O'Reilly: In the Back of the Book Segment tonight, the actor Malcolm McDowell. For more than three decades, Malcolm has worked steadily, an amazing achievement in Hollywood. He's been in prestige movies, like "A Clockwork Orange," and total bombs, like "Caligula." Some have questioned Malcolm's choice of material, but he doesn't much care what anybody thinks.
What's interesting about you to me, Malcolm, is that you've been in
the public eye for 31 years starting in 1968 with the movie "if....," and
then, of course, in '71, "A Clockwork Orange," a big, big splash in
the United States. How difficult is it for an actor to stay in the public eye
for 31 years?
McDowell: Well, I would rephrase the question, if I may, to say how
difficult it is just to get leading parts in films or on stage. I never
really worry about the public. I can't worry about the public. I've got
to worry about myself and what I'm doing, and I never really try and
please the public because I can't please them. It's not possible. All I
can do is be true to the part that I'm playing and the film that I'm
playing it in.
O'Reilly: So if your movie bombs, for example, and nobody goes to see
it, but you do a good job, and you say, you know, "I did a pretty good
in that movie," you're not brokenhearted or anything?
McDowell: No. I'm thrilled if I do a good job. I never even worry about
whether people go to see it or not because that's not my worry. I
mean...
O'Reilly: So you're a craftsman then.
McDowell: Yes.
O'Reilly: You're like the medieval person who develops his
craft and is happy just in doing it.
McDowell: Or perhaps like a gunfighter. I come in, I do my thing, say
"Thank you very much," and I'm gone.
O'Reilly: OK. Briefly I want to talk about "A Clockwork Orange"
because
it's been in the news with the death of Kubrick and "Eyes Wide Shut"
box office disaster. You were a young man at the time. Did he torture you, make
you do a hundred takes and all this crazy stuff?
McDowell: No, no. He was relatively sane when I worked with him. Also,
he had a wonderful book to work from. Anthony Burgess wrote one of
the great books of that period, and Kubrick was smart enough to know
how to translate it to film, probably better than any man alive, and it
could only be a Stanley Kubrick film.
O'Reilly: But it was a very controversial, violent movie at the time.
McDowell: Well, yes, but it was a violent book, I mean, but the
violence was the violence to the mind. There was no blood and stuff like that.
O'Reilly: No, but there was a horrific rape scene in that movie.
I still remember that.
McDowell: "Singing' in the Rain."
O'Reilly: Well, it was a little bit more than that.
McDowell: I mean...
O'Reilly: Overall, was that movie good for you, do you think? Was that
one of the things you would have done again if you had to do it again?
McDowell: I - not only good for me. I'm still living off the fat of
the land because of that movie. I really cannot, I mean, I hated it at
first because I was so sick of being offered the same parts, and then I
realized, "Schmuck, listen, this is what it's about. Take it and move
on. Use it." I mean...
O'Reilly: Right. I mean, as you said, it defined you early on.
McDowell: It's, you know, voted in the 10 best of the decade and one of the
best hundred films of all time, the number one cult film of all time. I
mean, these things go on and on and on.
O'Reilly: Right. And it's now in the video stores, and people are
renting it, and the new generation...
McDowell: Oh, millions of...
O'Reilly: All right. So what we've got now is that "A Clockwork
Orange"
-- I would have done it again. "Caliguula" probably not.
McDowell: Well, let me just finish about "A Clockwork Orange"...
O'Reilly: Sure.
McDowell: ... because it's an important point, is that for "A Clockwork
Orange" they did 14 new prints of the film last summer in Italy,
and it was the number one film in Italy for one week.
O'Reilly: Now "My Life So Far" -- I haven't seen it. It's not out yet.
I like to ask this question of -- we don't have very many actors come
in here. It's mainly a political program, but why would you go to see
"My Life So Far"? It costs people eight bucks to see a movie now, you
know.
McDowell: Right.
O'Reilly: If you've got a date or you've got a family, I mean, you know, it's
eight bucks. So...
McDowell: Oh, you've got to park. You've got to get there, I mean, and...
O'Reilly: With the popcorn, it's $33. You know, I mean, it's - it's totally out
of control.
McDowell: Right.
O'Reilly: Why should people fork over their eight bucks to see "My Life So
Far"?
McDowell: Because they will be entertained. They will go into a period
of history in the 1930s, the twilight zone between the wars, still a
time of innocence, and will be transported into a world that they will
never know or go into had they not seen this film.
It's the most charming film. It's a treat. It's a wonderful cast. It's
a totally...everybody's sort of playing...and there's no stars in it.
Everybody's playing the same
kind of -- the same weight part. And I think that they will be
entertained.
And it's sort of counter programming. In other words, you're not going
to be bombarded -- the senses are not going to be bombarded by
"Matrix"-type, "Star Wars"...
O'Reilly: No car crashes.
McDowell: None of that. It's actually just a wonderful, beautiful film,
and I can say that honestly because I saw it myself for the first time
a month ago, and I was amazed at how well it turned out. It's a
wonderful cast, and it's a brilliant little script, and it's just a wonderful
period of history that -- of innocence that we've lost, and it's
Scotland, the most charming, beautiful countryside, beautifully lit, a
wonderful house on a loch, what more do you want? You...
O'Reilly: There you go. All right.
McDowell: That would be a holiday. You know, your vacation is right there.
O'Reilly: That's right. Scotland on a loch but only in the summer, not in
February in Scotland.
McDowell: Let me tell you. We shot in March and April. Within 20 minutes, the four seasons would
come howling through. Snow, rain, sleet, wind, sun.
O'Reilly: Malcolm, thanks very much for being here. We appreciate it.
McDowell: It's a pleasure.
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