Altman Page #4

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and 8 track recorders

to simultaneously record each actor's lines

on separate channels so that he

could patrol them in the mix.

He wanted to give the audience the feeling

they were in a real place

and force them to choose which

conversation to listen to.

A dollar says you don't

know who Glenn Riggs is.

Uh, what's your name?

Vince, the name's Vince.

Vince, can you get me $30

from the cash register?

What do you want $30 for?

I need $30". In the bathroom.

Renee, I'm only the bartender

and I don't go in the cash register.

Where's Jack?

Jack went to a funeral.

Look, I've been working

here for one year, right?

Just give me a piece of

paper, chit $30 Renee.

Okay, just give it to me.

If I give you $30 and I come

up short, it'll be your ass.

Baby you were born short

and it's always my ass.

Captain midnight!!!

Now everyone records that

way, but he was the first.

His films just didn't look

or sound like anyone else's

and they still don't.

Doc. That's one.

Dopey. That's two.

Snoopy. There is no Snoopy.

There ain't no Snoopy.

Altmanesque.

Showing Americans who we are.

He was working on "Thieves Like Us"

in Mississippi, a beautiful little film

that Joan Tewkesbury wrote for him.

Joan had worked as a script

supervisor on "McCabe".

Bob, you know, would always discover talent

and give people opportunities.

Anyway, after she wrote "Thieves Like Us"

Bob asked her to go to Nashville

and keep a journal of what she saw.

Well, she landed at the

airport, got into a car

and the first thing she saw was

a car crash on the highway.

It kept her stuck for two hours

and that's how Bob opened the picture.

It was a multi-layered

story with characters

who crisscross each other

in the country music scene.

But Bob thought it lacked something.

Country music radiates

a love of this nation.

Patriotism.

Country music therefore

has those combinations,

which are so essential

to America's character

at a time that America needs character.

At the time the whole water

Watergate thing was happening

and he hated Nixon, so he

added a political angle.

On the first Tuesday of November

we have to make some vital

decisions about our management.

Let me go directly to the point.

I'm for doing some replacement.

For mom and daddy.

Thank you.

Come on get up off your...

Wait a minute Mayor, watch your head.

Ya'll take it easy now.

This isn't Dallas it's Nashville.

This is Nashville.

You show them what we're made of.

They can't do this to us here in Nashville.

Somebody sing, sing.

Sing.

Come on, I think you've been hurt.

Oh, oh.

Come on, easy, easy.

Oh man, I can't stop that blood, man.

Come on everybody sing.

It don't worry me

It don't worry me

You may say I ain't free,

you don't worry me

Oh

Don't worry me

It don't worry me

You may say, I agree, it don't worry me

It seems like so many of your films

have a tendency to explode

American myths and genres

and I just wondered, what's your

perception of American society?

She thinks, she says am

I exploding the myths

and are taking shots at

America and our culture.

Uh, I, if that's the result

of it that's what I,

that's the result of it.

But what I'm doing is simply

reflecting what I see and feel.

I live here, I was born

here, I love this country,

I love, uh, this is all I

know, it's my culture.

And, uh, I just try to show what I see.

If it's ugly, that's what I see.

Altmanesque what does it mean?

Creating a family.

By the mid 70's Bob was

riding his own wave.

He had gathered so many talented people

that he set up Lion's Gate,

a studio that would

produce independent films

to keep the people he cared about working

in between his own movies.

The first director he worked

with was Alan Rudolph.

Alan started with Bob back as the second AD

on "The Long Goodbye".

He co-wrote Buffalo Bill

and became a close friend.

And Lions Gate produced his

first film "Welcome to L.A.".

Bob's only instructions to Alan were

keep the budget low and

don't make a chase movie.

The way Bob did it, making films

was always collaborative.

His process was to bring

his friends together

and let the film evolve.

He encouraged everyone to contribute,

but for him the most important

thing was the actors.

I think the actors are the

main artistic element

in any film.

They're more important than the script.

They're more important

than the photography.

They're more important than the director

because they're the ones that do it.

So the more you can make

them your collaborator

then you're getting the best of all worlds.

I encourage actors to feel comfortable

and to know they can go further.

They can step over the edge

and I've got a safety net.

I won't let them make a fool of themselves.

I spent a lot of effort in

trying to make a family

so that the actors become a part of it.

Everybody comes to the

dailies, nobody's taking notes

and there's booze

and you find these actors

start rooting for each other.

Okay, let's go.

Your beautiful wife Antoinette

tells me that you are an art collector.

You certainly don't look

like an art collector.

You know if you're walking down the street

and somebody pointed you out and

asked me what I thought you did

and I didn't know you

I would never in a million

years guess art collector.

You could go on what's my

line and stump the panel.

I remembered we'd have these

big thanksgiving dinners

and dad made it a lot of fun for all of us.

But that and Christmas

were the only times we'd be

alone with him as a family.

Kathryn was always there for us,

but dad was always working.

For the most part, we

were not his priority.

His movies were his priority.

He loved us, but it was hard.

I did five films at Fox.

They were done almost

like independent films.

Alan Ladd was running the studio

then and he was very supportive.

He really stood up for

me and I owe him a lot.

Grace Kelly was involved in the studio.

And they had a board meeting

and she said how could you

let this Altman person

put my friend, Paul Newman,

in such a dreadful film.

And Ladd-y just said oh shut up, I quit.

And he got up and walked out

and that was the end of him over there.

"Quintet" came out, which

the critics hated.

And a week later "A Perfect

Couple" was released,

which the critics hated even more.

So he was having a pretty

bad run at the box office

and then came "health".

I never stepped into one of these things;

I hope there's a bottom.

Mr. Altman, I thought I'd

ask you a couple things

about the making of this film.

Uh the title is health...

What?

I said the title is, the

title of the movie is health

and I was gonna ask you

if that's a particular

pre-occupation of yours

or just what they call a

property you were interested in?

No, I make lots of movies.

Uh huh and the whole subject

of health, of course,

involves a certain amount of controversy

because there are stories, exposes,

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