Warren Beatty: Still not dead yet

I have to admit that when I first saw all the fulsome praise in Variety today about Warren Beatty that I had a momentary pang. Had the great man fallen ill? Had he finally announced his retirement? Was he going bankrupt, like so many other celebrities these days? As it turns out, my fears were groundless. Beatty was simply getting the cushy tribute treatment from Variety as he prepares to accept the 36th AFI Life Achievement Award tonight at the Kodak Theatre.

Beatty gave Variety an interview, but as is his custom, he said virtually nothing, doing his well-honed media rope-a-dope routine, evading nearly every question with a shrewd dodge. As Variety's Steve Ghagollan put it:

"For example, on the long-rumored Howard Hughes biopic on which he reportedly toiled for years, Beatty retreats into the third person: 'I cannot comment on Mr. Beatty's personal life.' On what he learned from famed Stanislavskian acting guru Stella Adler, he demurs: 'I feel that it's almost off limits to talk about acting--that it's such a vulnerable, delicate matter that to talk about it, if you're an actor, could be costly.' "

Even more amusing, for media insiders, was seeing Variety turn to tart-tongued celebrity chronicler Peter Biskind, looking for a few spicy quotes on Beatty and getting even less than nothing. At work on a Beatty bio, Biskind is clearly still in the discovery phase of the book--something of an exquisite living hell, as anyone who has ever interviewed Beatty can attest--so Biskind was careful to offer only the most bland plaudits in his assessment of Beatty's career, for fear of turning off whatever small dribble might be coming out of the Beatty spigot. 

I've been there. Having interviewed the great sphinx myself several times, with varying degrees of success, I called Beatty up one Sunday morning when the news arrived that Elia Kazan had died. It was Kazan who helped make Beatty a star (with "Splendor in the Grass") and had been a valued mentor to the young actor and aspiring filmmaker. When I told him I was writing the obit, Beatty said he would be happy to provide a quote, but needed time to think. Saying I was on deadline, I told him he could have an hour. He took three. Finally, after an increasingly anxious series of phone calls (the anxiety being all mine), Beatty dictated a beautifully composed, thoughtful response--though as I later learned, he had a little help, since his pal Barry Levinson was at the house that day.

I wrote it all down and got ready to file the story when the phone rang again. It was Warren. "I've been thinking," he said. "There's a comma in the second sentence that I'd like to move up. Why don't you read me back the quote again and we'll fix it."

We did fix it, my thoughts going out to all those screenwriters who have worked with Beatty over the years, moving commas, fixing punctuation and wondering where the third act might be going next after Warren had a little time to think things over. Nonetheless, no one deserves a Life Achievement Award more than Beatty. Famous for all the years he spent avoiding work, he is one of a kind. It's hard to think of anyone who has made so few movies, yet done so much for the art of making movies.