YouSaid · the spoken record

Kevin Spacey

lines on the record: 130
first: 2024-06-05
most recent: 2024-06-05
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“No, I basically said that I didn't remember what this person was, Anthony Rapp was claiming from 31 years before. I had no memory of it, but if it had happened, if this embarrassing moment had happened, then I would owe him an apology. That was what I said. And then I said, and while I'm at it, I think I'll come out. And, you know, it was definitely not the greatest coming out party ever.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He and McCowen He was 49 when he came out. 27 years he'd been a professional actor, being in the closet. And he said he felt it was like he was Living a part of his life Not being truthful, and that he felt that it affected his work when he did come out, because he no longer felt like he had anything to hide, and I absolutely believe that is what my experience has been and will continue to be. I am sorry about the way I came out. But Evan and I had already had the conversation, I had already decided to come out. And so it wasn't like, oh, I was forced to come out. But it was something I decided to do. And by the way, much against Evans' advice, I came out in that statement and he wishes that I had not done so.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think if I were to go back that far, I probably would have found a way to Not have been as concerned about my revealing my sexuality and hiding that for as long as I did. I think that had a A lot to do with confusion and a lot to do with mistrust both my own and other people's”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. Some of the most moving conversations that I have had. When I was Determined to take accountability have been those people have said thank you so much and I think I can forgive you now.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think betrayal is a really interesting word. I think if you're going to be betrayed, it has to be by those who truly know you. I can tell you that I have not been betrayed.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, to some degree, I would say that I have been able to trust my instincts on that and that I most of the time been right. But obviously in the last number of years Not just with people who have accused me, but just also people in my own industry, you know, to realize that, oh, I thought we had a friendship, but I guess that was about an inch thick and not what I thought it was. But look, one shouldn't be surprised by that. I have to also say, you know, you sit a little while ago that the world had cancelled me and I have to disagree with you. To disagree because for seven years. I've been stopped by people. Sometimes every day, sometimes multiple, multiple times. The conversations that I have with people The generosity that they share, the kindness that they show? And how much they want to know when I'm getting back to work?”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes. And I also understand that there are people who met me and spent a very brief period of time with me. But presumed I was now going to be their mentor. And then behaved in a way that I was unaware of, that they were Either participating or flirting along, or encouraging me. Without me having any idea that at the end of the day they were expecting something. So These are about relationships, these are about two people, these are about people making decisions, people making choices. And I accept my accountability in that. But there are a number of things that I've been accused of that just simply did not happen and I can't say that I don't think it would be right for me to say, well, everything that's ever been I've been accused of is true because we've now proved that it isn't and it wasn't. But I'm perfectly willing to accept.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And by the way, not to take anything away from my accountability for things I did, where I got it wrong, I crossed the line, I pushed some boundaries, I accept all of that, but I live in an industry in which flirtation, attraction. People meeting in the workspace and ending up. Marrying each other and having children, and so it is a space and a place where these notions of family, these notions of attraction, these notions of It's always complicated if you meet someone in the workspace and find yourselves attracted to each other. You have to be mindful of that and you have to be very mindful that you don't ever want anyone to feel that Their job is in jeopardy, or you would punish them in some way if they no longer wanted to be with you. So those are important things to just acknowledge.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But I have had a sexual life, and I've fallen in love, and I've been so admiring of people that I'm so romantic. I'm such a romantic person that there's this whole side of me that hasn't been talked about, isn't being discussed. But that's who I know. That's the person I know. It's been very upsetting to hear that some people have said, I mean, I don't have a violent bone in my body. But to hear people describe things as having been very aggressive is incredibly difficult for me. And I'm deeply sorry that I ever offended anyone or hurt anyone in any way. It is crushing to me, and I have to work very hard. To show and to prove that I have learned I got the memo, and I will never, ever, ever behave in those ways again.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I did a lot of horsing around. I had a lot of things that at the time I thought were sort of playful and fun, and I have learned since were not, and I have had to recognize that I crossed some boundaries and I did some things that were wrong and I made some mistakes. And that's in my past. I mean, I've been working so hard over these last seven years to have the conversations I needed to have, to listen to people, to understand things from a different perspective than the one that I had, and to say, I will never behave that way again for the rest of my life.