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Interview: Albert Brooks Talks Drive, Career, and More

Topics of our conversation included working with Martin Scorsese and getting late-night phone calls from Stanley Kubrick.

Interview: Albert Brooks Talks Drive, Career, and More
Photo: FilmDistrict

Anyone who’s seen Albert Brooks in one of his own films, wry dissections that lay bare the venial vanities of La La Land (whether it’s the yuppie couple in Lost in America who trade in upward mobility for a mobile home in a futile quest for “simple living,” or the manipulative-to-the-point-of-mania documentary filmmaker Brooks portrays in Real Life), will attest to the fact that he’s a very funny man. That might not be quite so apparent, however, if all you had to go on was the murderously cool menace he exudes in the role of Bernie Rose, the reluctant yet ruthless killer in Nicolas Winding Refn’s existential crime thriller Drive. Slant discussed his long and storied career with the personable Mr. Brooks, where topics included working with Martin Scorsese, getting late-night phone calls from Stanley Kubrick, shedding some light on the secret life of Bernie Rose, and tackling the growing Oscar buzz surrounding his performance in Drive.

What do you recall most about the making of Taxi Driver?

This was before I [directed] my first movie. So it was like a graduate school for me. I would go to the set every day even when I wasn’t working. I would hang with the cinematographer. I would watch the setups. I would talk to the gaffer: “Why did you choose that light?” It was just a chance to watch the people who were very good at their craft and try to understand the whole process. I was in New York anyway. I had to move there to shoot it. So on my days off, instead of going to a museum, I just went to the set.

Watching Martin Scorsese at work, did you pick up any directorial tricks of the trade that were useful when making your own debut film, Real Life?

I think you do when you’re watching any director. You know, you’re watching a movie being made and I think you pick up all kinds of things. I mean, not a specific “Oh, that’s a Martin Scorsese shot.” You’ll see the sun set at four o’clock, and they’ll discuss how there’s a shot they wanted to do earlier, but they can’t now because the sun’s in the lens, and so what do they do? All kinds of technical things come up on a movie that you couldn’t imagine until you actually see them.

You’ve said Stanley Kubrick called you up after watching Modern Romance, your second film, to express his enthusiasm. What was that conversation like?

Oh, that was thrilling. He said that was the movie he always wanted to make, he’s been trying to make a movie about jealousy. Then he asked me how I did it. I couldn’t believe the guy who made 2001 was asking me how I did something. It just seemed so odd. He was telling me about the movie business. He said, “If this movie doesn’t do well, it’s got nothing to do with you. It’s just the studio’s conditions.” And he was telling me his own problems, trying to finance his movies. And, you know, listen, it was the greatest call you could ever get.

I know you’re a fan of Kubrick’s films. Do you have a clear favorite? Would it be 2001?

I don’t know that 2001 is my favorite. I think, with Stanley Kubrick, he’s so interesting that you watch them all. I would hope that people feel this way about the movies I’ve made: You don’t compare one to the other, you just watch it. I mean, Barry Lyndon, which I didn’t even like the first time I saw, I watched it 10 years later, and I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It was shot on candlelight, and at such a slow pace, and so beautifully done. And, you know, A Clockwork Orange. Even The Shining , for goodness sake. They’re all different, they’re all watchable. Lolita is terrific.

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Speaking of jealousy, Eyes Wide Shut very definitely develops those themes.

I think that’s the movie he wound up making. That was his jealousy movie.

It wasn’t quite as funny as Modern Romance, though, was it?

I don’t know. That playing piano blindfolded was pretty funny.

Prior to being cast in Drive, were you familiar with any of Nicolas Winding Refn’s earlier films?

I had seen Bronson, which I just loved. And then when I met him, I wanted to know more about him, if I was going to work for him. So I watched two out of the three Pusher films. And I loved that. I just thought, “This guy’s got style.”

Particularly in Bronson, there’s a definite Kubrick influence.

Very much. And in a good way, you know? It didn’t feel like it was stealing. It just felt like, “When something’s good, then you have more of it.”

Influence rather than out-and-out stealing.

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Absolutely.

Did you ever discuss any of those influence issues with him during preparations or filming?

Well, you know, he’s obviously a Kubrick fan. But he has other kinds of influences. His father is a very prominent person in the Danish film industry. An editor and a director. And I think the Danish cinema has influenced Nicolas. Nicolas has a lot of French influences. He’s all over the place. I think he’s gathered up a lot of very interesting ideas into something original that he’s doing now.

How would you describe the atmosphere on the set of Drive?

You’re there to work. Nicolas does many, many, many takes. Sometimes 35 takes. Which is fine, provided you feel the director is doing it for a reason. You don’t mind doing it, as long as you feel the director is after something. If you think the director is lost, or just doing it because he doesn’t know where to go, it’s not a good feeling. But I always felt Nicolas was in control, visually, with what he wanted. He’s very simpatico with actors, and he loves the suggestions, and I found it very comfortable.

Did your preparations for playing such a violent, even menacing character change significantly compared to working on more obviously comedic roles?

