WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 956 - Sissy Spacek

Episode Date: October 4, 2018

Sissy Spacek was a girl from Texas with a guitar who just wanted to sing. But after spending some time as a teenager living in New York City with her relatives, Rip Torn and Geraldine Page, Sissy got the acting bug. She talks with Marc about the life-changing moment when she made Badlands, how the studio didn't want her in Carrie, what it was like going on the road with Loretta Lynn for Coal Miner's Daughter, and a lot more about her life and prolific career, including her new film with Robert Redford, The Old Man and the Gun. This episode is sponsored by New Mexico, Squarespace, and Casper. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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All right, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers? What the fuck buddies? What the fucking ears? What the fuckadelics? What's happening? I'm Mark Maron. This is my podcast podcast WTF.

Welcome to it, how you feeling? Everything okay? How'd that thing turn out? Yeah? Did you get the test back? It's good? Oh. Alright, well, you just gotta see what happens.

Today on the show, Sissy Spacek is here, that's a lot of S's for me. show sissy spasic is here that's a lot of s's for me as some of you know i have a slight but uh barely noticeable list because i don't say my s's correctly nor do i say my r's correctly all right that's why grarana is very difficult for me and thank you for the emails about how to pronounce grarana but uh it doesn't matter now i'm not that today. That's not part of the show, but Sissy Spacek's a lot of S's. Sissy Spacek and Squarespace, a actresses of her generation of all time, continues to be that. And she's unique. I mean, you saw Carrie. I mean, maybe you'll go see The Old Man and the Gun with Robert Redford, which is in theaters right now in select cities. But Sissy Spacek, Badlands, you saw that, too.

I mean, she's almost otherworldly uh sissy's basic so when she came in it was uh she's very very nice very grounded person very uh she's from texas texas never driven across texas that's a long fucking day or two yeah because i once had to cut up from the gulf all the way through to New Mexico, Northern New Mexico. I went on the diagonal all the way through Texas. And you just sort of drive. And then all of a sudden it's like, hey, is that a town? Hey, Eric, was that a town? It looked kind of like one. There was an old truck there and a place that had a door. It's just a lot of that. And then there are big cities, but a lot of like, oh, what's this? Is this store? Oh, no, that's that store hasn't been opened in.

Wow. Long time. Jeez. How old is that tractor? Hey, is this a, Hey, is that a town? Nope. Nope. It's not. I don't, I don't even know what that is. That's a, that's my impression of driving across Texas. Hey, look, some Hills kind of, well, I, we over them across texas hey look some hills kind of well are we over them yep that was it seems kind of dry i remember i got pulled over in texas and the cop asked me what i was doing in texas i said i was doing comedy and he uh just looked at me and laughed and let me go how often does that happen that was back in the day back in the day. Back in the day, people. So what is on my mind? Oh, shit. Did the president text me?

Yeah. I wonder how those presidential alerts are going to be popping up. This guy just cannot be in our fucking faces, up our asses, in our brains, in our ears enough. It's just the more he stays in the news, more we got to see his face i'm so tired of his face and then his tweets i don't follow him on twitter but now i guess he can just text everybody text things like uh it's not safe to vote today yeah wait for that text wow i guess he was worried that not everyone was on twitter so So, I mean, what do you give him? Two weeks before the presidential alerts or just his shitty tweets? Man.

Exciting. As we slowly normalized a complete immersion into this Trump ego. Just like, yeah, that's kind of weird. Yeah, it is weird until the presidential alert. Hey, it'd really help out if some of my people could attack California. Wait, what? I live here. That's I guess that's not for us.

Is that that's a joke, right? Hey, what? Why do I hear trucks outside setting some scenes today? Ah, update on the Joker. Don't know when I'm going to be shooting yet, but it's coming. It's coming. I know my lines. I'm ready to go when i'm going to be shooting yet but it's coming it's coming i know my lines i'm ready to go i'm ready to launch uh this uh seats for tonight thursday and saturday

at dynasty typewriter here in la are sold out so that's nice that's a good thing right oh you know what i want to tell you this i yesterday i spoke to my old buddy uh ted alexandro for a upcoming wtf episode i've known ted a long time he's a new york guy he's a queens guy he's a solid guy uh you know very uh earnest honest funny dude you might have seen that the little viral thing that he did from the cellar about louis and the culture we live in. But I never really had an opportunity to talk to him. He was on a live one a while back, but he's got a special coming out. It's called Senior Class of Earth. It's available today from All Things Comedy.

You go to ATCspecials.com to get it. And you can watch it. He's a very smart, very funny guy. We just couldn't sync it up uh to put his episode on today because this is basic as today uh but go check him out and that'll be up in a few weeks it was a it was a good comic talk it was smart we talked about purpose that's what it is what's your purpose um if it's not clear to most people i can't take it i can't i you know i can't it's relentless what's going on brett kavanaugh jock douche partisan hack probably gonna get confirmed you know i just i guess this

is just my semi-weekly psa i hope the voting works. And I hope you do it. Presidential alert. I'm president for life. Go fuck yourselves. Winning. Oh, that was another lunatic. Believe me. Presidential alert.

Meh. Meh. You know, I've got a lot of things going on in my mind and we just have to go on with our days despite the fact that there's just this vibrating dread of a diminishing future hanging over us where's the hope i got some hope maybe maybe a nice email maybe a nice email would be nice right wouldn't that be nice a nice email. Maybe a nice email would be nice. Right? Wouldn't that be nice? A nice email? Here's one subject line. Please help. My dad really likes your podcast. Won't shut up about it. How do I make him stop talking? Me and my mom suffer daily from this. Please respond. What? And then like the next day, again, same guy. By the way, he just bought merch, so it's getting worse. Hey, just be thankful, all right,

that you have a dad that likes to talk about something, I imagine, relatively interesting. I'm not saying I'm interesting, but okay. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think my father has listened to one of these. All right, so shut up. No, you know, say hi to your dad for me. Tell him I'm happy he's listening. And maybe you should start listening. How would that be? Maybe that would be good. And then you could talk to him about me and the guests I have. Yeah. Try that. And also like

it just remind me, I like to take, take a moment to, to congratulate my friends, Adam and Roxanne on the birth of their new son they know who they are i don't need to tell you who they are but uh congratulations on uh sunny sweets that's uh i'm not that's the name they chose the two names and i gotta say a couple good names it's a couple of good names that's uh great. Welcome, sunny sweets, to the world. So, Sissy Spacek, one of the great actresses. She's in a new film called The Old Man and the Gun with Robert Redford, which I saw. And a lot of great people in that movie, man.

