Question: Do you have any favorite films or roles?
Answer: Of my own? No, no, no. The one thing I remember more than parts or more than roles in film are the people I’ve worked with on films. The work’s one thing. But the work with the people you’re working with, that’s the thing in the long haul that makes one particular film more special than another. We’re like a band of gypsies out there. Sometimes you’ll go and you’ll work with people and you’ll never cross paths with them again. But for the time that you’re there, you’re all thrown together. It’s this serendipitous journey you all take. It’s incredible.
Question: Can You Name A Highlight from the movie ‘Mask’
Answer: Definitely a highlight. It came at a time when I’d done a year on Mission: Impossible, I’d done a few movies for TV at that point, I’d done a film called Lifeguard, and I’d just finished a year on an episodic television series called The Yellow Rose. So I’d been around, and I was pretty well established. But it just came at a great time, and it’s always gonna be a special one for me. To be honest with you, I think that was one of the highlights of the experience for me, working with her, having been a Cher fan from the beginning. And Eric Stoltz was amazing. Eric literally was that character. I never saw Eric out of that. I think that was intentional on his part. He was really well invested in that part. He was in deep. He was eating his meals out of a straw. He dropped 10 pounds, I think, when we were working on that film, and he’s a pretty slight kid, anyway. He suffered through it in the summertime in Universal City and never complained once. He just was that character. It was an amazing experience. Not to mention László Kovács, the director of photography, and Peter Bogdanovich directing. It just was a wonderful experience.
Question: Your voice must make it hard not to be typecast. What have been the biggest challenges that you’ve had to face in your career given people’s expectations of who you are based on how you sound?
Answer: I don’t think I’ve ever had problems with my voice in terms of what people have wanted out of me as an actor. But I did do a movie called Lifeguard back in 1976 with a director named Dan Petrie, who did a lot of incredible work. Every once in a while, he would tell me: “Let’s do it again, and this time, let’s be a little less south in the mouth.” That’s always amused me.
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Q&A Sources w/ Full Interviews:
AZ Central
The Gaurdian
AV Club
STL Today