Blank Check with Griffin & David - A Conversation with Amy Irving

Episode Date: January 24, 2024

Surprise! In a first for Blank Check, we're dropping a bonus main-feed episode featuring a conversation with an Academy Award-nominated star of the film we just covered. The great Amy Irving joins us for a fun conversation about her career highs and lows, the behind-the-scenes YENTL gossip, and Ben's buried jeans. That's right, we have to explain Ben's denim thing to Amy Irving. Follow Amy on IG @amyirvingofficial AND checkout her album "Born In A Trunk" on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp or wherever you get music! To witness the Buried Jeans™ in 3D and the rest of the 2024 collection goto congratyoulations.com Plus, it's never too late to check out the Slow Xmas 2023 holiday music compilation now on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp or wherever you get music! Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram! Buy some real nerdy merch at shopblankcheckpod.myshopify.com or at teepublic.com/stores/blank-check

Hello. Hello. Hi. Hi. Hi. We're all saying hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. This is a different format than we usually do, so we don't have... We don't have an intro here. No. I'm going to say what's up.

Hey, Ben. What's up? Hey. Hi. This is... This is a form of Blank Check, a podcast about filmographies. I'm Griffin. David. Here's a thing we haven't really done. A supplementary episode? Yes. An appendix?

I guess Alex Ross Perry called in with the Jason Schwartzman Memories of Nora Ephron's Bewitched. Sure. Which we then tacked onto the episode.

Sure. That was a similar format but not done by us. We outsourced that. But a big movie we have recorded an episode about. It was presented to us the opportunity to speak to one of the stars.

One of the Academy Award nominated stars. Nominated for this performance in this movie. Yeah. Did you get a good email? Congratulations. No, I'm waiting for you to wrap up this intro. That's the name of Ben's clothing line. Got all kinds of different designs available now.

Congratulations.com. Do you know this, Amy? Ben has a clothing line. I did not know this. It's pretty good. I've got various different designs, t-shirt designs, some accessories, buried jeans. Buried jeans? Correct. Oh, here we go.

Dig in. Feel free to dig into this, Amy. What is buried jeans? Great question. I decided why not manipulate genes naturally? So I buried genes in the ground therefore like basically letting the earth distress them.

And does that work? It did work. What does it look like? I mean it made them dirty. You're not talking like stone washed look. No, beyond that. That's really a throwback we don't need to go back to. So you're anti-distressed genes generally. No, you know what?

I don't want, I'd like to make my own holes. Well, this is kind of the philosophy, right? Is that there's an intellectual dishonesty to the fake, manufactured, corporatized, distressed genes. And Ben said, let the earth distress them.

And so what does it look like when it comes? Do you have a picture? I sure do. I can... Show me after. Yeah, I'll show you after. I actually 3D scanned them so you can get the full scope. This is all real.

This is all very much real. So if I have a copy machine, you can just send me one and I can put it on? I could print that for you. Is that what you mean by that? I could print a little figurine if you'd like. Oh, no. I don't. I wanted to wear them. Oh, I see. If I like them, I want to wear them.

They're available. There's a picture. Oh, ew. Glad I got that reaction on, Mike. Also, just to be clear... That's like Day of the Dead. Just to be clear, he buried three pairs. one pair was unsalvageable that's true it was too deep into the ground so they kind of disintegrated but you know it's a learning process like i'm you know i'm only just getting started here

have you got backers no no one would back this um this podcast is kind of the backer. I would... Unwittingly. Have you got any other ideas? Yeah. Are you your F. Murray Abraham in Inside Lou and Dave? I don't see a lot of money. Another concept I have is I want to come up with like a moth box where I put clothing into it,

let the moths chew them up a little bit, and then take it out after a period of time. That's another sort of concept that I've been thinking of. I should be clear. He has like 20 products on his site right now. Most of them are not eaten by elements of nature. Okay, but if you do the moth thing, you know you're going to have to come up with something wonderful

for underneath whatever that thing is because the moth won't know not to bite the nipple. Good point. Incredibly good point. Yeah, that's true. Okay. Well, you know, it's all about layering. So I will try and come up with something to pair with the whole. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Amy Irving is here in the studio. Hey, star of Yentl. No, well, not the star. Co-star of Yentl. Yeah. Oscar-nominated co-star of Yentl.

I'm trying to think. Could we talk about, on this podcast, we've done Roger Rabbit, which you did the singing voice for. I'm trying to think if there's anything else. Oh, in Amy's filmography.

That's a good question. Have we covered any other? We haven't done De Palma. No. We'd love to do De Palma. You'd love to do De Palma. I would love to do De Palma. It'd be fun, right? We haven't done De Palma. No. We'd love to do De Palma. You'd love to do De Palma. I would love to do De Palma. It'd be fun, right? We haven't done Soderbergh. No. Who have you done?

Well, you see, the problem with De Palma and Soderbergh is we do every movie and those guys are prolific. It's a lot of movies. It's like half the year with either of them. Especially Soderbergh. It's three. It's just like you toss up three. I think you're the only one who's ever said Barbara was very easy. It's three. It's just like, you toss up three. I think you're the only one who's ever said Barbara was very easy.

You know, we put Joan Micklin-Silver on a bracket once. I'd love to do her. I'd like to put her on again. Did we put her on or are we about to put her on? Maybe we're about to put her on.

I think we're about to put her on. Anyway. No, I'm not sure we've ever covered any of your other work, but we should. It hurts my feelings that you haven't even gone there yet.

We're digging in. There's a lot of movies in the world. We're starting. I'm here. This is the new era. Better hurry. I'm getting old. We're leveling up.

We could do the Carrie series on Patreon. Because you're in Carrie 2 as well, right? Oh. I'm sorry to bring it up. I don't know. I've never seen it. I was hoping they'd cut me out. And are you not playing the same character or are you?

I've never seen the Rage Carrie 2. I think it's the same character. It is the same character. I couldn? I've never seen the Rage. I think it's the same character. It is the same character. I couldn't remember. Older and uglier. Come on. The story is that you agreed to do that movie as a favor for your other son, right? Your son Gabriel, who's a friend of ours, is here in the studio, helped negotiate this happening.

Isn't the story that he begged you to do Carrie 2? Or am I getting this wrong? Is that true, Gabe? Max did, yeah. Because I had done, and I had to do something for you, too. Alias. I did Alias for you

and Carrie 2 for Max. Yeah. Alias is good. Yeah, you win, Gabe. Yeah, I'm not throwing handmakers at Max. Gabe maybe has a better taste as a child. Brian De Palma also gave me, encouraged me to do Carrie 2.