Tom Waits is in there. Danny Glover's in there. Ben Affleck's in there. Ben Affleck's in there. Denzel's kid's in there. A lot of great people in the movie. And Sissy is one of them. She's also in a new Amazon dramatic series, Homecoming, with Julia Roberts. That premieres on November 2nd.

And this is me somewhat nervously talking to Sissy Spacek. It was very comfortable, actually. She's a very sweet woman and a great actress. So enjoy the talk. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis

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renews this year. Zensurance does all the heavy lifting to find a policy, covering only what you need, and policies start at only $19 per month. So if your policy is renewing soon, go to Zensurance and fill out a quote. Zensurance, Mind your business. You don't live here anymore, do you? I don't live here anymore. We have a place out here. Oh, you do? Just so we don't have to stay in hotels. Right. But most of the time you spend in the country? Yeah, in Virginia or in Austin. That's where I'm from. That's all my family's there. Right there in Austin? Yeah, in Virginia or in actually or in Austin. That's where I'm from.

That's all my family's there. Right there in Austin? Yeah. Oh, because I thought like I noticed like this new film shot in Texas. I was wondering

if it was sort of like oh, I'm back in Texas. I'm back at home. Yeah. I do feel like that. I have quite a lot of homes. Yeah. I mean,

I don't mean, you know, homes in my heart yeah yeah but like texas the original one that's the original one and is it uh well i mean it's completely austin's got to be completely different from when you were a kid i mean it's crazy it is i actually grew up in northeast texas and it's a much more rural area farming farming area, kind of the piney woods. Yeah. Oh, there's piney woods in northeastern Texas?

Oh, yeah. It's beautiful there. It's where that whole mountain range, the Smoky Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains, all of those mountains, it starts there and then goes up. We just have little hills. Right. I grew up in New Mexico, like in Albuquerque. So like, you know, down in south New Mexico, southern New Mexico.

So it's like Texas. And you drive. I mean, I've driven down all the way across Texas. And those towns are just, they're just like four buildings on a highway. I know. I love it. And then just miles of nothing. But I mean, they're their farmland you do love

it yeah oh yeah i i love i love texas yeah that's a if that designed your consciousness it's a lot of space up there huh a lot of space yeah a lot of space and what how would you like what kind of family did you grow up in like what was the business my father was an agriculturalist, soil and water conservationist. Uh-huh. Did he work for the state? He did. Yeah. And he worked with farmers and, you know, helped them with their crops.

Yeah, tried to make it better. He would grow anything. He was, you know, just, he would bang on the door if he thought we were using too much water in the bathtub. He would bang on the bathroom door. He was way ahead of the curve on that. Oh, man, he was way ahead of the curve. On conservation of water. Yeah.

Because it must have always been an issue there. Yeah. Because it's pretty dry. It's pretty arid. Well, it is. But I think that his belief was there's one air and there's one water and we need to protect it. Yeah. And soil conservation.

Sure. Because there's, you know, he wanted people to become aware of protecting their land from soil erosion. Right. And depleting it. Yeah. So that's, and my mother was precious and a homemaker. Uh-huh. And was it like, did you live on a big chunk of property?

No, we lived in a little house in a little town. In the town. A little tiny town, a thousand people. So he never had his own farm or anything? He did, but that was earlier. He never had a farm that he worked. He had a cotton farm in West Texas out in near Lubbock. Uh-huh.

But that was, that was, you know. Another life before you. That was before me. Yeah. He decided he's going to get out of that rocket. He was just a man of the land. Yeah. He appreciated the land.

So he always like just driving around. Do you have a truck? No, he didn't have a truck. No truck. My, my didn't have a truck. No truck. My father's family was Czech. He's like first generation American? No, my great grandfather was, his grandfather was. They came over from Czechoslovakia?

Yeah, they came over from, actually it was Moravia. It was before, Moravia,lovakia and bohemia so it's really spot check is is uh how it's pronounced but it was never pronounced that way in northeast texas right so it became basic so they didn't want to we're going with that yeah if there's no h in it without it's written we're not going to say the age. And my mother's family was, they were all Irish English. So I had, and you know, there were no cowboy boots, no pickup trucks. No, never? No.

No, we had, you know, German sausage and, you know, it was very, very Czech. The town where my father grew up, which was in central Texas, everyone spoke Czech. And German, probably, too. And German, and drank long-neck bottle beer. Yeah, it's weird. You know, learning about how the Germans came to Texas. They brought the polka. They're accordions.

Yes, the accordions. But a love of the land. Just a real love of the land. Yeah. And conserving it. It's kind of beautiful. Yeah, there's still a lot of that. I imagine that some Texas barbecue is rooted back to the Germans.

Oh, yeah. And homemade pickles. Oh, yeah. Relish. And it was wonderful. They brought all that. Yeah. So I really was fortunate to have a very kind of ethnic.

Oh, yeah. I got to experience that ethnicity that is running through my veins. Yeah. And, well, the Czech's very specific, and English, Irish, that's pretty tough, too. Yeah. You come from tough genes. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

Do you have relatives that are full-on Irish and British or no? My mother's family was like that. They were very, what did, we've referred to them

as threadbare gentility. Oh, nice. Yeah. But they were lovely, genteel family with a lot of love and not much money. Oh, that's nice. But a lot of love and not much money.

Oh, that's nice. But a lot of sense. That's good. Decent people. Good, classy people. How many siblings do you have? I grew up with two brothers. Yeah.

And they're not around anymore? Are they around? I have one brother. Who's around? Who's around, yes. The other passed away as a teenager. Oh, my God. That's sad. Yeah. How'd that happen? Who's around, yes. The other passed away as a teenager. Oh, my God. That's sad.

Yeah. How'd that happen? He died of leukemia. Oh, wow. And how old were you? I was 18 and he was, or I was 17, almost 18. He was just turned 19. That's devastating.

Devastating. Yeah. kind of devastating yeah i had really fabulous uh parents though who uh were insistent that it become um something positive in our lives that we were able to do something with it otherwise you just become paralyzed and yeah there's a void there go on and be bitter and they didn't want that so they were tough people yeah they were tough people and they were wise people. I don't know if they were so tough, but they were very resilient and wise. Religious? Spiritual.

Okay. Spiritual. Oh, that's good. So there wasn't a big Christian rap on it. Well, my mother was always our sunday school teacher she just moved up with us because she didn't want us to be influenced by any fanatics so she she actually had the job i she had the job she was she taught us this school i will i will be i will bring the the refreshments. But I can't blame anything bad on my parents.

They were just fabulous. Yeah. I mean, do you have things to hang on other people? Oh, yeah. Particularly now. Looking back on it? No, no, not back from then, but from right here where we are. Sure, sure.

