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<\/a>Exclusive Interview by \u201cBad\u201d Brad Berkwitt<\/strong><\/p>\n(Interview conducted in 2013)<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cTo sum it up in my opinion it\u2019s about a matter of fact, but it\u2019s an opinion about a matter of fact \u2013 artists aren\u2019t running the show anymore \u2013 lawyers are. Lawyers know as much about movie making as they do about kindness.\u201d\u2014Eric Roberts<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In 1978, at the age of ten years old, I went to see a movie with my late father Alvin Berkwitt. He loved movies and acted years before. He instilled in me a love for movies and more important, acting. The movie I saw was the KING OF THE GYPSIES. It was a fantastic movie that starred a then young 22 year old actor by the name of \u201cEric Roberts.\u201d He owned the character of \u201cDave,\u201d which my dad stressed to me. From that performance would come the rave reviews. In 1984, Eric would star opposite another fantastic actor by the name of \u201cMickey Rourke.\u201d The movie was the cult classic \u201cTHE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE.\u201d<\/p>\n In the \u201cBook of Berkwitt,\u201d the Academy should have at least nominated Rourke for Best Actor and Roberts for Best Supporting Actor. I have read reviews where film critics panned Eric\u2019s performance as an act of overacting. Overacted? Watch him scream the words: \u201cCharlie, they took my thumb!\u201d When he screamed that line and passed out, I thought they cut my thumb off! It\u2019s a film classic, that almost 30 years, still holds up.<\/p>\n Roberts may have not gotten nominated for THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE, but he did for his role as \u201cBuck McGeehy,\u201d in the 1985 hit movie, \u201cRUNAWAY TRAIN,\u201d losing to Don Ameche for COCOON.<\/p>\n I have rooted for both Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts who have had their ups and downs in Hollywood, but from my perspective, their talent never wavered. To see them both still acting and \u201cBringing It\u201d to their craft is impressive after 30 plus years.<\/p>\n At this point of my lead-in, all I can do is steal a line that I totally concur with from Mickey Rourke\u2019s heartfelt speech from the Spirit Awards which he was awarded for his movie THE WRESTLER, a few years back: \u201cEric Roberts is the Fucking Man.\u201d<\/p>\n Ladies and Gentlemen, MR Eric Roberts with Special Guest MRS Eliza Roberts\u2026<\/p>\n BB: Let\u2019s catch the Ringside Report readers up on your current projects which looking at IMDB, your dance card has been full.<\/strong><\/p>\n I just did the Linda Lovelace story and play the role of Nat Laurendi who gave Linda a lie detector test. I am also in a new movie with Brooke Shields who many years ago played my little sister in \u201cKING OF THE GYPSIES\u201d and now I play her wayward husband in a movie called \u201cTHE BOT FLASHES\u201d. The real treat about the movie is Wanda Sykes.<\/p>\n BB: You are the first person I have ever interviewed where we shared the same birthday. I don\u2019t usually ask about signs, but since we are both Aries, do you have any thoughts on being one?<\/strong><\/p>\n Good for us bro\u2026. All I know is that if the moon can move the entire ocean that all the other planets do have some kind of force on us. I don\u2019t think we understand it really, but hell we are scratching the surface.<\/p>\n BB: You were born in Biloxi, Mississippi, but grew up in New Orleans. How would this southern upbringing lead to you wanting a movie career?<\/strong><\/p>\n The movie career actually came much later. I started acting because I had a terrible stutter. My father found out that if I memorized something, I could speak. It became an exercise at first, and then I became good at it. From there, I became very good at it and then, it became my life.<\/p>\n BB: Your first TV role was on Another World. Who did you play and what are your memories of the soap opera?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was around 1975 and I played the original Ted Bancroft. My memories were I was terrible. (We both cracked up) Don\u2019t get me wrong, I am my biggest fan.<\/p>\n BB: Your first screen role came in the 1978 movie King of the Gypsies where you played the lead as Dave. How did you get that part and what are your memories of the shoot?<\/strong><\/p>\n My best memories were my screen test for that movie. I had read for Frank Pierson I think three times. Then they called me in for a screen test. For some reason, January 28th pops out of my head \u2013 but I am not sure if that is right or not and it was in 1978. (Interviewer\u2019s Note: I actually looked the date up and Eric was spot on! The storm crippled the city.)<\/p>\n They still had the screen test at the Gulf & Western Building. I lived in a little apartment on West 73rd Street right up the street from the Gulf & Western Building. So I walked out in three feet of snow and got into the building because I was on a list and went up stairs to be told, everything is running late. At that point, I went to sleep and naturally slept all morning and they woke me up for the screen test, which I got the part.<\/p>\n It was the calmest test I had ever had, since I had just woken up. That\u2019s my best memory of that movie, but\u2026.. that movie introduced me to Sterling Hayden, Susan Sarandon, Shelly Winters and Frank Pierson, who were a lot of groovy people.<\/p>\n BB: You received rave reviews for the 1983 movie STAR 80 when you played the late Dorothy Stratten\u2019s husband, Paul Snider who murders her and kills himself the same day. What was it like playing this character and how did you prepare for it?