DIANE KEATON
has been Woody Allen’s muse, married to The Godfather and dated Warren Beatty. Now romancing Michael Douglas in And So It Goes, Hollywood’s greatest girl-next-door is as resilient as ever. “I’m like a lot of women,” she says. “I feel sad for myself but I
La-di-dah. It’s the first phrase that comes to mind when you meet Diane Keaton Those words may belong to Annie Hall, Keaton’s Oscar-winning character from Woody Allen’s 1977 classic of the same name, but somehow they feel so tied to Keaton. The moment she walks in the room, she’s as bright as a bulb: vivacious, vibrant and – like Annie – loveably eccentric. Peppering her conversation with phrases like “oh, man”, what other 68-year-old do you know that could pull off a grey-and-white pinstripe suit, paired with polka-dot brogues and matching hanky?
We meet at the Zurich Film Festival, where the grey-bobbed Keaton has arrived to accept the Golden Icon award. “I think I’m the first woman to receive the Icon,” she purrs; it’s the least she deserves. An actress who has consistently charmed and challenged on screen and off (exec producing Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, directing an episode of Twin Peaks), she’s starred opposite a generation of legends: Al Pacino, Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson (she dated all three), and more recently, Harrison Ford, Robert De Niro, and now in her latest film And So It Goes, Michael Douglas.
Raised in sunny southern California, the oldest of four, Keaton’s parents both proved influential: her Catholic father Jack, a civil engineer, for his interest in property speculation (something Keaton has done shrewdly, buying, restoring and selling LA real estate); her Methodist mother Dorothy for her amateur photography (Keaton has published several books of her work). Acting came along too, thanks to her mother, who won the ‘Mrs. Los Angeles’ homemaker pageant; bowled over by the theatricality of the event, the young Keaton resolved to take to the stage.
She did so, dramatically, in the original Broadway production of Hair, gaining notoriety
I was overwhelmed. marlon brando would be walking around. You were in awe!
for being the only cast member who refused to disrobe. A year later, in 1969, she won the role of Linda, opposite Woody Allen’s Bogart-loving film critic in the stage version of Play It Again, Sam. The show ran for over a year, Keaton falling head over heels. While their affair lasted five years – as Bogart once said – it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship; eight films with Allen, including Love And Death, Sleeper and Manhattan Murder Mystery.
Her dramatic roles were just as potent, whether playing Michael Corleone’s beleaguered spouse Kay in The Godfather trilogy or journalist/ feminist Louise Bryant in Beatty’s political tale Reds, gaining the second Oscar nomination of her career. More recently, she claimed a third for her leukemia sufferer in Marvin’s Room and scored a huge $266m-sized hit, a Golden Globe and a fourth Academy nom for her playwright romancing Nicholson’s aging music exec in 2003’s Something’s Gotta Give. And So It Goes also attempts to recapture some of that old Keaton magic. She plays Leah, a widowed lounge singer (recalling Keaton’s early days gigging in clubs) who falls for Douglas’ grumpy real-estate broker. Featherweight compared to her Allen heyday, perhaps, though it’s not hard to see why this eternal romantic – who never married, but adopted two children late in life – fell for its charms. But with another grey-pound indie Ruth & Alex in the can, and a voice role in Pixar’s Finding Dory, Keaton is looking increasingly busy. This most lah-di-dah of stars is back where she belongs.
Was your role in And So It Goes written for you? No, it wasn’t written for me. At a certain point... my character was supposed to be a woman that makes tapestries! I said, ‘Huh?’ Can you imagine? I said, ‘Why doesn’t she have a little dream, singing in a nightclub?’ And they bought it, so they did change the script for me with regard to the singing. And I’m thrilled. I love to sing, even though I’m not really a singer. It’s one of the most fantastic feelings in life. I think music is by far the most instantly moving of experiences, next to love. Do you agree? Isn’t it powerful? It moves you.
Your character gets emotional easily. Are you like that?
Yeah, I can be. I get emotional with music. I like to
listen to music in the car. But only in the car. I don’t like to listen to it at home. It’s too much. When you have music at home, it starts to overtake your life and you don’t want that. So I like to listen in the car, when I’m preparing for a role, because it’s so powerful.
What type of music do you listen to? I listen to all kinds of music. I really have to tell you, I listen to a lot of pop music with my kids. So I know Beyoncé, I know her music, and Rihanna. I really like her – I think she’s a great singer and I love her music. It couldn’t be better. I like Kanye West too. I like all kinds of music. What do you think it is that makes Leah fall in love with such a grumpy man? Don’t you always like the opposites? It’s impossible not to fall for that, because of course it makes your life much more dramatic and exciting because they’re such jerks. At the bottom of it all, though he’s a good guy, he’s always going to be who he is. She’s been married for years to a man, and he has passed away, and I’m sure this is more of a ride, because he’s challenging her too.
You also get to lock lips with Michael Douglas. Were you nervous about that scene?
