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It's goal 8-8-9. Earlier on the show, actor Anthony Anderson, NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah. Coming up, Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David, Academy Award winning director Barry Levinson. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
Our number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. Barry Levinson is going to come out of the green room shortly. And again, he just directed Robert De Niro in the Alto Nights.
Available now in theaters nationwide. We spoke about that movie with Robert De Niro last week, the director Barry Levinson. He's directed De Niro before in Wag the Dog with Dustin Hoffman. Dustin Hoffman's also been in another movie of note of Barry Levinson directed called Rain Man. We'll talk about Rain Man with him.
He directed Robert Redford in the Natural. One of my favorite sports movies ever. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. I can't wait to ask Barry about that. Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam.
Diner. You know, there's so much to talk about with him. He's a Baltimore guy, so might bring up some O's as well with him. He's about to join us on the program. It's been a fun day so far. Yes, 30 minutes to Levinson.
Should I say that during the interview? Let's go to the phone lines. Phone lines are lit. Ben in Mississippi, we'll take your call. What's up, Ben? How you been?
Rich and crew. It's been a long time. It's been too long. It's been too long for everybody.
What's up? Well, last time we talked, I tried to warn you about a quarterback, some guy named Aaron Rodgers, class of New York Jets, and you pooped that idea, and well, that's that. But I just wanted to call and say I now know how you feel being a New York Jets fan.
Because we signed Russell Wilson. Let me be the first one to tell you. It's over. He can't play anymore. He's done.
You know how I know this Rich and everyone else is going to find out? The Pittsburgh Steelers decided. They had the option to sign Russell Wilson and Mason Rudolph. And they picked Mason Rudolph. What does that tell us? That they believe that Mason Rudolph is a better player now than Russell Wilson.
And that's very concerning. But the thing is, we're going to find that out shortly enough because Jameis Winston is going to beat out Russell Wilson. And when he does that, it'll be officially over. And then we can move on. I just don't think there's going to be… And my question as a Giants fan can come to an end, I hope. Ben, here's the thing.
There won't be a competition. It's going to be Russ and Jameis will be there. And if Russ struggles, it'll be Jameis. We'll see what they do in the draft.
And here's the scoop too, Ben. The Giants tried, man. They went all in on Stafford. They went hard after him. I just think a problem is that Stafford ultimately decided to stay for various reasons.
And part of that is to try and win with a Giants team that is definitely still building, just wasn't in the cards for him. But they tried. And they tried for Rogers too, man. I mean, it's not like that they… And that's part and part. And thanks for the call, Ben.
That may be the ultimate. Because Joe Shane's response is, you know, that you hear, it's not like they didn't put anything on the table for Saquon. I mean, they tried. They just didn't meet his number.
And so, I don't know. They tried. They tried for Stafford.
They tried for Rogers. And Russ's choice C. And, you know, I'm sure Russ's response will be, you want to talk about C? That's what it is on my chest.
That's what I bring to the equation here. Let's go. You know, the only thing is that there's no nation or there's no, you know, country. Big blue.
Let's go. I mean, it could be, I don't know. You just got to come up with what it may be. Maybe Al and Dallas can help us with that. Al, what's Russ's line going to be? What do you think, Al?
What do you think? Let's go. Let's go G-men. Who the heck knows? God almighty.
I know. Big blue. We flew to Newark. I don't know. We'll workshop it. Let's go to LGM. LGM. Okay.
I got you. I mean, listen. I don't mind it. You know, I talked to one of my NFL insiders who's from Massachusetts and now lives in California. And he thinks Travis, oh, that's Brockman. He thinks that they're going to draft like a Travis Hunter or something. I don't know what the heck they're going to do, but like, it's not the worst, it's not the worst thing I've ever seen.
They got three, they got two veteran quarterbacks. I mean, if I was Tommy Cutlets, I might be looking for a new job eventually. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. I mean, but I don't mind it.
They really, again, Rich, I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't like the one year mandate. I don't think that it's good for the organization. I agree, Al. I'm with you, Bud.
And, you know, again, we got our next guest coming out here and thanks for the call, Al. He's not wrong. The one year mandate, you know, because John Mara knows you can't do what the Cowboys did last year and be successful. You can't put everybody under pressure. You can't have, you can't have everybody sitting there thinking my next move could be my last. You can't have coaches walking around looking at their wives and their kids saying, I don't know if you're going to be going to the same school next year. I don't know if we're going to have this house.
