Extremely charismatic, but always had this kind of manic crazy edge to him.
We kind of hit it off.
Not the most auspicious [role], but we made up for that a year later onAliens.
Credit: Mark Mainz/Getty Images
He blew me away with his reading for Hudson.
I thought, This guys gonna be amazing!
I actually think game over is his.
He always offered a smorgasbord of ideas, mannerisms, and bits of dialogue.
And I always enjoyed working with him because he always made me seem like a better writer!
I dont care where an idea comes from.
And he never took offense if I didnt use an idea.
There was never ego around that.
It was just the way he approached it it was full-tilt, full afterburner.
That was how he did everything.
And I wasnt thinking sequel at all.
I just wanted to make one good film.
So I think everybody had their correct demise in that film.
Funny thing was he was ad-libbing while firing a machine gun at the aliens who drag him down.
It took us three hours in looping to figure out what he said in one 10-second moment.
His notes were so meticulous.
Theres a moment where he kind of laughs and says, No!
Literally, he says that with a big st-eating grin on his face.
I looked at his script and Ill be damned if he didnt write: No!
It seemed like this crazy throw-away thing and he had worked it all out.
So this thing that great actors seem to do that seems so effortless and natural is not, usually.
Thats when my respect for him doubled not that I didnt already respect him and think he was amazing.
I dont tend to plan in some kind of perfectionist way.
Most of the actors I like to work with over and over are.
So I basically said very kindly and respectfully go fk yourself.
It was about a week and a half before I started shooting the present-day scenes.
So I called Bill and I said, You gotta get on a plane.
And he said, Well, okay Jim, sure!
Which I think is more a measure of our friendship than his professional acumen.
It was a bit of a larger-than-life character, an adventurer.
He came up with the whole look of him.
He approached the craft very holistically.
And I think thats why we got along.
He always got it because he had that directorial sense as well.
He thought he was going to show up and make one Titanic dive and that would be it.
He even flew one of the vehicles at one point and was our navigator.
No bullst, he just did it.
We just loved going on adventures and hanging out.
Bill could talk endlessly about literature and art.
He became a serious collector.
He really knew his mid-20th-century American artists very well.
He was much more sophisticated in that regard.
He bought it from some hotel that was being torn down in New York.
And it just showed on a pallet on a forklift.
And that 700-pound pallet is still sitting there.
I have no idea how to even move it.
I cant sell that house now I dont know how to move the head.
It was a beautiful little role for him.
I think that was the moment people realized he was a serious actor and he could carry a movie.
Given your history, were you tempted to cast him inAvatar?I dont remember what happened there.
I dont think there was a part that fit him well.
Otherwise, I would have loved to have him involved.
Then, of course, he died unexpectedly before I made a presentation to him.
That denied us that next chance to work together.
I would have loved to have continued working with Bill and Im sure he felt the same way.
Setting aside the work we always worked well together its really that I miss him as a friend.
He was a dear friend and has a beautiful family.
I just miss that.
