- Title: FJ-HRN-2888
- Summary: Jerry Levine Profile Interview: HRN-2888 Jerry Levine Profile Tape #01 A01. HRN-2888
- Description:01:01:02 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer Well Ill talk about Backstage, Backstage was a publication that I would read all the time when I was living in New York, because it was primarily designed for theatre actors, we would go through Backstage looking for regional theatre productions that were happening or anything casting that was anywhere and Backstage was the publication that we would all read, send off our resumes, you know, and try to make it happen that way, so Im very familiar with Backstage, I havent read it in a while, since weve transitioned into film and television, very important, very important publication to an actor, in New York especially for the theatre 01:01:45 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer Well you know, my, my, I get into discussions with Agents and Managers, and publicists all time, where to begin, you know, tracking my resume, I like to track it, from you know, Kindergarten, um because, you know its a body of work that I respond to, its not just somebodys television show, or a movie, or something that youve done, its always been about a body of work for me, so where did it start? When did it start? You know, I really, and we get into these arguments, cause I want to go all the way back to the fact that I was playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof at 13 yrs. old, you know with a fake bread, but it didnt form the rest of my career and of who I am, so where did it start, it started way, way back for me, as a young person, wanting to do this, and it included Directing which is the interesting aspect of it for me, I would act, but I would also direct, at whatever age it was, um, so going back to the days when I discovered it, I was very young, I was very young. 01:03:04 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer Well, (he laughs) At first, you know getting paid for it was not a necessity, it didnt even figure into the picture, I used to fly all over the country sometimes, and I would look down and wonder how those people got those homes and getting paid for it, the first time I got paid, it was a surprise I wasnt prepared for, um, but the first time I got paid to act, I was in college at Boston University where I trained initially, got a BFA in acting from Boston University classically trained, but they were doing a television show up there called The Baxters, um Norman Lear did The Baxters, Hewett Jessup did The Baxters and WGBH was doing it in Boston and I auditioned for it while I was in college for the role of Bobby McCool a runaway, teenage something, I played teenagers till I was 27, and um, I got paid, I got paid to do an Aftra deal, I dont know what it was, I dont know what I got paid, but I did get paid to do The Baxters and that was in Boston, way back I was in college. 01:04:45 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer Yeah, it was defining moment, I was born and raised in New Jersey, went to college in Boston and always did Summer stock, community theatre, I was always doing it, it was just always happening, whether I was acting or directing it was on and I remember it was a cold day in New York and I lived on 83rd street, um off of central park, I had done 28 plays at The Roundabout theatre before it moved to Brooklyn, there were two theatres on 23rd st. and 26th st. and we were doing all kind of classical, Ibsen, Brecht, Shaw, Piranndello, Shakespeare, um, and I was sitting in my apartment in New York and it was cold and rainy and I was watching and it was the middle of the afternoon and actors are home, and I was watching, um a thing called the American Theater Wing, there is still an American Theatre Wing, it sponsors the Tony and everything else and on the panel that day, you might know these names, um there was Gene Barry, John Shea, Dina Merrile, but it was Gene Barry who there were, who had said, there comes a time in the young actors life when all the Black Box theatres, all the acting teachers and Gurus and all that stuff loses it meaning for an actor, what becomes important is putting Actor on your W-2, and that struck me, that really, really struck me, that day, and I realized all the stuff that I had been doing, was fantastic it was great, but that was a defining moment, a transition took place and I needed to get paid and I needed to become a professional actor and pay my bills, you know I wanted, acting money to put braces on the kid, but it was never the kind of thing that I had to be Sean Penn, or a movie star, although that would be nice, but it was really about making a living and being able to do that, and it was that afternoon that everything changed for me, and things did change, my physique changed, everything about me what I was trying to accomplish had changed, and it was not long after that, that I started to work professionally, steadily. 