a blast.
09:49I had a great time at TV City and Bernie Brillstein was there every day.
09:54We just sit around.
09:55Who do we want on the show?
09:56You know, learn casting.
09:57Great.
09:57Come on.
09:58You know, and it was really funny.
10:01Once I had to get Mel Brooks, they wanted Mel Brooks.
10:04Yeah.
10:04I said, I can get Mel Brooks.
10:06Mel Brooks wanted to come on to convince Marty to do The Producers, the original one on Broadway.
10:11Oh, really?
10:11Yeah.
10:12And that never worked out, but he wound up doing it in LA.
10:16I went and spent a day with them.
10:18I wanted to see a big musical from backstage.
10:21Oh, yeah.
10:22Because I had never seen it.
10:23And it started out in theater in college.
10:25Oh, wow.
10:26And I wanted to see how is this done, you know?
10:28Oh, that's wild.
10:29So I spent a day backstage for a night of The Producers.
10:34I think it was the, was it the, what's it?
10:38I forget.
10:39The Pantages.
10:40Pantages had played.
10:41Yes.
10:42Very good.
10:42Interesting.
10:43That's where I went to see it.
10:44It was great to see Marty do that show finally.
10:47I mean, Mel knew he would be so great in it.
10:51Yeah.
10:51But, you know, it just, he just did not want to do it at that time.
10:56Yeah.
10:56And then they did it with Jason Alexander, who was also excellent.
11:00Yeah.
11:00He was perfect.
11:01Yeah.
11:01So it was a nice production.
11:04I know from my time on that show is where Jiminy Glick started.
11:08Yes.
11:08And, you know, out and about with Jiminy Glick.
11:10And I would get him to go to these junkets.
11:13He knew all these people.
11:14So they do it.
11:15Tom Hanks and all of that and go out there and watch him create this character.
11:20Yes.
11:20You know, which a lot of people on the junkets at the studios go, who is this?
11:26They don't recognize themselves.
11:28No.
11:29And I love how you give a lot of time to that in this movie, the whole Jiminy Glick.
11:33Well, I think it's among the greatest things that Marty did and does.
11:38Right.
11:38And what is astounding is the speed, which you see in all his life and his interactions
11:45with people, his comedy.
11:47But Jiminy is unbelievably quick about taking something he had no idea was coming.
11:54No.
11:54None.
11:54Turning it into something hilarious.
11:57Yeah.
11:57There was no script on those things.
11:58No.
11:58He's amazing.
12:00It's smart.
12:00That's what I was saying about John Mulaney and he's so smart and so sharp on everything
12:05and on pop culture and all of that.
12:07He just pulls it out.
12:09Yes.
12:09This documentary is kind of extraordinary in showing that because I've said, well, they're
12:14doing a Martin Short documentary.
12:16Great.
12:16You know, it's a lot of great clips and things.
12:18But what you got was much deeper than that.
12:21You know, I think what attracted me to it and why we've been friends for so long is he
12:26values friendship like I do and sort of been a big factor in my work and my life.
12:36I love the way people have lasting friendships.
12:40Yeah.
12:40And what does it mean to have someone you trust in this business particularly who you can
12:45say anything to and you know that they've been there for 30, 40 years with you.
12:50Yeah.
12:51And that's the way the Second City people are and they're all geniuses.
12:55Yeah.
12:55And it's Catherine O'Hara and Eugene and everybody.
12:59They were all great.
13:00And he, when he became part of that group, they became friends.
13:06And that's what happened with me and him.
13:10And not everybody values that so much, particularly in show business.
13:14It's hard to find people who say, well, one of my priorities is to keep this person in
13:20my life.
13:21Yeah.
13:21And it doesn't happen all the time.
13:23And the interesting thing is you did vacations together, which are in here.
13:27The access that you were given to his entire life is a documentarian's dream.
13:36It is because he was extraordinary in his veracious desire to record what his life was doing.
13:46Which is amazing.
13:47You know, the whole movies are 40, 50 years old.
13:50And he gave us everything and access to everything.
13:53And he just trusted that I wouldn't do anything bad with it.
13:57I was surprised he wanted to do this film, to tell you the truth.
14:00He was reluctant.
14:01He's a private guy.
14:02Yes, he is.
14:03And he was reluctant to do it.
14:05And a lot of people were doing this kind of thing.
14:07And he, but I talked him into it.
14:12How did you talk him into it?
14:14He knew, and I think it has a lot to do with this friendship thing, is that he knew he
14:20would be safe.
