Do you find yourself learning new things and adapting to the movie business
even after thirty-five years in the business?
No, I try to make them adapt to me. [laughs]
What would you say your "big break" was in the business?
Tim, there's really no
such thing as a "big break". Because the next day is the next day. What gave me a sort of general popularity
was an old Baretta, I've maybe twelve movies before then - maybe a little more, but I did this Baretta
with Robert Blake and instantly the next day after it airing the whole town came around. So the power of TV was maybe
a little bit notorious.
I also heard that you are pretty much as un-Hollywood
as it gets...
Yeah, un-Hollywood. [laughs] I'm in Port Washington, and I haven't been to California in quite
a while, but my kid lives out there. But I paint - I have a loft here... me and my girlfriend, and I paint and that's
what keeps me pleased day to day.
What sort of mediums do you use?
Mainly
acrylic - I use ink, acrylic and sometimes I touch up with oil.
What inspires you as a painter?
Color - color gets me - news events get me, and women get me. But color, I'd
say most of my stuff is - I might have a mind for green. I'll mix up some green and from there I'll come to
some sort of subject matter. Color is pretty important to me.
If
I remember right, you were seen painting in one of the Rocky movies, was that your real painting?
It was, but I was
goofing. That was poorly painting. I was goofing, I did it as I thought Paulie might do it.
That's a good way to think of it.
Yeah, so I put that in there.
So you sell a lot of your paintings on your website?
Yeah, I'm expensive though - I don't sell as many as I'd like. Sometimes I'd rather I don't
sell them, so I get to enjoy them. As I'm sitting here I have the walls, the floors... everything full, and I've
got the warehouse full of paintings in California. When I croak... maybe we'll sell them.
Then they'll be worth more money.
They could be. [laughs]
While you are filming, do you ever paint about the movie that you are making?
Perhaps not the movie
per se, I painted negotiations for the last Rocky. It was all sorts of trucks blown up - guys amputated on the road
- and I called it "The Negotiation". [laughs] What I would do, and what I do sometimes... in the hotel I'll
paint what I see in the hotel. I'll paint from there and I'll paint in the bathtub so I don't mess up the
room.
I read that you are also quite a boxer, is that true?
Yeah.
And that you had an exhibition with Muhammad Ali?
Yeah.
What was that like?
It was great. It beat getting an Academy Award. It made for a
lasting friendship, and it was very exciting. It was the first time I met him. We moved around in the Olympic
Auditorium for three rounds, and I was so excited. I never thought I'd be in the ring with this crazy kid.
It was wonderful, it was wonderful - they were my three rounds too. We were just lollipopping with each other.
How did that come about?
Out of nowhere. I was doing a movie, and I happened
to be in shape because I wanted to be skinny. There was a movie I wrote called Uncle Joe Shannon - I was a trumpet player. I used to work out in Sylvester's gym in the studio at night time and play trumpet so
I wouldn't disturb many people. I get this call from nowhere, "Hey Mr. Young, we know we used to move around
in the ring. Would you do a few rounds with Muhammad for charity?" I couldn't believe my ears, he tells
me it's at the Olympic Auditorium in California - I go there and they were raising money for the Muslims... the black
Muslims... me, my brother and daughter - we were the only white people in the place. It was funny as hell. It
was great.
I read in an interview that you said Jon Voight was a good fighter,
do you know by experience?
Yeah, we used to work out. He's not a fighter, he's a boxer - he as better
moves than most actors. He's a very fine athlete, and a good guy. Yeah, we used to do six rounds after work
at the same gym on the studio lot. Yeah, he's nice - he moves pretty good.
Here's a scenario to think about: Stallone (aka Rocky) in one corner
and Burt Young (aka Paulie) in the other - who would win?
Oh, me. That
isn't even fair. [laughs]
So were you able to show him [Stallone] a few moves during filming any of the Rocky movies?
A little bit - he's very much an
athlete, and a very driven man. But if I see that his legs are too wide - or if he's not going underneath well,
I would just make a motion. I didn't have to tell him nothin', he's very quick.
Let's talk about Win Win, your new movie coming out with Paul Giamatti. Tell me a little bit about it.
I think it's going to be a fine movie. I haven't seen it, but those who have seen it say that
it was very good. Paul Giamatti, what a pleasure he was... a pleasure, just a fun guy. He's a very decent
guy, and so is the director, Tom [McCarthy]. And there's a youngster in there, I think his name was Alex [Shaffer].
