Diane Lane on how A LITTLE ROMANCE changed her life | TCMFF 2024

This is nice. Thank you for turning out for us. It it means a lot. It really does. Thank you to me too. About this movie. Uh, how old were you when you got this job? Um, 13. I'm 13. In the film. You were not a rookie actor, though, by any means. That's true. George Roy Hill I think one of the things that helped me get the job was that he could come and see me performing at the Public Theater in a play called Runaways, that Joseph Papp was allowing us to actually wound up going to Broadway. And there was quite a kerfuffle at that moment, because I didn't get to go to Broadway with it. There was a there were some, um, exchanges that happened over telegram between Joseph Papp and Laurence Olivier. They were they were they were ticked off a little bit that I got this amazing opportunity. Oh. So what kept you from from going to Broadway was this picture. Yeah. They wouldn't let me. They were they were mad and said, you can't have any if you can't do it all. Wow. So fair. Enough. And so but you'd been. What was your first time on the stage off Broadway or on Broadway? Oh, that was for, uh, la mama Experimental Theater Company. My, uh, fairy godmother is and always will be Ellen Stewart. Who put that place on the map. That's so great. See, I was going to. You're in the. You're in. This is the right crowd for you. Okay, I'm preaching to the choir. Okay. But, uh, yeah. So, uh, that was 1971 when I auditioned to play Madea's daughter. Not a happy fate for her. Um, and that was in the original Euripides text. Uh, so the audition consisted of me saying words backwards. And can I hold a note? I mean, it was very basic for six year old. And then I got the part and and what happened was I had lied about my age. I told him you were five. Yeah, it's not Hollywood, it's New York. Um, I, I was supposed to be 7 to 9 years old. Was the window. Uh, so I turned seven, and I was like, I can't lie and tell them I'm turning eight. But anyway, they we all figured it out. So it's funny the things that freak you out when you're seven years old. But. So George Roy Hill saw you. You had not done a movie before. Um, so. And this is not an ordinary movie. You're not going to a studio in New York or in Los Angeles. You're immediately flying. Did you have to audition, or did he just cast you from seeing you in The Runaways? Oh, no. I auditioned a lot. In fact, there was a recent viral, I don't know, I don't do the social media, but there was a video of me very awkwardly stating my name, and it was purportedly an audition for The Outsiders, which is untrue. I looked at that immediately and I knew, oh my God, there it is. Somebody saved it somewhere. And it's when I met with, um, Marion Dougherty, casting extraordinaire, I was in the documentary about her. She's a may, timeless maven of her craft. But anyway, um, that was at the old Gulf and Western building, which was a better time for that piece of property. But anyway, um, you know. Yeah, I auditioned a lot for it, I think. And I remember coming out to Los Angeles to and staying with George Roy Hill and his kids were around. They were older than me, and I know that he just he was getting me ready for the fact that I was going to have to cry and would I be able to on cue. And I didn't know either. And it was, uh, it was a shared journey. Yeah. Was it a difficult thing to do or when it when the time came to do it? And by the way, just to be clear, to cry, not obviously on cue and the audition, but to cry on cue in the film for the film. Yeah. That was not required in the audition. Happily. Um. And did you, uh, when the moment came, did it come relatively easily? Yeah. Has it always come relatively easily since then? No, not not always. Um, I mean, I'm not Clara Bow. She was famous for it. Yeah. Her childhood was a little worse than mine. Um. Oh, actresses. Um, but all kidding aside, um, yeah, the, you know, rehearsing with Laurence Olivier is already enough to dine out on for the rest of your life. Totally. So, um, he was such a gentleman, and he was present and rehearsed with Thelonious Bernard. The young, the young boy who is now my age running around somewhere. Um, I always want to know where he is and what what what happened to him. But I hope he's happy, and I hope he's. Why do I think he became a dentist? Because I said in the press that he said to me that I would rather be a dentist or a mathematician, anything but an actor. Uh, after it was over. But he was very 14 and De La Rue and so he, he was literally found, uh, kicking a soccer ball at the behind the assistant casting woman from France, uh, in her backyard. And she said, hey, you, what are you doing kicking the ball over my house? And he said, hey, where are you? And he was like, that's easy. Come, come, come to me. I've got a job for you. So that was his audition. And he's he I mean, he is he's wonderful. It's amazing that he. Yeah. He's amazing. Really so good in the film. So the. So now you can dine out on stories about, uh, working with Laurence Olivier. But at 13, did you know. That was the big. Question. Did you I mean, did you even. But you you knew that meant something. Olivier still meant me sweat. I mean, to this day, I'm having memories of people saying, do you have any idea who you're working with? Uh, to this day. And now we're deja vu. It's all happening again. Yes, I knew I had seen on. We had three channels and then some other channels also. And on some of those other channels, they would show classic black and white film. And among them was hamlet and um. Oh, God. Now I'm going to block on Laurence Olivier's illustrious career. But, I mean, I had seen Rebecca, I had seen and he was always the apex predator of the craft of acting. That was it. He was the one that everybody compared themselves to and said, well, we're not that. And and he's, he's the one. And, and even more than in movies on the stage. Right. I mean, it was you could. Not get to see him on stage. Right. But but every actor you worked with that's their gold standard. Yes. Yeah. And there are