Well, you don’t prepare to be violent. But you prepare for a character who has the capability to do the actions that are required of them. What I do in all of the roles that I play—and especially I enjoyed doing it with Bernie Rose—is that I work, on my own, on a very detailed backstory. And I just write a backstory. Where the guy was born. Who his friends were. Was he married? Did he have children? Where were his children? What business was he in? So when I’m there, I have something in my head. And out of that can come violence, can come love. You can be sweeping, you still have to know what you are. I worked with a knife expert, mainly so I wouldn’t cut my finger off. Because you gotta be careful with those things! But, you know, I wouldn’t think you prepare to be violent, you prepare to play a character, and that character has violence in him. Then it makes sense. I like to fill out what the script doesn’t give you. I do that with every character. I like to understand the person in many, many mirrors, and then I feel more comfortable. It’s like a mental costume.

What is the one thing you could tell us about Bernie Rose that we didn’t necessarily pick up from the film?

Well, I figure Bernie had two kids who he never saw. Grown children who did not approve of what he did for a living. And, you know, maybe came to see him once every 10 years. I figure he was divorced. I figure he had two hookers that he saw, probably twice a month.

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Two hookers at the same time? Or alternately?

No, alternately. Because one was probably travelling with a sheik.

In your scenes with Bryan Cranston, did you have the feeling the two of you shared similar techniques or rhythms rooted in your experience doing comedy?

The thing that you want to do most when you act is to be in a scene with somebody that you hit the ball back. Because that’s all it really is, it’s a checkers game. If I give you a perfect serve, and you can’t hit it back, it doesn’t make any difference what I’m doing. So Bryan hits the ball back. And Ryan Gosling hits the ball back. And that’s all I’m really looking for. These people are good at the job. And they give you something. I’ve been with actors in movies—I won’t mention names—where you get nothing. And I can’t tell you how hard that is. You just have to pretend like you’re all alone. So the more you get back, the better it is for you. And you get someone like Bryan Cranston, they’ll give you a hundred-mile-an-hour serve every time.

There’s the palpable sense in the film that everybody is playing off each other, that they’re in the moment, paying particular attention to what the other person is doing.

Yeah, and that has to happen, and it doesn’t always happen. You know? It doesn’t always happen. You see movies where people look like they’re just showing up. But when it happens, it’s the best.

What can you tell me about shooting the now infamous fork-in-the-eye murder scene? How was that to rehearse and shoot?

Those are 30, 40 takes. So I wouldn’t say they’re fun to shoot. If the idea of “Oh, I’m going to kill somebody” is enticing, in reality, it’s like shoveling shit. You’re covered in blood. You have many things going on. One of which is, you have to do this without really hurting the other person. If you miss, and a piece of plastic goes too close to his iris, you’ll blind him. So, you know, there’s all kinds of things you have to be careful of in these violence scenes. You don’t want to get hurt. In the scene where I stab him, originally they used a rubber knife. But we all hated it. We decided—Nicolas wanted it, the actor wanted it, I wanted it. So they used a metal knife that would close in on itself, like spring-loaded. Nicholas said, “You do this with power. You do this one, two, three. It’s surgical.” And it’s fine. Then, after about the 15th time, you start to see that the mechanical knife, it’s not made by geniuses. If the blade sticks, it goes through his throat. You don’t want to kill the man.

Don’t want to turn it into a documentary, after all.

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A snuff film.

How do you react to the growing Oscar buzz surrounding your work in Drive?

Listen, anybody that likes the performance, I’m thrilled about it. I’ve had people like things, I’ve had people hate things. And I’m here to tell you, it’s nicer if they like it.

Out of all the films you’ve made, is there one that stands head and shoulders above as a personal favorite?

No, because the movies that I’ve made myself are so different. I don’t put all the movies in a row and say, “This one is the best.” One movie’s about jealousy, one movie’s about failure, one movie’s about dying. I just look at them differently. I really don’t. I think it’s hard to do that. There’s a movie I like very much that nobody saw. This is 15 years ago. I worked with Rick Baker, who is the world’s best makeup man. I played this 80-year-old alcoholic doctor in a movie called Critical Care that Sidney Lumet directed. It was such a physical character change. And it was done by somebody who helped you, who was so brilliant at it. I always thought that was amazing, and four people saw that movie. Some things stand out because of their unusualness. You know, I liked playing Bernie Rose. I liked playing that character.

That’s the sort of character you’d like to play again, or are you hoping to change it up a little with your next role?

Well, I’ve played a role in between now. I’ve gone back to more traditional comedy. There’s this movie Judd Apatow directed. A sequel to Knocked Up. I played Paul Rudd’s father. So that was, I would say, certainly not a violent role. I have to say, I like the villains. They’re interesting. I’d like to find another interesting one.

What’s on the horizon for you?

Well, I’ve started writing another book. Right now I’m reading scripts. If I can put a few acting roles together that are interesting, that would be fun to do right now. Because once I start my own movie, I can’t do any other acting. It’s like a train. It’s a two-and-a-half-to-three-year trip. Once the train pulls out of the station, you can’t say, “Hey everybody, I’ll be back in four months, I’m gonna go play a guy.” I can’t do that. I just got a script today. I’ll read it and see if it’s anything.

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Budd Wilkins

Budd Wilkins's writing has appeared in Film Journal International and Video Watchdog. He is a member of the Online Film Critics Society.

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