{"id":134926,"date":"2025-09-11T00:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T00:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/134926\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T00:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T00:09:10","slug":"scott-glenn-looks-back-on-career-gene-hackman-saving-coppolas-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/134926\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Glenn Looks Back on Career, Gene Hackman, Saving Coppola’s Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tScott Glenn<\/a> is the ultimate \u201cthat guy\u201d of American cinema. The journeyman actor has built a five-decade career out of disappearing into the margins \u2014 rarely the lead, but always unforgettable. He\u2019s shared the screen with Marlon Brando, Laurence Olivier, Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman and Jodie Foster, and worked under the directing top tier: Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now) and Robert Altman (Nashville), Clint Eastwood (Absolute Power), Ridley Scott (The Keep), Ken Loach (Carla\u2019s Song) and Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs).<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Glenn walks into frame, he makes an impact. Many of his roles amount to just a few lines of dialogue, yet they sketch entire lives in miniature. A Glenn character feels lived in, tough, scarred, unshakably authentic. Glenn brings the same commitment and obsessive research to a role, however small the part. For Urban Cowboy, he practiced a bull rider\u2019s glove ritual thousands of times until it became instinct. For The Shipping News, he gutted cod nightly in a Newfoundland kitchen. For The Silence of the Lambs, he immersed himself with FBI profilers and listened to tapes so disturbing they still haunt him.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat discipline comes from the Marine Corps, where Glenn served before becoming an actor.
\u201cYou learn a degree of mental toughness in the Marine Corps for the rest of your life,\u201d he says. \u201cFailure is not getting up when you get knocked down. Success is getting back up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat toughness has sustained him into a late-career resurgence. Glenn\u2019s scene-stealing turn in Mike White\u2019s The White Lotus as mysterious resort owner Jim Hollinger \u2014 another barely there role \u2014 earned him his first-ever Emmy nomination. He has a recurring role as Vince Vaughn\u2019s hippie dad in Apple TV+ series Bad Monkey.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith Eugene the Marine, which opens this year\u2019s Oldenburg Film Festival, Glenn finally steps into the spotlight. He\u2019s in nearly every scene of Hank Bedford\u2019s indie drama, playing a retired soldier battling irrelevance. At 86, it\u2019s a role that cuts close to home.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEverybody wants me to think my best years are behind me,\u201d Glenn says. \u201cBut I still got a lot of gas left in the tank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOldenburg is honoring Glenn with a career retrospective<\/a>, a fitting tribute to a character actor\u2019s character actor \u2014 an uncompromising talent who has left behind a gallery of indelible performances without ever demanding the spotlight.<\/p>\n

\n\tGlenn spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about getting his first break from Gene Hackman, (possibly) saving Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s life on the set of Apocalypse Now, and the Marine Corps discipline that has guided him through his life and career. \u201cI was, am, and will be past the grave, a United States Marine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAm I correct that you were an actual Marine \u2014 you served in the Corps?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I was a reservist in the Marine Corps. Did active duty. When I got hired for this part [in Eugene the Marine], though, the producers had no idea that that was true. But I was, am, and will be past the grave, a United States Marine.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat did that training give you, either in your craft as an actor or in your life?<\/p>\n

\n\tThat failure is not getting up when you get knocked down. Success is getting back up. You learn a degree of mental toughness in the Marine Corps that lasts for the rest of your life.<\/p>\n

