Jon Voight's new turn on the Fox drama Lone Star as the oil tycoon father of a young con-man (James Wolk) will likely establish him as a TV mainstay, substantiating a streak that began with his recent stint on 24. We caught up with the 71-year-old legend at Fox's "All-Star" party in Santa Monica to discuss the new series, his daughter Angelina's new film, and his favorite film scene of all time.
It's good to see you taking on such a fascinating character on the small screen.
It's good for me, too! Some of the stress of being an actor is not being able to know what you're going to do next -- scheduling things, making adjustments. If you get something good, working with good people, you can build something and you can interact with the writers and make something out of it. I think that's a good thing. I tried it with 24 and it worked very well. I had a good time. I worked with the writers on a weekly basis and it was successful. It was fun to work consistently. But it's also nice to have a kind of a pace. With this I'll have time off, we'll have off-time a couple times a week, and I'll have that consistency and ability to build something.
Do you watch much TV nowadays?
No, I don't. I do watch occasional TV. I enjoy it when I do watch it. I watch Mad Men and a lot of these new shows, and I'm very impressed. But I watch news and I watch sports, but I don't watch a lot of TV.
The oil tycoon character you play on Lone Star looks intense. Will he reveal anything about you we haven't seen before?
It's hard to know. I think the character is one who fits me pretty well, and I should have plenty of variety in this role. Right now I have a little bit of a flirtation in the second episode. I have done that in a piece in a while. You'll see many sides of this guy; hopefully he'll be fully dimensional.
You've played a number of memorable characters, particularly in Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance, and Coming Home? Do you think film characters today are less interesting than in the '60s and '70s?
That's a hard thing. I think movies have moved into technological stuff to such a degree, and action stuff. For the success of studios, they've had to make these blockbuster films, and they've had to make a lot of action films. That means that serious character work and complex characters and relationships have not found their place in many mainstream films. There are still the independents that come across every once in awhile, and when they do they usually get award attention. They're not as frequent as they used to be.
Did you see Salt?
I saw Salt! I saw it with Angie sitting two seats away. It was wonderful. I was really taken with her performance, enormously impressed. I thought the themes in it were contemporary and very up-to-the-moment. It had something really of-the-moment, very intelligently done. Angie was able to carry both worlds, the action world -- quite brilliantly, I thought -- and a fun sense of humor. But then there's the heavy stuff she delivered beautifully too. And Liev Schreiber was great.
Do you have a favorite Angelina Jolie performance?
Well, because this one was so recent, I really enjoyed it. It was very mature. I've enjoyed almost everything she's in. I enjoyed even the comedy she did. I can't remember the name of it, but she has this blonde wig on and she played this ditzy character. [It's 2002's Life or Something Like It.]
I think she was underrated in Playing By Heart.
She's a terrific actress. Every time I see her, I like to see her get challenges. She always delivers. She's the real thing.
We do a segment on Movieline called "My Favorite Scene." Can you think of your favorite film scene of all time?
Well, that's hard! I really do love movies. I have a lot of favorite movies. So let me just think of a scene. I think of the great acting scenes with Brando, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino -- those guys always impress me. So I would pick one of those guys. Now let me see. Because he's no longer with us, I'll pick Marlon. I'll say the performance of Kowalski [in A Streetcar Named Desire] was a great performance. Of course it was honed on stage, but it was a great performance. The scenes playing with Blanche are so -- I think there's a pair of scenes that are extraordinary.
Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn have enjoyed plenty of post-millennium fanfare. I'm waiting for the big Vivien Leigh comeback.
She did two of the greatest iconic performances of all time, that and Scarlett O'Hara. She'll always be in that category of the greats. But she was a fragile thing, and she didn't do that many pieces. She was great.