Yeah. So instead of being morose, you guys just kind of processed it and moved on from your brother's death? Well, for me, it was like rocket fuel. I realized that I had lived through that. Yeah. You were going to take life. I could handle anything if I could handle that. Right.

And in my work, I had so much already. I'd lived so much and felt so deeply from such a young age. It opened it up. It opened it all up. I had a deep well of emotion to draw from. Yeah, at a young age. It opened it up. It opened it all up. I had a deep well of emotion to draw from. Yeah, at a young age. But it was also like when you were becoming aware of the world. I mean, you weren't eight.

I mean, you were 17. So it processed through. It was through most of my teenage years. That he was sick? Yeah. Yeah, it's heavy. And when did you decide that acting was the thing that was going to satisfy your creativity?

Music was the thing for me. Originally. Music was the thing that I always did. You played guitar? Played guitar, 12 string. Oh, nice. And would play for anybody that would listen. And it was that time, too.

I mean, it was sort of coming into the 60s with the folk explosion yeah so you had a lot of role models i'd imagine who were your people who are you well you know i i i i loved people like crosby stills nash oh yeah you know all yeah But I remember when I went to New York. How old were you then? With two guitars. I was 16. I was there before my brother died. I was there for a summer and then visiting some relatives and spent time there with them.

They were in the theater. And so I got a glimpse of that. It didn't make me want to act because I didn't know how. But what was New York like then? So your folks are sort of like you can go to New York. You wanted to go to New York and spend time with these relatives. Who are they? What kind of theater were they involved in?

You know, Broadway theater. Oh, really? Broadway theater. Yeah. Were they producers or actors? They were actors. Geraldine Page, Rip Torn. They're your relatives?

Yeah. Rip is my first cousin. His mother and my father were the Spockick family. Really? She was Torn, Rip Torn. How's he doing? You know, I haven't talked to him in a long time. I hope he's out on his John boat fishing and having a great time.

Yeah, I saw him briefly at the Gary Shanling Memorial. Oh, yeah. I don't know him. That's a great show. That was great. Yeah, he was quite a guy. But I didn't get to talk to Rip much. He just kind of darted in, darted out. Paid his respects. But Geraldine Page and him were your relatives. So that must have been a pretty lively trip to New York at 16. Well, I didn't know anything. I didn't even know enough to realize how

brilliant they were. But they seemed like exciting people. Very exciting people. I think that's when I just getting to stay with them and meet the people that they worked with and their friends. It opened up a whole new world. I bet. I remember thinking, oh, my gosh. I want to, you know, maybe someday I can join in that conversation. Yeah. It was a while, though, before.

But it must have been mind-blowing. It was mind-blowing. But I went there to do music. And so that was, you know, I was on a path. Did you go play? Did you do a show when you were there? I did Hootenanny Night. At the Bottom Line or something?

At the Bitter End. Oh, the Bitter End, right. And what was the one that was right across the street? The Cafe Wah? The Cafe Wah. And I remember going down and seeing the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was playing somewhere. But it was across the street. The Cafe Wah? The Cafe Wah. And I remember going down and seeing the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was playing somewhere,

but it was in the village. Right, they were all down there, yeah. I would go down there and take my guitar and sit with the guys playing P-Knuckle in Washington Square Park. And you were 16. It must have been just sort of like, God, this is it.

And then I went back and I finished high school. My brother died, finished high school, and went to University of Texas. For all four years? No. I bailed after rush week. I went, okay, this is not for me. Really?

Right away? Right away. Well, one week of rush will do it for you. Were you being pressured to be in a sorority? I don't think I was being pressured, but I had already had my moccasins and my bell bottoms. And you've been to New York for three months. And I've been to New York, and I just wanted that. Get out of Texas for a while. Well, I loved Texas.

I always loved Texas because there was so much happening in music in Austin. I mean, it was incredible. Who were your favorite? It was very progressive. Even then, there was a lot going on in Austin, like in terms of new music? Oh, Guy Clark. You know, it was just a really great progressive music scene. Yeah.

And so I loved that. Were you writing songs? i was writing songs and because you made one record like in the 80s but like did you was that no i think it was much earlier oh in the 80s yeah after i did coal miners daughter i did yeah but you made a record when you were younger i did and it was a real it was a really great experience for me because i wanted to be in the music business so bad. And I wrote songs and I played in clubs. I met these record people who had a record, had a song.

Where was this? In Texas? It was in New York. 1619 Broadway. 1650 Broadway. It was the Brill Building. The Brill Building, sure. Yeah. You remember that. 1650 Broadway. It was the Brill Building. The Brill Building, sure. Yeah.

You remember that. Well, I know about it. That's where it all happened, where all those R&B and early rock hits and Carole King. Yeah, yeah. Well, I met those guys. Oh, yeah. And they had this song, and it was produced. They did a beautiful job.

It was called John, You've Been Too Far This Time. It was about his nude record album. Uh-huh. Why am I talking about this? But they needed a girl. And in the door I walked. Okay, it's going to be you. I lost my identity.

It wasn't my music. You sang? I sang. And it was after that that I thought, okay, I'm not changing my name. I'm doing my own thing. Right. And if I fail, I fail. Yeah.

I'll fail on my own. Yeah. Not on someone else's sad project. Well, they were very talented. And they were just churning out hits. They were just churning out hits. And they thought they had one. But I met some really wonderful musicians there that then I went on to work with doing, you know, just

things to pay the rent. Sure. Like. Backup singing. Backup singing. I sang on the Andy Warhol's Lonesome Cowboys film track. You did? His album.

Yeah. With the group. I was just, you know, one of the group. But you were how old were you? Like 19? Yeah. Maybe 18. 18. And you sort how old were you, like 19? Yeah, maybe 18. 18, and you sort of like somehow got dropped into that group?

They were thinking, what are you doing here? He must have loved it. He's like, we got to. I'd never met him until years later. Oh, really? But we did have, they did come into the studio at one point and say, they need extras, so let's finish up this song and then go over to some bar uptown.

Yeah. For a movie? For that movie that we were doing a soundtrack for. Right, right. Lonesome Cowboys. But we ended up on the cutting room floor. Oh, really? That was my first foray into film.

Into film. But did you go? That was a failure. No, it had nothing to do with you. It didn't. I think you did fine, looking back. But did you go to the factory? I imagine that must have been a mind-blowing group of people to be around at 18 for Texas.

I never went to the factory, but I did go to Max's Kansas City occasionally. Yeah? Most times I was looking in the window. Yeah. That must have been a scene, man. You know, all the important people ended up in the back room, which was sort of, you know. I saw it. I've seen pictures.

