{"id":209088,"date":"2025-10-18T15:24:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T15:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209088\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T15:24:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T15:24:09","slug":"robert-duvall-names-his-favourite-movie-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/209088\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Duvall names his favourite movie role"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Robert<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Josh Jensen)<\/p>\n

Sat 18 October 2025 10:57, UK <\/p>\n

Robert Duvall<\/a>, the venerable actor whose career has spanned over six decades, has graced the screen in many roles that have earned him critical acclaim and cinephiles\u2019 adoration. To be even a part of the Hollywood industry for so long is impressive, but to be such a critical figure for so long is almost unheard of. <\/p>\n

From his iconic portrayal of Tom Hagen in\u00a0The Godfather\u00a0to the grating yet endearing Mac Sledge in\u00a0Tender Mercies, Duvall has proven his versatility time and again. However, one might wonder, what is Duvall\u2019s favourite role?<\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t many actors who can come and stand toe-to-toe with the resume of Robert Duvall. Over his long career, Duvall has starred alongside John Wayne and Steve McQueen and worked with directors like Francis Ford Coppola and Robert Altman. <\/p>\n

His filmography is so extensive it covers the age of New Hollywood and beyond, with consistent supporting roles that continue to feature on the big screen. In 2015, he wrote, directed and starred in\u00a0Wild Horses, a western crime thriller, and his last performance was in Netflix\u2019s 2022 thriller,\u00a0The Pale Blue Eye, where Duvall stood his ground next to Christian Bale. His convictions on cinema are so strong that\u00a0he even confidently denounced Stanley Kubrick.<\/a><\/p>\n

Yet, his personal favourite remains a somewhat unusual choice. It turns out that the actor\u2019s most cherished part was as Joseph Stalin in the 1992 HBO television film\u00a0Stalin. To try and put the epic roles previously mentioned aside and focus on this TV special is to forget everything we love about movies. But Duvall\u2019s pick comes straight from an actor\u2019s heart. <\/p>\n

\"True<\/a>John Wayne and Robert Duvall on the set of \u2018True Grit\u2019. (Credits: Far Out \/ Paramount Pictures)<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my favourite parts I ever played was Joseph Stalin. That was a very difficult part to play. Very difficult,\u201d Duvall revealed in an interview with the\u00a0HuffPost Show. To prepare for the role, the actor had to delve into the complexities of a man synonymous with totalitarian rule and terror. \u201cI had to find some sense of vulnerability, y\u2019know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d<\/p>\n

Stalin was particularly well-received in certain unexpected quarters. \u201cI don\u2019t read reviews, but the best review I ever read was from Nikita Mikhalkov\u2019s father, who worked eight times for Stalin. And he said I did it OK,\u201d Duvall elaborated. Nikita Mikhalkov, a renowned Russian filmmaker whose work includes the Oscar-winning Burnt by the Sun, comes from a family intimately familiar with Stalin\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Outside of the Soviet circles, the film was highly praised, with a focus on the extraordinary access director Ivan Passer had to genuine historic Soviet sites. Thanks to Mikhail Gorbachev\u2019s policies of openness and restructuring, the filmmakers were given previously unimaginable access to the notoriously private country. As such, Stalin could give audiences an authentic depiction of the leader\u2019s rise and fall from 1917 to 1953.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Armando Iannuci\u2019s 2017 comedy, The Death of Stalin, brought the notorious Soviet leader back into popular discourse. Unlike Duvall\u2019s sombre portrayal, this film adopts a satirical approach to the chaos following Stalin\u2019s death, providing a hilariously contrasting lens through which to explore the man and his legacy.<\/p>\n

As Duvall reflected on his career, it\u2019s clear that his performance as Stalin was a milestone for him, especially in earning approval from someone so closely connected to the historical figure, with Mikhalkov stating that Duvall \u201ctouched the soul of Stalin\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Josh Jensen) Sat 18 October 2025 10:57, UK Robert Duvall, the venerable actor whose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,20461,2839,90034,40142,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-209088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-francis-ford-coppola","10":"tag-movies","11":"tag-robert-duvall","12":"tag-stanley-kubrick","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}