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At 61, most Americans are thinking more seriously about the prospects of retirement. Especially, if you are one of the most fortunate Americans whose career choices now afford one comfort in later years. But what if you love your job and don't want to quit?
Robert Forster spoke with Dhamaka News Editor in Chief M H AHSAN over the telephone.
G21: Must have been a lot of fun in the upcoming "Confidence" to play the guy who pulls the strings, huh?
Robert Forster: Oh, you know what? It's a three-day gig, you reduce it down to a series of movie shots of which you try to deliver what you imagine the part needs. Also, you've got a director there, asking for stuff, so ... it was interesting. They're always interesting, movies are ALWAYS fun to do.
G21: Who did you work with when you were working there? Was Dustin Hoffman about?
ROBERT FORSTER: No, I didn’t see Dustin on the set. I saw him at the wrap party. I worked with Ed Burns, and Rachel Weisz. Morris, I think, Morris Chestnut.
G21: Were you able to read the whole script before you took the role?
ROBERT FORSTER: Oh, sure.
G21: What did you think of it? I mean, was this a part that you actively went after, or did they call you?
ROBERT FORSTER: No, no. I had -- I think my manager represented somebody else in the picture and they said, "Would you play a small part in this picture with these actors?" And I said sure!
G21: Speaking of small anything, "Diamond Men". Little film, really neat things. I mean, you were able to say so -- I mean, it's the smaller movies that give you all the wonderful things to say. All the mumbo-jumbo about diamonds and everything. It was like an insider's guide, right?
ROBERT FORSTER: The guy who made the picture, the writer/director of the picture, is third generation in that business. His father and his grandfather before him were diamond salesmen. That's where he got the idea for the picture.
G21: I talked with him, I talked with Dan Cohen [writer/director of "Diamond Men"]. Dan was so humble when he talked about it, and so complimentary of you, and he just was so excited about the fact that it came out as good as it came out.
ROBERT FORSTER: We all were! You don't expect that of a little tiny picture.
It benefited greatly from Donny Wahlberg's very gregarious performance. I don't know how else to put it, he was just -- he was eas,y comfortable, natural.
He was great! We just, you know, we just sat there at the beginning and talked to each other and we each agreed we'd hold opposite ends of the string. He played the fun guy, and I played the serious guy, and -- of course, that's the way it was written, but, you know. When you're just looking for the basics of what we're here to do, it was just snap your finger, and we knew what we were doing. We just worked on our scenes, one after another, went in there, shot them, and kept moving.
G21: Yeah, there's an interview on our site that I did with Dan, and at that time I asked him, because I had seen "Confidence" at Sundance, I asked him if I could talk with you, and Lion's Gate was really nice enough to set this up.
What was it like working with -- what would you call it? I mean, it's not really a B movie, but it would be a Z grade budget there.
ROBERT FORSTER: It's a little picture, a first time writer/director's low budget movie. You know, it was like every other movie. You gotta set up a shot, movies are reduced down to a finite number of shots. And each one of those shots you've gotta get good before you move onto the next one. Movie-making, no matter whether it's a big picture or a little picture, always reduced down to twenty or thirty movie shots a day. Getting them and getting excellent ones is really what the business of filmmaking is about.
G21: And I guess you’d know, I mean, looking at your filmography -- amazing! You've worked with John Huston, youve worked with Jesus Franco.
ROBERT FORSTER: The Franco! Oh, what a guy! He's a good guy, too. I went to visit him once in Paris while he was editing a picture ... maybe it was a picture I worked with him on ...
Yeah, something like that ... he was an old-timer. He had been an editing assistant of Hitchcock, and so he had been around for a long time. He'd done an awful lot of pictures. I had worked with him in Spain. He worked out of Paris, he edited in Paris, anyway ... that’s where I visited him. Anyway, good guy.
G21: This could be -- I mean, I could ask you so many questions about directors you've worked with, but I guess the preeminent question would be -- what was the most fun you had on any of these movies, and who was it with?
ROBERT FORSTER: Oh....God, I made one little picture of my own, and it's called "Hollywood Harry". This little picture was the most stimulating period of my life. So, in terms of having fun, that stands about above all others, because I made it. I always say "not much, but not junk." It's a spoof of detective movies, I've done a lot of detectives. After that, it would be "Jackie Brown", 'cause this guy gave me a GREAT part, and I had perfect confidence in him as a director. Quentin.
