S2 E2: Eric Roberts

I have declared war against my brain in order to my mind the battle ones don't seem to B me so long as so long as I know they will he with time and the scars remind me to so anyway the thing Eric about you and I is that we are the same age okay we both born in 1956 and and uh so I went over to Hollywood at a very young age I was over there at about 19 and so I watched your incredible success early on in your life and I watched it with um you know sometimes if I don't think somebody's quite you know I can be a little bit jealous why him not me but I I I really got it with you right away and I I uh so I was kind of around watching your early success and there have been times are you still working out by the way working out working out at the gym I go to the gym every day I'm home yeah okay because I used to see you and I was too uh shy to uh approach you but you used to work out at a gym on LaBrea between Hollywood Boulevard and sunset I worked out there for 30 years okay and I I used to work out at La stomping ground yeah yeah well we used to live right Gemini used to live behind ground's Chinese Theater back 50 years ago and uh uh but uh is it weird that we can say that 50 years ago wait listen listen to this so weird listen to this Eric you and I and Jim from the time that Takis when you talk about movies talkis from the time that that started until the time that I got into the business it was only 50 years well and now I've been in the business longer than the time that's funny D and that's true so up oh I hate that all right listen man you're you're I haven't never felt this old till today thanks well yeah yeah you're welcome um I uh I just I know you were born in the South and you grew up in the South and you're Am I Wrong your parents were they had some sort of Theater Company some something here's the real story but but I was raised to tell another story because I was raised to not present myself as the poor white trash we were but my parents were in the Air Force and uh so I was B in U KRA Air Force Bas in bux Mississippi but I was Guided by my father when I was asked this out in the real world to say that my mother was on our way to New Orleans from Atlanta went into labor and they brought the plane down it keys for Air Force Base so that's why I on my birth certificate don't ever tell people that your parents are in the Air Force why dad because it's not cool why why isn't it cool dad because it's poor okay got it so I just uh I just accepted that just how it was so so for years I told the press that lie but um yeah did they did they have any kind of theater was am I WR oh yeah yeah but that came later I we're we're talking about my birth no they they didn't have it yet they didn't have it until I was I guess I guess dad started it formally in ' 63 but it really started in ' 61 but uh to make to make money and things off it started I guess around 1963 and then he and then he got a local TV series slot on Saturday mornings from 10: to 10:30 with the show called bum bum and his buddies and bum was a clown who would introduce the show and bum bum was a clown with a with a with a derby and a and a and a and a tux that was too big and big feet and all that and and and a smiley face and I would introduce a different drama and or Comedy half hour show every week and bum bum was my mom so so was that an introduction for you to theater oh yeah that well I had already done theater but that was the introduction to to being on camera okay and uh we that that that show only ran a season but we did we did shows every week for a season I think I think at the time it was 22 shows so you you were doing theater at what age when did you start doing theater I did my first play at four years old okay wow I played a mute clown and a Christmas play okay I was in a toy box you know okay but uh by the time I'm seven or eight I'm playing John Henry West in member of the wedding uh I'm playing you know Charlie and and your good man Charlie Brown I played Snoopy in one in one production I'm doing all kinds of stuff I'm playing I'm playing the oldest young kid in JB by by mle I'm doing all kinds of real theater wow having a really good time well what yeah you want me to stop playing with it oh sry let me get yours is right over there I'll Des grabe for you want water no she she wants me to stop playing with the water she hates when I fidget and I do yeah so do I she try say all still okay sorry um so uh if I'm not mistaken your your parents split up when you were 15 or so is that correct yeah it started falling apart when I was 13 but they they were finally separated forever when I was 15 your sisters went off with your mother you stayed with your father yeah they were three and five and I was I was a teenager yeah and um what what amazes me uh uh Eric is that when you you graduated from high school correct you would have graduated the same year I did 1974 correct all right so from that point on you went to Europe you spent a little time in Europe kind of checking out the theater uh uh scene there and you came back to New York City and if I'm not mistaken the first place you stayed in New York City was the YMCA is that correct on the upper west side yep okay so if for people who don't aren't as old as I am the YMCA is there is you live on the streets and then there's the YMCA but it's clean it's like you know it was but it was you it it sounds like you went there with no money and uh no connections you don't stay at the why you've got friends that have got places there you just went to New York and stayed at the Y that's correct yep okay said the YMCA um got in the American Academy of dramatic arts with with um a local audition in Atlanta somebody was there from the from the American Academy audition I got in okay wow I got a New York school oh my God so but we didn't know anybody we didn't know anything we I speak of my father we didn't know anything so it was like okay we bought me a plane ticket like good luck wow there it went wow and uh it it was it was it was really exciting I was too I was too stupid and happy to be scared of any of it I was I was going I was just going I get that I get that I you know from that moment like two and a half years later or three years later King of the gypsies was out so that Ascension it was about a thousand days you're right it is unbelievable it's just shocking but what here's what I want to do if I can if you if you indulge me is I want to talk to about your movies but I I kind of want to start and work my way back a little bit okay whatever you want to do it's your thank you what your show today too but um okay so I wanted first of all I want to talk to you about star 80 okay uh and I I've heard you quoted as saying that you were Bob FY uh had you hanging out with him for a month or six weeks a month or two months or all the pre-production all the pre-production you were hanging out with him uh just just so you could suck it up just so you could like feel like what was going on what no he no it was not it was not casual he was force feeding me what he what he demanded I understand okay and it was time and place and attitude and stuff and habits and it was all it all about time and place and U and um and also that movie what people don't realize that movie is so cool for many reasons but everything in that movie is shot where everything happened in reality really where he killed her is that right the Mansion everything is where that happened that was shot at the at at the Playboy Mansion oh yeah and so the only hindrance that may have been and we're all worried about was because we got the Playboy logo in the movie and we got to use in the Mansion Heff he had to approve everything and uh here's where FY here's another part of his genius he made half happy that's a hard story to make anybody happy over being a part of no and he did that dude he was a genius dude he was a social genius he was an artistic genius he understood The Human Condition really well and he knew how to zip and he was just cool man he was a genius it's an overused and abused word so it means nothing anymore but he was one one of those guys that when you meet them you know two things that you're not one of them and that they you don't meet them they're so unusual oh my God that's one of those guys he was one of those guys well I you know have seen the movie a number of times and there's real no there's no good guys in that in in that movie there are no heroes in that movie but you you I didn't feel that sorry for Dorothy Straten I felt sorry for you I felt sorry for I've seen that movie a number of times Eric and your portrayal of that guy and it it it Bob FY had to have let you and written it in a way that let you humanize CU that character because everybody was [ __ ] all over that guy when when it happened yeah of course yeah he killed her and he killed himself what he did was unforgivable dude and even the way that he did it was doubly unforgivable he was not cool man he was effed up to the Bone what the way he did it explain to me you know the whole you know the the buggering board and blowing her brains out the whole the whole the whole all the steps to the demise was just just sick power ridle effed up Behavior and uh he was a wreck he was an irretrievable wreck that he would go that far that day do you realize that when you play that character at least my response is like I I I don't see a a piece of [ __ ] I don't see a horrible person I don't see a nasty Hustler I see a human being that um um I'm only laughing because well of course actors we have to do that and uh when I when I played him I understood him I had I had complete I was I was there for him I understood we got to do this Paul right and uh yeah and uh and uh uh so you know because you can't you know first of all bad guys never believe they're bad guys of course they no huh Paul did have make case to make for themselves that's right Paul did what he had to do unfortunately I mean that's that's that