Eric Roberts: Runaway Train

0:00I say, well, on the front cover, I like it to say, Julia Roberts' brother. And on the back, I like to say Emma Roberts' dad.

0:21Hey, everybody. It's Literally. And it's literally me here in our studio. Today, how do I describe this? When I was a young actor and it was like me and Charlie Sheen right around Platoon era and Emilio were auditioning for Outsiders. Tom Cruise is living in the guest bedroom of Emilio's house. And all we want to do is be young actors and love it. There was an actor whose work we just watched religiously over and over, and it was two movies. It was Star 80 and Runaway Train. And we have him today, Eric Roberts. Eric is Julia Roberts' brother, the father of Emma Roberts. And this is my favorite thing about him.

1:19if you go to his IMDB page, which I highly recommend you do, the man has over 800 movies he's been in. And he is very open that he says yes to everything. And you're about to see. They don't make them like this anymore. Eric Roberts.

1:52Welcome. You got the whole family going on behind you. Who's that little one? That's Magnolia. That's my youngest grandchild. She is two. Her name is Magnolia Windsor-Simons. That is a beautiful name. Thank you. Magnolia. What's it like being a grandpa? I think I get the feeling it may be in my future at some, Well, I know it'll be in my future at some point. Being a grandparent is the best job on the planet because your only job is really to say yes, and your only job is to be available. So it's a great job, and you're kind of a built-in hero because you and the kid have a common enemy, and that's the parent.

2:35So you work it out. It's so sick. What's your favorite thing to do as a grandpa? As a grandpa, it's probably reading because they always act very uninterested in book, book, book, book. And you start to read and they go, oh, really? Into it. Wow. Turn the page. Okay. They're just into it. Yeah, it's fun. That's fascinating because obviously in the world we live in, you know, books have to compete with their iPad and everything else. But like, you know, we're professionals, baby. We know how to bring it to life. Yeah, well. I'm a good reader. So what's your throwdown specialty that the kids love?

3:22Well, all the cat-in-the-hat stuff is all fun, but everything. And there's all kinds of new books out about attitude and anger and happiness and love and specific emotions. So it's really fun to go through it with the kid and go just back to basics. It's really fun. That's so good. I was going through, first of all, I'm psyched that you're on our little show here today. I mean, I knew that you were from Atlanta, but I didn't realize how long, I mean, you lived in Atlanta because my impression of you, and obviously I think it's formed by your early work, was that you were this like New York, like gnarly, you know, it's all that stuff.

4:08probably from King of the Gypsies and Public Greenwich Village, but you're an Atlanta guy. You're a Southerner for sure. I was raised primarily, I was born in Biloxi, and I was raised in New Orleans for my first four years, Atlanta my next 12 years, and then I went away to school and away to the world. It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. When you have one of the most storied filmographies of any actor ever, at last count, I think it's over 800 credits. Let me tell you how that happened. Please. Like all of us who make movies, I made one to three movies a year. And then came digital. They take film away from us, and we have digital.

4:57So everybody with a camera is basically a studio. And they started calling me direct. And about 1997, 1998, 99, somewhere in there, my wife comes to me and goes, honey, we're getting 30 to 50 offers a day from all over the world. Do you want to go try this? I say, yeah. I think it would last a couple of months, if we're lucky, a couple of years. And that was 30 years ago, and I'm still doing it. And it's just, you know, they, you know, and we have a little factory here. I get scripts every day, and I have these two readers, and they read them, and they write synopsises, and then I read the synopsis.

5:35And if I like it, I read the script. If I like the script, I have my wife make the deal. And that's kind of what we do, except I'm misrepresenting that. My wife doesn't make the deal. The agent does it sovereign, but she's in charge of the guy making the deal. That is unbelievable. So if that started in the mid, you're saying the mid-90s. Late 90s, late 90s, yeah. Okay, so late 90s. So has it exploded again with the, like, my new thing is where they got vertical dramas I've just been introduced to. which are come out of China and it's the biggest thing in China. They're these little tiny, it's what Quibi tried to be 15 years ago and they were just too early.