John Lennon, David Bowie, Lou Reed. Everyone's hanging out. Rolling Stones. It was amazing. Yeah. But I wasn't in the back room. No. Rolling Stones. It was amazing. Yeah. But I wasn't in the back room. No. I was in the front room.

Like everybody else? Or out on the street. Watching the show? That's right. So when do you put down your guitar? Well, I didn't put down my guitar. I just, you know, those doors weren't opening right for me and you were at it for a few years huh I was at it for a few years but I was you know really didn't have a plan didn't have a

you know didn't it just wasn't happening right but I kept on yeah but um everything that happened to me in the film industry the film business business, was really because of my music, because that would get me in the door. Really? From the beginning? From the beginning. Well, maybe they thought I was funny. I don't know. So you mean in auditioning?

Or how did you first start acting outside of the showing up at a bar for Andy Warhol? It was kind of purely accidental. I had a friend who was a photographer who took photographs of me, took them to his modeling agency. They were also a theatrical agency. And I'm much too small to be a model. I went in with a whole book, portfolio of photographs of me. book, portfolio photographs of me. Yeah.

But they said, oh, you know, we have a theatrical apartment. Go over there. And that's where I met my first manager who was really talented, Bill Tresh in New York. And he handled a lot of really wonderful actors. And he took me under his wing.

Did you train? I went to the Strasburg Institute. Were Geraldine and Rip involved with that? They had been before. They were great. They didn't want to say do this or do that. They just encouraged me to follow my instinct. So you're at the Strasburg Institute.

Was Lee alive? Yes, he was. I went up in the elevator with him once. Bet him there. But I was never in one of his classes. No? Who was your teacher? His name was Ed Covins.

And you stayed there how long? Oh, maybe a year. And this was like straight-up method stuff, huh? I guess so. Yeah. You guess? That's all. Yeah.

I only got as far as sense memory, and then I never got to scene class, and then I was out. But sense memory is, I guess, pretty important. That's sort of the nuts and bolts of it. I mean, if you can do that, you can figure out. Yeah, I'm a one-trick pony. But the rest is just like knowing where your mark is and bolts of it. I mean, if you can do that, you can figure out. Yeah, I'm a one-trick pony. But the rest is just like knowing where your mark is and talking to somebody.

But if you can actually embody where you are, I think that's probably most of it. Oh, well, maybe. So what happens? So then you move out here, you get cast in something there? I got cast in something there.

And the irony was, though, that when I was cast in New York and came irony was though that when i was cast in new york and came out to la they considered me a new york actress which was really not true at all but that was a good thing it was a great thing it means you had integrity of some yes and you were but it was it was all a lie it was all a lie i was I was a Texas actress who stopped in New York for a little while. Right. But did you tell him that? I hope not.

No, I didn't. Of course not. Why would you? And you did, like, I went through all the movies, but your first role was in Prime Cut? Yes. That movie scarred me. Did it? You saw it?

When I was a kid. Oh, my gosh. What is it, like 1970s? When I was a kid. Oh, my gosh. What is it, like 1970s? You never ate sausage again. That kind of thing. Yeah. Well, it was sort of like, the one part I remember is when they sent the guy back as sausages. Like, there's a scene in the opening of the movie where they, like, the whole thing.

We were both scarred, Mark. I bet. Well, yeah, you played one of those women, right? Like, one of the women in the hay?? Like one of the women in the hay? Yeah, we were the women in the hay. Oh, my God. Women in the hay. It was a weird movie.

It was a weird movie. It had a really wonderful director named Michael Ritchie who went on to do The Candidate and Downhill Racer with Robert Redford. The Candidate. We wrote some songs together. You and him? Oh, yeah. Me and him.

He and I. Did you meet, like, I mean, what was the set like? Did you meet Hackman? Did you meet Marvin? Wasn't it Lee and Marvin and Gene Hackman, right? Yeah. They were great. Gene Hackman is a prince of a fellow.

Yeah. Just a really easygoing, wonderful guy. Great actor. Great actor. And Lee was a great actor and quite a character. I bet. He said to me once, I have blue eyes. No, I have green eyes. Whenever they look blue, stay away from me. Yeah, that's a good warning. What happens?

What happens? He was an interesting guy. I think there was a lot going on with the studio and everybody working on that. Everybody but me. I was having a wonderful time. I thought it was just great. It was the first set, right? But now I realize there was all kind of undercurrents.

Oh, yeah? Like bad behavior undercurrents? Facing off, you know? Oh, about that movie? A power struggle between the studio and the director. And the director? Oh, really? The director and actors. That happens a lot. Oh, really? Director and actors.

That happens a lot, though, I guess. I guess. But back then, it was a little more intimate. It seems like that's what I always find. Because I've talked to, who have I talked to that you know? Nolte was in here. It's kind of interesting talking to Nolte. Because it's all up there.

But you don't know what's going to come out in what order. He's one of the greatest actors. No kidding. Ever. Right? you know just he's one of the greatest actors no kidding ever right well the way he talks about acting in terms of like he you know he didn't he wasn't he came to it in the 60s but there was a period where he realized he needed to get good at it and the way he kind of characterizes it he stripped himself of his ego like he he sat in a room and drank or did drugs or whatever the hell

he did but he just got rid of any idea he had of himself and started there. He would just write pages and pages and pages of research, of notes on his character, but he also wrote notes on every character in each project he was working on. No kidding, so he was in. Yeah, he was in. He's totally devoted to his work.

And you worked with him the first time on Heartbeat? Yeah. That movie doesn't get a lot of praise, but it was really the first, I think, attempt at characterizing the Beatniks, those guys. And you played Joan Cassidy. Was that her name? Was it?

Carolyn Cassidy. Carolyn Cassidy. And Nick played your husband, Neil. Those are tough roles. And John Hurd played Kerouac. Kerouac. That was wild. That must have been like.

It was so wild, you have no idea. I don't. Tell me. I've been sworn to secrecy. Come on. What, just the sense of getting into character, those particular characters? Those guys, you never really knew what was going to happen. On the set or in real life?

In real life. Right. Or on the set, because on the set is real life, Mark. Let's face it. It is. It's set life. Yeah, it's happening right then. But yeah, I have to imagine with those two guys, it must have been pretty crazy.

Oh, my gosh. Sometimes they would come straight to work from a long night out. Being up all night. But always, Nick was always on point. Really? And then I worked with him again on, with. On Affliction? On Affliction.

A lot of years later. Oh, my God. He was just so brilliant. It's such a. He's really one of the most brilliant actors. He gives, he's like, his entire being, you know, he just becomes these. And that was heavy. Heavy, heavy.