Oh, but yeah, but he didn't show up. Yeah, that's what he is. That's what he is, for him to say. No, but he was always very protective of me and cared about me. And when I was on the fence about whether I should do it, I went to him and we talked about it. And I gave him the script. And at the time time we liked the director well that wasn't the director oh when i agreed to do the film it was another director i'm not

gonna go i won't go you're definitely not here to talk about the rage carry too i mean you can if you don't want to talk about it i don't't want to. You clearly don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry I ever made that film. Okay, but at the moment, you agreed to it maybe. Except they paid me a shitload of money. Well, then, all right then. Because no one ever saw it anyway. You know the Michael Caine joke

about Jaws the Revenge? What? It's a great joke. Where he said, I haven't seen the movie. By all accounts, it was terrible. But I have seen the house it built. And by all accounts, it's lovely.

Exactly. I feel the same. Right. Chapeau Michael Caine. Yentl, is it fair to say, was a big turning point movie for you? You had done a lot of work up until that point already. You had an established career, but certainly getting an Oscar nomination has to be a huge thing. Yes. Yes. It was a big thing. I remember I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico in my little Mickey Mouse house. It's a Mickey Mouse house because on an architectural plan,

it looks like Mickey Mouse. I had these little turrets going up and this round house. It was very sweet. And I was up there by myself that morning. I wasn't even, you know, I know that a lot of actors, they sit around waiting to see if

they got nominated or they they watched the morning or whatever i so had no you weren't like today's oscar nomination morning i'll wait by the phone i had no idea it was even happening i i would never expect it from the role anyway and uh I was with my dog Sapphire at the time. And I remember my agent called me and said, are you sitting? And I sat and she told me and I got up and jumped up and down for a while and called my sister. And who lives in Santa Fe, who could come and jump up and down with me for a little bit. So, yeah, it, it was pretty exciting. Here's the thing.

There's less of an Oscar industry back then. It's not like you're getting, like, 18 calls beforehand of, like, oh, you got this Critics Award. Oh, no, I didn't have to work through. I didn't have to campaign. Right. You didn't get a Golden Globe nomination, not to bring up this horrible snub,

but so you hadn't even gotten the warning. Right. You didn't. Isn't that crazy not to bring up this horrible snub, but so you hadn't even gotten the warning. Right. Because there's that thing. You didn't. Isn't that crazy? Incredibly rude. But Barbara did. Barbara and Mandy both did.

Barbara won Best Director. Hey, you got to spread the cheer, man. Oh, totally. Yeah, that's true. But I think that was the thing. Barbara won Best Director from the Globes and then didn't get nominated. By the Oscars.

Yes. To David's point, it's like nowadays there are 70 awards that happen before the Oscars. Yes. To David's point, it's like nowadays there are 70 awards that happen before the Oscar nominations. So you're maybe more aware if you're in the running or not. Yeah, exactly.

Whether or not you're in a major film, you're like, okay, I've gotten five nominations so far. I might be in the mix. Right. But if I didn't even get the Golden Globe nomination, I guess that's why

I didn't bother waking up for the awards. The one bellwether at that point, aside from like critics groups, SAG doesn't exist. There are far fewer things. It was still considered

a little bit of a joke at that time, wasn't it? This is the thing we want to talk about because I want to make it clear. This is a wildly pro-Yentl podcast. We think Yentl rules, but we're both guys

who were not alive when this movie came out and grew up in a world Apologies! You weren't even alive. He's your son. Well, I'm older than your son to be clear.

That's right. You weren't alive either. My parents were probably dating by the time Yentl came out. I was only three years away. I don't know if that makes it better. My parents were dating when Yentl comes out. We can all play this game. The fact is, you weren't born yet.

That's right. I'm born in 86. The film was in 86. We talk a lot about this movie's weird reputation. Like, it's cultural legacy as, like, a joke. Is this movie for real or not, right? And certainly, we've, like, dug into when it was coming out, that was the attitude it was met with but also we're born into a world where even though yentl had come out was a hit got good notices it was did you not perceive it as a hit at the time

or did you not really care right yeah yeah i never know how much anything makes i never know if it's big or small i know when i get recognized a little bit more or whatever for sure but i don't pay attention what do you mostly get recognized for i would guess crossing delancey i think well you're the star of that i guess as well like that's right i did i got the poster on that you got the poster yeah the poster is like your face too it's it's it's all yeah it's like 90 percent Amy, 10% Peter Rieger. Rieger's in the corner. Rieger, yeah. Rieger, sorry. Yentl made lots of money, to be clear.

And yeah, it was a big hit. In the moment of its release, there was a certain degree of like strice and silence for critics. And then by the time we're born, it's already like Yentl's kind of a punchline again. And not even like a punchline as like the movie's a joke, but it's like a punchline as like the movie is a joke,

but it's like very easy to joke about the movie. Because if you look at the elements on paper, this is what we love about it, by the way. If you look at the elements on paper, you're like,

this movie should not work. Fundamentally, this is an unmakeable film. Right. You got, you know, early 40s Barbra Streisand basically playing a teenager. Right.

Like, you know it's a musical but only she sings like these things that are like well that doesn't that doesn't make sense you wouldn't like

I don't know that's why Yantel's so good though I mean in my opinion I agree and I cited on the episode not knowing at the time if you were going to come on or not

so I swear I'm not just saying this to butter you up but I do think your performance is really key to the movie working because of how genuinely I buy your love and attraction to Yentl. Yeah, that was important.

The sensitivity of it. Like, you look at Yentl as a character in a way that I think makes the audience accept this could happen. Like, she could pass. Everyone would accept this. Right, right. You know, because there's a certain amount of theatrical suspension of disbelief in the movie.

Barbara's not wearing, like, a fake beard, right? And she's not doing, like, an extreme voice or anything. There's just a bit of, Barbara Streisand cut her hair, put a yarmulke on, and everyone's going to accept that she's a teenage boy. It's a wig. In the reality of the movie. But, like, the character, I'm saying.

I think most people wouldn't fall for the Yentl ruse in reality. But in the movie, the way you look at her, I'm like, I believe it. Yeah, you know, you may, if you skip the filmography and go to the biography you'll notice that um i marry directors i have noticed that and i gotta say uh her being the director automatically she would be uh someone i would be respectful of and probably attracted to anyway interesting because i just i'm in awe of people who can direct because I can't. When I read a script, I don't have this overall vision of how it should be done. And I wish I had a talent like that because it looks, except I don't like the hours of the directors.

But I do, my father was a director. I was in love with my father. And I tend to be in love with directors. I'm married to a director now. My first two husbands were directors. I've deviated a few times, but basically my first love was a theater director. star and the woman, the man I'm supposed to be in love with. It just kind of works for me. You know, I just, you know, I flirted with her. I was like, I flirt with my directors anyway. She's the first woman who directed you in a film, at least, from your filmography that I can tell. I think you had only, I mean, obviously there weren't a lot of women making movies.

I've worked with a lot of women, but she was the first. Yeah, I guess so. Wait a minute. Are we forgetting one? I don't know. I always so. I mean, obviously, there weren't a lot of women making movies. I've worked with a lot of women, but she was the first. Yeah, I guess so. Wait a minute. Are we forgetting one? I don't know. I always forget. Well, like for your filmography, this is just films, obviously. I believe you.

