E-mail a friendEd Harris
airdate November 1, 2006
From cult favorite Knightriders to a Golden Globe-winning turn in The Truman Show and four Oscar nods, Ed Harris' acting career has spanned more than two decades. He's proven his skills behind the camera as well. Harris made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed film, Pollock, and has co-written, co-produced and stars in his next effort, Appaloosa. The New Jersey native was a star athlete in high school and attended Columbia University before beginning his career on stage.
Ed Harris
Tavis: Pleased to welcome Ed Harris to this program. The Oscar-nominated actor has starred in so many memorable movies, including 'The Right Stuff,' 'Apollo 13,' and 'A Beautiful Mind.' Most recently, 'A History of Violence.' He made his directorial debut in 2000 in the acclaimed film 'Pollock,' in which he starred alongside his wife, Amy Madigan.
His latest project, he takes on a challenging role, I think. The role of Ludwig van Beethoven. The film opens in select cities on October thirteenth. Before our conversation, a scene from 'Copying Beethoven.'
Tavis: Ed Harris, you haven't told me this. Of course, you haven't said anything yet, so you haven't told me anything. And this might be presumptuous on my part, but I can't imagine anything more challenging than playing Beethoven. You tell me.
Ed Harris: Well, I gotta say one - Agnieszka Holland, who directed the film, is a good friend of mine. We've done a couple pictures together; I've known her for almost 20 years. And she sent me this script, and said, 'If you like it or want to do it, I think we can get it set up.' And I read this thing, and I went - immediately, I called her back. I said, 'Yeah, I wanna do it, but good f'ing luck here, man. (Laugh) Talk about a challenge.'
Tavis: What made you wanna do this? I don't wanna be too presumptuous.
Harris: Well, just because it's like man, if I could pull this off, I'll feel at least like I've learned something. And that was about a year before we actually started filming, so I had a good amount of time to prepare.
Tavis: You ever looked at something, Ed, and it may be Beethoven, I don't know. You ever looked at something - I certainly have had moments in my life where things have come across my desk, opportunities, and I didn't turn it down. Like you, I accepted said opportunity, but I did take a moment to think, what happens if I fail at this? The project is so ambitious, if I - I wanna be challenged, but if I don't pull this thing off, it ain't gonna be cute.
Harris: Yeah, see, I never go there, really. My question becomes yeah, I'm scared, it's challenging, how am I gonna do it? But I set to work, figuring out how I'm gonna make it work. I never really think about what if it fails, because you just do your best, you do your job, you hope it works, and the rest is up to whatever. I just don't go there, you know what I'm saying, Tavis? (Laugh)
Tavis: I feel you. (Laugh) If it works for you, it works for you. We all have our process. So speaking of process, how does one go about even studying figuring out how to play Beethoven?
Harris: Well, there's no photographs of the guy. There's a number of portraits. There's no record of his speaking voice or anything. There's some letters, a bunch of letters that he wrote. Tons of books have been written about him. And of course, there's the music. I was familiar with some of his, the major symphonies, but in terms of a lot of his work, and some of the piano sonatas, and the popular kind of things that everybody knows or has heard, whether they know it's Beethoven or not.
But I just started listening to all his music, as well, and reading about him. Took piano lessons and conducting lessons. Couple of violin lessons, which was pretty funny. (Laugh) We have this big yellow lab dog. And I'd practice the violin; he'd literally go like this. (Laugh)
Tavis: (Laugh) I wish I had some outtakes of that. You playing violin, yeah.
Harris: But I just said, 'Hey, man, I'm just gonna get into this as much as I can.' I put on some weight, 'cause he was heavier. And so last couple of years of his life, the film takes place. And I just got in there as deep as I could.
Tavis: I'm curious, why concentrate in this particular project on the last few years of his life?
Harris: Well, the writers, Chris Wilkinson and Steve Rivele, are both huge Beethoven fans. Particular Rivele's a huge fan of Beethoven for, like, 45 years. Since he was a little kid, and somehow got inspired by Beethoven. And part of what he wanted to do was introduce or help the public be aware of Beethoven's later works. He wrote these late string quartets that a lot of people aren't that familiar with, particularly a piece called the 'Grosse Fugue,' which is wild.
It's like modern music. And it really is a bridge to modern music. Far different than anything that had ever been written up to that point. And part of his mission was to get this out, and where this came from. And Beethoven, why it was important to him, and it just, that's where it seemed to live. The film starts, he's finishing the 'Ninth Symphony,' and he's starting to work on these other things.
His copyist has burned out and has split, and he needs somebody to - he was notoriously sloppy when he wrote music. And so this young woman comes to be his copyist, to write neatly so the musicians can read his music. And it's historical fiction, really. The Diane Kruger character is not somebody based on anyone in Beethoven's life. She's a character that's brought into the picture to really give Beethoven a voice. Someone to talk to; someone to explain where he's coming from, and what matters to him.
Tavis: You mentioned earlier, Ed, your taking conducting lessons. There is a scene in this film, and don't quote me on this, but the run time has gotta be close to 10 minutes, where you are conducting a piece. And I'm not sure you were acting at that particular point.
Harris: Well, it's the 'Ninth Symphony,' which other than the third movement of it, I think it's a kind of a compilation. It's about a 12 minute piece. It's the first - the scene is the initial introduction of the 'Ninth,' first time it's played. And Beethoven's been deaf for 20 years, and he's very concerned about leading the orchestra. And the young woman gets in the pit and helps him conduct.
