Norm Macdonald interviewing Robert Duvall about acting is kind of just a back and forth conversation that sounds more like two guys just chatting than it does an actual interview. That’s not to say that it’s bad, only to state that it’s less of real insight to anything and more of a chance to hear them talk about various things that may or may not have to do with acting. On the subject of acting Robert Duvall is very good. By stepping into his character and just being himself he can make you loathe his character or absolutely love him, or both in the same movie.
The Judge, one of his more recent films, is one that paints him as kind of a hardened character in terms of his emotional state. He and his son simply do not get along and there’s almost nothing to be done for it. He plays such a miserable old man that you’d think that he was born that way, and yet by the end of the film you’re actually on his side and hoping that everything turns out okay for him. The fact that he passes away shortly after reconciling with his son is something you can’t help but love the guy for.
Then there’s a movie like Secondhand Lions in which he stars with Michael Caine and Haley Joel Osment. He’s pretty bitter in that movie as well but eventually the viewer learns that there’s a very good reason why. By that time the young boy, Walter, has learned that his two great-uncles lived an extraordinary life in their youth and eventually came home after time had passed them by. While he starts out mean and cantankerous he ends up being the best role model a kid could ever ask for.
Robert Duvall is a great actor not because he knows how to act, but because he knows how to fill a role and just be himself in that moment. If you’d notice throughout his many roles the only thing he ever does is bring the right amount of emotion, or lack thereof, to all of his roles. Also he tends to play the part of the bitter old man quite well but he also plays the very wise old father or grandfather type equally as well. In his younger days in the Godfather he was a little muted but that could have been the effect of playing along with such a talented cast. It might have been very easy for the character of Tom Hagen to get looked past since the movie was more about Michael Corleone and his father, Vito Corleone, than anyone else.
Norm Macdonald has acted as well but it’s usually been in comedy and apart from a very few roles he’s always been kind of a bit player. His biggest acts came as a standup comic and as a supporting actor in several movies. He knows how to hit his mark but he’s not a Robert Duvall. Of course that’s not the conversation but his attempt to talk to Duvall about acting is more or less a pleasant conversation.
