An Interview with the Legendary James Caan of "Magic City" on Starz

 

 

Caan: Well, that was basically it. He called me. “Oh, you know, I had this little epiphany last night,” and he created this character in his head. We had worked together. We had collaborated on some great script he wrote about Cuba and that we were going to do. So it’s a friendship. And we had gone to Cuba. It had nothing to do with this. This hadn’t been born yet, but it’s the same era. He said “Hey buddy”—You know when you hear “hey buddy,” that means you’re working for nothing. That’s what that means. “Hey pal. Hey, buddy boy.” So anyway, he said “I wrote this stuff and it can only come out of your mouth.” But it was good. It was really well written. So they brought me in. I do one scene in one episode, and then a couple others.

 

 

Caan: Well, yeah. I was just going to do one. I’m not a member of the cast. But we were down there. And then I came down for another eight days or something like that.

 

 

Caan: Oh my god. It’s unbelievable. It’s beautiful. And the way they shoot it, it’s great… And Mitch writes great. He writes great stuff. And he wrote this character, which I felt was kind of interesting and fun. And having fun is where it’s at now. It’s not like it’s a career builder or anything.

 

 

Caan: It could be. I could go on to be old.

 

 

Caan: Singers, dancers.

 

 

Caan: No. The truth of the matter is whatever’s well written and whoever you’re working with. I mean, you get to the point where you gotta make the rent. But I did a picture this last summer—I think a really good picture—called Blood Ties for a French director named Guillaume Canet. He’s married—or lives with, you know the French—with Marion Cotillard, she was in it. Mila Kunis was in it. Clive Owen was in it. Zoe Saldano. It was a really nice cast and a very good picture, but the rest of the stuff I read all year was really [grimaces].

 

 

Caan: It’s just not good. They’re just not making pictures with a beginning, a middle and an end, you know. The stuff on HBO and this is better than what’s out there—at least compared to the movies that I like to see.

 

Caan. No, no, no. I obviously want to do movies. But the movies on HBO are better than the ones I see in the theater, the kind of movies that I want to see, that I used to go see in the ‘70s and ‘80s, you know. Now, it’s so big and overblown, and the ones that do sneak by—the good ones—it’s one in 10,000. These poor independents are the only ones that once in a while come through.

 

 

Caan: I had the luxury of working with the best directors, the best actors, the best writers—and that isn’t around any more. I mean, some guy directs some stupid commercial… Or a guy jumps off a bridge or something, and he’s starring in a movie. Or he sings some hip-hop song or whatever—and they’re actors. I mean, it’s belittling. It’s demeaning. I’m friendly with Robert Duvall, and guys like that—you know, it makes very little of what he does. So I mean, I’m opinionated obviously, and I like to do good things, and I like to be with good people. And I like to have fun. If I can’t have fun, then I don’t need it.

 

 

Caan: That’s the choice. That’s the fun of it. I always say, “You can’t say ‘f–k you’ nicely.” You understand? So if I were to take your eyes out, there’s no nice way that I could do that. So Danny is a little more, his character is the butcher. But now you find out that this guy who takes no shit has a boss. But it says I’m his boss. I’m the boss. So what’s the difference how I behave?

 

 

Caan: I don’t have to do anything. If he does what I tell him to do, then I’m the superior guy. So basically that’s the tone. I snap at him, and you know that I’m dangerous. But I don’t play dangerous. Look, some of those guys like Meyer Lansky—he’s a genius. I never thought of him as being an evil guy. He’s a genius. It’s just like the choices we make… The point is that it’s a written. There’s no point in playing the words, and a lot of people just do that.

 

 

Caan: Yeah. I’ve known some who act angry. And I’ve known some who you wouldn’t know if they’re [angry]… that’s what makes them even more dangerous.

 

CableFAX: So you’re done shooting Magic City for now. What’s next for you?

 

Caan: This is something that was very awkward for me because I’m not a cast member, you know? Like I said, they’re my friends and I came down here because they thought I would add—[laughs]—I don’t know what.

 

 

Caan: I mean, yeah. But I’m not a member of the show.

 

 

Caan: Well, yeah. [Laughs]. My name is up there with this cast, you know.

 

 

Caan: [to Morgan] I bought you that razor yesterday, and I didn’t get to you in time. Sorry, man.

 

Morgan: [laughs] You know I did this in honor of you [Caan sported a mustache for his Magic City role]

 

Caan: I understand. 

 

 

 

Caan: Yeah. This is part of why we can talk. “This sucks, Mitch.” [laughs]. We have a really good relationship.

 

 

Caan: Honesty?

 

 

Caan: Mitch! He translated something I said. I want to clear this up. [to CableFAX] What did you say, that we have a kind of honesty?

 

 

Caan: Like he’s never told me I’m f–king cheap.

 

Glazer: I always tell the truth. Always. The last thing I want in my life is Jimmy Caan catching me in a lie.

 

Caan: It’s for good reason. We’ve known each other, what? We have the ability to collaborate, which is great. Not in any argumentative way, but he’s free to say this, ‘Jimmy that’s legit, da, da, da.’ And that’s a great thing.

 

Glazer: You know, the dream is to work with an actor this gifted, and you get three of those chances in your life. And Jimmy’s really challenging but in a creative way. He reads dialogue, and he says “I don’t know if I would say this” or whatever. So from where I am, that’s a dream. To be able to create–

 

Caan: That’s another reason, so don’t forget, I had that going in since we’re friends. We kind of half-ass collaborate. I mean, he wrote it, but we’re all excited about the script, and I’d come up with an idea and call him in the middle of the night. So that’s something you usually don’t get.

 

Glazer: [to CableFAX] If he says anything nasty [about me], just come to me for a quote.

 

 

Glazer: Good.

 

Caan: [to CableFAX] Get the secret of the hair, will you?