Last winter [winter, 1973], there were so many movie stars in Sun Valley, you felt you were skiing through a warm-up for the Academy Awards. Gene Hackman was taking skiing lessons at Elkhorn, Cloris Leachman could be seen silhouetted against the white powder snow on Dollar Mountain, Marlon Brando was lurking in Baldy’s all-too-brief lift lines, etc.
My own meeting with Paul Newman was an exciting one. And it was a good deal of fun. The interview was both relaxed (we consumed a respectable amount of beer for a two-hour conversation) and intense. Newman has his own, well-informed conceptions of what is happening in the American film industry. And he never hesitates to state them.
Newman began acting at age 12, as a member of the children’s segment of the Cleveland Players. Following World War II (he served in the Pacific for three years), he worked in summer stock, then enrolled in the Yale School of Drama. After some outstanding successes on the New York stage, he signed a contract with Warner Brothers and has gone on to star in more than 26 motion pictures. Some of his greatest film performances have been registered in “The Philadelphian,” “The Long Hot Summer,” “Hud,” “The Left-handed Gun,” “Sweet Bird of Youth,” “Exodus,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “The Outrage,” “Pocket Money,” “The Hustler,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean,” and, most recently, in “The Sting.”
In the past few years, he has become increasingly involved in directing and producing. As director, he has created such works as “Rachel, Rachel,” “Sometimes A Great Notion” and “The Effect Of Gamma Rays On Man-in-The-Moon Marigolds.”
Paul Newman in “Cool Hand Luke” in 1967.
I met Paul Newman in the Sun Valley Lodge after we had both finished a long day of skiing. Sitting down with some much-needed drink, Newman was enthusiastic about the skiing in Sun Valley.
Newman:
I’ve skied every day I’ve been here [Newman had been in Sun Valley for two weeks]. And I’ve skied eight times since 1946 … I never have enough time.
Belson:
You feel you are under a great deal of pressure?
Newman:
It’s very difficult to find good material. I’m not pleased with the [expletive deleted] Hollywood has been turning out recently. There have been maybe five major films released so far this year, and there’s not a serious film among them.
Belson:
What is a “serious” film, do you think?
Newman:
A serious film is a film that deals with human beings—their lives, relationships. I’m only interested in serious films, films that do not depend upon violence or pornography. That’s why I turned down “Dirty Harry.”
Belson:
I have the impression that you used to be more involved in what might be called the “social consciousness film.”
Newman:
People seem to be tired of films that deal directly with social problems. They’re worn out. There were civil rights films before, but no one seems to care about them anymore.
There’s Women’s Lib … now that could be a great source of new social consciousness films. Joanne [Joanne Woodward, Newman’s wife] gets offered all those parts, of course.
Belson:
Perhaps films which explore the effects of women’s liberation on men could provide a rich source for actors, like yourself.
Newman:
That’s right. That should be a good source.
Belson:
In a recent talk with Gene Hackman, he mentioned that he was anxious to get an opportunity to do some directing. You seem to be getting much more involved in that aspect of filmmaking yourself lately. Does it come as a natural extension of your acting?
Newman:
The move from acting to directing is not that big a jump. The films that I’ve directed have been very simple films. “Sometimes A Great Notion” was a complicated physical production, but I inherited that. The films that I really chose to do were very, very simple films. I mean simple “photographically.” I told my cameraman on “Rachel, Rachel”, when we first got together, “All that camera should do is eavesdrop. That’s all. No fancy, hot-shot motions.” You never want the camera to be noticed.
I prefer directing to acting. Perhaps I’ve done too much acting. I’m tired of it. I find it less interesting than directing. I feel that I’ve merely begun to repeat myself in my acting.
Then, too, there’s the “business.” Steve McQueen, Barbra Streisand, Sidney Poitier, Dustin Hoffman and myself have formed a production company—First Artists. So I have become very involved in the production end of the business, as well.
Belson:
Do you have to make the same kind of decisions when considering a film as a producer as you would as an actor or director?
Newman:
Well, I can tell from reading a script whether or not the film will be financially successful. I’ve only been wrong three or four times.
Belson:
“The Sting” is certainly enjoying a good deal of success—both financial and critical. What future projects are you working on?
Newman:
Actually, I haven’t worked in eight months. I’ve read some 200 scripts and I haven’t come across a good one yet.
I am planning a project for the fall with Dustin [Dustin Hoffman, a partner in First Artists]. I hesitate to talk about it because we don’t even have a first draft of the screen play yet. It’s a Western, set in Mexico in 1916, called “The Tin Lizzie Troup.” The book is by Glendon Swartout. It’s about an actual chase that took place in 1914 when a bunch of hot-shot kids chased some Mexican troupers across the border and tried to capture them. It’s really complicated. It’s got some interesting people in it. It’s not terribly heavyweight, but it’s a very poignant piece. Very touching.
Now THAT FILM will have violence in it. Justifiable violence, that is. And some of it is very funny.
It’s going to be a big physical production. The camera’s going to be a lot more important. If a film has a theme and it has, you know, some “intellectual” significance, that’s o.k. But first and foremost, it has to have some kind of an emotion connected to it. In other words, the actors are trying to suck it out of the audience.
Belson:
So, there is, you feel, some hope for the future … there is some good material around.
Newman:
Yes, but very little. I’ve got two novels waiting for me upstairs in my room right now. But neither of them is any good. So much of the writing today is just atrocious. It really is a bitch. ï
Editor’s Note:
Newman’s next film role was as Doug Roberts in The Towering Inferno (1974), followed by the role of Reggie Dunlop in “Slap Shot” (1977), which has since reached cult film status. Additionally, since the time of the above interview during the winter of 1973/1974, Newman was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning three; and was nominated for six additional Golden Globes, winning three; as well as a Tony Award nomination, two Grammy Award nominations, and three Emmy Award nominations. So, we would wager that his hard work searching for scripts with good writing paid off.