This article was originally published in Uncut, September 2007. Words: Will Lawrence
“I’ll stop working the day they have to start wiping drool off me,” beams the 76-year-old Duvall. “I just like working, keeping the mind interested, although these days I try not looking forward to working with specific people. I’ve worked with some of the greats, but too often you look forward to working with a person and they turn out to be a prick!”
Here, Duvall takes us through his finest film roles…
M*A*S*H
Duvall’s early career was marked by a number of memorable supporting roles, including his turn as Major Frank Burns in Robert Altman’s groundbreaking black comedy from 1970.
“Jimmy Caan and I had worked with Robert Altman on his first feature film, Countdown, all about astronauts. He’d always get you over to his house, sit you down and show you these little films he’d made. He was very innovative. So when he offered me Burns, that was nice.
“I was fortunate to get that part because I really needed the money at the time. I was quite young – I had a bit more hair than I do now – and I had a family. Altman was a master craftsman, so at home when he was directing, and so at peace. He was very relaxed to work with, even back then, and had such confidence in his work; he wasn’t like a lot of the old directors, shouting ‘Action – tense up, godammit!’
“When we were making it we knew we were into something pretty funny and clever. Altman would show the rushes – he liked to show his movies – and everyone was laughing about those scenes. We had real fun. We used to play touch football the whole time, and soccer, and that was how I first met Jeff Bridges, who wasn’t an actor at the time. He was just a young kid with a guitar, and I met him playing football. I tell you, though, even after M*A*S*H, it was still a struggle to find parts. I did a lot of TV after that, which wasn’t that rewarding.”
THX 1138
Duvall’s first leading role came in George Lucas’s striking 1971 feature debut – a chilling, inventive and decidedly minimalist vision of a future dystopia.
“George Lucas made a student film and then he did this. I’d done some stuff, but this was my first lead. I met him when he was just 25 years old, but he’d had 25 years of looking at film in the right way. I met him first on The Rain People (Francis Ford Coppola’s 1969 drama); he was a kid with a camera, making his own documentary on the film – which itself was a wonderful piece of work.
“And from that he asked me to do THX 1138, and I wanted to do it because I could see that this guy really knew what he was doing. He had two cameramen working at the same time, supposedly equal, which wasn’t usually done. I’d certainly never seen it before. And he shot in some kind of Super 60. He really understood the art.
“When I directed my own films later on, I called and asked him for his advice on film stock! He was interesting to work with, that’s for sure. At the time there was no clue he was going to go on to do something like Star Wars, but I always figured he would become a bigger star director than Francis Ford Coppola. Honestly, I did.
“After The Rain People, I couldn’t figure Coppola out, or maybe he couldn’t figure me out, and while I enjoyed it and thought he was good, it was only when we did The Godfather that… well, I gave him a lot of respect for that.”
THE GODFATHER I & II
Reunited with Coppola, Duvall’s performance as family consigliere Tom Hagen in the 1972 film won him the first of his six Oscar nominations. He then reprised the role in 1974’s second instalment.
“About a third of the way through the first film, I became aware this could be something special. And when we made it, there was a standby director on set, in case the studio had to fire Coppola.
“So I gained a lot of respect for him working under that kind of pressure. Brando could be good fun to be around, but only when he wanted to be. He could be very hermetic and bitchy. I remember big Lenny Montana, who played Luca Brasi, was a professional wrestler, and really connected to the Mob. Well, he did that scene with Brando, saying he hoped he had a beautiful son and so forth, and when he’s done he sticks his tongue out at Brando and written on it is ‘Fuck you!’ And Brando laughed. We did keep the set loose that way. On The Godfather Part II, though, Jimmy Caan wasn’t around so it wasn’t quite as much fun.
“Brando loved Jimmy, though, and all the messing around and mooning. Jimmy came to the set for two days on Godfather II, and he’d mess with everybody. I remember coming back late from lunch once. Jimmy knew we’d all be in trouble, so he cuts this pitta bread in half and puts in this really hot chilli pepper. When we get back he says sorry to Francis while holding out this sandwich, and Francis grabs it off him, takes a bite, and his face flushed. He was shouting, ‘You cocksucker!’”
