Dennis Hopper names the best directors he ever worked with
Known for being a wild and reckless actor, Dennis Hopper garnered quite the reputation during his years in Hollywood. Yet, he was always known for giving incredible performances at the same time, never letting his penchant for drugs or bizarre stunts actually get in the way of his acting roles. He might have asked to be paid in cocaine when appearing in Apocalypse Now and even consumed enough acid that he was found wandering around a Mexican jungle naked, but Hopper knew how to act, too.
The actor started out in the 1950s, landing a small part in Rebel Without A Cause. Often appearing in westerns during the early days of his career, he started to land bigger roles in the following decade. He appeared in his first starring role in 1961’s Night Tide, before working under the supervision of Roger Corman in The Trip, an early counterculture film which would pave the way for Hopper’s directorial debut, Easy Rider.
He also starred in Cool Hand Luke, True Grit, Mad Dog Morgan, The American Friend, and Out of the Blue, another directorial effort of Hopper’s. The actor showed true talent as a performer and a director, with movies like Easy Rider and the aforementioned Out of the Blue conveying bleak portraits of America that are both beautiful and harrowing. After starring in a string of commercial and critical flops, Hopper’s career was revitalised by a performance in Blue Velvet, and he subsequently appeared in more popular movies like True Romance and Crash.
Over his prolific career, Hopper clearly worked with a wide range of directors, from icons of the end of the Golden era of Hollywood to surrealist masters such as David Lynch and many filmmakers whose work went straight to DVD (the early 2000s was a strange time for Hopper’s filmography). During an interview with Alex Simon, the actor once revealed his favourite directors to work with, explaining how they impacted him.
“I’d say George Stevens, and Henry Hathaway, strangely enough. Even though I fought with him a lot, he had a great leanness to his work,” he began. Hopper starred in Stevens’ 1956 film Giant while he collaborated with Hathaway on From Hell to Texas, The Sons of Katie Elder, and, most famously, True Grit.
However, he was greatly influenced by Nicholas Ray, explaining, “Nick Ray, on Rebel [Without A Cause], was a big influence, just watching him allow Dean to do what he did on that film.” While Hopper didn’t have a massive role, just being on set with great filmmakers and actors left a lasting impact on him, both as an actor and as a director.
“I’ve worked with so many top directors, John Sturges was another great one. You learn something from everyone, even if they’re terrible directors. A lot of directing is really like being a floor manager of a department store, where you’re just managing all these different divisions, and time is your worst enemy,” Hopper continued.
He was directed by Sturges in the 1957 movie Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which also starred Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. Clearly, it was the filmmakers Hopper encountered during the start of his career who impacted him most.
