from page 15


play guitar like Merle Travis. I didn’t want to copy anyone; I wanted to start from scratch. But there were comedy movies that made me say, “I want to be in that business and make funny movies too.” Certainly the ones from Laurel and Hardy and Jerry Lewis.


You were a successful stand-up for the first act of your career. Were you nervous about transitioning into movies? Well, here’s the thing: Because I’d been onstage since I was 18, I thought acting was going to be a snap. But I realized on the set of The Jerk that I had a lot to learn. It was sort of like skiing: You see a guy going effortlessly down a mountain and you pick up on how to lean to the left and lean to the right. Ten you fall into it.


Who helped elevate your game? Certainly Diane Keaton. Meryl Streep [from 2009’s It’s Complicated]. Michael Caine from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels [1988]. Queen Latifah and Bringing Down the House. Tey show up on time and get the job done. I also like working with people who say, “What if we did this?” And then you throw in your elements and it’s a big montage of creative forces.


You hosted Saturday Night Live eight times from 1976 to 1980. How did those experiences óïäü ìñ÷ò ä Ĥïð ïìîè ¨!)(&đö© Three Amigos!, which co- starred alums Martin Short and Chevy Chase? Ò÷ ëäç ñò èģèæ÷ òñ ðü óèõ- éòõðäñæè åø÷ èùèõüòñè úäö æòññèæ÷èç ÷ò SNL ìñ öòðè úäü Ò ëäç ÷ëè ìçèä äñç ÷ëèõè úäö ä öæõìó÷ Ò êäùè ì÷ ÷ò ¨SNL æõèä÷òõ© Lorne Michaels äñç ëè öäìç ēàè ëäùè ÷ò õèúõì÷è ì÷ Ĕ àè ñèùèõ ÷ëòøêë÷ òé ì÷ äö äñ SNL ðòùìè Ò÷đö íøö÷ ä æòìñæìçèñæè ÷ëä÷ Öäõ÷ü äñç Ìëèùü úèõè ìñ ì÷ Ýëèü òñïü çìç ÷ëè öëòú éòõ òñè üèäõ


Were you disappointed that Three Amigos! úäöñđ÷ ä ëì÷ òø÷ òé ÷ëè êä÷è âèäë Ò÷ úäö ä ðìïç ëì÷ Ëø÷ Ò ëäùè ä ðò÷÷ò ÷ëä÷ üòø ñèùèõ õèäïïü îñòú ìé ä ðòùìè úìïï åè êòòç øñ÷ìï ! üèäõö äé÷èõ ì÷ö õèïèäöè


To that end, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is now a classic. Do you get nostal- gic for it around Tanksgiving like everyone else does? Only because I start to hear feedback about it on the street and on social media. But it’s really [writer-director] John Hughes’ movie. I think he wrote it over a long weekend, and the original script was 160 pages long. Most are 110. I said, “Tis is great, John, but what are you going to cut?”


continued on page 20


A PARADE OF STEVES


write one day. This more serious Martin, she re- ported, had found that his public wasn’t all that happy with him if he wasn’t outrageously funny. His solution: During fan encounters, he gave oÕÌ LÕÃiniÃà V>À`à Ìh>Ì Ã>i` º/hià ViÀÌiwià Ìh>Ì you have had a personal encounter with me and that you found me warm, polite, intelligent and funny.” They were signed “Steve Martin.”


AUGUST 30, 1998 CAN THIS BE STEVE MARTIN? “You know what I am?” a 53-year-old Martin asked writer Dotson Rader. “I’m a ÃovÌii° Þ ÜoÀk in wlm h>Ã been increasingly romantic and sentimental, and that’s also the progress of my life. It’s not that I’ve mellowed.


I’m much more energized, more emotional, more open.” Divorced from Victoria Tennant after an eight-year marriage and having gone through a breakup with girlfriend Anne Heche, Martin was still open to love and marriage and was think- ing about how to re-create his life. “As men get older,” he said, “the reward of what they do dissipates. But some transform themselves. They become new creatures. When you couple that transformation with a wisdom about what life is and the way it works, then you don’t depend on others to make you desirable. It’s certainly in my mind to have an emotionally rich old age.”


JANUARY 13, 2019 WILD & CRAZY GUYS Before there was the Hulu hit Only Murders in the Building, there was the Steve Martin and Martin Short live comedy tour. And before that, there was Father of the Bride and its sequel—and nearly 35 years of friend- ship. “When you’re making movies, you’re in this intense


world for two and a half months and often never see each other again,” Short told Parade about meeting Martin on the set of Three Amigos! in 1986. “In this case, I made a conscious decision that, no, I didn’t want to lose this guy.” By his VoÕnÌ] ÃinVi Ìh>Ì wÀÃÌ miiÌin}] ÌhiÞ½` Ãh>Ài` roughly 850,000 dinners and numerous family vacations together—and countless chortles. But they’re both serious about one thing: making people laugh.


NOVEMBER 13, 2022 | 19 © PARADE Publications 2022. All rights reserved.


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