Not theater or TV. You've got Carrie and the Fury with Brian De Palma. They're great. You've got Voices with Robert Markowitz. You have Honeysuckle Rose with Schatzberg, right? Right. And The Competition with Joel Oliansky. Not a film I know.

Should I check it out? I don't know that movie. Well, there's some nice things about it. I like it. Richard Dreyfuss and myself, we play concert pianists in competition. And Lee Remick is his teacher. There's some nice people in it.

Sam Wanamaker. It's a nice film. And then you take a three-year break between that and Yentl, or at least there's three years in between those two movies, Yentl and The Competition. Theater, darling. Theater. You trod the boards.

After my first five films, I was feeling unsatisfied because I grew up in the theater and I trained to be a stage actress. I trained for four years, three years in London, a year in San Francisco. I just, I love the theater. It's part of my makeup. I feel, I think my most comfortable place in the world is in a dressing room in a theater. It feels like home because, uh, mom and dad didn't want, um, to be away from us three

kids growing up. So they would bring us all to the theater every night. And, uh, I would either fall asleep in mom's dressing room or in the wardrobe department or mom would put us in the second row center and watch all three of us fall asleep as she's playing Kate in Taming of the Shrew or Masha or whatever. So I mean, that's how I grew up. So the theater was some, and I was really after the competition, I was feeling I needed to get back on the stage. And I did nine months in Amadeus. Oh, wow.

Ian McKellen and Peter Firth. And McKellen was Salieri. Yeah. Yeah. He must have phoned that in. Right. I can't imagine that guy fitting. Was he like unreal to watch work?

He was. He was awesome. Yeah. He seems like one of those guys who can just truly turn it on on a dime and suddenly tap into the most dramatic depths. No, he's very technically proficient and brilliant and smart, and he knows his stuff. It was quite a privilege to be on the stage with him.

He won the Tony for that, I remember. And Tim Curry was the original. Tim Curry was the original and Jane Seymour and then Peter Firth and I. Jane got pregnant very early on in the run, so they replaced her. And I guess, I don't know why, Tim left with her and Peter Firth and I went in. And Peter Firth had already done Equus, I'm assuming. Yes, and he was Peter Schaffer's friend. Do you still know him?

Yes. He's the best. I mean, I don't know him as a person. I love him. He had this whole late run in Britain. I grew up in Britain on this show called Spooks. It was called Spooks in Britain. It's called MI5 here or whatever. I watched it, yeah.

He's the boss. He's so good. He's very good. And it was one of those things where it's like, it's Peter Furke! He's kind of, you know, like, he's back. People don't know him at all and he's so great. Amadeus, I used to sit on the side of the stage and just watch him perform every night just because he was so amazing to watch. Well, if you're in a place where you're getting frustrated with film, you want to go back

to theater. That's basically the best production you could have jumped into at that point in time. When you're in this headspace, are you thinking, I might be done with film forever, I prefer theater, I want to go back to that? Or was it more of a, I need to reconnect with theater, recharge, and wait to see if something actually calls me? Well, I think I was so happy to be back on the stage that when, I guess, eight months into the run, I got offered Yentl and I turned it down. Wow. Oh, wow.

Yeah. And I said, I'm so happy to be back on the stage. The character was a bawdy woman. To play a sweet young thing in a movie just didn't excite me. Yeah. And that's how it came off. That's what it seemed to me was another sweet young thing. And I knew I could do that standing on my head. And I liked the challenge, so I turned it down. young thing. And I knew I could do that standing on my head. And I liked the challenge. So I turned it down. So right. So then how does it come back around to you? Did they like what? Why did you end up doing Yentl? Well, one of my friends on the show was very angry at me because he was a big fan of Barbara's. And she'd been trying to make this movie for years at this point already. Right. And she asked me, would I come up to her Upper West Side apartment and sit down with her?

Hell yeah. How long after turning it down do you think this is? Because the movie was in development for so long. Was this pretty shortly after or was this like... That she came back to me? Yeah. No, right away. Right away.

Okay. She's basically all sweater in person. You know, Barbara knows what she wants and she goes after it. I just, I admire her so much for that. But she had me over and I'm sitting in her apartment and she very passionately discussed her dream. Right. And asked me to be a part of her dream. And it's really hard to say no to that.

There's no way I could possibly say no to that. Well, it's not just that it was Barbra Streisand. It's just, you know, the sensibility of working with someone who, on that level of care and the heart was so in it that that's the kind of people I wanted to work with. You know, it just, it just, it was impossible to say no. Also, what you're saying of, you know, feeling I've played this type of part before. It doesn't feel challenging to me on paper. You can get pigeonholed so easily as an actor, even more the more successful you are. And you had sort of such a straight like launch. You jumped into movies in the deep end and were like really hitting.

And then, yeah, it sounds like got frustrated with the limitations, the repetition, whatever it is. So if you're just reading it on paper, you're like, this is someone being lazy, wanting to see me do the same thing I've done before. It's a second thought. If someone is really explaining the passion and the thought and the vision of it to you, where it's not just you're a color I can reach for, but this is specifically what I want out of you, that must land very differently. Yeah. And also she was very flattering in that she was, you know, like as far as men being attracted to this woman, he just, she just thought he, she kept telling me you're like a dream

Jewess. And, uh, she just made me feel like I was going to appeal. And I wasn't brought up Jewish. I was brought up as a Christian scientist. Not practicing. Okay. But dad was a self-hating Jew and mom was a Christian scientist. So we didn't have any Jewish stuff in our house.

We didn't deal with Judaism at all. I just played famous Jewish characters. Here are two things. JJ, our researcher for the show, brought up that we talked about on the main episode that I want to ask you about. One is, and I know very often,

actors aren't necessarily super aware of who else was discussed for the role at some other point in time. I only ask you about this one because I know she's one of your closest friends. In the research, J.J. found that Streisand wanted Carole Kane

to play the role at some point. Does that sound correct? I imagine she would explore that idea. She had done Hester Street, you know, it just made sense. That was, that's how it was presented. So this is 10 years

of her trying to get this movie made. And coming off of Hester Street, it felt like an obvious thing. But the two of you have never discussed that. No, I actually didn't know. I didn't know that she was... I mean, I imagine that Barbara considered a lot of different people.

I think that's the sort of 70s version of this movie that she almost, whatever, put together. And this movie kept falling apart on put together and it would be you know this movie would keep kept falling apart on her I think yes because the month the financiers would eventually kind of be like now you're too old or now like you know nobody wants to sit too Jewish to

write you know like all the roadblocks you can imagine this movie facing well this I JJ can't be wrong on but but you can push back on this he found the Life magazine interview you did when this movie was coming out. Uh-oh. Talking about your, like, adoration

for Streisand and how that, like, translated on camera. That she really kind of doted on you. She doted on me? Yes. You said, I was like her little doll that she could dress up. Yeah, I don't think that was so much doting as just that it was a

doll that she could like stand in front of the light and say, let's match the peaches to her lips and you know, she would like you'd be able to get little palettes and stuff and you know, colors and stuff that match the wallpaper, you know, that's what I meant as far as the doll. Sure, doting was my word

used incorrectly. I don't think she doted on me. I know she did not dote on me. Did she dote on anybody? Or, what's she like as a director, I guess? Yeah, I don't think there was, yeah, doting is personal. I take it back.

