Kalamity Interview Series Part 2: Robert Forster

Actor Robert Forster (Jackie Brown, NBC's Heroes, Mulholland Dr., Medium Cool) discusses his work in the new mystery thriller Kalamity and his overall view on acting itself

An actor whose career includes films as wide as Reflections in a Golden Eye, Medium Cool, Muholland Dr., and Jackie Brown (in which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award), Robert Forster is a consummate actor whose forty year career has included a wide variety of film, television, and theatrical work that is always infused with his singular screen presence, be it as friend or foe.

I had the pleasure to speak with this professional to talk about his role in the new mystery thriller Kalamity, now in US release. What I found was a man as passionate about his profession as any young, upstart actor and warm in personality. As we spoke, Mr. Forster provided a mini-treatise on the joy of being an actor that would easily belong on Inside The Actors Studio and should be required reading for any struggling thespian.

Vegas Outsider: To begin with, how and when were you first approached to play Nick Stahl’s father in the film?

Robert Forster: I had played in another of James Hausler’s movies, Wild Seven, with two pals of mine Richard Roundtree and Robert Loggia; we played three old crooks who were trying to knock over a bank and it turns out that my son, a reprobate on his own terms, is trying to knock over the same bank with his pals. At the end of the movie we encounter each other at the bank, so again I had already worked with James and he said “you know I’m shooting a movie here in Virginia and it’s only about a six hour job would you come to Virginia and do it?” I said sure since I know James and he’s a friend of mine, a good guy.

VO: How would you rate James then as a director given that this was only a six hour job for you, you still must have trusted him enough to put that time in at all in the first place?

RF: Well this film is deliberate, it’s realistic, the behavior is honest and I knew that from James’ earlier movie. I’ve worked with other deliberate directors like that. For example, David Lynch is like that, takes his time and once you get into the rhythm of his movie; you’re going to go along on a nice ride. James is an independent moviemaker who makes films outside of the Hollywood sphere; he’s worked in Scottsdale and now in Virginia, so he’s really alone in his moviemaking it seems; but again I found him to be a very serious and deliberate filmmaker as well as a good guy so working with him is easy. You find out what he needs and you try to deliver it honestly.

VO: As both a person as well as a character in the film with a successful relationship, what do you make of the decisions Stanley and Billy make in terms of dealing with their break ups? Essentially they’re in the same boat but take opposite positions in approach.

RF: Well, this is universal; I don’t know anyone who has not broken up with someone else and the pain of a break up, I’m sure you’ve experienced it as I certainly have, and what you do about that pain, what you do inside yourself, and what you feel like you may want to do to the other person. As you said these two guys do very different things and there’s a voiceover in the film itself, both at the beginning and the end, which reminds us that the way in which a person deals with pain defines him. Experience is important but pain defines who you are. So the mystery involves how two guys deal with break up, some people can become petrified by it, others angry and do destructive things, we see it in the news all the time. It’s a tossup these days.

VO: Given the length and breadth of your career, what makes you choose to continue pursuing independent projects like this one?

RF: You know I remind actors who sometimes say “you know I got a job but they’re not paying anything” or “they’re only paying scale” or if it’s ultra-low budget they’re not even paying scale that the real payoff of any job is the day or days you you get called to the set and get to hit the ball. It’s like being a baseball player coming to the plate, you’ve got a chance to hit that ball and hit it long if you can to satisfy the creative self and the moment of performance. It doesn’t matter how much creativity you have in you at that moment of performance; you have to deliver because that moment will never come back. So it is the magic of the shot, don’t forget this is a business of making movie shots one at a time, a finite number in a time twenty, thirty, forty shots in a day, however many the cameraman can setup for you. And then after a number of days collecting all those shots, the filmmaker goes into a dark room, couples them all together in ways he or she finds them best.