funny stories. And he would love to tell off color jokes about the royal family. That was his right. That was my next question. Do you have any off color jokes about the royal family? Great. Yeah. So, no. Okay, great. Um. It's a different era. Um, so then your, you know, your entire childhood, then from the, you know, from, first of all, tell people before we get more into the movie a little bit, I know we don't have much time, but give them, uh, what was the what was the situation with your parents? Who'd you live with? And and what did what would. My autobiography. Yeah, but we only have, like, four minutes, I know. Yeah. Well, I was living in New York City. I had been working for la mama for years and graduated to work at Lincoln Center with Meryl Streep and Irene Worth and Raul Julia in the production of The Cherry Orchard. So I was I was kind of amazed at my own good fortune, being a 12 year old and having that gig. Um, and my father had elected to drive a taxi because it was a wonderful way to create your own hours and be there as a single parent for your child, and pick me up at 11:00 at night when the show was over, and help me with my homework so that I did good in school. Um, all of those things. But, um, my mother was, uh, had met my father in his acting school. He before my father. Was an acting teacher. Yes. Before I was born. Yeah, in the 50s, um, pretty long before I was born. But, um. Yeah, he and John Cassavetes ran an acting theater workshop together. It was called the Cassavetes Laine Theater Workshop, and they actually made shadows together. And dad said, uh, well, he'd make jokes about disparagingly about John's kitchen sink movies. And he was mortified. He didn't understand that this was a new wave of cinema happening. Um, and he'd said that John took the wheels and left dad the chassis, but he remembered holding up car lamps and that was the the light. It was like guerrilla filmmaking, you know, that he'd have a car headlamp. The, uh. So then you go to Europe to make this film. And did you how different was it for you? Instantly, you must realize the difference between going out, doing The Cherry Orchard every night on stage and making a film. Everything's different. Yes, it's it's. Far more intimate. It's far more, um, in-your-face. It's far more, um. I was used to the team sport of theatre. You have a family. You're delivering milk to kittens that want it. It's a very different, uh, experience. Uh, filming on the street is still a little traumatizing because people are like, hey, what's going on over there? Oh, look, they're making a movie. Hey. And you're like, oh, my God. So it's just a whole other kettle of fish. Yeah. And the stopping and the starting and the close ups and that all. Oh yes. And the different angles. And guess what? You're going to do it 15 more times. Oh, perfect. Wasn't good enough. We have to do it again. And what was you know, I didn't meet George Roy Hill. I have thankfully spent some time. Can we have a moment of applause for this amazing man who made so many wonderful films? I'm such a fan of his. And he led the charge in terms of so many things. Uh, he said in his, um, promotional moments. In watching him do promotion for the film, I was like, oh, we're going to do this now. We're going to talk about it. Oh, God. Uh, over and over and over. Do you know what it's like to work with Laurence Olivier? Uh, but, um. He said that all his films were about the loss of innocence, and I think that that is amazing to have a theme behind all of his different films. That was his take on his lead characters, watching them cope with the loss of their innocence. And I think that's so endearing. What a wonderful approach to any human journey. So I've asked people who worked with him and knew him and cared about him like, you know why? And it's different in this crowd, but why, when you think of the great directors of of his era and there were so many, that name doesn't come up as quickly. And because you were talking about promotion, the answer I've heard from more than one person is he just hated that part of it. He didn't hate the business. He didn't hate his films. He didn't want they were done. He did not want to promote them. He didn't want to talk about himself. Yeah, because he shared that with Paul Newman. Well, Paul Newman didn't like it either. That's right. Yeah, of course. But Paul Paul Newman had no choice, right? No. Well, after The Sting and the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid that they did together, I mean. And and the movie that they made immediately after this slapshot, which I couldn't, you know, I mean, I love slapshot and now I'm thinking about slapshot. Sure. It's that movie about the loss of innocence. That's right. Yeah, yeah, there's a spectrum. No. But but that's actually not a hard argument to make about about slapshot. Um, so how does your life change? Well, first of all, let's get you to talk a little bit about this movie. Now, we are here as we close in on this movie's 50th anniversary. Wow. Um. Don't rush me. What. Are you going to come back in a couple of years for that? Um. How do you where do you where do you put a little romance? As you think back on your life, everything you've done, you got a lot more stuff coming up. I don't mean to suggest that you're done, but when you think back, where does. Where in the scope of things does little a little romance. Where does it where is it featured? Um, well, it was my, um, birth of my career. You know, I had no frame of reference about how incredibly lucky I was getting. You can't get luckier than this. That's it. It's just so, you know, I can vouch for that. And I knew it, and. And I felt, um, incredibly, uh, like, how can I live up to this? You know, what's how do you follow up this, by the way, a little pressure. Time magazine came out, and it wasn't even related to the fact that the film was successful or not because the film hadn't come out yet. It was just the anomaly of young people being center. You were on the cover of time magazine, Hollywood's WizKids new WizKids. That was for