inside out effed up brain and uh poor Paul went too far so he had to take his own life because he'd gone too far and uh uh you know and where where where I learned to live with Paul in a way that was comfortable was through FY I was educated in that Paul Snider Is Not Unusual he's a dime a dozen and they're we're surrounded by them we're surrounded by Paul sniders all day every day and vosy would go so far as to say is he that guy Paul Snider see that guy Paul see see that guy over there Paul Snider and so I'd be like you know what he's right and I i' wow because I thought you know we're making a movie about about about a relationship murder okay and uh but I didn't realize we're making a movie about The Human Condition when Show Business and sex and success or failure is involved and FY was telling a great story which is why it was so hard on Hollywood that that movie and it's why it's not a popular Hollywood movie uh except in retrospect well so Paul Snider uh finds her meets her at a Dairy Queen she's 18 and uh false for her and they have a relationship he's the driving force behind getting the pictures taken he's the driving force behind getting her mother's consent which in the movies they have the mother saying I never gave consent he's the driving force behind all of that uh they kind of set up the little sister a little bit too in in that movie but the he's the driving force in in in getting her to take the pictures he's the driving force and getting the pictures sent to um Playboy magazine correct and and and you know I'm sure and once they got back to him him and her I'm sure it was just so exciting for this this guy and just incredibly exciting so let me ask you a question when you uh uh when your character is talking uh you in the Playboy mansion and you meet he for the first time there's a there's a quote you come up with to him and you have a a quote it's not I don't know like 30 seconds or something Jim where did you think that quote might have came from I thought it might have come from a series of essays Hefner wrote in the 60s called The Playboy philosophy uh so anyway wherever it came from I found it rather benign I didn't think was I no I didn't think it was I thought I I if you if you if you had approached me uh Eric and came up to me and quoted some lines from some movie or anybody or anything that I'd said before I would have kind of thought like oh that's sweet the guys spent the time to and that was a pretty long quote and that that was taken from from Hefner in the movie I'm talking about of course as like what a little [ __ ] [ __ ] and as he walks away and then you say I don't think he I don't think he liked that I don't think he liked that and to me that seemed like kind of a nice gesture that seemed like kind of a nice thing to do is that based on fact do you know if that is based on I I think that was basically a summary of the effect Paul had on Heff and it was done in in that scene to to to show the relationship that just happened and uh because he was kind of put out by Paul and that he knew Paul was foolish and he knew Paul was basically a fan nothing else and uh and uh and you know he controlled what he needed to control which was the girl and uh because you know play boy has to control those girls in in order to make a success of the magazine you know while they're in it and uh so you know they have to be the boss yeah so when you have that kind of thing it's a little off-putting okay so you know it's depicted in the movie very much that uh when Dorothy wasn't around they didn't want Paul around right Dorothy wasn't around they didn't want Paul around that was very true by the way okay and I and I because I I knew all kinds of employees and uh I knew all the Playmates and they all said this no he was not welcome he was not cool he was a creep they all but you have to also understand that's after the event of the murder suicide so they're all have that line I don't know they all had that line before that I don't know because they didn't hang out with them then so I don't know yes but maybe not right I did you did you get to talk to many people who knew Paul dude everybody everybody everybody who spent 10 minutes with him I spent 10 minutes with and uh yeah and uh Paul was you know Paul was not was the the hard part about playing Paul is not playing a caricature because he was a bit of a caricature in his own right so be careful as the actor to not look like you're playing a carat because of the guy you're playing does that so you have to be careful and you have to do it delicately but I had a great leader I had Bob FY man one of the two for me two greatest directors of the 20th century he and Hal Ashby and uh those guys can do no wrong by me and so you know and I'm not a genius FY led me around by the nose and um and you know it's a it's a genius movie and it's the best docu drama ever made I say that probably every day it is the best docum ever made and uh because it's so oh you get the FL you understand you walk out of there knowing that journey and knowing a couple of sides of that Journey his side her side hef's side CIS Rundle side you you learn well and it's and it's it's U heartbreakingly educational you know so Dorothy stratton's Playboy model she's now kind of a big hit at Playboy she starts doing a few roles uh here and there and then peterb donovich enters the picture Okay Peter bogdanovich who was [ __ ] 40 at the time when she was 19 or 20 okay he's the director uh closed set somehow Paul was not you know allowed to go on to that set and uh who did Peter uh was it sybl shepher Jim that you said that he uh was uh had an affair with that's true yeah well he left his wife Polly plat for her when they were making Last Picture Show last picture show yeah uh well I got a great I got a great bonov story for you that's my story belongs to me you know FY was a methamphetamine addict so he was always early and always in a hurry it's showtime folks yeah right he was always early and always in a hurry and one morning we're saying in the comto hotel we're doing research we're like meeting people going to locations going to the police station Reading you know police report all kinds of stuff just stuff and uh going to a lot of strip clubs and uh cuz cuz he was raised in strip clubs this is also another another sometimes research can be difficult F St you know what it is not fun I got to tell you strip clubs in daytime are a drag dude anyway uh uh where was I was you were talking about banovich so BD so so one morning I'm in the shower and you know F's banging on my door at the ks Hotel let's go let's go we got things to do I'm in the sh I let him in he's sits on my bed I'll be out in a minute I go back in the bathroom the phone rings I say answer my phone he said I'm not answering your phone God D it so I go out there answer my hello it's bonovich Peter so I sit on the bed in my towel next to FY F got his ear on the phone I got my ear on the phone both listening to to mdov and bonovich proceeds to [ __ ] me for about 20 minutes about the movie about the story about so what are they paying you I said I can't discuss that with you well whatever they are paying you I'll pay pay what whatever that is when you don't do the movie because uh and I will consider you for Paul in my version of the story and he was very very pompous very very positive and very very condescending and very very secure in the right that nobody else could do it and he was going to and baas he had to get over it and Voss is listening this whole time and and yeah yeah we both H have our ears to the phone and yeah it was it was one and then he and I go to the police station and we and we and we and we look at the pictures of the of the slaughter but uh yeah yeah uh yeah that's my bug on of the show I I just feel that um poor Peter I just feel that like that's all I ever heard um about Paul scumbag [ __ ] pornographer [ __ ] low life like all this [ __ ] I mean it everything landed on him nothing landed on bogdanovich who was 40 and was [ __ ] somebody else's wife who was 20 at the time and so anyway I'm not you know bgd donovich died a couple years ago so I'm not like whatever and then and then he married uh her sister sister sister so he had been 50 when she was 20 or something that's these days that guy would have been crucified for that kind of behavior right well he would he U deservedly so deservedly so because it's weird Behavior anybody's book it's weird Behavior he had a weird he was he was so affected in a way that's that's irretrievable over over her demise I'm sure that he wanted to tell his side of the story cuz his side of the story from everything that I've read about it it doesn't he doesn't come across that well you know I mean I you know like I said and she was not she didn't need to be there for three months for two or three shots or a half a dozen you're right but I live by the Creed that what's between two people is between those two people you can never really know that that that you you you can never know you can never know no and I'm just saying 40 and 20 okay I'll I'll lay off of Peter bogdanovich um um and I'll um I was a fan of the guy because of The Last Picture Show I was a huge fan but I fell out of fanom very quickly after that phone call because he was so kind of pompously pathetic good good well I'm glad to hear that that was that was U that came out in ' 83 so you shot it in ' 82 let me talk to you about the you have a a reputation and deservedly so of being you are very good-looking you're a very good-look kid uh but something dangerous about you everybody's always talking about this sort of danger that you and maybe that's why I didn't approach you when I was a kid at the gym you know I was like I don't know about this guy you know you know he might snap at me or something um but um I wanted it one of the performances that if people aren't familiar with you you are so [ __ ] wonderful I mean you could have been the romcom king of all time