I just don't know. Which is how the Cowboys staff went around their entire season last year. And, you know, the owners know that, but they also know what's happened the last few years is not acceptable to the fan base.
And Dayball, Dayball knows what he's doing. It's just that he hasn't had, I mean, he had Daniel Jones playing well, and then that thing just fell apart. And they tried for Stafford. They tried for Rodgers. Russ is definitely a plan C. There's no question about it. We'll see what does happen in the draft, but he's not wrong, Al, that if John Mara can see enough green shoots this year. And I think Travis Hunter is one heck of a green shoot, if you can get him. If he sees enough of green shoots, because I know they like the coach and the GM, they clearly like him. They stuck with him and the coach. So if they understand, we tried for Stafford, we tried for Rodgers, it didn't work out. Those are the perfect bridge guys that we could get. And, you know, Stafford's more of a bridge than Rodgers because we assume he's got more years left than Rodgers.
His game is definitely more closer to the Stafford we know than the Rodgers that we used to know. And he just says, this is the plan. It's not optimum, but it's enough. Let's see what you can do. Can you coach this up? Can you coach this up to make sure we're playing meaningful games in week 15, 16, 17, and 18?
Can you do that? If you do that, then we're good. Let's figure out who the next quarterback is and go and find him and start it again. I know there are some fans that are like, well, if that's the way you're looking at it, just blow them out and start from scratch now.
It's easier said than done, you know, but it's a tough spot for them to be in. We'll see what happens in the draft. Let's take a break coming out of our green room now. I cannot wait to talk to this man.
I'm such a big fan of his movies, The Natural, and obviously the latest one, The Alto Knights, and clearly Rain Man and more. Coming up next, Barry Levinson here on The Rich Isaac Show. This episode brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game?
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Savings vary, subject to terms, conditions, and availability. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. Back here on The Rich Eyes and Show, here on the Roku Channel, our radio audience will join us in just a couple minutes time. So it's time to sneak in a clip of the Alto Knights, which is available now in theaters nationwide. The director of this film, the Academy Award winner, and somebody I've been a fan of for so long, Barry Levinson, is here on the program. Good to see you, Barry. Thank you.
Nice to be here. So let's take a look at this clip. By the way, this is something I've never said before in the 10-plus year history of the show. When we talked with Robert De Niro about this last week, we were talking about how he's in the movie not once, but twice as two different characters. And here is Robert De Niro and the Alto Knights available now in theaters nationwide, the director Barry Levinson's work here. Not your first rodeo with De Niro, but De Niro times two. I imagine it is, right?
Yeah. He's incredible to work with, you know, because there's a real spontaneity about him. And you think, well, then he just does that. But he works at it, he goes over it, and we discuss scenes. And it's rather, you know, a period of time of just absorbing it, and then ultimately we'll do the scene, and then he may add lines to it.
But there's a lot of preparation that goes into it. And, you know, it's remarkable. Barry Levinson here on the Rich Eisen Show, our radio audience just rejoined us.
We have the Alto Knights. We just showed a clip. Robert De Niro playing not one, but two gangsters in it.
And it's available in theaters nationwide. We just showed a clip. And so, you know, De Niro was on last week, Barry, and he was talking about how he had to really think hard about, do I want to do both characters? Where did that idea come from that he would play not only Vito Genovese, but also Frank Costello in the same script, same movie?
The idea originally, I think, was Irwin Winkler, who's the producer. And when we got a draft of it, and he read it, he said, yeah, I think this is really good. And we were talking about, then who's going to play the other guys, because originally he would do Frank Costello. And Irwin said, what do you think, I think he can play both roles? He said, well, I mean, he is one of the great actors.
It's not like, well, this is going to be risky, but we gave it to Bob. And he said, well, let me, he was intrigued. He said, give me a couple of days. Let me, let me, let me think this over. And then he said, yes.
And then we moved on from there. But I imagine, you know, obviously it's a challenge for him, but you as a director, I mean, doesn't that change so much for you as a director? Well, I mean, you have to, you have to find the way that you're going to handle it. And so it'll, it'll take a part of two days because you have to do one side, you got to turn around, do the other side. Can't do it simultaneously. You can't, you know, take all this makeup, put the other makeup on and run back on the set. So it was always two days to do the scenes where they're together to, to, to accomplish that.
