Marlon Brando was having a little trouble on the set of his movie “The Missouri Breaks.”
“I know how to play,” he said.
It was the younger Quaid’s first time on a movie set.
Now he was going to teach Marlon Brando how to play the mandolin for a scene in a movie.
There was just one problem.
“I could barely say anything.
I just looked at my shoes the entire time.”
He was going to make acting his profession.
And did he ever.
While Quaid often prefers to seek out the living people he plays, with Jesperson, he opted out.
“Very shallow emotions.
There’s no real self-examination with him.”
Dennis Quaid:I actually got the part of Bo Duke, the John Snyder role.
I also had this movie with Lee Majors about construction crews building high rises.
And he was right.
Peter Yates taught all us guys film acting and I could never thank him enough.
But it was also your first taste as an actor of experiencing public perception versus reality, right?
Because not all those movies did well.
“Tough Enough” came out and went [points down].
Then “Jaws 3D” was No.
1 at the box office, but I was a little embarrassed about it not anymore.
It made $2 million.
It has since become a classic.
That, along with “Reagan,” are my favorite movies that I’ve ever done, personally.
But by the end of that year, it was a disappointment.
However, it only got better from there.
Hey, lucky guy.
I was 34 when I got that role.
I had plenty of time to prepare for it, a year.
I had to look like I knew what I was doing.
And then there’s Jerry’s style, the shuffle.
The left hand, I had to get that down and then everything else followed.
But I’m not advocating to take cocaine to learn how to play the piano.
You will wind up in a bad place.
What was the worst thing about going down to 139 pounds to play the outlaw?
Getting down there and then staying down there for five months.
I had a doctor and a nutritionist with me.
Are you still cool with Kevin Costner?
Have you two ever talked about doing a golf movie?
I know how much you love golf and he starred in “Tin Cup.”
It’s so funny, I was offered “Tin Cup,” the Don Johnson role.
How did you not take that role?
I was already doing another movie that I wanted to do.
But, yeah, what was I thinking?
It’s one of the best golf movies ever made.
There had been some talk, but it would be impossible to do now.
So you wouldn’t even discuss it now?
No, and nobody else does.
I don’t think we’d have the heart for it.
Maybe one day, another version will be made for another generation.
We all still miss Natasha.
That’s a tough one.
I think “Any Given Sunday” is the best football movie ever made.
Even better than “Rudy”?
Yeah, it’s so visceral.
It puts you right down on the field.
It’s so much about the players and what they go through and the business.
It was so close that the NFL wouldn’t even endorse it.
We started out with its endorsement and then we had to change the uniforms right before.
But I still would watch “The Rookie.”
I just love that movie.
But were there any similarities in playing them?
No, because they are very different people.
I knew Bill Clinton.
I played golf with him.
I spent a weekend at the White House and we’d talk on the telephone.
He would call me out of the blue.
He’s probably the smartest person that I’ve ever been around.
Very magnetic and charismatic.
Reagan was like everybody.
He was like my dad.
He was somebody we really needed.
Reagan I admire so much for what he accomplished.
Reagan stuck to his guns.
Clinton was able to change with the times, Reagan stuck to his guns and won the Cold War.
So what’s left for Dennis Quaid to do?
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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