you raggedy man uh raggedy man you're just like sweet you're nice you're always smiling you're good to the kids you're good to her you're a sailor you're there's there's nothing dangerous about that there's nothing dangerous about that character and the only time you show any anger is when the girls are being um uh threatened by the guys in the bar or whatever but you come across as kind of mind like heroic in a way that I don't think people know Eric Roberts that way can you talk about is I mean do people talk to you about that movie very much because it was starring [ __ ] spacc and what's so sad about that movie is um that was her first movie after her Oscar for coal miner's daughter and is directed by Jack Fisk her husband yeah her husband yeah so what a director guys what a what a leader what a cool guy to work for I got to tell you I I was so sad that he didn't become a huge star because I saw the the Raggedy man that he directed and he edited and it was magnificent and then they took it away from him and they from my exit on it's a different movie and they made it into kind of a kind of a Neo horror film from my exit on yes but from from the top of the movie up until my exit it's mostly Jack it's probably 85% Jack but then from my exit on it's only 15% Jack and uh and uh yeah it was unfortunate because it was it was a delicate glorious good movie it ended up being oh okay well it it ended up being a good movie until the end until the end and and um you know I think that a great filmmaker and I I think nothing less Jack is a great filmmaker he got he got he got undermined he got he got de with well that happens and uh I I would thought his career was gonna take off after that movie as a director well uh also uh you'd have to be a two-year-old not to know that Sam Shepard was in the background as the Raggedy man I mean that was that was kind of obvious you know that that Sam but I love that movie loved it and your performance is not like there's nothing scary about there was nothing scary about nothing like oh he might you know snap at any moment oh he's got that smile is he really smiling or is he thinking he wants to kill me at the same time you know it was a really sweet performance I really really thought it was a wonderful well just just a quick shout out I base that character on two people the boy that I grew up with Iran white and my first cousin Adam BS and uh um he uh he sounds like Adam BS and he has the kindness to the boys like Adam BS and he's romantic like Irwin and that's that's who I that's I base that guy on are two good old boys I'm in love with yeah yeah so that's what I played you shot that in Texas right shot that in Texas yeah we sure did yeah yeah yeah yeah okay I suggest to anybody um um William Sanderson was in that yes he was good old Billy Sanders we love him William Sanderson if I'm not mistaken was one of the hillbillies in um what was it Jim the uh are you talking about Deliverance yeah in Deliverance is that correct is that S I don't think he was in Deliverance I don't think oh Sanders oh no he's the guy who was in the Bob newart show he he went on to play what was it my did you said my two brothers oh he he would always intro he had two brothers and he' introduce him as this is my brother Daryl and this is my other brother Daryl and that was that was a running gag Through The newor Years one one one last point about well I actually met sh Sam Shepard did you like what I mean you didn't probably have very much Sam and I work together four times Sam and I made real friends on raggedy man when I when I arrived on the set one day I arrived to do a costume fitting I'm not shooting for a couple of 3 four 5 days yeah and I arrive and I meet everybody and I say where's Sam say he's in that Barn what do you mean he's in that Barn that's where he lives what do you mean well he moved in in in the Loft in that Barn he don't want to be in a hotel Okay cool so I go there I walk in the bar and say hello Sam says says who said Eric Roberts hey dude come on up here and and we we started hanging out great cat great cat really normal and sweet not at all weird not at all like like his plays yeah just a neat guy yeah and he he and I doing a lot of stuff together and our last time we were together was when was for a great western called Purgatory he plays the sheriff and I played the bad guy we have a big shoot at the end blah blah blah of course he wins I die yeah and uh but Sam and I were were Pals i l the guy and really admired him loved him as an actor loved him as a writer loved him as a guy and um Sam was funny and smart yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah uh also there was an actor in that in in that movie introducing Henry Thomas yeah who knew hen yeah who knew Henry Thomas I got St about that too so we we read I don't know the number 300 boys for for those two parts yeah lot of boys me and Jack red red red red red and uh and at the time he was having trouble in Hollywood spelberg was having trouble casting U ET boy yeah and uh couldn't find him yeah and Jack said uh to me one day I think he said it to many people but he all said it to me I think I found Stephen's boy and he called stepen and he said I think I got your boy and Stephen said yeah MH anyway and he showed him footage on him and he put him in the effing movie yeah wow and made him International superst star Bang Yeah ET one of the best movies ever made we one of the reasons that he was probably I agree one of the reasons that he was probably casting that movie is he's from Texas yeah and I did a movie with it but what a movie with him when he was in his 20s um and and one of the one he was in college in Texas but he was from Texas and that's you know he was a BAS basically probably u a a local hire and uh also in that movie was introducing although they didn't even introduce her but she was from Texas Renee zel wiger Renee zelger yeah yeah she had she she had sort of a a small a small role in it Jack has great tastes in actors huh well he's you know I like I said up I agree with you 100% up that movie works so incredibly well until the time that you and then it turns into like a like a horror movie or whatever and uh that's a that's you know when a studio takes a movie away from a director and starts thinking that they're going to you know and I don't know what Jack's U ending would have looked like but if it would have just kind of stayed the course and ended kind it did dude it was glorious yeah man it made you cry a little bit but not a lot but little like oh my God yeah it was cool yeah anyway you were you were just superb in that I love hearing that thank you so much yeah um all right so um the next movie of course um that I wanted to talk to you about uh because I've heard you talking about it on other you know in in print and so on and so forth is pop grwi Village obviously um tell me um Eric if I'm not mistaken you were offered a role offered a role in that movie and you read the script must maybe like the script and said I like the script I like that character but I like this character more is that correct well what happened was uh I was um Tennesse Williams died that year okay so everybody was was doing revivals of Tennessee Williams classic plays and I was doing glass manager at Hartford and I'm up there playing Tom Wei having a great time that great theater that's that's that's three quar round up there yeah I was I was there having a great time and I get a script in a book from Howard kotch and Jean Kirkwood yeah and they say read this book read the script Pick A Part Paulie or Charlie and so I take my time I think that's that's like January I take like a week or 10 days which is not what you're supposed to do you're supposed to you know you know you know you know and take a weekend but I I I I took a long time and read them both twice and I got this idea because Paulie was very cliche but I got this idea to play Paulie not like this tough dumbass Thug that he's written as but as a M's boy who wanted to be a tough Thug and I said hm that's going to be funny to play that like that but it's not written that way so I got to talk to the bosses so I called Jee Kirkwood and Howard cotch and say hey guys I made a decision he said who you going to play I want to play Paulie he said well we wanted to play Charlie I said well why because handsome he's leading man he wears suits he's a ladies man blah blah blah yeah that's all true and that's all fun to do but but I think I have an idea you know Paulie how he's written blah blah blah I want to play him blah blah blah and they say whatever you want to do you do it because we're hiring you cuz it's you and we know that you're the actor we want in this movie so Stuart Rosenberg was involved this he was not he was not involved yet okay so uh he was not even thought of yet okay so um so uh that was January so I take February March April May June July and most of August and I don't work I just I just live and breathe poly jaboni and I lose 30 pounds I perm my hair I learn my script inside out and I'm ready to go to work now I'm a horse guy so I'm I'm up in Connecticut and rideing my horses all summer having great time off but I'm also I'm also working on this on this project okay so here comes August we get five days rehearsal before we start to shoot me and Mickey do with the with with the director had you did you know Mickey work before this this I had not met him no so let let me give you a my quick Mickey work story okay CU I've got it's not even on I when I was a young young person I was doing a television series for remember Quinn Martin I do okay Quinn the Quin Quinn Martin I did a television series for him and uh Mickey came in before Mickey was way before Mickey was Mickey he came in like as a day player before Diner oh oh yeah before it's not even on his credits it's not even on his IMDb page right so he comes in for a day on this television series that I'm doing with Rob Bert Reed and uh Robert Reed dude y it was a