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I will tell you, you know, I'm asked sometimes who's the best actor.
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Very impossible question because I'm going to leave really good actors,
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you know,
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not on the list.
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They are on the list.
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But if somebody said to me, you know, what actor just really, really blew you away, okay?
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So now we're not saying best, but we know what we're saying.
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And I'd say Gene Hackman.
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It was the most real.
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I'll tell you a story about Gene Hackman.
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You wanna hear it?
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Yes.
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I was making no way out.
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And it seemed to me that every scene was happening around this desk.
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And we get to the scene where I learned that my girlfriend has been killed.
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And the scene started at the desk and I said, this isn't right.
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And I said, it's gotta be somewhere else.
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I mean,
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I'm being called at three in the morning here by a guy who's been a total dick to me,
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Gene Hackman's character.
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And I said, now he needs me.
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Now he needs me at three in the morning.
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You think he's going to stand me in front of the desk?
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I think he's going to have a fucking cup of tea waiting for me and sit in the couch
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and be kind of nice to me.
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Maybe kissing my ass just a little bit.
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Not so I'd know it, but there should be something different about it.
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No, we're going to do it at the desk.
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So I tried at the desk and finally I get a little pissed.
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And finally I said, you know, it's over here.
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It's over here.
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And finally, and I said, well, what about Gene?
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I said, well, Gene can do whatever he does.
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It's up to Gene what he wants to do.
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I'm going to be here.
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And I think I want to be sitting here.
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I think I want some orange juice and some donuts and some shit brought to me.
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And you can figure it out.
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You can go to catering and get them for all I care.
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And it was like, ooh.
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And so
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I said, let me show you.
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So I start to show,
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and as I'm doing a scene,
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I'm saying about right now is maybe when the donuts could come in,
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and finally I was like,
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we're not doing that,
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we're gonna be over here at the desk.
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So we go, fine.
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So we go over to the desk, now we're gonna rehearse again.
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Camera probably can't find me for five minutes.
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So I go to the desk, and I start to do this scene again.
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And all of a sudden,
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something in me,
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the same voice that was in me that said,
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go be an actor,
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said,
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you know what?
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It's over here.
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It's over here at this table.
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So you sort out where the coffee and stuff is from.
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So we do that scene.
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And Gene's brilliant.
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He just hangs out over by the window and does whatever he wants.
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So now it's the end of the day.
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And I'm walking out to my car.
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And Gene's walking out to his car and he said, hey, can I talk to you?
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I said, yeah.
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So I walk over to him and he said,
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you know,
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if you ever do that to another fucking director in front of me again,
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I'll fucking kill you.
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But he didn't say that.
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That's what I thought he was gonna say.
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He said, you know,
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I watched you today and I went through a divorce about three years ago.
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I've been doing a lot of shitty movies and I've been trying to pay for this divorce
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and kinda didn't feel about acting the way I've felt for a long time.
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And he goes, I watched you today.
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I used to feel like that.
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He said, I was really happy to see you do that.
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And then he got into his car and he drove off.
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It was an important moment for me,
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because I had been thinking about this script a lot,
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maybe more than people that were making it.
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And it was a moment and I thought he was gonna hand me my head and I was gonna just
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listen to it,
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but he didn't at all.
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He went to that place that was respectful to me and I'll never forgot, I never forgot it.
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