And then I imagine to post it, to make it look like they're talking to each other. That's another, that's another thing. Yeah, then you have to put that together and you want it to be loose enough that it feels like it's two different people. So they can overlap, which we had a workout.
How can we do that? So it has a spontaneity to it because you don't want to, you don't want the scene to just become mechanical. You know, then you're just like, oh, we'll do this, we'll do that.
So you have to find the way that it feels as spontaneous as possible. Wag the Dog, was that the first time you worked with De Niro? Was that the first time you ever, that film? I think the first time was in, I think it was Sleepers, I believe. That was the first time. And what, what is it like to go through a script with Robert De Niro?
Barry, you're laughing. What's that like? It's a good process. I mean, I have to say that as, and I mentioned to you, it's, you, you'll work on it. We'll go over a scene, whatever the scene may be, talk about some of the things, make modifications to it. So then you come to the, you know, to the set and then other things happen. So he's comfortable enough in the character.
That's the key to the whole thing. So again, The Alto Knights is available now in theaters nationwide. Robert De Niro, Debra Messing as well, and a terrific cast. Everyone should go check this film out. My gosh, there's so much to talk with you about here from one of my favorite sports movies of all time, The Natural. Some of my favorite movies, also Rain Man, Diner, Good Morning Vietnam, television, Homicide, Oz. So to try and boil it all down, we have a segment called Celebrity True or False, where we choose items that have been talked about about your work that are on the internet.
We ask if they're true or false or not. And again, there's great production value to start it off. Hit it. Celebrity true or false?
You can't handle the truth! And I always love showing production value to a man like you, Barry Levinson. That's it right there. So first up, true or false, Barry Levinson, you were inspired to write the movie Diner due to an offhand comment made by Mel Brooks. Is that true?
True. Yeah. So where was this? How did this happen? I did two films with him, a silent movie and high anxiety. And the one time we were coming from lunch and out of the blue, he said, when we're walking back to the office, he said, because I would tell him diner stories about, you know, this happened and that happened. And one day he just said, you know, you ought to write that as a screenplay, which never occurred to me, you know. And I said, really? He said, yeah. And then he actually said, you know, did you ever see Fellini's Evita Loney?
And I said, no, I hadn't. And I said, I have to find it. But back in those days, you couldn't find those movies. Right. There's no YouTube. There's no Blockbuster.
There was no way to track it down. Right. But it stayed in my head. And over the Christmas holidays, I ended up writing Diner. Because you were telling him stories of a Baltimore diner while you were a writer on the set of those movies. Yeah, because I was working on those two films. And during that period of time, he brought it up.
It never would have occurred to me, actually. He's an amazing person. He is truly transformative for me as somebody who loves comedies and somebody who just loves that humor. I showed you on our set, we have not one, but two autographed albums of the 2000 and 2000.
There's a 2013 year old man album out there signed by Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks. And, you know, High Anxiety in particular, you played, if I'm not mistaken, you were a writer, but you also played the Bellman. Yeah, I was the Bellhop. The Bellhop who stabbed him with a newspaper and the psycho take-off scene from this Hitchcock take-off film.
Very crazy sequence. Right, where you're like, here's your newspaper. And I'll never forget the line that he says as his face is on the floor of the shower.
That guy gets no tip. And this is a big moment for me personally. So I did Sports Center for seven years on ESPN a long time ago. And one of my catchphrases for a baseball highlight when someone was thrown out at third base or at home was, those who are late do not get fruit cup from High Anxiety. Did you write that line? I don't remember. You know, it's funny. I don't know. One of the good things about working with Mel is that if something's funny, it's funny.
It's not like he has to have possession of it. Yes. You know, so as an example, if I was saying one day, I was just, I was kidding around and I was, I took the sound of Bernard Herrmann's music with the shower scene, which has this, and I was making fun of it. And I ended up saying like, the Bellhop is going here, here, here. And I'm like copying the high pitched sound of that. And Mel said, we got to do that. That's how that made the movie? Yeah. I was just, I was kidding around, making fun of that. And the Bellhop, I just threw it together in some crazy fashion. But right away, he said, oh, no, that's funny.
We got to do that. That's funny. And what's so great about him, it doesn't, it's not like, you know, I'm Mel Brooks, and this is what we do.
He immediately responds to things and you go with it, you know, so he's very open about it. And that was the great fun because we worked for three years together, one film after another. What a blessing.