6:22Little tiny episodes. That's exactly right. Yeah. No, I get lots of offers for, what do they call it again? That form? Vertical. That format? Vertical, right. The vertical dramas, yeah. I get 30 offers a day for vertical dramas. It's funny. And they're not usually good. They're usually abbreviates, and they're kind of confusing. But when they are good, they're fun to watch. Okay, so let's say you get an offer for a vertical drama. And, I mean, by virtue of what you're describing to me, there's no way to really know who you're dealing with because they're all new. Everybody's starting. I'm sure a lot of them don't have filmographies that you can really vet so you're kind of taking a flyer on these projects walk me through what that experience is like you're acting like it's science Rob no it's just taking a shot it's not a thought process it's not intellectual it's not artistic it's just understanding other people's needs and make yourself available It's really simple, and it's really friendly, and it's really easy.

7:41And so you'll find yourself getting on a plane to wherever it may be, just being open and, as you say, friendly and positive and ready to do it. And you must shoot all over the place. Do you do that as well? Or is location part of the prism through which you choose as well? Or do you, like, I'll go to the Congo. I don't care. Well, I'm told there are 143 countries, and I've been told I've been to 110 of them. So I've been everywhere there is to go, pretty much. I used to be the biggest movie star in the world in Russia, and I made 44 movies in Russia, and they always overpaid me, and they're always very nice to me.

8:28They always let me stay in Lennon's Suite, which is a place only for tourists. They would let me live there. and they were really good to me. And then I did an interview and they asked me about the war in Ukraine. And I said, I stand with Ukraine and my visa was canceled that day to Russia. So that was half my income, which is kind of inconvenient, Rob. But so that's that story in a nutshell. Wow. Okay. If we have a do-over, do we go, there are two sides to every story. Is there a way to soft pedal the feeling that you get to keep your visa? You don't lie about something that serious as war. You can't lie.

9:11You can't play politics with something that serious. And obviously, they were attacked. So you have to be a grown-up about it. But I would avoid the subject. I would not talk about it. I wouldn't lie about it. But I wouldn't talk about it. Because I love going to Russia. I love Russia. I love Russians. and Russian actors are great, Rob. Oh my God, they're so good. And they're so well-trained and there's so much fun to know. And I just love going there. And apparently I won't be going there much in my near future. Was the impetus of your superstardom in Russia, Andrei Kozoloski, was it Runaway Train?

9:53Is that the thing that sparked it, do you think? I think that certainly was a big part of it, but I think it was actually best of the best. Okay, I have a best of the best. Dude, best of the best. Okay, so I was, I think I might've had young kids at that time when it was coming out. 1989. 1989. No, I wasn't having a lot of kids. I was just doing a lot of blow. Sorry. Both things, you know, took up a lot of my time and I missed things. So 1989, I missed it. but I now realize the best of the best is a huge thing. And here's my story. Do you know that it is Shaquille O 'Neal's favorite movie? I do.

10:40He's telling that to my face. And we're friends, Shaq and I. In fact, I have a great Shaq story about how we met, but go ahead. No, that's, I mean, that's really just that all of the movies in the world, and I actually think, and I hope you're in it, that his actual favorite one is Best of the Best 2, not even 1. The reason Simon Rhee is in Best of the Best 2 is because of me. He plays in the bad guy with the patch on his eye. And Philip, his brother, you know, I suppose they have, you know, brothers, brothers love and problems and everything else that comes with being a brother. But Philip didn't want Simon in 2.

11:20and I had to actually say it's either me or either we have Simon or we don't have me. And so I had to go that far. But we got him and Philip ended up being happy about it. So we're all friends. We all love each other and it's all good. Best of the best too. I mean, what do you think the magic is of that movie? I think it's called Love, Loyalty, and Dedication, pretty much in that order. Those three things are very important in our lives, in our hopes, in our dreams, in our endeavors. And that movie's about those three things. Bang, bang, bang. They line them up. And it's also about sharing. It's also about, I have something I can share with you here.

12:12and it's just a lovely afterthought for life. One of the first movies as a young actor that I was ever aware of auditioning for and it was like a transcendent moment in my young career where I was like, I'm going to get to audition for movies? Like movie, movies? Was King of the Gypsies and then I had the next lesson of being too young. Now I'm in a new phase of my career where it's too old, but I was learning a lot of lessons around King of the Gypsies. That movie is another one I feel like is an undervalued classic. Just the notion that that kind of, that was a studio movie. Can you imagine that being a studio movie today?

