Roger Ebert (whose opinions I enjoy, even when I don’t agree with them) interviews Steve Martin (whose comedy I enjoy whether it’s crazy, brooding, or just human):
”Sometimes I feel like I’m expected to do a certain kind of comedy,” he said. ”But the suit doesn’t fit all the time and even when it does, you’re just doing the same thing. People think they want the wild stuff, but if you actually do it they’re looking for a younger, fresher face. As a comedian, I have to work hard to find a new angle that’s still within the realm of my own character and body. I’m older. I look different and I have to do movies that are appropriate for that. To do a movie where I’m still trying to act like I’m 28–that wouldn’t be right.”
When Margie and I were touring in the UK a few years back, we started listening to books on tape (which are widely available in gas stations there). One of them was Martin reading some of his essays/fiction pieces he writes in the New Yorker.
Drop. Dead. Funny. Not arrow-through-the-head funny. Smart funny. Erudite funny. Absurd funny.
Have I mentioned that one of my favorite films is Martin’s L.A. Story?
Ebert runs through a list of Martin films.
Consider such recent projects as the ingenious comedy ”Bowfinger” (1999), which he wrote, where he plays a Poverty Row movie producer who dreams up a way to get a big star (Eddie Murphy) to appear in a movie without knowing it. Or Mamet’s ”The Spanish Prisoner” (1997), where he was the genial, trustworthy con artist in a plot so labyrinthine I’m not sure even he understood it. Or his phony faith healer in ”Leap of Faith” (1992), who can’t handle the possibility that miracles might he real. Or his producer of violent movies in ”Grand Canyon” (1991), who is mugged and has a change of heart. Or his triumph in ”L. A. Story,” also 1991, which he wrote, and which still inspires imitations every time people order complicated coffee. And back and back, through ”My Blue Heaven,” ”Parenthood,” ”Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” ”Roxanne” and the wonderful, underrated ”Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”
I am amazed by how many of those films I really enjoyed, or found moving, or both (including the last one on the list). Which makes me think I should watch the others, too.
Steve Martin is who I think Woody Allen wants to be, but, frankly, better.
(Via 24-Hour Drive-Thru)