Being John and Geraldine (as perceived through their quotes)
by Karen Schollemann

The conversation that evolved between John and Geraldine in the interview was almost like a ping-pong match. Each one served an idea to the other and the other came back with his or her own view of the concept. It revealed a lot about their very different personalities too. Let me give you a few examples.

On beginning their careers:

Geraldine: “At the beginning of my career I said, I would like to do Super 8 movies, I would like to do television, I would like to do theater, I would like to do a big Hollywood movie, I would like to do independent movies. And all of them in different languages and on different continents. And it all came true.” John: “I never really had a plan. I didn’t certainly have a plan to be in movies. We had started a little theater. I was very happy doing that.”

On having a mentor:

Geraldine: “The only mentor I’ve ever had is Charlie Chaplin, my father, who was pretty good.”

“What I learned from him (Charlie Chaplin) …humor is the greatest weapon… They showed THE GREAT DICTATOR… in England during The Blitz, and people laughed, they laughed themselves silly. Because at last they could laugh at the monster. And humor is a lot about that, laughing at the monster.” John: “I had people I learned a lot from who, it could be their work ethic, someone like Dustin Hoffman who I worked with for way over almost two years… Marcello Mastroiannithat taught me a lot about let’s say a about a positive attitude…. Like Geraldine, I say my father was my mentor and the only one as well in terms of view of the world etc.”

On playing characters like themselves:

John: “I don’t know that I ever played a character that’s very close to me…. The only character I ever much felt I resembled was the character I played in OF MICE AND MEN, someone mentally handicapped and not really understanding what’s happening.” Geraldine: “Playing someone that is close to your own character is so embarrassing and awful! And I’ve never done it, except a couple of dying old women.”

On their relationship to directors:

Geraldine: “I need the director…The director is king, (he) has to be obeyed. Even if the film afterwards is crap, which it often is.” John: “It’s the director’s piece, you are a figure in someone else’s dream…I am not one for going no, I don’t want to do that…. I am an employee of the director.”

On what makes them tick: Geraldine: “Keep trying.”

John: “Find a way to exist with a constant dissatisfaction of what you’ve achieved, but not a crippling one… and that’s a form of keep trying.”