14:21And some of the material is raw stuff.
14:23You know, it's difficult stuff.
14:25But he knew that I was not looking to hurt him or to hurt anyone in his circle, really.
14:31Yeah.
14:32Because it's not that kind of movie.
14:34It's about the positive things that can happen in difficult times.
14:38Yeah.
14:39He's one of those comedians, you know, you think, oh, he's just making us laugh all the
14:44time and everybody loves him and all that stuff.
14:46As this film shows, he's had a lot of tragedy in his life, starting at a very young age.
14:53I mean, lost his older brother, then his mother and his father within an eight year period.
15:00Yes.
15:00Growing up by the time he was 18 or 19.
15:04And then Nancy, who I knew from working on that show, and she was just a delight.
15:11Lovely.
15:12Just so amazing.
15:14Lovely.
15:14And that tragically, she died at a relatively young age, at 58.
15:19And that's very well documented in here, too.
15:22And then even after you finished this documentary, his daughter committed suicide, which was shocking.
15:30And this was right after Catherine O'Hara unexpectedly passed.
15:35I mean, she'd kept that very quiet that she was sick.
15:39And so it was shocking when she passed.
15:42Because she's a big part of this documentary.
15:43She is.
15:44Because they're really good friends.
15:45And you see it in the movie.
15:47Yeah.
15:47And I had worked with her.
15:49My sons had worked with her.
15:50I knew her pretty well.
15:52She was in Wyatt Earp.
15:54Yeah.
15:54I know.
15:55She was in Wyatt Earp.
15:56She had done a movie with my son.
15:58So she was a lovely, lovely person.
16:02Yeah.
16:02And hilarious.
16:03Genius.
16:04Absolute genius.
16:05Yeah.
16:06And then, after that, then Marty's daughter passed.
16:12And that was just unbelievable that that much pain could be visited upon someone at this point
16:22in life, you know.
16:23Yeah.
16:24And what the doc shows is his resilience against that.
16:30A lot of people would just fall apart.
16:31Yes.
16:32And he has, and it's clear through his whole life, as I watched this film, that that is
16:39him.
16:39He's, let's go on.
16:41That's absolutely the essence of it.
16:43And I think that's why I wanted to do it.
16:45Because, you know, as you get to be older, you say, well, what is life?
16:51What's this about?
16:52And you know, you see the end, you see the third act, but how do people deal with terrible
16:58things?
16:59And how do they maintain a positive view of the world?
17:04And he's been tested.
17:05Yeah.
17:05He's really been tested.
17:07But he never faltered in that way.
17:09And, you know, he says in the movie, and that's where the title came from, he says,
17:15you know, you get through these tragedies, and you realize life is short, and I better
17:21enjoy it, better have fun.
17:23Yeah.
17:23And he is the king of having fun.
17:25Yeah.
17:26And that is the perfect title for this movie, is it not?
17:29I mean, it's, he wrote his own book, though.
17:33Yes.
17:34Wonderful.
17:34Yeah, which is a great book.
17:36I actually had him here, and we talked about it.
17:38Yeah.
17:38I never get autographs, but I brought the book, and he signed it, you know.
17:43He's a great guy.
17:43I watched him, for the longest time, eating those tuna sandwiches every day for lunch,
17:49you know.
17:49How he gets the energy.
17:52It's one of my favorite moments in the movie, is that he's talking, he's being interviewed,
18:00and talking about Jiminy Glick, and he says, you know, I had seen all these difficult
18:07people who had shows, and how rough they were on the staff.
18:11Yeah.
18:12Where they'd say, where's my tuna?
18:14Did he call that tuna fish?
18:17I know.
18:17And then he actually acts it out, and it's wonderful.
18:21Yeah.
18:21Because it's an interest in the pettiest things, and the most common things.
18:28Yeah.
18:28You know, he sees it, because he's a great observer.
18:31Yeah.
18:32Which is, I think, what you have to be if you're going to be that.
18:34Although, it's interesting to me to hear him talk about Saturday Night Live.
18:38Yes.
18:38How he didn't want to go on after that year, and how difficult that show is.
18:42And you don't often think about that with all those people that have been on it for year
18:46after year, and they just do it.
18:47But that's a tough gig.
18:49Yeah, it is a tough gig, and he explains the conflicts that made him want to quit.
18:55You know, he was more interested in his family, and he hated disappearing for a year at a time.
19:00Yeah.
19:01So one was enough for him.