long time ago Quinn Martin the runway The Runaways it was called yeah so he came he come in for one day and I'd never met him before so he comes in and I see this guy on the set and I go over and you know introduce myself to say hi to him and that guy had made more of an impression on me immediately as something was so effing [ __ ] cool about this guy he was so cool I mean when I was young it was always James Dean was always always about wanting to be James Dean always wantan to be brand so I'd be an acting class instead of acting like myself I'd be like hang you know like trying trying to emulate somebody like this guy had an effect on me which was like stunningly interesting I just thought you know he's a handsome guy and everything but there was something about the way he talked something about the way that he grooved that I'll never forget how impressed I was by just spending a little bit of time with him and when we were they were getting ready to shoot his shot probably not seen but before his came to the door delivered something or whatever I said can I get make your work from the trailer or whatever uh wasn't there nobody could find him right nobody could find Mickey right so every was like you know what was Mickey the first a de but was running around you know for not long two or three minutes where's Mickey where's Mickey uh all we found him he was across the street there was a mechanics uh there was a mechanic uh who you know had some cars or whatever and he was over like underneath the car with the mechanics hanging out with these mechanics he just didn't pay any attention and I just thought like wow this guy's going and I've seen him since and I've never really spent any time with him he's always been really sweet to me he's always been really nice to me and uh uh you know uh if you had never worked with him before did he did he did you did you have any I mean you're a big star by then but did he have any kind of that effect on you I mean what and I know that you have a very special relationship I watched the Academy Awards when he won the uh the Academy Award and there was at least a 30 minute 30 second or a minute where you guys he's thanking you and can you talk to me a little bit about your relationship with him in that movie that was the independent Spirit Awards and he got best actor for the wrestler and he kind of paid homage to me that was very moving and uh okay yeah you know we we like each other yeah yeah we're we're buds go back to where you were uh just getting this thing kind of put together so you you got these cuz if Stuart rosenberg's not involved you got you inv what happened was I show up the last week in August and I'm ready to go and uh they're they're still casting all the small parts and stuff and there's still you know location scouting and what have you and we got five days rehearsal with the then director and we rehears for one day two days and and the third day he says after rehearsal I'd like to speak to you Eric I said sure So I've told this the story in interviews in blah blah blah goad tell I would like you to tell okay so so uh I say after rehears I say what's up dude he goes why are you so skinny I said I want to be a walking spaz attack that's part of it he goes why'd you perm your hair I said same thing walking spazz attack he looks really mad suddenly and it's what the f is a walking spaz attack I said you know John balushi only skinny he go that's not this guy this guy is he's raising on the streets he's tough he's this he's that he start giving the whole lineup all the stuff that I said was cliche eight months ago to the producers and I wouldn't play it that way can I play it this way and they said yes so I said that to him I said but I told the producer what I was going to do I wasn't going to play it that way because that's been done a million times by a million actors well and I'm doing something else you said well we disagree on your on your interpretation I would like you to resign I said well wow I said well let me think about it I was going nowhere now I've been living with this character I've been I've been I've been developing this personality and I'm watching all the guys down little LLY I go down there like probably three times a week from my place in Connecticut and I just hang out and I I I just hang out and I watch the old guys play cards play play like peanuckle talk have coffee I like I just watch them yep and I absorb them and I I have so much because I have all this time that's back in the old days when they made movies like they made movies where where where you got eight months to create this whole other personality this whole other world anyway so so uh he asked me to resign so I say I'll think about it I know I'm going nowhere but what do I do with this this is weird I've been asked to quit a movie I'm in love with and I'm love with this character I develop I love this guy I got they kind of develop it on your back too I mean we got um Eric Roberts now and oh I don't know okay go ahead but so so uh so uh so um I think so but so I go up to a tami's room I say they asked me to resign he asked me to resign so we call the producers from Mickey's room we call kachen C we say dudes here's what's happening wow and they go we'll take care of it okay bye I guess they're taking care of it me me and me can't look at each other like I don't know what's going on I don't know that's weird well let's go eat so we went ate and we came back and we have all these phone calls waiting for us and we have all these all these people who want to direct the movie including of all people Mike chimino wow now I had gotten hip to chimino not to undermine my neighbor and my friend Chris Walkin yeah I'd gotten hip to chimino through Heaven's Gate and Chris doing that cuz Chris and I lived you know less than a half mile apart in Connecticut and we also lived only four blocks away from each other in New York okay so we're we're neighbors we're Pals we have the same manager we shop at the same grocery store we're we're like we're like Pals we're like we're like you know buddies so anyway um where was he you were talking about uh Heaven's Gate oh yeah so so they have all all all these directors who want to direct a movie including Mike jamino so uh Mickey kind of kind of mols it over with ch chimino man this chimino yeah he did he you know he's yeah I say I don't think that's a good idea I say you know I got a buddy who's they're like nine months overdo on the movie May Buddy's making and I think it's you know so I don't think it's a good idea I don't think we need a guy who's going to who's going to who's going to Triple schedu Studio yeah so yeah he did he brought down a whole studio with them movie who knew dude that's far out anyway so I put the Jinx on that and but but um but uh but then they said um have you seen amville horror I said I have do you like it I don't know watch it again I watch it again great editing what a movie Y and I said yeah they said well we're bringing him in steuart Rosenberg cool he brought him in he directed a great movie he's a great guy he's a good director fun to know fun to hang out with has a great son who's as talented in and like and like cool as he was and he's just we had a great time I think one of uh the best movies one of my favorite movies uh of of all movies uh is cooland Luke are you okay cooland Luke is a great movie you need anything Paul Newman you need anything no I'm just saying hi to my wife okay all right um well it's a great movie and and Stuart Rosenberg directed it and I I was telling Jim who's on our headphones I was telling him earlier uh when when I sat down one of the cuz it came up and one of the greatest acting moments that I've seen is uh when Paul Newman is given a piece of paper that says his mother has died in a Cool Hand Luke and he gets up and he walks and he goes up and he sits on his bunk and he picks up the ukulele and he sings that song Why does it go Jim you Jim is got to oh it's it's uh I don't care if it rains or freezes long as I've got a plastic Jesus sitting on the dashboard in my car tight on yeah coming out long about a minute shot I don't care if it rains or freezes as long as I've got a plastic Jesus sitting on the dashboard of my car and then he kind of gets really into that song and you can tell that he's he's hitting the road again he's he's he's going into the wind singing to his mama yeah yeah and it's it's Paul Newman um I don't you ever had a chance did you ever meet Paul did you ever meet him I did Paul's last play with him at the actor Studio you did he played he played a judge I played a son as a lawyer and his wife John wber played my mom his wife in the play WoW and we had the greatest experience together he was a cool guy to know great guy to work with I love the play don't remember the name of it I apologize to the writer that's so horrible to to that up and not another title anyway um yeah he was a cool cat man yeah and he was he was a magnificent actor he got so under mind because he was so beautiful he looked he look he looked like a painting even his old age he looked like a painting piercing blue eyes that jaw line and he just looked like a fantasy man I know like we all want to we all want to be that guy and a women want to be on the arm of that guy yeah I mean yeah and he was just cool so um um so you and Mickey had never worked before that um relationship you said you had a few days rehearsal was the rehe let me ask another question to uh uh Eric when you are you do do you change dialogue like if something doesn't work for like if you like dialogue you see Exposition like two or three times like why do we need it do you read Pope everything I say in Pope except one line one line I improvised everything in Pope was all Vinnie Patrick that glorious effing dialogue was all Vinnie Patrick except when I'm eating tomato soup and Mickey Serv me white bread and I say quote white bread no one of these WS got no color that's me right everything