You kind of make it sound like maybe De Palma sort of doted on you or was protective of you. You said, like, you know, had a kind of... He cared about me. Right, right. We were friends. Right, right. Barbara and I were not friends.

In this interview, you sort of imply that, like, because Streisand was not able to put the energy into the beautification of her own image in the movie in the same way she usually did a lot of that transferred on to you. Is that fair to say? same way she usually did a lot of that transferred on to you. Is that fair to say? The skills she had learned in her career of like how to make Barbra Streisand look incredible on camera. And one of these movie stars we've talked about that even when she was acting like knew her lighting. Knew which side worked for her. Knew her lenses, knew how other people, not only how she needed to perform, but how the entire crew needed to work around her. And that she maybe put a lot of that same skill and knowledge onto you. It's good because I didn't have it.

She was like, yeah, she made she was the first person that got me to change my hair color. She changed me to a redhead. I'd never colored my hair before. And suddenly I had henna in my hair. I'd never colored my hair before. And suddenly I had henna in my hair. And she asked me to, in one scene, she wanted me to be crocheting a doily. So my last month on Amadeus, I'm backstage learning how to crochet doilies. And I made this one large doily I was so proud of.

It was a little flawed. And I gave it to her as a gift on our first day of shooting and uh I think she laughed at it but and then she handed me a a a sampler and said you know I don't want you to be doing doilies I want you to be doing samplers and I didn't know how to do samplers so like I'm off I'm on camera and I'm making worms in my picture you have no idea I mean I had no idea what I was doing. Outside of crocheting, from the moment you have the meeting with her in her apartment you're in, right? You agree to do the movie from that point on?

I did. She asked me to cut my salary in half. Okay. Because the movie needed to be cheap? Like, what's the pitch there? They only had a certain amount in the budget. And that's what she said. Would you do it

for half your salary? But then she said also if your voice is on the album because I talk, then you end up getting money from the album. But then she ended up picking me up.

Well, okay. I have several questions about this. Was it frustrating to you? You're a wonderful singer. You had an album come out. You're working on a second one right now. I saw you at City Winery earlier this year with friend of the podcast, Richard Lawson.

You destroyed... Thank you. Yes. Incredible show. Thank you. Did you feel frustrated being in a musical where you don't get to sing? And obviously it's not a pointed thing because she's the only one who sings. Right. You're also... Mandy Patinkin is there. He doesn't get to, you know, a lot of very talented singers are here.

Well, I didn't think of myself as a singer back then, but I do hum in one scene and she dubbed my humming. Really? Wow. Did she do it herself? For what reason? It was her humming? But I wasn't frustrated about that.

I can tell you Mandy was frustrated about that. And I understand. Mandy's got the most beautiful voice, you know? So what was your, outside of crocheting, what was your prep process from the moment? Crocheting doilies. Crocheting doilies. Yeah, it's a very specific art.

You're not making a sweater. You're making this tiny, intricate, little, pointless thing. Yeah, it's very delicate work. From the moment Streisand sells you on it to when the film starts filming, how long do you think that was? Did it come together pretty quickly at that point? I don't remember.

Don't remember. We're talking how long ago? Apparently production began April 1982. I can tell you that much. You know when I closed in Amadeus? Great question. You know what? Look it up, David.

It might be on IBDB. You never know. But what else do you remember? You did the Coast of Utopia, right? Was that like the biggest BS in the world? I mean, it's such a good play, but so long, so much talking. What was the question? I'm just now looking at your Broadway credits.

Coast of Utopia. Coast of Utopia. Coast of Utopia is one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. Yeah. Utopia is one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. Yeah. It was, you know, Jack O'Brien, Tom Stoppard, that cast, that play. My favorite thing was Marathon Days where we'd start the play at 11 in the morning and finish it at 11 at night. We'd do all three with dinner and lunch breaks, and it was thrilling.

I saw it all in one night. All in one day, I should say. That's the way to see it, too. Yes, it was so cool. I saw it all in one night. All in one day, I should say. That's the way to see it. Yes, it was so cool. I was a teenager. I didn't understand half of the history of Russian intellectuals, obviously, but I was like, what?

I've never seen anything like this before. I can't find your run replacements. Here we go. Amy Irving. Doesn't give me your run dates. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. What else do you remember?

It does say that Jane Seymour got pregnant and that's one reason she left the show. I think I came in in winter. Okay. So you'd probably, right. Pretty close together. What else was part of the prep process for you from the moment you get the parts?

Are there things you remember working on specifically or are there things that Straits and specifically tried to push you to outside of crocheting? Were you on your own? I was on my own. I was on my own, but she was very specific on the set.

And we had a read-through, and we had some rehearsing. We all were in London shooting, and the first read-through, the guy playing her father... Who's so good. No,

no, wait for it. Oh, the guy playing her father, the film we read through the whole film. He says, what a beautiful story and drops dead. Oh,

that's right. We, yes, that's right. Yeah. And incredible sitting there with like the table read, right? Yeah. The table read. And, uh there. At the table read, right?

At the table read. And, you know, Nehemiah Persoff was fantastic. He came in and took over. But that was kind of a tough beginning. I was going to cast a pall over, right? That's the thing. We had heard that story and we're like, what an incredible story.

But then to hear you describe it, you're like, well, now I'm thinking about the moment after that happens. Now the movie feels cursed. You're just in a room with a dead person. We're in a room with a dead person. Yeah, that's a very different perception. That's the only dead person I've ever seen.

I was going to ask. I don't think I've, were you? I genuinely was. I was debating whether or not it was an appropriate question. I don't think I've ever seen another. I've seen a dead dog. Sure. My first dog, Meg, I was the one who found her dead on the...

Your son has his head in his hands. Meg was eight and was dead on the living room floor. Did I see someone else dead? I shouldn't talk about this? Where are the bodies buried? So he gets replaced, that actor, right? The dad is Nehemiah... Nehemiah Persoff.

Nehemiah Persoff, right, right, right. I don't know how I remembered that. That's a great job by you. It's a great name. Yeah, incredible name. But I guess you're mostly acting with Barbara, I'm trying to think who you're... And Mandy.

And Mandy. And my parents. Yes. Who played your parents? Stephen... Stephen Hill? Stephen Hill, right. Stephen Hill right. And my parents. Yes. Who played your parents? Stephen. Stephen Hill. Stephen Hill, right. Stephen Hill, who was kosher.

Yes. So, like, during the dinner scenes, behind his plate, his real food would be so he could eat during the scenes. Yeah. And he'd have to be finished at a certain time. We talked about this, but he was so kosher that it killed his career for decades. You think? Yeah.