19:02I was interested that you put yourself in your own film here.
19:06We see you at, let's say, at Snug Harbor.
19:10Yeah.
19:10And with them on vacation.
19:13But you really didn't do much on Mumford, the movie you directed with Marty.
19:18No, he didn't.
19:18You know, what was surprising, and it has to do with the wealth of material we had.
19:23Oh, yeah.
19:23But he's done so much stuff.
19:26Yeah.
19:27And we're trying to create a tapestry that makes sense.
19:31And there were many things that we had in there, but that weren't as smoothly.
19:37You know, you want it to be a beautiful tapestry.
19:41You don't want to be like, why are they talking about that, and why are they talking about that?
19:45Right.
19:46And you just can't cover his whole career.
19:48It's just too long and too much amazing stuff.
19:51Yeah.
19:52The Godspell stuff I thought was interesting, too.
19:55Now there's a separate documentary.
19:57Yeah.
19:58Just on that.
19:58And then there's one coming on Second City.
20:01I mean, it's like...
20:02It's a whole...
20:03Toronto.
20:04Yeah.
20:04It's a whole industry now.
20:06It is.
20:06Out of there.
20:07What was the one thing you learned in doing this and in looking at all this footage as
20:12a director would have to do over and over and over that you didn't know, being as close
20:17as you were to him?
20:18Well, it's amazing to see with all these different people and all the situations and
20:23his desire to be a host.
20:26Just long before there was Snug Harbor, you could see him hosting these parties and things
20:32when he was a young man.
20:33And that's how the friendships developed.
20:36Uh-huh.
20:36And it takes enormous generosity to not just have people say, come over, let's hang out,
20:43but actually have a ball.
20:45Right.
20:45You know, and he would appreciate his guests and his friends as much as anyone, you know.
20:52He never had the need to dominate the attention.
20:56And with those people, you don't, you know.
20:58Yeah.
20:59But they, I was interested in how much they appreciated him because they got it.
21:04You know, they got how extraordinary he was.
21:07And, you know, I think it's like on a movie set.
21:11The attitude, the atmosphere on the set is determined by the director and the producers.
21:17And he did that with his life.
21:20His attitude was, let's be kind to each other without being at all corny.
21:25He's most, you know, incisive, cynical sometimes.
21:29Yeah.
21:29He can be all those things, but there is a kindness under it all the time.
21:35And I think that's what suffuses the movie.
21:38Yeah.
21:38Yeah.
21:39I noticed that in the show we did, he had his office in a corner and all the other offices
21:45were around there.
21:46And everybody was kind of together, which isn't the case on talk shows and things.
21:52You know, the host.
21:53He loves collaboration.
21:54And you could really tell that he wanted to be there in that.
21:58And that really comes through in this.
22:01Was there anything you wanted to include that you didn't?
22:06I don't think so, because I went into it feeling that certain things are sacrosanct, that you
22:14don't need to talk about them.
22:16They never have to be on a film or they could be.
22:19And so you had a lot of, I had to make some decisions about what did I think fit with
22:25this.
22:25And what was, you know, I don't like the constant revealing of people's lives.
22:37Yeah.
22:38I want their privacy to be important to me.
22:41Uh-huh.
22:41And so I just was interested in protecting that.
22:45And there was nothing to hide.
22:46You know, this is not a bad guy.
22:48No.
22:49So everybody has a pretty benevolent take on him.
22:53Yeah.
22:53And he has a benevolent take on the world.
22:55Yeah.
22:56It's interesting to see how his career has gone.
22:58Because he's like bigger than ever right now.
23:01Yes.
23:01You know, literally.
23:02I just got something yesterday.
23:04The Hollywood Reporter Emmy issue.
23:06There's Marty on the cover for his nominations for Only Murders in the Building.
23:12He's the guy that gets nominated from that.
23:14He's nominated for talk show host for Match Game this year.
23:18Yeah.
23:18I mean, he's doing all this stuff in the industry.
23:21His energy is amazing.
23:23Yeah.
23:23And Steve, you know, Martin, who they're really partners in a lot of this.
23:29Yeah.
23:29But they go on the road all the time.
23:31You know, neither of them needs to make money.
23:35Yeah.
23:36But they love it.
23:37Yeah.
23:37You know, and it's like a lot of great professionals.
23:39You see, I think, where you say, well, why are they still working?
23:43Well, they're still working because they believe that's what keeps them alive and vital.
23:47Yeah.
23:48And interested in the world.
23:49Yeah.