G21: Oh, of course, of course. Jackie Brown must have been a very special time. The neat thing that we have right now is Peter O’Toole saying no, and then saying yes, and the whole idea was "I'm only 70, why give me this award? Wait till I'm 80," you know? As you get older, and you take these roles, particularly -- I read all kinds of reviews for "Diamond Men", they keep saying, "Oh, it’s a comeback" or "Oh, this is in the twilight of his career." How do you feel about that?
ROBERT FORSTER: Well, you know what? The actor still gets up in the morning, if he's still got something to work with, you go out there and you do it. Never quit! If ... you’re in a 12 step program? Well, I’ve got a 3 step program, it's easier to remember.
Step 1 -- accept all things, that gives you a good attitude. Step 2 -- deliver excellence right now. That gives you the best shot of the best future you've got coming.
And that Step 3 is NEVER QUIT! Once you quit, you're waiting to die. If you don't quit, you've still got something to do.
G21: But, Mr. Forster, you don’t have to work anymore!
Why?
Well, I mean...why work at all? What keeps bringing you back?
ROBERT FORSTER: Oh! Listen, when I was a kid, my mother sent me a book, when I was in college. The name of the book was White Hyacinths. This book was a book of homespun philosophy by a guy who lived around 1900. The book began by saying,
"If I had but two loaves of bread, I would sell one of them to buy White Hyacinths to feed my soul."And from that, of course I understood that there was a spiritual component to life, and that you had to feed it. The end of that book is this:
"And the reward which life holds out for work is not ease or rest or immunity from work, but increased capacity, greater difficulty, and more work!"I was thinking, "Jeez, I hope not!"
"Oh, I hope not!" I thought. OK, so, I said to myself when I realized that the reward you get for work is more work, I said, "Not me!" And then I became an actor, and realized that a work day is one of the great things that an actor has to look forward to. You look for work, it’s hard to get. But -- several times a day, while you're working, somebody asks you to come to the set, and you hear "Action," and you get a chance to swing for the fences. There are very few opportunities in life to do at peak, your peak work. Acting is one of them.
G21: But acting is work, right?
ROBERT FORSTER: Oh, it's great work! If you can get it! So, the idea of work, man, it's one of the great things, and an actor knows it.
G21: You know, the one thing -- I'm an attorney by day, and I teach college by night, and then I edit this magazine that I'm doing this interview for. I'm all the time killing myself, and sometimes I just hate it. I mean, I just don't want to go into work. Is acting ever like that?
ROBERT FORSTER: Um, not usually, except if it's 4:00 in the morning. But, you know what? As soon as you get that fast shower, and you're out on the road and driving toward wherever it is you've got to shoot that early in the morning. Boy, oh, boy. You know why you're there. And you keep slugging it until the day's over, sometimes it's 14-16 hours.
G21: What was it like to take on the role of a person in "Diamond Men" who is being phased out because of uninsurability? .
ROBERT FORSTER: Sounds like an actor's career!
G21: That's exactly right. Did that have special relevance to you?.
ROBERT FORSTER: You know, you can put yourself in that place, but you do it as gracefully as you can. You keep on looking for whatever roles you may be right for. Maybe you're not right for the leading man anymore, but whatever there is available. You put yourself out there, and see whether you can't nab it and deliver a good job, and then move onto the next thing, if there's going to be a next thing.
I say never quit, that's step 3. You've still got a shot at winning it if you never quit, and even if you never win that big thing, you're making the best out of the life you've got. Why quit until the end? Why quit before the end?
G21: How old are you, Mr. Forster?.
ROBERT FORSTER: 61
G21: How old do you feel?.
ROBERT FORSTER: 62.
G21: Really?.
ROBERT FORSTER: I'm kidding!
G21: Why do you say that, just as a joke?.
ROBERT FORSTER: I don’t know, listen -- how does a 61-year-old guy feel? This is it, you know. I can feel myself getting creepier..
[Segments of this interview were omitted for reasons of brevity. -- RA]
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Copyright Dhamaka News Network 2003