THE APOSTLE
Duvall developed, wrote, directed and starred in this 1997 tale of a Southern evangelist preacher, which earned him another Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
“This came about way back when I was doing an off-Broadway play. I was in Arkansas, near Memphis, and went to see an old friend, and it was an odd experience in a way. I arrived in this town, and the Sheriff gave me a funny look when I arrived. There was nowhere to stay, so these highway workers let me bunk in with them! All the stores were owned by Chinamen, right in the middle of the South.
“I had some time to kill so I wandered into this little white church and watched my first Pentecostal service, which I thought was really something, culturally and spiritually. I thought that someday I’d like to play one of these people, so I developed a screenplay. Of course, everybody turned it down, although eventually my CPA [accountant] greenlit the movie! Coppola was an influence, I guess, but I tried to figure my own way. If I had to think of a key influence on me as a director, it would probably be Ken Loach. He listens rather than looks – he understands what to do with actors. Directing yourself, I guess it’s harder, but also a little easier in a way. I mean that it’s supposed to be more difficult in terms of consuming time, affecting your sleeping, your health, but I felt exhilarated at the end of the day.”
OPEN RANGE
Duvall’s credits include a posse of westerns, including the hit 1989 TV series, Lonesome Dove. This 2003 entry, however, is among the best.
“I was always attracted to these cowboy men when I lived back in Montana as a boy, and I knew I could play that guy. My uncle always said that I could have been a rancher if I’d wanted to be that. With Open Range, it’s a great human story and I liked the character; he’s a hard man, but he’s got other sides to him.
“As we did it, I found a lightness coming into it and, without going for it in an obvious way, there was some humour. These cowboys had to find the humour to offset the hardness of their lives. The gunfight at the end is really memorable, and they worked on the fights for three weeks. They tried to make it as realistic as possible. Kevin Costner [director and co-star] choreographed it himself, and tried to make it bloody at times, and clumsy here and there. It was a well-thought-out process.
“It was fun shooting in Canada, where they’ve got real good cowboys. I remember the Bews family, who we worked with. After they’d done the filming with us, they went up to Edmonton as a family and won best working ranch at the national rodeo championships. I insisted on using those guys, because sometimes guys give you horses that aren’t safe. I was actually thrown from a horse a few months before shooting, and I damaged my wrist. But I took the insurance test and we could do the film.”
APOCALYPSE NOW
Duvall pleaded with Coppola to cast him as Colonel Kilgore, the man with an ear for Wagner and a nose for napalm, in his seminal Vietnam War film from 1979.
“There were so many things that happened. Originally I think Gene Hackman was going to play the part. But I got the job and I worked for six weeks, then I left for six months, and then came back for three weeks to do the first half of my part.
“They had a typhoon which ruined the sets and led to a 10-month hiatus. It was interesting in the Philippines, though, as we were getting just one shot a day. The cinematographer would insist on waiting for the sun. Of course, they had another actor for the lead, but they fired him. Harvey Keitel was going to play Martin Sheen’s part, but it didn’t work out. As to the reasons why, you’d have to ask Coppola. He didn’t know who to get. But he got Sheen. A lot of the craziness came with Dennis Hopper, who was so hopped up on dope – he did 50 takes on one day! Francis was going nuts, screaming, ‘Will you do it my way?’ And Hopper said to Coppola: ‘Listen, motherfucker, I’ve directed, acted and played Gabby Hayes all in one movie, and what have you done?’ That’s what he’d say! Honestly! It was a mess.
“It was a nightmare, but fortunately no-one was killed – they had these helicopters that were almost crashing. The shoot was so screwed that it was nice for us a lot of the time – we got to live this kind of primitive life. We’d break for the day, maybe do a shot, come back in the jeep, do a little body surfing, because it was good surf there. Then we’d have dinner, stay with different families, then maybe play basketball.
“But we had crap food. All the Italians would bring in their own lovely food, but we had to eat this shit, I tell ya! After I finished, I had to come to England to do The Eagle Has Landed. When I was leaving I got in the helicopter, and as it was going up I dropped my drawers and mooned them from way up there!”