Here’s the thing about the kiss: it was fun! There’s no question that I enjoyed it and there’s no question he did it well! So Michael did really well... Here’s to Michael! I loved it. When you’re acting in a scene, you get into it! How can you not? I heard people say that they don’t like to kiss. I think that was back in the really old days, when they would tell you, when you kissed, ‘Move your head to the left, turn right, now slowly approach him... No, not that close, pull back!’ It wasn’t like that. It was just, ‘Hey, let’s do it, man!’ That’s what made it so much fun. It was spontaneous, and that’s the sort of director that Rob [ Reiner] is. So you just enjoy it. What’s not to enjoy? Sometimes it’s fun to feel somebody lunge towards you! Woah! Count me in!
Let’s talk about some of your other male co-stars from the past. What was it like to work with Jack Nicholson?
Well, there’s nobody like him. Certainly, he’s a man who... I think he’s one of the greatest film actors ever. Ever. To me, I don’t know, he’s crazy-great. He’s also a person who tells stories and uses language more unusually than anyone I’ve ever met. He’s got a gift. He’s just kind of a genius. I don’t know what to say about him. I feel like he should be here! You should be listening to him talk, because it’s the most entertaining experience of your life. Just go and let him talk, and you just sit there. If only I had a recorder! That’s the way I feel about it. If you could let me just record him speaking, I’d have a great book, I tell you. And I tried to talk him into it, and he will not do it. He will not do it! So he’s a great storyteller, among all those other things. And he’s the devil too. He’s the devil.
What about Al Pacino?
Very different, because I think Al Pacino is a very different kind of actor, because he came out of the theatre and he loves literature. I remember I would be around Al and he would be reading Shakespeare out loud, just because he enjoyed reading Shakespeare out loud, for hours at a time. He’s somebody who loves the stage. Loves the stage and goes back to the stage, which most people who become giant movie stars don’t do. And he’s consistently done that throughout his life. That’s how much he loves the theatre. He loves the language of plays. He loves language too, but he doesn’t use language in the same way that Jack Nicholson does. With Jack, like I said, it’s a book. Al, it’s about the history of the theatre and it’s always about acting.
So while you were filming The Godfather, he was reciting Shakespeare?
He would! He would be planning to do a play when he was done, and he was always planning to do things like that, to go back to the theatre. So they’re both very different, both very interesting.
You can’t have realised when you shot The Godfather what it would become?
The Godfather? Oh, I had no idea! I just thought ‘How weird!’ The whole thing was weird. I was just this person who was miscast, and why was I there? It was too much, and too big.
I remember on that first wedding, they served real alcohol, so people actually got drunk! I remember going, ‘Wow, this is something!’ I didn’t, though. I was 23 and I was too overwhelmed all the time. Marlon Brando would be walking round in the background, and you’d be watching him dance with Talia Shire in that scene. You were in awe! Everybody was in awe of Marlon Brando, because that’s how great he was. When he died, I remember thinking ‘God, it’s like he’s disappeared.’ Here was maybe the single most extraordinary actor on film, ever, [ and he] just disappeared [ from public view], before he died. It’s also impossible not to mention Woody Allen. He was such a huge part of your career... Yes, he’s a huge part of my career and a huge part of my life, yes. He’s massive.
He’s still working too... It’s not possible! I don’t understand. I used to say to him that he was the cockroach you couldn’t kill! He will not... This guy is stronger than you think. Most people look at him and think ‘Oh, he’s Woody Allen, he’s shy.’ He’s a rock! He’s really astonishing. He’s one of the most astonishing people in showbusiness, ever. He’s had more power over his movies than anyone for a longer amount of time than anyone. He’s a miracle. Are you amazed that Annie Hall – which you won an Oscar for – still stands up? Oh, I don’t know, does it? I haven’t seen it in about 20 years.
Yes, it does! Your clothes in that film also inspired a fashion craze. Where did you develop your sense of style? Off the street. I would see it on the street. People on the street are really stylish. I was in Toronto about three or four weeks ago, and there’s so much style on the street...
You just need to walk and you’ll see great style, and look around you, right? There are some areas for me where the style is better. I do think that England has great street style.
Do you and Woody still see each other? Oh, yeah, yeah! I see him! Yeah. Oh, yes. When I’m in New York, I do. You had such sustained success, but was there ever a film that got away from you?
Erm... not really. Not really. I think I missed out on The Electric Horseman with Robert Redford. I think they had offered that to me at one point, but that was right before Reds and I did want to work with Redford. I still do.
Reds gave you a second Oscar nomination, playing Communist sympathiser Louise Bryant opposite Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson. How was that experience? It was hard for me to play Louise Bryant... It was a hard one because I didn’t really like her. I didn’t like her. She was very ambitious, I felt, and always out for herself. That’s what I felt about her, and she was self-promoting. And she used him to get ahead for herself. But then she learned the lesson late, in the movie. I don’t know if she ever did in real life. We don’t really know – based on what I read about her. But I grew to like her, of course, because I was playing her. And I do understand her dilemma, to be ambitious, to be competitive. That’s not the best part of a person. I have some of those aspects in me, and they don’t bring out the best in me. For the most part, I’ve liked
F or the most part, I’ve liked all the women that I’ve attempted to play
all the women that I’ve played, or attempted to play.
