Remember To Be As Smart As You

I Was Living In New York, So I Just Rode My Motorcycle Up To The Set [of New Jack City]. So First Day Of Work For Me Was Kind Of Tough. I Get Ready To Get Off My Bike, And I'm Surrounded By The Security Guards, Who Were Louis Farrakhan's Nation Of Islam Guys. Who Had The Double-breasted Suits And Guns. And This Guy Goes, "where You Goin'?" And I Said, "i'm Here To Work." And They Said, "no You're Not." And I Said, "yeah. I'm Here To Work On The Movie." And They Said, "no You're Not. Get On Your Bike."

It's Like They Talk About How American Actors Have The Method And English Actors Just Kind Of Switch Views Faster. And John [hurt] Is Telling Me The Story As He's Sitting In That Witness Chair, And They're Putting The Final Touches Of Makeup On. And He Goes, "hold On A Second," To Stop His Story So He Can Do The Take. And He Does This Incredible Take. They Go, "cut." And Then Immediately John Goes, "anyways, So Alec, He's Playing The Chess." And I'm Just Going, "holy Crap." You Get Whiplash From Those Kinds Of Quick Turns!

I Worked With The Late Leonard Frey. I Did A Play, And I Would Have These Ideas And He Would Say, "i Don't Know. Try It." And I Would Try It And It Would Be Awful, And He Would Go, "what Do You Think?" And I Would Go, "it Was Awful." And He Goes, "okay, We'll Try Something Else." And That's Great Because It Really Makes You Feel Less Working-for And More Working-with. There's Nothing Better Than To Feel A Part Of The Team.

I Am Very Grateful To Make My Living Doing What I Would Do For Free.

It's Strange, 'cause A Play, You Start At The Beginning And You Go All The Way Through To The End. So It's Naturally Very Well Rehearsed And You Get A Rhythm And A Flow. In Film, You Can Shoot The Ending Before The Beginning. It's Very Odd. And It's Like A Craft You Have To Learn.