December 1, 2006<\/span> |<\/span> <\/strong>You can tell Paul Newman loves to tell the story, even though it\u2019s a joke that turns him into a punchline. His mouth curves into a Cinemascope grin as he recalls an afternoon just a few years back, when he was a celebrity guest at one of the many fund-raising events that crowd his calendar. Midway through, he found himself the focus of a curious gaze cast by a youngster of 12 or thereabouts. The boy asked him who he was, and what he did for a living, so Newman responded.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The boy appeared skeptical.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Amused by the reaction, Newman asked his inquisitor if he ever had seen any of his movies. Like, maybe Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid<\/em>? Or The Towering Inferno<\/em>? The Sting<\/em>? Something? Anything?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n At length, the younger allowed that he had indeed seen Newman in Cool Hand Luke<\/em>. Pause. On television. Longer pause. Just a few days earlier.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Finally, after another brief interlude of deafening silence, the child looked Newman straight in the eye and remarked: \u201cI guess they can really make you look younger on TV, huh?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Newman roared with laughter. And then replied: \u201cYeah, I guess they can.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Of course, he adds, it could have been worse: \u201cAt least he didn\u2019t ask if I\u2019m the guy who sells all the salad dressing.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Truth to tell, Newman does indeed look a bit older, move a little slower, and sound a great deal raspier, than he did during the 1960s, a period when -\u2013 in movies as diverse as The Hustler<\/em>, Hud<\/em> and, yes, Cool Hand Luke<\/em>\u00a0 — he chronically confounded critics by proving a dreamy Hollywood hunk could actually impress as a serious actor. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n At 81, however, he continues to convey the same sort of megawatt charisma, effortlessly balancing relaxed virility, unmistakable authority and a sassy streak of incorrigible rebelliousness. His trademark blue eyes still twinkle with the same sense of mischief he brought to The Sting<\/em> and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid<\/em>, his classic co-starring stints with good friend Robert Redford. And even when he\u2019s playing a senior citizen, he\u2019s still capable of smart-alecky swagger, as he vividly demonstrated in Nobody\u2019s Fool<\/em> (1994) and Twilight<\/em> (1998), two uncommonly satisfying films written and directed by Oscar-winner Robert Benton (Kramer Vs.<\/em> Kramer<\/em>, Places in the Heart<\/em>).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n You could say that Paul Newman isn\u2019t merely getting older – \u2013 he\u2019s also becoming even more of an icon. Which is a large part of the reason why director John Lasseter cast him as the voice of a sage father figure -\u2013 Doc Hudson, a 1951 Hudson Hornet -\u2013 in Cars<\/em>, the recent smash-hit animated feature, newly released on DVD, that may turn out to be the highest-grossing film of Newman\u2019s career. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe were sort of nervous about asking him to do a voice in the movie,\u201d Lasseter admits, \u201cbecause he\u2019s such a great actor.\u201d But the filmmaker knew of Newman\u2019s great interest in auto racing -\u2013 once an active competitor, he still holds the Guinness record for being the oldest winner in a NASCAR event -\u2013 and figured, rightly, that the octogenarian superstar would enjoy the challenge of \u201cbecoming\u201d a car. \u201cAnd as we worked with Paul,\u201d Lasseter says, \u201cwell, he\u2019s an amazing actor — but he was also very passionate about getting the racing right. He really appreciated the dedication I had to making sure the details were correct.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe actually became one of my most valued sort of racing consultants. Every recording session we had with him, we would talk with him about racing. And the passion that he displayed when he talked about racing and the sport was so inspiring that it really helped evolve the character of Doc Hudson. In fact, if you see in the credits, I gave him a \u2018racing consultant\u2019 credit because he was so valuable to me.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Some Oscar prognosticators already have forecast that Newman might become the first actor in history to receive an Oscar nomination for \u201cvoicing\u201d an animated character. With equal measures of gruff candor and becoming modesty, Newman dismisses the buzz.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe nice thing about animation,\u201d Newman says, \u201cis that you only really act with half yourself. All of that physical stuff that you work on as an actor, you just throw away. So this was, I would say, relatively easy.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n To hear Newman talk, acting in any movie, even a life-action movie, seldom requires much in the way of strenuous exertion. (Hear him talk a little more, and you quickly realize that he\u2019s his own worst critic.) But don\u2019t be fooled by his self-effacement: His collaborators often will testify that his casual attitude is more apparent than real.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe prepares a picture meticulously,\u201d says Robert Benton. \u201cThen he does something else \u2013- and he does this part privately: He makes it look effortless. He\u2019s like a great pianist who\u2019s playing Schubert.\u00a0 There are some pianists who will play Schubert and let you know how hard they\u2019re working. And how much energy they\u2019re expending. But then there are other pianists who let Schubert play, who make themselves transparent. And Paul\u2019s got that quality.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cReally, he works harder than anybody I know \u2013- even though he pretends that he doesn\u2019t. I\u2019ve watched him work, and I see how thorough he is. I make it a point to get to the set before anybody in the morning. But on our two pictures together, I have gotten there occasionally at the same time he does. But almost always, he\u2019s gotten there about five minutes before me. And mind you, I\u2019m there at the crack of dawn.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n No doubt about it: In the eyes of co-stars, colleagues and long-time fans, Paul Newman remains every inch a star. And yet Newman himself always has viewed his stardom as a means to an end, a useful tool to attract attention to what he views as more important concerns. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n With Joanne Woodward, his wife and frequent artistic collaborator for nearly 50 years, he has long been an outspoken activist for various political campaigns and social causes. (When reminded that he once landed a prominent spot on Richard Nixon\u2019s list of \u201cWhite House enemies,\u201d Newman chuckled, then wisecracked: \u201cIt was the highest single honor I\u2019ve ever received.