Wasn't he, like, on Law & Order for... He did Law and Order. That's post-comeback, but he got dropped off of Mission Impossible because he refused to work on the Sabbath. I mean, they need you to do whatever it is. Put your masks on on Saturday. Your mission, if you choose to accept it,

work on a Friday. Flip a light switch. You're shooting in London, right? Only in London and Czechoslovakia. Exteriors with Czechoslovakia. Right, right, right. And yeah, what's Barbara like as a filmmaker? I felt like I was in great hands.

The woman does her homework. It's her first film. It's her her first film but she is so ready and she knows to hire a david watkins who's like a brilliant cinematographer um we called him sleepy watkins because he had um i believe he had narcolepsy and we'd find him asleep it's it's on his wikipedia page that he was notorious for sleeping on set. Yeah, but his work is brilliant. But she surrounded herself with amazing people. I mean, the script supervisor was a filmmaker. Oh, wow.

Zelda Baron. She's a brilliant woman who made her own films as well, but she had, rightfully so, when you're starring in a film, you need an outside eye. And Zelda was very good to have for that. And as well as Rusty Lemon. There were various people there keeping an eye on her, you know, to make sure while she's directing, she doesn't forget about the acting. Rusty Limerande.

Limerande. Not to be insensitive, but if you've had an actor die at a table read, it must have had people really on edge working with a narcoleptic DP. Yes, I guess that could make you nervous.

We knew that. Okay, you knew it going in. He lived another like 20, 30 years after that. I didn't say he was dying, but I'd be worried all the time. Anytime you see someone responsive in the corner of the room. I just was remembering another dead...

No, he didn't die. That's right. When we were doing Coast of Utopia, the man who... Richard Easton was my husband. I played his wife in the first part. He had a heart attack on the stage. Wow. God.

And literally, he's Jack O'Brien's best friend. So Jack and I are holding hands while the paramedics are there doing the, what do you call it? The paddles. The paddles and his legs going and everything. I mean, literally, Ethan Hawke was, you know, is there a doctor in the house? It was that kind of moment, you know? So he survived. So that was good. The audience were like,

this is interesting. Stoppard's really, you know, he's taking an interesting route here, you know. Yeah. I worked with an actor once, I think he now has since passed, but who had a heart attack. What was he doing? A streetcar named Desire. This guy named Jerry Grayson. And his big thing he would brag

about all the time was that he still did the second act of the show, that he had a heart attack in intermission. I don't know if that's worth bragging about, Jerry. He bragged about it a lot. It does sound kind of stupid. I agree. I agree. Take care of yourself here.

Really? Go to the hospital. My father died of a heart attack, so I can say that. Yeah. Is she, Barbara, like, is she giving you notes? Like, while you're, you know, I feel like when you're actor-director, there's an awkwardness to, like, you're doing a scene together and then cut and then lean right in. You know, like, is that sort of a tricky territory to navigate? Like, an actor giving you notes, essentially,

because they're also the filmmaker. Well, you know, that's what it was. So I guess I didn't feel it was weird at all. Do you have, because I feel it's very different for actors. Like there's not a universal acting language, right? It's such a bizarre profession. Yeah. And it's such a bizarre art form and it gets more bizarre when it's made into a profession

and there's money and pressure on it, right? And it's so internalized and it's using your own body that when people talk about an actor who is quote unquote good with directors or a director sorry who is good with actors or knows how to talk with to actors it's like well there's no universal thing there no but a good director knows that you can't have there's not one way to talk to an actor. Correct. Exactly. Because each actor needs something different. Knows how to shift to different people. Some actors want line readings.

Some actors don't want line readings ever. Some don't want anything. Some want, you know, to tell you what you had for breakfast. I mean, everybody has needs. So the director has to become a psychologist. You know, you have to have a sensitivity to people to be able to get what you can. I mean, I'm so bad with names.

Hey, you pulled her dad. I know. Yeah, I shot my wad. Are you a specific film? Are you trying to remember? Just the most famous, wonderful director that ever lived, whose house I lived in. You know this kid?

Thank you. Ilya Kazan. Before he directed anybody, he'd take you out and talk to you and find out your deepest pain and tap into that, you know, get there. When I was working with De uh depama he didn't we it was our first film carry so he didn't know me as well yet so when he needed me to cry he doesn't know me yet so he doesn't know that all you have to do is say i need you to cry and if you could make it through the left left eyeball that would be preferable to me you could do that with me sure but he didn't know that

so he had he had uh betty buckley get behind the camera who was playing the gym teacher and ball me out for throwing tampex and modas at carrie you know and you shouldn't have done to be clear i know i gave up i let billy go to the billy tell me that's his role uh to the problem but um yeah no uh uh so yeah i cried because betty's pretty good at hurling those abuses and uh uh it was unnecessary so you really you need to you need to you know by the time we did the fury together he knew how to he knew how to help me and hold my hand is there a a preferred language for you? Like, what is the thing that is most helpful for a director to do? To say to me?

Yeah. You're perfect. You want... Go with... No, actually, I do not... I don't want to be shut down. So I need to have an atmosphere that's relaxed, which everybody needs. an atmosphere that's relaxed, which everybody needs.

Blake Edwards, when we did Mickey and Maude, his set was literally a party. And to go out there and play was just part of your joy and fun. There was never any discipline involved. And usually he did it all in a master. So you controlled the tempo of the comedy and everything. And I'm out there with Dudley Moore and having so much fun doing it. But that's his way of working

and that's where he gets the relaxation and the humor, whatever. But for something else, that wouldn't necessarily work. When I was doing Heartbreak House on Broadway, Anthony Page, who's a wonderful English director, we'd do a run-through and he'd be scribbling and scribbling and scribbling, and I'm seeing him scribble,

and I'm thinking every time I open my mouth, you know, you think, oh God, what am I doing wrong? What am I doing wrong? And then he comes, and notes were telling you what you're doing right. And then when you know you're doing right, then you take it to the next step. You know, you go further. If you keep being told what you're doing right. And then when you know you're doing right, then you take it to the next step.

You go further. If you keep being told what you're doing wrong, you get in your head. And I shut down. You know, so I, me personally, just keep patting me on the back and pushing me forward. Just tell me I'm doing fine and I'll

give you more. So Streisand, unsurprisingly, seems to keep very complete archives of everything, every element of everything she's ever worked on. And like the Blu-ray disc for her movies have so much like just raw, raw takes, rehearsal footage. Really? I could find these. Where you're just sort of watching process. I'll loan you my copy. No. I don't really want to see it.

There's one clip that went semi-viral on Twitter like a month or two ago that was her in the sort of breakdown confrontation scene where Mandy Patinkin is yelling at her after he's found out.