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I have heard and now quite often that everybody has a Kevin Spacey story. And what that tells me is that I hit on a lot of guys.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When I spend time with him. I'm just moved by every day, you know, he gets up and he goes, It's a good day I woke up and I I learn a lot about Different feeling about death now than I did seven years ago. Ah. And I'm on the path to being able to be in a place where I've resolved the things I needed to resolve and won't probably get to all of it in my lifetime I certainly would like to be at a place where. If I were to drop dead tomorrow, it would have been an amazing life.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He got there. He was given the opportunity. To reinvent himself and to Try things you'd never tried to ask questions he'd never asked two To trust his instincts and to become the best version of himself he could become. And so Dick Van Dyck, who has become an extraordinary friend of mine. Dick is 98 years old.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, and in fact, I'll even tell you something that I always thought was so incredible. When we shot the scenes in the office where Lester worked, the job he hated, there was a bulletin board behind me on a wall. And someone who was watching a cut or early dailies who was in the marketing department? Saw that someone had cut out a little piece of paper and stuck it in. And it said, Look closer. And they presented that to Sam as the idea of what that should go on the poster. The idea of Looking closer Such a brilliant idea, but it wasn't, I mean, it wasn't like in the script. It was just on a wall behind me, and someone happened to zoom in on it and see it, and thought that's what this movie's about. This movie's about taking the time to look closer. And I think that in itself is just beautiful”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“See, it's funny, I don't think of the roses and I don't think of her body and the poster, and I don't think of those things as the beauty. I think of the bag. I think that There are things we miss. Are right in front of us Are truly beautiful”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I wasn't trying to do anything. He said, You have no idea where these things were going, where they were going to be placed, what they were going to mean. You just read it so innocently, so purely, so directly that I knew if I brought you into a studio and put headphones on you and had you do it again, it would change the ease with which you'd done it. And so they just fixed all of the problems that they had with this little cassette. And that is the way I did it and the only time I did it was in this little hallway.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sam said to me in the morning Hey at lunch I just want to record a guide track of all the dialogue, all of your narration because they just needed an editing as a guide and I said sure So I remember we came outside of this in this hallway where I had a dressing room in this little studio we were in. And Sam had like a cassette tape recorder. And like a little microphone. And we put it on the floor, and he pushed record. And I read. The entire narration. And I never did it again. That's the narration in the movie. Because Sam said. When he listened to it”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“they shot the entire trial for weeks. And I used to fly in my dreams. Know those opening shots over the neighborhood? I used to come into those shots in my bathrobe flying. And then when I hit the ground in the newspaper was thrown at me by the newspaper guy and I caught it, the alarm would go off and I wake up in bed. I spent five days being hung by wires and filming these sequences of flying through my dreams. And Sam said to me, hmm. Yeah, the flying sequences are all gone and the trial is gone. And I was like, what? What are you talking about? And here's my other little favorite story about Sam in that when we were shooting in the valley, one of those places I flew, this was an indoor set.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Two other little things to share with you about Sam, about the way he is. You wouldn't know it, but the original script opened and closed with a trial. Accused Of Lester's murd The movie was bookended by this trial.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And that's exactly what we did. A couple of weeks later, they decided that it was now a drive-through because Annette and Peter Galler used to come into the place and ordered from the counter, now Sam had decided it has to be a drive through. You have to be in the window of the drive-thru, change the costumes, and we reshot those first two days. And Sam said, It was actually a moment of incredible confidence because he said the worst thing that could possibly have happened happened in my first two days, and after that I was like, I know what I'm doing, and I knew I had to reshoot it, and it was absolutely right.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I guess it was like maybe. The third day or the fourth day of shooting, we'd now done that. And I said to Sam, so how are the dailies? How do they look? He goes, which ones? I said, well, the first smileies. He goes, oh, they're shit. And I went, yeah, no, how were they? He goes, no, they're shit. I hate them. I hate everything about them I hate the costumes. I hate the location. I hate that you're inside. I hate the way you acted. I hate everything but the script. So I've gone back to the studio and asked them if we can reshoot the first two days Was like Sam This is your very first movie. You're going back to Stephen Spielberg and saying, I need to reshoot the first two days entirely? And he went, Yeah.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I'll share with you a story that most people don't know. Which is. Our first two days of shooting were in Smiley's. The place where I get a job and a fast food place.