That movie is like hard to... Hard to watch. But wonderful. Yeah. It's brutal, man. Schrader's like a little brutal. Those scripts, I can't imagine looking at those scripts

and being like, okay, here we go. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah. So after Prime Cut, that's when it takes off, right? Then how did you get Badlands? Well, after Prime Cut, that's when it takes off, right? Then how did you get Badlands?

Well, after Prime Cut, I came to Los Angeles, and one of the other hey girls, girls in the heck, we became very good friends, and her family had moved out here out to LA and so I moved from New York and and stayed with them and that's how I met uh Terrence Malick and and then that was a really a big break for me huge because it um it influenced my my entire life I don't know where I would where I'd be now without without that that's where I met my husband, Jack Fisk, who was the production designer, and Terry. It's when I began to understand that film is an art form. It's not just that you're a celebrity and huge on the screen. Well, Terry would be the guy. Terrence Malry would be the guy terrence he was the guy

and how'd you like you was the meeting set up by your agents or you just met him at a party or no it was set up by my agent and you guys just hit it off we just hit it off and i and i think it's because he's from texas he is yeah and i'm from texas and he you know he we connected on many different levels and like the process of shooting that movie with that guy you know, we connected on many different levels. And, like, the process of shooting that movie with that guy, you know, with that vision, I mean, how did it change your life in terms outside of career-wise, but just in terms of how you looked at the art of movies? Well, it changed everything. Yeah. I had never looked at film as art. Yeah.

film as art. Yeah. And that it just, oh, it was a total and complete transformation for me because I was working with all these wonderful artists and I was a part of it. I had a seat at the table. Right, yeah. That was what I had always wanted to be a part of this industry or, you know, first it was music. Right then it was a whole new awakening for me. I thought of film in an entirely different way.

And acting as well? And acting as well. And like, so working with... Everything. Yeah, like working with Martin Sheen at that point. Oh, my God, he was incredible. And just, you know, he was incredible. And just, you know, he would do whatever you needed to do.

If cable needed to be rolled up, he rolled up cable. And, you know, I learned from the best. I was very impressionable, and I got to work with these spectacular artists. He was pretty new, too, at that point, wasn't he, Martin? He was. Actually, he'd done a, you know, he was in his late 20s or early 30s. I'm not sure, but I remember we were meeting with all the young actors in Hollywood, and they were all fantastic. It was, like, such an amazing position to be in.

Who was in that crew? Like, De Niro and those guys? Well, you know, I'm trying to think who all I met with. to be in. Yeah. Who was in that crew? Like De Niro and those guys? Well, you know, I'm trying to think who all I met with. But it was not De Niro because he was back

in New York. He was a New York guy. Yeah, that's right. With Scorsese. Yeah, doing the mean stuff. But I remember Terry saying, you know, there's this actor coming in.

He's fantastic. Yeah. But I think he's too old. But I just, you know, he's a great coming in. He's fantastic. But I think he's too old. But I just, you know, he's a great actor and we're going to meet with him. But, you know, it might not be right because he's just too old for the role, I think. Yeah.

Well, he walked in and he was the character. He just, I mean mean he blew us away he you know i'd been i'd been holly sargis this character for for a month working with everybody as as i you know thinking i knew everything about the character and when he walked in and played the scene with him it was completely different oh my god it just you know, it was just one of those things. It was like a lightning strike. He's incredible. He's an incredible actor and an incredible human being.

He seems like a very decent guy. Unbelievable. So from that, then the big ride begins. Then you get Carrie, right? Yeah. Right after that? Mm-hmm. And how did that come about?

How did you meet De Palma? Did he just... You know, there was that... During that time, there were all these young directors that were out here that knew each other. And they talked, and they talked about the actors they were working with. Right, right. That crew.

That's kind of the way... It was like a little club. Yeah, a smaller community. Because they were the new guys. They were the guys that changed everything. Hal's kind of the way. It was like a little club. Yeah, smaller community. Because they were the new guys. They were the guys that changed everything. Hal Ashby and Lucas and Spielberg and De Palma and that whole generation of dudes. So they all knew each other and they're like, you got to check her out. Yeah.

And he brought you in. Yeah. So that was a good place to be. Yeah. But there were, you know, it's interesting how he cast for that film. Yeah, yeah. He brought everybody in, and most everybody, you know, we'd all work together. We'd be in the same room.

You'd be doing a scene with one character, and then you'd switch off, and we all exchanged parts. Oh, really? off and we all exchanged parts. Oh, really? When we tested for it, I only found this out a few years ago, I had gotten a commercial for the same day of the screen test. Now, all the other actors were trying out for multiple roles, and I was only trying out for Carrie, which kind of hurt my feelings a little bit. But I got a commercial for the very same day.

And I had worked with Brian as a set decorator. He thought I was the worst set decorator in the universe. What, before Badlands? Before Badlands on a film called, I forget what it was called. Yeah. Anyway, two films actually I worked with him on because my husband was doing the production design together one was phantom of the paradise oh that was it yeah yeah and um

we had an incident on set where jack left and that was before cell phones and he said like just take care of the set he'd lost his crew the first day. Your husband. My husband. And so he was stuck with me and my cousin Sam, who had long hair and wore a beaver top hat. Seventies. Yeah, the seventies. Yeah. And we were, he said, just watch the set. You don't have to do anything.

It's all dressed. Everything's done. Yeah. I said, no problem. He wasn't gone 10 minutes when brian said okay we're not going to do this scene we're going to do another scene well it wasn't that big a deal yeah because the we were using the same set all we had to do was paint it and redress it yeah and brian is notoriously a poker face, and he was there watching while we went up in flames.

I didn't realize then that you had to paint something. If you were going to repaint something a different color, you had to paint it white first. Prime it. Prime it. Yeah. And then paint the other color. Yeah. So we didn't do that.

We skipped a step, and the old color bled through. And what was supposed to be one color became magenta. And it was a disaster. And Brian hated me. Did you remember that when you were up for Carrie? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He didn't forget a thing.

But I went up. I called him. I said, Brian, because I knew him. And I thought he was my friend. And he was. He just didn't ever want to work with me as a set decorator again or in any way. Oh, really? So I said, I got this commercial tomorrow.