<\/strong><\/p>\n There was huge preparation. It was a role when I read the script, which I was able to read before I auditioned for it with Bob Fosse the first time. I read the script and thought,\u201dMy God, I really can\u2019t play this guy.\u201d As he came across to me on the page, he was kind of grotesque. There was nothing that I liked about him. You have to like, or so I believe, you have to like something about everyone you play or you can\u2019t really play them completely. You can imitate them, but you cannot play them, so I thought I could not do this guy. He was so far away from me, I just can\u2019t do it. But Bob Fosse and Hal Ashby were my two favorite directors at the time. I was hell bent to work with both of them, so I had to go after this role. I went in and read cold, with Bob helping me a little bit, and then I read again which was better. From there, Fosse would give me assignments and I would come back the next week which we did three or four times.<\/p>\n Then he had me read with a bunch of different girls, but not Mariel (Hemingway) oddly enough and then, he cast me. It was the most incredible experience I have ever had on the set before or since.<\/p>\n BB: In 1984, a film classic in my book was made that starred you and Mickey Rourke. The film was THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE. I saw it the day it came out all those years ago and loved it. Your character Paulie to Mickey Rourke\u2019s Charlie should have won both of you Best Actor and Best Supporting Oscars that year. I saw Mickey a few years back on Inside Actor\u2019s Studio say it was his favorite film of his Bareer. What are your thoughts about this movie?<\/strong><\/p>\n Thank you! What can I say? I think Mickey and I get as close to perfection as you can for that kind of piece. I think it\u2019s the same type of genre as Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro in \u201cMEAN STREETS\u201d. That was more biding even though it was also the streets of New York.<\/p>\n It was the same kind of feeling that you were really watching those guys as opposed to watching guys playing those guys. That makes me very proud because I am not that guy. (Big Laugh) It was very hard for me. I had to prep and got that part in January and took until September, to lose all that weight and perm my hair and learn how to talk like that. Then I kicked its ass from September to November.<\/p>\n BB: Follow up question. Did you improvise the scene where you made what looked like a six foot sub sandwich which you ate while you shared the scene with Mickey Rourke?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was in the script, but it was thanks to the Director Stuart Rosenberg (Big Laugh). He saw me eat one day and said, \u201cI never saw anybody look so good when they eat.\u201d I replied, \u201cI am hungry all the time, because look I am on a diet \u2013 look at all the weight I lost. I love food now!\u201d<\/p>\n BB: Who was the one male actor you watched in your early years in acting that you looked up to and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n I actually have three. Robert Donat, Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. Those guys I felt were the best actors who ever breathed.<\/p>\n BB: How different is Hollywood today from when you first started in it?<\/strong><\/p>\n I caught the end of the movie making era. I got in during the late 1970\u2019s which I think the decade of the 70\u2019s was the best era ever for making classic \u2013 great films. Leading the way with the movie \u201cTHE CONVERSATION\u201d (1974 Francis Ford Coppola film that starred Gene Hackman and was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar) and the first two \u201cGODFATHER\u201d movies.<\/p>\n Now Hollywood is not being run by any artists, it\u2019s being run by lawyers. There was a time and I saw the end of the era. With the abuse by Cimino (Michael) of \u201cHEAVENS GATE\u201d we saw the end of the era where they left the artist in charge. We have less of it now even though we have say a Steven Spielberg, but he is it. But even he has to deal with the powers that be. To sum it up in my opinion it\u2019s about a matter of fact, but it\u2019s an opinion about a matter of fact \u2013 artists aren\u2019t running the show anymore \u2013 lawyers are. Lawyers know as much about movie making as they do about kindness.<\/p>\n BB: I want to throw out some names to you that you have worked with and get the first thought that comes to your mind.<\/strong><\/p>\n Shelley<\/b>\u00a0Winters<\/strong> \u2013 A wonderful kind, incredible, and a complicated woman.<\/p>\n Sterling Hayden<\/strong> \u2013 Probably the coolest cat I have ever known.<\/p>\n Susan Sarandon <\/strong>\u2013 Scared, sweet and brilliant.<\/p>\n Carrol Baker <\/strong>\u2013 Scared, sweet and angry.<\/p>\n Cliff Robertson<\/strong> \u2013 Fun to be around.<\/p>\n Mickey Rourke<\/strong> \u2013 Fun to be around.<\/p>\n Kenneth McMillian <\/strong>\u2013 Underrated and a brilliant actor.<\/p>\n Bob Fosse<\/strong> \u2013 The most brilliant man I have ever been in a room with.<\/p>\n Stuart Rosenberg<\/strong> \u2013 Really a fun guy to know.<\/p>\n Jon Voight<\/strong> \u2013 One of my true friends.<\/p>\n Sylvester Stallone<\/strong> \u2013 The American Dream.<\/p>\n Rod Steiger<\/strong> \u2013 One of the grooviest cats I have ever met.<\/p>\n BB: I know your son Keaton Simons is a musician, share your thoughts on his music career.<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, you know it\u2019s weird, this kid all you have to do is hear him to be a fan. It\u2019s not like I really even need to promote him. Keaton\u2019s website is: http:\/\/www.keatonsimons.com\/<\/a> Listen to his music and you will want to buy it. It\u2019s as easy as that. He plays rock and roll and rhythm and blues and he has a voice you will never forget.<\/p>\n