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well with I just adored working with her. And we were the two actors that Sam wanted from the very beginning, much against the will of the higher ups who wanted other actors to play those roles, but I've known a net. Since A screen test together from Milos Foreman for a film he did of the Leison Dangerous movie was a different film from that one, but it was the same story I've always thought she is just remarkable, and I think that The work she did in that film, the relationship that we were able to build. Um For me, the saddest part of that success was that she didn't win the Oscar. And I felt She should have.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It is interesting how so many people. Have those kinds of crazy fantasies. And what I... Admired so much about who Lester was as a person, why I wanted to play him is because in the end he makes the right decision.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yet I also think that Was powerful. Because you had three very honest and genuine portrayal of young people. And then you had Lester behaving like a young person, doing things that were unexpected. And I think that. The honesty with which it dealt with those issues that those teenagers were going through, and the honesty with which it dealt with what Lester was going through, I think are... Some of the reasons why the film had the response that it did. From so many people. I mean, I used to get stopped And someone would say When I first saw American beauty, I was married. And the second time I saw it, I wasn't”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sure. Well, I mean, you know, it's like the great Mary Tyler Moore show where they can't stop giggling at the clown's funeral. I mean, it's just one of the great episodes ever. You know, giggling at a funeral is as bad as farting at a funeral. And, you know, I'm sure that there's some people who have done both.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, if it's a line, it's a line I cross all the time because I've tried always. To find the humor. Unexpected sometimes. Maybe inappropriate sometimes, maybe shocking. But I've tried, and I think almost every dramatic role I've had. To have a sense of humor and to be able to bring that along with everything else that is serious. Because frankly That's how we deal with stuff in life. You know”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I did my thank you speech and I walked off stage and I remember I had to sit down for a moment because I didn't want to go I didn't want to go to the press room because I wanted to see if Sam was going to win. And so I was waiting and my phone rang and it was lemon. He said, you're a son of a bitch. I said, what? He goes, first of all, congratulations and thanks for thanking me because, you know, God knows you couldn't have done it without me. He said, second of all, he said, you know how long it took me to supporting actor? I wanted it for Mr. Roberts, and it took me like 10, 12 years to win Oscar. You did it in four, you son of a bitch.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Then at a certain point the wig changed and it had little highlights in it, a little more color, a little more the makeup became a little the suits got a little tighter. And then finally a third wig that was golden highlights and sunshine and rosy cheeks and tight fit. And these are what we call theatrical tricks. This is how you an audience doesn't even know it's happening, but it is this gradual And I just always felt that that was such a A brilliant way. Because he knew what I felt about Jack, and when you watched the apartment it is extraordinary that he doesn't ever change. He just so I'm And in fact, I thanked Jack when I won the Oscar.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Had three different kinds of costumes of different colors and sizes, and I had different makeup. So, in the beginning, I was wearing a kind of drab, dull, slightly uninspired hairpiece, and my makeup was kind of gray and boring. And I was a little bit, there were times when I was like too much like this, and Sam would go, Kevin, you look like Walter Mathow. Would you please stand up a little bit? We're sort of midway through at this point.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And he becomes the man he becomes because of the experiences that he has through the course of the film. But there's this remarkable consistency in who he becomes, and that's what I need you to do as Lester. I don't want the audience to ever see him change I want him to evolve. And so we did some, I mean, first of all, it was just a great direction. And then, second of all, we did some things that people don't know we did to aid that gradual Shift of that man's character. First of all, I had to be in the best shape from the beginning of the movie because we didn't shoot it in sequence. So I was in this crazy shape. I had this wonderful trainer named Mike Torsha who just was incredible. But so, what we did was, in order to then show this gradual shift, was I had three different hair pieces.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In a sound stage where everything was laid out like it would be in a play, and this couch will be here. He'd sent me a couple of tapes. He'd sent me a two cassette tapes, one that he'd like to call pre Leicester before he begins to move in a new direction and then post Leicester. And they just were different songs. And then he said to me one day, and I think I always thought this was brilliant of Sam to use lemon, knowing what lemon meant to me. He said, when was the last time you watched the apartment? I said, I don't know. I mean, I love that movie so much. He goes, I want you to watch it again, and then let's talk. When I watched the movie again, And we sat down, and Sam said. What lemon does in that film is incredible? Because there is never a moment in the movie where we see him change. He just evolves.