And it was like going to a version of film school, but it was the Mel Brooks film school because we were, it was one of my first jobs in terms of writing screenplays. And that was the beginning of it. But he's very, very good at it and works, you know, trying to find, he doesn't like a little laugh. He said, we don't want a little laugh. We want like, they can't breathe their laughing so hard.
They can't, so that's what he's going for all the time. Success, success. You went to the film institute of the very, very nervous. I love that movie. Seriously, I mean, that, you know, Nurse Diesel played by Cloris Leachman saying those who are late do not get fruit cup. I use that over and over again.
All right, next, let's get to the movie Diner. Next up, Barry Levinson. True or false, in Diner, the infamous football quiz that Eddie forces his fiance to pass in order for them to get married about the Colts is in fact based on what one of your cousins did in real life.
Yeah, my cousin Eddie. He did it in real life? Like he wouldn't get married unless his fiance passed the test? They had the football test. And here's the kicker after how crazy that is. He says to me one time and seeing the movie and with the football test and he said, you know, it really was, it was crazy actually to give her a football test.
I said, really? And he says, yeah, because, you know, a week later she couldn't remember any of the answers. That's the problem? It wasn't the concept of the test? No, not the concept.
Is that she didn't retain the information? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, that's what he had. Oh my gosh. He was just like, he was the most stubborn individual that I've ever met in my life. He was, you know, my cousin, we were very, very close. We used to go to as kids in Baltimore when the baseball team would come in and we would go down, you know, to their Memorial stadium? At the hotel where they're going to stay and you get the autographs when the players get off, you know, the bus, you know. And he was a big Yankee fan and I was like an Oriole fan, died in the wall.
And I always remember it's like one of these stupid things to do is I was so anti-Yankee that they're getting off the bus. Yogi Bear, I got my, I got my autograph book. Yogi Bear, I'm not getting his autograph. Bill Scowron, not getting his autograph. Mickey Mantle getting off, not getting his autograph. And so I didn't want any Yankee in my autograph book. That was my particular thing.
But Brooks Robinson, he makes it right, obviously. Any Oriole at that point. Yeah. You know, the team wasn't very good back then, but you know, it was still, you have a team. Are you still locked into them now, like Adlai Rutchman in the current, the current version of the Orioles? It looks like they're having a renaissance right now. This is a promising team. There's some really good players. No doubt about that.
All right. True or false? This is great.
True or false? Barry Levinson. Robert Redford could truly play baseball, and you had trouble getting him to pull back for scenes in which Roy Hobbs was struggling in the natural. There was one time, because he was a good athlete. He was.
Yeah, he was very good. And he was supposed to strike out on this one particular thing. And, you know, he'd swing, foul it off, you know, then he'd swing, you know, he hit a home run, you know. Bob, you just got to strike out, I mean. And, you know, because we have, you know, about 4,000 extras there, you know, so he had a couple home runs he had to put in there, as I remember it. He was a really good athlete, so those catches that he was making in the field, you know, that was him.
There were no doubles for anything. Normally that's great for a director, as opposed to trying to make somebody who's not an athlete look like an athlete. So he wasn't strike out, he couldn't strike out, is what you're saying? He had to, and we did.
But I think it's, you know, you get all pumped up, you got an audience out there, four or five thousand extras. So I think he just wanted to get a, I'd like to get a couple home runs in there, just, you know, just in part of the warm up to it all. Is he really left-handed, or did you have to flip the... No, he is. He really is left-handed. So you got a left-handed guy who can actually play baseball, who's as great as Robert Redford playing Roy Hobbs in the natural. Yeah, no, we first, when we met on it, he loved baseball and talked about it. And he is, you know, it's not like you got to do, as you've heard the stories in the Lou Gehrig story, the limitations that Gary Cooper had or whatever.
Redford was very, very athletic. Let me say something. What a beautiful movie this is. And I can't get enough of it.
It's a remote drop for me. If I see it, I got to see it to the end, you know, because obviously Duvall is in it. He's incredible. And Wilford Brimley is the manager and Richard Farnsworth, right? And the music, this, that, the other thing. And I was so blown away by it. And then I read the book and it is, the book is so dark, the Bernard Malamud actual source material, Roy takes the money, you know?
And so how did you square that circle for this? Did you ever write a script where it was completely faithful to the book? No, it was, the film is very close to the screenplay and by design, because when we looked at it, it was a fable, you know? And you go, all right, it's a fable. But in baseball and other sports, there are these moments that are like beyond comprehension. Correct.