01:07:28 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer Well you know, its the life, actors, you know, I speak to a lot of young actors occasionally, you know, my kids dont like that, cause I scare them, um, you dont enter acting or entertainment the creative side of it to give it a shot, you can and hopefully something will work out, um its a life, lets say you get on a TV series, you know great, great youre on a TV show thats what everybody in LA wants cause you make a lot of money and it leads to things and then they cancel it, OK now its done now what? Its longevity its about being able to be there. I mean I will tell you my greatest story of my career, it actually happened this year, Ive told it a thousand times this year, um Ive been shooting at Paramount, Everybody Hates Chris the Chris Rock television series and we shot there for four years, we shot on the back lot of Paramount, and um, 21 years ago, I was on a television series called The Bronx Zoo starring Ed Asner, co-starring with Ed Asner and on the back lot of Paramount, on the faade of the sound stage they built a High School, I dont know if youve seen it, its that brick building, well it was built 21 years ago for this series that I was on with Ed and I was the first one with Ed that was shot on it and we had the sound stage connected to the faade so would could do tracking, walking, talking, tracking shot, outside, carries right in through the doors down the rotunda into this school, it was beautiful it was an incredible set, and that was built for The Bronx Zoo and I remember showing up at Paramount going, Wow, look at this, this is great, well its been shot for 20 years, Ive shot it for 20 years as a director for many different shows and most recently for the last 4 years it was Corleone Jr. High School which is where young Chris attends Jr. High School in our series and he went there for 3 years, and I shot it for 3 years, um well the transition between the 3rd and 4th year, young Chris graduates from Corleone Jr. High and is on his way to Tattaglia High School, and Im directing the first episode of the 4th season and I directed the last episode of the previous season and Im directing the first one of the upcoming season and I look up at this faade and I say its gotta go, because hes going to a new high school and we have to change it, so the story is this, I was the first one on it, and I was the last one to ever shoot it, and I was the first one to shoot the new one and I stood there looking at when it was coming down and it was like the statue of Saddam Hussein coming down it was historic in that way and I was standing around with the guys on the lot, the operations guys, who have been there for 20 years and we looked at each other and said, yeah, yeah right and they said, you were and were taking it down so you could shoot it. So back to the story of longevitiey and the whole thing and it struck, it struck me then, Ok, thats what we were trying to do, Ive been a few good movies, directed a few good things, hope to do some more, you know, but the idea that Im still standing here after 21 years and theres more before that, but that building represented something to me that was profound. And thats what I mean when youre an actor or a creative person, your in it for the long haul, because its gonna rough along the way, things are going to happen, but you need to know this is the life that youve chosen. This comes to another discussion about diversifying with in your field, that when you hit a cross in the road you should take it, you know especially in entertainment, you know which has transitioned me to prioritize me into directing, there was a moment in time, you know when I looked at my DGA dues and looked at my Screen Actors Guild dues and my DGA dues where higher than my Screen Actors Guild dues that got my attention, I went aha, um another defining moment this is the first time I might think about prioritizing the directing aspect but diversifying within your field, because if you write, you produce, you direct, you do anything then its in a field you know something about, and it will create a longevity it will create a life style that you will be able to continue to grow in and you know to survive what is a complicated industry. Its interesting isnt it, Ive seen a few things. 01:13:15 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer Well you know, you do a lot of work thankfully, you know in different genres and different areas, um and that was one of things, I was never pigeon holed into giving anything, you know classically trained actor, when I came out to California I was working on a Strindberg play called Miss Julie to come out and do Charles in Charge which was a Scott Biao series and by no means to I mean to put that down, its that thing that theyre different, you know, um so thats an example of the range of work you might do, a classical piece of theatre to you know a more commercial (he laughs) project, dont , Im not hitting them, dont do that to me, no, no, Im using it as an example of OC: By honest with you, you say Charles in Charge people draw their own conclusions, I dont have to. Jerry: So, so, its just a range of things, I thank God, for Charles in Charge, I mean it brought me out here to California and it was a tremendous opportunity dont get me wrong, its just the example of the range, where Born on the Fourth of July falls into that, you know spectrum part of that spectrum, it was high up for a number of reasons, it was a very known film, it was a great story, it was about a real person, it was about a tragic part of his life, and uhm, and we were playing with big players we knew that, we all knew that, you know, going in it, was great it, it was a great audition process and I loved working with Oliver Stone, um Tom Cruise had just come out of Rain Man working with Dustin Hoffman, so his acting chops Im pretty sure had come up substantially himself on terms who he was working with, it was A plus down the line in everything, the best way I can think of the way to describe it, we were in Dallas shooting and we wanted to play football so they give us Texas stadium after the Dallas Cowboys left the field and we went on, it was that kind of an experience all the way down the line A plus everything and we knew we were, we knew what we were doing, I can tell when I read a script what is going to happen to it, this was a great script, this script was incredible and I learn these little things on each project that I do, the one that I came away with that one, I dont think Oliver Stone can take credit for this quote, I