You have to stay alive of course and most actors I know are scraping because it’s a rough game. There’s this many of us and a very small number of jobs so it’s a huge disparity between how many actors there are for any job and the number of jobs that are available. I remember getting a book when I was in college, my mother sent me a book called White Hyacinths. This was a book of short essays about family, being a man, work, and it was something I’m sure my mother thought would make me a better person. It started with a front piece called White Hyacinths. It said this: “If I have but two loaves of bread, I would sell one of them to buy white hyacinths to feed my soul”. And from that, I understood that life had a spiritual component and you have to feed it. The very last thing this book said was this: “And the reward which life holds out for work is not rest or ease, or immunity from work but increased capacity, greater difficulties, and more work”. I thought “oh I hope not” because I was a lazy guy. I kept thinking “well after you work, don’t you get to rest?” but no. Then I became an actor and realized work was one of the greatest things of all and that you don’t get it every day, you get it once in a while. But once you get it, as I started this remark, you better step to the plate and hit that ball as long as you can and get off the set, let these other guys move and get their work done.

It’s interesting being an actor, it’s not that hard as I remind myself and others for that matter. Kids can do it so how hard can it be? But you can get good at it and better at it; there are some really, really good actors around. I’m always impressed with actors, and sometimes watch them and think “Gee how do they do that?” When you are the one doing it though, you have a set of responsibilities, you have to deliver what the writer intended. You have to do the detective work at the start of a movie in figuring out what the writer wants of you, why you are in the movie, why you are in the scene, what your obligation to the audience is that the writer intended. Also the director may have some instructions for you so then you need to deliver what the director wants from you. Above that, all the other people on set are your boss, the guy who sets the lights wants you to be in them, the one listening for the words wants you to be right because once they yell cut, if the words aren’t right somebody from sound will want you to start again or if you put a cup in the wrong spot continuity will notice and will say to start again, etc.

The actor cannot move from action, cut, print, move onto the next shot until everyone’s needs have been delivered from you. The editor then needs things from you, the actor has to understand the ups and downs of the rollercoaster track we’re building for this movie so that I can contribute to them and give the audience a ride. You have to remember too that this film is on a budget and you have to be ready to go by the first, second, or third take so these guys can get their shots and move on. In the end though, I have never stopped enjoying the reward that a day’s work on a set can deliver.

VO: Well, I would personally be remiss if I didn’t at least ask about a favorite film of mine and one of your first major on-screen roles in Reflections in a Golden Eye with Marlon Brando. Both how that experience was for you personally and influenced your later work.

RF: Well John Huston was very, very generous with me; I hadn’t a clue, I was from Rochester, NY. I was a student of history and psychology planning to become a lawyer. Then in my senior year I accidentally chased a girl into an auditorium. They were doing a play in there, she was in the play so I said I was going to audition for it so I could meet her. I did audition for it but didn’t get the part I wanted; however I did meet the girl, later married her, and we had three daughters together. But I became an actor sort of accidentally, so when I met John Huston I had never made a movie before and told him so. He said to me, “I’ll give you some instruction” and I said great. Each time I saw him afterwards for the next several months or called him I’d ask him about giving me those instructions and he would always say “no, later on; I’ll give them to you later on.”

On the first day of production finally he gave me this instruction. I got out of the car and heard him say, “now’s the time Bobby”. I said “shoot, I’m all ears”. He says “go take a look through the lens”. I walk over to the camera, the cameraman stepped aside, I looked through lens and then turned back to Huston. He had his hands formed in that gesture that directors use to show what the frame looks like and said “you see those? those are the frame lines”. I said “Yeah, you mean that line that shows the cameraman what the audience sees”. He said “Those are the frame lines. Now ask yourself this: what needs to be there?” He reminded me that it was not his job to take me by the hand and show me everything that needed to be done; it was my job to figure out what the writer intended, why I was in the scene, and all the things that are necessary to deliver and to whom on set. He was the guy who opened up my eyes and helped me to understand movies. Again, he was generous with me the whole distance and he also thought it was one of Marlon’s best performances and I do too.

VO: Finally, are there any other upcoming films, plays, or other projects we should keep a lookout for in the future?

RF: Yeah, there are a few things in the can right now. Sometimes you think “oh yeah I remember that; we shot it a couple of years ago and now it’s finally getting out”. But this film will get a release; Alexander Payne, who shot Sideways and About Schmidt, has directed a movie in Hawaii which stars George Clooney and called The Descendents. I went twice to Hawaii to shoot only two scenes but they’re great scenes. I play George Clooney’s father-in-law in this quirky, interesting, funny, and dramatic film. It will be released probably in the first quarter of next year.

To learn more, go to www.kalamitymovie.com