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Um, I think he truly set out in his life To accomplish what his father said to him on his deathbed. His father was dice. His father was, by the way, called the donut king in Boston. And not in the entertainment business at all. He was literally owned a donut company. When he was passing away, Jack said, The last thing my father said to me was Go out there and spread a little sunshine. And I truly think that's what Jack. Loved to do I remember this. And I don't know if this will answer your question, but I think it's revealing about What he's able to do and what he was able to do, and how that ultimately influenced what I was able to do. Simendez had never directed a film before American Beauty And so what he did was he took the best elements of theater and applied them to the process. So we rehearsed it like a play”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“At the end of it, I did four scenes at the end of it. He said to me that unless someone else came in and blew him against the wall like I had just done, as far as he was concerned, I pretty much had the part, but I couldn't tell my agents that yet because I had to come back and read with Mr. And so three months later in August of nineteen eighty five, I found myself in a room which Jack Lemmon again at eight hundred ninety Broadway, which is where they rehearsed a lot of the Broadway plays. We did four scenes together, and I was toppling over him. I was pushing him. I was relentless. I'll never forget at the end of that Lemon came over to me. He put his hand on my shoulder and he said, That would you touch it terrific? I never thought we'd find the rotten kid, but he's it. Jesus Christ, what the hell was that?”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And she was staring daggers at me. And he just got it. Said to someone of a pen, and he took the little paper and started writing. He said, listen, Kevin, there are many situations in which Casting Judges have a lot of say and a lot of power and a lot of leverage. And then there are other situations where they just take directors messages, and on this one they're taking my messages. This is where I'm staying. Make sure your people get to me. We start auditions on Thursday. And on Thursday, I had an opportunity to come in and audition for this play that I'd been working on and preparing.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Invitation to a cocktail reception in honor of Dr. Jonathan Miller. And so I I thought You know, she's tired. She's probably going to go home. So I took that and walked into this cocktail reception and ultimately went over to Dr. Miller, who was incredibly kind and said, sit down. I'm always very curious what brings young people to my lectures. And I said to him, Eugene O'Neill from here. And he was like, what? I've always wanted to meet him. Where is he? And I told him that I'd been trying for. Seven months to get an audition for Long Day's journey and that his American cast directors were telling my agents that he wanted big American movie stars. And at that moment he turned and he saw one of those casting directors who was there that night. As I knew he was going to be in New York starting auditions that week.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I read in the New York Times that he was coming to Broadway to do this production of a long day's journey tonight, a year and some. Months after I read this article, and I was like, I'm going to play Jamie in that production. And I then With a lot of opposition? The cast and dredger didn't want to see me. They said that the director, Jonathan Miller, wanted movie actors to play the two sons. And ultimately I found out that Jonathan Miller, the director, was coming to New York to do a series of lectures at Alice Tully Hall, and I went to try to figure out how I could maybe meet him. I was sitting in that theater listening to this incredible lecture he was doing and sitting next to me was an elderly. Woman. I mean, elderly, 80 something, and she was asleep. Sticking out of her handbag, which was on the floor, was a”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And we did this workshop. Many schools in Southern California were part of this drama teachers association. So we got these incredible experiences of being able to go see professional productions and be involved in these workshops or festivals. So I had to get up and do monologue in front of Mr. Lemmon when I was 13 years old. And he walked up to me at the end of that and he put his hand on my shoulder and he said, that was a cha-cha, terrific. He said, no, everything I've been talking about, you just did. What's your name? I said, Kevin. He said, let me tell you something. When you get finished with high schools, I'm sure you're going to go on and do theater. You should go to New York and you should study to be an actor because this is what you're meant to do with your life. And he was like an idol. And 12 years later,”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, by that time we had done long day's journey tonight in the theater, we'd done a mini series called The Murder Mary Fagan on NBC. We'd done a film called Dad. Gary David Goldberg directed. Ted Danson. So this was the fourth time we were working together and we knew each other figure. And I don't know if you know that I originally met Jack Lemmon when I was very, very young. He was doing production at the Marta Perform of a Sean O'Kee play called Juno and the Paycock with Walter Mathow and Maureen Stapleton. And on a Saturday in December of nineteen seventy four, my junior high school drama class went to a workshop. It was called How to Audition.