By Bob Fischbach
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

In person he’s soft-spoken, gentle, with the demeanor of a kindly, slightly mischievous grandfather.

But Martin Landau’s 50-year career in movies and television spans a wide range of memorable characters, many of them less than kind: A homicidal henchman atop Mount Rushmore in Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” (1959). A has-been producer in HBO’s “Entourage” in 2006, his sixth Emmy-nominated turn. Rollin Hand, master of disguises on television’s “Mission: Impossible,” for which he won a Golden Globe in 1968. Bela Lugosi in Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood,” for which he won the Academy Award in 1995.

Last week Landau, 78, was in town for the local premiere of Omaha screenwriter-director Nik Fackler’s film, “Lovely, Still,” about an elderly grocery sacker who falls in love. Landau talked about his beginnings with Hitch, his work with Fackler and trends in the movie industry.

Q. How did that first key role with Hitchcock come about?
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A. I was in a play called “Middle of the Night.” (When the touring show arrived in Los Angeles) I remember I had a line about Frank Sinatra, and he was sitting in the fifth row. A fellow called Hitchcock also happened to be there. Afterward, he called and cast me in “North by Northwest.”

We had tea one day in a dressing room, and I asked Hitchcock, “How did you see me in this role?” He said (Landau imitates Hitchcock perfectly), “Mahtin, you have a circus going on inside you. Obviously if you can play that part in the theater, you can do this little trinket.”

Q. You’ve worked with so many great directors: Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Joe Mankiewicz, George Stevens, Henry Hathaway, Woody Allen. Is there a way of working you find many great directors have in common?

A. Good directors will create a playground for you and then let you play.

Before the auction scene, in “North by Northwest,” I noticed Hitchcock was whispering to Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason. But not me. I asked him, “Is there anything you want to say to me?” He said, “I’ll only tell you if I don’t like what you’re doing.” At that point I felt I was on the right track.

Woody doesn’t direct anybody. In “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” it was like (Landau does a perfect Woody Allen impersonation), “Start in the kitchen, then go to the living room, you can pause by the window, but then end up in the kitchen. You’ll find your way,” and he walks away. He wants to get home early.

The scene where I tell Jerry Orbach I’ve committed murder, we shot it twice. I’m just getting warmed up in finding the emotions. I said let’s go again. He said, “Oh, no, no, no. Both of those takes are beyond my expectations. Don’t give me a third one. I’ll have a nervous breakdown.” I could have done it better. I learned to pull out the stops on the first take.

Q. When you choose a role, how important is the director compared to, say, the script or the character?

A. The arc of the character is very important to me. I want a character who goes somewhere.

Q. That brings us around to “Lovely, Still” and Nik Fackler. What did you see in the early version of that screenplay that made you decide to talk to a young, novice director?

A. I get a lot of scripts of the old guy sitting at a table and grunting — functionary old-men characters who don’t go anywhere, cliché. I read this one, I liked it. The script had bumps in it. I said I’d like to meet the director. I figured he was 50, 60. I mean, who writes an old love story? They told me he was 22 and from Omaha. My eyes uncrossed after a period of time, and Nik and I ended up having a five-hour lunch. I said, “If you’re willing to work with me on this, I’ll do your movie.”

For two months we worked on the script by phone. We had a short list to play the lead actress: Ellen Burstyn, Gena Rowlands, Blythe Danner. It never got past Ellen. Several days after I sent her the script, Ellen called me. She said, “Marty, what the (bleep) are we gonna do in Omaha, Nebraska, for seven weeks?”

Q. So, how was that six or seven weeks in Omaha?

A. I love the city. The locations were great. And the steaks are great. I mean, the Old Market, beautiful. The city cooperated with us so well. That love scene on the (Leahy Mall) footbridge, when they turned on the million Christmas lights for us on cue, they had eight guys pulling switches. That was the first time in history they turned those lights off during Christmas season. For us. What a nice gesture.

Q. How do you feel about the finished film?

A. I think it plays pretty darn well. I like it a lot. It relates to something real.

Q. This kind of small, intimate story is getting more rare at the movies.

A. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do it. It’s a movie about people. Hollywood today is about opening weekends, car crashes, fireballs, guys climbing buildings. There’s not a lot of character in those movies. “North by Northwest” was a big movie, but it’s character-driven. You get to know Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, you know who these people are.

In a well-written movie, dialogue is what a character is willing to reveal to another. The 90 percent he isn’t willing to reveal is what I do for a living. But dialogue now is for the audience. This is stupid, characters saying things they’d never say in a million years.

Q. What would you say are Fackler’s strengths as a writer-director?

A. Imagination. Ability to dream. Courage.

Q. What advice might you give him for growth as a writer-director?

A. Pay attention to everything. Play your music, draw your pictures. Observe life. Participate in it. Be out there. Don’t isolate yourself.

Contact the writer:

444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com
http://www.omaha.com/article/20091109/ENTERTAINMENT/711099929