But yeah, we were down in Keshkamat, Hungary. They had a local orchestra there, which they had to fill up with men because women weren't playing the symphonies at that point. Ninety-member choir. I had been studying this thing for months. The score of it. And I was real familiar with what I needed to do, and so we worked with the orchestra. Oh, man, it was a gas, man. I'm conducting one of the greatest piece of music ever written (laugh) in the history of the world.
Tavis: That's why I said I didn't think you were acting at that point. You got into this. Did the opportunity to conduct - is there anything in your life comparable? I know you played sports and you act, obviously. Anything in life comparable to what it feels like to be conducting Beethoven's 'Ninth' when you're in the groove?
Harris: Not really. Not that I can think of. Maybe being in the editing room with 'Pollack' and getting it to a place where you actually think it's working. 'Cause you're kind of orchestrating this whole thing. But no, not really. And I played instruments growing up. I'm not a great musician, but I played the baritone horn for a long time, and a little piano when I was a kid, but it didn't take.
And so I'm fairly musical, but this is a whole other realm. This guy was out there, man. He was unbelievable. And what I really admire about him probably more than anything is the fact that he wasn't well, you know what I mean? Aside from the deafness, he had all these ailments. He had intestinal problems, and lung problems, and he knew he was ill. But he had all this music in him, and he just persevered. The guy fought to stay alive to get as much of this music out as possible, and it's pretty - I really have tons of admiration for this man.
Tavis: Speaking of admiration, you mentioned this twice, and I need to go back and get it now the second time. And that is this notion - well, it's not a notion. The reality, in fact, was that Beethoven was deaf. What's your sense, having played this character now, of, I don't wanna say what's your sense. How do you interpret, how do you read the awesomeness of this guy's talent, considering that at a certain point in his life, he couldn't even hear?
Harris: Well, I think that the deafness actually - first of all, he was a great pianist. You read accounts of people listening to him play the piano, and he would have whatever. They would have a chamber situation, and he'd play for people, the aristocracy. And he would improvise. The guy was awesome. And he stopped performing in public when his hearing started going.
But it also brought him totally into himself. And he never composed off the piano anyway, supposedly. It was always in his head. He's writing down what he's hearing in his head. And I think it probably really made him, ultimately, a greater musician, going deaf. 'Cause all his focus was intense, his concentration, and he became kind of a strange guy, and he was totally eccentric, and that kind of thing. But boy, he sure got it out there.
Tavis: Let me shift gears somewhat dramatically. You mentioned 'Pollack' earlier, and of course, you and your wife, Amy, starred in that together. I was reading, preparing for our conversation, and got impressed with the fact that you and Amy'd been married 22 years. I said, 'Wow, one of these Hollywood marriages that seems to work.' You guys are married 22 years. And I was just about at the point of being impressed with that until I learned that your mama, your parents, have been married 60 years?
Harris: Yeah, next June.
Tavis: Did I get that right?
Harris: Next June.
Tavis: Like 60? (Laugh)
Harris: Sixty years.
Tavis: So I'm no longer impressed with the 22. (Laugh)
Harris: Pales in comparison.
Tavis: How do you walk in those shoes? Sixty years?
Harris: Oh, hell, I don't know. I just saw them recently, up in the Chicago area. And they're doing all right, hanging in there. They're doing good. They're great people. They're really beautiful people. I'm a really lucky person. They're still in my life, and they're excellent.
Tavis: Yeah. That's a long time, 60 years. (Laugh)
Harris: Yeah. (Laugh)
Tavis: You went right past, I'm like no, Ed, that's 60 years.
Harris: I asked my mother about it, and she rolled her eyes a little bit. But they're doing all right.
Tavis: (Laugh) So what do you do next? This Beethoven role, I wanna go end our conversation at the beginning. That is to say, we talk about the challenge of this role. You got so much talent left in this body of yours, but how do you top this?
Harris: I don't know. I decided to direct again. I read a western last year, written by Robert Parker, that had just come out called 'Appaloosa.' So I've got Viggo Mortensen and Diane Lane to play the main people. And I'm hoping to shoot it next fall. Fall of '07. So I'm gonna gear up for that.
Tavis: You a western fan?
Harris: Yeah, I like a good western, definitely. Especially John Ford, and some of the older ones. And Clint, of course, made some great ones. And then, but I'm going off to New York to do a play here in a little while, a Neil LaBute play. It's a one-character play that I did in Cork, Ireland last fall for a couple weeks. And I'm gonna do it at the Public Theater from, like, October fourth to the week before Thanksgiving or something.
Tavis: Now is that something you...
Harris: It's a great piece. It's a really fun piece.
Tavis: Is that something you need to do, or something you like to do? That is, to go back to the theater every now and again?
Harris: Well, I hadn't done a play in 10 years.
Tavis: In 10 years, yeah.
Harris: Prior to doing it. And man, I had a good time. 'Cause the guy, he basically comes out and talks to the audience for an hour and 20 minutes. About his wife, who's in a casket on the stage. You don't see her, but she's there. (Laugh)
Tavis: I gotta go check that out. (Laugh) I'm anxious to see that one. Ed Harris, I was anxious to meet you, and I'm glad you came by.
Harris: Tavis, pleasure.
Tavis: The pleasure is all mine.
Harris: Thanks for having me.
Tavis: Thank you. My pleasure; all the best. That's our show for tonight. Catch me on the weekends on PRI, Public Radio International. (Laugh) Check your local listings. See you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from Los Angeles, thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith.
Back to November 1, 2006