13:09Sure It was from a book by Peter Moss He'd already proven himself as Cirque du Co That's true So we have Peter Moss' book We have Frank Pearson's script We have Frank Pearson directing That's creme de la creme de la creme And we have all these stars in it Shelley Winner, Shelley Hayden, Susan Soran Judd Hirsch, Brooke Shields And then Frank wanted an unknown to lead the way and the studio wanted Paramount because of Saturday Night Fever and he said, no, he's too recognizable. He wanted John, he wanted Travolta. Yeah, somebody's not that recognizable. So they say, we need a star in this part. He said, you have stars, you got five stars.

13:54I want to find an unknown. So he found me and he gave me the part. How did he find you? I mean, the usual auditions all over the country. Were you still in Atlanta in the South at that point? Oh, no. I had been living in New York for a couple of years. I auditioned five times and got a screen test. And my screen test, he had to show the studio and had to get their approval. And he got it and he cast me. So I was introducing Eric Roberts, King of the Gypsies. What a rocket ship. Do you have any – well, I can't wait to read your book, which is one of the reasons we're talking, Runaway Train. Well, the book is called Runaway Train.

14:38The publisher titled it. I had a great idea. They said, what do you want to call it? I said, well, on the front cover, I'd like it to say Julia Roberts' brother. And on the back, I'd like to say Emma Roberts' dad. And they said, no. And I said, why not? It's got humor and affection, and it's kind of catchy. And they said no. That's amazing. It's amazing.

15:21I like, I want, I mean, I want that version, but I want the runaway train version because we got to talk about, it's one of my favorite movies of all time. It's a good-ass movie, man. Oh, bro. And maybe the only good Menachem Golan canon movie ever made. Be kind, be kind. Oh, listen, I earned it. I did my time in the salt mines with Menachem. So, I mean, you must have made. What a moment in time. I like the guy. I like the guy. He's all business. He's rough. He's definite. And he's got the beautiful accent of his. But, you know, I like the guy. I had a great time. He's got a beautiful daughter, by the way.

16:00Eric, is he still alive? I don't think he is. Yeah, I can't imagine. But he had a beautiful daughter who was my age at the time. I was very much in love with an actress at the time. But yeah, she was drop-dead gorgeous, and he was drop-dead serious. And I like the guy. He's also very much a family man, which was very likable for me to observe that. My brief Menachem Golan story, and so for those of you who might not remember him, there was a moment in show business where Menachem business model, Golan Globus, one of the biggest independent studios ever. And their business model was if you won an Academy Award or was the biggest star in the world, they would take a run at you, overpay you to be in a movie that you had really no business being in.

16:53And some people said yes and some people said no. And he made one amazing movie, and that is with you, dear sir, A Runaway Train, which is just a fantastic movie. But he mostly he made, I know you love him, but let's just call a spade a spade. Made a lot of schlock. He made a lot of schlock. He made a lot of B &C movies. Yeah. And I did one of them. I was newly sober and was in this moment where I was like, I don't care about anything. I'm sober. I got my life back together. Woo! and like, I'm going to play a Navy SEAL. And we did what was then the only Navy SEAL movie had ever been made. The SEALs love this horrible movie called The Finest Hour.

17:34But anyway, in the middle of the script, there was a completely obligatory sex scene. And by the way, I wasn't even in it. But so when I signed to do it, I said, who's going to play my partner? and he goes, the actor from Dead Poets Society. And I go, oh, it's going to be Ethan Hawke. This is great. I get over there. It's not Ethan Hawke. It's a great actor named Gail Hansen. And Gail has the sex scene with Tracy Griffith, who's Melanie's little sister. And they're bummed. I mean, she's literally, I mean, it's, I think they're like, we've of course shot it in Israel. and they run to the Red Sea or whatever and fuck, it takes her top off and for no reason.

18:26And I stepped in and go, we're not doing that. We're not, we're not, we're not, we're not shooting that. You guys are going to swim like regular people swim. It's going to be good. Well, Menachem heard about it and he came down to the set and he was so angry. And I see him walking by. Well, you're not the director and he hired a director. I know, I know. But, you know, I, I, sometimes, Sometimes, you know, as we all do, we like to exercise our point of view. And I said, Monocomar, how are you? Are you okay? And he goes, no, I am angry. I come to see nipple. I see nothing. No, that. Coming to see nipple and seeing nothing is my all-time favorite.