the release of this yeah yeah promotion. Funny, whatever. I've just been amazed ever since. I still am. I don't know if you ever get over something like that. Did the fact. The the fact that this happened when you were 13 and not, let's say, 18 or 19 in my head, that helps that maybe you don't put as much pressure on yourself to to be like, what comes. Next. Absolutely. I didn't you know, I there are people who, um, give the impression that they have some control over their careers. And I just go, how nice for you. Um, please. I don't even know what to say to that. So I'm just, uh, one step at a time. After that, you do the best you can with what the options are. You. You kind of roll with it. You. You just show up and do your best. That's really all there is to do. And sometimes you have to take mental health breaks and step away from this industry because it's so all up in your business, and especially if you're a pubescent girl trying to, you know, would they stick a microphone under your mouth? And what are you going to talk about? You know, my mommy and my daddy, you know, and that's not good. You don't want to be outing your family about anything. I don't even know if if you know or like her, but it's interesting that yesterday I was at this festival, uh, before a screening of silence of the lambs with Jodie Foster. Yes. And here we are. I loved her yesterday. With two with just, uh, with with, uh, with two actors who did great things as young people and then managed to figure it out. And we know how incredibly hard it can be to figure it out. I'm sure you've had difficulties in your life, but you're, you know, you figured it out. It's nice. Thank you. Well, she has always been a lodestar. And, you know, I remember, um, sitting with my father and watching Taxi Driver. Well, my dad is a taxi driver. That will mess you up. And, uh, that's another thing I overcame, and. Yeah, but, yeah, she was has always been just a I love her. So even before your, you know, before you're 21 years old, George Roy Hill and Francis Ford Coppola like these are your these are your big introductions to filmmakers, right. Uh, and you've worked for the entire Coppola family, right? You did Eleanor's first film? Yeah. Eleanor got to. Rest. Eleanor, who just just just died earlier this month. Um, so, like, did you is there what was your appreciation then, at that young age, for the different approaches that two great directors take, that George Roy Hill takes and then that Francis Ford Coppola takes when I guess your first one was The Outsiders with him, right? Yes. The first of four films for Francis Ford Coppola is, uh, outsiders rumblefish The Cotton Club and then Jack. Yeah, yeah. First time I played a mom. Sally Kellerman plays my mother in this film. Love her. I didn't get to tell her how much I. I always wondered, was I your first? Because you never forget your first when you're playing a mom. So Sally Kellerman plays. Robin Williams for me. Sally Kellerman plays your mom. And a little romance. She's not, um, she's not the greatest mom in the. The actor's great, right? They're the best moms for cinema, though. Oh, no. Totally. So. But so let me ask you that, then. The mom that you'll see here how many people have, uh, not seen this movie. Oh, look at that. This is. Great. Oh, you're in for a treat. It's not like the kind. We're not going to spoil anything, but it doesn't matter. There's not. This is not about. There's nothing to spoil here. This is an experience. This film washes. Over you too much, then. No no no no no, it's, uh. But that's a that's the that kind of mom, I imagine existed for sometimes for stage moms in a sense. Right. There's a that could be the case. Yeah. I just know that she was. I didn't realize that all of these amazing actors that I was getting to work with had a, uh, kind of a fan base and an expectation placed upon them. You know, I just knew that they were certainly qualified, and I was working among them. And then and then it washed over me over the years. How amazing each one of these actors are in, in their roles in this story and how beloved they were by the industry to get this, their parts in it. And also, there's a moment at a party in the film where you see, uh, I think it's, uh, Broderick. Matthew Broderick Crawford. Broderick Crawford. Yeah. Broderick Crawford plays himself here. He plays himself. And he says the picture with Ward bond. Was I ever in a picture with Ward bond? I don't know was I? Yeah. And I thought, oh so he's he's playing a not nice person. Then I realized, no, he's just worked a lot and for a long time. And that happens, you know. Well last thing I got to go but we got so was there described in 30s. Well take as much time 19. That's 19 seconds. So how patient like on a scale of 1 to 6. How what how patient on a scale of 1 to 6 was Laurence Olivier with these two young kids? Oh, wow. I don't even have a scale to measure that. Because when you're the kid, you have so much pressure on yourself. Uh, you know, it's like walking skinless in the pine forest. You're just. Everything hurts when you're 13. Um, so you have to let go of, of your own discomfort and take on other people's upon you, which is actually a break. So I was happy to live up to somebody else's, uh, criteria for me versus my own. I didn't know what I expected of myself. Some over the moon. Impossible act of perfection. But, yeah. No, he was very patient. Well, um. Uh, I guess I don't know whether I'd call this movie perfection, but it's about as close as movies come. Oh, uh, it's a beautiful film. I wish they could remake this movie, but they can't because it's a different. It's a different time and a different place. Yeah. Which is also a treat in itself to run back to. And it wouldn't be as good and as we see, because it was partly because it's been hard to find. A lot of people haven't seen it. And as it we just hope more and more people get a chance to see it. So after you see it, tell your friends, uh, Diane Lane. Won best, uh score. Didn't best score. Yeah. Won best score. Thank you everybody. Thanks everybody.