Peter Falk
by Daniel Robert Epstein for SuicideGirls (http://suicidegirls.com/)

Peter Falk toddled into our interview room with that gait and attitude that has become so familiar to the world on his television show Columbo. Clad in his signature Hawaiian shirts he sat down with an ease and grace that belied his 78 years. Falk was there to talk about his latest role in the Paul Reiser penned The Thing about My Folks.

The Thing About My Folks is a hilariously truthful look at family and marriage. It follows a father and son who set out on an impromptu road trip in the wake of mom’s unexpected flight after 47 years of marriage.

Check out the official site for The Thing about My Folks

Daniel Robert Epstein: How did Paul Reiser approach you about doing this?

Peter Falk: The way it happened was, I was in a play and he came backstage and he started blabbing about the play saying he loved it. I had seen an episode of Mad About You so I cut him off and I said “You’re a hell of a writer.” I didn’t want to hear anything else about the play. I just wanted him to hear that because he is. He never mentioned anything about this movie. Now he claims that spurred him to go write. So the next thing that happened was I got a call from Joe Mantegna saying that Paul Reiser wanted to talk to me. At any rate, I called him up and he said “I have a script.” He sent it over and I read it that first night because it was interesting. At about page 45 called him up and said “I’ll do it.” I didn’t even finish it. I knew right away.

DRE: A big part of this film is male bonding. Did it remind you of working with John Cassavetes because many of his films are about male bonding?

PF: No, it didn’t. I’m not good at, this is like that and that is like the other. I just see what’s in front of me and I don’t go beyond it. Although you’re absolutely right. There’s something about the reality of Paul’s writing and it has an unpredictableness that’s like John’s.

DRE: I heard about this corner in your hometown of Ossining [New York] being named after you.

PF: A corner is about right. At any rate, they named it after me. One house that I lived in is right near there, 73 Prospect Ave. I visited the house and it seemed much smaller. I don’t remember it being white. Maybe it’s been painted.

DRE: Did you and Paul guys drive through Ossining while making this film?

PF: No, but curiously we were very close to Ossining, because the film was shot in upstate New York on the west side of the Hudson. Ossining was on the east side.

DRE: What was your favorite scene in the movie to do?

PF: In this one, there are a couple. Let me tell you about the one that was one of the great adlibs in the history of film. When I was having a fight with the guy in the poolhall and I had already hit the guy with the cue stick when Paul was holding onto him. I said to him, “I don’t even want the money anymore. I just want you to apologize for causing a stir in here. Say you’re sorry to the guy who owns the pool hall.” The guy’s answer was a total adlib. What he said, I had never heard that before in my life. I loved it so much and I was supposed to be mad at him. He said, “Eat shit and die.” Where did that come from? I never heard that expression in my life. So that’s one of my favorite moments.

DRE: I heard that you improvised the fishing scene.

PF: It wasn’t that we improvised it, it was that we were going to shoot it and for the first time I had the props in my hand. I’m not a fisherman. I was talking to Paul and I wanted to understand before we shot it. “Is this the hook? Where does it go, the hook? Does it go over here? Where do you put the worm?” Paul said “Well, they don’t have them.” So I said “They don’t have worms?” The director said “Shoot it. Just shoot these guys.” That’s how that scene was improvised. I just was trying to figure it out. That felt good.

DRE: Did you learn anything about fishing as a result?

PF: No. Also there was a funny moment when I slapped the fish.

DRE: Was your character anything like your father?

PF: I don’t use anything like that when I’m acting, but my father did believe in work. He was from that generation. He had a store and the store opened at 9 am, but he was sweeping the sidewalk at 6:30. What he did between 7 and 9, I don’t know, but he was down there every morning and he loved his store. So that was very similar to this guy here.

DRE: Did you ever find out what he did between 7 and 9?

PF: No, I never got up that early.

DRE: What did he sell?

PF: Women’s and children’s dry goods store.

DRE: When you became an actor, was he supportive of that?

PF: I said to my father, “I’m going to become an actor.” You know what he said? “You’re going to paint your face and make an ass of yourself the rest of your life?” What a great man.

