Eric Roberts
With a career spanning 36 years, Cannes Film Festival alumnus Eric Roberts is a seasoned veteran to the film festival circuit and indie film scene. Nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Runaway Train), Eric also received three Golden Globe nominations: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama (Star 80), Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Runaway Train) and Best Motion Picture Acting Debut – Male (King of the Gypsies). His films have premiered at Cannes, Sundance Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, South by Southwest (SXSW), and at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival as well as at the strictly independent New York International Film Festival.
This year at Cannes, Eric’s film Light Years Away is in ITN Distribution’s Marché du Film line-up. Also, Eric is in Groupie, which is in American World Picture’s line-up.
Independent Film Quarterly’s Rich Rossi caught up with Eric to discuss his Cannes experiences, his award nominations, his latest role as Monroe in this summer’s blockbuster, The Expendables, and working with Sylvester Stallone and Mickey Rourke.
IFQ: Runaway Train, for which you were nominated for an Academy Award®, screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986. Can you tell me about your first experience at the Cannes Film Festival?
Eric Roberts: I went to Cannes at the wrong time in my life. I should have gone after I married my wife, Eliza. She speaks French and loves France. Cannes is overwhelming and beautiful. It’s great to be there if you’re there with a really good film. I think not being there with a good film would be a nightmare.
IFQ: The other night, Stuart Alson, the publisher of this magazine, introduced me to Danny Trejo and he was telling us how he got in the business. He told us that at the time you were doing Runaway Train, he was working as a counselor at a drug rehab center and he was bringing one of the men he counseled to the set of Runaway Train. The director liked his look and one thing led to another and he was cast as the fighter.
ER: That’s right, and we got him his SAG card.
IFQ: He speaks very highly of you.
ER: He’s a dear friend; I love that man.
IFQ: Did your Academy Award® and Golden Globe nominations for Runaway Train affect the kinds of material sent your way afterwards?
ER: Absolutely not. Isn’t that funny? I wish so, but Mickey Rourke’s shout out to me at the Indie Spirit Awards affected the quality of material sent to me more than all those nominations. I think when you get nominated, people in the industry think you don’t need work anymore. Sally Field should have added a little something to her speech: ‘Oh, you like me. You really like me.’ She should’ve said: ‘Oh, please keep liking me, please.’ [Laughs.]
IFQ: [Laughs.] That’s right! I saw that on YouTube and it was very funny.
ER: Of Mickey doing the shout out?
IFQ: Yes! I saw Mickey shouting out to you in the audience and your reaction was very funny.
ER: It caught me off guard and you never know where he’s going to go with his comments. As soon as he called my name out I thought: Oh No! [Laughs.] Back in the day we were terrible boys together. Handing him a microphone like that can be dangerous. [Laughs.]
IFQ: You were the original bad boys?
ER: We had a lot of fun together.
IFQ: In 2009, when Mickey won the Golden Globe for Best Actor, I was sitting at a table next to him and I went up to congratulate him and he turned around to me and said, “Where’s the stage?.” Apparently, he got a bit disoriented from all the excitement. [Laughs.]
IFQ: In 1984, you starred with your friend Mickey in The Pope of Greenwich Village, and now you are both starring in The Expendables. How was it working with Mickey from a professional stand-point on the first film you did together versus your latest film, and can you comment on your friendship?
ER: We’re just pals and we just like each other personally and as actors. In between, he and I did Spun. He comes to the shows of my stepson, Keaton Simons, who’ll be touring in Europe during Cannes. Mick is in and out of my life in all kinds of ways. We’re real friends.
IFQ: Moving forward, how did you get involved in The Expendables?
ER: I was offered the John Lithgow role in Cliffhanger, but I foolishly turned it down. Emma was just born, and I didn’t want to be so far away. She’d have been fine. Sly and I did The Specialist and I almost did his next movie after that, but it was still too soon. He then asked me to do The Expendables. He called me for this. He said, “Hey I’ve got a movie for us again.”
IFQ: Did the physical preparations for this role affect the overall approach you took in portraying your character, Monroe?
ER: I can’t really answer that because there was no physical prep. Did you know that Sharon Stone’s character’s last name was Monroe in The Specialist? Her last word to me before she kills me is, “Monroe.”
IFQ: After reading The Expendables script, what prompted you to say “yes” to this project?
ER: The cast. Look at the cast. It’s the fourth thing Sly has offered me. I was also flattered because I’m a Sly Stallone fan.
IFQ: Like Stallone, have you ever considered directing?
ER: I’m just starting to think about it. I’ve been asked to direct 15 or 20 times. I’d like to co-direct with my wife, Eliza Roberts.
IFQ: What is it like working with your wife?
ER: She’s my favorite actor. If you want to see her work with me, watch a movie called, Love Is a Gun. It has Kelly Preston, her and I. She is remarkable in that. If you watch that movie you’ll understand why I love working with her.
IFQ: You have acted in both high budget studio and low-budget independent films. Can you compare and contrast your on set experience as an actor?
ER: Low-budget is sometimes more relaxed and they accept your suggestions more. High budget runs like a tight ship and you feel like you’re having a magical experience.
IFQ: You are constantly working, and one of the busiest actors in Hollywood. Do you look for the projects or do the projects find you?
ER: It’s about 50-50.
IFQ: Do you use any particular technique to develop the characters you portray?
ER: It’s hard to say, it’s like talking about sex. Up until you actually do it, you don’t know what you’re feeling. It’s the same thing. You can talk about it all day, but to say how you do it doesn’t explain it. That’s why I chose over the years not to talk about my process. Talking about it will embarrass you.
IFQ: So however you get to that character is very personal.
ER: Yes, very personal.
IFQ: I understand they are releasing the film Light Years Away in which you played a mad scientist.
ER: The same filmmaker (Bryan Michael Stoller) made a film called First Dog. I am so impressed with that film. I play the President of the United States and it’s really a wonderful children’s film. As far as Light Years Away, I mostly just saw the dailies.
IFQ: What was it like working with the reality show couple Christopher Knight and Adrianne Curry, and up-and-coming actress Meadow Williams on Light Years Away?
ER: I love Chris, Adrianne and Meadow. Chris and Adrianne worked together as casting directors. They’re old friends. Although, I didn’t directly work much with Meadow, I do like her.
IFQ: What was your favorite part in a film and why?
ER: My favorite movies are an eight-way tie: King of the Gypsies, Miss Lonelyhearts, Star 80, The Pope of Greenwich Village, Runaway Train, It’s My Party, Love Is a Gun, and Purgatory. Those are probably my favorites.
IFQ: Why did you become an actor?
ER: I had a terrible stuttering problem as a child. I couldn’t talk out loud. I would count the people and count the paragraphs and memorize them. It was mostly psychological. I found out that if I memorize stuff, I have no problem speaking. At first, it was just exercise. Then I got good at it. Then, I realized I was a real actor and I was always going to be an actor.
IFQ: How did you get your start as an actor?
ER: I was in acting school in New York and a famous casting director, Marion Dougherty, saw me in a play and became my first manager. She got me my first screen test, which got me my first movie [King of the Gypsies].
IFQ: Any upcoming projects?
ER: I sure as hell hope so! I want everyone to check out the stuff that I’m jazzed about: naturalchild.org, acateringco.com and keatonsimons.com