Not long after Reds, you played opposite Mel Gibson in Mrs. Soffel. What do you remember about that? Oh, getting out of the freezer when I was doing a love scene with Mel! I was so happy that we didn’t have to do it in the freezer, because it was so cold, that I couldn’t even do it. So finally they put us outside and the weather was by far better! That was described by one critic as “two handkerchiefs sad”... Well, I’m a big sap! Yeah. I’m like a lot of women. I feel sad for myself, but I always pick myself up. You have to. Around this time, you also started publishing books of your photography. It was your mother, who inspired that, right?
Oh, yeah, I inherited it, sure. My mother, she loved the arts and she was a collage artist, and my brother was a collage artist, and we all did collages! I did collages. They all liked to cut pictures out of magazines. We weren’t educated but we always loved visuals, and I still do. I’m going to do another book, and I’ve done several visual books. I did one on clown paintings – the important things in life! I ran around, and once I even did a book, where I took the photographs – this was 1980. And they were photographs of hotel lobbies! It was really fun for me. And then I did a book about a photographer. I bought his entire archive. His name was Bill Woods Jr. and I did a book on that as well, editing down his photographs, and then I donated them to the International Centre of Photography. Now I’m seriously addicted to Pinterest. And when I say seriously, I mean seriously! I keep trying to get
more people on my Pinterest [ page]. I’m constantly pinning and it’s one of the most fun parts of my life. I love it all. More recently, you reunited with Jack Nicholson on Nancy Meyer’s Something’s Gotta Give, where you even did a nude scene – something you’d refused to do years earlier for a stage production of Hair... Yeah, I did not want to get naked. It wasn’t worth it for me. What am I going to do? Stand up and stand there naked? It’s not exactly my idea of fun. So I didn’t do it. But I did it when I felt that it was something that would be appropriate for the movie, and that’s Nancy’s movie. So that was fun.
Is it challenging to find roles now? No, it’s been a lot of fun recently. Now that there are more independent movies, and people don’t make such huge amounts of money, you have more opportunities to be in more movies. That’s the way it seems to me anyway.
So I’ve been enjoying these years. We’re about to see you in Ruth & Alex. What can you say about it?
It’s me and Morgan Freeman. We’re this couple. And it’s really about a change of life for us. We’ve lived in one apartment forever and ever, in Brooklyn, and he’s a middle-level artist, and I was a schoolteacher, and we have a dog! And it’s all about whether we’re going to adjust to a different point in our life, and buy an apartment that has an elevator. It’s a five-floor walk-up and he’s having a hard-time getting up the stairs! A really sweet movie, and it’s very well-directed by Richard Loncraine; it’s just about the little things that happen as you go along in life.
Do you still get a buzz from acting?
From acting? Well sure, when I have the part. I’m working pretty regularly. I’ve had a couple of gaps. I had some low points after a couple of bombs. Would that include Hanging Up, one of the two films you directed, in which you co-starred with Meg Ryan? Is that why you didn’t direct again? Well, when you have a failure, which Hanging Up was, people aren’t going, ‘Gee, can you please direct my movie?’ So I haven’t had very many opportunities to direct again.
Did you enjoy directing, though? The first one, I really liked, Unstrung Heroes. It was a really small little family movie and it was a great experience for me. Hanging Up… I really enjoyed that as well, but it wasn’t as good. I didn’t pull it off. I would like to try again, though. I would like to try, but I think I’d have to find a smaller movie.
Who do you admire now? A lot. I admire so many, a very diverse group of young great talents... Obviously Jennifer Lawrence. I mean, duh! OK. I like that Emma Stone. Adorable. She’s great. I love her. I love Melissa McCarthy. I love her. I love Amy Poehler but she’s not in the movies enough. She was in
Blades Of Glory, though, and I love her. I love Kristen Wiig. I love those comedy players. They’re totally great. I just really love Jill Scott in this James Brown movie [Get On Up]. I didn’t expect her to be the most sexy woman I’ve ever seen on film.
What about the boys? I do think Leonardo DiCaprio is a genius. I really do. That scene in The Wolf Of Wall Street where he took too many drugs and he was stoned... It’s not possible to do that scene and be that great!
Is there anyone left you’d love to work with? I really admire directors who have a great visual sensibility. I would like to work with somebody like that. I just think movies are so much more exciting to look at these days visually... I’d like to work with somebody like David Fincher once in my life. You once said that you “built a wall” around yourself and you’re hard to get to know. You seem so open. Is that true? I think a lot of people who are performers, they know how to perform. They know how to have a simple conversation. That takes 15 minutes. But when you really become a friend, that’s more challenging – and also a more rewarding – experience. I think it’s harder for performers to become friends with other people, real friends. It’s harder. It demands more. But the results are better, though. It’s easy to say, ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ What’s that? It’s nothing.
And So It Goes is released on DVD on 2 March. Ruth & Alex opens in 2015.