19:05Rob, I need to take a quick 30-second break. I have to pee. Do it, man. I'll be two seconds. Thanks, buddy. I got you. I just hope he's not going to think about Tracy Griffin and the nipples. I have to pee. I've heard that one before. Excuse me. I have to step to the bathroom after that story. I have to pee. Hey, Rob. Sorry, buddy. No, nature calls. That's how we know we're in the character actor phase of our lives. Okay, so let's talk Runaway Train. Okay, destroy Runaway Train very quickly. Yes. I got offered that part, and then I was sent kind of a script, but more of a novel. It was 300 and some odd pages long by Kurosawa.

19:59It was all descriptive and beautiful. Had these two crazy guys who escaped prison together. They're kind of alike. One's a milder than the other, but they're kind of the same package. Only one's very young and one's cross middle age. And, you know, it was good and exciting, but long-winded, hard to read. And then I said, I can't give an answer based on this. And they said, well, we have a man named Eddie Bunker who's writing the script. He would like to spend time with you to get your input as an actor on what you will and won't do kind of stuff. There's lots of physicality in the movie. So I spent time with Eddie.

20:41And Eddie took that huge novel, and he brought it down to 99 pages into a screenplay. And the only change that I asked him for is I said, this guy's a lot like John's character, John Voight's character, only milder. That's not interesting to me. And he's in for statutory rape. So let me give him a high voice and kind of stupid and kind of fun to watch, you know. And, you know, because he's a prostitute. I didn't know she was 14, you know, that kind of behavior. And so he agreed. They ran it by the producers who are Israeli, so they didn't know accents from accents, and they didn't care. They just wanted me in the movie.

21:22So I got to play this wonderful character with John's incredible performance. By the way, John Voight only weighed 160 pounds when he made that movie. That's a bodysuit on him. No way. He looks like he weighs 250. He does. He weighs 160 pounds, yeah. No way. He's such a good actor, dude. He's mind-blowingly brilliant. Oh, yeah. And that's just one little piece of it. He's wearing a—oh, dude, I'm watching clips tonight. I had no idea he was wearing a bodysuit in that. Yeah, dude, yeah. He was a skinny, tall actor who came across like a 250-pound psychopath. Yeah, he's one of the best actors who's ever had two feet.

22:08I mean, he's incredible. I mean, did you see Coming Home? I was thinking of two feet. He didn't have two feet in that one. That's funny. Anyway, I fell in love with him as an artist and always will be. We're not politically the same anymore, but he was just incredible. And he's incredible to know, too, because he never really broke character. He stayed in character that whole shoot, so I did too. and we just, I was Buck, he was Mandy. And we just lived those parts and it was hard because it was not fun and we were in the weather. So that weather is all real. It's not manufactured CGI because the weather and the train are a huge part of their characters in and of themselves.

22:58Well, you know, the train is a character in the movie. I mean, that's a character. That's a personality. Yeah. Yeah. I love train movies, and that is – there's a really lesser known called Emperor of the North that Ernest Borgnine did. I highly recommend you look that one up. I know the movie. It's fucking amazing. But Runaway Train is the granddaddy of all. Did you do – was any of it – how much of it was – this is a super technical question, but I'm obsessed with it. Was it – how much of it was actual out on the rails and how much of it was poor man's process on a stage? All the stuff inside the train was all done at CBS.

23:36All the stuff with outsider doors open or walking on the outside was all the real deal. And in fact, a quick little actor story. I was a member of the Stuntman's Association. I always did my own stunts. And that was because in 1982, Bob Fosse wanted to hang me out of a 35-story window and had my face there with that background. And that was him before CGI looked good, so we had to really do it. He asked me if I would do it. I said yes. Then they said, no, you can do it. You're not a stuntman. And I said, but I'll do it. They said, well, we have to swear you into the stuntman. You have to become a stuntman in order to do the shot.

24:19Okay, raise your right hand kind of thing. So I became a stuntman for the shot. So I did the shot. And also when they pulled me back up in the room after hanging out 35-story window, I organically, Eric Roberts, threw up. That was you? That was real. And I threw up. Fosse kept it because he liked it. Oh, it's great. And at the time, I lived a line. That's a$400 suit or something. I forget what I said. Because I threw up all over myself. Wait, that's, okay, because you've already jumped to one of my all-time favorite movies. All-time favorite movie. By the way, when people talk about favorite movies, it's very hard to say Star 80.