else is Vinnie Patrick everything else now I I I think tell me if I'm wrong I think that you've also been quoted as saying that Mickey Ro uh liked improv a lot Mickey Ro just does do homework he does not learn a line of dialogue how do you do a scene with somebody who does isn't like throwing up and you know we'll get to Sterling Hayden if we have time but but but how do you do a scene with somebody who doesn't when you have an actor when you have an actor like Mickey you always say on course even though you're not on dialogue you stay on course M Mickey's one of the great actors of our time I know Mickey is truly a great actor Mickey Mickey uh you know he he will he will he will take you on a ride but he'll bring you back to where you're supposed to be he's not a fool okay he's not he's not he's not he's just an artist and uh it's it's a little sloppy sometimes as art is but he's Micky heroic man he's he's one of the greats yeah and did you know one of the greatest performances of of my lifetime is a movie called Barfly ever seen yeah dude damn how do you do that drinks for all my friends drinks for all my friends yeah and and so you know U yeah I'm a I'm a fan dude I'm a big fan of that guy for all the right reasons yeah yeah yeah yeah and yeah you know you're not going to get a queue okay work around it right yeah yeah yeah no I get you got no choice dude you're either going to have a problem or you're going to work around it and you really kind of have to trust him cuz he's always slapping you around and [ __ ] grabbing you and [ __ ] punching the only thing he did that was mean was our first night together on the set was the night we get fired and it's a scene on the street on the street he said what' you do what you do what you do what you kind of thing and he's supposed to supposed to bounce a cigarette off my chest and have the flame blah blah you it's a symbol of the of the situation you know and uh he didn't bounce it out he kept throwing it in my shirt and after 58 takes of course I'm burned all over and I and I and I pointed that out to him he kind of shrugged but uh but that was the only moment of discomfort we really had together everything else was we were kicking its ass well and we knew it we were were having fun doing it people talk about like buddy movies and you're talking about Newman and Redford and so like uh but that relationship that relationship is so wonderful two actors two friends and and by the way Daryl Hannah was also excellent in that movie I thought she was also excellent there's just so beautiful dude look at know I know she takes your breath away a little bit yeah I know I've met I've spent a little bit of time with her and she's sweet she yeah yeah yeah that relationship that you you you two created for that movie and maybe it was already on the paper to a certain extent is um one of the best kind of men love stories that I've SE ever seen in film Vinnie Vinnie Vinnie Patrick gave us the blueprint we just we just built it right yeah yeah yeah yeah and you know Mickey and I Mickey and I have have have like big bro love you know we love each other yeah and you know yeah I'm sure I irritate him as much as he irritates me well well um but that's what happens when your brothers you know um uh you know who is in that movie there's um is uh I I was uh looking up the credits on that movie and uh I don't see it my notes here but uh there's a guy named uh the lip okay do you know Nick valonga I do okay well Nick and I I've done like five four five things for Nick and Nick won two Academy Awards for a green book and um I don't know said the wrong thing something to do with Muslims or Trump or something like that and he really got uh cancelled out and then there have been some uh problems recently but I I didn't even know he was in that but his father uh used to hang out a lot when we were shooting and they they called him the lip and I I don't know if you even remember him being in course I do you do you do do you do you remember Nick even from that time of course I do you do okay we we it was it was a very it was it was a small set it was a small crew it small cast okay and so we had you day players next we're all we're all in the same area we're all we're all together we all hung out okay there was no status on that movie it was just making a movie okay cool cool cool yeah well that's uh U that that is um a cool movie without without a doubt so let's move on to uh got 15 minutes or so let's let's move on to Runaway Train okay uh and I think before they went out to real stars I think I met Andre uh for that movie I don't I don't know why but in my memory it just seems to me that I met him I was very aware of that movie and then uh of course I saw that and um is that the movie that you got nominated for yeah it is fr Academy Award you got nominated that's my third Golden Globe nomination and my first Academy Award nomination well congratulations on that and you also got nominated for a movie that was not like this monster hit usually a lot of times you see you don't see them take a performance like yours out of a movie that's not that well re was well go ahead because of that fact at the time when John and I got nominated I instantly thought hm did they buy those nominations right cuz you know golden Globus were very rich men yes and this was not a huge budget but it was a big budget I think it was $12 million 14 million runaway train something like that okay which at the time now that's probably be the like 40 40 million But but so sizeable but it's not huge it's not out of control it's just big and um and uh what what what's the question uh we talk about runaway train I was saying that I thought I met Andrew Andrew oh Andre kolaski U thank you was was never goingon to get that right he was the boss and yeah he they they they gave him complete Freedom they did yeah they did they said you're you're you're the man and uh I said to Andre that's another character change that character is is a tough guy written and uh he he he was in for rape and blah blah blah and I said it's kind of statutory as you point out in the movie that that came later what happened was I said these characters are too much alike uhhuh so I want to I want to go the other way let's change rape statutory and let's uh let's y having be stupid but likable stupid not irritating stupid yeah and I train my whole voice so he's got a whole thing he sound completely different and not at all like Manny who talks like this you know he just up here having a good time you know what I mean oh my God you know and uh so and Andre who probably being a Russian had no idea what my accent was or wasn't right but I said can I change your accent and blah blah and can I do this and this and this he said Ed whatever you want you do it okay great so so so I did and I had a great time John Voit and I had so much fun making the movie together we're two actors acting and we had fun every single day we were together and I fell in love with him as an actor and I will always treasure that experience with that actor as an actor I've never met anybody that has worked with him that doesn't have um the same sentiments that people really really love the guy and I have never had had had a chance to work with him I worked with his daughter once and uh uh but I I I never had a chance to work with him but you guys um I I thought it was I thought you it was quot you were quoted as saying that that was one of the more difficult movies that you ever had to make is that physically yeah it was hard and it was cold okay cold as a nuny dude it was cold man okay well let let let me ask you a question because this reminds me of because uh let me talk a little bit about uh I think that you had a car accident once right 19 June 4th 1981 okay I tried to climb a tree in a CJ5 okay and you had some pretty bad injuries to your head right your brain I had brain trauma yeah I was in a coma for a little while I I had a stroke wow dude it's the same thing I think it might same as you had to did you have to like relearn to walk and all yeah dude I I how long did how long was it and and are there any re how long did it was hard man I I I uh I had the action June 4th I in rehearsal for Broadway play at the end of August so June July August so I spent about I spent I spent 90 days and and just rehabbing sort of yeah and uh and but but you know I spent the next 10 years recovering right yeah it took me it took me it because it what it did is it took a little bit of sight out of one of my eyes but it also took my memory and so it took my brain about 10 years to get to a place where I thought well cuz I couldn't memorize dialogue I couldn't memorize anything hotel rooms all that sort of stuff um but so I don't really necessarily I just say that we have that in common and something that that I was able to overcome it sounds like something that you were able to overcome so if there's anybody out there that's had I have a good friend of mine who's a detective and uh in Arizona who just had a a bleed on his brain and I call him all the time and check up on him because your brain will will heal itself is what I was it's an incredible tool yeah what it can do and what it's an amazing piece of something or other uh yeah uh my memory was so bad when I came home from the hospital after a month of being in the hospital I came home and I brushed my teeth put down my toothbrush wash out my mouth and not know where my toothbrush was right that's how bad it is that's how bad it was yeah and uh I I would SOB every day over self-pity because I'm an actor I'm ruined and I would but you know what I worked really hard I really hard and um well let me ask this question let me ask you a little bit about uh marijuana um I am under the impression that you've talked before about uh some marijuana use and the fact that you don't do it when you're acting and um is that something you can talk about yeah I mean um cuz I listen I was a wake and bit guy for 30 years so I'm not