The Conversation Starts with Kevin Kline

One evening with Kevin Kline isn’t enough, so I showed up for his “In Conversation” with Tom Hall on Saturday. And I’m so glad I did! There’s just nothing like sitting in an intimate audience listening to someone you’ve admired on screen in the flesh. For over an hour, Kline chatted with artistic director of the Sarasota Film Festival Tom Hall about his work, his films, and his life. The son of a record store owner who tried to convert rock and rollers to classical music, Kline first discovered his penchant for acting when he performed in a senior play at the boys school he attended. While his fellow cast members were nervous, Kline felt at ease – eventually leading him to take acting classes. Kline said it took years for him to refer to himself as anything other than an “aspiring actor.”

Although known for performing Shakespeare's works, Kline said Shakespeare’s words initially sounded like a foreign language to him. With the reading of Othello, he suddenly found understanding.

Although Kline originally said he would never do a soap opera, he described his time on

A Search for Tomorrow where he relied on a teleprompter as a learning experience. It was there that he first learned to improvise, cover mistakes and re-write lines to make them his own. On his first film Sophie’s Choice, Meryl Streep also told him to challenge her by using his own words. Kline said the directive to follow his own impulse gave him “tremendous freedom.”

In regards to one of my all-time favorite films, The Big Chill, Kline said he chose the script because “It had a good heart.” He appreciated the way the film attempted to look at the idealism of the 60s and reconcile it with the lust for success.

In his role in A Fish Called Wanda, he was asked to use the intensity of his role in Sophie’s Choice and make it funny. And funny he did, surprisingly receiving an Oscar for his performance. Kevin was so convinced that he didn’t have a chance at winning the award that he originally intended to rehearse I Love You to Death rather than attend the Academy Awards ceremony. A call from his mother prompted him to attend. Yet when he won the award, he still hadn’t prepared a speech – forgetting to recognize his newly wed wife, Phoebe Cates until the music interrupted.

It’s moments like these “In Conversations” that I don’t want to miss. With three more opportunities during the festival with Don Hahn, Patricia Clarkson and Vincent D’Onofrio, you don’t want to miss out if you are a fan. Even if the “In Conversation” is sold out, there’s a good likelihood of getting a seat on standby, so persevere.

0 members like this