think its probably Sophocles or Aristotle somebody gigantic, you know, but I heard it from Oliver Stone, which was that, I said to him Man this is a great script, this is great, its going to be a great movie, you are going to big from this, I know you did good on Platoon and I audition for him on Platoon also, but he did not tell me he was Oliver Stone, cause I didnt know who Oliver Stone was going in to Platoon nobody did, I think it was the first movie he directed, I mean he wrote The Hand and Midnight Express and Scarface and all that I think but nobody saw his face, so Im auditioning for Oliver Stone, and I dont know that its him, he played that game with me, the role that Kevin Dillon got, um, it would have been different had I played it, uhm, but I said to Oliver, man this is a great script, youre going to win an Oscar for this, he said, Well success, in this business success and business are both imposters, I thought wow, what do you mean are you high, what, what, you know, what are your talking about, it was the kind, he leveled the playing field for what we were doing and it was profound, cause Ron Kovacs was with us, we did a lot of research in Long Island so we understood the story that we were telling, my character in that was you know a very confident individual, so it was a different experience for me than it was for the other guys, it was very emotional, and yes it was a highlight, it was certainly a highlight, Oliver Stone is a great director, Born of the July was a phenomenal experience and so where some of the others that I did, Wag the Dog, Barry Levinson was great, Rob Reiner was pretty cool again we were telling an important story about Medgar Evers, um so there were a few of them along the way, you know, Everybody Hates Chris is one for me as a director, one of the highlight chapters of my career, you know so there been a few highs and lows along the way, more important and less important, but then again it all goes under that category, of Hey man lets just be around, and put the braces on the kids teeth, you know show business money if you can, you know that type of thing, this is what we do. 01:19:03 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer Well theres two definitions of working and not working one is artistically, creatively and being successful and then the other one is commercial, Ive had the good fortune of most things work, you know I get a sense, when I read Reservoir Dogs, I got this script delivered to me, I used to live in Sam Fullers house by the way, you know the film director, I lived in Sam Fullers house for 5 years while he was in Paris, any I got this script send to me Reservoir Dogs and who, whos directing it, Quentin Tarantino, who the hell is that, let me read this thing, there it is page one, Oh my God, what am I reading, what am I reading and who wrote it, oh Quentin Tarantino and what is it, well I knew and every actor in town knew, I never saw anything like this and I knew creatively, instinctively theres something super special here, um I knew that with a lot of scripts that Ive read, um I get the sense, its something that I talk to executives about too, I know, Well how do you know? Ive just done this a little while and I can feel this material working, I can feel if the material works or not, and I um I dont feel that Ive never been involved in any project that has failed, the television series, look I define success or failure based on whether or not you get on the air, if youre on there youve succeeded, what do you have to do to succeed 11 years? 8 years? 5 years? 4 years? Whats success? You got on. Did you get a season out of it? Uhm? Take it success. Versus the pilot that doesnt get picked up. I not done pilots Ive never done a pilot that hasnt got picked up I dont think, because creatively I look at it and zero in on whether the material will work, Im usually, trying to think back on my whole resume its worked, I can read a script and say this is going to work, this will get on the air, getting on the air today is a different story, um, there are other elements that are involved, um but its a feeling as it was said in Jeffery Rush, its a mystery, I dont know, its elusive, you dont know if its mercurial you dont know what it is, but I can smell it after, you know, long enough, Ive read so much stuff, and I can tell if the material is working, now will it be successful at the box office and all of that? 01:22:40 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer Yes, um, can I tell what will be cultural? No. I will tell you a story the first movie that I ever made was a film called Teen Wolf and I played this character, named Styles, I was in Israel last year at the Western wall, the Wailing wall, and I got Yo, Styles. Every where I go, every day, this was 20, I dont know what, over 20 years ago, Im laying in my house its Saturday night, we are watching Saturday Night Live, did you see it last week? It was a great episode, a fucking great episode, Im sitting there and there doing a Teen Wolf skit, sketch, where um, Keenan Thompson, and Paul Rudd, and whos the dude that was in Super Bad, with the black hair, played the cop, whats his name? OC: Bill Hater Jerry: This is a great movie cast, and there doing a sketch on Scared Straight which used to be a thing where the criminal comes, the prisoner comes and he scares you. And he starts describing, you think you got it tough, when I was in High School, I turned into a werewolf, and Im going are your really going to and then came out, hung out with my buddy Styles and he said the name, you didnt refer to Michael J. Fox you said Styles, And we surfed in the van. And I thought oh my God, I know that it hit something because theres no place in the world I can go, no place in the world, I think when your 10 