I'm not coming at you like you know like you know marijuana is a big deal but I've heard you say well I don't use while I'm acting but as an actor you know there are days where you don't have any dialogue you're just walking around walking through shots and stuff so I've actually I've actually never said I don't do well I'm acting because what I used to do is smoke dope every single evening after I got home okay but uh I don't act stoned because I can't talk right I I have a thing if I do any kind of drug especially in Upper like Coke or Methamphetamine I cannot speak I I I I it just doesn't come out of my mouth Coke's not good for me neither oh it's such a horrible drug anyway uh so so uh and partt two I mean I I get I get it's a whole other kind of Inc capacitation but it is a a form of in in incapacitation and I just you know I can't I can't do it in work yeah yeah yeah do you think that U when you uh when you when you were during that period of time because I got uh a little bit of success not not your your kind of a success but I saw New York for the first time I did a movie called The Fan with Lauren ball and it was like this not being New York before uh that's a good ass movie dude no well it's no well thank you for saying that but I that's a good L people not a lot of people agreed with you on that usually it's gay men I don't read my reviews why want to read your reviews oh good well thank you well that's nice I mean I I I it was a a little I love Lauren McCall and I love you symbol AS that you're a really good actor dude oh well thank you you were always a really good actor oh well thank you it's not it's not an opinion it's just what you were you a really good actor dude why aren't you still doing it well um I don't don't do it like you do it okay you've got 400 or 700 credits or you've got a lot of I lost I lost can at 75 okay all right well you you do it all the time I two years ago a couple years a three years ago I thought I was going to retire I just I I and I got a offer from John faver to go do Mandalorian so C certain people just don't say no to right forgot and then um I did that and then um I worked with a guy on Grindhouse with have you ever worked with Robert Rodriguez no no he's fantastic he's unbeliev I got to sit between Robert and Quinton Tarantino for six months doing uh Grindhouse but there's guy named Greg nicaro who did the special effects makeup what a cool name yeah and Greg is now or was uh the showrunner for The Walking Dead he called me up he said we're in our last season you want to do it I'm like okay so I went down there I did a a couple of days on that and that that that character kind of made me feel feel oh that's kind of good I didn't know if he was a good guy or a bad guy so I just kind of you know I just I never knew I just played him you know and it was kind of like oh I kind of like this so I did uh Eric I did two years ago I did a movie in Australia uh uh and two years ago I did a movie in um so you're you're you're you're still a working actor yeah to a to to a certain extent uh but now as you well know you know this but but I don't know if you ever do them you know now I can go to these shows and I can just walk into a place and I'll have people standing in lines that are like 300 long and people walk up to me they tell me how awesome I am how bitching I am what a great actor I am how I change their lives and they hand me money and walk away so you know what I'm talking about the comicons and stuff like that oh comicons dude yeah so it here's the thing when I was in Thailand it's 4:00 in the morning we're shooting nights it's 4:00 in the morning they're holding me for a shot I know they're never going to get to I'm sitting there I'm exhausted I'm smoking a cigarette which is like horrible for me to be smoking a cigarette I'm like what are you what are you effing doing what are you doing you know like why why is it that important to still get like this as compared to just walk into these shows and have people just like pour money on you I just got back from doing one with Linda Hamilton and Robert Patrick isn't Linda Lovely Lind Linda is fantastic she a fantastic human I know she's what the best I fell in love with her when we did the Terminator just she is just absolutely awesome she's easy on the eyes dude you're telling me man I was I was I was married at that time and she was married at that time and both of us were um uh uh let me see let me don't even go there you were married okay yeah so we we didn't go there um I I love being married by the way well I love being married I love being married as much and for kind of the same Comfort familiarity feeling that I get acting I mean acting and marriage are two things I really dig and and I'm and I've been doing them both a long ass time I really I love being married uh I'm just going to put that out there yeah well that's that's that's nice and I also love uh being a parent and I know that you do too I've heard you talk and I know that you're very very a very proud parent and um I um I I love acting too and I but I also love my family kids my kid became look at the actor I know I know I know I mean you must feel that must make you feel pretty good that you created that and had maybe something to do with the fact and I'm not responsible for any of her performances this is all her being becoming brilliant yeah I know um all right let me see if I have anything else that I can uh ask you about um oh I wanted to ask you um when you do get successful all of a sudden you have a lot of money uh you they're picking you up in limousines at the airports and people with their signs with your name on it you get into every Club you don't have to stand in line at clubs you get the best seats at restaurants um you're you're staying at the hotels you're staying at the best hotels and room service nice cars jewelry do you think that did did you ever feel that like that helped lead you to making choices as an actor or not at all let me tell you what my first day in the movie Set so I get my first movie oh my God I'm in a freaking movie dude it's a big movie you Del I'm in this huge movie I can't believe it I can't believe I can't believe it and and I'm up all night before the the uh the first day I'm a wreck I'm up all night with fear time to be to to be picked up I go downstairs there's a car it's like a Town Car you know with a driver and I say dude I'm going to follow you to work where where we going we're going we're going to the to the marks by the studio in Queens okay I'm going to follow you I get on my motorcycle I'm behind him all the way out there we get there I pull up on the sidewalk there's Dena delarentis and Frank Pearson standing there side by side my my my my producer my director yeah and Dino Delan is light what the f are you doing on a motorcycle you're making a movie for me you can't get on these things and he throws a temper tantrum in front of everybody all directed at me and uh I will never never ride that again while I'm making a film for him blah blah blah blah blah blah blah so I'm already behind the eightball I mean I I effed up I'm behind the eightball I'm embarrassed nobody comes to my defense whatsoever I'm just out there you know hung and so that was my that that's that's how I feel about all that stuff I don't I don't I don't I don't need that stuff I don't I don't ask for that stuff I don't look for that stuff but I notice it when it happens and I say to my wife can you believe this room yes yeah of course I do that and uh can you believe this view oh my God course can you believe we don't drink and we got $1,000 bottle of champagne what do we do with you know blah blah blah yes I love that crap it's so much fun but it's not it's like it's like another story it's not the career it's not the work it's just this this bow comes along with the yeah this bow you get on it is that stuff and it's cool but it's also silly and you got to have humor about it because it comes and goes so completely there and so completely not there that you have to have humor yeah did you uh how was your a how did you get that movie uh thieves Prince of dark King of the gypsies King of the gypsies thank you uh Prince of Darkness that was also a great movie with the great actor who was the actor Heath was that no no Treat Williams treat yeah I I didn't love that movie stop it treats a cool cat I didn't say I didn't like treat I like treat I like treat a lot I I like treat's work I thought I think I think treat got got got got ripped off I think he should have been a bigger star he should have been a superstar man he he was great he's a great actor I I know you know but he didn't become a superstar and uh I what oh shut up Eric she's saying my wife says the same thing what was I saying she you you're doing very well if my wife was here I she would have already finished about 30 of my sentences and told me what I was talking about well my wife has taken on this job on her own that she follows me around all day long just to say to people he's only kidding he's only kidding no no he's only kidding no and and she'll laugh and she oh now he's only kidding but all day long yeah okay King of the tell me how you got that cast in that role because that went you went from zero to 100 King of the gypsies yes oh I audition audition I screen tested did uh the only cool part of that story is audition several times then I get the screen test they're auditioning they're screen testing five of us at the gulf and Western Building on this date I um you know once again I'm up most of the night cuz you know anxiety okay and it's snowing and it keeps snowing and it snows so you can't see the sidewalks and all the traffic stops and I'm like wow I like call manager do I still have a screen test today you sure do buddy uh now I was on 73rd Street in Central Park West okay and so I had whatever it was 13 blocks to walk down to the gulf and Western Building okay and so I walk in the snow no traffic it's like a dead town