February 23, 2012

Top 10 Charlie Rose Interviews of Film Directors and Actors

We have a confession to make that at LearnOutLoud.com we are huge movie buffs! And with the Oscars coming up on Sunday we had to feature some free videos on the movies. Recently we added over 350 of the best interviews from Charlie Rose show:

350 of the Best Charlie Rose Interviews on LearnOutLoud.com

Lucky for us Charlie Rose is a huge movie buff and he conducts the best interviews with film actors and directors. Charlie’s interviews go beyond the generic interviews that actors and directors usually do to promote their movies, and he asks the great questions that film aficionados want to hear. We’ve picked out 10 interviews of the most popular movie actors along with 10 interviews of the most popular film directors and have watched these interviews and given you the inside scoop on what they’re all about. Enjoy these interviews and Hooray for Hollywood! Here are the ten actor interviews we picked:

1. An Interview with Sylvester Stallone

In this interview with actor, writer, and director Sylvester Stallone, Charlie Rose traces the action icon’s career; from humble origins making Rocky to his peak as one of the highest paid actors of all time. This discussion catches Stallone at a point when he was seeking out work that went against the macho typecasting that came to dominate his screen persona for over 30 years. We also get insight on what attracted him to the arts at an early age, how luck played an instrumental role in his success, and why he can’t help controlling a set.

2. An Hour Remembrance of Actor Jack Lemmon

In this hour-long remembrance of Jack Lemmon, Charlie Rose shares two interviews he conducted with the beloved actor of stage and screen. Here Lemmon shares memories of films such as Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, and Days of Wine and Roses, and he reflects on his onscreen chemistry with real-life friend Walter Matthau. He also talks candidly about his acting method, the turbulent relationship he had with his father, his love of the piano, and what he learned from failure.

3. A Conversation with Meryl Streep

In this Charlie Rose special featuring Meryl Streep, she talks about her entire acting career. This special presentation features clips from many of the movies she has been in along with comments from interviews with director Mike Nichols and prominent film critics praising her roles. Streep discusses the many roles she has inhabited along with her thoughts on drama vs. comedy. It’s a very enjoyable interview with one of cinema’s most beloved and honored film actresses.

4. An Interview with Harrison Ford

Actor Harrison Ford talks for an hour about a lucrative screen career that blew up with Star Wars in the late 70s and made him one of the biggest box-office draws in film history. Hailing originally from Chicago, Ford flunked out of college and moved out West, where he meandered for a few years taking bit TV roles while moonlighting as a carpenter. After early key roles for George Lucas, he was catapulted to fame on the strength of a heroic mold that he later found hard to shake as he took on more complex pet projects.

5. A Conversation with Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington talks with Charlie Rose about his prolific movie acting career in this interview, from his winding path to become an actor all the way up to his 2000 Golden Globe win for the film The Hurricane. Washington talks about The Hurricane and what he put into the role. He also discusses the variety of roles he has picked and the many great directors he has worked with. His films have opened doors for him to become good friends with Nelson Mandela and many other prominent figures.

6. An Hour with Actor Sean Penn

Charlie Rose flies out to California to sit down with actor Sean Penn for an hour. Penn talks about his love/hate relationship with acting and why he prefers writing. He reveals some of the film artists he admires such as John Cassavetes, Marlon Brando, and Jack Nicholson. Penn expresses what he feels cinema should do as an art form and why he is frustrated with the state of commercial movies in America. He also talks about his disdain for paparazzi and the invasion of privacy they present for people in the public eye. Throughout the interview Charlie and Sean have some good laughs.

7. An Hour with Filmmaker Robert Redford

Actor, director, and activist Robert Redford rose to prominence in the 1970s as both a leading man and progressive advocate. Here he talks about his early origins in theatre, the key movies that led to his success, and how his acting career opened up other paths for him as a director and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. Throughout his career, Redford has been notable for leveraging his star-power to help raise visibility on a wide range of concerns, such as environmentalism, Native American rights, and political corruption.

8. A Conversation with Actor Bill Murray

Actor Bill Murray sits down with Charlie Rose and talks about his career in comedy films including the one he had just made Rushmore. Murray talks about his selection process for picking his next role and how certain scripts including Groundhog’s Day and Rushmore were so good that he had to do them. Bill Murray discusses how the great directors are usually soft spoken on set and the bad ones are loud and obnoxious yelling out things like, “Do it again and don’t scratch your noise this time!”

9. An Hour with Actor Michael Douglas

As part of an acting legacy, Michael Douglas found it hard at times to define himself outside of the long shadow cast by his father, screen legend Kirk Douglas. After achieving early Oscar recognition at age 30 for producing with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, it wasn’t until a later, career-defining turn in Fatal Attraction that Douglas gained momentum as an actor. Here he talks about the different hats he’s worn on both sides of the camera, reflects on his changing relationship with his father, and digs into a hard period where he was admitted into rehab.

10. An Hour with Actor Michael J. Fox

This one isn’t much about acting but it’s a great interview. In 2002 Michael J. Fox sat down with Charlie Rose for an hour. Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 and went public with his condition in 1998. In this interview Fox talks about the whole process of accepting his disease to his eventual creation of the Michael J. Fox Foundation which is seeking a cure for Parkinson’s disease. He relays many stories that he wrote in his 2002 memoir Lucky Man including his acting attempts to cover up Parkinson’s which eventually he could no longer hide. He provides words of wisdom for people diagnosed with any disease and tells a truly inspirational story.