\n\tBeing in the Marine Corps got me my first start in acting. I was in New York and I\u2019d started acting but I didn\u2019t know how to go about having a career. I was working as a stage manager in an off-Broadway play, running props. I was with a couple of friends \u2014 he was a model, she was a dancer \u2014 having a couple of drinks at the bar. When I walked in, they were talking to a guy sitting there, who was obviously in a bad mood. As he talked, he kept looking at me, and finally he said: \u201cWhat do you do?\u201d And I said: \u201cI\u2019m trying to be an actor.\u201d He said: \u201cWhat did you do before this?\u201d I said, \u201cI was in the service.\u201d \u201cWhat branch?\u201d \u201cUnited States Marine Corps.\u201d \u201cOfficer or enlisted?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tI said: \u201cI worked for a living \u2014 enlisted.\u201d He laughed. He took out a notebook, wrote something down and handed it to me. \u201cThe number is Bob Barry. He\u2019s an agent. He\u2019ll start sending you to things. The second is [acting teacher] George Morrison. Go to his class.\u201d He looked at me, said [the Marine motto], \u201cSemper fi,\u201d and walked out. That was Gene Hackman.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe started me on my career and we later became friends. When I was doing this film, I found out the name Eugene the Marine came, in fact, from Gene Hackman. Every now and then, stuff loops back on you in ways you never expected.<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking back, what do you see as the turning points in your career?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film that changed my life, for sure, was Urban Cowboy. Jim Bridges, who had directed me in the first film I ever did in my life, a thing called The Baby Maker, called me up and he said, \u201cI\u2019m doing a movie in Texas. Paramount doesn\u2019t know who you are, and they don\u2019t want you in the part, but you\u2019re perfect for it. I want you to do it. Debra Winger wants you to do it. John Travolta wants you to do it. So come to Texas and do this thing. You\u2019ll never have to audition again as long as you live.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd I thought in my mind, \u201cYeah, right.\u201d But he was absolutely right. After Urban Cowboy, people started sending me scripts, and I think I only auditioned two more times in my life.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tScott Glenn in Urban Cowboy<\/p>\n

\n\tI was watching Urban Cowboy the other day, and I realized that a lot of the stuff that happened in that film were accidents. There\u2019s a shot of me on a bull in the Huntsville Prison Rodeo where the bull tries to get out of the chute by jumping over it. It\u2019s an amazing shot. You see me get thrown out of the chute and hit the ground. I got a concussion and a cracked collarbone, but I jumped back on the bull. That wasn\u2019t planned, but it\u2019s a part of the film.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother super memorable scene was me drinking the worm out of a bottle of mezcal. It was a joke. Debra and I were doing the scene at the end of the night. I said to the director, Jim Bridges, \u201cIn another lifetime, I learned how to get the worm out of a bottle of mezcal. Why don\u2019t we put it on film, and we\u2019ll gross everybody out in dailies?\u201d And he said, \u201cLove it.\u201d It was done as a joke, but he put it in the film, and it\u2019s a scene that people still talk to me about.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou went to the Actors Studio for a while, famously for its method. What is your approach to developing characters?<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first thing I try to do is find out: What does this guy do for a living? What\u2019s his history? How does he get from the beginning of his life to where we are in this film? What is there that he would do as a knee-jerk reaction that I can train myself to do? Usually just one or two things.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo for Urban Cowboy, I realized that bull riders learn to wrap a thong around the gloves they\u2019re wearing with one hand and their teeth. It\u2019s a complicated process. So I did that at least 100 times a day, maybe 1,000 times. When the time came to do it onscreen \u2014 and it\u2019s only in maybe two shots in the film \u2014 it\u2019s instinctive. I\u2019ve had more than one bull rider come up to me after the film and say: \u201cWe knew that the director had hired a real bull rider, because nobody else does it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor The Shipping News, I played a fisherman. There was a scene where I\u2019m gutting cod while talking to Kevin Spacey. Lasse Hallstr\u00f6m gave me a job in the hotel kitchen every night, gutting fish for an hour or two, so by the time we shot the scene, I didn\u2019t have to think \u2014 my body just did it.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat was your \u201cin\u201d for this character, in Eugene the Marine?<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Eugene the Marine, it was the theme of ageism. I\u2019m 86 years old \u2014 so ageism is something that I\u2019m very familiar with. Before I did that part, I\u2019d been offered I think it was five parts, all of which I turned down. Four of them the characters were dying of Alzheimer\u2019s. Three walked with a walker. One was in a nursing home.<\/p>\n

\n\tPlaying Eugene wasn\u2019t hard because that\u2019s my life. The Marine stuff is also part of my background. I knew instantly how to play somebody who says, \u201cEverybody wants me to think my best years are behind me, but I still got a lot of gas left in the tank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tEugene the Marine<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of the Oldenburg Film Festival<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd I haven\u2019t done a part that big in a long time \u2014 maybe ever. The script was 98 pages, and my character was in 96 of those pages. I realized I couldn\u2019t be physically ready to work every day and still spend nights learning lines. So I\u2019d only read the scenes we were going to do the next day and then train or do martial arts, then rest.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat happened on that film was similar to what I did on The White Lotus. I realized that what gave my work its juice or magic is spontaneity. The more I can really be in the present, the more alive everything is. So with Eugene, every take for me was a one-act play called Now.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe White Lotus was your first-ever Emmy nomination. Do you feel there\u2019s been a lack of recognition for your work?<\/p>\n

