SAG-Nominated Robert Duvall Talks "Get Low," Upcoming Projects

In Get Low, Robert Duvall plays Felix Bush, a cantankerous hermit who hires Bill Murray to plan his funeral party to take place while he's still alive.

"He lives an isolated life, where he's kind of created his own jail," Duvall said. "And he wants to have his funeral early so he can hear what people say about him. It's the opposite of what I did in Lonesome Dove, where he was an outgoing guy. It's one of my favorite parts so far, and my wife said it was her favorite since The Apostle."

Get Low also marked a reunion between Duvall and Lucas Black, who played the twelve-year-old in Sling Blade and now as a adult, plays Buddy, the undertaker's assistant at the funeral home. "He's a wonderful young actor, this guy," Duvall said. After Get Low, the two actors teamed up again for Seven Days in Utopia, where Duvall plays a mentor to Black's golf player.

"It'll be the best golf movie because Lucas is a legitimate tournament golf player," Duvall said. "I play a retired golf professional, so I only had to swing once. It was more like I was teaching him about life. And I got them to give me some demons, some faults, some history, because there's only one Jesus."

Duvall's Sling Blade reunions don't stop here -- the actor said he's working again with Billy Bob Thornton, on a script Thornton co-wrote with Tom Epperson and will direct called Jayne Mansfield's Car. "I keep saying it's Tennessee Williams in a backseat," Duvall said. "It's so good. My wife read the script and was laughing all afternoon, it was just so funny. It's brilliant."

While he gets started on that, Duvall's still waiting to hear the fate of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which he was supposed to start in Europe last year with director Terry Gilliam. "He wants me to play Don Quixote," Duvall said, "but we're in retrograde on that, because there's no money. It's a different story now, but it's still based on Don Quixote."

Duvall said that he'd rather have the uncertainty than having the rest of his career mapped out. "Something might come around the corner as a surprise," he said. "And sometimes, that something will be as good as what you've been planning."

So no plans like his Get Low character, to try to find out what people think about him before he's gone? "Once it's over, it's over!" he laughed. "Go ahead and spread my ashes."