At what point did you realize your own dad was a real person and how did that affect you?
ALBERT FINNEY: My dad was a very decent fellow. I think he was a bookmaker, illegally. He was off-track and they didn’t allow off-track betting in England until 1960. My grandfather and then my father had this betting operation, which was in the backyard of a house. When I say it was illegal, it was kind of tolerated because the law knew it would go on. I think they preferred to know where it went on than not. Do you know what I mean? I think my dad in some way was a little sensitive for such a job. He did it, and did it quite well. When the law changed in 1960 and they were allowed to have off-track betting, he and his two brothers had to buy a store – a shop – and that’s where they had the betting then. A lot of bookmakers all over England came out of the woodwork and opened stores. My father, when he retired, he still had the one store where as many bookmakers had gone on to have 20, 30 stores, 50 stores, 100 stores. I don’t think he really liked it.
He treated us very well and he had a nice sense of humor. He had a bit of a crisis when he was in his 60s, and he went into a rest home as it were. He saw a psychiatrist there. Anyway, I used to talk to the psychiatrist after he’d see my dad. He’d seen my dad a few times and he said, “When I see your father, he always asks me questions. He’s said, ‘What do you do?’ and I’d tell him. He’d said, ‘How did you get into that? That must be very interesting.’ I’d spend my time being analyzed by your dad. I can’t get to him at all. It’s like water dropping off a stone. You can’t get to him.” I realized that I hadn’t ‘got’ to him. Then after that, he was fine, and so I decided to talk to him and tell him how much I liked him and I admired him and what he’d given me as a boy, and how much I liked his company. He used to take me to football matches and cricket matches, and took me racing for the first time. It was about then that I realized he was a bit closed off, but he loved me and my sisters and loved mother.
He looked after us very well. I thought if he’d been in some other business, he would have flourished more openly. I don’t think he really liked the business but because it was a family business, he kind of went into it. I also thought how lucky I was that I found something I did, which I liked. And so I felt a bit sorry for him after that, but I liked him. He was a good man.
This movie is all about storytellers. What sort of great stories do you have to tell?
ALBERT FINNEY: I don’t have any. I’m not a storyteller. I can’t remember jokes. Someone tells me the funniest joke I’ve heard, and I can’t remember it within 5 minutes. I can’t remember stories.
But you’re both in films. Why isn’t that considered storytelling?
JESSICA LANGE: Because we’re just kind of interpreting the story for the writer. We are not the originators of the story. I think it’s actually the opposite when you’re an actor. You’re telling somebody else’s story but not your own. I think that’s one of the things that I love about acting is that it reveals a certain something about yourself, but it doesn’t reveal your own personal story. You are constantly in the process of telling somebody else’s story.
ALBERT FINNEY: And you can always blame the writer. “It’s not me, that’s what the writer thinks.”
Is there a story that you grew up with that sort of became mythic?
JESSICA LANGE: I think in families there is always the mythology. It’s interesting because at the end of this film when he says that thing about my father’s stories and his stories lived on after him, that line at the end of the film resonates more than any other in the film because it’s true. I see my kids who, my father died when they were quite young still, and yet they still tell stories that I told them - his stories - so it’s great. That is how a person lives on, in the stories.
Did you have any concerns being carried into that river by Billy Crudup?
ALBERT FINNEY: I did, I did. It was all done by wires mainly, but he had to carry a bit of weight. I was worried he might stumble and tumble and I might get a soaking. Yes, it was in my mind quite a bit. But he carried me valiantly. I was very proud of him. He did very well.
PAGE 2: On Fathers, Messages, and Making "Big Fish"
Additional “Big Fish” Cast Interviews:
Ewan McGregor/Alison Lohman and Danny DeVito/Helena Bonham Carter/Steve Buscemi
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
"Big Fish" Photo, Credits and Trailer