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I got the job because of Pacino. And it was really one of the first major roles that I ever had in a film. And, you know, To be working with that group”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I got the part. Well, I didn't quite get the part. They were going to bring together the actors that they thought they were going to give the parts to on a Saturday at Al's office. And they asked me if I would come and do a read-through. And I said, who's going to be there? And they said, well, so and so and so and so and so on. And Jack Lemmon is flying in. And I said, don't tell Mr. Lemmon that I'm doing the read-through. Is that possible? And they were like, sure. So I'll never forget this Jack was sitting in a chair in Pacino's office doing the New York Times crossword puzzle as he did every day. And I walked in the door and he went, Oh Jesus Christ. Possible you can get a job without me? Jesus Christ, I'm so tired of holding up your end of it. Oh my God, Jesus”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, he's the reason I got the movie. A lot of people might think because Jack was in the film that he had something to do with it. But actually, I was doing a play called Lost and Yonkers on Broadway. And we had the same dresser who worked with him, a girl named Laura. It was wonderful. Laura Beatty. And she told Al that he should come and see this play because she wanted to see me in this play. I was playing this gangster's fun, fun, fun part. So I didn't know Pacino came on some night and saw this play, and then like three days later I got a call to come in and audition for this Glanger Glen Ross, which of course I knew is a play, David Mambitz play. And then They auditioned Jamie Foley was the director who would eventually direct a bunch of house of cards, wonderful, wonderful guy.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Where the character I play has fucked something up, has just screwed something up. And Piccino is livid. And so we had the scene where Al is walking like this, and the camera is moving with him, and he is shoeing me a new asshole. And in the middle of the take, Al starts talking about me Oh Kevin. You don't think we know how you got this job? You don't think we know whose dick you've been sucking on to get this part in this movie? And I'm now I'm literally like, I don't know what the hell is happening, but I'm reacting. We got to the end of that take. Al walked up to me and he went, oh That was so good. Oh my god, that was so good, just so you know, the sound I ask them not to record. So you have no dialogue, so it's just me. Oh, that was so good. You look like a car And I was like, yeah.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It can be helpful. But improv is, I'm such a big believer in the writing and in serving the writing and doing the words the writer wrote. That improv for me, unless you're just doing like comedy and, you know, like, I mean, I love improv in comedy. It's brilliant, so much fun to watch people just come up with something right there. But that's where you're looking for laughs and you're specifically in a little scene that's being created. But I think improv has had value. But I have not experienced it as much in doing plays. As I have sometimes doing film where you'll start off rehearsing and a director may say, let's just go off book and see what happens. And I've had moments in film where someone went off book and it was terrifying. There was a scene I had in Glen Gary Glen Ross.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They're having the time of their life. And by the way, Judy Dinch is the worst giggler of all. I mean, they had to bring the curtain down on her and Maggie Smith because they were laughing so hard they could not continue the play.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, but you have no idea what's going on on stage with the actors. I mean, I have literally laughed through speeches that I had to give because my fellow actors were putting carrots up their nose. Broccoli in their ears or doing whatever they were doing to make me laugh.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't really think there is any. I think there's just You eventually learn about yourself on film. You know, when I first did my first. Episode of the Equalizer. You know, it's just horrible. It's just so bad. But I didn't know about myself. I didn't, so slowly you begin to learn about yourself. I think good acting is good acting, and I think that if a camera's right here, you know that your front row is also your back row. You just don't have to do so much. There is in theatre a particular kind of energy, almost like an athlete that you have to have vocally to be able to get up seven performances a week and never lose your voice and always be there and always be alive and always be doing the best work you can that you just don't require in film. You know, you don't have to have the same.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, and also there are times when, like six months later, I'll wake up in the middle of the night and I'll go, ah. That's how to play that scene.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And it's also because You become a family. It's unlike a movie where I might have a scene with so-and-so on this day and then another scene with them in a week and a half. And then that's the only scenes we have in the whole movie together. Every single day You show up in the rehearsal room, it's the whole company. You're all up for it every day. You're learning, you're growing, you're trying, and there is a an incredible trust Happens And I was, of course, fortunate that some of the things I learned and observed about Being a part of that family, being included in that family and being a part of creating that family, I was able to observe from people like Jack Lemmon who led many companies that I was fortunate to work in and be a part of.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But what's different is attack, intention, how you are growing in a role and watching your fellow actors grow in theirs, and how every night it's a new audience, and they're reacting differently, and you literally where you can go from week one of performances in a play to week twelve. Extraordinary The difference between theater and film is that no matter how good someone might think you are in a movie. You'll never be any better It's frozen, whereas I can be better tomorrow night than I was tonight. I can be better in a week than I was tonight. It is a living thing. Breathing shifting, changing, growing thing every single day.”
2024-06-05 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #432 – Kevin Spacey: Power, Controversy, Betrayal, Truth & Love in Film and Life · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source