It was his first movie - he's a young real wrestling champion - a high-school wrestling champ. He weighs like one
hundred and twenty-five pounds. What a great kid, and a great performance... he was very nice. I think they are
in Utah now at the Sundance Film Festival. No one invited me though. [laughs]
Paul Giamatti is amazing...
I had a pleasure with him, just a gentleman - a real good guy.
Do you have any good stories about your time on the set?
Yeah,
one funny story - I played a fella... an elderly guy with Alzheimer's, and Paul is my attorney... my guardian. So
sometimes I'm not there, and sometimes I don't have much to say - and the director and Paul were having discussions
about the scene in particular and no one was talking to me because I was just sitting there like a guy that's not there.
So after twenty takes with Paul and Tom McCarthy talkin' to him - he walks by me and I pull him by his sleeve and I say,
"Tom, how am I doing?" He looked at me like I was crazy... he said, "You're doing really good."
He went back out and he told the guys that I'm crazy. [laughs] It was a good friendship, he's a hard working director.
You write, you act and you paint - did you ever consider producing
or directing?
I did direct, I directed a small thing that I wrote called Murder on Mott Street.
But so far it's just hanging out in the closet. I did it in Lower Italy in Manhattan. I used people that I
trusted to help - I shot it on tape and had it moved to 35 mm. I think it's an attractive piece of work. Again,
just like some of my writing, it's in the closet.
Do you do much
writing anymore?
Yeah, I write, but I also get satisfactions with the paintings... in the same
form. A critic in Montreal, I have an exhibit out there, and I don't frame my paintings - people who purchase can do as
they wish. I don't frame the paintings, and the one critic said that she's pleased with that because she feels
that it's a story before, during and after the canvas - and that was really just my writing as a painting, you know?
Do you have any Superbowl picks?
I'd hate
to say it, I guess I'll go with the Jets. I'll get lynched out here. [laughs]
Let's talk about the Oscars coming up, do you have any picks there as well?
Hmm,
well since I'm not nominated. [laughs] I haven't been following them to be honest with you. I'm like half
a recluse, I haven't been diligent with the movies. No, I don't have a favorite that I'd push. It's
gotten so that the studios get behind a personality - you don't know who is left on the side. But I guess that's
always been the way.
So I'm assuming you haven't had a chance
to check out The Fighter then.
Didn't see it. That youngster [Mark Wahlberg] - I think
he was working on that movie for a long time.
Yeah, I think he was training
for about four years.
Yeah. And that True Grit, they advertise that - I'll go see that
some night. It looks pretty interesting. And I've heard Black Swan looks good, but I haven't had seen
these things.
When your phone rings at home - do you ever imagine that
it's Stallone calling you back to be Paulie one more time?
Oh, I wouldn't put nothing
past that kid. I wouldn't put nothin' past - yeah, the last one we did was seventeen years after. Which
was... to me... not too good, the fifth one. And so, he... we made that happen... that was pretty freaky seventeen years
after. And it's like a thirty-six year run from beginning to the last one. No, nothing surprises me with that
kid - especially if he gets short a couple of dollars. I expect that we'll be wheeling ourselves down the aisle
in a wheelchair. [laughs]
Having a thumb war.
[laughs] We'll paint little trunks on the thumbs. [laughs]
Yeah, it seems to me that he's very ambitious.
Oh, he's a workaholic. He
can't stop. I can make jokes, but watching him like in Rocky Balboa... this guy directed, wrote, produced... he's
like a whirlwind. And just hanging out with him was exciting. He just couldn't sit a minute, he's completely
fixated.
I don't care what other critics have to say about Rocky
Balboa, I really enjoyed it.
Yeah, I was hopeful with the composition. It was sort of a
useful thing to drop out Talia [Adrian] to help the movie - and I think she was so important to Rocky Balboa by not being
there. Those kind of things, they were hard decisions.
Alright,
Burt - what else are you working on right now?
I have a play that I wrote called "Artist
Found in Port Washington Flat". It's a two character play, I might be doing it local.
I'm assuming you'll be one of the two actors in it?
Yeah,
sure. I'll be the artist found in Port Washington flat. [laughs]
Do you have any closing comments or anything else you'd like to promote or talk about?
No,
nothing to promote - just pleased that you are interested. I hope your audience is pleased with you and with me - and
give my best to your family.