\u201d) In 1980, he founded the anti-drug Scott Newman Center in response to the tragic death of his only son from substance abuse. Eight years later, he opened the first of his international chain of Hole in the Wall Camps for children with life-threatening diseases. To date, more than 100,000 children from 34 states and 31 countries have attended the camps free of charge.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The Hole in the Wall program \u2013- supported largely by income from sales of the popular Newman\u2019s Own gourmet foodstuffs -\u2013 is never far from the star\u2019s mind, and always close to his heart. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always said that luck is the key factor in any of our lives,\u201d Newman says. \u201cIt goes in our makeup, in where you were fortunate enough or unfortunate enough to be born.\u201d By establishing the Hole in the Wall camps, \u201cI was just acknowledging how lucky I was, and how unlucky these children are.\u201d Diseases such as AIDS, cancer and sickle-cell anemia \u201care doubly brutal on a child, because, A, he doesn\u2019t understand, and B, he gets exempted and left out by his schoolmates for the most part. We figured that if there were just some place for them to lie back and raise a little hell and not be so different, it might give them some respite.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut we had no idea what a life-changing experience that would be for these kids. That after eight or ten days, the parents would come to us and say, \u2018This is not the same child that I sent here.\u2019 It\u2019s astonishing. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd the camps are sprouting like mushrooms now. I just came back from Hungary, and there\u2019s a youth camp that was built by the Communists, so it doesn\u2019t have a lot of color or personality to it. But speaking to the woman who takes care of it, she says the kids are exactly the same. And we also went to Milan, where there\u2019s a camp starting in Italy, and that will be ready in about a year, I think. Altogether, we took care of 11,000 children last year.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Of course, when you hear the words \u201cPaul Newman\u201d and \u201cHole in the Wall\u201d in rapid succession, and you fondly recall the classic seriocomic Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid<\/em> -\u2013 well, it\u2019s hard not to become a hopeless and helpless stargazer, and to ask this particular star about the making of that beloved movie.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n To his credit, Newman graciously refrains from sighing aloud or rolling his eyes when confronted with questions he\u2019s heard hundreds, maybe thousands of times before. He allows that from the first time he read William Goldman\u2019s script, he knew that it would be a film the he would \u201clook back at with some sense of pride.\u201d And he thoroughly enjoyed teaming with Robert Redford to portray the most famous outlaws who ever rode with the original Hole in the Wall Gang.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But, hey, let\u2019s not get carried away, OK?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou might pat yourself on the back more,\u201d Newman says in a featurette produced for the movie\u2019s DVD release, \u201cif you\u2019d taken something that was bad and made it almost good, simply because you started with less and had to invent more. But that film could have been, even with different actors in it, probably pretty much the same film, provided [director George Roy Hill] had still been at the helm of it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSee, for a thing like that to work, you really need two charitable actors. Actors who pretty much have the sense to give the other one the stage when it\u2019s the other person\u2019s turn. I think other good actors would have found a little bit different chemistry -\u2013 but that may have worked just as well, too. Because George would have found a way to use that chemistry to the benefit of the film.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Robert Redford isn\u2019t quite so sure. In his view, it was Newman -\u2013 by far the bigger and better-known star at the time — who ignited that necessary chemistry.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPaul and I began a process of bonding during the first few days,\u201d Redford recalls. \u201cWe found a common bond of humor and values off the set that could be carried into the work on the set.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt stripped away, almost immediately, the age difference of, what, 13 or 14 years between us, and the professional notoriety difference between us. That was stripped away pretty quick. And it was Paul who did that. He just accepted that we were colleagues working together as actors. And that meant a lot to me.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat developed between us, we never questioned it. And we still don\u2019t.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Not so long ago, Newman announced that he was ready to retire from acting, that he would make, maybe, just one more film. But that was before he signed on for Cars<\/em>. What, if anything, is next?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t seem to be living up to my timetable,\u201d he replies with a laugh. \u201cBut I may have one more movie in me. I\u2019m not sure what it\u2019s going to be now. Redford and I are working on something, but it\u2019s not by any means a slam-dunk. We\u2019re working on the script right now.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Not that Newman feels any great compulsion to keep padding his resume. Far away from movie locations, he and Joanne Woodward live an extremely full life together, devoting time to their various philanthropic interests while keeping an eye trained on the sales of Newman\u2019s Own products. (\u201cThis year,\u201d he jokes, \u201cI think we\u2019ll even out-gross Cars<\/em>.\u201d) So what would it take to attract his interest? What kind of script would get him revved up to act again?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWell, I don\u2019t think I could play a marathoner right now. I think it would have to be either a wonderful character in a wonderful film, or a character that was acceptable in a film with some social content.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In short, it will take a classy project to get this class act back before the cameras. And until one comes along, well, there\u2019s lots of salad dressing yet to sell. And lots of children yet to comfort.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" December 1, 2006 | You can tell Paul Newman loves to tell the story, even though it\u2019s a joke that turns him into a punchline. His mouth curves into a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-3955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","category-uncategorized","tag-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.movingpictureshow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}