The directors who inspired Robert Duvall: “That kind of stops them in their tracks”
Still going strong into his 90s, Robert Duvall has worked with a mind-boggling array of icons on either side of the camera, starring in a wide-ranging array of classics and picking up plenty of tricks along the way.
In what would turn out to be the template-setter for a legendary career, Duvall’s feature debut came in Gregory Peck’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Starting out in an American great was a hell of a way to get his feet wet, but the hits have just kept on coming ever since.
Steve McQueen’s Bullitt, John Wayne’s True Grit, Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H*, Francis Ford Coppola’s seminal The Godfather and its equally illustrious sequel, Robert Redford’s The Natural, Michael Douglas’ Falling Down, Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher, Sidney Lumet’s Network, and Coppola’s Apocalypse Now are an indicator of just how many titans Duvall has surrounded himself with over the years.
Having worked with so many directorial heavyweights, it was almost inevitable that the Academy Award, Bafta, two-time Primetime Emmy, and four-time Golden Globe-winning star would move into directing eventually, with Duvall helming four features between 1983 and 2015.
Hardly prolific, but street-level drama Angelo My Love, spiritual story The Apostle, crime thriller Assassination Tango, and western Wild Horses showed a willingness to try out new genres. Yet, when asked about one of his biggest influences, he opted for a master of British social realism as number one.
“When people ask me that, they say, ‘You worked with Ron Howard, you worked with this other person’. And I’ll say, ‘Well, Ken Loach,'” he told Film Comment. “That kind of stops them in their tracks, which I kind of like to do. That movie of his, Kes, it was like, when it came out, I was a little confused. It wasn’t a documentary, I knew it was fiction, but Scorsese sometimes can do that, his New York films.”
In addition to Loach and Scorsese, Duvall pointed to Emir Kusturica – director of the “stunning” When Father Was Away on Business – as another, in addition to Coppola and Belgian-born film and television director Ulu Grosbard, which certainly makes for an eclectic bunch.
“A guy like Kenneth Loach or Scorsese or Ulu Grosbard helps you by setting the atmosphere, and then it comes through you anyway,” he explained. “I’ve seen actors who’ve worked with these guys be not nearly as good under other auspices. People say ‘bigger than life’, but nothing’s bigger than life.”
Even though he only directed four movies over a 32-year span, Duvall still sought to channel his inspirations by placing atmosphere at the forefront. The star of The Godfather being indebted to Kes is hardly an obvious connection, but it was one the veteran carried with him throughout his filmmaking odyssey.