You disrespected the Torah! Right. And you're just watching the raw take of it and she is directing him mid-take. Ha! And it felt, we were talking about this

and David was like, well, that feels like a thing that would usually not be the right move for a director. That's the kind of thing that might piss an actor off. But I felt watching it, that is her very cannily knowing

that's actually what she needs to do to get what she wants out of Patinkin. Knowing how much tension there maybe was in the relationship between the two of them in the movie, that there's something strategic about her maybe doing something that's pushing his buttons. Really? She wants to piss

Mandy off more? This is my thought. Every story about this movie, though, is that, right, he was already such an exposed sort of nerve like he was he was very upset going through a bad time then i mean not a bad time i mean i think i mean i don't know him at all but um at one point um barbara called me at night you know and upset and just you know what did i do you know i don't understand why what why he doesn't like me you know and uh and i and i and I took him aside and I said, you know, Mandy, why do you behave like this?

You know, and he says, I can't help it. I just can't help it. I don't want to be this way. I can't help it. And I said, well, do something about that. I think he did ultimately decades later. I think he did. I think he's mellowed out.

I think he's mellowed out totally. But I feel like even in the 90s, right, he still had this rep of like, he's brilliant, but he's, you know. I bet he might have been a little nervous, too. Sure, it's a lot of pressure, and the role has a lot of pressure on it, you know, within the movie, but also it's like, this is Barbra's big movie.

I've seen Mandy before that as a leading man with opposite someone like Barbra. That was the first one. He's very young, right? I mean, he's probably in his late 20s or something. Before or after he drops out of Harper? I don't have that chronological. Well, I think Harper's after.

But he didn't drop out. He was fired from Harper. Right, yes, I'm sorry. But that was a similar thing. That's 86. Too difficult. Before this, he'd done like he's in Ragtime and he's in, you know, but these are supporting roles. These are, you know, this isn't, the movie isn't on him in the same way.

But he also, at that time, his wife Catherine was very pregnant with their first child. You know, it was a major time in his life. So if he was going through any kind of stress or whatever, discomfort, it's understandable. It's also, it's in between him doing Evita and on Broadway and Sunday in the Park.

Like, it's obviously this like rich time in his theater career. Like, hugely rich. That energy was felt on set though. That was, that was an overarching.

He was not happy. Yeah. Right. But the thing of, of her directing, like that was not something that was de rigueur happening in most scenes that you had with her,, like that was not something that was de rigueur happening in most scenes that you had with her, right?

She was not breaking mid-take to sort of direct you internally in a scene. I don't remember her taking mid-take. I remember her being sometimes off-camera talking me through stuff, you know? I know she, I just finished her memoir, which I think is so well done and i just i found her so moving i found her infuriating when every time she said she was late

because i realized i could never be friends with someone who was late as often as she is yeah sorry before you arrive griffin we were talking about lateness, that's all. With reference to who? I don't know. Anyway, but she in it, she talks about watching Ingmar Bergman work and that he would sit on the floor talking

up to someone who's on camera, feeding them stuff as they're acting, you know, and she said she tried that on me, too. That she enjoyed doing. A lot of your performance is very internal and reactive. And a lot of it's, I mean, cultural of this is a woman who in this time and place would not really be speaking much. You know, there's sort of your introduction in the movie is this like, oh, what a perfect

woman. She stands, she smiles, she hands everything out, you know? So much of it has to be going on kind of underneath the skin. It's pretty deep into the movie before you really start talking and expressing emotion, you know? Yeah, I don't think acting has anything necessarily to do with how many lines you have. No, no, no, no.

I think I like acting without lines. Less to learn. But she was really kind of guiding you through that with specific feelings. Very, very. She knew exactly what she wanted. She conveyed it beautifully. And the clarity was there. The clarity and the joy, you know.

Do you remember there being a significant amount of takes? It does sound like in the reading we've done that she was persistent. We'll do it till we get it. Whatever. I didn't find she did too many takes. Okay. You know, it's not like the Kubrick stories or anything. Well, yes.

This is the scale we're trying to establish. I don't think she reached that scale. You know, it was also she wasn wasn't able to watch things on... Right. You have to know it's there before you move on. Yes. But she knew when she had it. Do you re-watch? Have you re-watched

Yentl, or do you not look at your movies? I haven't, but I may soon because my mother's 99 years old. She lives near me in an assisted living, and once a month she and I present movies there. Nice. Because she and I did six or seven movies together.

So we just ran out of the movies that we did together. She's been there a while. And so last Saturday I did Bossa Nova, a film that my son Gabriel's father directed. And I said to mom, you know, she keeps wanting to come up with, she keeps coming up with films that I just don't think this group is going to like.

But we just decided the next one might be Yentl. So I might watch it in a few weeks. I mean, that sounds great. So have you watched Carrie with this crowd? Because is your mom in Carrie? Yeah, we did we did yeah my mom plays my mom and Carrie she's the one who collects me at the when I'm hysterical at the end yeah do you ever think about how you're in the most famous twist ending a movie ever had basically yeah yeah and you know what when I saw it first of all when I read it because before I know this is aboutento, but I'm going to go on to Carrie here.

Please, I'm not talking about Carrie. Because the ending for the film was not written when we started shooting. Right, right, right. And in the book, Sue Snell, my character, survives. But they were coming up with all these other ideas, whatever, and they hadn't figured it out yet. And there was like a campaign, you know, I mean, Betty Buckley was campaigning and everyone's wanting wanting a piece when they finally wrote it and i saw what it is with the hand coming out and it didn't read that exciting or frightening you know so i thought oh shit and i'm the only one in the scene this is not good and so then we shot it and it was great because

sissy insists on being buried alive you know so it's her hand coming out of the rocks and and and and brian is you know uh you have to walk very beautifully across these stones barefoot and i'm like but it really hurts he goes oh but you need to glide it's a dream you know and we had so much fun on that and then i went and watched the movie uh by myself and i knew the hand was coming out and stuff so I wasn't scared and I just thought this does not work. Wow. It does not work and I was a little embarrassed about it.

Then I went to the preview in Hollywood I think it was Halloween night or something and the whole audience jumped out of their seats and scared the shit out of me. So I went, oh, I guess it works. I just want to call out that when you said Sissy insisted on being buried alive, Ben's eyes went wide.

He's been glowing. I love the commitment. It's like your genes. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But hopefully she didn't get corroded as badly as she should. Well, right. She shouldn't have spent as there for a couple hours. Right. Yeah. Not about Yentl specifically, but in the Yentl era,

am I wrong in thinking at different points you were almost going to do both of the first two Indiana Jones movies? No. No. Just the first.

Just the first one. Okay, but that would have been before this. Before Yentl. Yes. Yes. Okay. The first one comes out that would have been before this before yentl yes yes okay 82 the first one comes out 81 yeah it was in the period where you were treading the boards am i wrong about this yeah uh no you're not wrong about this i was going to do it um i ended up falling for another man and that just put a damper on Stephen's desire

to put me in that movie. Sure, sure. The other man was Yantel, by the way, right? It was. No, but it's interesting. Barbara takes credit for not only my marriage to Stephen, but my birth of Max. I mean, she thinks that she,

Stephen asked to see dailies of me. Specifically? Yeah. And it also feels weird to throw some patankin in there too. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, we had dated and we broke up and it was years later and he asked Barbara if he could see some cut-together footage of me.

