Steve MARTIN
MY LIFE IN MOVIES The Man With Two Brains is Bringing Down the House in his new book about his career in films.
f you were Steve Martin, where would you put your Oscar?
The problem, he explains, is that displaying it with his other awards on his library bookshelf seems “too overbearing.” But if he hides it behind him during Zoom interviews, it’s suddenly in view every time he gets up or shifts in his seat. The solution? Keep it on his desk, just off-screen.
“I’m quite proud of this Oscar,” he says while admiring it. “I got it in 2013 for my body of work, which means the Academy looked at everything I did.”
Now his fans can do the same. In the book Number One Is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other Diversions
(available Nov. 15), Martin, 77, shares anecdotes from his remarkable 40-year movie career.
The recollections reveal a delightfully witty performer who evolved from in-awe actor in 1979’s The Jerk to reliable comedy star—i.e., No. 1 on the daily production call sheet—in classics such as Roxanne (1987), Parenthood (1989), Father of the Bride (1991) and 2003’s Bringing Down the House.
But unlike his 2007 bestselling memoir, Born Standing Up, Martin chose to illustrate his cinematic legacy: Every story is brought to life courtesy of The New Yorker
cartoonist Harry Bliss.
“I thought this was an ideal format because my film career didn’t really have an arc— there was nothing to tell but
Imild amusements,” says Martin, who is chatting from his home in New York City’s Upper West Side, where he lives with his wife of 15 years, writer Anne Stringfield, and their daughter, Mary.
Because Martin never kept a journal on set and doesn’t revisit his films, he pulled from memory. Bliss, however, did intense research to ensure that the images looked authentic. “My fear was that I was going to do caricatures instead of portraits,” he says. So after Martin relayed a poignant scene from, say, 1987’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Bliss watched the movie and photographed co-star John Candy to capture the right expression. “I wanted to do the actors justice.”
For Martin, the book was purely for fun. “I think these stories are worth telling and people might want to hear them,” he says. “I’ve actually got another 30 in me!”
How did you determine which movies to include in your book? I tried to put in the more popular movies, like Planes, Trains and Automobiles. But there also had to be a story or an anecdote with a punchline in the end. And one memory jogs the memory of another. I did have something written for [the 1991 comedy] L.A. Story,
but by the time I remembered it, it was too late to include it. I also couldn’t include a story from [Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
co-star] Michael Caine. But that’s because it was a joke at someone else’s expense.
You grew up in Inglewood, California, not far from Hollywood. Which movies or actors specifically influenced you? “Influenced” is the wrong word—it means you listen to Merle Travis and want to play guitar like Merle Travis. I didn’t want to copy anyone;
I wanted to start from scratch. But there were comedy movies that made me say, “I want to be in that business and make funny movies too.” Certainly the ones from Laurel and Hardy and Jerry Lewis.
Who helped elevate your game?
Certainly Diane Keaton [from the
Father of the Bride movies, 1991 and 1995]. Meryl Streep [from 2009’s It’s Complicated]. Michael Caine from
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels [1988]. Queen Latifah and Bringing Down the House. They show up on time and get the job done. I also like working with people who say, “What if we did this?” And then you throw in your elements and it’s a big montage of creative forces.
You hosted eight times from 1976 to 1980. How did those experiences play into a film like [1986’s] Three Amigos!, which co-starred alums Martin Short and Chevy Chase? It had no effect on my performance, but everyone was connected to SNL in some way. I had the idea and there was a script. I gave it to[ SNL creator] Lorne Michaels and he said, “We have to rewrite it.” We never thought of it as an SNL movie. It’s just a coincidence that Marty and Chevy were in it. They only did the show for one year!
Saturday Night Live
Were you disappointed that the movie wasn’t a hit out of the gate? Yeah! It was a mild hit. But I have a motto that you never really know if a movie will be good until 10 years after its release.
To that end,
Automobiles is now a classic. Do you get nostalgic for it around Thanksgiving like everyone else does? Only because I start to hear feedback about it on the street and on social media. But it’s really [writer-director] John
Planes, Trains and
Hughes’ movie. I think he wrote it over a long weekend, and the original script was 160 pages long. Most are 110. I said, “This is great, John, but what are you going to cut?”
Which scene surprisingly didn’t make the final edit?
The scene is still in there, but there’s a line at the end of the movie where John Candy is spilling his guts to me about his dead wife. He also said, “Usually around the holidays, I attach myself to someone. But this time, I couldn’t let go.” It was very touching.
In films like the Bride and you are so empathetic as a dad, even though you didn’t become one until 2012. How did you pull that off? When you’re on the set with little kids, it brings out the father in you. My experiences actually served as an introduction to parenting. There’s a scene in Parenthood where my character is looking for his son’s retainer in a restaurant garbage dump. I remember saying to [director] Ron Howard, “This actually happens?” He said, “Yeah, it happened to me.”
Parenthood, Father of Cheaper by the Dozen,
Why do you think was such a crowd pleaser? [Co-writers and director] Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer had a visual talent. Like, she knew to put a really nice kitchen in the house even though it was above the family’s pace. I also think the subject matter is universal. Our movie was a remake [of a 1950 comedy], and they just made it again. There’s always going to be a new generation of fathers and daughters.