What should I do? And he said, knowing he would say, oh, sissy, please, you've got to come. He said, do the commercial. Oh, my God. And I'm not going to tell you what I said, but I stayed up all night and reread the book, Carrie, and put Vaseline in my hair the next day. And, you know, didn't brush my teeth or wash my face. I was really disgusting yeah and i went in and did the screen test and got the part yeah which was you know i thought was of course yeah yeah but i found out years later that

that the studio hadn't wanted me for that role they wanted someone else one of the other actresses that was trying out for carrie uh- Carrie. And Brian was just being nice when he said, do the commercial, because he knew what I didn't know, that they didn't want me. So he wasn't being an asshole. He was actually watching. No, he was watching out for me. I would have preferred him to tell me they didn't want me, and then I really would have worked hard for him. Yeah, it sounded like you worked pretty hard. Pretty hard. me they didn't want me and then I really would have worked harder yeah it sounded like you worked pretty hard pretty hard well that's such a was such a bizarre uh you know like like just the

distance between like Carrie and even you know the the jump in terms of of character from Badlands to Carrie I can see that like you know these are kind of out there young girls in a way but different um but like then from to that to Coal Miner's Daughter, it was like, that's an insane transformation. So when you do Carrie. Yeah, a little bit. In terms of character, sure. But I mean, in terms of like doing Carrie,

like as an actress, like how did you get there? How did you, like when, was it putting the Vaseline in your hair? I went to that place that all teenagers spend a lot of time where you're the victim and everybody hates you. And, you know, you're locked in your room writing poetry and hating your mother. So, you know, and I actually a lot of things I learned from my husband, Jack. He was doing the sets. He was designing it.

Right. of the Bible, which are these overly dramatic body positions and people, you know, rolling their eyes and being afraid the lion is coming to, you know, rip their arm off. And I studied those and would try to start and end scenes in those body positions and use, you know, it was that whole biblical thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hyper Laurie, her mother, was such a religious fanatic. So the terror of God. The terror of God.

So I kind of focused on that. On the physicality. The physicality and the isolation of it. The thing about Brian was he really knew exactly what each shot was going to be. And if you could work within the confines of the shots that he had planned, he would let you try anything. And it was a wonderful working experience for me. And, of course, Piper Laurie, one of the greats. Yeah. One of the greats.

I get chills just thinking about that role. Oh, my God. You know, she's just this sweet, mild-mannered, darling woman and then when she came on set and you know there was something that just came from her solar plexus the strength and power yeah she she was really a gift yeah to that film yeah and now that like you say what you say like that that expression that you had when once the blood comes that when they dump it on you and your eyes just kind of like it was complete that was what was in your head is that physicality of those those dory etchings yeah you have to look at them sometime they're i kind of remember like i i can

i get pictures in my head of something i don't know them by name but i know exactly what you're talking about yeah you're just that, you know. Yeah. Yeah. It's happened. Yeah. So you would never, like, I imagine, well, obviously that Cole Myers Daughter was the first time you were playing somebody who was alive and part of the process. Exactly. So, you know, you got to spend time, a lot of time, I imagine, with Loretta Lynn.

We, she was wonderful. I went on the road with her. I, you know, Doolittle pushed me out on the stage at the Grand Ole Opry just like he had her. I wasn't quite ready to go on, but he decided I was. Yeah. And she really opened up to me about her life. Yeah. And we became very close.

She actually, she cast me in the film. She did. She chose you. She chose me. Who else was up for it? As far as Loretta? Oh, every actress in Hollywood, and there were scores that would have been great. But she'd never seen any of my work.

It was just kind of one of those things. And so she wanted me to get to sing the songs. And that's great because you're like, I can do that. I can do this. Yeah, but then when they said, okay, you can sing the songs, I was like, oh, shit. But you nailed it. Well, thank you. It's such a kind of interesting, like the way that, who directed that?

Michael Apted. Michael Apted. Apted. Who was an Englishman. Yeah. And he grew up in a coal mining area of England. Yeah. And he didn't bring along any country cliches.

Right. You know, he was not aware of that. He just brought the coal dust. Yeah, just brought a pot of coal dust. Yeah, and you can feel it, like all that stuff. He was incredible. When he came aboard, it was just everything started to fall into place. Yeah.

And, of course, Tommy Lee was beyond brilliant. He's a Texan, too, isn't he? He is. What an actor that guy is. Yeah. That must have been something. Oh, my God. He was just incredible.

And old Levon. And Levon. And, you know, Levon had never acted, and he was astonishing. Yeah, he was great. He just knew the character. He lived astonishing. Yeah, he was great. He just did it. He just knew the character. He lived it. Yeah. And we played music.

Great, great drummer. Oh, my God. Great drummer. Great man. God bless him. Yeah. And then he went on, I guess he did The Right Stuff. I don't know how much longer.

Further after that, I remember he played sort of Sam Shepard's Sidekick. I've just been listening to some of that, to the Dylan record, Planet Waves, which recently, man, it's like, they were such a great band. He was such a great, talented guy. So you won an Oscar for that, and that must have been astounding and amazing. Could you believe it?

No, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. But you know, it took a lot of people to win me that Oscar. Oh, it did? Oh, yeah. Like Tommy Lee and Loretta and the writer Tom Rickman, who just passed away recently. You know, it was Beverly D'Angelo. Good Lord.

Great, yeah. Anybody better than her? No, nobody's better than her. Yeah, yeah. Do you keep in touch with anybody? I see Michael Antet. I've worked with him. you keep in touch with anybody uh i see michael ted i've worked with him i stay in touch with loretta i haven't seen um uh beverly in a long time but i try to keep up with everybody's work and yeah tommy lee tommy lee i've seen him yeah yeah that's

so it's so see him on the polo field yeah Yeah. Is he out there doing that? Oh, he's out there doing that. And when, so you, when you, when you win an Oscar, like, like that night, I mean, I can't, like, cause like I have, I romanticize the seventies Hollywood that like, I just feel like it was a smaller community that everybody kind of knew each other. It wasn't so much necessarily that they're rooting for everybody, but you kind of like, you know, you'd see Nicholson there. You'd see all the, you know, the actors and actresses that were working at the time and you all kind of knew each other right and it wasn't it wasn't horribly competitive right then

because I think everybody felt like you know we were all working and you got the parts that belonged to you and the ones that didn't went to whoever they belonged to. But there was a real, you know, it was an exciting time. There was, I think, you know, there was Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton and Sally Field and, you know, just Jessica Lange and Glenn Close. It just was jam-packed. So working with your husband as a director, was that difficult on Raggedy Man? Did you like, you know? It was great.

It was great. Although he said that whenever we looked at went to dailies, if I didn't like something, I would scoot away from him. Really? Yeah, I think so. And also like you get to work with these actors of another generation when you work with another nomination for Missing with Jack Lemmon. Oh, my goodness. That guy. That guy.

What is it about him? He had a lot of range, but he was always sort of this solid kind of like, people speak of him so highly because he could do anything. He could do anything. He'd be telling a joke to the crew yeah and then they'd say okay we're rolling yeah and he'd say it's magic time and then he'd do some you know intense scene we'd be emotional you know it would be brilliant and then then they'd say cut and he'd finish the joke over Oh, really? The crew. And he gave me great advice. He said, you know, you're working too hard.

