Provincetown Advocate

December 18, 1986

By Bonnie Barber

Ryan O'Neal, who plays Timothy Madden in Tough Guys Don't Dance, shows a different facet of his personality while shooting in Provincetown the last two and a half months.

Those familiar with tabloids and even some upstanding publications are also familiar with O'Neal's reputation as the "Sean Penn of the Geritol set," as one supermarket tabloid described him.

But among his fellow actors and coworkers on the set of Tough Guys Don't Dance, a portrait of this complex man emerged that conflicts with his portrayal in the media.

"Ryan has been so warm and so giving as an actor," said actress Frances Fisher, who plays Jessica Pond in the film.  "He has the ability to keep everything light on the set.  He makes jokes and kept me real relaxed."

Director Norman Mailer also praised O'Neal for his contribution to the film as both an actor and as a person. "I don't know if there's another movie star around who works that hard," Mailer said, adding that O'Neal gave advice to extras and the other actors even if the scene didn't involve him.

"In fact, if it weren't for his good Irish temper he could go into politics."

Aren't these extra efforts draining for O'Neal, in light of the fact that he appeared in scenes in 35 out of the 40 days of filming? "No," O'Neal said quietly on the set at Mailer's house, "that's just the way I am. I quite like these people, a lot."

Then why the bad rap from the press?  O'Neal takes partial blame.  He said this love-hate relationship started when he was doing the television show. Peyton Place.  "I was going through a divorce at the time," O'Neal said, "and the press was saying that I was sleeping with every woman on the show, and how could I leave my babies like that. They're more interested in those Hollywood tales," he said, adding that being a good actor who is well-liked by his peers doesn't make a good story.

While O'Neal was accomodating to some members of the press during filming, he usually attempts to avoid all but the movie publicists or other professionals associated with advertising the film.

"I think that the responsbility of movies, of making a good movie, isn't to be accessible to the media," O'Neal said.

"They have nothing to do with making a movie. It's a secret what we're trying to do. It's a surprise.  If there's any magic left in the movies it's, 'How'd they do that?  How'd that happen?'  So we try to avoid them."

Although O'Neal feels no responsbility to the press while making a film, he does feel somewhat responsible for keeping up he spirits of the crew.

"You know this is pretty moody piece," he said.  "It gets on people's nerves. I think it's given a few of us the willies at times out there in the Truro woods at 3 a.m. next to the cemetary.  So I try to keep it as light as possible."

O'Neal demonstrated his talent for keeping things light when he was called away to rehearse a seance scene. He burt into the hallway of the second floor of Mailer's house and cried, "Here's Johnny," a la Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

"He's great for morale because Ryan's one of the funniest people around," Mailer said.  "He's incredibly witty."

What Mailer wanted to know was whether O'Neal is this light-hearted off the set on the comedies he has filmed.

"One of the funny things is he usually does comedy," Mailer said.  "After we'd been working about five or six weeks I said, 'I bet you aren't as funny off-set on a comedy.'"

"He said, 'No, on a comedy I'm always angry and depressed. I always say to people, this isn't funny, this isn't funny enough.'"

"But here of course he's playing tragedy," Mailer said.  "So the moment we stop acting all the comedian in him comes out and he keeps the set laughing."

O'Neal and Mailer have been friends for over 12 years, having met in 1974 through boxer Jose Torres, a mutual friend. Torres is also the godfather of O'Neal's and Farrah Fawcett's 23-month-old-son, Redmond.

Stories about Mailer and O'Neal sparring in the ring abound and O'Neal said they're "all pretty true."  O'Neal, who carries his boxing shoes wherever he goes, was introduced to Mailer at the Grammercy Park Gym in New York City by Torres.

"It wasn't long before we were slugging it out," O'Neal said, adding that they boxed 20 or 30 rounds.

Mailer quickly garnered O'Neal's respect in the ring. "He's quick," O'Neal said. "He's surprised me. He appears just to be a sturdily built author. I didn't think that he had any boxing science. 

It's not like he's in a rage or anything. He moves, he has combinations. He caught me good shots. He blackened my eyes."

"But I must have made him respect me because I got the job," O'Neal said smiling.  "He wouldn't have hired a guy he could beat up."

Respect for his boxing wasn't the only reason Mailer hired O'Neal to play Madden. His skill as an actor did play a part.

Mailer was obviously familiar with O'Neal's work, which is comprised of films like What's Up Doc?, The Main Event,  Love Story and Irreconcilible Differences.  However, it was the melodramatic Stanley Kubrick film, Barry Lyndon that impressed Mailer the most.

"He was wonderful in Barry Lyndon," Mailer said, "which is a somber, heavy, even a sullen role.  So I knew he could do something else besides comedy."

"Also I knew his style of mind. I knew how quick he is.  And I thought that the movie needed somebody to play Madden who would always be interesting to watch because Madden is the man to whom things happen in this movie.  He's a confused hero.  He doesn't kow what's going on much of the time."

"So if you get a good actor, but a somewhat heavy actor, it would just bog down. You need someone to be interesting even if he weren't dominating the action.  And it seemed Ryan would be ideal for that, and I think he has been."

While Mailer obviously respected O'Neal as an actor when he hired him, O'Neal had no idea what kind of directorial style to expect from Mailer.

About Mailer's debut as a major motion picture director O'Neal said, "Thumbs up. Especially with us actors.  He's really good with actors."

After some reflection, O'Neal added a few days later, "He's the best director I've worked with, and I've worked with a lot of good directors Richard Brooks and Peter Bogdanovich to name a few."

A few seconds after making his comments on Mailer the director, Mailer walked into the room.  This set O'Neal off on a litany of praise.  "Anyway I think Mr. Norman Mailer is the finest...." O'Neal bellowed as Mailer came in to tell him he would have to do a voiceover since the sound came out poorly in one of the scenes. 

"Well write the lines down," O'Neal said.

O'Neal got strangely quiet after Mailer left.  "There are so many scenes, " he said softly. "I think I'm in 164 of them."

"Oh, it's the Ryan O'Neal show all right," hairdresser Hollywood Di Russo said.

Asked if carrying so much of a film was a new situation for him, O'Neal said he's carried the majority of the scenes in all of his movies.  I wouldn't be in a movie where somebody else got all the scenes," he said. "It's too hard to play supporting parts. This way you get either the blame or the glory."

Although O'Neal said he won't know if Tough Guys Don't Dance is interesting until he sees it, Mailer for one thinks that O'Neal will bask in glory for his performance in the film. "I think people are going to be surprised when they see the picture at how much size he has and what a good actor he is," Mailer said of O'Neal.              

"He's almost always very good.  And when he's not very good, he's good."