Although Diane Keaton began her acting career onstage, she never fully took to the life of a theatre performer. The California native moved to New York to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of The Theatre, appeared in summer stock for several months, and then landed her first major stage role, but the Great White Way and performing onstage in general wasn't her yen. "I went to Woodstock [Playhouse], and then I was cast in Hair as a member of the tribe," recalled the actor during a recent phone interview with BSW. "I remember I sang a song called 'Black Boys Are Delicious.' But I didn't enjoy being onstage. I was in two plays and, basically, that was it. I didn't like the hours. I also didn't like the live audience. I felt like I pandered to their whim way too much, and that sort of colored my performances. I just didn't take off and fly. It wasn't an intimate enough experience to me. Whereas with movies I felt like I was at home." Still, while working on Broadway in the comedy Play It Again, Sam, Keaton met her mentor and former companion, Woody Allen.
Her acting career includes more than 25 movie classics, including the timeless Godfather trilogy and Woody Allen comedies such as the screen adaptation of Play It Again, Sam, Sleeper, and Love and Death. Most notably, Annie Hall gave the actor instant recognition, winning an Academy Award for Best Picture and garnering Best Actress honors for Keaton. "It made my career," she said. "It was everything. It's the reason we're sitting here having this nice conversation. Everything always goes back to Annie Hall. It was the best thing that ever happened to me professionally. I have nothing but gratitude, and I am proud of it."
One might foolishly assume that following the success of Annie Hall, Keaton was inundated with offers to portray similar characters. Keaton quickly dismissed that assumption. "First of all, you can't get the same kind of roles comedically, because there is only one Woody Allen," she noted. "There are just not that many great writers out there."
The tremendous success of Annie Hall made Keaton choose future projects warily; she consciously avoided taking any career risks. In hindsight, she admitted it was a regrettable decision: "Unfortunately, at that time, I think I held my career like it was in kid gloves. I was afraid to go out there and just work. I think that was quite a shame. I should have worked more and looked around as to whether things were right for me a lot less. I think it's a mistake to hold yourself back in any way. It proves that you're a coward. You have to take these opportunities in life--good or bad--and go forward."
Added Keaton, "I think right after Annie Hall I just got scared out of my mind and retreated. But, you know, I learned my lesson. I went right back to work."
Once again she teamed with Allen for a cameo role as a nightclub singer in Radio Days before starring in Baby Boom as a shrewd corporate businesswoman. She also became a familiar face on TV with various guest-starring stints and several roles in made-for-TV movies.
Between film appearances, Keaton demonstrated a knack behind the camera. She received praise for her work on the documentary Heaven, which led to work on episodes of David Lynch's cult favorite Twin Peaks and of China Beach and culminated in her critically acclaimed feature directorial debut, the quirky drama Unstrung Heroes. In 2001 Keaton directed Hanging Up, co-starring with Megan Ryan, Lisa Kudrow, and the late Walter Matthau. That year she also executive-produced the pilot for the short-lived Fox series Pasadena.
Book of Value
More recently, Keaton executive-produced Elephant, a feature inspired by the Columbine tragedy and directed by Gus Van Sant--a project she was extremely proud to be a part of. "Like everybody, we were horrified by Columbine and the idea of violence in schools," she said. "I think everybody in Hollywood who's a producer probably had an idea about it and wanted to say something. Our situation happened to be a very serendipitous one [as] we were aligned with the brilliant Gus Van Sant. It was a really wonderful experience." It's apparent that Keaton approaches her work on- and off-screen from a very personal place. "I have a lot to say about all kinds of things in life that mean something to me," she said. "Certainly, love and family issues are always very important to me. I am completely fascinated by people's books that are out now. I love this book The Corrections. I wish that I could direct that. I aspire to the greatest because I am moved by the greatest. I wish that I could have been a part of Seabiscuit because I love that book. Books are always a source of inspiration for me."
Currently, she stars in Columbia Pictures' romantic comedy Something's Got to Give, by writer/director Nancy Meyers, whose last film, What Women Want, grossed $180 million, making it the biggest live-action hit ever directed by a woman. The new film features Jack Nicholson as an aging hip-hop record-label power player with an eye for younger women, who unexpectedly falls for the playwright mother, Erica (Keaton), of his latest lady friend (Amanda Peet). A young hunky doctor (Keanu Reeves) also competes for Erica's affections. As Meyers conceived the story--even before the writing process--she deemed Nicholson and Keaton perfect for bringing her characters to life. Meyers and Keaton previously collaborated on the Father of the Bride films and on Baby Boom. Speaking of Meyers, Keaton said, "She is the best audience that I've ever had. That's what actors need. She watches me like a hawk, but she's also so sweetly supportive--in the way only a mother could be. I am older than Nancy, but she treated me that way. That kind of supportive quality never goes away for actors."
When Keaton read Meyers' script, she admired the story's universality and its transcendence of age and generations. "I've never gotten a role like that," said the actor. "It's a fantastic script dealing with love when you're in your 50s. It is so sweet. It couldn't be sweeter. First off, [Nancy is] the perfect person for the romantic comedy drama because she is a word person. You're constantly using words to express yourself. It's a throwback to the films of the '30s and '40s with Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Rosalind Russell, and Irene Dunn. With all of those magnificent players, it was about the words. I think she certainly carries that tradition in these times. She is just a rare bird."
Playhouse Principles
Keaton developed her acting approach while studying with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. She continues to put what she learned there into practice today. "My experience with Sandy Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse was a pretty amazing," she recalled. "It's really been the foundation of all my acting. I really learned the tool of what became my trade. It provided a kind of freshness, or, as he called it, living truthfully in imaginary circumstances, so with that in mind, we played this game where you learned that you're nothing without your fellow actor, without them changing and guiding you. I feel like his whole premise was perfect, because that is really what movie acting is all about. I went to school with Sandy Meisner for two years. I lived two years of my life--formative years as an actress--repeating these principles over and over. You take it with you."
For those in the midst of building their own acting foundation, Keaton advised studying a quote from a letter sent to Agnes DeMille by Martha Graham: "There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open."
Of this quote, Keaton said, "[This] is the inspiration that we all need every day of our lives, not just our professional lives. I really believe that everybody should have that quote on their refrigerator door so that they see it every single day as a reminder of how important it is to express yourself, and how important it is not to judge yourself, and how important it is just to keep your nose to the grindstone and keep expressing what you're trying to express through your craft. It's a reminder that you should never judge yourself. Never! You should just keep going--keep trying. That's your job. It's a job that you have to be dedicated to. That's what I think."
