Actors Colin Firth, Nicolas Cage, Morgan Freeman, Peter Sarsgaard, Stanley Tucci and Christopher Waltz answered James Lipton-esque questions — “Why do you act?†— from The Hollywood Reporter during a roundtable interview-cum-discussion. Freeman, the group’s elder statesman at 72, kept things from getting too armchair artsy-fartsy, saying “Isn’t there a big, 800-pound gorilla missing here? Money, money, money,†when the group was discussing the costs and benefits of a career in acting. He also clipped Cage’s wings when he was boasting about drinking between scenes while filming Leaving Las Vegas.
Cage: The other thing is, I wasn’t sure I could play the part totally sober, which I was. In “Leaving Las Vegas,†I had a few drinks between scenes to get to a certain feeling, to get to a certain truth. But with this I was trying to look at it more impressionistically from a landscape of maybe 25 years ago to see what would come out of that filter of my imagination.
Freeman: Did you ever try crack?
Cage: No.
Freeman: You should. (Laughs.)
We sincerely hope that it was knowing laughter, not just normal Morgan Freeman cutting-you-down-to-size laughter.
Awards Watch: Actors roundtable [THR via NYT/Carpetbagger]