Can't make it up. And so you go, well, all right. I mean, so let's play in that world that these things happen. And of course, you know, the thing with Curt Schilling where the blood on his sock, you know, and those things. And many times when we talk about, I would say, a sport, baseball, is that we always take it a little further.
You know, I mean, he was, he was literally, he was leaping towards the top of the wall. You know, it's not quite that way, but we, it's part of the fun of recounting a particular game that was played and the excitement of it. So that was the premise of that we're almost on the end of, you know, on the edge of mythology, you know, but it's the big moments of it all. And the spirit of the individual and the nature of the game and all of that was all wrapped up in that particular movie, which at that time, there was always a lot of negative things like at that point, there had not been a successful baseball film in a long, long time. It all had been failure. So when we were working on it, there was all this negative thing like, well, I don't know, baseball movies, that genre is over. It's gone, done. But, and this is, you know, to Redford, Redford wanted to do the film.
We met on it by happenstance, actually, and went from there. And then just, I mean, to tear the cover off the ball, Roy, and then he literally does. Yeah.
Right. The lightning strike at the end. I'm wondering if, since you, again, were making up the ending whole cloth here, hit the ball into the lights. Into the light tower.
Oh, in the light towers. Was that born out of Reggie Jackson's home run in the all-star game? Did that come, the one that he actually hit the light tower in Detroit in the seventies? Was that an inspiration for that moment? I don't think so.
I don't believe so. I mean, this is the sort of stuff, you know, I can bring into it. It was the idea of just, he hits it and the whole thing explodes and it's like, you know, fireworks almost. Are you getting goosebumps hearing this?
Cause I am, you know, I thought, right. And then it's all, the light bulb's coming down as he's running the bases and music's going. And then the next thing you see is in the field with his kid. Yeah. That was, you know, and that was really trying to do a fable, you know, and sports in general. There's always these moments that happen that people talk about forever. Yes.
You know, it's, it's why, you know, to a certain group, you know, sports is amazing, whether it's basketball and some particular throw, he's falling or whatever. I mean, there's always that part of it. And were you the, last one on this one, were you the play-by-play guy? Is it true that you did the announcing? I did do that.
You know, what happened is I did it as a temp track initially, and then everybody said, well, we had to leave it that way, you know? So I said, all right. Goodbye, Mr.
Baseball, all that sort of stuff. That was you? That's your voice? Yeah. That was me. Goodbye, Mr. Spalding. Mr. Spalding, that's right.
A few more here. Barry Levinson, true or false. Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, who you are directing in the Alto Knights, and Mel Gibson, all turned down the part of Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man. Is that true? Not that I know of. Okay. No. When I came onto it, there were three directors had started it and then dropped out.
No kidding. And so I came onto it as the fourth director and... Won an Oscar. You're the fourth director and then you won an Oscar for it, Barry. The irony of it all is that my agent wanted me to meet with Sidney Pollock, who was unsure about, you know, staying involved in the project. And so he asked me would I read it and then talk to Sidney about it, you know, sort of encourage him. And I did actually have that meeting, but Sidney said I just can't see how they go cross country together and spend that time.
I don't know how this is going to work. And I was trying to convince him. My wife kept saying, you know, you should do this movie.
This is a perfect film for you to do. You know, she would always be saying that. I said no, but they didn't ask me to direct it. And then Sidney Pollock had dropped out. And then then they came to me and said, if you want to take it over. So I assume you definitely thanked your wife in your Oscar speech. I certainly did.
Happy wife, happy life, Barry Levinson. True or false, Dustin Hoffman wanted out a Rain Man three weeks into principal shooting. Is that true? He was like thinking it wasn't going well for him. He was nervous. I don't remember that he actually wanted to drop out of it.
So that's false. Okay. But he was concerned and that we sort of found something that he kind of connected to. And then that became, at that point, it sort of thing settled in. But initially there was like, I'll give you an example.
We have a scene when they're in a restaurant having breakfast. And I said, we're doing the take. And he doesn't have any lines, but I said to him, I said, Dustin, the character seems boring to me. And he said, well, yeah, but what do I do? I said, well, from all the research, I mean, that autistics, they're busy in a way. You know, they'll be looking up and how many lights are there and why is that light different from another light? Not talking it, just they're looking, they're busy on things like that. And so we said, all right, let's do that. We got to do the take. And then Dustin is looking and looking.