23:49Speaking of Steve Martin.
23:51Yeah.
23:51You made one of your great films, Grand Canyon, he was in.
23:56Everybody.
23:57That movie, people look at it now and realize what a gem that is.
24:02It still holds up.
24:03Well, thank you very much.
24:05Yeah.
24:05Yeah.
24:05You know, some of the material was difficult at the time because we were going through
24:10various phases in the culture about what you could talk about and what you couldn't.
24:16Yeah.
24:16And the movie talks about a lot of different stuff.
24:18Yeah.
24:19Totally.
24:20You know, it was a little bit ahead of its time in a lot of ways.
24:23Yeah.
24:23But it was a great experience.
24:25These were all people I loved, actors I admired, you know, Alfrey and Steve and Kevin.
24:31It's an amazing cast, Mary Louise Parker, wonderful.
24:36Incredible.
24:36Kevin Kline, you've worked with a ton of times.
24:40A few weeks ago, even before I knew this documentary, we watched movies on the weekend, classic movies,
24:45based on somebody's birthday.
24:47Yeah.
24:47And it turned out to be Kathleen Turner's birthday.
24:49And so I looked at hers and we go with my wife, we go, let's watch Body Heat.
24:54Haven't seen Body Heat in a while.
24:55So I pull it out because I got all this stuff.
24:57And I don't have the criteria and I'm going to get it.
24:59Yeah.
25:00It's just coming.
25:00There's a new one.
25:01Yeah.
25:01It's a good one.
25:02Yes.
25:02Boy, does that movie hold up.
25:04Well, thank you.
25:05It really is.
25:07I was going like, ooh, what's going to happen even though I'd seen it?
25:10That's great.
25:12It's all a filmmaker could want.
25:15Yeah.
25:15That exact response.
25:16You know.
25:17What happens next?
25:18You often went to things that done by classic Hollywood, but do it in a different way.
25:23I'm a terrible leech.
25:25You know.
25:25But that's a good thing.
25:27You know, the appreciation.
25:28You know, really all of the history of art is that, standing on people's shoulders.
25:34And it's because you are inspired and admire these people so much.
25:40You say, well, what was it that was so magical about, you know, Billy Wilder, you know, Howard
25:46Hawks.
25:47And you want to work in that field.
25:49Do you look at your movies a lot?
25:51Do you go back?
25:52You don't?
25:53No.
25:53No?
25:53I don't mind.
25:55And sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised I'd forgotten something.
25:58Uh-huh.
25:59But I don't spend a lot of time.
26:01I do look at it.
26:02Last night I was watching again, probably for the 50th time, The Great Escape.
26:08Oh.
26:08Because it had a huge impact on me.
26:10Me too.
26:10Yeah.
26:11And it's never a moment that isn't great in the whole movie.
26:15No.
26:15It's astounding.
26:16That's a movie I've seen countless times.
26:20I saw it again, most recently at the New Art, I remember.
26:24They had redone the new art and they showed it there one day.
26:26I love seeing this stuff on the big screen.
26:28Yeah, yeah, of course.
26:30My wife always says, whenever somebody asks me, what's your favorite movie?
26:33And I go like, I can't answer that question.
26:35Yeah.
26:35I don't like that question.
26:37I don't even like to ask that question.
26:41And then she explained whoever asked me that.
26:43Well, he often says The Great Escape.
26:46And it's true.
26:47It's pure pleasure.
26:48You know.
26:49Pure pleasure.
26:49Steve McQueen.
26:50Everybody.
26:52At the time it electrified me.
26:54And last night, so much, you know, years later, 60 years later, Bronson and Coburn and Donald Pleasance.
27:04Attenborough.
27:05And Gardner.
27:06James Gardner, who's great in it.
27:08Yeah.
27:09And Attenborough.
27:10Everybody in it is kind of wonderful.
27:12Yeah.
27:13But you never really made a war movie, so that didn't inspire you that much.
27:18Sometimes you're intimidated.
27:20Yeah.
27:20I understand Warner Brothers has in development a remake of The Bodyguard.
27:26Yeah, for a long time.
27:27Which you wrote.
27:28Mm-hmm.
27:28And you were going to direct for the longest time, I think.
27:32I was.
27:33I wanted to, but then it took so long to get it off that I was just about to start
27:39Grand Canyon
27:39when it became clear we could make Bodyguard.
27:43Right.
27:43So I produced it, and it was a great, surprising experience.
27:50Yeah.