Next up we’re featuring 10 great interviews that Charlie Rose has conducted with film directors. A few interviews are conducted with people who knew the filmmaker closely for the great directors Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick. Enjoy these interviews with some of cinema’s great artists.

1. An Hour with Filmmaker George Lucas

George Lucas sits down for an hour long conversation with Charlie Rose in this interview and chronologically goes through his moviemaking career from his days at USC film school up to creating the Star Wars prequels. He talks about his financial and technological struggles to get his visions on the big screen and how he has finally attained financial independence as an artist to create the movies he wants to make without having to answer to anyone. George also passes on his wisdom about storytelling, education, artistry, and parenting.

2. A Conversation about Alfred Hitchcock

As the undisputed “Master of Suspense”, Alfred Hitchcock left behind a large body of work that continually explored the darker depths of the human heart. Here, Charlie Rose talks with the director’s daughter Patricia along with noted film director/historian Peter Bogdanovich on the centennial of his Hitchcock’s birth. Topics include Hitchcock’s dogged attention to detail, his writing methods, which films of his own he preferred best, and where he ranks with the great masters of cinema history.

3. An Hour with Filmmaker James Cameron

Known as “Iron Jim” to friends and critics alike, James Cameron rose from humble beginnings as a truck driver to become the “King of the World” with his mega-blockbuster Titanic. Here Charlie Rose talks with the director at length about what went into making the most expensive film ever made, and how he managed to balance historical fact with romantic fiction. Cameron’s talent for managing complex productions that still strike a chord with a broad audience has made him one of the most successful filmmakers in the modern era; a feat no less incredible when you consider how much his ambition grows from picture to picture.

4. A Discussion with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter

Capturing a key moment in history, this interview with Steve Jobs and John Lassetter catches both visionaries at the birth of what would become the most successful animation studio in recent history. After purchasing Pixar in 1986, shortly after his initial ouster from Apple, Jobs helped shepherd Lassetter and his team towards the first digitally animated movie, Toy Story, a box-office success that was followed by a string of hits that has not let up to date. Watch for an interesting moment near the end where Jobs tactfully dodges Charlie Rose’s question about a possible return to Apple; and even that actually did come to pass later that same year!

5. An Interview with Quentin Tarantino

Coming off the wild success of his independent film breakout hit Pulp Fiction, super cool film director Quentin Tarantino sits down with Charlie Rose and talks about his craft and where his career is going to go from here. Tarantino talks about his childhood watching movies and his days as a video store clerk. He discusses his unorthodox way of storytelling, his method of writing, and his love of following the careers of film directors of which he mentions his favorites. Finally he talks about his first two films Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Watch film geek Tarantino enthusiastically riff on his love of movies.

6. An Hour about the Life and Work of Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick

With a photographer’s eye, a philosopher’s curiosity, and a searing intellect, Stanley Kubrick’s films have cut a distinctive path through cinematic history with a scope that is still hard to estimate. Here Charlie Rose talks with the late director’s widow Christiane, his lifelong friend Jan Harland, and adds modern master Martin Scorsese into the mix to round out the table. Christiane Kubrick provides heartwarming insight on their marriage, while Harland and Scorsese weigh in on why Kubrick’s films such as 2001, The Shining, and Dr. Strangelove continue to provoke, compel, and stimulate new generations of filmgoers.

7. A Conversation with Roman Polanski

In this interview, filmmaker Roman Polanski speaks about filmmaking, personal tragedy, and the legal trouble that has kept him from returning to the United States. Charlie Rose does not shy away from confronting the director of such classics as Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown on why he hasn’t faced the legal ramifications of a rape charge that made him flee for Europe in 1977. Polanski also reflects on the loss of his mother at Auschwitz, his lonely childhood in war-torn Poland, losing his wife in the Manson family murders, and his current life as a French citizen.

8. An Interview with Oliver Stone

Director Oliver Stone is known for his political and historical films and in this interview with Charlie Rose, Stone talks about his film Nixon. Stone gives us his interpretation of the man Nixon and covers some of the more controversial aspects of his film. He also gives us his philosophy on drama and its ability to convey the shadow side of history which is often not the version put into the history books. Get a history lesson from Oliver Stone with this hour long talk about Nixon.

9. A Talk with Director Tim Burton

Director Tim Burton talks with Charlie Rose about his recent film and art exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. In the first 10 minutes MOMA’s exhibit curators talk about putting on the exhibition. Then Burton discusses some of his sketches and talks about how he went from being a weird and quiet teenager to a filmmaker extraordinaire. Burton talks about his love of masks and how they bring out new aspects in his performers such as with Jack Nicholson made up as the Joker in his film Batman or Johnny Depp in the wide variety of outfits he has suited up for in many Burton films. Burton feels that all kids are artists and doodlers up to about age 12, but then for various reason these creative instincts are suppressed as people get older, and both Tim and Charlie find this unfortunate.

10. A Conversation with German Film Director Werner Herzog

German film director Werner Herzog sits down with Charlie Rose in this 23 minute interview and discusses his prolific filmmaking career. Herzog gives some insight into the making of his film Fitzcarraldo about which he recently published his personal diaries in a book called Conquest of the Useless. He talks about his philosophy of filmmaking and his search for the “ecstatic truth” when it comes to the many documentaries that he has shot over the years. Herzog also addresses his talent for bringing out the best in actors such as his unique gift for harnessing the talent of German actor Klaus Kinski.

Enjoy these and many, many more great shows from the modern master of interviews, Mr. Charlie Rose:

350 of the Best Charlie Rose Interviews on LearnOutLoud.com