Ben In LA
Latest Update: August 16, 2004

Robert Duvall
Butchers Run Films
Fax: XXX-850-XXXX

August 16, 2004

Mr. Duvall

I have been asked by Voyageur Press in Minnesota to write a book on the influence of surfing culture on popular culture and I am hoping you will agree to an interview about your portrayal of Colonel Kilgore.

I was an editor at SURFER Magazine for 10 years and have written a zillion words on surfing, including quite a few on those times when Hollywood and surfing intersect. I did a long article in The Surfer’s Journal called The Price of Gas which was about Hollywood surfing movies, and surfers working as stuntmen in Hollywood movies.

I also did a short piece on one of the surfboards from Apocalypse Now hanging in Francis Ford Coppola’s winery/museum in Napa.

And recently I surfed Malibu with Adam Sandler and wrote a short piece that appeared in LA Weekly, Malibu Monthly and an English surf magazine.

There is no doubt in my mind-or the mind of any rational person-that Colonel William Kilgore was by far the best big-screen portrayal of a surfer, ever. I know John Milius a little-I am friends with his assistant, Leonard Brady-and I know that John gets bummed out about Hollywood and not being able to make the movies he wants to make.

But I have told him many times: “You had the lightbulb to turn Heart of Darkness into a Vietnam parable. You dreamed up one of the most important American movies ever made. And you definitely did surfing justice with Kilgore. Walk tall. Live happy, even though you lost the Screenplay Oscar to Kramer vs. Kramer.

I believe that, and I wonder if you would agree to a short interview on your portrayal of Colonel Kilgore: When you were first presented with the role, what you thought of a surfing Southern aviator, who you prepared for it, how you played it when the cameras were rolling, and the aftermath of that role: How it still resonates and how it compares to everything else you have done.

When I looked into all this, I was surprised when I saw that you portrayed Colonel Kilgore and Bull Meechum in the same year and were nominated for Academy Awards for both roles. I would like to ask about that in the interview.

When working on that Price of Gas article, John Milius told me he took you down to Malibu and showed you the surfing world and explained what a cutback was. I would like to hear your side of the preparation for that role and the shooting of Kilgore. You certainly hit the ground running. I also want to ask you about your thoughts on how they edited the first version of Apocalypse Now, taking out the scene where Lance doesn’t paddle out, and you chasing them up and down the river with your helicopter. When I saw that in Redux, I threw a rod. A great movie made even better.

I have a lot of questions and if you agree to answer them I will be efficient and painless. I am in Los Angeles for the next couple of days but then I am going to drive to Livingston, Montana, work in the Guest House Motel there and finish this book. And catch trout.

They want me there by next Sunday, and I want to be there. Something tells me you have been to that part of Montana.

We could do this in person, or over the phone or I could fax/email you a list of carefully-considered questions and you could respond by fax/email with carefully-considered answers.

I have a $50 gift certificate to Geoffrey’s in Malibu and the surf is coming up. We could meet there and go to town.

I will show you any and all drafts of the interview for your editing and fact-checking because I have learned that mistakes, like diamonds, are forever.

Please let me know if you are interested and how we could do this at your convenience.

It will be a pleasure and an honor to speak with you.

Ben Marcus
Malibu and Livingston
310-270-7500
TheBenM@AOL.com

P.S. I remember reading a book about you in the 80s and thinking then how many great roles you had done, and how you forget it was Robert Duvall, which I suppose is a compliment.

But I just looked again.

Good Lord: Boo Radley, Ned Pepper (!), Maj. Frank Burns, THX 1138, Tom Hagen, Mac Sledge, Max Mercy.

And Bill Kilgore.
At risk of sounding obsequious: Holy smokes.