years old they force you to watch that movie, but it hits some cultural zeitgeist or something or other it hit it, I mean I get mail from buddies of mine, who have kids that are in High School and there kids friends are going out on Halloween dressed as Styles, there telling their friends, you know my fathers buddy, played Styles, they dont believe it, theres this kind of cultural thing, theres nothing I can do, I made peace with that, I love it, you know, being an actor, if you can find one thing, if there is one thing you walk through the Universe and people say, Yo, Styles, you know not everybody has that, now I can be in Academy Award nominated movies, which I have been, you know, I can do all kind of other things, but never, it will never overwhelm that one character people know that character, so you know being on Will and Grace I played Joe, who was married to Larry, we got married on television nobody did that, I dont remember anybody doing that, I thought Tim Bagley who played Larry, we did that for five years, and I thought, Tim whats going to happen now?, You know were going to get married on television isnt this going to be great? Were going to be on Nightline. Nothing, and look whats happening now and we got married on Will and Grace, and it was very popular among that community, but I thought perhaps that would do it? So you dont know, Will and Grace, by the way, you know, I remember that, I auditioned for Erics role all those years back, did I do Erics role or Seannys? I dont know, nobody was known in that cast, thats another example of how do you know its going to happen or not, it was ground breaking and you felt that it would do it and it fact it did, I thought the me and Timmy getting married episode would do it, no, you know, you never know. 01:27:18 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer Well the best acting class I ever had was directing, the best directing class I every had was acting, and Im seriously trained as an actor, but how is informed it, the thing that solidified my relationship on Everybody Hates Chris with Ali LeRoy I came in the first season to direct a bunch of there episodes and I as a actor or director, as an actor approach the material from an internal place, you know thats the first thing that happens, I will read the story and find out what this thing is about, the director starts talking to me to, as Im reading it as an actor, part of my problem acting, they used to tell me stop directing my self around, you know, Im not directing Im free spirit, Im a leaf in the wind, no your not. You know where youre going, you know what youre doing, you know what youre hitting, well alright, so my orientation to the material is inside out, I read it primarily as actor there is always a story you want to tell, and you know you that you are a part of that story and what part of that story do I represent, you know, how am I going to inform that story, and I have to make sure I understand that and push those objectives, Acting is a verb, what am I doing, and so as an actor I would look at material that way, as a Director the same voice would come up but it would be global and when working with Ali LeRoy and Chris, and Everybody Hates Chris I would come in to direct an episode, I was kind of approaching it dramaturgically, where these guys, some of them are Saturday Night Live writers, I had this problem, not a problem, this issue on Monk, I did 25 episodes of Monk, Andy Breckman is a writer from Saturday Night Live, sketch comedy, OK, but Monk has got a obsessive compulsive disorder, hes got a sickness, lets, youve got the great Tony Silbouh, lets be careful here its not a sketch, on Everybody Hates Chris, Chris youre an adult doing a VO stories that resonate with you as an adult today, there for there has to be a reason why you decided to tell us this story, they are resonating with you as an adult, therefore theres value to them, why here? Why now? Why this story? Oh, youre going to win Emmys, do that, lets do that. You know, yeah, you have to reflect on them, and they have to resonate, and so why are we telling this story, Oh yeah lets do that. You know the concept, the idea, were not just telling jokes, jokes are cool, same thing with Monk, we expect jokes, you better bring it, you better bring jokes, and you better be funny, you got to have all that, cause thats a comedy. But if you can take funny and ground it in the why this, why know, story element then we know where we are going, as a Director, I need to know where Im going, I need to know my destination , Im driving I need to know where were going. So when I began to introduce those concepts to the, they said, come to that with everything, which give me what appears to be show runner status, stature, very close to it but I still work with Ali LeRoy and he is the final sense of the word that goes on the page, and he and I work very close and I would talk to him about these things, he understood them all, but as a Director, there is a visual way to tell a story and its important that you understand that as a writer, so he and I work together that way, and the way I look at material, look at story, as an actor, as a director, informs the material and we understand why were telling the story, the directing part is where? All you need is these two fingers to direct, and then you know, so the internalized approach that I learned in Acting, dramatic literature for production, um inform the director, and the director inform the actor and its all form the inside out, you know, story, you know, I think theres this, Monty Python did this movie and the first 20 minutes of this movie rocked hilarious, the rest of the movie nobody laughed, well what are going to do, well go back and re-cut this, lets try something, lets take all of