Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel is an American actor and producer. An Oscar and Golden Globe Award nominee, he has appeared in films such as Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma & Louise, Peter Yates' Mother, Jugs & Speed, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The Piano, Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant, Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk till Dawn, James Mangold's Cop Land, Paolo Sorrentino's Youth. Along with actors Al Pacino and Ellen Burstyn, he...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth13 May 1939
CityBrooklyn, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I was in a cave and I needed to draw some pictures on the wall about what my journey was, and that drive, that need, led me to acting.
So I reached into my bag of tricks and looked for what was funny to me, what would enable me to have a good time and have a lot of fun with this guy.
Well, there's so much in that film that is so important to my living, you know? So many issues raised in that film, one of them you just mentioned.
Well unfortunately I didn't work with Andre much. But rap is a strong presence in the culture and anyone is going to grateful for its appearance, grateful for any kind of music that has the kind of effect that rap has had on us all.
It's a very, very fascinating story for me, cause it's about a man who's been doing bad; bad things. And he's a father of four children in parochial school, he's a lieutenant of detectives, but he's in conflict with himself and with trying to do what's right.
I thought Jack's directing job was the best thing about the film.
That period was a very flowery one for me. It was the beginning of something, of a movement you might say. I was lucky enough to be there.
I read Get Shorty and Be Cool. He's a wonderful writer. He has his ear and his pen on the pulse of these kinds of characters he's writing about.
Well, we are not doing that film actually. At least I am not at the moment, but we are making an effort to get it done; I don't know whether we'll get the financing for it. The old story we had it, it fell out of place and this and that.
I read, I think, I play, I work. And all that thinkingand playing and reading comes into my art. I couldn't really sithere and delineate for you what the thought process is. I can perhapssay that literature, psychoanalysis and theater have been very valuableexperiences that have informed and nourished me along the way.
I mean, you work and you try and find the work that suits you the best and you enjoy the most.
Well, you sort of get out of the pool room, you get out of the Marine Corps, you get out and read some literature, you become involved with people who also want to know and are ready to share some ideas about literature and thoughts, and it becomes nourished that way.
Then I heard this genius teacher Stella Adler - I recommend you read anything you might find about her and if you have anyone interested in theatre, you get them one of her books.
Uhm, I'm the one wanting the lessons! I don't want to say too much about it because I'd rather have you see the movie, but he's trying to find his music.