it's like a ghost town I get down the gulf and Western Building on foot get up to my place of course they're behind because of the snow they say your your uh your screen test will not be at scheduled it'll be later so relax in this room I go in somebody's office and I go to sleep and I slept until they wake me up for the test they said it's time for you to come screen test okay cool am I wearing anything else but what I'm wearing now and they said you're wearing this full length leather jacket right I put it on I walk off on the set the set is a stool [Music] [Laughter] I look up there's Frank Pearson smiling Y and I point at the stool and he says use it or [Laughter] not I'm 20 years old and a nervous [ __ ] wreck dude I'm a nervous [ __ ] wreck and the guy tells me use it or not to a stool that's so low that I'd have to make a comedy if I'm going to use it so so I ignore it and and I I do this scene where my grandfather picks me up and he's taking me home from the from the movie yeah yeah in the car in the car yeah and I tell him how I don't want to do this crap and I did the scene and Frank as I leave Frank says uh you're a very fine actor I said Thank you Mr Pearson and then 3 days later I was told I had the part wow wow he it I was told by Frank that because you know Frank and I ended up getting really close that he showed it to Dino and he said that's why I want and supposedly D said well of course it is just keep him off the [ __ ] motorcycle yeah that came later what are you doing on that thing oh he had such a fit man he embarrassed me so much um just U I know that I've heard you talk a little bit about Sterling Hayden and uh you know the hash and you know all that all that kind of stuff or what ever but he also also said well we was going to [ __ ] improv it you know just go with me or whatever no no okay he say to me yeah what scene are we shooting I said scene 87 I know the [ __ ] number what happens I said it's kind of a pivotal scene you know you you know it's a great scene by from both of you but you're you're he's it's his uh profile and it's your anyway go ahead yeah but so I say what the scene's about yeah it's a big scene yeah really great Chang the whole movie it's a pivotal scene in the movie and he says to me okay important scene how an improvisation young man I'm okay because that's what we're doing and that's what we did but did you impro your your dialogue was that com that wasn't improv that was written correct mean half and half and I would because I never got a proper cue from him I would have to invert stuff you know okay yeah all right all right all right well uh we just SP out of town what the last thing that I wanted to say to you was that why we got of time I got plenty of time you got plenty of time how long have we' been going Jim I mean uh hour 20 hour 20 well listen I mean if you want to stay you know I I what what let's make an even two 40 more minutes okay it's okay with me is that okay with my boss look at I have I have a oh right we have a zoom I well you guys you guys figure this out I don't think I should get it we typically go between 1:15 to two hours it's around that long so you want to do thei well let me just let me talk to you a little bit about uh the Expendables Expendables because let me tell you this let me tell you oh I also want to tell you you were also in that movie you work with Brook Shields a young very very young Brook Shields not The Expendables the the the not The Expendables in um King of the gypsies she was in King of the gypsies 13 yeah she went on the um when I was and then 20 years later I played her husband go ahead I just well wanted to play her husband but um I uh she went she went on The Tonight Show she was on The Tonight Show and Johnny Carson's kibitzing with her and whatever you got a boyfriend or whatever and she go no but I just saw this movie The Terminator and there's a guy on there Michael bean I really like him so she says that to Johnny Carson and of course you know went viral as it were before viral yeah and and so of course I heard that and I was like oh my God you know is that like whatever I I think she stayed a virgin until she was like 22 or 23 or something but she she she came into the Improv remember the Improv yeah when she came into the Improv one time I also saw the guy that the playright that you like so much in there he wasn't as nice to me as he was to you but um but anyway so she comes into the Improv I'd had a couple of drinks and uh man I was on her like I scared the death out of her man she she ran she ran from that club with you know I'm sorry you did that she's such a lovely person I no I didn't I wasn't doing anything other than she's really normal for all the fame I'm not I'm the one who's not normal Eric I'm I know she's normal I'm the one who's not normal I you you know came on a little strong you blew it huh I well I yeah I probably was married at the time anyway I've always been married it seems um but anyway uh Expendables let me tell you a quick story about that and then I want to hear about your experiences and Stallone who I'd never met before I saw him once also like you I saw him once over in Japan when I was promoting something he was promoting and he was there with his guys and he looked over and he kind of looked at me and smiled and I was with my brother and I should have just got up and gone over and said hi I'm Michael and I would have sat with him and the whole thing and I scared I was like he's cool man I know I know he's very approachable yeah of course everybody seems to be pretty PR how many [ __ ] do you run into Eric not very many right in our business oh tons oh you do all right give me a list man let's talk names who was the first director on U uh Pope um anyway you're not a bad guy by the way not a bad direct he go on to direct good things you don't have to say his name you know he actually did and if I tell you what he directed you'll know who he is and that's not polite I not okay all right so anyway so Stallone comes out and I read this I think by that time we had computers and I read he comes out and goes you know I'm thinking about doing this thing talking about The Expendables do I get all these old action guys who aren't working anymore like uh like Michael bean and uh you know put them all in a movie and make a movie and I kind of thought well thank you for throwing me under the bus that like I'm not [ __ ] working anymore slide but uh you know whatever so but I I heard that I and he said that and then then he made the [ __ ] movie and he didn't he he didn't put me in it he didn't he didn't put me in it anyway we had so much F movie and I know what a what a horse he is and I have so much respect for the guy and uh uh Cameron wrote uh the second one of his uh anyway tell Rambo movie Rambo the Rambo movie um what is what was your experience like with him and and and and working on oh we love each other yeah we're friends I mean you know we made we made we made the specialist in together and uh that was fun in fact one night you made a movie called The Specialist you don't know that movie you miss a classic film dude classic film so he he uh he plays a bomb maker anyway uh uh I said to my wife one day while we're down in Miami shooting The Specialist I said to my wife one night when I'm off they're they they have a night shoot tonight let's go just you know walk up like fans and just down with the group and watch CU I've never done that I'd like to go do that she goes sure so we go there and and we're in the crowd I think they don't know we're there we're in the crowd and slides in a scene on the sidewalk and suddenly goes you know Eric we don't have a scene together in this movie and I'm like oh God he knows we're here yeah I know so write one I will I'll write it tonight we'll shoot it tomorrow I think he's showing off for the proud you know I just think yeah right okay he's going to write it tonight going to shoot it tomorrow yeah right okay besides I'm off tomorrow so you know I I I I I don't I don't worry about it you know okay he does he writes it that night and the next day he calls me in the set hey read the scene so read the scene and it's a scene where I put a knife in his eye blah blah so well and and we shot it and so he was like not only am I in a Sly movie but I got a really cool scene with him that I'm the bad ass and you know I get I get a take down you know slice long with a knife in his eye you better you better behave kind of stuff you know really cool little scene and so so you know he's my friend that's for sure yeah so then comes comes um Expendables and he hey hey I want to BL a bad guy again yeah so yeah I just love him and and and he's a great boss he's a great leader he knows his [ __ ] he made movies where he knows and why and he will explain to you no we're doing this because of this you're like okay go and he's such a fun guy to work for The Expendables was Camp it was like summer effing Camp dude it was that movie who who else was in it everybody who's ever made an action movies in it except you Expendables Expendables what was the other movie that you mentioned that I didn't know about the specialist what's the specialist it's a great film what is Sharon Stone oh Roder plays my dad it's such a good ass movie yeah yeah one of my old BS is Jerry wichild producer Jerry was our boss yeah Jerry was our producer Jerry was such a cool guy he he he and my wife fell in love yeah yeah yeah yell yell like I had to watch him you did no like you you think I'm joking well I she has a a career of her own I think that she could uh maybe maybe she can come and and be a guest uh on the podcast you would have so much fun talking to my wife I've been talking for over 32 years and I still like talking to her well who knew that was going to happen that's crazy that's a long time that's good that's good um what else you got you got anything you want to talk about I got one what all right and I know you've talked about it a lot extensively