25:04It's like, because that movie is so powerful and it's so dark. Well, you have to frame it like this. It's the best docudrama ever made. Okay. And then you say what it is, Star 80. Because when you say what it is, they think you might be weird. because of what it's about. But if you frame it, it's the best docudrama ever made because it is. It is. Oh, Jesus. Yes. It's the best. I mean, and by the way, that moment where, I mean, where you get hung upside down and vomit, I never, is in a part that is unrelenting layers of where you go, this guy's pathetic. That, weirdly enough, might be among the most vulnerable.

25:50birthday. He's so proud of his new clothes. But anyway, so because of that, I was a member of the Stuntman's Association. So I always paid my dues, and I always did the easy stuff, like the fight scenes. I knew how to get hit by a car, roll over a hood. I knew how to do that kind of stuff. So I was a stuntman doing my own stunts. I was an actor doing my own stunts. Well, here comes Runaway Train. They don't double me. I'm doing my own stuff. But they double John. Okay, John Double and I on the outside of the train were not walking, and we're both tied off. We're not going anywhere. Right. But we're walking, and the train's going 40 miles an hour.

26:29It's cold. It's a nun's ass. And I slipped about this much. And that's all I slipped. And I was also tied off. I was going nowhere. But I slipped, and I realized it all came very clear. I am not a stuntman. What the F am I doing? This is not smart. In fact, this is stupid. You know what? Get me inside. And I got scared. I got fear all over. And I just got, because I looked down, oh, my God. This is not my vocation. Yeah. And so from that day to this, I will fall down on camera if my character has to fall down. But that's pretty much all I do.

27:27that's amazing that actually is amazing that you had an epiphany and because there are two types of actors there and brad pitt's very funny about it he's like he'll say i'll step off of an apple box after that they're calling in the professionals And then you got Tommy Cruz, who's out there. He's going to go to the moon. Does he know you call him Tommy? No. Okay. By the way, I kind of am breaking it in. I'm kind of breaking it in. I think it kind of works. Well, he doesn't call himself Tommy, so I doubt he loves the Y. I'm going to find out. Okay. I'm going to find out. Okay, let's talk about Star 80.

28:13I have a weird connection to it because I did a movie with Bogdanovich. That's no connection to Star 80. No? No. Bogdanovich had nothing to do with that movie except to irritate Fosse. No, I know he had nothing to do with the movie, but he's a huge character in it. And he must have, yeah, I don't think that they were happy with one another, Fosse and Bogdanovich. I got a great story for you. That has to do with both of them. So, Bossy and I are doing, before filming research, like three months before you start to film. We're in Vancouver, we're in New York, we're everywhere. And we're in L.A., we're at the Comstock Hotel, oddly enough, which is no more.

28:59We're at the Comstock Hotel, which is over near Westwood, or maybe it's in Westwood. Anyway, he's banging on my door. I'm like, let's go, let's go. We're going to the LA police station. So he's banging, let's go, let's go. I said, I'm in the shower. So he sits on my bed. I go back in the bathroom, and my phone rings. I say, answer my phone. He goes, I'm not answering your phone. God damn it. I come out there in a towel. I answer the phone. Hello? It's Bogdanovich. I said, what's up, dude? I sit down, and I put Fosse in the earpiece. So we're both listening, you know? and Bogdanovich proceeds to kind of interrogate me about what I know about this story and what I know about Dorothy and what I know about him and what kind of actor I might be and blah, blah, blah.

29:51Now he's going to make the ultimate film about this story and how much is Fosse paying me? Can't discuss that with you. Well, anyway, whatever he's paying you, I will pay you justice. And it's all kind of small-time, back-alley weirdness. But I listen. Fosse's loving it. He's smiling. Keep talking. He said, keep talking. And so I do. And we're on the phone for like 20 minutes, him kind of interrogating me on everything I'm doing with the film. And I explained to him that I could not drop out of Bob Fosse's movie, that I was kind of in love with Bob Fosse artistically, blah, blah, blah, and was very happy to be doing this movie and I'm like very sorry that he's unhappy.