DRE: What did you say in return?

PF: I said, “Yes, that’s right.” You know what he did? He put out his hand and he said “Good luck.” That guy is all right.

DRE: How was doing the scene where you’re walking around the car with the letter after Paul crashes the car?

PF: That was also one of my favorite scenes. This man is presented with a letter that his wife wrote 20 years ago. He sits there and he absorbs this letter and you can see that emotionally he’s deeply affected. When he gets done with that letter, he just stands up. He doesn’t say anything and he takes six steps and it’s dead silence. On the sixth step, he’s walking past his son and he says one word. If a million people saw this picture, no one could anticipate what the first word out of my mouth would be after I read the letter. But when I read it the first time I read the script, I fell off the chair. I laughed so hard. You couldn’t believe it. I think it’s a terrific piece of writing.

DRE: Do you think it’s inevitable or even likely that we become our parents as we get older?

PF: I don’t think it’s inevitable, but I think there’s a good likelihood.

DRE: Do you see your parents in you at all?

PF: Sometimes I see my father. I think that we’re a little bit more aware of the dangers. Maybe it is less likely. I’m not sure.

DRE: Did you do your fight scenes in The Thing about My Folks with a stunt double?

PF: You know this is funny. My character lets out a little gas now and then so some guy stood up at a screening and asked, did you use a stunt double for the gas?

DRE: For someone that was on TV as long as you were, do you watch anything on a regular basis?

PF: Not much. I liked Seinfeld. Frasier was fantastic. I like this [Everybody Loves] Raymond show too. Through the years [I Love] Lucy was terrific and Art Carney and Jackie Gleason.

DRE: How about the detective shows? There’s a show on called Monk, that is compared to Columbo.

PF: Right, I haven’t seen that much, but the little I saw, he’s great. [Tony Shaloub] is a hell of an actor.

DRE: I saw you on a talk show talking about your artwork, are you doing more of that?

PF: When I’m home I draw and sketch.

DRE: What medium do you use?

PF: Charcoal and pencil. You can see it all at Peterfalk.com. I draw mostly women and some of them have their clothes off.

DRE: Nick Cassavetes has directed his mom a few times, have you and he talked about you acting in one of his films?

PF: No, but I’ve got something in mind that I do want to talk to him about and I’ll probably get to pretty soon.

DRE: He’s doing Iron Man, you could do that.

PF: Does he fly?

DRE: Yeah.

PF: Then I got to call him up.

DRE: I saw you on a Jon Favreau’s Dinner for Five and found out that the relationship you and Vince Vaughn had in Made was real.

PF: Oh, I love Vince. He just slays me.

DRE: He knows how to get under your skin it seems.

PF: Yes and I keep telling him, “You’re a hog. You’re a hog. You never shut up.” And he doesn’t.

DRE: Do you find it funny when people imitate you?

PF: Oh, I love it. That tickles me. I could watch that forever. I would never have to go to another movie in my life. I’d just sit there and watch Kevin Pollak and all those guys.

DRE: Have we seen the last of Columbo?

PF: No, we’ve got two scripts but with a bit of a problem. The script that I like the network don’t like. The script that they like, I don’t like. They like a script that takes place in the world of Victoria’s Secret so you could see why they prefer that one.

DRE: I saw you in the BBC movie with dinosaurs and Bob Hoskins [The Lost World]. What do you look for in scripts now?

PF: Well I didn’t find it in that script. Why the hell did I do it? Probably the money.

DRE: Is it sometimes monetary?

PF: Oh, yeah. That’s been known to happen. Other than that, you look for a plot that you can score in. That’s it. I say “I like this character and I can play it. The people are going to laugh or the people are going to be interested.” That’s what you look for. But I can’t put any other kind of definition on it. I don’t care if he’s old or young, whether he’s grumpy or whether he’s manic.

DRE: Do you get sent things and you wonder why they even sent it to you in the first place?

PF: They send me things and I wonder why they would send it to anybody.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Peter+Falk/