Just like trust yourself. That is something, isn't it? Yeah, I took his advice. Well, how were you, do you think you were working too hard because of how you thought you needed to do it? I would, if I had a really heavy scene in the afternoon, I'd start in the morning thinking, okay, I got to get myself there. Beat yourself up.

I got to beat myself up and get myself to that emotional place. And then, you know, think I could sustain it. Right. For hours. And then I'd be worn out. Right. By the second take or. Yeah.

He'd said, you've got to trust yourself. It'll either happen or it won't. Huh. So that's sort of like that moment that, I don't know if it's true or not, about Lawrence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman on the set of Marathon Man. Where there's a scene where Dustin has to be all sort of worn out and he's being tortured and he had stayed up for three days. Right. And Olivier walks in with a cruller and his tea, and he goes, Dustin, you should really try acting. I know, but those Englishmen, you know, they're English men and women.

What is it about it? They're pretty spectacular. Yeah. You know, they think of it as a job, and they just go from one project to another. They don't wring their hands about what they should do next. They just work. And project to another. They don't wring their hands about what they should do next. They just work. And you can tell. They just know what they're doing.

They have experience. They're incredible with accents. Yeah, it's bizarre, right? It's bizarre. And it's not a method thing, really. No, they hit their marks and do their lines and they just act it must come from shakespeare or something just from like coming up in that world but then there are a couple of those english guys like daniel day lewis that just transcend everything oh well daniel day

lewis isn't a you know he and meryl are in a i'm on a planet of their own yeah incredible yeah incredible daniel day lewis becomes if he's gonna play a yeah yeah whatever he's gonna play he becomes that he'll be i would maybe a year it's crazy yeah a cobbler a cobbler a butcher it's a blinking but that's that's what yeah that's a hell of a commitment right yeah and but it's it's so. Meryl doesn't do that, though, I don't think. And I think you're in the same league as Meryl Streep. You guys are great. Thank you.

Thank you. That, I take as a high compliment. I love her in every way. Did you do films with her? I've never done a film with her. Oh. But I've watched her in everything she's done. It's kind of astounding, isn't it? Yeah, she has a, there's something

very luminous about her. And she just transforms herself. It's incredible. Yeah, it's some of it must be innate. Like, I think a lot of actors, you know, the great ones, yourself included, you I mean, you do have a certain, obviously there's a talent, you have a natural thing for it. I mean, a lot of, you know, being a great actor is that you just can do it. Because, you know, I mean, you can't learn that, right? You can learn stuff to help you.

I mean, she's so brilliant with accents. I've never seen anybody that has a knack for accents. And I don't know if it's a knack. It's just maybe she's just like works harder than the rest of us. We don't know. Meryl, if you're listening, we want to know how you do it. I am actually doing a joke on stage about her, about seeing her. I was in Connecticut with my girlfriend, and she was in town doing something, I guess,

but she was just sitting at a restaurant with her husband. And I noticed it was her, and she was just, the beat in the joke is like, she's just sitting there eating a piece of bread with some cheese on it. And I just got to be honest, it was just brilliant. I mean, really. Nobody could eat cheese on a piece of bread like Marilyn. So natural, the craft. Well, you know, the thing about her, she's just a real person.

Mm-hmm. And I think she's plugged into humanity. Mm-hmm. And, you know, she's also very courageous. And when Donald Trump spoke ill of her, I think, you know, you can do a lot of things, but you don't talk about Meryl Streep. Meryl Streep. You just don't. She just fucked you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She didn't take it. But, like, when you work on, like, this new movie, like, when you work with somebody like Redford at this point, like, do you, like, do you just, you look at each other and just know what you've been through in terms of this business and, like, how long you've been around? Is there a camaraderie there that just happens naturally at this point you know the director david lowry has is a real he works with all the same people he has the same cinematographer these heads since like eight years right and and it's uh it's very much like working

with robert altman he has a his crew and his cast are people that he's worked with. It was a little, I was a little nervous in the beginning because I was the only one that hadn't worked with David before. I was the first timer. It's a hell of a crew on that movie. It was almost sad that, like, you know, most of your scenes, almost all of them were just with Robert because you got Waits and Glover and half-black and and uh the uh denzel son like there's like

that loaded up yeah wait it up weights is like too much i was when i saw oh my god and that's why i hate christmas exactly did you see that part when i did oh my god I only met him. I've been a huge fan of him since the beginning of time. But I only met him as I was leaving the set and he was arriving one day. Oh, that was it? Yeah. And we had a nice chat. Did you? Yeah.

What a cool guy. He is. He's a great storyteller, great presence. He's a great storyteller and seems to be a wonderful human being. Yeah. And he's a great actor, really. Great actor. Do you remember that movie?

Do you remember Ironweed with Nicholson? Yeah. Like he, he, he, Waits plays his buddy. And it was just like he. I need to see that again. And a lot of things like that I've forgotten. They get away from it. Like that happened to me with, uh-oh, there's the gardener.

That happened to me with In the Bedroom. I'm like, you know, I know I saw that. And then when I went and looked at it on Wiki, I'm like, oh, my God, that movie was devastating. Right. Just things like that just become a part of our consciousness. Oh, my God. You and Wilkinson. Like, what the, that was crazy.

Todd Field, a great director. These writer-directors are really something. Yeah. So when you saw that script, were you, like, do you get excited about going to that place? So excited. Yeah. So excited. It was, you know, I think we made that whole entire film, which included everything, everybody's salaries salaries and everything for a million dollars

and uh it was just i was sending my young daughters out to get um set pieces oh really yeah go find us one of these go to the dime store and get what was this other film why didn't he like little children oh god yeah oh my god oh yeah i just remember like the end of that of of in the bedroom that that did this sort of after he goes and does the thing and you know you don't know how you're really gonna be with it but then it was sort of like okay yeah is it done oh yeah yeah you want coffee yeah oh my god that was a really that's that's what an actor lives for is is uh you know projects like that like badlands and like coal miner's daughter and just those ones that you can i love the straight story also that's one of my favorite

oh it's great that was the david lynch movie yeah oh my god but it's really all it's a director's medium for sure and uh you know so it's we're always prowling around looking for the next yeah the great director yeah but will they the ones that afford you the space and they're not overwritten and you you've really there's a depth to the character but it's not hammered out and you know like It's not overwrought. So you have this space to work, right? Yeah. Do you ever do stage?

I never did stage. And really, it was a miracle I started making films. I just was in the right place at the right time and I got to be that girl. I was kind of every woman. Do you miss doing like, what was the other big, oh, me i'm like now i'm that guy it happens when when i talk to people that have done so many movies but the uh the crimes of the heart film oh yeah working with a bunch of women like there's not enough like i saw like keaton bergen and uh steen bergen were in that movie recently, the book club.