It's all very convincing. And then Tom is saying something to him. He doesn't respond and he doesn't respond. And I go, all right, I said, Dustin, you have to respond to the line. He said, I got so involved in looking at the things that I didn't hear them. I said, well, you have to hear them, otherwise we can't even have a conversation. And so he said something and I said, why don't you use that? So at least you acknowledge she's there.
You don't get into the conversation, but you acknowledge it. And that's where the thing that he does all through the film, he says, Ray, do you want to so-and-so? Yeah, yeah.
You want to so-and-so? Yeah. But he's not really paying attention. He's like, you said that, but I'm busy. And that little teeny thing, in a sense, was sort of like the spark to really lock into the character.
And Wapner and Qantas and all that sort of stuff and dropping the toothpicks on the ground. Just real quick, one more on this, casting Tom Cruise. I just kind of recall at the time, Tom Cruise is more of a big tentpole, pop culture, big time star. Maybe not particularly with all due respect to him at the time. Let's put him in a serious role with Dustin Hoffman. Well, he's done a few things. He's done a few things, but just in terms of an Oscar type of film, was there any concern of casting Tom Cruise at the time at that point? Or was he always attached or anything like that? I never gave it a thought.
I thought, you know, from our first meeting, when I came aboard, I thought he could be really good. When you cast Tom Cruise? I didn't have to cast him. They were cast. They were always already there. They were both involved.
That's right. You're the fourth director coming in. I came into it very, very late in the process. And I just wanted to find a way for them to have, to create certain connections, as small as they may be. And through the film that you begin to see that Cruise is now paying more attention to his brother.
And then getting more involved and more understanding of it. And that arc, ultimately, you know, came together and worked well. Last one for you, Barry Levinson. True or false? You refused to let Robin Williams connect with Adrian Cronauer during the production of Good Morning Vietnam. And they, in fact, did not meet until the premiere of the film.
Is that true? I don't know. He wasn't there when we were shooting the film. Oh, and it wasn't you saying, I don't want you to talk to him? No. Okay. What is out there is that you didn't want Robin to do an imitation of Cronauer. You just wanted Robin's interpretation of it.
Well, that part's true, but I don't think it was a conflict. I see. You're going to take Robin into this character, and then you want to design it in a way that he can... I'll just give you one.
Please. I don't want to spend too much time on something, but what happened was, here's an interesting thing. That was the key to the film.
We have a scene where he's teaching the class of the Vietnamese, and it's just not working. It's just flat. They're trying to say the lines.
They can't say the lines. It all feels fake. And so, there's a moment I go, all right, we better stop. Let's stop filming.
And so, called a break. Everybody leaves, goes outside, wandering around. There's a courtyard, and I'm walking around going, I don't know what to do here. I don't believe the scene at all.
It doesn't feel credible. And I looked over, and I see Robin. He's talking to the cast, the Vietnamese. And they're laughing, and there's a whole interaction. I go, look how real that is.
That's real. And so, I called them over, and I said, Robin, here's what we ought to do. I'm not going to slate this so they don't know that we're actually filming, and let's do what you're doing on the porch. And so, you know the basic things, and we'll make like we're not filming, and we're just doing exactly what you were doing on the porch. It was a lot of improvisational moments, and you got their attention, and they'll talk, and they were laughing. And you go, all right, that would be believable.
So, we didn't slate it. We did everything with hand signals, so they didn't know what was going on. And so, all of those scenes, there are certain story points we have to hit. But primarily, it's Robin interacting with them, and they're laughing at things, etc. And it all becomes very credible and real, and that was seeing how good Robin is talking to people and getting them involved.
And so, we were able to apply that to the film, and there's a scene as an example in it very late in the film when we were using not softballs and baseballs, but something else. And the Vietnamese character came over to me and says, I have seen a real softball with my own eyes, and this is not a softball. And I said, I'm not in charge of the equipment. And he said, well, then who shall I speak to? He was very, very polite, and I said, Robin is in charge of all the equipment. So, I immediately wandered over to Robin and I said, he's coming over, he's got a problem with the equipment, and have a conversation with him. And so, he came over, and that conversation, that actor is actually really discussing the problem with the equipment that we had, but that's what we filmed. So, it's very credible into all the things that were going on during the game, and I said, here, let's not tell them what is first base or second base. They run wherever they go, and then we had two MPs that were there, so if they go to third base instead of first base, then you'll show them you got to go to first base. And so, it had this looseness of they don't know how to play the game, and all of that stuff was just kind of play it by ear and let's see what happens. Just wind up Robin Williams and let him go. Just give him the beats and say, you do it.
