Nick Nolte on Robert Redford, Football and Anxiety

Parade contributor Dotson Rader interviews Nick Nolte about his role in the new movie A Walk in the Woods and his life as an actor.

Walk in the Woods: The Appalachian Trail

DOTSON RADER: I saw your film. You’re terrific in it. It’s an intelligent movie. It’s grown up. It’s about real people, old enough to have longtime friends. How did you get involved in this?

NICK NOLTE: Well, I knew about A Walk in the Woods because I was a writer. If it ever came up in my life, I always hoped it would come up at the right time. I got a call from Bob Redford about the piece. He wanted to meet and talk. So I went in to Bob’s office, and he said, “Do you want to do it?” And I said, “I’d love to do it.” We had two or three meetings before, finally, the whole thing went forward. And then we had to have it written. Somebody had made a pass at the script, but Bob said it really wasn’t that good. He wanted to hire a new writer. He included me in on that process. I met with the writers. I think we had two versions written. We had a read-through. We really worked at it. It took us about a year.

Why a year?

Because Bob went off and did the last film [of his] that came out, where he was alone in a boat? [All Is Lost] Bob did that just before we started this film. He had to make time to do that film first.

Katz, the guy you play, has bravery and his gumption. He’s open to life. And of the two guys, Katz and Bryson, played by Redford, Katz is the guy who had the better values, somebody who takes risks and lives a real life.

Yeah. They’re kind of debating, you know, what way to go [in life]. They challenge each other over that issue. Katz says, “Look at what you got. You got a home and a wife, a steady kind of thing.” They both respect each other’s point of view. Isn’t that a question we all have about life? Shall we take the risks, or do we play it safe? I think that question comes up almost daily in my life.

Hiking Tales Hit the Big Screen

In your life?

I never have done the safe thing. I’ve always done either stupid things, or brilliant ones. It’s either way. And of course, as far as my nature goes, I grew up in a small town, Ames, Iowa. Go 15 minutes in any direction on your bike in downtown Ames and you’re in the country.

Could tell me a little bit about your parents? Your father went through the World War II?

This is an interesting thing because I can remember World War II, even though I was born in 1941, I remember vague things about it. I remember fear. The adults were scared. My father was a giant. He was Lank, and [his brother] was Beaner. They were 6’4” and 6’5”, and my grandpa was 6’4”. That’s a huge, giant male size. I never saw my father ever get really angry. I saw other men sneer at him, but it was behind his back. When Lank turned around, everybody was joyous. The big man intimidated by his size and mellows everything out.

Your dad was a great ballplayer.

Yes, he was a great ballplayer. He had a size that was magical in the ‘40s. I wouldn’t let my father watch me practice. So he had to park half a block away. But he would always find a way to watch.

He must have been proud of you.

I had an unfortunate situation. I was voted off the team by the coach going into my senior year.

Why?

Oh, it’s such a crooked thing. I was quarterback. There was another ballplayer who wasn’t going to play his senior year. And his mother made a play at the coach. I didn’t find this out until 40 years later! There was collusion. I didn’t know. I just thought [my being thrown off the team] was the coach being very bizarre.

Did he give you a reason why?

No explanation—I reported [to the team] my senior year. All the players were going in [to the locker room]. As I was coming in, the door was locked. I banged on it. The coach opened it, and he said, “I don’t know if you’re going to be on the team, because we’re going to have a vote right now, whether you’re on the team or not.” Boom, he slammed the door.