\n\tNumber one, I\u2019m always amazed that people pay me to do something I love so much I would pay them to let me do, which I\u2019m sure my agent doesn\u2019t want me saying. But I feel so lucky and grateful. Being nominated for awards is something I never really thought about. I\u2019m just doing what I was born to do.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo many of the films I\u2019ve done have been not only fun to do but real adventures. In Vertical Limit, I fell in love with ice climbing, climbing with Barry Blanchard, one of the greatest mountaineers in the world.<\/p>\n

\n\tDoing Apocalypse Now, I lived with a tribe called the Ifugao, learned their language, and in a three-day ceremony they gave me a name. The work changed me.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGlenn with Walton Goggins in The White Lotus.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMax<\/p>\n

\n\tIs it true that on the set of Apocalypse Now, you saved Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s life?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ll tell you what happened in Ulugan Bay. I don\u2019t know if what I did really saved Francis\u2019 life, but here\u2019s what went down. When I got to the Philippines, we were shooting on a beach on the South China Sea. Everyone was supposed to get two weeks to adjust to the time difference, but I was thrown right into it. I was meant to do a bridge scene, but when Friday came and most of the crew flew back to Manila, I decided to stay with a few people, including Martin and Janet Sheen.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat night, Typhoon Didang \u2014 the worst storm since 1932 \u2014 tore straight through us. It turned the isthmus where we were staying into an island. Francis had climbed into a dugout canoe, which was tied to a rope on shore. From 50 yards away, I could see exactly what was about to happen: The current would pull the boat downstream, the rope would snap tight, and the stern would go under. Instinct kicked in. I sprinted, pulled out my Marine knife, and cut the rope just as it went taut. The boat drifted downstream, but they made it back. That night Francis said, \u201cYou saved my life.\u201d I told him, \u201cI cut a rope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFrancis looked at me and said, \u201cI owe you. Pick any scene, and I\u2019ll write you something better than the one you came here to do.\u201d I told him, \u201cI want to be at the end of the movie.\u201d He said the only thing open was Colby \u2014 silent, practically an extra. I didn\u2019t care. I wanted to be near Brando, Hopper, all of them. So I took it. Best decision I ever made.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJodie Foster, Glenn in The Silence of the Lambs.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of the Oldenburg Film Festival<\/p>\n

\n\tHas there been a role you found particularly psychologically challenging?<\/p>\n

\n\tI haven\u2019t really told a lot of people this, but yes. I still get nightmares at times from the preparation I did for The Silence of the Lambs. Jonathan Demme called me and said, \u201cYou have to do this part.\u201d He sent me to Quantico to hang out with the FBI profiler I was playing.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the end of the week, he pulled out a tape recorder. Without saying too much, what I heard were tapes of men abducting, raping and murdering children, recorded as it happened. I still can\u2019t get those thoughts out of my mind. Is that an answer to your question?<\/p>\n

\n\tLooking back on your career, how would you like to be remembered?<\/p>\n

\n\tIn my life as the best friend or the worst enemy in the world. Sorry, that\u2019s a Marine Corps saying. The real answer is: Reminisce as little as possible. I don\u2019t wake up thinking about what I\u2019ve done. I prefer looking ahead rather than going through life over my shoulder. I\u2019m way more interested in what\u2019s coming next than what I did.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s coming next for you?<\/p>\n

\n\tI just found out that Apple\/Warner Bros. bought a second season of Bad Monkey. If I\u2019m going to play Vince Vaughn\u2019s dad again, this shaman who speaks to the manatees in the wind \u2014 it\u2019s a crazy, fun part we do with a lot of improv. Then whatever else comes to me, like Eugene, something I have no idea about at all that\u2019s going to smack me between the eyes and say, \u201cYou gotta do me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scott Glenn is the ultimate \u201cthat guy\u201d of American cinema. The journeyman actor has built a five-decade career…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75,77,73389,73319,73320],"class_list":["post-134926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-oldenburg-2025","tag-oldenburg-international-film-festival","tag-scott-glenn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}