But would I do what Chili does with like confronting evil at the level he does? I don’t know if I could. He’s a cinematic character. He’s willing to be fearless, literally. So I don’t know. I certainly like him. I love watching him. He’s fun to watch, but he’s purely cinematic. He’s like James Bond. He’s like Sean Connery in James Bond. And I loved James Bond and I loved Sean Connery. But I don’t know how much Sean Connery is like James Bond. So it’s a very interesting question. I don’t know where to go with it.”
Dancing With Uma Thurman: “I decided that I wanted to dance but only with a caveat of what would be the correct dance for the character. And, for me, the correct dance was something very cool, very low key, a Samba, Bossa Nova, Cha-Cha, you know, a Brazilian sound. Like maybe Jobim, Stan Getz, Sergio Mendez, you know, something very cool and low key like James Bond. So I thought if they agree to that - and at first they wouldn’t agree to that. And I said, ‘Well, then I don’t really want to dance.’ And then they found a song that the Black Eyed Peas wrote with Sergio Mendez. So suddenly my idea was very hip (laughing). I just trust classic stuff and it’s always ‘old is new again.’ But when the Black Eyed Peas did this, it turned it all around. Then they suddenly thought I was a genius for thinking of such a great idea. And then we got a choreographer.
I just trust Uma and I to dance in character because, if you look at “Pulp Fiction,” we were dancing higher than a kite and people that were hell bent for death. And in this movie, we’re dancing for life. Do you know what I mean? So two different ideas. That was novelty dancing. This was more traditional dancing. So I just trusted that she’s a great actress and that we would dance in character.”
The Lengthy Period Between “Get Shorty” and “Be Cool:” “The reason it took as long as it did was Elmore Leonard was quite inspired by the movie. He wrote the book, of course, “Get Shorty,” and they adapted that. But because of the movie, he decided that he wanted to a sequel book called “Be Cool.” So it took him several years to do that. And when that was done, then the bright idea of doing a movie from that happened. So it was really Elmore’s timing on that.
I don’t think I would’ve ever wanted to do a sequel arbitrarily. You have to have a good reason to do one. And Dutch is a good enough reason for me. He’s a smart and clever writer. I caught on when he caught on.”
The Secret to Playing Chili Palmer: “Well, he’s kind of an American version of James Bond in a way - street James Bond. Cool is an interpretive thing but I think in the case of Chili being cool, is that he’s fearless. He’s smart. Smart enough to handle any given situation and perceptive enough to handle a more sensitive situation. So he’s cool in that he’s got it made.
We put him in these situations where he can be the ultimate non-responder or the ultimate clever mover. So when we have a set up like that, as long as you’re convinced of how to portray it, it’s quite fun. And it’s funny you say that because Dustin Hoffman and Sean Connery are completely fascinated with this character. And Dustin in particular was like, “Well, what’s the secret? What do you do?” And my answer to that was, “Don’t forget Chili loves movies. And he loves iconic figures in movies.” In other words, he’s a complete romantic about music, about movies, about the arts. Even though he’s this tough shylock maybe hit man type guy, he’s also fascinated with the arts. So you’ve got a guy who might have illusions of what Cary Grant might do in a situation, or what James Bond might do. He’s set up to be the ultimate cinematic character within a cinematic concept.”
Page 2: John Travolta on Beating Up The Rock and Working with Vince Vaughn
