| | | | One-on-one with the Caan men
I sat down with legendary actor James Caan and his son Scott, who is following in his father’s footsteps. Scott’s film Mercy was screened at CineVegas. He wrote it, stars in it -- and even hired his dad for it! Scott describes it as a tragic romance between a critic who pans the book of a writer who never fell in love. Somehow they fall deeply in love, but death intervenes!
Here’s my chat with the father-and-son stars:
Robin Leach: Shades of real life in this movie between you and Scott, yes?
James Caan: Not at all, exactly the opposite that made it so difficult. We have a great relationship.
читать дальшеRL: When somebody falls in love, and then it’s wrenched right from him or her -- the theme of mercy -- how do you draw that kind of gut reaction when you haven’t experienced it for yourself?
Scott Caan: I’m probably the wrong person to ask because I have experienced it myself. I mean, I know what it’s like to be really hurt over a woman.
RL: Those were the shades of real life I was referring to.
SC: I know what it feels like to not want to continue because you’re so broken up over a woman.
JC: He has yet to explain it to me, though.
SC: I think death is almost easier than a breakup. I think death has finality, and sometimes breaking up with a woman you don’t know if it’s right or wrong, is sometimes the most torturous thing in the world.
RL: How many times has that happened to you?
SC: Just once.
RL: That was enough for you -- was this movie cathartic?
SC: Oddly enough, I wrote this movie before it happened, but I always have a hard time with breakups. I think it’s a really sad thing.
JC: It’s sad, but the nice thing about him is that he’s very much a one-woman guy. But I think when he finds it, he’ll be very, very happy.
RL: It’s interesting that you wrote the movie before the real-life experience.
SC: Before the really, really heavy emotional roller-coaster I went through.
RL: Did writing the movie prepare you for what happened?
SC: No, I think it’s the worse thing in the world. I don’t think there’s anything more painful than that. But that’s what the movie is about, it’s about somebody who doesn’t want to take that chance and finally when he does, this is what happens, always a happy ending. And ultimately you learn more than you suffer, and you continue on and find someone else.
RL: So if you break up and you’re emotionally gutted, how long does the repair job take?
SC: I don’t think ever, if you get hurt that bad. I think you’re going to hurt forever.
RL: So if you get hurt that bad, then it was really love?
SC: I don’t know about that. I don’t have that answer.
RL: But this is different than just breaking up, Scott?
SC: I was using it as a metaphor; it was death. I was just using it to make a point; I think it’s comparable. The pain is comparable and ultimately death is probably almost easier to get over, for me, in my experience.
JC: I was an emotional wreck when I lost my sister, but in an odd way, I don’t think it’s as wrenching as a love forever, you know that kind of deep love. So sometimes it’s even worse. That’s what sent me down a spiral of drugs and drink for a while.
SC: Yeah, that’s what I meant.
RL: What was it like working with your dad and hiring him? And what was it like working for your son and working with him?
JC: He was very cheap!
SC: I’m the only guy who can get him for cheap! It was really, really difficult, and I’ll tell you why, for me, I think an actor is at their best when their own emotions can carry over into a scene. So for me to do a scene with him that is so different from how we are, it was really hard. And it was really hard to not let our real relationship shine through; it was almost impossible. You can’t fake how it is.
RL: Isn’t that what acting is?
SC: No, not for me.
JC: It’s a heightened reality, we always know. I mean there are rare moments that you forget you’re on camera, but you are pretty much aware of what you’re doing. I had a way of solving it for myself, because my feelings were exactly like his, so I had that connection, I was so bitter about it. I was more in love with love, I think I had the same feeling; I just went off the other side.
RL: How long did your healing take?
SC: I think it’s how I said it was. You never heal; it doesn’t go away.
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