But there's not a lot of movies like that. That must have been fun to do. It was a blast. But that was back in the day when everybody was saying, oh, they're going to claw each other's eyeballs out. Right. That's not the way women. Who said that? I don't know.

Some weird person. We had a blast. Instead of having motorhomes, they rented the house next door to the location house and fixed that up, dressing rooms for all of us. So we were all there together with our babies. It was just heaven. That was the best thing about that was getting to know Jessica and Diane. I just met her. Diane?

Yeah. She's amazing. Yeah. It was very quick. She's amazing. Yeah. She's our style maven. Yeah.

She's wearing platform combat boots when I saw her. She's so incredible. And Sam Shepard. Sam Shepard. Powerful Sam Shepard. Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. He's like, how is he?

A nice guy? Superbly nice. Fabulously nice. I, you know, I knew him as a dear friend. Jack worked with him many times. I worked with him many times. So you guys were social all the way through? Yeah, and we lived near each other, and our children went to school together.

Oh, that's sweet. Well, I'm sorry he passed. That was sad. Sad for humanity. Really was, you know. Time does go by fast. Does it? You feel that?

Yeah. When you talk about it? It's weird. It's like now I'm always the oldest one on the set, and when people are treating you with a lot of respect on set it usually means you're really old. But also that you're great and you deserve to be there. I think it's because you're really old. But okay okay but you know you've had you've been able to sustain a pretty amazing career you know what I mean I mean that's that also is why you get respect is that not everybody

lasts as long and not everybody can continue working. And you seem to continue working and doing great stuff. Well, there's a lot of stuff happening now in the business with TV the way it is. There's so many more places to work. And you mentioned Altman. Did you work with Altman? Yeah. On which one?

A number of times. Three Women. Oh, yeah, yeah. And then I did a film that he produced called welcome to la that right right so was he kind of a maniac like was oh he was divine yeah it was he was uh you know he was an innovator he's the one that that started you know everybody with a radio mic so you could talk at any time and overlap. That was revolutionary. It used to be.

You mean he's the one who did PAX, like, you know, a lavalier? Yeah. Like, oh, that's how he did it. He was the first guy. That makes sense. Yeah, he was the first guy that I knew of that did that. Because he loved that. Like McCabe and Mrs. Miller, like everybody's talking.

And it really gave it such a sense of reality. It gave you such a sense of being in reality when you were working. He was great. But he was a little bit of a, you know, he was a real, he loved to play practical jokes on people. He was really a prankster. Uh-huh. You know, along the lines of Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassidy. Oh, yeah?

You never knew what was going to happen? You never knew what was going to happen. But it was always good. Yeah. I'm surprised I haven't seen that film. I know a lot of his movies. I'm a huge fan, but I have not seen that one. I've got to watch that one. Because that was like, it was, oh, 77.

Hmm. It was good? Good work? Good experience. Good work. Good experience. Yeah, Shelley Duvall was fantastic. Yeah. And an actress named Janice Rule, who had been a ballet dancer her entire career and then switched over into acting. And what is this? I didn't get to watch the, I don't know if it's out yet, the thing you did with Julia Roberts. What is that?

It's called Homecoming. Yeah. And I play Julia's mother. his mother and she does the she and um shay wiggum and a young actor named steven james who's incredible um bobby cannavale they do the you know they do the the heavy lifting yeah and it's a thriller yes psychological it's really weird and wonderful and sam esmail who didn't who directed uh mr robot oh yeah yeah uh directed all 10 episodes and he's he's really amazing it was a it was a good group to work with and it's a way it's a it's a series it's going to be like a uh it's a uh it's a half hour drama, 10 episodes. And that's it?

Or is it supposed to go on? It's going to go on, I think. But it's an anthology like Castle Rock. So it'll be different people and different things. I get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you just like to keep working. You know, I really love it.

I don't want to work for work's sake. I just love having a project that I can focus on and a character that I could explore. That's a really fun thing. Are your kids grown up now? My kids are grown up. Yeah, now they take care of me. No, Mom, that's not the way. The gate is over there.

And do you have horses? We have one old horse, one foot in the grave, the other on a banana peel. But we had, I think at one point we had about 60 horses that we were raising. In Virginia. In Virginia. Is that where, do you live by Duval? I live about 40 miles, 30 or 40 miles from him. Are you guys friends? Well, we work together. And so, yeah, I haven't miles from him. Uh-huh. Are you guys friends?

Well, we work together, and so, yeah, I haven't seen him in a really long time. Which one did you do with him? I did Get Low. Duvall's another one of those people. He seems to lead a pretty private life, and when he shows up for work, he really shows up for work. Yeah, he's really spectacular. Do you ever have that when you're acting with somebody where you're just sort of like, oh, look at him go? spectacular. Do you ever have that when you're acting with somebody where you're just sort of like, oh, look at him go? You know, it's funny because I always love to watch actors and watch

and kind of try to figure out their process. And it's easier. women will usually share their process. With men, it's like, you know, they're protecting their favorite fishing hole. Is that true? Yeah, so they're just going to mind their own business. And I guess some people also are fairly competitive when they're acting. Like there are some people who really want to showboat. I don't know if... Well, that's always good.

It is good, right? I talked to Ethan Hawke about doing Training Day with Denzel. Because he's got to play. And he said he watched Denzel movies like he was watching

football games from the other team. He was like, I'm not going to let this guy devour me. That's so funny. Yeah. Sometimes I would be work.

I've been I've worked with people before where you're in a scene and you just start watching them and you forget your lines. And, you know, you get so pulled in, drawn into what they're doing. Yeah. You completely blow it. Yeah. And you got to be like, I'm going to need another take on that. Well, it was a pleasure to talk to you. I enjoyed the movie.

It was a real honor to go through your life. And thanks for coming. Is it over? We don't have to. Where are you going now? What do you got? I thought you might have to go do another thing. I think I do.

I think we covered a lot, didn't we? We did. Yeah. It was fun. Good. I thought, how are we going to fill up all that time? Then someone said to me, with Mark, it's easy. Was it?

Oh, yeah. It was easy and fun. Good. Thanks for talking to me, Sissy. You're welcome. That's it. That was me and Sissy Spacek. Again, The Old Man and the Gun with Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek in theaters now.

Also look for Amazon's Homecoming that premieres in November. What do I got to say here? What do I have to say here? What do I need to tell you now? I'm going to play guitar with my wrong fingers again and uh because it seems to have a it adds a certain earnestness to it in this fucking echo pedal holy shit man right tone freaks guitar solo Boomer lives! Boomer lives! challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means.

I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead

courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com.