Michael Keaton: Dr. Michael & Mr. Keaton

Q: You've got what, a thousand acres?

A: Yeah. The first time I relaxed into that kind of physical space was when I worked on an Indian reservation [when I was 20]. I was doing this goofy little show in Pittsburgh, and there was a girl singer and she had this cheesy book on Indian sign language. Now, there hasn't been Native American sign language for maybe ever, you know what I mean? But she told me about her friend out on a reservation in Arizona. Don't ask me what made my 20-year-old brain go, Phew, but my life had just made a shift. All of a sudden I'm on the phone talking to these Navajos long distance, asking them what the deal is. Two weeks later I quit the show and I'm on a plane. When we landed I got picked up by this big, big Navajo who spoke more English, I learned, than most anybody else there, but it sounded like he wasn't communicating at all. I'm in this Jeep and I can't talk to this guy and we're driving, driving, driving and the sky is on fire.

It was intense. I'd never seen a sunset like that. I'd never seen landscape like that. I'm thinking, "I'm outta here in two days. I'll go insane." But there was another thing happening inside me. So I stuck it out. Started to help out around the school. I ended up doing everything--cleaning sheep ranches, helping other teachers teach class, put on little plays. It was a life-changing experience for me.

Q: Do you still suffer from guilt from your religious-school upbringing, or have you liberated yourself to feel, as Brando says he does, that guilt is a useless emotion?

A: He's right. But yes, I still deal with it. I come from a background where you have a tendency to be pretty hard on yourself. But I probably have less guilt than the average Catholic. I'm relearning a lot of stuff about myself now.

Q: Do you go to church?

A: From time to time, but seldom Mass. One or two days a week I have certain places where I seek refuge and do what I do. I've got my own set of beliefs that I'm very comfortable with. As far as organized religion, no. But there are rituals and fundamental things from early on being a Catholic that I like.

Q: Do you have any rituals you go through?

A: I have rituals that involve morning, day, evening. Way back in the early 70s I was doing yoga, meditating. I blew through everything, kind of half-did things. Now it's all making a comeback.

Q: Ever do EST?

A: No. I retain just enough skepticism that I resist being a joiner. But I have nothing but respect for people who have strong faith. I don't care if you're praying to an old Rawlings baseball mitt--that's as legitimate as anything else.

Q: What gets you into a meditative mind-set?

A: I hike a lot into the mountains. I miss going into the woods for two or three days by myself.

Q: You started that early. Didn't you hunt by yourself at 13?

A: Yeah. But I quit hunting when I was 14 because I didn't like it. I lost my taste for it early. On a practical level I still understand it and I miss it. I'll go out for a few days each year hunting birds with my brothers on the ranch, shooting days. We're not like suede jacket types, we're like redneck shoot-'em-from-the-back-of-the-four-wheeler kind of guys. We're our own dogs. There's nothing better than walking through the brush in the woods when it's cold in the morning with a shotgun. I love the weight of a shotgun, the way it smells. That part I miss. But there's nothing I want to kill.

Q: Have you ever talked with Kurt Russell about hunting?

A: Oh yeah, Kurt is a hunter. He loves the hunt and loves to kill. Loves it. And I don't judge him because I understand that. I used to do it--and I'm friends with guys who still like to hunt. But I don't. I'll be honest with you, there's a lot of guys hunting now in controlled situations who are total pussies. Total bullshit, that I hate.

Q: Do you have any great fishing stories?

A: One of the best times in my life was fishing with someone I was madly in love with. I didn't care if I caught any fish, I was just very happy. Another time was being with my kid, carrying him across the river--I had my rod in my hand, my kid on my back, thigh-high in the water, the sun was real beautiful in the late afternoon. I thought, This is it.

Q: Ever give anyone a fishing rod as a gift?

A: I bought Andy Garcia a nice fishing rod for his wrap gift [on Desperate Measures].

Q: How many rods do you have?

A: I don't like to have too many things, I have a thing about excess. My favorite rod is one I've had a long time, it's the perfect weight with a beat-up reel. But I do have a top-of-the-line saltwater rod. I own eight rods, three of them were gifts. I tried to trade one to my friend for his .20-gauge Belgian-made shotgun but he didn't want to do it.

Q: Do you have many friends?

A: Yeah, I actually do. It's weird. I see them infrequently. I have a wide variety of friends from fishing guys to novelists, doctors, actors, directors, insurance salesmen. There are people who are my friends that I never really hang out with. Quentin, Tim Burton, Jack Nicholson, Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thornton are friends. Then there are women actress friends. I like to have 10 or 12 people over to hang out, cook some dinner.

Q: Would you rather hang out with men or women?

A: Great question. Both. I was fortunate enough to come from a family with three girls and three other boys. Mostly my experience has been with men, but I got to feel pretty comfortable around women as well. I have more women friends now than I've ever had. I'm lucky and spoiled at the same time. I love hanging out with women. But it can reach a point where they're into the region of Womanness and I become a fucking foreigner. Just an alien. I don't understand it, I don't want to understand it, and I need to be around men. Men who always tell you about how much they love women--I would tell those women to be very, very careful of them. Keep going on about anything, you've got a problem.

Q: Can you have sex with a woman and still be her friend?

A: Yeah, I think I could, but it's pretty hard. With most women I call my friends, I hang with them, I like them. There have been times when I find myself pulling back because I don't want them to be confused. If you pass through that and they get it, then it gets comfortable again.

Q: Is it true that your unpredictability doesn't make living with you easy?

A: Probably doesn't. I surprise myself sometimes. But I work on being more consistent. I sympathize with somebody who needs real predictability. But in terms of living with me as my wife, man, I'm so confident how good I will be. I'd love to be married to me. [Marriage] is what I want, and it's something I want to be really good at. I'd be extremely consistent in my commitment and devotion. But it's true, I'm probably an unpredictable personality... though I'm not going to go off and join the Canadian mounties.

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Larry Grobel interviewed Harrison Ford for the July issue of Movieline.

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