Whatever happens, he won’t break step
The rumors arrived on the set of “We Own the Night” before Robert Duvall did.
Co-star Joaquin Phoenix had heard them. He had heard that Duvall couldn’t be rattled, that once he was in character, once the cameras rolled, he was unshakable.
That didn’t stop Phoenix from trying. Off camera, he’d rub Duvall’s earlobes and whisper, “Such a pretty bunny.” He’d kiss him on the lips.
For a scene that took two hours, Phoenix screamed non sequiturs to rattle the man who has starred in nearly 100 films.
At the end of the scene, Phoenix shook his head and whispered to director James Gray: “Forget it. He’s some sort of Jedi knight.”
Throughout his six-decade career– which includes an Oscar, Emmy and five Academy Award nominations – Duvall, 76, has made a reputation as much for what he doesn’t say on screen as what he does.
He brings that approach to “We Own the Night,” a crime drama in which he plays a police chief who investigates a nightclub run by his coke-sniffing son, played by Phoenix.
“He may be the only Hollywood legend who doesn’t know he’s a legend,” says Gray. “Either that, or he doesn’t care.”
Duvall, born in San Diego to a career military man, prides himself on being a blue-collar actor with no retirement plan.
“They’ll have to wheel me out,” he says. “I’ll be working until they wipe the drool from my mouth. I think I can still do a decent job.”
So do award voters. Duvall won his first Emmy this year for the Western “Broken Trail,” though he considers it a makeup award for not taking best-acting honors for the role of Gus McCrae in the 1989 miniseries “Lonesome Dove” – his favorite part.
Though he owns a small West Hollywood bungalow for business purposes, Duvall spends most of his free time at his 362-acre farm in The Plains, Va., population 284.
He shares the spread with his wife, Luciana Pedraza, three dogs and a few horses.
The homestead features a barn he turned into a saloon with a dance floor and spittoons for visitors who enjoy chewing tobacco. The buckets, he says, need regular cleaning.
But don’t take Duvall for a rube, says actor friend Morgan Freeman.
“Oh, Lord, how that man loves the tango,” Freeman says.
“You get two impressions when you first meet Bob. The first is he’s just like any other quiet man you’ve met. The other is, if he could be anything he wanted, he would have been a dancer.”
Duvall can’t deny the assessment. There are two TV shows he cannot miss: “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing With the Stars.”
“Those kids think they can tango,” he scoffs. “They can’t even mambo. I think I could show them a thing or two.”
The birthday bunch
Actor Roger Moore is 80. Singer Justin Hayward (Moody Blues) is 61. Actor Harry Anderson is 55. Actor Greg Evigan (“B.J. and the Bear”) is 54. Actor Jon Seda (“Homicide: Life On The Street”) is 37. Singer Natalie Maines (Dixie Chicks) is 33. Singer Usher is 29.