We never know what to expect when Cinema Retro's John Exshaw reports on an event - except that it will be from a unique angle... Here's John's first-hand coverage of Robert Redford's recent visit to Trinity College in Dublin...oh, and if you're among those of us who have committed to memory the dialogue from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, you'll find the coverage even more enjoyable.
A Public Interview with Robert Redford presented by the
School of Drama, Film and Music, Trinity College, Dublin – Thursday, 10 July,
2008
Report by John Exshaw – 18/7/08
Raindrops keep falling on my head as I make my way towards
Trinity College, Dublin, for a showdown with the Sundance Kid. On what passes
for a summer’s day in Ireland, Robert Redford has ridden into town for
tomorrow’s commencement ceremony, at which he will receive an honorary
Doctorate of Letters from the country’s most prestigious seat of learning – alma
mater of such luminaries as Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and
Samuel Beckett, to name but a few. Before that, however, he has sportingly
agreed to be interrogated by Michael Dwyer, film critic of The Irish Times,
in a public interview to be held in the college’s Edmund Burke theatre.
I arrive in the modernist eyesore that is the TCD’s Arts
Building and stand in the foyer, pools of water forming round my feet. To be
frank, I’m feeling pretty Randolph Scott – saddle-sore and in no mood for small
talk. It’s not just the shitty weather, nor the fact that I should be working
on my Hennessy article for the next issue of Cinema Retro. No,
what’s riling me – the particular burr under my saddle blanket – is the
following line in an e-mail I received about this evening’s gabfest: “Please
note that at the request of Robert Redford’s publicist no recording is
permitted during this event.†Just like that. No apology, no explanation. No
doubt the Duke would approve but, personally, it’s just the sort of bullshit
that’s liable to get me all fired up. And a fired-up Retro writer ain’t
a pretty sight . . .
This was my first encounter, even at a distance, with that
mythical creature of ill-repute, the Hollywood Publicist, and my first thought,
naturally enough, was
what an asshole! Why the hell shouldn’t
journalists be allowed to record what someone says in a public interview in
order to report it accurately? Or, to put it another way, in order to do our
job properly? Is it possible the
asshole
in question would prefer his client’s comments to be reported
inaccurately?
Or is he (assuming for the moment that the asshole in question is a male
asshole, while not implying that women don’t have every right to be assholes
too) afraid that the interview might fall into the hands of someone who’ll
re-edit it in such a way as to make his client sound, well, like an asshole? If
there are good reasons (at least from a publicist’s point of view) for such a
prohibition, then he should at least have the manners to say what they are. And
if there aren’t, then he should stop being such an asshole.
So, in a fairly ornery mood, I head into the theatre.
There’s no sign of Mr. Redford’s publicist, which is a pity because I’d like to
have given him a piece of my mind. Followed by a Harvey Logan Special in the
nuts. The seats in the theatre are quickly filled by the (mainly female)
audience. Forty minutes after the supposed kick-off, and following an
introduction from Kevin Rockett, head of the School of Drama, Film and Music
and a four-minute compilation of Redford’s Greatest Movie Moments, I’m still
standing in the designated photographers’ area like an unemployed cigar store
Indian, camera in hand, awaiting the star of the show. I remember something
George Roy Hill said in The Making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
about Redford having to listen to Paul Newman’s lame jokes while Newman had to
endure Redford’s habitual tardiness. That was 39 years ago, and it looks like
nothing’s changed on the latter score. Well, they do say consistency is a
virtue . . .
Finally, the doors open and the Great Man – indeed the Great
Waldo Pepper – makes his entrance, setting off some mild (mainly female)
hysteria in the audience. I grab some pictures and hotfoot it back to my seat.
By the time I’ve put my camera away and got my notebook open, Redford has
nearly finished his thoughts on what Dwyer terms the possible “regime changeâ€
in America in the forthcoming presidential election. Looking back now on my
notes, I see the following: “Yes … inexperienced … good … need for change …
yesterday … age is an issue.†What on earth does it mean? Maybe something like,
“Yes, we need a change. John McCain is inexperienced but was good yesterday.
Barack Obama’s age is an issue.†Or maybe it was the other way round? But as I
can’t play it back on my trusty Dictaphone, you’ll just have to make sense of
it for yourselves, won’t you? (for which you can thank that asshole . . .)
Finally, following some recollections about how, when he was
studying in Paris, Redford was “humiliated†by his own ignorance of American
politics, the talk moves on to movies and I’m able to get my act together and
focus. And so, taking our cue from the title sequence of Butch Cassidy and
the Sundance Kid, you can take it that “Most of what follows is true†. . .