Serious Movie Lover

SAM SHEPARD IN TAOS, NM. Sam Shepard, ruggedly handsome at age 67, walked out on stage at the Taos Community Auditorium this past Sunday evening in his jeans, striped shirt and casual western boots to read for us from an assortment of short works he has published over time. He dove right in with a funny (very funny) accounting of his memories of the 80s from the point of view of his young son (“My dad knows nothing.”) He read for well over an hour and we in the audience loved every minute of it. It’s interesting to note that some people only know Shepard as a writer, while others only know him as an actor. He seems a bit embarrassed about being an actor but has quite a body of work to be proud of. He wondered aloud why he, a seriously liberal type, is constantly being cast as a hard-ass military person and the last work he read described suiting up in just this way and waiting for the call to leave his trailer and head to the set. Blackhawk Down, perhaps? His description of the attitude of his character (weary but determined) would certainly fit. My favorite of his stories about acting was entitled “Winging It.” Here he described the six takes he offered to a German director for a scene being shot in Mexico. It’s hilarious and he voices both parts perfectly. I am now planning to run out and buy a boatload of his books. Join me and enjoy!

BTW: He referred to Hollywood as “nuts.” He has some fabulous stories of travels and childhood which are not to be missed, and what a discovery to realize he wrote the screenplay for Paris, Texas. Wow.

Tags blackhawk down, paris texas, sam shepard