Robert Duvall Watches Stephen’s Favorite Scene From The Film “Network” | Robert Duvall watches one of his scenes in “Network” and shares his acting process behind that moment in the movie. | By The Late Show with Stephen Colbert | Very welcome back. Welcome back everybody to part two of my rare interview with legendary actor Robert Duvall. What was it like doing the godfather? I assume for men of your generation, actor of your generation, Brando, who is sort of one generation before y'all. He was our godfather, really. Dustin Hoffman, myself, and Gene Hackman used to get, we get in once a week in uh that drugstore up there in New York in the midtown and the we mentioned Brando once we mentioned it twenty-five times in the day and the first time Gene Hackman ever met Brando was by accident and he almost cried. Like a bumped in him on the street or something. Yeah, yeah. Gene, yeah. What was Brando like? He's an enigmatic figure to people who obviously the public, people like me. What was he like in person to work with? What was actually the working room? Well, I work with him uh on the first time I work with him was on the on the chase and we got talked about the script and he said, how you doing? This and that and this and that. I said, oh, we're gonna be buddies and he, for the next six weeks, he never even said good morning. That was his, that was his deal, you know, but he was uh, I, I, I met a guy from England, a very top-notch English actor and he said he wants to see streetcar named Desire and he said, he was embarrassed because he thought a stage handed wandered onto the stage accidentally, and it was Brando. He was so natural. He said he saw it seven times. Brando said some things about acting that I'm wondering as somebody who admired him you thought of as as you came into your own success and and your own development as an artist. He said that uh something along the lines of acting isn't a proper profession for a man. And that it's a sort of an emptily and an empty and meaningless speaking for himself. I wanna understand that but if somebody like if if I like my comedic heroes if I if someone said to me well being a comedian is not a worthy thing to do. It would it would uh affect me emotionally. Hear that. I was wondering what was it like to hear that from if you did hear it from a hero like that? Well, he said a lot of things that came out strangely, you know. He had strange aspects to him. I got a letter from him and down in my living room that I value as much as my Oscar. Were there any directors you work with some of the great directors of the twentieth century as well? Were there directors that you wish you could have worked with? You'd like John Houston? Or I was gonna do his last movie John Houston. And he died. But uh no, II intend not to get along with too many directors. You don't get along with them? Yeah. What does that mean? How does that practically play out? Cuz. Get out of my way. Get out of my way. Because they'll be telling you how to do your job? Maybe. Or or implying that, you know, giving you line readings. Well, just hovering, hovering. What should a director do? Stand back and see. That's what Copola does. To see what you do, see what you bring and what you then he'll he'll use it or whatever but Coppola's very was very good that way. Just you know, uh standing back and see what you do. That's why they hire you to see what you do cuz when actress get together and say, what was that director say? Well, he left me alone. Oh, terrific. You've done so many incredible films. Um as I said, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Mash, the original Frank Burns. Nice. Um for me, it's I wouldn't say it's necessarily your greatest performance. III agree with the academy that Tender Mercies is perhaps your your greatest performance is an incredibly beautiful film. Um but your performance is Frank Hackett in network is the one that leads out to me. It's one of my favorite films. Let's see that again. You haven't seen network in a while? A long time. Could I show you a clip from it and it's my favorite scene of yours that you ever did. Could I it's a two-minute scene. Could we watch it together? Okay. Okay. So this is the scene uh just to to remind the audience here that this is the scene after um Peter Finch's character Howard Beal after Howard Beal has become a hit and he's clearly not well and he's living with Max Schumacher who's Bill Holden's character and he's run away some place and they don't know where and you want him to find uh Howard Beal because you've got a hit on your hands and you've just been made head of the network. Right. And what I love about the scene is that you have an incredible intensity. There are enormous choices being made in this movie. I mean, it's a satire on many levels. Right. But there's there are big performance choices being made and I just like to watch with you and ask you a few questions after it's over. Who wrote this? Patrick. Patty Shayaski wrote it. Yeah, good guy. So, let's let's just watch and see what you uh what you remember from this moment. Well, You hagget. You want me out of here, you're gonna have to drag me out kicking and screaming and the whole news division kicking and screaming with me. You think they're gonna quit their jobs for you, not in this recession, buddy. Ready gets Becky, I'll have your **** I gotta hit Schumacher and Rudy doesn't count anymore. He was hoping I fall on my face with his beal show but I didn't. It's a big, fat, big hit and I don't have to walk him around with Rudy anymore. If he wants to take me up before the CCA board, let him. Do you think Rudy is stupid enough to go to the CCA board and say, I'm picking a one hit show off the air and comes November fourteen, I'm gonna be standing up there at the annual CCA management review meeting and I'm gonna announce projected earnings for this network for the first time in 5 years and believe me, mister Jensen is gonna be sitting there rocking back and forth in his little chair and he's gonna say, that's very good, Frank. Keep it up. So, don't have any about who's running this network from now on. You're fired. I want you out of your office before noon or I'll have you thrown out. That's it. Yeah. That's the scene. You remember shooting that. Yeah, just so and I think I did okay. You gotta keep it within your temperament. What what you, what your temperament, your, you know, your sense of whatever. You know, your your anger, your your vulnerability, or whatever. It's gotta be your temperament without stepping out of that and then it becomes more like acting but you try to keep it with, you know, from you, from your temperament. You know, interpreted a certain way. I assume that would be particularly helpful in a film where there are big acting choices being made 'cuz Bill Holden and Faye Dunaway are making huge choices in that scene too and and yet, all of it seems believable. Right, right. Is that what you mean by keeping within the temperament? Yeah, keeping, yeah, yeah. If you, you know, it can be like, would you come over here please? Would you come over here please? You know, I mean, it's still you doing it within your set of emotions or your temperament or your psyche or whatever you wanna call it. You know, that's what uh and without over acting, you know, it's gonna be you gotta be in touch with your temperament. One of the things I love about that scene, I've always, I've always loved that moment when you say, you're fired, I want you out of here before noon or I'll have you thrown out. This absolute, the gesture you make right there feels like you're picking up William Holden and throwing him out of the room and that's it in, that is a pure, understandable, visceral intention feeling from that character there. I remember the producer came into my dressing room to say something. And II didn't like the guy. I didn't wanna hear him. I said, would you turn around and walk the out of this room? So, I said to the guy, okay. Yeah. When we come back, Robert Duvall gives me an acting lesson.