elsewhere but you're here so I just want to hear it straight from you the Dark Knight one of my favorite movies mov I've seen over 100 times okay my favorite story about me in the dark knight is I'm doing a scene one day on my $2,000 suit on my on my incredible set and this incredible the old the old the old Zeppelin hangers all Gotham City I'm on set doing a scene with five cameras all this stuff I in heaven and I'm doing a scene action I'm doing this scene I hear from from from from the boss in the big megaphone cut very loud cut all right cut everybody dead silence and Chris ens say Eric Roberts don't be funny that's my favorite note I ever got I'm not kidding dude Chris noan telling me not to be funny I never get hire for [ __ ] comedy okay I'm funny to Chris noan I'm in heaven anyway so so but that was just a great experience basically why I like that so much was because I'm a movie geek right I'm a huge movie geek I know a lot about movies and and and and Movie Makers well they told us we're shooting all the Chicago stuff for Dark Knight in Chicago and all the other stuff at Pinewood all the Gotham City stuff okay we've all been to Pinewood Pinewood pinew it's a wless studio but yeah it's huge we love it okay so but we don't go to Pinewood no sh it's a secret we're going to go the old the Zeppelin hanger it's been closed since 1919 but they reopened it for Gotham City you walk in it's Gotham City Okay cool so we show up the first day I walk in there it's all Gotham City oh my God Tak your breath away me and Gary Alman had so much fun being children on that set another BR dude it was just it was Heaven it was Heaven especially if you're a movie geek and we just had so much fun it had traffic lights it had everything he could have it had everything had a candy shop had every and it was just and we just had so much fun I mean we're just we're just Geeks and um and uh I love that experience because that is power that is money and that is talent I mean look who he put in that movie because he could yeah I mean God yeah and he's he was he was a cool guy and he's got a cool wife Emma she's the boss yeah it always seems like they that they're always always was the boss that's what that's what happens around my household I I think I think I'm running everything until I'm not running it at all and and and I'm I've been been given the information I'm actually walking in the wrong direction or saying the exact opposite thing to what I meant happens to me quite often well we're lucky we're attracted to our bosses yes that's true 30 years that's 30 32 years for you guys so congratulations on that yeah what else you got Eric anything else what else I got [Laughter] boss I maybe one of the best performances by an actor on film is Harrison Ford regarding Henry it's not it's and he had the same brain trauma in that movie that I had in real life and he did what happened was the plane accident when when he when he went down on the plane is no in the in the movie oh in the mo in the movie It's called regarding Henry the movie I don't know if I I even you usually know Mike Nicholls movie it's it's a Mike Nichols movie that's right movie it's a big movie it's a big movie what what happens to him in the movie brain he's a a successful lawyer who suffers a traumatic brain injury and has to build his life back together again and he and he plays it as someone who's been through that he that perfectly really well I have to I'll have to watch that because it was a big part of my life and I feel like I was uh I I do kind of like Alzheimer's backwards where I've lost it all and you know bit by bit it comes back and now I'm at the point where I'm I still for get stuff but I don't know if it's because I'm almost 70 or you know if it's my brain you know but I can remember dialogue now which is the most important thing because I I could never really work uh with any sense of self with like something stuck in my ear giving me like my lines for me I mean everybody's different and uh I had an actor on here was talking about another actor who uses it who I totally respect love all this movies but for me I got to be able to like do it the way that I used to always do it well like Johnny Depp's always using your Wick and he's great with it I can't use ear Wicks cuz I have to be in the character and if I hear somebody talking to me I'm in reality and it blows me I have to have a Q card if because a lot of movies I say yes on a Friday and we shoot on a Monday so you know uh okay I will I will do this but I need I need I need the Q cards so they put Q cards everywhere and I just talk my ass off when with no sweat when it's that but Q cards are a problem for the DP and for the other actors you don't want to have them if you don't need them well you know what as as an actor Eric I I give an f if somebody wants to use Q cards if there's somebody in my ey line there like I don't like anything that you know why would C I don't know why I would bother any yeah but you have to respect the fact that that it's it's distracting ing it could be distracting it's all it's it's it's almost always behind an actor if I'm talking to an actor so he doesn't even see them but but you know you you have to remember everybody's like you we get distracted we get bothered we get confused we get whatever it is that's not alltogether positive we all go through that and and you you uh can't make it harder for your mate to have to go through that on a set with you you have to you have to keep it comfortable cuz you know making movies is hard and time is money and money is time and it's always clicking so you got to so that's also part of why I love Q cards because I can do a whole monologue without without without without losing sleep the night and before well I I I understand and I you know it there are times and this happened to me somewhat recently uh where I got a script on a Thursday I was like um this an episodic show I got a script on the show on the Thursday I was like but it was a good show like and I like well I should probably do it it's a good show Friday it got better but the dialogue changed I was going to I was supposed to sh start shooting on uh Tuesday morning and um so I took it I flew to New York I got to New York and there was a script they were already shooting the episode there was a script and Big Show 40 team I mean big [ __ ] show you know and I had like every my whole scene was being shot my whole character was a guest starring character the whole character was being shot in one day on it was like 10 pages I'm so Sor well I said to them like go find somebody else that can [ __ ] learn 10 pages you know well no I'm so sorry cuz I understand well and I'm I I pride myself in not going up uh what's the line what's the line so I said to them that's the one time that I used an ear thing because I said to them go find somebody else who can learn 10 pages in 24 hours and do the covid test and the Wardrobe test and that you know do all that kind of stuff the same and then go to work the next morning 6 o'clock and have 10 pages so I did that's what we do dude yeah yeah it's fun huh have you it do you look at your life like I do you look at your life and just go like this has just been awesome how did like isn't like do you have regrets do you I was having that talk with my wife just the other day I was saying I was we we we moved in this hotel room a couple of movies back it was this glorious room I said look at this room we got look at this damn our lives are so yeah so harried and hurried and unappreciated and who cares and but aren't they great yes we have so much fun and we see so much cool stuff yes and we and we and we get and we work with such great people yeah yeah and also since I started locations such great locations everywhere around the world I'm sure you've worked in Europe and there's like 192 countries I've been to something like 110 of them on on movies right yeah where you actually have to live there you're not a tourist you live there for a while right that's right yeah isn't that wonderful it's so neat dude I have the best job on the planet and that's a fact not an opinion I have the best job there is to have good I love going to work who can say that every day I love going to work every day and even even on the days that it's going to be hell I love going to work I do too yeah I do too I love going to work and I love I love doing it you know there's a little bit of like hanging out for the like the whites you know before they get into this you know well what's what's also since we got HD yeah then I have to light some much and and since you know when when we got into movies you sit away from the set up till the clapboard went out because it's so hot yeah especially the chicks stayed away from the set cuz your makeup runs your hair gets tired you stay away from it because it's so it's 110 degrees on the set it's awful yeah so you stayed away from sets up until the cadboard went up yeah now you got LEDs it's like going on vacation dude it's great to be on the set you you just you just you live on a set now you don't have to have to ever go to your trailer you live on on the set and it's and it makes things faster easier more pleasant and fun to do yeah and uh I love LEDs thank God for LEDs um I um have got a friend who is named timeri who played the door gunner in Full Metal Jacket he's got a show um down in San Diego which I actually have to get to and so I'm going to wrap this up Eric um I I can't thank you enough you're a brilliant actor I've always thought you were a brilliant actor uh you're an actor's actor and I I can't thank you enough for taking the time and spending a couple hours of your time coming here and talking to me and uh um you're just the best you're absolutely thank you what a pleasure all those kind words thank you great thank you would you choose to wipe away a tear what fruit should you wait there on the whole belly how would you look upon someone dirtier than you are you m [Music]