BILLY CRYSTAL
The legendary comedian on his riotous screen career.
The comedy icon behind Harry, Mike Wazowski and Morty the Mime.
He made a whole deli feel awkward with Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally and revolutionised Monstropolis’ power supply in Monsters, Inc., but now comedy legend Billy Crystal is mixing funny with feels alongside Tiffany Haddish in his fourth directorial feature, Here Today. We caught up with this versatile star for a whistle-stop tour of his enduring comedy career...
What does a character need to pique your interest these days?
It has to be somebody with faults, sensitivity and some problem they’re dealing with that touches your heart. It doesn’t necessarily have to be funny. With Here Today, I created Charlie based on a comedy writer I knew at Saturday Night Live. While writing the script,
I was taking care of my aunt, who was suffering from the onset of dementia. She was a novelist and came to me one day saying, “I’m scared. I think I’m losing my words.” I thought that a character who could be funny while dealing with a similar thing, would be very poignant.
This Is Spinal Tap is full of great characters. How’d you land on Morty the Mime?
Rob [Reiner] said, “The band’s at this party, there’s waiters, I’d love you to be in it.” I said, “What if they’re mimes?” We started to laugh, and that’s how Morty the Mime was created. I didn’t even have a name. We named him Morty afterwards. That was all improvised. It was funny and loose, and that’s my relationship with Rob.
Did you lean into that as Miracle Max in The Princess Bride?
Oh yeah. We shot at Shepperton Studios. We’d do the scene and Rob would say, “Good. What else?” I’d go again and again. He actually had to leave the set because he was laughing out loud. When you have all that stuff on your face, a guy who’s “mostly dead”, a seven-and-a-half-foot giant and Mandy Patinkin, how could you not want to play around? The fun was trying to improvise in that time period.
How much of you is Harry in When Harry Met Sally?
When I read [the script], I immediately came up with a bunch of ideas, the waves at the football, seeing Harry’s ex at Sharper Image while they were singing… I loved being Harry and that we had this amazing writer and fantastic director who were so open to listening. That’s how the deli scene evolved. Nora [Ephron] was talking about how women fake orgasms and Rob thought it was insane. Meg said, “Maybe I should fake one?” I said, “In a public place.” You could see the scene evolving just by talking.
Were you intimidated working alongside Jack Palance in City Slickers?
Jack was the bad guy in the first movie I ever saw, Shane. The whole thing was surreal; working with someone who scared you when you first saw them. Now, he was a good guy, seventysomething and labouring to get on a horse every day. I learned so much about film acting from him. It was an honour. I miss having him around, he was a great presence in my life.
You helped make Robert De Niro funny in Analyze This…
He so trusted our relationship and I loved playing the straight man because that made me funny. He would do take after take and just keep going. It was a great lesson in finding new ways to react to what he was saying. It made it very spontaneous and thrilling to witness.
What did you think when you first saw Mike Wazowski?
I thought, ‘Here’s this guy who’s the runt of the monsters and you don’t think about it - but he’s always naked.’ He’s a real overachiever and tries so hard to justify his existence in the monster world. The new series is quite terrific. I love how human this little monster is. He may be my favourite character I’ve played.
ETA | 3 SEPTEMBER / HERE TODAY OPENS NEXT MONTH.
‘THE WHOLE THING WAS SURREAL; WORKING WITH SOMEONE WHO SCARED YOU’