Wow. He was in London, and she said, sure, and she showed it. And the next thing we know, he's in India where I'm shooting a miniseries for HBO, and he starts to woo me again after that. So she's decided that she brought us back together. I like the idea of this as being the most high-level Hollywood pre-social media version of obsessively looking at your ex's Instagram. There you go.

How's she doing without me? Do I miss her? And you're just getting 35 millimeter dailies from yet. Anyway, it worked. It worked. Yeah. And so she also thinks that I got pregnant because I had confessed to her that I was really sad that Stephen was on the fence about starting a family. And I was ready and stuff.

And she knew that made me sad. And she came to my, I think it was my 30th birthday party. And she gave me as a gift baby clothes. Wow. birthday party and she gave me as a gift baby clothes wow and at the time i was a little kind of i had mixed feelings about it but i got pregnant that night so she takes credit for that too i mean as you said barbara streisand gets what she wants and what she wanted at that time was for you to have a baby i guess she's such a myth maker and this is a perfect example of that where she's like,

ah, it's all me and you're like, I kind of can't dispute it, Barbara, you know, sure. She is magical that way. I have another, I have a story

she might not love, but Barbara, when we went to Czechoslovakia, we, you notice I'm not talking about how she directs,

I'm just all personal. I don't, I don't pay attention enough, I guess, you know. I'm not like Bradley Cooper. I'm not learning either side, you know. But we went to Czechoslovakia

and the hotel there, the Intercontinental, had a spa. Right. And the night before my first day of shooting there, I decided to go have a massage. Sure.

And I was really high. Congrats. Thank you. That dank Czechoslovakian weed. Yeah. And I went down there and this guy gave me this massage. And at one point, and I'm really enjoying it so much. And then I start to think I'm on my stomach and he's starting to massage me from my ankle down to the top of my leg,

and he seems to be doing that for a long time. And then I start to think, are his fingers being a little bit daring there? I don't know. And then he goes on the other side, and I'm not sure. Is he being inappropriate or not? I'm not sure is he big inappropriate or not i'm not sure it's borderline it's borderline but i'm loving it anyway it's really i'm really having a nice time and then he turns me over and he starts to not be so subtle and i said i can't go there with you honey sure you know and then that morning first day

shooting with barbara i'm standing around the camera and i'm telling her and the crew this story uh-huh barbara booked that man every night for the rest of the shoot this is a woman who knows what she knows she wants hears that and she's like, sounds good. I chapeau to her. Exactly. I doff my yeshiva cap to her. Yep. Oh, man. You guys are all red.

It's a great story. I mean, really red, you guys. No. Barbara can do what she wanted to. That's between Elliot and Brolin, right? Like, she's a free lady. Post-Peters? Yes. He was not on set at all,

right? Yes, he was. He was. But he was not a producer on it, right? This was like her firmly saying I need to make a movie without him. But he was around. Not much. As a matter of fact, he was in Czechoslovakia.

I don't remember seeing him in London, but I remember him in Czechoslovakia and he and I drove out to the location in Zagreb together. How do I remember Zagreb? I don't know. And he was very upset that she would put a do not disturb

on her phone at night and he'd be in la wanting to talk to her and it was like she's she's not only the star but the director and the producer you know how long do you stay like are you still in touch with barbara or like how do you stay in touch with her much after the movie like does is there a long lasting friendship friendship? I don't know. You know, we kind of had a little falling out. She knows why. We talked about it. I don't carry it around, you know?

We're not here to rehash beef. Yeah, but there was a little beef, and it just, you know, we're civil with each other. I've been to see her shows. I've gone backstage, you know? Sure. But I don't. And I'd kind of like to write a thank you

fan letter for her book because I thought that was really beautifully done. It's a little short, though. I know. Anyway. I can barely use it to prop things open. I mean, it's just, you know. I'd like to send a fan letter. I have two fan letters to write to her and to Bradley Cooper because Maestro

You're such a Maestro fan. Well, I just saw it yesterday. Fair enough. Okay. But I am a big fan and I think Bradley Cooper is genius. I will put that down. We have been making

the argument or at least I've been making the argument that I do think Bradley Cooper's career is proceeding in a slightly Barbara-esque way.

Right. He does Stars Born kick things off. They're very different performers. Right. Yes. But I think there's some commonality between them as directors.

And just as like this sort of multi-hyphenate, like I write, I act, I direct, I produce, I sing, I, you know, this. And I know what I'm doing. Yeah. Yes. That's what they both really know what they're doing. era of Eastwood and Redford and Costner and Beatty and all these sort of A-list leading men who went on to also become directors and filmmakers and whatever. But I think in a way that most similar to Streisand, Bradley Cooper is making movies that are kind of dissecting his star persona.

You know, like he's not just making films and also happening to star in them. Sure. It's not just he's putting himself into things that interest him. It feels like he's, in a way that feels very straight-sanding. I mean, we've been reading all these quotes from her, but that her movies really feel like her trying to process elements of herself. And she talks about Yentl being this film about, like, her relationship to her father who died when she was too young to remember.

You know, it's like a movie of her trying to communicate with her father. Clearly. Yeah, but can you hear me? It's right there. It's all about her father. It's actually kind of rude that Papa doesn't sing back. Can I ask Oscar story? Wait, who beat you?

Not to dredge up old memories. Let's not frame it that way. I'm so sorry. Who won the Oscar? Yeah, they don't. You know, it's funny. When I was nominated, I knew I wasn't going to win. And I sat down next to Jim Brooks, who he was there for Terms of Mysterio.

That was his big year. Yeah, right. And he turned to me and he said, Nick the Greek, I just read that you're two to one. And I was like, so I was sweating bullets. That you might have to give a speech. Brooks picked you up. to one and i was like so i was sweating bullets that you might have to give a speech so i'm the only woman in the world i believe who was so relieved when linda hunt got called linda hunt right well that's a great performance very unusual performance yes yeah well i i remember my agent at

the time nicole david uh handled both of us and so she asked me to sign her program at the oscars and i wrote if you think linda hunt playing a man is a stretch, catch Amy Irving as a virgin. It's a loaded category. There's Cher for Silkwood. There's Glenn Close for The Big Chill. And there's Alfre Woodard for Cross Creek. These are all great actors. But you felt a genuine sense of relief at not having to get up there.

Absolutely. I didn't have anything to say. I wasn't ready. And I don't like awards ceremonies. I don't care about those things so much. And I won an Obie for Road to Mecca. And I wasn't going to go. And they called and they said, we think you should come.

And so I knew I was winning. Sure. And I was still a nervous wreck. Yeah. You know, I just, it just, I don't, I don't, I never felt comfortable getting up and talking as myself. It was unbelievably stressful to me. Like going to an award ceremony where I'm not nominated or whatever. Sure.

