Lawrence Kasdan Remembers William Hurt and the ‘Huge Impact’ Actor Had on His Filmmaking
variety.comLawrence Kasdan Guest ColumnistWriter-director Lawrence Kasdan, a four-time Oscar nominee, worked with Oscar winner William Hurt, who died March 13 at age 71, on “Body Heat” (1981), “The Big Chill” (1983), “The Accidental Tourist” (1988) and “I Love You to Death” (1990).William Hurt and I came into the movies together, and Bill had a huge impact on the way I thought about the process.We met when I was casting “Body Heat,” the first movie I directed.
On our initial meeting, we talked for hours about movies and life. We were trying to guess what it would be like to take that journey together.I was still looking for my cast and eventually tested four couples for the two leads, but that first conversation with Bill stayed with me.
Bill immediately brought a seriousness to the whole process that I carried forward from that night. We did everything with the knowledge that what we were doing commanded our greatest effort.
Bill had an obsession about rehearsing. He wanted to be meticulously prepared for the work. But once we started rolling, he was absolutely alive to the material, as if encountering it for the first time.
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