And then deal with the other players as you can. I love it. And that's the Celebrity True or False with Barry Levinson. That was an amazing man, and I've just barely scratched the surface. Before I let you go, I do have to ask, Oz, it's the first major, if not period, hour-long drama from HBO, and that sparked so many, like a golden age, no question about it. Did you get Oz because of homicide? You'd already established homicide, and then you went into HBO and said, I'd like to do with Tom Fontana. You went in and said, I'd like to do something, sort of, if you will, the law and order part of it on the homicide. Now you're getting the incarceration part of it as well. To be honest with you, I'm assuming homicide came first.
I believe it did, yes. And we were fortunate that NBC let us shoot in Baltimore because originally they wanted us to shoot in Los Angeles. And that doesn't seem right to me. And so in order to compensate for shooting location, all location, all the time, that I said, well, we'll work with the small 16 millimeter cameras, not the big ones, in which we can move much faster. And so then you design the show that has a raggedness about it. And fortunately back then, NBC said, okay, that's all right.
Because it totally broke the barrier about how you frame things and the rhythms of it and the looseness of the film. And you were used to watching that all the time, right? Oh man, I was in high school, I loved that show.
Richard Belzer, The Bells, May He Rest in Peace. And then, but Oz, my goodness gracious. I mean, my wife and I made the mistake of watching that before trying to go to sleep every Sunday. And we were like, we literally said, we cannot do this live. We got to watch it during the day. We just could not just watch Oz and go, okay, good night, honey. That's right. I can understand that.
We just could not do that. I mean, we've had J.K. Simmons on here and talking about finding the depths of Schillinger. And you know, obviously he's like yourself an Oscar winner as well.
And I mean, that's some dark stuff you put out there. It was, great cast, great cast. Spectacular cast, no doubt about that. Okay. The Alto Knights, everybody check it out.
The latest from you, Barry Levinson and obviously Robert De Niro, Debra Messing and more available now in theaters nationwide. Thank you for coming here and thank you for all the laughs and the goosebumps and the great moments of just sitting there and crying and seeing dramas that I'll never forget and everything. Thank you. I appreciate it. Nice talking with you. Same here.
Let's do this any other time because again, we have barely scratched the surface. The Alto Knights available now in theaters nationwide. Barry Levinson here on The Rich Eyes and Shane. Thank you. Now let's get a sports update from Rich Ackerman. Rich? Use code Listen for 20% off your first purchase.
That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash listen and use code Listen at checkout. Eczema isn't always obvious, but it's real. And so is the relief from Evglis. After an initial dosing phase of 16 weeks, about 4 in 10 people taking Evglis achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing.
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Ask your doctor about Evglis and visit Evglis dot lily dot com or call 1-800-Lily-Rx or 1-800-545-5979. What was it like shooting that scene, though, with Ray Kinsella and his father? I mean, how many how long? We had to do that. You notice that we did that at magic hour. You also notice that when that shot pulled back and you saw those cars, you know, now, but that would have been CG. But that was technically, that was all extras that we called on the radio, come be in our movie. And they created that big traffic jam.
Hold on a second. So that traffic jam, that's a real? That's a real shot. And the people from Iowa came and so so many people feel like they're a part of that movie. So those thousands and thousands of cars that were in that giant traffic jam that went out on those two lanes, that was real. But in terms of playing it, in terms of, as you said, the quiet moment.
Yeah. How did you work that, Kevin? Well, you know, what I did was I went back to when I first read it. And so I become the audience when I read it. And when I read it, I went, I couldn't believe that it had orchestrated itself to that thing. And I had that feeling on the couch. And so I knew if I played that straight, if I didn't wink at anybody, that these players did come, you know, that's my corn.
You know, Phil Robinson is the architect of that movie. You know, I tell a story, you know, and I don't tell a lot of them, but, you know, they kept coming after me. I wasn't going to be able to do that movie. I was going to do Revenge.
And I got into a, finally Revenge kept getting pushed, kept getting pushed. And finally, I had to put my foot down and say, look, if you don't get this movie together, I'm going to go to do this movie in the corn. I asked the director, why did you hold out for me so long?