the material from the back of the movie and put it in the front, 20 minutes of laughter, last part nothing, you can get your audience to laugh with you for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, but there are going to want something, they are going to want a story, there going to want something and this is where I come from, this is what I do, this is what I look for in anything, I read movie scripts now, pilots or anything and Im looking for the why here? Why Now? Why this story? What is it about today? Like the movie Stand by Me, everybodys life was changed, Im not saying I need that, even in that movie, SuperBad I liked that movie, I laughed my ass off, but when those dudes are on the elevator in the end and they realize, hey I have to go with this girl, and I have to go with this girl in order for me ?? Its about something it works, you know it works, theres a reason, why this stuff works, and thats my theory and with the Will and Grace or any of these films, you dont necessarily need the star all the time, there is that conventional system and the professional box office and commercial, yeah, yeah, but, but, you know, I can give you an example for every example of a star versus a nothing but a good story and there you go, I mean, I loved Little Miss Sunshine, I loved Juno, you know, come on wheres the box office on that, this is from that fact that its good man. That doesnt always work for all of you at Hollywood Reporter 01:34:43 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer I look for the things, that provide me with a perspective on the industry and my ability to survive in it, you know, we can all pontifiticate on why things work and dont work, I look for those things that allow me to continue in an adjusted place, cause I find that the head game is a good percentage of what can help you or hurt you and these little stories of Oliver telling me about success and failure are both imposters that was important to me, as an actor, so if this hits it doesnt mean anything and if it bombs it doesnt mean anything right? Right, because, I can, thats a good one. 01:36:25 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer Um, Ive been in airplanes, landing on a strip where the guy is really the pilot says, Apply the brakes What do you mean apply the brakes? Am an actor. Apply the brakes? Well were buying her out, so you better apply the brakes that was a moment . OC: Well talk about that, thats what Im looking for. Jerry: That was the great Art Sholl who died on Top Gun, we shot Iron Eagle before Top Gun and I was in a airplane a Cessna with him landing in an airstrip and the plane, his left brake was out, and I had to apply mine and we lost Art after that, but um, everyday, when Im down at Paramount and I look at that Hollywood sign, damm Im living my dream, oh I remind myself every single day, that Im living the dream it could be 3:30 in the morning in a mall somewhere with Tony Shilbouh dressed as a Santa Clause, I say Tony this is it. OC: I saw that episode. Jerry: Were living the dream, just when you think, this is it, everyday, on my set I remind everybody all the time, this is it folks, we are living the dream, so its an everyday occurrence, not you know, I pull on that lot, I go somewhere, Im shooting The Jonas Brothers, this is it man, Im living the dream, every single day, you know theres times when Im out in the street somewhere, and you know, its the middle of the day or night and I got the place shut out, theres lights in the sky and you know, wow, we just shut this place down, yeah it happens everyday, that I am living the dream, Im doing, and Im on lot at Paramount and Im looking up at that Hollywood sign, Im from Jersey OC: Brooks talks Jerry: All the time living the dream all the time and the opportunity to be in all of those places, you know, my wife is an executive, shes the President of CBS, and every time I get to walk around, I get to ride with her, you get to ride with Nina, your riding in the front seat, you go down those carpets and you look around and theres all that, you know, Nina comes around with, I enjoyed Beyonce coming to pitch her series to me today. OK, living the dream so for us, its everyday, so we have to remind ourselves that, because its very difficult work, its very trying, but I assure you that I have never forgotten, so I cant tell you that its one thing, its everyday that I go through a gate that I do something and Ill sit back behind that monitor and see whats going on around me and theres a hundred and fifty people and Ill say to myself, uh uh, youre here, thank God youre here, youre living the dream, so its daily I cant think of one thing, one particular event, I cant. 01:40:00 - Sound Bite: Jerry Levine Actor/Director/Producer Its a television series for the Disney channel, which is the whole thing, its a very specific brand, and they know how to do it, I was intrigued by these kids The Jonas Brothers, I have a 10 year old, my kids are age 10 to 21, my 10 year old, there The Beatles, um, theyre the hottest band in the world, there going to play the inauguration, and I was intrigued by this thing, it wasnt that I was, I was intrigued, Im a musician, I love music and I wanted to go see what this was and so they asked me to come over, so there I went and I love these kids, they are super talent, they are very talented, there very good, they write there own music, um, Disney as I understand it own them, The Jonas Brothers, in the same manner as which Disney owns Raven, or The Cheetah Girls, or Hannah Montana and I dont know if any of this is fact, but I do know that The Jonas Brothers music and who they are
- Collection: Historic Films
- Producer:Historic Films
- Transmission Date:01/01/2008
- Rights:On request
- Decade: 2000s
- File Name: FJ-HRN-2888