Fine. It's a party. But no, the idea that i might have to get up there in front of everybody and seem natural and seem graceful articulate right make sure you thank all the right people and if you don't thank this person they're never going to let you hear the end of it i i do believe you know if if five actors play hamlet you know go ahead and vote on on which one played the best Hamlet. Right, but how do you compare? That sounds like a Netflix competition.

Yes. Hamlet game. Winner ratings on that one. No, but I think, look, David is a similarly big Oscar nerd, bigger Oscar nerd than I, but for freaks like us with broken brains,

it is a game I love to play of like watching the YouTube videos of the awards being handed out and just rewinding and looking at each individual. Right. And it's a thing that is studied, right? Of like who seems pissed off,

who does quote unquote a good performance of acting gracious. But now I want to rewatch and see if I can read the genuine relief in your face you will probably see it yeah yeah um i mean yeah and there's only there's just that one second of everyone's faces yes before you cut to okay now she's taking the stage that must be like to me that seems like the most nerve-wracking part is there's now a camera guy like three inches away

from you in the aisle waiting very happy and. You look very happy and you're clapping. Oh, you got it? Oh, I got it. Oh, yeah. Dang internet. You can get anything. Linda Hunt's got a great outfit. I got such a bad review for my dress. Really?

Yeah. That sort of white dress? Well, Ralph Lauren dressed me and he put me, because I was a Santa Fe girl and a hippie, you know, he put me in a, he dressed me perfectly for me. He had me in an antique white blouse with a long velvet skirt and a concho belt because it was all very Santa Fe. This is a good look. Yeah, I liked it.

And lace-up antique boots. They said I looked like Little House on the Prairie. Rude. I thought I looked great. They're always so mean. They are so mean. And then the next year i was pregnant thank you barbara and uh i uh presented um and fell off the stage you fell off the stage well they had it they had a not the full stage they had a they had a, well, they had a circular circle. You pulled a Kelsey Grammer.

You fell in the gap. No, they, it started to move and I, and I started to fall. And actually I think it was Pierce Brosnan saved me. God, you know what? We've been talking about Pierce a lot. He is so charming. This is what we keep saying. And his wife is so lovely.

And they've been together for a zillion years, right? They're one of those Hollywood couples. I don't know them well, but every time I've ever met them and him, he's a heartthrob.

Pierce has come up a weirdly large amount. Well, but we were arguing. No, I'm with you. There's something endearing about it. There's something endearing about it one arguing. There's no, I'm with you. There's something endearing about it. There's something endearing about it one time. One time.

That's it. He maybe has the worst singing voice of anyone I've ever heard in a movie musical, but, but the energy behind it. Yeah. The effort is pretty charming. I think we should wrap Griffin,

but is there anything else we should, you know, any other memory? I but is there anything else we should, you know, any other memory? I don't remember anything else. I think you've got all my stories. Did you ever, you know, tell Barbara, like, you know, don't talk to me too harshly. I made John Cassavetes explode with my mind.

You know, did you ever say that? To put the Lord over people. Yeah. Nah, I don't do that. You know, you don't threaten to blow anyone up with your money Cassavetes

the hell out of you I mean do you want to talk about Slow Christmas your experience working on that yeah let's briefly mention that

oh my goodness I have a new career now my son Gabriel Davis Barreto is convinced me to start singing and he put me together with this incredible band

called Ghoulus. And we recorded our first album, which is kind of a memoir album. And we've just done our second album, which is all Willie Nelson. And out of the blue, we get this invitation. Who asked us? I believe it was Justin Schmidt from Missing Peace Group had reached out, correct? There we go. Reached out to Gabriel and said they were doing this slow. This is the fifth season that they're, fifth? Well, it is actually, it's technically the third Slow Christmas, but I started at zero, so it's the fourth. So it's the fourth Slow Christmas and they asked us to,

very nicely asked us to contribute. Yes. So two of the members of the band and myself got together in my apartment and we threw a song together, We Three Kings. And I'm very proud of it. It really came out really nicely.

And so we're excited. I guess it comes out on the 24th. It's really awesome. And we are going to be releasing this in the new year in January. But the next recording session we're doing, which is we're going to be covering Maestro, we're going to actually be promoting the release of the album. Oh, yeah. If anything, people have already heard.

It'll be available now, right? Yeah. This is early January. It'll already be available. But if they haven't checked it out, they should, they should listen on wherever they get music to a slow Christmas three. And your album is born in a trunk, right? The first album is born in a trunk. Yes.

That's a Judy Garland song, right? Am I crazy? There is a song called born in the trunk. We don't, I don't sing that one, but born in the trunk is, you know,

I was brought up on the stage. I was put on the stage when I was nine months old. My dad had a theater. My mom was the lead actress in the company. All three of us kids were put on the stage. I was put on the stage when I was nine months old. My dad had a theater. My mom was the lead actress in the company. All three of us kids were put on the stage. So my first role was the baby in Rumble Stillskin. Hence, there's a song from Rumble Stillskin on the album. I saw your review that you did at City Winery,

which was so fantastic. But the album, well, you know what? You could have been there if you wanted. Didn't invite me. I invited Richard Lawson. Brennan Tatt. I'll do it again. I was going to ask you, are you going to do another show?

Well, when we launch the new album, we'll definitely do another show and I'll incorporate the first album songs. We'll be able to do a little bit longer concert because I only had 10 songs. No, but what I love about the album and the show you did is, as you said, it's like a bit of an autobiography. And you're sort of tracking your career through the songs of the projects. And some of them are things that you sung in those movies and some of them aren't. And some of them are songs that affect your life, you know. No Yentl songs, but you did talk about Yentl on stage. Well, yes, I didn't think I should follow that act. Sure.

Right. Leave the singing to Barbara.ara right uh but you did the song from carrie and then the why don't you do right why don't you do right yes we did a completely different rendition i mean it's very good ghouls jules is a really incredible arranger you know and willie nelson had written a song for me called waiting forever for you and he sang on it with me um yeah no there's some really beautiful really terrific things on that so yeah i'm having fun doing that i uh i have very little interest in doing anything else but singing hey yeah that's cool um well thank you again i really appreciate it thank you for having me and come back anytime honestly just i can see why you want to do it in person.

It does make a difference. Zoom sucks. We hate Zoom. We hate Zoom. Especially after the pandemic. We're sick of Zoom. We did it off Zoom. 18 months of nothing but.

Right. Yeah, exactly. That was awful. Yeah. I know, just to wrap it up, I know you said, you know,

you don't particularly seek out awards. That's not what you do it for. Do you feel like being asked to be part of Slow Christmas Volume 3 was a greater honor than the Academy Award nomination? Where do you rank the two of them in terms of transformative moments in your career,

which felt more validating? It's time to go, Griff. Yeah, it's time to wrap up. She's thinking about it. I'm thinking. Time to put you in a trunk. She's thinking about it. No, I think the Oscar put you in a trunk. She's thinking about it. No, I think the Oscar might be better.

The Oscar is better. Okay, Ben. And I'm not offended at all. Thank you, Amy. Thank you. Nice to see you again.