Why? And he said, well, and this is one of the greatest actors we've ever seen. He goes, they wanted me to do Robin Williams. And I said, Robin Williams is perfect. He said, yeah, but when I think of Robin, I think he does hear voices in the corn. And I don't want that.
People don't believe you hear voices. And that was a really interesting, that was a, that's a director that makes a save. That's a Mariano Rivera, you know, it's a save. He saved his movie because of his belief in an idea, you know, not the quality of actor because Robin Williams will never, this is a guy so special. But I was curious. I said, he's actually a bigger star than me, you know, whatever. And he goes, I need somebody that you don't think hears voices. And that would be you.
I've never heard Robin Williams was considered for that role. That's unbelievable. And then you did it. And obviously we're, we're talking about it today. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It had gold dust on it when I read it because I did that little intake of breath. Do you want to have a catch?
And of course I, I wept myself. Oh yeah. Kevin Costner. That was six years ago coming up.
One of the many appearances of Kevin Costner on this program, youtube.com slash rich as in show. So we've talked about field of dreams. He talked about Bull Durham.
Now we check the natural off the list. And somebody who talked Hoosiers when Jean Hackman passed away when she was in the chairs right here, Susie Schuster, everybody. Good to see you. What's up, Suze? Hey guys. I'm the only one that claps.
Thank you. How's your mother? She didn't get a harumph. She didn't get a harumph out of you TJ. She didn't get a harumph out of you. Harumph.
Good to see him. What's your favorite Kevin Costner movie? There are so many. I mean, he's so brilliant. Bull Durham's there.
I mean, I love tin cup too. I'm a golf guy, but I might have to go unforgiving. I mean, uh, untouchables. Wow. Untouchables is pretty great.
And then no way out after that. Back on the rich eyes and show radio network. I'm sitting at the rich eyes and show desk furnished by Grange with supplies and solutions for every industry. Granger has the right product for you.
Call click Granger.com or just stop by. Susie Schuster is here. Uh, women's sports now getting set for, uh, Thursday's week two. You are wearing the t-shirt of, I imagine the lead story of the program. I am indeed. I'm going to move the mic. There's the bun. Yep.
That's Juju. I am feeling solidarity for Juju Watkins and we are going to be talking extensively about how her devastating injury has affected not only her future, but the tournament right now. But the whole world stopped. I think the whole sporting world stopped five minutes into the first quarter against Mississippi state.
And, um, we're going to break it down and see where we go from here. I know, I know we first heard about it cause Sarah Tiana and you, Chris were watching it and you texted us like, Oh my God. Yeah. We were just like, Oh my God, did you carry off? I still can't believe so awful.
Yeah, it's, it's horrendous. I was driving back from hoops practice when it happened and, and then I got home. I said, I was like, rich, put on the TV. Like I got to run in and see it.
No, no, no, no. When you said you, you texted me, put on the TV for when I get home, I was doing other things, you know, other things in the house. And then you, the fact that you walked in and it wasn't on the screen, eh, it was a strike against. What I remember is sweetie. The count was Owen won the minute she walked in the door. What I remember was, sweetie, would you please help me out? I would so appreciate it if you would put on the TV that I can't figure out how to put on. I have no idea. Driving back, driving back from last night's All-Star game.
With one foot up on the side. Where I was in one car, Susie was in another and it was a race to get home first. The kids are screaming in the backseat in our car. I'm sure Zander and Taylor were in yours.
The moving violations were fierce and definitely not legal. Well, we saw your parking skills at the Rose Bowl. Oh my God. Really? Yep. Wait a minute. What I did was... What, park you legally?
No. What I did was... I didn't see her calling the 50 yard line. It was a public service announcement. Because I knew that if people saw my, my car, they'd know where to park and they knew that they were in the right place.
I was just trying to take care of friends. Speaking of an announcement, Uber Eats is delivering game day deals all tournament long because you can't watch eight hours of basketball a day on an empty stomach. Whatever you're craving, Uber Eats has deals on all your game day favorites.
You never have to miss a single buzzer beater. Get game day deals on all your favorites. Only on Uber Eats. Order now. Remember, get game day deals on all your favorites. Only on Uber Eats. Order now. Great show everybody. Catch Women's Sports Now as soon as it strikes midnight on Roku tonight.