27:50You know, it's hard to watch other people direct your stuff.
27:52And that was the first thing I ever sold.
27:55Is that right?
27:56Yeah.
27:56So, you know, 50 years ago.
28:00Yeah.
28:00Well, famously, it took a long time for that.
28:04Kevin Costner.
28:04Yeah.
28:05It did, and sometimes that's good.
28:06Yeah.
28:07Well, what do you think about the idea that they're going to remake it?
28:09Are you involved in that at all?
28:11I am involved, and it's, you know, you have mixed feelings about these things.
28:15Yeah.
28:15Because, you know, you've seen so many remakes.
28:19Right.
28:19And you say, well, why?
28:21Yeah.
28:22Especially that was a huge hit.
28:23Yeah, yeah.
28:24Huge hit.
28:25And that's why they want to remake it.
28:28But you wonder, as a filmmaker or the person who created it, you think, is this necessary?
28:34Right.
28:35Yeah.
28:36But is it?
28:38You know, occasionally something great comes out of it.
28:43Yeah.
28:43You know, it's rare, though.
28:44Right.
28:45It's rare that you look at the remake and say, oh, that's better than the original.
28:49Yeah.
28:49It never happens, really.
28:50Yeah.
28:51Well, we so remember Whitney Houston and Kevin together.
28:55Yeah.
28:55They were incredible.
28:57It's hard to recreate that kind of magic sometimes.
28:59It was magical.
29:01Was it true you cut Kevin Costner out of the big show?
29:04Yeah, yeah.
29:05He was, you know, the character, they're brought together by the funeral of a character who's
29:09killed himself.
29:10Right.
29:11That's what the excuse for the weekend is, to go to the funeral of one of their best
29:16friends.
29:17Yeah.
29:17And there was a whole scene where you saw them in college, you know, 20 years earlier.
29:27And that was my first idea for the movie was that you would end with this flashback so that
29:34everything they had talked about and thought they were and fantasized, they had been.
29:38And now you get to see, was it true, you know?
29:41Wow.
29:41And I thought that was a really good idea.
29:44And we shot it and they were great, but it didn't work.
29:48It was a literary idea, I think, in my mind, and not a cinematic one.
29:54Oh, interesting.
29:54And when you got to that part, you think, like, I've seen this movie.
29:58I don't need this added part.
30:00Wow.
30:01And Kevin was quite prominent in the flashback.
30:04Yeah.
30:04But, you know, when I called him up, I felt terrible.
30:07I said, you know, I feel terrible.
30:10You did great.
30:11And I'm going to have to cut that part out of the movie.
30:15And he was just coming up, you know?
30:17Yeah.
30:17And he said, Larry, this experience has been so amazing.
30:21He was working for the first time with Hurt and Klein and Gun Close and, you know, Joe
30:28Beth.
30:29And he said, that's priceless to me.
30:31And I said, well, you know, I'm writing a Western with my brother and we're going to
30:36write you a part.
30:37Ah.
30:37Wow.
30:37And it turned out to be an important part.
30:39I'll say.
30:40He popped off the screen in Silverado.
30:43He did explode.
30:44I remember, like, the first time I saw that picture, you know, that was Kevin.
30:48He's got such an interest, you know, going on in his career with the West and the Westerns
30:53and things.
30:54Yes.
30:54And he had, you know, I was a Steve McQueen freak.
30:57Yeah.
30:58So that's why Great Escape and Magnificent Seven.
31:01Those are bullet.
31:02Those are really important movies to me.
31:04Yeah.
31:05And Kevin had that quality.
31:07And that's why I think he was really good in The Bodyguard.
31:10Yeah.
31:10He looks like McQueen in that movie.
31:13He handles himself.
31:14He's very graceful of the way McQueen was.
31:17Yeah.
31:17And he was a new McQueen.
31:19By the way, they want to remake Bullet.
31:22Bradley Cooper was talking with Spielberg was involved somehow.
31:26With Bradley and the starring.
31:27Yeah.
31:28Again, remake the movies that didn't work, you know?
31:32Absolutely.
31:33But, you know, there's always a new take on everything.
31:36There is.
31:36New generations to see it in different ways.
31:39Larry Kasson, you're amazing.
31:42The show.
31:42If you haven't seen it, this is a really moving, terrific documentary.
31:45Marty.
31:46Life is short.
31:47It's on Netflix now.
31:48It's up for all these Emmys.
31:50Thank you so much for joining us on Behind the Lens.
31:52It was wonderful.
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