The 80-year-old legend tells EW about facing rejection and dining with Adam Sandler.
This is not true of Noah.
His movie comes in at an hour and 50 minutes, but the script is 172 pages!
He just has his own rhythm.
So I get this tome and you want the truth?
Of course!Its poetic justice.
Life, I mean.
I mean, they did that to me as we were cuttingThe Graduate.
I got two sentences out and that was it: Thank you, next!
If youre lucky you get a part and you say to your friends, I got 30 lines!
You count the sentences.
And if you graduate from that to a supporting role, it doesnt get better.
If you are one in a million, you get the lead role.
And if you are good, or rather, if the film is successful, you work again.
Thats how it works in that town.
I got lucky and had lead roles for a number of years.
And suddenly or not so suddenly, but it feels sudden I no longer get leads.
There was, like, six of these in a row!
No, it cant be.Okay, sometimes it was a heart attack.
[Laughs] Usually the death is off camera, so you dont even get the aria.
So here comes this tome of 172 pages, and Im told similar things.
But this time it was a tumor.
So the truth is, I heard that, skimmed it, and turned it down.
What changed your mind?My son Jake, who is brilliant.
Hes a very smart actor and director, and he just loves Baumbachs work.
He heard I had turned it down and said, Are you fing crazy?
So Im very glad to have been wrong.
It was, overall, a fantastic time.
I saw that movie with my kids and I remember thinking, Whoisthat kid?
He was very young, but I knew he had something.
I said, Sure.
I said Id never heard of him.
He said yes to dinner, but that night hes 10 minutes late.
My kids thought that maybe he mixed up the day.
But the bell rings, and he said he was sorry, but he had all these fishy answers.
That is pretty sweet.
I think hes very shy, basically, dont you?
Hes such a good actor, and the truth is a lot of good actors are really quite shy.
